wardrobe basics

Recently, I've spent a lot of time going through my closet to get rid of things. I go in my closet every morning and feel like I have absolutely nothing to wear. I have a lot of pieces, but very few "looks." Over Christmas break I was able to get rid of two full bags of clothes, and over my spring break I was able to get rid of one more. I have to admit that during the process I've realized I'm a cardigan hoarder. I wear them practically every day to work. I had six black, five gray, and three tan cardigans that were pretty much the same (minus a ruffle or button detail), along with about ten other cardigans in various other colors and patterns. I was having a hard time figuring out what to do because I really do like something about all of them. Luckily, that same day The Nate Berkus show had a special about editing and organizing your wardrobe!


His guest made 30 completely different looks using items from a well-edited wardrobe. This is one week of looks. 

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Here is the list he had for wardrobe basics. Yes, I took notes:
- white tank top (need, basic)
- white button down (need, without ruffles)
- black or gray sheath dress (love, sheath dresses. I also have them in navy and pink)
- colored t-shirt (need)
- striped t-shirt
- printed blouse (need)
- bright blouse
- bright cardigan
- dark straight jeans
- white jeans (i'll pass on these!)
- black pants (need a longer pair, mine shrunk)
- black or gray skirt
- bright printed skirt
- black belt
- bright belt (need, in pink)
- black pumps (need!)
- nude pumps
- flat sandals
- bright flats
- strappy heels
- striped blazer (want)


I'm not sure I could ever get it down to only these items, but the list definitely helped me pare down even more. I cut my cardigan collection in half and realized that I don't need four variations of a white tank top. I've been meaning to get a lot of these items on the list for awhile, so I took the opportunity to browse for some bargains over the break.


I just purchased these on sale for close to 50% off! I've had my eye some very similar pumps at J. Crew. I can't wait to get these in the mail!

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I have a ton a black heels, but no closed-toe which was a bummer this winter when I wanted to wear tights. I'll be on the look out for these as well as a bright pink belt, and a striped blazer. I've found quite a few blazers, but each one always ends up having some weird detail that I don't like, like pea coat-style buttons, or sweatshirt material. If you find any, let me know! :)

vases

I'm seriously loving these new vases from Z Gallerie. 

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new york, new york

I took Tobias to the vet this morning. The poor guy has horrible allergies and keeps scratching himself to the point that he bleeds, and he's also been constantly shaking his head from an ear infection that he got from the allergies. He got some antibiotics for his scratches and medicine for his ears, so he should be like new in no time. The best part of my day was when the veterinarian came in and said, "Tobias. Was he by any chance named after that character from Arrested Development?" I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! Tobias is now a patient for life.

I also went shopping today. Gap had a 30% off coupon so I stocked up on work clothes for Charlie and myself. Then I headed over to the Container Store and got a lot of containers to organize our pantry and books for my kids, and the best part is that I get 15% off of everything I buy for being a teacher! Finally, I went over to Border's. They're closing a store right by my house so everything is on sale. Since I had originally planned to teach in the very early elementary grades, I only have children's books for my kids to read, so I stocked up on a ton of chapter books for my older kiddos and got them all for 40% off. I feel pretty good about my money saving skills today.

I spent the rest of the evening cleaning and organizing. I feel a lot better than I did yesterday evening. Mostly because I just booked my flight to visit Charlie in New York! I almost booked it right before he left, buy I'm glad I waited because the exact same flights were almost $300 less today. It's still almost two weeks away, but at least I know when I'll be seeing him again. I absolutely hated not knowing when he was coming back home. I'm staying for four days, and I'm so excited for my first trip to NYC! It really comes in handy to only be obligated to work three days out of the week during times like these.

day 1 down, 20 to go

Warning: I'm going to complain in this post... a lot. It's also probably filled with horrible grammar and bad punctuation (as I'm sure most of my posts are), but I don't care

Charlie got sent to New York last minute, so my spring break that was supposed to be spent relaxing and hanging out turned into me being grumpy and wishing I was at work to pass the time. I've only been alone for a day and a half and it feels like weeks. I've been keeping myself busy during the day by going out to lunch with friends, working out, walking Tobias, and running errands, but at night I get really bummed, and Tobias and I both slept like crap. He kept getting up and sleeping by the door waiting for Charlie to come home :( Boo hoo. Unfortunately it's an open-ended trip so I really have no idea when he's coming back, but I'm hoping it's really only the three weeks that they asked him to go for (they originally wanted him there 6 weeks, but he said no). Only 20 more days to go. I wish they had let him know a week or two before the trip, and then we'd have been able to plan it where I could spend my break in NYC with him.

Oh yeah, and I found out from my doctor today that I have high cholesterol. WHAT!? I'm 25 with high blood pressure and high cholesterol :( I don't eat meat, so I know I'm not getting it that way. I checked every single food item in my house that I eat and 95% of it has zero cholesterol. The most I could find was my mayo that had 2%. EFF!

Finally, my job seems to have forgotten to pay me this month. I only got a very small paycheck for a couple of subbing jobs that I did in February. Luckily, I found out that one of the other ladies that I work with also didn't get paid. I think something went wrong with the direct deposit because another that gets her check mailed received hers. Either way, I only get paid once a month, so now I have to wait until April 15th until I see any money. The JT song "Cry Me a River" seems appropriate tonight. 

OK, I think I'm done complaining for now.

reception tables

We finally got our table runners in yesterday. I set everything up today to see if it all goes together. We'll have ivory tablecloths, the menus will go in the picture frame, and garden roses, dahlias, and possibly peonies will go in the jars and bottles.

last weekend

Charlie's parents came to visit last weekend. On Friday we went to see Sister Hazel (yes, the 90's band) at the House of Blues.

Before the concert

These are the only two pictures  I took during the concert. This guy's name is Armand, and he was great live. We got to meet him afterwards - He's really nice, and we found out he's from Oklahoma! 

shoes and a bathing suit

So, they're sold out of my size in the shoes that I wanted to wear for the wedding (cue the Debbie Downer music) WAAAAA... WAAA... So I'm once again on the hunt for wedding shoes. It may have worked out though, because the more I've thought about it, high heels in the grass may not be such a good idea.

The only flats I've found that I like so far are these babies from J. Crew

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If I don't find something that I like better in the next couple of weeks, I'll probably buy these so I don't have to deal with another sold out mess (it's seriously getting annoying).

While browsing at J. Crew I found a bathing suit that I really love for our honeymoon

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I think this pale pink tulle would look fabulous against a tan, which I plan to have :)

(another) problem solved

I had another mini wedding breakdown today. I got online to buy the pants for Charlie's groomsmen and within the past week they had sold out in 4 of the sizes that we needed. I spent forever finding a pair of pants that I liked that weren't crazy expensive, so I was really upset. We decided to head over to the Gap to see if we could find anything, and ended up finding a pair that we both liked and they miraculously had all 6 sizes we needed. We bought them immediately, and, just like my save-the-date disaster, I like them more than what I had found in the first place.

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They're navy blue with a very faint pinstripe. Charlie liked the way they looked so much that we're going back tomorrow to get him a pair.

We also bought Charlie's shoes for the big day. They're converse by John Varvatos, and look so cute on!

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So, I got a few wedding things accomplished this weekend. Next week is my spring break and I plan to spend most of it finishing up all the planning (hopefully!!!). I'm am officially 100% over anything and everything wedding related.

P.S. I'm not done with changing the blog design, but I'm tired of messing with it for now. The font somehow enlarged while I was messing with the HTML code, and I still want to change the fonts to my post title, but I'll figure all that out at a later time.