What's Up Wednesday

I haven't done this in a few months but today I am linking up with What's Up Wednesday again.

What we're eating this week:  Despite the fact that is fairly hot here still I decided to ignore that and make a pot of soup. I made a delicious white bean soup this week.

What I'm reminiscing about: I am reminiscing about all the wonderful wedding festivities of this summer and realizing that I still haven't written about the wedding or the events leading up to on this blog.

What I'm loving: I am loving going through all the wedding photos and trying to pick out the best ones.  I have been busy recently but have finally started looking through the professional ones so I can put together an album.

What we've been up to: Well unfortunately my grandfather passed away a couple of weeks ago so my husband and I spend last weekend at my parent's house for the funeral. It was a sad occasion but it was still quite a treat to be able to have my whole family together.  Both my sisters are in school on the east coast so it was nice to get an opportunity to see them ahead of their Christmas break.

What I'm dreading: I am trying to keep a positive attitude at the moment.  There are some things happening around me that I have no control over so I am just trying to focus my energy on the positive and not dwell on what I can't change. I just have so many things pulling me in different directions I am just trying to keep a balance.

What I'm working on: I am working on the final details of planning our European honeymoon. We have all the plane and train tickets booked and just have some final planning of our time in each destination left to do.

What I'm excited about: I am super excited about our upcoming honeymoon.  We will be traveling to Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic next month.  Not a traditional relaxing honeymoon location but we are excited.

What I'm watching/reading: A little late to this bandwagon but a couple of weeks ago my husband and I finally started watching Downton Abby.  We are about halfway through the series and we are addicted.

What I'm listening to: Mostly whatever comes on my Pandora which is usually a mix of country and a random mix of 90s-00s pop music.  Everyone needs some Britney in their life every once in a while. I have been working on a project at work that is a bit repudiative so my headphones have been on a lot this week.

What I'm wearing: With all working out I have been doing in addition to my new sports bra I also got myself a new workout outfit.  I normally stick to black Zella workout pants but decided to try something a little different with these striped ones.

I have still been living in navy blue and white romper/jumpsuit with my favorite cardigan and tassel necklace. I am pretty sure I have worn this outfit at least once a week since I bought the romper/jumpsuit.  How do retailers decide when to call something a romper and when to call it a jumpsuit? It doesn't seem to follow any rules!

What I'm doing this weekend: Not too exciting on my agenda this weekend.  I think it will be a combination of cleaning, cooking and trying to finish up honeymoon planning.  My sister is celebrating her birthday Friday so I will be sending her lots of Happy Birthday messages!

Happy Wednesday!

Fall Favorites

I love the idea of fall and cooler weather and all the holidays that are approaching as fall progresses.  One thing I tend to forget is that while the idea of fall and cooler weather are nice I live in a place that tends to have its nicest (read hottest) weather in August, September and October.  When everyone is talking about fall I am still wearing maxi dresses and sandals and waiting for the weather to cool off.  What the rest of the country thinks of as fall weather I am lucky to see before Halloween.

This year I am going to Europe in September so there is actually a chance of seeing some fall weather.  I bought 3 coats during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and am still trying to decide between 2 of them. This one in navy and the other one in a dark maroon color. I leave for Europe in a few weeks so I guess I am going to have to make a decision at some point soon.

While I have plenty of clothes for all seasons I couldn't resist at least getting something new for fall.  I got this dress during the Anniversary Sale too and it will be really cute with my boots if the weather ever cools down enough to wear them. In the meantime ballet flats will do too.

In addition to my new clothes I am looking forward to getting out all of my fall decorations next weekend.  I have quite a few things I have acquired over the last few years and have at least a few new things to add this year.

Happy almost Fall!

Summer Decorations

There is that weird time of year after the 4th of July when there are no holidays coming up but it is still way too early to decorate for fall. My condo is currently in that time.

I brought out my spring wreath again, a bunch of my fabric flowers and put some little flip flops in my wooden bowl but beyond that I don't really have any "summer" decorations to speak of.

This year I decided to use this weird time of year to put out a whole assortment of signs with fun sayings. A few of them I use for other holidays but most of them I don't so that works out.

The happy hour sign and the beer sign I got recently at Target in the ever fabulous Dollar Spot but the rest of the signs I have picked up over the years at various places.

