Year: 2011

  • The big Columbus day fiesta. That’s Spanish for party.

    I took the day off from the blog yesterday so we could thoroughly celebrate Christopher Columbus Day in our traditional manner. We gathered as a family and made maps recreating the route Columbus most likely traveled on his way to discover the New World using all-natural materials we gathered on an early morning nature walk. And then we finished the evening with our individual interpretations of games that might have been played on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria when they weren’t busy battling scurvy.

    Or maybe we just went to the large outdoor mall and took advantage of the all the sales going on in honor of Columbus’s brave voyage across the ocean and then ate leftover taco soup for dinner.

    I can’t really remember.

    On a related note, I’d like to think there was a moment in their treacherous voyage when they felt all might be lost and Columbus stood on the deck of the Pinta (or maybe the Santa Maria) and said, “My fellow travelers, take heart. If we survive this adventure we will be immortalized forever by future generations of this new country who will take a moment on the second Monday each October to buy sheets and towels at up to 50% off. Now everyone head to the Lido Deck for some shuffleboard.”

    Except he probably would have said all that in Spanish.

    If I cared about authenticity or knew how to write anything in Spanish beyond “El burro es un animal de Mexico” I would write the real version.

    Anyway, this weekend was a first for me. P took Caroline to the ranch with him for the whole entire weekend. Like they left on Friday around noon and didn’t get home until Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

    Caroline had me put flowers in her hair before she left for the ranch because she wanted to make sure she looked pretty in the pictures after she shot a hog. Boys are never going to be able to figure her out. And that’s fine with me.

    I spent most of Friday afternoon shopping for a friend and then Gulley came over for what we like to call “wine time” on Friday night. We solved at least 62% of the world’s problems. Sadly we cannot help you with the remaining 38% although we are always willing to make something up.

    On Saturday morning I slept until the crack of 9:30 after staying up way too late watching School of Rock the night before. I don’t know why it always sucks me in, but it does. I blame Jack Black.

    I was debating what to do with my day of freedom when Gulley called to tell me she’d gotten the thumbs up to go shopping with me. And so we ventured out to the mall in search of fall clothes for Gulley. Which felt like the perfect way to celebrate the spirit of Columbus. The mall was packed and confirmed my belief that malls should really be avoided on the weekends, but we did find a few cute things.

    And then I went over to Gulley’s to watch the Aggie game because I enjoy her company and also because she’d made pulled pork for dinner. There were a few moments when I worried that the pulled pork might be the best part of the evening, but I am relieved to say the Aggies pulled out it and we beat tech. Hallelujah and amen.

    I made my way home around ten and was still wide awake. Which is how I ended up discovering the show Army Wives on Netflix. Y’all. I’m now a little obsessed with it. I’d nearly started watching it about six months ago but when I said something about it to Gulley she mentioned that Nena watched it and I didn’t really take that as a ringing endorsement.

    But late Saturday night I watched the first episode. And then the second episode. And I am officially hooked.

    Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of driving rain and rolled over in the knowledge that God loves me. There are few things in life I adore more than a rainy morning when I don’t have anywhere to be and, since we’ve been in the midst of a record-breaking drought, I can’t remember the last time that happened.

    It was delightful.

    I spent the rest of Sunday trying to get some writing done. Or maybe I spent it watching episodes of Army Wives. It’s all a vague memory now. But I am going to be so sad if something happens to Roxy’s husband. Please don’t tell me if you already know.

    And then before I knew it, my people were pulling up in the driveway. They were sleepy, dirty, and smelled of gunpowder and hogs but I’ve never been more glad to see them. Especially after they both had a shower.

    We all sat on the couch and spent the rest of the night catching up on all the weekend adventures. And I’ve never felt more grateful for Christopher Columbus. Because without him we might be living in Spain. Which would be really hard because I don’t speak Spanish.

    Except for the thing about the burro and how often does that come up?

  • Fashion Friday: Edition I would have so much to wear if it were cool outside

    I have to tell you a sad tale of fashion woe. A couple of weeks ago I featured the Free People Snow Nymph cape as part of Fashion Friday. And then I decided I really wanted to order it for myself, especially since I happened to have a gift card to Piperlime. Or actually BECAUSE I had a gift card to Piperlime.

    But it was sold out.

