The weather briefly warmed up a bit and I could wear this cute skirt and thin tights without freezing my tooshie off.  Nick picked out the skirt because he has awesome taste and I know he would want me to let you know that. My favorite thing about it is the bow in the front. When I tuck my shirt into skirts, it sometimes feels too plain, like a belt is needed as a completer piece.  But this bow adds that little something extra and makes the skirt even more cute.

I wore this to have coffee and talk wedding shop with my best friend who is getting married this summer, which is so exciting! Then I wore it to dinner for Nick’s mom’s birthday. I’ve been trying to find more pieces that can be dressed up or down and this skirt is perfect for that.

I love the way the wedge ankle boots look with this outfit, but I decided to change into heels for dinner. The heels are more dressy than the boots, which is what I wanted in a dinner look. I would also wear the heels in the office for a more professional look.

Y’all, it was cold out when we took these photos! I had been at the public library for several hours doing some homework (fewer distractions there) and Nick met me to take photos. When we left, my car thermometer read in the 20s. I’m sure some of you are laughing at me because you’re dealing with negative temperatures, but this is cold for North Carolina. And Nick is such a trooper because he forgot his gloves!

Normally, I really like cold weather but, I gotta tell ya, I’m ready for Spring. That’s why I’m wearing Spring-ish colors in the pink shirt and floral scarf. The shirt is actually more fuchsia than pink (or even purple as it looks in the photos) and it has really cute dot details.

I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll mention it again: I think sweaters are the perfect match for this white puffy vest! What do you think?

I had to put my coat back on before my arms froze off!

Oh yeah, you knew it was coming… Shakira’s new single in Spanish! You’re welcome.

I mentioned in last week’s Serenade that I absolutely adore Shakira. I’ve followed her ever since I first heard ‘Whenever, Wherever’ in 20o1 and even though I love her English music, I love her Spanish  songs even more. Which makes sense because it’s her native language where she can express herself best. One of the things I’ve always loved about her music is the way she uses metaphors to describe everything! Listen to more Shakira. You won’t regret it.

This Week’s Top 5:

1. Days Off.  We didn’t have class on Monday in observance of MLK, but I had a lot of school work to do so I didn’t really get the day off. However, on Thursday, I didn’t do any school work and instead slept in, drank coffee, and did a little shopping – which is good for new outfits but bad for my 30 for 30 Challenge. Oops. It was nice, though, but I had to make up for it by staying up late Friday night to finish a project before the deadline. It was definitely worth it.

2. Brownies. Probably my favorite dessert of all time, we made a fresh batch this week and they really hit the spot. Nick is going to learn how to make them from scratch and then I’ll make him bake homemade brownies all the time.

3. The Perfect Hair Bun. I love when it only takes me one try to put my hair up into the perfect bun. And by perfect, I mean there aren’t too many hairs falling loose so I only have to use, maybe, 2 bobby pins instead of 12.  There are days when I stand in front of the mirror and redo my hair so many times that my arms begin to hurt. It’s silly really, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!

4. Reading Journal Articles that You Actually Find Interesting. In graduate school you read a lot. A LOT. Mostly book chapters, but also journal articles that are chosen by the professor to really drive home a topic you’re learning. Those articles aren’t always the most fun reading you do but you also get to do some research on your own and read articles that you find really interesting and you think maybe you’re one step closer to choosing a topic for your thesis. This week I read an article that discussed the fact that our society does not generally support promoting body satisfaction and body acceptance among overweight and obese individuals, yet body dissatisfaction does not motivate overweight and obese youth to adopt healthier behaviors or gain less weight. But enhancing body satisfaction among overweight and obese girls could actually promote healthier weight-related behaviors and essentially lessen weight gain. It seems to be the best of both worlds. See, interesting!

5. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. It’s a perfect lunch for a chilly day. Especially when it’s made with Vermont white cheddar, fontina, chive & onion cream cheese, and then you add bacon. Yum! I think that’s all I need to say about that 🙂

Photo of the Week:

It’s been very cold this week, even the furbabies need some extra warmth when they go out for their walks. Maybe we’re overdoing it a little, but Chico is wearing his sweater AND coat! Mia has more fur than Chico so she’s only wearing a coat. We do what we have to in order to keep our babies safe and warm.

