Hey, It's Okay

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. You can link up any day of the week. All you have to do is make a list of what you're okay about. Simple! Please do not link up a post that has nothing to do with Hey, It's Okay. It's rude and I'll delete the link.

HEY, IT'S OKAY....

....to be glad that Tom made it safely home from another deployment. We were able to go on a date over the weekend--we went to The Cheesecake Factory and stopped into Barnes & Noble. Books & Carbs are the best!

.....to not be thrilled that it'll be cold this week. Cold enough that the school district made an announcement that they are "closely following the weather." Texas doesn't deal well with cold. It confuses everyone.

.....to currently be reading All The Good People Here by Ashley Flowers. It's about January Jacobs who was murdered in a small town when she was 5. The crime was never solved. Margot is a journalist who used to play with January as a child. She wants to know what happened to her friend--plus she has to move back to help take care of her uncle, who has early-onset dementia. While she's there, another little girl is murdered at a nearby town and Margot is determined to find the killer--even if it is dangerous. I'm nearly finished and I want to know who did it! I have an idea and think I could be correct.

.....to be amused that Plops looks calm in this photo but right after I snapped it he darted across the room, practically smacked into the wall, and then barreled up the stairs. 

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Unique Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Valentine's Day is approaching and it seems the only gifts that are really given are flowers, chocolates, and stuffed animals. Don't get me wrong, those things are awesome--I love my chocolate--but if you're looking for outside of the box ideas, I have some for you!

Flowers are always nice, but if you're looking for a gorgeous & unique bouquet, check out Roxanne's Dried Flowers. You'll find so many amazing dried flowers that will be sure to impress your Valentine. Not into flowers? No problem! You can find a bunch of affordable gift ideas from soaps to cards. 

Check out these fabulous invisible socks from Flat Socks! Tired of socks that bunch up and stink? Flat socks are the solution! You slip them in your shoe and they won't stink or get those uncomfortable bulges like regular socks do. When you want to clean them, they are machine washable! There are many fantastic invisible socks designs--I loved this rainbow one. You can get them here: 

Get a reversible plushie from TeeTurtle! First she's happy:

Then she's angry. It's a fun toy to have around:

Does your girl complain about cramps? Get her a Menstruation Crustacean. You can heat it and it will help to make cramps bearable. I can't find this exact one but there's a close version here. 

I had no clue that Disney had the rights to Titanic. I absolutely love the movie so I was thrilled to see merch for the 25th anniversary. Looks at this clock! It's $215 so this would be an expensive gift, but if there's a Titanic fan in your life, they'll love it. You can get it on ShopDisney:

Does your special someone enjoy Beauty and the Beast AND The Mandalorian? Get them this lighted rose. My husband got this for me a while back and I love it. I can't find the one with Grogu, but here's just a lighted rose:

Story Jewellery has so many beautiful gift ideas. I love this Evil Eye ring. With tons of beautiful affordable designs, you'll be sure to find one for your Valentine. If rings aren't your thing, there are also necklaces and bracelets.  Use AMBER to save 15%. 

Is your Valentine a Gilmore Girls fan? You can get them this lighted Stars Hollow sign for under $15 at the WB Store. 

So there you have it! I hope you were able to find a special gift for your special someone. 

Labyrinth FanFest At Flix Brewhouse

I absolutely LOVE the movie Labyrinth. It came out in 1986 and is from Jim Henson so you know it's fabulous. I was a gigantic fan as a kid and then I showed my own children and they enjoyed it. Natalie is a bigger fan than Tommy, so when I saw the movie was going to be showing at our nearby theater, she was the one who wanted to attend. I mean, of course I was going whether or not they would join me anyway. Duh.

David Bowie. 

Hello?

Oh right, if you don't know, David Bowie is in the movie as the Goblin King. The quick synopsis of the movie is that sixteen-year-old Sarah is irritated with her one-year-old brother Toby so she wishes that the Goblin King would take him away. He does this and then she realizes, crap, not a good idea, so she goes into the labyrinth where the Goblin King lives to save him. She meets exciting characters along the way and there's SONGS and DAVID BOWIE. (Natalie is appalled that some people at her school have no clue who he is.)

