ootd catch up

Here we go. When I started this blog thing, I really wasn't sure what I was trying to accomplish or offer to the web - if I even had anything worthy to offer. Hopefully something I write or share can resonate with someone out there and will make you laugh, smile or inspire. So that alone is enough for me.

I contemplated whether I wanted to take the route of fashion/lifestyle type of blog and bombard my site with bright pictures suggesting I live a fabulous life. Far from it. I have a pretty good life but not nearly perfect and the last thing I want, is to suggest I am something I am not or worse fall into the trap of unattainable perfection and obsess over it. Yikes that can get ugly. So what I am getting at is I still don't know the direction of the blog and as my blurb states - I'm trying to grab life by the bullhorns - which I perceive as me just trying to try my hand at something new, something smart, something creative, something that will hopefully inevitably come with some success (not in the material sense but general) and make me happier as well as you.

So until I narrow down my niche, here are some OOTD's from this last week for some picture not so perfect measure.  Excuse the awful conditions that is my workplace bathroom!

old navy sweater, vera wang for kohl's skirt, ellen tracy pointy pumps, banana republic necklace

j. crew flannel, silence & noise blazer, zara pants, spring pumps, f21 necklace

f21 scarf, ring by hollydaydesigns

 

 

 

 

old navy plaid button down, j. crew factory sweater, gap cropped pants, vince camuto boots, charles hubert watch

jammie janny day

It's a dreary January (Sun)day. We're sitting here at home taking in the quiet moments while my baby naps. I should be catching up on some laundry, or marinate the fresh bought meats sitting in the fridge but I can't seem to peel the blanket off me and remove myself from the couch. It's cold today and been cold this last week. With the wind factor considered, the temps felt below 0F. Crazy for us here in New England. We complain about the weather here, mainly because it can be so unpredictable but truth is were much luckier than more northern and mid-west states.

I was hoping to kick off the new year with a better attitude about accomplishing the little things. But I should have thrown a clause in there about the weather :)

I'm actually daydreaming about weather... warm sunny fruity cocktail weather that is. We are trying to plan a trip here. If we can get all of our ducks in a row, we are hoping to do a week at an all inclusive sometime in the next few months. It hasn't really set in since we have nothing booked, not even settled on a destination. I imagine it will come together fast and be a quick decision. Knowing that we won't have to wait too long for it makes it so much more appealing. 

I suppose I should do some destination research while I have settled quite nicely into the nooks and crannies of my spot on the couch. Off we go. Hope you all are staying cozy and warm wherever you may be.

let's do this

On Saturday, I had a family party to attend to but before my toddler awoke from his nap, I thought I would try my first attempt at an OOTD photoshoot with my new tripod. Oh boy. I have a lot to learn! So I'll just let you see for yourself. Hopefully with some practice, I can get better at this and not butcher the whole thing so badly. On a side note, I love the pockets on this top. Here we go:

top - Ann Taylor

cardigan - Mossimo (Target)

denim - Abercrombie & Fitch

booties - Nine West

necklace - H&M

all is not quiet on new years day

Happy 2015! It's here. I feel good about it. It's a new day, new month, new plan, new The Walking Dead calendar hanging fresh to be Sharpied on.
I like the start of the new year. Who doesn't right. An opportunity to start anew in any arena one chooses. Possibilities are endless.

But back to the day. NYD morning was spent at my families annual NYD brunch - 7th year now? - where some 40 of us get together young and old to reunite catch up and feast. It's great to see everybody in one place at one time and there always seems to be an expectation of some big family announcement. Ironically there was this year although not the expected pregnancy or engagement announcement. A few surgery shout outs and health concerns enlightened but thankfully nothing that is life threatening and not treatable. Come to think of it, at 2013's NYD brunch, it was then that I just getting over the 1st trimester announced to the clan that we would be bringing a plus one to 2014's brunch. They loved that and ate it up. I think they were waiting for me to have a similar announcement but they'll have to wait a little longer as someone else decided to show up the other day.. TMI? Sorry. Anyway, another family brunch and tortured waitress/photographer to capture it all with at least 5 phones, under our belts.

the clan - not even everyone!

first decent shot of the year!

A few hours after brunch we visited a friends house for another get together and then finally home to settle into the evening but not before tending to a new tradition we started 1 year ago that would play out today. Courtesy of the lovely Pinterest, I saw a pin where you would jot down on little post its anything that happened that of some significance made you smile, laugh or even not the happiest thing. Something that was of the moment that might be worth revisiting at a later date when it's all forgotten. So we started this on 1/1/14 and with a little bit of reminding, I was able to get my hubby on board. I was eager and looking forward to seeing some high and lowlights of the year. We dumped the jar out and read one each, one at a time. There were some silly forgettable moments and special moments worth re-savoring. We'll definitely be doing this starting again this month!

Cheers to all things new and bright! 2015 I'm liking you so far.

cheers to a new year! (late post part 2)

After my afternoon high of shopping and a visit to Wegman's.. Wegman's oh wow, you deserve a post all your own. But moving on, after Weggie's I had to hightail it home to get me and the fam ready to head on over to my parents to start our last minute change of plan NYE festivities.

lobbies preppin'

This year we kept it low key with dinner at my parents. We were most likely gonna do the ole chinese takeout on new years but then my hubby, bless his heart, had a brilliant idea for ... lobsters! Love that man and his unexpected wonderful ideas. We love lobster here at the natador + extended families. So lobsters it was with a few frozen and quick prep side dishes, including escargot. Keepin' it fancy and slimy here. I slugged (bad choice of words huh?) a few of those down, and thought, why do we eat these.. I mean who? how? the whole let's put this in a shell and cover it with a delicious garlic butter? Beats me but I devoured it, I did.

