Hooray For Red, White and Blue!!!

You thought I was joking about my new obsession with RED?

No.

The best thing happened when I went to church though.

(Yes Leah, I am telling on you)

I wore this fabulous red lined, linen, Ann Taylor skirt that Joy found and gave to me.  I paired it with a great thrifted Ann Taylor (new with tags) $3 shirt, and then topped it with a royal blue cardi!  WOW!

Yeah, too bad I had like no accessories.  But I bravely walk into church and Leah throws (yes, throws)

this thing at me from 1/2 way across the room and says

"I knew you needed this since you are so handicapped when it comes to red."

LOLOL....wait....she was right. 
And the amazing thing?  SHE MADE this pin.

I love Leah.

 See how much better this outfit is with the pin?
This was taken when we got home from church.

 close-up of amazing pin, by Leah.

 close-up of my new favorite earrings.  They are are silver and have a seashell on it.  <3!

 Funny story about these shoes.  I had the perfect pair of neutral pumps that were perfect for
the red skirt.  Sunday morning as I was getting dressed my dog, formerly known as
"good boy"....chewed one of them up.  To pull off the bright sweater I wanted a more neutral shoe.
So back to the closest for these.  Coldwater Creek (5 years ago).  I think they work though.

The pin doubling as a floral decoration when I took it off!

I am writing this from the KOA.  And if you Google the Cherokee, NC one, you will see where I am.
What do I wear to go camping for the 4th of July?

 Red ATL shirt-thrifted for me by Leah!
(my red wardrobe is soooo expanding)

Happy Fourth of July!!!  Yay for Independence Day!
I had better hit send now because the only bad thing about this campground is that it is hard (impossible)
to get WiFi.  I have it for this moment so I better get this off quickly before it disappears!

Incognito

 I think I've mentioned before that our chihuahua, Jake, has seizures. He's on daily meds to control it but every couple of months, he has 3-5 really bad days of constant seizures. It's exhausting for him and us. And it leaves me looking...well, like someone who has been up for days. Thank goodness for hats and sunglasses!! This is me looking very, very....real. LOL I look like this a lot on the weekends, actually. I love to cover up my hair with a baseball cap and throw on sunglasses so you can't see my makeup-less eyes! Throw on some lip gloss, a little blush and some earrings, and you're good to go!

This is Leah saying, Smile, Mama!! It's not that bad!

Close up of my favorite hat! Tybee has lots of

mosquitoes! And sometimes, Bite Me, is just how I feel! LOL

And let's not forget my new favorite shoes. I bought these Nike flips to wear at Dollywood. I needed shoes I could get wet and wet tennis shoes are just icky! Oh and I lurve flip flops!! Well, these are super comfy. They are padded and like walking on clouds. They are actually more comfortable than any of my tennis shoes. I highly recommend them!!

Yeah, I know this isn't a very "fashion" forward post. But let's be honest here. NONE of us look like we do on our blogs everyday, do we? We all have bad hair days, bad makeup days, bad outfit days and just flat out bad days.  And that's ok. 

Hide and Go Sleek!

You never know when a photo-op is going to hit you!  I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by my outfit,
but then Joy dropped some paper work off at the house and we laughed because we were

both wearing the same colors!

This is particularly unusual since the color of the day seemed to be red, which until last week, you could not find in my closet.  I now wear it almost every day (thanks to some shopping and really nice friends).

OK

Photo Op!

How patriotic are WE?

No need to hide when you are lookin' this cute.

 First up we have the lovely Joy wearing her signature color!



What color does red love?  Turquoise!
Well played with that necklace. 



How cute are these sandals????  And you can't see it, but her pedi is
done in red, white and silver.  It's cool!

 Next up is Lise, who apparently has been out in the sun so much that her
hair has lightened to an amazingly strange color.  Hairdresser is going to
throw a fit...girl....hunh.

Kaja HAD to get a close-up of the belt.  It's red, beaded, beautiful and cost $2.
What's not to love?

We somehow missed the pedicure on this one, but the Payless clearance shoes are nice.
Funny note about my pedi's.  I go in and tell them all these different designs to paint on my toes. 
But Joy laughs because they always do the exact same thing and it has never been close to what I ask for.

"Seriously???....those are flowers???......uhmmmm on which planet?"

 Lise's outfit:
Shirt: ATL- thrifted
Skirt: (denim-which I rarely wear) Talbots-thrifted
Belt: ? thrifted
Necklace: ATL?-thrifted
Total outfit cost (including shoes) was $20.
Joys outfit:
Shirt: Kohl's
Skirt: Gap
Shoes: Payless
Necklace: thrifted from St Mary's Thrift for $2!

So, with the big 4th of July weekend upon us, what big plans are out there?
Lise is doing a wedding at the KOA Kampground in Cherokee, NC!
Looks like I will be sending pictures of my "Kamping Kouture" and wondering why the KOA
really has to spell everything with a "K".  Of course if we all did, we could just kick the letter "C"
right out of the alphabet! LOL


So....what are YOUR plans?

Clearance Love!

