Debbie

Tank: Old Navy Cardigan: Target Jeans: NY&C Flats: Payless Necklace: From Debbie

April 20th is a special day in my family.  It's the day that my mom's step-mom, Debbie, passed away from a nearly year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.  I've written about Debbie before, when talking about her love for polka dots, but I wanted to share more about her.

Debbie and my grandpa got married several years before I was born, so she was in my life from the moment I was born, and was very much my third grandma.  You couldn't have met a sweeter person.  Debbie had the most gentle spirit.  She was generous and loving, and although my brother, cousins, and I were not her biological grandchildren, she loved us like we were.

I am one of those weird people who saves old voicemails from people so I can listen to their voices whenever I want.  I have a voicemail that Debbie left me in the fall of 2009, about 6 months before she died.  We were getting together to celebrate my mom and dad's 25th wedding anniversary and she wanted to know what kind of cake everyone in my family liked.  At the time, she was battling her cancer, doing aggressive treatments and on a clinical trial, but she still wanted to make the celebration as special as possible - that's just the kind of person she was.  I love having this voicemail, and I listen to it often.  Sometimes I'll play it for my grandpa so he can hear her voice again, and he smiles the whole time.

This necklace was Debbie's.  When she died, she wanted me to have it.  It was a special necklace to her, and she wore it all the time.  I love wearing it, because it makes me feel close to her.  I had a dream about her after she died, and she was wearing this necklace in the dream.  I have worn it every year on the anniversary of her passing, and will continue to do so.

Here is a picture of Grandpa and Debbie on their 25th wedding anniversary - she's wearing the necklace :)  What a beautiful woman.

Five Days, Five Ways: Casual Friday

It's the last day of Whitney and Fran's Five Days, Five Ways link up!  Today's challenge is Casual Friday.  While you've seen many of my winter casual looks, I wanted to finally put together some springy outfits :)  Since I often dress a little casual on the blog, I wanted to interpret "casual Friday" as weekend wear.  These outfits are things you could expect to see me in on the weekends this spring and summer.

 Tee: Old Navy Skirt: Old Navy Flats: Target (thrifted, NWT)

I love these knit skirts from Old Navy - they're comfortable and versatile...and the price is right!  I bought this skirt over the winter, and I've been dying to wear it without tights.  I have big plans for this skirt over the course of the next few months...chambray shirt, tees, with my denim jacket...it's going to be much loved!

 Tee: Target Shorts: Old Navy Scarf: Gift from a friend Sandals: Born via DSW

These shorts are my go-to in the summer.  They're so comfortable and they go with so much.  I love wearing scarves all year round, and I knew I had to include a casual outfit with a scarf.

Dress: Old Navy Cardigan: Target Necklace: From Mom Sandals: Target

One thing I love about maxi dresses is that they look really nice, but you feel like you're wearing pajamas.  This outfit might look less casual, but I would totally wear this on a weekend, shopping with a friend, out to lunch, even to the grocery store!

Dress: Old Navy Flats: Payless

Like the previous outfit, I like to be able to just throw on a dress and some comfortable flats or sandals and go.  It's incredibly easy, but it still looks pretty cute!  I love the color of this dress - so bright and warm!

Shirt: Thrifted American Eagle Jeans: NY&C Shoes: TOMS

Yes, this is a ridiculous pose, but going through my pictures, I BORE MYSELF looking at my like two poses I ever do.  This is how I feel about the weekend...excited...and sassy...??  Whatever.  I love wearing cuffed jeans and a casual button up shirt on weekends.  I have a few shirts that are similar to this, and they get tons of wear over the spring and summer seasons.  I wear them with skirts, jeans, shorts, you name it.

I'm so glad you stuck with me this week with all my posts for Five Days, Five Ways!  I'm hoping to do some kind of little recap or something in the next day or two about it, so stay tuned, friends!

Five Days, Five Ways: Olive & Pink Floral Dress

It's Day Four of the Five Days, Five Ways challenge hosted by Whitney and Fran.  Today's item to remix is a dress!

I chose this colorful floral Target dress that I thrifted (new) from Goodwill.  It's one of my most worn dresses.  I usually just wear it with a cardigan (which I'm demonstrating here), but this challenge pushed me to try some new ways to wear it, too!

Denim jacket: Levi's Boots: Guess Necklace: From Mom

I just got my first denim jacket since I was little, and I knew it would get a lot of wear with my dresses. I kind of feel like a cowgirl in this outfit, but not in a costumey way.  I'd wear this dress to work or out on the weekends.  It would also look cute with some flats.

Cardigan: Target Tights: Target Boots: Target Necklace: From Mom

I first wore this outfit here, in the beginning of March.  It is a wintery way to wear this dress!  One of the reasons I like this dress so much is because it looks great with or without tights/leggings, and the colors are appropriate for year-round wear.

