The Past Few Days

Whew, it's been a busy few days. I feel like the weekend didn't stop until today when I had to go back to work. But I'm definitely not complaining, I've been having a blast. So much has happened, I don't even know how to catch up. I've got some pictures to share with you from the weekend, and my visit to a friend's ranch yesterday.

I'll start from the beginning, Saturday night was the opening of the Hofbrau, the restaurant/bar my dad invested in and we all went for the grand opening party. It was soo much fun. It's a really great place, I think it's going to be a success. I won't go into too much detail about the night, but it was crazy and ended around 2 AM Sunday morning. The best kind of Saturday night, right?













I'm now realizing I could've taken many more pictures of this, but I was too busy enjoying myself and sometimes you just have to put away the camera. Anyway, Sunday was my little sister's 14th birthday. We went to dinner with the family to celebrate and she got a baby red footed tortoise for her birthday. We named her Bella and I'm so in love with her I almost want to go get a tortoise for myself!





Yesterday, my mom and I headed out early in the morning to a friend's ranch for lunch and just to enjoy the day together. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect. We sat around on the porch, next to a little man-made fish pond and listened to the sound of the water, eating tuna sandwiches, fruit, chocolate chip cookies and lots of tea. We went for a little walk and took lots of pictures. I won't post them all because I got carried away, but I will share a few of my favorites because it was so beautiful. I absolutely love being out in nature and I've been missing being on my ranch so much, it was so great to get to go out to our friend's and get a little taste of it. But I'm going to mine at the end of the month and I CAN'T WAIT! Sooo excited!











I hope you all had a great weekend, and a good start to the week. It's almost another weekend, wooo! Tomorrow I'll try to recreate my outfit from Saturday night and post it on here. I really liked it, and realized when it was too late that I never remembered to take outfit pictures.

Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley Again

Ah, what a busy, but wonderful day! I woke up this morning and went with my mom to bible study as usual. Then I went with her to a clients house while she gave her a massage and boy was I glad I did! She had the most beautiful house, with the most lovely yard! I sat out in the front, lounging on a porch swing reading Dorian Gray, looking out on the beautiful yard until it was too much! I snapped the book shut and went exploring. Walking through the front and back yard made me feel like I was at Manderley and Maxim should be on my arm, I just kept waiting to end up at the beach or bump into Mrs. Danvers and kill the mood. I love that about books I've read without a movie because the setting stays forever exactly as I want it, it's my own unique place in my mind that no one else has. And if you're lost and have no clue what piece of literature I'm referencing, go to your nearest bookstore and pick up a copy of Rebecca. You won't be sorry! Its one of my favorite books of all time. So good! Anyway, I took my outfit pictures in the yard so you can see a tiny bit of my Manderley but there's so much more I didn't get pictures of, like inside the house, gorgeous vintage photos of her parents from the 30s and 40s right here in San Antonio! Ohhh, I could've died.






(lol @ my still slightly puffy cheeks!)

Anyway, onto the next order of business. My day didn't end at Manderley! Today is actually my dad's 50th birthday. He insisted that we couldn't have a big party to celebrate his aging, but my mom, sister, and I still wanted his birthday to be special. So we made him his favorite dinner, salmon patties, corn, and mashed potatos (luckily all things I could eat with my healing gums!) and a dump cake for dessert. The cake came out so cute and tasted delicious! After dinner he got his cards and opened his presents, Mario Kart and Mario Brothers for our Wii. Mom thought we were giving a present to ourselves too, but I said to view it as giving him the gift of family bonding time. Hehe, good one eh? I think Dad was pleased and we had a lot of fun trying out the new games together. No more golf tournaments, we're racing now!





One last thing I want to share about my outfit. It may seem like a plain, everyday outfit but it's so special to me! This Alen Rench t-shirt is an old vintage band tee from back in my dad's rock and roll days. I'm actually wearing a t-shirt from his band. He was the drummer in the Alen Rench Band back in the early 80s. He's moved on from that dream now, but he's still a drummer at our church and remains friends with his old bandmates. I have some old pictures of him in the band I'll have to scan and put on here one day. They're so cool! This shirt and those pictures are some of my most prized possesions, things I'm so glad my dad passed on to me that I can one day give to his grandchildren and no matter how old he gets, he'll always be remembered as the guy in the band. And I'm sure that's the way he'd want it!

