Dec 28, 2012
Hello, pretties and a post-Christmas TGIF to you! Welcome to week five of Build Your Outfit Basics. If you’re new here, let me catch you up. BYOB is a six week series built around my Five Wardrobe Basics for Real Moms. Each week I feature one of my favorite outfit builders along with some affordable options to help you build or add onto your own wardrobe.
In week one, I featured dark wash skinny jeans. Week two was all about fabulous, cute and comfy flats, week three featured one of my favorites, scarves and in week four I confessed to my total obsession with cardigans.
Week Five’s outfit builders lay the foundation for just about any look – tees and tanks. If you’ve followed me for long, you’ve probably already noticed that I layer a tee or tank under almost everything.
Like these looks starring my gray and taupe tanks.
My drawer full of tanks gets accessed year-round. There’s just something that feels right about layering, I can’t quite explain it but I do it almost every day. And these long tanks from Forever 21 are my absolute favorites and are only $4.80 each! I have one in ever color of the rainbow.
Although tanks tops are my main go-to layering piece, I also wear a lot of t-shirts. They work great under cardigans and sweaters or on their own with a statement necklace or scarf.
Here are some of my fave basic tanks and tees.
[Long Tank Top: Forever 21]
[Everyday Tank: J. Crew Factory]
Tissue Tees are the perfect weight for layering. Here’s one that I love.
[Tissue Tee: J. Crew Factory]
I love the longer length and shirred sides of this tee.
[Shirred V-neck Tee: Nordstrom]
BONUS OUTFIT BUILDER
[Chambray Shirt: Madewell]
While I was writing this post, I started thinking about some other favorite basics that I wear on a regular basis. One of my fall purchases kept coming to mind – my denim shirt. Denim shirts, and their lighter weight cousin chambray are CRAZY versatile!
Here are some ways to pair them up:
Under cardigans and sweaters
Over tank tops as a jacket
Belted with a maxi skirt
With leggings, riding boots and a scarf
Tucked in with dark wash denim skinnies (below)
I have a feeling I’m just going to keep finding ways to wear it year-round…thrown over a bikini with a sarong, tucked into shorts with a tank top or with colored denim like this look below that I LOVE.
[Camel Jeans: Fossil]
Here are some of my favorite denim and chambray shirts.
It’s Your Turn: How healthy is your collection of basic tees and tanks? What are you planning to update?
Have you taken the Payday Pretty Challenge yet?
If you do, you could win a $20 Target gift card! I’m giving away one each week of the BYOB series.
All you have to do is take $20, $50 or $100 out of the weekly budget and do something pretty for yourself. Then show me what you got! Here are the ways you can enter:
1. If you’re a blogger, write about Payday Pretty in a post and link back to me.
2. Post a photo to the GYPO Facebook page showing me what you got.
3. Tweet about the Payday Pretty Challenge Giveaway.
4. Leave me a blog post comment telling me what you got.
Happy shopping and good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Week Four’s Payday Pretty Challenge winner is Cindy B.!
Congratulations Cindy! Your $20 Target gift card is on it’s way. I hope you do something pretty for yourself with it!
Stay pretty, my friends!
Alison
Getting my pretty on with Aloha Friday, Casual Friday, Favorite Frock Fridays, Strut Your Stuff, Watch What I’m Wearing, Life is a Runway
Dec 26, 2012
I hope you and yours had a blessed Christmas. My mind is still reeling that it’s over already but really, our family enjoys the week between Christmas and New Year’s just as much as the time leading up to it. The best part is stepping out of our normal crazy rat race routine to spend some quality time together.
On Friday, hubby and I took the day off together to tie up loose ends and finish shopping. We went to our daughter’s third grade party that morning. It felt even more special to be able to be there with her on the Friday after the Sandy Hook tragedy. So much to be thankful for this year.
Hubby and our youngest, Ava at her school.
Saturday was a fun girls’ day! My daughters and I went to see The Nutcracker. Afterward, hubby surprised us with a night at a hotel. We enjoyed an evening of shopping, having dinner and swimming, before laying in bed, eating junk food and watching Christmas movies. What a fun and special night. We might have to make this a new tradition!
My girls Aubrey and Ava at the hotel.
On Sunday we had breakfast, then headed back home from the hotel. That afternoon, we baked these cookies for Santa. Afterward, we put on our jammies, grabbed some hot cocoa and made our annual drive to look at Christmas lights.
