Daily Outfit - Dressing on a Budget

I was able to get out of the house once this week, to go grocery shopping, ha ha!  Ill take any excuse I can to throw together a cute outfit!

For the past year or so, my husband and I have been saving our pennies to buy a home... Which is happening right around the corner!  But one thing this does mean, I have not clothes shopped in just about that long!  Seriously, I have only bought one shirt here, or one dress there, every great once in a while.  If it hadnt been for all of the amazing Poor Pitiful Pearl trades throughout this last year, I probably would have cried, ha ha.  I love clothes.  I always have.  In junior high and high school, I was always the 'odd' dressed girl, but I feel like I was always creative with my wardrobe, some people just didn't understand it.  As I have grown older, my fashion has matured a great deal.  I no longer wear cut-off sweat pant mini skirts with striped knee highs, combat boots along with crazy black makeup all over my face :)  I love how fashion is a thing you grow with, as you grow.

I know I always made my mother so happy when it came time for the new school year and clothes shopping.  I 'ONLY' wanted to shop at Goodwill.  I did NOT want her to take me to a department store.  I pretty much had my mind set against those from an early age.  So, while all my friends were spend $60 on one pair of jeans, I got a whole wardrobe for that!  And it wasnt anything you would see on anyone else.  In a way, I am still very much like that.  Although now, I love to incorporate lovely things from places like Target or amazing online shops like Ruche, when I can afford it or allow myself to.  This belt below is from Ruche, and its been one of the best $10 ive ever spent, it goes with soooo much and is super comfy!

The Outfit:
shirt from Old Navy (really a long tunic, just tucked in)
*ive had this shirt for about 8 years, and its still awesome*
belt from Ruche
skirt from goodwill
shoes from Target (sale rack)
all jewelry is Violet Bella



Okay girls, do I not have the cutest boy ever???  Let's boost his ego a bit with some honesty :)

Bella loves to hang out on the porch while I take photos.

Had to share... I love it when avocados have huge center seeds.  I think its really cute, I dont know why.

Only a few days left to become a sponsor of Violet Bella for April, click here for details.

PEACE,
Laura

Foot Fetish???

While I am waiting for my pizza dough to rise, I thought I'd share real quick how silly I am.  I know I take alot of feet shots, but goodness, ha ha!  This is just phone pics!  I wonder how many I have with my real camera?  Kind of silly, but fun I think.  To me, taking these shots is just quite irresistable.





Is there anything you cant help but take photos of over and over and over again???

Tonite we are grilling homeade pizzas on the bbq pit in the backyard, just me and my boy.  I am super excited for some good pizza with terryaki chicken, pineapple & avocado!  Yummy!!!

PEACE,
Laura

Makes My Heart Sing


This weeks Makes My Heart Sing (a day late) is full of so much eye candy.  I feel connected with each of these photos in some way.  They really just speak to my soul.

Im hands down smitten with this hippie ragtime american flag.  I would die to have this to hang on my wall.  I think I want to make a version of it for my new house.  This one was created by Sara Rahbar in 2008.

I have always been a fan of wall art collages.  I cannot wait to do this in our new home.  We couldn't in this house b/c our walls are rock and you have to drill into it just to hang something... Oh I cant wait!  There are a few pieces in this treasury I made that I want to add to it!

Love the look of all of the textures and colors together, and the chunky-ness it creates together... so lovely.

The re-vamped Tom's are pretty amazing if you ask me!  You can get a custom pair made from this etsy shop.  Im in love with her fabric strip wooden pendants as well, I think Id love one!

the simple beauty of the vintage books together takes my breath away.  reminds me of my friend Ann's little collection in her home.  i love looking for old beauties like this at garage sales.  this photo is by zoom in tight.

love this idea.  i have two old shudders off of my parents house.  i pulled them out of the pile to be burned.  so far ive used them as jewelry display at art shows.  but i think this may be their next destiny.  found on this blog. (sorry for the blurry image)

not only am in love with the feather earrings and hair clips, of course, but the simple beauty of this photo is amazing.  i would love to hang this image on my wall.  Sadly, I can find the original source, if you know please tell me.

i just love the look of this room.  although its not one i would want for myself, its just pretty.  i love all the books lined up top, and the contrast of the wallpaper with the vintage pictures.  and the different textiles on the bed and pillows...

this is just so fun.  totally making one for my new casa.  yikes!

this has got to be one of my favorite photos ever.  i think i may have already posted this a while back.  want this on  my wall so bad.

And you must go check out Ruche's new spring lookbook, sooooo pretty!

Im leaving my sponsor spots open ended this month just to see what kind of traffic it will bring in and what size ads are most popular.  If you havent already, pop on over here to check out the rates for April.  Id love to have some more medium and small ads taken.

PEACE,
Laura

BBQs & Carnivals...

We had a few really nice moments this week with our friends.  We have a very last minute bbq with our tarpley crew, Jen Jen, Jonny & Tia.  Lately our spans between seeing them have been so long, we really missed them, so it was so nice to have them over.  We want to squeeze in as many backyard bbq's in this rent house as we can before we move.  Tia got a Skyline Fever shirt which looks adorable on her!


We grilled veggies and some burgers (and veggie burgers for Jen), James & Jonny messed around on the guitar, we sat around and chatted, after it got dark we got silly with our hula hoops, I invented hula exercise moves that made us crack up, and Violet just sat amongst us so calm and chill, it was so nice.


We were telling them about how the baseball shirts we have are suppose to be unisex, but when we did the original photoshoot James put one on and it was so bad I couldnt even take a photo!  We were cracking up.  So Jonny had to try them on to see.  And yep, we were right!  It doesnt look as bad in the photo, but Im not sure there is anything unisex about these shirts.  Ha ha.


This weekend we joined my best friend and her family at the local carnival.  Carnivals here are honestly pretty lame, but we still made the most of it and had fun.  The merry-go-round was so pretty.


At first Xavier was upset because he couldnt go on all the rides that his sister could.  But he got over it and enjoy other things.  Im pretty much in utter love with this little boy.  Both of her kids are just my two little cuddle bugs.  love them.



I loved the looks on Isabel's face each time they came back around on the ferris wheel, so precious.  And she is so cute right now with her teeth missing :)


We rode the kiddie train!


And I got to ride the merry-go-round too!  I love these things.  Although it was super windy and I chose to wear a dress.  Note to self, never wear a dress to a carnival.  Its not as much fun.


Xavier wanted to ride the merry-go-round twice, but each time he seems very worried, so cute.


After the carnival we went and got a bite to eat.  Played with the kids.  And took silly photos.  Isabel is obsessed with my camera, so we take lots of pics.  She says she wants to be a photographer when she grows up.  And I think this is now my all time favorite photo of me and my favorite girl.  Isnt she beautiful?


me and my silly little friend Isabel.


Times like these are what I live for.  It makes all of my long work days so worth it once I can relax and spend time with these people.  My heart needs them.

PEACE,
Laura