Fall Color Combo Series Week 5

Your guest writer today is my dear friend, Tara! :) Tara and I went to college together and even worked together after classes at Americall. (Telemarketing company) We have a lot of fun together, but one thing I love about Tara besides her handwriting ;) (seriously, it's the best) is her creative, fun personality. Her personality definitely shows through her clothes!
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Hello, Ladies! First off I want to thank, Lauren for letting me share my thoughts and ideas on outfit planning on her blog. It's been over a year since I first joined MM, and it has been so much fun to watch it grow! There are so many of you that I feel like are my friends, yet we've never met.

I am a newlywed that lives just South of Dallas in the little town of Red Oak, Texas. I was raised in NorthWest Indiana. I went to Hyles Anderson College where I met Lauren. We were neighbors one summer, and we worked Americall together. Yes, I was a telelmarketer for 6 years. Don't hate; it paid my college bill. After college I moved to Saginaw, Michigan to teach, and after a year and a half I moved to Tampa, Florida to teach. I met my hubs there. My husband and I run the bus ministry and Jr. Church at my church. I certainly love serving the Lord!!

Let me start the fashion part of this blog post by ​saying that I am plus size. The most important thing a plus size girl can wear is Spanx or something similar. This picture took a lot of guts to post on the world wide web for everyone to see, but it's important! On the left is me as free as a bird, and on the right is with my Spanx on. I'm not sucking in or standing at an angle that hopefully takes 15 pounds off me. The proper underagarments just matter so much!! Do I always wear mine? Nope. Should I? Most definitely!!

I love to sew. I don't consider myself good at in the least. If my garment looks okay from the outside; don't you dare look on the inside. I mean who sees the inside of your seams anyway?? ;)
My favorite alteration is making skirts from pants. This black skirt used to be pants. I don't have a pattern. I just pin pieces and top stitch. It's so easy!! You can watch a You Tube tutorial if you don't know how to do it.


If you went to a Christian college; you more than likely had a "dress check skirt" for that moment you went running back to your room to change in 15 seconds. It was probably a solid color and huge in all directions and one that couldn't be tear stained from embarrassment as you walked into class or Chapel late. You know all those people were looking at you like, "Yep, she failed dress check." So glad college is over!! I took my dress check skirt and made it into a pencil skirt. It's a bit tight at the waist, but I think I can take the top seam out and it will be fine. I took out nearly 10 inches of fabric by the knees and bottom!!! I also shortened it. This took maybe 5 minutes. I used one of my existing skirts for a pattern and drew on the skirt I was altering with a pen. I'm keeping it real with the wrinkles.

Another quick alteration is with scarves, I've found some great scarves at the Dollar Tree (my favorite store)! The only bad part was the length. If I wrapped one around my neck; I could totally pull off the Frosty the Snowman look. That's not the exact look I'm going for. When I bought this scarf I bought a white with blue stars and a blue with white stars; I didn't want to sew them because I mixed the prints. All I did was safety pin two together, and WaLa a big, nice scarf. If you can't sew; I know you can use a safety pin! The pins are very easy to hide in the folds of the scarf.

Another quick alteration is this skirt. It was a maxi dress that was too short. I'm 5 foot 10, so you tall ladies feel my pain. The top of the dress was two triangles. Um, my girls are way to big to be under a little triangle of fabric. I cut off the top just above the waistband, and added a dart. I now had a maxi skirt that touches the floor. WooHoo!

When I was getting ready for this blog post I pulled out everything I thought I could use. I have a California King bed, and it was overflowing!! You never know when inspiration will strike!! I had a little Michael Buble playing and my Pinterest app open. :) My husband was thrilled to find the bed like this when he came home from a long day of work... Totally thrilled I tell ya!! ;)

My favorite place to find fashion inspiration is Pinterest, duh!! I am an addict, completely and thouroughly, an absolute addict. Here are three of my Pinspired outfits.


This green skirt pictured below was a skirt I made from pants. It is my absolute favorite piece in my wardrobe!!

Don't feel captive to find the exact outfit from Pinterest in your closet. I took the same brown tank/mustard cardigan mix and paired it with more skirts here. All of these options go. Don't be afraid to go outside of the box!!

My favorite thing about fall is layering!! I love to layer button ups under sweaters. This is a great way to pattern mix too! Here's my take on layering. The picture on the left is pink scarf on top of the vest!
The purple vest came attached with white Oxford style sleeves and collar. I cut them out to make a much more versatile piece.
The day coloring blocking goes out of style will be the worst day of my life... :'(

Another favorite outfit inspiration of mine is to pull one of my scarves of many colors and make an outfit out of it. I've worn the scarf below (far right) with so many different outfits!! This is my favorite green skirt, a burnt orange tank, and a brown shrug. You can pull yellow and navy from the scarf too. I never pay more than $5 a scarf. I buy most of mine from Charlotte Russe.

I hope I've helped you all a little bit!! My nerves are on edge putting this blog post out there. Thank you to each lady that is nervous to post, but does it anyways. You are an inspiration to me!! Thank you for your positivity! I've been overwhelmed by the love and support you ladies have shown your Admins that past few days!! It is so sweet of you!! Best of luck on winning this weeks giveaway!!!

Much Love,
Tara Sumner Pruett
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Yay! I love that Tara talked about Spanx! I am a big believer in proper undergarments as well! They can instantly take off 15 lbs! :) Hope you enjoyed! Next week come back and see Pong's favorite fall combos!

