A Friday Favorite

tee: Target

sweater: thrifted

jeans: Old Navy

shoes: Target

New Friday favorite right here. This was from last week, then yesterday I wore a different gray t-shirt, a black over-sized cardigan, and these same jeans and shoes. Even recreated the same "I don't care, it's almost the weekend, and I have no face-to-face appointments with students today" ponytail. I hope everyone is enjoying a nice long holiday weekend! So far we've had a slow Saturday watching the first Buckeyes game of the season with friends and now curled up on the couch after a dinner of mac & cheese and applesauce, watching The Lego Movie. This girl is totally ready for parenthood! :)

LBD

black dress: Target

white vest & tan blazer : Target

nude heels: Payless

striped wedges: Famous Footwear

Go figure that it took having a maternity version for me to finally have an appreciation for a little black dress! This dress from Target has been my favorite maternity purchase I’ve made. The material and style make it perfect for the weekend (easy to pair with sandals or my converse!), while the length of it and the fact that it has sleeves makes it really easy to be work appropriate too. For Bri’s ThirdThursday Threads link-up that of course it’s taking me until Saturday to post about, I decided to go with showing you two ways I’ve worn this look to work. For work, I think a layered look has been best – I just feel a little bit more professional that way!

Uniform

tee: Old Navy

sweater: thrifted

pants: Loft maternity

shoes: Target

This is the type of uniform I have in mind when I think of how I'll probably spend the end of my pregnancy - skinny leg pants, tee, long and loose fitting cardigan. Now if only the temperatures would allow this to start happening more often. I was so lucky with a mild summer so far and now the forecast is calling for highs around 90 degrees every day for the next week. Yuck!

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy and Because Shanna Said So...

Weekend Wrap Up

Another good weekend is in the books! One of my best friends I grew up with also lives in Columbus and we spent our Saturday meeting our moms and one of their good friends at a good halfway point between Columbus and where we grew up to to do some exploring of flea markets/antique stores. Such a fun trip, and pretty much everything bought was for baby boy. A fun little table that I thought would be perfect once he's a few years old, an airplane for his room (can you believe that it's actually an old cologne container from Avon?!), and the Little Golden Book class The Poky Little Puppy, with the "this book belongs to" section still blank so when we finally decide on his name I can add it for him. :) The table will need cleaned up and a fresh coat of paint on the legs, likely in a different color, but for $20 I just couldn't say no to it.

This weekend also marked week 28 of pregnancy - officially into the third trimester! Apparently a family friend of my husbands' just had her first baby 6 weeks early, so a bit of a panic attack happened when I realized that yes, that could indeed happen to me too and that although we hope it's another 12 weeks before we this little guy, our time to prepare could truly be much more limited than that. Thankfully I already had plans to finish painting the nursery on Sunday, then the reward for that task was completed was buying the crib. You know, totally cosmetic stuff that just made me feel better, but at least I also signed us up for a class to help with all the important things to know when you bring your baby home. Because if there's one thing that terrifies me more than childbirth about this experience, it's being in charge of that precious little life! 

In other good news, I passed my glucose test! Totally celebrated by having stuffed french toast for brunch on Sunday which felt like having dessert for lunch, then letting myself buy praline pecan ice cream and an excessive amount of lemon oreos at the grocery store. Hey, in my defense I hear a rumor that they're discontinuing them and actual tears may be shed if that's true. Side note - is it sad if I tried to do a Google search to check on that rumor, realized that Walmart has them listed online as a product you can actually purchase and have delivered to you. Good to know unless times get desperate around here! :)

Navy + Green

tank: Old Navy

blazer: Sam's Club

pants: Target

shoes: Target

I wore this outfit last week so I could link up with Andi and Kate for Navy Week and I'm just getting around to posting it. Story of my life! Anytime I head into Sam's Club, I use it as an excuse to look at clothes because I've found some really great deals in the past - see my $10 black blazer in this post and my $20 maxi dress in this one. Last weekend I ran some errands by myself while back at my in-laws and went to Sam's Club to pick up something my mother-in-law needed. I'm definitely a fan of different colored blazer, and the ponte material has been my favorite for a fitted but comfortable look so I couldn't resist this green one for only $20! It's sure to get lots of use, and in an effort to not just immediately go for pairing it with gray, black, or white like I usually do (although I'm sure you'll see plenty of that in the future), I'd give navy a try. Thanks for the inspiration Andi and Kate! :)