I have the Goblin King on my laptop. Plus a Ludo bag:

Anyhow, if you have a Flix Brewhouse nearby, sometimes they will show older movies and have a FanFest. With these, you get a special pint glass. (Flix Brewhouse is known for their many beer selections.) 

Here was our glass (and of course we brought Labyrinth friends!):

We also got a cool print. It didn't really look like David Bowie, but still, we liked the vibe:

You can order food and drinks at your seat at Flix Brewhouse. I got the chips & dips:

Natalie got her buffalo dipped chicken fingers and fries:

The theater was PACKED. Everyone was excited to see Labyrinth. There was even some clapping going on when the movie played because DAVID BOWIE and his TIGHT PANTS. 

We had such an amazing time. I mean, duh, we already knew we loved the movie, but Flix Brewhouse made it extra exciting. 

If you want to see Labyrinth, it's currently on Netflix. You'll love it! 

Have you seen it yet? 

Hey, It's Okay

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. You can link up any day of the week. All you have to do is make a list of what you're okay about. Simple! Please do not link up a post that has nothing to do with Hey, It's Okay. It's rude and I'll delete the link.

HEY, IT'S OKAY....

....to need to make sure the house is clean because my husband is finally coming home from deployment. I mean, the house isn't a dump or anything, but there are areas I should probably touch up. 

.....to be proud of Tommy for being accepted into another college: UTSA. He's still waiting to hear from UT Austin but he's not expecting great news there since the acceptance rate is low. However, I tell him you never know! It could happen and if it doesn't, well, he's been accepted to two colleges which is something to be proud of. 

.....to wish people would bring in their dogs if it barks for over 15 minutes. Sometimes my neighbor leaves out their small yappy dog and it barks for like an hour. How on earth are they not hearing it? 

.....to love Natalie's 16th birthday dress that she picked out. She went with a Liesel dress from The Sound Of Music. You can check it out on Instagram here. It was made by a talented woman on Etsy. 

.....to have picked up this Disney cereal celebrating 100 years. It's your basic sweet cereal (think Trix) but I love that it's Mickey shapes and the box is pretty as well. 

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5 Tips To Start Jogging

 Look, I'll be honest: I don't really like jogging. 

But I try to do it daily. Why? Well, because I'm too cheap to purchase new clothes. Also, my metabolism is basically dead. I don't want to go to the gym so jogging in the neighborhood it is. That way I can continue to enjoy my fried foods and pie without feeling too guilty. 

If you're tempted to start the new year with jogging, allow me to share some tips that helped me out. 

1. Grab some pain relief cream because your muscles will hurt when you start. Doctor Hoy's makes a fantastic line of natural pain relief creams. I absolutely love the pain relief gel roll-on. It truly helps with any soreness that I have. 

2. Stretch. I sometimes forget to stretch. I just want to get the jogging over with so I just start and then my muscles are like, "lady, you're 40 now, you can't do this." Also drink plenty of water. If you need to bring a bottle with you, do so. I usually do not but I have seen others gripping a water bottle as they run past. 

3. Download some fantastic music and blast it to help dull out the pain. I found these headphones and they have a great sound output. 

4. Don't overdo it. You'll pass some of the joggers who actually LIKE what they are doing. They'll make it seem effortless and breeze past you in overpriced lululemon gear. But do not match them. No, be content with your Target sweats and stained t-shirt and go at your own pace. I usually jog until I hit 7000 steps on my Fitbit. Then I'm done even if that one blonde lady I see in the mornings has lapped me like 3 times and is actually SMILING making it seem like I could be like her and keep going but NO. (Also, I find wearing funny t-shirts helps. I don't know why. But I like this taco one.)

I'd also pick up some wholesale joggers as well!

5. Be proud of yourself even if you only jog for 5 minutes. It's something. It's better than nothing. You can work up to a longer time. And if not, that's okay too. Find something that works for YOU. 

