A Think Pink Pinspired!

Linking up once again with Sheaffer, Shay and Mel for this month's pinspired!  I know technically this is November's Pinspired, but since I didn't post last month, I thought I would showcase a pink look as a way to end Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  To show my support, this month I decided to make October Fridays, PINK Fridays.  So naturally, for help styling my pink looks, I headed to Pinterest. {follow me!} I will be showing ya'll what I wore throughout the month in a What I Wore Wednesday post soon, but for now I'm ending the month with probably my fave pink outfit of them all!

As you may know, I've been participating in the Style Me Pretty Challengeswith Alison at Get Your Pretty On.  One of the most fun parts of the challenge is the Facebook group for all the participants, where you're free to post pics of yourself in the daily outfits if you want.  So today my "pin" is actually coming from a fellow challenger, Courtney.  She was off challenge this day, because she was going to a Breast Cancer Awareness fundraiser, but she still showcased her look in the group!  As I looked at it I thought...."I have that sweater....I have that grey striped top....I have pants like that!  And BAM....I was pinspired by Courtney. And just like that my pinspired post was done!  HA!!  Totally loved this easy, put together look!  I wore it with my moto pointe pants I scored for a steal at Victoria's Secret!

She mentioned that she pinned the look and had to try it out! When I went to pin her pin....I got that "PSST...you already pinned this" message!

I asked Courtney if I could feature her in my post, and she was delighted!  How cute is Courtney!?!?

She's way better at taking selfies than I am!!  

This was my copycat look:

Gap Striped Shirt/JCrew Factory Sweater/ VS moto pants/leopard flats

I even had a similar necklace to Courtney's on too!  But it was covered by my phone!  I was either cutting my head off, or my feet!  So this one's the best!  HA!


This is the pin Courtney was Pinspired by and one that I pinned awhile back as well!

Leopard and Lavender

I love thinking up for Pinspired each month...checking out all the looks, and then pinning them myself!  And I love that the Style Me Challenges have given me endless pinning possibilities!  

Have a great week!

Katie

Friday! Friday! Friday!

When I'm working the weeks seem to drag but then as I sit down to write each Friday's five, I feel like time flew.  LOL  Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but any time a Friday rolls around, it's a good thing! Cheers to Friday!!

ONE: Four years ago, when I started teaching second grade I discovered Teachers Pay Teachers, an online marketplace where teachers create and sell resources for other teachers to use in their classrooms.  Since I've moved to teaching Library and Technology, I haven't been using it that much.  BUT I decided to "like" Teachers Pay Teachers on Facebook recently, and because of this, found out that they post FREE resourses when sellers reach milestones!  And it's for a limited time- a few minutes, half hour, hour, and the like.  I have gotten so many free things and now have reignited my obsessesion with TpT!  If you're a teacher I highly recommend this.  I wish I was creative enough to create my own things to sell on TpT!

TWO: Thursday at my school we had a dress down day to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness.  I was really excited to wear my pink and dress down for the day.  Any day I can wear jeans to work is a good day!  I have been sporting pink every Friday in October to show my support for Breast Cancer, so I was glad to have an extra day!  I will be documenting my October Pink in a What I Wore Wednesday post soon!!

THREE: I'm not ashamed to say that this week, more often than not, I ate breakfast for dinner! It's the perfect meal for me! I just love it.  I't might just have been pop-tarts, cereal, and waffles but it was so yummy!!  Who else loves breakfast for dinner??


FOUR: Today is Halloween.  And I'm spending it at a Teacher Conference all day!  BOOOOOO!!  But then I'm going to have a sleepover at my sister's house with my sister and her daughters (my old houseguests!).  I can't wait.  We are gonig to watch scary movies and I'm sure eat some of the candy they score while trick-or-treating.   As for me, I'm giving out halloween pencils to anyone who knocks on my door!  I think it's the teacher in me. At my house we don't get many trick-or-treaters! And since I'm only going to be home answering the door for about an hour I didn't want to spend the money on a huge bag of candy, that I'd probably end up eating the most of!

FIVE: Next week is one of my favorite nights of the year...The CMA Awards on ABC hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood! So ABC pretty much has lots of country programming heading into the show.  I can't wait.  I am not ashamed to admit, I rock out in my living room!!And I have been loving all the interviews and promos Carrie and Brad have been doing.  This one is my favorite.  If you're a country music fan, don't miss it!  Wednesday, November 5th on ABC. I love country award shows because country artists seem to love and support one another.  They all sing along to one another's songs.  I do too!! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Katie

Linking up this Friday with:

Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites 
Lauren Elizabeth for High Five on Friday
September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday!
Lauren at Style Elixir and her co-hosts

April and the girls for Five on Friday

Jennie for Friday Favorites

Like The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life on Facebook {HERE}!

