Author: Big Mama

Fashion Friday: Edition it’s spring break

So Spring Break starts for us at noon today. I am beside myself with excitement. If you need me for the next week, we’ll be busy sleeping in and doing all the relaxing and partaking in activities that require no schedule and don’t come with homework.

But let’s talk about shopping for a minute.

I’m sure a bunch of you have heard about Stitchfix. It’s an online personal shopping service that costs $20 a month. You sign up, fill out a profile with your sizes, price and style preferences, and then once a month a stylist sends you a box of five things. If you keep any of it, your $20 goes towards that purchase. And if you buy all of it, then you get 25% off the entire box.

I’d heard about it forever and know several friends that love it. And since I am always interested in new fashion discoveries and research for the blog, I finally decided to try it out. This week I received my second box from them.

Here’s my initial report. I didn’t keep anything from the first box they sent me. However, they did do a good job of choosing things that fit, but they just weren’t quite my style. So I went online and made some changes to my style profile and also linked a Pinterest page where I’ve pinned things I like. I had high hopes for my second box, but only ended up keeping a pair of earrings.

As of now I think I’ve decided that Stitchfix might be great for people who don’t like to shop for themselves or people who live in small towns with limited access to stores or maybe even if you’re just looking to break out of a style rut. But I think for me it just goes back to the fact that I love to shop. I like to look at clothes and try things on and I just know what I like when I see it. I may try Stitchfix for one more month out of curiosity, but then I may be done.

But I still wanted to let you know about it in case you’re interested. You can read more about it or sign up here if you want to try it out.

And now for things I found this week all by myself.

1. accordion tee

I spoke at a MOPs group earlier this week and a girl had on this shirt with skinny jeans and boots and it looked so cute. Plus it’s on sale.

2. destructed boyfriend jean shorts

I just ordered these for myself and I’m really hoping they work. In my mind I can see myself wearing them all summer long with various t-shirts because I am super fancy.

3. asymmetrical fleece wrap

I’ve featured this before, but I thought it was worth another mention because my friend Steph had one on at dinner the other night and it looked so comfortable, casual and cute all at the same time. That is what we call a fashion trifecta. And a steal for only $39.90.

4. summer love peasant dress

This is pretty much everything I love in a dress. Although I’d probably wear it with leggings. But I love the color and the fit. I can just see it with all manner of turquoise jewelry.

5. cheers top

It’s always nice to have a sweater type thing that’s lightweight and can be worn during the spring and summer. I really like this one. It comes in navy or white.

6. felicia flat

Here’s something I noticed at my book signing last Saturday, almost everyone there had on a darling pair of leopard flats. And now I feel like I need a pair. I’ve heard these are super comfortable.

And I also love these lucky brand emmie flats.

7. sunkissed stripe shorts

Navy and white stripes are huge this season. These shorts have already sold out online once, but I noticed they’re back in stock for now.

8. y’all hoodie

Obviously I’m going to need to own this hoodie.

9. rorey wrap dress

This is another thing that is called a dress that I wouldn’t actually wear as a dress. But I would totally wear it with white skinny jeans and turquoise jewelry. It’s precious. Just look at those sleeves!

10. mariner stripe tunic

See? Navy and white stripes. I like the longer length of this and thought it might work for those of you who want to look a little spring-ish, but live in colder climates. Also, everything full price at Loft is 50% off with code GOODNEWS at checkout.

11. j.crew pocket tunic

This would be cute with cuffed skinny jeans and the aforementioned leopard flats. It also comes in a chambray color.

And while I was looking around at J.Crew, I noticed a few other things that I have to mention because there are some great deals right now.

I love this fan fringe necklace.

And I know you may not want to think about a swimsuit right now, but they have lots of cute ones. Including this navy dot rash guard with matching tank swimsuit.

I also love these oxford shorts for only $29.50 and they come in a variety of inseam lengths depending on how short or long you prefer your shorts.

And so that’s it for today.

Now I’m officially starting my Spring Break celebration. Which looks decidedly different than it did twenty years ago.

Have a good Friday.
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I’m going to mention this briefly because you might be interested. Both of my books, Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room are currently available at both Barnes and Noble and Amazon for less than $10 right now. I’ve noticed that the prices have fluctuated and I have no idea why. I just know that they’re pretty cheap right now. Sparkly Green Earrings is here at Barnes and Noble and here on Amazon.

