Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Layered Edition

necklace, jeans/ Target | cardigan/ Target (thrifted) | tee/ Gap | vest/ JC Penney | flats/ WalMart

Yesterday we had some pattern mixing, today we're focusing on the layers. (Not that all of my outfits aren't layered, I just really want to talk about layers today.) This outfit has a lot going on-- tee + cardigan + vest-- but I'm loving the effect. I like how the vest breaks up the polka dots of the cardigan to keep them from being overwhelming, and is just a cute unexpected detail for an otherwise pretty boring outfit. 

necklace/ Old Navy | popover, sweater/ Target | jeans/ Post Exchange | boots/ JustFab

Ah, the collared shirt under a sweater look. I've been trying to pull off this look with this sweater for so long, and I finally succeeded with my navy popover. For some reason it just wasn't working with full button-ups. But I'm glad this finally worked, because I love the navy/mustard color combo. The colors plus the boots really fall up my cobalt jeans (which I'm still not convinced is really a fall color, no matter how many bloggers claim that it is). Either way, I'm happy with the results. 

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Pattern Mixing Edition

shirt/ Kohl's | button up/ Target | necklace/ gift| jeans/ Old Navy | boots/ JustFab

I wore this when we went out for pizza Friday night. There is some cuh-razy pattern mixing going on here, but I'm seriously loving it. The top half, especially with my new hair cut, looks a little... something. School marm-ish? Vintage-y? I can't put my finger on it, but I bet you guys know what I'm talking about. Either way, I love the effect. This is one of my personal favorites so far. 

PS, if you're ever in Monterey, go to Gianni's Pizza. A. Maze. Zing. We had a chicken pesto pizza that I will be recreating (and hopefully posting) very soon!

 

gingham button up, jeans/ Old Navy | tee, flats/ Target | necklace/ laurenelainemoore

This was the perfect outfit for a lazy Saturday, during which I actually watched a Nebraska game (which they lost :( ) so a little bit of red was necessary. I like the almost grunge vibe of this one, and you know how I feel about pattern mixing with stripes and plaid/gingham. (Seriously, this pattern is gingham, right? Yet the website calls it plaid. I think I'm going to stick with gingham, though.) 

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Sixteen

shirt/ Target | scarf, jeans, coat/ Old Navy | boots/ JustFab

This outfit is, of course, not particularly creative or innovative, but I just love it. I think it's the maroon/navy color combo. Both are such great colors for fall. And I love the scarf, and the boots. Fall clothes are just the best, aren't they?

I also wanted to show you my new coat. I added it onto my Old Navy order (when I got my black skinnies, and a maroon sweater I can't wait to show you) because it was on sale, and it put me over $50 so I could get free shipping, figuring if I didn't like it I could just return it. 

Well, it came in the mail the same day that I got my hair cut, and I put it on, and my husband's reaction was "Oh my god that's adorable. It matches your new hair perfectly." So, I had to keep it. Because I agree. It's a pea coat, but unlike my other pea coat, it isn't wool but more of a trench coat type material, making it the perfect in-between outerwear when it's cold but not freezing.

Okay, back to watching the Nebraska game. Hope you are all having a fun and relaxing weekend!

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Halfway!

vest, striped shirt/ JC Penney | jeans/ Old Navy | flats/ Target

Today's outfit is important for two reasons. 1) It's outfit number 15, which means we're halfway through this remix! 2) I decided to switch out my maxi skirt (which was initially included in the 30 items, but it's just gotten too cold for it) with these new black skinny jeans, so I have now officially worn every one of my 30 items! Gotta do some serious remixing from here on out. 

Since we're no longer concerned about our finances, I have been shopping this month, though I am sticking with the 30 x 30 for as long as I can. Last week I had a reader email me about which skinny jeans from Old Navy I wear (they're these in case you were also wondering), and when I was looking them up online I found out... they came in black. I have been looking for a black pair of skinnies since, oh... before starting this blog I'm pretty sure. When I discovered that Old Navy had the exact same style of skinnies I already own and love, but in black, I ordered them immediately. So thank you, Amy, for asking about my skinny jeans so that I could find the black pair of my dreams. :)

Also, unless you follow me on Instagram, this is the first you've seen of my new hair! I went with a long bob and some side bangs, and I am loving it so far! This is the shortest my hair has been since my sophomore year of high school (ten years ago...), so I was a little nervous but glad I went for it!