Fall Challenge Week 3

We're in the home stretch of the Fall Challenge with Alison at Get Your Pretty On.  I didn't end up wearing every outfit, and it seems I styled lots stripes!!  So in no particular order, here are the looks I attempted this week!

Day 11: It's still too warm in my neck of the woods to actually wear my puffer vest, it's pretty heavy, but I LOVE it.  And I really LOVED this look.  I will totally wear this often... later in the fall and into winter!!

Puffer vest/striped shirt/dark skinnies/riding boots/leopard scarf

While we're on the puffer vest, I'm gonna skip over to Day 13, which saw the puffer again!  This time with a plaid shirt underneath.  Loved this too!!

puffer vest/plaid button down/grey skinnies/riding boots/black purse

Sunday, Day 14 had challengers in stripes again, this time with the military jacket thrown in.  Since I had yet to sport the military jacket (and just got it back from my friend), I threw this on, with a tassel necklace. I laughed when I got the Day 14 outfit on Saturday night, because it was kind of like what I wore Saturday out to dinner with friends!! (too warm for the day's actual outfit!)  Rather then a striped shirt, I wore this new striped moto cardi/jacket from Piper Street.

military jacket/striped shirt/dark skinnies/leopard flats/tassel necklace (I added this to the look!)

These last two outfits I ended up wearing to work with black pants.  

This was Day 10!  Each night we get an email with the look Alison put together.  This day, I basically flip flopped the colors of the items in the picture.  Instead of the dark, fall colored cardi, I went for the neutral cardi and a darker long sleeved shirt.  The plaid scarf was spot on for this day.  

Day 15 called for the dressy sweatshirt, grey skinnies and ankle boots.  I wore this dressy sweatshirt to work and because it was already grey, I went with black pants.  This is the BEST.  I got it last weekend when Loft was 50% off.  Super cute with the shirttails hanging out and there is little hot pink dotty rosebuds on it!  It also has a Peter Pan collar.  Sorry you can't see it in the pic, but find the sweatshirt {here}.  This is an updated version of my favorite sweatshirt from last year that I might have worn at least a hundred times with leggings and boots....

Not the best picture of the sweatshirt (I can't believe this is the only one I have with it on!), but hopefully you get the gist...and maybe had a good laugh! I just love this!!  And the new version can also be worn with leggings.  With the shirttails, your bum is covered!!  They also have it in a plaid version, I am kind of regretting not getting when it was just 60% off during the flash sale....booooooo!!  

Hopefully in these final days of the challenge, I'll do a little better and be more on target with my outfits!  You can find links to all available clothing I mentioned above {here}.  And see how I've styled all the looks during previous challenges {here}.

Have a great week...have FUN and LOOK FABULOUS!!
Katie

And don't forget to check out these ladies looks!  I'm sure they did a much better job than me!!  :)

Deena | Christy | Jordan | Carrie C. | Shaunacey | Danielle | Beth | Joy | Sarah | 

Leslie | Katie | Jennifer | Carrie M. | Lisa | Sheila | Lana | Lauren | Anna | Alison

Linking up today with:

Alison at Get Your Pretty On

Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy

 Because Shanna Said So

Sarah at Tucker up

Madeline at Cappuccino and Fashion

Favorite Things Party!!

Linking up once again with Erika and Andrea for their favorite things party!!  Sharing my favorite thing right now under ten bucks. I mentioned this in my five this past Friday, but my love for this stuff runs deep!!  Just like the huge cut I put it on!!  ;)

neosporin

Now I know it might be a little silly that I am so obsessed with this at the moment, but I'll give you a little background.  

Almost two weeks ago now (right after getting THE BOOT off...the very same day actually!...so life was good!  HA), I was cleaning my knives at the kitchen sink. I don't really use the big a$$ knives, but in this instance the two biggest I had were in there and needed cleaning.  What I was trying to get off was not really coming off and I kept thinking to myself that I really should just throw them in the dishwasher! But I know that this ruins good knives, so I didn't.  But when you think it people, ya really should just do it, because not long after that, the knife slipped and I got cut.  I HIT BONE!!  If this had ever happened to anybody before, you know just how quick it is!  

