// Weekend Recap

Weekends seem to whiz by in the blink of an eye lately, so I'm never really sure what day it is. Though to be fair I guess I'd say the week days are doing that, too. By the time Monday rolls around I'm totally oblivious to what happened on Friday and I have to check my Twitter and IG for a refresher. What's that all about?

This weekend was a busy one and I feel like we didn't see much of our own home. Friday evening the three of us battled the weather and went out to eat at the local Mexican restaurant. It seems like that's almost become our Friday tradition haha. We kept the evening nice and quiet otherwise, because we knew we'd be so busy on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning rolled around and we were up and at 'em bright and early. We needed to be in Dickson at 10am for a makeup appointment and then we photographed the most precious family ever at Montgomery Bell State Park. I was amazed at how beautiful that park was and we'll definitely be going back! It was so hot and so humid on Saturday though! 5 minutes into directing some poses and I was already a bucket of sweat. It was a great look on me, I promise ha! We spent about an hour photographing Sarah and her brood before saying our goodbyes and trying our own thing. The plan was to use the rest of the afternoon to shoot some maternity photos of me at the park, but Mother Nature and my body were not seeing eye to eye. After feeling like I had sweat through my outfit, we were like "Nahhhh!" We did end up finding a shaded creek area to photograph at on our way out of the park and I'm crossing my fingers the photos turn out because the area was beautiful! We're sending off the film this morning so hopefully we'll know in about 2 weeks.

After that we hightailed it to Franklin to grab some lunch and then go to our Apple appointment. My office iMac gave me the white screen of death all day Friday so I was in a hot panic. Of course Mike lugged that big ol' 27" monitor through the mall to get to Apple only to have it start right up at the Genius Bar. We were convinced the tech worked his voodoo magic or something! We were so elated to avoid a $700 logicboard bill that we finally replaced my 7 year-old MacBook Pro. (Seriously, you should see this thing... It's hanging on by a thread, can't close all the way, and the battery has expanded so far out that we can't even rest it on a table haha! It was time...) I'll miss that big 17" screen but I'm so happy to have a functioning laptop option again. Anyway, after that we ran a few errands and then headed toward home. We spent a little while over at my Nana's house keeping her company as a huge storm blew into town. Then all we could think about was rolling into bed. It had been a long day.

Sunday came bright and early and since Toby was at my parents' house for the night/morning we took full advantage of the opportunity to clean the house. Sounds so boring, but man oh man it made a world of difference! I love starting a new week with a clean home. After picking up Toby and getting ready, we headed down to Lawrenceburg to Mike's parents' house where we were being given a small, family baby shower and cookout. It was so nice to just relax in the afternoon/evening hours, eat delicious food, and be surrounded by such good people. Toby had a blast and came home covered head to toe in filth, so I'd say it was a pretty good day!

This morning I woke up feeling a bit under the weather so I'm trying to take it as easy as possible while still being productive. We plugged my iMac back in to get me all set up for the work week only to be greeted with the white screen of death again. If you want to know how to make a pregnant woman cry, try that. Luckily with some troubleshooting Mike realized that my external hard drive was causing it and now we're thinking it's corrupted or something. At least I can work for the time being while we get ready to transfer everything back over to yet another external. It's always something, right? Counting down the days until Florida (11... in case you were wondering! haha) and crossing my fingers my doctor gives me the thumbs up to even go. Guess I should make the most of these days... Happy Monday! xo

// Our Weekend By The Numbers

Our weekend by the numbers:
4 days (so far) with strep throat/upper respiratory infection
2 days (so far) of laryngitis and no voice
3 trips to Mike's dad's office (in the next town over) for him to work
3 gooey cinnamon rolls devoured by Toby Saturday morning
3 acts of holy terror displayed by Toby while out and about on Saturday (argh!)
1 mylar balloon purchased and accidentally released ~*into the wild (followed by crying)
3 occasions where I was positive Mike needed to take me to the ER
4 articles of clothing Mike ruined while painting this weekend
0.5 pieces of cheesecake I ate, despite craving it for days
1 porch swing enjoyed for the afternoon
3 is the daily average of times I walk into the nursery just to look around (!!!)
16 lollipops that grew from jellybeans in our flowerbed
45 emails in my inbox that need to be attended to today
3 design clients who have been so patient with me while I'm sick
8 ticks that I've found on myself since spending 15 minutes outside yesterday
80 degrees for today's high - and I hope I get to enjoy some of it

Here's to hoping that this week brings lots of sunshine your way... both literally and figuratively.

