Other

Is it weird that I’m totally relieved to write a Fashion Friday post right now? I don’t know what it says about me that I find shopping for clothes on the internet some form of relaxation, but I really don’t care. It’s the truth. I enjoy online shopping. Maybe it’s because I can order stuff and have the anticipation that maybe this top will be “THE TOP” for a few days until it arrives and I realize it’s not all it was cracked up to be.

I guess what I’m saying is online shopping is the married person’s equivalent of online dating.

But I’m even more excited because I have a fun contest that I’m announcing today that comes with a lovely array of cash and prizes. Actually there is no cash involved, but there are prizes. And it will involve a little bit of effort on your part but I think it will be fun and I’ll love it because it gives me the chance to see your faces.

First, I will tell you that there will be two winners (even though you’re all winners in my opinion) who will receive a prize package that includes a $35 gift card to Milk and Honey Tees, two monogrammed acrylic stemless wine glasses from The Ikat Elephant, and a $25 gift certificate to whichever store you happen to use to fulfill the entry requirement.

Show them what they can win, Alex.

Cute tees from Milk and Honey

Acrylic monogram wine glasses perfect for the beach or pool or patio.

I feel like you can imagine the gift certificate without seeing a picture.

So here’s what you need to do for a chance to win:

1. Go to your local Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or LifeWay and take a picture of you or someone you love holding a copy of Nobody’s Cuter Than You in the store.

2. Post the picture to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and include #nobodyscuterthanyou in your post so I can find your entry, along with a # for whatever store you choose for your photo op. (For example, #Walmart, #Barnes&Noble, or #LifeWay)

3. You have until next Friday to get your entries posted and then I will choose two winners at random and notify you on your post or by email.

4. Bonus points are not awarded for creativity, yet it will make me happy.

5. Have fun and hope you love the book.

And now for the fashion portion of the day:

1. side stitch chambray tunic

I really like this to wear with leggings or skinnies. It comes in blue, gray or white depending on your preference.

2. summers wedge sandal

Last summer Kate Middleton had these Stuart Weitzman cork wedges that I adored but didn’t buy because they were like a gazillion dollars and I’m not married to the future King of England. These aren’t exactly the same but good for those of us on a commoner’s budget.

3. teardrop bead necklace

This would look so cute for summer and would give a little pop to even a basic white t-shirt. It also comes in mint, ivory, navy and pink depending on your accessory needs.

4. ladder lace blouse

I love a loose, sleeveless top like this for summer. This one comes in black as well and is on sale for $59.95

5. so very classic cardigan

I realize you may have twenty of these. Or maybe that’s just me. Whatever. I just think it’s a perfect thing to throw over a tank on a cool night.

6. bali diamond belted dress

Love a good casual dress for the summer.

7. grant avenue embroidered blouse

I’m such a fan of an embroidered top with jeans and some wedges.

8. folklore embroidered blouse

See? I’m powerless over the embroidered top. This one would look amazing with white jeans or shorts.

9. franco sarto gia sandals

I actually saw these sandals when Sheaffer posted them on her blog a week or so ago and decided to order them even though I had conflicting feelings about that big toe ring. Would I be ok with my big toe being set apart from my other toes? There was only one way to find out.

They came in the mail this week and I ADORE them. They are so comfortable and look great with everything I’ve tried them with so far. I now embrace the toe ring. The Big Toe is the King Toe and should be treated as such.

10. j.crew embroidered tassel top

Isn’t this the cutest? It comes in black too and I honestly couldn’t decide which one I liked best. Perfect for warm weather.

11. j.crew swiss dot tank top

And this is a bonus number eleven feature just because I saw this after the fact and couldn’t make myself not include it even though having eleven things feels odd. I prefer even numbers and symmetry and for life to always make sense.

That’s it for today.

Don’t forget to run in your local Walmart, Barnes & Noble, LifeWay or what-have-you and enter your picture for a chance to win. Can’t wait to see all your faces.

Have a good Friday.

It appears that I have come down with a real, live cold.

I woke up yesterday morning before the alarm went off, mainly because I couldn’t breathe. And that tends to wake a person up.

But it came at a good time because my biggest plan for the day was to wait on the people who were coming to see if the large fans they’ve put in our attic and bathroom have dried it all out yet. The answer to that is no, by the way.

And the rest of the day I spent popping Sudafed and attempting to catch up on all the television I’ve missed over the last week or so.