After reading an article from Women’s Health Magazines about how to bliss out your bedroom, I decided my newest household endeavor would be to turn my bedroom and master bathroom into a spa-like retreat. It’ll take some work, which requires time, but I’m starting with taking baby steps.

First thing’s first, I decided to make some DIY storage boxes from old shoe boxes to remove the clutter from our dressers. I have a really bad habit of throwing everything onto the dresser: clothes, papers, pens, jewelry, books, you name it. I’ve tried so many times to make a habit of tidying up on a regular basis but I decided it’s much easier to hide the mess. Hey, like I said, baby steps! These boxes are really easy to make and only require some fabric and spray glue.

Step 1: Iron the Fabric. This may seem tedious (it did to me because I’m impatient and wanted to jump right in) but you don’t want your finished product to be all wrinkled. It won’t look as nice. If your fabric is already nice and smooth, you can probably skip this step.

Step 2: Trace the Box on the Fabric.

Sit the box on the fabric and trace around the bottom. THEN, without moving the bottom/base from its position, FLIP it onto its side and trace that side onto the fabric. Place the box back on its bottom in the original rectangle/square you traced and flip it on the other side and trace. Do this for all four sides.

I didn’t get a good photo using the pretty patterned fabric so here it is in the orange!

Now comes the tricky part.  I used a rectangular-shaped box so I extended the long sides by an inch on each side, meaning, once I traced out all the sides, I used the ruler and added an inch to tops and sides of the two longer sides. To the two shorter sides (on a shoebox, this is where the list the name and size of the shoe, if that helps), I added an extra inch only to the end, and not on the sides. If you’re using a square-shaped box, just do this to two of the opposite sides (as if they were the “longer” sides)

The reason is because of this: when you’re gluing your fabric to the box, you want each side of fabric to be long enough to cover the side of the box AND fold over to the inside of the box so that the entire box is covered and none is exposed. By adding an inch to the top and sides of each longer side of the fabric, you have enough fabric to wrap over the edge of the box, as well as about an inch to wrap along the sides, which will smooth out the seams when you fold up short sides in the end. You’ll see what I mean in Step 4.

So, after adding your extra inches described above, this is what your fabric should look like:

Maybe this will help:

Step 3: Prep and Glue the Fabric. Lay down your newspaper/old magazine pages so that you cover all surfaces you don’t want to get sprayed with adhesive. Place the fabric on the newspaper and give it a generous spray with the glue. Make sure to cover every inch of fabric with a good amount of glue.

Step 4. Press the Glued Fabric onto Each Side. Now, work quickly but carefully. Start with the long sides and press the fabric smoothly onto the side like so:

Then fold the sides over like so (this is why you want the extra inch of fabric on each side, without it, you wouldn’t be able to fold the sides over and then it will be harder to smooth out the edges and some of the box might even be left exposed):

Then fold the tops over the edge of the box, like so:

Repeat on the opposite side. Then, fold the shorter sides up and smooth out the seams, like so:

Make sure as you go, you smooth out each side as best as you can.

Step 5: Repeat all of the procedures for the lid:

Step 6: Let Dry. Let the box for an hour or so and it’ll be ready to use!

Outfit #4 for the 30 for 30 Challenge. These are coming along quite nicely now that I’ve given the rules a little breathing room.

I wore this to a meeting at school about our internship requirements. The bad news is I was in a car for three hours because I had to drive to campus and back but the good news is they gave us free lunch.  I had planned to wear a black pencil skirt but decided to go with the crop pants because it was a little chilly out this morning. The plaid blazer was a good choice because it added some interest, but I could have incorporated some more color. Although, you clearly can’t go wrong with neutrals!

I really like wearing crop pants, which can be a bit tricky when you’re as short as I am (5’1”) because you run the risk of them being too long and then they’re not cropped, they’re just cut off below the ankle. I stick to petite sizes because they’re prefect for us shorties, and that’s what I recommend. Otherwise you can get them hemmed.

Since Nick has become my photographer, my photo shoots have gotten much more fun! He makes me laugh a lot. It’s a quality I love about him, a good quality to have.

BONUS: The photographer becomes the photographed! Here are a few shots I snapped of Nick this afternoon. Look at that handsomeness!

UPDATE: I’ve linked up with Bri of Work Clothes, I Suppose and Bethany of Perfectly Coutured so be sure to head over there to check out all of the other amazing fashion bloggers who are linking up!