PS; If you want to join in the By The Numbers fun, feel free to play along! Write your own post and leave a link below! I'd love to read what you've been up to! xo

// Birthday Weekend + Cher Recap

The past few days have been such a whirlwind of activity. From birthday adventures to random concerts and loads of things in between. I figured I should probably do a little "recap" of sorts just so I can remember everything that happened! (Anyone else incredibly grateful for social media to help remind them what actually happened in their life? Just me?) 

Let's start with Saturday: The day began in typical Saturday fashion... with Toby waking us up and asking if he could spend the night with Grama + PawPaw that night. Toby loves to stay with my parents almost every Saturday night, and I'd be lying if I said we didn't look forward to it, too. (Parenting is exhausting, right?!) After lounging around for a little while we went over to my parents' house to hang out for a bit and drop him off. My mom had mentioned a delivery coming for my birthday, so naturally I became interested. Turns out they hadn't actually bought my birthday present yet, so we all piled in two cars and headed to a local appliance store. (Backstory: Our washer basically washed clothes like there was a toaster inside. Everything was off balance and it was so loud. It finally decided to kick the bucket earlier this week so we've been on the hunt for a new washer... dun dun dunnnnn) The local shop didn't have anything so we all decided to head to the next town over and sort of make a day of it. Toby decided he wanted to see a movie so my parents picked up tickets to Mr. Peabody and Sherman before we all met for lunch. We ate and then killed some time at a few shops. I couldn't help but pick up a few things for Baby Flynn while we were there haha. No one told me shopping for babies was so much fun! Afterward we popped back over to the theater to settle in for the movie. That movie was so cute. Seriously. We really enjoyed it. I love when they infuse a lot of adult-directed (but still rated G) humor into kids' movies. After the movie we went to Lowes to pick out a new washer (happy birthday, me!) and then we all went our separate ways. Saturday doesn't sound as exhausting as it was, but phew! I was zonked. Luckily it was a super fun day spent with family and now we can wash clothes again haha 

Sunday: Sunday was my actual birthday and I woke up feeling not good. I felt super nauseous all morning and just laid around on the couch. I had woken up at 8am so I crawled out of bed and let Mike snooze for the next 2 and a half hours. Normally he never gets to sleep in (and certainly never that late) so I was in no rush to wake him. After he got up and I felt better we decided to make a day of it in Franklin together. My parents still had Toby so we dropped by to see them for a few minutes (and eat a slice of the delicious pineapple + strawberry angle food cake my mom made me!) before heading out. My mom also commissioned an insanely intricate and detailed birthday card for me from a local lady. I'll have to snap a good photo of it to share because it's really beautiful. Anyway, Mike and I were off! We spent the drive rapping along to Spotify together (ha!) and we stopped at Cracker Barrel for some birthday pancakes (Craving!). I was way too impatient to wait through the dense after-church crowd so we skipped over to Panera instead. Then we hit up Sephora to get my favorite lipstick (and birthday treat!) and we went to several more shops to round out the day. I picked up a few maternity dresses and snagged a few cute polos for Toby, too.

Monday: I ended up not having much "work" to do on Monday since I'm waiting to hear back from several clients (inevitably I get all of their emails on the same day haha!) so we spent the first part of the day tidying up and enjoying the weather. My mom had plans to go to the Cher concert with some of her friends that night so she had me come over to help her pick something out to wear. While I was there she mentioned one of her friends who was supposed to go was in the hospital and was supposed to get out just in time to make it. She called me about an hour later saying that her friend was having to stay until that night or the next day, so a ticket had opened up if I wanted to go. While I do enjoy me some Cher, I'm certainly not her biggest fan or anything, but I had nothing else to do and I was already dressed (that's the most surprising thing in this whole post haha) so I said sure. Had I known how much the ticket actually cost then I probably would've just suggested they sell it to recoup some costs! Anyway, I headed over to meet my mom and 2 of her friends, then off we went. We met 2 more of their friends and my stepdad at Joe's Crab Shack downtown for dinner before the show. Pat Benatar opened for Cher and it was a total treat seeing her. I'm a huge fan of chick rock from the 80's so it was fun to see her in her tartan leggings and spiked Doc Martens. After a short intermission Cher came out and totally took me by surprise. I've never seen such immaculate costumes and stage designs. And her dancers were insane, too. I loved that the show used some aerialists because it totally gave it a Cirque du Soleil vibe. Two thumbs way up for Cher, y'all haha I left a bigger fan for sure. Who else can look that good almost naked on stage at darn near 70 years old?! haha I popped into a shop downtown to see my friend Maya for a quick second and then we were headed home. I crawled into bed at 1am and basically died. If I'm not in bed by 10pm now, my body hates me. Guess I'm getting old haha

