Color Explosion

So, this looked a lot cooler when I looked in the mirror today but now browsing the photos it might have been a 'bit' too colorful. Obviously too late to do anything about it.

This was the debut of the new mustard cord skirt and the fuschia tights. I do like the schiffon top over the skirt actually. It was also the perfect lightness for me to run around today.

Added simpe accessories since I was hosting a big party didn't want heavy earings or jingly bracelets that will be difficult to do dishes in etc... The feather earings were perfect. Not only do they look great but they are also, well, 'feather' light! Just one simple cuff was good.

I tried on 3-4 different belts and this was the winner. Touch of brown to compliment the shoes but thin enough to not be too matchy...

My mom came a bit earlier to help out and when we felt we were making great progress we decided to take the photos before things got crazy. She noticed these pretty flower in our neighbor's front yard across the street. So, we actually crossed the street to take the photos. I am glad the neighbors did not come out and wonder what the heck we were doing in front of their home!

Schiffon top & Cord mini skirt  - Anthropologie (bought at totally different times)

Fuschia tights & Cuff bracelet - Charlotte Russe

Double belt - Forever 21

Feather earings - Thread Show

Mary Jane Shoes - Blowfish (from Zappos)

Since she took my photos I snapped a photo of my mom:

Today's Activities: So, today was the big day of us hosting a co-ed baby shower for my brother and sister-in-law. I have before this one had hosted 1 all female and 2 co-ed baby showers in the past so was no rookie. However, never before have I hosted a baby shower where the majority of attendees were single guys in their 20s! Among the 25+ attendees no one other than us (and my parents) had kids! Knowing this we had plenty of beer for the boys and I made my very popular mixed drinks for the ladies. Had to make 2 additional batches as they were very very popular. To keep things fun we only picked only 3 games to play. One was a simple one to break the ice where they had to guess what the baby of each animal was called. When they saw the winner got a prize of a flavored vodka bottle they got competitive. We played the poopy diaper game which was priceless. If you have not heard of this before you melt different kinds of choclate candy bars in baby diapers in the microwave and have guests guess what candy bar it is. The photos of these guys smelling and licking diapers was hilarious. They said they will never look at choclate the same way! Knowing the gift openning part could get boring even for women that have babies I had them open gifts while serving cake so they had something to eat/do while watching the gifts. Plus had them play gift bingo to keep it more interesting. Once this was all done some left and with the raminning we played rounds and rounds of catch phrase, my brother's favorite game. They and my dad stayed after everyone left and we played disney sing it with the kids and had pizza for dinner. Great party and now can't wait for my little nephew to arrive sometime mid to late March!

The Happy Parents-to-be:

Group shot with me and Jon: 

Last Minute Glam

As you all know by now I keep a very detailed spreadsheet for outfit ideas. That is mainly due to the fact that I rarely rarely have time to spend picking out an outfit in the morning. Which was why I had resorted back to yoga pants and sweatshirts and uggs for almost a year when I had my kids hence the whole point of me starting this blog. Anyway this was one of those rare occasions where I actually put together the outfit on the fly...

I am also half cheating. I wore this outfit yesterday afternoon for only couple hours and today. I knew I was going to wear a killer outfit at night so I didn't really care what I wore in the afternoon. I grabbed this tee which I got on clearance from JCrew for $6 (retailed at $45) then I added the animal print cardi I am barrowing from my mom and couldn't resist adding the necklace. Still wanted to be comfy and pulled on my boot cuts to give the skinnies a break.

For a bit difference wore my mary janes with glittler gold ankle socks!

 

Animal print cardigan - Forever 21

Sequined Tee - J Crew

Bootcut Jeans - Citizens of Humanity

Bib necklace - Forever 21

Mary Janes - Blowfish from Zappos

Glitter ankle socks - Forever 21

Today's Activities: It was a day of running errands to get ready for tomorrow. Ordered balloons for the shower and for my daughter's b-day which is the following week. Hit Target for some last minute stuff. My mom came with us to these stores to entertain the kids and realized how hard it is to shop with them. After naps I managed to keep the kids indoors as I cooked two salads, did laundry, ironning and wrapped gifts. During this time of course they demolished the house so then we spent time picking toys up. My dad came to take over and I got my nails done. Funny I used to get a mani/pedi every 2 weeks once upon a time. Nowadays it is a miracle if I can make it once a month. While we gave the kids a bath and put them to bed my dad prepared the shower favors then him and I put most of the decorations up so that is a relief to get all that done. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and I still don't know what to wear. The weather which has been spring warm is forecasted to cool so may be can go back to a fall outfit. Have to wait and see. Forecasts in San Diego can't be trusted.

 Dressed my daughter preppy yesterday and of course she was posing for me: 

Here is the full image of the the top photo. Loving the kids getting in the mix... 

Look at her! This is in the afternoon before we went out yesterday. She picked her ariel sunglasses! 

Pretty mixes

Aaah, I am back.... I truly loved this outfit.  Here is where I got my inspiration in Chictopia:

What attracted me about this was combining red and pink and use of tulle and a big statement belt.

Unfortunately the lighting was just horrible, horrible for these photos. We should have realized and moved inside or something. I am bummed cause the outfit was really great and the photos look terrible.

