moving on up!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was wonderful.  This week I will definitely be shifting into the Christmas spirit though.  J and I are planning to go get our Christmas this weekend and I am crossing my fingers that it will be cold enough outside for us to build a fire while we decorate the tree.  We also have a Christmas cocktail to attend this weekend and I am so thankful that we actually have friends to play with now in this tiny town (which we did not really have a year ago.)  Everyone enjoy the last day of November, its almost over!

thankfulness

Today I am so thankful for a wonderful mom.  My husband had his phone stolen this weekend and I was in the mountains for girls’ weekend without internet access, so through my mom was able to stay in touch with J, make sure he was ok, etc.  Sometimes I feel like I take my family, friends and even my husband for granted.  In fact, I am incredibly blessed to have wonderful relationships with many people.  As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded that I am SO SO SO thankful to have people who love me and support me.  Times have been a little rougher than usual lately, but I have felt constantly buoyed up.  Thanks mom, sister and friends (who don’t even know about this blog).  You are all wonderful.

chilly outside!

Brrrr.  It seems like fall has finally arrived in NC.  Something about the misty humidity being just right, the low dark-grey clouds and the shorter days tell me that winter is on its way too.  The NC mountains even got snow this morning.  Although I will tire of winter quickly, this weather makes me excited for fires in our fireplace, red wine, cozy sweaters and reading on the couch under a pile of blankets.  (I like to keep my house really chilly, but pile on the layers – it makes for the sweetest sleep.)

Tonight I am babysitting (curse the life of a teacher and a grad student who are married and permanently broke), but tomorrow I’m getting together with friends for pumpkin carving, wine and lots of talk.  Its the carrot on the stick for me.  What are your plans for the weekend?

Back!

I may have mentioned that I dropped my camera this summer.  Right on its lens.  Anti-smooth.  So it has been hard to find the motivation to blog since then, as I like to include my own pictures.  My sister has been complaining that I am not updating though, so I am going to work on putting up updates even though I don’t have a camera/until I get one.  (As a teacher, with my husband in grad school, we are broke, broke, broke – so new camera will probably have to wait until Christmas.)

For anyone wondering, we survived all hurricane weather fine, although our small town was really torn up.  Things have recovered now, although I am not looking forward to the makeup days during Thanksgiving and Christmas break.  My guess is that student attendance will be low though, so perhaps it will just be easy days.

‘Round here, we are gearing up for Halloween.  Hopefully this weekend we will head to the pumpkin patch that we went to last year to pick out an awesome pumpkin and enjoy the fall weather.  We are also in soup making mode with this crispy weather – my favorite is chicken tortilla soup.  Whats your go-to for fall weather?

safe and sound

J and I are back in our apt and it has no damage and his car (which we left here when we went to stay with our parents) was thankfully not flooded.  I feel blessed that we survived and we don’t have to worry about storm related expenses or hardship.  That being said, my school system hasn’t had school for the last 2 days and the number of trees down everywhere in our town is awful.  Continue to keep those who suffered as a consequence of Irene in your prayers.  I hope for a speedy recovery for all affected.

LIFE IS CRAZY!

Between the first day of school today and the fact that all the counties surrounding my county are evacuating for the hurricane and have early release for school tomorrow, things are pretty intense here!  I am taking a break from blogging the 21 day challenge until Monday and my husband and I are headed West tomorrow afternoon with Mr. Zipper to visit our families and stay out of Irene’s way.  There are a lot of families who do not have adequate protection from storms/flooding here in Eastern NC (including many families at my school), so please keep them in your thoughts this weekend.

strange combos

Dressy and casual clothing items together, I am not sure I love this trend, on me or on 96% of other people.  But I tried it out today because I am tough.  I was still not won over.  Sorry for the shortest post evah.  School starts tomorrow (!)  I must prepare myself by relaxing and letting J cook me dinner.   Wish me luck on the first day of school!

Top ~ White House/Black Market, Shorts ~ JCrew

 

Bye for now! Until tomorrow!

Pile it on!

So Day 7 of the 21 day challenge was to layer accessories.  I went pretty simple and layered several of my pearl necklaces.  It was open house at my school so I figured I couldn’t go to crazy with accessories.  Didn’t want any parents meeting me for the first time to give me the side-eye. And to think of me as crazy accessory lady forevermore.  They would probably give me the side-eye for this pose thought. I look my neck is broken.  Awesome.

Top ~ Anthro, Shorts ~ Gap, Necklaces ~ gifted

 

This outfit also has a second remix of my shorts from Day 1. Woo! 2/3 of the way there!

Unconventional

The challenge for Day 6: To take an item of clothing and wear it in an unconventional way.   My cardigan is actually a robe!  I have never been brave enough to wear it outside of the house before, even though it is gorgeous, but I finally took the plunge.  So here I am wearing one of my favorite robes to work.  Yikes.

T-shirt ~ Banana Republic, Robe/Cardi ~ anthro lounge section, Shorts ~ Kohls, Sandals ~ Dansko

Mr. Zipper was especially desperate to join in on my outfit today.  Doesn’t he look dapper?

It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or who’s right…

Just Belt it, Belt It. I don’t know why the words Belt It immediately make me think of Michael Jackson, but its true.  So now Beat It is stuck in my head and probably in yours.  You’re welcome.

For Day 5 of the 21 Day Challenge I had to incorporate a belt.  Unfortunately since getting married last summer, I’ve gained quite a few pounds (BOOOOOO!) so this is one of the only belts I have that still fits.  I am pretty embarrassed that  I just admitted that to the internet.  Umm yea.  So anyhow, I wore this to go see Harry Potter with J.  (Finally!)  I told him he couldn’t avoid going with me any longer because I was afraid I wouldn’t get to see it in theaters.  And then I would pout at him. This is the only reason I am wearing jeans, because we were in the movie theater where it gets cold.  Because, believe me, it is still hotter than Satan’s armpit here in Eastern NC.

Without further ado, an outfit (with a belt!):

I hope you also enjoyed the sock in the picture. I rip my shoes and socks off by the door as soon as I get home from the gym, because I am disgusting.  And then I evidently leave them where they fall, also disgusting.  And classy.  Based on this post I am having confession Sunday.  Hmm. I am going to sign off now before I admit to anything else incriminating. Hope you had a great weekend!