On the OTHER end of the spectrum....lol

"Trumpet Player on corner" by Kaja

"Building" by Kaja

"Protest" by Kaja

Lise & Jurate by Kaja

Saturday Joy and Ben went to a pimp/ho party. I was on the other end of the spectrum. My daughter and I had a "Sound of Music" Day. We have been waiting for months to have this day together. We drove and picked up a good friend, Jurate Martin, and her daughter, Patrice and then off to Atlanta!

Everyone needs to see Atlanta! It should be a law. Kaja was mesmerized. She usually sees the city as we rush by or through it. Today we parked and walked and enjoyed. We had fun getting all dressed up! And when you are dressed so lovely, you need to eat at an equally divine restaurant. The Sound of Music was playing at the fabulous Fox Theatre, so we wanted one close for an 8 yr. old to walk to. Jurate is soooo Italian (New Jersey Italian) and suggested Baraondo, Fine Italian. The service was lovely, we were treated like royalty, and the food was to die for. Dessert? Why yes that also...aaahhhh....bellisimo! Molten chocolate caramel divine yummy thing with Swiss chocolate gelato! Heaven.

Then off to the Fox Theatre. This is a spectacular place to see anything at. It was the first time for Kaja and she was enthralled, enchanted and felt like such a princess! The show was done so well. The "Mother Abbess" had the voice of an angel!! Burke Moses played "Captain Georg von Trapp" in a way that was better (forgive me for saying this) than Christopher Plummer! I am serious! He did "Gaston" in Beauty and the Beast and was amazing in that as well. As "Captain von Trapp he gave such unbelievable energy and life to both his songs and spoken lines. When he sang "Edelweiss", I couldn't help but cry. At the end, when the Von Trapps escape and "Mother Abbess" and the nuns sing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" reprise....well, Jurate and I just bawled on each others shoulders while our little girls looked at us like "huh?".

Our day was more than just a little magical. Kaja and I have been singing all the songs around the house together so the magic lives on...and on....

One of the best things about the day is that when I uploaded the pictures Kaja had taken of the day, I was pretty impressed with all the things she saw around her and the way she takes it in with the camera. We may have a budding photographer here. Enjoy!

Kaja & Patrice

So, I Went To A Party....

This is the year that most all my friends are turning 40. Some have celebrated quietly, some not at all and a few have made a pretty big deal out of it. One of my oldest friends turned 40 this weekend and he celebrated by having a Pimps and Hos party. Everyone dressed as pimps and hos. It was hysterical. There are very, very few photos of this event because no one wanted their picture on the internet. We had a great time. I saw a side of some folks that I will never forget and a side of a few that I would like to forget! It was interesting to see what "ho" means to different people! I ended up being downright conservative comparatively! The father of the birthday boy was the absolute hit of the party. He was seriously stylin'!!
This is my husband in all his pimp glory! We went for comfort and wanted to wear flip flops. I believe he is a Miami Beach pimp! The funny thing is, he had all this stuff in his closet. Actually, that might be more scary than funny!

And this is the birthday boy's daddy and me. See? I'm pretty conservative. The dress is a halter that ties around the neck.I bought it at Goodwill for $5!! I have on glittery flip flops and lots of "gold" jewelry that you can't see. But Big Daddy there is just too cool!

A good time was had by all, I think. I wish I could show you my friend dressed in nothing but a red bra, red g string and black body suit and stripper heels!! She absolutely has the body for it. She was the pimp. Her husband was the ho. He was interesting!! LOL Another friend was also the pimp and her hubby the ho. Her husband was dressed in a wig, mid drift baring top, snakeskin mini skirt, fishnets and cowboy boots. I actually want to erase his image from my mind!!

It's fun every once in a while to step out of comfort zones and do some fun dress up, isn't it? Next weekend is Dragon*Con and I will have LOTS of pictures from that!

I'm NOT Wearing Orange!

I'm a good Georgia girl. I know that evil will be wearing orange and Prince Charming  will NOT be wearing orange. If you aren't from the south and don't know what I'm talking about, I'll explain. Football isn't just a game down here, it's a religion. And the University of Georgia's biggest rivals are orange teams, University of Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, etc. So we don't do orange. RED is my favorite color. I bleed red and black.  I said all that to make clear that the pants I am wearing today are NOT orange, as my son said they are. They are tangerine.  We took several pictures, but when I sat on the curb, Lise said I looked like a pinup girl and it made me laugh at loud. That's when she snapped the picture. I thought it was pretty funny, actually.