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Pumpkin Risotto Recipe

Alright, guys. Awhile ago I promised you pumpkin risotto, and pumpkin risotto you shall have. Still working my way out of my cooking rut, but last night risotto just sounded so good, I had no choice but to get off my butt and make it. (I adapted from this recipe.)

Pumpkin Risotto (for 2)

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 small onion

1 clove garlic, minced (or pressed-- I love my garlic press)

3/4 cup arborio rice

2-3 cups chicken stock

1/2-3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley, or 1/8 cup dried parsley

dash of thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pan, heat butter and oil together. Once butter is melted, sautee the onion and garlic together over medium high heat until onion becomes translucent and garlic becomes fragrant. Add rice, stir to coat, and sautee for about 1 minute.

2. Add first 1 cup of chicken stock, bring to boil, and reduce to simmer. If you're using a non-stick pan, you don't have to stir constantly (until the end), but make sure you stir frequently.

3. Once liquid is mostly absorbed, add second 1 cup of stock, bring to boil, and reduce to simmer. About halfway through the second cup of stock, add the pumpkin puree. This gives the pumpkin flavor some time to develop and soak into the rice. 

4. After the second cup of liquid is mostly absorbed, check the rice. If it's soft, it's done. If it's still crunchy, add another 1 cup of stock and repeat until rice is tender. (I ended up using 3 cups to get rice tender.) After adding the third cup, I did have to stir almost constantly to keep the rice from sticking, so just watch out for that.

5. Once rice is done, turn heat to low. Stir in your cheese, parsley and spices. Stir until cheese is melted and everything is combined. Remove from heat, and serve!

This is my new favorite comfort food. It's warm, filling, satisfying, and full of fall flavors! I just want to curl up in a bowl of it now that the weather has cooled off. I hope you like it as much as we do!

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Cozy

 

cardigan/ Old Navy (thrifted) | plaid shirt, jeans/ Old Navy | flats/ Walmart

The weather here has gotten significantly colder lately, so today all I wanted to do was pile on some cozy layers. As you know, I love cardigans over button ups, and I love red and grey together, so this outfit was a no-brainer. Since the top half was a bit over-sized, I kept the bottom half simple and fitted with my skinnies and grey flats to tie the top and bottom halves together. 

I am currently curled up on my couch in this outfit with a cup of tea, and I can tell you I could not possibly be more cozy right now. 

Hoping all of you dealing with cooler weather (and even snow!) are cozy today, too!

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Weekender

necklace/ Old Navy | tee/ Gap | button up, jeans/ Target | boots/ Kohl's

This weekend was pretty crazy. J had the day off on Friday, and this is what I wore when we took E down to Fisherman's Wharf to look at the seals and otters and get some ice cream. It was our last day with her before we took her to her dad, and we had a lot of fun.

I'm happy to say that I have decided I love these grey jeans, and I love this outfit. Since we're no longer concerned about getting paid, I've been shopping again this month (can't wait to show you what I've gotten!), and one of the things I got was a pair of knee-high grey boots that look amazing with these jeans. So excited.

necklace/ Old Navy| cardigan/ Target (thrifted) | tee/ Gap | jeans/ Post Exchange | boots/ JustFab

Saturday we drove up north to take E to her dad. Living in the bay is weird, because you can drive as little as 30 minutes north (and inland), and the temperature difference can be like 30 degrees sometimes. So I wore layers knowing that while it was cold in Monterey, it wouldn't be up north where we met for lunch, then at the outlet mall that J and I went to after. I'm glad I layered because that cardigan had to come off. Then it went back on later that night once we got back and went bowling with friends. (I started the game with a turkey, but still managed to lose. That takes some special skillz.)

Now, I'm going to need your help. When I put together my 30 pieces, I included a lot of my favorites that I know are infinitely remixable. But I also included a few pieces (like my grey jeans) that I wasn't sure about, and wanted a chance to play around with before decided to keep or get rid of them. This cardigan is one of those pieces. I like it, but I'm just not sure how many ways I'll be able to style it. The color and the boldness of the polka dots make it difficult for me. So what do you say? Should it go or should it stay?

scarf/ gift | jacket/ Old Navy | dress/ Target | boots/ JustFab

Sunday was the first day in awhile that J and I had completely to ourselves. We had absolutely no idea what to do with ourselves, so we decided to go see a movie. I took advantage of the opportunity to wear my new favorite dress with my new favorite boots, and styled it for the cooler weather we've been having. My knees were still a little cold, so I see some tights in my future!

I hope you guys had a great weekend, and thank you for all the kind words about my new header!