    Then on Wednesday I happened to be browsing around on Piperlime, looking for ways to spend my gift card, when I noticed that the Free People Snow Nymph cape was back. All they had was a medium but I figured it would work so I added it to my virtual cart.

    Then I got distracted, possibly watching this week’s episode of Rachel Zoe, and forgot to enter in my gift card information. And by the time I remembered, twenty minutes later, the Snow Nymph cape had been removed from my cart and was no longer available.

    While I realize this is a first world problem, I feel like there is also a cautionary tale here. The early gift card gets the Snow Nymph cape.

    Someone should put that on a pillow.

    But here are a few cute things I’ve seen this week that don’t involve snow nymphs or gift cards or sadness.

    1. olivia pleated dress

    My friend Kelly linked to The Blue Door Boutique on her blog earlier this week and I immediately fell in love. They have so many great things and post new stuff everyday on Facebook.

    It was hard for me to pick just one thing, but I really like this pleated dress. So cute on its own or over leggings or tights for winter.

    2. dover fort military jacket

    I’ve decided it’s never going to get cold this winter, but I’d like this coat just in case it does.

    3. buckled oxford boots

    Y’all. These boots are on sale for $59.95. And I kind of love them.

    I’m not sure that I need gray boots, but they have so much potential. Plus, they’re a steal. And you may also want to know that all sale items at Anthropologie are an additional 25% off.

    4. ribbed waist cargos

    I know. These have an elastic waistband. Old Navy is trying to fool us by calling it “ribbed”, but we can all see what’s going on there.

    I was feeling all judgmental about them until I actually tried a pair on and discovered they feel like butter. And they’re on sale for $19.95 this weekend. So with the money you save you can get a t-shirt that’s long enough to cover up that elastic waistband.

    5. different degrees maxi

    In theory I love this. Not sure about the horizontal stripes, but it looks like it would be delightful to curl up in and enjoy the 90 degree weather outside.

    6. fire lily burnt orange coat

    I saw this coat featured on The Today Show earlier this week and thought it was cute. Although I don’t wear burnt orange in the fall. But maybe you do.

    7. beaded statement bracelet

    I’m in love with these bracelets. I’d like to own them in every color combination. Not to mention they’re for a good cause.

    8. sweater stripe scarf

    I don’t know why I feel the need to pick things that look cozy. It’s hot here. It’s still so hot.

    9. yoga pants

    I’m always on the lookout for a good pair of yoga pants because, let’s be honest, it’s what I wear 87% of the time. These are really great and very flattering.

    10. ellassential cardigan

    I found this while I was scouring the Piperlime site making sure that the Snow Nymph cape was really gone. It’s a lightweight sweater by Ella Moss, but I think it’s probably the perfect thing to get a person through a South Texas fall and winter.

    Honestly, I’d probably get a lot more wear out of this than a Snow Nymph cape.

    That’s it for today.

    Y’all have a great Friday. If you need me I’ll be watching the first half of the Aggie game on Saturday night and then turning off the T.V.

  • The birthday boy

    Happy Birthday, P. Your girls love you!

    By the way, eating fried chicken is totally optional. I’m not sure how that applies to the birthday song.

  • Dead words

    You know what I did yesterday?

    Absolutely nothing interesting.

    I walked Caroline to school and planned to stay for my weekly battle with the Xerox machine, but her teacher was out sick and therefore there were no copies to be made. Dang. Just as I’d almost mastered the one sided copy to two sided copy maneuver.

    So instead I had to go for a run. Because, yes, I’m back on my Couch to 5k program. This has officially been the longest trip from the couch to a 5k in history. Frankly, I don’t even care about the 5K part of the equation anymore, but I’ve forgotten how to run without that annoying voice in my ear saying, “RUN NOW”.

    After I got home I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on email and thinking about how much my floors need to be mopped. Of course I didn’t do anything about it, but just thinking about it made me feel better.

    And then I ran to Whole Earth to look for a pair of sensible shoes and realized sensible seems intrinsically linked to ugly. If I’m wrong, please tell me. My feet would be so grateful.

    The good news is I ended up with a cute pair of socks so I have that going for me.

    (This blog has just hit a level I always feared it would. I just told you I bought socks.)

    (I am so sorry.)

    But, wait, I have a topic for discussion today besides socks and sensible shoes.

    Caroline came home from school on Thursday and announced that her teacher had put up a word cemetery in the classroom. And she put a few words in the cemetery that the class is no longer allowed to use when they write their papers.