I got the inspiration to stack up necklaces from a Forever 21 wall photo in the store: 

I looked online and of course could not find that blue necklace to replicate this and was waiting to find something similar. But, then tonight first I put this new peach/pink pearly choker necklace on and had an idea that it might look over the rhinestone one like in the picture. And it sure did:

And of course I thought of the most amazing statement belt. This belt was part of my mom's wedding ensemble. Even at age 18 she wanted to be different and did not wear a classic wedding gown when she married my dad. Instead she chose a couture Turkish designer that created a classic old Turkish wedding outfit. She had given the outfit to me but I didn't realize had not given the belt. But she was nice enough to give that too so I can use it for this outfit.

My husband was worried it would stab me in the stomach if I sat down and of course it did not.

My candy apple red and bright shoes definitely made a statement:

The rest of the photos are horrible...

Tulle Skirt & Necklaces - Forever 21

Silk Pink Blouse - Ann Taylor

Cream Fishnets - Nordstrom Rack

Red Patent leather heels - Stuart Weitzman

Belt - Vintage

Thursday's Activities: It was an exciting swim lesson as my daughter did majority of the class on her own without me going in the pool and since she did so good she will be graduating to the next level which means I will remain dry during lesssons. (See photos below).... After swim we had the dilemma of lunch and grocery shopping. The problem is it is such a hassle to get the kids out of the car for lunch then re-load and drive to grocery and unload re-load etc... So this time found a drive-thru mexican place and got our food without getting of the car. Thank goodness Vons had tables in front so we parked and ate there then grocery shopped for the big baby shower we are hosting this Saturday. Again it took forever for me to unload everything when we get to the car. And people ask me what I do for exercise to stay thin. If they can just record my normal day they will see it involves constant high level cardio combined with challanging weight lifting of kids, double stroller, groceries, bags and bags. After naps we went to the music class and my sister came to join us. At home my brother and his wife came to take over the kids so my husband and I can go out on a date  night. Hence my outfit. Had an amazing and very very long steak dinner. It was so nice to have a conversation without interruptions and not chow down our food.

Again really bad lighting but here we are before leaving for our date:

Here is my daughter in her first solo swim lesson:

My son swimming to his instructor in the other lane:

 And she is under:

Snack Day

I haven't been feeling it with my outfits the last 3 days so sorry about that. I got the motivation to wear this top after seeing the following photo in the anthropologie catalog:

I remembered this top's style is almost the same and I have a very similar bone necklace. I actually wore my long ivory chunky cardigan over this in the morning and in the afternoon but forgot to take photos with it.

I barrowed this top from my sister while I was pregnant as it was a great maternity top. Then it became a great breastfeeding top and hid my post birth tummy. Afterwards I was done so gave it back to her. When I saw this picture barrowed it back just once so I can duplicate the inspiration!

Continued with bone colored accessories with this ring, a gift from my aunt last summer and this bangle set...

Top - Sister's

Leggings - Forever 21

Boots - steve madden (I think, I can't remember and I am too tired to get up and look)

Bone necklace and bracelets - Forever 21

Ring - from Turkey

Today's Activities: Today was a big day at preschool as it was our turn to bring snack and therefore my son's turn to be teacher's helper. What we didn't account for is it was the first day of the new semester and sign up for these state funded free classes are on a first come first serve basis. So not only did all the M-W students showed up but also the Tue-Thu and Friday students came too. It was a zoo! I of course did not have enough food. We had also picked a different snack combo for a change. It was hummus, sweet bell peppers, olives and pita chips. Not really easy to serve to a huge crowd. Thank goodness my mom came to help and my step dad stopped by as well they looked after the kids while I served and cleaned up snack. Glad that is over with.

After naps we went to babies'r'us to shop for brother and sister-in-law. I love that store but it is so not close to me and always takes forever to get to and come back from. I couldn't resist buying the cutest outfit for my daughter, black and white gingham checkred bloomer shorts with a tee that has a cute girl like her on it. Plus some gingham shoes. My son picked out a vans style sneakers with skull on it cause it was like the 'bad boy in toy story'. Then my daughter fell in love with this ariel rid on toy and was whizzing all over the store. I couldn't resist with her b-day coming up next Thursday so bough it for her. She was totally showing off to dady when we got home.

Here is my son as teacher's helper:

Moffat Inspired

I got inspired for this look from the Lauran Moffat collection:

It is not really similar but the idea was mixing striped cardigan over a patterned dress with grey tights. I am not crazy abou the outfit. You know how it goes, somedays you love it somedays not so much...

Added the animal print heart charm necklace....

Plaid dress, cardigan - Forever 21

Shoes - Blowfish from Zappos

Necklace - Betsey Johnson

Today's Activities: Still no preschool today either so we went to a friend's house for a big playdate. She has twin girls so it was great that she had two of every toy. The kids loved it. This was also the first time we had a playdate at a house where the older kid is a girl so there were sooo many girl toys and my daughter was in heaven. She actually cried when it was time to leave. I cooked a very elaborate Rachel Ray recipee for dinner during nap time which took the entire nap time so when they woke up we went to the indoor play area so I can relax a bit. Met two other mommies there. Came home and hosted my best friend who just returned from Hong Kong and Tokyo trip for dinner. Watched Shrek all together and then hung out after the kids went to bed. Trying to plan an all girl's trip in early March so looked at hotels. Haven't been out with my girls since my son was born so hopefully it will happen.

Once again my daughter wanted to pose just like mommy....How can I resist?

What is she holding you might ask? it is cotton balls which means while I was taking photos they got into container in the bathroom!

Here she is lifting her foot for me to photograph her shoes!

Not sure what this pose is but she said 'cheese' which is her cue for me to snap the shot!