Getting ready for more S N O W!

Today I am joining "No Model Lady" in her dress up day!
Come join us!

I totally am in love with this hat!!! It is borrowed from Shannon Bailey my fab friend and the best photographer a gal can know!!!  The hat is from Russia...cool.  And since I am looking outside and it is sunny and beautiful, but the forecast is snow I thought I would go ahead and get ready.  LOL

These were the blooper pictures, but they kind of make me laugh.  And in real life I am pretty goofy anyway.

So, now you know.  Lise is the spontaneous goofy one.

Everybody Everywear-The Classic Blazer

Every month, Everybody, Everywear chooses a piece of clothing and encourages all us fashion bloggers to style it our own way. I've missed the last couple, but wanted to do it this month.

Today's piece is the classic blazer. I actually have 2 pics of how I did it. One is what I'm wearing today and one is from January.

This picture is from January, when I did an Elvis week.

I paired my leather blazer with heels and velvet pants and added

a sequin scarf to it.

This is from today. And after seeing the pictures,

I realized that I was very devoid of color. I 

should have added a colorful scarf instead of the

leopard.I've got my sequins on, but you can't see them!

I love this black wool blazer. I got it

at Goodwill for $5!

I'm off to go see how everyone else did it. Go over to the site and look at everyone else's pictures!

Come To the Dark Side....of Haircolor.

Winter has lingered here and the sun has been nowhere to be seen for a long time.

This has caused my skin to become rather pale which in turn makes me feel a bit blah when I look in the mirror.  It was time for a subtle change (actually I wanted a huge change, but spouse was like "uhm...no."

We used the same base color and then added 6 foils with a shade 4 shades darker.

Using the foils is a great way to add shading and depth.  It is also easy to grow out since it is not an

allover color which leaves a very definite line of demarcation.

I loved it and it does add a depth and color around my face so I don't look so pale.

I could break down and buy a pass to the tanning bed but I have a real thing against tanning beds.

Nothing personal except for the whole gives you wrinkles and cancer stuff. lol

Since Joy left the office, I have been coming in to fill in here and there. It is not the same without her.

And The Ida misses me.  I have got to tell you some great stories that she shared sometime because she is a pretty amazing woman.  She used to have to pick 200 lbs. of cotton a day!  Ida rocks!

Today I chose a great green (the color of spring) pinstripe shirt and cardi,  then threw on a cranberry scarf for my punch of color and amber jewelry for sunshine.  My photographer today is, Kaja Marie, age 9.

I told her to do whatever she wanted today with the camera.  I love it!  She has an eye for detail and

I think she caught a lot of that! 

Amber, coral and jade necklace from Helen, Ga.

Amber earrings-made by friend to match the necklace
I have a think for amber since it is so Scandinavian like me.
Dior lipgloss

Low-lighting.  Love 2 tone coloring!

With winter still underway and the sun being a "no-show" I have a couple things that have been wonderful at this time of year!  Hope they help you also.  To get them I usually go to Sephora or Sephora.com!  I love me some Sephora! (I added the links for these products also).

1. benefit Erase Paste  Without sunkissed color to my face, my dark circles have taken on a new life of their own!  If they got any bigger I'm was afraid I could count them off as dependants!  Then I found this great concealer!  wow!  It is hands down the best!  Apply underneath the eye...but do not forget the "bat cave!!!  This is what I call the area by the inner corner of the eye.  A dot here will bring this out and make your eyes look instantly brighter.
2.  Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in the new color Pink Veil (watermelon pink) #654
This is the most fabulous color in the world!  I tried it on at Sephora and was a bit nervous by just looking at the color.  I put it on and Joy even agreed it was amazing!  It added a great glow and it such a great gloss!
Heaven in a tube ladies!
3.  Hello Kitty perfume- Hey don't laugh!  Have you ever smelled something and thought it smelled like spring?  Or reminded you of something wonderful?  When I was checking out at Sephora I got a whiff and was like "Hey, this is springy and fun!".  So that's what I am wearing today!
4. Too-Faced Glamour Gloss in Plush (its volumizing and this color is well suited for everyone)
I know, I already put up a lip gloss, but this is sunshine in a tube.  And you can wear it alone or over a darker color.  So there.  Besides, Lipgloss is my favorite thing!

