My Secret Blogger!

As mentioned in this post, I participated in BBM's Secret Blogger Gift Exchange! I was so excited to send my gift off to Ariana of FATale Fashion, who was SO fun to shop for! You can check out what I got her on her blog!
I was so excited to GIVE my gift that I almost forgot I'd be GETTING one, too! Needless to say, when I came home the other day to a big brown box on my doorstep, I was ecstatic to figure out what was inside and who it was from! When I opened the box, here is the pretty package I found:
I proceded to open it up and WOW! I was totally blown away! Whoever this secret blogger was did an AMAZING job of picking out gifts that suit me perfectly! Here is what I found inside (sorry for the phone pictures, I cannot hook my camera up at the moment):

Sweet gray scarf, black lacy flower pin, black and purple headbands (with flowers and bows!), glam necklace, awesome black studded gloves, a mini mirror, ultra cool eyelash curler, eye makeup remover wipes, and some delicious cookies!

I am in love.

Seriously...could she have picked gifts that were any more "me"??? After I opened the gifts I searched and searched for a card, thinking I must have missed it somewhere...but I did not find one...so I had a SUPER mystery blogger! Once I did some blog browsing, I realized that these fantastic presents came from the one and only Erica, aka misss_e, over at Plum Proper. She is so fabulous. I love reading her blog and she is such a sweetie. THANK YOU ERICA!!!! I love all my gifts so SO much! :)

Tomorrow is Chistmas Eve! It is one of my favorite nights of the year!

I hope Santa brings you everything you want! Thanks again to Erica for the gifts and BBM for hosting such a fantastic event! :)

♥Case

Why, Hello Winter Break!

Today was my last day of work of the year! I am officially on winter break until January 3rd! How sweet is that? I totally need this break, though, if for nothing else besides my sanity. A lot of people imagine teaching as an easy job...and although I do LOVE my job, it can be extremely stressful and overwhelming. This break will certainly help me to reduce the stress and enjoy some relaxing holiday time with friends and family.

We had a Winter Party in Kindergarten today! Here is what I wore to join in coordinate the festivities:

Blazer: Old Navy, $25ish last fall

Top: Avenue, $6 on clearance last fall

Necklace: Lane Bryant, $14.99ish on clearance last spring

Belt: Old Navy, $14ish last fall

Jeggings: Old Navy, $29.50

Boots: Avenue, $49.90

Nothing super exciting in this outfit, but I felt totally chic all day. Super easy and I felt put together.

I am off to celebrate the beginning of my winter break by snuggling with my blanket and reading some Harry Potter. Hopefully I will be able to do lots of posts now that I will not be super busy! Enjoy your Friday!

♥Case

Thrown Together

Today's outfit is brought to you by my random 6:30am brain. So I wanted to wear this sheath dress, because it is SO versatile and when I bought it, I imagined at least 3 ways to wear it off the top of my head. THIS was not one of the ways. However, I was still really excited to wear the dress and I actually felt pretty good in this all day. I originally bought an almost identical dress at NY&Co for $38 on sale...and one day just happened to look at Avenue and found this one on clearance for $9.99. I was super pumped, so I am determined to wear it until it dies.

I promise this scarf has a lot of the same color red as my tights. it was just not too evident in photos.

Sheath Dress: Avenue, $9.99

Blazer: Old Navy,$25ish on sale last fall

Tights: Avenue, $6

Scarf: NY&Co, $12ish on sale last spring

Boots: Avenue, $49.90

Without the scarf, just for kicks:

And yet another new pair of boots from Avenue:

At first I was not sure how I felt about these boots. They're not really my typical style, but they had nothing but good reviews and the calf size claimed to be promising...and to my surprise, they are actually very loose on my calves so I get the look that I want. After wearing them for a day, though, I was very impressed at home comfortable they were and how stylish I felt wearing them. One of the S's even said to me, "You look like you're about to go jump on a horse" which I took as good thing. They are riding boots, after all. They also have a lace-up back, which is kind of cute and yet functional. My only complaint is that they make my normally pretty small feet look and feel huge...and it seems to me that they run a little big. I got them here and again, here is that 40%off coupon code (JLA4030).

Stay frugal, friends!

♥Case

I'm All Choked Up That You're Okay...I'm Falling to Pieces.

