Summertime Sundays, the pineapple of my Eye

 

ALL IN THE DETAILS:

 Shorts: J.Crew Factory (also love these) | Sunnies: Ray-Ban (save option) | Kicks: Converse | Shirt: J.Crew Factory

I'm a simple girl, especially when it comes to summer weekend attire. Being in business attire all week, I typically like to keep my weekend outfits simple and comfy. Shorts, a t-shirt, flats and sunnies. That combo can get boring, but when you throw in a bold print like Punk Floral, it's a game changer. I paired the shorts with my lime green Chuck Taylors and my newest pair of Ray-Ban, Flash Mirror Aviators in green - and to tone things down, I kept the rest of the outfit simple, with a comfy vintage white t-shirt. 

Summertime Sundays, you are the pineapple of my eye!

Threshold for Target - The Dollhouse

What I would give to be able to visit the Threshold Doll House in NYC's Grand Central Station. 

2 stories, 7 rooms totaling 1,500 square feet. A real life-sized "dollhouse" filled with 3,500 items from the Threshold for Target collection just sounds DREAMY! 

Threshold for Target first peaked my interest with their magazine and TV advertisements.The 'springy' mixture of classic and modern style while adding pops of color and whimsy is what "had me at hello."

My first Threshold purchase was our bedding for the master bedroom update. The quality of the duvet set and bed skirt is great and the price was right. 

Then they came out with the lime green and turquoise blue ikat print and I had to have it. I purchased 2 throw pillows to freshen up our pillow mix on the couches. 

I haven't found a slideshow of each room posted anywhere yet, but of the pictures I've found, the space below is one of my favorites. Not only do I love the mixture of color on a neutral couch.... but those mirrors are awesome! 

We have a big blank wall above our couch and think a statement like that might be neat.

My want-list from the Threshold Collection is pretty long. Basically, just let B, Dixie and I move into the Dollhouse and we'll call it good. Actually, if they could just move the Dollhouse to us in OK, that would be better. 

 

Re: Want it Wednesday: Beaded Rose Necklace

Remember when I was obsessing over the J.Crew Beaded Rose Necklace? But not so obsessed with the price tag (post here)? Well I still was/am until Monday morning when I saw that GroopDealz was offering a Beaded Rose inspired necklace in 7 colors for just $19.99.

Get it while you can!

Proof that good things (or look-a-likes) come to those who wait, GroopDealz is amazing and dangerously addictive.

Spring Colors

Spring and Summer are my favorite seasons. When I think about Spring and Summer, the following things come to mind:

Adios cold weather!

Sunshine and Sunglasses.

Warm temperatures.

Ditch the tights.

Lake Season.

Shorts and tank tops.

Blonde hair.

and one of the best things, bright colors.

Good Friday Attire

Shirt: J.Crew Factory // Jeans: Loft // Shoes: Sam Edelman // Necklace: Anthropologie // Bracelets: Lilly & Laura, David Yurman // Ring: David Yurman

Old Navy Sale

Shirt: Old Navy - $8 // Shorts: Old Navy - $15 // Shoes: Sam Edelman // Necklace: Anthropologie // Bracelets: Lilly & Laura, Stella & Dot and David Yurman // Watch: David Yurman // Ring: David Yurman

Easter Sunday Service Attire

Shirt: J.Crew Factory // Jeans: J.Crew Factory // Shoes: J.Crew Factory // Belt: Banana Republic Factory // Bracelets: Lilly & Laura, J.Crew and David Yurman // Ring: David Yurman

I guess what I'm saying is, sorry I'm not sorry that I'll be wearing bright colors the next handful of months as I enjoy my favorite seasons!

Moment of Fame

Are you an Instagram-er? If not, you should be - it's currently my favorite social media outlet. And just so happened that one of my Instagram photos lead me to a moment of fame!

Last Wednesday when the weather was gloomy I decided to encourage spring by wearing a floral explosion shirt to work. With the shirt being so busy and my office being so conservative, I kept my accessories simple and classy – wedding rings and David Yurman. Loving that my “Springy” shirt looked so happy, I decided to snap a selfie.  

The caption for the photo:

Springy shirt = happy shirt. #springweardontcare #whatiwore #oldnavy #peridot #prasiolite #davidyurman

Fast forward to Friday. I’m out enjoying Good Friday off work and check in on Instagram to find that DAVID YURMAN commented on MY photo! According to the caption below, their Executive Style Director, Collete Neyrey “thinks I have great style!”