(I need you to know that I originally typed “pooping Sudafed” and that would have been way too much information.)

I guess what I’m saying is I don’t have much to tell you unless you want to hear my thoughts on Nashville and Mad Men. And in case you do, I’ll tell you that if Deacon doesn’t live then I’m done with Nashville and I thought this last episode of Mad Men was bizarre and spent too much time on characters I don’t care about.

I also spent some time making some phone calls that I’ve been putting off for approximately forever. I managed to schedule a time to bring my car in for repairs and arranged to have someone come fix the crack in my windshield tomorrow morning. I got the crack when Gulley and I were driving home from Dallas and what I guess was a rock flew up and hit it. And the crack has continued to grow over the last few days. So essentially, my book tour to Dallas cost me an oil change, new radiator fluid and now a new windshield. Yet it was all totally worth it because Gulley and I got a picture in the bluebonnets.

Later in the afternoon I mailed off some books, bought some dog food and then ran into Target to buy coleslaw to use on the fish tacos P cooked for dinner last night. I also bought some new lotion and a travel-size bottle of Cetaphil.

I think that sound I just heard was several of you passing out from boredom.

Anyway, I believe the bottom line is that I am out of words right now. I cannot thank you enough for all the support for the book over the last week and a half. It means so much to me.

And I’ll see you back here tomorrow for Fashion Friday!

Just a quick book reminder. Amazon is working to get it back in stock and that should happen by next week. In the meantime, you can find it online at Barnes & Noble for less than $10. Just click here.

Y’all.

Yesterday morning P woke me up and I went straight to the kitchen to make Caroline’s lunch. And then I went in her bathroom to, well, use it and noticed the floor was soaking wet. I can’t even tell you how much this annoyed me and I was just about to call her into the bathroom to give her a lecture on not splashing water all over the place and making such a huge mess when I heard “DRIP, DRIP, DRIP”.

I looked up to discover a large part of her ceiling bulging like a balloon from the weight of the water that had collected in it from somewhere up in the attic. I may not be a smart man, Jenny, but I know what bad is.

P climbed up in the attic to look for the source and discovered that the overflow pan had overflowed. So I called the company to come repair it and they showed up but had to go back and forth from the attic to the backyard to figure out what was going on. Which is how I ended up trapped in my bedroom with Mabel and Piper who proceeded to squeeze themselves under my bed and rip up every roll of wrapping paper I store under there. There is so much confetti in my bedroom that it looks like it was the scene of a parade.

And this was all going on while I was getting ready to go speak to the PTO at a neighborhood school.

Needless to say, it all felt like the makings of a nervous breakdown.

The good news is we now have fans drying everything out in our attic and it can all be fixed. The bad news is that I am done with this day and am going to bed and your income taxes are due.

However, there have been so many things I need to mention and places I have written various things or done interviews and I want to share them with you in case you’re interested in listening or reading or just clicking away from my blog and watching paint dry instead.

So I’ve compiled a list to the best of my recollection below that you can look through in the event you’re not sick of me.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow. Hopefully with a dry ceiling and some sort of renewed mental energy.

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Upcoming Events:

– This Saturday, April 18th, I’m signing books at the River Oaks Barnes & Noble on West Gray in Houston at 7 p.m.

– On Wednesday, April 29th at 5:15 p.m., I’m speaking in Ozona, TX at the Boots and Besties Event. You can find out more information on their Facebook page.

– On Saturday, May 2nd, Sophie and I are signing books at Books-A-Million on Brookwood in Birmingham, AL.

– On Sunday, May 3rd, I’m the keynote speaker in Birmingham, AL at The Sav-A-Life Mother’s Day Brunch. You can find out more information and order tickets here.

– On May 15th I’m the keynote speaker at the Texas A&M Foundation’s Women, Wealth and Wisdom Event. It’s open to the public and you can find out more information and register here.

– I’m also really working on a book signing in College Station for my Aggie peeps. I’ll keep you posted when I know more, but it will tentatively be Saturday morning, May 9th.

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Places I’ve been around the internet and radio this week:

– On April 8th, I was a guest on The Marilu Henner radio show. You can find it here.

– I loved being a guest on The Happy Hour podcast with Jamie Ivey. You can listen here.

– I wrote a guest devotional for the Proverbs 31 blog yesterday. You can read it here.

