Silk Style

I am so excited to be reviewing my very first product!  Just a few months ago, I was contacted to review a product for Joules.  Not being familiar with the company, I did what any girl would do and go straight to their website.  It didn't take long before I realized this was just my style.  Within five minutes of surfing, I had already made a wish list of about eight things I wanted!  For example, these adorable navy blue Wellies with a red bow.

When I received my care package in the mail, I had no idea what to expect.  I was so excited to unwrap this gorgeous silk scarf!

Hmmmm silk.  That's super fancy and what your grandma wears, right?  Wrong!  Sure, by now we all know how to style a good pashmina.  It's easy.  You can't mess it up!  In fact, the less you try the better it lays. But this scarf is smaller and silk, so how do you make it work for everyday outfits?

Well, my friends, that's where I come in. You really can't think too hard about it. Below are a few ways to wear a scarf like this:

1. Tie it to your purse for a splash of color
2. Wear it in your hair as a headband
3. Wear it as a belt
4. Tie it around your neck like a stewardess

As a belt. 

True stewardess fashion. 

 Going casual.

I really like how it compliments and spices up an otherwise plain pea coat, don't you?  If you go to the Joules site, you will see all the different women's jackets with scarves incorporated.

 

Tell me, how do you wear your scarves? (Especially square, silk ones!)  I feel like they are starting to spring up everywhere!

 

Linking up with Lindsey @ The Pleated Poppy for WIWW

My Weekend

This weekend somehow managed to be a productive one while being a bit under the weather. All last week I kept waking up progressively sicker and then by Friday I had a full blown, knock you on your butt cold. BOOOOO

Saturday I woke up pretty miserable but the sun was shining and my husband forced convinced me to stop laying around in my filth and to seize the day! (It really went down more like this: Bribed me with donuts then told me to shower, take some meds and we were going out!) Regardless how it went down, I'm glad I got myself up and moving because later I was able to catch up on some things around the house and turn an otherwise lazy Saturday into something productive.

Sunday, my friend Sarah and I decided to hit the Grand Opening of the Lilly Pulitzer store in Tysons. I managed to keep composure and not buy everything I saw, just an agenda and some croakies.  I mainly went to check out the beautiful store and for the free champagne!

While we were out we decided to hit up a few other stores which somehow brought more champagne into the equation (Apparently I was out for champagne and not to shop! Oops).  Needless to say we had a lot of fun! Oh, I almost forgot, I found the perfect dress for formal night on the cruise, I can't wait! It's one of those perfect timeless dresses that I can keep and wear even when I'm 40 (as long as I stay the same size) and not look outdated. Where's the picture you ask? I think I want to debut it on the ship where I will have the right shoes, hair and jewelry to go with it. Otherwise I will be doing the dress a huge injustice by just throwing it on, or even worse, taking a picture of it on the hanger!

Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend and is staying healthy this winter so far. I must say, I'm grateful to finally be on the mend with this cold! Bring on Valentine's week!!

 Almost forgot, cute Milo pic from the weekend. It just doesn't feel right without one!

Linking up with Molly @ still being Molly for YOLO Mondays! AND with Sami @ Sami's Shenanigans for Weekend Update!

High Five!

Not only do I love Fridays because that means the start to the weekend, but because H54F is my favorite post of the week! It forces me to look back at all the random pictures I've taken throughout the week and remember the picture-worthy events.

1. Massive Lilly sale that I just couldn't pass up. All of this stuff was on super clearance, we're talking 75% off people!
2. My sorority just welcomed their newest members last month and when I saw these bid day t-shirts on Facebook, I just HAD to have one! They were so sweet and mailed me one. Two of my favorite things; GPhiB and Disney, COMBINED!
3. Found some cute cruise ribbon on Etsy! I can't wait to incorporate this ribbon into my Fish Extender gifts! (wondering what that nonsense is? Read all about it here and here)
4. Milo got a new bed this week and I think he finds it sufficient for nap time.
5. Last night I went to the Melting Pot with a friend for Restaurant Week and it was sooooo good! Who doesn't love melted cheese and chocolate?!

Hope everyone has a FANTABULOUS weekend! I'm attempting a long run....dun dun dun! I'll let you know how it goes.

Linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk and Jeanette @ Life Rearranged!

 

Craft Room Makeover

I think I've mentioned our "nook" area in the house before ( I was using it as my office), but now I'm excited to share its face lift! For some reason, it is the only room in our house that I just couldn't seem to get right. It was a place that housed all the things your couldn't find a home for elsewhere. It was beginning to look cluttered and let's face it, it was unused space. I wanted to make it functional. A little corner of our house that was all mine.

Since I started this blog, I have tried my hand at sewing. And of course I opened my very own Etsy shop and shared some of my tutorials here with you! So what better thing to convert this unused space, then to make it a craft/sewing nook?!

Here is what it looked like before:

 Cluttered with no real purpose or function....booooo!

So here it goes, I did not spend a ton of money to make this space functional. I mainly re-purposed a few things from around the house and rearranged the furniture. The few items I did buy, I got for a steal and others I made. Alas, my organized, neat and modern sewing nook!

