What Is On The Inside Is What Counts

This is what I have to remember when I am feeling this way. Today just felt like an ugly day, but I usually feel like this when I have EARLY (7:30, which means up by 6:45) morning church meetings because I only give myself 10 minutes to get ready because sleep is my most favorite thing in the WHOLE world (cough...oh yeah...except my husband and son of course). So basically I got up this morning and just threw what seemed to be the warmest attire I had in my 26 for 26 mess (because all of my 26 for 26 is in a pile right now), threw my hair in a pony and ran out the door. Then people were so sweet to tell me I looked great, which on a day like this didn't really persuade me to feel that way, even though I very much appreciate what they said :)

So, I come home from church and decide that I will grudgingly take pictures of my outfit just because I love you guys and quickly take them so I can change into jammies. Then I come to post those pics and for some reason they didn't load right and I always delete them while they are loading so it seems they are lost forever. You know people say "so ugly you broke the camera". I think I may have broken the camera. great.

It is about this time that I start thinking that I need to remember that it is what is on the inside that counts. Not to mention we had a lesson today about realizing your talents, and I need to be a good example to my sweet little Young Women. So, here I am remembering that I have a super awesome Heavenly Father who loves me even when my hair looks like poop in a bun, and who gave me the special talent of laughter to laugh off all of my less-than-perfect week. I am really good at laughing. In fact, one time someone told me (Jared) that I laughed at everything, and that whenever he was with me he felt super funny. He realized my talent.

And so it is, I am laughing off my eventful week and my YIKES hair. But since I still don't have pictures to show you, I put a box together that shows you what I wore without actually having to break my camera again.

More Forever 21...

Fly Like An Eagle

I don't know what it is, but I have been in a cleaning and crafting mood lately. Crafty moods happen often, but cleaning ones? Not so much. Matt is probably very excited with my cleaning mood because he is usually the one who keeps the house in order. Wives, you may be thinking "jealous" but sometimes it is like living with your mother, "Ruby, pick up your craft stuff before Link gets to it" or "Ruby, you have gotten glitter everywhere!". So it is kind of a trade: I get to live with mother occasionally, but husband puts the toilet seat down all by himself (his mom taught him well). 

(shirt: Walmart, belt: thrifted, cami: Gen-X, pants: altered Aeropostale, boots: TJ Maxx, Earrings: Hint of Vintage)

You might notice me making an effort to show you my earrings. That is because while in this crafty mood I decided to make some boho feather earrings. I am kind of REALLY in love with them so you will probably see them a lot. I also added some to Hint of Vintage just so I could share this love with you. Now we can all be grateful for my crafty moods. 

Pink Tights

I wanted to wear a little color today, so I was pretty excited when I realized my shirt that I picked out had some pink lines because I had just found a pair of pink tights hidden in my drawer, nearly forgotten. I have to say they worked well together, or at least I think so :)

You can't really see the pink lines, but trust me, they are there. If I could give you one piece of advice on color tights: don't build your outfit around them. They should be a last thought of color. 

Ok, this is a short post today because I want to go play outside with my little man. I kind of love our adventures. 

Wind Meet Hair; Hair Meet Wind

Bah, it is so windy here today. I thought I would get creative and have Matti take pictures of me while we all played at the park, but literally every time Matt pulled the camera out, the wind started up. So there are very few pictures today and in all of them my hair looks ratty and wind-blown. 

Ah well, I should look at the bright side. Link was feeling better today and well enough to have a grand time at the park today. This park that we went to is super awesome and it is built of wood to look like a castle. Probably my favorite part though, is all the music makers they have around the playground. I love music so I am trying to brainwash Link early into loving it too. I don't know if he loved the music so much as just banging the pipes with a stick. I'm going to go with just loving to bang the pipes. O'well, I will just continue to play Death Cab all day and hope that it sticks :)

(Blazer: Dress Barn, Floral dress: thrifted, Boyfriend/skinny jeans: Kohls, Necklace: Hint of Vintage, Shoes: gift from mamasita). 

I got a little crazy with day 4's outfit and wore my floral dress as a shirt. I kind of love it as a shirt and I think it is going to be my new favorite way to wear it. Anyway, I threw on my black blazer because although it is 70 degrees here, most of my readers are lookin at snow so I thought I would winter up the outfit for you all. (plus I just like it). Got my boyfriend jeans on to casual it up, and my go-to shoes. Funny how right after I tell you that I match my accessories I get crazy on ya and wear a blue necklace with beige shoes. I can get pretty wild sometimes. 

