Surprise

Guess what?

Come on, guess!

Gap top, jeans & City Flats, Homako necklace

OK, I'll tell you.

I'm blogging from my home state of South Carolina! (Admittedly, these photos were taken in SF. No, my parents home isn't identical to mine.)

My dad and I pulled off a great surprise for my mom: me showing up to hang out for a long weekend visit. Dad picked me up at the Charlotte airport (it's much cheaper) and after a huge traffic jam, followed by a detour, we made it home to surprise my mom, who was really excited.

She's a teacher, so I wanted to make sure to make it back to visit before her semester started. I'm looking forward to our shopping trip tomorrow! (You'd better believe Target will be one stop.)

I had the chance during my travels to try out my new NOOK, which I'm really enjoying. Has anyone read The Hunger Games? The sub-$5 price on Barnes & Noble convinced me to try it, after several recommendations from friends. I'll let you know what I think.

Conte's Gluten Free Margherita Pizza Review

This is what I look like when I wait till I get home from work to snap my outfit photos:

Target dress, gifted cardigan, F21 belt, bracelets & necklace, Old Navy boots 

That first one is rough, I'm tellin' you. Out of a total eight photos taken, these two were the only salvageable ones. But I'm not here to talk about the bags under my eyes (particularly since it's Friday, y'all!), I'm here to talk about this:

Conte's Gluten and Wheat Free Margherita Pizza

I picked this Conte's pizza up the other day while I was browsing at Whole Foods. (Darn you, Whole Foods. You always convince me to buy things I wouldn't otherwise.)

It wasn't cheap. Maybe $9 for a 3-4 serving pizza. Not too shabby, but not great either.

But it is gluten-free, and that's the point. Gluten-free products are often more expensive. So I was willing to give it a shot for an easy weeknight dinner (accompanied by a spinach and mixed-greens salad, of course).

The pizza baked true to the package instructions. I left it in for a few minutes more, which is typical for my oven, so I wasn't surprised. What I was really impressed by was the crust. Very crispy, thin and satisfying for a gluten-free crust (well, for any crust). The part I didn't love? The gobs of sauce. I know it's a margherita pizza and the point is the sauce and the cheese, but the sauce was applied a little heavy-handed.

All in all? Pretty good! Now I'm just waiting to find a good gluten-free, dairy-free frozen pizza. I never really stock up on frozen pizzas in the first place, but occasionally they're nice to have around. Especially on a baggy-eyes work day.

Wrong Shoes

I love this cute little top I got from--you guessed it--the Gap sale rack. (Seriously, guys, I need another shopfast.)

Problem is, the shoes look rather terrible with this outfit. Even the hubs thought they weren't quite right. Lesson learned.

Well, my Barnes & Noble Nook just arrived in the mail today, and I'm so excited to get started on it. I added several free books and bought one for under $5, just for good measure. It's so tiny! I wasn't prepared for how small it was. Once I've given it a go I'll give you some more details on how I like it. For now, I'm just excited to carry around several books in a little tiny electronic device.

 Gap top, Seven for All Mankind jeans, Urban Outfitters boots, Banana Republic bag, F21 sunglasses

One of these days I'm going to figure out how to find more time for this blog so I can fill it up with more interesting content. Since I blog for work, it's a little difficult to figure out how to do that. But soon, my friends, this blog will be more interesting. Promise. Till then, you just get to look at my mug:

Sudan

On Saturday night, we attended a very special event: A Night for Sudan. My church partners with an organization called City Hope. City Hope supports lots of great programs in the city and beyond, one being Harvesters, a non-profit committed to caring for orphans worldwide. 

Right now, Harvesters is working to build a hospital in Southern Sudan to serve the community there by providing basic, preventative care.

Next month, a group from my church is heading to Southern Sudan to help the hospital with whatever they need.

One of the sweetest girls I know, Heather, is going on the trip for a second summer in a row. It's so great to hear her talk about it, because she gets so excited about her role there.

The event was great--and not just because get got to dress up. They raised a lot of funds for the trip and the hospital.

I can't wait to hear about the trip.

Gap dress (yes, that's the Kendi dress), Banana Republic clutch, F21 bracelets, gifted (from Sudan!) earrings

If you have any interest in donating to Heather's trip or the Harvesters, you can do that here and here.

Flare

What is this, middle school? I thought JNCO's went out, like, ages ago.

Well, I thought I'd give some flares a go anyway. And, you know what? I dig 'em. Fortunately, if I didn't like them, I only paid $15ish for them on sale at Gap. (Yeah, I'm a bit addicted to the sales at Gap.)

This was Saturday, when hubs and I had breakfast in the Mission (yum to Pork Store), cappuccino at Four Barrel Coffee and a visit to The Common to pick up the hubs' custom made--in California!--Taylor Stitch shirt.

It's pretty cool that he got to pick out his own fabric and collar style (club collar) and such. Their trademark? The bottom button on the shirt is grey.

 Gap top & jeans, Old Navy scarf & bag, F21 sunglasses, Urban Outfitters sandals

As of right now, Taylor Stitch only makes men's apparel (they're about to dabble in denim!), but every time we drop in, I remind them that I'm waiting to be able to get my custom-made shirt dress.

But, if you're a dude who likes checking out sweet, custom-made duds, you should check out this shop. Plus, the guys are really nice.

Above check out some photos of The Common, where you can find Taylor Stitch shirts and order your custom-made shirt.

Below see some weird girl posing by a very happy looking door. Can you tell I hadn't showered in a couple of days in these photos? (Hint: How I fix my hair is always indicative of whether or not I've showered recently.)

Seven

Here they are. My first pair of designer jeans. I'm such a proud mama.

Now, for those of you who don't know, my husband works in denim. No, that doesn't mean I got these for free. But he did buy one of those daily deal coupons for a local boutique so that I got them pretty much half off.

But he knows denim. So I let him help me pick them out, and we settled on this high-waisted boot cut style. The cool thing? I'm not supposed to wash them. Like, for a year. Sound strange? It's true. I'm supposed to let them develop their own "wash story" through wear and tear, not tumble dry low. (Ha! See what I did there?)

And so I guess I'll be styling these a lot and watching their wear evolution through my outfit photos. Pretty cool, huh? Oh, and they fit like a dream. I guess now I know why people invest a lot of money in their denim. It only makes sense for someone like me; I can wear jeans everyday at work if I like, so might as well get some great quality, right?

 Banana Republic top, Seven for all Mankind jeans, Mossimo wedges, Gap scarf, F21 locket, Mango blazer (bought in Spain in 2004)

Maxi

I'll admit I've been slack posting since the end of the 30. So sue me. Or don't, because I really don't have the time to be sued right now. And that seems like a lot of hassle for lack of blogging.

OK, enough silliness. I bought a maxi skirt, but you already know that. It was on final sale at Gap, with an extra 50% off because they're crazy, so I grabbed it for under $10. That way, I won't feel guilty if it doesn't get a lot of play.

But I think it will because I really like it. And it has pockets. I didn't think I'd end up with a pocketed maxi skirt, so that's an added bonus, for sure. Also, I finally wore my Renegade Craft Fair necklace. Isn't it just adorable?

 Gap top and skirt, Homako necklace, Minnetonka mocs

I'm loving Homako's Etsy shop. It was down a while during the craft fair, but now it's back up and I'm eyeing some of the lovely jewelry. I especially like the Oragami Rope necklaces.

I'm excited to catch you up with what I've been up to lately, and particularly about my first pair of designer jeans. But all of that will have to wait, as I've got to get ready to get some tapas with a friend.

Later, friends!