 
I LOVE clearance racks. They are like a beacon in stores, aren't they? I especially love the 75% off racks at Target! I've found pretty good deals in the past. $2 jeans, $5 swimsuit top. Today was no exception. I found a pair of jeans for Leah for $4. They only had 1 pair in her size, though! I got a cute t shirt for $2 and 3 long sleeve tees for $2 each. Yes, it's 90 degrees, but I'll need those shirts come November!  AND I got a very cute navy cardi for $6!! (None of which I could find on the Target site!) I used my Target debit card to save an additional 5% and walked out of Target for less than $21! W00T!! The lady checking me out was even surprised!

Clearance racks and thrifting have ruined me for any other shopping, really. I'll see something on sale even and think, I can get that cheaper.  Are you the same?

I also love gifts from friends. Lise has given me another pair of earrings that I wonder how I lived without. She bought these on clearance, and I may or may not have been there as the devil on her shoulder telling her to get them. But she's never worn them, and didn't think she would, so she gave them to me! YAY! I've worn them 3 days in a row.  She knows me so well.

Cute, huh? Ann Taylor

This is the best pic I had of this outfit. Coral pants from Kohl's

and paisley shirt from Van Heusen.  Jake looks a little drugged,

doesn't he? LOL

Catching Up!

It seems like I've been on the go since school got out on May 21st.  So I thought I'd share with you guys all that I've been up to! (Above pic is River Street, in Savannah, at sunset!)

My daughter turned 13 in May and she wanted to spend her birthday on Tybee Island, which happens to be my most favorite place in the world! School got out on the 21st and I picked up Leah and one of her friends and we headed to Tybee, where one of my friends would meet us.  We got there just in time for the Tybee Beach Bum Parade. Picture any small town parade you've ever attended. Now, picture it with hundreds of water guns. When they say you WILL get wet, they aren't kidding. Being dry is like having a big, red target on your back! It was great fun, though!

We went to The Crab Shack for Leah's birthday. I'm not sure if she likes to go there to eat the food or PLAY with it! The weekend was great. The place we stayed in, not so much! Oy!

Playing with her food!

Me and my birthday girl! HOLY COW, she's a TEENAGER now!!

This past week, the family and I spent the week in Pigeon Forge, TN. We love Pigeon Forge and Dollywood. We've had season tickets for years now. (It's magical at Christams!) We went to Dollywood a couple of days and the weather was fabulous. Now, we are cheap and we all know that parks are not. But we always take in back packs full of water and snacks and even sandwiches. We just do not spend money on expensive park food! We really don't eat out much when we go on vacation either. We always get a house or a condo. It's been my experience that you can get a house/condo cheaper than a hotel room, and there is more room. I love VRBO. We've used it for years! The only time it has let me down was the weekend in Tybee, and I really blame that on the person who placed the ad, not VRBO. Anyway, we cook on vacation. It's sooo much cheaper.  We also did something different this time. We actually went on one of the time share things so we could get FREE tickets to the Titantic Museum and Ripley's Aquarium. It wasn't bad. They weren't high pressure. It only took 2 hours out of day. And it's really easy to say no when it's $30K! And we got FREE tickets!! Which is good, because I was not THAT impressed with Titantic. I liked it. It was fun. It was not worth $23 each, though.

 We had much more fun at the aquarium. They have PENGUINS now! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Penguins!

We spent the day in Gatlinburg and since it was Blake's birthday week, we went to  Dick's Last Resort. Now if you've never been to Dick's, it's an experience. They are rude, crude and hilarious! And they make you wear hats and bibs. It was great!

Not my best fashion statement!

Ben also had a good time in Gatlinburg. We went to Cooter's Place, where Ben got to touch a real General Lee. (He's still 12, too!)

The only thing to make him happier? To drive it.

We were home by Friday and Saturday was Blake's 12th birthday. I picked up Lise's boys and brought them to my house where they all had a day of gaming. And boy did my sun room smell a little gamey after it was over. Phew! BOYS!  I think they all had a great time, though.

Me and my birthday boy!

I just realized that I'm wearing the same top at Leah's and Blake's birthday. Ok, that's kinda funny!!  And I also just realized that school starts back in **5** weeks!!

GWP Addict!

Hey everyone! 

So, I am addicted to Gift With Purchases!!!

I order from different places just so I can get  more for my money.  If I have to buy some eye shadow, why not get 8 other wonderful products?  I have purchased GWP's from ebay (with varied success) also. 

SO, once a month I will try to keep you up to date with some great makeup GWP's (gift with purchase).

I hope you enjoy this new feature.  If you have any others that I miss, I would to hear about them!

I have put the link with each one for your convenience.

Now, stop reading and go shopping for heavens sake (or just get the computer out and order).

Clinique at Lord&Taylor

clinique pwp

bronzing gift



 Lancome gwp

Lancome at Bon Ton

Sk8tr M0m

I love "All Dressed Up" day at the blog

No Model Lady

I usually really dress up.  But I turned myself over to the kids for ideas today.

They wanted me to be "Skater Mom".

No problem.  A little looking through the boys closet and

Voila!!



Skater Mom!



Silvery, serquined Converse? Oh yeah!
I got these out of Joy's closet.....Yay for having friends with good taste and the
same shoe size!!! woohoo!

The kids did mention that I would look waaaay cooler with tattoo's.

So I handed them markers and told them to go for it!

And I kind of like this look.

I am feeling so cool, I may just go and take this wheeled board thing for a spin.  LOL!!!