At first I was thinking that did not just happen.  Actually, I was not just thinking that, I actually said that out loud.  Living this solitary life I do, I can do that!  I was also laughing so tears wouldn't escape!  I didn't really know what to do so, I switched the water to cold, and ran it under there for a while. Then I wrapped it in a towel, and put pressure on it. 

I should add that this was 9:30 at night and I had yet to get in the shower!  (I always shower at night!).  I had a thought of calling my mom and asking her to come wash my hair for me in the sink like she used to do when I was a kid, but then thought the better of this! It was late and she'd would want to take me to the hospital for a stitch or two. (Which my school nurse said I could have used!) Actually... this is my mother I'm talking about, she probably would have come and washed my hair for me, but she would have looked at my sliced finger and said, "it's fine...go to bed!" LOL  When we were little we could never stay home sick.  My mom would always say, "You're fine!  Go to school!"

Showering  and trying to wash my hair was not fun but I got through it ....all the while with a bleeding finger.  I tried to wrap it up for the shower but that was very short-lived!  Finally, I put a few band-aids on it (maybe all the band-aids I had) and went to bed!  

At this point I did not have any neosporin yet.  I actually didn't get this miracle of an ointment until Friday!!  My weeks at school are super busy and I had no time during the week to get it!  So I just kept it bandanged tightly so it would stay together. It probably took about a full 24 hours for it to stop bleeding.  Not only did I go through my own band-aids, I pretty much went through my school's band-aids too!  :)

 But wouldn't you know it the day I got the Neosporin and put it on, my cut was completely different.  It didn't hurt as much, was super soft and I could actually bend my finger without the fear of it bleeding all over!! It pretty much closed up overnight.  I might be a little crazy putting it on a dozen times a day, but being a teacher I am constantly washing my hands, so this is a factor too.

I'm pretty much healed, but I still have it bandaged and am putting the neosporin on it.  I think it's working so well, that I will have very little scaring.  

I know neosporin has been around forever.  I guess I just never used it much!  This is probably the deepest cut I remember having in a long time!  I am sure parents stock up on this stuff for their kids who are costantly runing, jumping and getting scaped knees and such.  Me?!? Not so much!  I clean cuts out with soap and water and have a small bottle of peroxide that I got for a dollar two years ago and still says it will last me another three!  But now I have plenty of Neosporin to last me for maybe FOREVER!!  Typically a tube is around 5 or 6 dollars. but there's coupons and sales, so you might be able to find it cheaper.  I got the original and it's working great!!  I guess when they say, "Every cut, every time" they mean it!  

And a big thanks (she types sacastically!) to my co-worker who told me that things happen in threes...my ankle, this cut, what's next ?? So now I'm just waiting on my third thing.  Hopefully it's minor! :)

Have a great week everyone!!

Katie

Like the Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life on Facebook {here}

Friday...You're fabulous!

Friday's Here!!!

Let's get right to it...

{ONE}

This week I received one of the most comfy t-shirts ever!! Seriously, I have been wearing it everyday!!  I bought it as a way to support autism awareness from Counting on Hope.  I first heard about Counting on Hope from Sheaffer at Pinterest Told Me To this summer.  Her post focused on a fabulous mom who deserved some pampering! This mom was Candace, who's young son Camden has Autism.  I loved reading about Candace, Camden, and their family on Sheaffer's blog  and all of the great things they are doing to spread hope and awareness about autism, and have been following them on Candace's blog ever since. I am so glad I got this t-shirt!! I love the quote by Temple Grandin..."Different Not Less"... The same can be said about Cerebral Palsy!  Please consider purchasing a shirt of your own here...it is THE SOFTEST EVER!!

TWO: 

On Saturday I went to a Fall Festival on Main Street in my town.  I had an unexpected fabulous time!!  I forgot to take pictures while I was there....boo!!  I am really lucky to live right in town.  I can walk to Main Street in less than 5 minutes.  It was lots of fun.  There was a chili and chowder contest during the festival. For $5 you received tickets to go and try the chili and chowders at each of the restaurants that participated, then you could cast your vote.  11 restaurants took part.  I didn't try each one, some places ran out before I got there, and others I didn't go to because I liked one of the chilis and one of the chowders so much I used two tickets at each of those places!!  I found out yesterday that my favorites were also voted the BEST!!  I can't wait til next year!!  I did get this fun hand-painted wine glass at one of the vendors....  (My mom gave me the two matching glasses)

This is the extent of my Halloween decorating!!