Monday, Christmas Eve, started out as a cleaning day, much to the kids’ dismay. But they quickly cleaned their rooms and anxiously awaited the arrival of a very special guest, my niece Lauren who came home for Christmas from New Orleans. YAY!
Cousins! My niece Lauren and daughter Aubrey.
We went to Christmas Eve services at our church home, Chase Oaks. The service was very uplifting and moving. After, we had our traditional Christmas Eve steak dinner. When we got home, we lit a fire, played board games, tracked Santa on NORAD and watched “A Christmas Story” until bedtime.
Christmas morning, everyone’s wishes came true. SANTA CAME!
He brought me a new set of these wine glasses to replace the mostly broken set I got from IKEA years ago. I’m sort of scared to use them. At least I didn’t care when I broke the cheap ones from IKEA!
[Kate Spade Wine Glasses]
And I must’ve been a VERY good girl this year, because I got these too. HAPPY DANCE!
[Frye “Melissa” Riding Boots]
We had our traditional monkey bread for breakfast. I made a super easy version using refrigerated biscuits with this recipe HERE. It was THE. BEST. EVER.
Then we hosted Christmas dinner at our house for my sisters and their families. I’m the youngest of us three girls. My sisters have always been and always will be my very best friends. We laugh and have so much fun together. I love them so much!
Me, my sister Andrea and my sister Heather (she didn’t get the “hand on hip” memo).
Then to top it all off and make this the MOST perfect Christmas ever…WE GOT SNOW! Yes, a white Christmas in Dallas.
I’m still in awe.
Our Christmas lights in the snow!
This Christmas couldn’t have been more perfect – family togetherness, great food, SNOW and loads of love and blessings.
I hope yours was filled with the same!
Getting my pretty on with Random Wednesday, The Pleated Poppy, Wardrobe Wednesday, Transatlantic Blonde, Life is a Runway
Dec 21, 2012
Hello, pretties and TGIF! Welcome to week four of Build Your Outfit Basics. If you’re new here, let me catch you up. BYOB is a six week series built around my Five Wardrobe Basics for Real Moms. Each week I feature one of my favorite outfit builders along with some affordable options to help you build or add onto your own wardrobe.
In week one, I featured dark wash skinny jeans. Week two was all about fabulous, cute and comfy flats and week three featured one of my favorites, scarves. This week I’ll be sharing my obsession with cardigans.
And yes, it is a full blown obsession. (more…)
Dec 20, 2012
Hello, pretties! I have a special guest to introduce to you today. Her name is Sarah and she’s the spunky sweetheart behind Tucker Up. She’s a newlywed (6 months ago), just moved into her first home and shows us her budget friendly ways to look great and makes pretty things. She’s a super cute total package and I have a feeling you’re going to love her too! Hey Y’all, I’m Sarah from Tucker Up. I am super-duper excited to be hangin’ out over here at Get Your Pretty On!
Just to fill you in on my little life I will give you a quick rambling of what Tucker Up is composed of. For starters, I live with my hunky husband in a suburb of Dallas. We have two pups (full grown dogs) named Wrigley and Bailey. We bought our first house in April and then Tucker Up was born in order to have an organized space to rant about the life of a newly married couple settling into their first home.
When Alison asked me to “get my pretty on” I got pretty nervous because, well, if you haven’t noticed, she has pretty awesome fashion. After much deliberation about what kind of outfit I wanted to showcase, I decided on doing a general outfit post. I know bor-ring, but this outfit is perfect for “winter” in Texas, and it is literally one of my favorite outfits. ever. Hey, that counts for something, right?!
Ya see…here in the dirty south it doesn’t get that cold. We have cold days here and there, but I have been know to wear shorts on Christmas. I loveee (like literally love) this outfit to pieces because it is wintery enough, yet I am not in a sweater…because, well, a sweater isn’t really needed much in Texas! Did I also mention that this outfit is full of color, much like my personality?? Ha!
The shirt is from Francesca’s (aka Franny’s as I call it). Lu-uvvv it. It is “long-sleeved” yet sheer, so it looks as though I dressed for winter, yet this shirt could easily be a spring and summer shirt. Score. Winning. Makes me wanna holla like a balla!
The mustard jeans are from Target. These jeans are pretty thin, but who can resist mustard colored jeans? Ummm, no one. Hello? Have you seen Pinterest lately? If you don’t have colored jeans you bess get on it, gurl!
