Friday Favorites

Paying off all our debt was probably the best thing Andrew and I did in 2019.

Which means in 2020 we are trying to make smarter financial decisions.

Basically I'm supposed to stop eating out so often and there shouldn't be near as many amazon boxes at my front door this year.

It's all about wanting to retire one day or something like that.

So since I'm not supposed to be shopping on Amazon, I figure the next best thing was helping you shop on amazon.

I'll just live vicariously through you.

Okay?

Okay.

So here are a few of my favorite Amazon purchases.

You can click on any of the pictures to shop, but know they are affiliate links.

ONE.

So I know you probably aren't thinking about shorts in January, but I seriously love these shorts so much.  It has been YEARS since I have worn shorts.  I was not on board for the whole tiny shorts era.

But let me tell you I am hear for some appropriate length paper bag waisted shorts.

I wore these all summer and now I'm dreaming about warmer days when I can wear them again.

TWO.

I'm really just a fan of the paper bag waist.  I ordered these cropped pants in July and have worn them several times.  I don't have a picture of me in them, but I can assure you they are a favorite in my wardrobe.  I want them in all the colors.

THREE.

Okay.  Let's leave the clothes behind and move on to some travel items.  Y'all know The Weavers love to travel.

I have been using a Thirty-One make up bag forever.  I like it.  It's huge and pretty much holds all my stuff, but it is one big compartment.  I feel like I spend hours digging for that little bitty eye liner pencil at the bottom.

New makeup bag to the rescue.

I ordered this right before Thanksgiving so I have only used it a couple of times, but I am a fan!

The dividers are movable so you can make each compartment the perfect size for you.  It comes in black as well if pink isn't your thing.

FOUR.

A few years ago Andrew found a new phone mount for our cars.  The brand is Spigen.  It just slides onto your vent so it can be used in any vehicle.  This is especially handy when we travel and have a rental car.  Andrew actually keeps one in his travel bag for this purpose.  We use Spigen phone cases as well.  You insert a magnet in the phone case and it sticks to the mount.

I'm sure I explained that wrong, because I always do.  But you get the idea.

FIVE.

This last favorite is a bit random for this post but I still love it.

Flair Pens are my jam.  

But these Stabilo fine point pens are a close second.

If you decide you can't resist any of these things, I want to hear what you buy and how you like it.

Happy Friday Friends!!

Friday Favorites: Let's Get Dressed

It's Friday!!  Normally I love Friday but not so much when they mean Spring Break is coming to an end.  It's back to work on Monday.  Back to wearing something other than my favorite sweatpants and house shoes all day every day.

Today I thought I'd share some of my favorite places to shop for clothes.

My favorite local boutique is Golden Girls.  I love that I can walk in to this store and tell Carrie or one of the girls what occasion I'm shopping for and they immediately begin pulling things for me.  I'm not usually one who wants a sales associate's help, but I just adore everyone of the girls that works here.  I love that they push me beyond my comfort zone and help me find things I never would have tried.  Here are a few of the cute things they've found for me.

First, how cute is my newphew?!?

This dress is actually a shirt.  They posted it with the cutest yellow shorts on their social media and I fell in love with it.  By the time I went decided to go buy it they were out of my size.  Carrie showed me a few other pieces but I couldn't get past this outfit.  She suggested I try this shirt in a few sizes bigger than I normally wear and wear  it as a dress.  Brilliant!   This is why I love this store.

I seem to only have pictures of dresses I've gotten there.  I promise they sell other things including some of the cutest Razorback shirts.

They have stores in Fayeteville, Heber Springs, and Clinton.  If you are ever in one of those places you should stop and check it out.


The majority of my favorite places to shop are online.  I love me some Jane.  Jane has more than just clothes and has new things every day.  The best part is they are very affordable.  Here are a few pieces I currently have my eye on.

Another online shop that I have fallen in love with is Roolee.  I have a few pieces from them that instantly became favorites in my closet.  And as always I have my eye on some things that could easily be my favorites as well.

These shoes  are ALL the things my current dreams are made of.

One last favorite shop for the day.  Piper and Scoot is a fairly new discovery for me but I've already ordered a couple of dresses from them.  I wouldn't mind adding a few more pieces to my collection.

There you go.  A few of my favorite places to shop for clothes.  I tried to put links on everything for the online shops. Let me know if you ended up ordering from one of them. Or maybe you just want to buy me a gift because you know gifts are my love language. :)

The Grooming Anniversary

The 25th wedding anniversary is the silver anniversary.

The 50th wedding anniversary is the gold anniversary.

Andrew and I aren't quite there yet.

We are on anniversary number 12 which just happens to be the grooming anniversary.

