astronomical statistics....and a funny story

so, the other day i was reviewing my stats and was ASTOUNDED that during the weekend of thanksgiving i had over 200 hits on my website.  well, a fun friend had "pinned" me on their pinterest board!  thanks new friend;)

however, she said i was funny....not sure if looks are everything but it sure put some pressure on me:)

so here is the funny story of the day....the other day we are talking about balanced forces in my jr. high class and those that mean no movement is happening. i asked the class if they could come up with an example in the classroom.  a student answered 'the books on the shelf!"

in my ever so eloquent way I responded "yes, good, the books shitting on the self"........

purple tights--we love colors
black/white striped shirt--thrifted
belt--thrifted
dankso shoes
chicos earrings

red sweater with hood and pockets=smile

 a venezia thin red sweater for $4--oh, yeah!  with pockets and a hood, even better!  afraid it is my new favorite!  rockport leather shoes in the same shade are just so worth it when you are on your feet all day!  gray lane bryant pants and some floral accents top it all off!  the silver rose pin in the middle is from Grandma--yeah for vintage jewelry!  love my chicos earrings--match so many things!  

the thing i am most grateful for today is that we have paid off a credit card that has been "haunting" us for years!  i am proud of us (my spouse and I)  to have committed to change our consumer behavior over time.  we did not declare bankruptcy, we are establishing a positive credit history and learning to make do with the stuff we have.

have you experienced something like this before?  if feels fabulous freeing!

rod stewart hair and other music musings.....

so if you remember rod stewart in the 80's, (google forever young video) then you might think i stole his hair:)  but, i think i am a bit prettier than he is--haha!

speaking of bands or music that you don't mind on the radio but would never buy an album, here is my list:

• Boston, which even to me is weird because I own both Foreigner and Journey which sound very similar
• Maroon 5
• Matchbox Twenty love Rob Thomas's voice but won't invest, sorry:(
• Ted Nugent
• Lynnard Skynnard
• Rush (sorry Thom--I know you are ashamed to by my friend)
• Rihanna--this type of music is my "you like that?", but I am a die hard Brittany fan
• Justin Timberlake--that guy has a great sense of humor about himself, though
• The Doors
• AC/DC
• Ozzy Osbourne

obviously i am a rocker and a dancer--never country or pop music so there are the parameters for my list....

p.s.  where the heck did November go?  i can't believe i haven't posted more often....hope your holidays were great!

1000 springs road--awesome road trip

Near Twin Falls Idaho,  there is my favorite weekend road trip excursion!  Road 30 is also called Thousand Springs Road.  Near the Snake River it has over 1000 hot springs, the most gorgeous river valley, fossil beds and a few more miles up the road Shoshone Falls. 

 A couple of shots of Shoshone Falls, this year's volume is tremendous compared to the last few year's volume.  The sound was TREMENDOUS!  It calms my heart to hear the sound of water! 

 This is us staying in the Queen Dome at Miracle Hot Springs.  The door is shorter than my husband, heated tile floors, a small space heater, and really comfy bed!  Miracle Hot springs is THE BEST!  You can rent a private pool for between 1-2 hours.  The water comes out at 114 degrees.  AAAAAHHHHH...my sore muscles = gone!

Weekend clothing includes sweats from Lane Bryant, a Shopko tank top underneath the turquoise jacket from Dillards.....all old, all comfy, all road trip worthy!  Oh, can't forget the Croc flips from Big Lots!

Have a great day!

featured and fall

Happy Surprises!  I was featured on this blogpost as a top ten Mormon fashion blogger!  I am so honored!  I love that we can make a choice and a difference by doing something different than the expected!  Yay for Modesty!

Love you all!

Each shirt was 99 cents on a Monday night at Savers!  This black skirt has been one of my best purchases EVER!  Fashion Bug years ago and pounds ago...it has fit me through all sorts of sizes and years!  And of course, my Dansko sandals!

love the fall time, by the way!  the cooler nights and fall leaf colors are fabulous! 

too hot or too cold

so, my school is supposed to have air conditioning.  it works in the morning and somehow not in the afternoon.  so with full classes, my little room gets to be like 76 or 77 degrees Fahrenheit.  That is really hot for me to be walking around the classroom, I start to sweat and getting irrationally agitated. 

I wear sandals.  There is something about if my feet are cool then I feel cooler....that is my problem solving way of dealing with the heat.  The only issue is that we are supposed to have a closed toe/heel shoe policy at our school.  (It just is and we could have a completely different debate about why that is, but I choose to not engage about that now.)

I liked how this outfit turned out!  The green and gold scarf that my friend Emily brought me back from Jerusalem ties in with my dansko shoes and gold earrings.  The ruffled skirt has those cute little roses with a touch of green.   

here is to changing weather, too hot or too cold buildings and having a great day!

feeling awesome cute!

 love those days when an outfit just comes together and you get all sorts of compliments and feel awesome cute!  i sometimes find myself dressing a bit color bold, pattern heavy and what some people might call young for my age......

 i just nod my head and say, i am immature:) 

i mean who my age gets a zit so painful that it makes your eyesocket ache?  Haahahah?! see that beauty right between the eyes?  hope your day is fabulous!


shrug--lane bryant
tank top--wal-mart
skirt--thrifted fabric and sewn by me
necklace and earrings--boutique clearance
sandal--dansko

 loving this nygaard top with pearls and white keds....think it is  dressy casual.  lane bryant pants and tank top to make the outfit complete.  thanks grandma for the pearls! 

 this is what my cat does to my sheets.  it is a good thing she is loved--the little butt! 

this is a cool cloud picture of a storm blowing in....can you see the wind in the atmosphere blowing that round edge of clouds?  sooooo coool:)

have a great day!  love you all!

simply awesome!

