Stripes, Leopard and Updates!

Heyyyy fashion friends...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I trust the holiday season for you all was fabulous.  I have a lot to catch you up on and this post will be picture heavy so please "govern thyselves accordingly" (a phrase for my church folk). As I stated before my posts were few and far between because of my busy schedule.  I was literally out of town more than I was in.  But before I catch you up on  all that, let's take a look at my outfit for this post.

A simple but chic outfit...at least I think so.

A bright blazer and stripes punched up a lil with some leopard.

 

I wore this outfit to church yesterday.  I wouldn't consider this a traditional church outfit.  I would consider this more a casual Friday outfit but because my boys are in desperate need of church clothes we all just went the casual route yesterday.  These boys are growing like weeds...but hey, they are healthy. 

 

 

 I decided to go with one of my favorite ways to mix prints...leopard and stripes.  I've worn stripes and leopard before as seen here.  This is just another way to rock it.  I've heard it to be said that leopard is the new neutral.  I tend to agree...I do look at it like that way now.

 

 

Blazer: Thrifted   Striped Dress (worn as a sweater): Old Navy  Sunnies: Nine West 

 

 Jeans: Wal-mart (love these jeans!)     Shoes: K&G      Purse: Flea Market

 

 

 

Ok...the last you heard from me I was talking about my son and his team trying to get to Florida for the youth football Nationals. We want to give warm hearted thank you to all of you who made the dream come alive!  We made it to Nationals as the number 1 team in the Nation, we won the first game of the tournament 13-7, the second game 33-7 but lost the championship game 8-7...talk about heartbreaking.  The team went through the whole season undefeated only to lose the very last game.  But number two in the nation isn't bad at all.  The coaching staff is already making moves to make that run again...oh boy!  Here is just a couple of pics from our trip to Florida the first week in December.

 

Other than the actual games...I think the highlight of the trip was the players and coaches wearing shorts and t-shirts and swimming outside in December...gotta love Florida!

 

Well as soon as I got back from a fun filled week in Florida, I went on a my second cruise for the year.  It was originally scheduled for the end of October but super storm Sandy said different.  We were on the ship for a good 3 hours before they canceled the cruise...talk about disappointed. We were literally in shock and drove home from the port in silence.  After we got over that shock that lasted for about 48 hours, we quickly rescheduled for the second week in December.  It was 30 of us and we managed to get all of us rescheduled that quickly.  I still can't believe how easy that was.  We

had a BALL!!! 

  

I finally got to jet ski!!!  It seems that every time I go on a trip there was something preventing me from jet skiing but not this time!

 I almost drowned me and my husband (not him in this pic). 

It was all worth it though. teehee. 

 

 Here are couple of pics of a couple of outfits that I particularly liked this  trip since this is a personal style blog and all.

 

 This poncho style top is OLD purchased from K-mart years ago. 

I decided to put my arm through the hole and sass is up a little bit...boom!

 I took the strap of the striped tank I wore under off and tucked it into my bra...

Breakin' all the rules is the way to live!

 

 We decided to do an all white night for our group.

 

Sorry for the poor quality...this is a pic of a pic.

 

T n T Mac the first elegant night.

 

Now...this does not include all the other smaller trips out of town that I have been on for the last couple of months.  This is why I have been so scarce on the blog scene.  When I had a moment to breathe it was more about doing laundry and things of such.  It was fun while it lasted but I did miss a little normalcy and blogging on a regular and consistent basis.  Things should be back to normal now.

 

I will see you guys real soon!  Yay!

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay fly and stay tuned!

 

LINK UPS:

 

It's Casuale Friday...Let's Groove!

Hey all!

It's a wonderful Friday and I feel great even after I tried to make a small purchase in the 7-11 and my card was declined.  I found out someone in Mexico tried to use my card information to make $700 purchase and then someone in Cali tried to make a $200 purchase on the same day.  The bank was on it, declined both transactions and put a hold on my card because they deemed both to be suspect. 
It's all good but now I am inconvenienced at the moment. 

No online shopping for me right now!!!!

*breathe*

Anyway, here is my outfit of the day.  'Casuale' Friday at work and I am rocking the red jeans!
 

Jeans, Sweater Vest and Blazer: Thrifted     Shirt: Ashley Stewart    Shoes: K&G   

Statement Necklace & Bracelet: Made by Mom     Earrings: NYC Street Vendor

I have been killin these shoes lately...I LOVE them!  So I apologize if you are sick of seeing them. 
Actually I'm not sorry...lol.