Overall I had such a great weekend and birthday. Normally I get bummed out on my birthday for no real reason, but it was the perfect blend of family, fun and quality time with Mike. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a park date with my two favorite dudes this morning! xo

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one of those "emotionally draining but still kind of great" weekends. Friday morning we set out to a Sip 'N Shop pop up event we were putting on with a few other local shops in East Nashville. It was freezing! We didn't want to set up in full force because we'd only be there for 4 hours due to a prior photoshoot we had booked, so we did a half-set up and hunkered down for a few hours. There were people, and we made some sales (and met some blog readers!), but it was very underwhelming. We had higher hopes for Saturday for sure. We packed up and towed Honeybean home, then went and shot a super cute family at Sevier Park. I don't even remember what we did after that, but I know I lacked all sorts of productivity! haha 

On Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to pull Honeybean back out for the second half of the Sip 'N Shop event. We pulled her out to the road but kept feeling a "thump". Mike hopped out of the car to inspect and saw we had a flat tire. Awesome. We didn't have a spare or Fix A Flat but we he went out and tried to remedy it. To no avail. Seems we picked up some nails on our trek to or from Friday's event. Crossing our fingers we get that bad boy situated before this Saturday because that's a huge event for us. We ended up having to skip Small Business Saturday (wahhhh!) but tried to make the best of it regardless. Toby went to visit with his grandparents for a few hours so Mike and I spent the day together. We went out on a little lunch date, stocked up on shop supplies and display items, popped into a few shops and picked out a few gifts for Toby's birthday and Christmas and even some gifts for other folks on our list. After we picked Toby up we decided it'd be fun to decorate the Christmas tree together. Toby had a blast! He was quite good at it, too. You know, minus bunching them up on the same branch at the very bottom of the tree haha I think we're all very happy with the outcome of our tree. Our living room doesn't really have a great place for it, but it worked out just fine. 

Sunday was a day of cleaning! Oh boy, cleaning. Our house needed it since all we've been doing lately is rotating Honeybean product, painting and shipping wooden signs, and trying to prepare for another Kaelah's Closet cleanout. We bleached our comforter in the bathtub (dog slobber. Ugh!), washed a million loads of laundry, sorted several bags to toss, donate or store, etc. Our house looks like a home again haha Afterwards we headed out on some family errands. We took advantage of some sales around town and picked up some new clothes for each of us. We ended the day with a quick pop into Costco and that was that. We came home, ate homemade chili and set up "camp night" (Fort Flynn!) for Toby while we all watched Ice Age together and I painted signs. 

Overall I felt like I took a few hits as a small business owner this past weekend. Some of my own doing, some out of pure misfortune, and some out of the disrespect of others. I think it was a trying kind of weekend on that front. Luckily Mike and I talk about these things almost daily so we're always reassessing our stance and our "plan of attack" for the future. Sounds so vague but I'm not sure how to otherwise put it! haha 

Today is for responding to loads of emails, sorting my closet and office, and working on some more product for Honeybean this weekend. And lots and lots of packing and shipping at the post office. It wouldn't be Monday without the post office, right?!

Just a heads up on a few things! The wood bunting above will be making it's debut at Porter Flea on Saturday! I'm happy to fill any orders via email if you'd like to nab one. They're 10 pennants long, and 10'. You can adjust the width between the pennants yourself (ours is adjusted to 6' wide!) They're $15 + $2 shipping. I also still have some signs up for grabs that are guaranteed by Christmas! Seriously, get your orders in quick and I can have them done by the end of the week! The Cyber Monday discount on sponsorships also ends tonight at midnight! 20% off ANY size sidebar ad (including XL/Featured!). Email kaelahbee@gmail.com if you'd like to snag any one of these dealios! Happy Monday!

PS; Don't forget to get your entries in for the Shoe Mint giveaway! 3 winners will get a pair of shoes of their choice! (I added an extra way to enter, too!)

