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This week has seemed like it’s lasted a sweet forever. I think it’s just because we’ve been so busy and running from thing to thing. All I know is I’m ready for it to be the weekend. Happy Friday!

1. calantha pocket henley

I went shopping with Mimi and Bops yesterday and saw this shirt in the sale room at Anthropologie. It is super cute and if I needed another shirt that’s perfect to throw on with jeans or shorts, I would have totally bought it.

It’s on sale for $29.95 and comes in a bunch of colors. I think I like red the best just in case you’re wondering.

2. island paisley flutter top

I saw this in Nordstrom and it’s not the kind of thing I’d normally wear, but I think the colors are just gorgeous and it would be a great option with white jeans or pants for a more casual Easter church service.

3. pleione mixed media tunic

These tunics come in a bunch of colors and are like garanimals for adults. Easy to wear with just about anything, as soft as pajamas, and the perfect blank slate to create an outfit.

4. dream twirls dress

This is the time of year when I might be happy if my whole closet was coral-colored. It’s just about the perfect summer color.

5. lynn espadrille flats

Mimi and I had this whole discussion yesterday about how we like ballet flats on other people, but not on ourselves. However, we agreed the espadrille was a different shoe animal and that we could maybe find some happy ground with it. Personally, I love this leopard print.

6. old navy linen-blend tunic

Right now the website says these are only available online. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I really like them. So reasonably priced and come in a bunch of colors. Perfect to wear with white skinny jeans.

7. faux wrap jersey jumpsuit

I love a jumpsuit. I do. Gulley has a black jumpsuit that we have worn approximately 8,432 times between the two of us and we love it every time. But it might be time for an updated version.

I really like this one because that v-neck wrap style looks so flattering on just about anyone.

8. perforated leather cross body bag

There is an outfit I’ve pinned on Pinterest that I’d show you right now if it didn’t mean I’d have to go find it. Anyway, it’s a girl in gray jeans and a white t-shirt paired with cognac sandals and a cross body bag very similar to this one. Every time I see it I think it’s the perfect spring uniform.

Plus, summer vacations are the best time to have a great cross body bag to carry as you travel. You can carry around your stuff and be hands free all at the same time.

9. jersey maxi dress

These maxi dresses from Boden are so great. Love all the colors and patterns. And even if you aren’t a maxi dress fan, Boden has so many cute dresses and tunics right now.

10. ecote lina kaftan

I want this. Mainly so I can say, “Hold on while I put on my kaftan!” but also because it’s really pretty. I think it would make a dreamy swimsuit coverup.

And that’s it for today.

Have a great Friday.

I just have to say that I am so impressed with how many of you know the ins and outs of armadillo transfer and removal. It’s just further confirmation that you are my people.

I also have to tell you that Caroline had a late soccer practice scheduled last night and P volunteered to drive her out there. I knew they wouldn’t be home until after 9 and so we had to figure out a dinner solution. They agreed that sushi sounded good and so I picked up some sushi from HEB. I realize this may sound weird if you don’t live near an HEB but they actually have a sushi stand at the front of the store where they make fresh sushi. And in what has turned out to be a blessing, the proximity of the sushi stand to the donut case has totally killed my temptation to ever get some donuts while I’m there.

I bought the sushi earlier in the day and when they walked out the door to go to practice, I said, “Call me on your way home and I’ll get dinner ready.” P looked at me and asked, “How long is it going to take you to pop that plastic lid off the sushi?”

Whatever.

Maybe I just wanted to have plenty of time to set the table.

Anyway, here are a few things I wanted to share with you.

1. Nobody’s Cuter Than You

We are less than two weeks out from the release of Nobody’s Cuter Than You and I have two more cute downloadable prints to share with you.

You can download it for printing here. Or you can just pin it on Pinterest if you’re like me and just like to file this kind of thing away.

You can download this one here.

Here are various book signings you may want to know about it in case you’re in any of these areas.

