1. What’s a characteristic you admire in others? Elaborate.
I really admire good listeners. I think I am a good listener but I also like to talk. Sometimes I am very eager to respond or state my opinion in the matter. It’s something I’m conscious of and something I work on.
2. Do you have a favorite mug? Let’s see it. Why is this one your favorite?
I am not a big Starbucks fanatic but I do love and treasure my Starbucks places mugs. They were either brought back to me by a special person in my life, brought back by me, or acquired to remember a trip or place. My Mom just gave me England and Spain for her last Christmas with us. She passed away almost a month to the day after Christmas this year. I really know how to turn something sad, don’t I? They are also the perfect size and heft.
3. July 15th is/was National Give Something Away Day…will you (or did you, depending on what day you answer these questions) give something away? If so what? Do you regularly give away or do you tend to ‘accumulate’?
I regularly give things to people I think can use the things more than me or I donate. I currently have a pile ready to go. I would say I constantly have a bag and I try to be thoughtful as I use or don’t use things. Is this serving me? Do I need this? I want to be more minimalist than I am but I am pretty good at not accumulating too much – except shoes. I love shoes!
4. You’re planning a trip. Do you prefer exploring big cities or smaller, more off the grid towns? World Atlas lists these 12 ‘off the grid’ towns to see in 2025. How many on the list have you seen? Of those listed which one would you most like to visit? Tell us why?
Boothbay Harbor Maine, Middlebury Vermont, New Hope Pennsylvania, Rehoboth Beach Delaware, Brevard North Carolina, Saugatuck Michigan, Medora North Dakota, Ouray Colorado, Lamoille Nevada, Neah Bay Washington, Hood River Oregon, or Cambria California
*You can read more about each destination by clicking the link above.
I like the smaller places. When I have limited time and can only see the big cities I think I miss some of the flavor of the country. I didn’t get to see any smaller places in Scotland – only Edinburgh and Glasgow. In England I got to see some smaller places like York and fell in love.
I would really like to do a New England trip and see some of the first places mentioned.
5. Have you ever…ridden a motorcycle? been to a Disney park? met a celebrity? won a contest? Tell us something about whatever you answered yes to on this list.
My Dad was a fighter pilot and I think he had to have a motorcycle, too as part of the fighter pilot package (think Top Gun). I rode on the motorcycle with him while I could sit in front of him, but I was scared when I had to be behind him. I distinctly remember him telling me I was too tall to sit in front of him but me fighting him and him letting me sit in front anyway. I was probably about the age in the above picture.
I have been to all the Disney parks. I think I enjoy Disney more as an adult because it’s just so clever and creative. My favorite is Epcot! I’m sure you’re not surprised. I did however hear someone say, “why would I pay to travel when I can visit 20 countries at once right here?”
I have met Jack Harlow. He was really nice. Your kids might know who he is if you don’t!
I have won a $500 Nordstrom gift card from Mix and Match Mama, a free trip to the Dry Tortugas on a boat that I still haven’t used (I went once and won the return trip), a speech contest, a short story contest, and probably a few other things I can’t remember.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Yesterday was my 25th wedding anniversary! Tom had to work – he had just been off last Thursday and Friday. We don’t have to celebrate on the actual day and I am hoping to do a little trip at the end of the summer or in the fall. So, we just had a special dinner.
These crazy kids had no idea what was in store. Actually we were 28 and 33! So, we definitely were not kids.
Cousin Bryan made a spreadsheet and each of the three families signed up for meals. Neal said he would provide breakfast stuff but people also brought breakfast breads, breakfast casseroles, and little boxes of cereal, too.
My sisters and I signed up to order pizza the first night and serve it with my salad and strawberry cake. Lunch the next day was leftover pizza. My sisters and I signed up for Friday night dinner which was a Mexican fiesta (and unbeknownst to me would turn into a retirement celebration for me!). Saturday lunch was a sandwich bar and Saturday dinner was burgers, brats, salads, and chips. It worked out great!