Friday's Recap + Outfit

Like I had said yesterday, Mike and I bundled up before heading out to CarMax... It really has been unbearably cold here. Unbearably for me is like the 30s in the daytime. Or anytime actually. We Tennesseans don't take too well to cold temperatures. It was nice to be able to wear my new coat and circle scarf though! We didn't photograph the dress underneath (one of my new faves!) because we weren't really planning on using these as outfit photos anyhow. But prompted by an anonymous comment that I woke up to, I figured I'd forgo the outfit post today in lieu of this one. More on that in a minute.

dress (underneath): charlotte russe, tights: target, flats: target, caridgan (underneath): target, coat: h&m, glasses: st. marks row, scarf: forever 21 men

Okay, so what anonymous comment you ask? This one: "While I do always love all of your outfits, they are beginning to look a redundant. Are there any other styles that you are considering adding to your wardrobe?" It wasn't rude in the slightest (thank goodness... we all hate rude anon comments, right?), I do wish it hadn't been anonymous. Why? So I could track them down and cyber-bully them? No, silly. But so I could have an actual conversation with this person. It feels better to talk to an actual someone than to an ominous sort-of-existing-idea-of-a-person. Anyway, that's not the point. I responded to this person by politely saying "No, i don't think so" in regards to my wardrobe expanding. I really just don't have any desire to do anything different. It's ironic that it comes right now considering I have been blogging all week about how I've went out of my comfort zone to try colored tights (and I love them!)... that's a big big change for me. I'm a feminine dress, cardigan, tights and flats kind of gal. I don't wear much else than that because I don't like to. I don't want to (and won't) expand my stuff to please everyone else simply to be deemed stylish or fashionable (two things I don't consider myself now). I don't blog outfits to show off all of my clothes or be daring and new. I just do it to hold me accountable for getting dressed in the morning (sad, isn't it? haha). After a comment to maybe try colored tights, it took me SIX MONTHS to even dare. Maybe I'm comfortable... maybe I'm just playing it safe... but I don't feel like I'm in a rut or anything. Plus, I'm finally out of my "I need to buy EVERYTHING!" stage. After the flood and losing all of my shoes/jackets, I've been trying to find ways to wear what I DID save. That's why I wear flats every day. I am not a shoe person. Never have been, probably never will be. I'd rather buy cardigans and dresses all day everyday and wear the same pair of shoes until I die. I also kindly said that there are plenty of fashion blogs out there with incredibly diverse wardrobes and styles.. maybe those would be more fitting for that person. I don't consider my blog a fashion blog at all. That's not why I'm here. I also just realized that I've typed like a million sentences but I've failed to actually say anything. I often think about doing something "different"... maybe boots (but most don't fit me well)... maybe scarves (the only ones I've liked thus far is the one I'm wearing here)... maybe pants (but who am I kidding? I hate pants). I honestly feel totally fine in my dresses and cardigans. I honestly own 3 pairs of flats (all black) and 2 pairs of boots (leather fringe cowboy boots). I don't wear heels (I lost them all in the flood anyway). Redundant or not, my blog doesn't exist solely for showing my clothes. But if you have any suggestions of things you think might look neat or nice or just a fun experiment, don't hesitate to send them my way. (But do realize that I have sort of pigeon-holed myself in my style and my music choices haha. Just like my clothes... if you don't have the same sorts of taste and aesthetic as I do, you may find my choices to be lacking. I just find them to be finely-curated haha).

That wasn't meant to be that long-winded, but I'm running out of battery life at Panera and I can't bother going back and editing (lazy bee alert!). Hopefully the moral of the story that was received was me being open to suggestions of things to try, but only what is pre-existing in my closet. My priorities have changed dramatically since the flood and I just can't find it in me to go shopping like I used to. It's wasteful and a bit ridiculous haha. But I also realize that I need to grow as a person and with my style... so I'm open to change! For once! haha 

While I'm here, I might as well leave you with two pictures of my little loves. Georgia needs a manicure STAT, that's for sure. Aren't they precious though? I'm thankful for them every single day! 

Hopefully tonight proves to be a better night at work than last night... I go in at 9pm and I was cut at 11. (Would've been sooner but Mike was working the door until then). I made a whopping $6 in 2 hours! (The least, by far, that I have ever ever ever ever made). Of course our tab was $6 so I left with $0 haha. It's a testament to just how finicky a job in bartending can be. One night I'm making bank, the next proves to be incredibly difficult. Tis life! xo

Weekend Recap: iPhone Photo Edition

Be forewarned. All of the photos you are about to see are courtesy of my iPhone. Meaning they may lack in quality and be a bit silly, but you get what you get, kay? Haha. I have a ton more photos from our other cameras but I need to get the film developed and sit down to go through my DSLR. There's more coming, I swear. And this is really a "what we ate" and "what I bought" type post anyhow.

