WEEKLY WEARS: A SKIRT AND A DRESS?!

I wore this on what was supposed to be one of the last nice days of the fall.  Now that it's 20 degrees out, I'm glad I took the opportunity.  I bought this dress for my Chicago trip this summer, but I haven't had a chance to wear it again.  It's pretty short, so I added a skirt underneath to make it longer.  I loved the look!  The skirt added an extra layer of color and made the dress more twirlable (is that a word?).  The mustard yellow tights have been sitting in my drawer for a few years, so I decided it was finally time to make good on the $5 I spent on them and wear them around town.

Dress: TJ Maxx //  Skirt: The Limited //  Tights, Cardigan: Target //  Shoes: Aldo

On our way to a winery, we stopped by a little antique store full of fun Christmas decorations to get us in the mood for the holidays.  Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to lug all the decorations up from the basement and start hanging up the holly!

I love this star garland mixed with bulb lights.  Would be a fun Christmas decoration, don't you think?

FEELING THANKFUL

Today I'm thankful for so many things.  At the top of my list are loving family and friends.  I don't know what I would do without these people in my life, and I am a better person for knowing all of them.  And guess what, lovely reader?  I consider you to be my friend, too.  I really appreciate your support and kind words, and I hope that today and always you realize how special you are.

If you're in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving!  And if you're somewhere else, Happy Thursday:)

PEICD (PROJECTS EVEN I CAN DO): THANKSGIVING POM-POM GARLAND

I don't do a lot of decorating for Thanksgiving beyond some mini pumpkins and fall leaves sprinkled about, but I thought our mantel needed a little something extra.  I found a burst of inspiration when I was at Michaels the other week and saw a package of perfectly fall colored poms-poms.   Anthropologie made the pom-pom garland so popular a few years ago, but I didn't want to pay the price tag.  So at about $2.99 a pack, these were less expensive than a store bought one and even cheaper than felted balls.  Sold!

Ingredients:
--package of pom poms
--a needle
--embroidery floss in orange (I cut a piece about 120 inches)

So, like all my DIY projects, the instructions are easy.  Just string the pom poms with embroidery floss and hang up wherever you like.  

Super easy and really cute for a little holiday oomph.  

I may have already bought another pack of pom-poms in different colors for a Christmas garland.  It's so easy, you can make one for every holiday.  Have you found any easy holiday crafts recently?  I'd love to hear about them!

OUT AND ABOUT IN KANSAS CITY: DONNA'S DRESS SHOP

The other week I found out that a local vintage store was having a holiday open house.  A photo booth and a raffle?  I'm in.  We dressed up a little and headed over to the 39th and Bell area.  The shop was so cute and had a lot of vintage goodies plus some new clothes with a vintage flair.

How awesome does this punch look?  It's like a big bowl of fluffy pink cotton candy that tastes even more delicious than it looks.  It was doubly impressive since it was in a punch bowl that looked like a champagne glass.  Needing to recreate this drink at home, I asked what was in it, but the bartender said it was a secret.  Later, I realized all the ingredients were sitting around the base of the stand.  Now I know it's just sprite, champagne, and sherbert. I've got some ideas about this one.

It was fun to get out of our ordinary routine, although we did find a Chipotle in the area we had to "test out".  Don't want to go changing everything willy nilly:)  The shop is so cute, and I can't wait to go back sometime soon on more of a shopping expedition.

**All photos taken with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app.  Vintage store means vintage looking, blurry pictures are a must:)

VINTAGE VIGNETTE

Sometimes you just want to put together something pretty, because it inspires you.  I heard about a holiday open house at Donna's Dressshop, a vintage store in town that I wanted to check out.  The invite said to dress in your favorite vintage style, so I grabbed a dress I had tucked away in the back of my closet and some other items I had lying around that seemed to fit the occasion and forced asked Wade to wear a tie.  (He's a really good sport.)

At the last minute I grabbed these props from inside, because what good is a blog photo shoot without some obligatory props?

Coat: Delia's (long time ago)//Dress: Ruche//Bracelet, Earrings: Vintage//Tights: Anthropologie//Shoes: Old Navy

Can you believe it's already time for holiday parties and sparkly lights?  Do you have any fun parties you're looking forward to?  I'll be back later this week to share more about the open house at the dress shop.  Until then, you stay classy, Blogland.  (I guess I'm getting too excited for the new Anchorman movie.)

GIVEAWAY WITH THE TALE OF A MERMAID

The always awesome Devon from The Tale of a Mermaid is hosting a giveaway for one of my necklaces today!  Head on over to her blog to check it out.  You get to pick any necklace you want from my Etsy shop. Be sure to stay a while at Devon's blog, too, because her blog is at the top of my favorites list.  She has such a gift for storytelling through her words and pictures that make you feel like you're riding the waves alongside her.  Also, she is a really cool person, and I'm so lucky to call her my friend.  

