Author: Big Mama

  • Fashion Friday: Edition I looked up and it’s April

    It feels like every year that once Spring Break is over that the time just flies by and apparently this year is no different because I can’t believe it’s April. We can basically start counting down the weeks until summer without feeling depressed about it being too far away. Although I guess we all have to survive May first and that is never an easy feat, but maybe some shopping will help.

    Here are some cute things I found this week:

    1. steve madden kirsten layered platform sandal

    My friend Jamie had on some sandals very similar to these on Easter and I thought they were so cute and she says they are super comfortable. Steve Madden actually has several colors and variations of these and even though they’re $89.95, they are still a lot less than the Ugg version I originally loved.

    I also like these Mia Calla platform sandals if you’re looking for something similar but a little less. They are $59.95, come in several color options and have all five star reviews.

    2. rosario flutter sleeve jumpsuit

    I saw Jamie Ivey wearing this on Instagram the other day and texted her immediately to ask if it was as cute as it appeared to be. She said yes and so I ordered immediately. It’s on sale for $78 and also comes in red. It is the most comfortable thing ever and very flattering. Just for size reference, I’m usually a 4 and the small fits great so I’d say it’s true to size but also has some stretch so it’s forgiving.

    I also love this sleeveless rosario jumpsuit if you want more a summer look. It also comes in red.

    Sadly, it’s not on sale but since it’s an Able product you can feel good about your purchase because your money is going to support a good cause.

    3. sirena ruffle dress

    Love the colors in this dress and think it would be cute dressed up or down. You could even throw a jacket on over it for the office.

    4. stonehenge drops

    These are so pretty and turquoise jewelry is my weakness. But they also come in several colors and are $32.

    While we’re talking jewelry, I really like this aimee layered y-chain necklace for summer. It would be something you could wear with just a simple v-neck t-shirt and dress it up.

    It’s $48 but you can get 15% off and free shipping if it’s your first Baublebar purchase.

    5. ae soft overalls

    Listen. I realize these aren’t for everyone. But they came up on my Facebook feed which just confirms that Facebook knows way too much about us because I was drawn to them immediately. They look so comfortable and I think they’d be cute with a tank or tee under them with sandals. They are on sale for $37.46.

    6. striped topper

    A few of you asked about the sweater I had on at Easter. It’s several years old, but came from Blue Door Boutique so I looked to see if they had anything similar in stock. Sadly, they don’t.

    But they do have this really cute striped topper that’s on sale for just $11.50. It would look so cute over all white for summer and would transition nicely into the fall.

    7. cloth + stone plaid swing tunic

    I’ve loved this shirt for a while and now it’s on sale for $41.97 because Anthropologie has 40% off all sale items right now. There’s also a blue and red plaid version. I love them both equally but am leaning toward the gray right now.

    8. j.crew chambray faux wrap dress

    J.Crew Factory is offering a buy 1, get 1 free with code FREESTUFF at checkout. I think this chambray dress is really pretty and could be a really versatile item in your closet. There’s a printed version too that is cute, but I tend to lean toward solid colors. I can totally see this with a great pair of wedges and fun earrings.

    And if you need something else to get free, I love this j.crew printed tie waist shirt to wear with shorts or jeans or a denim skirt.

    It also comes in black & white gingham and a coral print with elephants.

    9. birkenstock essentials arizona slide sandals

    I’ve featured these every summer since I discovered them a few years ago because they are the greatest thing for summer. They’re Birkenstocks made out of material that is similar to a Croc. We call them Birkencrocs at our house and feel good about that. But they are seriously so great for the pool, the lake, the beach or wherever you may find yourself in water.

    They are $39.95 and come in a bunch of colors.

    10. tassel tie neck cut out detail dress

    I saw this on Shein and think it’s really cute. I’ve ordered several things from them now and have had good luck with all of them. I’d definitely size up one size though because most of it seems to run small. This dress is just $30 and the medium size is 35.4 inches long to give you an idea of if you’d think it’s long enough for you. Otherwise, it could work as a tunic over a pair of skinny jeans with wedges.

    That’s it for today.

    Have a good Friday.

  • For lack of a better title, here are five things I want to share

    The good news is it rained last night and the oak pollen appears to be temporarily defeated because I can actually breathe and my eyes aren’t watering.

    The bad news is the thunderstorm came through while we were sitting in metal bleachers at the high school watching a soccer playoff game. Not necessarily the place you want to be when a lightning storm hits.

