Still Here

Pictures taken by my tripod

When:  Monday, January 23, 2012

What: Top - Forever 21 +; Sweater - Sonama; Skinny Jeans - Lane Bryant; Scarf - Lane Bryant; Sweater Boots - Sketchers; Bracelet - Mizoutlet.com

Where:  Off work today, so I cleaned up the house, did some grocery shopping, started dinner in the crock pot and of course, homework time with my son.

I'm alive!  I'm here!  I've just been a bad little blogger....  I started my new job a few weeks ago and it's been keeping me busy and engaged most days of the week (even when I'm off work...  SHEESH!)  But yes, I'm still here.  I have made a renewed contract with myself to blog more often.  I really appreciate all the messages and comments you all have left in my absence!  You rock!

Onto the outfit details.  Since it's an off day and I was simply running errands and cleaning around the house, I went for something casual.  Some of you might have noticed...  This is the striped shirt I had on my Christmas Wish List!  My mother-in-law gave it to me!  I really love it!  I don't love that it's supposed to be hand wash only...  Pain!

Do you guys know about Miz Outlet?  They sell costume jewelry at an unbelievable price!  Now, yeah, it's not the best stuff, but for the money, I have enjoyed every piece I have ever bought from them.  (Also - spend $20 and you get free shipping!)  Miz Outlet is where I purchased this bracelet.  I bought the CHI variety.  This scarf I purchased from Lane Bryant a few years back.  It was my first fashion scarf purchase and I still love it.  And because it's January (almost over though!!!) I wore my sweater boots.  They are just too easy to pull on and because of this I wear them often.

Sorry again for being so absent...  I promise do to better.  I started a "to-do" list for my days off, and I have placed blogging on there too!  I really did miss it too - it's just one of those things that got away from me somehow...  (Also - Pinterest has been taking up all my time lately!  I'm officially addicted!  Follow me (Luckeysgoods)!

In other news - I LOVE MY NEW JOB!  Nursing school was not an easy thing to complete, but it was well worth it!

Hope you all have a great week!

Other ways I have rocked my sweater boots:   

Corporate Week

Photots Taken by My Tripod

When:  Wednesday, January 11, 2012

What:  Dress - Sealed With A Kiss; Cardigan - Lane Bryant; Skinny Belt - Lane Bryant; Tights - Kmart; Boots - Trusol; Necklace - Gift from friend; Earrings - ??

Where - Corporate orientation, grocery store, and then home for the usual help with my son's homework, make dinner, and chill on the couch (add some laundry in there too)...



I started my new job this week.  My new nursing job!  But all this week I am at their corporate headquarters, learning how to use their computer system, watching PowerPoint after PowerPoint after PowerPoint of rules, regulations, and procedures...  Next week I get to be on the floor!  But for now I am in a classroom, and I am supposed to be wearing "business casual".  So here was my look for the day!  I actually got a compliment from a total stranger in the cafeteria.  We were walking passed each other and she said "I love your outfit".  That was cool!

This necklace was given to me by a friend a few years ago.  She had taken a vacation to Florida and bought it from a woman who made and sold jewelry on the beach!  A girl can never go wrong with a simple pair of hoop earrings.  And the cuff is a favorite piece of mine that you can see me wear all the time.  Definitely a staple.

I took these pictures really quick in my kitchen.  We had a full schedule tonight but it's been too long since I have posted an OOTD post and I wanted to get one in!

Speaking of kitchen...  I made this great recipe from Skinnytaste.com - meatball and spaghetti soup!  This one was a huge hit with the entire family.  I took pictures of it too - so look for an upcoming post about it!

New Glasses

YAY!  They came in yesterday!  My new glasses!  I am so stoked!  Can't you tell with all my exclamation points!!!????!!!!  (HA!)

I went out on a limb and ordered glasses online.  After reading so many good reviews from different sources, I decided to try glassesusa.com.  Oh man am I glad I did!  I love them so much.  Not only was the website super easy to use (they have a virtual "mirror" to try glasses on), but their customer service was awesome!  (I have a weird prescription as one eye is near sighted and the other is far sighted and they worked with me right away to get it all straightened out because the website wouldn't except my crazy prescription.)  

I definitely suggest following them on facebook, as I ended up with a buy one get one free code.  Heck yeah TWO new pairs of glasses!

First pair - iSee 724 in brown.

Second pair - iSee 026 in black.

Excuse the photo quality.  They were taken with my iPhone. 

Can't wait to pick outfits to wear with them! 