Antelope is here at Barnes and Noble and here at Amazon.
Narrow feet, pink poodles and shopping

I should have started writing this earlier since it’s already frightfully close to my bedtime, but I got caught up searching for pink ceramic poodles on Ebay.

What? Like you don’t totally do that same thing.

It actually began as a search for a certain pair of shoes that Caroline and I saw while we were out shopping today, but couldn’t find in her exact size. She has decided she really wants a pair of flats. However, she has the great misfortune of having a narrow foot like P’s side of the family. That’s right. I just totally threw his foot genetics under the bus.

But it’s true. They all have narrow feet. I vaguely remember his mom and sister both mentioning how hard it was for them to find shoes that fit right way back when P and I were dating and I didn’t really understand because I have a very average size 8 to 8 1/2 foot. I can pretty much wear any shoe you give me from any store and I’ve never really appreciated that until now that I have a daughter who requires a narrow shoe. When you’re dating someone you don’t really think about the implications their family’s narrow feet could have on future generations.

So that’s how I ended up on Ebay because I really wanted to find these shoes, but I had no luck. Yet as I struck out on the shoe front, I remembered these pink ceramic poodles that my Me-Ma used to have on the shelves in her formal living room. She let my sister and I have them when we were way too young to appreciate them and we turned these 1950’s vintage ceramic pink poodles into bit players in various scenarios where our Barbie dolls were dog walkers. Because did I also mention they had a fancy gold chain leash?

Well my search for pink ceramic poodles opened up a whole new world to me because I had no idea the world contained so many variations of ceramic dogs. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I even found some pink poodles that were similar to the ones my Me-Ma had, but not quite the same. I’m sure you wanted to know that.

I guess the most important thing to note is that if I’m home on my couch looking at ceramic dogs online, I obviously survived my afternoon of shopping with Caroline. In fact, I’m happy to report it was our most successful day of shopping together ever. Which is impressive when I tell you that I was suffering from PMS.

But I think it helped because I set the parameters as I drove her to school that morning. I said, “Here’s the deal. I want us to have a great time today. I won’t ask you if you’re sure you don’t like something, if you don’t get worked up because you can’t find something you like. And, the cardinal rule, if we buy it then you’re wearing it. So BE SURE.” She nodded her head in agreement and I told her I’d see her at noon.

As soon as I picked her up from school we headed to Nordstrom and ate lunch in the Nordstrom cafe. Caroline hadn’t ever eaten there before and she immediately informed me that all food might be ruined for her now that she’s eaten their fries with the olive aioli dip. She may have her father’s feet, but she has my taste buds.

After lunch we ventured down to the clothes and she found several things she wanted to try on. She decided on two shirts that were actually my favorites, but I was careful to show no real emotion and certainly didn’t mention that they were darling. And then we ventured into the shoe department where I believe I’ve already mentioned that we had no real luck because NARROW FEET.

We spent the next few hours running into various stores and ultimately had the best luck at big department stores like Macy’s, Nordstrom and Dillard’s. I usually don’t even go in those stores because I decided years ago that the enormous selection overwhelms me. I don’t know what to do with all those racks of clothes. But it works when you’re just looking in the children’s department.

And so we ended the day with several new tops, two new pairs of shorts and no tears. From either one of us. I don’t know if I could feel any greater sense of accomplishment had we climbed Mount Everest.

But then I’ve never cared much about mountain climbing. Apparently I’m too busy looking for obscure trinkets on Ebay.
Singlehandedly keeping HEB in business

So today is the first day of Lent. And you know what I’d really like to give up?

Going to the grocery store.

That’s the thought that occurred to me as I walked into HEB for the fourth time in two days yesterday. It’s like I’ve turned into my Me-Ma and Pa-Pa who used to go to the Market Basket down the street from their house an average of forty-two times a week.

My initial trip was to pick up some prescriptions for P and a few other things that we needed around the house. But naturally I forgot to get milk which was one of the more crucial items on my list. So I made a return trip to get it.

Then yesterday I ran to Central Market because I was going to pick up a cheese and cracker tray to take to Caroline’s school for teacher conference week. Except they were out of cheese and cracker trays.