    And we’d left Piper and Mabel in the backyard while we were at the game, so they were none to pleased with us when we got home and they’d had to find shelter on the back porch instead of under the bed which is their preferred thunderstorm location.

    Mabel wrote a haiku about it:

    Thunder and lightning
    Left outside on this dark night
    I will now shun you

    Here are a few things I wanted to share today that I think you might want to know about.

    1. An excerpt from Everyday Holy in MTL Magazine – The Glory in Our Midst

    This is an excerpt from Everyday Holy that I thought you might want to read. I still can’t believe I wrote a 100 day devotional. In fact, I was thinking that in high school I could’ve been voted Most Likely To Never Write a Devotional Book. Life is funny.

    Just a reminder that it comes out on Tuesday, April 10th, but if you pre-order before that day you can get a matching journal. It’s a little confusing, but just follow this handy tutorial.

    A. Go order Everyday Holy from your favorite online retailer. It’s lovely in person and a hardcover book for just $12.32 and it would make a great gift for graduation or Mother’s Day.

    You can find it here on Amazon, here at Barnes & Noble, or go to the Everyday Holy book page to see all your other online options.

    B. After you order, go to the Everyday Holy book page and fill out the form on the bottom of that page. Make sure you fill out all the information correctly. You have to fill out the form to get the journal.

    C. In the section of the form that asks for your receipt number, please enter your receipt and/or order number. Then, if you ordered multiple copies and would like to receive multiple free journals, put the total number you ordered in parentheses after your receipt/order number.

    D. The journals won’t be ready until a week or so after you get your devotional so don’t panic if you don’t receive one at the same time. It will ship separately.

    E. Thank you so much for spreading the word and buying it!

    2. Advice to writers by Joanna Puccini

    I get so many emails from aspiring writers asking for advice or how to get started. This article written by literary agent, Joanna Puccini, is about the most comprehensive guide to the writing and publishing process that I’ve ever read. I found it very informative and thought some of you might enjoy it if you’re interested in this sort of thing.

    3. When Life Grabs You by the Baseballs: Finding Happiness in Life’s Changeups by Jon Peters

    My friend Jon Peters has written a fabulous book about his life. We became great friends while we were both at Texas A&M and I’m so proud of him. He is the national record holder for the most consecutive wins by a high school picture and the first high school baseball player to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The book is about his life in baseball and his struggles after his dreams collapsed.

    I tend to recommend so many books that are more for women because, well, that’s what I read. But this would be a great one for any aspiring athlete, man or sports fan in your life. I really enjoyed it.

    4. lucid wrinkle resistant microfiber sheet set

    I bought these sheets from Overstock on a whim because we needed new sheets and figured I’d take a risk. I was skeptical because there are few people on earth who are pickier about sheet softness than me. I am high maintenance and do not even come at me with some sheets that get pilled after three washes. But these are incredibly soft and have held up really well so far. I highly recommend them.

    They’re on sale and just $45 for a king size set which is a bargain.

    5. Thoughts on soccer from Caroline, age 6

    I was looking through old videos in a fit of nostalgia because I just signed this baby up for Driver’s Ed and what has happened. But this video made me laugh. Some things never change, such as her love of soccer, winning, ability to be easily distracted and that I don’t know as much as her dad.

    Thoughts on Soccer from Big Mama on Vimeo.

    Also, I still have to remind her that her cleats only need to be worn on the soccer field if she wants them to last. Of course, back then, I had to tell her that because she wanted to wear them to first grade.

    Happy Wednesday. Keep it cool, guys.

  • This isn’t a podcast or a fashion post

    Well. I hope you all had a lovely Easter with your friends, family and various loved ones. Personally, I have no desire to ever see another egg in any given form for at least a few weeks. We have had boiled eggs, deviled eggs, egg casserole and egg kabobs. Not really on the egg kabobs but I felt like Bubba from Forrest Gump and so I went with it.

    Last week went by pretty fast because I drove to Dallas on Tuesday morning for a speaking event that night. The weather was horrendous, but the event was so fun and I got to spend the night with my friend, Jamie, and catch up on life so it was all totally worth it.

    Here I am signing books at the Say Something event.

    They were able to get in early copies of my new devotional, Everyday Holy, that comes out on April 10th and it was fun to see it live and in person.

    Anyway, I drove back home on Wednesday in the pouring rain and made it home in time to pick Caroline up from school. I’d tell you what we did for the next two days except I am sitting here and can’t remember. I guess it wasn’t very exciting. Oh, except I did go to Target to get some grand prizes for our egg hunt at church. Which is how I ended up driving through the car wash with a giant chicken.