See? My pants are NOT orange. I bought this back in the winter, on clearance, from Land's End. I think they were like $10 with free shipping!! The Liz Claiborne top was FREE at JCPenney! It was on clearance for $7 and I had a coupon from JCP for $10 off $10. So FREE and I gave the remaining $2.51 to Lise to put toward a necklace or something. Speaking of necklaces. You can't see mine in the picture there, but it's so cute, I took a separate picture of it. It came in a pack of 2 from Michael's for $3. They were supposed to be made into earrings, but I thought they were too big for that, so I just put one of them on a chain and voila', cute necklace. It has palm trees on it. And I'm a bit of a palm tree freak.

I didn't post my outfit yesterday, cause I was pretty boring. I know we all have those days, don't we? Days where nothing seems to fit, you're bored of everything and really, you just want to go back to bed. Here's me yesterday.

Yeah. Too boring to even comment on, really. The shirt is kinda cute, though. It's an embellished tee from Charlotte Russe. Cute detailing, right?

This weekend, I'm going to a birthday party for a friend. I will have some very interesting pictures from that. I'm hoping some there will agree to let me post their pictures here, but if not, you'll see me and my husband in our get ups. It's a Pimps and Hos party. Not very politically correct, I guess, but it will be good, trashy fun!!

Thursdays "Thriftivities" (yeah, I just made that up).

I am back! And I love my new word...Thriftivities!!! LOL

I am off on Wednesdays (Thanks Boss Man Boyett), since I have my house on the market and am trying to gut and restore another. I promise I will get pictures and explain my insanity next week.

First, this is not a dialogue, we want this to be a conversation...so comment! We would LOVE to see your pictures, or hear your ideas!

Now, this morning I grab something that is from a garage sale. I am devoted to redoing (can you be devoted to something you started doing a week ago?), so I have to be creative here. This skirt came from the "Cracker Barrel" apparently. When I put it on it goes to my ANKLES. This is actually pretty impressive since I am about 6ft tall (5' 10 1/2" to be exact...OK?). I love the colors, but it is so long that I feel I should find a guitar, love beads and sing "Kumbaya". Not the look I am going for.

Hmmmmm....so I don't have time to cut it off....AHAH! I pull it up! Seriously. I pulled it up so it is like a dress, throw on a shirt that was a fab clearance find, belt it with a major fab belt from ATL.....and Voila! ( I love french words, they make everything sound so much better. I am secretly VERY jealous of my sister Carol who speaks french fluently). Don't laugh, but the sandals were on sale at Target! If you look closely the top of the skirt is peeking out of the top of my shirt which Joy said looks Tre Chic!

Would you like to see a Blooper picture that we took right before this one??

I have this "Hi, do I know you, do I have to explain what we are doing..kind of looks. Joy and I cracked up when we looked at the picture so here is the "blooper" picture also.

HaHaHa! Now go and have a fun and fabulous day!

Something New

I've always admired women who could mix patterns and pull it off. I've never been comfortable with that, never felt like I could do it. But Kyla from Blue Collar Catwalk did a guest post over at Distinctly Desiree that gives a little lesson about mixing prints.  She said start subtle and small. So I tried it today. I wore a small paisley print shirt and plaid print shoes. They were pretty much in the same color family, and I had a yellow skirt to pull them both together. I think the outfit ended up looking pretty good! I may try to mix patterns more often!

What do you think?  The skirt was a great find. I've been looking for something yellow to add to my wardrobe.  It's an Old Navy skirt that I got for $4 at Goodwill!! The denim jacket came from PS Too, a resell store in Athens that benefits Project Safe. It was only $6. I just thought it was so cute. My shoes are Payless from last year, and some of my favorites. The shirt is from the Van Heusen outlet in Commerce.  I think maybe I'll try to not be so afraid of taking a fashion risk from now on!

4 Kids, 3 Pets, 2 Homes, 1 Husband......

I love to look good! Some days this takes a bit of creativity. I help get my husband out the door, the 4 children (today was picture day at the elementary school). The 3 boys (still at home) were pretty easy, but the one darling princess.....drama. That is all I am going to say. It is hard to guide her in developing her own sense of style. After 5 boys, I just want to dress her up like Nellie Olsen and send her out the door. This of course would earn me the "evil eye". She is only 8 but has that look of disgust down as well as any seasoned diva.

