Cerulean and Coral

Relatively fun fact - I used the word cerulean in a still-in-progress novel I started when I was 11 to mean "hello" in a made-up language.

But onto the task at hand...here's the Style Imitating Art piece for this week:

And my interpretation:

Dress: Wet Seal; Tank: H&M; Bracelets: NY&Co, street festival, and...Target?; Sandals: Aldo

I admit, I tried to edit the back and arm fat out of this one but to no avail. Plus, I'm squinty.
I like how it showed both bracelets, though.

I got a "You look nice" from my husband with this outfit - score!

That is all. I have to give Bridget a bath now and then head downstairs to drill screws in drywall.

Almost Missed It

I almost missed Marionberry Style's Trend of the Month Link-up this month, which would've been a tragedy for me since the theme is YELLOW. Credit where it's due, this outfit was inspired by this post on Chicago Street Style.

Skirt: ASOS; Top: Old Navy; Shoes: New York & Company; Necklace: H&M; Sunglasses: Target

I'm also linking up with IFB Project #95: Show Us Your Stripes.

Dressed by Noelle

Noelle from Tilly's Notions (another Wisconsin blogger!) sent me an idea from Atlantic Pacific based on the chartreuse skirt she knew I had.

Source

Yup, practically everyone's a poser compared to Blair.

Skirt: Uniqlo; Top: Lela Rose for Target+Neiman Marcus; Shoes: Kohl's; Sunglasses and Headband: Target;
Watch: Michael Kors; Bracelets: Kate Spade, Pandora, Marc by Marc Jacobs, and Charming Charlie

I've really liked every outfit I've worn this skirt with, so I was glad Noelle gave me another reason and another way to wear it!

I believe I only have one outfit idea left to recreate after this one. If you'd like to participate in my Dressed by series, I now have an Outfit Suggestion page with a form you can fill out!

Florida Vacation 2013 Recap

To read some tips on how to pack for a theme-park vacation, you can check out my guest post today on Modly Chic! Here are the outfits I packed for Bridget and me for our Orlando vacation we just returned from:

All of Bridget's Outfits and My Dresses: Target; Green Slytherin Tank: Wizarding World of Harry Potter;
Printed Shorts and Black Tank: Old Navy; White Linen Pants: MICHAEL Michael Kors; Sandals: Aldo

Thursday, we began our Disney fun at Magic Kingdom! Let's see if I can remember everything we did...

1. Watched a parade
2. Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride
3. Daisy and Minnie meet n greet
4. Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid ride
5. It's a Small World ride
6. Dole Whip

My mom, Bridget, and Minnie

We were amused that one of the poodles was named Brigitte.

It's a small world after all...

Dole Whip!

The lines weren't too long, and we waited less than 25 minutes for every ride. Still, with a two-year-old, we had to be choosy with what we wanted to get on because we knew our time was limited. We made it about 4 - 5 hours that day. Bridget was a champ! She started to melt down while in line for a Dole Whip, but she was better once we got her some ice cream.

We grabbed lunch back in our room, swam in the pool a little bit, and ate dinner at the resort. My mom was excited to go back to Magic Kingdom that night if possible (my parents had already been there 3 days, so they were pretty well rested), but my husband, Bridget, and I were beat.

On Friday, we took a little bit longer to get out the door, but then we headed to Universal Islands of Adventure and put in a few hours there. I was super bummed the Jurassic Park water ride was down for maintenance, but we still found plenty of fun things to do, such as:

1. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ride
2. The Lorax and Cat in the Hat meet n greet
3. The Cat in the Hat ride
4. Caro-Seuss-el
5. The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train
6. Ate lunch at Three Broomsticks and drank butterbeer
7. The Forbidden Journey (single rider)
8. Flight of the Hippogriff
9. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride (single rider)

Meeting the Lorax - Hubs' shirt is wet from the One Fish Two Fish ride

On the Caro-Seuss-el

She loved having her face painted! Seriously, she did, despite her expression in this picture.