Or at least that's how we celebrated.

A few weeks ago I told Andrew I wanted to go get mani/pedis together for our anniversary.  I have been prolonging a much needed manicure just waiting for this day.

We decided to celebrate on Saturday, the day before our anniversary.  

We started the day with a quick bite to eat.

I had never eaten here before and I must say it was DELICIOUS!  Unfortunately it really was a QUICK meal because we had to be at a hair appointment for Andrew.

He decided to try a new salon.

It was the cutest salon.  Made me want to get my hair cut and I just got it cut the week of Christmas.  I'm seriously considering bangs.  I want them even though I feel like I won't like them.  Andrew is not a fan of this idea.

After a haircut we went and roamed around the mall for a bit before heading to our appointments for mani/pedis.

This was a first for Andrew.  I think he really enjoyed it.

Maybe I can convince him to go with me again sometime.   

It was getting dark when we finished at the nail salon.  We decided to drive around and look at houses before it got too dark.  We have always loved driving around looking at homes.  

Then we started to get hungry.

We ate at Damgoode Pies.

It is one of my favorite pizza places.

So yummy!

I never have dessert but I could not resist this peanut butter pie.

To Die For!!

We ended our date with a little shopping.  We went to Ulta, Sally's, Target, and Barnes and Noble.

It was the grooming anniversary.  

Lots of new hair products, skin care, and make up was purchased.

I added two new lip sticks to my every growing collection.

Excited about that!

It was a fun day with my sweetheart.  

Twelve years have flown by and I can't wait for the next twelve and the next twelve and the next twelve....

It's The Holiday Season

I'm beginning to think I'm one of the few if not the only person who doesn't put Christmas decor up before Thanksgiving.

I start listening to Christmas music two weeks before Halloween, but I don't do any decorating of any kind until after Thanksgiving.

I like to blame this on the husband, but truth be told I like waiting until after Thanksgiving.  It's tradition.

A few weeks okay Living Social had a deal for Garvan Garden Light Festival in Hot Springs.  I tricked the husband into buying tickets for us to go.  I say tricked because I may have failed to tell him that we had to use the tickets before Thanksgiving.  I knew he'd never go for that.  I broke it to him last weekend that we had to hurry up and use them.

So Tuesday night once he got home from work we headed to Hot Springs.  It was the perfect weather to be outside at night - not too cold.  But it was also weird looking at Christmas lights BEFORE Thanksgiving in WARM weather.

Either way it was a fun little date night.

Wednesday was day one of our Thanksgiving celebrations.  We headed to Osceola to feast with Andrew's fam.  That always means lots of people, lots of food, and lots of laughter.

I attempted to make chicken and dumplings for the meal.  I'm not sure if anyone ate them or not.  Personally I thought they were DISGUSTING!  I found a recipe on pinterest that seemed fast and easy.  I knew they wouldn't be like my grandmother's, but I didn't think they would be so gross.

Thankfully my dessert was a success.  Easy and yummy!  Peanut Butter between two Ritz crackers covered in white chocolate.  Oh so yummy!

Despite the fact that I took my camera with me to all of our celebrations, I didn't take but a few pictures...none really worth sharing.

Andrew's mom gave me a sewing lesson while we there.  I am making some homemade Christmas gifts this year that require a bit of sewing.  Nothing major, but more than I was having luck with.

I am thankful for those few minutes with her and her sewing wisdom.  Now I just need to try out what I learned.

Thursday morning we got up and headed to Batesville for Day 2 of Thanksgiving - this time with my family.  Unfortunately my daddy had to work.  Andrew and I decided to stop by and say hi.  I wanted to show him the new car and surprise him with his Christmas present.  We are taking him to a Razorback Basketball game.  We had to go ahead and tell him so that he could make arrangements to be off work.

Daddy always cooks and carves the turkey each year.  Since he had to work this year that meant someone else had to step up.

I talked my brother into making the turkey.  I think he was a little nervous about it since he had never cooked one before.  Props to the little brother.  That turkey was yummy!!

Andrew carved the turkey for us.   A first for him as well.  I think he did a fine job.  Can you really screw this up?  I don't know.  I've never tried it, but I think as long as you ended up with pieces of turkey the endeavor was successful.

We got home around 8:30 Thursday night and went to straight to bed.  We were a tired couple.  Because of that I was wide awake this morning at 7:00 AM.  I decided to go ahead and get dressed and hit some Black Friday sales.  It's the way I always do it.  Still early enough to get the door buster sales but late enough that all the crazy people are back home and in bed.

NOTHING is worth fighting over or standing in line all morning.

