Get Pin-Spired for March

All you Monday Menu peeps, don't be upset with me, but I've chosen to forgo "the plan" this week because....drum roll please....WE'RE OUT FOR SPRING BREAK!  I honestly have no idea what we'll eat this week, but this I do know, we won't starve.  

Yea, and this was our week last week!

Only in Louisiana can you have 70 degree temps one day and snow the next.

I had so much fun linking up with Sheaffer last month for "Get Pin-spired," that I decided to do it again for March! I'm not claiming to be a fashion blogger at all.  I'm a very self-conscious person, but even I can be proud of an outfit from time to time.  Be sure to visit Pinterest Told Me To to see all the Pinterest inspired outfits.

Outfit #1

I've always been a fan of red and black.  The two colors are just so classic to me.  I don't dress up "professionally" every day because our office dress code is more laid back, but I tend to "dress up" more on days when I have meetings. Here's an outfit I put together with a little Pin-spiration and items from my own closet.  What do you think?

I love this jacket!  You can't tell in the picture, but the bottom back of the jacket has a slight flair and ruffle.  It's so comfortable.  

Outfit #2

Another office outfit for a day recently when I chose to dress like a professional. And again, the color red is involved. When I posted this picture on my Instagram account, I asked if anyone wanted to guess just how old my red jacket was.  My mother-in-law bought the jacket for me at a Casual Corner Outlet in Vicksburg, Mississippi, YEARS ago. Years before I even had Alise and she'll be ten years old in May!  I haven't worn it much in the last few years, but I decided to pair it with my tan slacks and red flats for a great work outfit!

For those of you that know me as the Leopard Queen, notice just a tad of leopard peeking out in each outfit. Ha!

Outfit #3

If you're waiting for me to bust a move like this Girlie, well, it ain't gonna happen!  But I am proud of what I threw together out of my closet!  What do you think?  Another jacket that's "old," but not quite as old as the red one above.

I considered wearing my red flats, but they are a little too bright and I was worried about looking too Christmasy.  If that's even a word!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  I'll be joining these other linkups today and later this week.

What Spring Fashion for 2015 Is Telling Me

Spring.  Everybody's ready for it. And I'm happy to report that this fall and winter loving person is ready for it, too. After going on not one, not two, but THREE sleet/snow days, I'm ready for color. Lots of color! I'm ready for flowers. I'm ready for anything but black - and white - right about now.  So here are a few things that this year's spring fashion is telling me.

1.  I need to invest in some colored denim.  I bought my white denim jeans two years ago at Talbot's and they still look great!  White jeans are a must have for any spring wardrobe.  However, sometimes I feel like my white denim may be a little dingy {we don't have the best water for washing clothes here}, so I found this link on how to whiten your white jeans.  But back to colored denim. Everything I've seen says all roads lead to pink, coral, and orange jeans this spring.  

Denim & Dots

2.   Double sided earrings.  Really loving this new way to wear ear candy {that sounds so gross!}, but it took a while to grow on me.  The pearl and chandelier trends are my favorite, but if you search for them on Pinterest, you will find so many neat styles for these babies!

Beading Gem

And speaking of earrings, did you girlies catch Sheaffer's FB status yesterday regarding these babies?  I picked up the Ivory and Turquoise and I can't wait for them to come in!

3.  Spring means flowers and floral patterns are TOTALLY in this season!  I like this pattern best as a subtle layering piece.  For instance a pretty floral cami or chiffon-type blouse would be so pretty under a denim jacket or even a colored blazer for the office.  Floral would also look great with colored denim {see number one above} for a casual look.  Last fall, I paid less than $10 for a pair of floral leggings from Forever21, and I love them.  But right now, I think my favorite way to wear floral would be like the jacket shown here.  So colorful and springy!

Glam Radar

4.  Of course, you've probably already seen the Top 10 Colors for Spring.

The Perfect Palette

And just in case you didn't know, Marsala is the color of the year.  However, this Spring, I'm more in to the shades of blue so I'm loving just about anything in shades 1 - 4, with Scuba Blue and Classic Blue being my favorites.  I'm also a pink girl at heart, so I'm liking Strawberry Ice as well.

5.  Gingham, stripes, polka dots, and leopard.  You just can't go wrong.  

Lovely Pepa

6.  And, if you've been reading my blog for very long, then you know that I'm all about that lace.

Lightinthebox.com

Rompers will be the rage this Spring!  I love this neutral piece.