– I was on the Debbie Chavez Show on Monday. You can listen to it here.

I woke up yesterday morning feeling slightly like I’d been hit by a bus. I wasn’t sure of my name or where I was and I’m pretty sure I had several dreams that involved me being at a nearby Chinese restaurant in town. Which is particularly odd because I do not care for Chinese food unless you count fried rice and hot and sour soup. I used to be obsessed with General Tso’s chicken back in the early 90’s but then I got a hold of some bad General Tso’s and that put an end to my love affair with the General.

Anyway, I’m sad to report that I didn’t feel much better as the day went on. I don’t know if it’s allergies or the beginnings of Bubonic plague, but my throat is really sore and my eyes feel like I can’t keep them open. This should make me super appealing to the group I’m speaking to later on today.

But I want to finish my recap of last week because if I don’t do it now then it will never happen and someday I will want to turn on “The Way We Were” by Barbra Streisand and let memories light the corners of my mind as I read back over these posts.

When I left off yesterday, Tiff and I had stayed up until 2 a.m. talking, so you can imagine how refreshed I felt when P woke me up at 7 a.m. the next morning. I packed Caroline’s lunch and gave P a quick recap of the rest of the night before and then he left to take Caroline to school while Tiff and I drank coffee and talked some more until she had to get on the road about 9:00.

The original plan was for Gulley and me to ride back to Dallas with Jen and Jamie and then fly back to San Antonio on Friday morning, but Jamie informed us a few days before that she needed to be on the road to Dallas by 6 a.m. Thursday morning and Gulley and I were both like NO THANK YOU. So we decided just to drive to Dallas by ourselves and back home to San Antonio the next day. You don’t have to twist our arm to make a road trip.

Gulley and I left San Antonio around 11:00 which is our preferred hour of the morning and began the slowest trip to Dallas possible. I don’t know why it took us so long but it might have had something to do with the fact we made 84 different stops for gas and bathroom breaks and Whataburger and, finally, a DQ Blizzard in Hillsboro. And while we were in the parking lot of the DQ, we received a text from Jen and Jamie asking where we were along with this picture they’d taken as they made the same drive earlier that morning. They challenged us to get our Thelma and Louise on.

And so we did our best, but stopped short of jumping off a cliff.

However, we did have a bit of excitement when we left the DQ and a light came on my dashboard indicating my oil level was low. I don’t know much about auto mechanics, but I felt like this probably wasn’t the best sign. So we did the responsible thing and drove immediately to an auto place when we got to Dallas. We ended up getting an oil change and some new radiator fluid and I felt a little bit like I was being scammed but when you might think your car needs a new flux capacitor and you’re five hours from home, I just decided better safe than sorry and stranded on the side of the road in Waco.

Gulley and I went straight to our hotel after we got the car taken care of because we both felt like we may not make it without a power nap. So we got in a quick twenty minutes of downtime before it was time to get ready and head to Jamie’s house before we went to Barnes & Noble.

Then we made our way to Barnes & Noble for the book signing. And none of the following people were there which is a shame because DALLAS.

(Can we talk for one minute about Lucy’s red jumpsuit? And the fact that I used to watch Dallas with my Me-Ma and Pa-pa almost every Friday?)

I will tell you that Dallas blew me away. I was supposed to go to Dallas for a book signing two years ago and ended up having to cancel because I had a stomach bug that we can never speak of again, but this trip more than made up for it. I got to see so many dear friends including my first college roommate, my dear friend Meredith and her brother and other people that I’ve just emailed with and been dying to meet in person. One sweet girl even brought a handmade sign that said, “You’re My Gulley!” to send to her best friend who lives out of state. It was the most fun and I was totally and completely overwhelmed by it all.

This is Gulley and me with our roommate Mer who we lived with our last year in college.

And this is Jamie, Jen, Gulley and me.

And this is Jamie’s sister and her daughter along with Sheaffer who some of you might know from her blog Pinterest Told Me To.

Meanwhile, as I was signing books, Jen decided she was hungry and ate the pizza some of her friends had brought her.

And I will confess that while there is no photographic evidence of it, I absolutely shoved a piece of pizza in my mouth as soon as I was finished signing books because it was after 10:00 p.m. and I was starving. I have no regrets because it was absolutely delicious. Then a big group of us met up at The Front Room next to the Lumon Hotel for a late dinner. I had a Croque Madam sandwich that was basically a grilled ham and cheese with a fried egg on top. I cannot even express how much I loved it except to say I’d eat fifteen of them right this minute.