Festivus for the Rest of Us

Pictures taken by my tripod

When:  Friday, December 23, 2011

What:  Banded Top - Fashion Bug; Tiered Skirt - Lane Bryant; Tights - Fashion Bug; Boots - Trusol; Necklace - gift from friend; Bracelets - old.  



Where:  Work for our day 2 of holiday festivities, out to the grocery store for foods for the holiday weekend, and Cincinnati Zoo's Festival Lights (minus the skirt - I changed into jeans).  OH!  And of course Festivus!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Mine was awesome - but I am tired today...  It all started Friday night when Matt and I took the little one to the Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights!  This has been a tradition of ours since the year we met.  We even became zoo members this year so we could go as often as we want throughout the summer, fall, and for the festival!  Of course I changed into jeans we before we left the house that night (actually about 2 minutes after I took these pictures).  It's been unseasonably warm in Cincinnati this year, but it was definitely too cold for a skirt and fishnets to go starring at Christmas lights, the polar bears, and other fun zoo things!

Wearing my boots....  Again....  Go figure....  These are becoming a part of my winter uniform!  I'm only afraid that since they are not real leather, they won't be that warm once the temperature starts to really drop!  In that case, I think for next winter I'll have to spill the money for a pair of real leather boots!  I also really like this tiered skirt.  The only problem though...  It's a really light fabric, completely made for the summer months.  So when walking to and from my car while doing the last minute grocery shopping on a windy day, my bum was definitely freezing!  This necklace is a Christmas gift from a close friend of mine last Christmas.  I feel like I always forget about it for some reason, then it catches my eye again and I am delighted every time!  I thought the colors were perfect with this skirt too!

Not only did my work celebrate the holidays on Thursday, we did it again on Friday too!  We originally planned it for Friday only, but found that many people had taken the day off.  So we decided to do it both days!  Free lunch Thursday and Friday?!?  I'll take it!  This all followed by the Festival of Lights, and then a ton of eating, laughing, and drinking with my family all weekend!  It was truly an awesome holiday! 

Also....  Matt and my mother-in-law gave me quite a few things off my Christmas wish list from this blog!  How cool is that?!?!  I can't wait to show them all to you in future posts!  But for now I am sitting in a t-shirt and jeans, as the long, fun weekend made for a lazy day of clothes my first day back to work.

Have you heard of Festivus?  December 23rd's special day filled with the Airing of Grievances, the Festivus Pole, and finished by the Feats of Strength?  We are big fans of Seinfeld (the TV show) in this house, and every year we always remember December 23's special meaning!  Check out this website for everything you need to know!  Including videos of the original Festivus celebrated on Seinfeld!

1 Month Blog Anniversary!

Today marks 1 month since I have started Luckey's Goods!  YAY!  How exciting!  I have really enjoyed every minute of it!  (A quick note, I apologize for being away so long...  The holidays have totally kicked my butt.  I have been frantically running around trying to finish all my holiday prep.  And this past weekend was my friend's wedding which kept me busy almost all weekend as Matt was in the wedding.  I know...  Excuses, excuses...)

To commemorate my first month, I am doing a double post - An outfit of the day and a recipe!  First, lets start with the recipe.  Tomorrow is my company's holiday party.  I am bringing in a new recipe that a friend just gave me - Buffalo Chicken Cheese Ball.  With minimal ingredients and minimal time you can make this for one of your holiday parties too!

Buffalo Chicken Cheese Ball

Ingredients

2 blocks of cream cheese

1 large chicken breast (I used 1-1/2 because I only had small ones)

1/4 cup plus some extra squirts of Franks Red Hot

2 cups pepper jack cheese

 

 

Pictures Taken by Luckey

I softened the cream cheese in the microwave for about 1 minute.  Then I combined the cream cheese, hot sauce, and half of the pepper jack cheese.  It's not pictured, but after I combined it all, I felt it didn't pack enough heat for my taste, so I added in a few shakes of dried cayenne pepper.

At the same time I was also cooking up the chicken breasts.  The picture shows three because I made a second cheese ball for Matt to take to his work holiday party too!

When the chicken is finished I shredded it and added it to the cream cheese mix.

Finally after everything is mixed well, I form the mixture into a ball and roll it over the other cup of the pepper jack cheese. 

There you have it!  Easy-peasy!  And quite tasty too!  I'm excited to see if everyone likes it as much as I do tomorrow at the party! 

And now...  The clothes...

 Pictures by Matt M.

When: Wednesday, December 21, 2011

What: Dress - Sonsi.com; Cardigan - Lane Bryant; Boots - Trusol; Tights - Fashion Bug; Belt - Lane Bryant; Necklace - Target

Where: Work, and a marathon of stores to finish my Christmas shopping, and then home to make the cheese balls and catch my brother-in-law up on Showtime's "Shameless" so he can watch the new season with us in January.

