I finished one of my term papers early so I had a bit of time to snap a few photos. It was hotter yesterday than it should be in November so I couldn’t wear the sweater and jeans I had planned. I decided to go simple with this cute purple shirt dress and flats. It was definitely warm enough out that I didn’t need a jacket or anything.  Last week it snowed, this week it’s 78 degrees. Mother Nature, I’m going to need you to make up your mind and pick one or the other. I don’t like both. It makes for very difficult outfit planning!

The color in the photos isn’t quite true to the color of the actual dress; it’s more of a fuschia than a deep violet, which is why I paired it with cognac flats. They both have somewhat gold undertones (right?). Lighting is so hard 🙁

Dress, Earrings, and Sunglasses: Target | Shoes and Bracelet: Old Navy

It’s Sunday! And you know what that means? If you’re me, you have a huge term paper due 2 days and a huge group project due in 3 days. For that reason, the blog will probably be pretty quiet this week. I’ll try to get some outfit photos up around Wednesday or Thursday.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with “Black and Gold” by Sam Sparro. According to wikipedia, it “explores the relationship between reason, spirituality, and love” but I just think it has a funky cool grove that I like. Plus, it’s about love and I’m all about love songs!

This Week’s Top 5 Things (that make me happy):

1. Gingerbread lattes with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Ok, let’s be honest, when I have my way with it, it isn’t just a sprinkle of cinnamon, its like 2 tablespoons! I love the spicy flavors of ginger and cinnamon together. The Pumpkin Spice Latte ain’t got nothing on this!

2. Excellent group members. Grad school is notorious for goup work. When I was still employeed and told my coworkers that I was going back, they told me all about the joys of group work. Luckily, I have AMAZING group members. We work incredibly well together and are really good and bouncing ideas off of each other until we come up with awesome work. And that makes me happy.

3. Shrimp tacos and sangria. Seriously, after a long night of classes, you just need a pick-me-up. Mine is delicious shrimp tacos and sangria from my favorite Mexican restaurant.

4. Snow. Y’all, it SNOWED in my neck of the woods on Tuesday. Can you believe it? I’ve lived in NC my entire life and it hasn’t snowed in November in as long as I can remember. Then it was back in the 70s by Friday. Craziness.

5. Warm socks. Remember how it snowed? Yeah, I’m glad I had on warm socks! I hate cold feet.

Photo of the Week:

This is the snow that had accumulated on my car when I got out of class Tuesday night. I was so excited that I snapped a quick pic as soon as I got in.

Today is day four and my last day of participating inSarah’s Real Life Take One, Pass it On Challenge 2.0. At first I was going to “take” the blazer from yesterday’s outfit but I realized I’ve already done that and it would be too easy because I re-wear blazers all the time, so I decided to take the skirt instead. When I paired it with this top, I thought “hello, retro!” and hence the title of this post was born.  To me, monochrome is one of the coolest looks but the hardest for me to put together. This is probably because when I’m shopping, I worry about buying too many items in the same color and ending up with a boring wardrobe.

I know I’ve said I don’t usually like ruffles, but they must be growing on me because I think they make this button-front so cool! That little something extra takes it from boring to fun in no time flat.

To give this outfit a little sparkle, I added my pinterest jackpot sequin blouse. I LOVE the look of this blouse over the plaid button-front.

Button-front: J. Crews (thrifted) | Blouse: The Limited (thrifted) | Skirt: Banana Republic | Tights: Target | Shoes: Crown Vintage via DSW | Sunglasses & Earrings: Target | Bracelet: Old Navy

Take One, Pass it On Day 4:

On day three of Sarah’s Real Life Take One, Pass it On Challenge 2.0 I’ve “taken” the pink sweater from yesterday and “passed it on” to this cute little outfit. The monochrome of the pink and maroon look great, and the cognac in the boots are the perfect complement. You might not be able to tell, but my miniskirt is corduroy, which adds a nice texture to the ensemble. Had it not been so chilly out today, I might have worn my oxfords instead. But the boots kept my feet and legs nice and warm.

This blazer has elbow patches, which always makes me think of a college professor. It should probably be associated with students because I find that now, as a student again, I spend a lot of time with my elbows on desks taking notes or listening intently to lecture. The patches help prevent my elbows from rubbing holes in the fabric, right? Let’s go with that.

Sweater, Blazer, and Skirt: Banana Republic | Boots: Steve Madden | Necklace: Francesca’s | Bracelet: Old Navy | Earrings: Target

Take One, Pass it On: Day 3

On day two of Sarah’s Real Life Take One, Pass it On Challenge 2.0 I’ve “taken” the plaid blazer from yesterday and “passed it on” to dress up this pink sweater and jeans combo. I have to tell you, I haven’t had this blazer long, but I think it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. I have a black one already, which is nice, but the plaid makes any outfit so much more interesting! I might just start passing it along to everything!

It was really windy out while I was trying to take these photos so my hair was all over the place, my hands were freezing, and my camera kept getting knocked over. I wanted to get a close up of these cutie booties but I was struggling so much just getting regular outfit photos that I had to give up. I’ll feature them some other time, though, because they’re awesome.

Blazer: Target | Sweater and Jeans: Banana Republic | Shoes: Target | Necklace: Hawthorne Collection online

Take One, Pass it On: Day 2