Pencil Skirts & Button Down Shirts

Dressing like a professional working woman has slowly become one of my goals for this school year. Something about dressing the part makes me feel like a top notch teacher even though I can honestly admit, it's true what they say. No matter how badly you want to know what you're doing- you don't. There are so many curve balls and every day is a new lesson learned and a new strategy test drive. It has to be that way in order to learn how to be the best. 

On the days that I want to go home and drink a glass of wine by 11:00am,  looking like a professional helps me feel like a professional and therefor it's like I can trick my brain into thinking I've got it all figured out. Nice "work" clothes aren't cheap. Thank God for hand-me-downs. I have just about no extra time for shopping, and when I do.. I'd rather fall down on the floor and stay there until I have the energy to move again. HA! Teaching isn't a nightmare. It's fabulous. But when you put your whole self into it, it's easy to get lost. 

Goodwill has always been my friend and she hasn't disappointed lately. I've made a few quick stops the past few weeks and scored some pencil skirts and button downs from banana republic, gap, and the limited. eBay has also been my friend lately. Winning a bid on a skirt for 3 dollars or less with a couple bucks shipping? Holla! Ballin on a budget. Last, did you know people sell clothes on insta? Wives, don't tell your husbands... It's about to be game over. People post pics of clothes they don't want and you can snatch them up! It's incredible. Scroll through my feed..."cute baby," "woah beautiful scenery," "aw I miss her," "THAT SKIRT IS MINE!"

I hope to start posting my OOTDs for any student teachers or working ladies out there. Until then, here's a look at one of my second hand outfits.

Flower Statement Necklace || Target

Drop Pearl Earrings || Target

Blue Ruffle Front Button Down || LL Bean

Gray Seersucker Pencil Skirt || The Limited

Black Flip Flops || Charlotte Russe 

Farmhouse Table Redo

In recent weeks, I have spent a decent amount of time searching every store in my area for home goods. Seriously. If it belongs in a home.. I probably want to buy it. Spatulas, vases, rugs, curtains, soap dishes, pillows, and especially drinking glasses. I am obsessed with pretty drinking glasses like these ones from Anthropologie! Stefan's sister got us a set as a wedding gift and I can't wait to start using them.

Fleur-De-Lys Juice Glass

I guess that is what happens when you buy your first home. You just want to fill it up with the prettiest of things! Unfortunately, student loans will be kicking in soon and Stefan and I do not have a load of money to spend at top of the line stores. I do, however, have time here and there to hit up Goodwill...

Can we just talk about the awesome things you can find at Goodwill? Sure.. there are some not-so-pretty things there too, but I have found some real treasures for our home that were begging for some TLC. Here's the one I am sharing with you today..

This farmhouse table was at one of our local Goodwill stores and I PROMISE this table is extremely photogenic. It's a really nice table.. don't get me wrong.. but the yellow color was that of a kitchen from the 70s. NOT CUTE! It was covered in tobacco juice, had leftover residue from stickers, and a few of the chairs were broken as well. 

I really need to work on my posture and not looking like I hate the world when I'm making my natural face.. but you can see that the top was pretty scuffed up too. Probably from someone's elbow grease. Disgusting. It's a sturdy table though.. and I knew that Stefan and I could turn it into exactly what we wanted.

And TA-DA!

I am so pleased with how our table turned out! So glad we picked this up for 140 dollars.

Here's what we used, where we got it, and how many coats:

Stain - Two coats of Minwax Stain in Dark Walnut (Walmart)

Table Paint - Three coats of Glidden's 2 in 1 Paint and Primer (Semi Gloss) in Eloquent Ivory (Walmart)

Chair Paint - Two coats of Sherwin Williams Rainwashed

Rainwashed by Sherwin Williams

We went back and forth on painting the chairs blue but went with it to add a pop of color. I'm on the lookout for a blue bowl of some sort to use as a centerpiece.

 I love how the leaf looks built in. We plan to always have the table be at it's longest.

I love the character too!

Before and After

Can't wait to get this set out of Stefan's parents' garage and into our house next week!!  Let me know what you think!