I drive them all to 3 different schools (no, I can't let them ride the bus), get home and straighten up (our house just came on the market....a story for another day), take a shower, feed 2 dogs and 1 cat, get dressed and am at work by 9! (or 9:10).

But, I love my outfit today! Where did I get this fabulous skirt? Well....

I admit to being a bit of a fashion snob, OK? I am really good a finding sales, but when it comes to thrift stores.....uhm...not so much. But, last Saturday Joy made me see the light and repent of my ways. Joy took me on a thrift store shopping day! I had a blast! At PS2 (for Project Safe) I bought a tunic top (Liz Claiborne) that I loved so much, I paid the lady and kept the shirt on. Then we drop off at my husbands salon (Adam & Eve). We do a little hair and announce that we are going to Goodwill next. My husband laughs and says he needs proof of the day I walk into that place. Really? Well, here it is......

See? I am wearing the tunic from PS2 with my Ann Taylor jeans and Banana Republic shoes. Way cute! So, not only did I do the "Vanna" pose outside, but I shopped on the inside and found the cutest black and white skirt with tulle around the edge! It was priced at $2.40! Seriously! I have a real need for wearing black and white and even though I have set out to correct this, I could not pass this cute skirt up. It is in brand new condition. I paired it with a 3/4 sleeve sweater and sandals and a punch of red in the accessories and....voila!

Yeah, what is it with me and funny hand poses? The look is great though and the sweater can come off for warmer afternoons and cooler mornings. This makes it a great transition outfit! The necklace set came from a store on Hwy 29, "Down To Earth". I love supporting local when I can and this is a great place to get jewelry that is one of a kind.

Now to finish the work day, pick up the kids, do homework, reading, laundry, cooking, ironing.....whew...well at least I can look forward to putting on anther cute outfit tomorrow!

What A Day!!

So, today started out as all days usually do. Hectic. Trying to get kids up, fed and ready for school. Trying to get the dog his meds, poor thing has seizures and takes ALOT of meds, and fed and get him outside to do his business. I finally get to work, get settled in and the phone rings. It's the school. My son is sick and must come home.<sigh> Bless his heart, he apparently has a touch of some sort of virus. I got him picked up and he's now situated at my mom's house and I'm back at work.  All this happened by 11:30 am. I'm exhausted. Anyone else have days like this? And I still have to finish work, pick up my daughter at volleyball practice, go home, cook supper, do laundry, make sure homework is done, blah, blah, blah. It never ends!! BUT, I did get an outfit together last night to wear to State Farm today. I got my hubby to take a pic of it when I brought my son home. And that's when the dog decided to dart toward the road!!!  Can I go back to bed yet?! Or at least get a margarita?!

Pointing out that the dog is leaving! Shirt is
from a consignment shop in Commerce, GA. Belt
is a gift from Lise!

Aww, look. He came back! My shoes are
Carlos Santana sandals that I got for
**$5** at Goodwill!!

Joy!

Welcome to our new blog!!

So, we're new to this whole blogging thing. But we have so much to say to each other everyday that we thought, Hey, maybe other people would like to get in on the conversation too!

And we talk about everything from shopping to politics to kids to...SHOPPING.   We don't always agree on everything. But one thing we definitely agree on is that WE LOVE TO SHOP. We love to shop for bargains. Lately, we've become thrift store and consignment store junkies. We also love any resell shop that gives back to the community in some way. But, we love Target and Ann Taylor Loft, too! We'd like to take you along with us on some of these trips and show you our finds and how we put them together. Lise is also really, really good with hair and makeup. She comes from a theatre background and is creative in a way that I will never be.  I know she has a ton of tips for y'all.

We both work for State Farm agent, Jimmy Boyett, in Colbert, GA. We try to live by State Farm's motto of Like a Good Neighbor. That's why we like shopping at PS Too in Athens, GA. The proceeds from the sales go to Project Safe, a non profit organization working to end domestic violence.

We'd like to hear from y'all, too. We want to see any fabulous finds that you come across, too.  Ask us questions and share with us!

And we ask that you be patient with us as we brave this new blogging world!!

Joy and Lise