Estate Sales!

Can you believe I haven't been to an estate sale since the beginning of June!? I needed to take a little break. I know a lot of you are vintage collectors like me, and you probably understand that you can get TOO into it and start bringing home every single cute thing, not matter if you have room or a use for it! I was in the place, so I had to take a step back. Then this past Thursday I was off work and decided to check out a few sales in town. I had a great time, and I'm excited to be back out there! Here are some photos from the three houses I visited.

Now I'm wishing I would have taken a better look at that cute rug!

Pretty paper in a utility room.

I loved the shelf paper in the kitchen too. Look at that turquoise!

Hmmm. 16 dollars? Really?

When I turned the corner and saw this pink bathroom I almost squealed out loud! It was so gorgeous!

I even love the snowflake tiles! How weird is it to have snowflakes out year round? The linoleum in our utility room has snowflakes on it too. Oh I wish I had a pink bathroom like this! Look at the towel rack! Maybe someday...

This turquoise bathroom was in a different house (I think) and it was just as amazing! I LOVE the tiled counter top! And the sink! And the toilet!

I love the little built in soap dishes and a little shelf for your toothbrush cup.

And the shower! Maybe we'll be able to start our bathroom renovation at the beginning of 2014.

I love seeing a pile like this in a garage. The house was pretty packed but no one was out here! You can always find a few little gems if you dig.

Do you see that little guy peeking out!

I brought home a pretty great basketful! I'll show you what I got tomorrow!

My Night With Richard Simmons

I finally plugged in my scanner so I could tell you about my Richard experience! I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath! Hopefully this won't get too long winded!

One of the reasons I wanted to go to the west coast for our vacation this year was because I have been wanting to take an exercise class with Richard Simmons. He teaches 3 nights a week at his Slimmons studio and it is just 12 bucks!But I didn't want to go just to have a fun story to tell, I'm actually a huge, non ironic, Richard Simmons fan. If you were to ask me my three biggest influences, this is who I would name. My own little holy trinity:

One thing they all have in common is they all preach some version of loving yourself and not being afraid to be a big weirdo. Like most other humans, self acceptance and love is something I've struggled with for most of my life. These three have been instrumental in the progress I've made in the last few years. (We have tickets to see John Waters in December and you have NO IDEA how bummed I am that the meet and greet tickets were 100 dollars. Maybe if I lurk outside for long enough....) But back to Richard. I've collected most of his work out tapes (and there are a LOT) in my years of thrift shopping. My favorites are Sweatin' to the Oldies 2 and Dance Your Pants Off. It is really the only kind of exercise I will do willingly. I have the Sweatin' To the Oldies DVD box set, which is great if you are interested!

I also REALLY love his autobiography, Still Hungry - After All These Years. I reread it at least once a year.
All the reviews I read online said to show up to Slimmons about an hour early to guarantee you get in the class, since it is first come first serve. I had the time wrong and as we were rushing to get there only 40 minutes before the class started I was FREAKING out. I couldn't miss my one chance to see Richard! It was all for nothing though, we were there in plenty of time. We changed into our workout clothes and waited around awkwardly. Richard made his entrance dressed as a mermaid! Red wig, sequin tail,  sea shell top and everything! He made the rounds, kissed everyone on the cheek, asked if we were from out of town, then he started the class.
It was a little over an hour and wonderful! He doesn't play oldies in his classes, mostly modern dance stuff, which was fine with me! Richard spends the whole class mugging and dancing and screaming and telling people to "Move up move up move up!" You aren't allowed to have your phone or camera in the building during class, probably because they don't want his antics all over the internet. It was great, we laughed through the entire hour.
After class Richard stays to take pictures and talk to whoever wants too. As you can see by the end he is out of the mermaid costume, and into a sparkly tank top and shiny scale leggings. I got in the end of the line so I would be able to talk to him a little. This isn't the cutest picture, since we worked out HARD for an hour (we were both sore for days!) but it's still pretty great! (I think I ended up with 110 "likes" on Instagram, including Richard himself!)

And with Travis, of course!

I started crying within moments of talking to Richard. He read my aura, I totally believe he can do it, he said things about me that no one but Travis knows. It was wild. He wasn't all unicorns and sparkles like I had expected, but he told me things that I needed to hear. It was pretty emotional. He talked to me for almost 10 minutes and it ended with a long hug that I will remember forever. Here is the photo he signed for me. I'm going to frame it and hang it in my kitchen.

It was such a great experience. If you are in the area I totally recommend it, even if you aren't a Richard Simmons fan, you will be when you leave! And you can pick up a great "I Sweat With Richard" t-shirt, and towel! Our California vacation was one of our best trips ever, and our night with Richard was a highlight for sure!

Instalife

Hey guys! I went on the BEST trip last weekend to St. Louis. And I took WAY too many photos. We went for Travis to do a Tough Mudder race, but my best buddies came with me and we had the perfect day in St. Louis. I can't wait to show you!