Gray on Gray

tee: exact

sweater: kind of similar - I look at this option every time 

I'm in Target and talk myself out of buying it b/c I have something so similar!

jeans: exact / similar (non-maternity)

shoes: similar

Do we ever consider gray a pastel? Because I went with this monochromatic look for something softer (I feel like I tend to either go for black or brighter colors lately, but maybe that's all in my head) and when I think of soft, I think of pastels. Either way, I liked it, it was perfect for surviving a Friday at work, and the shoes added a little something extra to the look. I bought these shoes as an option for cute flats for our wedding reception, but ended up going with a different pair during that "buy all the cute things that could possibly be worn to some wedding related event" phase I went through while planning our wedding. I could've returned them, but for only $12.99 from Target I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Over 3 years later, I'm still not regretting that decision!

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy and Because Shanna Said So...

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend my husband and I headed up to his parents house and our time up there was just good for the soul. Although we stayed busier than we probably would've if we were at our house in Columbus for the weekend, the slower pace made it feel so much more relaxing. Although we both really enjoy living in the city (or pretty much the suburbs if you want to be exact), we grew up in the country in Northwest Ohio. Our families live about 40 minutes apart so while we never met until after we were both out of college and living in different cities, it's been nice to have that shared background. 

A bachelorette party and the drag races were the reason to head home, but while my husband spent about 8 hours between the two days doing insanely long workouts in preparation for his full triathlon he's doing in about a month (which will be 140.6 total miles between a swim, bike, and run - that's another whole post!) I enjoyed a slow start to the mornings. Enjoying my coffee outside, watching our niece and nephew show off their newly acquired bike riding skills, and picking sweet corn straight out of the field were the most important things on my agenda. I got a chance to enjoy a girls dinner to celebrate the bachelorette, then still got to head to the drag races that night with the guys. 

I'm sure it was pregnancy hormones kicking in, but found myself so many times over those two days just sitting back and truly being in that moment and loving it. The level of excitement our nephew expressed every time the "fire cars" did something cool. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I was that excited about anything! Helping teach our niece how to pick sweet corn, although I still have no idea how to really pick a good piece - we left that to grandpa, then watching her be so proud of herself when she figured out how to shuck it on her own. And maybe most importantly, letting the excitement of adding our own kid into those experiences outweigh the anxiety and feelings of cluelessness that's often associated with our impending parenthood. :)

July

Old Navy:

t-shirts - red and black $10 each (#5 & #6)
gray t-shirt $16.94 - "ballet" shirt (#7)

Target:

gray/white striped tee $11.88 (not pictured)
dress $19.58 (#2)

H&M:

tunics $4 each (not pictured)
striped tee $17.95 (not pictured, but seen in my last post)
blush tee $9.95 (not pictured)

Francesca's:

heart scarf $9.98 (#4)
heart earrings $7.98 (#1)

Thrifted:

tan cardigan $3.99 (#9)
black & white sweater $5.99 (#3)
gray sweater $3.99  (#8)

returned: coral maternity dress $27.99 (seen in June's post)

July total  $136.23 - $27.99 from return = 108.24

I'm actually pretty happy with my purchases this month. I had a Monday off a few weeks back and finally got to one of the Old Navy's that has a maternity section and picked up some more t-shirts. I really didn't like the look of shirts with the gathered sides earlier on, but now I've realized that I actually like how they're more fitted and really show off the bump. Since pregnancy is going to be the only time I'll be actually looking to draw attention to my mid-section, I figure I might as well enjoy it. :) 

The sweaters might just mean I'm starting to get excited for fall and some cooler temperatures, although I think we've been pretty lucky and had a much milder summer than we could've been having. The black/white sweater and the gray sweater likely won't get any use until after I have the baby, but I had to buy the gray sweater especially because I already have it in a teal color (found last fall at the same thrift store!) and it's kind of perfect with skinny jeans, booties, and my favorite scarf. 

I also felt the need for more pants that I can wear now and will transition well into early fall until my due date. Old Navy online and Target are the only places I had bothered to check out for maternity pants, then realized that Loft had them online too. I placed an order that I just received on Friday, so I'm sure you'll see those items quite a bit over the next month and I'll include those in the August summary. 

Linking up for Budgeting Bloggers....