Heh.  I had Matt take a picture of me with some of my shopping bags.  As you can see in these pictures I am surrounded by gifts that still need to be wrapped!  Ugh, something else to do...  Any-who...  I wanted to look festive today.  What is more festive than red and green I thought?  This is actually the dress I wore to my own rehearsal dinner.  If I wasn't wearing the cardigan, you could see it was sleeveless (we were married in July).  I love this dress, it's so light and airy.  Adding a cardigan and tights is a great way to winterize it!

Wore my calf boots again.  Love these things.  The necklace is also what I wore at my rehearsal dinner.  It was an absolute awesome find as I love it and I always get compliments on it!  I originally put on my black skinny belt this morning, but I started thinking that the animal print one might be more fun!  I'm glad I switched!

Is anyone else as excited about the season premier of "Shameless" as I am?!?!  Oh my!  It became one of my favorite shows when it first came on early this year.  It's about a family of misfits in Chicago.  If you have Showtime, it's on demand right now so you have time to catch up!  (Note - this is NOT a family friendly show.  No kiddies around, okay?) 

Others ways I have rocked my animal print belt:

The Gift

Pictures Taken by My Tripod

When: Wednesday, December 7, 2011

What:  Dress - Blu Sage; Tights - Fashion Bug; Booties - Nine West; Belt - taken from a shirt; Necklace - Lane Bryant; Cuff - Fashion Bug; Earrings - Lane Bryant

Where: Work, got my hairs trimmed, Cub Scouts with my son, and a little online shopping.

This dress was a gift to me from my mother-in-law.  When I first received it I didn't wear it much as I thought it didn't do much for my figure because it didn't have a structured shape.  But I always liked the pattern, length, and neckline.  Since I discovered the wonderful world of using a belt, I knew that was exactly what needed to happen for this dress!  And the rest is history.  I really like wearing this dress now!

The simple hoop earrings were a purchase from LB many years ago.  You can't go wrong with a simple set of earrings sometimes.  The necklace was also purchased from LB too.  (Probably not at the same time, but I've had this necklace for a while now too.)  It's made from a shell, at least I think so.  And if not, they did an excellent job making it look like one.  Again I'm wearing my trusty cuff!  I love this silver cuff!  Such a great buy!  Also wore my Nine West booties again.  They are just too easy to slip on and never make my feet hurt. 

So you can kind of tell from the pic that these tights are actually footless tights.  When I purchased them I didn't even realize.  But I have come to like the versatility they can bring me.  (Also - I am in love with the colored tights at the moment...  Sadly, all I have is black, brown, and these grey ones....  Hmmm...  gotta go shopping soon it sounds like!)

I had my hair trimmed yesterday.  I needed it badly!  I can't believe how fast it grows.  I know it looked alright getting longer, I just like it a bit shorter and more defined layers. 

I also got a little online shopping done for Christmas.  It was a customized order and I am hoping I didn't wait too long to order it!!!  Someone might have to wait till after Christmas to get their gift.  But hey - maybe spreading out the gift opened just a bit longer is a good thing right?

How much online shopping do you do for Christmas?  Honestly, I would say 85% of the gifts our family gives come from online.  It's just too convenient!

Other ways I have rocked my Nine West booties:

Almost Turkey Day

Pictures Taken by My Tripod

When:  Wednesday, November 23, 2011

What:  Black drop-waist dress; Navy, White & Black sheer tunic; Navy 3/4 sleeve jacket; Black tights; Black knee-high boots; Pearl necklace.

Where:  Work, home to make dinner, and then game night with a few beers and a couple of friends.

YAY!  Pictures outside!  There was no rain yesterday, so I took my tripod and camera outside in the backyard. 

This look is something I've been doing with a few of my dresses to get an extra mile out of them, I wear the dress with a top so the dress looks like a skirt!  It's like an instant doubling of your wardrobe!  Try it and see what new looks you can come up with!

They aren't featured here, but I wore my new, favorite knee-high boots again with this outfit.  This sheer tunic is one of my favorites as well.  I love both the color and the patterns and wearing it over a dress means I don't have to wear a cami!  The long pearl necklace was another purchase from Premier Design many years ago.  I like this pearl necklace because the style doesn't make me feel like an old lady.  Also, because it's so long, I can wear it as shown, or a little longer when making it only two strands.