On Thursday, I took off of work so I could take the train to Queens and then a bus to the airport to get Mike. My train was slow and my bus was late (and packed!). I got to the airport about 30 minutes after Mike had landed. I was walking into baggage claim when he ran up behind me. Man was I happy to see him! We got back on a bus and did the same thing over again. Train back to Manhattan. Checked into my place and went from there. We decided to head up to Times Square to go to the Forever 21 for a bit and we grabbed some quick/cheap lunch at Olive Garden (I KNOW! SO not New Yorker of me, but I was starving!) After a few fun hours uptown, we headed back down to my apartment, rented some movies and got some dinner. (We watched Youth in Revolt and it wasn't funny at all!)

what a weird pose, i know! i look like i'm trying to be a weirdo preggo haha

dress: a'gaci, flip flops: old navy (what a lame outfit post haha)

Friday was a bit of a blur. I know we headed to Canal St and SoHo for a bit, then we stopped by Red Bamboo for some yummy vegan lunch (with the best salad and spring rolls ever!). Eventually we happened upon the East Village and I used my ridiculous amounts of Urban Outfitters giftcards to snag a few things. We ended up watching She's Out Of My League (we both loved that movie in theaters and it was just as funny at home!). (and I don't even remember what I wore! This is why I can't wait a few days to post! I always forget!)

Saturday we woke up with the intention of going to get pancakes for breakfast (well, I did) and then going to Centra Park to lounge for a few hours and relax. We ate at the Lyric Diner on 2nd and 22nd before loading up our stuff, buying some fresh fruit, and heading to a few Barnes and Nobels around the city so I could get my hands on a copy of Eat, Pray, Love (finally!). I want to read it before the movie comes out. I also snagged a new Anna Maxted book for only $5! I love her! I seriously recommend her if you like "chick flick" type books. So funny! After hitting up the B&N on the Upper East Side at 86th St, we walked over to Central Park, found a shaded place on the Great Lawn and hung out for a few hours. It was so great to people watch and just be able to hang out. I feel like the city makes us think we have to be go go go all the time. It was nice to just.... stay. I wrote several penpals back so be on the lookout, y'all! After all of that, we headed back downtown, back to the supermarket to get stuff for dinner and then to Kmart to grab a few things. We came home and cooked some yummy veggie stirfry and watched Love Happens (love that movie!). We also had a fun conversation at 2am about childhood things. It was nice. 

And now here it is... Sunday. Mike leaves tomorrow. It's a bummer because it seems like his time flew by so quickly. Then again, so is my time. I've already been here a month and I move back in just over 4 weeks. There are things I definitely miss about Tennessee and I'm excited about things that will happen upon my return, but I really have no strong desire to leave (as per usual). I'm not too sure what we'll get into today. We talked about doing another picnic in the park so that might be nice. No real plans or anything. I'm not sure where you can see the fireworks but I'm not too worried about that I guess. It'd be nice to just go read some books. Part of me wants to read Eat, Pray, Love right now... then part of me wants to read the Anna Maxted book (beacause I always enjoy them SO much!) AND I have a new Encyclopedia of Sharks to dive into! (dork moment!) We've been taking a lot of teensy polaroids with our Instax so I'll have to post those soon! Now I have to go find an outfit to wear! 

I think I'm going to do a weekend round-up of all the outfits worn so I have more time to put the photos together! If you celebrate the 4th of July, Happy Independence Day! If you don't, Happy Sunday! I hope it's a great one! (and please remind me to never go 3 days without a real update again! It's too stressful!)

xoxo

PS; I was given TWO blog awards by three lovely ladies. Each requires 15 tags so I probably won't do that but I will say thanks so much to Lynzy, Cherry Red Studio, and Maisie! Thanks ladies!

PPS; If you've ever done a feature on me, my blog, or my etsy, please send me a link to it! I'm going to compile them all with links and screenshots in a post under "features" or whatever! So if you've ever interviewed me or anything like that, be sure to send me your info so I can add it and people can stop by and see!

PPPS (gah!); If you want to get your hands on a ton of Urban Outfitters (or Starbucks, J Crew, iTunes, etc) giftcards like above, just sign up by CLICKING HERE! Totally legit site, I promise. You get like 50% off of designer stuff and all that jazz. And you get giftcards for getting people to join. :) Easy peezy!