Friday fashion talk

Well so much for my 'no-buy' goal. My mom and I (famous for our shopping sprees) managed to keep it light, but we did shop every single day that Josh was gone.

We started it off Monday, with a trip to TJ Maxx not long after they arrived. (We certainly didn't waste any time.) My mom picked up some Coach tennis shoes, a shirt or two (I tried convincing her to buy a black version of the Michael Kors shirt I got, but she wasn't having it), and some houseware stuff. I got some face stuff off the clearance rack (Elizabeth Arden face mask, some crazy organic moisturizer, I forget the brand, and some nail polish), a hot pink Michael Kors shirt (see below) and a Max Studio maxi.

 (sorry about the blurry one, but it's the closest to showing the true color)

Tuesday we went to ReStore; she had brought like a huge box + 3 or 4 large bags of stuff, and I had 3 large bags. It filled up the entire back of her Escape, so it was a hefty load. Then we went in and shopped. She found a nice scarf with the tags still on it, and I got two shirts. I don't really intend to wear either as-is, but the black/gold one is so pretty, and detailed (and brand new, it had tags on it), that I am going to hold off on cutting into it until I have a solid plan.

Wednesday we headed to the mall, my mom wanted to get her hair cut, but we still managed to squeeze some store time in before and after. I picked up a pair of striped leggings (how on-trend am I, y'all?!), and an absolutely gorgeous navy blue ruffly Cremieux skirt I found on a clearance rack at Dillards. My mom got a few shirts and a hi/low (mermaid hem?) dress in oxblood (also off the clearance rack, they were packed with awesome stuff!) 

Thursday we stuck to the bookstore, my mom got a bunch of books but I didn't. I picked one out but decided to buy it on my Kindle instead. :)

Today, after my parents left, Josh and I went back and I found another Michael Kors shirt (nautical! perfection!) so that just sort of happened, but I really think it was worth it. It's beautiful, and dressier than a lot of things I own, so it will be a little more versatile.

Also included, for your consideration, two things I had mentioned but hadn't shared pictures of: the grey maxi skirt from last time we were at TJ Maxx (it's Max Studio) and my newest addition to my Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglasses collection. (Stars!)

Ok, well we're off for a night of fun and adventure, I'll catch up with you cats later and write more about the week, and our very exciting (not so much) travel plans for either next week, or the week after. Intrigue! (Or just poor planning, who knows.)

Emotional exhaustion

Anxiety attacks are so depleting. They take so much raw energy, so much emotion, but afterwards, even if there has been no resolution to the problem(s) you were stressed out about, you're so exhausted from the anxiety attack itself that it's typically easier to rest then.

Or at least that's been my experience with them.

I am supposed to be gone right now. Driving Josh to the airport, sending him off on the first business trip he's had to take in two years, but instead I'm sitting home, trying to keep my knee from swelling up even more, and wishing that anxiety was a curable disease...and that I was cured.

What actually set me off is not the fact that he was leaving, though, I'm okay with that; what I'm not okay with is the idea of having to drive to and from Little Rock (I've only been once, Josh drove and we just went to Whole Foods and back) alone. I'm good with directions, and have driven all over the place, from South Texas to Pittsburgh, and everywhere in between, but usually not alone. Plus, my knee is really messed up, worse than I initially thought it was, and being in a car that long would have been terribly uncomfortable.

I feel bad about it, but in a few ways it is more convenient this way. Less gas, less wear on the car, and I don't have to be worried about picking him up, and flight delays, and what not. He'll just drive himself home when he gets in.

I won't be stuck without a car, though, my parents are coming up later today, and they'll stay until Thursday...so I'll be alone (with the animals) until this afternoon, then again on Thursday for a few more hours. No big deal. Even if they weren't coming, I don't think I would have minded being car-less for a few days, not like I'm the type to run around and do stuff alone.

My appointment with the orthopedic specialist isn't until the 25th of this month, but if things get too much worse I may end up back at the regular doctors office before then. It's not really that it's painful, in fact the only time it really hurts is when I twist it to the side, it's just uncomfortable. It feels tight, almost like it needs to pop, but it's popped multiple times and that never seems to relieve any of the pressure. The only way I can describe it is like a rubber band that's stretched too far. It also kind of feels like my thigh muscle is pushing on my knee. It's gross, and weird, and I'm tired of it.

But despite all of that I am really looking forward to spending some time with my parents this week! Hopefully I'll be able to do something other than just sit around all week, my mom and I have a wonderful tradition of shopping that I can't imagine us not participating in any time we're together. ;)

We also have to go to ReStore, I have a few bags to donate, and my mom said she was bringing a few bags of clothes that someone gave her so that I could look through and see if anything struck my fancy, and if not we'd just donate all that too. I haven't done anything else since I hemmed up those shorts last week, there's nowhere for me to elevate my leg when I'm sitting at my craft table.

Josh got to DJ again on Thursday night. He could have on Friday too, but he wasn't scheduled too, so he was drinking...and he didn't want to embarrass himself. He ended up doing that anyway, mostly just because he gets ridiculous when he's drunk, but that's not nearly as bad as messing up a music set in front of a crowd of drunk people trying to dance. Then, he passed out in the car, and only woke up to tell me what a great pace I had going, and how well I was passing everyone without bumping them. (We were the only people on the road the whole way home.) I think he's been watching too much Nascar!

I'm making pancakes for my parents this week, I think I'm going to try the apple ones, so hopefully I remember to document the recipe and post it. I'm going to go finish trying to make almond butter now, and then hopefully get some rest before my parents get here!

