Buy It!

OMG, I am fairly certain I already blogged about MY NOOK being one of my favorite purchases in HISTORY, let alone 2012!?  I was a major book worm my entire life and then I transferred over to a book/magazine worm.  Then, I decided to get a husband and dogs and kids and then moved to the sticks, and now who the hell has time to go to the library or Barnes & Freakin' Noble!?  Sadness!

Enter:  NOOK.  Love.  My life is complete.

I just bought the funniest, most awesome, most hilarious book EVER!!!  If you're reading this blog, you need to buy it immediately:

It just came out yesterday but my nook is super smart so it had "suggested" I pre-order it a few weeks ago.  Who am I to question my nook???  Sold.  I was so happy when I saw it was ready to read...yay!

OK, so remember when Eddie Cibrian cheated on his gorgeous model wife with Leann Rimes, whom he later married?  This is written by the wife about their Hollywood breakup.  IT IS AWESOME!  The writing is too funny!  And I just love her sarcasm!!  :)  I am only half way done but I'm hooked.  Love her.  I really hope she writes more books :)

Enjoy!!  :)  :)

xoxo!!!
Ann

Wow!

My life has really turned into blogging about SHOWER CURTAINS!?  Oh well, I don't care BECAUSSSE this baby (click here) is freakin' CCCCUUUUUTTTTEEE!!

(Pottery Barn Photo)

I have been in a MAJORA decorating rut as of late.  Well, the last three years, really.  I do LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating but since we moved to the farm, enter "the rut."  The house has truly no character and honestly, how do you really shop and decorate with two toddlers?  Hint: you don't.

Farmhouses have tons of character, you say!?  Well, THAT farmhouse unfortunately burned to the ground circa 1960 or so (no one was hurt...or so Kurt's family tells me).  In it's place was built this fabulous 1960's three bedroom ranch.  You know the ones.  It's definitely well kept and updated-ish but I kind of like houses OLD or NEW, if I could choose...but I can't, obviously.  The in between years are no bueno for this chic.  That era is kind of like the JC Penney of housing.  It's not Sears but it's not Nordstrom either.  I can't really complain about the house too much because it comes with a lot of benefits such as being able to sit on the deck in the summer with my eyes closed and literally feel like I'm on vacation.  Paradise......{or it will be soon when I convince Kurt to build me that pool}.  :)

Anyway, my advice is:  move where you want, decorate and then think about getting a bun in the oven.  I moved here when I was pregnant (and not thinking clearly apparently) so I made some very bad decisions with paint colors.  I was feeling fall-ish since it was harvest time and oh my god, why did I pick PUMPKIN FOR THE LIVING ROOM.  If I never see that color again, it will be too soon.  And oh yeah, a brick red and brown bedroom sounds awesome (until you want to paint it white three years later).

Anyway, so my "resolution" per se, is to get out of this decor slump and revamp the entire house by Christmas 2013.  It's been three years - it's time for new.  And that gives me almost a year.

First on the agenda was ditch all of my bath decor and accessories which I loved dearly but it's been three years.  Time to hasta la vista!  I hung up wall items of cuteness so I now needed a new curtain and rugs.

Of course I started with the easy room first.  It's about the size of a shoebox.  Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with these awful paint colors...they will need like 74 coats of primer before I can even consider going lighter!  Ahhh!   :)

Happy Weekend, Everyone!  Enjoy it and bundle up if you're in the Midwest!!  :)  :)  Mucho love to you all!

xoxo!!
Ann

Love.this.bag!

OK, I'll admit...I bought this fabulous, adorable, gorgeous little # last summer.  I loved it so much but I was kind of hoarding it, feeling it was too lovely to even USE!  However, I am back into my yoga obsession, as of late, so I am now using it every day as my yoga tote bag.

OMG, how SERIOUSLY cute is it!!!

(Photo from Lillie B Designs Facebook page)

You can find Lillie B's Facebook page here:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lillie-B-Designs/183435168401742 or by clicking right here:  CLICK ME and then Like Me :)

Lillie is a sweet, darling teenager battling cancer.  She sews these beautiful designs and I believe her mama, Heather, helps her with the business side of things and runs the Facebook page.

Mine is adorable...I want all of them!  :)

Who is ready for the weekend!?  xoxo!!

Much love,
Ann :)  

Woo woo!!

"I hear that whistle blowin', it's comin' 'round the bend...  and I ain't seen the sunshine since I DON'T KNOW WHEN!"  -Johnny Cash

I'm currently in what my friend Nicole and I refer to as a Post-Nashville Depression (PND)!  Yes, it's true...we finally made it back to the promise land for a ROCKIN' girls trip with these other lovely chicas:  Gretchen, Molly and Cheryl!  Sooo much fun...omggggg...hence the "Wait...I'm back in Iowa and the windchill is -18??  Really?  And oh by the way, I miss Nashville so much I could cry right now...!" type of depression.  This is heavy stuff.  Nicole and I have suffered from PND a few other times in the past so a least this time we were expecting it instead of being blindsided like we were about nine years ago.

