Fashion Friday: Just a Little Cardigan

It's that awkward "season" in Texas where it's 80 degrees one day and 60 degrees the next, which makes planning things a pain in the hind quarters (because the forecast is almost always wrong)! This is the reason why I don't put away "summer clothes" when it's "winter". Yay for Texas weather!

I must say, I quite like this outfit. One should hope so since I'm the one that put it together, but you know what I mean. The cardigan would be perfect for those days when spring tries to peak it's head around to see what's up. I had a hard time choosing between this pink colored bag and a black one but I was getting tired of black. A grey bag could be really cute with this too but I couldn't find one online that I liked. Toms... how I love Toms. And yet I still don't own a pair. What's up with that?! For those days that start off cool and turn rather warm you could trade the tank top for a short sleeve shirt. Then you could ditch the cardigan as it got warmer! Layers people, use them to your advantage!

Alrighty, that's my simply Fashion Friday Southern Soapbox (I should start abbreviating that! FFSS?). I hope you enjoyed! Stay warm, or cool.... who knows. 

Did you know...?

I was over stalking my friend's blog and decided to steal this idea from her. Here are a few things you may, or may not, know about me.

• My mom and I share a birthday. I came a month early to come on her birthday. You're welcome, Mom.
• Most people assume I was either born in Mississippi or Texas (most guess Mississippi). I was born in Alabama. I moved to Texas when I was three. Although I have never lived there, I consider Mississippi my home. Even I sometimes forget I wasn't born in Mississippi and Ryan forgets all the time, so don't feel bad if you didn't know!
• I can list every single member of the Backstreet Boys and can probably sing most or their songs. Same with The Dixie Chicks.
• Dr. Pepper is the best drink ever. Better than wine or beer.
• Speaking of beer... ew. I don't like it.
• I started riding horses when I was 5 years old. Every summer, spring, winter, fall break (and pretty much any other chance we got) my family would go to Mississippi to see the rest of the crazy clan. They had horses there and my cousins and I learned to ride together! It is still my happy place, even though I rarely get to ride.
• While I'm not super "in your face" about it I am very firm in my beliefs as a Christian and have grown up in the Presbyterian church.
• When it comes to football I follow some seemingly random teams. I follow the Giants, the Saints, and the Broncos. Can anyone guess what these teams have in common? Eli Manning, and Payton Manning are both from Mississippi. As for the Saints... they are the closest NFL team to Mississippi so my entire family follows them. If I didn't I would be banished.
• I do not like the Cowgirls.. I mean boys...
• I took dance for a very short period of time when I was younger. I was in hip hop when I was 8 or so years old. My pants ripped during my first recital.
• I played the cello. I started when I was very young, like 5, then picked it back up in middle school. Unfortunately when I changed schools I was the only one that signed up to play in the orchestra (everyone else chose band) and refused to switch over.
• For one semester in 8th grade I went to a private Christian school. It was AWFUL.
• I can be a bit OCD at times. I get on cleaning sprees and go a little nuts.
• I can check my own oil and fluids in my car, patch a flat tire, and change a flat tire. I also kind of enjoy working on cars, although I don't do it very often.
• I am a little obsessed with  shows on The CW. The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, and Arrow, to be exact.
• I have seen The Lion King once and will never watch it again because Mufasa (that's his name, right?) dies. I also won't watch I Am Legend because they kill the dog. Basically if an animal dies in it, I won't watch it, although I have been watching Game Of Thrones... and I have somehow been able to make it though that.
• I am somewhat shy. If you know me you might think I'm lying but it's true. I don't like meeting new people. It makes me incredibly nervous! Once I know you I'll never shut up (yes, that part most of you know) but initially I'm quite shy.

Alright, that's enough of that. Hopefully you learned something knew about me. If so let me know what it was in a comment below! Also...it's almost Friday people! I'm going to the zoo tomorrow! Thanks for reading this Southern Soapbox! 

Where the heck have I been?

Normally this is Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday but I'm going to try to recap the last few months to catch everyone up on the highlights of my super exciting life (please note sarcasm).

Woah! Where have I been?! A little bit of everywhere! We have had a busy busy last few months. So, here are the highlights. Or at least the ones I can remember.

My first "real" photo shoot. I went with my friend,
Marissa, and got some cute stuff!

I am still sticking with my photography and actually got a new lens and flash for Christmas! I am going Sunday to talk to my friend over at Marissa Ann Photography to set up a contract and get the ball rolling on becoming a legit photography business! Definitely still building my portfolio and gaining experience but it's exciting to enter into this phase! WOOT!