But until then, I thought I would show you some highlights from the past few months from my instagram. I keep thinking my interest in that app will wane, but nope, it is still my favorite thing!

First off, I've been buying lots of new dresses. Target is really on point right now, so many good dresses! The black one above is my favorite. I'm going to FOUR weddings in the next month, so I'll put them all to good use!

We went to PLAY to see Jinkx Monsoon, who won RuPaul's Drag Race season 5. She was amazing! She sang live, including two songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

That is the Princess, who was one Drag Race Season 4. She is a local queen. I loved her flag dress. We stayed out until almost 3 am, which is a real rarity these days. It was fun though!

Of course we've been going to see every movie, as usual. So little comes out in the late summer! I can't wait until things pick up. We saw the 1D movie one Sunday afternoon. Travis was thrilled as you can imagine. It was fun! No tear jerker moments like the Katy Perry movie though.

We also saw This Is the End for the third time when it finally came to the dollar theater. My stomach hurt afterwards I was laughing so hard!

Here I am sitting on a dock, waiting for my coworker to come pick me up. We've started going out on Percy Priest lake after we do inventory each month (from 3 am til 11 am! ack!) It is awesome! I never knew I would love riding around in a speed boat so much! This month it will be too cold to swim, so we're talking about making a bonfire on one of the islands. I can't wait!

We got to see our baby nephew Ellis again! He was much bigger and not quite as scary to hold. I can't wait until he learns to talk and walk and we can take him places!

Speaking of weddings, I'm in two of the four I'm going too! I've never been in one before, so it's pretty exciting. Crystal and I went to Marissa's for a wedding craft night and helped with centerpieces and flower girl baskets and making a dance playlist. It was fun!

I worked on a scrap fabric banner that doubles as a great lion mane!

A Bettie Page store opened in Nashville! We went on Sunday and I got my bridesmaid dress for the second wedding I'm going to be in. Isn't it cute? I can't wait to shop there more! They had SO MUCH good stuff!

It wouldn't be an instagram post without some food! Look at this amazing dosa I got at Woodlands in Nashville! It has spiced potatoes and peas inside of it! And then you dip it in this coconut chutney. Mmmmmm.

Still going strong with my lunch packing.

I finally got brave and tried my first Kombucha while at a trade show for work. It wasn't that terrible! This one apparently isn't "real" Kombucha and wasn't super strong, but I was still pretty proud of myself. I've been a big baby about trying one.

And of course Phyllis is still here. As cute as ever.

And Priscilla is insisting on being ON me whenever she can.

They are so precious. Look at this cuddle buddies!

I've gotten to hang out with my BFF Crystal a LOT lately and I'm loving it!
I'm so happy that fall is here, and I can't wait for October! It is going to be CRAZY but fun. Do you know what you are going to be for Halloween yet? I've picked our costumes, and a few of the things to make them. I can't wait!!!

Family Portraits!

A few weeks ago Jenyffer Maria was offering commissioned portraits for a crazy low price, so I decided to jump on it and get them done of me, Travis, and the pugs. I LOVE how they came out! They are little doodles on post it notes.

she got my big hair just right! haha!

Miss Priscilla and her goofy smile.

Travis!

And Phyllis! Aren't they just precious? I'm keeping an eye out for her to offer these little doodles again so I can get the cats too!

Desert Drive! Last day on the West Coast.

Now we've come to the last post from our trip to California! I wanted to wrap it up last week, but we went out of town AGAIN over the weekend so I didn't get a chance.

After we drove through Palm Springs we took a scenic drive through the San Bernadino National Forest on our way to San Diego. Check out that rainbow to the right! Amazing!

Neither of us had ever seen the desert so it was blowing our minds. I had to make myself put the camera down because I couldn't stop taking photos!

It was so unlike any other place we've ever been!

I was freaking out over everything. Especially big cacti like this!!!

Here is my "OMG look at that cactus!" face. Travis told me to cut it out because he kept thinking something was wrong.

We pulled over at lots of scenic overlooks.

Look at all the switch backs!

Me, being a dork. It was such a wonderful vacation. We were feeling so relaxed and being goofy.


It was a pretty long drive, but it was so beautiful we didn't mind.

We saw a bunch of these statues. I liked how they were positioned by the road.

We got to San Diego and check into the King's Inn. I had seen it when we were heading out of town on our first day in California and had to stay there on our way back! It was cute and mid-century looking on the outside. That is really all I need in a hotel.

The pool was gorgeous! Too bad we got into town too late to go swimming. We laid around then room for a bit to unwind, then went to see The World's End at the mall. We have a tradition of going to the movies while we are on vacation. It was great!

Next morning we got up bright and early since we had to be at the airport.

We stopped by the Whole Foods for breakfast. Their vegan muffins were SO MUCH better than the ones at my store! Travis got a juice too, and I got some fruit.

Here we are at the airport. So sad to be going home! The week we spend in California was one of our best trips ever! It was so sad that it was over. I can't wait for our next vacation!