Anyway!!  In the weeks leading up to our pilgrimage, I was on the SHOP.  Ya know, because you really need the perfect outfits to hang out in honky tonks with a bunch of random strangers you don't know!  I am serious...  INCLUDING (but not limited to) some FABULOUS new boots that I am oh-so-I.L. with!

I.L. doesn't even begin to describe my love for them!  Love love la-la-la-love love love!!  They are AAAADORABLE with regular jeans and with skinny jeans.  Honestly, I am the bootcut queen (haha...I will never give them up), so I have to make sure everything looks good with bootcuts, too.  

OMG this color is adorable.  Worried about them being too tall?  No worries...I am the height of a 4th grader and they are perfect on me!  :)  :)  AND, I did recently confirm with my friend Craig that skinny jeans are staying around for awhile.  :)  

I will be back soon!!  :)  :)  

Happy Wednesday Night, Y'all!!!  

Much love!!  xoxo!!!

Ann

Ho, ho, ho! Holiday LOVVVESSSS AND HATTTTESSSS

Merry Christmas, Happy No World Ending, etc, ETC!

Hope all of you Iowans survived the ice/snow storm.  The studio internet is rockin' again and I have some catching up to do on here.  The good news about being iced in with no internet for a few days the week before Xmas is that FOR ONCE, I was all done wrapping BEFORE Christmas.  Yay!! Unlike most of the population, I really LIKE late Christmas shopping.  What can I say, I work better under pressure.  The only problem I endure with it is the massive amounts of last-min wrapping every year.  The husband is never impressed because he has to help me when I start coming unraveled in a sea of scissors, tape and paper at 2:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve Eve.  But not this year :)

I am HUGE on shopping local when you can.  This is a big deal in my world.  Sorry, but you can't shop totally local when it comes to makeup...that's where Sephora comes in.

Anyway, here are a couple of my FAVORITE local haunts:

#1 - Mint Green Boutique!  Love love in love with this store!  It's a mixture of vintage, handmade, recycled and new clothing and accessories.  I've been loving this store for a few years and you should, too!  It is sooooo cute!  They have a new location in the Village of East Davenport and it's darlingggg.  Hello, they sell wine glasses with owls stenciled on them and t-shirts that say "You've cat to be kitten me."  What more can you want?!

I bought two of the cuuuuutest winter sweaters there and I've been wearing them non-stop.  I get tons of people asking me, "OMG where did you buy your sweater!?" when I'm out and about...you know it's money well spent when complete strangers stop and ask me EVERY TIME I'm rockin' them.

Photo stolen from Mint Green's FB page :)

When I put it on yesterday, Will goes, "That a huge shirt!"  HAHA.  Luv it.

Here is the other one, photo also stolen from Mint Green:

I've been rocking these guys with my previously-blogged about boots.  Not having a skinny day?  No worries - you can fit a small army in here with you so just wrap up and roll out.  When I put mine on the other day, Will said, "That a huge shirt!"  Yes, it is, buddy :)


#2 - Zum Bar Soap by Indigo Wild (Kansas City) and The SoapBox (Dav) - OMGGGGG!!!!!  I've recently become obsessed with yummy local (or local-ish) soaps.  My obsession started when I passed a display in the health section at HY-VEE (of all places!!) and was stopped dead in my tracks.  I was like, "OMG what is that smell?!  It smells like the yoga studio!!!"  One of my fave yoga studios smells so delicious but I never really could figure out what the smell was - some type of beach flowers mixed with spices mixed with world peace.  Anyway, randomly at Hy-Vee, I find these beautiful soaps by Indigo Wild, based out of Kansas City.  Belle and I are now obsessed.  We are have been rocking the Oatmeal Lavender, Lemon Lavender, Sea Salt, Citrus-Mint, etc.  It's a serious decision whenever we open a new bar because we want to open them all and start using them all immediately.  

[Photo courtesy of Indigo Wild] and now that I've seen this pic, I want to order that giant gift box!  Ha!

Belle and I are allergic to everything so if we aren't allergic to it, there is no way you are either.  Supposedly, all Hy-Vee Health Markets carry the Zum products.  I am excited for my next trip to KC when I can check out the actual store and the stuff Hy-Vee doesn't carry.  Until then, I shall shop at Hy-Vee and at Indigo Wild's online store.

