GYPO Summer Style - Week 1

Well, well, last week was the first week of the GYPO Summer Challenge! I'll be honest, I totally struggled with this one. I was good, seriously, I was really good for this round and then the fiery gates of Hades opened up and it was too damn hot to wear most of my creations. Don't get me wrong, I still wore some of the loner sleeved outfits, ans thankfully my office is an icebox most of the time.

Alright, let's get on with what I wore. The first day called for patterned shorts, a drapey tank and a denim vest. You know what the perfect outfit would have been? This one. Except I wore it the week before. Le Sigh...

Instead I subbed for a patterned skirt, pink tee and a white cardigan. I like to think that I "re imagined" the outfit and made it work appropriate.

Day 2 called for a graphic tee and brightly colored shorts. No shorts for work but I did have some orange pants from the Limited and a graphic tee with gold pineapples and gold sandals. I was still waiting for my graphic tee from Jane.com (which FINALLY arrived)

I felt super summery and then I went outside for lunch and when I came back, felt super smelly. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as I imagined.

Day 3 was the white dress, denim vest and nude sandals. I really, really wanted to wear my denim jacket with this dress and some turquoise jewelry. But again, it was too stinking hot to wear a jacket. Instead I subbed for a navy cardigan but I didn't love it. I actually think it makes me look larger than I am. I liked the shape of the dress a lot better without the sweater but I hate my arms. I know it's good to accept yourself and love every part of your body blah blah blah but I swear, no matter what size I am, my arms are gigantic. It's not for lack of work, I even have muscle definition in my biceps and triceps but I still won't go sleeveless. Ehhh,,,,

I scored this denim jacket at Goodwill for $5 and I had every intention of cutting off the sleeves and making a vest. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked the shrunken look of it. It's a small, and I'm definitely not but it think it's pretty cute. 

Day 4 - Patterned kimono, flowy tank and boyfriend shorts. Yeah, none of those were happening. I did look for a kimono and tried on a bunch. I mentioned before, they didn't work for me. I looked like the madam of a whorehouse every time I tried one on. 

For my work wear version of the outfit, I swapped for a flowy patterned tank and a flowy cardigan. No shorts for me so I wore more Limited exact stretch cropped pants. Please don't ask how many pairs I own... it's embarrassing.

I took a break from bathroom selfies to show a glimpse into my Skittles OCD. My intern had a bucket of Skittles to share and I perhaps had catch the rainbow. I always have to line them up by color and if there are extras, I eat them first.

Day 5 called for brightly patterned shorts, an eyelet white top and a colored necklace. I went complete off the reservation on this one. I scored this super cute jumpsuit at Ross and needed to wear it instead. :) It's bright, right? and there's white on the top.

Yes, I had to get completely undressed in the bathroom every time I had to pee but damn it was comfy. It might have been a little too "resorty" for work but 1/2 the office wears superhero shirts and ratty shorts, I think this is just fine. 

When I got home I changed into the casual version of the outfit. The shirt is over sized but I think it might be a little boxy for my taste.

Day 6 was supposed to be white shorts and a chambray shirt. I planned for white pants and a jean jacket but that wasn't happening. Instead I had a chambray skirt and a white shirt. I didn't love it, I usually wear a blue shirt with that skirt. Since I wasn't a huge fan of it I changed into a different skirt

Day 7 was a maxi dress with the denim vest. I'll be honest, I wasn't wearing a maxi dress to go to the gym and get groceries. Part of the challenge is to force people out of the comfort zone and not look like a slob while out and about and I think I'm pretty good at doing that 95% of the time. But wearing a dress to get groceries? Nope.

Instead, here's a picture of me, in a patterned maxi dress and my denim jacket. If I had dressed on plan Sunday, it would have looked like this. :)

What are you wearing this week??

Linking Up!

Why Can't They All Be Three Day Weekends?

