Style Spotlight: Classy in the Classroom

Today I'm excited to pass my blog over to Amy.  She's just getting ready to start her first year teaching and definitely has great style to go with her great attitude.   

Hey everybody! I'm Amy and my blog is Classy In The Classroom. It's a fashion blog for a teacher's budget because you don't have to break the bank to look professional and classy. I also post where I get my clothing or where you can find it that is similar and the prices. In the summer most teachers aren't in the classroom, so for the summer it became weddings, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and nanny fashion.
I'm so excited to be on Ginny's blog today! I have always loved her style and blog!

1. Why did you decide to start blogging?
My mom started a blog a few months before me, called Live.Love.Lake. She sews and knits amazing things. I wish I was as talented as she is. She would get so excited if someone commented on her blog and she kept getting excited to do new posts and thinking of new ideas. I started thinking about making one and she kept telling me to just do it, so I finally took the plunge and I'm so glad I did! I have been blogging for almost 7 months now!

2. What are a few of your daily reads?
I honestly read so many blogs a day. It takes up a lot of time, but I just love too many. Some of the blogs I never miss, include My New Favorite Outfit, .Miss. Renaaye., This Ever Evolving Life, Glammed By Tarin, Charming Lucy, A Small Pickle, For Lauren & Lauren, Striding Out, and many many more!!!!

3. What trends are you loving right now and what trends are you steering clear of?
I absolutely love stripes, polka dots, and maxi dresses right now! I go to the store and end up buying all things with stripes or polka dots. The trend I'm avoiding right now is crop tops! I just don't think it's classy even if I have a flat stomach or not. I just don't think I'd be comfortable going out in public with a crop top on and maybe seeing one of my students. "Look that's my teacher!" Haha. No thanks.

4.What's the best things that have come out of blogging for you?
The friends I have made, hands down is the best thing!!!! I always am talking about all my blogger friends to my family or friends. Everyone is so kind and I love finding people that I have a lot in common with. Also, I have loved the opportunities it's brought me, such as this Style Spotlight, Trend Collaborations, Guest Posting, The Liebster Award, etc. I think my style has become more creative from blogging and seeing other fashion bloggers' style.

5. What piece of advice do you have for your fellow bloggers or those thinking about starting a blog?
My advice for my fellow bloggers is just keep being you! You all are amazing, beautiful, and so inspiring to me! My advice for people who are thinking of starting a blog is to just do it! I know I thought about it for at least a month or two before I finally did it and I have no idea what took me so long! I fell in love with the blogging world you could say. Ha!

I hope you stop by my classy little blog sometime!! Thanks again Ginny for asking me to do this!!

Thanks Amy!  She's so cute, right!  Make sure to take a minute to stop by her blog and say hi!

Also, have you entered to my jewelry giveaway here yet?

Sponsor Spotlight and a Giveaway

Today I'm excited to introduce you to Amy from Mariposa Medley and Haley from Thrifty, Fun Fashionista.  Amy just recently opened her fun etsy shop with great affordable jewelry, and Haley has just recently started her blog focusing on fun, affordable style.  Without further ado, take it way girls!

Hi, I’m Amy...owner of Mariposa Medley Jewelry Boutique. I grew up in North Pole, Alaska, and now reside in southwestern Pennsylvania, in a rural-suburban area outside of Pittsburgh, with my husband, son, our furry children & countless fish in my son's aquarium. I work as a Marketing Representative for a large company and during my down time I enjoy shopping, thrifting, eBay, browsing fashion blogs (My New Favorite Outfit is the first one I check each day!), Pittsburgh sports (GO STEELERS!), an occasional glass of wine and spending as much quality time with my guys as I can! We enjoy fishing, traveling, cooking and whatever else we can get into together! My husband and I are also restoring and remodeling our home, which was originally built in the late 1800's. It is a lot of work, but very fulfilling and enjoyable, for the most part. We make a great team. I am the designer & decorator and he makes it come to fruition (I help where I am needed, power tools are fun!).

I started my shop in June of 2013 and I love it! My Grandmother passed away in January of this year and one thing we shared was our love of fashion jewelry, so the shop is my personal tribute to her. Although it is challenging, and a learning experience, I enjoy it. If you do not find what you are looking for in my shop (we are still building our inventory), please reach out and let me know what you are looking for. I appreciate any and all feedback! Thank you so much. 

I also created a coupon code Mariposa Medley Jewelry Boutique, it is favorite15 and it is good for 15% off any purchase in my shop from now through 9/30/13!

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Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be blogging on Ginny's blog! My name is Haley and I blog over at Thrifty, Fun Fashionista! It's a blog about looking good but staying on a budget! I'm married and have 2 wonderful little boys. I'm a para for the school and it's a great job. :) I started blogging because I wanted to share with everyone that you can look good on a budget! I love shopping at Goodwill, shopping the clearance rack and finding great deals! Finding great deals on clothes for me and my boys is one of the best feelings ever. I know Ginny likes finding great deals too, and that's why I love her blog!