    Here’s the list so far:

    Awesome
    Cool
    Good

    And it’s made me think about words that I’d like to put in the word cemetery. More importantly, I want to know what words you’d like to see buried.

    I say we start with “ointment”. And maybe throw in “relevant” for good measure because oh my word at the overuse.

    How about you?

  • You win some and you lose some and then you lose some more

    Y’all are going to have to forgive me for a minute because I have to discuss Aggie football and our inability to play all four quarters of a football game.

    (Actually, you don’t have to forgive me. I don’t want to force forgiveness. That seems rude.)

    I’m not sure what is going on. There are theories about coaching and conditioning and a 4th down and 1 play that we should have gone for and blah, blah, blah. I don’t know.

    P said spending his entire Saturday afternoon watching that game was like going to see a girl you’re dating at her apartment and you’re really looking forward to seeing her and then all she does is cry the whole time and you leave feeling confused and disappointed and maybe like you never want to see her again.

    (I don’t know where he came up with that analogy. Must be from some girl he dated before me.)

    (She must have been crazy.)

    (And really high-maintenance.)

    All I know is that at the end of the day I love Texas A&M. I love the spirit and I love the traditions and I love the memories that five years (They offer a bonus year for EXTRA SMART people. At least that’s what I told my dad.) gave me. And, yes, it’s fun when we have a great football team (if memory serves) but I love being an Aggie for many more reasons. Which is why I’ve decided I’m just going to watch the first half of every game for the rest of the season and then turn it off.

    Sure. Some may call that denial. But I call it salvaging a perfectly good Saturday.

    I’m going to be my own Kasey from that season of The Bachelorette and guard and protect my heart.

    Anyway, other than a little football disappointment, we had a great weekend. Caroline had early dismissal on Friday. She actually had early dismissal on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and spent those afternoons on the reading circuit. Which means I took her to Gulley’s preschool and to her old kindergarten class to read to the kids. She adores it. In fact, it’s one of her favorite things to do.

    Friday afternoon we ended up at Gulley’s house and Gulley and I were able to catch up on a variety of topics including Rachel Zoe, skinny jeans and the Amazon rain forest. We also may have talked about finding a good purse for the winter and whether or not we should own the maroon poncho I featured on Fashion Friday. Because who would be the real losers if we showed up at a football game wearing matching ponchos?

    Later that evening we met Mimi, Bops, my sister and her family for Mexican food. My nephew, Luke, is almost two and has decided that there isn’t anything much more fun than giving someone “five” repeatedly with the occasional slap to the face thrown in. He’s also a big fan of dipping pretzels in the salsa and then wiping his tongue like it’s on fire and then repeating the whole process. Toddlers are interesting little people.

    And then I watched the new show Pan Am that I’d recorded earlier in the week. The verdict is still out but I liked the first episode. A little kitschy, but I do adore a show set in the 1960s. And air travel hasn’t really changed at all. Unless you don’t think getting a miniscule bag of honey-roasted peanuts after having a stranger feel your legs for explosives is as glamorous as being served a made-to-order martini by a polite stewardess who offers to bring you an array of magazines for your reading enjoyment.

    P got home late from hunting doves because ’tis the season. And then we went straight to bed because we had an 8:00 a.m. soccer game Saturday morning.

    I’m pretty sure P must have angered someone in the soccer scheduling department because we have three 8:00 a.m. games this season. Which means we have to get up earlier on those Saturdays than we do on school days because we have to make sure Caroline is hydrated and all carbed up for the big game. One of us thinks this is very important.

    So we arrived at the soccer fields bright and early. The good news is the weather was gorgeous. Like I needed a sweatshirt gorgeous. And the Stingers (formerly known at the Magic, formerly known as the Cheetah Girls, formerly known as the Rainbows) played a good game, but they still lost. Which seemed to really upset them for about three seconds until the mom in charge of snack pulled out purple Gatorade and cookies.

    Something tells me it wasn’t that easy for the Aggie football team.

    At least I hope not.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition now with TWELVE things!

    Sometime in mid-July, Caroline informed me she wanted to be a ninja for Halloween. Not a pink Ninja or some type of girly ninja. A real ninja. Dressed all in black. With nunchuks and a death star.