T-shirt: Dad's vintage band tee
Skirt: Target
Belt: vintage
Oxfords: Steve Madden (yeah all I wear are oxfords, get over it. hehe)

Mother Daughter Date

Today, feeling nearly fully recovered from my cold (woo!) I went out for a big shopping and lunch date with my mom. It turned out to be a very successful day. We had lunch at the Earl of Sandwich where I had my favorite "Le Frenchy," with ham, brie cheese, and dijon mustard. My mouth is watering now just thinking of it! Then we went shopping for dad's 50th birthday (hehe old man!), I won't say what I got him just in case he sees the blog before the big day (doubtful, but you never know). But just as a hint, I ended up buying Resident Evil for my Wii in the place we got his gift. Something little known about me in the blog world is that I. LOVE. VIOLENCE! Hehe, not real violence, but I'm the ultimate girl to go to the movies on a date with. Chick flicks? Puh-lease. Give me some gorey action violence, a World War II movie or some human eating zombies or any of the Saw movies. So, naturally, I enjoy bloody video games all the same. Anyway, back to normal girly stuff, it was a very successful shopping date. Mommy bought me a thousand pairs of underwear because I needed them and they're so cute! (Not that you even care..) Then we went to Goodwill and I got two more fabulous Spring dresses I can't wait to wear!

Speaking of thrifting, recently I've been toying with the idea of starting a shop on Etsy. Any thoughts? Would anyone want to buy from me? I've got a pretty amazing collection of thrifted dresses already that I don't wear or don't fit and I find a thousand pretty things everytime I shop that won't work for me, but I'd love to give to another lucky lady of a smaller/larger size. So, what do you think, girlies? Let me know!







Today's outfit was the result of waking up to a phone call from my mom to be ready in the next 30 minutes. I had to be fast. So I quickly grabbed my FAVORITE striped t-shirt, I wear this three times a week no joke, hehe, and this little pink skirt I picked up at Salvation Army earlier this week. The skirt was only 50 cents! High five! Then of course, I had to finish it off with oxfords and cardigan due to the small chill in the air. It was my last day to dress up for a few days as I'm getting my wisdom teeth taken out tomorrow morning! I'm so so scared. So, obviously, I'll be away from the blog. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Cardigan: Target
Shirt: Forever 21
Skirt: Thrifted
Oxfords: Candies

Easter Sunday

How was everyone's weekends? Mine was rather busy, but nice. Yesterday was especially nice, being Easter Sunday. I started the day off at church and then my family in San Antonio, consisting of me my parents and sister, my mom's brother, and a close family friend, drove to Gruene, Texas one of my favorite little towns to eat at the Gristmill with my grandparents, aunt and uncle and little cousins. It was such a great, relaxing day.

I ate a wonderful grilled chicken sandwich with honey dijon sauce, oh soo good. After lunch we went to some wonderful Antique stores and little boutiques, where I could've spent hours, but the men were impatient. Though I do think I found the dress I'll wear to my graduation ceremony in June. It's so pretty and perfect, I'm definitely keeping it in mind. My mom and I will go back to Gruene soon and spend the real amount of time I'd like to spend in the little shops. I can't wait.







After lunch and shopping we headed back to my aunt and uncle's house in San Marcos for a little easter egg hunt and a lot of relaxation. My mom and I went with my uncle to tour some of the houses in his neighborhood since he lives in the historic district. I fell in love with just about every house I saw. I don't understand everyone's fixation with brand new, modern architecture and houses. I want to take an old house and flip it to make it exactly what I want. A big white or blue house, with ivy growing up the front, old creaky stairs, and some sort of history, with many owners before me. Unfortunately, after such a wonderful day, towards the end I started to feel sick and by the time I got home I was so sick with fever I couldn't move from bed. So I've spent my entire Monday in bed, sick as a dog. Great way to end the weekend, eh?

And now, outfit photos of my Easter dress. I remember as a little girl, buying a new dress meant more to me on Easter than chocolate bunnies or egg hunting. This year was no different, though I did appreciate my mom's wonderful basket of candy, especially my hollow white chocolate bunny. Yummm! I found this dress weeks ago at Forever 21 and thought the colors were so perfect for Spring. I didn't wear it when I bought it, due to the wintry weather, and eventually decided it would make a perfect Easter dress.









I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a lovely holiday, if you celebrate it. Hopefully soon I'll be feeling better and be able to get back to regular programming on the blog. I've been so out of it style-wise lately and now this cold. See you soon..

Dress: Forever 21
Socks: Target
Flats: Target
Headband: Forever 21

I Love My Weiner!

So today's outfit, I must admit, was not entirely my idea. It was actually inspired by one of my sister, Kendall's outfits, which you can see here on her blog. We kind of kept the same theme with the "I love ____" t-shirts, and obviously, we're both wearing my floral skirt. I absolutely loved Kendall's outfit and when I found this shirt today, I immediately thought of it and had to do my own take on it. I like the way mine turned out, it's much more "me" than Kendall's exact outfit.