P.S. If you're into dance music, Josh finally made a fan page on facebook...he posted a video I took the other night, and he's going to be adding some mixes soon so check it out!

Everybody loves my baby

Wow it's been a long time since I've listened to the Doors. Glad that's being remedied right now.

You know how they say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to...uh, solving it? I guess. I ususally  just hear that admission part. Anyway...we went to ReStore. Again. We took a pretty big bag of stuff, and we actually had a purpose today. (Wait, that's what I said yesterday too, huh? Hmm...)

A couple of weeks ago I had mentioned to Josh that instead of trying to play the Valentine's day game, and out romance each other, or go out to a crowded restaurant and spend money unnecessarily, we should do something fun and different. I told him to pick a movie, and we'd recreate the cover. He mentioned a few different movies over the past few days, but didn't have anything definite until today...so, again, we rushed to ReStore just before they closed. I managed to find a pair of white Keds, and then we had to go to Wal-Mart to try and find a baseball bat. I also found an off-white sweater on the clearance rack that I grabbed, and then we rushed back home take this before the sun went down.

In case you can't tell (no worries, I had never even heard of this movie before today), it's Bull Durham. It was pretty hilarious taking turns setting the timer on the camera and then running back to the car...there are quite a few blooper pictures, and I'm glad that sweater was cheap because it did not survive. But we had a lot of fun!

Then I cooked dinner while we waited on Aaron to get here, and the craft room got neglected just a little bit longer. Luckily we're all night owls so even though it's still only like 90% done, I've still got a couple of hours. I'm doing some laundry, too, while I can. We have a lot of plans for this weekend.

Tomorrow we're taking Aaron to TJ Maxx, so I think I'll probably manage to stay away from ReStore. Then, tomorrow night is Joshs first gig here in Hot Springs! He used to play a lot more when we were in Austin and the music scene is...more active. It'll definitely be a lot of fun to see him back in his element, doing what he loves to do for fun, rather than working. I'm still in the process of deciding what to wear, as if I'm not going to be in a dark club all night, hiding in the back and taking pictures. Haha. Oh man, that reminds me, I have to remember to charge my camera battery. The one I have is really good, and can usually go a week (sometimes more) without being charged, but when I'm doing something with long exposures it uses a lot more battery, so I have to make sure it's full before I end up mad at myself for missing a great shot!

There aren't really any words to explain this, but she gets goofy when there's a camera around. She actually rolled back up into this pose when I asked her to, because my first picture came out blurry. She could totally be in commercials. She will do anything you ask if there's a camera out, but she really prefers to make up her own poses...which is fine, because they're hilarious.

Random Adventure Wednesday!

Today I went to ReStore. And I bought a dress. Not on a whim, though, I had seen this dress the last two or three times we've been there, but I kept passing it over...and yet, I couldn't get it out of my mind! It was just so perfect, in all it's 90s glory...and so today, 10 minutes before they closed, I ran in, grabbed it, and left.

You may not find it as amazing, and this picture sure isn't doing it (or my figure) any favors (better ones tomorrow, promise!) but trust me - it's amazing. Perfect condition, black velvet maxi overall dress. (There's got to be a better name for that, than overall dress.) (and yes, I did try on it over all my clothes, before I even washed it. THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE IT.)

Maybe there's not, but I don't care, I love it. I'm having a hard time deciding between making one slit, slitting both sides, or just making it shorter. Because as much as I love it, it's a little too much 90s in one dress. It definitely needs a minor facelift. :)

After that we headed to a new bar that opened up downtown, Josh had talked to the owner a few days ago about playing there, and so we were going to kind of scope it out, talk to the other owner (or manager? I really don't know. They're brothers though.) and have a look at their set-up...long story short, he's going to play there on Friday night but he has to take his own decks because they have stuff set up for vinyl and Josh uses CDs. It's going to be awesome, though, the place is really cool, and everyone there was nice and friendly. Josh talked to another guy from Austin who's also DJing there this weekend. We had a great time, nice to finally find a place in this town where it's nice to just go hang out.

Joshs brother mentioned he wants to come stay here for a few days so that means I have to actually make an effort in my craft room tomorrow. It's horrible, and there's no way I'll finish it by the end of the day, but I'm hoping to at least find the VCR that I know is somewhere in the closet, and get that in the bag of stuff that's going to ReStore next time we make a trip, and then clear the bed off. If I can at least do that, then at least he'll have somewhere to sleep and the rest I can figure out later.

Oh, right, today is Valentine's Day, so...kiss your lovers? I'm really not good at mushy romance stuff - I gave Josh a hand-written card with a dead cricket taped to it. (I was going for a 'love-bug' theme, and it was the only bug handy.)

Even though neither Josh or I am Catholic, since we're already in the midst of eating better and working out, we decided to go ahead and give something up for Lent. I am giving up any processed food with more than 5 ingredients, and he is giving up added sugar. It's going to be a fun challenge for us, because we have our routines, and our go-to foods, and we so seldom take the time to read the ingredients...it'll be good, though, to take that step back and think more about exactly what we're putting in our bodies, and why.

My hair is all kinds of ridiculous right now. I'm trying to not cut it again until it's grown out some more, but it's long on one side, and it's just...annoying. Every time I wash it, it fluffs up and I can't do anything with it. I at least want to make it to March before I give in and cut it. I had a reason but I can't think of it right now.

Isn't this a cute little wallet? I think I may make one like it...if I ever have time to go sit and craft in my craft room, rather than clean it.