    I didn’t know about the nunchuks and the death star. P had to tell me about those. And also that ninjas wear odd little black boots because I was envisioning some tall black boots. Something a little more Sydney Bristow and less Bruce Lee.

    (Was Bruce Lee even a ninja? I have no idea. Let’s just pretend that’s the case because I’m too tired to google “famous ninja”.)

    But then yesterday morning P let me sleep late. Except Caroline still came and woke me up because she needed me to fix her hair. So I braided her hair, kissed her goodbye and started to fall back asleep. Until I felt someone breathing on me and heard the rattle of catalog pages in close proximity.

    I opened my eyes to find Caroline standing over me holding a catalog while she whispered, “Mama, I’ve decided to be a Disco Queen. Just look at this outfit.” What? Where am I? Is this some sort of weird dream like the other night after I took that ALL NATURAL sleeping supplement and had repeated dreams about trying to flush a pair of khaki pants down the toilet?

    (Can someone interpret that for me, by the way?)

    I mumbled something along the lines of “Let’s discuss it later”. Which she took me up on the minute she got out of school. Everything is about that Disco Queen costume. And the sweet bell bottoms and the sparkly headband and the platform shoes.

    In fact, after I tucked her into bed tonight, she came back out and said she’d like to sleep with the picture of the Disco Queen costume because it makes her so happy. And when I went in to check on her a few minutes ago, she was sound asleep with that picture grasped tightly in her hand.

    And, really, I understand. I felt that same way about a pair of boots from Anthropologie a few years back.

    Now I just need to figure out how to get P a white suit so he can be Tony Manero.

    Here are some cute things I’ve found this week:

    1. adelmira lace open cardigan

    This is so pretty. Perfect with jeans and tall boots.

    2. striped draped sweater

    I saw this in the White House Black Market catalog the other day and fell in love with it. Love the black and white stripes. I have some black skinny jeans that would like to be friends with this sweater.

    3. stratford town ruched tunic

    Personally, I couldn’t wear this. It’s a little too empire-waisty for me. But I love the color and the length and think it would be darling with a pair of leggings.

    4. cowl-neck pointelle sweater

    I haven’t seen this in person but it looks like it has potential. Plus, all Old Navy sweaters are 40% off right now. It’s the time to get a deal.

    5. flounced pintuck parka

    I’ve had my eye on this for awhile because it seems like the perfect coat to throw on. Casual, but with super cute pintucks in the back. And all coats at Anthropologie are 30% off right now.

    It also comes in an ivory color if the orange makes you feel a little too Coast Guard. However, I really like the orange.

    6. candy apple chic coat

    I don’t have the picture of this but, OH MY, it is a vision of darlingness. So cute and so chick.

    7. asos full skirt with gold stripe

    I realize it may be a little too early to talk about holiday parties, but I saw this skirt and thought it was so cute. It would be perfect for a little Christmas get-together.

    8. shoreham mid boots

    Not going to lie. I’m a little obsessed with these.

    9. golden gate cardigan

    I’m going to an A&M game later this fall and if I knew it was going to be cold I’d order this in a heartbeat. But it might be 85 degrees and I wouldn’t get to wear it.

    However, I may order it anyway because I have an Anthropologie gift card that’s burning a hole in my pocket.

    10. hive and honey ruffle slit maxi dress

    I really like this because it looks so comfortable yet stylish. I realize the bare leg might be problematic in a daytime setting, but that’s what cute patterned tights are for.

    This is slightly off-topic but Gulley and I were in a store the other day and they had this cute charcoal gray maxi dress with a heart on the front. But we noticed it was totally see-through. Then the salesgirl showed us this strapless girdle thing that you’re supposed to wear under it. We were kind of on board until we looked at the price and saw it was $175.

    Yes. I’d like to pay almost $200 for a see-through dress that requires me to wear a strapless girdle under it.

    11. boho shirred dress

    Now I really like this. I think it would look so cute with some jeggings or leggings or skinny jeans or whatever.

    12. nanette lepore provocative coat

    Yes. This.

    When I’m not dreaming about flushing a pair of khaki pants down the toilet, I’m dreaming about this coat. It is so beautiful. And it’s so outrageously expensive.

    But I wanted to share it with you because I want others to experience it from afar.

    That’s it for today.

    Except for Gig’em Aggies.

    Beat the hell out of Arkansas.

    Y’all have a great Friday.