I am looking especially washed out in today's photos. Maybe it's just the flash of my camera, but I'm not going to lie to you- I feel especially washed out lately. I am really trying to cope with the stress/hurt of my recent breakup with J. It's actually kind of strange, because we've been apart for just over 4 months and I've been totally fine (and the break-up was completely my decision) but suddenly about a week and a half ago the pain finally hit me. I'm trying to be happy because I know this is what is best for me. It has just recently gotten incredibly hard. Several of my friends have told me I seem so much happier now...I just wish I actually FELT so much happier now.

Anyway, enough of the pity party (sorry...) today I went to a good friend's bridal shower. I got this sweater (or is it a dress? I can't tell!) last weekend at Lane Bryant for a huge discount, so I was very excited to wear it. And my new gray boots seemed to be the perfect pairing item because I adore the combination of purple and gray this fall/winter.

Sweater (or is it a dress? I'm not sure): Lane Bryant, $21 on clearance

Vest: LOFT, $12.99ish on clearance last fall

Necklace: Kohl's, 2 or 3 years ago

Leggings: Avenue, $25ish last fall

Boots: Avenue, $29.99 on sale

Here is another new pair of boots. I especially like these ones because they easily make anything look more dressy. They also fit my calves wonderfully because of the way they are designed. I would most definitely recommend them for ladies who have trouble finding boots to fit their calves. They are from Avenue (go figure- I am loving their shoes lately), and you can get them for 40% off right now with the code JLA4030.

I am going to spend my Saturday evening watching movies and relaxing. Hope that your Saturday is super!

♥Case

I'll Let You Be The Judge, & I'm The Case

"Miss [Case], I know why you like to wear fashion things. It's because you're so so so so good. And so pretty." - One of my Kindergartners said this to me today. Is it strange that they know my love for fashion? Ha...they are too cute.
Here is what I wore to school today that must have inspired that quote:

Dress: Kohl's, a few years ago

Leggings: Avenue, fall 2009

Belt: Torrid, $20ish after coupon

Flower Pin: Old Navy, $1.99 on clearance last spring

Boots: Avenue, $15 on sale when buying another pair of shoes

So the [first of many new] boots. I bought them on sale from Avenue last week and I thought to myself that I should buy them because I had nothing like them. I decided to chance it and thought if I really didn't like them, I could easily return them. I LOVE them. The look is so much better than I imagined and I wore them to teach all day today and they were super comfortable all day long. No return will be necessary. Here is a closer photo to show you how cute they are:

If you love these little cowgirl cuties as much as I do, you can find them here. You can get them for 40% off with code JLA4030 at checkout.

TGIF! Hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend! I know I need one.

♥Case

Secret Blogger Gift Exchange!

Hey pretties! I apologize for not having an outfit post recently...the past week or so has been SO busy! I feel like I have been rushing around like a mad person!

Anyway, outfit posts will come soon...when I have some actual free time to do them. But for now, I wanted to let you all know about a SUPER SWEET gift exchange that I am participating in!

One of my most favorite fellow bloggers, BBM, is hosting a Secret Blogger Gift Exchange! There are 16 fabulous bloggers participating (click here to see who!) and I am lucky enough to get to be one of them! We have each received the name of a fellow blogger that we are going to get a secret gift for...and then we will post about the gifts we all got! I mean, it's really cool to be getting a gift, but let me tell you what- I am crazy excited about the gift-giving part. I am sosoSO ecstatic about the blogger I got. I cannot WAIT to shop for her! In fact, I already imagined what I could buy for her if I were to get her- and what do you know, I did!

Stay tuned for further updates about the exchange...and some more outfit/fun posts coming soon.

an p.s.- can you tell I get a little enthusiastic about the holidays? ;)
♥Case

Want-It Wednesday: Having Is-SHOES

Do you like my post title...is-shoes. Get it? Like issues. Oh well, at least I amuse myself. :D

Avenue has got some seriously fabulous shoes on their website right now. And I may have just purchased three of them. I really could probably buy almost all of them. I keep rationalizing to myself why I need them and when/how much I would wear them. I'm in shoe lust. But how can I resist when they do a buy one, get one for $15 sale and I have a 40% off coupon (You can too! Code JLA4030)? Come on, people. I've got serious is-shoes. (HA!)

Oh, and I hope everyone has seen the "shoes" video on youtube so you know why I titled that set OMG, shoes. It might be weird, but if you haven't seen it, check it out here (oh, and don't watch it at work or anything, the ending has some pretty choice language- but its funny).

Happy hump day, yo!

♥Case