Wahoo!

Today...

Glasses - Prada

Sweatshirt - Obey Propaganda

Elephant necklace - thrifted vintage

Jeans - thrifted

Ballet flats - Mudd

Nate and I have a busy weekend planned! We're going to see Cabaret tonight since we know two people in the show. Tomorrow we're going to a surprise party and Sunday we're going to watch the Super Bowl (and eat a lot of junk!) with some friends! Wahoo! Not waitressing rules!

Sure. Why not?

It's snoooooowing like crazy right now (we're supposed to get 4-6 inches by noon.) I'm all for it. If it's gonna be a cold ass winter, may as well be snowy too! Why not?!? Pile it on!

Army shirt - thrifted vintage

Lace shirt - thrifted newstock Target

Cropped pants - thrifted NY & Co.

Wedges - Ralph Lauren

Baby picture ahoy! Our Godson Peder just turned six months old!

Don't be fooled by that photo. His favorite hobbies are crying, wailing, and screaming. He's a handful.

Sanitized

Dudes, it happened again. More days off work due to the extreme cold. We were scheduled to have Monday off anyway due to the end of the semester but we wound up having Tuesday off as well. As much as I love an unexpected day off (especially since I waitressed on Saturday night and Sunday morning), this is getting crazy! I don't want to have to make up days in June! (buuuuut I also don't want kids to get frostbite. I've only seen it once and it was super gross!)

Oxford - thrifted little boys Cherokee

Sweater - thrifted newstock Target

Necklace - Off 5th

Jeans - Gap

Boots - Rockport

I wore this same outfit on Sunday night to the country club's employee party. We went to a local restaurant and had a fancy dinner with a bunch of door prizes. Nate and I won a box of steaks, a frying pan, a hat and a shirt, and 22 bottles of hand sanitizer (don't ask!) It was super fun, and now the club is closed for the whole month of February so it's nice to be able to plan things on weekends for once!

P.S. Don't worry, we brought all the hand sanitizer to the group home where Nate works and the school where I work so we don't just have a crazy cabinet at home stuffed with it!

D minus

Well, I had the day off work yesterday due to Polar Vortex: Part Deux. There are 23 weekdays in January, and I only have to work at the school for 14 of them (due to winter break, 3 cold days, MLK Jr Day, and the end of the quarter.) That's only 60% of the weekdays. If that was a grade it would be a D minus! Sometimes working at a public school is a sa-weet gig.

Polo - from the golf club
Sweater - thrifted Boundary Waters

Sequin skirt - Aqua

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Wedges - Ralph Lauren

To be fair though, I spent yesterday morning doing some mandatory yearly training online and then I hung out with my special needs buddy Daniel for 5.5 hours since his afternoon program was canceled. So it was kinda like I was working? Not really. Plus we made homemade lasagna which is always awesome!

Silly heart

I love a good silly print sweater. This one reminds me of a 1980s country kitchen. Remember when it was in style to have like cats and hearts and geese in your kitchen which had ruffly curtains and everything in that grey-ish blue color? Maybe it was just all my aunts...

Sweater - thrifted vintage

Jeans - Gap

Ballet flats - Bongo

Last night Nate and I went to the photo booth employee holiday party, which was fun. There was a bunch of catered appetizers and desserts, and of course, a photo booth! 

Sweat it out

Friday...

Hair scarf - thrifted

Polo - from the golf club

Sweatshirt - Obey

Jeans - Target

Shoes - thrifted Minnetonka Moccasin

On Friday evening I waitressed, then went and hung out with some friends when I was done. On Saturday Nate and I babysat Henrik and Peder so my sister and her husband could go to her work holiday party. On Sunday Nate and I went to a few thrift stores that had early 50% off day. I had yesterday off work for Martin Luther King Jr Day (Woo! For both the day off and the man!)

Today... it's -11 out so it felt like the proper day to rock a giant evil cat sweatshirt. I found this while thrifting on Sunday and I know I won't wear it enough to justify keeping it. Besides, I'm one of the only bloggers who isn't obsessed with cats so it will go in the etsy after I wash it again.

Sweatshirt - thrifted vintage Hanes

Cropped pants - thrifted New York & Co

Shoes - Ralph Lauren

Flat out

Yesterday...

Oxford - vintage

Dress - Marc by Marc Jacobs

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Ballet flats - Target

Today...

Oxford - thrifted vintage Gant

Vest - Express (from high school!)

Cuff - J.Crew Factory

Jeans - Gap

Ballet flats - Mudd

In addition to my recent aversion to tights and skirts, lately I've been all about the flats. I don't know what it is, I just haven't felt like wearing heels at all. 2014, the year of being casual. For now, anyway.

Trooper

It's a very snowy day here - so pretty!

Sweater - thrifted newstock Target

Polo - from the golf club

Pin - thrifted

Skirt - Target

Tights - ?

Ballet flats - Mudd

Oh hey, adorable pin!

Nate and I made taco salad and watched The World's End last night. I was not a big fan. I loved Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz was good, but this one was just kinda boring and uber ridiculous, IMO. I so rarely watch new movies, it's always disappointing to watch one I don't like! 

Dress mess

I just looked and today is the first day I've worn a dress since December 3! Who am I?!?! Now that it's not negative a million degrees, I suspect I'll be motivated to put a bit more effort into the blog. I've really been dressing simply and warmly lately! 

Necklace - vintage (my mom found it for me at a garage sale)

Dress - eShakti

Tights - Cynthia Rowley

Shoes - Michael Kors

I had an excellent weekend. We hung out with my nephews on Friday afternoon, then met a friend for a beer. I waitressed on Saturday night but I was done by 9pm - woo! Sunday was a classic lazy day - football and enchiladas and staying in my pajamas all day. 