What products do you love?

The photographer and model child
Kaja Marie



Did You Go Red?

 

This post is a little late. But I DID go red yesterday and in fact, today, too!! And if you missed it yesterday, it's ok. You can do it every Friday this month!!

 Red Sweater: Chaps, Kohl's

Striped Red Shirt: Gap

Plaid Scarf: ?

Jeans: Gap

Boots:Kohl's

I've had a somewhat crazy day. I felt like I was just rushing, rushing, rushing thru half of it. Ben hit a pothole, no, a CRATER, on the way home last night and blew out a tire. So this morning, with the help of Lise's husband, Grant, I had to find him a replacement tire. Ben had to work today and needs the car to go to Atlanta next week.  And apparently tire stores close at 12 or 1 on Saturday. How stupid is that?!!  Grant finds me a tire and I have to be there before 1. What time did I leave my house to drive 25 miles to this tire store? 12:15.  Am I the only female that didn't know I needed to take the damaged tire with me? Luckily Ben caught me, on the phone, only 7 miles up the road so I was able to turn around and go back to get it. UGH!! So, I'm hauling to the tire place. I get there at 12:50! And $180 later, Ben has a new tire.

 Red tee: Kohl's

Striped Tee: Kohl's

Red Sweater:Target

Jeggings: Target

Boots: Kohl's

Flower pin: Gift from Leah Hollett.

Leah and I decide we need a good lunch after all this. And I have barely eaten all week because of nerves over the new job. So we go to a favorite place of our's. We had to wait 15 minutes, which is no big deal. But we had to wait another 15 for a waitress to take our order and another 30 for the food. We ended up being there for an hour and a half! That kind of time is unheard of at this place. The waitress heard me bitching about it and told the manager and he comped the whole check! Apparently they were having kitchen issues.

We  had to leave there to go to the pharmacy to pick up Jake's meds, that he was totally out of. I had it in my head that they closed at 3, so again, we were racing to get there. Yeah. They closed at 5. Thank God!

We headed to Lise's house to get Blake. That's when they day slowed way down. We spent the next 2 hours sitting-laying-on Lise's couch talking and playing a game with Kaja. Ahhhh.....finally some relaxing!!

I think tomorrow I will just do NOTHING!

Is it STILL Winter?

I am so over winter! How about the rest of y'all? As I type this, freezing rain is falling. The high for friday is supposed to be like 34. I seriously need some of this:

Can't you just feel the sun and ocean breeze? Ahhhh.....I can taste the margaritas now!!

<sigh>

I feel like I'm playing catch up with you guys. I'm sooo far behind in reading all y'all's blogs!! I'll be busy reading this weekend!

So what have I been wearing this week while filling my brain with tons of new information?  Well, Wednesday I wore purple and green! No. I didn't look like a bruise! I thought it worked pretty well!

Purple turtleneck: Kohl's

Green Chadwick's jacket: Yard sale

Khaki pants: Liz Claiborne

Scarf: Payless

Boots: Target

Today I wanted to wear a skirt and tights but it is just too cold! I don't know how some of you wear skirts and tights in the snow or BARE LEGS like Kinsey !!  I settled for navy and cords! My turtleneck was a little short, and I wanted it to show under the bottom of the sweater, so I put a shiny, navy tank top on top of it!

 Navy Turtleneck: Walmart

Navy Tank:Charlotte Russe

Blue Sweater: Ralph Lauren, PS Too

Khaki Cords: JCPenny, St John's Bay

Boots: Target

Can you see my necklace? It's just clear crystals but it's so cool because it picks up whatever color it's closest too. This needed something more to make it interesting and I think the necklace did that. I like the textures of the crystals and the toggles.

Don't forget to wear RED tomorrow!! I can't wait to see everyone in my favorite color!!

 

And the Winner of the Bad Mom Award goes to.....

