Style Perspectives!

YAY I am so excited for today's Style Perspectives!

A cardi, t, statement necklace and jeans?!?! Done, Done, done and DONE!!  Christy...I feel you on this one!!

Before we get to it here's a recap of last week's Spring Sweater looks!  The lovely Lana's signature look!

I like how some girls had cardigans last week too!  It really is the perfect spring sweater!

I had a co-worker who called me the Queen of Cardis because I wore one to work EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Now I've expanded my wardrobe, but there are still no less than 25 cardis in my closet.  They are just so simple, fun, and fabulous. They can be dressed up, dressed down, mixed and matched, and can be worn throughout all four seasons!  It really is a win-win people!!

Here are some of my more casual cardi looks, with a t, statement necklace and jeans...and clearly in spring the only thing I wear with jeans are my leopard flats!!  HA!

Me for Sunday's Tea Party that my mom throws for her granddaughters and daughters every year. Admittedly, dressed down for the occasion but I thought, Hey some one will be there to take me photo for the blog this week!  LOL...Seriously!

Photo fail Ma...you cut off my feet! LOL

More looks from around the blog!!

this one is super small but I wanted to include it because it's one of my faves!!

I liked that this pic was a little bit different with the gray jeans!  I actually like this combo a lot and thinks it still ok for Spring!

Are you a fan of cardigans with statement necklaces and jeans?  Link up and show us YOUR look.  We are thrilled that the link up keeps growing and growing each week!  Thanks!!  No blog? No problem!!  Just hashtag your look across all social media using #theblendedblogstyle!

An InLinkz Link-up

Make sure you stop by The Blended Blog to see the featured lady.  

Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After : Library-Lovin'-Lady

Daily Style Finds: The Personal Stylist

Foxy's Domestic Side: The Crafty Engineer

Grumbling Grace: Toddler Tamer & Teacher

Simply Shaunacey: Reformed Frumpy Mommy

Two Teens and Their Mama: Stylish Midlife Mama

RSquared: The Not So Nerdy Accountant

Shoes to Shiraz: The Shoe Hoarding French Teacher

Puppies and Pretties: Cube Dwelling Fashionista

Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life:  Single Girl, Simple Style

A Lovely Little Wardrobe: A Casual Petite

Making the Most of Everyday Classic Yet Current Over Forty 

NickandNik: Mama with Curves

Living on Cloud Nine: Blissful Fashionista



Check out all my Style Perspectives {here}



Linking up this week with:
The Blended Blog/The Pleated Poppy/Sydney Fashion Hunter/Lisa @Daily Style Finds/Thursday Fashion Files

Teacher Tuesday

Teacher by Day...blogger by night!  That's the blog's tagline!  I have no children of my own, but often claim students as "my kids"!  HA!  I see these kids more than I see my own family and spend more time in school these days than at home, so from time to time I like to throw in a Teacher Post!

So today it's another edition of Teacher Tuesday!  Last Teacher Tuesday was a "Kid Quote" Edition.  Today will be a hodge podge of quotes, funnies and observations!!  So lets's get to it!!

• About a thousand times a day lately, I say to myself, "If I ran the school... And sometimes I say it out loud at not the most appropriate times.

• Currently there are three students vying for my "favorite" spot, three students who yesterday called me Mrs. Mitchell, and one who called me "grandma".  The kids thought that was really funny.  Because "Grandma's are like 50 and Miss Mitchell is only 25".  Thank you to that sweet student for making my day!!  It's funny to me these days what kids think is young or old!!

• By April about 75% of the students have checked out!!  And clearly I have as well.  I've discovered that I am getting lax in my library book record keeping and planning.

• I often think to myself, really, really? When anyone talks to me. 

• Some of the faculty might think I am anti-social, but I just don't go into the faculty room...ever... because it smells like something died in there!

• I'm so happy that the After Care students have taken to the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel After School Challenge.  It keeps them busy, they are having so much fun and are learning lots of skills as well!

• It's been raining a lot in April.,..I am still in my winter/rainy day uniform of leggings and boots...the kids are starting to notice that I am repeating looks!  LOL

And just because I love them...I'll end with some Kid Quotes!

Teaching Poetry all April and a poem I was reading had the word rap in it.  It asked the kindergarten students if they knew what  rap was and a little girl raised her hand and said "A rhyme-only cooler!!"  I thought that was a pretty great answer!  HA!

"Elvis WAS Rock and Roll! Michael Jackson was cool too...they're both dead."