Wednesday, April 8th – Barnes & Noble San Pedro in San Antonio at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 9th – Barnes & Noble Lincoln Park in Dallas at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 11th – Walmart at 1604 & 281 in San Antonio at 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 18th – Barnes & Noble River Oaks in Houston at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 2 – Books-A-Million in Birmingham, AL at 6:00 p.m.

And I also have two speaking events that are open to the public coming up. The first is the Ozona Woman’s League Boots & Besties event on April 29th in Ozona, TX at the Ozona Civic Center and the second is the Texas A&M Foundation’s Women, Wealth and Wisdom Event on May 15th in College Station.

Finally, it’s available for pre-order at the following places and if you happen to be a Kindle or Nook or other e-reader type person, you can order now and have the fun of knowing you’ll wake up to it on your device on Tuesday, April 7th.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Walmart

and various other places that you can find on the official book page.

2. I loved this video of Tom Hanks re-enacting all of his movies in just six minutes.

3. If you’re looking for a great book to put in your kids’ Easter baskets, you will love Bunny’s First Spring by Sally Lloyd-Jones.

4. This post about moving forward and taking risks by Myquillyn at Nesting Place was one of my favorites this week.

5. And because I have a middle-schooler, I thought this article my friend Sissy Goff linked to on her blog Raising Girls and Boys about why middle school is such an important time was really interesting.

Hope y’all have a great Thursday!

Well we have had a fun couple of days around here which is why I didn’t write anything yesterday. I fell into bed at midnight last night and wanted to cry when the alarm went off this morning. And by alarm, I mean when P came in the bedroom to tell me it was time to get up. Normally, I lay there another five minutes and then get out of bed, but he had to come back in and check on me twenty minutes later because I’d fallen completely back asleep.

My friends Kelly and April flew in from Nashville on Sunday afternoon. Kelly had a speaking engagement here on Monday and so they decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. And here’s where I have to stop this story for a minute to tell you Kelly wrote one of my favorite books I read last year called Wherever the River Runs. I can’t recommend it enough.

Anyway, they got in on Sunday afternoon and we spent some time catching up on life before we took them to eat Mexican food because that’s what people expect when they come to San Antonio and I would never want to disappoint. And then we all went to bed fairly early that night because Kelly had her speaking thing and wanted to get a good night’s sleep.

On Monday I went to her event with all intentions of just slipping in the back and listening. Which is why I wore jeans. But they’d saved a place for me right up front and so my jeans and I did our best to blend in to the festive crowd.

After the luncheon was over, I picked Caroline up from school early and met Kelly and April back at the house. P loaded up his truck with all manner of guns and snacks and we headed to the ranch for the afternoon. This was their request. I might have chosen an afternoon of shopping followed by chips and salsa but they’d never seen a Texas ranch and so we felt it was our duty to show them. It’s safe to say they got a quick lesson in Texas ranching when we were barely on the property and saw a dead, bloated cow lying off to the side of the road. With a vulture on top.

Welcome to Texas.

And, no, we don’t know what happened to the cow. But whatever it was it was clearly not good.

However, that was the low point it what turned out to be a delightful day at the ranch. The wildflowers are blooming and South Texas is never prettier than it is in the spring. We all loaded into the Polaris and P took us all on a ranch cruise where we hoped to spy some deer or pigs or other assorted wildlife.

Meanwhile, this was the view out in front of us.

I’d never seen Piper and Mabel at the ranch and I couldn’t believe how fast they can run. P was driving the Polaris at about twenty miles an hour and they stayed well ahead of us for about seven miles. No wonder they tend to act like Tasmanian devils when they’ve spent a few days in the backyard with limited space. Every now and then they’d see a rabbit and take off running even faster. And since it was hot, they felt the need to stop for a swim every now and then along the way.

We drove back to the house and P gave April and Kelly lessons how to shoot a gun because we felt they needed the full experience.

