A new look...

There was a day that I swore I would NEVER be lazy about the way I present myself. I do believe I have used these words verbatim "I refuse to be one of those people that gets married and then gives up. I will always look my best and dress to impress." Then I'm pretty sure I can be quoted in saying "If I ever wear sweats and tee-shirts in public, dont fix my hair for a whole day, refuse to paint my toenails because I dont have the time, forget to put makeup on before going out or even THINK about wearing my jammies to 'run to the store,' then PLEASE LOCK.ME.UP! Cause I've done gone and lost it."
However, in the past 8 months I have

• worn my sweats in public
• not fixed my hair all day long
• worn sandals with out painting my toes
• not worn make up out in public
• worn my jammies for a quick walk around the block

For some reason after we got married I decided that it was ok to 'let my self go' as they say. I quit getting fixed up, I quit caring. I blamed most of this on living where we live. Its a small town, and there isnt really anything to get 'fixed' up for. The nicest restaurant here is well... a bar and grill. So wearing my boots and jeans or ... sweats are acceptable.
However, that brings us to today. I have a fabulous friend here at work and after a few months of building a friendship I found the guts to ask her for help. I noticed that my khakis, tee-shirt, boat shoes and jean jacket that I was wearing EVERY day was just not cutting it anymore. I wanted to be fun and cute but I had lost my... focus. I had become lazy.
She came to my house one Saturday afternoon and with the help of a couple bottles of wine and some great music we dissected my closet. Behind the black, grey & white tee-shirts, khaki pants, boat shoes and jean jacket we discovered things I had forgotten about. Things with color. Things with sass! It was fun.
My friend has a unique way of pairing different colors together and making them work. She never looks awkward or strange. Every time I see her I thing "wow! That looks fabulous and I would have NEVER thought of that."
We talked about several things as we dissected my wordrobe that day. Here are a few of the pointers that she gave me.

• wear color
• dress to fit my body
• accent my shoulders 
• draw attention to my waist
• avoid ruffles (unless around my shoulders)
• dress like a girl
• wear my hair curly 
• avoid my jean jacket 
• wear dresses

Then she went one better and put me to a dare.
To ONLY wear my khaki pants (that I have a love/hate relationship) with once a week.  If can make this happen all the way through May then she will take me out to Olive Garden for dinner. :) WoWZA!! I'm gonna take it one step farther and attempt not to wear them at ALL until the end of may.

It has been 2 weeks and I'm not going to lie... I have thought horrid thoughts some mornings as I have been getting ready and ironing my dress or skirt that I'm going to wear. However, I love the look in my husbands eyes when he sees me in something nice... more than one day in a row. That right there makes it all worth it.

So here's too dressing like a girl and giving a darn about what I look like. 

Hopefully I'll get some pictures soon and have them posted.

In other news... I'm walk/run/jogishing 2 5Ks this weekend. One here in Bartlesville and the other in Oklahoma City. The wind is currently whipping around the back of my window as I type this and I'm dreading the possiblity of wind tomorrow on our beloved Pathfinder. And... they are predicting RAIN on Sunday for the OKC run. My ROCK STAR husband is running the half there. He is amazing. He never ceases to amaze me with his drive and determination to complete something.
Sunday is also his 30th Birthday!! :)

If I Ran the Zoo...

“It’s a pretty good zoo,” said young Gerald McGrew, “and the fellow who runs it seems proud of it, too.”
Dr. Seuss 


Last week I decided that Andrew and I needed some fun. The weather was predicted to be amazing and so that fun was to be done outside. 
I did some research around the area to find something that was unusual and creative that we would both enjoy together. 
After chatting with a friend from our church I decided to go to the Safari zoological Park in Caney Kansas. Its is pretty cool to live so close to another state. It only took about 40 minutes to get out there. It was such a fun time. We got there around 2 and had a picknic lunch that was very yummy and kinda healthy. Then we got a tour around the zoo by the owner. Here are some pictures that we took. 

The monkeys were my favorite animals!

These two were very interested in each other...
they had no problem showing us just how interested they were... 

These are the famous White Tigers that were raised by a Golden Retriever. 

 The adventure was amazing!! 
It was sad to hear that the zoo isnt doing well at all! Every year for the past several years, they have to make a decision on staying open or not. If you live in the Bartlesville area PLEASE make the time to go out there this summer. It is well worth it. You will not regret taking the time!