Vest: Old Navy Belt: Thrifted Sandals: Target

I thought I would try pairing my vest with this dress.  While I'm usually not one to wear lots of sleeveless things, I love the colors together here.  I can't wait to wear this outfit in the middle of summer when it's hot outside! 

Cardigan: Eddie Bauer, thrifted Belt: Target Flats: Target, thrifted NWT 

This is normally how I wear this dress in the spring and summer.  Easy: throw on a cardigan, some flats, and a belt for a little something extra.  I've also worn my coral cardigan and a camel cardigan with this dress, as well.  It is predictable, but it works.

Tee: Old Navy Belt: From a dress Flats: Payless

This outfit is the biggest stretch for me!  I've seen bloggers do this before (wear a dress as a skirt), but I've never tried it, for fear it wouldn't look good on my body.  I actually quite like how this turned out!  The color of this shirt looks nice with the colors in the dress, and the wide elastic belt kept the bottom of the shirt tucked in.  I'll have to try this look out again with other dresses and shirts!

There you have my five outfits with this dress!  Be sure to look at all the other bloggers linking up with Fran and Whitney this week.  There are some awesome looks being shared :)

Wicked Witch

Dress: Target (NWT from Goodwill) Cardigan: Target Tights: Target Boots: Target Necklace: From Mom

Yep, I'm wearing green tights today.  They kind of make me feel like Elphaba (Wicked reference, anyone?), but I don't really care.  I've had these tights for a few years now, and I think this is the second time I've worn them.  I decided to pull them out for Kate's No Longer Neglected challenge and style an outfit around them.  What do you think about the green tights?  Are they too "out there," or should I hang onto them?

Hard Candy = Grandma Candy?

Shirt: Old Navy Cardigan: Target Jeans: Old Navy Flats: Payless Necklace: F21

I drive about 20ish minutes to my school and work each day.  Rather than listening to the radio in the car on the way, I listen to podcasts.  I have several long-time favorites (Radiolab, Stuff You Should Know, Stuff Mom Never Told You), but one new-to-me podcast has been dominating my car rides lately.  It's called Spilled Milk.  The hosts of the show, Matthew and Molly, talk about various food items, try new recipes, and have a ton of fun.  I literally laugh out loud in my car listening to them (check out the episode about apples, which is one of my all-time favorites!).

This morning, I was listening to Spilled Milk, and they were talking about hard candies, but they kept referring to them as "Grandma candy," as the only people that buy those candies (butterscotch discs, Milk Maid caramels, Werther's Originals, etc.) are grandmas.  I laughed, because sitting in my desk at work is a bag of Werther's Originals...apparently, I'm a grandma.  Whatever, hard candy is delicious.

I do not know Matthew and Molly and have no affiliation with Spilled Milk, other than being an avid fan.  I just enjoy the show and want to spread the love.

Oh, this old thing?

Shirt: Old Navy Cardigan: Target Skirt: Target, thrifted Tights: Target Boots: Bare Traps Scarf: Old Navy

I'm linking up with Blue Paper Lanterns today, with the "Oh, this old thing?" link up.  The idea is to find something old in your closet and wear it with pride!

As I looked through my closet, I noticed that most of my shirts, pants, skirts, and dresses are fairly new (within the last 2 years or so).  The older things I own are accessories and shoes.  I believe this scarf is the oldest thing I have in my closet.  I got it when I was a junior in high school (2004-2005).  I bought it with two henleys, one pink and one magenta, and only wore this scarf with one of those two shirts.  I definitely was more of a "uniform" dresser back in high school.  Top X only went with Cardigan Y, which perfectly matched my embroidered jeans...that kind of thing.

Here is a super close-up selfie of me, as a junior in high school, wearing the same scarf with the magenta shirt:

Hahahahahaha.

Navy Lace

Dress: Target Cardigan: Target Tights: Target Shoes: TOMS Belt: Thrifted

My first outfit post!  I am a graduate student and work at my university as a graduate assistant.  Today was my first "real" day back at work after a 5 week winter break!  I wanted to wear something comfortable but cute, so I chose this new lace dress I got on major clearance at Target!  This dress is already a favorite.  It has short sleeves, so I can wear it all year round.  I love the rich navy blue, and the lacy detail is beautiful!

Kevin bought me these gray wool TOMS shoes for my birthday (he buys me a new pair each year).  I love them because they're comfortable, versatile, and just plain darling!  It's nice to have a pair of TOMS that can be dressed up a little more (as opposed to the classic TOMS style).  I also really like and support the mission of TOMS shoes.  Have you ever purchased a pair of TOMS shoes?