After we were claw cracked out and cleaned up, took some time to just lounge and hang out watching the Dick Clark NYE Show. My mom kept thinking it was an old taping of the 2005 show cause the 2015 glasses looked a lot like 2005. I didn't blame her when I saw Fergie up there. Barum chuhhhh sorry but nah, not sorry. So we hung around for a little while and then played a little hooky after my little pooky bear fell asleep on the couch. My parents were kind enough to just be parents and let us chew and screw to stop by my BFF's NYE party who lives nearby while they watched my boy. I felt a little bad (even though we treated!) but it was nice to get to visit friends and pretend we were on a date. So we stopped by my lovely friends house for dessert and ringing in the new year with bubbly. We mostly chatted and caught up on lost time and promised next get together one of us would have to buy Cards Against Humanity cause of all the rage and cause our reluctant traditional card playing hubbys would just not. Pfff how dare they.

post meal nap (this is his usual bedtime!)

But all in all, it was a great night and we got to accomplish a little of this and that with loved ones. The fact that we were able to stay up till 12 was a feat on it's own!

Hope you all had a lovely New Years Eve!

the sales continue to the very last day

I can't believe it's here. (Well this is actually post-mature as it is Friday as I am finishing up this post) but I am referring to Wednesday. I was lucky to get both Wednesday and Thursday off from work and not too shabby to be working from home on Friday so it's a total vacation high here after having all of last week off). I didn't quite know what to do with myself today. I could go to the mall/stores... again!? I could stay home and clean, but ehh I did really need to hit the supermarket. So I compromised to do both shops and supermarket.. ayaya. But I had purpose! I had a return from Bloomingdale's - that delightful place that I shop very rarely at. I figured it was a good day to truck on over there and do a stroll and then I remembered I had a pretty sweet coupon promotion. I mean I wasn't planning to spend $200 ..hahah but uhh worse things happen right. So I ended up rewarding myself with a purchase I have been looking high and low for for years now: the perfect over the knee boot. (You don't know how many times I had to google OTK to refresh the noggin what those 3 letters stood for. I kept thinking what it is this OTK boot? must be some indie cult followed brand my life does not know.. calm now, now I know and I totally believe the hype that is this type of boot that deserves it's own acronym.) So yeah. I have been on a hunt for OTK boots, years man. I mean like come onnnn. It's a hard task when you're as picky as me with certain things. I feel like with OTK boots, there is so much more shoe to leg ratio where it just needs to fit your leg right! There's nothing worse than a loose flowy boot that does not sit slim to the calf, unless of course you're going for that look. Truth is we come in all different shapes and sizes, and while you do on occasion see wide and narrow calf boot styles, sometimes you just want that almost custom fit. (And I'm sure that option is out there? and I'm sure I can't afford it!) Which is why I could and would not settle on just anything even when I found a lovely <$100 Dolce Vita boot. I can recall at least 4 pairs of boots ordered and then returned in defeat as they just wouldn't cut it. So here they are, I have actually yet to receive them as they didn't have my size in store.. how rude but I truly madly deeply hope they work out :)

Sam Edelman - Joplin

they are black pebbled leather. I would have preferred non-pebbled, but at an add'l 50% off the sale price, I supposed beggars can't be choosers

Bloomies you totally brought it man.. woman?










After Blooms, I took a stroll thru the adjoining mall and spotted Crate & Barrel. Another fave shop that I rarely shop at. I remembered I needed a few extra drinking glasses to replace the 2 that I recently broke.. shhh my hubby does not know this! I was once even called Spillana Von Spiller.
Anyway like every other store, they were having a sale on all the holiday stuff, so naturally I bought whatever they had left of these for next year's tree:

White Wood Bead Garland

I just checked their site and geez they have a lot of great stuff available online at some great prices!

 I'll be back shortly...









Next up, I needed a gift for a family party this Saturday for my cousins sons tooth party. In my culture all the ladies get together for when a baby breaks their first tooth :) it's a silly but cute little thing. There is also this part where the baby is placed down surrounded by a bunch of items signifying different professions and the first item he grabs is a prediction to his future profession. Silly but so cute to watch. Anyway I spotted Jack & Jane yet another store I only sometimes buy from. They too had a decent sale where I scored these two pieces for under $40.

this image looks dirty huh?

and this little guy

A shopping trip here could not be complete without a purchase for my boy. I just couldn't resist. An adorably adorable grey herringbone 2 piece suit set in his size? I can't even. I mean look at this thing, the pictures are terrible but it is a beaut. I knew the pants were a must at $23, they are a steal and so chic and something he can wear more than twice, the jacket on the other hand, I'm a little torn on. But together? Oh my, I may need to throw together a photo shoot just for this outfit.

And that was the jist of my NYE afternoon. I just had to take the very last day of the year to do more damages... but hey tomorrow is a new day :)