Alright, so during my Xmas adventures I stop into The Soapbox in the Village of East Davenport.  I have noticed this store in the past but never stopped.  WHY OH WHY!  In.love.  THEY HAVE SO MANY AWESOME THINGS!  From higher-end like Crabtree & Evelyn to local cute soaps, they have everything.  Yum.  Smells divine in there, too.  I was so happy to find that joint; IT WAS PERFECT!  I bought a bunch of Christmas prizes for people there: holiday soap sets made in Davenport by Iowa Naturals and lotions made in Bettendorf by Paige Meadows.


#3 - Von Maur  LOVVVVVE it always and forever.  I totally consider Von Maur "local" because they ARE based in the Quad Cities!  :)  Don't want to go to that family holiday gathering that your husband is trying to convince you to go to??  Consider extorting some new boots from Von Maur out of him in exchange for your attendance.  Trust me on this one.  ;)

And right outside of Von Maur (at least the mall closest to us):  "Santa at the Mall."  CLASSIC!!!  Love it.


HHHHAAAATTTTESSSS

#1 - I hate that I always forget when the good holiday cartoons are on or I remember and can't watch them.  Charlie Brown, Rudolph, etc.  No bueno!

#2 - OK, here is the deal!  I mean this in a very positive way, I swear.  I really wish the Salvation Army would let me pay a flat fee in advance and I could have some kind of badge to flash the bell ringers!  I cannot carry cash!  It's a serious problem I have...like an ailment.  If I have $1.00, I will stop at the pop machine in Maysville and spend $1.25 on a Diet Mt. Dew for no reason.  If I have $50 in my wallet, I spend $51 somehow.  I do much better with plastic.  And, as mentioned above, I cover A LOT of ground in the couple weeks before Christmas.  I literally cannot pay off all of these hundred bell ringers I see because I never have cash and I feel so HORRIBLE!

#3 - I hate how fast Christmas is over.  It seems like the little ones unwrap presents in two seconds flat.  Until next year!


Well, happy unwinding, putting away toys and gift card spending to all!  :)

Thanks for reading!!  Have a wonderful night of recovery!  xoxo!!

Much love!
Ann

Whoa!

How did I not know this!?!?

I haven't stopped giving props to Benefit's Hello Flawless! for at least three years now.  I can't even count the number of people I know who are now hooked on this stuff.  It's the be-all/end-all of foundations, I say!

For the past few years, the only Benefit "foundation," as far as I knew(!!), was the Hello Flawless powder that works AAAAMAZZZZINGGG!  I thought it was truuuue lovvvvve until my recent trip to fake Sephora and discovered they have a liquid line of my beloved Hello Flawless!  Wait...what!?

To make a long story short, I tried to avoid it since I'm alwayssss tragically allergic to liquid foundations (the SPF).  When I checked out, however, the girl saw all of the points I've racked up in my VIB account and we start getting into serious discussions about how great the VIB program is, etc.  She reminded me that she could make me a sample of anything in the store.  Twice.  I think it was fate.  I had her box up a big sample of liquid Hello after she color matched me.  After that baby was gone, and I wasn't allergic (not yet anyway!), I made my way back to fake Sephora and sealed the deal.  Here is the link!

I'm think I'm in love.  The color is perfect (thanks to her color matching...I NEVER trust my own judgement on my color) and this stuff is so light and lovely.  Ahhhh...I am feeling cuter and happier already!

How fun are the color names, too?  Mine is "I'm Pure 4 Sure."  Benefit knows me so well :)  :)

Thank you so much for reading!!  Happy, happy week!!  Only a few more days until Xmas!!  xoxo!!

Mucho love,
Ann

LOVVVVESSS of 2012 #4

So, one day this summer my fab stylist Brian intros me to their "new luxury line, Oribe."  I was already sold.

I have previously professed my love for Bumble & Bumble's Surf Spray (also recommended by Brian!) and he said Oribe's Dry Texturing Spray (found here) ($39) was a similar product.  Now, this I needed, for sure.  I am grateful for all of the wonderful things I was born with but good hair just wasn't one of them.  I have to work to make it even sub-par.  Randomly, I have a lot of hair but it's a fine, silky, stick-straight mess with absolutely no body.  Let's not even go into the natural color of it.

OMG love this stuff!  I really believe Surf Spray gives the feeling you just left the beach.  LOVE IT and will always use it.  I am also a fan of Oribe's Dry Texturing Spray because it's not as heavy as Surf Spray but I can spray it at the roots and make my non-body-havin' hair have some fluff & stuff.  I use this every day, sometimes with Surf Spray, sometimes without.  It smells so delicious, too.

Must have!  Definitely on my Favorites of 2012 list!!!  :)  :)  :)

Have a rockin' evening, everyone!

Mucho love!!!
Ann :)