Gray Tunic Sweater

Hello there! I took an intentional break from blogging...okay it's just been a week... because I just couldn't get everything done. Didn't feel like taking pictures either even though we had two warm days which presented an opportunity to dress nice and take pictures but no, I did not feel like it it.
We're back in the cold snap and my no 1. priority is keeping warm and staying comfortable. So another sweater tunic, thick scarf and beanie look for you. 
If you love tunics and you have a big mid section, big hips or big behind, opt for a loose fitting one (not too loose)  for a more flattering fit. I mentioned in a previous post that I ditched all my fitted sweater tunics and dresses because they hug in all the wrong places.

Have a lovely weekend!

tunic sweater with skinny pants and boots
Nine West black boots, red infinity scarf
Plus size tunic, how to wear a beanie, knit hat

Tunic Sweater - Old Navy / Similar Option / Option / Love this
Scarf - TJ Maxx / SimilarSimilar
Hat - Ralph Lauren via TJ Maxx / Similar / Similar
Black Jeggings - Style and Co via Macy's
Black Boots - Nine West


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Friday Fives: Ready for Spring

We had a little taste of spring for a few hours yesterday and that put me in the mood for spring shopping. Spring means color, dresses and no more socks. Here a few items I'm loving. What's on your wish list for spring?
1. Green Dresses: Green is a color that flatters every skin tone in my opinion. The dresses shown here flatter all body types. When in doubt, wear green; and a green dress that flatters your shape? Perfection!
Dresses that flatter all shapes
Fit and Flare Dress Cap Sleeve Dress . Maxi Dress


2. Arm Candy: I'm still loving cross body bags. They are going to be hot for spring. A navy colored handbag is a nice switch up from your basic black or brown.
Navy cross body bag, Nine west bag, Target bag
Cross Body Bag . Satchel 


3. Cropped pants: Cropped pants definitely mean spring. Wear with a fitted blazer and with pumps or low heeled sandals
Shoes to wear with cropped pants, Printed Crops
Black pants . White pants . Printed Pants


4. Colored Pumps: Add a pop or color block any outfit with colored heels. These pumps are all from Nine West (my favorite shoe store) and I can attest to their comfort.
Colored pumps, comfortable pumps from Nine West, Regola pump, Rocha Pump replacement
Orange . Green . Yellow


5. Makeup

Lauren ElizabethStyle ElixirWhat I'm Loving FridayThe Good Life Blog,
The Wiegands, Favorite Fashion Friday
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Navy Tunic and Mint Jeans + {$100 Nordstrom Giveaway}

A loose fitting tunic is just what I needed for comfort while running errands this past weekend. Just add a bright scarf and you're good to go. I've been playing around with all the different functions in PicMonkey. I paid for the yearly subscription without knowing what I could do with the program. I'm now trying to get my money's worth out of it. You can edit photos, make collages and simple designs but I'm finding that it's not that user friendly. Maybe it's just me. This picture you see here has been edited and air brushed using Pic Monkey. I forgot to change the settings on my camera for outside shots and the pictures didn't come out right so I tried to salvage them using the photo edit function. 

Have a great rest of the week and be sure to enter the giveaway below to win a $100 gift card to Nordstrom.


Navy and mint, Red and Navy, red infinity scarf
Sweater tunic for plus size, Mint and cognac
how to wear mint jeans

Tunic - Target / Similar / Similar / Similar 
Mint Jeans - Gap / Similar
Boots - Nine West / Similar
Scarf - TJ Maxx / Similar / Similar



 
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Save up to 20% at Avon Plus a Free Target Gift Card

Just wanted to let you know about this Avon Sale going on right now. Save on makeup, skin care, bath and body, fragrance, jewelry and more at the Avon store. I'm also giving my customers who place an order of $30 or more a $5 Target gift card. Extra savings + a gift card...that's not bad. 
Offers end February 21st.
 
 
Shop Avon plus Free gift
 
Shop here or contact me
 
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Grey with Pink Pleats

I wasn't going to let this weekend go by without wearing and showing some pink. Pink and grey was the choir uniform for Sunday. I added the black cardigan because it's still really cold. I can do bare legs in the winter but I don't joke with my arms. Keep in mind that I am apple shaped and I was able to wear my top tucked into this pleated skirt. Pleated skirts work well if you want to hide that tummy. Below are other ways I've worn the skirt.

