Bright Colors for Foggy Mornings

Thursday's outfit
I hate foggy mornings. I feel like I have to tweak my pictures to get some color in them. I had a presentation to make at work today so I wanted to wear something with a little vibrancy for such a foggy blah morning. Here's my look...

Short sleeve jacket - Target

Green sleeveless top - Banana Republic

My fav pencil skirt - Anthropologie

Skinny belt - Macy's

black peep pumps - Rack Room

Wednesday's outfit

Another presentation and another foggy morning. I had my pink on to brighten up my morning. At least the sun is shining by the afternoon. Here are the details...

Pink top - Target

Polka dotted skirt - Ann Taylor Loft

Skinny belt and shoes are the same as above.

Celebrating A Lovely Birthday On Monday

I turned 36 years old today. Time sure does fly when you're having fun! I usually celebrate my birthday with a big party, but this year I decided to keep it low key. Will and I took the day off from work and had a relaxing and lovely day together. Here's what I wore...

Purple top - Target

Jeans - Target

Purple shoes - Target

Scarf - Old Navy

My new yellow bag- TJ Maxx

It was such a nice lazy day. Will and I slept in, went to Berryhill's for lunch (met with our friends Melissa and Larry), went to the movies, had coffee and chatted, took a nice nap, and then ended the day with crawfish for dinner. To top things off, the weather was gorgeous. It was everything I wanted...quality time with my honey :-) Since there are 4 birthdays in a span of a month in my circle of friends, we decided to wait to do an all in one birthday in April. So we'll all be celebrating with a big BBQ in April.

With the wedding in Mexico right around the corner, my super sweet friend, Pete, sent be some fab swimsuits all the way from Paris, France! She sent me 2 Eres swimsuits that are so gorgeous. No I won't be modeling them for you, but here's a look at one of them.

This is the same style as one of the suits, but it's in a pale sea blue color. The other suit is a scoop neck with rings on both straps and in a beautiful coral color. I absolutely love the swimsuits. Thank you so much Pete for thinking of me and for picking such beautiful suits. I know they will be with me for years.

Well it's been a good 36 years. I am very thankful for the wonderful people and incredible experiences in my life. I look forward to many more years of health and happiness!

Have a great day!

Back Into Action Tuesday

Here I am...fresh face and ready to take on the day. Here's today's outfit...

brown top - Anthropologie

corduroy skirt - H&M

brown peeps - Ross

Brown necklace - Target

bag - made by me

Spring is right around the corner and I've decided that it's time to lift the shopping ban. Just in case you wanted to join me in a little spring shopping, here are some coupons to take advantage of...

Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy - 30% off everything, multi-use coupon and they give 5% of the amount you spend to Feed America

Dots - $10 off a $30 purchase

JoAnn Fabrics - In case you want to make your next outfit or accessory, here is their coupon commotion

And if you are wanting to have a movie night at home tomorrow, check out Redbox's blog for a free movie rental code. The code will be posted on Wednesday and good for only that day. Enjoy!

I've been slacking on logging my food lately. Not sure what my deal is, but I need to get back on track. I must have been lacking iron in my diet because I really wanted beef and spinach, so here's what I ended up with for lunch.

This fajita salad + 3 oz of fresh raspberries for dessert was a total of 292 calories.

Here's how I did on the activity level. I didn't walk to work today so got my workout at the park. I walked for a mile and jogged for about 2 miles. The 54 minute loop around the park burned 456 calories. While the weather is nice and the humidity is tolerable, I am going to try to do 3 miles twice a week. Tomorrow is a rest day, but a walk to work is a must...

I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy day! Thanks for coming by :-)

Reader Question From Teri

Teri asks...

Hi Hillary ... I love your style, especially the skirts you make. What pattern is that and does it have a zipper? I'd like to try my hand at making one for myself. Thanks! Teri

Hi Teri! Thanks so much for reading my blog and your sweet words. Sorry it took a few days to answer your question... I just started sewing last December and I took a sewing class called "Sewing A Simple Skirt." We didn't use a store bought pattern. We were told to bring a skirt that fit us well to class. I chose a straight skirt. We made our own patterns out of paper grocery bags and in one afternoon I sewed the simple skirt (elastic waist, no zippers or darts). Since that class, I have made 2 other skirts (here and here). I also helped a couple of friends sew their skirts. I'll be testing the zipper waters very soon and hopefully they will turn out just fine.

Here is a link on how to sew a simple skirt. It's pretty much the same instructions I had in class. Or you can check out Jessica's blog at What I Wore. She is conducting an online sewing class. Her skirt has pleats, a zipper, and pockets. I'm also following along. Good luck Teri! If you sew a skirt, let me know. I would love to see it!



