Friday, June 29, 2012

It's HOT!

Hi everyone!

While I look back at my posts from 2 weeks ago (sorry, I haven't been keeping up) I see that they were pics of dresses.  I then got to thinking about what I wore last week.  I think I wore a dress everyday!  Which makes me happy because that means I own a lot of summer dresses!  On the other hand I should probably mix it up?  BUT... It has been really hot here.  The idea of wearing jeans or pants just makes me hot thinking about it and I like it hot!  The other day it was 95 with crazy humidity and I was in love!  Of course on that day I wore a dress!  :)

Here is another dress that I wore!  Sorry for the squinty face!  We are working on the photo sessions!


Here is a close up of the pattern of the dress.

Dress: Loft (old)

Have a great weekend!  I think I am getting a new camera this week!  Yay!

Lisa







Thursday, June 28, 2012

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA!  I will get to my fifth post tomorrow because I have the day off!!!

Happy Thursday!

Lisa

Thursday, June 21, 2012

I'm putting it all out there!

I grew up in Minnesota and I still live here (unfortunately, more on that in a later post).  I live in a suburb of Minneapolis with my husband of almost 2 years Matt and our 2 dogs (Ditto and Ada).  I have a full time job, but also work part time at a boutique called Hot Mama as a stylist.  I have always had an interest in decorating and fashion, but until recently have not been able to enjoy my love of fashion as much.  You may be asking why?  Well, here is the story…
Matt and I were married in October of 2010.  I will start here because I think the photos will best describe where I am starting at on this blog.  At that time I weighed 233 lbs.  Yes, that’s right 233 lbs!  The strange thing is that I didn’t think I was overweight.  Occasionally, I would look in the mirror and not like how I looked, but who doesn’t?  It was something I could shrug off and move on. 
Prior to my wedding my brother and his wife came to town from Kansas.  They both looked great!  I asked what they were doing to lose weight.  They stated that they were doing Slim4Life.  I thought that was ridiculous!  I never understood the idea of paying for a program to lose weight.  I "knew" what I needed to do to lose weight, why would I pay for that?  Seriously though, they looked great!
Here is what I looked like then...

 
I then started to see myself differently and the thoughts came “I don’t want to have that nagging feeling in the back of my mind anymore that I ignore every day”.   What if I could really be skinny?  I want to feel and look good.  I want to hang out with my friends and not feel like the “Fat One”.  I want to walk into any clothing store and try anything on.  I want to buy designer jeans!  I want to buy what I love, not just what fits!
It took a while but I finally decided I was going to do it!  In January right before my birthday I went into a Slimgenics (equivalent to Slim4Life in the Midwest).  They took me through a consultation.  They told me that my goal weight was going to be 167 pounds and it should take about 7 months (that’s where I fell on the BMI chart for my height and bone structure).  In my mind I was like “No way!  I haven’t been that skinny since freshman year of high school!  It just isn’t possible!”  They assured me “If you just follow the plan, you will get there”.  So, I started after my birthday week (since there is no consuming of alcohol on “plan” I waited because I just needed to drink on my birthday). 
It was sooo hard!  We are a social couple and hang out with friends a lot!  We love to go out to eat!  I love ice cream!  Thinking back on it now I cannot believe the will power that I had!  I would go to parties and not drink!  I would look at food spreads and not touch a thing!  We would go out to dinner and I would get a salad and bring my own dressing (yes, I was one of those people).  No dessert, what!  Don’t get me wrong Slimgenics is the best program in the world!  I was never hungry and I ate real food.  There were actually days when I couldn’t get all the food I was supposed to eat in. 
Low and behold they were right!  If I just followed the plan I would lose the weight!  I actually lost more!  Holy crap!
Pics of me today...
That now brings me to “this Lisa” the new and improved Lisa (dare I say).  I’m not sure if my husband would agree (I have some new habits that he isn’t happy about)?  I can finally wear whatever I want!  Everything fits!  Everything looks good (or at least I’m not bulging out somewhere).  I had to donate absolutely everything I owned!  I went from a size 16/18 to an 8/10!  I needed a new wardrobe (this is where the Matt not agreeing part comes in)!  With that also came the daunting task of figuring out what I want to wear.  What is my style?  What really looks good on me?  Also, there is a little bit of “who am I”?  Am I different?  I think I am the same.  I just have a greater interest in fashion because I can wear it! 
This is where the blog comes in.  Some of the people around me just aren’t as interested in fashion as I am.  Sometimes I feel like I have no one to talk to about it.  I love to shop or as I call it “look around” (I don’t always buy things).  I just want to see what’s out there.  Many times I see something in a store or on a website and I just want to share it and know what other people think about it.  I then found fashion and lifestyle bloggers!  Wow, it’s like a whole new world of people who like the same things I like, that have the same questions I have.  I LOVE it!  So, I thought I would start my own!
Here is my attempt to be as great as many of you are!  I hope to chat with some of you soon.
Lisa

Monday, June 18, 2012

Dresses

I love a good dress!  Especially on Monday’s!  The best part about a dress is that you don’t need to match a top and a bottom!  It’s already done for you!  Whew!  So, when I get out of bed late on a Monday morning (as I always do) I reach for a dress and I am out the door!  Here is a beautiful cobalt blue dress that I got from the Gap.  I love it!



Another dress from the gap that I wore last week.

Sorry about the picture quality!  Time for a new camera!

Happy Monday!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Orange jeans!

Last week I bought a pair of orange jeans.  Love them!!  I have been struggling since to find a top to go with them.  While I know there are lots of options, I just can’t seem to nail something down that I like. 
When it comes to colored jeans I guess I treat them as a neutral.  You can wear just about anything as long as the colors match.  Am I right here?  So, orange jeans I could wear with a blue, tan, white, black, and maybe even a patterned top.  I have been trying to avoid the orange and black combo because of the Halloween look.
This morning I had the orange jeans on with a blue and white patterned top.  It just didn’t look right to me.  That option was out!  Believe it or not I do not own a white t-shirt which is another easy option.  I do however have many black shirt options.  NO, I am avoiding the orange and black combo.  In the rush of everything that meant that the orange jeans were not being worn today.
Instead, I opted for a pair of black capri pants and a t-shirt.  I got in the car and started to drive to work.  I looked down at my outfit, which I had admired in the mirror before I left the house, and I realized I did the exact thing I was trying to avoid with the orange jeans!  I am wearing black pants and an orange top!  Maybe I wasn’t so critical about the outfit because the top and the bottom are both something I am comfortable wearing.  Perhaps bright colored pants are something I need to get comfortable with!  How do you all feel about bright colored pants?  Does anyone else have a fear of the Halloween look or some other color combination that you won't do?



Have a great day!