Dress It Up, Dress It Down: Olive Tunic and the Perfect Watch

JORD wooden watches provided me with the following wooden watch displayed in this post in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure statement.

I always have ideas for blog posts rolling around in my head.  So, today I'm starting a new series I hope to post about once a month called Dress It Up, Dress It Down. I'll be taking one pieces from my closet and showing you a casual and dressy look. The ability to do this is very helpful to me since I have to dress up for work, but sometimes have things to go to after work that require more casual wear. I'm wearing the dressed up outfit to work today and the dressed down outfit to a girls' night tonight. Re-wearing the same piece not only saves time but laundry! Both wins in my book!

What I Wore Wednesday 3.30

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Happy Wednesday!  This week's weather has been crazy overall. We've had snow, we've had rain, we've had sunshine. I'm just ready for it to be fully spring heading into summer so I can store away the colder weather clothes for good!
{Wednesday}

Top: Lush

Cardigan: Old Navy

Bracelets and Necklace: Charming Charlie

Pants: thrifted Loft

Flats: Target

Easter Baskets for Boys

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Easter Baskets are always so fun to put together! This year, I had three baskets bags to fill. It's hard not to go overboard, but I think I did all right. I realize this post probably doesn't do much help for you right now, but pin it for next year ;)

The boys' bags are from Pick Your Plum. I got the two older boys' bags a couple years ago. I saw they were available again last year, so I ordered one for Calvin before he was born. It was actually the first thing we got with his name on it, and I joked with Russ that there was no turning back from his name!

High Five for Friday 3.25

Hooray! We made it to Friday! I hope you had a great week! Here are some highlights of mine!

{ONE}

My friend, Shelby, taught a yoga and essential oils class on Saturday, and I went. It was glorious and pretty much solidified that I need more yoga in my life. It was so relaxing.

Baby Registry Wins and Regrets

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NurseryMusts #CollectiveBias

I don't have a ton of "if I could go back" moments, but my baby registry is one thing I would go back and fix if I could. I felt like I'd read up on things, but after three kiddos, there are a few things I realized I missed. Now, I'm not saying it was an all-out fail, there were many things I got right.

What I Wore Wednesday 3.23

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Well, spring break was great, and being in cozy clothes was wonderful, but I'm back to work. Here are some looks from the end of break and this week. Graphic sweatshirts are a fave, obviously, as are polka dots and floral. This week I also got a couple shots of me wearing the outfits in addition to their flat lays!

{Wednesday}

Mixing Pattern and Texture for Spring

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I really just can't get enough of pattern mixing. I would say a third of my outfits (at least) include some sort of pattern mix. If you're nervous about pattern mixing check out my previous post about degrees of pattern mixing. It gives you some ideas of where you can start if you're unsure.

$10 at Target: Spring Fever

I got my monthly vacation to Target with my $10 budget last week over Spring Break. It was just the little hour stroll I needed to start off the week! In typical fashion, I'm going to share what I didn't buy, first!

High Five for Friday 3.18

All I can say is SPRING BREAK! This week was a big breath of fresh air! Here are some highlights!

{ONE}

We went up to Northeast Iowa to visit some people including Russ's grandma. She is just the sweetest lady! We got to see a whole crew of family while we were there as well as some of Russ's high school friends and their families.

Bright on a Budget's Blogiversary Giveaway!

Happy 2 year Blogiversary to my blogging confidant Tif from Bright on a Budget! To celebrate, I'm teaming up with her and some other lovely ladies to give away a Kate Spade purse (which I totally wish I could win) and a Target Gift Card! Enter below! The contest is open to residents 18 years or older of the 48 contiguous states (excludes Hawaii and Alaska).

HOSTS

Bright on a Budget // Della Devoted // Cup of Tea

BYBMG // How to Make a Life // Garay Treasures // Faith & Fashion 

The Lady Lawyer // Doused in Pink // What Nicole Wore // Green Fashionista

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What I Wore Wednesday 3.16

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Happy Wednesday! I'm on spring break this week, so you get to see the tail end of last week and a couple more casual looks for break. 

{Wednesday}

Dress: LuLaRoe

Top: Old Navy via ThredUp

Bangles: c/o Blossom Bangles

Booties: Cents of Style

Love More

I received this tee free to share about its story with you. Please see my disclosure statement.

Almost a year ago, I shared with you about a special tee available from Kentucky Brewed Tees.

Today, I'm thrilled to be back again sharing a tee with the same message, just a new look!

DIY St. Patrick's Day Mason Jar

I was really in a DIY mood one day. I painted up a frame for St. Patrick's Day, and I decided to do a little Mason jar craft as well! It was so, so simple!

I have quite a few Mason jars around from when we canned salsa a few years back. I dug out some green paint from my stash and found this fun gold calligraphy pen as well.

