bybmg: September 2014

Darby Smart's August to DIY For box was a soap making kit. I've never made soap before, so it seemed like a fun venture! The box included: a big block of soap, poppy seeds, lemon scent oil, a soap mold, and a card which directed me to the directions online.

This is my last week hosting Turn It Up Tuesday for a little while. Thanks for linking up the past two months with me. The link up will still go on, I just won't be hosting it here.

This is our last week celebrating Turn It Up Tuesday's birthday/anniversary this week! And we are so happy to have you back here with us (or for the first time) to celebrate...and connect...and grow!

Thank you so much for joining us last week - the posts were absolutely amazing!

If you haven't already done so, please enter to win the Turn It Up Tuesday birthday giveaway! We have co-hosts and guest hosts (past and present) joining the fun! Make sure to enter below to win!

Turn It Up Tuesdays is all about being happy, excited, energetic...and having fun! Link up your favorite posts (old or new) and meet some awesome bloggers in return! Link up your funny stories, DIY posts, recipes, mommy moments -- anything at all, as long as it is family-friendly. We want to laugh, be entertained, be inspired, and have a good time!

Thanks so much to everyone that joins us each week and makes this blog hop the best that it could be!

Lessons in Fashion:

a sporadic series where I share little tips with you that help make my wardrobe stretch.

Today's Lesson:

How to combine scarves and tops

So, I have a wee bit of a scarf obsession. This picture is less than half of my collection, and I keep adding more! Most that I own are infinity scarves just because they're easy to wear and cozy as ever. Sometimes I know people love scarves, but just aren't sure how to wear them or match them with their clothes. Today I want to give you a few tips on how you can mix them.

This week was a wild ride with no much time to document what happened. Wes was in the ER over the weekend for respiratory stuff, we had family in town, I took meals to my 96 year old great aunt three nights, plus Russ had softball, Henry had karate, and we got family pictures taken. It was a whirlwind. By Wednesday, I felt like it should be Friday. So, in place of my usual weekly highlights, I have for you my top 5 favorite snacks right now... because food, especially snack food, is important, right?!

{ONE}

Cosmic Cupcakes: These things are probably TERRIBLE for me, but they combine two of my favorite junk foods, cosmic brownies and chocolate cupcakes. Seriously, my week was made when my mom brought these by Sunday night.

On September 4th, I took over the Liberating Working Moms Instagram account to show a journey through my day. Here's how it went!

My alarm goes off at 5:55. I hope out of bed and head to the bathroom to get started. I shower at night, so I spend about 30ish minutes doing my hair and make up.

Happy Wednesday! I don't have as many outfits for you as usual...and I had to take outfit pics the day of in my classroom because I didn't have time on the weekend. Things have been a little crazy around here! Also, I got my hair CHOPPED (see my second outfit pic)! I went for a "lob" (long bob). I wanted a change for fall, and yes, it's a change. I'm not loving it, but I'm not totally regretting it either. I know it will grow. I just need to get better at styling it.

I've been dying to wear this dress since I got it. It screams fall and it so comfy!

Dress: LuLaRoe

Chambray: thrifted

Belt: Target

Booties: Toms

I get ready from start to finish in about 30 minutes in the morning. Most of that time is spent curling my hair. The other time is spent getting dressed; I'm beginning to pick out all my outfits on the weekend, so I just have to pick one and put it on. The last few minutes are devoted to make up. I don't have a complex routine, but I wanted to share with you what I do.

This is what I look like, bare-faced. I probably could do without make up, but it just makes me feel better.

We are still celebrating Turn It Up Tuesday's birthday/anniversary this week! And we are so happy to have you here with us to celebrate...and connect...and grow!

Thank you so much for joining us last week - the posts were absolutely amazing!

If you haven't already done so, please join the Turn It Up Tuesday birthday giveaway! We have co-hosts and guest hosts (past and present) joining the fun! Make sure to enter below to win!

Thanks so much to everyone that joins us each week and makes this blog hop the best that it could be!

Happy Monday! I'm super excited that tomorrow is the first day of fall! The weather is looking more fallish, too! Bring on the pumpkin, boots, and scarves!

This fall giveaway is brought to you by two fantastic blogger and me!

Meet Stephanie from Wife Mommy Me and Amanda over at Keeping Up With The Haneys. Both of these ladies are fantastic mommy bloggers. I think you should go check them both out! Let them know I sent you their way. But I'm sure you wanna see what you could win this week, right? Here you go!