And then Caroline shot her pistol before she posed for a picture for me.

She has grown approximately two feet in the last month, she’s lost three teeth in the last three days and she is a heck of a good shot.

We sat outside and ate barbecue for dinner and snacked on tortilla chips shaped like Texas because Kelly always marvels how everything in Texas is shaped like Texas and I knew she would appreciate the chips. And then we did one last drive around the ranch and saw a few more rabbits and some deer. The girls had really hoped for a bobcat sighting but that’s a pretty rare find, although we did see a mama pig and her piglets right as we drove back by the dead cow on the way back to the main road.

It was just about the perfect day spent laughing with friends and enjoying being outside in the sunshine.

We got home about 9 p.m. and Gulley came by to hang out for a while and we all stayed up way too late talking which is why I fell back asleep this morning. But we spent a lazy morning around the house drinking coffee and talking some more before we finally made one last stop for Mexican food and then I took the girls by the house where P is working so they could say goodbye.

And then it was time for them to head to the airport and fly home.

I ran a few errands before I picked up Caroline from school and then she worked on homework while I answered a some emails and cleaned up the house a little. And then P got home from work a little while later and mentioned he’d seen an armadillo next to our garage that morning.

Well. Of course.

So he and Caroline went in the backyard for a little impromptu armadillo hunt and Caroline came running back in a few minutes later exclaiming, “We found the armadillo and trapped him in a garbage can.”

You know? Like most people do on a Tuesday afternoon.

They loaded him up and took him down to the nearby woods as part of our unofficial armadillo witness protection program. I hope he’ll be very happy there and decides to never take his life in his own hands again by venturing into our yard with our dogs because let’s have a moment of silence for all the freaks I will freak out if I run across that guy in my personal space.

But I was so happy to text April and Kelly to let them know that if they’d only stayed a little bit longer they could have had the ultimate Texas wildlife experience up close and personal.

On Thursday night we were going to bed and P remarked that our bedroom didn’t seem as cool as it usually does. And, yes, we had our air-conditioning on because the weather here is already to that point and we like our room really cold when sleep. We are the people who will crack our bedroom windows open when it’s 28 degrees outside and never have the heat on at night.

You know the Polar Bear Club where people go jump in freezing cold water as an activity? We are like that but with sleeping. Maybe we’ll make t-shirts. The Polar Bear Sleeping Club.

Anyway, we’d had some A/C repairmen come out in December to look at it and they told us then that it was on its last legs and would need to be replaced sooner rather than later. But we opted to wait it out because you know what’s more fun than spending money on a new air-conditioner? Basically, everything.

But we realized Thursday night that its lack of cooling properties was concerning and agreed we needed to call a repairman to come look at it. So I spent all Friday morning waiting on the repairman to show up and they looked at it and said our options included spending a lot of money to fix a really old unit or spending a lot of money to get a brand new one. We chose the second option and so the sales team came out to the house to give us the run down on all that is new in the air-conditioning world since the last time we bought one.

Here’s one big thing, the EPA is all in your air-conditioning business now. There are all manner of rules and regulations and terminology about energy-saving and the ozone, but P and I were only concerned with the bottom line which for us was which one would make our home feel most like an Igloo cooler.

And so we decided on the right unit for us and even went for the bonus clean air option which is supposed to help filter allergens and odors and help us live more like we’re John Travolta in that Boy in the Bubble movie. Plus, we’re finally pulling the trigger on some radiant barrier paint in the attic. If you’ve read The Antelope in the Living Room, you know that P has long dreamed of better insulating our attic from the heat and that day has arrived. According to the literature, our attic will never get over 85 degrees no matter how hot it gets outside. I may turn it into my home office up there, just me and the “squirrels” who occasionally infiltrate to chew on some stored Christmas decorations.

