AWKWARD AND AWESOME THURSDAY

AWESOME

Last Friday we rocked the heck out of Austin Karaoke. In matching outfits. What's your favorite karaoke song? Mine is a tie between Oh Darling by The Beatles and Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Fall has come to the south, meaning we've been cruising in the low 80's, high 70's. For three days we turned the AC off and opened the windows. Magic.

My friend Kevin Newton was fantastic enough to remind me that it's PUMPKIN BLIZZARD SEASON Y'ALL. Seriously, who the heck cares about the PSL, I am all about the PSB. Speaking of treats, Sonic allows you to get a dirty Dr Pepper in slush form. Ah sweet lovin.

We were given a king size bed this week! It is comically huge, especially since we don't have a frame for it yet.

I finally climbed the 5.8 wall which has been mocking me! I'm not confident enough to try a 5.9 yet but I'm getting there.

We are officially a cable free household! Amazon Prime 4 eva.

Best Coast continues to be the Best. 

AWKWARD

Tried a new Zumba class yesterday, which I loved. I flailed around for an hour and worked up a good ol fashioned sweat. Back in the locker room I discovered my pants had been on backwards the entire time.

STUFF. I feel another huge purge coming on. When we moved the new bed in and moved our old one to the spare room, displacing all of the nicely stacked boxes that had slowly been creeping back in. As much as Jared claims he needs 12 copies of the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers...I think we will be taking a few more trips to the thrift store.

OMBRE

I have felt like a very drab ol' bag for quite a while now. My addiction to extreme change in the hair department has slowly faded over the years. Faded just like my actual hair, which has been leaching color for months and months. My natural hair color has not been seen on this Earth in nigh unto 8 years at least. In pictures my hair looks sort of a whatever brown, but in person it was brassy and gross. So I decided to brighten it up with some ombre while I maybe grow out the natural color.

Let me make this clear, I like to make sure I am several years behind on most beauty trends. And I stand unashamed! Now, embrace the selfies, and I'll embrace the fact that I should have done this months ago.

before

after

GILLIGAN IS ONE

Dogs. Dogs, man. I have always been a complete Elvira type. I love love, so naturally I love animals, who love to give me love. Because I give them food. No! Because they love me, silly. Anyway, Jared and I are so happy to have this fuzzy little dinosaur in our lives! Happy birthday Gilligan, you are the best. You snuggle like a champ, don't bark very often, are extremely docile and you never give me allergies. You don't even shed you delightful little hound!. Lets just work on that addiction to eating beauty products and try to work on being less of a freak when I try to cut your stilletto nails, shall we?

THE FUNK

Do you ever skip a few days at the gym and freak out and think you're going to gain back every ounce you just lost, even while pulling a piping hot pan of s'mores out from under the broiler? So many feelings these past few days. This morning I realized its undoubtedly hormone induced and it had me breathing a huge heavy sigh of relief. I was cruising blogs this morning and saw this snippet from a parenting book on how to speak to your emotionally distraught child. 

"The authors suggest four ways to help children deal with their feelings:

1. Listen quietly and attentively.

2. Acknowledge their feelings with words like, "Oh . . . . Mmmm . . . I see . . ."

3. Give the feelings a name ("Wow! That sounds frustrating/challenging/intense/disappointing!")

4. Give the child his wishes in fantasy (I wish I could give you the biggest bowl ice cream with 10 cherries on top right now!")"

UM WHAT. That should ready "four ways to help your Kipin deal with their feelings."

Even the ice cream part. Especially the ice cream part. I may laminate this on a little card and give it to friends/husbands/family/work associates.

Also yes, I regularly read mommy blogs though I have no children? And no plans for a child for a few years to come? One of the mysteries of life my friends is the siren call of the mommy blog.

It's actually not all that bad. It's NOT bad is what it is. It's good for pete's sake! Sometimes it astonishes me, how easy I get those negative blinders on and eschew every opportunity to count a tender mercy, SO here I go.

Austenland, laughed my head off. Jennifer Coolidge, I adore you

Aforementioned broiled s'more, I love you.

Rock climbing. It makes me feel strong. Even though I can only climb a 5.7.

The Avett Brother concert tickets have been bought.

I can ride in my contour and not get sweaty on the drive to work.

Jared Alexander, I love you.

SAVANNAH: A FOOD AND CANDLE TOUR

Oh Savannah. Look how happy I am to be there! A quick disclaimer: Josh and Sarah you were in Jacksonville when I went up, but you have to let me and Jared come and stay with you soon!

Anyway, Savannah. Signed, sealed delivered I am yours. So charming, so walkable, so delicious.

My pal Lauren and I spent Labor Day in Savannah. Of course, half of everything is closed there on Mondays, and the other quarter is closed on Holidays, but that didn't get us down. Our plan? Look at expensive home furnishings, antiques and other wares we can't afford and eat a lot of food. I mean like, a lot a lot of food. It should be noted that we did very little research for this trip beyond the top Urbanspoon listings. Priorities, we have them.

First stop was Paris Market which is basically the beautiful lovechild of Anthropology and Restoration Hardware with a dash of cinematic old antique store. Loved it. LOVED IT. We sniffed probably 20 candles in this place, thumbed through many an old book, sighed over some gorgeous letterpress and posed with this charming deer.