Today I wanted to share with you one of my outfits that I found at Goodwill. It's the perfect end of summer outfit!

shirt// Target from Goodwill

tank// Maurices from Goodwill

shorts// Old Navy from Goodwill

bracelet// Virtual Yardsale

earrings// old

shoes// Payless

Here's the giveaway for you guys, winner takes both : )

Fun earrings from Haley at Thrifty, Fun Fashionista

Choice of bracelet from Mariposa Medley

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feeling Great with Hanes Undercover Color-Sponsored Post

Hanes is unveiling a brighter, more colorful look this summer with panties, bras and tees in on-trend patterns and vibrant hues that women want the most. With this being said, I was excited to get to try some of these new great pieces first hand. 

I got to try the Bandini ComfortFlex Fit Bra, which is super comfortable.  I got one with light foam padding and two without any padding in great bright colors.  I'd say the coolest thing about them, other then how comfortable they are, is that they can work with a varity of tops.  Because of the flexible straps I can wear it traditionally with both straps, I can wear it with one strap for one shoulder tops, or I can wear it with the straps down for strapless shirts and dresses. Seriously cool.  I'd happily wear the one with light foam padding ($10.99 retail) to work and the two without padding (two pack retails for $10.99) for relaxing at home or trips to the store. They basically have the comfort of a sports bra without looking like that's what you're wearing.

Hanes comfy and colorful styles are available in a variety of silhouettes to offer a great fit for every body type at a price point that everyone can feel good about. They also sent me some great boy shorts in bright fun colors.  The cut helps to eliminate panty lines which is a total plus.  These would great for everyday wear, and are seriously comfortable.

 Hanes also sent me a  Live.Love.Color tee, which is available in various colors to help women feel bright and carefree all season long and a pack of boy briefs in bright colors too.  The shirt was super soft and the boy briefs are perfect for bedtime.  I've been wearing them most nights with the  Hanes tee and am loving them.

Here's all the cute pieces I got from Hanes.  So cute, right?

This is how I styled my Hanes bra and undies for the Go Blog Social this last week.  I love the bright colors and the comfort of the product was great, as I was having to sit and listen for most of the day.

Hanes also created this fun mood board with tons of different great graphic to show your mood.  Bonus, they're tweetable : )  My Hanes #Undercovercolor is pink.  Click on the Hanes link to pick and tweet your own : )

Bras, undies, boy briefs, and tee: c/o Hanes

Cardigan: Old Navy $5 (thrifted) similar

Dress: Loft $35 same (with giftcard from Chippmunk giveaway I won)

Necklace: Stella and Dot just bling from Sutton

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Chimera, Julep, Renegade

Shoes: Bandalino $30 similar

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Creating Content That's Worth Reading

Today I'm going to share with you my second takeaway from  Go Blog Social  Yesterday I shared with you about the importance of being yourself and sharing your passion though your blog. Today I'm going to talk about creating content that's worth reading.  

If your blog looks like everyone blog out there, what's going to make readers want to come back? Good question right?  Meg Biram said "Find what makes you unique and go for it. Be a step ahead of the rest." Such great advise. Why be a re-creator when you can be an innovator?

 Meg Biram also told us to get out from behind the computer. "If you aren't living your life and doing cool things with those you love, you won't be inspired to create original content" Meg said some of her best ideas came from needs she had, such as moving to a new area and not knowing anything about it. She found other bloggers and created a series where she'd get together with these bloggers and they'd show her their three favorite places in the city. So cool, right? If she had just sat behind the computer, those ideas never could have happened. 

Jeanette of J's Everyday Fashion said "Creative work is your gift to the world, don't cheat us." I love this, if we try to be too much like others, we're not being true to ourselves therefore cheating others of what could be something really cool.

Think about a need you have, something you might have expertise in, or something cool and exciting going on in your life, that's where your content should be. Meg Biram If what you're doing doesn't make you nervous once in a while, you're probably not pushing yourself. I love this, I think you should definitely be nervous to push "publish" at times. 

Ultimately what we chose to do on our blog is up to us, but I truly believe our readers are here because of who we are, so we better do our best to make that worth their time! 

To all of my amazing readers, I'm truly amazed that you all take the time to come by. I never imagined when I started this last fall that I'd be here today! Thanks so much and I'm going to do my best to make your time here worthwhile!

Also such cool, I got featured on the Chippmunk Blog as one of their featured bloggers. There's still time for you to enter their Expert Shopper contest here.

Have you entered my Swag Bag giveaway yet?

Blazer: Loft $30 c/o Chippmunk  similar 

Top: Loft $20 similar (in stores, can't find online)

Shorts: Loft $20 similar(ish)

Necklace: Stella and Dot Sutton

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Triple Wrap, Renegade, Gilded Arrow

Shoes: $26 Audrey Brookes  similar in silver

Linking up with:

Tre-Chic Fashion Thursdays

Summer Style Link-up

Be Original. Be Yourself.

I had such an amazing time at Go Blog Social and I want to take some time to share my takeaway with you all.  A lot of this will obviously apply more to bloggers, but I hope to tie it back to you non-bloggers as well, and share with you how I'll apply it to my blog too.