By this point I was way too busy eating my sandwich to worry about pictures, but Gulley and I did get one with our dear friend Hite who will be quick to tell you he is mentioned in Chapter 11.

Shortly after this we made our way back to our hotel and basically fell into bed. It was almost 1 a.m. which means that was the second night in a row we’d been acting like we were in college instead of forty-something year old women and we could barely stand up for being so tired. We set the alarm for 9:00 a.m. and that’s the last thing I remember until I heard the alarm and Gulley said, “Man, my fingers are so swollen this morning.” And I had to remind her that’s what happens when you eat a fried egg and ham sandwich at midnight.

We threw on some clothes, made a quick stop at Starbucks and then hit the road to head back to San Antonio. The trip home went much faster and we only made a couple of stops, including one to take a picture in the bluebonnets because why not? It’s the Texas thing to do.

I was so glad to get home to my people and to catch up with P who had been a master at holding down the fort and keeping everything running smoothly while I was gone. We picked up Mexican food for dinner and just caught up on the last few days until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. Then on Saturday we went to Caroline’s soccer game and then straight to my book signing at Walmart where Caroline and Jackson roamed the store while I signed books. Also, Caroline found a nice hand that we ended up buying. I can’t even tell you how disturbing it was when she came up behind me and grabbed my shoulder with it.

Then Sunday morning P and I drove Caroline to Austin for a soccer game and Caroline and I had an afternoon meeting and then I wished desperately for Monday so I could get some rest.

And, with that, I think we’re pretty much caught up on life.

Now if I can just get caught up on sleep.

***A few quick book related things. I’ll be signing books at River Oaks Barnes & Noble in Houston this Saturday, April 18th at 7 p.m.. Also, the book is still in stock online at Barnes & Noble and is less than $10 which is practically free. Also, you might notice at the top of this post that there’s a place to sign up if you want to receive my email newsletter. This is a totally new thing but I plan to make it lots of fun with content and things that aren’t on the blog. Feel free to sign up if that interests you.***

I’m sitting here on my couch and I may stay here for the next twenty-four hours. I mean I do plan to go to bed at some point but then I think I’m going to wake up and get right back on this couch and catch up on as much DVR’ed T.V. as I possibly can.

I believe it’s important to have goals.

Honestly, last week will go down as one of the craziest, busiest, exhausting, most fun, precious weeks of my life. The response to Nobody’s Cuter Than You has blown me away and I debated just writing a blog post that said THANK YOU over and over again.

But that would probably be boring so I’ll do my best to give you a recap of the last several days.

Last week I mentioned that on Tuesday, the day the book released, I decided to go for full-on glamour and made a trip to Walmart to buy an iron and an ironing board. Then I came home and served my family leftovers for dinner, pretended like I knew how to help Caroline with her math homework while I secretly googled it on the internet, and ironed a few shirts. This is what some people mean when they refer to a “rock and roll lifestyle”.

The real fun came on Wednesday. I started the day getting some fresh highlights in my hair because I’d texted my sweet hairstylist and said,”HELP! I HAVE GRAY HAIR MULTIPLYING AROUND MY FOREHEAD!” Fortunately she was able to fit me in and even styled my hair for me. But, cue the sad trombone, I came home from the salon and when I opened the back gate, Piper and Mabel decided to sprint down the street at full speed. It also happened to be a day when the humidity hovered around 412%. This really caused a downturn in my hair volume which was sad times.

In addition to my hair drama, Jen and Jamie were texting from Dallas informing me that Jen’s white blood cell count was too low for chemo that day and they weren’t sure if they were going to be able to make the trip. However, Jen once again convinced her nurses that chemo could wait until 1 p.m. on Thursday and so they got in the car and headed this way. I would have totally understood if they hadn’t been able to come, but I was so glad I was going to get to celebrate with them.

Meanwhile, my friend Tiff was driving in from College Station. They all got in town about 4:00 p.m. and we met over at Gulley’s house before driving over to Barnes & Noble for my book signing. We had some wine, made some toasts, ate some cookies, talked and laughed non-stop and celebrated with Tiff who’d found out on the drive over that her oldest daughter had just accepted an offer to play soccer in college. And Jen showed us her boobs because it’s her favorite party trick these days since her inflammatory breast cancer has changed them significantly.

