Swoon Style and Home

An Unstoppable Rebel Force

{My friend Colleen knows exactly what I am talking about}

That's me.

I have been going on a total spending bender lately. This is bad. Really bad. And it's not even house stuff, which I can always justify spending money on, because, well, it's "for the house". No no no, I have been spending money on me: clothes, shoes, pretty things. I think it started when Jamie and I went to Lancaster for the weekend. It had been a really long time that I went shopping for clothes for myself. I've also lost some pounds this year, which was a goal of mine. Honestly, this weight loss has made me feel amazing about myself - such a nice confidence booster, especially when others tell me they see it (and so do I). And with that, I unleashed my inner varsity shopper. She's been lurking for years and now she is out and oh man. Unstoppable Rebel Force.

I thought I'd share what I've been buying. Care to see?

First thing's first, my friends. I present: my new shoes by the amazing Manolo Blahnik:

I have a pair of Manolos already - a basic black pump. Yes, the are expensive. But, they are worth every red cent. I wear heels every single day to work (hello: I'm 5'1"). Manolos are super comfortable: like butter on your foot. I am not exaggerating. I wanted a new pretty pair and found these gorgeous pinky colored slingbacks with patent cap toe and quilting. They are divine.

Now for the clothes!

I've been buying more feminine things: dresses, skirts, etc. I started to get into a rut of wearing work pants and a top every.single.day. And while that is super easy and totally fine, I realized it was starting to affect me a bit. Fact is, I feel better about myself when I'm wearing something pretty. I've also come to realize that wearing a dress is quite possibly the easiest way to look put together and polished: grab dress, grab shoes, grab jewelry = instant sophistication and very little work to make it look good. Here are some dresses I bought:

New York & Company Blue Wrap Dress

Banana Republic Jersey Wrap Dress

And finally: my new skinny jeans! I have found that Gap jeans fit me best, so that's what I go with. I was psyched to get their Always Skinny jeans, which are available in a mid-rise. Yay.

And there you have it! A little tour of my shopping excursions of late. I am taking a break for awhile from shopping ... at least until Spring when I look at my closet and realize I have *nothing* to wear. Ha. What about you? Found any lovelies lately? Please share!

See you swoon,

A shower head for my shower

This was about two and a half years ago but we did get a shiny new Moen shower head for my bridal shower and since Kelly and I lived in an apartment we held off using it until we bought a house. Well, even after buying our first home the shower head we were given went unused. Thank you Bed Bath and Beyond for being so understanding and letting me exchange my shower head for one that we could use...two years after the gift was given!
Here is what we had before. A fixed Speakman shower head with a second shower head attachmnet that we could remove, you can see why using the Moen shower head that had a cord of its own would just be too much. I think we would risk getting tangled and possible strangulation (yes I know, a little dramatic!).

I know you are staring at the pink tile. Stop it right this instant! One day, if I have my way it will all be beautiful white subway tile, this takes guts that I do not yet possess. I will say that installing this shower head was super easy, I would show you how it was done but it really involved unscrewing some of those fasteners and then screwing them back in.

This is our wonderful new Waterpik shower head that you saw in my favorite things post last week:

So shiny :) I love it and now you must forgive me for not sticking around this morning because I have a date with some pink tile a shiny Waterpik.

Happy Monday!

See you swoon,

Flat Boots! Take Three!

I have to send a huge thank you to Jamie! A few weeks ago I was lamenting the fact that I had received a gorgeous pair of flat riding boots for Christmas and couldn't wear them to work - I just couldn't figure out how to incorporate them into a business casual wardrobe. Jamie tonto jumped on it and posted a slew of ideas ... and boy did I take the bait! I present three of my flat-boot outfits inspired by Jamie's post!

Dress + Tights + Boots

I loved the navy dress + white cardigan + mustard tights + riding boot combo in the very first picture that Jamie posted. I realized I had every single piece on hand. So I put them all together. My navy dress is actually a j.crew strapless cotton sundress. I knew it would be covered by the cardigan so I didn't sweat it. The cardigan is from Target. The belt is an oldie that I found on clearance at Kohl's. The mustard tights are from Macys on clearance. I did my hair in a messy bun and kept the accessories super simple. Voila!

Boots + Skirt + Cowl Neck + Knee Socks

I immediately swooned when I saw the picture in the middle of Jamie's post that had the boots with a skirt and cowl neck sweater and belt. It looked so effortlessly chic. I decided to put my own spin on it . First, I tried my new (at the Banana Republic outlet on clearance for something like $5) cowl neck cap sleeve top with my green jersey wrap skirt (Target) and fun grey cable knee socks (they only look like a knit - they're actually the weight of trouser socks). It looked really good, but I felt a little too bare for Winter. See?