And, as I'm wearing an "I Love My Weiner!" t-shirt, I thought it would be a wonderful oppourtunity to introduce everyone to my lovely weiner, Phoebe. Isn't she cute? We really love her. Honestly, we treat the dog like a member of our family. Oh, and, believe it or not SHE CAN TALK! She really can. (Now's the part where everyone thinks I'm a complete psycho lunatic.) She says "I want one," plain as day. I swear, she does. If you don't believe me you can just go to my sister's blog and ask her, she'll tell you the same thing.





Today was a rather rough day. This afternoon I got into a wreck at the gas station with all of my groceries in the back of my car, ughh. It was my fault though, I turned in the wrong lane.. yeah, I know, I'm stupid. The lady wasn't too sweet about either, she yelled at me at first until I broke down in tears and then she was really nice about it. There wasn't too much damage to the cars and no one was hurt so I mean it sucks, but it could've been soo much worse. I'm just glad both of us were able to drive away from the scene. Only now my insurance is going way up and my parents are making me pay for it. Goodbye shopping 3 times a week, hello new higher paying job. I guess it's not all bad though, I mean, it's a definite wake up call to start paying more attention on the road. But anyway, enough of my feeling sorry for myself. I hope all of YOU had a great day, DRIVE SAFELY! hehe.

Cardigan: Target (yeah i like wearing it, a lot.)
T-shirt: Gift
Skirt: Target
Belt: Vintage
Oxfords: Steve Madden

Oh and after my stressful afternoon I really needed a good laugh, so I watched this.. enjoy!

Home On The Range

Today I'd like to share a little something about me that no one in this blog world really knows. My family has a ranch in Marlin, Texas (no one knows where that is, I don't expect you to), owned by my grandpa, as well as a little piece of land that belongs personally to us. I was born and raised in the city, but I've got the roots of a country girl and I'll never forget it. I've grown up visiting the ranch, riding horses, helping with cattle, driving through endless pastures, and fishing in tanks. It's one of my favorite places to be. I feel like it's a big part of who I am because it means so much to my family and it's what my family loves. The ranch brings all of us together even though we all lead our own lives and live apart, at the ranch we're all together without a care in the world.



Above is a picture of my horse, Willie, and I last Spring. I grew up riding Willie and I love him to pieces. He's now much too old to ride and honestly, doesn't have much time left. I always try to make time to visit him when I'm there and bring him a few carrots. He's such a sweetheart.



These are our cows on our little bit of land. They're my dad's pride and joy. He loves to go take care of "his girls." It's funny though that so many people in my family have made their fortunes raising cattle, because my sister is a vegetarian and I rarely eat beef.

Anyway, I'm off to tidy up the house and maybe rake some leaves in the yard with my sister. If I had my way we'd be heading off to Houston to visit my cousin, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I just hope I get to go to the ranch this weekend! Fingers crossed!

Kid Sister

I never found the time to get pictures of myself today due to work, but I can assure you, my outfit wasn't the least bit exciting. I just wanted to be comfy today. So, instead of sharing my outfits with you, I thought I'd share some of my adorable little sister, Kendall's outfits! (Using MY clothes I might add, so you may see outfits like these on me in the future.)



Wearing
Blouse: Old Navy (hers)
Dress (made into skirt): Target (mine)
Boots: Nordstrom Rack (ours)
Headband: F21 (mine)



Wearing
Vest: Target (hers)
Tank: Can't Remember (hers)
Skirt: Target (mine)
Shoes: Thrifted (hers)



Wearing
T-shirt: Gift (hers)
Skirt: Target (mine)
Belt: Target (mine)
Shoes: Converse (hers)

Isn't she the cutest? She's only 13 and she already has such great style. (I like to take a little credit for that, hehe.) But honestly, she's adorable, she used to draw pictures of outfits back in elementary school. She's so creative and fun. She even won Best Dressed out of her 7th grade class last year, I was so proud!

I love having a little sister to share clothes and shopping dates with. She's my number one supporter of my blog, usually taking all of my pictures, my number one shopping buddy, and we each give the other another closet to raid for ideas. We have so much fun sharing clothes and giving each other ideas for outfits, but we still each have our own styles and put our own spin on everything. She's also a big source of inspiration because she takes pieces from my closet and wears them in a way I wouldn't have done and I'm like duh why didn't I think of that?! I love my little sister more than anything and wouldn't trade the experience of being a sister for the world.

That's all I've got for today. If you want more of Kendall, go check her out on chictopia and weardrobe! You should also go check out her new blog Skinny Girl, Phat Style!