toil and trouble

happy halloween yall!!

it has actually been hard for me to remember that today is halloween. even though i love this holiday so much i have put it out of my mind completely since our big celebration has already come and gone.

luckily .. i live in a neighborhood where kids still trick-or-treat. i love passing out the candy!! my dogs, however, do not share my same sentiment {ha!}

when i was a kid we would get together with our friends and cousins and stuff and we would all walk around trick-or-treating without our parents. times were just different. there wasn't as much of a threat for violence and abduction then i guess. it makes me sad that now kids really don't go house to house the way we used to. i feel like they are missing out on some really fun memories.

a lot of the neighborhoods in the city where i live now do big block parties. one entire block gets blocked off and all of the families can go and they set up games and bounce houses and different booths and its kinda like a halloween carnival. that way the celebration still lives on

so whatever your plans are for this halloween night .. have fun and be safe!

happy wednesday!!

sweater: joie

jacket: graham and spencer

pants: rich and skinny

shoes: steve madden

headband: anthropologie

another success

 

friday night's 4th annual costume party was another success! and so was my creepy clown costume mask .. what do you think??

 

 

cat woman .. a biker babe .. and a doll made an appearance

 

a cave woman and he-man made their debut as an engaged couple .. CONGRATS!!



 

there was a guy riding a flamingo and the flamingo wasn't super thrilled about it .. he finally accepted his duty and perked up later haha!

 

 

britney spears and green monkeys team from legends of the hidden temple were also in attendance 



 

 

charlie sheen came with amy winehouse {sadly not pictured} and stayed for a while to hang out with the cowboy .. the freaky guy from texas chainsaw massacre .. and a biker dude

 

 

the smarty pants in my mask :)

 

my love :)

there were a couple of costumes that i didn't get pictures of .. amy winehouse was one of them .. and a half baked {ha! i'm funny} big tex .. the other member of the green monkeys .. ryan gossling from drive and a full view smarty pants' costume.

thank you everyone for coming and going all out on the costumes! the night was tons of fun and i am already looking forward to next year!

happy monday!

paarrttaayy

this friday is our annual halloween party! woop! when we were in college .. there was always several parties to choose from every weekend and especially on halloween but ever since then .. the halloween party that we throw at my house is really our one big house party bash. it is my favorite!! not only am i a girl who loves a costume more than just about anything .. i also love getting together with all of our friends and acting like we are 21 again having a good time :)

so several months ago {yes i am that ridiculous} i started thinking about what i wanted to be this year. i always do something cutesy .. i was lady gaga a couple of years ago .. i have been princess peach from mario bros .. last year i was the queen of hearts .. you get the idea. all cute costumes but they were just exactly that .. cute. so this year i decided i wanted to be scary/creepy. i found some insanely awesome witch masks on etsy and i REALLY wanted to get one but i REALLY did not want to spend $100 on a halloween mask. so instead i bought a plain clear mask for $1 and painted it to be a creepy clown. in my opinion clowns are creepy just in general but this mask is awesome. i ordered this sweater and these pants from mod cloth ..

.. i liked the idea of getting pieces that i could actually wear in my everyday life. i don't know why i have such a stigma about spending money on a halloween costume but i do.

i will for sure post pictures of all of us all dressed up next week!!

happy wednesday!!

the story of my african violet

do any of you remember that animated movie from the early nineties about the troll with the magic green thumb .. a troll in central park?? do you remember how he could grow any plant he wanted just by touching the ground with his thumb? yea well i don't have one of those. if my thumb is a color it is blacker than black has ever been. every living plant keels over in death just at the sight of me. i am not kidding.

that is why this particular african violet even has a story. you see my mother.in.law has one of those magic green thumbs. everything grows for her. and a year ago or so she had an african violet that was thriving so much that she separated it into several different pots and gave them away.
she gave one to me.
i tried to talk her out of it.
i told her how much plants dislike me.
i promised her that it would surely die.
to which she kinda laughed and told me that african violets are super easy to take care of and it would be fine.

