30x30 Looks 25-30

The long awaited finish line has arrived!  I did the worst this last week because of the dang flu that my babies and I all got.  I wore 30x30 outfits every day, even though I didn't put on mascara (my eyes were too watery).  But I didn't take pictures because of the mascara and stuff, so all of these are recreated!

DAY 25-Saturday
Today was my dad's surprise birthday party.  He didn't seem curious when my mom started baking plates full of chocolate chip cookies, and he didn't believe me when friends of his started showing up that they were there for a party for him!  (We weren't creative enough to pull the whole "SURPRISE!" jump out part)  We had a great night playing a trivia game with so many of his friends, old and new.
I went with a little gray on gray action here.  I added the belt to break it up.

DAY 26-Sunday
I was sick today.  I didn't get dressed, but this is what I was going to wear, and what I did wear to church one week later.

DAY 27-Monday
Happy Memorial Day!  We mostly hung around the house trying to get better and eating vegetarian corn dogs and hamburgers.
Holy not good picture.

DAY 28-Tuesday
This was supposed to be the day we drove home to Salt Lake, but I wanted one more day to make sure we were all healthy for the drive.
I just love peach and blue together.

DAY 29-Wednesday
We made the long drive again!  This time we managed to make it in 12 hours instead of 13 1/2.

DAY 30-Thursday
The final day!  Axel had his 4 month check.  I was so sad that he just got healthy and now he had to get shots and feel crappy again.

If you ever want to participate in this challenge, let me give you a few tips:

• Pick items that are true to you.  I don't wear that much color most of the time so I don't know why I picked so much color.  I wear mostly black and white, I should have stuck with that.
• Pick items that are very different.  I had two pairs of colored pants, peach and red.  They are way too similar!  If I wore them both with the same top, you probably wouldn't notice they were different pants unless they were side by side.  
• I need more accessories.  Adding a belt or necklace added so much to my outfits to make them feel different than every other outfit I wear.

And with that being said, I never want my picture taken again!!

Here are all the other wonderful ladies that did this challenge with Kelly:

30x30 Looks 19-24 (and a SURPRISE!)

The 30x30 challenge continues.  Lot's of pony tails this week, that shows you just how crazy of a week it was!   (make sure you go all the way to the end for the surprise. Skim or skip down if you have to!)

DAY 19-Sunday
Church and family day as usual.

DAY 20-Monday
What a day!  It cool and rainy so I was excited to finally get to wear my corduroy jacket.  Poor Axel Baby got sick and needed to be held all day.  Thankfully this jacket covers up all the drool and spit up on my shoulder :) 

DAY 21-Tuesday
I got all ready for our trip to California.  I also took Axel to the dr, since he had developed pink eye.

DAY 22- Wednesday
Possibly the longest day of my life!  It deserves its own blog post.  I drove with my two babies from Salt Lake to Lancaster CA.  I love road trips in skirts because they're comfy and cool, especially this maxi which is almost like wearing yoga pants!  I cheated for the first time and wore shoes that aren't part of my 30 (for shame!!) But since I took this the night before we left for CA I didn't want to wake Axel by digging my flip flops out of the closet (that's his bedroom, ha!) so I am bare footed.

DAY 23-Thursday
We spent the day playing with Grandma and Hannah and then we had Chipotle for dinner for my dad's birthday!  That night while Hannah and my dad were at a church function, my mom babysat my kids while I went to my choir teacher's final concert.  This also deserves its own blog post.  (Not in love with my hair here, but for the concert I pulled it up into a. . . you guessed it, a pony tail)

DAY 24-Friday
Such a relaxing day!  With my mom taking care of most of Olivia's needs, I remembered how easy one baby was to care for.  After Axel woke up from a nap and I nursed him, he played with my pajama shirt while I napped next to him.  Later my mom, dad and sister Hannah walked to the park and had dinner while Axel napped in the stroller and Olivia played on the playground.

And now for the good part. . . I give you THE. . .

The ladies of the 30x30 Challenge would like to gift you with a $60 shopping spree to a store of your choice! Winner will be able to choose a gift card to one of our favorite stores—Loft, Old Navy, Gap, Target, or Forever 21! Use the Rafflecopter to enter! Good luck!
   a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open from 5/27/2013- 6/2/2013 and the winner will be announced on 6/3/2013. Entries will be validated. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected

Thanks to Jacquelyn for organizing this giveaway!  Also a very big thanks to Kelly for organizing this whole event!  Its been great fun to get to know all these sweet ladies through this experience.  :)
And as always check them out here!

30x30 Looks 13-18

And the 30x30 challenge continues. . .