Me.  That is all there is to it.
For those of you just joining us (welcome first of all), I'm Lise.  I took over the care of my MIL who has Alzheimers and various other things that go along with it.  I have appreciated all the support here and the praise I received at home for the great job I was doing with Ida and what a amazing caregiver I was.....hmmm.  So why the award?  Well, lets get to the outfit first.  Joy and I haven't seen each other for a few days and so I had one of my kids take pictures.  It turns out that my 9 year old daughter was having an off day with the camera.  We are doing our best here ladies, ok??


Oh, look at that misery disguised as a smile. lol



What? you think I forgot to take down some Christmas decorations?
What are you talking about?  Thats crazy.

 So, I paired black and blue which, when done right, can live in beautiful harmony.  I also used a great necklace from Charming Charlies to pull it together.  The necklace/earring combo was turquoise and black which also gave the traditional boucle jacket a bit of snazz. 
Dress: BR (thrifted)
Jacket: ? PS Too (thrift store)
Jewelry: Charming Charlies ($10 on clearance and then 75% off of that!!!) Booya!

So, I am not looking particularly perky in the photos.  Why?  For a couple months I have researched and worked so hard to give my MIL a fabulous life here.  I tried so many things and most of them worked and she blossomed here.  And gave us laughter and tears.  I love IDA!!  But today I want to tell you why I get the bad mom award.  I also have 4 kids.  My 10 yr old is Josh.  He is the most gentle, loving, tender boy in the world.  He is always happy!  So I was perplexed to see him sitting all bunched up with his head in his hands.

I also see that my little man is shaking.  I pull his face to mine and he is crying.  And then I look to the ground near him.  The Pinewood Derby car.  Josh has been looking forward to this day at scouts for...well a year.
I forgot all about it.  And the conversation went like this....
Bad Mom (me):  Joooosh, baby! We have go to get to work on this!
Josh: It's too late
Me:  No lets get to work and get it done
Josh: No, its too late.
Me: When is the Pinewood Derby?
Josh: It was tonight.  We missed it.
*silence*
Me: Oh no.  Why didn't you remind me?
Josh: I tried, but you were always taking care of Grandma. And she always gets worse when we get home and cries a lot and what was I supposed to do? Tell you to leave Grandma alone?  And I didn't want to stress you out and it is really hard to have her here and you are always trying to take care of her and I can tell you are really stressed out and I didn't want to make it any harder on you and I was trying not to care about my car....But I do! And I miss you being my mom!!!!

Yes, I am crying again while writing this.  And I have neglected this blog a bit the last couple days.  But we are working on a new care plan for Ida.  I can't make up the Pinewood Derby for Josh, but I held him and we cried and I realized how blessed I am for the privilege of being a Mother and having a son like Josh.

So son, this is my public apology and I think you will like the new plan in place for Ida.  I'm thinking we will go out for pizza today.  And work on your car.  Maybe I will make one for myself and we can race each other.  Mothers, aunts, grandmas and friends of people with kids.....lets take time out for the little ones that so many times in the rush of our lives, get put aside.

Josh getting buried in the sand!

New Job, New Bracelet, New Post!!

First off all, THANK YOU, BRETT aka Silvergirl, for the awesome bracelet!! In case you are just joining us, I entered a giveaway at Brett's site and won a beautiful bracelet!! See?

AND it just happened to match what I wore today on the first day of my new job!! The bracelet had all the colors that I had planned to wear today.

 Cardigan: JCrew, Goodwill

Striped Shirt: JCrew, JCrew outlet

Scarf: Charming Charlie

Pants: Liz Claiborne, Liz outlet

So today was the first day at the new job. It was good. I'm in information overload, but in a good way. I really like everyone there. And I can do this. I just have to learn a new way of doing things and a new computer system. I mean, it's still insurance, right? It's not like the terms and their definitions have changed.

I'll be posting at night, now, though. I'm going to be pretty busy learning the new ropes so I may get behind on posting and reading and replying. But I'll still be thinking about you guys!!

There's only one downside to this job. Lise isn't there. :(