What I Wore To My First Blogger Meet-Up!

Ever since I started blogging and began making friends all across this country,  I often wondered what it would be like to meet them in person.  Whenever I read posts from bloggers who live in major cities and "meet up" with other local bloggers for coffee or some other event,  I was envious.  I live in a little tiny town in Wisconsin, and my odds of meeting another blogger with interests similar to mine are slim to none.  So when Karen from "She Thought She Could So She Did" messaged me on Facebook and said she and her husband would be in Minneapolis for a few hours and wanted to know if we could meet, I was thrilled!  

I live less than two hours from Minneapolis and go there several times a year to shop or attend the theatre, so it was no big deal for my husband and I to drive there on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

We decided to meet at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis because it has a restaurant right inside the grounds, plus this gorgeous waterfall and nature trails.  I will share more about my thoughts on this park in a future travel post.  For now, I just want to talk about my blogger meet up and what Karen and I wore.

 Karen and I did not plan or discuss our outfits ahead of time, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well the colors coordinated.  Karen wore this lovely coral dress.  I chose a dressy pair of black shorts and a pretty tank.

Now it's one thing for two bloggers to meet who have been communicating on-line for awhile...they kind of have somewhat of a history and know a little about each other.  But it wasn't the same for our husbands.  They've never met or communicated with each other before today.  But they were good sports and made great "Instagram Husbands", taking plenty of pictures for our blogs, Instagram, and Facebook.  Although they come from opposite sides of the country and like different sports teams, there was never a lack of conversation.  If guys have sports in common, they always have plenty to talk about don't they?

We had the guys pretend in this picture to be "bad sports"for having to tag along with us all day taking our pictures.  Pretty funny isn't it?  I love the camera slung across my husband's shoulder.

Karen was such a sweetheart and surprised me at lunch with a friendship bracelet.  Isn't it pretty?  It even matched the colors we had on!  Now every time I wear it, I'll think of Karen and the fun day we had in Minneapolis.

And she also brought a Lily of the Valley bulb all the way from Connecticut so I could plant it in my garden.  I love Lily of the Valley!  The delicate little flowers are so pretty, and the scent is heavenly.

After lunch we walked the nature trail for a little bit and checked out the waterfall.  The guys found a park bench to sit and talk while Karen and I cooled our feet in the river water and talked about the pros and cons of blogging.  We found we both agreed on a lot of blogging issues and that we had more in common than we knew before the meet up!

Deciding what to wear for this big event was a challenge.  I knew I wanted to look nice for I was meeting another style blogger, so I had to look stylish!  But I also knew it would be hot, we'd be walking a lot, and the location would be a bit casual since it was a public park.  So I decided to go for an in-between dressy/casual look by wearing black dress shorts with a fancy tank top, lots of jewelry, and heels that I could walk in at least for a little while.

I bought these Liz Claiborne shorts from J.C. Penney last year but never wore them as often as I would like.  You would think that anything goes with black and that I would have had a slew of tops in my closet to choose from to wear with my black shorts, but I did not.  Then I saw Jennie from "A Pocketful of Polka Dots" wearing her black shorts with a fancier top HERE, and I liked it so much I decided that I needed to go shopping for more tops to wear with my own black shorts.

The top is by Worthington and I bought it at J.C. Penney (where else?).  You can find the top HERE, and it's even on clearance now, it wasn't when I bought it!  I can't say enough about how much I love this top.  It's my dream summer top.  The material is a loose, soft knit, so it's cool and comfortable.  I can't stand wearing clothes that cling to my body in the summer time (or any time of year for that matter).  It has a pleated front, so it fits my ample bosom quite well, unlike a lot of other tank tops I've tried.  And the straps are so interesting!  They have a triangular shape with a gold metal bar that brings the two straps together.

The keyhole back is also very pretty and interesting as well.  The top comes in two other styles and colors, but sizes are limited as this is a very popular top.  I love the pretty turquoise blue color of mine and the interesting design.  The bit of black color in the design coordinated beautifully with my black shorts...but because there is white in the design, I could see this top with a pair of white shorts as well.  

For jewelry, I wore blue diamond studs, a black and gold necklace, and black and gold bracelets.

I chose a white cross body bag to tie the entire outfit together and to keep my hands free while I hiked.  Although my bulky bag always seemed to get in the way every time Karen and I hugged or got close for a picture!

I chose these shoes because they are the dressiest shoes I felt I could actually walk in, plus they are old so I knew if they got dirty it wouldn't be the end of the world.  I've actually been looking to replace these shoes for awhile, but I haven't found anything that would work for my lifestyle.  I did end up finding a pair of dressy Liz Claiborne flat thong sandals this week that I purchased, but I'm still on the look out for a pair with more of a heel too.

Halter style tops tend to be universally flattering on everyone.  I can see myself wearing this top even when the weather cools.  It would be great under a white or black blazer or jacket.  Wouldn't it look awesome with black jeans too?

 The sun couldn't make up it's mind whether it wanted to be out or hidden behind the clouds so I was constantly alternating between wearing my sunglasses and using them as a head band.  These are white rimmed aviator glasses from JCP.

 After my meet up with Karen was over my husband asked me how I thought it went and if I thought Karen was the person I thought she was based on what I've known only from written communication before.  I said that I felt as if we were old friends who haven't seen each other for a very long time and then got together and just picked up exactly where we left off.  It was fun meeting someone that I've only seen pictures and blog posts of before.  I told Karen when we parted, that if she is ever in Minneapolis again to let me know, the two of us need to do some serious retail therapy at the Mall of America.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!



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What's Blooming in My Early August Garden

In early August most of the perennials are finished and the annuals are taking center stage.  Just about every plant in my garden has bloomed by now except for mums, sedum, and golden rod.   The perennials that are peaking right now are Rudbeckias and Purple coneflower.  