So as I mentioned before, last night we had a game night.  You'll come to learn that I'm a bit of a nerd.  A few of my friends really like to play the nerdy comic book store games (myself included).  Last night we played the fairly new Lord of the Rings living card game.  It's a really neat game where all players actually play together to get through quests, defend, and attack against monsters.  Other favorites of ours are Settler's of Catan, Game of Thrones LCG, Chrononauts, Arkham Horror and many more!  These games are an awesome way to spend an evening in with friends, especially in the winter when the weather gets crappy!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  It's time for me to head to shower and get ready to visit the in-laws!

Since starting this blog (obviously) not too long ago, these are the different ways I have worn the black drop-waist dress.

Hippie Chic

Photos Taken by My Tripod

When:  Tuesday, November 22, 2011

What:  Royal Blue cardigan; Peachy-Orange embroidered top; Olive Green linen pants; Black skinny belt; Silver & Black paisley flats; various arm and neck love.

Where:  Work and then home to make dinner and work on my blog!

WOW!  Only a couple days in and I already have some comments!  How exciting!  Thanks so much for the early love!  This outfit is a go-to for me.  Easy, comfortable linen pants and a more structured top half that makes me look like I'm put together still.

 

It rained again yesterday...  So these pictures are once again (obviously) inside.  I think I like the bar pics better than the living room pictures though.  What do you think?

So I played around with Picnik to make a collage of the details.  I think this looks nicer than individual photos.  Oh the joys of having a blog and working out the details!  My watch and bracelets were my attempt at a wrist party.  (Is that what they call it?)  And the skinny belt, or any belt for that matter, is quickly becoming my favorite accessory.  I love the way it can define my waist!  The necklaces are both from a jewelry party I attended about 4 years ago.  Premier Design was the name, but I'm not sure if they are still around?

Tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I wanted to wish everyone safe travels and a wonderful day with family and friends!  It's now time for me to eat dinner and relax with my men before the holiday officially begins!

Black & Brown - OH MY!

Photos Taken by My Tripod

When:  Monday, November 21, 2011

What:  Black & Brown printed shirt dress; Brown long sleeve t-shirt; Brown tights; Black knee-high boots; Amber & Silver turtle necklace.

Where:  Work, dinner out with the boys, and Ronnie's 2nd-grade conferences at school.

For my first "official" & "true" outfit post I went with the sometimes forbidden black and brown combo.  (I know I'm such a rebel...  Or am I?)  If you talk to my fashionably challenged husband (love you hon), yes, I am making a total mistake with my color choices here.  Yet when browsing blogs and stores one will find quite the mix of one complete outfit that boasts both black and brown, at the SAME TIME!

As you can see I am no longer in my living room.  I was actually trying to muster up the courage all day to head outside to take my pics, but the rain kept me inside!

This turtle necklace was actually my very first ebay purchase many, many, many years ago.  It's one of my most cherished pieces (my son's nickname is Turtle) and I get compliments on it all the time.

When I think about it, this dress is very old.  I'm thinking it was at least 3 to 4 years when I bought this at Lane Bryant?  It's actually a dress that I didn't wear too often when I first purchased it.  But this past 6 months or so I have been wearing the heck out of it.

Finally, THESE BOOTS!  Obviously I'm a plus size girl...  Finding boots that fit up to my knees, around my big 'ole calves is pretty much impossible...  Then one day returning boots that didn't fit around my calves, I found these!  I purchased them from Kohl's earlier in the Fall.  When I got them, they were 40% off PLUS I used a 30% discount coupon (I love Kohls - I shop there a lot as you'll come to notice).  They are made by Trusol Tara.  They are really comfortable and are super easy to slip on and off.  I wish they were leather....  But I didn't really pay a leather price, so I can't complain too much.

So there we go.  My "first" official fashion post to my new blog!  How did I do?  I am thinking the more I do this, the better I'll get...  I hope so anyway! 

And if anyone was wondering, Ronnie's school conference went well yesterday!  Gotta work on a few things, but nothing too major!

Grey with Black All Over

My first few posts are going to be mini posts. I will be sharing what the Internet already knows, my pics from Chictopia. In the future, I will be giving a much more detailed look at the clothes I am wearing for the day.

Photo Taken By My Tripod

When: Thursday, November 3, 2011

What: Black drop-waist dress; Heather Grey sweater cardigan; Black tights; Black heeled oxfords; Silver turtle cuff; Black and Grey beaded necklace.

Where: Work and then more homework with my son and studies for my state boards.

Both this dress and sweater are SUPER OLD. I was trying to bring the two together and wear in a new way - a sort of expanding my closet with the old thing. I liked how this turned out. It was really comfy on the dreary day that was November 3 too!