Have a nice trip...

Things I Love:
This dress.

No-sugar-added instant hot chocolate.

Things I Don't Love:

Nearly tripping on my way from the breakroom to my office, carrying an overly-full cup of hot chocolate, and coming thisclose to scalding myself and ruining my dress.

I am grace personified. Obviously.

Worn to work Wednesday, 6/1

Dress: DKNY Outlet

Shoes: Steve Madden (from DSW)

Change is Good

When I started my new job a couple of months ago, I knew it was going to mean spending a significant amount of time at our recently acquired suburban-area office, and much less time working downtown. And that made me sad, because I like working in a downtown area. My favorite office location ever was when I lived in Cincinnati and worked right on Fountain Square. Plenty of food and shopping options all within walking distance of my office? Sign me up!

But the new office started to grow on me when I realized I could cut 10-20 minutes off of my commute every day. And this is especially true now that school is out, since the only spot of congestion I ever had to deal with involved the drop-off lane of a nearby elementary school backing up into the street and causing all sorts of traffic delays every morning.

And then, I started thinking about how even our downtown office wasn’t really ‘downtown’ enough for my liking. There are very few options in the area if you want to walk to lunch, and really, who is walking anywhere when it’s 100 degrees out, anyway? And the closest shopping area, if you have a quick errand you need to run on your lunch break, is at least 15 minutes away, when you factor in traffic and parking garage navigation.

So I started exploring the areas around the office, and wouldn’t you know it? The mall is a five minute drive from my office. FIVE MINUTES! Sure, it’s not the most fantastic mall in the Atlanta area. And it’s not quite as convenient as it would be if it were, say, located between my office and my spot in the parking garage.* But still, it’s more than I’ve had going for me in the last few (or seven, I guess…) years. And when you also factor in the Target, located five minutes from the office in the other direction, I’d say this new location will suit me just fine.

Now, just watch them pick us up and move us all back to the downtown office within the next month, right?

*Seriously, Cincinnati had it out for me. That wasn’t really the greatest mall, ever, either, but wanting to shop, and then being able to do so in the time it took me to ride the elevator to the 2^nd floor and cross the skybridge? That may have been the birthplace of my shopping habit, right there. THERE WAS A SAKS, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

Also, this was before I developed a taste for online shopping. Obviously.

Worn to work Tuesday, 5/24

Blouse: Style & Co (from Macy's)

Sweater: J Crew Outlet

Skirt: Target

Shoes: Nine West 

Friday, revisited...

Editor's Note: This was scheduled to post on Friday, but Blogger didn't post it. Go figure...

But since I didn't write anything on Monday, and then I spent all of Monday night catching up on reading other blogs instead of coming up with something for my own, I figured Tuesday was as good of a day to re-post it as any. Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend!

Happy Friday, friends! Who's excited for a long weekend?

Steve and I are heading up to his parents' house to dog-sit for them while they go to a wedding in Tennessee on Saturday, and I am kind of looking forward to a few days of doing nothing but swimming with Brigid. And it's a good thing that that's how I want to spend my weekend, since there's not much else to do in Georgia when the temperatures start to top 90 degrees.

Helloooooo summer!

Worn to work on this past week

Sweater: NY & Co 

Skirt: Calvin Klein

Shoes: Steve Madden (from Macy's)

Purse: Kate Spade (So, apparently, posting a list of things you are coveting right before Mother's Day sometimes leads to you being gifted one of those things that you are coveting...thanks, honey! You really are the best!)

Summer Concert Series

And by concert series, I mean one concert. Well, one concert so far, anyway.


Let's just say I'm still holding out hope that my sister-in-law can come through with some NKOTB-BSB tickets before the boys make their Atlanta debut.

In the meantime, I'll make do with my yearly visit to the Jimmy Buffett show, which is always a good time, despite the fact that he keeps coming to Atlanta on a Tuesday, and I'm just too old to be going out on a school night. I will suffer through it for Jimmy.

Fins up!

PS: Flip flops seemed like the perfect footwear for a JB concert, until I spent several trips to the bathroom trying to avoid the flooded stalls that dotted the ladies' room. Lesson learned...my Hunters would have been a better option.

Worn to the Jimmy Buffett concert Tuesday 5/24

Tank Top: Old Navy

Sweater: Target

Shorts: Ann Taylor

Shoes: Old Navy 

I don't want to grow up...

I put together an Amazon wishlist for my birthday this past February, because various family members were looking for suggestions, and it seemed to be the easiest way to get the word out about what I needed (various camera/computer equipment pieces) and what I wanted (clothes and a travel coffee mug). I added this skirt on a whim, not feeling quite sure how I would style it if I did end up owning it, but wanting it just the same.

The skirt was still on the list when Steve went shopping for my birthday, and in addition to his main gift idea of having my family blog (Laundry is NOT a Hobby, if you want to check it out) printed and bound in hardcover (quite possibly the most awesome gift idea, ever…it’s like having a family yearbook to flip through), he picked it up as well. He’s a keeper, no?

And wouldn’t you know it, the skirt has turned out to be much more versatile than I expected. Work, church, outdoor activities, I’ve worn it for everything so far this summer. And I think I have some amazing tights I can wear with it when the weather gets cooler again, which will happen, whether I want it to or not.

Unfortunately, I think the success of this endeavor may feed a little too much into my nasty habit of ‘buy now, figure out how it works later’, instead of the new habit I’m trying to pick up of ‘buy only things that I can immediately work into at least five different outfits with what I already own’, which seems less fun, but much more responsible. At some point, responsibility will start to win out, right? Right?!?!?

Worn Friday 5/20 to work
tank top: Target
jacket: Kenneth Cole
skirt: Gap
shoes: Steve Madden (from DSW)