So what are some of your favorite trends this Spring?  Is there any color in your Spring wardrobe?  Leave me a comment and tell me about it.

Today I'm linking up with What I Wore Wednesday.

Auction Action

Thank you so much for your kind words about my new blog design.  It's still under construction, but I'm loving the new, clean look!  It's red, it's houndstooth, it's just me! Shannon has been AWESOME to work with!  Believe it or not, she's been working behind the scenes on my blog since right after Christmas, so it's definitely been a work in progress!  And for all you cool peeps that can do your own blog design, well, good for you!!  I just don't have the patience.  Or the time, really.  So, thank you, Shannon!

And I will go ahead and apologize for the rather long post, but I have lots of words to use today.

This past Friday night was the annual auction at Alise's school and it's our biggest fund raiser for the year.  Wayne and I had never been before but had planned to go this year even before Kristin invited us to sit at their table. We ran into some softball friends of ours {Hey Jennifer!} that are thinking about sending their sweet daughter to our school in the fall (One of the first things Jennifer said to me was, "I read your blog!"). Now, the auction is kinda like Vegas: what happened at the auction, stays at the auction.  And not that anything bad or crazy happened.  All I will say is that I tend to love my money a little bit more than others and that's a good thing right now because - and let's say it all together - "I'm going on a cruise in fifty-five days!" - so a big part of our extra savings are being socked away for that.  I did bid on two or three items in the silent auction, but I was out bid. My feelings weren't hurt. The zydeco band was great and the food was awesome.  Our school managed to raise ALOT of money - even more than the amount last year, so we're hoping tuition remains the same.  It was a fun night!

You'll notice that Kristin is a little more dressed up than me.  She showed me her dress at the kids' Valentine party, and I was like, wait a minute!  I thought this thing was casual!  Leave it to Miss Thang to keep me young!  I decided to wear a red blouse, skinny jeans, and boots to make Mr. Horton happy.  But I appreciate everyone's comments about what I should wear last week.

This is my dear friend, Jennifer.  Her daughter is a year older than Alise and I love her to death because we are SO much alike.  We both beat our kids over the heads with notebooks while studying.  Ha!  Grades are just important to us and Jennifer gives me a heads up about what to expect for the next year.  She was so happy in this picture because she won a parking space at the auction. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but we have no parking at our school so the spaces go pretty fast at auction.  She won the last space available.

And here are me and Mr. Horton.  I love this guy to pieces.  However, I couldn't get over how old I look in this picture.  I mean, I feel like I've aged in the last year!  So depressing.  Maybe it's the dewy look with the highlighting that I've been going for?  Maybe the dewy look just isn't for me.  But I did have a really, REALLY good hair day that night!  Let's just say that I was MUCH closer to God that night because I rocked the big hair!  You just can't see if very well in the pics.

Early Saturday morning, Wayne picked up Alise and went to Shreveport with a childhood friend of his and Chris' son to go to Cosmicon.  Actually, this was the thing that we've been holding over Alise's head for weeks so that she would bring up her grades!  Basically, it's a fair for all things sci-fi and comic book. And there was no way in you-know-where that I was going!  It was the perfect opportunity for a Daddy-Daughter-Star-Wars-Geek-Fest!  I even had to run to the mall Thursday night to buy her a SW t-shirt (I had bought Wayne's t-shirt at Christmas.  It was an Alabama shirt with Darth Vader's head on it! Very rare.)!

So while they were in Shreveport for the day, I actually - believe it or not - stayed home.  I had planned to run some errands and do some shopping for the cruise, but the house was quiet and peaceful, and it was dreary outside, so I just enjoyed staying home and doing absolutely nothing.  I read, I slept, I took a bubble bath, I shopped online, I nearly lost Jack outside, but that's another story for another day.  The hardest thing I did all day was boil chicken. For a supper that didn't happen because the geeks ate a late lunch.  The perfect day to truly experience my word of the year: JOY!

Which reminds me!  How are you doing on your own word of the year?

Oscar Gowns for 2015

Wow!  A twofer on Monday!!  I never post twice in one day!  You can check out our weekly menu HERE.  I also thought I'd link up to a new blog I found!  Join us!

Y'all know I can't let a special night like the Oscars go by without posting about the gorgeous dresses!

