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!

Paint Slinging Sunday

I felt inspired to sling paint on Sunday. My inspiration came from two random places: Pinterest find and a Saturday shopping trip.

I found this bedroom on Pinterest and fell in love with the look and feel of it. The mix of color (my favorite colors) with hints of rustic was what caught my eye.  In true stalker fashion, I wanted to see more pictures of the room so followed the sources to find that the headboard was a DIY project by See Cate Create. The ikat, chevron pattern on the headboard was actually painted onto white fabric, who knew!?

My other inspiration is really random. I went to the mall Saturday morning to scope out Dillard’s Additional 40% Sale and ended up walking around the mall. Walking by Victoria’s Secret, it caught my attention that they had swim suits in store (ordering online has had its back-fires for me) so I turned in. As a lover of bright colors, chevron and gold – I was drawn to this print:

I can't seem to find the exact swim suit I saw in store, but this is the same fabric on a different suit.

After finishing my Sunday honey-do’s and nothing on slate for my afternoon, I busted out the painting supplies. When all else fails, create.

I got stuck here for a bit. Should pink make an appearance? What about white, would it be too white? What’s the repeat going to be? 

So, I went with a little pink (Momma Swann would be pleased), a little white and another “line” of gold and found my repeat. Here’s the final product:

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