Fall Transitioning (Fashion When It's Still 85 Degrees!)

Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin decorations, Halloween costumes, seasonal candies, apple season...it sure does sound like fall!  There are times that my riding boots and jeans sound super enticing and then I walk outside.  Though the seasons are about to change (tomorrow) for many of us it is still very much summer!

I have really enjoyed transition blog pieces lately.  Yesterday as I was getting ready to go to a meeting of sorts for the evening I decided why not post my own!  I cannot be the only one living in a less than autumn-esque atmosphere right now.  When I say atmosphere I'm totally meaning it the weather slash earthy way!  

Most of you know that I am blogging from North Carolina and North Carolina weather is the stuff mania was made of.  We can be thirty degrees on Christmas or eighty degrees.  In the summer it can be seventy-two and sunny or a hundred and nine with thunder storms on the horizon.

Currently - though retail tells us it is fall - it is about eighty three with a high humidity level.  Not exactly PSL drinking weather...unless it is iced!

Today I have two outfits that I consider transitional styles for myself here in the middle of NC.  My first one you may have seen on Monday!  It was the outfit I wore to church Sunday morning.

I bought that dress at Old Navy in May on my girl's beach trip.  I ADORE that dress.  It is a spaghetti strap sundress with a fain sweet heart neckline.  It has a classic paisley print and is just way too easy to wear!  Though you cannot really see the coloring of the dress it is a creme with the paisley pattern being made of pinks and purples and hints of red.  It all comes together for a relaxed muted and quite simple dress.  When you have an article of clothing you love so much you stretch it from May to October!

I stretch this dress through the seasons by pairing it with my Gap denim jacket that I may have had since 2003.  Don't you LOVE classic pieces?  That has truly been the best denim jacket ever.  The best part is when it is chilly it keeps me warm!  Though our days are still hot and sticky this jacket is perfect for those cool mornings and crisp evenings.

Check the dogs, y'all.  I am a flip flop girl but I am also a flats junkie too!  I love a good pair of flats.  Most of the ballerina flats I have I literally wear the soles off of in a season.  The ones I paired with this transition ensemble are from Target (last year) and are patent flesh colored basic flats.  They are comfortable and don't take away from the dress - which is what I was looking for.

If you don't have a pair of flesh toned flats or heels go get some now!

And outfit number two!  So you need to know that my daughter is all about taking pictures and that kind of helped to birth this whole idea of posting what I'm wearing right now.  I haven't gave her my "better" camera to use so ahem, yeah.

I had a PTO meeting to attend at her school last night.  You must know my regular daily wardrobe is running shorts and tank tops.  Sometimes I need to put those to the side and wear real clothing.  Honestly, I don't mind that!

I pulled out my Ann Taylor Dark Wash jeans, a.n.a. leopard print (that's what it is, I know its hard to see) butterfly style top with the cinched bottom and romantic sleeve and tie neckline, along with my super comfy black strappy wedges from Naturalizer.  

Personally, the dark jean is always a favorite and also says - Hey you, summer's light wash can be given a break now.  I also feel like the darker wash gives a more posh and put together look when you want to be a blue jean baby!

Honestly, this outfit screams at me that it is fall.  The colors along with leopard (though to me it is a neutral 24/365) really make me think of cooler days with soup on the menu and cooler evenings with good television and Cabernet!

So there you have it!  That is how I am transitioning to fall here in North Carolina.  Keeping it cool but accepting the fact that yes - we may get some seventy degree days at some point!

Hey, I'm featured today over on The Blended Blog for the Pinterest 5 Post I did last week on my fall fashion looks I love!  Go check it out if you can!  Thank you, Deena!!!

Linked up over at Living on Cloud 9 (Andrea's Blog!)

Linked up at The Pleated Poppy today too!

xoxoxox-

Amanda

Tasty Tuesday - 3 More Menus

Another week and another set of menus.  Something about me having to keep my family nourished...apparently I'm the only one who lives off coffee up in here!

