Neon

tank: Dot's, sweater: Old Navy, pants: New York & Co, shoes: Kohl's, necklace: Target

Sadly this tank top has been in my closet for the past year at least with the tags still on it until this morning when I decided that it would be perfect for Bri's Third Thursday Threads this month - neon! Last year I gave it my first shot at making neon work appropriate, which you can see here. I think I like my original look better, but at least the tank top finally got some use!

Linking up...

My Best Friends' Wedding

shirt: H&M, skirt: Kohl's, shoes: Target, belt: thrifted

tee: Old Navy, skirt & sandals: Target

dress & sweater: Kohl's, shoes: Target

My best friend got married on Saturday! My husband is one of her good friends' from college and her husband was my neighbor, so I'd say we're even. :) I figured it would be fun to catch up by sharing my outfits from throughout the weekend. Thursday night we went to dinner with the bride and groom and their parents, then Friday was a really fun day spent at the nail salon (I was so thankful for an excuse to get a shellac manicure again!). Their rehearsal dinner was at a well-known German restaurant, so a loose dress was perfect! Their wedding day was absolutely beautiful, with the wedding at a local park and their reception at a minor league baseball stadium just a block away from the park. We had so much fun getting to go down on the field and into the dugouts to take pictures! 

This is the first wedding of someone I'm really close to since my own wedding, and I have to say it's such a great reminder of what a beautiful thing it is. I'm usually pretty emotional anyway, but held it together until the end of the night. During the last song of the night, I looked around and was just overwhelmed by seeing everyone there celebrating a couple that each one of us loves. I'm crazy sentimental, I know, but it brought back the memory of how loved you feel that day by everyone that took the time to be there, and I'm just so happy that they got to experience that! 

Favorite Find

tee: Target, vest: thrifted, pants: New York & Co., shoes: Payless

This vest may be one of my favorite items I've thrifted because it's the perfect option for still being able to layer a little bit in warmer weather. I always feel like a vest of jacket makes my outfit so much more complete. I mean really, without this vest, this is just another t-shirt and ponytail day and I think I have enough of those! 

Casual Friday Wear

jacket: Target, jeans/tee/shoes: Old Navy

Let me just say, after giving up a Saturday afternoon lounging at the pool with friends to go hang out at a local campgrounds with a group of family that included my niece and nephew, I am rethinking my post from Friday! Just kidding...however, it just further reinforced that it will be awhile until we're ready to give up our current lifestyle. :)

Even though I had Friday off of work, I still headed down to campus to attend and be note taker for a team members' presentation at an internal conference we held. Even though I really didn't want to change out of my jeans and tee, this was a comfortable yet appropriate option to wear instead! The colorful blazer is fun yet professional and dark wash jeans are perfect for casual Friday when you want to look dressed up, but still stay casual. What does your casual Friday style look like?

Being Aunt Jess

hey, it was a vacation day so I went with my comfiest Gap jeans and a tee from one of my favorite breweries!

Don't expect to hear that I'm pregnant anytime soon, but you guys, after today I am so much  more open to the idea of kids. My husband and I have never felt too strongly about having them, and we've kind of gone along this whole time knowing that we weren't ready to even talk about it too seriously, but that someday we really hope (and assume) we'll be ready. Today my husband and I took the day off work and headed to the high school state track meet to watch two of his cousins compete. There ended up being 9 of us there, including one of my sister-in-laws with her daughter - side note...that's one of the things I really love about my in-laws. Coming from a small family spread across the country, I would've never been able to have that many people show up on a work day no less! 

Anyway, my 4 1/2 year old niece and I were practically inseparable the whole morning. I either held her or she sat on my lap almost the whole time (my arms are killing me now! haha) and while I was holding her, every once in awhile she'd reach up and give me a big squeeze around the neck. I thought my heart was going to melt. Seriously. So I had this thought...I have so much love for this kid and we're not even blood related - I was just lucky enough to meet and marry her mom's brother! Thankfully I've been with my husband since before both our niece and nephew were born so I've been there their whole lives, but I just can't imagine how those hugs feel when they're your own child. 

So there. Her cuteness just gets to me, and it probably doesn't hurt that next month I'll officially enter the last year of my twenties...eek! But as my husband and I both agreed as we enjoyed an impromptu trip to the bar tonight, that's exactly the type of thing that becomes a lot harder to do when you have kids, especially when all the grandparents are 2 hours away.  For a little while longer, we'll keep enjoying those impromptu nights, and I'll just make sure my niece and nephew get a lot of Aunt Jess time! :)

Personality

sweater & shirt: Old Navy, skirt: thrifted, shoes: Target

This outfit made me finally feel like there's some personality back in wardrobe! For a brief second this morning I had the thought that coral, teal, and leopard print might be a little too much together, then decided to go with it anyway. My only complaint is that the slit in the front of this skirt instead of the back makes me feel like I'm wearing the skirt backwards, but I promise I got dressed correctly today. :)

May Budget

The only good explanation I have for disappearing for a week and spotty posting even before that is just that I needed a break. Do you have those days (or weeks...)? Work felt like a drag, I had several days that I just felt off,and every time I opened up my computer to attempt a blog post I just would get suddenly exhausted. Bottom line is that I need a vacation, but since I don't get to travel for one of those until December, it's time to find another strategy. For now, I'm just going to attempt the whole eating healthier and being more active plan, which unfortunately I've been struggling with lately!

So, to bring back my focus, I thought I'd finally finish my May budget post that started drafting over a week ago! As you can see, I didn't do well with targeting around the $75 I was going for. I still can't decide whether or not the pants are too tight for work, and if I decide that they are, then they're going back. I get so bored with black pants and have wanted a patterned pair in black and white so they could go with a lot more of my tops. The tags are on, so we'll see,but the longer they're in my closet, the less likely I am to return them! Other than that, I'm happy with my purchases. My H&M tunic (not pictured) is so comfortable it's like wearing pajamas, and I've already paired it with leggings twice since last Monday, so I'm sure it'll make its way onto the blog at some point. Here's hoping that I practice a little more self control this month, but tonight there was a trip to Kohl's and later this month I'm taking some time off work when my cousin visits from California and we both enjoy shopping just enough that I don't have high hopes for meeting my budget goals again. July may need some serious adjusting! :)

Linking up for budgeting bloggers...