Up, Up, Up, and Away

One of the items on my list to do before turning 40 was to go on a hot air balloon ride.  This is something that have wanted to do for many years.  My husband has a fear of heights and so the told me it was something I would need to do alone!!  Thankfully, I found out, my friend, Karen wanted to go up, up, up, and away too, so we started making plans to make it happen.

My husband graciously did lots of research and found Hot Epectations Balloon Company to be the best option for us.

Bill and Susan were wonderful to work with and they have a true passion for the art of hot air ballooning.  I had no idea the skills involved.

We met up with Bill and Susan at 6 am and they had already been up for awhile, checking wind conditions, wind direction, and weather reports.  We patiently waited until we got the go ahead to launch.  We had to drive north to find an appropriate launch site.   We ended up a school yard.

It was quite a process to blow up the balloon.  It took about 30 minutes to get us up in the air.

The scenery was breathtaking.  For the first 15 minutes, I felt very nervous, but my the end, I felt like the excitement in me beat down the nervous feeling!  We could see all the way to Longview Lake to the east and the KU campus to the west.

Dogs hated us - they don't like the sound the hot air balloon makes, but most people that saw us, just had to stop and stare.  Kids were yelling and screaming with delight.  My favorite reaction, was this one who came out on her deck to see us over her house and she yelled, "How cool is that!!"  She quickly went back in to get her camera.

The ride was so peaceful and just lovely.  I would totally do it again!!  Landing was another process that was pretty wild.  Basically, when a hot air balloon needs to land, you just look for an open space!!  When we were coming in for a landing, I was worried we would run into power lines or a building, but Bill gracefully glided us onto a baseball field at another school.  Bill had to really work to get us to where he wanted to deflate and we just had to stay put.  

Once we got everything packed back up, Bill and Susan prayed over us and "christened" us with a bit of earth and bit of bubbly!!  

Thanks to Bill and Susan at  Hot Expectations for an amazing experience and to Karen for joining me!!

Sunday Style - Comfy Floral

I really wanted to pull out all my sweaters and boots for the fall, but when the thermometer still reads 80, it just won't work!!!

So instead, I pulled out my fun floral capris (see how I wore them here too) that I love to wear in the spring and summer and paired it with a short sleeved sweatshirt!!

I think this combo works!!  The sweatshirt is a fun twist with the sequin short sleeves.  It was a steal at just $2.99 from my local Salvation Army.  It had a little pilling under the sleeves, but I pulled out my little pill buster and got rid of them quickly.

I also decided to play with my hair a bit and I kind of like it!!  I added a fun new necklace I got for my birthday and I love the message on it.

Finally at forty, I can truly say I love my story!!  There have been times, I haven't appreciated and embraced all the parts of my story, but I think the older I get, the more I realize each and every part of my story has made me who I am today!!

This outfit comes in at around $65 - my shoes are the most expensive part of my look, but I have had these for at least eight years!!

Have a wonderful Sunday!!

Thrifted Style - Hello 40!!

I wanted to wear something fun at my 40th birthday party and I was beyond thrilled when I stumbled upon this gorgeous vintage dress, while helping some friends shop at my local Salvation Army Store.

This dress is SO me!!  It's black and white, it's vintage, and it has polka dots,  stripes, and butterflies!!  I was in LOVE!!  It also fit perfectly!!  I think it was made for me!!

When I got it home, I noticed some staining on the skirt and I decided to soak the dress over night to see if I could get the stains out.  When I woke up the next morning, I was mortified to see that the black from the bodice had now bled all over the skirt.  I was sick to my stomach.  I tried a few of my laundry tricks and nothing worked.  I let it air dry and then I got on Pinterest to see if anyone had an ideas.  I found a few options - color safe bleach and Carbona Color Run Remover.

The Carbona Color Run Remover (around $3) was absolutely amazing.  I followed the directions and within minutes, my water was black, but not my dress!!  I did a happy dance!!  I decided that the former owner had dyed a strapless bra and then sewed it into the bodice of the dress  and I didn't take into account all the dye that was not rinsed out properly.

My friend, Jenelle rocked out my hair, makeup, and nails.  I felt like a million bucks in my $5.99 dress.  I added a pair of  $3.99 shoes, and $1.99 purse!!  A total of 11.97!!

I will be wearing this dress for years to come and think fondly about the first night I wore it!!

Sunday Style - Transitioning a Dress from Summer to Fall

My favorite season is fall!!  I love pulling out my boots, sweaters, pumpkins, and hot coffee.  When September comes around, I have to fight the urge to pull out my fall wardrobe immediately.  I've learned to keep just a few things in my closet that I can pull out at a moment's notice to add a layer to a spring or summer look.

I picked up this fantastic Chicos dress at my local Salvation Army for just $5.99.   This dress is like butter.  It is so light and flowy.  This is an easy dress to wear all year round with the right accessories.

