Almost Gypsy Soul

Its been a long time since I'd ordered a Stitch Fix box, I'd kinda forgotten about them. Then I saw Football Fan's post about her box and realized that none of my clothes fit anymore and I'm the worst shopper in the world. I can drive to Salt Lake with the intent of shopping all day, spending some major cash and come home with exactly nothing. All in all, disappointed in this box. I thought since my stylists name was Jennifer too, she could maybe read my mind. In her defense, I did ask for a cute dress to take to the Galapagos Islands with me for on the ship for dinners and such.  Maxi Dress - super cute and a fun criss-cross back. Maxi material just doesn't work for me though, clings in all the wrong places. I tried this on on a "I'm feeling mostly skinny" day and I can imagine pulling it on after 2 weeks of vacation. Its going back to where it came from. Necklace - LOVE except it's like "all dressed up and no place to go"....

and the best thing in the world. I've never lived someplace where I can "just go shopping" and that is ok with me. Actually its more than ok with me. I have a Wal-Mart now and I just despise the place. I usually choose spending more on groceries just for the opportunity to forego Wal-Mart, which I lovingly refer to as Hell. Since I turned off my tv for the summer, I browse on the interweb alot more. And the other day browsing turned into buying. damnit. but I got some pretty cute things. Etsy and Amazon....pure evil I tell you! This is my first accidental purchase of last week. I've lately become obsessed with arrows and feathers and this is just so dang cute! $20 at MDspark's Etsy shop, I just couldn't pass it up! And then my feather AND arrow purchase. I bought Loretta back in February and we are still sporting the cheesy plastic tab key ring. I thought to myself I could make that...I'll just run to the craft store until I ...

I checked the mailbox on Saturday (I confess, twice) hoping for my second Stitch Fix, no cigar. So I just knew it would be here on Monday and whatda ya know.....there is was! I was so excited to open this little baby up and see what my stylist had for me. Boy, oh boy, a fall fanatic's dream laid inside this box.......the only problem was mainly my size. Enter all my doubts about shopping....once again. Shoot. While I pretty much loved everything in this box, but I'll be keeping only one item.  LOVE this shirt! maybe my favorite thing in the box, but at the end of the day, I just can't bring myself to spend $78 on a shirt (especially when I'm trying to get back on my budget).  These Papermoon folks got it figured out, minus the whole handwash thing. I mean let's be honest doesn't handwash really mean, wear a tank underneath so that you can wear it more than once before washing it? I kept it anyway, so if you see me wearing it and I'm the smelly kid ...

T-shirt and jeans that pretty much made up my wardrobe for the first 30 years of my life, except for that small stint in college where it was t-shirt and sweats or basketball shorts. I'm fancy like that. I can distinctly remember one of my roommates telling me "Jen you should dress up when you go out, I bet you'd get a boyfriend then" and I replied "I am dressed up, this is my goin' out t-shirt", figuring if I had to dress up to get a boyfriend, then maybe I didn't need one that bad. I'm starting to rethink my logic. That is probably a lie to some extent. My 'Goin Out T-shirt' Anyway, Football Fan turned me on to Stitch Fix . Stitch Fix is where you answer a bunch of questions about yourself and what you like in fashion trends, don't worry they show you pictures so you don't even have to know what you like until you see it! Then you signup, pay $20 per fix and a personal stylist sends you stuff they think you will like. ...

My dog, Tylie is one of a kind. She is loved by all and loves most. Soon after we moved to Oklahoma, I found myself being introduced as Tylie's mom.....more than once. She helped me meet some of the best friends a girl could ask for. AND she buys me presents! Because she is quite generous with her presents, she had to get a paper route. When I crossed off 30 lbs (forever) she thought I deserved a new pair of boots. She got them on sale and did a fine job picking them out. I love them and they glean complements every where we go. And then I got super crazy and bought some jeggins to go with them...you know those leggins that look like tights. This fashionista never thought she would own much less wear jeggins....they don't even have real pockets!

I'm excited when ranchers out of my area have exciting opportunities to promote agriculture and tell the story of range sheep operations because what they do, how they make a living is not known by many and its pretty fascinating. Recently, a 3rd generation rancher in southwest Wyoming hit a deal with Farm to Feet socks. Farm to Feet is a completely American made product. The wool is American, the manufacturing workers are American in America, packaging is made in America....well you get the idea, American made. Fred's some 7,000 ewes provide wool for these awesome socks. Go ahead check out the official story....I'll wait for you. I have a few pairs and I love them. I wear them alot! to work, snowboarding, out in the field. I'm being converted to wool as we speak. It's not itchy (even though I was convinced it would be), its warm and it keeps you dry, plus they have some super cute designs! Farm to Feet, ready to hit the slopes! If you are looking for ...

The art of living with style, class and grace. I feel like if you truly have Hepburn tendencies this book is pretty common sense however, its always a good reminder of how we should be acting. Especially in a world that is very much Hilton all around us, its easy to forget Hepburn and fall into line with the Hilton world. A few of my favorite quotes and ideas from the book to get you hooked.... Don't rely on somone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. I often struggle with this. Every year or so I feel the tugging to shake everything up, new job, new location, new priorities etc. The next time we're confronted with a sticky situation, we need to ask ourselves - is this really what I want to be remembered for? Is this what I want my kids to remember me for? My parents? My grandchildren? With the internet and accessibility of information, we need to be even more conscious of this. Mistakes find it much easier to follow us f...

 [Linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday] I'm LOVING my Colorado Transplant Friend and pottery! My Colorado Transplant Friend gave me an awesome 30th birthday gift! We made our own pottery pieces at a cute little place called Pottery From the Heart over in Green River. At Pottery From the Heart you pick your own piece of raw pottery from their collection and then get your creative on and start painting. If you plan ahead you can order in pretty much any piece that you want to decorate. It was pretty hard to even decide what I wanted to make. I finally settled on a casserole dish (I know my OK boys are pretty surprised that I would choose something to do with a casserole, hey casseroles are good for the soul) and Katie chose a really big platter. We can't wait to have a get together to cook in our new dishes!   All finished and ready to be fired. We can pick up our finished pieces in 3-5 days and I.can't.wait. to see the finished product! ...

The most coveted of all coveted items in one's closet......the ugly sweater. A disgrace and embarrassment all those years growing up has turned into the one of the season's best! Ugly sweaters are so awesome that 3 Canadians wrote a 152 page book about the do's and don'ts of ugly sweater parties! Its a bestseller....maybe. As I wore my ugly sweater with pride today at work, I wondered what exactly is the history of THE ugly sweater? Well its really a quite fascinating tale as told by Martha McCarthy: 'Twas the Night Before Finals: The History of The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party... Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties originated like the Post-it note: by accident. No, a 3M scientist was not goofing around in a lab, but the birth of the legendary Ugly Xmas Party tradition was one big fat accident. It started with elementary education teachers. They began sporting the sweaters like it was their job. This had a trickle down effect...slowly but surely i...