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Well. It’s officially Spring Break.

And I have never been so relieved when I consider that we lost an hour over the weekend and there would have been weeping and gnashing of teeth if I thought I had to set an alarm and be somewhere.

Speaking of weeping and gnashing of teeth, I’m sitting here watching T.V. with Gulley and we just saw Vanilla Ice on a commercial for Kraft Mac and Cheese. You have to think that’s a low point in his career.

We’re in College Station for the first part of Spring Break and I’ll be back at some point with a full recap, but here’s what you need to know for now. Yesterday we all went to watch the Aggies play baseball at Olson Field and it was 45 degrees and drizzling.

So basically it’s Spring Break without the Spring part of the equation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

You will be glad to know that I took some regular cough medicine on Sunday night and slept the sleep of angels. There was nary a squirrel nor a fishing pole in my dreams.

I was so relieved because Sunday was actually kind of a long day. Caroline’s soccer team had a game in Victoria, Texas at noon. And in case you’re wondering where Victoria is located, I’ll tell you. Head straight to the middle of nowhere and then drive about 100 more miles. Like P said on the way there, we must have passed by at least 35,000 other soccer fields we could have played on that would have been a little closer to home. It’s not like you have to drive hours away to find girls’ soccer teams. We are living in a post-Mia Hamm world. Girls’ soccer is everywhere.

But that was what was on the schedule and so we drove three of the soccer girls, including my friend Laura and her daughter Emily. And it was when we arrived at the fields in Victoria (Did I mention it was hours away?) the other little girl in the car realized she’d left one of her soccer cleats at home.

This proves to be very inconvenient when you’re supposed to play soccer.

Fortunately we realized she wears a size shoe that is at least in the neighborhood of my size 8 foot and so I let her borrow my Nike tennis shoes for the game since she plays goalie and could get away with not wearing cleats. In turn, she let me wear her Adidas slides. Which is how I ended up sitting on the sidelines sporting this sweet look.

Yep. Just me in my white socks and sandals. Cheering with a voice that sounds like a three pack a day smoker and a cough to match.

Someday this may be something that comes up in therapy for Caroline.

Caroline’s team lost but they played really hard. And at one point toward the end of the game she just got nailed in the face with the soccer ball. I held my breath to see what was going to happen next because, I’ll be honest, if it had happened to me I’d still be lying on a soccer field somewhere in Victoria. But she never even skipped a beat and was incredibly proud of the shiner she woke up with Monday morning.

After P took her to school I began to make a grocery list because it was growing apparent that I hadn’t made a real trip to the store in weeks. You know? The kind of trip where you fill up your whole cart with toilet paper and lunch meat and dog food and laundry detergent. One of those trips you have to make after you’ve just been phoning it in at the grocery store for far too long and it finally catches up with you and you can’t remember the last time your family ate a vegetable that you cooked.

So I gathered my strength to go to the store because I still don’t feel great. I walked up and down the aisles and checked things off my list and didn’t have a care in the world.

Until I got to the checkout line.

That’s when I was confronted with a harsh bit of current affairs. Sometimes I like to ignore the news. It can make me feel totally stressed out and helpless. Last week I forced myself to spend a full thirty minutes reading about what’s going on in Venezuela and the Ukraine just because I felt like I needed to know. Mainly because as Caroline and I left Houston last weekend there were all these people waving signs about Venezuela and I had no idea why.

But there was no way to ignore the headline that stared out at me while I was in the checkout line yesterday. America is in crisis. Frankly, I’m not even sure where we go from here.

And you think you have problems.

I hope this puts whatever trial you may be facing into its proper perspective.

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Quick book related notes:

The Antelope in the Living Room is currently back in stock online at Barnes and Noble here and available here on Amazon and you can also find it at your local bookstore or LifeWay store.

Speaking of bookstores, I’ll be at the Barnes and Noble on Texas Avenue this Saturday, March 1 from 10:30 until noon signing books. Would love to see you there if you’re in the area.