Advice needed!

Hi friends. Welcome back to another combined edition of What I'm Loving Wednesday and Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday. I love Wednesdays because these link-ups give me the chance to throw a bunch of random, positive and/or pretty things out there. First, though, I've decided to host my own summer book challenge on this blog, so please check it out if you like to read! :) And here goes....

First, I am loving so many things about this week!! On Saturday, my dad came through Albuquerque on a road trip, so I got to spend Saturday evening and Sunday morning with him. We had dinner, checked out an Irish pub, played some blackjack (I kicked his butt!) and had Dunkin' Donuts the next morning. (As a Southern transplant to California, my dad drinks Dunkin' Donuts as often as he gets the chance. Fun fact: There are no Dunkin' Donut shops in California. Until this military base gets one, that is.)

As if seeing my dad wasn't great enough, I'm leaving for Columbia tomorrow, which means I'll get to see this girl and this girl and this girl and so many more of my Mizzou friends! #lovelovelove

Back to Albuquerque, though.... I decided to stop by the mall and see if I could find something to match my awesome yellow skirt I bought last week. (Y'all remember how excited I was about that find, right?) I didn't end up getting anything to go with the skirt, but I did buy a really cute navy blazer at Forever 21 to add to my ever-growing "young professional" wardrobe. Also, thanks for all your comments and fashion advice last week! I've decided I want to get a charcoal gray pencil skirt suit this summer; let me know if you see a cute one anywhere! Now that that's decided, I have two more fashion questions for you:

1. What other color blazer should I get (in addition to my navy one)? I'm thinking something pastel or bright, just to be fun, but I still want to be able to wear it with a lot of different pieces.
2. What the heck should I wear with my yellow skirt? I'm thinking light blue and/or white, inspired by this fabulous outfit, but I can't think of anything else that would look good. Help! This is it:

Image via The Limited, but product no longer available

If I were fashionable, this is what I would wear.

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I hope your weeks have been good so far. I'm sticking with my usual Wednesday link-ups for now, but please take my survey if you have a few minutes to give me some feedback on my blog. It's only ten questions and all questions are optional. Now, on to what I'm loving this week....

First, please indulge me for a minute while I tell a roundabout story: I've been wanting a yellow pencil skirt for a while now (remember this?), and I thought I struck gold when The Limited had a 50% off sale on its website last week. I had put a yellow pencil skirt in my cart a while ago but was putting off buying it. Of course, when I went to buy it at the reduced price, it was no longer available! Luckily, I had to pick someone up in Albuquerque on Thursday night, so I went down early to stop by the mall. There were only about three yellow skirts left, and only one was close to my size, but alas, not close enough. Then, a saleswoman found my size on a mannequin and I was able to buy the skirt! It was 40% off in the store and I didn't have to pay shipping, so it ended up being a better deal than if I had bought the skirt online! Score.

Warm weather wishings.

Happy Hump Day! As usual, I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple and This Kind of Love. This is one of my favorite blogging days because I look forward to scouring my pins each week and thinking about all the good things that have happened in my life recently.

First, a little synopsis of what I'm loving:

• I'm headed back to Columbia next month! Y'all know how much I've been missing my college friends, and I can't wait to see their beautiful faces and enjoy some really cheap college-town drink specials!
• I put the new biography Catherine the Great on hold at the local library weeks ago, and my spot in line finally came up this weekend! Whoop! Now I'm just counting down the days until it's my turn to hold Lone Wolf in my hands.... (Edited to add: I checked my library account this morning, and it's my turn for Lone Wolf! Going to pick it up on my lunch break today!)
• And, of course, I'm loving this gorgeous weather Santa Fe's been having! In fact, that's what inspired my pin theme this week: How I want to spend my days now that the thermometers are regularly hitting 70 degrees.

Source: cntraveler.com via Megan on Pinterest

A pleasant bike ride to the coffee shop.

Spring has sprung!

It's time for my usual Wednesday link-ups:

First, I am loving one thing in particular this week: Yesterday, I got two pretty sweet online gift card deals: a $15 iTunes card from Best Buy for only $12, and a $10 Amazon card (for new Kindle books, of course) for only $5. That's $25 worth of merchandise for only $17, or 32 percent off!

#savvyshopper #moneyinthebank

In honor of the first day of spring yesterday, here are some spring-inspired pins to warm you up! (The first image is what I like to imagine I'll dress like as an LC next year. But let's be real ... I'm just not that fashionable.)

Source: theandrewsupdate.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Zoos and cute animals and such.

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for two link-ups: The Vintage Apple's "Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday!" and This Kind of Love's "What I'm Loving Wednesday."

First, a couple things I'm loving:

• My little brother is in town for his spring break! It's been fun having someone to come home to and checking out some new restaurants around town.
• After a few snowy days last week, it's warmed up considerably, so I can ride my bike to work again (following all these rules, of course)! It's also lovely to still have a couple hours of sun left when I got off work. (Thanks, Daylight Savings! I was mad at you on Sunday when you stole an hour of sleep, but now I like you a whole lot.)
• I'm going to Vail, Colorado, this weekend for a staff retreat! I just hope I don't make myself look like a fool next to all the experienced skiers I'll be going with.
• My $50 Visa gift card from winning Lovely Undergrad's internship attire contest came this week! (Thanks, Jessica!) See my winning entry here.

And now, on to the pins! Quick question: Am I the only person who feels bad about how much I love zoos? I mean, obviously I would prefer to see exotic animals in their natural habitats, but that is very time- and money-intensive. Instead, I get uber-giddy about visiting zoos, but then I always feel bad that the animals have been taken from their native lands. I try to console myself with the thought that endangered animals can breed in zoos and keep their species alive, but it doesn't help that much. The reason I've been pondering this is because my theme for this week is adorable animals! Enjoy.

Source: google.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: nnm.ru via Megan on Pinterest

Source: zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: theberry.com via Megan on Pinterest

And finally, these puppies grew up together. Check out the photos taken five years apart. #adorbs

Source: cuteoverload.com via Abby on Pinterest

I actually did a similar post to this one way back in 2011, before I knew about Pinteresting Wednesdays, but I figure there's no such thing as too many cute animals, right? See my previous post (with more adorable photos!) here.

Big news!

It's time for another edition of The Vintage Apple's "Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday!" From now on, I'm also going to combine my Wednesday post with another link-up, "What I'm Loving Wednesday" from This Kind of Love, because I usually only pin stuff I love anyway, right? :) So here goes!

First, there is something specific that I am loving this week. Last Thursday, I found out I had been chosen as a 2012-2013 Leadership Consultant for Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and on Monday I got to tell everyone! A Leadership Consultant (or "LC," as we more often call them) is a first-year alumna of Alpha Delta Pi who travels around the country helping collegiate chapters and colonies with officer trainings, programming, recruitment, rituals and the like. I'm super excited about this job because it combines two of my favorite things—leadership development and travel—with, of course, ample opportunities for social media! I hope you'll follow along with my travels on this blog when I start the job this summer!