How to be Fashionable & Frugal

A lot of women have the mind set that they can't dress nice, because they aren't rich. Well, I have news for you honey..that's not true at ALL. My husband and I are both Christian School teachers...let's just say we are definitely not rolling in the dough. The average public school teacher makes $47,855 in Florida, my husband and I together don't even make close to that! (Not complaining, just trying to paint a picture of our finances!) Believe me, we are NOT in this profession for the money, we just love serving God. But, with that being said, I don't ever want to look as broke as I am! :)
I know the rut women fall into after having kids and getting comfortable in their marriage. They stop trying to fix themselves up, because they don't want to be selfish. I promise you, that is a bad decision to make. Don't let yourself go, and blame it on being a mom. There are MANY moms that are still fashionable, in shape, and not rich. Don't make excuses for yourself. You just have to have a game plan! I know this might hurt to hear, but I love you, and I'm trying to help some of you! Your husbands and kids will appreciate you taking care of yourself! In two weeks, I'm going to share with you the secret of losing weight. Hopefully that will also help some ladies struggling with this area.
The key to having a great wardrobe for a small price is knowing where to shop and what to shop for. Here's some tips to help you become fashionable & frugal:
1. Know what you need before you go shopping. Unless you have the money to blow, don't just wander around "shopping." If you want to be frugal, you only need to shop when you need something. Next week, I will do a post on essential items you should have in your closet. When I'm shopping I'm always looking for specific items. If I don't find that item, I don't just buy other random things, I leave and try again another day.

2. Go to the thrift stores first. Before you head to the mall, always look at Goodwill or a consignment shop first! I find SO many essential pieces from Goodwill. You can't beat their prices. But, you need to know what you're looking for at thrift stores or you can come out looking frumpy and not classy.

3. Invest in classic pieces. I wrote a blog post on it last year, and it gives you tips on what to buy when you're out shopping. For example, I wear my navy skirt at least once or twice every 2 weeks. A navy skirt is an investment, because I will wear it A LOT. So to me, $20 for a classic, navy skirt is worth it. (If you can't find one thrifted!) I get MOST of my pencil skirts from JCPenney.

4. Buy cheap trendy jewelry & accessories. Right now the big craze is a plaid blanket scarf from Zara, it's $69...Ha. I wouldn't spend $70 on a scarf if my life depended on it, especially on a trendy piece like that! But, I would buy a replica one from eBay for $12.99! :) You just have to shop smart. I bought 2 statement necklaces from Charlotte Russe yesterday for $10! I won't spend that much on trendy statement necklaces, because they go out of style so quick! You can also find cheap, classic jewelry online, like these gorgeous cubic zirconia studs for $6.

5. Buy remixable pieces I don't buy a skirt or shirt, unless I can think of at least 3 or 4 different outfits I can wear with it off the top of my head. That's why I tend to buy solids or stripes a lot! :)

There's nothing wrong with being stylish & modern along with our modest outfits. You will draw more people to Christ if you look classy and fashionable. No one wants to come to your church if they are trendy and everyone in the church is frumpy looking! That is a big turn-off to the world! As long as we are modest, I don't see why you wouldn't want to be fashionable too!
With this post being about being frugal and fashionable, I decided to wear an outfit completely from Goodwill!

I found this peplum top at Goodwill yesterday, and I got this black skirt at Goodwill last year, and my nude heels I found at Goodwill two years ago!


Tomorrow's challenge is Mani Monday, so if you're following the challenge, get ready to show off your nails!! Here's some inspiration.

Here's some of my outfits from the past week challenges! (Bright color combo, make a statement, favorite handbag)



Stay tuned for Wednesday, when my dear friend Tara shares her fall color combo series post!

Why are Women SO Mean to Each Other?

The past couple of weeks, I've seen more mean comments and statuses than I've ever seen. All this drama has been caused by women, who are just plain mean. Seriously, what ever happened to the statement, "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all?" If you know me in real life, I am a quite sarcastic and crazy person that always has someone witty to say. By no means do I think of myself as being "sweet." (I wish I was...I'm just usually too sarcastic to be sweet!) BUT, I try to NEVER say anything to anyone that is mean or hurtful. Believe me, I'm not perfect, I definitely have times when I think mean things about people, but I know how much words can hurt, so I try to build people up with my words instead of tearing them down. That's why I wrote the post a couple of weeks ago about The Compliment Challenge. I think women are so jealous and catty, that they don't even realize it! But, if you are constantly encouraging and loving on people, there's no time for rude remarks!
So the question is why are women so mean to each other? Here's what I've noticed over my short 25 years of life:
1. Women who don't feel good about themselves, usually have to tear someone else down to make themselves feel/look better.

2. They have been bullied or criticized, so they feel that someone else should feel the same pain. (Vicious bullying cycle)

3. Some women are mean just to get attention.

4. Most women are mean because they are jealous. (Think about the movie, Mean Girls!)

Do you have any other reasons you think women are mean to each other?....Comment and let me know!

So how do we stop this "mean girl" movement?

1. Don't participate in the gossip, or comment on the mean posts, or add fuel to the "fire." "He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips." Proverbs 20:19

2. Think about what you're going to say, before you say it. (Hard one to live!) "...whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" Philippians 4:8

3. Compliment other ladies! See something nice, say something nice! "She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Proverbs 31:26

4. When someone says something mean to you or about you, just remember the above reasons and take it humbly with a smile. "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30

Remember people mocked, beat, and said false things about Jesus. His response was "Father, forgive them..." So, let us try to be like Christ, and pray for our mockers, criticizers, and "haters."