While everything I wear is a reflection of the style I like, this outfit is one of those that feels so quintessentially me. The cute top, the comfortable pants, mostly neutral with a pop of color in the shoes… these are the things that make me feel happy and confident in an outfit. Of course, happy and confident are the main feelings I try to achieve with any outfit (as well as comfortable!) but this one really hits the mark.

For all of my adult career, I’ve enjoyed dressing business casual. I’ve never really been the jeans and tee kind of girl because that’s just me. Once, in middle school, my gym/health teacher asked me why I was always so dressed up. I think I told him I just liked to look nice. Nothing wrong with that! And this outfit looks really nice. It’s simple yet elegant. The only thing missing in this whole ensemble is some color on my lips!

I mentioned in one of my posts last week that Target is retiring its Mossimo and Merona brands but will continue with its Who What Wear line (along with several new lines). This shirt is from that line and one of the reasons I ain’t mad about Target’s decision. It’s a great shirt! It’s cute and interesting, it can be dressed up (like here, or with a skirt) or down (with jeans), and it can be worn with just about any other color. That’s a win in my book.

Top: Who What Wear via Target | Trousers: Banana Republic | Shoes: Old Navy | Sunnies & Watch: Target

What outfit combinations or qualities make you feel happy and confident?

Linkup: Spread the Kindness Linkup | Confident Twosday | Trend Spin Linkup

When I say that these are the perfect shorts, I mean it. They’re stylish (I can pair them with just about every shirt in my closet), they’re comfortable (not too short), and they don’t look too bad all wrinkled! I used to hate wearing shorts in the summer because they always felt too short so I’m getting a lot of use out of these. I love them so much that I have to make myself not reach for them every time I leave the house in the evenings/on weekends.

How cute is this necklace? It was my very first Mother’s Day gift from Nick and he did a really good job, even though I picked it out 😉 I wish the chain was slightly shorter so I’ve been looking for a new one without much luck. I often have that problem with necklaces: instead of an extender, I need a shortener. Such are the perils of being a short person.

I tied my t-shirt to give the outfit a little more visual interest. I think I like tying my shirts more than doing the half tuck because the tie seems to look better on me, with the short torso and all.

Shorts: Target | Tee: Old Navy | Shoes: via Rack Room | Sunnies: Target | Necklace: Etsy

Happy Friday, everyone! How’s this for a cute, summer-y office outfit? I’m declaring this summer the summer for dresses because they’re the first thing I reach for in the morning.  I previously wrote about how I have a closet full of dresses that I never wear (which is a lyric from a Shakira song, btw!) and even devoted a whole week on my blog to dresses in an attempt to motivate me to wear them more often. Nowadays, I can’t get enough dresses. Funny how the pendulum swings.

I love the colors in this dress. They’re so bright and happy! I think that’s why I wore this outfit to the office specifically on a day when we took our new intern out to lunch.  Do y’all do that, too? Plan to wear a specific outfit on a certain day because you’re going to be engaging in a particular activity? I do it all the time! I think “Oh, I have this new dress. I’ll save it to wear on X day because we’re doing Y thing.”

I love the flats with this dress but next time I’m going to dress it up with heels. I can’t wait!

Dress: Target | Necklace & Shoes: Old Navy | Blazer: Gap Outlet | Sunnies: Target

And when I’m not dressing it up with a blazer and flats for the office, I’m dressing it down with sandals for family time!

My little family

Happy Galentine’s Day! How cute is this floral maternity dress from Old Navy? It’s really comfortable, too. It would make the perfect Galentine’s Day outfit for brunch with all of my favorite lady friends. Also, I’ve worn it to two (of three) baby showers and I wore it out shopping and to enjoy the beautiful 80-degree weather we had on Sunday. The first two showers were in January, and it was slightly colder then so I paired the dress with my taupe ankle boots and looked pretty darn cute. It’s also office-appropriate so I’ll probably be wearing it a lot in the next few months as I start my new job.

I’m 34 weeks now and the realization that in about six-ish weeks I’ll have a real, live baby is sinking in big time. We’ve had all of our baby showers and finished the nursery, and now all that’s left is installing the car seat and packing my hospital bag. March 24th will be here before you know it!

Dress & Shoes: Old Navy | Necklace: gift | Sunglasses: Target

Linking up with Let it Shine

P.S. What’s Galentine’s Day? Allow my spirit animal, Leslie Knope, to explain:

image source

I returned some Christmas/birthday gifts and with the extra cash, I headed to Target to shop for purses and instead found this scarf. I was drawn to it immediately because of the beautiful colors and floral pattern, and I knew I had a lot of stuff I could wear it with but especially these cobalt flats. Like most of us, I usually try to match or coordinate my accessories and this combination was surely a match made in heaven.

this combination was surely a match made in heaven

I wore this outfit to tour a few day care centers near my house. Why was I touring child care centers, you might ask? Because on Thursday I accepted a job offer to work in the Development unit of a local women’s health organization as their development and program coordinator! I can’t tell you how grateful (and relieved) I am that they hired me knowing I’m 8 months pregnant AND knowing that they’re giving me maternity leave when I’ll have only been there for, like, a month. It only took me three months, which was only half the time it took me to find a job when I graduated from my masters program. This is definitely going to make life easier for my little family.

Back to the outfit: It was so nice in NC yesterday that it got too warm for the scarf. In fact, I removed it completely when I took Mia for her late afternoon walk. Now that I’m going to be working again, Nick and I did some shopping over the weekend for office-appropriate clothes should be able to wear both now and after the baby (with the help of my trusty belly band) and I can see myself wearing this scarf with most of the outfits that I bought. That means you’ll probably be seeing it a lot more on the blog!

Sweater: Banana Republic | Jeans: Mavi maternity via Stitch Fix | Scarf: Target | Shoes: Old Navy | Earrings: Spencer’s