Spring Wardrobe Essentials

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 14, 2015 // 18 Comments

It’s the second of the Your Spring Style series, a link up hosted by In Residence and Shea Lennon! Last week was all about Spring Transitions. This week it’s the essentials for when the weather warms up.

No surprise – there are quite a few things that overlap with last week’s transitions! You absolutely MUST own and wear a denim jacket! It’s so easy to throw on over a dress, or with a skirt or shorts. Roll up the sleeves, and you look casual but put together.

My other essential from last week is an easy, lightweight dress that can be easily dressed up with a statement necklace and a blazer or cardigan, or dressed down with that denim jacket and some sandals. I’m not a shorts girl, so dresses are an easy, comfortable option when the weather is a little warmer. Not to mention it’s an all-in-one outfit!

My other essentials?

Chambray & Gingham anything! Gingham is just plain cute, and it screams warmer weather (like this seersucker dress or anything Lilly). And gingham as been everywhere for the last few seasons.

Chambray is just one of those fabrics that work in any season! I have 3 chambray shirts and they all worked hard during the Fall/Winter months. But in the Spring, I love pairing it with brighter colors and patterns. It works as a fantastic neutral against Spring’s pallet. Any time I’m in need of a button up or popover shirt (my go-to shirt style), then I search J Crew, Target, and Land’s End.

Beauty essentials need a refresh too when it’s Spring time!

During the Fall/Winter, I gravitate towards dark greys on my nails. As the weather warms up, I start to wear colors that are lighter shades, but still grey-toned purples and pinks (think mauve). My favorite color right now is Essie’s Picked Perfect. It’s a nice transition into the brighter pastel shades (which I’m pretty much convinced I will never find a shade of pastel nail polish that works for me… they either make me look too old or that I’m trying too hard…)

I’ve been really loving cream blushes now that it’s Spring! It looks really natural on the face. I just swirl a stippling brush over the blush and stipple (imagine that!) the color on the apples of my cheeks, then blend out. I have a berry-toned one from Tarte, but I’d love to pick up a pretty coral one too.

And every pale girl needs a good self-tanner in her life as the weather warms up. I embrace my pale-ness, but when I need a little extra color on my legs, the slow build of the Jergens Natural Glow is my favorite. I get a nice color but don’t look like I’ve just come back from vacation, or out of a spray-tan booth. I just look normal, and not like pale death.

What about you? What are your spring essentials? Anything similar to my list?

Go check out the Your Spring Style link up for other blogger outfit style! Next week is all about Spring Inspirations! Can’t wait!

View Link Up Here!

Also linking up at Tuesday Talk, What I Wore Wednesday, Style Sessions, Thursday Fashion Files

Menu Monday #43 + Yummy Spring Recipes

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 13, 2015 // 6 Comments

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Our weekend was a quiet one. Both Elizabeth and I were sick Friday and Saturday, so we just took it easy. But we made sure to celebrate our sweet girl’s 1.5 birthday on Saturday! It’s my in-laws’ tradition of celebrating half birthdays (minor celebrations, not full on parties!), so we’re carrying on the fun.

This week on the menu, I’m mixing in some Spring flavors with some old favorites. I was digging through some old menus (I’m so glad I’ve kept my old menu printables! Makes it easy to menu plan.) and spotted some favorites that we haven’t had in a while.

If you haven’t seen a Menu Monday post before, I share what we’ll be eating this week. (You can see how I generally menu plan here) I also try to include links to recipes where I can. Although some weeks are just DIY (open a can of this, saute that).

For lunches this week, I’m going to make a few easy bean salads using my favorite chick peas and black beans. Thinking of doing my favorite “Coronation Chicken” salad subbing chicken for chick peas, and then doing an easy chopped salad with black beans.

Monday:
Tomato Pesto Pasta

Tuesday:
Thai Green Curry with Spring Vegetables

Wednesday:
Kale, Black Bean & Avocado Burrito Bowls

Thursday:
Mexican Scrambled Eggs with Tortillas & Smoked Cheese
(From Fields of Greens, similar recipe here)

Friday:
Taco Salad
(It’s our spring/summer Friday tradition!)