Oatmeal is such a great breakfast even if you are counting carbs.  Yes, it is high in carbohydrates but these are the ones that stick with you and actually help keep your blood sugar stable.  That counts as a pro for any age person.  

I don't like my oatmeal to be in the bowl alone.  I find it depressing.  So I make my oatmeal a party with diced apple, raisins, and some banana.  Other great additions are blueberries and blackberries!  A bit of 100% Maple Syrup never hurt a soul.

Another note about carbs...

I find I do best when I take in my carbs at breakfast.  As I mentioned a moment ago - good complex ones help stabilize blood sugar and in the morning you need it!  Go for your carb load now but try to keep it under thirty!

This week I'm going Bento with the lunchbox.  My daughter will really appreciate it.  My son is used to it so he won't notice!  I love the idea of Bento because it is like offering up a sampler platter to your child.  What kid doesn't like samples upon samples of food?  Plus, if you have a picky eater this can be the trick to having them actually eat their lunch!

I pack more than is listed but I wanted you to see the main fare for the week!

Is it weird to admit that cooking dinner is a major destressor for me?  It really is!  Lately, my four year old has been wanting to help prepare meals.  Even with that little monkey in the kitchen with me I'm still totally relaxed.  

I have four dinners listed because I'm only cooking for four nights.  I swear!  Right now it is looking like Friday will be our night out but it could easily be Tuesday since we have PTO.  

Taco Tuesday reigns supreme in our house and I'm very excited to make Emily's recipe.  I haven't linked to her because her blog may be currently down.  As soon as I get it I will share.

Speaking of sharing...

I post videos on the blog's Facebook page of one meal a week!  Did you know that?  I also randomly will post a Snap Chat of me putting together a recipe.  So if you see a meal on the blog and you would like to have the recipe - let me know ASAP!

Salmon Croquets can be found here

And that's Tasty Tuesday!

xoxox-

Amanda

What A Weekend: Recap!

Hey honeys!  How was your weekend?  Tell me all about it, I want to know how fabulous or how horrible it was.  That way I can ooohh and ahhh or I can tell you that it's cool I can put on my boots and we can go whip some tail.

Our weekend was pretty fabulous.  I think you have caught on that most weekends around here consist of little laziness and lots of running about.  That is what happens when the mother is a ADD.

Friday...

I got my hair did.  Ahhhh I love hair day!  So.much.fun.

Lizz rocks.

 After school the kids and I headed to the gym.  My daughter swam, my son played, and I got in four miles.  OMG it felt so good to be in a very low populated gym (thanks to people having Friday night lives of fun and not sweating their butts off like me) and just pushing forward harder to make myself stronger.  That, my friends, is my kind of high.  Afterwards we hit up the local Wendy's for a caesar salad, two burgers, and frosties for the kids.  Everyone went to bed early.  It was a pretty phenomenal Friday.

Then came Saturday.  I love it when my mom's husband takes the kids on Saturday mornings.  Since my husband had to work and the kids were going to be gone I decided to take advantage of my time.

Hello Target....there is a post coming at you on Wednesday regarding this.

Sneakers are headed back...sizing is soooo wrong.

Hello Sam's Club.  I changed my membership a month ago to the Plus membership which allows me to go in early and get cash back rewards when I shop.  How about this trip was my lowest ever and I also had a $10 reward?  I was pretty stoked.

Currently at Sam's - Pumpkin EVERYTHING!

What did we do before Face Time?  Anyone?  My bestie and I got in a great Face Time session on Saturday I swear I wish we were still next door neighbors.

My bakers!

The afternoon was spent cleaning up, making cookies with the kiddos, taking care of the chickens and horses, and trying to eliminate the insane itch from the poison oak covering my legs.  