Stripes and Florals Meet Again

I told you I loved this combination, but now I have found a different way to wear it. With my new thrifted scarf. Well, sort of new. It's been a couple of weeks, but I haven't been able to wear it too much, which is another reason why I am excited about this combination :)

(scarf: thrifted, shirt: Ross, cami: Gen-X, pants: thrifted and altered, shoes: gift from mamasita)

Yeah, this silly little man wouldn't quite gettin in the picture, but since he is a sicky poo with some sort of baby strep throat, I couldn't be a mean mom and trick him out of being in the shots like I normally do. 

I had to do a closeup since the scarf and shirt are my favorite part of the outfit. 

Ok, how to create this outfit on your own? It doesn't have to be a striped/floral combination, but if you want to try something new, experiment with a scarf and wear it like a bandit (that's what I think of when I see scarves like this, and it makes me happy). Also, if you haven't noticed already, I have this thing about matching my accessories; even though I am wearing a gray and black striped shirt, the scarf has some brown and cream flowers so I went with brown earrings and cream shoes. This is a simple way to pull an outfit together without being too matchy-matchy. Lets see how you wear your scarves...put a link in the comment section, or send me a pic via email. 

Marooned

On Day 2 of my 26 for 26, I decided to try a new accessory. Well, not new, but try to wear it a different way. I have 3 or 4 sashes that came as ties for shirts, or belts for skirts, that I just don't wear with those clothes. I have wanted to try and find a unique way to wear them and here is the result: I have just used this one as a belt and tied it in a bow in the back. I don't think there are any back pictures, but you can see it from the front. What do you think? Is this idea a keeper?

I have this thing with long sleeved shirts where I feel claustrophobic when I wear them so I always have to roll up the sleeves. Luckily it is still in the 50's here so I can do that without freezing. I also have another thing where when I wear collared shirts I feel like a boy, even though my mom has always told me I look nice in them, and don't think just because she is my mom that she said that because she is brutally honest (one time she told me I was ugly when I cry). She more than makes up for it though with all the WONDERFUL things she does for me and my 4 sisters (like raising us during that time of the month. I would have sold us off). Anyway, back to the collared shirt; so I took my red/maroon shirt with flowers and threw it on top to give it a more feminine look, and the sash to keep those curves. Then I put on my favorite pair of jeans to keep it casual. Next, my favorite pair of pumps (speaking of nice moms, these were a gift from her) and I have myself my Day 2 outfit.

26 for 26

Have you heard of 30 for 30? You can check out the link, but basically it is this: You pick 30 items from your closet, shoes count, accessories do not, and you can only wear those items for 30 days. AND, you cannot shop for yourself for those 30 days. This means that you have to get creative with what you already have and saves you money. Both are things that I want to practice, so I have decided to do this myself. Only, Christmas is in 26 days (who's counting?) and I know I won't be able to resist those brown adorable shoes that I know I am getting, so I have revamped it to 26 for 26. I picked 26 items from my closet and I will only wear those for 26 days. I started with today's outfit so you can check that out. I am thinking that this will probably help with packing as well because we are going to be in Utah for 3 weeks and I usually go overboard, but now I don't have a choice (good thinkin Ruby).

So here is my line-up:

(Pants, left to right:  Bootcut jeans-JC Penney, Thrifted Abercrombie altered skinnies, khaki altered skinnies-Aeropostale, Skinny jeans-Kohls, Black leggings-Walmart) 10 cool points if you can find the lone Hot Tamale. Yum. 

Jackets/shirt I forgot to put with other shirts, left to right:  Gray cardigan-thrifted, purple tee-walmart, Striped ruffle jacket-thrifted, Black blazer-Dress Barn

(Skirts left to right:  Black floral dress- thrifted, Gray Skirt- TJ Maxx, Floral brown-so long I can't remember)

(Shoes left to right: Black booties- Thrifted, Tan heels- Forever 21, Black Ruffle Heels- Ross, Boots- TJ Maxx, Black boots- Target)

(shirts left to right: Ruffle Plaid shirt-walmart, Tan shrug shirt- Thrifted, Gray striped shirt- Ross, Blue Plaid- Walmart, White and gray stripes- Ross, White collar striped- hmmm, good question..., blue and gray sweater- Thrifted AE, Red shirt with flowers- I made it (don't look too close, you might be able to tell), Gray cami- Gen-X)

So there are my choices for the 26 for 26. Want to do the challenge also? Check out 30 for 30 for all the rules.