My main reason for getting out was to find some bar stools for my grandmother for Christmas.  I didn't have any luck, but I did find some other great deals.

I bought Seasons 2-5 of Big Bang Theory.  Yay!  LOVE that show!  I also scored a new pair of boots that I had been wanting for $20.

I also managed to pick up a few Christmas presents.

Andrew and I have spent the evening enjoying pizza and football.  I really want to be getting ready to pull the Christmas decor out of the attic, but that may have to wait until tomorrow.  I'm enjoying this lazy time with my man right now.

Loving the Maxi

Maxi dresses seem to be so popular lately and I love them!  I have been envious of tall girls who could pull it off.  At only 5'3" I didn't think there was anyway I could do it.  So I did what any girl would do, I consulted twitter.  After some positive feedback I decided to finally just try one on.  Trying things on doesn't hurt anything....except my bank account.

I now own four maxi dresses!  I'm so in love with them.  They are so stinkin' comfortable and I'm thinking they are going to be great for school.  I sit on desk a lot while having discussions with my students.  I'm in the floor a lot doing science labs.  Shorter dresses are not always conducive to my work environment.

Here is one today that I can't wait to have an excuse to wear.  Can't wear it to school, but that's okay.

(Ignore the weird face I'm making)

I sent a pic of it to the husband to get his opinion.  He responded with "Yoko".  Not sure if that is good or bad.  That's how he and I shop together.  He says shopping with me is awful!  He hates standing in a women's clothing store while I try things on.  Guess I understand that.  But I like to get his opinion.  So I shop and text him pictures.  Works!

I've also decided I'm going to become the Queen of Cardigans.  I have so many sleeveless dresses and tops that I love but can't wear to school because they are sleeveless.  No more.  I'm just going to own a cardigan in every color of the rainbow and then some.

My wardrobe has grown quite a bit this summer.  I'm ready for school to start just so I have a place to go where I can dress up and wear cute clothes. I don't see the point in dressing up to sit at home.  I'm doing good if I'm out of pjs before the husband gets home from work.  It's been jeans and a tshirt all summer.  Ready to dress girly again.

The Jeans

I didn't plan on dedicating an entire post to jeans, but since you all asked....

For reasons unknown to me, I seem to be the kind of girl who can't own more than two or three pair of jeans at a time. I feel like I'm constantly saying that I only have one pair of jeans. And not just one pair that I like, but one pair of jeans. Period.

Last year I bought a pair of American Eagle jeans at a second hand shop while visiting my mother in law. I LOVED these jeans. They were so comfortable and the perfect color. I could dress them up or just wear them with a t-shirt. For awhile, they were the only pair of jeans I wore. That was fine because I pretty much only wear jeans on Friday and Saturday. About a month ago they started to get a little thin on the thighs so I decided it was time to buy a new pair.

I do not like to spend money on jeans. I'm sure if I were willing to spend a little more, my jeans would last a little longer, but oh well. A little over a month ago I picked up a pair of jeans at Old Navy for $20. They are okay. They are really lighter than I prefer and they are a little big in the waist. They pooch out in the front when I sit down. They only work with long t-shirts.

In the past week my American Eagle jeans finally gave way to a small hole. Friday I was ironing them and hit the hole with the iron making it much bigger. I will still wear them, but they aren't exactly appropriate for school anymore. :(

So... for the past week I've been shopping for jeans. I looked online for the most part but finally started shopping in stores Saturday.

Here's the problem with me and jeans. For the most part I still wear clothes out of the juniors section. 99% of jeans in the juniors section are either skinny legs or have holes all in them or both. Not what I wanted. Oh and the other option apparently looks like this...

Now I like pink, but come on. I did think about buying them just to see what the husband would say. :)

My other gripe is that I wear a different size in EVERY store. Why can't they just make our pants like guys. Go by waist size so that I can wear the same stinkin' size no matter what the brand. Normally I wear between a 2 and a 4, but I went in one store and had to move up to a size 7 before I could even get them buttoned. That's just crazy.

I shopped about 4 hours Saturday with no luck. Sunday the husband agreed to go to the mall with me. Poor guy had no idea!

We went in every store that sold pants. I tried on any and everything in my size. Nothing was working. He decided we should go in Dillard's. That lasted all of about two seconds. The first pair of jeans he picked up were $155. We left Dillards. :)

I just wanted to go to American Eagle and pray they had a pair exactly like the ones I had. However, Aeropostale was next in line on the mall loop. I really didn't think I would have any luck finding "grown up" pants here. I was almost in tears. I completely understood how the people on What Not To Wear could have breakdowns while shopping. I was almost there myself.