Purse: NYC Street Vendor

UGH! I still feel violated, though.  Are you also experiencing something so wide you can't get around it, so low you can't get under it, so high you can't go over it?  You say you are?  Well, this is a chance to dance our way out of our constrictions!
                                                            Groove with me!

That's how my mommy and daddy used to dance their way out of their constrictions...I can dig it!

To all my fellow NEW YORK Giant Fans...Let's Do this!!!

I think I may do a special Superbowl post. We will see.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay fly and stay tuned!

My "Uniform" but first a rant?

Hey everyone, Its Hump Day and before I get to the outfit, I have something to say!  I will ask for your forgiveness now :-)

I got an email from Tyler Perry’s mailing list yesterday.  It was a video.  It wasn’t the first video he has ever sent but to me, this one made the most impact.  To summarize the video.  It starts off with clips of people talking negatively of him.  It shows newspaper clippings of things being printed that are not so nice.  The video does take a positive turn and starts showing people who speak highly of Tyler.  If you aren’t on his mailing list and have not seen the video it can be found here.  It is a video that captures his testimony.  It is a lengthy 12 min. video but worth the time if you like inspiring stories. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is chronic negative people.  One of the things Tyler said in the email he sent was that he was allergic to negativity and I say that allllll the time.  LOL!  We can all be caught complaining here and there but when it is a habit, that’s a problem.  Seriously, are you the type that always have to find the bad in everything and everyone?  And when you do, MUST you mention it? Didn’t your mom ever tell you that if you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all?  I mean really!!  Even when I have something not so nice to say,  I check myself twice.  I fail to do this every once in a while but for the most part, before I open my mouth, I make sure that it is all about being constructive and not destructive,  I go to God first and my words are free of judgment and full of  love!

It burns me up that we don’t know how to be happy for each other, celebrate and uplift one another.  Whenever I feel I am in a place where I can’t do just that, I immediately check my insecurities at the door (whether you want to admit it or not, we all  know that’s all it is) and get it together!   

But going back to the video…It ends with Tyler accepting his NAACP Image award.  You have to see  that part for yourself.  There were three key points  I got from this video. I’m sure there were several more.

1.  No matter who you are and what you do, people will talk.  Some negatively and some positively. 

2.  It is a blessing to be a blessing.

3.  God can change ANY situation!

I would love to hear you all thoughts on this.  I will end this part of the post with a quote from Tyler. 

 “You could have been born into a nightmare but God can usher you into a Dream!”

I had to get that out...now onto the featured outfit/s.

Even the most divafied of us fashionistas have those day when we just can’t…

1.       Can’t decide what to wear

2.       Can’t use time effectively to get ready

3.       Can’t be so bothered

When I am having one these type of days and I still want to look fabulous, I go to my uniform.  Every fashionista should have a uniform or a “go-to” outfit for such times.

My uniform consists of a black bottom, a white top, and a denim jacket, coat or vest.  Every fashionista, career woman even, should have a pair of black slacks/skirt and a crisp white shirt in their closet.  I keep a heavy rotation of crisp white shirts.  You can take a blah outfit and punch it up with the denim without putting any thought into it. 

Here are three of many versions of my “Uniform”.

Version #1

Jacket: 1 half of an Ashley Stewart Denim suit          Random Turtleneck          Studded Pumps: Go Jane



Version #2



Leather Skirt: Thrifted      Shirt: K&G      Denim Jacket: Ashley Stewart     Shoes: Naughty Monkey     Belt: Target

 



Version #3

Cropped Pants: Ashley Stewart            Shirt: K&G         Cropped Denim Jacket: Ashley Stewart       Booties: Go Jane



I apologize for this post being a lil long...forgive me?

Thank you for stopping by :-)

Here is a preview of upcoming posts.



1. Casuale Friday                                2. Behooded



Stay fly and stay tuned! 

Stripes, More Stripes and...yeah, Leopard.

Hey everyone!!! 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Here's looking to a great week! 

*warning* pic heavy

Today's featured outfit...

Breton Stripes, Pinstripes, and a lil animal!

Before I get into that, a few things have gone on since my last post.  I have so much to talk about but I will try not to get long winded! 

First...I crossed that 100 follower mark! 

    Yayyyy!

I appreciate the first to the hundredth all the same.  I do this blogging thing for so many reasons but the biggest has got to be because it is fun and you meet so many great positive people.  You ALL stopping by every now and then makes this even more "funner"...lol.  I know that isn't grammatically correct, so no need to correct. :)

I want to THANK YOU for making this blogging experience all that! 

