Friday's Fancies - Labor Day

In the spirit of fall, and Labor Day weekend, this week I put together my very first Friday's Fancies outfit. If you're unfamiliar with Friday's Fancies, do head over to {av}'s blog Long Distance Loving and see what it's all about. I'm really excited to share my first Friday's Fancies with you today.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for fall and cooler temperatures. Unfortunately, fall probably won't make an appearance here in Florida for a while, but this Friday's Fancies allows me to dream of cooler weather and a perfect fall outfit. Friday's Fancies is also all about dreaming big, so here goes:

[1]  Nautical themes are one of my favorite go-to looks, so it should be no surprise that I chose this fun striped racerback tank by Wilt. The front pocket adds a little bit of playfulness, and the navy and white stripes are perfect for a Labor Day near the water.
[2]  As a nod to my favorite college football team, since it is the season, I'd love adding a pop of yellow (or maize if you will) to my very blue outfit. This Big Buddha Jamie bag is the perfect way to add color to an otherwise very monochromatic outfit. If you know me, you know that I love duffel bag sized purses. They're great for carrying all of my stuff!
[3]  These skinny jeans from Citizens of Humanity pair nicely with a long top like the tank I chose. A great pair of skinny jeans are always a must in my closet.
[4]  You can never go wrong with a pair of Steve Madden Pippette wedges. I already own a couple pairs, but these gold platforms would go perfectly with this striped tank and skinny jeans. A girl can dream, right?
[5]  To finish off my Labor Day outfit I'm going to add this beautiful Chan Luu wrap bracelet. While at work yesterday, I fell in love with a customer's Chan Luu bracelet, and I'd love one of my own. These wrap bracelets are some serious arm candy if you ask me.

Now head on over to Long Distance Loving and browse

all of the Friday's Fancies outfits!

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I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Are you ready for fall?


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Today you can also find me guest blogging
about my favorite Florida beaches
over at Lindsay's blog, Life as Lindsay.

Life is Not Easy

I absolutely love this quote and feel that it applies to my life at this very moment.

Most importantly life is not easy, everything happens for a reason, but life is worth it.

Source: stumbleupon.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Just a couple of days ago, my husband and I were talking about how moving to Florida was meant to be. Even though we sometimes struggle with not knowing many people down here, we know that all good things take time. We're exactly where we're supposed to be, and things will work out for us even if we cannot see it at the moment.

Keep your past in the rearview mirror,
check it once in a while to remember where you've been,
and then keep driving forward.

Growing up we believe in fairy tales, magic, and happy endings. Over the years, pain and struggle make us less likely to keep that childhood innocence, but it doesn't mean we should give up on our dreams or stop trying to fully live life. That's what this life is all about after all.... living. Really living. Like the quote above reads, "Nobody said that it'd be easy, they just promised it would be worth it." Take chances, and let them change your life. It will be worth it. Believe it.

In the Bag!

Today is day 18 of the photo challenge over at All Kinds of Complicated,

so that means I'm sharing what's in my bag.

Yes. I'm one of those girls who carries around a big purse, or duffel bag as I like to call it, so I have lots of stuff inside it. Since there are so many random little things inside my bag, I'll share just a few of my essentials.

I think the only item that really stands out as odd is the Flip video camera. You mean you don't carry around a video camera in your purse? I bought this video camera, after my husband and I moved to Florida, in hopes of capturing fun videos to share with family and friends. You just never know when you might need to hop out of the car to video an alligator or two (like in these videos HERE). Not to mention catching the occasional shuttle launch (you can read about that HERE). Video cameras actually really come in handy for sharing fun stuff with loved ones who are far away.

Anyways, that's what you'll find in my bag.

Unfortunately my dSLR camera does not fit in my purse,

or you would probably find that in there too!

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Oh and speaking about photography, you can find me guest blogging for a dear blog friend.

Alisha is has an etsy shop featuring some wonderful photography of hers.

Check out her photos while browsing her blog!

Anyways, what are you waiting for?

Head over to her blog, because I'm sharing a recipe for some very delicious macaroni & cheese.

You're hungry, right? Go visit Alisha's blog: Alisha and Brandon. 

Balancing Act & a Photo Challenge

Why does achieving balance in life have to be so difficult? Lately I've been having a hard time balancing everything that I would love to do. Not to mention doing the things I also need to do. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to do it all. There also don't seem to be enough dollars in the bank account to do much other than just get by for now.