So to make it a little more Winter and office appropriate, I grabbed my ombre dot cardigan (j.crew) and decided my hair would look a little better in a messy pony. I threw on gold hoops and done! Perfect for the office - cute and chic but not too casual.

Boots + Skinny Jeans + White Top

I normally am not in the office on Fridays but on one particular Friday I was. My office has a jeans day each Friday so of course I was excited to wear my skinny jeans. I loved the very first casual picture that Jamie posted so I decided to emulate that one. First, I tucked my skinnies into the riding boots. Then I scored an adorable kind of flowy top at Gap for less than $20. I paired it with a long white tank and here is the outfit! I paired this with my big gold hoops (to pick up the gold on the buttons on the top).

And there you have it - three cute outfits courtesy of my dear sister in law. Thanks Jamie! If the weather ever cools down, I have a few more that I'd love to try out, but they require layers and wool sweaters and it has been so hot lately that wearing them isn't exactly appealing.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

See you swoon,

These are a few of my favorite things...

I now have that song stuck in my head dang it! As I was getting ready this morning I noticed some of my favorite things that make actual getting ready in the morning fun, well, as fun as it can be when it's early and all you want to do is stay in bed. I am sure all of you have your daily rituals and favorite products that get you up and moving so I would love to hear what they are, you know I want you to share because then I can try them out too!

Organix Coconut Milk Shampoo & Conditioner-yummmmmmm

Clean & Clear Morning Burst Skin Brightening Cleanser-smells amazing!

Just bought this shower head a couple days ago...well actually exchanged it for one I received as a gift at my bridal shower (two years ago). I am installing it this weekend but the anticipation of using it is so exciting! Next week's showers will be fantastic!

Waterpik Aquascape Shower Head:

I do not use these every morning to get ready but I had some great finds this week that have made me so, so happy. Not that this girl needs any more scarves or v neck t-shirts but I just cannot resist. Oh and in my defense, Shanna was no help in keeping me from buying these, she encouraged it actually and told me they would change my life. I have to admit, a comfy v neck really can change your life-haha!

Old Navy Vintage Tee:

And I have to thank my mom for the lovely scarves she bought for me at Target the other day. They are so springy, and fun, and STRIPED!!!!

Mossimo Woven Scarves:

I also got this in navy and white, surprise, surprise! I really have to start taking more pictures of my outfits for you all! I will, I promise...as soon as I get my new iPhone :)

Happy Thursday everyone!

See you swoon,

Closet case ...

I sat around this past Saturday trying to find something to do with myself. This doesn't happen often. I rearely slow down and typically have massive to do lists that are completely unrealistic for any human being to finish in a week let alone two days. See, of course I could go out shopping or buy materials for projects I have in mind but I am trying to save some dough right now so I had to come up with a task that would cost close to nothing...or free.
At about 3:00PM I decided I would tear my closet apart and try to find a way to create space for hanging clothes, kind of late in the day to be starting a project but I jumped in anyway. I have a small closet in our middle bedroom to hang dresses but right now my wedding dress resides in this space so I have a limited amount of room for anything else. I need more closet space! I know that some people reading this is probably saying, "typical", but no really I needed more room to hang shirts and pants and it was time to take matters into my own hands.

I started ripping things apart before I took pictures so excuse the insane looking shelves, this is not how they normally look on any given day. This is a sort of shot of what the closet looked like before. The previous owners had made this closet and built the walls around the shelves (I learned this the hard way, more on that in a minute). Not many of the homes on our street have any closet space so I was thrilled to have this in our bedroom. It worked well for the first year here but I really did need more space for hangers.

This was Kelly's side...and some of my side (I needed his space too, mostly for shoes)

This takes me back to my early pre-teen years when I would be so dramatic about having to clean my room that I would tear the whole thing apart. Makes me laugh thinking about that now especially because I did it for fun this time!

These are the brackets holding up the shelves. My original plan was to take out the smaller top shelf and move the larger second shelf up. Midway through ripping these out of the wall my husband suggested just hanging the hangers from the shorter shelf. OOOOH man I did not want to admit this at first but this was a much better idea. I was creating a lot more work for myself than was really necessary.

Now, here comes the issue with the previous owners building the wall around the shelves. They are way too long to come out of the closet in one piece. Yup. Learned that after I had one hanging and jammed between the two walls. Out came the Dremmel. This actually worked out better because I could cut two of the shelves on my side creating hanging space and leave the shelves on my husband's side for his clothes. He was happy he wasnt losing his shelves in this project (he also has a second closet with a dresser and hanging poles so he didn't need the space like I did).

Here is my side all done! I always knew I had a lot of gray, white, black, and navy clothing but this really showcases that huh? I need more color in my life STAT!