The best part was they agreed to come install it on Saturday because we had friends coming in from out of town on Sunday and didn’t want them to deal with our lack of proper air-conditioning. So they arrived at our house at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. P had already been up for hours but Caroline and I were still in bed. In fact, she had crawled into my bed with me.

All of a sudden I heard Piper and Mabel going crazy and I knew this didn’t bode well for the poor A/C installers in our backyard. P didn’t realize the men were just going to walk in our backyard in spite of being warned we had dogs and they clearly couldn’t have imagined that Piper and Mabel tend to view a kid riding his skateboard past our house as a viable threat so two large men entering our backyard unaccompanied was like their best dream come true. It was as if all those hours of patrolling the backyard in search of men with beards and hats had finally paid off.

P ran outside to get the dogs and bring them in, but there were people coming in our house as well. So the only real option at that point was to let them in the bedroom where Caroline and I were sleeping. And when I tell you it was like we were attacked by two Tasmanian devils, I’m downplaying the situation.

They came tearing in, ears flapping and covered in mud, and LEAPT into the bed. I’m pretty sure Piper landed on Caroline’s head. I can’t remember ever having a more jarring wake up call. They were all keyed up on the adrenaline of having just saved the family from the air-conditioning repairmen and began jumping down from the bed and jumping back up and rolling around while I tried to wake up enough to remember who I was and where I was and why I had a dog licking my face.

I grabbed my robe and wrapped it around me as I got out of bed and tried to get some control of the situation. By that point P realized they hadn’t just calmly walked back in the room and gotten in their doggy beds and so he’d come in to help. I noticed Piper chewing on something and realized she’d helped herself to a couple of the Halls cherry-flavored cough drops I keep by my bed, meanwhile Mabel had completely buried herself under the covers and Caroline was loudly proclaiming, “I JUST WANT TO GO BACK TO SLEEEEEEP!”

It was all very calm and peaceful. Just like a rainy Saturday morning is meant to be.

The good news is we are now the proud owners of a brand new air-conditioning system which falls solely in the category of adult purchases that are absolutely no fun but totally necessary. My thoughts are best summed up in this photo.

If you happen to be in my house some time, it’ll make me feel a little better about it if you maybe mention how nice and clean and cold it feels.

On Tuesday I filled out my bracket for March Madness and by Thursday afternoon all hopes I had of making correct win/loss predictions were dashed to the ground. My bracket couldn’t be more busted and I think the lesson here might be that you should never trust my basketball instincts.

So let’s talk about clothes since I’m on a little firmer footing. First, you should know that Carol & Company is currently offering 50% all John Wind jewelry with code WIND50 at checkout plus free shipping on ALL jewelry with code FREESHIP at checkout. This is a great chance to find something great for yourself or some good gifts for all the gifts that the month of May seems to require between Mother’s Day and graduations and all that business.

Now for some other finds:

1. dahlia embroidered maxi dress

I saw this dress in person at Anthropologie and thought it was so pretty. And now it’s on sale for $99.95. I think this would be so great because you can dress it up or down depending on your dress needs.

2. talma peasant top

I love the colors in this and think it would look great with white jeans. And it’s on sale for $59.95.

3. haloed horn hoops

I also saw these at Anthropologie and loved them immediately. They’re like a hoop with a little something extra.

4. crochet tank dress

The cut of this reminds me of the Free People voile slip, but this is more affordable. It comes in red as well, but I really like the white because it’s more versatile. You can wear it with jeans or leggings and even put a jacket over it if you need one.

5. kensie sleeveless eyelet dress

In case you’re looking for an Easter dress. This one is on sale for $79.20.

6. flutter beach tunic

This is a great swimsuit coverup. It also comes in navy and white.

7. lush roll tab woven shirt

I love these tops. They come in a bunch of colors, are reasonably priced and look great with shorts or jeans.

8. lace zip jacket

Ever since I saw this I’ve been evaluating whether or not I need a lace zip jacket. I’m not sure the answer is yes but I think this is so pretty.