Talk about David Yurman making my day!

I didn’t care if DY commented on every photo that included a #davidyurman, I still had a smile ear to ear. For some reason the page that my photo was featured on was not accessible by phone, so I took the first opportunity when I got home to go look from our desktop. 

There's my arm party and pretty shirt!

Then, I realized that my photo is currently 1 of 20 featured pictures!! Shut. The. Front. Door. I was expecting to be 1 of 10,000… but I’ll take #19 out of 20 any day! Whoop whoop!

You can see my “famous” springy shirt and DY jewels by clicking here, scrolling down the “Show Your Colors” section and then scrolling through the pics to find me (@McSwann)! If for some reason the link doesn't work, visit:

Facebook.com/DavidYurman > Click: The DY Edit > Scroll down to: Show Your Colors > Scroll through the pics to find me: @McSwann

PS. I know this made my Nina (grandmother) in heaven smile.  She's part (and my momma) of the reason for my love of David Yurman. Many of my peices are gifts from important milestones in my life (high school graduation, 21st birthday, college graduation, Christmas, etc.) #notaspoiledgranddaughter #justoverlyloved

Want It Wednesday: Beaded Rose Necklace

Why is it that you always want what you can't have? Now that the J.Crew Beaded Rose Necklace is SOLD OUT,  I want it! I convinced myself when I first saw if that it was too "red" but the more I see it, the more I want it.... then quickly realize it's something I can't have.

My only hope is that in a few months there will be look-a-likes everywhere, just as the bubble necklace has exploded. I think I have 3 or 4 "bubble" necklaces now that I snagged up on GroopDealz for less than $10/each.

Vent over. 


Maybe as an alternative, I could go for the Firework necklace on Modern ego for $25? The red offered, is a little too red for this OSU girl, but maybe the green, blue or mustard?

 

 

Spring Forward Filled Weekend

This weekend has been packed full of fun and blog worthy events. Here's a day by day run-down:

Friday:

I was SO excited that I had won tickets to the Miranda Lambert & Dierks Bentley concert from work! Miranda is my favorite female country artist, hands down. I love her music, style, love for animals and "don't give a darn" attitude.... and let's not forget she's a Texas Okie girl too!

Thank you to the nice stranger in front of us who offered to take our picture when she saw us trying to do it ourselves! I rocked Kendra Scott, Turquoise Skylar earrings, a Jewelry Nut Auctions necklace, Studded Frye "Billy" Cowboy boots with a J.Crew Tissue Tee, Loft Modern Skinny Jeans and an old Loft Jacket.

Dierks is a cutie and Miranda rocked it. Too bad she called out OU, OCU, OC and forgot OSU!! I guess I'll forgive her this time. 

Saturday:

The weather and allergies had me bogged down with a headache but I got up and went to lunch & Loft with my sister-in-law. I'm glad I did, because I found a few steals with their 30% off everything in the store sale.Added 3 things to my spring, work wardrobe! And, I should mention that those coral pants were only $1.88. Yes, you did read that correctly.

1. Marisa Blue Geometric Ankle Pants (better price in-store)

2. Floral Variety Pencil Skirt (better price in-store)

3. Marisa Coral Straight Leg Pant (WAY better price in-store)

I also had a much needed hair appointment at 3:30pm. I went in, wanting to be blonder and was curious if we should do something different with my layers. My ever-so-talented stylist suggested bangs and trusting her, I said okay!

Shortly after this chop, she dried out the bangs with the roll-brush and called them Mom bangs. Thankfully, she was joking as they were still a work in progress. After telling her she didn't need to spend time curling my hair because of the weather, she said another funny line, "I've got to sell these bangs!" So, my hair was curled.

I'm sold. Even more importantly, B is sold. Says I look like Kate Hudson in Bride Wars (sweet guy, huh?). Let's just hope I can handle styling them!

Sunday:

B and I slept in, well because the clocks sprung forward over night we thought we did anyways. We got up and around, went to the grocery store and lunched at The Garage. Then, I was on a mission. I was headed out to Garden Ridge. 

My mother-in-law has a good eye for things that I might like - just like the green lamp! I received the text below back on Thursday and knew that Garden Ridge would be on my weekend to-do list.