Pleated grey top, grey Shell top, grey clutch, Feathered braids
Nine West Love Fury, Silver Pumps, Grey pointed toe, Skirt for apple shape
Layer pleated skirt, How to wear a midi skirt, Skirts for big mid section


Three Ways to Wear it

Pink Skirt - The Limited / SimilarOptionOption /  Maxi
Blouse - Macy's / Similar
Cardigan - Macy's
Pumps - Nine West / Similar Similar / Similar
Necklace - Avon / Similar
Clutch - Style and Co. via Macy's / Option / Black / Green


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How do You Wear your Midi

I usually stick with knee length and midi styles when it comes to wearing skirts. Wearing a midi skirt has a lady like appeal that I love. This short sleeve sweater / full midi skirt combo that I styled here will work as a spring wedding or church outfit. I hope to try a variation of this soon. I'm also loving the pencil midi which always look good with strappy heels or heeled booties. How do you wear your midi?


Blush Pink skirt, How to wear a midi skirt, Modest skirt, Silver pumps
Sweater  | Skirt | Silver Pumps | Necklace
Here are a few midi picks for you
Bar iii midi skirt, shoes to wear with midi skirt
1. Bar III / 2. Dorothy Perkins / 3. Asos / 4. Forever 21

Link ups: Sunday Style, Still Being Molly, Monday Bloom, Monday Mingle, The Grits Blog
Style Elixir 


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Friday Fives: Creativity, Lovely Quotes and Love

Happy Friday and Happy love day! Here are five things that got me smiling, thinking and growing this week.
 
1. I'm still reading this book How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (I should be done by now) and I love the thoughts on creativity. I've never seen myself as a creative thinker and never thought I could learn to be creative. I thought people were just born to be creative. There are so many points which warrant a seperate post but here are a few phrases listed that kill creative thinking: I'm not a creative person, Follow the rules, Don't ask questions, Be practical, We've never done it this way before, It didn't work for them, We don't have time, We don't have the money etc. How many ideas have you killed because of these phrases?
 
"A new idea is delicate, it can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown. Negative environments kill thousands of great ideas every minute"
   
 
2. Whenever I take a break at work to work on Avon or this blog, I keep telling myself: "I wish I could do this all day" and then I found this quote on Instagram this week. This is one sure way to determine what you need to be doing.
 
 
 
 3. I just discovered Instaquote this week. I've always wondered where all the beautiful and graphic quotes that I see on Facebook came from. Here's one I created on true love. This was how I made sure that I loved my husband (and not just lusting after him) before marrying him. The bible has everything you need for life doesn't it?
 
 
4. Here is a screen shot of tweets this week from my other Twitter account. Building the Growth Studio slowly but surely.
 
 
 
5. Also in honor of Valentine's day, enjoy this video. How come I never heard of this guy before?
  

  
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Brown and Navy

We have definitely had our share of snow this year and I'm now getting used to it. Thank God for his safe keeping. I know you've seen these pants so many times in the past few weeks so I'm not even going to talk about them but I love how navy looks with brown. I would love to try this color combo again in another way. 

Corduroy pants, How to wear cords, Stylish in beanie, wear blue with brown

Brown with Navy, Knit hat, Plaid Scarf

This was my car today at work before I realized I needed to get out and go home.



Sweater - Forever 21 / Similar
Pants - Old Navy / Similar / Similar
Boots - Nine West 
Plaid Scarf - Gift / Similar
Knit Hat - Target / Option / Option / Option
 
Link ups: Tiny Heart, Three-fer Thursday, Pleated Poppy, Favorite Fashion Friday, Simply Lulu Style,
Style Elixir, Fashion Friday
 
Don't forget to enter this giveaway to win a gift card to JCrew (TJ Maxx) and Avon
 
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Planning for Success with a Paper Planner

I've been a paper planner user for many many years and I've always used Franklin Covey planners. This year I wanted to try something new and purchased the Erin Condren Life Planner

Now, a planner is not just for entering appointments. That's what your smart phone is for. It is for planning and staying organized. If you have dreams, if you have goals, if you have a desire or if you have a bucket list, I suggest getting a planner to help you reach those goals. I wanted to share how I plan for success and stay organized using the Erin Condren planner. (By the way, this post is not sponsored)

1. Here is the customized front cover. I also put the name of the new venture I'm working on as a reminder to keep working on it. Launching and growing The Growth Studio is my ultimate goal and vision for the year. By the way, I went with Erin Condren this year because I wanted something pretty.