Oh Tuesday, you're like a Monday. Especially after a lovely three day weekend, there you are, rearing your ugly head. Let's take a look back on the Weekend shall we, and remember what it felt like to have an extra glorious day off. 

Last month I participated in a Spring Fashion Challenge, GYPO or Get Your Pretty On. I'll chat more in my next post but one of the things it taught me was how to take a crappy selfie. (Actually this one is better than most). I take my selfies at work in the bathroom and I'm always on edge thinking that someone is going to walk in and catch me mid picture. 

I hurry up and try and smile but I just can't not look at the screen. I don't know why and I only have seconds to take my picture since ANYONE could have to pee at a moment's notice. At least there are far fewer women on the floor than there are men. I even tried to lock the bathroom door while I was taking my pix, but it doesn't lock. Weak...

Any who, this is what I wore to work and to a baby shower that night. I'm really starting to get on this maxi dress kick. I always thought I was too short to pull them off but they're working for me. I got this one last year and didn't like it with a short sleeved cardigan, but I LOVE it with the jean jacket. I've gotten a TON of use out of this jacket and it literally stat in my closet unworn for 4 years.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to run a 5K. Earlier in the week I was looking for a Memorial Day 5k but you know what? There aren't any in the area which I thought was really odd. Instead I signed up for the Stubborn Girl Race. 

The race was one of the oddest ones I've ever done. It was only $30 to run but no t-shirt. I don't know that I've ever not gotten a shirt at a race. One time I got a pint glass, which was cool, but I've always gotten something.

There were maybe 75 people running the race and it was supposed to be all women. The course ran through the Dorthea Dix Campus in Raleigh which was nice. I'd never experienced this before but the race was "timed" but the timing consisted of a guy with a stopwatch. Literally a stopwatch. 

We took off running and the first mile was pretty good, nice and flat with a few hills. I started to get thirsty and the "water stop" at mile one was a guy with cups of water on the side of the course, You had to walk over and get it and he clearly didn't want you to throw the cup on the ground. I decided not to stop and that was probably a mistake.

In mile 3 there was a giant hill and a headwind and I had nothing left in the tank. Ugh. I also should have eaten something that morning. I was just full of rookie moves that day. 

Queen of the positive splits right here. I clearly started out too fast. The thing that really annoyed me was that the course wasn't a 5K, it was barely 3 miles. My Garmin clocked the race at 2.92 miles. :/ If it's supposed to be a 5K, map that course out and make sure it's a 5K. 

We did get this medal, which I'm pretty sure came from Oriental Trading.

I got my exercise in for the day but as far as races go, I'd pass on this one next year.

Kev went with me and after we got back he tore out some dead bushes on the side of the house and planted some new ones. After that we took a trip to the mall. I ordered some shoes from Nordstrom and they were too big. I am a solid 7.5 and I was slipping out of both pairs. Grrrr,,,, They were perfect for Convention and I was really hoping they'd work out. 

It was dinner time and we opted for Cheesecake Factory. I was shocked that on Saturday night and there was only a 30 minute wait which is like finding a unicorn. There's always at least a 2 hour wait there. Really though, who waits 2 hours for dinner? 

All I wanted a salad and a few fries.

That's a side of fries. This is why we're fat....

Chopped Salad, no cheese. Nom.

While we were waiting for the table, I snuck into the Kendra Scott store. It's my new happy place, Add that to the lululemon store that's a few stores down, I could so some serious damage there. I showed my MIL the awesomeness of the store and she treated me to a new pair of earrings. LOVE THEM! 

Sunday morning was pretty lazy. I was sore from my 5K, my hips are really bothering me. It's odd because my hips never bother me, I think it might be time to get some new shoes. 

While I was out running my errands, I stopped into Xpert Nutrition and found a new protein powder. It's just straight powdered egg whites which makes me super happy. No dairy, no artificial sweeteners, nothing but eggs. I've been looking for a powder that wasn't full of a lot of junk and I think I finally found one. The true test will be tomorrow's smoothie.