Saturday:
Going to a Birthday potluck “Chopped Challenge” where we have to bring a dish using the Birthday Boy’s favorite ingredients of Sausage, Cheese, Rice & Flan… Any ideas are certainly appreciated!

Sunday:
Veggie Chicken with Cream Mushroom Sauce

Need more ideas for dinner?
Follow my Pinterest board – it’s where I save all of my dinner ideas!

Follow Katie | Cup of Tea Blog's board Good Eats | Dinner on Pinterest.

Linking up at Menu Monday with Org Junkie

High Five for Friday + A Good Luck Charm

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 10, 2015 // 33 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by Katie, Caitlin, Tif and Della! If you want to know more, read about it here!

This week’s featured blogger is Erin at Sometimes Handmade! She does amazing, beautiful, but doable handmade projects. I always aspire to be that DIY girl, but projects often look intimidating. Not Erin’s projects! I really love this one on making your own monogram succulent planter. Stop by and say hi to Erin.

We pick a new blogger each week to feature, so be sure to stop by and check them out!

FELLOW BLOGGERS: We changed things up a little for the link up. Be sure to read below!

Anyone else sit down to write this post, confident you did a lot, and then can’t remember anything worth mentioning?? Sigh… me right now.

Anyway, here’s what we were up to this week, to the best of my knowledge.

1. It was quite the intense basketball week! And it was a good week to be a Duke fan! But, seriously, all the games were so stinking good this weekend. Even Duke vs Wisconsin was a nail biter all the way to the end. What a great tournament this year! I’ll just put it out there though. I’m clearly a good luck charm for sports programs. My beloved Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship for football, and then Duke wins for basketball. Any teams want to persuade me to root for them???

Source

2. Easter was tons of fun! I had been meaning to do a recap post this week, but it just didn’t happen. Is it too late to do one? Bottom line is it was wonderful! The Easter Bunny brought a basket. We went to two church services. Elizabeth got to do an Easter egg hunt with one of her BFFs. And we were pooped at the end of it all.

3. My favorite Instagram photos from the week: a quick DIY free kitchen using some bowls, measuring cups and oatmeal | making funny faces before bed | Elizabeth in all of her “Ralph Lauren dress from consignment shop” glory, and she was so darn cute! | making a run for it in the backyard

4. The last few weeks I’ve been visiting area gyms/fitness centers with a friend of mine. We’d like to join a gym that has fun classes that aren’t intimidating, and that has a nice child care area. The one we visited a few weeks ago was nice! It was huge, but quiet. It was also connected to the area Senior Center, which could be an advantage! I’d be the peppy, young one in all the classes! And then this week we went to our local YMCA, also really nice! However, the class going on at that time was the Bootcamp class, where I would not be the young, peppy one. I’d instead be the sluggish, lazy one. Not as enticing! HAHA!

5. If you missed them, I got up two style/OOTD posts this week. I’m joining In Residence for the Your Spring Style link up. This week’s post was all about Spring Transitions, so stay tuned for 3 more posts this month!

AND I finally got up my first Stitch Fix reveal. It was a good one!

Oh, and did you see my post about my Lilly For Target wishlist?

Shameless plugs over 🙂

Fellow bloggers – ready to join in the link up? Just write a blog post about 5 things that made this week awesome! Add your link to your blog post down below (make sure it’s your blog post, not your blog home page!). And then grab the H54F button to add to your post! And go visit at least 3 fellow link uppers AND this week’s featured blogger! It’s just the nice thing to do.

And the small switch up – We LOVE visiting every single one of your blogs each Friday! But, in addition to commenting on your blogs, we’d love to connect via social media too! If you’d like a follow, leave a comment below with your user name or whatever works, and I’d love to come follow you! I know last week I followed quite a few of you! Yay! I really love this link up community. I’ve noticed that you all take the time to visit one another!