I simply added a thrifted denim jacket,  Crocs wedges and then a fun pair of leather earrings from Nickel and Suede.  These earrings are amazing!!  They go with everything and I'm thrilled that they still look good with my short hair!!  Once the air turns colder, I could change the shoes, by adding boots, a sweater or cardigan, and some heavier jewelry or accessories.

My total for this look is around $30 including my earrings.  

Enjoy your Sunday!!

Cutting It All Off

I have been growing out my hair since January 2012.  It has been a LONG and at times, exhausting process.  You can check out my first thoughts about hair here.

I have had long hair, short hair, curly hair, and straight hair.  I have had haircuts I've absolutely hated (circa 7th grade photo) and haircuts that I adore.

Since I've been married, my hair has mainly been on the shorter side.  Then after having kids, it has been even shorter.

My sole purpose of letting my hair grow this time, was to donate my hair to Children With Hair Loss by my 40th birthday.  I chose CWHL because they DO NOT charge their clients for wigs, they work mainly with cancer patients, they accepted color treated hair, and most importantly, they only needed eight inches!

I had no idea it would be such a process.  Most mornings, I dreaded fixing my long hair.  I had aspirations of doing all these fun and exciting things with my long hair, but it either ended up straight and flat or in a braid of some sort.  Curling and fun up-dos just were NOT going to happen.  I seriously tried and tried and tried, but my hair wouldn't do a thing!!

The last few months, I have been sick and tired of my hair.  Everything I tried to do to get my hair to grow faster didn't work.  I was also picking up my hair on and in everything!!  My hair was falling out by the hand full.  And when I'd leave the house, I felt like I'd look in the mirror and say, "This is as good as it gets!!"

I knew exactly what haircut I wanted - a PIXIE!!  I got my first pixie cut when I was about 34.  I loved it!!  It was easy to fix and maintain.  This time, I wanted a little more length in the front.  A little more asymmetrical, which is a bit scary for me.  I've had one asymmetrical haircut and I didn't really like it, I felt like I could only wear my one way.  I finally decided it was worth the risk because if I didn't like, I'd just cut it a bit shorter!!

I also wanted to play with my hair color a bit.  I haven't played with my hair color much because when I have in the past, I haven't really like the results.  I finally decided to take another risk by adding a bit of bleach to my hair.

My inspiration photo for cut and color was this photo of Shailene Woodley.

I was able to donate four small eight inch ponytails!!  I was thrilled when I heard the snip, snip of the scissors!!  When I filled out the paperwork, I was excited to make my donation in honor of my friend, Denise.  Denise lost her battle with breast cancer in May.  I hadn't even thought about that being a possibility until I saw it on the application.

I loved the way it turned out!!  This hair cut is so me.  I'm not a long haired girl and I'm totally okay with that!!  I still want to let the front grow a bit longer, but I can actually wash, dry, and fix my hair in less time than it would take me to try to style my long hair.  The color in the front is still a work in progress, I am wanting it a bit more blond, but it will take a little time, since I've never had bleach on my hair.

Have you ever for went for a dramatic new look??

Sunday Style - Mexican Princess

This will be my last Sunday Style with my long hair!!  Things have been so crazy lately that I haven't been able to write as much as I would like!!  Hopefully this week, I will get a couple of posts up.

I picked up this vintage handmade dress at my favorite little thrift store Family Thrift.  I have found so many treasures there over the years and this dress in on that list.  This dress was handmade in Mexico and each panel appears to be hand embroidered and then sewn together into a dress.  It is just the coolest dress!!  It is feminine and flowy.  I picked it up for a whopping $3.97!!

I did try to belt the dress, but I just decided to go for the whole tent dress look and I just think it makes the dress shine.

I added a necklace from my grandmother and a fun pair of thrifted vintage inspired wedges.  This look comes at just $5.97!!!

Enjoy your Sunday!!

Sunday Style - The Perfect Shade of Blue

I picked up this top for $3.99 on one of my recent thrifting hauls.  I love the color of blue - it reminds me of a peacock.  I'm quite fond of peacocks!!  Now that I see the pictures, I should have totally worn my peacock necklace, it would have matched perfectly!!

I wish I were a better model. I'm not good at posing and when your thirteen year old son is the one taking the photos, there isn't much coaching going on.  I'm not courageous enough to try new poses and then when I do, I look silly.  I don't like how this blouse photographed.  It's sticking out in weird places and that's hard to see that when you are looking through the previews.  It's not until you start editing photos on your computer, that you see all the  flaws.

I paired this amazing blouse with a simple Ann Taylor black pencil skirt I found at Salvation Army, a Chicos bangle thrifted by my mom, and pair of Chaps heels that I found on clearance from Kohls.

The total for this outfit is around $25.

Enjoy your Sunday!!