Because I was gone a few weeks due to computer issues, I have a few day lilies I never showed you.  This pink beauty was in bloom at the end of July.

The purple coneflower makes an excellent background flower for the pink blooms of the day lily.

 The birds planted these beautiful sunflowers for me.  The deer usually get to them before they bloom, but I was blessed with a few beauties that they didn't touch.

The sunflowers grow nice and tall right next to my bird feeder and cleome or spider plants.

This sunflower looks more like a sun daisy.  The sunflower in the first picture had double yellow flower petals.

The sunflowers grow right in my front yard so I can see them from my kitchen window everyday.

I found this big, beautiful beetle on my day lily and was shocked.  I had no idea what it was, nor had I ever seen this bug in Wisconsin before.  I put this picture on Facebook hoping my other Wisconsin friends could identify it, but no one replied.  Neither my husband nor daughter recognized the beetle either.  So I'm hoping my readers might recognize it and tell me what it is.

Whatever it is, it sure picked a beautiful daylily to rest on, didn't it.  I love the wine and yellow centers of this cream colored day lily.

This deep magenta pink Star Gazer lily I smelled before I saw it.  It was tucked away in the back of a garden so I never noticed it.  Then while I was weeding I smelled this heavenly fragrance and found it.  What a wonderful surprise that was!

My top garden by my kitchen window is rich in hot summers now.  I have zinnias and salvia annuals planted in here, plus perennials.  The tall phlox and purple coneflower are really starting to shine now!  The sunflower heads however are starting to bend over.  I won't cut them down however, because I know the birds and squirrels love their seed.

My white viburnum bush really opened up this week.  This is a gorgeous bush!  It provides so much interest all season long.  The flowers start white, but turn pink in the fall.

The viburnum bush makes a beautiful backdrop for the Black Eyed Susan's and Purple Coneflower.

My shed is being engulfed in flowers right now.  I really need to get down there and clear some flowers/weeds away.  The weather has been so hot I haven't been able to spend much time in the garden.  Today was the first time in weeks I could finally enjoy being outside again.

Here is a close up of one of the Viburnum bushes flowers.

The Black Eyed Susan's look great up against the red garden shed.

This is a little pink salvia perennial I have growing in my upper garden.

Like I said, I need to get down there and clear some flowers/weeds out.  LOL!

Have a  Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

I'm Back! Again! I Hope So Anyway!

I'm back!  Well, sort of.  I still can't get my email to work.  But I am too tired and frustrated to deal with it now, so I will deal with it another day.  And for those of you wondering where I have been and what's the story, here it is in a nutshell.

I returned home from vacation on July 10th, only to discover my computer had a black screen.  I took it in to the Apple store the very next day and they said all it needed was a new battery.  $173.00 dollars later, and I was back in business July 15th.  I had my computer only a week and a half, and I went to open it up in the morning, and there it was again, a black screen.  I headed straight back to the Apple Store and they said it was a separate issue and would cost another $379.00 to fix.  Well, at this point I already sunk $173.00 into it and the computer is only three years old and would cost $1200.00 to replace.  So I said "Go Ahead".  A week later, they call me and said it was fixed, but that it needed a tune up and that would cost another $50.00.  I wanted to scream, but instead I calmly said  "Go ahead, what does another $50.00 matter?", and finally picked up my computer two days later.  Only to get it home, and find out the email isn't working.  It keeps telling me I have the wrong password, but when I go and sign in to change my password, my password works perfectly fine...there is no other password.  So, it said "Contact your email provider".  I am hot, I am tired, I am angry, I am frustrated, so I really don't want to get on the phone right now for over an hour talking to some techie to figure out the problem.  At this point, I think I can live without email.  It's nothing but junk mail most of the time anyway because any real, live human being I care to talk to either texts me, leaves a comment on my blog, or Facebook Messages me.  Who needs email anyway?  UGH!  Sorry for the vent...I should have waited till I calmed down before writing this post.  But I felt I waited long enough to post as it was.

So now that I have explained everything, lets talk about something a lot more fun and less stressful....like fashion!  This is an outfit I wore a few Sunday's ago.  My husband and I went to church in the morning, out to lunch, then over to visit a friends farm;  so the outfit had to be somewhat nice, but also comfortable, walk-able, and something that wouldn't be the end of the world if I got it dirty.

Everything is old except the top.  I bought it at Francesca's when I was in Florida back in February (but it's still available HERE!).  I have been on the hunt for yellow items because it is a color that is very lacking in my wardrobe.  I find yellow such a cheerful color, don't you?

The top has so much interesting detail.  It has raised seams on the back and shoulders.  It's a nice sheer flowing loose fabric, so it is very comfortable to wear on a hot day.  I wore a white tank underneath because it is so sheer.

Because I went to a farm after church, I dressed my lower half down a bit by wearing distressed boyfriend jeans.  I also wore old sandals that I wasn't afraid of getting ruined, and it was a good thing since we ended up taking a nice long hike through the woods.  Although they are not ideal for hiking, they are comfortable, so I managed.

The sunglasses are new this season, they are by Rocawear and I purchased them at J.C. Penney (My pair is no longer available, but there are other Rocawear sunglasses HERE).  The green and gold stone pendant necklace is also new.  I picked that pretty piece up on clearance at Charming Charlies.  My other jewelry is an old bracelet which was a gift from a friend and a blue cross body bag by Lulu (old, JCP).

And now, here are some pictures of me at our friend's farm and their pretty cows that they raise.

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Well, I really hope once I get my email up and running again that all my computer problems are behind me...or Apple Corporate Offices will be hearing from me!  The technician said I should be able to get another three or four years out of this computer...so that's what I'm hoping for!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!