What I Packed:
I packed really well! I packed one dress in case we went in to town to a winery (we didn’t), one pair of pants (didn’t end up wearing), one cover up, two swimsuits, and then just my Target Wild Fable shorts (3) and graphic tees (4) which were all I wore. I only brought one pair of tennis shoes and one flip flop. It was a super casual vibe and most people just wore swimsuits all day to be ready for any fun water activities.
We arrived Thursday around 5:00, toured the three cabin complex – the main house came with a small bunk house up the back hill from the lake and then Neal was able to buy the small cabin next to it a few years later. There is a massive staircase leading down to the main house. So, this is how he slept close to 30 people! The people who weren’t in the main house really only left to go to sleep. I was in the main house and Tom and I were the only bedroom downstairs next to a bathroom. It was perfect. I was the earliest riser with Neal so it made sense for me to be next to the coffee machine!
Friday morning was really nice because Neal and I were the only ones up around 6:30 and we sat on the porch and talked for about an hour. You all know I like my one on one connections. Neal is 47 and a financial advisor. He is married to another Amy and they have four kids. He is soft spoken and thoughtful but also an Energizer Bunny. He did not stop from after coffee until dark. He was showing people how to use water toys or driving the wake boat at all times.
Friday morning it was overcast but a group of maybe 10 left for a kayak/paddleboard trip that took about two hours. Kate paddle boarded but Molly and I sat and drank coffee, walked to the market to get a couple of things, and cleaned up breakfast.
They came back and it was tubing time! I rode with Neal to spot and it was a lot of fun watching the kids.
The sun started peeking out when we got back and all the ladies floated on floats with an adult beverage. We also got to watch Tom learn to sail with Neal and two of the teen girls.
And, then Neal was needed for wake surfing! We had different combos go out on the boat for tubing and wake surfing. Tom got to do this, too. I joked that this was like a summer camp for Tom – he kayaked twice, sailed two types of boats, and wake surfed. The teenage girls think Tom is a character. They said they had never seen him smile this much.
We started grilling Mexican chicken, making taco meat, and cutting up all the toppings. I forgot to take a photo of the Mexican spread.
Kate brought these little taco boats and it worked out great. Everyone loved choosing hard tacos, soft tacos, nachos, or burrito bowls. I had made brownies and sopapilla cheesecake bars for the dessert.
While people were finishing dinner, it became a retirement celebration for me and there was an Amy’s Career trivia game! It was fun for everyone because they included questions about teen slang and some general education trivia. I need to get a list of the questions!
It was a little cool but I loved it after the humidity of Kentucky. We literally had this fire going day and night and young kids – like 10 years old – would go and get it started or keep it going. We had a little 7 year old fisherman that fished a bunch off the dock. The kids were ages 6-20 and they were off their phones, talking to adults they didn’t remember, and just active and engaged in whatever was happening. It was so sweet!
Friday afternoon my aunts and uncles arrived. Judy and Roger live 45 minutes away from the lake and Jim and Sal live in Cleveland. They had traveled to stay with Judy and Roger and came both Friday and Saturday and it was so nice to visit with them.
Tom and I walked to get ice cream. Tom is a big ice cream fan and I didn’t want him to walk alone so it worked out great because…
We walked back eating our ice cream…
Mine:
And the party was not over – they had set up a piñata for me!
The kids had so much fun but I got to hit first!
Then there was more fire sitting and some s’mores making:
Saturday morning – gosh, I love being near any body of water. My favorite place to hang out was at the end of the dock. Coffee with a view:
Saturday was family float day! We looked like the craziest group with 30 floats/kayaks/paddleboards. We floated from Stony Lake to Lake Michigan. It takes about an hour to go down the creek and it lightly moves so you don’t have to paddle but some did. I was attached to Molly and Kate was attached to cousin April and we chatted the whole way down.