{THREE} 

It might be kind of weird that I'm including Neosporin on my list, but this stuff is AWESOME!!!  Last week I unfortunely cut my finger really bad with a large kitchen knife.  (Seriously...I felt bone!)  And in all honestly, I probably could have used a stitch or two, but ever since, I've been putting Neosporin on it, and from the first application it's been great.  I put it on about a half dozen times a day...the cut's on my finger and wash my hands about  25 times a day, so I'm contantly changing my bandage. It's healing quick and I'm really hopeful I won't have a scar. 

{FOUR}

On tap for this weekend, I'm going to attempt to read The Maze Runner by James Dashner.  For the past two years that I've been teaching Library and Technology at my school, I've only had to teach Technology to the students in Grades 5 thru 8.  This year though, I also have them for a Library period.  One of our first lessons, I had the students tell me about a book they wanted to read as a class novel.  Most kids said they wanted to read this together.  Due to the nature of the book, I already knew we couldn't read it as a class, but with so much interest, I thought I'd read it myself.  I like to be up on what the kids are reading.  I get excited when they're excited about books.  Has anyone read this book?  Let me know what you thought of it. I'd appreciate the input.

{FIVE}

Last but not least today, I'd like to wish  my bestie a very happy birthday!!!  Mel and I have been friends since we were 3...over thirty years now!!  We are more like sisters! Being solitary me, Mel's always my +1 and I'm hers!  HA!!  I can't wait to celebrate her birthday with her this weekend!!  Looking forward to fun and laughs!!

I've played this Disney birthday tune for Mel for the last I don't know how many years!  We love it!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Katie

Linking up this Friday with:

Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites 
Lauren Elizabeth for High Five on Friday
September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday!
Lauren at Style Elixir and her co-hosts

April and the girls for Five on Friday

Jennie for Friday Favorites

Like The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life on Facebook {HERE}!

Fall Challenge Post 2

I am loving the Fall Challenge with Alison at Get Your Pretty On!!  I think this has been the easiest so far.  I am not sure if it's because I love dressing for Fall, I had all of the pieces, or maybe I just love that it's really starting to feel like Fall.  Last week's post centered on the first two challenge outfits, so I am so excited today to show you LOTS more looks in this post!!  And a few of them may or may not have been me playing dress up after work!  You'll notice I don't have THE BOOT on anymore, but for work I've been wearing sneakers, as the ankle is not yet 100%.  So I played with making the outfits more challenge-y when I got home each day!

Days 3 and 4 of the Challenge:

I'm chunking Days 3 and 4 together because I didn't wear day 3's outfit.  It was super simple though! A plaid shirt, dark skinnies, tassel necklace, and booties.  On day 4, I kind of combined day three and four, and wore plaid under the dressy sweatshirt day 4 actually called for.  For the picture, I put on my leopard flats...not 100% sure it went with the plaid but hey!!  Maybe I should have worn the booties from day 3.   Day four was just dressy sweatshirt, boyfriend jeans, and leopard flats.

Day 3: 

plaid shirt/Old Navy

Tassel Necklace/Bauble Bar

Jeans/ AE

Booties/Blowfish (old)

Day 4: 

plaid shirt and sweatshirt/ Piper Street

Jeans/Vigoss (similar)

Leopard flats/Target (similar)

Day 5 called for a long sleeve shirt (olive was recommended), Grey skinny jeans, neutral boyfriend cardigan, plaid scarf and the booties of your choice!  I switched this one up a bit also, but it still worked!  I've been an a Pink Fridays kick for October as a way to show my support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I went with a pink top.  It paired well with my plaid scarf. An olive shirt would have also, and I plan on wearing that soon!  So I guess I got a bonus outfit out of the challenge!!  :)

boyfriend cardi/Target

Scarf/Nordstrom (similar)

Shirt/Piper Street (no longer available)

Grey Skinny Jeans/AE

booties/Carlos Santana (similar)

Day 6 just might be my favorite so far...so super easy and I love wearing my riding boots!!  I wasn't sure if the neutrals of the sweater and in the scarf were too off, but the ladies helped me realize it totally goes!! I love my sweater from Target with the contrast back! (so sad I couldn't find it online anymore to link to)  

Sweater/Target

Scarf/Nordstrom (no longer available)

Jeans/AE

Boots (old)

Day 7 was another super easy outfit.  Boyfriend cardi, striped shirt, grey skinnies, with leopard flats! I didn't have the fall colored boyfriend cardigan, but I had regular cardigans so I wore a longer striped top, with one of those.  Truthfully I didn't spend much time in this one!  Most Sunday afternoons are laundry and lesson planning for me, so to be comfy I put on my grey leggings, kept the striped shirt and threw my blardigan on for the rest of the day!  I did like this outfit a lot though!  I'll where it again.