so here i was .. the plant killer extraordinaire with the spawn of my mother.in.law's super flower and i now had the major responsibility to keep the thing alive. yikes!

but guess what .. it has lived! i have followed her directions perfectly .. i only water it once a week and only a little bit of water at a time. i trim off the dead flowers and fuss over the thing like it's a child {ok not really on that last part ha!}. when sandy comes to town she gives it some love and i honestly think that is the only reason it sticks around. it is holding out for the next time she comes to see it.

so .. now i have false hope that my blacketty black black thumb has turned to magic green and i can now grow things. i have decided i want to grow some produce. i bought a book called the edible balcony and i have major aspirations to get some planter boxes to hang off the railings of our porch and grow fruits and veggies and herbs and stuff.

this should be interesting at best.

i'll keep you posted.

happy monday!!

do you

here is the deal you guys .. you gotta just do you. know matter what. you know what i mean? 

this pertains to absolutely everything but the most outwardly noticeable for me comes through my style. i live in ultra conservative tx .. blue tights with giant peacock feathers running up the back of your calf and jeffrey campbell litas stand out. like an extra giant sore thumb!! but the thing is that this is me. this is who i am. this is how i express myself. this is when i am MOST comfortable in my own skin.

a couple of weekends ago .. when i was down south with my family .. my mom and i were in this tent that had a bunch of vintage formal dresses and i said something along the lines of "i wish i would have been as comfortable with my style as i am now when i was in high school. it would have been so awesome to wear a dress like this to prom." my mom's reply .. "but you weren't. you were more worried about fitting in." 

she was SO right. that was exactly it. 

i used to be afraid that if i got in touch with my true style and expressed that however i wanted .. people would stare and whisper and judge. and a lot of people do stare and whisper and i'm sure some even judge. but my point is that i don't care anymore. 

i have to be myself.

no matter what anyone else thinks.

and you should too :)

happy weekend!!

dress: madison marcus

tights: mod cloth

shoes: jeffrey campbell

sunnies: prada

these boots

if you have been reading my blog for a while you might remember the story of these boots from last year. if not here is the deal ..

these most amazingly awesomely wonderful ralph lauren riding boots USED TO belong to my mom. she got them in the eighties. a few years ago when riding boots made a big come back i asked her if i could have them. she hadn't worn them in years and gave them to me no problem. but now she wants them back .. how rude right?!? {ha!} momma i love you very much but i am sorry to tell you that these boots .. they're mine now :)

today they make their fall debut paired with this navy and mustard dress by what goes around comes around and i am extra excited about it!! it isn't cold but i am tired of summer clothes and shoes. i want sleeves and tights and boots and closed toes and jackets and scarves and everything fall/winter. we keep the temperature comparable to those of antarctica in the store so it isn't hard to pretend {ha!}

happy wednesday!!

hello again

RT was not home this morning so an instagram of my outfit was as good as i could do {ha!}

i meant to blog yesterday since i haven't in so long but ya know sometimes you just don't have time to do everything that you intend to do in a day. we were extra busy with lots of things to do at the hoop and by the time i got home .. all i wanted to do was hang out with RT and the dogs. so that is just what i did :)

the girls trip was AWESOME! we had so much fun and i really felt like i got in some good quality time with my female family members. we are going on a cruise in about a month with the entire family .. there are about 40 of us .. and this past week spent with everyone got me even more excited about it!! we did a lot of exercising {hula hooping is my new favorite activity!!} .. a lot of eating .. a lot of getting relaxified .. and a lot of chatting! i totally loved it!!

hope you are all having a great week so far!!

happy tuesday!!

top: viola

pants: j brand

shoes: steve madden

temporary goodbye

clearly having fun with newly acquired photo apps :)

i might talk about the weather way too much but i just have to start this post by saying that the high around here tomorrow is in the sixties!!! this is very very very exciting news!!