Laundry.Cooking.Loving.Working.Blogging

Creating.Resting.Enjoying.Breathing.Visiting

Shopping.Exercising.Laughing.Crying

Folding.Cleaning.Caring.Talking.Helping

Balancing all parts of life is much more difficult than when I was in college, because there were less responsibilities then and only one person, that was me, to worry about years ago. Now I have another person, my husband, to take care of as well. He is very high on my list of priorities, and sometimes I feel like such a failure when I have no energy to cook us dinner. Ramen noodles and turkey sandwiches seem to have replaced the chicken dinners that we were used to eating. Not to mention that ramen noodles are cheaper, and they're one thing that seems to work very well on a tight budget. As much as I'd love to come home and cook healthy and delicious meals for us, our finances and time constraints get in the way. Learning how to balance every part of life is never-ending.

There's also the fact that we just moved across the country, and it seems like I never have enough time to squeeze in a phone call to family and friends anymore either. I surely hope they haven't forgotten me, because I think about them often. It's hard to show you care from thousands of miles away. I wish I had enough time to tell each and every one of them how much I love and miss them each day of my life!

This balance thing only seems to get tougher with age. I know I need to be more kind with myself, because most of the time I'm my own worst enemy. It's just that I have such high expectations for myself, and when I don't meet them it feels like a big giant failure. Balance, why are you so difficult to achieve?

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With the whole balance thing being an issue lately, I've decided to start doing a few photo challenge posts. Instead of wracking my brain for blog post thoughts and ideas, I'll share a photo from our life!

One of my favorite blogger friends, Michelle, over at Michabella Living a Life of Love thought of me when she saw a fun photo challenge over on All Kinds of Complicated. Isn't that sweet of her?! I'm so happy that Michelle thought of me when she saw this fun challenge.

The challenge started at the beginning of August, but I'm just now joining.
I'll be starting today on Day 17, and, since I'm starting so late,
I will carry this into the first half of September as well.

I quickly fell in love with this quirky little fish. While shopping at Anthropologie, I noticed this little guy on a shelf next to some soaps and candles. I knew it would be right at home in our office. I threw some of my earrings inside of it's mouth. Who knows, it might even be at home next to the bathroom sink.

Happy Wednesday!
What's on your shelf?

Something New

Hey everyone! I haven't blogged in almost a week, and I've missed you all.

You may remember how I mentioned that dresses are one of my new favorite things lately, so today I wanted to share a new way (at least new to me) to wear a dress. I have no idea why I never thought to wear a top over my dresses before, but it's a great way to make your dress do double duty for you! There's no reason that a dress cannot also be a skirt. What do you think?

I swear, you really do learn something new every day. Sometimes I forget that I can take risks (like wearing a top over a dress is really much of a risk... but you have to start somewhere) with my clothes, and, for the most part, no one really cares. It's fun turning dresses into skirts. I always used to love magic tricks. Who knew I'd still be transforming things late into my twenties. The fun never ends.

1) After realizing I could wear my dresses as skirts, it really made my closet seem much larger than it is. I threw on my tank from Forever21 and cinched my waist with a coral belt. A racerback over regular tank straps mixes things up a bit.

2) My aunt gave me these earrings years ago, and I realized I hadn't worn them in a while. She bought them at a small boutique jewelry store called The Silver Arrow. You can find it on the small main street that runs through Evergreen, Colorado. I lived in Evergreen for a while, and it's a really great little mountain town not too far from Denver. I highly recommend a visit to the town if you're ever exploring Denver and the surrounding areas.

3) One of my very favorite colors is turquoise, and the closest nail polish I've been able to find in turquoise is Essie's Turquoise and Caicos. I love imagining that I'm on a beach in Turks and Caicos when I wear this polish. It never hurts to dream a little.

4) I found this coral dress at Dillard's last year,
but here's a dress that is very similar: Delia's coral eyelet dress

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Happy Monday!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend,
and don't forget that sometimes it pays to take outfit risks.
You never know what you might learn about your favorite item of clothing. (:

Tunes on Tuesday

Today I simply wanted to share

some of my favorite music with you.

My playlists change a lot, but right now
I'm listening to the following:

Stereo Love by Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina. We heard this song a while relaxing next to a pool in Las Vegas, and now it makes me think of sunny skies and chilling by a pool. "Aaaah".

My cousin introduced me to this song.  Lovers' Carvings by Bibio. It starts out sort of slow, but after about a minute and a half the song becomes more upbeat and sort of makes me want to jam.

What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club. Not sure exactly what it is about this song, but I love it. I hope you enjoy this one! (The music video is fun too.)

This acoustic cover of an Outkast song is amazing. Hey Ya by Obadiah Parker is such a beautiful version of a great song. I challenge you not to sing along with this one.

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Have you listened to any of these songs before?

What are some of your favorite songs?

Happy Tuesday!