I don’t have any photos because I didn’t take my phone! After we floated we were hungry and the first ones back had set up this sandwich bar and the aunts and uncles arrived again.
I also had a cappuccino because we got cold on the float. I spent the rest of the day in my swimsuit and a sweatshirt. Divine!
More fire time! The kids played this four square game you see in the background quite a bit and some adults played, too.
Wine on the dock while we watched the different groups go out on the boat or use the jet skis. I jet skiied with cousin April to look at houses on the lake!
Tom went out in a one person sailboat:
He looked just like Bill Murray in his tiny lifejacket.
Uncle Jim telling stories:
Before dinner, Tom and I went out with the wake boarding kids and the light was gorgeous on the lake…
Someone stole my phone – these are my nieces Lena and Mia with my sister Molly, their mom.
Niece Nora took a video of Tom walking with his nightly ice cream cone:
And, we got up Sunday and cleaned up and packed and said our good-byes.
We hadn’t all been together in a happy time for maybe 8 years. We used to have a family gathering in April in northern Indiana.
It was great to hear stories from my aunts and uncles!
My aunt went through jewelry of my mom’s to tell us their significance.
My aunt labeled some photos Kate brought.
When I looked around at the many different seating areas – there were several – there were representatives from each family in all the seating areas. Everyone meshed really well and just blended seemlessly despite not really knowing each other in recent times.
I felt like I had conversations with each and every person there.
I had another group of people celebrate my retirement – again, I must be on Amy’s Retirement Tour!
The weather wasn’t perfectly sunny but it was fine. No one let cloudy skies and drizzle affect anything they did. And, the sun was out part of each day, so that’s fine.
Neal and Amy were the best and most chill hosts. They have stuff set up so that people can make themselves at home and make their own drinks and food. They have things labeled so people don’t have to ask about everything. They aren’t territorial and have things set up so they can enjoy themselves, too – I think. We were told not to bring anything like sheets, towels, beach towels, or even shampoo and conditioner. It was all there.
I forgot my hairbrush and ended up not brushing my hair the whole time. Lol. I didn’t wear a bit of makeup I brought. I didn’t wear any jewelry!
Tom and I had the furthest to drive – Louisville, Kentucky – and there were two groups from Cleveland, Ohio, two groups from Columbus, Ohio, three groups from Kalamazoo, Michigan, one group from Grand Haven, Michigan, and one group from near Bloomington, Indiana. My mom is from Chicago and her siblings stayed in the Chicago area for many years. My mom moved to Southern Indiana.
And, that’s a wrap!
I’m so glad we went. It was a long drive that felt longer than it is but it was worth it!
I’m linking up with Sarah and Holly to share my weekend and it was a special one! I’m so tired, it’s late, and we just lost power and internet for a few minutes during a summer storm, so I will just give you some highlights for now.
On Friday, I showed you my full dining room table and my baking that I had done – it was for a trip to Michigan for Tom and I to hang with my cousins on my mom’s side of the family!
We had been there before because we rented cabins on a little lake called Stony Lake that feeds into Lake Michigan. Well, my cousin Neal bought a place a several years ago and this year he invited the whole bunch of us at once.
His youngest created a family tree so we could keep people straight!
My mom (Carole) was the oldest of three. She has a brother (Jim) who is three years younger, and a sister who is seven years younger (Judy). There are nine cousins and I am the first oldest girl and the second oldest.
The original cousins minus one – we still had Curt that hadn’t been born. I’m trying to look like a model in a Snoopy swimsuit – not easy.
Not everyone could make it, but we had the majority. Some kids were in and out due to commitments. My kids stayed home to watch Eddie Otis and work. It was a 7 hour drive for us.
Tom and I left at 9:00 am Thursday morning and arrived at this little paradise:
Everyone arrived between 4 and 6 Thursday night except one family who didn’t come until Friday afternoon.
I loved the outdoor shower:
There is a little market you can walk to and on night one we ordered pizza from them. Tom got ice cream all three nights, too!
