Oy, you guys.... shiz has been cray-zay around here! I'm so sorry for the absence! We had a big family visit, where my mom, dad, aunt, sister, and brother-in-law all came for a long weekend. It was super great... and super exhausting. We did the State Fair, ate TONS of amazing food, and had a wonderful time. It was just what I needed. 

1. A genetic predisposition for ridiculousness (the pictured auntie shall remain nameless).
2. On our way to the Fried Food Fiesta (aka, Texas State Fair).
3. Fried cookie dough. Otherwise known as the best damn cookie I've ever eaten. SO GOOEY. 
4. Boyfriend, Tex, and me.  

5. Sister (!!), Tex, and me. Tex gets around. Also: sister visits are the best. Seriously.
6. Emo Alpaca in the petting zoo. 
7. The Texas Star. It was too freakishly cold and the line was ridonk, so we didn't ride it. But they released birds from it, which was pretty cool. 
8. Jazz hands photo bomb on the train, courtesy of above auntie. 

Highlights: 
1. Hibiscus. Holy yum, you guys. We shared a bunch of appetizers (grilled figs + burrata, anyone?), had amazing drinks, and were probably the most obnoxious table in the entire restaurant. 
2. Thrifting with my sister and close friend. Some great deals were had. 
3. Village Burger Bar. There were 9 of us, so we sat outside in 40 degree weather, pulling the heaters closer to the table. The restaurant people yelled at us. It was still cold, but delicious. We then peaced out to a bar and had a great time with lots of family and lots of friends (ain't it great when they blend so well?). 
4. The State Fair. It was all of our first times out there, and it was crazy cold, but a lot of fun. However, it was A LOT bigger than any of us planned, so about halfway through, we felt like we were pretty much done. 
Whew. 

In addition, I've been working on the shop. I've hit a couple of road blocks, but other than that, things are chugging along steadily. I've added some amazing new vintage items (including my favorite item so far: a vintage woven leather Cole Haan bag... it has a strap that's the perfect length for both cross-body and shoulder wearing, and is the perfect size. sigh). I'm also working on some new baby items! They should be up later this week. Get excited!

So anywho, that's what's up. I'll try to keep posting more regularly, particularly with stuff other than the shop. I know it can get a bit wearing to hear about that kind of stuff all the time! 

xo

So I've see a few of these posts going around, and I really dig the idea. It's pretty intriguing seeing what kind of jewelry everyone wears on a daily basis, so I thought I'd kind of join in and share what I wear. I'm not a matchy-matchy person as far as accessories go and I'm a big fan of mixing metals and textures.

1. Rings

 I have an engagement ring and a wedding band. My engagement ring is one of the most treasured items I've ever possessed. However, being the prize-winning bonehead that I am, I smashed it while helping a friend move some furniture, which is why it looks all warped and weird. I lost 4 stones out of it (but thankfully found ALL of them in the bed of the U-Haul pickup. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES??). It currently lives in a ziplock baggie in my jewelry box, waiting to be repaired at the shop from which it was purchased in San Antonio, but I thought I should show it anyway, because theoretically, I would be wearing it every day. The band is from Overstock.com. Yeah, we classy. 

2. Bracelet + Earrings

I honestly cannot recall how I came to own this bracelet. Maybe I bought it as a kid during my New Mexico phase? Either way, it fits my wrist perfectly and doesn't bang around when I use the computer (which is why I usually avoid bracelets like the plague. ANNOYING.). I wear it daily, unless I forget to put it on after my shower. 

Although I used to be a fan of huge earrings, I nowadays typically wear some kind of studs. These are currently in heavy rotation. I bought them in the teenager section of Nordstrom, and they started getting all funky within a week of my wearing them, but I still wear them most of the time. I feel like they go with almost everything. If they don't, don't tell me. Skullz 4 life, yo. 

3. Necklace

I bought this necklace in Cape Town at a craft market. It was (and still is) kind of a splurge at $50, but it turned out to be a great investment, as it is my second favorite piece of jewelry. No lie, I wear this at least 5 times a week. Sometimes alone, sometimes layered with other necklaces. It's sturdy, funky, and the perfect length. 

And that's it. I'm pretty simple. I have a few other pieces that I phase in and out, but these are the standards. 

What about you? What kind of stuff is your everyday, go-to jewelry?

So I bet you're DYING to know what a day in my life is like. I lead a glamorous life, and really, it's expected that people should be curious. So, without further ado, I present: 