 I feel like I heard time and time again at the conference the importance of being who you are and not a copy cat of someone else who is successful. I definitely think this applies to blogging and life in general. Meg Biram Jeanette of J's Everyday Fashion and Corrie McFadden  all discussed the importance of finding what makes you unique and focusing your blog on that. What's your passion? What gets you excited? The answer to that is what you should blog about. "There's a reader for everyone, be the voice for them."-Corri McFadden

As for me, I definitely think fashion and finding great deals gets me excited.  I feel like that's definitely been a focus here, so for me to go start spending hundreds on outfits (not that I would, or could) wouldn't make sense, because I feel a lot of you readers like a good deal just like I do.  I want to stay true to myself and my budget. Jeanette touched on this too. She's had a $250 a month clothing budget for forever,but even with her phenomenal success, she's stuck to that budget because that's the focus of her blog. She's living what her blog is. I love that.

That being said last year I thrifted A LOT because I was really trying to build up my wardrobe. I don't need clothes like I did before (don't tell my husband). What I do need are some closet staples like blazers and pencil skirts. Pieces like this can be very hard to thrift (trust me, I've tried). I definitely plan to shop the sale racks, but thrifting isn't something I've done all summer and something I don't see myself doing much this fall.

I'm also passionate about teaching and plan to do more how-to posts here as well. You've seen some of that from me this summer and I have a new tips series coming next and an exciting collaboration starting at the end of the month with my fabulous sister.

Tomorrow I'll share with you another takeaway from Go Blog Social, and today's outfit is what I wore to the fun cocktail hour last Thursday night.

Have you entered my Swag Bag giveaway yet?

Blazer: Kohls $20? similar

Blouse: Target $7 (can't find on line, instores now)

Shorts: Kohl's $20 similar

Belt: Kohl's $6 similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot Rebel

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade,  Triple Wrap and Chimera similar

Shoes: Kohl's $26 c/o Chippmunk  same

Bag: Coach same

Linking up with:

What I Wore Wednesday

Get Your Pretty On

Swag Giveaway

I'm getting settled from being in KC and I thought I'd do a little giveaway for you guys today.  I got a bunch of cool items at the conference and was able to get doubles of a few to share with you guys too.  Look below for giveaway and details about the sweet swag. : )

Oh, yeah, I got a new Coach recently too.  It's official, if a small child can't fit in my bag, it's not big enough.  Regardless, I love it and think I'll get a lot of use out of it this fall.

Linking up withTrend Spin today too.

Top: American Eagle $3 (thrifted) similar

Shorts: Kohls $20 similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot Sutton

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Peacock, Renegade, Urbane

Shoes: Target $30 similar

Bag: Coach same

Now for the swag: There were a lot of great companies represented at the conference and I thought I'd share a few of them with you today.  This isn't sponsored, I just thought it would be fun to share and promote some of these small businesses too. 

Black earrings from Shira Melody Jewelry
Bangles from InPink
Sivler hoops from Tulip
Tear Drop earrings from House of Cochon
Socks from Socks 101
Hair Bands from Twistband

Enter the Rafflecopter below to win all these goodies.  Contest open to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lace and Prints



I got back from the Go Blog Social yesterday and am so excited to share my experience with you, with starting on Wednesday.  I need a little time to get my thoughts and posts together, so I thought I'd share an outfit I wore twice last week, yep twice.  The first time I wore it was to go get the Grantster from Grandma's house.  He had his first night away from home, and other than my parent's cat sneaking into the guest room and scaring him half to death the trip was a success. 

I didn't really do much else that day and liked this outfit too much to waste it, so I wore it a few days later when we had some friends over for a BBQ. You've seen this top and shorts before, but the jewelry is new.  I had just got my new fall Stella and Dot jewels and couldn't wait to wear them!  The red necklace is the Mae and the other one is a detachable part of Sutton which I told you guys last week can be worn five ways.  I. Love. It.  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to layer these two together and am super loving the result.



Top: Target $9  same

Shorts: Loft $20 similar(ish)

Necklace: Stella and Dot Mae and Sutton

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Chimera, Gilded Arrow, Julep

Shoes: Target $30 same

Summer Fun

I love summer.  The free time, the sun, the time off, and of course the bright colors.  I recently found this dress at Plato's Closet.  They were having a crazy sale and I got this Target dress (new with tags!) for $1.80.  I almost bought it last fall when I saw it in stores, but in navy.  Last year I don't think I would have even considered orange, but I totally love it now.  I wore this to church, but am excited to wear it to school soon too.  So fun!

Also, thinking about growing your blog? Let me help. Check out my sponsorship options here. Spots start at $5!

Cardigan: Loft $3 (thrifted) similar

Dress: Target $1.8 (Plato's Closet) similar

Necklace: Gold Charm I've had forever

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade, Triple Wrap and Chimera similar

Shoes: Target same

Linking up with:

Tre-Chic Fashion Thursdays

Summer Style Link-up