Ten for Tuesday: Girl Stuff

I haven't written a Ten for Tuesday posts in awhile, and I'm inspired to write about some of my favorite girly things after writing about some serious stuff. Something about the warm, sunny weather just makes me excited about all of the brightly colored clothes and accessories that are in stores now. Plus my closet feels pretty boring lately, so I've been doing a lot of online window shopping.

Sorry, dudes. This one's for the ladies.

Ten for Tuesday: Girl Stuff

1. Straw hat, H&M. Wide-brimmed hats are slightly ridiculous, but necessary for sunny days spent on the beach. I need to invest in one of these hats, and I like the yellow stripes in this H&M version.

2. Skinny Jeans, Old Navy. Don't judge me for wanting a pair of jeggings. It's really only a matter of time before I actually own these, so get used to it.

3. Blouse, ModCloth. I'm really into the look of peplum shirts right now, and I like how this one from ModCloth is slightly flowy. I can see this working well with jeans or even under a blazer for work.

4. Ruched swimsuit, Old Navy. I think the last time I owned a one-piece swimsuit was sometime in middle school so I'm a little hesitant to actually own one again. This black one is pretty cute, though, and the low-cut top keeps it from being too "mom"-ish.

5. Nike Free Run+ 3, Zappos. I need new running shoes like crazy, and these are the newest version of the Nike's I currently own. Obnoxious lime green running shoes? Yes, please.

6. Shorts, J. Crew. Drew says that my 3" shorts are too short, to which I say, "Whatever." But I'm also turning 25 in a little more than a month, so maybe he has a point about getting some longer shorts than the ones I wore in high school. I love the J. Crew shorts I already own, so I have my eye on these slightly longer (read: age-appropriate) 5" chinos.

7. Heels, Seychelles. The first and only pair of Seychelles I own are my wedding shoes, so I have a soft spot for this brand. Most of their heels are more retro that these yellow heels, but I really like the color and the cork heel on these shoes. I have no idea where I would actually wear them, but that doesn't stop me from thinking they're cute!

8. Dress, Kohl's. This flowy dress is crazy cute, and looks nice and light for summer. Not that I need any more dresses right now, but this is adorable. (PS - the image is actually from Real Simple)

9. Sally Hansen Nail Polish, Amazon. I actually bought this exact nail polish from Walgreen's a few weeks ago, and I love it. In fact I'm currently wearing it on my toenails. It wears pretty well (on my toes anyway - it chipped on my fingernails in about 2.5 seconds) and is an easy way to wear the mint green trend that seems to be everywhere right now.

10. Wallet, Kate Spade. I'm a fan of larger wallets, and I've wanted to invest in a really nice one for awhile (my bank account disagrees though). This bright patent leather version is so cute, and could double as a clutch for a night out.

The One With the Flood

Two weeks ago we had a pretty nasty thunderstorm that flooded our apartment building. Everything was a mess, and I think I'm just now starting to process what happened and feel like everything is back to normal. Sort of.

On Thursday, May 10, we were getting into bed when our power went out. This wasn't really surprising considering that a thunderstorm had been going on outside for a few hours. What was surprising was when frantic knocking on our door woke us up around 3am. A maintenance guy from our complex came by warning us to try to move our cars out of the parking lot right then or risk them flooding and possibly being picked up in the water.

Uh, what?

We found out later that apparently the sump pump in our building quit working and water was flooding not only the parking lot, but had completely filled the basement-level apartments and storage area.

Yes, the water really was almost to the top of the doorway. Notice the floating piece of drywall that broke off of the wall.

We weren't able to move our cars, but luckily they weren't picked up in the floodwaters or damaged too badly. The next day emergency workers came to start pumping water out of our building (and a few other buildings in our complex), while we dealt with trying to dry out our cars. We ended up not having either of our cars for about a week - I couldn't even get a rental car until the next Wednesday because Enterprise had such a long wait-list of people who needed rentals.

Standing water in my car - almost up to the door - the next day.

The nasty water in my trunk.

The next day, after they had started pumping water out of the basement. It took so long to pump out all of the water that we had to evacuate the building over the weekend (since the power couldn't be turned back on with all of the water still there).

The next building over from ours. I added the black arrow to draw attention to the line where the water was in the middle of the night. Some basement windows (including the ones in our building) were actually blown out from the flooding, unlike this one.

Everything in the basement obviously was much worse off. Almost everything we had stored down there had to be trashed, but fortunately we didn't keep much down there to begin with (mostly moving boxes). Our biggest losses were our Christmas tree, Drew's bowling balls and our nice down comforter we bought as a wedding gift to ourselves. Crappy? Yes. But there are two units in the basement that people lived in, and they lost everything. We were lucky. We were even able to save most of our Christmas ornaments (some fabric ornaments from Drew's grandparents were even completely dry), which was my biggest concern.

Our apartment complex is still in shambles two weeks later. Emergency restoration workers are still here, and most of the trash (a.k.a. everyone's possessions from the basement) has just been removed. Don't even get me started on the damp, moldy smell that hits us every time we enter our building (but thankfully hasn't made it up to our third-floor apartment).

One of the giant dumpsters invading our parking lot so the workers can throw out basically our building's entire basement.

What the basement looks like now. Hard to believe the door on the right led into someone's apartment two weeks ago.

So that's what's happening in our lives right now. It wasn't fun, but at least it's pretty much over. And for anyone wondering, the residents in the basement apartments made it out safely before the water level got too high (you can read some of their story here).

I think it goes without saying that I've been pretty busy and preoccupied lately, but I'm hoping to be back soon with another recipe review and news about what we're doing this summer. I can't wait to not have to deal with this anymore!