Good luck! I feel like I need it whenever I jog but then I feel better when it's all over because it's A) over with for the day and B) I can have the candy bar and be like "oh I jogged at least half of the calories of this off earlier so it's okay." I don't care if that's not proper logic. It is what it is in my eyes. 

So are you a jogger?

Recent Purchases From Amazon

I love Amazon. I shop there often and yes, I do have Prime. I wanted to share what I got because hey, you might decide you need it as well. 

For starters, I have been wanting a new carpet for the living room for quite some time. Our old carpet was blah and there were stains. I ended up going with this! I love the vibrant colors. You can buy it here.

I also wanted some new pillows as we've had our old ones forever. I bought the actual pillows here and the pillowcases came from here. I got the 18X18 size. 

I am trying to get more organized so I picked up an over the door hangar here:

My daughter has been wanting a lighted mirror to do her makeup with and this has been perfect. It's actually sitting on her desk but we tried it out and our cat loved looking at herself. The lights have 3 different settings and you can adjust the brightness. It's a plug in and a fabulous size. You can get it here.

I needed a hall carpet and loved the color of this one. It works out well, but the ends like to curl up. I need to get those rug gripper thingies. You can get the carpet here. 

Finally, I love the movie Titanic and had to get this special edition People magazine. You can get it here:

I hope you were able to find something you could use. What have you bought from Amazon lately?

Hey, It's Okay

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. You can link up any day of the week. All you have to do is make a list of what you're okay about. Simple! Please do not link up a post that has nothing to do with Hey, It's Okay. It's rude and I'll delete the link.

HEY, IT'S OKAY....

......to hope Tommy has a great first week back at his college classes. He's finishing up the Spring semester at community college and if all goes well, will graduate in May. Then in the fall he'll head to a 4 year university. (I wrote about where he's been accepted to so far here.)

.....to be making more videos over at TikTok. If you have an account, I'm there as airingmylaundry and I'll follow back! I'm still learning what the heck I'm doing but I'm grateful to find people my age over there as well. 

......to have been a bit stunned over some of the things I've read in Prince Harry's book Spare. I will be sharing some of the passages that made me go !!! in a future blog post. 

.....to be proud of Natalie for being cast as Aunt Spiker in James and the Giant Peach. For those who don't know, Aunt Spiker is this horribly mean ugly person, so Natalie is excited to play someone completely different from her. She was worried she wouldn't be cast because she got nervous during the audition and started stuttering during the cold read which in turn made her feel awful because she likes to put her best forward.  She much prefers when she can prepare but many times the auditions are cold reads so you don't know what you're reading until you get there. She's working to get better at it. Luckily she was asked to return for callbacks and did much better since she was more familiar with what she was reading. She says she loves to act but the audition process gives her anxiety at times. 

......to have gone to Sea World's Mardi Gras festival and pigged out on beignets. I'll share more about that soon. 

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Autism And Going To A 4 Year College

My son Tommy has been going to a nearby community college to get his associates degree in Video Cinematography. If all goes well, he'll graduate in May. 

But what comes next? 

Well, he decided to go to a 4 year college. Only to him it would be more like 2 years since he'll have his associates. The plan is for him to live on campus to see how it goes being independent. To some people this isn't a big deal. But Tommy has autism, and I worry. 

He applied to 3 4 year colleges: Texas State University, UTSA, and The University of Texas at Austin. All of the colleges are nearby. The furthest away is Austin. With traffic, it could be about 2 hours. 

I kept asking if he heard anything. Nope. 

And then...

He rushed downstairs and said he was accepted to the Texas State University, which is located in San Marcos. 

I was proud. I know he's capable of anything, but I also know the world can be cruel. 

He's still waiting to hear from the other 2 colleges. The one in Austin is tougher to get into so he's not sure if he'll be accepted. If not, he's leaning on Texas State University. 

It's going to be tough when he moves out. I know I'll worry. We also have to see if it's possible for him to have a single dorm since he does have autism. I cannot picture him with a roommate. I do not think it would go well as he tends to have meltdowns if it's too loud. If he has his own space I think it would go smoother.