As an added perk, you can get 15% off of any item from my shop right now until this Friday!!  Just use the coupon code MERMAID15.  I just added a bunch of new stuff to the shop that would make perfect presents for anyone on your holiday list, or maybe just buy yourself a little something special:) 

Among the new items are interchangeable 2 in 1 headbands!  With your order, you'll get one stretch velvet elastic headband and two rosette clusters that you can snap on to the headband.  The headband is non-slip due to the velvet and can be adjusted for any size head (from babies up to adults). What I love about this idea is that you can mix and match all the headbands and rosette clusters based on your outfit.  All of the headbands and rosette clusters listed in my shop are interchangeable.  In the future, I'll be adding extra rosette clusters and headband colors for purchase to add on to your collection.

If you see anything you'd like in another color or in a larger quantity, just e-mail me!  Thanks so much for everyone's support from my last post.  You guys are all awesome, and I appreciate your sweet comments.

THOUGHTS ON KEEPING UP

You know, sometimes it's hard not to compare yourself to other people.  We strive for success and then can't help but look at those around us and feel like we're not keeping up with them or we should be farther along.  It happens with jobs, relationships, and yes, even blogging.  In fact, I find it mostly in blogging.

It's easy to get wrapped up in the numbers game.  How many followers you have, pageviews, comments, etc.  It's exhausting and not helpful, but I do it all the time.  Usually, I find blogs really inspiring, but sometimes it makes me feel I'm falling short if I can't think of anything interesting to say or come up with a cool and unique DIY.

It's ok, though.  I have to remind myself that I'm doing something that I wasn't doing a year ago, and for me, that's awesome.  I can't compare myself to anyone else.  Everyone is different.  Everyone has their own path.  While I can work harder, on some things you need to just throw your hands up and say, "Enough.  I'm going to watch TV."  I want to do things that make me happy and help me become the person I want to be, so that's all that matters.  What other people are doing is wonderful, and I applaud them for it.  The biggest thing is to be happy with what I'm doing and where I'm at so I can be happy for other people.

Do you ever notice that the bar you set for yourself always seems to move once you reach the point you were striving for?  You tell yourself that you'll be happy if you get to this point, but once you reach it you realize that you won't really be happy until you get to the next point over there.  I guess it's what keeps us striving ever onward, that we always need goals and something just out of reach to see what we can achieve.

What all this makes me realize is how appreciative I am of you!  Yes, you! I just want you to know that I think you're awesome!

OUT AND ABOUT IN KANSAS CITY: BROOKSIDE

There is this adorable neighborhood in Kansas City called Brookside.  The majority of the houses were built in the early 1900s, which gives everything a vintage and cozy feel.  This was actually our dream neighborhood when we were looking for houses a few years ago, but it didn't work out.  While I'm so happy where we are today (and think it definitely turned out for the best), I always love visiting this area with its cute little shops.  This past weekend, my mom and I went exploring here.

There are a few really cute shops, but my favorite is a place called Stuff.  It definitely lives up to its name, because it is full of stuff!  Lots and lots of really cute stuff.  The best part of the day was getting to see all the Christmas decorations out.  It was hard to believe it's already time to start thinking about Christmas while we were enjoying a nice mid 50s day, but it's time people!  Being surrounded by color and sparkle got those holiday juices flowing.

 There's such a history to this place.  All the shops were built in the 1920s, which makes them that much more charming.  I love seeing how the modern and vintage merge.  The Dime Store turned into the New Dime store, and the old drug store turned into a Panera.  I guess it could have been something more quaint, but at least they kept the "Drugs" sign.

After shopping a little, I decided to turn my mom into my personal photographer and she did an awesome job.

Cardigan, Tights: Target//Shirt: Gap//Skirt: Old Navy//Shoes: Aldo//Necklace: Made by Me

Then I thought that my mom's outfit was too cute not to share.  Where do you think I got my snazzy dressing style from?

Isn't she the prettiest?  We laughed a lot while taking these pictures.  Mainly because we couldn't decide if we wanted to wear our glasses or not.  While I need my glasses to see, I also think of them as a fun accessory.  They're in style right now, but my mom brought up a good point that 20 years from now when I'm looking back on these pictures I might think to myself, "Geez!  I can't believe I wore those crazy glasses!"  My mom had the big 80s glasses that were so cool during that time, but now we laugh at them.  It's always hard to imagine a trend not being cool in the future, but I guess the big hair of the 80s and ridiculously baggy pants of the 90s debunk that theory.  It was the best day, made even better by ending it with a stop for some ice cream.  Delicious.