High Five for Friday 3.11

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What a week! Here's what's been happening!

{ONE}

Calvin hit the 10 month mark last week and I snagged his monthly picture(s) a few days late. It was virtually impossible to get him to sit still. This collage pretty much sums it all up! Have I mentioned it seems he has reddish hair?! I LOVE it. Pretty sure he got the skips a generation red hair from my dad's side!

{TWO}

2/3 of my boys were up terribly early on Sunday morning. I could have chosen to be grumpy, but instead, I chose to make muffins. I used Beth's recipe and used strawberries instead of blueberries. They are so good! I also used silicone baking cups, and they came out well!

{THREE}

I was long over due for a pedicure. I went with a friend and it was oh so refreshing!

{FOUR}

I posted this on Instagram, so sorry if you're seeing it twice, but Henry has been excited to text from his iPod. This was the conversation we had last night. Of course between each sent text there was a yell across the house, "Mom, I sent you another message." He has such a sweet heart, and it is AMAZING to see him learn to read and write. He has grown so much this year.

{FIVE}

In all honesty, this week has been kind of rough at school (I'm a middle school teacher if you are new to the blog). Not much I can talk about on here, but it's just been HARD. Life is hard, friends. But, next week is Spring Break. I am so looking forward to some breaths of fresh air, lazy mornings, and extra snuggles with my boys!

---

PS Cents of Style has some CUTE flats on sale today! They're perfect for spring and I know I'll snag a pair (or two)! Use code EGGSTRA for 50% off and free shipping, making the flats $16.47. They also have some other cute springy accessories on sale, too!



Here's what you may have missed on the blog this week:

February in Numbers

Hello Spring

What I Wore Wednesday



The Picture Perfect Project

Have a great weekend!

 

5 on Friday

Oh Hey, Friday

The Picture Perfect Project - March

I'm joining in with some fabulous ladies to be a part of the Picture Perfect Project. Each month I'll be sharing a few photos I've taken with our Canon EOS Rebel T3i. I decided with this challenge to focus on documenting of each of our boys in their element. It might look messy, but I just want these photos to capture the every day life we have. I don't really plan to edit the photos in any way except for possibly cropping them a little.

So, I totally planned to get out the DSLR this month, but we were outside playing, and it was just too much to go back inside and get the camera. So, I snapped away with my iPhone. These were moments I just wanted to capture! Enjoy!

What I Wore Wednesday - Back at it

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Now that my 20 items in 21 days challenge is over, I'm pumped to be back in my closet. 

I'm going to try something new today. Since many of my items aren't currently in stores, I don't have a lot of items to link up in outfit descriptions. I'm still going to tell you where things are from, but I'm trying out a little widget at the bottom with at least one similar item from each outfit that I think you might like. I rarely spend a ton on my clothes... so I'm going to find similarly priced items to share with you. Let me know what you think. They are affiliate links in the widget so I do get a small commission if you click through and/or make a purchase.

{Monday}

I was super excited to try out this swing dress! Since I'm done nursing, more dresses will probably make their way back into my wardrobe.

Necklace - Noonday

Cardigan - Target

Dress - Cents of Style

Leggings - LuLaRoe

Boots - Steve Madden

Hello Spring: Styling a Graphic Sweatshirt

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Today my blogger pal Tif at Bright on a Budget and I are sharing our sweatshirt looks!  Make sure you stop over and see her fun style!

I love a good pullover sweatshirt. It can be super casual, or you can dress it up a bit if you find the right one. Today I'm showing you a little layering look that takes this casual graphic sweatshirt up a notch, and it's a perfect look for spring!

My pink chucks have been a go-to when it comes to adding a little character to an outfit. Pink goes with so much!

February in Numbers

It's so fun to think about life in numerical form. I'm sharing a review of last month with you today and linking up with Shoes to Shiraz.

15

The number of minutes waited to renew my driver's license. Way less time than I thought it'd be!

High Five for Friday 3.4

Happy March!  Hope you had a great first week of the month! I'm here, as usual, with highlights from the past week!

{ONE}

My birthday was last weekend. We had a great day celebrating. My parents came to be with the boys so Russ and I could go to lunch and go to an event for grad class. It was a GORGEOUS day!  68 degrees and sunny is unheard of for February!  We played outside and grilled out for supper!

March Madness Style & Link Up

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I've never been much into March Maddness, though I somewhat acted like I was when I first started dating Russ (hangs head in shame). This year has been kind of exciting with Iowa basketball though, because they've been highly ranked (though not as much currently). 

March Goals

The shortest month of the year is over, and I'm back to talk about how my goals went and share goals for March.

First, my February goals:

1. Do the Lent She Reads Truth study. - I'm off by like a day, but I'm keeping up pretty well.