By the time I got there on Sunday, there were only 4 gold deer left. There were no silver deer to be found and only a few antelopes left. So, at $12.99 I snatched up 2 gold deer just in case ever I wanted another one. Garden Ridge is one of those places that you may never see it again. 

I also picked up a new weenie for my dachshund loving friend, LOakes. Isn't he cute? 

Here's a shot of our two new, "Deer"est friends at home. I'm not sure where they'll end up yet - but glad to call them ours!

Fashionista Friday: March 2013 J.Crew Love

B laughs when I say I have a "passion for fashion" but it's true, I do. Did you know Fashion/Interior Merchandising was my original major at OSU? Well it was, until I worked at Kohl's for a summer in Texas and got to see first hand what my future career in retail might be like...

First thing I did when I stepped back on OSU's campus that following fall was change my major to Business Marketing. Except, I had already completed enough classes in Merchandising to make it a minor with just one extra class a semester. This meant instead of enrolling in Chemistry, I enrolled in Textiles, the science of fibers and my electives would be filled with Merchandising classes. Done!

Fast forward to today; I work in the HR department of a corporate office where business attire and/or business casual is required. Mixing the inner fashionista and "blah" business woman (on a budget) can be difficult at times but I've learned to love the mixture (and the bargain hunting).

So, as the work week ends and the weekend begins, I thought it would be fun to post about fashion! And in perfect timing, J.Crew's March 2013 Style Guide arrived in the mail yesterday.

After flipping through, wishing and day dreaming, I came back to budget reality. Budget aside, I put together a "Dream" board from the latest J.Crew Style Guide on Polyvore. (I should mention that I'm new to Polyvore and this was my first "set" called "March 2013 J.Crew Love"!)

March 2013 J.Crew Love by ashley-mcdaniel featuring flower print jeans

J.Crew j crew / J.Crew polka dot chambray shirt / J.Crew pencil skirt / J.Crew flower print jeans / J.Crew leather wedge shoes / J.Crew ballerina shoes / J.Crew leather handbag / J.Crew j crew bracelet / J.Crew j crew bracelet / J.Crew colorful jewelry / J.Crew j. crew sunglasses

New Year Inspiration

We're not even a full week into 2013 and I'm already feeling inspired with new fashion and decor ideas for 2013. My favorite haunts have been bombarding my e-mail accounts and sending out new catalogs... here are some of my favorites so far.

I'm not sure a girl could ever go wrong when they have some J.Crew inspiration.

 

Here’s to the 2013 color of the year, Emerald! And thanks, Piperlime for tempting me.

World Market sure does know the way to my heart.

Inspiration from Neiman Marcus to get more familiar with print mixing!

What’s not to love in the most recent Ballard Designs catalog? It’s clean, a tad rustic and colorful all at the same time.

Loft with their pastels, floral prints, pops of bright colors and sparkles… Oh My!

Setting Sail with The Texas Okie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I'm setting sail with a new blog today. Seems fitting for New Year's Day, right? So today starts a New Year, New Me, New Goals and New Blog.

First thing's first, let me introduce (or re-introduce) myself: Ashley Nicole (Swann) McDaniel

I’m Ashley,  a born & raised Texas girl who had no idea deciding to attend Oklahoma State University would lead me in a path to being an Okie.   I married my college sweetheart in 2010 and we own a cute little house in Edmond, Oklahoma (about 250 miles from my hometown of Plano, TX) and have a Maltese fur-child named Dixie Belle! Since graduating college, I've been working on the recruiting team for an OKC based oil & gas company while still making time to tap into my "creative juices."

Things that I <3: being busy, fashion, interior decorating, crafts projects of all types, accessories (home & fashion), art, fabric swatches, color, pictures, chips & dip and a good bargain!

TV Shows: Big Bang Theory, Revenge, Person of Interest and Duck Dynasty

Biggest Addictions: TJ Maxx, Instagram, Pinterest & GroopDealz

@’s: Twitter (McSwanny) Instagram (McSwann) Pinterest (McSwann)

Favorite Artsy Medium: Painting (acrylic). I’m an honors art class drop out – thanks to a jerk of a teacher who busted my bubble when he told me I had no talent (I also realize I’m no Picasso).

In 2013 I hope to: Begin and keep a Creative Journal, keep up with this blog, be more confident in myself, paint more things, have some fun and be as happy as a clam!