 Cheesy Grin!  I have been going through some amazing life transformations lately.  I have been attending these life conferences called Landmark Education.  Have you heard of them?  Google them! Find them in your city and attend.  It has been worth every pinched penny I have paid! 

 For example, I realized that some of the things that I am really good at:  being loyal, funny and intuitive, have a certain cost to my happiness. In other words, they have served as such a driving force that I almost don't have a choice to be any different.  I know that those sentence read funny and part of that is the language of Landmark.  The other part is that you would think that something you are good at is always positive:  I am suggesting that I was feeling trapped in that identity.  Thus, it has been freeing to realize I don't have to BE any way.  I can just BE. 

I had a day with a simple outfit that just felt awesome!  It is like the earrings, the lace top and the comfort of it all just worked out to make me feel great!  Oddly, because I hardly wear a "designer" outfit, all the clothes are from Lane Bryant.  The earrings are from a clearance at Wal-mart. 

all about the accessories

"you're so punk rock"
"you're socks crack me up"
"i love your outfit"
"you look so cute"

were just a few of the responses i got to this outfit....for me it was all about the socks and the hairclip:) this skirt is one of my favorites--i made it out of some thrifted fabric which turned out better than i expected!  i don't even know what to call the type of fabric it is made out of, it doesn't wrinkle an ruffled lovely!

i got dressed today! (hee hee)

This morning I went to a political meeting about education reform, public land use and immigration.  I have strong opinions about the first two issues and purposefully stay ignorant about immigration.  My current senator is Aaron Osmond and State Rep. is Ken Ivory.  I am pleased with the conservative way, in true repbulican platform, they are approaching giving power back to the locasl in education.  Sen. Osmond has some great ideals on empowering local elected boards to run local schools. A truly innovative idea modeled after something he has seen in Australia. Ken Ivory is working on reclaiming our claim on state lands and use of them.  Oh, idealism.....

Thus, I got dressed today!  I have "fresh" hair--so happy with it!  It has two colors of blond weaved in between my brown weith a pixie cut that I can wear messy and cute!  If you live in the Salt Lake Valley and are looking for a hair dresser, I would recommend Alicia Eby at Amber Rene Salon.  Tell her I sent you so I can get a referral discount! 

Cute fabric hair flower I made, if you want one...let me know!  I have a few extra:)  p.s. the flips are a gift from my cousin in Austin, TX.  they are SO SO SO comfortable! 

khaki comfortable for flying through imaginations!

shirt is venezia from lane bryant, skirt was a pair of a lane bryant 'long' pants that i refashioned into a skirt, black dansko sandals.

our family has been spending the summer tuesdays going on local field trips in Utah 

today we took exit 338 off I-15 and went to the airplane museum 

i highly recommend it! 

my two 4 yr. old nephews didn't stop talking for the whole two hours we were there!  we used words like propeller, torpedo, busted, bombed, rocket, and all sorts of other words that most 4 yr. olds can't wait to use!

This is me with my 2 yr. old neice who i think is in pre-engineering training....:)

men's shirt ripped and sewn into a skirt

 so comfortable!

love the sandals--btw the turquoise is over spray from a spray paint project...i don't know how my apt. manager is going to feel when it won't come off the cement:)

 little pocket left in from the ralph laruen shirt i cut up into strips to sew together

 some of my favorite, most versatile earrings ever, found in a little shop in Panguitch UT.

a bit of a hairdo crisis of late...not sure of the upkeep of being blond, not sure of going longer, love being short...so i am taking photos to assess....

britney spears t-shirt!

oh yes ladies that is a brittney spears t-shirt i am wearing with my favorite black skirt.  i went on vacation to Minnesota to visit on of my sisters and we saw brittney perform in St. Paul.  it was a GREAT show! Nicki Minaj opened and she also put on a great show!  passionate dancing is something my sister is good at and i appreciate.  there were some nice curvy back-up dancers-- all muscular and energetic.  the sets were great, the energy was high and it was some great fun! 

brittney original t-shirt
fashion bug black skirt
red dansko sandals
chico earrings

other refashioned favorite skirt

this is one of  my favorite skirt outfits for the summer. 
this skirt was once a long vertical length skirt and made it a horizontal short skirt. 
i love the colors and pattern. 

shirt--fashion bug, skirt--refashioned, shoes--dansko

you know your favorite sweater.....

1. well now it can now be your skirt!  i bought this 100%, xxl cotton men's sweater at a garage sale for $1. 
2. then i turned it upside down, added elastic to the waist. 
3. cut off the top of the sweater at a length that was right for me--which mock me now-- is only like 23 inches--yes i am short. 
4. i then cut the sleeves off, square to the sides, which made an automatic side slits.
5. using my sewing machine knit stitch i reinforced the edges (as opposed to hemming the edges, i wanted no bulk) and the side effect was a slight ruffly edge:) 

oh, my summer of skirts hasn't stopped, i just haven't been blogging them.  i have no excuses except summer vacation has been happening!  yay!