I will be back with my daily outfit tomorrow and a Bodybugg screenshot. I haven't been posting those in a while and need to get back on track... I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Plain Jane Thursday

There really isn't much to this outfit. It was a rushed morning (again). I found this dress in my closet and decided to keep it simple. The great news about this dress is that I fit it. I bought it a few years ago from The Limited. It was one of those super-duper great deals (except for the fact that it was just a tad too snug). I bought it thinking I would lose 5lbs and it'll fit perfectly. Wrong!!! After I bought it, I gained a few pounds...well okay, a lot of pounds. Then the dress took up a permanent residence in the closet until today. I think it was happy to see the day of light :-)

I hope you had a great Thursday. Friday is around the bend. Yay!

Wednesday's March Madness

I really love this time of year. We mostly have 2 seasons here...summer and winter (if you call it that). For a small window of time, we have just awesome spring weather and you just want to be outside. Today was one of those days. Here is I dressed for the pretty day...


Wrap top - Charlotte Russe
Toile skirt - made by me
lacey slingbacks - DSW
necklace - Target

March is my favorite month for several reasons.

1. The weather is fab. Not too cold, not too hot and the sun is usually out.
2. My birthday is in March. Even though I'm not totally excited about getting older at the same time, I look forward to another year of celebrating a good life with family and friends.
3. Daylight savings. Can I jam more into my day?
4. Crawfish season!!! - I love me some crawfish! Tonight was my first taste this season and it was ohhhh so good!

The crawfish below is from one of my favorite places in Houston....Cajun Kitchen. It's kind of a an Asian Cajun fusion. They load their crawfish with tons of garlic and other fab seasonings. Their shrimp fried rice has fantastic Cajun spices. We met up with my brother for dinner. Good food and good company...boy was I a happy camper tonight! I love the month of March!

Tuesday's Simple Look

The cool air came through yesterday and stayed. This long cardi was enough to get me through the walk this morning. Here's my simple look...

Brown sleeveless cowl neck - JCP

Long green cardi - Costco

Grey pants - Steve & Barry's

Shoes and necklace - Target

Of course I have my lovely bed head look again today. I still haven't decided what to do with my hair. Growing out, cutting, bangs, no bangs... I guess right now I'll just live with bed head till I figure it out.

A huge shout out to my girl, Holley! Not only did she do abs and bike with me yesterday, she walked/jogged 3 miles with me today. Awesomeness!

Wishing you guys happy workouts and great hair days!

Weekend Recap

I didn't make it into work on Monday so here was Friday's casual outfit.

Jacket, jeans, and shoes are all Target. The white top is Old Navy. I knotted the ties like a man's tie and let them hang low. I actually liked how it turned out in contrast with the black jacket.

The weekend was jammed packed, but it was a great weekend. First up was a 5K Houston Rodeo Run. I've done a couple of 5K's in the past, but I always walked them. I tried to run outside this week, but it was really tough on me and I was worried I wasn't going to be able to run the whole race. I am very happy to report that I was able to jog the entire thing. With my friend, Liberty, we paced ourselves and got through the 3 miles in 40 minutes. I was so overwhelmed with emotion in the end. I was always the girl who hated being outside and jogging. Who knew that the two together would bring me such joy. This definitely makes me strive to run outside more. Thanks again Liberty for being by my side and entertaining me throughout our run. Thank you Monica for pushing me on that treadmill and encouraging me to get out there. I also wanted to give shout out to Sheila, whose story is also very inspirational and one I keep in the back of my mind when I'm pushing myself to jog a little further.

Here I am (with no make-up) right before the run.

After the 5K, I had a sewing class. We were making the Amy Butler Birdie Sling. It's a big bag and I intended to use mine as a summer travel bag. I love how this bag turned out! It's a great size and I can see myself using it as my summer purse. I am still a beginner sewer so it was easy enough for me to do it, but it also taught me a few tricks (like pleats). I am now making one for my sister. Thank you Sarah for all your guidance! I love your classes!

Inside has one big pocket and two smaller, but deep pockets.

Last but not least, I made a cake for my nephew's 3rd birthday. He loves Thomas The Train so I went with that. I baked a 1/4 sheet cake and carved the "3". The trees are sugar cones that I iced leaves on. The rocks are chocolate covered (bought those). Of course the toy train was part of our birthday gift to him. Since I carved a lot of the cake out, I was worried we wouldn't have enough cake for all the kids and their parents, so I whipped up some lemon cupcakes and added Sponge Bob toppers on them (another of my nephew's favorites right now). I really liked how it turned out. I know my nephew and my sister loved it. Sending a big Happy Birthday to my nephew and dad!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a fab day!