"We are part of the Kid Colony- we live on the continent- CLASSROOM!!"  That right there is a kid with a great imagination!!

Conversation between three 3rd graders in After Care one day...two girls and a boy!
Completely out of the blue!!

L (girl) says to the boy: "I am not your girlfriend"...
Boy says "WHAT??" WE ARE GETTING TOO REAL IN HERE FOLKS!!
Second girls: "Oh my Gosh-CLASSIC!"

Out of the mouths of babes!!  Sometimes I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing...and sometimes I just can't hold it in!!  



Am I going to make it another 47 days??  I sure hope so!!  LOL

Have a great Tuesday!!

Rewind!

On the rare occasion I blog every day during the week, I like to take Saturday to recap, reflect, and offer a bit of a catch-up!  Grab a cup coffee- spike it with a little Rum Chata (if you haven't tried it you're missing out!!  SO Good!!)...it IS saturday after all, and take a peek at what you might've missed this week on the "new" Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life!!

Monday it was a two-fer on the blog! Linked up with my fellow TBB ladies, Deena and Shaunacey! Shared my March in Numbers...and after reading all the comments realized I may have eaten out too much in much!  HA!

Also posted my Monday Moments of Gratitude!!  Love these posts so much!!  So much better to be grateful!

Tuesday I was telling myself it was all OK!!

Wednesday was another edition of Style Perspectives with the lovely ladies of The Blended Blog!  We were rocking some fabulous Spring Sweaters!!  This was also the day, the blog's new look was revealed!  Woo Hoo!!

On Thursday because the blog kinda felt brand new to me, for #ThrowbackThursday I shared my very first post from September 2012!  Ekkk...seems like a long time ago! So happy I started this adventure in blogging back then!!

Friday was the usual fun, with my five faves from the the week!!  Check them out {here}!

And now here we are at the weekend... ENJOY IT!!

Katie

Finally Friday!

Three cheers for the weekend!!  Is it just me or did this week feel long?  For me is was the first week back from Spring Break!  I'm glad to be back to my routine and was happy to see my students and teacher friends, but man, I miss just being off!  And the kids were kinda crazy this week!  Ekkkkkk...it's going to be a long last three months!  But anyway!  Let's get to all the Friday Fabulousness!!  And there's lots of it...

{one}

First and foremost, the blog's new look?!?  It's totally my favorite!!  After thinking about it and knowing I needed an update for a while, I finally took the plunge!  And I'm so glad I did because I LOVE it!  I got it on Etsy through Sarah @ Social and Chic.  She was awesome to work with!  So helpful! She answered all my million and one questions and even did the whole install!! It was super quick and affordable, too!  Sarah has lots of great options to chose from!  Definitely check out her shoppe and blog!  I kinda feel like the blog's brand new now!  And thanks to everyone who's sent a comment or a kind word to me about the new design these last few days!  I've been smiling so big!!

{two}

Sweet Emily  My second favorite this week is Emily from Simply a Rough Draft! Love her and her blog!!  She and I have been following one another for a while now!  She just left the sweetest blog comment on my Gratitude post on Monday!!  She's been going back and reading my very first blog posts!  How cool is that!?!  Nobody read those first posts...except maybe my mom!!  LOL  Emily made my day, week, month...my forever actually!!  THANK YOU EMILY!! Definitely go check out Emily's awesome blog!

{three}

A Spring Refresh  After being mostly Shop Free for the months of January, February and March and donating about $2500 worth of clothes during that time, I decided once April hit, I'd treat myself a bit!  I know I've said that I don't need another thing..and I really don't... but sometimes, you just need a little refresh!  I am off to Florida in May, so I bought a few things this week to bring along with me!!  A new bathing suit, cover up (I donated 4 from previous years!) and two outfits to bring on the trip!  All on super sale! So I'd say it was a win-win!

{four}

A conversation with Dad!  One of my favorites this week was a phone call with my dad!  Simply because we never really talk while he's in Florida!  But I gave him a call Tuesday.  My mom was on her way back here, and I called dad to see if he was on the couch, eating pretzels and watching Netflix like he told me he was going to do while my mom was away!  HA!  You see, my parents have retired to Florida, but my mom has not toned down her social butterfly status at all.  She still keeps them both as busy as ever!  Someone's always coming to visit for a week, their playing games with friends, dancing in "The Square" or going to social events in the neighborhood every night.  So while my mom is back home here, my dad couldn't wait for a week of downtime and doing his own thing!!  We talked about my broken iPod, plans for him to paint my bedroom this summer, our beloved Red Sox and his weather...86 and sunny!!  That's when I promptly hung up on him.  Just Kidding!! It's was great to talk to my dad... I should do it more often!!