TGIF! I'm so excited for the weekend! This week's weather has been gorgeous!

{ONE}

Russ got out the DSLR on Sunday and captured a few pictures of our boys. Henry broke his glasses Saturday night, but I was able to go get them replaced on Sunday afternoon. Thank goodness for Wal-Mart's year frame warranty!

This month's Ipsy bag was an overall winner. I am so in excited about most all of the items! The bag that came with was a fun metallic color, too.

If you aren't familiar with Ipsy, it's a monthly subscription. For just $10, you get five beauty items plus a cute little zipper pouch. You fill out a beauty profile on their website to start as well as rate the items you get each month so they can improve your experience.

This week, the beginning of this post could be titled "What I Meant to Wear." I had outfits all planned out, and then it was COLD! So, I'm sharing what I'd planned to wear for a few days and then how I modified the outfit for the cold weather.

This is what I planned to wear Wednesday. Cute, right? Then the high was 61*.

Scarf: by me!

Dress: Old Navy

Bracelet: LTD Jewels

Watch: Relic

Belt: Forever 21

Flats: Lucky Brand

Feel like there's never enough time to craft? I'm sharing 5 Tips for Staying Crafty as a Working Mom
over at Liberating Working Moms! The post came out Friday, but if you didn't catch it, go check it out!

We are celebrating Turn It Up Tuesday's birthday too! And we are so happy to have you here with us to celebrate...and connect...and grow!

This week we'd love to see your anniversary, birthday, milestone, party, etc. posts! We want to have a great time reading all of your celebratory posts in celebration of Turn It Up Tuesday!

Plus, we're having a great giveaway - with co-hosts and guest hosts (past and present)! Make sure to enter below to win!

Thanks so much for joining us last week while we celebrated Self-Improvement month with some great posts to help ourselves and help others! We had some amazing posts to read!

Thanks so much to everyone that joins us each week and makes this blog hop the best that it could be!

Lessons in Fashion:

a sporadic series where I share little tips with you that help make my wardrobe stretch.

Today's Lesson:

Three ways to wear animal print pants

I picked up these cheetah print pants from Twice for about $10. They're Ann Taylor Loft, and I just want to hug the person who sent them in because I am in love with them!

(P.S. Have you joined an online thrifting site yet? Seriously you can get wonderful clothes for amazing deals and most have wonderful return policies! If you join Twice via my referral link, you can get $10 in credit + download the app, and you get another $10, so you could get one or two pieces for FREE!)

Anyway.... on to the outfits!

We had some awesome fall temps this week, which makes me just excited for fall, boots, scarves, and everything pumpkin! Hope you had a great week. Here are my 5 highlights!

{ONE}

Sunday was Rally Sunday at our church. Basically they want to get everyone excited for Sunday School and such starting up. They encouraged everyone to wear their favorite team's gear, so we all broke out our Minnesota Twins jerseys. The one Wesley is wearing is what I got Russ to tell him we were pregnant with Henry.

It was fun to look back on my summer wishlist. Now that fall is rolling around, I'm wanting some things that will be cozy for the cooler temps.

My Fall Wishlist by mrsbmg featuring a jean jacket

Happy Wednesday! I feel like September is already flying by! It's really cooled down around here and feels more like fall. I LOVE it! My boots didn't come out this week, but they will be soon.

Necklace: DX Mall

Top: LuLaRoe Irma

Pants: Old Navy via Thred Up

Shoes: Target

Today I'm sharing a little about my blogging process in a fun event called A Tour Around Blogland. I was encouraged to do this post by Keri at Living In This Season.

1) What am I working on?

I'm currently just trying to keep up with things with school starting up and my first grad class beginning as well. I have my weekly posts of What I Wore Wednesday and High Five For Friday, and I'm trying to keep my Lessons in Fashion series going as well. I've also recently become a contributor to Liberating Working Moms, so I am having fun thinking up ideas to post over there once a month.

2) How does my work differ from others in it's genre?

I think I'm different because my blog fits into a variety of genres. I could consider myself a fashion blogger, but I enjoy crafting tutorials as well as sharing about our family and some aspects of parenting. I guess my readers never know what they might get from me if it's not a Wednesday or a Friday. It might be a good thing or it might keep readers away. I'm not totally sure. I think some people like a mix of genres because that's who we are as people.

3) Why do I write/create what I do?