I haven't really ever reacted to poison oak, you need to know that!  I worked in it LAST Saturday.  It showed up on my skin LAST Tuesday.  Yes, it took it three days to decide to blister me.  I swear I look like I have a mild case of psoriasis on my legs.  Since this isn't a normal occurrance in my house I don't have anything to combat it.  So I created a paste (thanks Pinterest) of water and baking soda and painted myself with it.  Did you know baking soda hurts like a litte bee?  Yeah, I didn't realize that either until I painted my legs with it.  I let this paste dry and then I took a shower.  After the shower I swabbed the areas with straight white vinegar all while silently screaming "Help me God!" as it penetrated the raw spots (thanks to my scratching) to remind me I am indeed alive!

This got me through...well not the vinegar it burned like h-e-double hockey sticks.

Did it work?  For about 8 hours.  The itching went away and it looked like it was drying out.  I did it again on Sunday.

Saturday night was date night.  We went to Logan's Roadhouse for steak and then to bowl.  It was nice to see my husband but I was ready to go to sleep.  

Which I did go to sleep...a little before midnight Zzzzzz.

Sunday fun day.  I envisioned a nice lazy Sunday morning before church.  Instead my son woke me up because he wanted pancakes, the kitchen sink was clogged, and for some reason I could not find a single kitchen towel in my home.

Ready for church!  Gap Denim, Old Navy paisley dress, Target nude flats.

C is ready for church too.  She OPTED to wear a dress and that girl NEVER wears dresses!

Yeah...it didn't start off too lazy, huh?

After church we headed to my bestie's house for her littlest man's fifth birthday party!  Bounce house, cupcakes, brownies....yesssss!  The kids had so much fun!  I love how our kids get along so well - especially the older two.  They are a hoot to watch!

My bestie's the prettiest mama around!

This trip I came home with two bags of hand me downs.  I cannot tell you how much I adore some hand me downs y'all!  I didn't know anyone with older girls that I could bond with when my daughter was tiny for them.  Now that I have the youngest boy and she has two boys both older than mine I'm reaping the benefit of sister-friendship! 

So the kids were a pure pain in the ass on the way home.  They screamed and cried and screamed more.  We fed them, bathed them, and sent them to bed.  I found this graphic while my kids were acting like little jacks and it made me giggle and sigh...it could always be worse.  HA!

In my fantasy football news...

I haven't checked it.  BUT....I think I may be out of last place!  And I'm super happy I picked up Baltimore's D for this past weekend.  

Now let's have a rockin' week.  Shall we?

xoxoxox

Amanda

Today I am linked up with Johannah!

Because I don't post on Saturdays

My heart is shaken and stirred.  Lately my posts have been surface stuff.  The stuff so many of us read to go goo eyed over.  I've stayed away from anything ankle or knee deep over the last couple of months.

But sometimes something happens that makes me think...I need to do this.  I need to post something from my heart and not from popularity.

Do you have a piece of clothing, dinner set, make up, or piece of jewelry you stash away until just the right time?  I admit, I do.  I have things that I never wear or use because I have labeled them special occasion pieces.  They are reserved for a dinner or an outing where I feel they would be warranted.  I had a top that kept the tags on it for two months just waiting for the perfect occasion to don it.

I think it may be OK to say we all have those items in our homes.  The ones we look at with big eyes and dreamy romance.

Yesterday, though, I decided to stop with the nonsense of labeling things for special occasions. And I think you should too.

For a few moments I'm going to be very cliche.  I have to be.  I have to say things you know and have had drilled into your cerebral cortex for years.  They have great purpose.  A great purpose we seem to forget over time.

If you're reading this in the morning enjoying a cup of coffee then congratulations!  You made it to another day.  Another day that you can go out do what you need to and maybe what you want to.  Do you realize how HUGE that is?

The fact you saw yesterday to completion and went to sleep only to wake up to do it all again - that was not guaranteed to you, me, him, or her.  Honestly, a lot of people who had yesterday are not here today.  They didn't roll over and out of bed this morning.  They didn't walk in the door from a shift.  They simply ran out of time.

