Month: May 2013

So by the time most of you read this I’ll be on a flight to Atlanta for the weekend. I’m meeting Sophie there and we’re going to Living Proof Live to see Beth Moore. And I really can’t express how I excited I am about the whole thing.

We’d planned this trip months ago, but I had no idea it would be such perfect timing to get away for the weekend.

Speaking of Sophie, her first book releases this coming Tuesday, June 4th. It’s called A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet and I promise you will love it. The perfect book to take to the pool or beach this summer and laugh your head off.

And I also should mention that the audio version of Sparkly Green Earrings is now available. You can also order it from Amazon if that’s your preference. I can’t promise you won’t wish for subtitles to understand my Texas accent.

Anyway, I still need to finish packing and figure out my hair strategy for the weekend. I realize some of you don’t understand what I mean by hair strategy so I will tell you. The humidity here right now is about 280% which is even the best head of hair’s total nemesis.

And so my dilemma is whether I should wash and dry my hair tonight and wait to curl it right before I leave for the airport? Or do I wait until morning risking that it will be so humid that it will take forever to dry and I won’t have time to curl it?

I know. It’s a real problem.

I’d appreciate your prayers.

Now for some cute things I’ve seen this week.

1. tiled mosaic shorts

I think these are super cute if you’re into shorts for the summer. And they have a four inch inseam which means they’re a little longer than some other printed shorts I’ve seen that can only be worn by Barbie dolls or people who don’t eat cheese.

2. milkshake bow wedge green sandals

These are precious. If you’ve ever thought you might need some green shoes – and who hasn’t? – these are for you.

3. pattern gather shell

I just think this is really pretty.

4. old navy denim cutoff shorts

Y’all. I have been on an extensive cutoff journey. It has taken me to many dressing rooms and some dark places in my mind as I’ve weighed the pros and cons of various styles, shapes, and inseam lengths. Last Friday night I even cut off two pairs of old jeans to make cutoffs of my own.

But if you’re afraid of that option and still want cutoffs? These denim ones from Old Navy have been my favorites. Bonus? They’re only $15.

Sadly, the colored options at Old Navy aren’t as great. I’m not sure why there is such a denim discrepancy between the colored and the regular, but it’s a real thing. The colored ones feel cheap and have no stretch.

5. sunday in brooklyn top

This is a cute summer top. And it comes in blue too.

6. botanical print chiffon top

I have long coveted a similar top from Free People but have never been able to justify the price tag. But I saw this at Forever 21 and it’s very close to the original but a 1/4 of the price. Which is a good thing.

7. jade boho rings

How pretty are these for summer? Love the colors. They’re like sherbet. Which I always think should be spelled “sherbert” since that’s the way I say it because I am very sophisticated.

8. callisto brayden sandals

I adore these. Mainly because I’m a fan of any shoe that doesn’t have a strap that has to be buckled.

9. michael kors chain bracelet watch

Yesterday the girl who cuts my hair had on this watch and I fell madly in love with it and tried to steal it off her arm. Which was awkward.

(I didn’t really try to steal it off her arm but I thought about it.)

10. geo print maxi skirt

I saw this in Gap this week and thought it was cute. I’m a fan of a geometric pattern.

That’s it for this week.

Y’all have a good Friday.

I was invited to write a guest post on Ann Voskamp’s blog today. And there’s pretty much nothing I wouldn’t do for Ann. She’s my favorite. I’ve even thrown up in front of her. We’re bonded for life.

Here’s the link if you want to read what I wrote.

I’m not going to lie. When I heard P’s phone alarm go off yesterday morning I wanted to throw it through the window. Because you know what is so wrong?

Going to school after Memorial Day weekend.

Remember back when we were little and school started right after Labor Day and ended right before Memorial Day? And we walked uphill to school both ways in the snow with no cell phone? Those were good times.

Honestly, there is so much talk about the educational budget crisis and how to cut costs and I certainly don’t claim to be any sort of math wizard and I can hardly balance my checking account on a good month without just rounding down, but doesn’t it seem like we could save a lot of money if we cut out a month of meal expenses and utilities at every school in Texas? I mean especially when you consider it’s basically a month of watching movies and having pajama days and teachers trying to kill time because everyone is totally burned out?

I’m just kidding. I never attempt to balance my checkbook. That’s why I got married.

Anyway, Caroline was even more unhappy about getting up for school than I was. In fact, she shed real tears and made bold statements about conspiracies by the government to keep kids from having fun. It made the morning routine as pleasant as you might imagine.

But I finally got her off to school with the solace of knowing she only has seven days left and then I drove to Smart Barre to meet Gulley for the 8:30 class. Here’s what you need to know. I hate the 8:30 class. It doesn’t give me enough time to really wake up and causes a coffee dilemma. Do I drink coffee before the class or wait until after? Invariably I always choose after and this just deepens my resentment about the whole working out thing.

However, I was meeting a friend for coffee at 9:45 and so the 8:30 class was necessary because I knew there was no way I’d talk myself into going to the 11:00 class after coffee. My life is very difficult.

