Fall Fashion Week - Thursday!

** I am very sorry that the linkytools site I have been using for our link-up has been so troublesome! Some of you have had issues linking and other times the whole thing disappears. I will try to find a more reliable service for our next fashion week! Thanks for your patience. xoxoxo **

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Today was a busy day! One of the first things I had to accomplish was returning the *very* late books to the library with two boys in tow. I had to pay $19.20 in fines! hahahahaha.

oh, me.

I kept things simple since I knew I would be lugging 2-3 squirmy boys around town all day.












Headband- Gift from friend
Ears- my favorite thing about my head. (I have a thing for ears. I think girls with big ears are GORGEOUS!)
Sweater- thrifted
Backpack- vintage, thrifted
Shorts- F21
Holey Shoes- Grasshoppers by KEDS, thrifted (and missing a shoelace.)



I loved reading your stories about complimenting people yesterday. After reading some of your posts, I just wanted to run out my front door and start complementing everything that moved! haha. I actually followed a SUUUUPER cute pregnant girl around Target for a little while until I could catch up to her and tell her how beautiful she was.

Mayhaps I am being a bit too zealous with my challenge?

Mayhaps MY BUTT. This is fun!

;)

Tomorrow is our last day!! (Pretend I am not weeping.) I have been having an insane amount of fun doing this with all you ladies this week. Again, thank you so much for being such QUALITY human beings. I adore you all.

Fall Fashion Week - Wednesday!

I woke up this morning feeling like a gypsy at heart- a nomad girl hungry for movement- so I dressed the part.

















Headpiece- altered fascinator from Ross
Dress- willow & clay from 1/2 of 1/2 Name Brand Clothing
Cardigan- thrifted
Flipflops- Target


My results for the challenge from yesterday: While out & about I saw a woman with her brand new baby. We chatted for a bit about her little guy and then I told her that she looked really amazing and that I could just see the love she had for her baby all over her face, that she was glowing! She seemed really touched by the compliment and I was reminded that beauty really has nothing to do with the clothes we wear or the condition our bodies are in. This woman was giddy and in love and proud of her new son and she just beamed joy! I honestly don't even remember what she was wearing... her beauty came from a deeper place.

Did any of you get a chance to step out of your comfort zones and compliment someone yesterday? Tell us about it if you did! :)



There are only two days left! Join in if you haven't already, you won't regret it! :)

Fall Fashion Week - Tuesday!

This morning the weather was wonderful, so after Ezra went off to school me and the two littles tumbled out into the backyard and got lost for hours in our own ways.



I read and sipped coffee while Myer played in the dirt and buried cars. Truman napped like a champ and the crisp breeze called for a blanket to cocoon myself up in.

Why do I start my mornings in any other way? And why do I constantly forget that beauty can be found ANYWHERE... even in a tiny backyard in the middle of oklahoma?

I'm learning to see with new eyes.

Anywho, this is what I wore the rest of the day:

















Hat- thrifted
Top- vintage nordstroms thrifted
Necklace- gift from friend
Shorts- thrifted
Belt- thrifted
Backpack- thrifted
Knee-highs- TJ Maxx
Shoes- Report from Ross


This week so far has been so so great, thanks to you all.

Here's a challenge for you... now that we're in the groove of complimenting one another and brightening each other's days... try applying it to the people around you too! Step out and compliment someone (or multiple people!) that you come in contact with during your day today, and then tell us about your experience in your next outfit post!



Truman is excited about this challenge, can you tell? haha.

Fall Fashion Week - Monday!

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of fun activity for my husband's 30th birthday and my Mother-in-Law's birthday, which is only 3 days after his!

(and by "whirlwind of activity", I pretty much mean I have eaten enough brownies and cupcakes to kill a small horse.)

I wore this outfit during the madness so I could chase three little boys and bake cupcakes and try to keep the house somewhat nice during all the commotion.

Lovely chaos!













jacket- Forever21
Camisole- gift from my mama
Owl necklace- vintage thrifted
Belt- gift from my friend Joel
Jeans- Old man Levi wranglers, thrifted
Flipflops- Target


I am having so much fun checking out all of your pictures! You guys are such a wonderful bunch... I am honored to have you participating this week. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback and support that are floating all around this corner of the internet... you really class the joint up.

hehe.

Remember, it's never too late to join in the fun!!

Fall Fashion Week - Sunday!

Woo hoo! You ladies are looking fan-freakin-tastic in your Fall outfits!!!

I wanted to leave book-length comments on all your pretty looks! hahaha.

Here's my outfit for Sunday:










Hat- thrifted
PUMPKIN Dress- Vintage, thrifted
Cardigan- Forever21
Sandals- Target

This armoire was awkwardly in my living room for a coupla of weeks after we found the $2 credenza at the thrift store that replaced it. Thankfully, we sold the armoire a few days ago so it's no longer hovering in the corner of my life. ha. Thank you, Craigslist!