Isn't this chair just perfect?! I found it at Home Goods on final clearance and it just HAD to come home with me! It's adds just the perfect touch of femininity to the room, don't you think?!

My mom is a Thirty One consultant so that was my inspiration. I had recently bought the bookcase cubes and the wall organizer from her, so from there I built the room around those few pieces!

I picked up a few knick knacks from Home Goods to really tie it all together. I used an old apothecary jar from my bathroom I wasn't using and filled it with sewing notions.

I stole this lamp from my sunroom downstairs because the colors were too perfect. I of course couldn't help but pick up this sign from Home Goods because the colors were perfect!

Lastly, I attempted to make a place to hang my ribbon, thread and scissors. (After bragging to my mom about how I did this all on my own, she proceeded to tell me it needed to be fixed...buzz kill). Good news is, she is coming over this weekend to help me make it just right! I will be sure to post a tutorial for you sometime next week to show you how I made this inexpensive but functional ribbon and thread wall organizer!

Hope you enjoyed my little corner and are now inspired to find that place in your house that you can call your own and actually make it your own!

Trying a new link up! - Saw it, Pinned it, Did it! (SPD) with Stephanie @ Beautiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm & Carry On

There Was an Old Lady Who Lived in Her Shoe....

Like most women, I love a good pair of shoes! In fact I have a theory as to why women are obsessed with shoes. When you go shopping for clothes you are often times left disappointed because what looked amazing on the mannequin just doesn't seem to look the same on you. Or, when you finally decide to treat yourself to that great new pair of jeans every one's talking about but have to buy the next size up because you gained a few pounds over the holidays, ugh!

Let's face it, it's always something when it comes to clothes and looking at ourselves in the mirror. We as women are never satisfied with our bodies. However, the one thing that will always boost your self esteem, no matter how bad you feel about yourself, is a GREAT NEW PAIR OF SHOES! Am I right, or am I right?!

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to spend your entire paycheck on a pair of shoes, sometimes it's the cheap ones that make the biggest statement. At least that's the case for me.

I found these great shoes at Target a few weeks ago (mentioned here) and had to practice major self control to not buy all of them. They had every color in my size AND on clearance. That's a sign right?! OK, maybe not, so I chose to be semi-responsible and only the blue and magenta. I probably should have bought them all seeing as they were only $9.95 each. That's 4 for the cost of 1 pair!

I paired these shoes with one of my favorite outfits (I promise I'll put it away for a few weeks)! Mustard pants and polka dots! Anyone else pick up a pair of these super cute shoes? If so, what color did you chose?!

Linking up with Lindsey @ The Pleated Poppy for WIWW

Snoozer Bowl Monday

I would definitely consider myself a football fan (with the Redskins being my team of choice), but there was nothing about this Super Bowl (or Snoozer Bowl as I was referring to it as) that got me excited for Sunday. But like most other Americans, I found myself among friends indulging in beer and greasy food to watch the biggest game (and commercials) of the year.

I decided I would root for San Francisco since Baltimore has always rubbed me the wrong way (no offense to all my friends who are Ravens fans). I really have no logical reason as to why I dislike Baltimore, but I just felt that for this game I would be a 49ers fan!

Fast forward a few hours and I realized I could not have been more wrong about this being a Snoozer Bowl! After the crazy power outage, the game turned around and became a real nail biter! Even with just 4 seconds left it was anyone's game, but alas, the Ravens came out Super Bowl Champions.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and enjoyed the Super Bowl no matter your reason for watching (commercials, Beyoncé or to actually watch the game).

Of course this wouldn't be a Super Bowl post if I didn't leave you with a few of my favorite memories from the night.

 



I can't get enough of this commercial. I think it was my favorite!

 

Stole this from my friend @itsmikelara!

 

What was your favorite memory from the night?! Was it the power outage, Beyoncé's performance, or an awesome commercial?! Please share!

 

Linking up with Molly @ still being Molly for YOLO Mondays! 

H54F

For those of you who follow me on Instagram (Mbolt16) you might have noticed I was not in VA this past week, but in fact I was in Puerto Rico. I'm using this as my excuse for not blogging. You see, I have not figured out how to plan my posts in advanced partly because I want my blog to reflect what I am currently doing and not something I did last week, and partly due to sheer laziness. I think I need to find a happy medium! No need to fear though! I am not going out of town for the next month and should be able to keep you updated on my life until then.

Time for my favorite post of the week (sometimes my only post of the week! ooops). It's High Five for Friday y'all!

1. Keri and I of course packed matching Lilly for dinner one night.
2. I was a hostess for my mom's Thirty One party and got all this stuff for only $50! (if you need a consultant check out her site here!)
3. FINALLY got the right size in my gold glitter Toms! My husband got them for me for Christmas but they were the wrong size twice! (helpful tip: order the kids Toms as they usually have the gold glitters in stock AND they are cheaper! You just need to order two sizes smaller than normal. For me I ordered 5.5 because my regular Toms are 7.5).
4. This is a picture of the beach at Palomino Island in PR. It really got me excited for Castaway Cay on our cruise next month! I've decided private beaches are pretty much the best idea ever.
5. Keri and I on the boat with our fabulous hats!

Linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk and Jeannett @ Life Rearranged!