Dad and I 

{five}

A free week of Hello Fresh!  THANKS MOM!! I haven't made anything yet, because I just got the meals last night, but there's a risotto on my list!!  Woo Hoo,,,making it tonight!!  Will report back!   Check out some of the Hello Fresh meals, I've made {here} and give it a try for yourself {here}.

Whew...it was a great week!!  But bring on the weekend!!  Hope everyone has a fun one!! Thanks for always reading my ramblings!
Katie

Linking up today!

Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites/ September Farm for Oh Hey, Friday!

April and the girls for Five on Friday/ Katie and the girls for High Five for Friday!

Throwback Thursday

Since the blog got a face lift yesterday and feels brand new, I thought it would be fun to share my very first post from 2012 with all of you for Throwback Thursday.

The blog has changed and grown so much since then, but one thing you'll find that hasn't changed is me and my voice...at least I hope not!
Oh and I also have since discovered how important pictures are to a blog!!

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I was Kidding....

SO when I originally posted that I was going to start a blog on Facebook, I was KIDDING!!  But the more I thought about it, the more silly things were happening to me.  Half of which I shake my head and laugh at...some of which I'll admit...I've cried about!  (Don't worry Ma...the laughs far out way the tears!!)

Living on my own at 32 should not be new.  I should have taken this step a long, long, long, long time ago!!  But I am catholic school teacher, who doesn't drive and makes way less money then anyone might think!  So my parents, and then my sister, so graciously took me back following college.  And while my wanting to buy a place has been in the works for quite sometime, I thought "Ya know what?!? I have enough saved for a house...for now let me just keep that in savings and use this year's salary to rent."  It was quick, after that...maybe too quick!  LOL

It's been about a month here.  A few things I discovered thus far....

I need a bug catcher!!
There are a lot of bugs here. I don't think this is a buggy place, I just think that with it being summer and all and my apartment being surrounded by trees and shrubs, I'm gonna have bugs!  I've seen spiders and ants and I'm pretty certain I sleep with mosquitos at night.  (No Jean...apparently this is not a one night stand!) I am sure my bug situation has nothing to do with the fact that my front door doesn't close all the way because of my fabulous new mat (Thanks Lauren and Amy!) and by the time I realize it, close to ten minutes have gone by!  Oooppppssss!! 

Bug catching made me late for work the other day too!  Not late, late, but late on my terms.  If there was ever a day I could be late though, it was last week.  This year, I am teaching library and tech so I didn't have kids last week and now don't have to be there so, so early! BUT...maybe I do!!!  Walking to work at 10 to 8 (Yes...I live that close...), I heard a bunch of footsteps coming up behind me, then rush passed me!!  It was middle school kids who go to the school across from mine!!! 
 When we reached the corner, THE CROSSING GUARD, let us all go.  Since I had to cross over again...she stopped traffic and let me go AGAIN!  I was a little embarrassed but thought it was funny too.  After this, I decided I would leave much earlier, so as not to meet the middle schoolers or the crossing guard again!!!
The next day, no middle schoolers...but I crossed the street safely with the help of the crossing guard lady!  Or as I now like to refer to her, my new best friend! LOL

Note to self...never buy a top that has a tie in the back or buttons up the back!!  BECAUSE THERE'S NO ONE HERE TO TIE IT OR BUTTON IT FOR YOU!!!!!  
Because of my new solitary life, I need to remember this.  I took these things for granted when I lived with others.  Someone was always there to button me, zipper me or tie me up in the back!  I contemplated not wearing that shirt, that day but since I had picked it out the night before (due to my lateness previously) and had no time to think of anything else.  So I did what I could to tie it, went to work disheveled, and asked a friend to tie me in the back!

Me and my Bravo!
I am a big fan of the Bravo supermarket.  Because it's close to me obviously!!!  And they honestly have really good deals.  Like today for example.  I bought all these cans of food for buy one, get one free, 5 for $5 and so on.  I got home with all my groceries and while putting them away realized something:  I DON'T HAVE A CAN OPENER TO OPEN ANY OF THESE! 
After about a second of laughing at my stupidity, I had nothing to worry about!!!  Out the door I went. To Family Dollar down the road!!!  And got myself the DELUXE can opener...for $2!!