I mean I knew exactly what I wanted, I just couldn't find it. So we're in Aeropostale and the husband handed me two pair of jeans and told me to try them on. Note* He does an excellent job of picking out my clothes.

I went in to try these pants on knowing they wouldn't fit or that I wouldn't like them. The first pair fit. I did a happy dance. I tried on the second pair. They fit. I did a bigger happy dance.



Now I just have to take them to be hemmed, but that's not a big deal. So glad to have jeans again!!

Back to Reality

Today is the last day of Spring Break. It's back to work tomorrow. Thankfully it is only a four day week.

Someone (okay several people) asked me if I was ready to go back to work tomorrow. I'm not dreading it at all, but I'm also not just dying to go back. I love my job and I know that as soon as I see my students tomorrow, I will realize how much I've missed them this week. But I have also really enjoyed my time at home this week.

I started the week with a huge to do list. I've been able to mark off some of the items on that list. There's still a lot left though. And you know what? I'm okay with that. My week has been restful and I feel like that is more important than getting through a list.

Yes, I'm writing lesson plans tonight for tomorrow, but oh well. They will get done and probably won't be much worse than if I had done them earlier this week.

This week is going to be busy. Getting up in the morning and getting back into my routine will be exhausting enough. My house is a complete wreck right now and I hope to take care of that this week. I also hope to finish up those last items on my to do list.

As I type this I realize I am ready to get back into the swing of things. As much as I enjoy staying home everyday, it doesn't mesh well with my personality. I seem to linger towards depression when I'm home all day every day. And when I go out it gets expensive. HA! Work is a good place for me to be. I don't get bored and I make money instead of spending it.

Speaking of spending money, I have been jean shopping all week. I HATE THIS!!! I was very frustrated today and ready to give up when I finally found jeans that I like and that fit. Two pairs at that!! I was so stinkin' excited. I did a little happy dance in the dressing room. I'm pretty sure the husband was just as excited. He might have been getting a little frustrated with me. Oops!


Okay I have more to tell you but I really need to get back to those lesson plans. More later.

What we are up to

Before this past weekend, I had was making plans for this big blog post about my weekend and how great it was. But, I ended up taking no pictures and being sick part of the weekend. So here it what we ended up with.

Friday night, Andrew was helping a friend put up sheet rock. I stayed home and watched movies on LMN. I started with The Ron Clark Story. As a teacher, I absolutely love this movie. It makes me cry every time I watch it. And I will admit, it always makes part of me wish I taught in a difficult school. However, God and I both know that I am not thick-skinned enough for this. But I also know that I don't have to teach in what most people consider a difficult school to make a difference. Watching this movie always gives me an extra boost to give it my all.

Saturday I met my Momma, Mommom, and cousin, Shawna, for shopping. I got some great deals. I bought over $100 worth of close at a store called 1/2 of 1/2. It is great! Pictures are to come. Two things I bought had to go home with my Mommom to be sewed up. Most of the clothes at this store are in great condition, but some things have a missing button or zipper or something. I also bought my first pair of Yellow Box Flip Flops. Jill, you should try these. They will be better for your foot pain than any other flip flop. They are honestly the most comfortable shoe I have ever owned. They are so soft. It is like walking on a cloud. Anyways, we had a yummy lunch, good shopping, and even better quality time.

Saturday night, Andrew and I went to celebrate his brother-in-law's birthdays. More good time with fam. I got to see my little J.L. I miss getting to see that boy every Sunday. I don't know how I'm going to make it when Miss A and Miss M get here in November. I may have to move in with Jill and Sara. HA! Wouldn't they love that! Maybe if I took my turn at getting up in the middle of the night?

Sunday I was looking forward to church. But I woke up Sunday morning not feeling so great. I stayed home, which I must say didn't set my day well.

This week is going to be a busy and lonely one. Tomorrow night, HGMS has our very first football game. I will be going to that to cheer my boys on. Wednesday, the husband leaves for business in Louisiana. He will be back last Saturday night for church on Sunday. However, he has to go back on Sunday and won't be home until Thursday. :(

Saturday I'm having a Southern Living Party to celebrate my upcoming birthday. I am very excited about this. I think it is going to be a blast and hopefully I will have lots of pictures of the fun to share with you.


I'm thinking a giveaway might be coming you way in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that!

Here's to a great week. Love you guys!

Incredibly Blessed

I am so excited to share the details of my weekend with you. This weekend wasn't really out of the ordinary other than we had an extra day off, yet it was one of the best weekends I've ever had.

