Tailor Made Quincenera

Who: M
When: 10/28/12
Where: Quincenera!!
What: Dress-tailor made, shoes-borrowed

This was a fun day!! My very first quincenera!!! Well, the first one that I was actually a part of! Let me mention in passing that this beautiful dress was a nightmare!! The lady who was making it for us had her own idea of how it should look...so the final result was that we had to take it to someone else. You know what they say, the third time is a charm! So apart from the craziness of the dress, I also forgot the Bibles which are part of the quincenera ceremony...but it all worked out ok!

On the upside, one of the girls at the home did my hair, and I thought it looked great!! Another special thing about this quince was that it was for twins! I must add that it turned out to be a VERY long night, but the food was good and the cake was delicious!! :)

Thrifted Thursday- Recent Purchases

Hello there! How do you like our new design? And our new Thrifted Thursday picture? I thought it was time for a few changes to bring in the new season! :)

I haven't been thrifting too much lately, but there are a couple of really awesome deals that I've found in the last month or so. I didn't actually get any pictures taken, so you'll just have to take my word for it! ;)

1. An orange & nay blue (Go Bears!) striped Tommy Hilfiger tie for N- $1

2. 2 KitchenAid muffin pans- $6 each. These were a little pricey for me for something from a thrift store, but they were brand new, super heavy duty, and a nice brand name. Plus, I needed new muffin pans THAT DAY for something I was making, and these were cheaper than any at Walmart or KMart.

3. A cake carrier doohickey- $2. This thing is amazing!! It looks like one of those Tupperware cake carriers, BUT, it has all sorts of inserts for different things- cupcakes, deviled eggs, chips and dip. It's seriously awesome!! I've already used it a couple of times. Plus, it was originally $4, but it was half off... woot woot!

4. Some Christmas decorations- a wicker sleigh with metal runners and 3 spools of Christmas ribbon- $1.50. These were all on sale for 1/2 off. The sleigh looks a little rough at the moment, but I'm planning on spray painting it and maybe adding some Christmas embellishments. I'll have to take pictures when I get it done.

5. Several little dresses and tops to send to M for the orphanage- around $6. I'm planning on buying a few things every time I go, so that by Christmas time, I'll have a good amount to send. I love shopping for kids' clothes! They're so cute!!!

One of the things I love about thrifting is that you never know what you're going to find! Sometimes you find amazing treasures that just need a little love, sometimes you find brand new items for waaay cheaper than you'd pay at a retail store, and sometimes you leave empty handed (yes, I promise, I DO leave without buying anything sometimes!). 

Happy thrifting!!

                                                                                                  -J

Picture Perfect(ish)

Who: J
When: 10/19/12
Where: Family pictures in our backyard
What: *Denim jacket- Ross *Grey top- thrifted *Brown skirt- thrifted *Boots- Chadwicks *Flower pin- The Jewelry Box *Ring- The Jewelry Box *Necklace- gift from M

I thought I'd share some of our family pictures with you. These were a lot of fun to do and let me practice my self- portrait skills. ;) We took these ourselves in our backyard, so there was a lot of setting a timer and then running back to get into place. We let our little doggie Mona get in some, too. We wanted our cat to be in some, but she hid under the bed and we didn't think it was worth risking our very lives to drag her out (seriously- she's vicious!). 

I love how this red plaid shirt looks on N, so I wanted to coordinate the colors of our outfits without them being too matchy matchy. I really like how it turned out, and I think the little touches of red in my outfit were just enough. I actually spent a couple of hours researching family picture colors online... crazy, right? I did find a really really cool website called Design Seeds that has tons of different color palettes- maybe I'm a nerd, but I thought it was very cool!

I'm including a few more of our pictures... cute, right? ;)

Near and Dear to Our Hearts

Hey everybody! Today I wanted to share something with you that is very close to our hearts. M has never asked me to share this, but I wanted to show you the work she's been doing. As you may have gathered from snippets here and there, M works at an orphanage in Guadalajara, Mexico. I'm very proud of her & proud to count her as my friend!

As you watch this video, please pray for M and the work there in Mexico.




Awesome, right? So, how can we help?

1. Through prayer
2. Through financial donations (there's a Paypal account set up where you can give)
3. Through other gifts-  for those of you that live near me, I'm planning to send a package to M right around Christmas with clothes and some other little gifts for all the kiddos. Let me know if you'd be interested in sending anything! 

Thanks for taking the time to watch the video & read our post! :)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Autumn!