My favorite dress of the night was Lupita Nyong's pearl ensemble.  The picture below just does not do this gown justice.  But what can I say?  I've always been a pearl fan and I can't believe it was made by Calvin Klein.  I thought she looked amazing.

I know you probably think I've lost my mind by including Lady Gaga in my list, but let me explain.  I did not like her dress.  What I DID like was the fact that, other than the dress - and gloves! - I thought she looked NORMAL!!  I saw her interview and her makeup and face just looked normal for a change and that's why I'm including her.  By the way, her dress took two months to make.

What did you think of Gaga's throw back to The Sound of Music performance?  I thought she was AWESOME!  Who knew she had that kind of voice?  I think I tweeted, "Somebody give Gaga an Oscar!"  Ha!  And when Julie Andrews walked out, I nearly lost it.  But I didn't.

Reese is always beautiful.  You can never go wrong with black and white. Boo Mama tweeted that she loved her un-botoxed forehead.

Gwyneth is a girl after my own heart.  We're both pink girls!  She's known for wearing pink to the Oscar's.

Rosamund Pike was also wearing a favorite color of mine.  I thought she looked absolutely beautiful!

I loved the green ombre of America Ferrera's dress.

Anna Kendrick added some color to the night be wearing this beautiful dress by Thakoon.

And that's the short list, peeps.  I honestly didn't have that many dresses that I was in love with this year and that was kinda disappointing.

Some more thoughts from the night:

I did not like Patrick Neil Harris as the host.  The whole suitcase thing under lock and key was stupid!  And I had absolutely NO desire of seeing him in his whitey tighties.  I mean, com'on.  Really?  There was just no way he could top Ellen's pizza delivery guy and the group selfie that took down Twitter last year!

And just where was Jennifer Lawrence?

Absolutely LOVED that Travolta got a chance to redeem himself over last year's flub of mispronouncing Idina Menzel's name last year!  I thought they were great together.

"Call your mom" and "stay weird" were two lessons the Oscar's taught me last night.

Was it just me or did anyone else catch Benedict Cumberbatch take a swig from his flask just as the show was starting?!

And I have to say to my main squeeze Matthew McConaughey:  Dude, why? Read my lips: get rid of the beard!!  But I was bubbled over with joy when he walked out on stage and the first word he said was, "I'aight!" in that Texas drawl.  Melts this Southern Diva's heart!

Did you watch the Oscars?  What are your thoughts about the night?  What were your favorites?

Menu Plan Monday - February 23rd

So I wanted to update you on two recipes I tried last week.  If you remember, I planned to try two new recipes from Kimm's blog.  The Creamy Ranch Potatoes were WONDERFUL!  SO darn good!  My only suggestion would be to use a crock pot liner with this one.  Long story short, I had to make this recipe in my crackpot that cooks a little faster and I didn't have a liner, which made for a messy clean up.  I was worried about the potatoes scorching and after a few hours, I just dumped them in a regular casserole dish and finished baking them in the oven.  I added some grated cheddar cheese on top and they. were. awesome!

Her second recipe, Nacho Chicken and Rice Wraps were unbelievably awesome! Who needed a tortilla to wrap up this goodness?  I simply at it like a chicken and rice bowl!  Alise had it rolled up and ate one and a half!!  SO excited to have another option for Taco Tuesdays!!

Here's our menu for this week!

Sunday - Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops {It better be worth it!}

Monday - French Toast (my recipe) & Bacon

Tuesday - Taco Crescent Pie (scroll down for recipe)

Wednesday - Pioneer Woman's Comfort Meatballs & Cheese Grits

Thursday - Gumbo & Garlic Bread

Friday - Chili (one last time for ol' times sake)

Saturday - Jump Lump Crab cakes on Hawaiian Rolls 

Notice my Southern Diva comment regarding the pork chops.  That's more work than frying up "regular" chops, so yea!  It better be worth it!  I'll let you know next week.

Now about the crab cakes...Wayne and I LOVE to go to Mr. B's Bistro when we're in New Orleans and ever since I had a crab cake-on-a-bun back in November at Mistletoe Market, I've been wanting to try making these babies. I'm thinking of getting Mr. Horton in the kitchen with me and letting this be a meal that we do together.  You know, some wine, some music, just some good conversation.  

Sounds like the perfect Louisiana Saturday night to me!

Visit Orgjunkie for more menu and recipe ideas.

Happy Eating!