Friday night, Andrew and Tyler went to Riverfest, a local series of outdoor concerts and fun. I don't do Riverfest. Way too crowded for my taste. So I send the boys and I stay home. While they were out singing along with Willie Nelson, I caught up on some much needed Z's here at home. It was really nice. :)

Saturday morning we definitely slept in. I woke up around 9, did a little shopping, grabbed some much loved Dairy Queen and then came back home. Andrew and I hung out for a little while and then he and Tyler headed back to Riverfest. I went to do a little more shopping. I had to find a gift for my secret pal. We are revealing ourselves this week. I'm super excited to find out who all my wonderful little gifts have been from.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. When I got back from shopping I took a short nap before heading to my little cousin's softball game. She did great! They won big time although I don't remember the exact score. I was glad that I was able to watch her in action.

Sunday morning we slept in as late as possible without being late for church. I really enjoyed church Sunday morning. We have been studying the book of Colossians. The more we study the more I'm loving this book of the Bible.

After church the three of us came home. That's right. I said three. We brought our niece, Kandace, home with us for the afternoon. It was an interesting adventure. She is such a good baby!! She and I hung out while Uncle Andrew tried to take a nap. I sat Kandace on the bed with him while I went to use the restroom. Kandace would start to cry and Andrew would look over at her. Kandace would just laugh at him. He rolled back over, she cried. He rolled over to look her and she giggled. It was as if she knew she was disturbing his Sunday nap. They made up later. She sat on the couch and listened to Uncle Andrew play guitar and sing. Actually she sang along with him. It was so sweet.




Once we had Kandace safely returned to her parents, it was nap time for Aunt E. I didn't get much of one with her. We were too busy playing and having fun. Andrew left to go hang out with a friend. I slept until 9:30 when Andrew called to awaken me by leaving some crazy screaming message on the answering machine. This is what he does when I don't answer my cell. He was going out to eat with those friends. So I woke up, got dressed, and off to IHOP we went. It was so yummy. I enjoyed the 2x2x2, two eggs, two pancakes, and two pieces of bacon.

Monday morning. Awww!!! It was so nice to sleep in and not go to work. We slept until 11ish when we had to get up and get ready to head to Jill's for lunch. Alex grilled some yummy pork and chicken. We hung out over there for a couple of hours and then came back home for a nap. I'm beginning to think all the naps is what made this such a great weekend. :)

Up from our nap around 6, we went o Ashley's Furniture to look around. We don't really need anything, we just like to look from time to time. We did find a dresser that we really liked. I want a buffet type piece of furniture for my living room. This dresser would work perfectly.

Groceries came next. While in Wal-Mart we ran into the Billsons. Tyler ended up coming to our house to help Drew clean out the back bedroom. Then they went to Tyler's house to put together a basketball goal.

While Drew was there, I watched the season premier of Jon and Kate + 8. When this show was over I just cried and prayed until I fell asleep. There has been a lot of hype about Jon and Kate, both good and bad. They are the talk of the tabloids right now. Whether you are a fan of them or not, the Gosselin family is in need of our prayers right now. It is very clear that Satan has a foothold on their marriage. You could clearly see the brokenness that is in their marriage right now. They both seemed very hurt. I cried for their marriage and I prayed for their marriage. I prayed for all marriages that are struggling. Then I cried tears of thankfulness for my own marriage. I prayed that Andrew and I would never exclude God from our marriage.

Unfortunately too many people don't realize that a marriage should be between three people, not two. When you start to exclude God from the marriage, you are inviting trouble into the marriage. God deserves to be the center of our marriage. If we want to have a good marriage, we will invite him in daily. Watching Jon and Kate struggle last night has just made me all the more thankful for my marriage and what it is. My heart just broke for Jon and Kate and for their kids. Take a moment to thank God for your marriage and to pray for all the marriages that are struggling. Without God, I don't know how they will survive and sadly many of them don't realize that God is what is missing.


So there it is. Like I said, not really out of the ordinary but extraordinary.

Great Deals

Did a little shopping today after school. I was looking for a springy dress to wear on Easter. I found a skirt @ Old Navy that I really like, but I don't really want a skirt. They also had this short yellow dress that would be super cute with white leggings, but it is low cut and that is just not for me. I tried it on with a spaghetti strap shirt but am just not sure how it looks. Anyways, I always check the clearance racks at Old Navy and boy am I glad I did today. I've been thinking I need to throw away my old stretched out sweaters and get some new ones. Well today I found a sweater for 1.42 so I bought a pink one and a yellow one. I also bought a two-toned green sweater. I actually owned it in grey, but threw it away yesterday because it had a hole and was all stretched out at the bottom. This sweater was $6.00 so I got three sweaters for $10. I was so excited. I know I might not wear them until next winter, but who cares what a great deal!!