DAY 13-Monday
It ended up being such a warm day that I rolled up the sleeves on my navy cardi.  As if showing three inches of my wrist is going to keep me cool.  As.  If.

Not sure what I was doing with my neck/chin here.  Just when I think I'm getting better at posing. . . 

DAY 14-Tuesday
Thanks to Axel waking up several times in the night, I was super drained on Tuesday.  We had to make an emergency run to Target for toilet paper and soap.  I did manage to make one of the best dinners of my marriage thus far (cheese burgers and potato salad) so it wasn't the worst day ever.

DAY 15-Wednesday
Not sure if these two pieces go together or not.  But it was comfortable and quick. 

DAY 16-Thursday
I woke up to horrible allergies.  I made dinner for my sister-in-law who just had a new baby and later that night I watched The Office series finale.  Between the sneezing and the tears, I looked a wreck.  So I had to recreate this outfit another day!

DAY 17-Friday
Date night!  We're trying to save money for a house, so funds are tight.  I wanted to surprise Adam with ice cream and a DVD, but it was raining and I didn't feel like going outside with two babies.  So I called and had him pick up ice cream and Lincoln.  No surprises but he was still happy (he's been wanting to see Lincoln for a LONG time!)

DAY 18-Saturday
 I had a massage in the morning.  Adam finally made me go (it was my Valentine's Day gift!) by making the appointment for me.  Next time I have a massage I will make sure I have nothing to do the rest of the day because I just felt tired and dizzy and yucky from all those toxins that get released.  I tried to drink a lot of water, but I still needed a nap!

As always, make sure to check out these other lovely ladies that are no doubt doing a better job than I am!  :)

30x30 Looks 7-12

A couple of things to start: My head looks weird in a lot of these pictures.  I swear its not that pointy.
Second, if you're as observant as my high school students were you might wonder why I don't wear a wedding ring (They thought I was divorced).  Basically, it doesn't fit and even when it does (some days I guess my fingers are less swollen??) it's too big and scratches Axel and Olivia. 

DAY 7-Tuesday
I picked four skirts/dresses so I would have plenty of church options, but the only skirt I will wear on a non-Sunday is a maxi.  I spend so much time sitting on the floor changing diapers that I can't worry about modesty!  This is one I don't think I would have put together if it wasn't for this challenge.  Sadly, I didn't put any flip flops in my 30 items and that's what this outfit really needed.

And the best picture doesn't show my shoes, but I'm wearing the black heels.  

DAY 8-Wednesday
Wednesday was our Mother's Day dinner with Adam's family.  We went out to dinner at Brio and Olivia got a babysitter (which is pretty much her favorite thing ever!) This is my take on a chambray shirt.  It's really just a light blue broadcloth, but sometimes you gotta use what you got. 

DAY 9- Thursday
Olivia and I went to a Mother Daughter picnic at church.  In my mind it was going to be such a sweet bonding time.  In reality it was me chasing her around a larger area than normal, with more stuff for her to break/trip over/people for her to annoy.  I came home exhausted and Axel had cried almost the whole time I was gone (poor Adam!) and Adam was sick (see told, ya, poor Adam!).  But even so he took my picture.  So sweet.

And just because she's so dang cute, here she is all dressed for our outing.

DAY 10-Friday
 Adam got really sick in the night so he was home.  In the afternoon I went shopping with my two kids for Mother's Day gifts (sorry I wasn't on the ball enough to give you your present while you were in town mom!)

I was joking around while we took these, and sadly this is the best one!  So I probably wont wear this together again because it wasn't very flattering on me.

DAY 11- Saturday
 Adam took Olivia to get our Bountiful Basket in the morning and then decided to take her to play with some cousins.  I got a LOT done.  I don't know if it was my "meds" kicking in (I take vitamin D to deal with my PPD.  I've forgotten to take it for a while, but when I remember it makes a HUGE difference) or if it was Olivia being out of the way (probably both).  After they got home and Olivia had lunch and a nap we went to the park and then dinner and shopping at IKEA.  After I got my kid to bed (we each take one) I went grocery shopping ALONE.  It was pretty much my perfect day, which totally took the pressure off Mother's Day!  We took this picture after all of that, so I'm looking a little hot and sweaty, but it was worth it.

DAY 12- Sunday
Happy Mother's Day!  Axel woke me at 6:15, and thanks to him being exclusively nursed, Adam had no choice but to continue sleeping and letting me care for him :)  But he made me yummy Swedish pancakes before church.  After church I made dinner for his mom, who has no daughters so the only time she's had someone make her dinner on Mother's Day is when I do it.

This dress is from my honeymoon in Fiji.  It is seriously sooooo comfortable.  