After I got home, it was time to make our first trip to the pool! We have 2 awesome pools in out sub-division and it was a perfect day to spend some time pool-side. 

I DID dangle my legs in the pool which is a BIG step forward, especially if you read my last post. Kev didn't help, he  just talked about how the pool was washing off all his sweat and sunscreen and swirling around in the pool. Thanks...

That night I decided to see what all the X-Files hype was about. There are something like 202 episodes on Netflix, should keep me busy for a while. As I was watching, all I could think about was how having cell phones would make their jobs so much easier, Ugh, always looking for a pay phone, trying to find a fax, and they didn't take pictures of anything. Pictures would have made a HUGE difference.

Monday morning I went to a 90 minute combo class. Body Pump, Step and Attack. I realized that I really, really, really hate step class, Like a lot. It reminded me of an 80s aerobics class. 

At least I burned some calories. 

The rest of the day included looking for a fire pit, which is harder than you might imagine. We went to 3 different places before finding one. It's still in the back of Kev's car though, so no pictures of fire yet. We have so many sticks in the yard that I don't want to pick up and aren't being reclaimed by the earth fast enough for my liking, Now we can BURN THEM ALL. :)

That's all for me, I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Scenes from the Weekend

Hey all! How was your weekend? Mine was filled with cleaning and a little rock and roll.

My sister in law and her family are coming to visit next week so we have to scrub off the 2 months of dirt that have accumulated since my parents came to visit. I'm happy to say that our bedroom, 2 spare rooms and 1700 loads of laundry are finished. Not folded or put away, but definitely washed, or on the floor in front of the washing machine.  

 

On Friday my car was making a funny noise and I wasn't comfortable driving it this weekend, that meant 1 car family and I had to wait for Kev to come back from work Sunday morning before I could head to the gym.

 

I made it in time for the new RMP release. I have to say, I really liked #63. It was a great burn and a good class. Seriously, EVERY bike was taken, that never happens. Ever.

 

 

I generally burn about 100 calories per 10 minutes in spin class, so this was a little over my average, so not bad. If I want a big calorie burn I have to go for a run, I've built up enough cardio strength that the classes don't bring the calorie results like they used to.

Get home, shower, walk Cleo and it's off to the Kiss / Def Leppard concert! Confession time, I LOVE some hair metal. Love, love, love, and I'm not the least bit ashamed. I've seen Kiss twice before and they're one of Kev's favorite bands. First time Def Leppard for both of us.

I was doing really well with my IIFYM for the day until this happened.





It was delicious and I have no regrets. I also don't regret the hot pretzel and half cup of other beer. CONSUME ALL THE CARBS!

 

Kev's Kiss tribute face. I was excited that I finally had another reason to wear the Kiss t-shirt I bought ironically several years ago. Kev was also threatening to get a pair of jorts for the concert, because that's what you should wear to a Kiss show. Thankfully he never made it to Sears and I was spared.

 

Thoughts on the show, Def Leppard tried really, really hard and that was nice for them. Not everyone made it through the 90s with their voices intact. During one of the songs they pointed the microphone out to the audience for us to sing the next line and NO ONE RESPONDED. I felt so bad for them. Hopefully the people up front sang something because the lawn (where we were) was completely silent.

 

Kiss did everything you wanted Kiss to do. There was fire, Gene Simmons spit blood, they flew on wires, there were fireworks, it was exactly what I wanted it to be. Just a few observations, when Gene Simmons does his tongue thing, it's not sexy anymore. (was it ever?) But really, enough with the sexual innuendos, it's just gross now. Like how Neil Diamond can't sing "Girl You'll be a Woman Soon" anymore. Because that's just really creepy.

 

All in all we Rock and Rolled not quite all night, only until about 11pm, because we had to work in the morning.  

 

What was the last concert you saw?

 

Who else likes Hair Bands?