The walk to the beach:
Friday morning we started the water activities bright and early! One group did a kayak, paddle board trip and got rained on for two hours but still had fun.
More tomorrow! My heart is full. It was so wonderful to be with everyone!
It’s Friday and time to link up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Faves.
This might be my shortest favorites post ever. I hardly took any photos this week!
How was your week? Did you succumb to Prime Days? I did! I ordered a second pair of boxers in red (I have pink):
I ordered the leggings that Jenn recommended – they have been in my cart for a long time!
And, these Teva sandals:
The Tevas are going back. They are hard to put on – like working a puzzle and they hurt. Nope!
Anyway, it’s fun to have a package arrive daily, but that needs to stop.
My blue French mani is still going strong and I still love it!
This is still cute but I am moving slowly:
Little boy is making us laugh at least once a day! I think I was showing Mason something on the table and he can’t stand to be left out.
I made my dinner protein in the morning one day this week. This is my favorite way to do dinner. Sorry for the kind of ugly photo. We had Mexican bowls.
We got to celebrate a friend’s retirement and I only took a picture of my appetizer plate.
Another night we ordered a mediterranean wrap and I made the side salad. Do you ever combine home cooked with restaurant food?
Kate’s been going through old family photos and sending them to us along with family friends that are featured. I’m in the green sweater. Can you tell I always liked to be the center of attention or nah?
One day I baked my brains out. I made a strawberry cake (will get iced later), dark chocolate brownies, and sopapilla cheesecake bars.
I spent much of the week hunting and gathering and my dining room table was full.
I will let you know Monday what all of this is for!
And, little Eddie Otis with “elefante” in his mouth:
He likes to keep it in his mouth the whole time he goes potty.
I had a list of about 5 things specific to Trader Joe’s for a quick run. I left the list on the kitchen table while I went potty (sorry!) and came back out and EO was eating something. He ate my list! This dog!
And, of course, it’s been such a sad week, too. My heart is broken for all those affected by the Texas flooding.
What have you been wearing lately? This is the time of year that the summer sales are going strong! I really don’t need anything else for summer. I will buy if I see something perfect and it’s a good price. But, now that I think about it, we wear summer clothes up until October around here. I’m also trying to be ruthless about what is currently in my closet. I just don’t need as much and I’m trying to send it on its way if I don’t see myself wearing it.
I feel more comfortable in pants for going out (or dresses) and shorts are for at home. I want to look better when I am just at home so some of my shorts outfits can be kept at home. And, when I go out, I don’t want the ol’ legs sticking to the seats in the car or in an establishment. I’m even getting rid of some tattered at home clothes because they just are too worn.
I immediately change out of my going out clothes when I get back home. I think it helps to keep them looking better. I am a mess and get stuff all over me when I am cooking so I try to wear my old t-shirts for that. But then I look like a slob…what to do?
Let’s get on to the outfits…
I really liked this outfit and could have made it a bit more put together with different sandals. I have on my old light blue Umgee gauzy pants and my new to me consignment top that is from Target originally.
I wore my turquoise gauzy shorts and my J.Crew consignment gauzy top to the farmer’s market. Now that outing really did call for shorts!
Let’s talk consignment haul with my friend Beth. I found 5 pieces on our trip and I have only shown you two of them. I am super picky when shopping consignment. I don’t want to just fall into the trap of “it’s cheap, so why not?” because one summer I did that and I had a decidedly un-cohesive wardrobe. My colors were all over the place and maybe my styles were, too. Those clothes have since moved on.
I found the above Target top and the Old Navy blue and white striped shirtdress at the beginning of my post from Clothes Mentor and I found three pairs of pants from Sassy Fox. I know I made good purchases from Clothes Mentor since I have already worn both pieces more than once! Woohoo!
Now for Sassy Fox (my other favorite consignment store); I am not calling myself a “sassy fox”…
These are Anthropologie and they were only $6.25 because they had a certain color sticker lowering their price. I am seeing these with a black or another contrast solid color top. They are a bit voluminous so I will need more fitted on top. Are they pajama pants? They were with the regular pants. Oh no! What if they are?
