*I’m devoting this week to dresses in an attempt to motivate myself to actually wear the dresses I have in my closet.*

I shared a peak of this dress and matching cardigan in my last outfit planning post, but this is how I wore it once I got it home. I paired it with a coganc belt that matches the cognac in my wedes. When it gets cooler out, which I can’t wait for because this heat is miserable, I’ll wear it with my denim jacket and booties. How cute will that be? About as cute as this summer version, I’m sure! Anyway, I wore this outfit to my latest volunteer day. I’m wrapping up the project that I started on so that I can begin a new one, which I’m even more excited about. I’m going to be doing some content writing and I love writing so it’s a win.

Dress, Cardigan, & Belt: Old Navy | Wedges: Target | Necklace: Claire’s (old)

2008 was a really good year for me: I had graduated from college, got a pretty good job, and met & moved in with a girl that would become one of my best friends. She taught me to a lot of awesome things like how to appreciate a glass of wine, the importance of quality friendships, and being brave enough to follow your dreams. I’ve always planned to go graduate school, but it wasn’t until I watched Maria face all of her fears and complete a graduate program that I was inspired to finally achieve my own goals of earning a higher degree. Now that I’m all finished, our other friend, Karen, is starting her journey through graduate school.

All of that to say that I wore this dress to a party in honor of Karen starting graduate school. It was hot as all get out that day so I wanted to be covered as little as possible, so I wore this cute little dress. I can’t believe I haven’t shared it on the blog before because it’s a nice go-to. It’s casual enough to wear to a party but it’s nice enough to wear to a nice event (which I did several summers ago: I wore it to an anniversary event for the organization I worked for). The only problem I have is it often feels shorter than it looks, so I get a little self-conscious.

The dress is from Ross, which I find to be less expensive than TJ Maxx or Marshall’s. Even so, I don’t shop there very often because I like to take my time to look everything over and I rarely have that kind of time. But I got it a long time ago (at least 6 years ago) and it’s still one of my favorites.

Here’s the fun blooper: Cleaning off my sunnies is hilarious!

Dress: BeBop via Ross | Hat: Banana Republic | Shoes, Necklace, & Sunnies: Target 

By the way, I’d like to wish my mother a very happy birthday today! She’s the best and I love her very much. Happy Birthday, Denise (aka mom)!

Linking up with Mix & Match Fashion | The Tiny Heart | Tucker Up | Walking in Memphis in High Heels | I do deClaire | The Pleated Poppy

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, my best friend got married over the weekend. This is the dress I wore for the ceremony rehearsal and dinner, and the wedding planner complimented me on it during our line up! I really love this dress. I purchased it because I thought it would be easy to dress up and to dress down. However, as I seem to do with most of my dresses, I somehow convinced myself that it was too fancy to wear for casual occassions so I’ve only worn it one other time, which was for my baby cousin’s college graduation. Looking at it now in these photos, I’m back to feeling like it could be worn more casually. What do you think?

Looking at these photos also makes me realize that these shoes look and feel like Barbie shoes, which is so funny to me!

For fun, here is an action shot of us rehearsing:

And a little bridesmaids fashion love!

And a little NCsquared love 🙂

 Linking up with Tucker Up | The Pleated Poppy | Mix & Match Fashion

Dress: Ina via Conversation Pieces
Belt: Target
Shoes: Christian Siriano via Payless
Accessories: Old Navy

We have a treat for you! Our favorite photographers, Thad and Sarah of  2 & 3 Photography, held an event where we had some portraits taken! We haven’t had any professional photos of just the two of us since our wedding photos; we usually take family photos with the furbabies in the fall for holiday cards but when this event rolled around, we decided we wanted to get some photos of just us for fun. We had so much fun running around the farm and catching up with our friends!

We were even able to recreate one of our engagement photos (which you can see on our About Us page) that so nicely depicts our personality differences:

P.S. I’ve been at the beach all weekend and haven’t decided yet if I want to post about it so today you’re getting our photos from a few weeks ago. I do hope you’ve enjoyed 🙂

All photos taken by 2 & 3 Photography. 

Linking up with More Pieces of Me | Monday Funday

Nikki:
Dress: Old Navy
Belt: Francesca’s
Shoes & Bracelet: Old Navy
Necklace: Target

Nick:
Top & Shorts: Banana Republic 
Belt: York Street via Trunk Club
Shoes: Tretorn via Trunk Club

I know I’m a little late for a Mother’s Day post but here it is anyway! I usually see my mom {and dad} about once a month since I live several hours away from my hometown. When school started, my time with my parents was reduced to about once every other month when I would have a break. Needless to say, I was really glad I got to spend Mother’s Day with my mom. The family went out for an early dinner and then frozen yogurt, and kept it very low-key, so this is what I wore. My mom was just glad that we could all be together. Now I can’t wait for Father’s Day!