We arrived at Barnes & Noble and I was so excited to get to meet so many of you who have read the books and the blog for all these years. The best part of a book coming out is getting to put faces with names I’ve seen on the internet. It makes it all feel real in some way.

And the whole night as I signed books, I kept overhearing my friends and family laughing and talking behind me and there was a part of me that wanted to put my head down and cry with gratitude that we were all together in one place.

This is Jen, Gulley and Tiff. If you’ve read the book, then you’ll know who they are and how much I love them. I have no idea why this picture is smaller than the others. I could research it but it probably wouldn’t do any good and so I’m saving myself the time.

Here we are with our friend Jamie and I’ll give you a little friendship family tree. Jamie and Jen have been friends since middle school. Jen introduced Jamie to all of us when we were in college, but then Jamie and Gulley lived in Austin at the same time after graduation and got to know each other better. And Jamie and her husband, Trevor, lived in San Antonio while he was in med school and so we all became close friends. My smile in this picture sums up all my feelings. Nothing like showing both rows of teeth.

P brought Caroline right after soccer practice so she got to hang out for a little bit. And my friend Donna even drove her to Chick-Fil-A to get her some dinner since Caroline’s plan to eat a protein pack at the in-store Starbucks was thwarted by the fact that all they had were “weird sandwiches”.

And I loved that Mimi, Bops and my sister Amy were all there, plus P’s mom came too.

Can we discuss that Caroline is almost as tall as her grandmother?

(I’m starting to feel a little bit like this post is reading like an Academy Award’s acceptance speech or maybe just an entirely too detailed summary of events, but my brain is at less than half capacity right now. I’m doing the best I can.)

Anyway, my friend Debbi was there and made sure to take plenty of pictures and I’m so glad because it wouldn’t have occurred to me pull out my phone even one time and then I wouldn’t have any photographic evidence of this night.

Debbi is also the one who’s responsible for all the fun Instagram pics, like this gem that’s one of my personal favorites. I may get it blown up to 16 x 20 and hang it over my mantle.

Someone guessed correctly that I was hiding dog treats inside the book. I would like to think that Mabel and Piper hang on my every word, but the truth is Mabel thinks she’s the real writer in the family as evidenced by this haiku I found in her dog bed.

“Mother likes to write
puts simple words on the page
yet I bare my soul”

Whatever. Everyone’s a critic.

After the book signing was over, we went back to Gulley’s house. She’d made the cutest little party favors out of tiny mason jars with daisies and a blue ribbon with a picture of the book cover and had pictures of all of us over the years glued to copies of the book’s pages hanging from her light fixture. Plus her husband had picked up fajitas and guacamole and queso for all of us. It was sheer perfection.

We stayed at that table until midnight catching up on life and telling old stories. I think we experienced every emotion in the book as we covered as many topics as we could fit into that amount of time. And even when Tiff and I drove back to my house, she and I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. talking some more even though we could barely keep our eyes open.

It was all just a sweet reminder of how much we all love each other and pick up right where we left off, no matter how many years have gone by or how much things have changed. Our friendships were woven into our lives when we were not even twenty years old and yet they have survived time and distance. We are family.

And, honestly, I’d sit in Starbucks wanting to pull my hair out as I try to find words for seventeen more books if it meant that we all got to be together like this at least once a year. There’s just nothing like being surrounded by all the people you love the most and who love you the most.

I was going to talk about Dallas too, but it’s lightning and thundering like crazy and I’m about to lose my internet. So I’ll be back tomorrow with stories from the rest of the week.

Also, a few quick book notes in case you still need to pick up a copy. Nobody’s Cuter Than You is still in stock online Barnes & Noble for less than $10.00 and you get free shipping when your order is more than $25.

And if you happen to be in San Antonio, the Walmart at 281 & 1604 has A BUNCH of copies, including many that I signed while I was there on Saturday.

If you’ve looked for it in your local bookstore and they don’t have it, keep asking or see if they’ll order it for you. It should be in most Southern Walmarts and most Barnes & Noble stores this week for sure.

One last thing, I’ll be in Houston this Saturday, April 18th at 7:00 p.m. signing books at the River Oaks Barnes & Noble on West Gray.

Finally, THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

A MILLION TIMES OVER.