Maybe it was a wreck, a drug overdose, a freak accident, or the end of a fight against a disease.

For some strange and maybe a not to be understood reason you and I were spared.  

Think about all the things you do in a day that are risks you never even think about.  The biggest one is getting in a car.  Every time you buckle up and pull out onto the street you start a very strange game of roulette.  

Now just going in a popular and crowded place is a risk.  With terrorism both foreign and natural born we aren't sure when someone will chose to do the unthinkable.

You eat from a restaurant not knowing if the food is tainted.

Every single day we take risks.

Every single day we make it...so far.

I'm baffled by how much we nag, stress, and worry while we are in the middle of day not promised.

That makes each new morning one thing:

You are here!  Maybe it is a chaotic mess right now but, baby you are here!  You woke up to a morning of sunshine or rain.  A Saturday of cleaning, shopping, working, or maybe football.  You woke up.  You have another chance at getting things right by being gifted another day to smile, laugh, hug, love, and be.

Life can get messy and complicated.  I get that. (Hello Snap Chat!) I get stressed quickly and I fail to see the good that surrounds me.  Then my personality goes down the tube.  I fake smiles and laughs.  All the while failing to see the forest for the trees.

Why should I allow myself to get in a slump when God gave me another day to thrive.

This weekend I'm thankful for that "another day" because I'm very conscious that a lot of others are not getting it.  Their days, like ours, were numbered, and their numbers were called this week. Where I groan over kids fighting -- those other families mourn, gathered together, making arrangements to lay a life to rest.

Where I get frustrated at feeling alone in the world of parenting -- other families are explaining to their children that a mom or dad isn't coming back home.

When I feel like I have a burden that is too heavy -- someone else has a burden that if I was brushed with it would crush me to bits.

Two options now lie before me: I can keep a defeated mentality or I can chin up sunshine.  I can brush my hair, brush my teeth, and smile.  That special occasion top can be worn to the grocery store.  That bracelet I think is too fancy for the every day can become my regular accent piece.  We can eat on the good dishes and drink the champagne that has been around for about a year now.  

I can freely accept the gift and compliment of having one more day.  One more, beautiful, never promised to me day.  And I can enjoy it and everything in it....my kids, my husband, strangers, my dog, my home, the chores, even the mundane.

Live your life fully...just start now.

xoxoxo

Amanda

Friday - Fall Must Be Near

Fall must be near because....

Open wide....dental visit week.

Open wide!  My favorite - palmetto cheese and grape jelly!

Yee Haw - time with the BIG girls.  She looks forward to it every day.  This week she was doing so well in the pool!  She's working towards her first swim meet on the 24th!

Blackened chicken with mango and black bean salsa.  Stage one...good, good, good.

The weather girl said we would have a cool down this week.  She lied.  I traded my running shorts and tank top for pom shorts and a cardigan on Thursday since I had to go back to the doctor for my kiddo.

Back to school sickness sucks!  Here's my daily regimen because I cannot take adult vitamins without getting super duper sick.  Little Critters x2, Vitamin C x2, Zyrtec....oh and LOADS of coffee hehe!

Just to show you summer is still going strong...green, green, green!

My poor baby last weekend.  The dr was closed the urgent care had two hours before they would open.  It was an expensive week as far as medical and dental go but I'm aware of the blessing of being able to freely take my kids to the doctor, hospital, and dentist without worrying about a thing.

A few other notes that fall is near?

*The little boy and I decorated for fall while he was under the weather.

* I made my chocolate pumpkin muffins.

*I had 2 skinny PSL's this week.  One hot, one cold.

*My work calendar is filling up.

Let me have the pleasure of introducing you to Kimberly!

Tasty Tuesday - 3 Menus!

