Monday, December 15, 2014

Winter Wonderlands and the Same Pants

 I can't believe it's almost Christmas. Crazy the way time flies. This post today I'm actually wearing the same pair of leggings in all three sets of pictures, which are from three different events. I bought the leggings on Thanksgiving and totally  love them. They were not on sale, but were definitely under $16 and I've pretty much been wearing them nonstop. They are super thick and have a faux leather stripe that runs down the side. They were purchased at Walmart, and I seriously think it's my best buy there ever!


Cardigan and Necklace: Old Navy. Leggings: Walmart: Dress/Tunic: Ross. Boots: Kmart.




The 3 pictures were taken at the North Pole at the Fair event, except the one of my daughter-that was outside the event. I've been getting my daughter's Christmas pictures taken with the same company almost every year since she was born. This year they decided to expand and move to the Puyallup fair grounds. It was pretty awesome. The pictures with Santa are now by reservation and while you are there they have bouncy houses, crafts to color and make tree ornaments, a Lego area, writing letters to Santa, and a snack bar to purchase cookies, hot coco, and scones, among other activities. 


Shirt and Shoes: Kmart. Pants: Walmart. 




The pictures above are from last weekend. I have absolutely no eye makeup on because I had an eye infection that basically caused me to be out of work for a total of 3 days, Yeah, it was that bad. But due to not wanting to contaminate my makeup, I had to forego it. This was at the Festival of Trees in Tacoma. The event is for Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. All proceeds go to there. Basically they have about 60 trees that are auctioned off. The trees are uniquely decorated. I saw several Dr. Suess trees, some SeaHawks themed ones, a Frozen one, and one that was completely decked out as a fairy land. While you view the trees they have troupes of local school aged dancers performing on a stage in the center of the room. They also did photos with Santa Claus. 


Coat and Leggings: Walmart. Boots: Target. 



I LOVED my makeup here...just sayin'. 


These last pictures were taken at the end of November when we went on the Santa train. This was my first time doing the Santa Train through the Northwest Railway Museum.  We had to drive to North Bend. In North Bend you load the old steam train, take about a 20 minute ride to Snoqualmie. Once in Snoqualmie you get to go around the museum (not much to it), see Santa and get a small gift for the kids, and some cookies and hot chocolate. You then board the train for the return trip to North Bend. It was downright freezing! Not only was there some snow, but the wind factor was horrendous and the trains are not heated. We were also stuck there for a while after they loaded everyone due to an issue with the air brake system. The company did issue free passes to return later that are good for one year though.  Anyways, this has been my life for the last 2 weeks, or at least a piece of it, and yes I am wearing the same pants all three times. 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Cheshire Cat

This is a look I wore to work about a week ago. I was pretty pleased with it. Talk about purple overload. I bought this cardigan during the Black Friday sales, but this wasn't actually on sale. I didn't care either way as I happened to love it, and it was decently priced anyways. When I look at it, the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland comes to mind. 


Dress and Belt: Lane Bryant. Scarf, Cardigan, and Necklace: Walmart. Tights: Kmart.. Boots: Target. 







Thursday, November 27, 2014

Glamorously Retro

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate, if not, then happy Thursday. This was a a dress I bought a while back and am just now getting around to blogging even though I've worn it numerous times. My daughter picked it out actually, and I was like you know, that is a super cute dress and ended up buying it. 
I also bought the shoes quite a while ago and don't end up wearing for a few reasons. First: they are faux suede and I live in Washington where it rains a lot and gets muddy, and second, they are kind of uncomfortable. The heel is pretty high compared to the platform and kind of makes the step awkward and they seem to cause  some excessive pressure on the balls of my feet. Part of the second issue may be able to  be remedied with some insole, but I have yet to try. I just know I did wear them to work one day and only made it half way through the day before I ended up getting flats out of my car to change into. They may have to be those type of shoes that you wear when you know your only going one place with minimal walking: ie, movies or dinner. Oh and this necklace-$3 at Walmart, I was super stoked about it. 