The truth is I enjoy Smart Barre for the most part. I feel better. I have more energy. My arms are definitely more toned than they were when I started. But I’ve now learned the routine of the workout well enough to know that I need to be filled with fear and dread when the instructor says, “Face the bar. Hold onto the bar with an underhand grip and then slide down to a 90 degree angle like you’re sitting in a chair.”

This never ends well. You know why?

Because there’s not a chair there. And the only time it really feels comfortable to sit at a 90 degree angle like you’re sitting in a chair? Is when there’s an actual chair to sit on. That’s just basic gravity. And we end up staying in that position until I either want to scream an obscenity or die or both.

But then we stretch it out at the end of class and it’s like I forget how bad it all was. It’s like the exercise version of childbirth but without the ice chips and jello afterwards. Oh, and the baby.

After Smart Barre, I met my friend at Starbucks and then I went to HEB because we were out of everything. You’d think maybe I would learn to go to the store before it’s all dire straits over here but you’d be wrong. You get your money for nothing and your chicks for free every time.

So I made a marathon shopping trip and bought food items that can serve to create actual meals. Which shouldn’t seem like a novel concept, but we’ve been so busy and called Papa John’s so many times that it kind of does.

All that to say, that we made these fish tacos last night.

 

Edited to add: Here’s the link to the recipe if you can’t click on the picture above.

And they were delicious. We used some trout that P had in the freezer and he battered it with a combination of egg, flour and Panko crumbs. And then I took a page from the Lazy Girl’s Guide to Cabbage Slaw and bought it in a package at HEB and then seasoned it with Rice Wine Vinegar and lime juice.

But y’all. It’s the Yum Yum sauce that takes it over the edge. Because the name doesn’t lie. Just like Shakira’s hips.

So we filled corn tortillas with the fish, the slaw, a slice of avocado and a healthy dose of the Yum Yum sauce. And it might be one of my new favorite dinners ever.

And I ate enough that I’m going to have to be back at Smart Barre tomorrow morning.

Well this turned out to be an interesting Memorial Day weekend.

I mean if you consider a flood to be interesting.

The great irony is that as recently as Friday morning the local police knocked on our front door to inform us that we were watering our yard at the wrong time due to new water restrictions. Here’s what some of you may not know, San Antonio loves some watering restrictions. If you live here you have to constantly hear about the aquifer and preserving the aquifer and how some blind salamander is going to die if we don’t watch the water levels of the aquifer. I start to feel like Jan Brady because everything is all “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” except it’s “Aquifer, Aquifer, Aquifer!”.

And, listen, I get that we’ve been in a drought. But history has shown that at some point it’s going to rain again. It just is. So my eyes rolled out of my head while we watched the news Thursday night and the anchorpeople were all talking about how we were just days away from entering Stage 3 water restrictions. Stage 3 basically means that you might as well move to the desert because that’s how your yard is going to look before the summer is over.

Then on Friday afternoon it rained. Actually it was a deluge. We got about an inch and a half of rain in about an hour. I was super excited because I was meeting a friend for lunch and I actually got to wear my rain boots that I never get to wear because, well, drought.

The rest of Friday we just kind of laid low. The weathermen said we might get a little more rain, I wasn’t feeling great and still recovering from my late night with Taylor Swift, and so we ordered pizza and just hung out. Then we all went to bed at 10:30 because we are out of control.

Around 3:00 a.m. I woke up to the sound of distant thunder which I thought was odd since rain wasn’t forecasted. Then at 5:15 a.m. a clap of thunder shook our entire house. I know it was 5:15 because it caused me to sit straight up in bed since the end was apparently near based on the noise. But I fell back asleep to the sound of the pouring rain, relieved that it was a Saturday morning and we could all just sleep in.

And that’s what Caroline and I did. We slept in until 10:00 a.m. and woke to discover that it had rained over nine inches while we slept and that roads were flooded and her haircut appointment had been cancelled and that our planned day at the pool wasn’t going to happen because, well, the pool was flooded.

It was the most rain San Antonio has seen in one day since the flood of ’98 which was billed as a 500 year flood. Except apparently not.

So we spent most of Saturday watching weather reports and road updates until P and Caroline finally decided to get on their bikes and ride down the street to see the flood waters for themselves.

Those are the Little League fields right down the street. The good news is that there are no longer homes down that way because they weren’t allowed to rebuild there after the ’98 flood.

On Saturday night we went over to Gulley’s for dinner and that was pretty much our big Memorial Day celebration. I’d envisioned that we’d spend Sunday and Monday at the pool but the pool is flooded. Well, the pump room at the pool is flooded and it appears that the roof of the women’s restroom caved in, so the pool is closed for the indefinite future. I’d complain about it more but it seems wrong to complain about how I couldn’t swim and eat a burger at the pool grill on a holiday that is all about remembering soldiers who died to protect our freedom.

P ended up taking Caroline, Will and Jackson to the ranch for the day on Sunday.

They ended up killing yet another rattlesnake. Clearly Caroline was terrified.

And then when they got home later that evening, I drove the kids back down to see all the flooding because the boys hadn’t seen it yet. Caroline and Will spent some time arguing over who was the “most devastated” by all the flood waters. Last I checked, Caroline won for “most devastated” because it’s closer to our house although they both win for MOST DRAMATIC.