I know he can be independent. He wants to be independent. He doesn't drive, so he'd be relying on the bus system if he needs to get somewhere. We'd still pick him up and take him home during school breaks. 

I'm excited for him. But nervous at the same time. I'm going to miss him. I'm used to having him around. 

But I also know I need to let go a bit no matter how much it hurts. 

Hey, It's Okay

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. You can link up any day of the week. All you have to do is make a list of what you're okay about. Simple! Please do not link up a post that has nothing to do with Hey, It's Okay. It's rude and I'll delete the link.

HEY, IT'S OKAY....

.....to be proud of Tommy for being accepted to Texas State University. It's located in San Marcos about 1 hour from us. If all goes well he'll be graduating from community college in the Spring and then will go to a university in the Fall. He's still waiting to see if he was accepted The University of Texas in Austin and UTSA before he makes his decision.  

....to have a giveaway for some beautiful Flexi Clips for your hair here. 

......to be looking forward to Prince Harry's book Spare arriving this week. I preordered from Amazon. 

.....to think it's cute that Ruby was checking herself out in Natalie's mirror. She knows she's a pretty kitty. (It's awesome and you can get it here.) 

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Finishing Touches Flexi Clip Giveaway

My daughter loves to get dressed up. She's into the makeup. The clothes. The accessories.

She's all about the accessories. 

She has necklaces.

Rings.

Bracelets. 

Flexi Clips. 

What exactly is a Flexi Clip? It's a beautiful hairpiece that can help put your hair into gorgeous styles. From French Twists to an Extra Long Up Down, it is able to do a bunch. Picking the right size for your hair is important and you can figure out which one would work for hair by watching this video here. 

They are made with piano wire which is what makes it strong and flexible. It also helps to prevent those headaches women sometimes get when using tight pony tail holders. 

There are a variety of colors and stones: 

There are also Flexi Flips (check out that video here) and they have a unique curved design and creates a tighter fit when flipped which allows for multiple hairstyles. They come in 7 sizes and many different styles. Want more bling? You'll find it. Want less? Those are there too! 

Here's how Natalie looks from the front with the Flexi Clip. It was easy to figure out how to put in.  Natalie loved how comfortable it was--sometimes her hair pieces tug on her scalp but the Flexi Clip did not thanks to it being lightweight. 

The Flexi Clips work for so many different hair types so you'll be sure to find one for you! They are not like regular hair clips so picking the correct size is important. 

If you're looking for a comfortable and affordable finishing touch for an outfit, get a Flexi Clip or Flip. You'll be sure to find one that fits your style. 

Even better, you can enter to win 2 Flexi Clips! (Up to $35)  For US addresses only. Good luck! (And if you don't want to wait to see if you win, you can shop here.)

Antique Stores Have The Coolest Things

Antique Stores are the absolute best, especially if you love history as we do. We have a favorite one located in New Braunfels, Texas called Red Rooster. They always have so much to look at. 

For starters, we found this nifty camera:

The furniture is always unique and if I had room for it, there are some pieces that I'd purchase. This one gave me "men drinking brandy and talking about boring shit" vibes:

This record player was neat for sure:

You seriously never know what you'll find. Want a Big Boy sculpture?

This Marilyn poster has been there for a year now and Natalie loves it. But it's $50 which I think is a crazy price. We keep hoping it'll go down in price, but nope. So for now, she'll just keep taking a photo with it:

I don't even sew, but I appreciated this:

This bear was well loved and I wondered what his story was. I wonder about the story about many things in the store. It's fascinating to me.

Did Natalie end up getting anything? Yup, she found a lipstick holder. I think it might have been from the 70s? She found a similar piece on eBay that stated it was from the 70s. The lipstick is from the 60s and no, she won't be using the lipstick, it's just a prop to go into the holder:

She also found this comic from the 80s for her boyfriend, who loves Spiderman:

We're excited to see what we find the next time we shop. For now, she's loving her lipstick holder.

Do you like going to Antique Stores?