I JUST signed up for Bountiful Baskets and am ridiculously excited to pick up my first basket on Saturday! You pay $15 (or $25 if you prefer organic) for a bunch of fruit and veggies! From the pictures I've seen, you get A LOT for your money! I'll definitely be posting pictures of my loot when I pick my basket up!

Maegan is pregnant! She's having a baby girl in June!!! I'm going to have a niece! AJ has named the baby Mater, from Cars.

                          

                              Prim

Ivy

Prim and Ivy are still alive and well!

I am still looking for a job. Why is it so flipping hard to find a job? It's seriously ridiculous. I have a few applications out so hopefully we'll hear back soon! One of them I'm actually really excited about! Fingers crossed!

Ryan and I are still together, and happy... and weird.

Alright, sadly, that's all I can really think of! I hope y'all have a Happy Hump Day and have enjoyed this Southern Soapbox! See y'all Friday for Fashion Friday!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

It's back!!!!! Sorry I've been gone so long!

Wonky:
   - My sinuses are seriously trying to kill me. Are they really that important to the human anatomy because so far all I know that they do is make me miserable. Sinuses are totally overrated. I vote we start boycotting them.
   - Did you know that Walgreen's doesn't carry popcorn? I was in DESPERATE NEED of popcorn and Walgreen's was the only place open (it was like 11pm or something) and they didn't have any! So I got chocolate turtles, M&M's, chocolate chips and Dr Pepper instead. HA that'll show them!
   - Isn't is supposed to be fall or something? It was 103* today. I don't think Texas got the message.

   - I was sitting at Saxby's with Ryan, minding my own business, when this UGLY crow thing decided it wanted to be my bestie. I'm not really a bird fan. Particularly when they're ugly, black and disease ridden. And it wasn't afraid of me either. At all. Thankfully the nice cooks for the restaurant next door saved me by offering Mr. Ugly Bird some salmon.
   - I like Justin Bieber's perfume, The Key. *hangs head in shame* I want to die.
   - If Rebel eats another pair of my underwear (sorry for the TMI) I might kill him. Seriously.

Woot-tastic:

   - Sunday was my first photo shoot! My awesome cousin, Delaney, agreed to do a photo shoot with me so I could get some practice with my new camera (by the way, Ryan bought me a Canon T3i. I think I'll keep him around a little while longer). It was lots of fun and my model was wonderful!
   - I no longer have a phone with a cracked screen! I am the proud owner of the Galaxy S4! And it's AWESOME!
   - Ryan and I are in this really cool place in our relationship, and have been for a while. I will be sitting on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix for like the third time and Ryan will be sitting in his recliner working on his laptop or something and we're perfectly content sitting there doing our own things....together....but separate. It's nice to be that content with each other.

   - Just a little hedgie adorableness to brighten your day (Prim, left; Ivy, right)!
   - Speaking of Prim, tomorrow I will have had Prim for one year!

Happy Hump Day and I hope you enjoyed this Wonky and Woot-tastic Southern Soapbox!

Fashion Friday: Mellow Yellow

It's nearly fall in most of the US, but not in Texas. It's still HOT! 103 degrees hot. Miserably hot. So, while the rest of you northern folk begin to bundle up, I will still be posting short sleeved outfits, with the occasional light sweater, probably until sometime around Christmas, maybe even after that. Welcome to Texas, where summer never actually ends.

                             

I love POPS of color! Especially yellow. It's so happy. I used to own yellow shoes, but then my cat peed on them. These yellow shoes are SO CUTE and the yellow hand bag from Macy's is the perfect size (big). I actually own this Old Navy top, but in a different color/pattern. It's really cute with shorts and sandals too AND I believe Old Navy is having a sale right now! The jewelry is very special to me, as I sell it on behalf of Haiti's Jewels on my store. It's GREAT jewelry made by a company in Haiti, supplying local villagers with jobs. If it's warm where you are (or in my case miserably hot) you could easily do black shorts, or even brown shorts instead of skinny jeans. If it's cooler where you are (you luck lucky duck) add a little cardigan to stay warm!

Well, that's my very yellow Southern Soapbox, hope you enjoyed!!!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

I didn't post this yesterday because yesterday was mine and Ryan's six year anniversary, so I posted a Happy Anniversary post instead. So, here goes the belated WWW post!