So I drove to my regular HEB in the hopes of finding a cheese and cracker tray and also to pick up yet another prescription for P because I had called the doctor earlier to see if he could call in a different medication. (I think most of you know by now that I consider myself to practically be a doctor because of all my pharmaceutical sales experience. It’s almost exactly the same as all those years of medical school.)

But the new prescription hadn’t been called in yet, plus there was nary a cheese and cracker tray to be found. I had to resort to buying assorted cheeses and boxes of crackers to create my own cheese tray just like women used to do in pioneer times. However, I did take this opportunity to buy us all new toothbrushes because you always hear about how that’s important after you’ve been sick.

(Of course I’ve also heard that you’re supposed to buy a new pillow at least once every couple of years and I think I’ve been sleeping on the same pillow ever since P and I got married. It’s not entirely due to lack of trying. I’ve purchased a few pillows over the years in the hopes that one of them might be THE ONE, but they’ve all left me with regrets and I’ve returned to my first love.)

(Just in case you’re going to recommend a pillow, I need you to know that I enjoy a feather pillow and it needs to be fairly flat. Don’t try to tell me I want anything that involves memory foam. You might as well tell me to lie my head on a cement cinder block every night.)

(Also, I believe it was Oprah who spread that propaganda about the need for a new pillow on a regular basis and that’s easy to say when you can afford to buy all manner of pillows filled with the right blend of essence of butterfly wings and magical sleep dust made from a unicorn’s horn.)

The sweet girl at the pharmacy said she’d call me when the prescription was ready but I never heard from her and it’s probably for the best because if I’d had to go to HEB for the fifth time in two days I might have lost my will to live.

And given the fact that this is the headline story of this post, it’s safe to assume there just isn’t much going on around here right now. The truth is I think I’m still recovering after a month of releasing a book and traveling and taking care of Caroline while she was sick and then getting sick myself and now taking care of P. Which maybe explains why I’ve had a tendency to go full on hermit on any day that gives me that opportunity.

I’m just shy of growing a beard and living under a bridge and yelling at billy goats. Except now that I think about it, I think that was a troll. Whatever.

You get the point.

Anyway, Caroline has early dismissal from school for the rest of the week. I mentioned that one day we could go have a nice girls’ lunch and then do some shopping for clothes that aren’t darling. She has taken me up on my offer. I would appreciate prayers for patience and a supernatural understanding of sentences that sound like “I don’t want a short sleeve shirt, but one that is kind of short sleeve-ish” or “I like this but it feels kind of …(makes gesture like flapping arms while frowning)”

But I have to say it promises to be a lot more fun than another trip to the grocery store.
The lamest post ever

It’s true.

I’m not even saying that in like a “ha ha just kidding” kind of way. This may truly go down as the lamest post ever.

But I spent all day in Austin yesterday and P officially has the flu and winter is apparently never going to end and I just have nothing of interest to say at all.

Hopefully tomorrow will be different.

But several of you mentioned the top I had on in yesterday’s post. A dear reader named Heidi sent it to me after she saw it featured on Fashion Friday a while back. It appears to be sold out in the cream, but it is still available in the mocha.

It’s the ethereal lace top.

This goodness gracious top in red is a short-sleeved version.

And then this free people infinite arms lace tunic top is a similar look, but significantly pricier. However, GORGEOUS.

Lastly, I’ve contacted the winner of the Marriage in Six Words contest by email, but many of you mentioned that you’d really like a deer scarf of your own. I found them on Etsy.

Here’s the link for the deer scarf

And I promise I’ll be back tomorrow with something more interesting.

Oh! One last thing, my best friends I’ve never met, The Junk Gypsies, featured me on their blog yesterday. You can read their post here.
My fingers are still frozen from the soccer game

Well I’m sure you’ll be relieve to know that I am finally feeling better. My voice has returned to normal and I no longer walk through my days sounding like I’m in need of an iron lung.

But I have two pieces of bad news.

First, P is now sick. He just told me that he feels so bad that he almost understands how miserable I was that time I had surgery on my belly button and had to drag myself across the house.

I don’t know why he even wants to joke about that. No one has ever felt that miserable.

Secondly, it appears that once upon a time someone else took that same cough medicine I took a week ago and had the same hallucination I did. A reader sent me this picture.

Granted, I don’t know if this squirrel’s name is Sitka, but he is definitely holding a fishing pole and may also be allergic to peanuts. Of course I guess the upside is if my line of children’s books pans out, I can check to see if that particular squirrel model is looking to expand his resume beyond the world of greeting cards.