Hagrid's hut in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

My mom has a bunch more pictures, but she hasn't posted them yet. You can see the rest of mine here. There aren't that many others - I only took about 30 total.

That night for dinner, hubs and I met my friend from high school and her boyfriend at Giordano's for some Chicago style pizza! I didn't even know they had locations outside of Illinois, but apparently they have three of them in Florida.

On our last full day (also the day my parents flew home), we attempted a visit to Animal Kingdom. The day started off a little rocky after the It's Tough to be a Bug attraction scared Bridget, but we soldiered on to stand in line for The Festival of the Lion King show. The show was excellent, and Bridget loved it, but she was also getting hotter and more rundown by the minute. We had to call it a day and get her back to the hotel and into bed.

Later in the afternoon, I drove my parents to the airport and then met my friend and her boyfriend again for dinner while hubs offered to stay back with Bridget. The original plan was for them to come to our hotel to hang out, but we didn't want to keep Bridget awake. Instead, we went out to a restaurant called Brick House, which was right next to their hotel. The food was good, the atmosphere was cool and man cave-themed, but the service left a lot to be desired. I'm going to give the place the benefit of the doubt and assume it was just our waitress and not the establishment in general. (I'll have to steal my friend's picture she took of us when she posts it on Facebook.)

And Sunday, we flew home! Bridget was still feverish, and hubs had come down with some sort of stomach bug, so it wasn't the most pleasant traveling day for them, but we made it.

Dressed by My Mom

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Here's a special Mother's Day edition of Dressed by, featuring a dress my mom picked out for me and a top I picked out for her.

My mom did a little research before our shopping trip and went into it with a couple different ideas. The two trends she was interested in were peplum or colorblocking. Both were pretty abundant in stores, but we seemed to have better luck with the former. While she was picking out something peplum for me, we even found a peplum top for her, too. My mom also helped picked out the cardigan, necklace, and shoes from stuff I already had to complete my outfit. I ended up wearing this out to dinner with my husband. He approved.

Dress: Anne Klein via Boston Store; Cardigan: H&M; Shoes: C-Label; Necklace: Maurices

And here's how my mom wore her new peplum top:

Top: Calvin Klien via Boston Store; Skirt: Rafaella via Boston Store;
Cardigan: Sweater Project brand

Fashion blogger in the making, am I right? And yes, I know, we look exactly the same.

Although I didn't pick out the rest of the mom's outfit, doesn't it look like something I would've put together?? I love it! And I want to steal it! By the way, I should've had her take a picture of her walk-in closet. She has the most enviable closet. It's freakin' huge.

Dressed by Erin Again

My friend Erin's second look she picked out for me was also inspired by the ladies of Pretty Little Liars.

Source

Top: BCBG via E-Collectique Runway Boutique; Blazer: Kohl's; Jeans: Kut; Booties: Steve Madden;
Bracelets: Target and c/o Wantable; Necklace: Target

I know these are cheesy blogger poses - look into the distance and look down - but I was battling the wind on this one; and in all the other shots, either my jacket was flying open or all my hair was flying back or both. See?

I almost wore this outfit to the Needtobreathe concert we went to last Thursday, but at the last minute I changed into my Michael from Miggs T-shirt that had just arrived. I think it was appropriate concert-going attire, even though it was for a different band. People do that.

Although I wasn't very familiar with the music and it was kind of hard to see from where we were standing, it was a good show. And the ride back home, listening to boyband music and reminiscing, was even more fun!

Stolen from Facebook

Happy birthday, T!

Dressed by Gracey

Today we have an outfit picked out by Gracey from Fashion for Giants! Gracey made it super easy on me, combed through my archives a few weeks back, and paired things I already have but in a completely new way. This girl knows how to play with color. The only thing I changed about her suggestion was to nix the tights. At this point in the year, I'm pretty anti-tights if I can avoid them!

Blazer: Gap; Top: Christian Siriano; Skirt: New York & Company; Shoes: Payless

And oh hey, I finally got to debut my Christian Siriano top I bought back in February in New York! It's still a little too small, but let's just pretend that's not the case.