An Emerald Dress for the Last Days of Summer

It's not even close to the "last days of summer" here in Houston where the heat and humidity continue to be bountiful. I'm more ready for fall than I ever have been.  Alas, mother nature probably won't grant us cooler temps until October, so I'm still wearing some of my favorite breezier summer dresses.

This one, from Lulu's, has a beautiful low back which is a fun and unexpected detail. Plus, it keeps you pretty cool.

 (...and you can still see the scar from my mole removal. sigh.)

Dress - c/o Lulu's | Sunglasses- c/o Lulu's | Necklace- GroopDealz.com (similar) | Hat- Walgreens (similar, similar, similar) | Bracelet- J.Crew (and here and here) | Lip Gloss- Almay Color+Care in Blooming | Shoes- Ivanka Trump- (similar, similar)

Hope you're enjoying cooler weather---or if it's still hot, I hope you have a fully functioning A/C system :)

Wishing y'all a great weekend!

Recent Purchases...

• White towels from Marshall's Home Goods---$7.99 each! We pretty much only use white towels at home and some of ours were getting ratty so it was time for a couple of new ones.
• Ikat Polka-Dot pillow case from Etsy shop Fighting for Joy.  I'm slowly updating some of our couch pillows because I got kind of tired of seeing the same ones for the last four years or so.  I still love the purple ones so much so I intend to transition them to our bedroom/the guest room eventually. I went with gray and white patterns because they go with everything but I also plan to incorporate some color when I find the right print/pattern.  I had originally ordered some beautiful peacock green colored printed pillows from C-Wonder, but their website was messed up and it basically cancelled everyone's orders because they claimed the items were not available when they were listed as available. So that was frustrating but whatever,  it's just pillows.  Anyway I love this pillow because it's long and skinny and complements the square shaped pillows nicely. It adds a little dimension to have varying shapes and sizes of pillows on your couch.

• Blue & White printed bowls from Marshall's Home Goods- $3.99 each!
• Valerie Bertinelli picture frame from Marshall's Home Goods- $6.99
• New gray and white print pillow cases- I scored these for an astonishing $7.99 a piece from GroopDealz.com and I am still kicking myself for not ordering like 7 of them. The quality is EXCELLENT and they have zipper closures and the fabric is awesome. The next time these go on sale I am buying many, many more. For that price, you just can't lose. I went to West Elm recently and their pillow covers were $40 or more! These ones are just as beautiful for 1/4 of the price.

• Cool Racerback Tank from Lululemon- I am obsessed with these tanks and when I saw this color combo, it was a must-have.  I pretty much wear these tanks every time I work out and my OB just cleared me to start exercising again so I have an excuse to wear it too!
• Go with the Flow Bag from Lululemon- A friend recommended that I purchase a separate diaper bag to use for Harper's daycare---to carry extra clothes, her bottles and anything else we need to bring. That way I can just leave it there and get it at pickup time. It's more lightweight than my Marc Jacobs diaper bag. I also totally plan to use it as a gym bag one day :) 

• This sweater from J.Crew caught my eye as soon as I saw it in the store. It's lightweight and I love the pattern and colors---the light pink, light blue, navy and hot pink really play well off of each other. It's just a really fun piece and I loved it when I tried it on.  I paid full price for it in store as there was just one medium left (thanks to my mother-in-law who got me a gift card for my birthday!) and then when I was searching for the link to write this post I noticed it was reduced in price online. I called the store and they added the difference back to my gift card, no issues whatsoever. Now that's customer service! Thanks J.Crew.
• The "H" initial necklace is from the daily deals site VeryJane.com.  I absolutely love layering it with other necklaces I own. You can see me layering it with my Tiffany "H" initial heart necklace here:

Thank you for reading and I hope y'all enjoy when I share my purchases on my blog as I know a lot of people have requested that I start making haul videos again---but I just won't have the time to maintain my YouTube channel when I go back to work, unfortunately. 

Stay tuned next week where I'll share some Baby Gap items I picked up during the GAP family and friends sale happening right now :)

Recent Purchases...

I have found a way to make my late night and early morning pumping sessions very productive lately. I check out some of my favorite online shops and daily deal sites to see if there's anything worth purchasing.

And speaking of new purchases, a lot of my readers have been wondering if or when I will resume outfit posts and the answer is hopefully when I return to work. I miss sharing my outfits, but these days all I wear are Lululemon shorts and v-neck tees.  My plan is to have Kevin take my outfit photos when I get home from work like we used to.  I don't know if my plan will work out, but I figure it's easier to do them after work versus when we're trying to all get ready to leave the house in the morning.  We will have to see how it all works out...

Here are some purchases I've made lately---some online, some in-store.