Wonky:
   - My sweet Ivy hasn't been eating much the last 5 nights. She also hasn't been running on her wheel. I'm hoping, and praying that the cause is her quilling (much like teething for babies, except she is loosing quills instead of teeth). If she doesn't eat tonight I will be calling the vet back to make an appointment.
   - I am SERIOUSLY unhappy that they cancelled Smash! Like, seriously! They bring back Glee for 2 seasons but cancel Smash? UGH
   - Do you know when the last time I bought a new pair of shoes was? ME EITHER! I'm too busy buying paper towels for my hedgehogs.
   - Speaking of paper towels... I went through TWO rolls of paper towels, for my hedgehogs alone. Not including what we use in the kitchen. Granted I do have two hedgehogs, and when Ivy isn't feeling ill she's very active and poops a lot... TWO ROLLS! That's for wheel cleaning, cage cleaning, bowl cleaning, pickin' up poop, and anything else that happens in between.
   - I have a really unhealthy obsession with office supplies. Pens, pencils, notepads, notebooks, POST IT NOTES!, staplers.. the list goes on and on. There's nothing like writing on a cute post it note with an awesome pen! Uni-ball makes my favorite pen. The only problem is I can't find the ink refills for it ANYWHERE so any time it runs out I have to go buy a whole new pen. The Sharpie pen has also grown on me. I didn't like it at first but now I kind of do.


Woot-tastic:
   - I recently got two of the soundtracks from Smash. They are AWESOME. I am a little sad that they don't have "Broadway Here I Come" on it though. I love it!
   - Instead of saying "Uh oh spaghetti o's" AJ says "Uh oh, Bacon". It's pretty awesome. So of course now all the adults do the same thing around here.
   - My wonderful boyfriend and I have been together for SIX years! Crazy!
   - So many people are buying the jewelry from Haiti's Jewels I can't keep it in stock! It's an awesome problem to have (there's a link at the lop right of the page if you want to check it out)!
   - I saved the best for last. This is a conversation Maegan had with AJ. I just copy and pasted it from her Facebook so I wouldn't miss anything. It's the most adorable conversation EVER!

Just had my favorite conversation, to date, with AJ! We had just finished reading his storybook bible and it was about Jesus' revelation to John about the pearly gates and streets of gold and it finished with John asking Jesus to come back soon. We then said prayers and sang Jesus Loves the Little Children and Do Lord which ends, " I took Jesus as my savior. You take him too. While he's calling you."

AJ: "Jesus call AJ?"

Me: (trying not to cry) " I certainly pray he calls you."

AJ: "Jesus come?"

Me: "Yes, one day Jesus will come to take his children home."

AJ: "Where Jesus car is?"

Me: "Well, Jesus doesn't have a car?"

AJ: "Oh, Jesus drive truck! "

Because obviously if Jesus doesn't drive a car, he must drive a truck!

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox! Thanks for reading!

Six Years Ago...

... Ryan asked me if we should "make this official", sitting in his beat up old Dodge Stratus at Bill Allen Park. I had known since I was 10 years old that I wanted to marry him. Six years later and I still feel the same.

Our 1 year Anniversary kiss. You can't see it but he was
tickling me in the picture and trying to eat my face.

I am so very blessed that God gave me such an amazing man. It's true, we are two extremely different people that have very little in common but he makes me laugh, even when he's irritating the snot out of me. Despite what he wants people to think he can be really sweet and thoughtful. He's honest (even when especially when you don't want him to be). He is surprisingly good with children. He's pretty handy (although most of his handy work is either accomplished by him guessing and hoping it works or by googling it, but hey, it gets the job done), but most of all when he loves, he loves wholeheartedly.

Taken in November of 2009

We much rather sit at home and watch The Big Bang Theory than go out on a fancy date. One of the most exciting things he's gotten me was when he went to pick up pizza and came back with pizza, Dr Pepper, AND TOILET PAPER. It was pretty awesome. Our "deep conversations" usually consist of us discussing the meaning of a word and how to use it properly (which he is pretty much always wrong because he makes things up just to annoy me).

Taken on our 5 year anniversary

 We have spent many years together. We've been dating for six years and have known each other for eleven. and I look forward to many many more years to come!

Taken on Mother's Day 2013

If you want to read our love story click here.

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox. Thank you to my wonderful boyfriend for sticking around for 6 years and I can't wait to see what happens in the next 6! I love you.

(Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday will be posted tomorrow.)