This is the spillway to the Olmos Dam by our house. It’s normally almost totally empty.

Naturally we had to throw some sticks and rocks in the water because why wouldn’t we? I had to threaten them within an inch of their life to STAY OUT OF THE WATER UNLESS YOU ALL WANT TO END UP IN THE HOSPITAL WITH STAPH because I don’t even want to know what all is in that water.

And I could weep thinking about the generations of mosquitoes that will be hatched over the next few weeks. Of course maybe that blind salamander will eat them all. It’s really the least he could do after we’ve saved him all these years by protecting the aquifer.

Speaking of bugs and such, I took the kids to see Epic on Monday since I may have mentioned that the pool was closed. And that’s when I realized that I have a complete phobia/aversion to any movies that involve humans becoming the size of insects. It’s why I disliked Honey, I Shrunk the Kids all those years ago and it’s why I didn’t care for Epic yesterday.

I don’t need to see a world where people wear acorns as helmets or ride hummingbirds or get attacked by a mouse. I’m all for suspending reality but it’s just more than I can handle.

Much like worrying about the aquifer.

So Wednesday night I took Caroline to see Taylor Swift in concert with my friend Julie and her daughter Sadie. And we had the best time. She puts on a serious show. There were violinists, ballet dancers, fireworks, and an amount of confetti so great that I can only imagine the staff at the AT&T Center is still picking it up right now.

(Our tickets nor my iPhone camera were sufficient enough to get that picture. A friend texted it to me.)

As it turns out, the only problem with a weeknight concert is that you don’t get home until midnight. And then you toss and turn for a few hours because you’re still so wound up from the whole thing. So I spent all of yesterday feeling like something that cat hocked up. Except not that good.

In fact, I felt inspired to write my own version of Taylor Swift’s song 22. I call it 42.

It feels like a perfect night to put on our jammies
And go to bed early, ah ah, ah ah.
It feels like a perfect night for Modern Family
To fall in love with Cameron, ah ah, ah ah.

Yeah,
We’re hormonal, tired, confused, and hot at the same time
It’s miserable and magical, oh, yeah
Tonight’s the night when we pour a big glass of wine
It’s time

Uh oh!
I don’t know about you
But I’m feeling 42
Everything will be alright
If I stay away from you
You don’t know about me
But you don’t really want to
Everything will be alright
If I get some sleep because I’m 42.

You’re welcome for that. I can’t imagine why Taylor is packing stadiums full of people and I’m not.

Now let’s move on to clothes since that’s why you’re here
.

1. old navy jersey tube romper

These are apparently only available online, but they’re super cute and come in several different colors. Perfect to throw on over your bathing suit this summer.

2. max & mia crinkled maxi skirt

It’s semi-annual sale time at Nordstrom right now so it’s a great time to find some good deals. I really like this maxi skirt because it isn’t knit and clingy like some of them which can leave a person with some serious undergarment issues. And it comes in several colors.

3. embroidered ikat tee

I think this top would be so cute with shorts or jeans for summer. And it’s on sale. Plus it comes in a few other colors. Is it just me or is this several other colors thing a trend?

4. old navy embroidered gauze top

Love a good lightweight top to throw on with shorts or jeans all summer long. And this one is on sale.

5. paisley trails tee

I hate to be repetitive, but this is also on sale. And really cute. And also comes in white.

6. kypria gauze tank

Okay, this only comes in blue or yellow. Both of which I like. But I think I’d lean towards the blue.

7. marpesia kimono top

I love this so much that I don’t know what to do with myself.

8. gap essential rugby crew top

I tried this on in Gap the other day and fell in love. It is so soft and looks so great with a pair of shorts.

9. veronetta tunic

I nearly linked to this last week and then decided not to because, well, spaghetti straps. This requires a strapless bra situation which means it’s out for me. However, maybe you don’t have my issues. In which case I really like it a lot.

10. gap sunkissed shorts

Okay. I am really picky about my shorts. But I tried these on the other day and really liked them. Plus this green? I DIE.

I’ve also been looking at various colored cut off shorts. I love these Gap cutoffs but they feel just a wee bit too short for me. However, I’ve ordered them online in a tall so we’ll see how that strategy plays out.

In the meantime, I have my eye on these riley shorts by Lucky. And you can find them a lot cheaper but in limited sizes and colors here.

Or you can always just do my Plan B which is going to be to buy some cheap colored jeans from Old Navy and cut them off myself to a length I find acceptable. Necessity is the mother of cutoff invention.

And that’s it for today.

Y’all have a good Friday and a great Memorial Day weekend.

Listen.

I’m not even going to pretend like we might start doing these on a regular basis, but we managed to crank out a podcast yesterday with little to no emotional distress. And that feels like a victory.

If you’re new here, this is my friend Sophie and me basically talking about a variety of nothing. Topics may include college baseball, makeup and a fear of symmetrical round patterns.

It promises to be nothing short of riveting.

You can click here to listen. Or here. Or you can subscribe on iTunes.