I have had these decorations up for a month or so and am planning to keep them up at least until about Labor Day when I will switch it up and put out my Fall decorations.  The Fall through Christmas time of year are my favorite times to decorate so I am excited we are nearing that time of year.

Stich Fix #15

I can't say this was a particularly successful Stitch Fix box. There were a few items that had potential but nothing ended up working. I didn't notice this until I looked at the picture but everything in this box was kind of black, grey or navy blue.

This sweater wasn't a bad idea in general but it was just kind of boxy and unflattering on. It also had a strong chemical smell to it so that sealed the fate of this one.

This shirt was thing thing I liked the most when I opened the box. It fit and was cute but in the end I decided I already had a shirt like this one (hence me liking it) and I didn't really need another one so similar. 

This asymmetrical sweatshirt looked cute when I pulled it out the box but it did not look cute once I put it on. When the sweatshirt was zipped the under layer didn't lay flat and it was too small in the chest.

I could tell these black skinny jeans were not going to be a good look on me the minute I pulled it out of the box. I don't do well in pants in general and these were much too small in the waist and just generally not a good fit for me.

This dress was the worst thing in the box by far. I put in on and the under layer was super tight and the outer top layer was super flowy in a not flattering way. This dress looked like it was made for a dowdy 45 year old.

I ended up not keeping anything this month but I am excited to see what I get my box next month. If you want your own box feel free to use my link

Sports Bra Review

Today I am going to talk about the two sports bras I got recently during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale so if you don't want to read an entire post about bras you should stop reading now and come back later in the week for our regularly scheduled programing.

The Wacoal sports bra has been by go to sports bra for years.  I normally buy it in black or bright colors so that if it shows out the top of my gym shirt is definitely looks like a sports bra. It also comes in nude but that just looks too much like a regular bra for me. During the Anniversary Sale it came in white so I decided to give a light color a chance. This sports bra is super supportive though if you are not used to wearing your bras tight you might need to wear it a few times to get used to it.  The wires are on the outside of the bra so it kind of looks like it is inside out but just go with it. It is not a molded cup but I have never had any problems with anything showing. At this point most of my bras are a 32DDD but I still wear this bra in a 32DD so while it may run a little tight it does run true to size to slightly big in the cups.

This Chantelle sports bra was also available in Anniversary Sale and while I love my Wacoal sports bra I decided to give this one a shot too. It came in black with teal seams and in grey with pinkish seams. I ordered this in both a 32DDD and a 32DD to determine my size and it runs very similarly to the Wacoal sports bra so I needed the smaller cup size.  I think I must just like my sports bras really holding everything in. This bra also has an underwire but it is inside the bra like a traditional bra. I like that this bra is more of a molded cup but if you are trying to minimize your chest during your workout this is not the bra for you. It is super supportive but does not minimize (flatten) your chest.

I have worn both of these bras to multiple Orangetheory with great success.  I run my heart out and have had no problems with either one in terms of bouncing at all. I am glad I branched out and tried a new sports bra because now I have options depending on my mood (or gym outfit) which in my opinion is always a good thing.

In other news when I went to see what colors the 2 bras were coming in at the moment I discovered this other Wacaol sports bra that looks remarkably similar to the Chantelle one I was just talking about.  It comes in purple so I think this bra is going to be my next experiment.  If you have tried it let me know what you think!

Happy shopping and exercising! 

Show Us Your Kitchen

Our kitchen is a one butt kitchen but is serves its purpose.  The color of the cabinets is not great but we are not dedicated enough to bother painting it. When I first moved in we had white knobs on the cabinets but I have since replaced them with some pretty brushed silver ones.

As we have had to replace things over time we are replacing them with brushed stainless steal appliances but our trusty stove/oven is still functioning properly so it stays in its original state.

I love our dishwasher!  When I first moved in we had a dishwasher that by no means effective so we mainly used it as a drying rack.  As soon as we got a new high powered dishwasher my husband commented he wondered why he waited so long to replace the old dishwasher.  He had never had a "good" dishwasher and didn't know what he was missing.

Around the same time we bought a new dishwasher my very handy husband replaced our sink, garbage disposal and faucets.  He did a great job with it an it looks great.

Not the most glamours kitchen but it works for now.  Someday I will have something much larger and grander but not yet.