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

Stitch Fix #1 – What I Got & What I Kept

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 9, 2015 // 13 Comments

Well, who’s excited??

I am!

I received my first Stitch Fix a few weeks ago, and have been so excited to share it all with you! If you don’t know what Stitch Fix is, let me quickly explain:

You tell a stylist what you like in clothes and accessories. That stylist picks out 5 items they think you would like (or maybe push you out of your comfort zone a little) and sends you a box. You try on the clothes, at home, with your existing wardrobe. Keep and pay for what you want, return what you don’t.

I didn’t expect an 100% winning box right out the gate, but most of the items were really great! I did, however, return all but 1 item. But I’m not disappointed!

Let’s just get right down to the items, shall we? I’ve got prices, close up shots and outfit pictures of each piece.

1. Fun2Fun Sheridan Striped V-Neck Tab Sleeve Blouse – $48 – RETURNED

I know why I got sent this shirt. I mentioned I love stripes and loose shirts with details. So this fit the bill! I really liked the shoulder detail on this shirt, and you can never go wrong with stripes! But this shirt was a bit too slouchy for me, and the arms looks baggy too. So, I returned it. (And look! Blurry picture! Camera must have decided to focus on something else instead…)

2. Loveappella Devon Pleated Mini Skirt – $38 – RETURNED

This was a really easy skirt – stretchy, comfortable, and navy! But, at the end of the day, it was a tad too short and lightweight (could see a little gust of wind blowing it up) and bubbled out at my tushy. But I love that pleated detail in the front! It really is adorable. If it was a tad longer (it hit me above the knee), I would have kept it!

3. Mavi Zoola Denim Top – $74 – RETURNED

There were a few things wrong with this top. First, is $74 for a denim shirt with snaps…. I have a similar one hanging in my closet from Target, complete with snaps. Second, as already stated, I have more than my share of chambray/denim tops. Not Stitch Fix’s fault, but still, didn’t need another one. And third, it just didn’t fit well. It just didn’t snap over the twins and the hips. But I did like the fading!

4. Collective Concepts Esten Button-Up Sleeveless Blouse – $54 – KEPT IT!

Yay! A winner! This ticked so many wonderful boxes. It was lightweight and loose, but not too loose. I love the color of this! Not to mention the fact that it’s not so sheer that I have to wear a cami under it (that gets old in the summer time). And love that the v-neck isn’t too deep. Since I didn’t have a shirt in that color, I thought it was a keeper. The perfect shirt for dressing up or down!

5. Romolo Monet Mini Facet Bib Necklace – $38 – RETURNED

This necklace was a surprise! It’s so pretty – I love the colors in it. And the shape is different – love a bib necklace! But, I returned it because I have a necklace pretty darn similar to it, so figured I didn’t really need it… But isn’t it pretty with that teal top?

So that’s it! Stitch Fix #1 in the bag! I’m not ready to do a full review of it just yet, because it’s not fair to judge something on the first try, but so far, pretty happy! For my next box, I asked to see more skirts, preferably longer and maybe even patterned. We shall see!

If you want to learn more about getting your own Fix, you can check it out here. FYI – that link is a referral link/code, so that if you choose to sign up, I get a credit.

What do you think? What would you have kept? Think I made the right decision?

Lilly for Target Wish List

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 9, 2015 // 5 Comments

Source

April 19, folks. That’s when the awesome Lilly Pulitzer collaboration with Target launches.

Countdown is on!

Have you looked through the lookbook yet? There are so many adorable, fun things. So, naturally, I had to create a little wish list!

Did you know they have items for Toddlers? Even beauty collabs with L’Oreal and Essie?

Hooked!

Aren’t these colors just so delightful? I don’t normally wear such bright colors and bold patterns, but I am just loving all of this! You can tell I was drawn to the pink/green!

All the pieces seem to have such pretty detail, especially the clothing. So much of the women’s pieces feature pompoms, which are adorable.

If you haven’t seen the whole collection, check it out before April 19, so you know exactly what to buy when it launches! I have a feeling it will be sold out quickly.

What are you loving?

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