randos

Okay, so I know I talked about watches a few days ago (I ordered the tortoise one, and I can't wait to get it!), but I just stumbled upon this rose gold watch today for $23. HELLO!? Don't mind if I do.

I've been lusting after this Michael Kors watch since... forever and they're practically identical.

squeaky clean

Now that I'm no longer staying at home, I had to come up with a plan to keep the housework from getting so time consuming and overwhelming. I followed some suggestions from other blogs and created this daily list that only takes 15-30 minutes a day. I've included a download if you'd like to have a copy for yourself! Our dog sheds quite a bit so I doubled up on dusting and vacuuming to keep the hair under control. If you don't have pets you probably won't need to do these twice a week. Happy cleaning, friends!

Daily Cleaning Schedule

break

Sad that my break has come to an end, but I've had such a wonderful nine days. I'm especially thankful that I only have three weeks until Christmas break. 

 My favorite thing about the weekends - sleeping in with my boys.

 Happy hour date.

 My favorite part of this picture is Toby looking at the turkey in the background.

 Our Thanksgiving meal.

Six Flags holiday in the park! We had so much fun!

black friday

I promised myself this year that I wouldn't fall into the black Friday trap, but it's very hard to ignore the literally hundreds of e-mails constantly throwing their wonderful sales into my face. You know I can't resist a sale. 

We went to our local Wal-Mart at 9:30 and I was able to get the Shark steam mop that I've been wanting. It was pretty crazy, but we were able to get it and check out in six minutes flat. We were home by 10:12! Luckily, I live next to a very nice Wal-Mart (like, I have the "crappy" car in the parking lot, kind) which is the only reason I attempted this. I would have been trampled alive if I had tried this at any other Wal-Mart.

Anthropologie had 50% off sale prices, which never, ever happens. This is about the only time that I have ever considered anything at Anthropologie a steal. I was able to pick up a few goodies for very, very reasonable prices.

Then I moseyed over to J. crew for 25% off and picked up some more shirts for work. And I wasn't completely selfish, I picked up my last few Christmas gifts today as well. Sigh, I hate you and love you black Friday.

Charlie and I are heading to Six Flags (again) this evening. It's educator day and I can get us in for super cheap. I'm hoping that everyone will be too tired from shopping to come out today and we will be able to ride the heck out of everything. Last time we went we had to wait almost an hour at every ride. Hello, roller coasters! 

tortoise and tom's

I keep it real and mostly only buy cheap jewelry because I tend to lose or break almost all of it. I mean, I go through at least one freak out a day thinking I've lost my wedding ring. I've started wearing a fake ring to work and when we travel because it's that bad! 

Anyway, I was cruising my favorite secret for cheapies, Nordy's junior's section, and found these cute and super affordable watches. I'm totally digging that tortoise and rhinestone gem, and I especially love it for it's $18 price tag.

I'm also picking up a pair of these metallic brown Tom's cordones. I've worn my Tom's so much that I have a hole in them :( so I figured I'd give these a try. I think they'll be fun on casual Friday with some skinny jeans.

gobble

I put up Thanksgiving decorations this year to ensure that I wouldn't put up my Christmas decorations too early, but my plan failed.This weekend I decided I couldn't wait any longer, and our house is now a winter wonderland. I'll post pictures of our Christmas decs soon, but for now I'll share our short-lived Thanksgiving decor.

$2 find from Hobby Lobby!

Free Thanksgiving banner that I found here

Another free Thanksgiving printable

Owl napkin rings that I got for free for my birthday from World Market! If you're not signed up, do it. They give you $10 to spend on your birthday!

We found a Thanksgiving dinner for Toby at Target! It has a turkey, roll, baked potato, green beans, and corn on the cob served on a frisbee plate. I can't wait to give it to him on turkey day!

entryway

This door. 

This wallpaper.

I need it in my entryway...now!