And this picture to show you what my head really looks like.   Less pointy.

As always, check out the other lovely ladies doing this challenge in May! Wordpress:

30x30 Looks 1-6

DAY 1-Wednesday
So the day before this all went down, I joking tweeted Aubrey (In response to how I was going to handle the crazy weather we've been having in Salt Lake): "Layers! And a cute jacket. But I'm hoping the snow is behind us now. (Did I just jinx it?)" And then. . . SNOW the next morning.

So I got one chance to sport my corduroy jacket. . . and I wasn't feeling it.  So I wore the long sleeve cardi.  Don't judge the photography to harshly, we're a work in progress :)

Something about this hair do was giving me a weird head shape. 

Some new people were moving in during this.  It was only a little awkward.

DAY 2-Thursday
I went for a romantic look here (as in the romantic era) Lace, curls, pastels. . . That being said it was kind of boring.  I like it, but it was just a shirt and jeans.  Gotta burst out of the comfort zone!

Its been a looong time since I've curled my hair, and Olivia thought I was a Disney princess.   She kept giggling and wanting to touch it.  Slowly, but surely, she's growing her own hair :)

DAY3-Friday
I got to hang out with my sister Kellie on Friday.  We took pictures earlier in the day, so the lighting wasn't great BUT Axel spit up on me so much later that I had to change into a T-shirt, so I was glad it was already photographed.

DAY 4-Saturday
My family was in town.  We hung out and ran errands and went to dinner.

 DAY 5-Sunday

My brother blessed his son Wesley, so we had a great time with family all day.

I know its blurry, but it was my favorite one.  Deal with it. :)


DAY 6-Monday

So this is my version of the momiform.  I live for my cardigans and tanks.  It was hard to narrow it down to just six of each! 

Don't mind my crazy hair.  I can't see the top of my head until Adam takes a picture of me from a higher angle.  I was going to blame this on my height, but I'm guessing its the same for everyone. . .

30 x 30 Challenge

I have been wanting to do the 30 x 30 challenge for at least a year, since I started reading Sunday Crossbow.  Sadly, she doesn't blog anymore.  And I kinda forgot about the challenge, until I started following Mrs In Training and she was just about to start the challenge this May!  And so I thought, why not?

Reasons why I'm doing this:
*Satisfy my fashion creativity without having to buy new clothes (okay confession, I had to buy a few things to fill my 30 items)
*Not have to ponder what clothes are good for nursing Every.Morning.
*This might help me learn to accessorize better.  I've never been one to wear a lot of jewelry, and I have so much.
*For fun!

I'm still not in my perfect body (heck, not even my "okay" body) but maybe getting my picture taken daily will motivate me a little more :)

TOPS:

Shirts

From left to right, top to bottom:1) Rose and lace shirt from TJ Maxx, 2) Mint stripe shirt from TJ Maxx, 3) Cream sheer top from Target, 4) Blue floral from Express, 5) Coral top from Anchor Blue, 6) Light blue button up from Old Navy

Cardigans and Jackets

1) Navy sweater from Abercrombie and Fitch, 2) Brown cardigan from Target, 3) Red cardigan from my mom (thanks to my sister Kellie for giving it to me!), 4) Brown corduroy from Wal-Mart (a loooong time ago.  I refuse to shop there any more), 5) Gray cardigan from Target, 6) Aqua cardigan from Target. 

Tanks (Another confession.  Some of these are maternity tanks.  BUT, I still like them because they're long and they still fit fine even when I'm not preggo.)

1) White tank from Shade, 2) Floral tank from Target, 3) Black tank from F21, 4) Gray tank from Old Navy, 5) Aqua tank from Old Navy, 6) Ruffle tank from my mom (thrifted)


BOTTOMS: 

Skirts and Dresses

1) Salmon stripe from Old Navy, 2) Gray stripe from Old Navy, 3) Brown floral dress from a little shop in Fiji, 4) Floral skirt made by me

Pants (I feel like this is the clothing item I have the hardest time with post-baby, so my blue jeans are old, worn out and not my favorite, but I'm not getting new ones until I get my weight back down)

1) Skinny jeans from Forever Young Shoes, 2) Flares from Wal-Mart, 3) Peach skinnies from my mom (thrifted) 4) Red skinnies also thrifted (by me!)


SHOES

1) Metalic wedges from my Mother-in-law (They're so worn out I don't know what brand they are!) 2) Black heels Franco Sarto, 3) Tan flats Tommy Hilfiger, 4) Gray stripe Toms

Of course, its snowing today!  So I guess I'll have at least one chance to wear my corduroy jacket.  :)

Check out these other ladies who are also participating.