Now it's your turn! Fall Fashion Day 2... hooray!

Fall Fashion Week - Saturday!

Aaaaand, they're off!

Here's my first outfit for the week:

So... does it look like I am trying to camouflage myself into my own living room?

Did any of you ever get traumatized watch that scary movie from the 80's called "When A Stranger Calls Back?". I'm the brick wall guy! boo!!!

(Apparently I dress like my house. hahahahaa.)

Hat- vintage, thrifted
bow- vintage, thrifted with clip glued on back
Cardigan- Forever21
Dress- Vintage, thrifted
Shoes- dolce vita from Ross

Now it's your turn!! Enter the link to your specific Saturday outfit post below, and then make sure to check out everyone else's looks and leave them some (sweet & lovely) feedback!

Can't wait to see you Fall fashionistas!

I Love You, Tomorrow.

TOMORROW our Fall Fashion Week begins! I'm so so excited.

I forgot to tell you all what the giveaway would be!!

The winner of the end-of-the-week drawing will get a
$45 giftcard to Modcloth!

(this fashion week is not sponsored by Modcloth in any way. I use the $ I get from the blogher ads on my site for my fashion week giveaways as a way to say THANK YOU to all my amazing readers!)

So... spread the word, snap some pictures, and come on back here tomorrow to share your first link for the big kickoff! And don't forget the most important part: check out everyone's looks and leave them lovely comments this week!

(Any link is welcome... Instagram, tumblr, flickr... if we can see it, you can share it!)


Here's a small button for sharing... Just copy and paste that HTML code in your blog or sidebar!

**For those of you viewing on a Reader, click through to get the html codes!**


<a href="http://emeryjo.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa122/emeryjo/fallfashionbigbutton.png"></a>

Or, here's the code for a BIGGER version if you'd like to do a separate post (like this one) to spread the word:

<a href="http://emeryjo.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa122/emeryjo/fallfashionbig.png" width="400"></a>


Thanks and see you tomorrow! :)

Mother Weary.

My eyes snap open again in the heavy dark. It is 3:00AM. Something like the 14th consecutive 3:00AM I've seen blinking back red at me in the blackness of my room. My feet find the floor without my knowledge and I stumble toward the whimpering cry.

It's been two weeks of this. The sweet babe is not sleeping at night. 9:00. 11:00. 1:00. 3:00. 5:00...

Rest cut up into two hour pieces is no rest at all. It is a messy, violent thing that lingers and clings to the bones all the waking hours.

I feel worn thin, almost transparent.

Molars? Sickness?

Teeny tiny baby manipulation?

Whatever it is, it drains.

I would let the cries ring- I have no qualms against such things, but there are the others in this household that need their sleep much more than I. There are growing boys and a hard-laboring husband. These walls so close together muffle nothing. The hallway becomes a trumpet and I lunge to silence the blast.

The time-tested mother in me knows that this is only a short season... one brushstroke on the beautiful sprawling canvas, but the physical body knows nothing of seasons or brushstrokes. It knows only the weary now and it slowly grinds to a halt.

I brew more coffee.
Apply more concealer.
Pray in deep breaths,
And push through.

Dreaming Out Windows.

The days swell and splay and I'm left embedded a little further down into this life.

The feeling of cool moving air on my skin triggers wonder, after all those precariously stacked up weeks upon weeks of static heat. It's as if every single pore of my skin is gasping hard at it and I reel.



Out car windows I stretch arms, hands, fingers, until they pop. I lounge on picnic blankets and wiggle my toes in the sky. Never again will days like these be taken for granted. Every breeze and cloud and raindrop is grace to me now, forever.

Today is the first day that feels like Fall.

I throw open my doors to it and beg it to come in.



I sip tea, contemplate baking, stare out windows, and dream like I haven't dared to in years.

Truman Arthur, 6 months.

UGH. Total perfection, this babe.

I adore him so hard, sometimes when I'm holding him I just want to ABSORB him... engrave him into my memory like pressed tin so as to never forget. Those eyes, those lashes, that big toothy grin... I want to be able to run my fingers over these sweet things until they are worn smooth from the years.

He gurgles and coos and it sounds like cuteness incarnate. Like, I want to gather up his quiet little sounds and pet them and squeeze them and name them George.





He loves ears. And brothers. And brother's ears.





He's working on tooth 7 & 8 right now. SEVEN AND EIGHT. Try and wrap your mind around THAT.

(He has been kind to me though, the toothy monster, while breastfeeding. Unlike some of my other toothy children were. *cough*MYER*cough*cough*)





Life without Truman Arthur would be... less sparkly. Less giggly. Less drooly!




I am so thankful for him, this boy number three.

Happy 6 months, little Tru! You are the cherry on top!