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special delivery

I cleaned out our closet yesterday and am so excited to have four bags of clothes and shoes to give away. I love starting fresh. I still had money leftover from my birthday and purchased these fun things: 

The dresses will be perfect for winter with tights and boots. I love, love the beaded clutch. Flats for work (which, P.S. I got hired as a full-time reading teacher starting the week after Thanksgiving!). Sparkly shoes, neon orange belt, and nine dollar jeans? Yes, Please. So excited for the UPS man to deliver my packages! 

images: Ruche, Forever21, ASOS

the dress

Okay, I know I said I would never talk about wedding related things again, but I stumbled upon these two dresses from J. Crew and had wedding dress envy. The dress is supposed to be one of the main events at a wedding, but I'll admit that mine ended up being a bit of an after thought. After looking at pictures it looked plain and the flower on my dress decided to be all weird and droopy. I so wish these dresses would have been available during my wedding!

be my guest

I have guest bedroom re-decorating on my brain. I do know that there will be a lot of black and white happening with small pops of color. I'm particularly in love the with balloon shades, fluffy, white bedding and fun headboards. 

black and white

Remember when I talked about wanting to paint my walls? Well, one of those walls would definitely have a black and white horizontal stripe. I have an unhealthy obsession. 

Luckily, I've satisfied it... for now. I took my curtain fabric to Oklahoma where we have officially decided to sew them into horizontal stripes. I also purchased this throw from Ikea. 

A bargain at $19.99, especially since I was seriously crushing on this Dwell throw, but didn't want to fork over $150! 

P.S. If Santa wanted to bring me those monogrammed chevron place mats, I wouldn't be angry. Also, do those plates look familiar? I'll take those, too.

1//2//3//4//5//6

furry

Yesterday I decided that I would be brave enough to test out a faux fur vest, and then poof, it vanished out of my shopping cart and was sold out. Maybe it's a sign that I would look ridiculous, but I think it's mostly my incredible power to make things sell out as soon as I decide to buy them. 

Farewell, furry vest. Maybe next year.

show me the light

Overstock is sort of amazing. All of these lights are under $200.

I'm dreaming of the day when I don't live in a rental and can have fabulous light fixtures like these in every room. We're not really sure where we want to be for the next few years, so renting makes the most sense for us now, but there are some days when I want to put up wallpaper, put holes in the walls, and paint, paint, paint. Today is one of those days... However, I'm thinking that pair of lamps might find a nice home in our living room. It's still a major work in progress, but it's slowly but surely getting a little better!

coral

I'm in the house party for a wedding this March, and she's asked us to wear coral dresses to match her wedding colors. Finding a coral dress in the winter is proving difficult. So far, here are the choices that I have been able to find, and the best part is that they are all under $50!

Currently out of stock, but hopefully they will get more in! I'm leaning towards this one the most.

A little concerned that this might be too much V-neck

What I really, really want is this coral lace dress. I've searched everywhere and can't come up with anything that looks similar. If you find something like it, puh-lease let me know!!

modcloth, ASOS, and Wedding Chicks

turkey day

I've been planning our Thanksgiving menu, and it has totally put me in the mood for the holidays! I just love getting up early on Thanksgiving morning to cook and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. I went and bought Thanksgiving decorations this year to make sure I don't start decorating for Christmas too early. If it were up to me, they would have been up before Halloween!

Can't decide if I should stick with my famous hash brown casserole, or try these new recipes for smoky scalloped potatoes or roasted smashed potatoes.

Charlie will usually eat this Tofurky with me, but this year I've decided to make him a turkey breast. I'm going to use this herb-roasted recipe.

We usually have plain pull-apart bread, but I found a recipe for garlic parmesan pull-apart bread on pinterest. I'm intrigued... Of course, we'll also have my family recipe for cornbread stuffing. It's one of those recipes that has been passed down throughout the years without measurements. You just have to "know" the right amounts. Now I'm hungry.

fabric love

I'm sort of obsessing over the fabric designs and pillows at Caitlin Wilson Textiles.

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I so wish this pillow was made in green. I want the pillow below for our bedroom, but I'm reluctant to pay such a hefty price tag. I think I'd be afraid to use them.

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This fabric looks almost exactly like the Quadrille fabric below that I've been obsessing over, except the Caitlin Wilson Design is $50/yard compared to almost $200/yard for the Quadrille.

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I'm totally loving it for a pink chair!

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Right now I'm really loving pink, coral, and orange together. If I ever get around to re-doing our living room I plan to use these as accent colors.

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I need this amazing fabric on a headboard!

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Sort of reminds me of the fab patterned headboards at the Crosby Hotel that I mentioned here.

Just too much pretty!

be nice!

I'm not sure what has gotten into people around here, but I've been encountering ridiculous amounts of rudeness lately. So, this is my friendly reminder to stop and be nice to people. Even if they are being a grump. I do believe Thumper said it best - "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." :)

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mock vigil

Loving this mock vigil outside of the Dash store in SoHo. Oh, Kim K and your shenanigans.

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