Oh, and these boots…let a girl tell ya ’bout her boots. The grey-babies were 40% off at Franny’s making them a whopping $40. FORTY dollars people. That is like striking gold, I’d even stretch it to platinum. The red-seamed zipper up the back makes me giddy like a school girl crushin’ on her man boy at the playground. Ahh, love.
At first I thought this outfit resembled that of a clown incognito. Then I realized that is basically me, a walking clown, and proud of it. The bright colors cheer up a dreary winter day and I am in a happy mood right when the fabric hits my bod.
So, what do ya think?! Would you ‘clown’ it up with me? I bet Alison would 🙂
Thanks, again, for Alison for having me over here at her oh-so fashionable blog!
Well, Sarah, pull up the clown car and bust out the red noses. I’d love to clown it up with you anyday, girl! You and your outfit instantly put me in a great mood. Your sunny yellow pants and color pairings are sure to make anyone smile. Hmm, I’ve never told someone their pants make me smile. 🙂Thanks so much for sharing your fun personality and your style with us today! I have a special Ask Alison for you that fits perfectly with Sarah’s guest post…
Hi Alison! I bought a pair of mustard yellow jeans at the end of summer. They worked great for fall but I’m running out of ideas for how to pair them up for winter and I want to get more use from them. Can you give me some fresh suggestions for cooler weather? Thanks – Jenn B.
Hey Jenn! Yellow jeans are so much fun and their life can definitely be extended into the winter months. There’s nothing better than adding a little sunshine to your outfit on a winter’s day, am I right? Here are some warm and cozy ideas for pairing them up. 
1. Dot your I’s – Polka dots in blue hues are the perfect compliment to these pants.
2. Color block it – Add a color blocked scarf to this look, pair with a solid top in a complimentary color for instant style.
3. Stripes are nice – A cozy striped cardi or sweater adds the perfect amount of fun. Pair with a tee or tank in a primary color.
4. Graphic animals – the graphic print of this animal sweater is a cute way to add some warmth to your day.
5. Chunky prints – This warm sweater with mixed graphics is the perfect partner for these pants.
[Mustard Yellow Jeans: Dillard’s]
MORE OPTIONS
It’s Your Turn: How are you pairing up mustard yellow jeans this winter? Tell us in the comments!
Dec 19, 2012
It truly is the most wonderful time of the year…sweater season! And the sweater trends this winter are SO much fun.
This is a rebuilding year for my sweater collection. I’m trying to add in some of this year’s trends as well as a few classics to beef up my cozy winter knits.
But first, let’s start out with my absolute favorite sweater in my existing collection.
There’s really nothing special at all about this sweater. Actually some might even say that it’s kind of ugly. But it is my go-to for ultimate comfort and effortless dressing. I love pairing it up exactly as it is here – with leggings, a tank and my comfy boots. Plus the long sleeves wrap over my hands and keep them warm. (Christmas mug, optional!)
[Sweater: Target (similar)/Fur Collar: Target/Tank: Forever 21/Fleece Leggings: Ross (similar)/Wool Boot Socks: Marshall’s (similar)/Boots: UGG (similar)]
And now for some I’d like to add to my collection…
Sweater Trends 2012
[Stripes: ModCloth/Polka Dots: Nordstrom/Cashmere: Nordstrom/Baby Deer: Miss Selfridge]
1. Colorful Stripes – A fun take on a classic, bright stripes bring a little cheer to a dreary winter’s day.
2. Polka Dots – One of my favorite sweater trends this season! Polka dots are popping up everywhere.
3. Cashmere Brights – A new spin on this classic, cashmere never goes out of style. In brightly saturated hues, you’ll want one in every color of the rainbow!
4. Cute Animals – the animal sweater trend is HUGE this year! I’m afraid it might be gone next year so let’s enjoy it while we can.
MORE LOOKS I LOVE
It’s Your Turn: What sweaters have you been wanting to add to your collection? Tell me in the comments!
It’s time once again for Diaries of a Bargainista! Can’t wait to see what you link up this week. Note that this will be the last link up for 2012. See you in two weeks!
Remember there are only three rules:
1. Follow your hosts: Get Your Pretty On , All Things Alisa and Tucker Up.
2. Link up to a specific post (not your blog’s main page).
3. Link back to me in your post by either using the button above or in the sidebar or by creating your own link.
That’s it. Easy, peasy. Let the fun begin!
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Getting my pretty on with The Pleated Poppy, Wardrobe Wednesday, Random Wednesday, Look What I Got, Aloha Friday