SO now it's back to being that dreaded 5'oclock on Sunday!  I've planned for tomorrow when I meet my students in Library and Technology, I've watched some football, eating snacks and drinking beer. 

My beer is another story!!  My last Shock Top in the fridge I was saving for the JETS game.  I thought about getting more when I was at the Bravo (no Shock Top there, but beer in general) but decided I should go with the canned goods instead!  This would have been fine, IF I didn't spill the beer on the carpet!!  Damn it!!!



Reading this, it might seem that I am not liking living on my own!!  I absolutely am!!  I can take longer showers, I don't need to put on a bra to come out of my room in the morning, and can have dance parties in my living room!! I've also noticed though that I talk to myself a lot, I don't really like the quiet, and I LOVE visitors!!

I don't know who'll read this, but if you do I hope you get a lil' kick out of it!  My policy has always been to laugh at myself...so laugh along with me!!

Until next time...if there is a next time,
Katie

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*Find the original post, first published on Sunday, September 9, 2012 {here}!

Style Perspectives: Spring Sweater and Jeans

The perfect transition look for Spring is today's Style Perspective prompt: The Spring Sweater: with jeans and flats!  Thank you Lana!!  Check out her take on the look here!

I just wish that the Spring temps would stick around.  Winter has made a maddening return this week! Right now I'm in a heavy sweater and scarf, but the looks I have for you today, are that of the spring sweater!  To me, the perfect spring sweater is any lightweight sweater, that I can jazz up.  I always wear something under my sweaters, be it a tank, t-shirt or button down.  As long as I'm comfy that's key!!

These two sweaters are exactly the same, but in different colors.  They are from JCrew Factory, about 2/3 years ago.  But this sweater is their 2016 version of it!  My skinny jeans and leopard flats complete both looks!  Because leopard is a neutral!  HA!

Can't wait to see everyone's Spring Sweater looks!!

Don't forget to link up with us to show us your Spring Sweater looks!  No blog? No problem...just #theblendedblogstyle across all social media platforms!


And before we go, here's a wrap on how all the TBB ladies wore their bright pants! Lovin' it!

An InLinkz Link-up


See you next week in my cardi and my jewels!!!

Make sure you stop by the Blended Blog to see the featured lady.  

Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After : Library-Lovin'-Lady

Daily Style Finds: The Personal Stylist

Foxy's Domestic Side: The Crafty Engineer

Grumbling Grace: Toddler Tamer & Teacher

Simply Shaunacey: Reformed Frumpy Mommy

Two Teens and Their Mama: Stylish Midlife Mama

RSquared: The Not So Nerdy Accountant

Shoes to Shiraz: The Shoe Hoarding French Teacher

Puppies and Pretties: Cube Dwelling Fashionista

Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life:  Single Girl, Simple Style

A Lovely Little Wardrobe: A Casual Petite

Making the Most of Everyday Classic Yet Current Over Forty 

NickandNik: Mama with Curves

Living on Cloud Nine: Blissful Fashionista



Check out all my Style Perspectives {here}



Linking up this week with:
The Blended Blog/The Pleated Poppy/Sydney Fashion Hunter/Lisa @Daily Style Finds/Thursday Fashion Files

Hey, It's OK Tuesday

Linking up once again of Hey, It's OK with Airing My Laundry!  This list is all sorts of random but hey, it's OK!  :)

It's OK...

• to be up at 5 am on Spring Break.  It's official...I'm old...I wake up early and go to bed early.
  

• to make dinner for two nights and end up eating both in one night.  I guess that's piggy-backing on my admission that I am old, because I made dinner at 3 pm (early bird special style!) and ate again later on in the day...like at dinner time!!!  

• to secretly detest my neighbor and his loud ass truck at 6 in the morning

• to be a fan of Kelsea Ballerini and Nick Jonas' ACM's performance and be listening to Peter Pan on repeat!  Listen Here!

• to both be happy and sad that my Girl Scout cookies are already finished!
  

• to procrastinate and leave everything you need to do to the very last hours of Spring Break!

• to think it's going to be a long April, May and June!

• to say NO sometimes

• waste a night away in the bath with wine and some great tunes!  It wasn't really time wasted at all actually
  

• to have actually cried real tears realizing that your old school iPod has officially, officially shit the bed and to already be contemplating a new one

• to have made a few Spring purchases on April 1st after being Shop Free for 3!

Hope ya'll have an OK Tuesday!!