    Friday was a holiday so we spent most of the day just hanging out. The weather was gorgeous. And then Caroline ended up going downtown with some friends that night to the music festival that was part of the Final Four festivities and so P and I had a big night of grilling burgers and sitting out on the back porch.

    On Saturday, I cooked most of the day to get ready for Easter brunch. Then we dyed Easter eggs because the rule in this house is that you are never to old to dye Easter eggs. If you don’t go to church on Easter Sunday with blue and green fingers, then you’re doing it wrong.

    Sunday morning we attempted to leave earlier than usual to make sure everything was set up at our Community Worship but failed miserably. This was due to several factors that included, but were not limited to, hair issues. Caroline may be a teenager now, but she still loves to throw in a last minute hairstyling challenge for me about three minutes before we walk out the door. We eventually made it and it was a really nice service complete with an egg hunt afterwards.

    (A few of you have asked about my sweater. I regret to tell you that it’s at least three or four years old. But I originally bought it at Blue Door Boutique.)

    After that, we came back to the house and Mimi and Bops came over for lunch, along with my friend Jamie and her family because they were in town for the Final Four. We ate and hung out for a while before everyone went their separate ways and then I took a nap that was one of those where you wake up and have no idea what day or time or maybe even what year it is.

    Every Easter I fight the battle of getting P and Caroline to stay in their church clothes long enough to get a good picture. Clearly, I lost that battle with P this year. Sometimes a man just needs his Birkenstocks and a t-shirt.

    Other than that, we’ve watched a lot of basketball, some Netflix and enjoyed the sunshine. I also feel like maybe the oak pollen is trying to kill me. And in what is a particularly disturbing turn of events, I’ve left my house three times over the last few days while wearing my reading glasses and haven’t realized until I’m outside that they aren’t my sunglasses or that I can’t see things that are far away very clearly. This feels like something I used to make fun of other people for doing and, yet, here I am.

    Hope all is well in your world. And that you have figured out ways to use all those boiled eggs and leftover ham.

  • The Big Boo Cast, Episode 100

    Well. This is it. The 100th podcast. And it only took us eleven years. Let’s pretend that we were going for quality over quantity.

    You can click here to listen. Or here. You can even listen right here on the blog.

    You can also listen on Stitcher or Google Play.

    And if you’re on the Facebook, well, we are, too.

    We’d love for you to subscribe on iTunes, and we’d be honored if you’d leave us a review.

    Here’s where you can get more info on the stuff / products / places we mention:

    The Popcast Live Show

    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

    NCAA Women’s Final Four – Columbus, Ohio

    NCAA Men’s Final Four – San Antonio, Texas

    Our very fun playlists in episode 98 and episode 99

    “Blame It On The Boogie”

    100th Episode Celebration Mash-Up by podcast listener Jen (we DIED when we heard this)

    Episode 1 of The Big Boo Cast

    Special 100th Episode T-shirt from Milk & Honey Tees

    Collagen Powder Peptides 16oz Unflavored Hydrolyzed Collagen Grass-Fed Non-GMO Kosher Easy Mix Drink

    Sunday Riley Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water Cream

    Yves Saint Laurent The Shock Mascara

    Gumbo Unplugged by PJ Morton on Apple Music

    Gumbo Unplugged by PJ Morton on Spotify

    “Is He Worthy” by Andrew Peterson on Apple Music

    “Is He Worthy” by Andrew Peterson on Spotify

    Sponsors:

    KIND Snack Club

    Bissell Bark Bath

    swap.com

  • The Big Boo Cast, Episode 99

    Here is the second part of our podcast with Travis. Enjoy!

    You can click here to listen. Or here. You can even listen right here on the blog.

    You can also listen on Stitcher or Google Play.

    And if you’re on the Facebook, well, we are, too.

    We’d love for you to subscribe on iTunes, and we’d be honored if you’d leave us a review.

    Here’s where you can get more info on the stuff / products / places we mention:

    Travis’ new worship album, The Reason

    The BigBoo Best of 90’s Country playlist on Spotify

    The BigBoo Best of 90s Country playlist on Apple Music

    The BigBooFry Best of the Late 80s / 90s playlist on Spotify

    The BigBooFry Best of the Late 80s / 90s playlist on Apple Music

    “What A Beautiful Name / Angus Dei” video with Travis and Lily

    Travis and “The Reason” on New Song Cafe’

    Sponsors:

    KIND Snack Club

  • Happy Easter!

    Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy Easter!

    But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
    the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5