A Day in the Life of a Franny* (Friend + Nanny = Franny) The Abridged Version
8:00 am N leaves for work and throws open the curtains because, let's face it, I can't wake up without someone forcing me to. Mumbling incoherently, I tell him to have a good day and that I love him (*cue sappy music*). I sound more like a stoned Jar Jar Binks than a human, but he gets the point. I think.
I try my best to be speedy about at least brushing my teeth before making my way into the living room, where little E is hanging out with her parents before they go to work. We hang out and chat for a while, I ask when she was last fed. E is on a schedule where she eats every three hours without fail (which sounds psychotic but is actually amazing and makes her day predictable), so this information is important. They've made me a morning smoothie, which I gratefully guzzle. 
8:30 am J & J leave for work, and I'm left alone with E. We hang out. She's a cool kid. 
9:00 am Grumpypants McGee arrives, so I restrain swaddle her and put her down for a nap. Then I check my Google Reader, Twitter, e-mail. I may also be able to squeeze in a quick cleaning session episode of "Friends" in our room.
10:00 am It's time for E to wake up and eat. I change her and strip her down to her diaper because she's started solids and rice cereal is like glue when it dries. I'd rather stick her in the sink to rinse her off than deal with gross clothes. We sit down at the kitchen table, and she eats. And farts. When she's done, I put her in her bouncer and change into my workout clothes. 
10:30 am I do my P90X for the day. Former office life and an enchilada addiction have left me with excess junk in my trunk. She watches, amused. At some point during the hour to hour and a half, she gets grumpy, so I swaddle her again and keep working out until she passes out. I move her to her bed. 
11:30 am E is napping and I'm finally done with the workout, so I shower, get dressed, and consider blogging. Of course, I don't, so I watch some more TV and maybe wash some dishes. Lunch is an Amy's bean + cheese burrito with a dollop of Greek yogurt and salsa on top. YUM. 
1:00 pm It's time for E to eat again. I prep a bottle, and she kicks me in the boobs with the expertise of a Thai kickboxer while I feed her on the couch. When she's done, we hang out for a bit, I read to her, and we get ready to run errands leave the house for a bit.
1:30 pm Do random stuff. Sometimes we run errands, sometimes we just leave the house for the sake of leaving the house. 
2:30 pm E falls asleep sometime around now. If we're at home, I put her in her room. If we're out, I just let her sleep. 
4:00 pm E eats. Again. 
4:30 pm I put her down to play on the mat so she can work on her fitness. Girl is getting close to crawling now. 
5:30 pm E falls asleep around now and adults start getting home - hooray!! We all hang out. I'm off the clock. Cocktail hour is usually around this time. We're fancy like that. 
7:00 pm E eats, but this time her parents feed her. I'm off the clock. So we start talking about dinner. If we don't cook, we walk a couple of blocks to a pretty good Mexican food joint. 
After that, it's kind of a crapshoot. Lots of talking, lots of hanging out. We've got a nice little commune-style situation** going, and it's pretty great. 

*I wear sequins a lot, not unlike Fran Fine. Frannies are fancy. **I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but the current situation is that we're staying with friends until we get settled here in DFW. So far, so good. I'll probably do a post on being married with roommates at some point, but if you'd like others' perspective on the (really awesome) situation, check out this one on A Practical Wedding. 

GIF image found on Tumblr (otherwise known as "the black hole into which all proper crediting goes to die"). If you know who made it, let me know. 

So we've started packing!(and yes, that totally deserves an exclamation point)
I've been to Goodwill twice and a third gigantic stack is perched precariously by the front door. 
The car trunk is full of old clothes to sell. 
The front and back yards have been scourged of empty and forlorn flower pots and other derelict crap. 
All seven Harry Potter books have been listened to.
Our living room has gone from this: 

to this: 

And the best news? Our land lord already has a prospective tenant.
I may be overly excited. Maybe. 

This is a post about resolutions.

(I know I know… everyone is doing this, amiright? Feel free to skip this one.)

I've never *really* had resolutions, besides the standard, "Be healthier! Lose weight!" blah blah blah crap, which we all know is an empty facsimile of a sham for 99.9999% of the population.

But this year, I need goals. I need direction. This funk I'm in isn't going away, and I need to take more action.

So here we go:

1. Do better.

This is a general sweeping resolution. I'm flaky. I'm forgetful. I'm easily distracted. This sometimes means I'm a bad friend, a bad wife. I forget to send photos, forget to write back, forget lots of small things that don't seem like a big deal until it's a mountain of small things and I've alienated the people around me.

2. Feel better.

I realize this may fall into the "Be healthier! Lose weight!" category. However, it's a more holistic view of things I think.

I semi-recently became a vegetarian (in August, I think) after a couple of years dabbling, but never committing. The conversion was easy enough, but there's room for improvement.

Eating out as a vegetarian in this semi-small town usually means grilled cheese sandwiches, fries, etc, which means my dairy intake has become a bit ridiculous. I've consumed far more dairy as a vegetarian than I ever did as an omnivore. This has lead to a series of unfortunate health issues (headaches, stomach aches, etc) that are completely avoidable. So I'm going to fix that.

I also haven't been active in any consistent way since March, when I ran a 10K with friends after a few months of training. I'm not setting rules and a schedule for myself, as I really don't ever adhere to them (unless there's something like a race approaching). I really just need to stop sitting so much – at my desk at work, on my couch at home, in the car, etc. Walk to the store, use my bike more, go for an occasional run, and so on. Move more. Then see what happens.

3. Spend more time alone.

(This sounds terrible. I really don't mean it to be.)

I'm really quite a solitary character – I lived alone, exercised alone, ate alone, saw movies alone. I used to have little rituals, like spending an hour every Sunday walking around Target with a coffee, just to be alone, zone out, and see what was new. I haven't done anything like that for a while.

Since N and I were married in 2009, I've (obviously) not been alone much. With the few exceptions of N's work trips, we're *constantly* together. Don't get me wrong – I obviously want him around. I just also want to be alone sometimes. I've found that when I'm alone I'm far more productive, more focused. Maybe this will help me reset my personality and get out of this funk (and by this I in NO WAY mean that N is the cause for my funk). You know what I mean.

So there. Those are my resolutions.

What about you? Are any of you making resolutions? Plans? How good are you at keeping them?

gratuitous cheeseball tree photo by me, from the farm