Pinterest 5 - Fall Fashion

Three movies I love

Have a great weekend!  Be sure to follow me on Snap Chat for hilarity! (abullnojoke)

Linked up with:

Katie

Andrea

Stay healthy!

xoxoxox

Amanda

Link Up: Stranded with Movies!

I have been wanting to do this link up for a while but always seem to miss it.  Boo!  Today, I'm on time and ready to share with you....

Three movies I would have if I were stranded on an island.

I'm seriously hoping that there is electricity so I can watch them.  Otherwise what is the point of lugging movies around?

HA!

1.  Saint Elmo's Fire

One of my favorite movies with the brat pack.  It is after college and when life really starts...you see how everyone is adjusting in 1980 something...LOVE IT!

2.  Shag

Never mind that I can quote the ENTIRE movie.  This is my most favorite movie ever and I used to watch it weekly until my VHS player retired.  Disturbed that I cannot find a DVD copy....

3.  Bad Moms (I know it is so very recent.)

I know it isn't out on DVD yet but this movie was so freaking funny AND such a good time with my best friend that I would be remiss to not add it to my list!

Did you link up?  Share it!

If you didn't then comment your three movies you wouldn't mind watching over and over and over again!

Be sure to check out my Pinterest 5 Fall Fashion Post today too!

xo-

Amanda

Pinterest 5: Fall Fashion Looks To Love!

It has been quite a while since I did a Pinterest 5 post.  So today I'm coming at you with my first one of the season...fall!  I'm getting in the mood, finally, for fall.  The temps have came out of the nineties and now my focus is on chilly mornings and evenings, football, pumpkin stuff, and all the goodness only fall can provide.

Before I get started I have to let you know something.  I, unlike my peers, hate scarves.  Maybe it is my claustraphobia, maybe it is the fact I hate anything around my neck but some bling, I just cannot on scarves.  Do you know how impossible this makes pinning?  It seems like every outfit for fall and or winter is based around the scarf.  Wish I could but I just can't!

I will wear one when it is freezing cold outside...but not as an accessory. Ha!  More as a necessity to keep warm!

Whew, I'm so glad I got that off my chest (punny, right?)

Here we go with my five picks!

Closetcandy.com

Ahhh I love this!  It screams at me.  Rock star jeans and a great mili-style jacket.  I can pair with my favorite t-shirt underneath.  And I know the picture is cropped but I love boots and I believe she is wearing a pair of timeless calf boots.  Love, love, love.  

anerdoezrs.net

Another look that I'm crazy about.  I loved my quilted vest I bought a few years ago at Old Navy.  Unfortunately, the olive green one did not stand the test of time and was sent away after countless zipper issues.  This year I plan to purchase another one.  This layered look is just fabulous - the vest, light weight sweater paired with a button up underneath is posh and put together.  I love the jeans - dark wash are always a go to (even though my husband talked me into a lighter wash).  Adorbs.

From Polyvore

This one is a staple.  I feel like this is the look I'm living in for the fall.  It is too comfortable not to.  Plus these pieces are ultra versatile.  You can easily build a new outfit around any of these pieces.  I love classic.

Polyvore

I think this year I will also be getting a cable knit vest.  I love the look of it and also it is another true classic.  Sperry's all year long, sweeties, I am a Southern girl but I may just switch it up with a cute pair of flats.  The only things with this capsule I'm not feeling - the jeans.  I hate busy butt jeans.  Big pockets, no thanks.  I never fell onto the Miss Me bandwagon.  I love the bag but I'm not a fan of carry-on's for a purse haha!

And finally....

You have to stay warm when you're at the football field or sitting around a chicken stew!  That is why I picked this final one from Pinterest.  It is cheering me on telling me I'll be warm and super comfortable all weekend long.  Comfy and cozy always wins.

What are you into this fall?  And while I'm asking questions....what is your go to online shop or local store to shop at?

Interested in more fashion on the blogs?  Check out The Pleated Poppy  and Get Your Pretty On today!

xoxoxo-

Amanda