9. target sonora sandals

I saw these sandals in Target when I went there to buy mint M&Ms because HEB has been out of them for like a month and P needs his mint M&Ms. They come in black or cognac and are really, really cute.

To clarify, the sandals come in black or cognac. The mint M&Ms only come in green.

10. like peas in a mod dress

Speaking of things that come in green, I really like this dress. It would look great with everything from pretty sandals to a pair of Converse. It’s very spring-ish to me.

So there you have it. Happy first day of spring!

Have a great Friday.

I just have to say first thing that your response to the book and the video trailer yesterday warmed my heart. If I were like the Grinch I’d say my heart grew three sizes that day, but I already had a big heart and would never dream of stealing Christmas from the Whos in Whooville. Although I might be tempted to put some reindeer antlers on Mabel and Piper next year.

After watching the weather forecast on Tuesday night, I noticed that it appears our temperatures will remain spring-like for the foreseeable future. I mean I’m sure we’ll have another cold spell or two, but it will be short lived. And so I decided yesterday that it was time to reorganize my closet and put all my sweaters and heavier things up on the top shelf and get down my shorts and other summer items I forgot I owned until I saw them again.

This is honestly one of my favorite things to do. Which is so bizarre considering that I am really not an organized person in any other area of my life. My desk drawer is a travesty. The pile of things on my desk is stacked haphazardly. If I want to use the pepper in my spice cabinet it will take me five minutes to find it because I put it back in a different place every time and P will be the first to attest that I am THE WORST at using something and not putting it back where it belongs. It’s just what I do.

Yet when it comes to my closet I am a completely different person. I can live for a little while with t-shirts stacked at random or my sleeveless shirts being hung amongst my long-sleeve shirts, but it eventually becomes more than I can bear and I have clean it all up and throw out things that I know I never wear anymore and are just taking up space. So that’s what I did yesterday. I hung my gray jeans together and my skinny jeans together and my bootcut jeans together and my patterned jeans together. I got my white jeans down from the top shelf because it’s about their time again and lined up all my shirts according to style and color.

I made a pile of things to donate, a pile of things to take to the cleaners and a pile of things that needed to be thrown out. And when I looked up three hours later to survey the situation, you would have thought I’d finished a triathlon with the level of pride and satisfaction I felt.

Meanwhile, Mabel stayed by my side the whole time and felt certain that all the clothes landing on the floor were intended purely for her comfort.

I posted that picture on Instagram yesterday and someone mentioned it looked like those pink pj pants had the Simpsons cartoon characters on them. I assure you that is not the case lest I lose all credibility. They are actually little birds wearing hats which is much more elegant than Homer Simpson.

And I am not even kidding that I just took a break from writing this scintillating tale of my closet clean out to read an article a friend posted on Facebook about Marie Kondo and her organizing strategies where she actually says, “Clothes, like people, can relax more freely when in the company of others who are very similar in type, and therefore organizing them by category helps them feel more comfortable and secure.”

I’m going to sleep soundly tonight in the knowledge that my jeans feel more secure than they did yesterday. As for my socks, sadly, they are still rolled in a ball and have no chance to rest as suggested in the article. Also, I didn’t kiss any of my stuff goodbye or thank it for its service and yet I feel only marginal guilt about it.

Au revoir, orange Lucky brand sweatpants with the embroidered bird on the leg, you served me well as you masqueraded as legitimate pants that felt like pajamas.

See you later, eight pairs of underwear with elastic that had gone to that big elastic graveyard in the sky.

Thanks for the memories, yellow wedge heels that looked so great and made my feet feel so bad that I once walked through a hotel lobby barefoot because I couldn’t wear them one minute longer.

Fare thee well, swimsuit coverup from Target that had seen better days…specifically in 2005.

I bid you adieu, six socks that had lost their mate. May you find a new partner in the great sock afterlife and may you never have to be rolled up and exhausted again.