Zags and stripes

It's Friday, Friday... This has been the longest short week ever! And it has turned my brain to mush, so much so that I started this entry with Rebecca Black lyrics. I'm embarrassed and gonna go hang my head in shame now.

Scarf - Missoni

Shirt - Bitten by SJP

Belt - thrifted vintage

Jeans - Gap

Shoes - thrifted Joan Helpern Signature

I'm a bear

Glasses - thrifted American Optical, lenses replaced

Jacket - Jacob

Turtleneck - thrifted newstock Target

Jeans - Gap

Ballet flats - Target

Wellllll, I was planning to return to work and normal life on Monday, but as I'm sure you are aware, the arctic blast had other plans.

So school was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday. This morning was a much more reasonable -11 so it's back to work after 18 glorious days off!

Man, bears know what they are doing. I've been hibernating for a few days (I literally did not leave the house from Saturday morning until this morning except for when I went and stood on the doorstep to see what -45 felt like for myself. It felt crunchy. And my hand got stuck to the doorknob.) Hibernation - it was awesome. Pajama pants, blanket piles, leftover Christmas cookies, and reruns for days. Nate and I made a shitload of green soup (kale, leeks, spinach, onion, broccoli and cannellini beans) too!

Totally random, but here's Nate and I being schmoes on NYE at Blake and Dee's.

Don't we look like a couple of overgrown Hot Topic rejects? I was soooooo not a Hot Topic kid in high school but all our greys and stripes and skulls just made me laugh. 

Wedding week: Our reception (part 2)

More felt pennants I made... they were also navy and mustard and white like the ones on the cookie table.

We did a slideshow of photos of us growing up while people were finishing up dinner and eating cookies. My part was set to 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins. 

Nate's part was set to Photosynthesis by Frank Turner. Some of my cousin's little kids couldn't wait to start dancing, so they danced to Nate's slideshow!

We also did a slideshow of photos of Nate and I together that was set to Just Breathe by Willie Nelson. Henrik came over and pointed out to us that he recognized us up on the screen (cute!)

Our first dance was to Harvest Moon by Neil Young.

Then I danced with my dad to You Got It by Roy Orbison (I've always made fun of my dad for his love of Roy Orbison so this was a fun surprise for him!) Apparently my dad is hilarious when he dances.

Nate and his mom danced to Watching The Wheels by John Lennon.

Then it was time for us to relax! Even though our wedding was relatively small (130 people), and we knew everyone so well, it was nice to be done with "the wedding show" portion of the day. No more posing for photos, no more pressure that everyone is watching us, just time to have a beer and dance and talk to everyone! Phew! 

Thanks everyone for letting me blather on about our wedding all week and post too many big photos! If you have any questions about anything, let me know and I'll answer you! 

All images DeBruyn Photography

Wedding week: Our reception (part 1)

Our reception was pretty casual. For dinner we had salad, fruit, and a build-your-own burger (or veggie burger!) bar with fries! It was awesome! We didn't want to do cake since it's so expensive and usually no one eats it anyway. So we ordered sugar cookies frosted to look like baseballs from a local non-profit - Cookie Cart! They were delicious and it's such a great program to help teens in a not great neighborhood learn life, work, and leadership skills by running a bakery! 

We ordered a cake topper from here despite not having a cake. It's a loon (the MN state bird!) marrying a bear (the MN Twins mascot!) I threw some extra flowers and lanterns on the table, along with some felt pennants I made and a few of our extra mini-bats. 

I had picked up a bunch of cake plates and platters at thrift stores over the past few months. 

For our centerpieces, we grew grass in galvanized tubs. We put an old baseball, one of the mini-bats we lathed ourselves, and a tealight in the grass. Then we hung a star lantern with a tea light over it. The table numbers were photos of Nate and I at that age, from 1-13. 

For our seating assignments/wedding favors, we gave everyone a photobooth picture frame that they could use later when they took a picture in the The Traveling Photo Booth! The booth was a huge hit and it was also our guestbook. The booth prints two copies of your photo strip every time and the attendant put one in a book for us, which everyone then signed by their photo! It's amazing! 

For our card box, we found a vintage PBR box for $2 at an antique shop. We put An Awesome Book of Love out after the ceremony so people could look at it along with a photo from my parents wedding and Nate's parents wedding. Our moms both wore big hats to get married! Go 1970s!

All photos DeBruyn Photography

Wedding week: Our ceremony

Our ceremony was short. Like crazy short. We didn't want a bunch of readings and songs, so we just boiled it down to the essentials. Nate and the wedding party walked to "Girl from the North Country" by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. We had an astroturf aisle to go with our baseball theme!

My dad and I walked to Be My Baby by The Ronettes.

Nate's nephew Terry read An Awesome Book of Love (you can read the whole book online if you click on that link). We had four big hanging Moroccan star lanterns instead of an arch and we stood on home plate! 

Nate and I wrote our own vows which were also short and sweet. We exchanged rings, kissed, and that was that!  Our officiant was my disabled buddy Daniel's dad! He's a former pastor, theology professor, and current chaplain at a children's hospital. He was a big help in planning our ceremony and it was nice to have someone I know so well and who knows what he's doing! And look at the cool copper walls!

We all walked out (and waved to Henrik!) to What a Wonderful World by Joey Ramone. Then it was time for the reception, which I'll post about tomorrow!

All images DeBruyn Photography