Dress: Torrid. Cardigan and Necklace: Walmart. Shoes: Kmart. Hair Bow: Dollar Tree. Earrings: Icings. 






Sunday, November 9, 2014

Dia De Los Muertos

Last Sunday I went to a Dia de los Muertos exhibition that was going on at TAM (Tacoma Art Museum). It was a free event and kind of interesting, I feel like there could of been so much more done with it. That's okay though, it was a free event and nice to get out for a day. Part of what I was wanting was some more history on the day, but then again this was not a history museum, it's an art museum. They had some Aztec tribal dancers, face painting for the kids, you could decorate sugar skulls and make tissue flowers; in addition to these there was Dia de los Muertos paintings/drawings by local students and lastly the main exhibition area which had various altars set up. The place was incredibly packed and it made maneuver through the venue difficult. After the fact I read a news article about the event that said they had over 4,000 visitors for it, so you can imagine. I find Dia de los Muertos to be incredibly beautiful, and have to admit I'm slightly obsessed right now. 

After we left the event we ended up going to a place called Chalk Talk Bistro. It's a small joint with some of the best hamburgers around. One thing I love about it is that the walls are completely done up in chalk. Huge chalk murals of...whatever, this time it was The Nightmare Before Christmas, last time I stopped my it was Maleficent .While we were eating there was a Seahawks game going on. Apparently whenever Marshawn Lynch scores they give out bags of Skittles and make little balloon things for the kids, my child was super exited about that! Finally, we ended the day by stopping by Spirit's one last time before they close down for the year. I bought two Dia de los Muertos mugs that I think I mentioned previously (they are now on clearance for $4 each, SCORE!)  My daughter got a couple of creepy little dolls that she loves. 


Aztec Tribal Dancer


Tissue paper flower I created


My sugar skull, these were colored with oil pastels and my sugar skull kept crumbling.
After I got home my dogs stole mine and my daughter's and ate them. 






Chalk Talk Bistro





Outfit deets: Coat: Walmart. Dress: Torrid. Earrings: Spencer's. Necklace: Claire's. 


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Halloween

This year's Halloween was incredibly hectic. I ended up leaving my house missing half my costume (some sheer elbow length skeleton gloves, my floral head band, and my sugar skull belt), one of my two 6 month old lab puppies stole my daughter's costume out of the drawer so we spent probably 20 minutes scouring the house looking for, but at least our makeup came out looking awesome. We did the normal Trick or Treating thing; the neighborhood we always go to has a free haunted house that is put on by some of the residence, so we did that too. My daughter and I dressed up as Dia de los Muertos, and got so many compliments on our makeup. I seriously wanted the night to go on, but I had to get up at 5 am the next day, so going out was a no go. 

The costume I purchased is by Legs Avenue via Torrid. I got the 3x/4x. It's definitely generously sized and has a lot of stretch in the top, I think it could fit someone who's even a 5. I was relieved when I got it that it wasn't super duper short like so many Halloween costumes tend to be (I ordered a sailor "dress" one year that didn't even cover my butt, so this always makes me a little paranoid). I actually got a little more use out of my costume this year than what I normally do. About 2 weeks before Halloween my daughter and I went to a costume event at Point Defiance Zoo called Zoo Boo, then one week before Halloween her school did trick or trunk, and then there was the actual day of Halloween. Our makeup at the first two events wasn't that great, but it was super quick 5 minute jobs. 





The pictures below are from the Trick or Trunk and dance at babe's school.


My costume still minus the gloves.


Baby getting down. This was towards the end of the night when most people were heading home.
The pictures below are from Zoo Boo at Point Defiance. It was pretty cute, they had a lot of little haunted scenes set up around the zoo.



 The picture above was in the aquarium. I petted a shark and some sting rays. The texture of the shark skin was an extremely strange sensation; it was almost slimy while being kind of gritty at the same time. 