In other news, we all nearly froze to death at Caroline’s soccer game Sunday afternoon. I realize those of you in the Northern states might feel like this is an exaggeration, but I assure you it was an extremely blustery 40 degrees. And it didn’t help that we weren’t really dressed for it. Mainly because it had been 75 degrees just a couple of hours beforehand and I underestimated how quickly temps could drops.

But that was the most unpleasant moment in a weekend that was actually really great.

On Friday afternoon I drove to College Station because I was speaking at Grace Bible Church that evening. It was an event I’d been looking forward to for a long time because I think we all know how much I love that city. And, honestly, I was really teary for a large part of the drive there because it felt kind of like a full circle moment in my life. I never could have imagined when I was a student at Texas A&M that some day I would be back speaking at a women’s event at a church.

That’s me speaking. I have no idea what I’m doing with my arm.

And it was even sweeter because I had dear friends there with me.

That’s Gulley and my friend Tiff. We all lived together in college. Well, technically Tiff didn’t live with us but she was at our apartment so much that she might as well have.

It was a great night and confirmed that I have reached an age where I think all college girls appear to be about thirteen. It’s amazing what faces look like before the sun damage sets in. They were precious.

The next morning I did a book signing/reading at the Barnes and Noble in town and it was fun to meet some new people and see some familiar faces. I think the thing that always strikes me is how much I enjoy meeting everyone. It really does feel like we’re just friends that haven’t met yet.

Here’s a video that my friend Debbi did from the reading in case you’re interested and don’t mind that I read really fast.

And then I drove back home to San Antonio and fell asleep on my couch for two hours.

The end.
Fashion Friday: Edition the last day of February

It was on Tuesday afternoon this week that Caroline announced out of the blue that she’s tired of wearing running shorts and t-shirts to school every day. She’s ready to wear some cuter things from here on out. So I said, “Great! You have some really cute stuff in your closet that you’ve barely worn. Let’s start with that.”

And she just kind of looked at me blankly.

But the next morning she looked through her closet and picked out a pair of actual jeans and a shirt that wasn’t a t-shirt to wear to school. Then when she got home she tried to explain her ultimate fashion vision to me.

However, I was failing to understand. So I had her sit next to me as we looked online at Gap, Old Navy, Boden and Nordstrom. None of those were right. NONE OF THEM.

And so I finally sighed as I admitted, “I have no idea what you’re envisioning.”

To which she replied, “I just want to wear clothes that aren’t darling or anything like that.”

Well. Of course. Who wants to look darling?

Anyway, here are some things I found this week. I can’t promise that they aren’t darling.

1. luana blouse

This blouse is a little pricey, but it’s everything I love in a blouse. Love the drop waist, the navy color and the gorgeous embroidery.

2. sunset tunic

Blue and white is pretty much a theme this week. Love this top and the colors.

3. cobalt military anorak

I realize there are army green anoraks all over the place, but I saw this delightful cobalt color on sale at Piperlime and thought it would be a really cute transition piece for Spring and Summer. I can totally see it with white jeans and a yellow top. Maybe with Converse tennis shoes and a scarf.

4. lace detail boho blouse

This blouse has great reviews and it looks really pretty. Love the navy, but it also comes in a blush color that looks promising.

5. embroidered bib tunic top

Okay. This might be darling. And it also comes in a pink coral-ish color that is really pretty.

6. embroidered peasant top

I apologize in advance for being so enamored with embroidered peasant tops. I can’t quit them.

7. sunflower fields crocheted top

This is really delicate and pretty. I can totally see it with shorts or a great pair of colored jeans.

8. puerto nuevo embroidered blouse

I love how crisp and clean this looks. I’m such a fan of blue and white for Spring and Summer.

9. park day top

This is what I’m saying. I love this style of top.

10. j.crew popover

These popovers from J.Crew are so great to wear with jeans or shorts. And this comes in this gorgeous hot pink or a lovely turquoise. Plus it’s an extra 30% off with the code TAKE30 at checkout.

11. j.crew baseball sweater

I realize I normally don’t feature eleven things, but I’m living on the edge this week. And I really happen to enjoy this baseball sweater. There’s also a striped version that’s cute. And it’s also 30% off with the code TAKE30 at checkout.

That’s it for today.

Have a great Friday.