I know that Chico’s gets a bad rap (or gets labeled for the aging art teacher vibe) but I have found their pants to fit me well and last forever. I had a pair of black Chico’s travelers pants that I found at another consignment shop that were my go-to pants for maybe 10 years. They make good pants. Kellyann agrees with me and isn’t afraid to shop Chico’s.
I found these black pants new with tags.
And, also how else am I gonna be a size 2, amiright? Bahahahaha.
They are even in short length! They were new with tags! I think I paid $20 for them but I knew that was a good deal.
And, I found these white pants from Chico’s. They are also in short length and will look better with a heel. I almost didn’t get them because of the ankle detail…
White pants are tricky and they show everything. I will need the right length top/blouse.
I decided I liked the detail and Beth also liked it. I think just a black blouse can look very chic with white pants.
What do you think? These were $15 because they weren’t new with tags but they look new. I know white pants don’t have a super long use – I only feel comfortable wearing them from like April until September usually, but since these were Chico’s and fit so well I knew there were a good buy. I only currently have a pair of white linen pants in my closet and they are lined which makes them a bit too warm. The new Chico’s pants:
Oh man – do they look like pajamas?
I settled on this for a quick errand but then I got so hot in the lined pants!
1. What’s an adult problem nobody prepared you for?
All the phone calls you would have to make? I’m talking to your insurance provider, internet provider, water company, electric company, credit card company, etc.
All the apps you have to get to run your stuff? Ugh! I don’t want any more apps!
2. How tuned in are you to all the recent food related health news? Have you gotten rid of your scratched cookware? Did you pay attention to food additives before they made the news? What’s one healthy eating/cooking/food shopping habit you need to adopt?
Kind of tuned in. I have all stainless steel cookware from Costco because our cooktop is an induction cooktop and my old stuff wouldn’t work on it. I think that is the story Tom told me.
I grew up on frozen foods, canned foods, artificial coloring, and all the processed foods. I didn’t really think about it until I had a student a couple of years ago that was super healthy and would yell, “red dye number 40” an awful lot for a Spanish class. If someone said their favorite candy was Skittles or Twizzlers in Spanish we knew this was coming.
I need to buy more vegetables and less packaged snack foods.
3. What’s getting worse and worse as you get older? How about better and better?
My tolerance for toxic people and wasting my time is getting worse.
My mom would drag my Dad to lots of things – dinners, plays, musical events and he did enjoy many of them, but many he did not. I would ask him if he had fun and his reply was usually, “fun is a strong word”. I get this now.
I am not sure what is getting better. Sometimes I think I am more relaxed but then something happens and I am not relaxed about it.
4. Are you more of an indoor person or an outdoor person? Elaborate.
I am more of an outdoor person when the heat and mosquitoes are not present. See, my tolerance for those two things is really low right now.
5. If you had an expert personal assistant today, what would you have them do?
I would probably have them go through my totes and take things to donation centers. I am having a mental block about doing it.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
I have officially been off of work for a month and I feel that I haven’t been very productive. I’ve done all the regular household maintenance and some deep cleaning but I guess I feel that I should have done more decluttering (see above). My sister said I have been grieving and healing in this time – the loss of my mom, my career, and just life as I knew it. I’m sure she is right. Is this just the teacher productivity brain talking? Maybe.
It’s Monday so I am linking up with Holly and Sarah to share my weekend. It was pretty chill because it was so dang hot! Is it too early to say summer is no longer my favorite season?
So, on Thursday afternoon I did this blue French mani:
I also tried to pull out any red, white, or blue pieces that I wanted to wear.
Before that…
I really liked this errand outfit:
I hate my legs sticking to a car seat or a restaurant seat so I wanted to wear pants.
This is my new consignment short sleeve button up. I did not wear anything under it and I think it looks ok.