Who: J
When: 10/14/12
Where: Church
What: *Cardigan- Walmart *Blue top- Ross *Skirt- Thrifted, upcycled by me (it used to be a beach cover up type thing) *Shoes- Ralph Lauren, thrifted *Purse- Kathy Van Zeeland, thrifted

I love this time of year! The weather is getting cooler(ish), some of the leaves are changing colors, and it's boots and cardigan season! I know this particular outfit doesn't look very "fall-ish," but I'm wearing a sweater, so that counts for me! 

I don't think I mentioned it on here yet, but a few weeks ago I FINALLY got my hair cut. I love how it turned out! It makes such a difference when I have nice layers that I feel like I can actually do something with. Yay for haircuts!! :)

Repeat & Retreat

Hello!!! I know it's been a while (actually 2 whole weeks!) since we posted anything, and I hope you haven't missed us too much! :) M and I both have a bunch of stuff going on, and once again, the blog kind of got pushed to the back for a while. We really really are trying to do better, though. We promise!

Anyways... for today's thrifted post, I'm doing kind of a repeat. I used this dress in a Thrifted Thursday post a while back, but I wore it to the first night of our church's marriage retreat this last weekend and accessorized it totally different than I did the first time, so I'm counting as something new! ;) 

Our church held a marriage retreat in downtown El Paso on the top floor of the Doubletree Hotel. It was beautiful- you could see El Paso all spread out, and at night, the lights were gorgeous! N and I both learned a lot of really helpful, Biblical principles to apply to our marriage, and we had a great time!

We also got to go out on a dinner date before hand, so I wanted to dress up a little and look pretty for  my man. ;) We went to Crave, which is a American food restaurant with burgers and sandwiches and that type of stuff. The best part of the meal for me was the sweet potato fries- they serve them with cinnamon flavored marshmallow fluff!! Yummo!!

Enough about all of that, though- let me show you my outfit. The dress (Savers, $4) and the Kathy Van Zeeland purse (Goodwill, $2.75) are both thrifted, so they can both count for Thrifted Thursday... yay!! 

Happy thrifting!! 

                                                                                                -J

Thrifted Thursday- My Kind of Town (Chicago)

Note from J: Today's post doesn't really have any thrifting tips, per se, but it does include an outfit from M that has some thrifted items. I especially love her shoes- so cute! :) Happy thrifting!

Who: M

When: 9/13/12

Where: Hanging out with Gram, Martina, and Lukas in Chicago, going to the Field Museum

What: *Maxi skirt- NY & Co thrifted *Striped shirt-Old Navy *Shoes-thrifted *Undershirt-Target *Necklace-China :)

Sorry everyone for not being better at posting, I just get so busy that I forget to take pictures. My goal is to be better at it...but we will see...lol. 

These pics are almost a month old, but such great memories! I got to spend the month of September with my family in Indiana. I was super excited about this, because I got to spend LOTS of time with my adorable nephew!! This was one of those days that I was able to have him all day. We headed up to Chicago for a day at the museum and lunch. So much fun, only set back was that it was the coldest day during my entire trip and we were all in short sleeves...gotta love Chicago's unpredictable weather!!

So, this is the second time I have featured this fabulous maxi skirt, but I seriously think it is one of my all time favorites!! While I was in Indiana I babysat for one of my friends and she gave me an Old Navy gift card so I was able to get this cute shirt along with three others off the discount rack. Score for me! A word about my shoes- I LOVE them!! Got them at Unique (a thrift store by my parent's house in Indiaiana that is closed now...sadness...). At any rate, they are MUDD and were brand new when I purchased them, and they are SUPER comfortable!! How do you like that great run-on sentence...lol

That about sums everything up...oh except to say, everyone thought my nephew was my son and looked at me funny when they asked me how old he was and I had to think for a few minutes before I answered them... Fun times!

It's All About the Sparkle

Who: J

When: 9/26/12

Where: Midweek service at church

What: *Denim jacket- Ross *Green top- Kohl's *Grey skirt- thrifted *Scarf- Claire's *Shoes- Payless *Turtle ring- The Jewelry Box

We're back! :) Sorry for the absence last week- there was all sorts of craziness going on and the blog kind of got shoved out of the way. Buuuut... we're back now! Yay!

One of the crazy things about living in the desert (both AZ and TX) is that during the changing of the seasons, the temps go up and down like crazy! One day it will be chilly enough for a sweatshirt, and the next day, it's steaming hot. So, I never really know what to expect. On the night that I wore this outfit, it was chilly, but today, as I'm typing this, it's a little warm. Maybe that's just because our air conditioning went out.... Anyway.... I love this denim jacket, and I'm always excited when it gets cool enough to wear it. 

I also really like how the sparkly sequins on my scarf showed up on the camera. I kind of forget about this scarf and it gets shoved to the bottom of my scarf bin until I'm feverishly looking for the "right" scarf about two minutes before I have to walk out the door. I should definitely keep this one up near the top for fall!