How to use a planner

2. This section of the planner is for writing down birthdays and anniversaries for every month. I basically remember everyone's birthday, and then there's Facebook to remind you so I use this section to keep record of my face to face Avon customers orders and payments. It is easier to write this down rather than enter it electronically somewhere. I also have a little section to list monthly expenses. Not all planners will work perfectly to suit every need so here, I customized this section accordingly.

Recording customer payments

3. I taped my 2014 bucket list on the last page of the January weekly calendar (January was almost over before I got my planner so I don't need that page any longer). It is important to have your bucket list, yearly goal or dreams front and center. It is the first thing I see when I open my planner, it is also easy to refer to because you know it is in one of the first pages. Refer to this from time to time to remind you. Here's a bible passage I love dearly "Write the vision and make it plain so that others may read it and run..."(Habakuk 2:2). If your vision is not in plain view, you may not be able to run with it (take action).
How to set goals and achieve them

4. There's a little section on the right hand side of the monhly calendar pages  for notes. On the top part I will be writing my prasie reports and what I accomplished each month and on the bottom part will be goals for the month. This will be high level goals which I get from looking at my bucket list. What would I have to do this month to get me closer to the items on my bucket list? That is what I put down for goals...See how planner is not just for appointments?


5. And then on the weekly planning pages is where I enter all my weekly activities, appointments, games, blog post topics, planned outfits, bible reading etc. I love the weekly layout because you get to see your whole week as a whole. On the left hand is a section for Weekly goals and notes. This is where I write what I want to do or have to do for the week and doesn't have to be done on a specific day or time and also where I further break down what I wrote down for my monthly goal. The planner also comes with stickers which can be customized and some are already preprinted with activities like appointments, mani/pedi  (I know I don't have time for that), Game day, and so on. The bottom section is for meal planning and the bottom left section is for my shopping lsit. The shopping list is created based on the meals planned or I just list whatever we need for that week.

Weekly planning, How to plan for the week, how to achieve your goals

5. There is a section for notes at the back end of the planner. This is where I write down notes, thoughts, blog post ideas, scriptures etc. Unfortunately the notes section of this planner will not go with me into the next year. That's one down side. I also don't have a good system yet to organize all my notes in one place. There are some on the ipad, some on the phone, they're everywhere.

6. The planner also has a back pocket and pouch. I keep post cards, envelopes, business cards, etc for my Avon business in the pouch so I can easily use them while I'm on the go. The Target gift card peeking out of the pocket is for a customer who recently placed an online order. (You've seen my current Avon special right?). The pouch is for miscellaneous items such as stamps, little papers, paper clips, etc.
 
So that's how I plan for success and stay organized, although I'm not perfectly organized.  Let me hear your thoughts on paper planning. 

 Link ups: Totally Posted

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Rust Green Navy + { $50 Giveaway}

This outfit is a recreation of Happy Medleys outfit here. It's also a dressed down version of this outfit  I created a few weeks ago. Think a forest green colored skirt is not versatile? think again. It can also be paired with a yellow, navy blue, red, or burgundy sweater, peplum top or blouse. I'm just realizing everything in the outfit from Target...again, except for the boots.

Happy Sunday and Monday! Make this week a great one and thanks everyone for following and commenting.

Rust Sweater, Navy Blue Scarf, Green Skirt


Target Merona Pencil Skirt, Skirt with Boots, Navy blue tights


Sweater - Target / Similar 
Skirt - Target (now in sale) / Other Colors
Scarf - Target / Similar
Boots - via TJ Maxx / Similar / Similar


 I'm sharing how I dress my apple body type over at Simply Clarke and offering this giveaway. Enjoy! 






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