I made this to take on the errands run. It’s so good! This is Kroger brand coconut pineapple seltzer and I add a lemonade stick to it. I don’t want to have too much artificial sweetener so I should try this with natural lemon juice or the True brand.
I went to Costco not realizing that even though it was a weekday that it was the day before the 4th and yes, Costco was crazy!
I had fun driving my new to me car but I was a bit of a Nervous Nelly.
When Tom got home from work we drove around and ended up at Fresh Market for our dinner of $5 sushi that we took home. It was fun.
Tom and I started this and it’s adorable. Anyone else?
Thursday night was like a weekend night for Tom because he had Friday off and we had plans to boat on the 4th. It was so hot but we had fun and managed to stay in the shade or kept moving most of the time. We had three friends with us.
For dinner we were back home and I made these cute taters, corn on the cob, hot dogs, and beans.
Tom went hiking with his friend on Saturday and I ran some errands. I had to return these two books that I didn’t crack open or finish. No guilt. Reading is for fun and if I can’t get into a book or stay into it – bye bye.
My goal was to finally get to the farmer’s market! I got there by 8:30 and it was already packed and hot.
This is my bag from Spain from 1989:
I saw a former student who works at one of the farm stands.
This is my haul:
I stayed inside much of Saturday with Eddie Otis while we waited for Tom to return from hiking.
Later in the day after Tom got home I went to Target for a few things and for the first time, this didn’t trigger me:
School Supplies on 4th of July weekend!
Haha
I have been praying for the little campers from Camp Mystic and the others that lived nearby. That type of flooding can happen so fast and the timing could not have been worse. I pray for all the people affected and the rescue workers who are working hard. Gosh, it’s just too much.
Happy 4th of July! I am linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some faves if they have their link up today.
This has been a noteworthy week. I officially retired on Wednesday, July 1! The day before I made sure all of my insurance and financial stuff was good to go (lots of phone calls) and I opened up my work email one last time because I was losing access. Honestly, it made me feel good to get that “monkey off my back” of work email!
I didn’t do anything to mark the day Wednesday but I met with my former student who is just back from a year in Spain so that is kind of a nice thing to do to celebrate! And, I posted this photo on my social media:
It also had a song I found on IG “I just retired. I don’t have to work no more.”
I hope that people don’t think I am “rubbing it in”. I worked the same job for 31 years (Spanish teacher in the state of Kentucky so it was all the same system even though I was at three different districts during my tenure) and didn’t get to stay home with my kids when many people took a break and that was really hard. But, honestly, if my post did rub anyone the wrong way, “let them”. I also might mention that I have been “hustling” since I was like 12 babysitting, lifeguarding, managing pools, waitressing, working retail, and I even had summer jobs while I was a teacher.
Also, Lord willing, I do plan to go back to working at some point. It will have to be the right thing.
I also said goodbye to my beloved car of 10 years. It has been my favorite car I have ever had, but it was time to part ways because of all its issues. The most annoying would be the back hatch totally broke off and I had to hold it open with a broomstick. And, the other would be the lack of functioning AC!
I got this car on Mother’s Day weekend when my twins were in 8th grade!
Bye, bye and thank you for your service.
I replaced it with a slightly smaller SUV. Once you sit higher up it’s hard to go back down. Lol.
I haven’t been reading much but when I do I am enjoying this:
The reason for me not reading much is that I have fallen into a Gilded Age hole and I can’t stop!
Little boy is definitely maturing. He still loves to steal shoes, dishtowels, hand towels, washcloths (Mason said he dealt in linens in a past life), pillows, try to pull up our rugs and drag them or chew on them, steal sticks of butter when they are left out, steal the dust pan when I sweep, and a whole lot of other “bad boy” things.
When I read outside, he lays behind me and watches the yard activity. Good boy!
The humidity broke a bit this week and as long as I can keep enough bug spray on it’s been pleasant again.