Top Row: 

VeryJane.com necklace 

C Wonder monogram decorative plate

VeryJane.com earrings

Bottom Row: 

GroopDealz.com rosette necklace

Marshalls Home Goods decorative artichokes

GroopDealz.com rosette necklace

 Top Row: 

NuBar Diamond Seal & Shine topcoat

Living Proof Satin Hair Serum

Jergens Natural Glow Firming lotion

J.Crew Factory Emery Flats

Bottom Row: 

Valerie Bertinelli frame from Marshalls Home Goods

Top Row: 

Faux cherry blossom arrangement from Marshalls Home Goods shown with frame from IKEA

Threshold frame from Target

Pencils from Marshalls Home Goods 

Bottom Row: 

White Geo Mirror from Kirklands

Valerie Bertinelli frame from Marshalls Home Goods

Top Row: 

J.Crew No. 2 pencil skirt in navy/white stripe (bought on sale!)

SixTwenty top with back cutout

Target blouse with faux leather detailing

Bottom Row: 

Forever 21 floral mint dress

SixTwenty tee

J.Crew Factory polka dot tee

Stop and Smell the Peonies print from SS Print Shop

Lululemon Blissed Out shorts

Have you made any purchases lately? I'm trying to save most of my shopping for fall since there will be a lot of new styles hitting stores and it will be nice to get some new clothes for my return to work.

How to Style: Weekend to Work Week

Taking an outfit from weekend to work can be as simple as switching up one piece.  I loved my Sunday brunch outfit so much that I decided to wear the same outfit to work this week, but instead of jeans, I paired it with a trusty pencil skirt.

weekend....

to work week:

 Blouse- GAP (buy it here)

Sweater- J.Crew (buy it here)

Skirt - J.Crew (buy in other colors)

Shoes- Nine West (buy them here)

Necklace- c/o Groopdealz

Also, how CUTE is Lulu?!

PS- FOR MY HOUSTON READERS- EVENT ALERT!

The clothing brand Splendid is hosting an event on Saturday, October 6th at their NEW Highland Village store from 11AM - 1:30PM.  The event will feature fun workshops by Los Angeles based artist Karen Kimmel. The interactive workshops focus on reusing and repurposing natural materials. Workshop attendees will create original art and unique accessories, enjoy tasty treats, and depart with all sorts of very cool goodies. Check it out if you're in town!

The Navy Pencil Dress

Every time I take photos outdoors, I'm reminded by how much better they look. I'm contemplating stationing my tripod at the front door so I can quickly bring it outside, snap some shots and tuck it back into the house. I'll try it next week and if it's feasible.

This navy blue dress is one of my favorite, classic pieces. The best part is that my friend Kari gave it to me so I think of her each time I wear it!

Dress- Banana Republic (similar, similar, pretty peplum version)

Blazer- Artizia (similar)

Belt- J.Crew (similar)

Shoes- Nine West (buy them here)

Necklace- c/o groopdealz.com

Have a great night!

In the (Yellow) Bubble

Learning to use my new MacBook Air and its programs has been both a challenge and a joy. Now that I'm used to the track pad, I don't quite know how I ever lived without it. The command button is now my friend and iPhoto and I are on speaking terms again. 

You may have noticed an inconsistency in the sizing of my photos lately, but thank goodness I finally figured out that there is, in fact, a custom setting for photo sizes. Basically, the issue I ran into before was that I thought there were only pre-set photo sizes (small, medium, large, full size) and then I was having to crop the entire background of my photos out so that when I enlarged them in Blogger, they wouldn't go past the margins. Now that I can custom size them, I found the size that matches my margins and can keep the full background of the photos but still make them large. Sigh. It's the little things.

Speaking of the little things---what's not quite so little is my yellow bubble necklace from Groop Dealz, or, as I like to call it, the "endless compliments" necklace. What can I say? People love the bubble.

I didn't quite know what I'd pair my yellow necklace with. Not only is it a bold style, but yellow is quite the color to pull off with a statement necklace. So, for my first attempt, I paired it with an all-nude palette.

Top- Express (similar, similar )

Skirt- J.Crew (buy it here)

Necklace- c/o Groop Dealz (similar)

Shoes- Ivanka Trump (buy them here)

Happy Friday everyone!

Mint + Turquoise= Love

I started my Saturday off right with a workout with my trainer---and it just got busier from there! We had our handyman come over to install our curtains, chandelier and wall-mount our master bedroom TV (more on that in another post).

H and I decided we would go out for dinner---we went to PF Chang's and then had frozen yogurt at Berry Pop.

I have worn this outfit before, but this time I thought to add my turquoise bubble necklace for some extra pop. I love that you can add these necklaces to pretty much everything.

Jacket- Zara (summer 2012, similar, similar)

Dress- H&M (similar, LOVE this, another cute option, this is also adorable)

Shoes- Ivanka Trump (love these flats, just ordered them, very similar!)

Necklace- c/o Groop Dealz

Have a great long weekend everyone!

PS- check out my latest haul video below!