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Almost

necklace, shirt, jeans, flats/ Target | vest/ JC Penney

I almost wore boots with this, but then I realized I probably wear them too much.

I almost didn't wear jeans today, but as you can see, I folded and went with jeans.

I almost wore all Target again, but the vest saved me.

I almost posted a recipe today, but I've been feeling pretty uninspired with recipes and cooking in general lately. Hoping to get out of that funk soon.

And this is a picture of the timer going off as I realized "oh crap there's my neighbor act natural ACT NATURAL" and I almost got caught, but I didn't. My secret is still safe.

This is outfit ten of thirty, which is 1/3 of the way through! Which isn't even close to almost done, but I still feel pretty good about hitting the 1/3 mark. 

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Seven Eight Nine

striped shirt/ JC Penney | plaid shirt, jeans/ Old Navy | boots/ Kohl's

Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine! Sorry, I know that's a lame joke and it doesn't even work written down, but it's all I could think after writing the title for this post. Moving on. 

I love layered looks like this, and pattern mixing. Particularly stripes with, well anything really, but I love it with this gingham/plaid pattern. I know the colors are a bit off but this shirt is actually navy striped, not purple. I love the navy and red together, and that it doesn't feel nautical.

tee/ Gap | necklace, cardigan/ Old Navy | jeans, flats/ Target

This one is a bit more conservative than what I normally wear. I don't mean literally conservative, since I don't really show off my cleavage or a lot of skin on the regular. I guess figuratively conservative? There's not much really going on in this outfit, but I still think it's cute and feel good in it. 

blazer/ TJ Maxx | tee/ Gap | jeans/ Old Navy | flats/ Target

I wore this for our parent-teacher conference. I tried to look professional but still casual, and I feel like the blazer + tee + jeans combo always hits that nail right on the head. I mean, I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans, but the blazer just takes it up several notches. I like it, but that's the reason I don't feel like I can wear blazers that often. Any casual blazer recommendations? 

(Btw, you're getting inside pics again because our new neighbors have been moving in next door the last few days and I don't want "Oh hi I'm just taking photos of myself to post online" to be their first impression of me.)

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Subtle Changes

necklace/ laurenelainemoore | cardigan, jeans/ Old Navy | tee/ Target | boots/ JustFab

I wore this outfit on Friday for our trip to Coldstone and the park. I know it's the same as outfit number two, just with a different shirt and plus a necklace, but it still feels pretty different. I love the subtle changes you can make in an outfit to keep it fresh.

scarf/ gift | plaid shirt/ Old Navy | jeans, flats/ Target

And this is the outfit I wore to the pumpkin patch Saturday. This is another example of subtle changes. It's the same basic idea as this outfit, but with a different scarf, shirt partially tucked, boot cut jeans instead of skinny, and cognac flats instead of boots.

What ways do you change your favorite outfits to make new ones? 

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Weekend Recap (Mostly in Instagrams)

It's still technically the weekend for us, because government holiday (we had Friday off too, yay for four-day weekends!). J was supposed to leave for his trip a couple days ago but that got cancelled (more yay), so we've been having a lot of family fun this weekend! Plus some adult-type fun with friends.

Friday we took E to Coldstone, then the park (to burn off all that sugar).

Saturday a group of us went to a pumpkin patch. We rocked the (30 acre) corn maze, picked some (too many) pumpkins, then headed back for pizza, pumpkin beer, and carving. Afterward we played Apples to Apples, because that's fall-themed too, right?

Yesterday was a mostly lazy day after all that action, but E and I carved and painted her pumpkin (I carved, she painted) and we baked the seeds. 

Today has been spent actually getting stuff done (laundry and yard work has to happen sometime), but I did get a couple pics of the clouds being weird and cool.

This weekend has been most excellent, fun and relaxing. I hope you enjoyed your weekend as well!

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Stay-At-Home Mom Style Remix: Four

blouse/ Kohl's (gift) | necklace/ gift | pants/ Post Exchange | flats/ WalMart

I'd like to introduce you to my favorite blouse. I got it for Christmas a couple years ago, and when I was working I wore it constantly. I just love the pattern, the flow and the ruffles something fierce. But once I stopped working, it sat in my closet, sad and alone. I don't get much of a chance to wear it any more, but I figured a PTA meeting was enough of an excuse to pull it back out. I included it in my 30 pieces because I love it so, and want to find ways to incorporate it with the rest of my very casual wardrobe. I thought pairing it with my olive cargo pants would dress it down enough, and even though this outfit still feels a little dressy, I like it!

Happy weekend, y'all!

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