I blog because it is the creative outlet it gives me. I love doing things for myself, but it's fun to be able to share it with other people. There's only so much enthusiasm my husband can give about my continual projects and outfits, though he cheers me on non-stop. I've also had friend ask me for help with their own fashion or sewing projects because they have seen what I do. It makes me feel like what I blog is worth-while.

Welcome to the 51st week of Turn It Up Tuesday!

I just love looking through all the links each week! Y'all have some awesome blogs!

September is a big month for us at Turn It Up Tuesday - this is our 1-year anniversary!! It has been an amazing year - and we look forward to many more to come!

Also, September is Self-Improvement month! So this week's topic will be focused on tips - tips to help yourself and tips to help others. Share posts about a time where you did something for yourself or others, or share tips for new parents, or potty training tips - anything at all! We love reading all of your amazing posts every week!

We had so many amazing Thanks so much to everyone that joins us each week and makes this blog hop the best that it could be!

I was going to start this post off talking about how we have a small house and have a difficult time containing toys, but I really think the problem applies to any house no matter the size. Toys! Toys! Glorious Toys! All the little parts and pieces. They can invade in a minute!

When Henry, our oldest, wasn't even one the invasion had already begun. Now, having two boys at different age levels, the toy invasion is madness. Here are a couple ways we've found storage.

We used to have a simple entertainment center, but I quickly realized taking up a whole section of wall with no place to store anything besides DVDs just wasn't going to work in our living room since that's where most of the playing happens. I don't remember where I found this entertainment center, but it's on its second set of baskets. It's been a life saver. Sometimes the baskets are designated for a specific type of toy. Currently they're just all thrown in there because back to school craziness has ensued.

Hallelujah for another Friday. This week was wonderful, being only four days. Hope yours was fantastic, too! Here are five wonderful highlights from my week!

{ONE}

Are you tired of hearing about house painting updates yet? Well, it's not finished, so get ready for a few more, but my brother and sister-in-law and their kiddos blessed us Saturday by coming to help paint. The whole house is sprayed except for a couple places were we need to replace siding. I've been working on painting the trim little by little since then. It's still a journey, but we're getting closer!

When I do my make up on the go, I feel like I'm lugging a bag and make up brush roll AND hunting down a mirror in the process. This is usually on parent teacher conference nights when I have zero time to mess around. I was so excited when I learned about the Dollup Case. It totally solves this problem! I was even more excited to see that it was made by gal who is an Iowan and friends with my brother.

Thanks for stopping by for another What I Wore Wednesday! The weather is still kind of warm around these parts, but I admit I'm ready for fall weather so I can cuddle up with my scarves, boots and leggings. Not this week... but soon!

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy, Midwest Bloggers, Tucker Up, and Because Shanna Said So.

Top: Our World Boutique

Belt: Forever 21

Skirt: thrifted

Bracelets: Love Andrea's Closet

Shoes: Target

This month we thought it was time to give Henry an allowance. He is four and a half and he has a basic understanding of numbers. We decided to give it to him on the day we get our paycheck (once a month). We gave him a total of $6 : $1 to give, $1 to save, $4 to do with what he wants. I realize we could do the whole 10% save/give thing, but I didn't want to have to break things down into coins. Making sure I have six dollar bills will be enough. We plan to keep the $1 give/save the same until he is 10, and can possibly get some understanding of percentages.

Welcome to the 50th week of Turn It Up Tuesday!

I'm so glad you're here to link up! There were so many great posts again last week. It was hard for me to choose my favorite!

September is a big month for us at Turn It Up Tuesday - this is our 1-year anniversary!! It has been an amazing year - and we look forward to many more to come!

A big thank you to everyone that has stuck with us for the past year - even if you've only been here a few weeks or a few months, you are greatly appreciated! And to all those that are just finding us here at Turn It Up Tuesday - thank you for stopping by and linking up with us! Thanks so much to everyone that joins us each week and makes this blog hop the best that it could be!

As you may know, Turn It Up Tuesdays is all about being happy, excited, energetic...and having fun! Link up your favorite posts (old or new) and meet some awesome bloggers in return! Link up your funny stories, DIY posts, recipes, mommy moments -- anything at all, as long as it is family-friendly. We want to laugh, be entertained, be inspired, and have a good time!

Today I'm linking up with Caitlin and Sarah for a new, fun monthly link up called The Lovely Lookbook. The goal of the link up is to find looks that work for you. It's for women of all shapes and sizes to share a look and hopefully inspire others. This month's focus is on dresses. Today I'm sharing two different ways I've styled my little black dress. I feel both are a little unexpected, and I think that's even more fun!

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