I literally put Fresh Market meat on my Tuesday agenda and went and bought their chicken, beef, 4 butcher case hot dogs, and some cod for blackened fish sandwiches. They had some festive 4th foods and I picked up these red, white, and blue tortilla chips…
r, w, b potato chips…
and little r,w,b potatoes! So cute!
My new Aerie tee is cropped but no skin shows. I paired it with my red and blue skirt and wore this to run an errand and meet my former student Ali who is back from Spain.
These are the sweet and thoughtful gifts I received from my Heathers along with my dinner out last Friday. Blonde Heather always makes custom cards at Walgreen’s and she used my social media photo to do so. I need her to teach me how she does this! And, they ordered a travel jewelry box about retirement for me, gave me Uncommon James earrings that they both already have, and a gift certificate to one of my favorite boutiques. They literally did too much.
My friend Elizabeth had some PTO she needs to use this summer and wanted to do a pool day so we went Wednesday (it finally stopped raining Tuesday) and had a really nice day. This is the 18 and older pool but it’s right next to the kiddie pool – lol. Also, it now costs $16 to get in for a day!
Eddie Otis had his friend Willow over while Dan (Willow’s daddy) and I discussed our podcast! We probably won’t be ready for it to go live until August, but we have a plan. I think we are going to do it for sure and see how it goes. It is going to be called Fifties Sense – a smart, funny, and honest podcast about life in your 50s hosted by two longtime friends.
And, I want to leave you with a memory (not a flattering photo of me) from a 4th of July pool party long ago. I think they even have on red, white, and blue trunks and rash guards. My high school bestie captured this of my twins with me.
Today is my parents’ wedding anniversary! I need to call my sisters to remind them.
I have been wearing lots of shorts – mostly gauzy! I have pink, turquoise, and orange.
Here I am with my Old Navy gauzy camp button up. I have these in white, black, and hot pink. I am a gauzy girl. I bought those last summer.
Another day, another gauzy outfit. This time I am wearing my Old Navy tropical linen shorts from last year.
Gauzy orange with my new this year boutique blouse that was on the sidewalk sale. Notice how the hair changes!
For girls night out dinner I wore my salmon dress. I have it in hot pink, too. I mean, could I wear anymore orange or pink? Puppy likes to steal towels from the basket and he was roaming around while I took this photo.
Dinner out with gauzy shorts and button up.
My second Aerie order took a sweet forever to get to me. Are we spoiled by the speed of Amazon? Definitely! My first order included drawstring jeans, blue detailed sweatshirt, and Maine lobster sweatshirt. I returned lobster and jeans in store. After thinking about it I wanted the lobster so I re-ordered in size down. Then, I happened to see this graphic tee while online:
It’s so cute and I think I can wear it with my blue and red striped skirt.
Lobster! It’s quite flowy at the bottom with slits in both sides.
And, I am keeping the size down blue sweatshirt. I also ordered it two sizes down and that was not the fit I wanted.
So, last Friday I showed my friend Beth the ropes of my two fave consignment shops. Here is what I came home with:
I had been wanting a shirt dress and found this Old Navy version for $9.99!
It’s hard to see but I found this light blue and white striped short sleeve button up for $9.99, too. I think I will need a white cami under it which could defeat the purpose of it being a shirt to wear in the heat!
And, at the other store, I walked out with white Chico’s pants, black Chico’s pants, and Anthropologie pants. The Chico’s pants were brand new with tags so they were $15 and $20 but the Anthro pants were only $6! I will show you those when I am not too hot to put on pants.
Beth’s haul:
Black blouse
Salmon gauzy
black silk blouse – I told her how much I have worn mine in the winter
Two cream blouses
And, look at this proof of a great deal. The first black blouse she is wearing is new with tags and the original price was $130!
and two dresses – one is a Lily lookalike and the other is J.Crew
She really scored and it made me so happy! I was an enabler, yes. But, some might say I was a helper. There’s a fine line.
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 