ironically .. some more very very very exciting news is that i won't be here to enjoy it {ha!}. tomorrow morning my mom, audrey, tara and i are leaving town for some much needed girl time / r&r. we do this girls trip every year and I look forward to it so much.

i have said many times before how lucky i am to have the family that i do but it is times like this that really make me appreciate them. the fact that we can all go out of town together for a week and not only get along but truly enjoy our time spent together is so awesome. there are plenty of people out there who don't get along so easily with their family members and i don't take our situation for granted at all!!

this year my mom's two older sisters and a couple of my cousins are joining us as well. it has always been just the four of us so it will be fun to add some more girls to the mix :)

all of this being said .. i won't be blogging next week. i won't even have a computer with me and i'm not sad about that one little bit. sometimes it is just nice to really and honestly get away ya know?! i'm sure there will be some instagrams to show for my time away and i will do a vaca.post when we get home next week. so until then ..

happy weekend!

top: hand.me.down from nana

jeans: blank nyc

shoes: jeffrey campbell {not that you can see them ha!}

headband: anthropologie

connected

a week or so ago .. we got in a really cute top at the hoop. i tried it on and it was so much more amazing on the body than on a hanger that we wanted to post a picture on our facebook page so that people could get the true effect. within seconds there was a 'like'. awesome huh?! we post our new stuff on facebook all the time and i am always surprised how quickly tons of people flip through our pictures. it is awesome for the store. we always have people coming into the store and calling for things they have seen on our facebook page. social media at it's finest!

but it does get me thinking about how connected we all are. with facebook and twitter and  instagram and blogs and every other kind of social media. i follow/am "friends" with {if you can even call it that} all these people that post several things an hour. i am not exaggerating. most days i know and have visual proof of what some people are doing every second of everyday. oh wow you had cheerios for breakfast .. your outfit looks great today .. now you are walking to an appointment .. blt for lunch with an iced tea looks delicious! .. cute dog on the sidewalk .. check out those sunnies .. the view from that window is gorgeous .. finally home to a glass of vino .. night night time .. blah blah blah. and you know what? i actual look at it ALL OF IT!! it is weird.

clearly i am not bashing social media or how anyone chooses to use it. i think it is a great way to get yourself out there as a blogger or whatever and it is a super fast and easy way to connect with others. i use all of it. i look at each site a couple of times everyday. but it does make me want to stay in the shadows at least a little bit.

my sister would tell you that she is not on facebook because 1. she doesn't have time for anything extra {she has four children and her oldest in six .. CRAZY LADY} and 2. she doesn't want everyone knowing everything about her. i try to tell her that people only know what you choose to tell them and for me .. that is how i want to keep it. sure i post  pictures .. usually of my dogs sleeping in various places/positions .. on instagram and when i post a new blog i connect it through facebook and twitter and pinterest. but i am not the person who can remember to post every little deatil on every social outlet all day long every single day. it's exhausting! nine times out of ten i wish i had instagrammed something after it has already happened {ha!}.

i guess i crave a little balance for myself. to be connected but not to disclose EVERYTHING.

what about you? are you a post everything .. a post nothing .. or somewhere in between?

just a little random chatter on this lovely eighty degree friday!

happy wednesday!

dress: from free people

shoes: lauren conrad for kohl's

energy bites

a few months ago i found this recipe for "energy bites" from smashed peas and carrots on pinterest and they looked so yummy i had to make them. 

RT and i are hooked. i make a batch every week and we snack on them like crazy. i have had several people try them .. love them .. and ask for the recipe so here is how i make them .. 

are you ready for this??

it's pretty hard ..

in a mixing bowl, mix together

1 cup quick oats

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

1/2 a banana all mashed up

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup extra dark chocolate chips

1 tsp. vanilla

put it in the fridge for half an hour or so and then use a tablespoon measure to scoop it out .. 

.. and roll into bite sized snacks ..

.. when you are finished they will look like this ^^^

i just store them in the fridge or the freezer and eat one or two at a time all throughout the week

hope you like them :)

happy monday!!