 Striped Shirt/Nordstrom

Cardigan/Piper Street

Grey Skinnies/AE

Leopard Flats/link above

I opted out of day 8.  I thought it was super similar to day 3, with the exception being bf jeans and a military jacket!  And I just came home from work that day, put on sweats, a t (come back Friday to read all about the t-shirt!! It's my new  favorite!!  I might be wearing it again as I type this...) and my blardigan!

Day 9 (Tuesday) was all about comfort.  Leggings (or black skinny jeans), with a fancy sweatshirt and striped layering t-shirt underneath, and leopard flats.  Might have been a little caus, but I wore it to work anyway with trouser pants and a necklace to jazz it up!  When me ankle is better, I'll wear this with skinny ankle pants instead.  When I got home I put on my leggings.  I kinda liked this one!!  

Sweatshirt/no longer available

 (Lot of challengers had luck with fancy sweatshirts at LOFT)

Striped Shirt/ Nordstrom

Trouser Pants/Loft

Leggings/Nordstrom

Leopard Flats/Target (link above)

I feel like many of the pieces in the this challenge are repeating sooner and a lot more often than in past challenges but I'm still enjoying the challenge itself and the ease of the looks.  And I don't know how or why but when there's plaid and stripes every other day, I make it work.  Didn't realize how many striped shirts and different plaid button downs I had before this challenge!  Glad I dug them out! 

Now that you've seen how I've interpreted the looks each day, go check out how some of my favorite fellow challengers are stylin' pretty!!  And link up your post with us here.

Deena | Christy | Jordan | Carrie C. | Shaunacey | Danielle | Beth | Joy | Sarah

Leslie | Katie | Jennifer | Carrie M. | Lisa | Sheila | Lana | Lauren | Anna | Alison

Unitl next week...have fun and look fabulous!!
Katie

Like ME on Facebook {HERE}

Linking up today with:

Alison at Get Your Pretty On

Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy

 Because Shanna Said So

Sarah at Tucker up

Madeline at Cappuccino and Fashion

5 Favorite Pictures of Me

A few of my favorite fellow bloggers who have participated in the Style Challenges have been linking up as the Lifestyle Sistas! They came up with topics and present their lists on Fridays.   This past Friday the topic was 5 Favorite Pictures of Yourself.  I had such a fun time reading each of their blogs and looking at their pictures that I decided to link up too!!  It is really hard finding photos of myself that are my FAVORITE and finding photos that are just of me!  If you are my friend on Facebook, you probably think this is not true, but most of my profile pics have been cropped!!  And selfies on Instagram are not actually meant to showcase me, but rather an outfit I'm wearing, so NONE of those are my fave!! HA! I had a fun time trying to find these though! Here are the five I came up with!


This one is my absolute fave!  It's actually the first picture I ever remember taking and then seeing of myself.  I was premature when I was born and spent quite a lot of time in the hospital, so there aren't many pictures of me!  I was also my parents fourth child, so that could be another reason!!  Hahaha
And I just loved playing dress up!  I was four here, I believe.

This is my blog profile pic, so obviously I like it a lot!  Taken during a bachelorette party in the Summer of 2003.  And I was wearing red pants!  THAT.IS.ALL.  :)

In August of 2005 two friends and I went for broke!  We took a Mexican cruise out of California, so decided to go a few days early and explore L.A.  One of our stops was Disneyland! This isn't necessarily the best picture of me, but it just makes me happy!! Eeyore is my spirit animal!  I love him...I feel like we are the same.  He's pretty solitary himself! We pretty much attacked each other!  HA!

This is summer 2007 when I stood on line outside of Fenway Park to get Red Sox tickets for 4 hours!! By MYSELF!  But I was still smiling!!  My cousin and I took a road trip to Boston that summer and had the best time.  We were total tourists!  It was very random that we decided to actually wait so long for tickets, which is why I was by myself. I waited on line while my cousin went back and got our stuff for the game and checked on our great-aunt (who graciously let us stay with her that week...may she rest in peace)!   Boston is one of my most favorite places in the world.  I blogged about this trip {here}

July 2009- My niece Amy was born!  I love this picture because Amy is laughing at me! (And I am TAN!)

 Bonus Pic: This is Amy today...she's in Kindergarten.  And she is NOT A FAN!  Hopefullly in June she'll feel differently!  :)

This was fun!  Wished I'd linked up with the ladies sooner!!  Go check out the Lifestyle Sistas' posts!!

Have a great weekend,
Katie

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