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Shootin' Pool

My little brother and I decided to hit the town a few Saturdays ago. I got to say, the night was a bit of a flop. The first place we went to had absolutely no parking. We then decided to try, unsuccessfully at that, to find a bar he had been to one other time. Since that ended up not happening, we went to a bar called The Right Spot. The right spot it certainly was not, we had a drink, played a couple of games of pool and ended up leaving. Oh and by the way, I completely suck at pool and had my ass handed to me...just saying. From there we went to Cheers (my brother's first time there), which was super lame as well...but then again Cheers always has been. It's a sports bar and tends to get a very poser type of crowd. We got one drink, chugged it, and left. Last place of the night was Culpepper's. This was a bit better. A live band that was alright and shockingly they weren't charging a cover charge. While there, I seen a 60 year old woman grind and thrust on a square support beam, which I watched halfway between revulsion and amusement. Yeah, definitely one of THOSE nights. 

Since we were going out I decided to go full out on the makeup and wear a corset/bustier top I've had for a few years. Although you can barely see the shoes, I wore the ones featured in this post.  I'm so loving the faux leather jacket from Lane Bryant. I've seriously been wearing it nonstop. I definitely would say it's worth the hundred bucks. 


Shirt and Jeans: Torrid. Jacket: Lane Bryant. Boots Kmart. Necklace: Fuego. Earrings: Guess. 



 Me and my little brother. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Down on the Farm

Every year in October, my daughter and I go to Schilter Family Farm for harvest sort of activities. They have hay rides, a cow/horse train pulled by a tractor, pony rides, petting zoo, a corn maze and hay maze, an area they call hay jump (self explanatory), and a bazooka/cannon thing that you can shoot pumpkins and corn out of. It's a real working farm, so you can also buy certain produce such as pumpkins, corn, and apples. It's always a good time. The corn maze changes themes every year. This year was the Wizard of Oz and as you made your way through, they would have various scenes and characters set up from the movie. It was pretty cute. Anyways, being that we were going to a farm and going to be walking a lot out in the country, I wanted to remain as comfortable and practical as possible while still looking cute. I think this outfit would of looked far better if I had a pair of riding boots, but I have yet to go get some (even though I had the intention of going back to Kmart and buying the chocolate brown pair, which is probably going to be sold out now).


Sweater: Lane Bryant. Cardigan and Earrings: Old Navy. Jeans Torrid. Shoes (unseen): Nike. Necklace: Walmart.





I had to include this picture of my babes just because I love it so much.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Blue Fall

Love Sundays, nothing quite beats being off work for the day. I started my day off by meeting a friend for coffee. From there my daughter and I went to the park for a little trek around the lake, followed by seeing Box Trolls (which I'll definitely be buying on DVD once it comes out), then a bit of shopping, and dinner at Apple Bees. 

I purchased this dress after seeing it online at Lane Bryant. I guess this is what everyone is referring to as scuba material. A bit strange, but I can really see it as being a great dress for fall and winter since it is so thick. I also purchased this faux leather jacket there. One thing that I really like about this one is the coloring. So often it's the basic black or brown, a navy blue is still basic enough to work with a lot of other items, but a just different enough to stand out. These boots were also a recent purchase from Kmart. I certainly don't have thin calves by any means, but yet these boots that are not wide width/calf actually fit. I think someone with calves even a little bit bigger than mine could manage them as well. It always pays to try stuff on, sometimes there are those random nonplus size items that happen to be made a little more generous . I'm super happy that I found these too. I would rank them with the quality of Lane Bryant type boots. Not super high quality, but not bad either. Actually, I would say this is a bit better because I paid right around $40 for these versus the $80 or so that places like Lane Bryant and Torrid want to charge. I think when I get paid again I'm going back and buying another pair of chocolate brown boots before they sell out. 


Dress and Jacket: Lane Bryant. Boots and Bag: Kmart. No longer remember about the Jewelry. 



This tree here: I had actually climbed up it and took picture, none of which turned out blog worthy. I was sure I was going to tip over backwards and crack my head and you could definitely see that in my expressions. lol, oh good times.