Hugs and Blog Love!

Next,   I don't know if you know but....

THE NEW YORK GIANTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!

I will spare you all and keep my excitement toned down for now.

Ok..now back to the outfit. I wore this outfit on Friday to my boys' football awards banquet.  As always, for any event this organization does, all participants are to come dressed in STORM gear. The team colors happen to be my fave color combo; red, black and white.  Because this was the awards banquet, we had to leave the jerseys and t-shirts at home and take it up a notch.  It is always fun to see the young people get snazzy. 

Wide leg Trousers: Ashley Stewart  Jacket: Thrifted  Tank: H&M  Shoes: K&G  Belt: Target  Clutch: Leather Man 
Necklace: Street Vendor  Watch: Ashley Stewart

The fam! 

The boys came home with a couple of awards!  As some of you know, the baby had a great year!  3Championship titles!!! My oldest came home with the Sportsmanship award!  He was nicknamed Slash by his head coach just like Kordell Stewart (former Steeler) for the same reasons.  He played everything...  quarterback slash running back slash wide receiver slash whatever you needed him to play.

Good job fellas!

Thanks again for stopping by!

Here is a preview of some upcoming posts.

1. My "Uniform"
2.  Casuale Friday
3.  My Hoodie

Stay fly and stay tuned!

  

I'm Mingling!                  And Partying!

I'm Bossy!

Hey Fashion Friends!

I trust all of you had a great Christmas and now enjoying the 2nd day (Kujichagulia -Self-Determination) of Kwanzaa.  My holiday have been great thus far.  I had a difficult situation to get through right before Christmas which was the worse timing ever but all I can say is...GOD!!!  My God is awesome! You know the mothers of the church always say that He can do anything but fail and then get all excited when they think of His goodness...well the closer I get to my golden years the more and more I have those feelings.  Let the church say "Amand" say "Amand" again!

Today's outfit feature a Christmas present to myself.  Merry Christmas to meeeee!

Naughty Monkey's Bossy!

What I love about this shoe is all the different textures.  The patent leather toe, the leather upper, the leopard, the zipper trim and the studded heel...I mean gosh there is so much going on with this shoe and I just LOVE it!  

I styled these shoes with my trendy camel color wool blazer and my thrifted burnt orange slacks.  I first featured these slacks here.  When I wore the slacks then, it was my first time wearing them and I said the next time I wore them I would take the hem out and that is just what I did.  I am happy with the length now. 

I can't wait to style these shoes with other outfits.  I am seeing them with my leather skirt and pants, distressed jeans and my motorcycle jacket or even  my black wrap dress.  So many possibilities!

THE FIT:

Shoes: Naughty Monkey via Zappos  Here

Camel Blazer: K&G

Burnt Orange Slacks: Thrifted

Black Turtleneck: Oldie but Goodie

Leopard Belt: Target

Earrings: Street Vendor

Thanks for reading!

Stay fly and stay tuned!

A Weekend to Remember!

Greetings Fashion Divas!

First, I want to welcome all my new peeps, and thank you all for your positive and encouraging comments!  You all are the greatest!

OK, so the Holiday season is in full swing!  So much so, I haven't had the time to blog like I want to. Booo!  I wanted to post a couple of pics of me and the husband.  Last weekend we spent time with five other couples from our marriage support group.  The purpose of this group is to encourage each other to maintain happy and healthy marriages.  A real life "Why Did I Get Married?" Group!  In today's society, everyone wants what someone else has.  Single people want to be married and married people want to be single again.  Never satisfied.  So with us being on the married side of the fence, we say let's be happy in the state we're in.  Our motto is "Keeping Marriage Sexy!"  As you all know maintaining any relationship is not always easy, so it is great to have those who we love and trust to lean on.

So this past weekend six couples had a weekend get away...and had a royal blast to the point we almost got kicked out of the hotel.  Can we say OUT OF ORDER?!?! lol.  We kept it together, and came home with headaches from laughing so hard and memories that will last a lifetime! 

It was truly a weekend to remember!

  These pics are from Friday night's dinner.

I am wearing my remixed thrifted leather pants, thrifted pink satin blouse, rabbit fur trimmed shrug from K&G, finished off with a little leopard.  Mr. Mac is wearing, a black "What is That?" velvet jacket, a grey sweater vest, pink dress shirt that he says real men can rock comfortably, black jeans, black and silver paisley tie, black casual lace up shoes.

Thank you all for reading!

Stay fly and stay tuned!