Fall vibes...

Oh hi there! I've been struggling to find time to blog and actually post about something meaningful. I have so much to say but not nearly enough hours in the day to do all the things I love doing 

(blogging being one of them). The last week has been spending time catching up with all my crochet projects for stores, wholesale orders and Etsy orders. Not to mention crocheting taxi heads to send off to be photographed for my upcoming book! Eeeeeep! I'm also trying to work on taxi heads for the four shows that I'll be participating in this Holiday Season. I'm so excited that I've gotten into all of the ones that I applied for. It's going to be a lot of work but I love that I'm a "Girl Boss" now and get to decided how I run my own show.... literally. 

This is a little outfit that I wore to my dear friend Becky of The Pink Samurai's Baby Shower. I was honored to be a part of her baby experience and am also delighted to help decorate her Dino themed Nursery. (I crocheted her a Triceratops Dinosaur head). It was a fun night and I aslo got to catch up with some crafty peeps that I hadn't seen in awhile.

I'm really looking forward to spending some QT with the Husbear coming up here mid October when we take a trip to Port Aransas. We booked a cute little love shack through airbnb. It's tiny but we will basically be spending the majority of our time at the beach anyhow... we just need a place to rest our heads at night. 

In other news, I'm hoping to buy some cute pirate accessories for my Halloween costume tonight with my BFF Christopher. I'm going the "cheap route" and am building a costume around a teeny weeny black skirt I own. I figure that I already own black boots and a red bandanna so voila! Instant pirate costume. I just need a few more pieces and it will be complete. 

Besides Halloween and vacation things I've been trying to get back into my daily workout routine now that my sister and brother in law have left. Did I mention we had house guests for a week? It was fun but I neglected my regular diet and workout regime and it basically threw my whole schedule off. It's totally okay to indulge every now and then, and I totally let myself.... but getting back on track seems so hard now, especially since the days are getting shorter and it's darker in the mornings now.

I have a few small goals planned for this October if I can find some free time I'd love to host a clothing swap and maybe have a small dinner party as well. I'm trying to be more involved and more social but I find it hard to find time. I swear there are not enough hours in the day....

On that note, I better take off to go on my daily run. Have a great week kittens!

xoxo

daisy duke

Happy Friday! If you've noticed I haven't been blogging very much lately... I haven't been doing much of anything except working these days. I must say this week has been very productive... but I'm still left with this sinking feeling of not getting enough done. To be honest... I'm terrified for this upcoming Holiday Season. I've applied to four shows and don't really have much of anything made as of yet. All my time and energy has been devoted towards my upcoming book and keeping my stores stocked. Yesterday morning I actually took some time to do something fun for myself. As you know... I love to play dress up, so I spent the early morning taking fashion pictures of my new outfits. I never get to "dress up" anymore because I work from home and it's really not necessary... I mean the only people that see me are my dogs. Ha! So... it's always fun every now and then to get all dolled up. 

It's been unusually cool here in Austin. Don't get me wrong... there are no complaints here. I've actually enjoyed life a lot more now that it's not balls hot outside. Sadly, it's not going to last that long.. it should be back in the 90's here this weekend. I'm so ready for Fall weather! Unfortunatly, we won't see or feel that kinda vibe here until late November perhaps... Oh well.... a girl can dream can't she?

Other than it being hot as hell here... life has been pretty swell. I had some help from my dear friend Lisa of lalafauxbois host a giveaway. That was pretty cool. Our little chicks are strong and very healthy and are also growing like weeds!! It's time for them to be moved outside into a permanent coop. 

I also managed to squeeze in a girl date with the gorgeous Katy of Wit & Bloom. Katy found a really cool pottery workshop for us to try out. It was too fun and I can't wait to take another when I can find some time. In other news... I've been looking at my girlfriend Pei of p.s.papershoppe's IG feed and am super envious of this "girl's road trip" that she's on with a few of my other gal pals. They have all taken a trip to Marfa, Texas and are currently staying at El Cosmico. I can't wait to hear all about it when she gets back home.

In just one week my dear Sister and Husbear will be in Austin and staying at our humble home. 

I'm super excited... it has been way too long since I've seen her face. That's not all either! Our longtime family friends will be staying in Austin the same time as well and we are all going to get together and break some bread and reminise about old times. It's going to be swell...

Until next time...

xoxo

Top: Target

Daisy Dukes: Target

Boots: Old Navy

Flower Crown: Garden Head Co.

Rustic roots...

Oh hi there! It's been way too long since I posted an outfit... I just received this beautiful burnt orange colored dress from Pink and Silver Fashion and I just love it! I saw it on IG and jumped at the opportunity to purchase it and I couldn't be more thrilled!! They even sent me a pair of earrings that I'm dying to wear. 

This has been my typical style lately... laid back with little black booties and a hat. It's so hot here in Austin that it's really hard to stay lookin' cute all day without melting. 

This Summer has been super challenging for both me and the Husbear. He is trying to wrap up a huge project at work (designing an arts center in Manor, Texas) and I am working on my crochet book while trying to juggle orders and keeping my stores well stocked. I just ship off a bunch of crochet taxi heads to some of my top stores so I'm glad that that's done with. Whew!

I seriously am looking forward to cooler weather but I know that won't be for a few more months. It been sheer hell driving my little VW around town with no a/c. It's not worth the amount to pay to have it repaired. VW's are super expensive to maintain... although they are great vehicles. I try to get what I need done early on in the morning while it's still cool out but it's still rough! #firstworldproblems

I'm just going to day dream about the weather in Ohio that my friends and family are experiencing right now... I hate football but miss football season. Is that a thing? I miss the crisp Autumn breeze and the spell of pumpkin spice and apple cider. I live for Fall and we just don't get that here.... le sigh.

In other news our Pride of Barbados is off the chain!!

Thanks for stopping by and checking up on little ol' me. I'll be back to blogging on a more regular basis once things calm down around here. Until then...

xoxo

Dress: Pink and Silver Fashion

Hat: Target

Booties: Target

Ring: SoLa

atx blogger mixer

This post is WAY overdue but I've been taking a mini break from the Blogosphere lately... 

A few weekends ago my crafty friend Pei of p.s. paper shoppe and I attended the ATX Blogger Mixer hosted by Erica Louie Lomax and Jessie Coulter at the craziest cute boutique Found with special guest speaker (not to mention talented bag designer) Kelly Wynne.

The clothes were off the chain beautiful....

 

They had some amazing sponsors as well. Austin Cocktails was there serving up some delicious drinks!

This was the only image I managed to snap of Pei and I throughout the whole night...

Simon Lee Bakery served up some beautiful and delicious treats!

We listened as the adorable Kelly Wynne gave a delightful and awe inspiring speech about her journey into becoming a handbag designer. It was very lovely and did I mention she's adorable?! We were also the first ones to catch a sneak peek at her new Fall line which is inspired by the 70's era.

I met some really cool new gal pals and even got to run into some crafty chicks that I follow on Instagram. It was a fun night full of awesome ladies. There were also some prizes that were raffled off as well courtesy of Mirror Mirror Salon, Melissa Glynn Photography and Beaded By W.

I'm so glad that Pei invited me and I can't wait for the next Mixer!!

xoxo

Taylor

No tea, no shade....

I can't believe the weekend has come and gone already! I swear these last few months have flown by so quickly.... now we are almost into fall. Not quite but all the clothing stores are bringing out their 

Fall clothing lines. I won't be able to enjoy fall clothing till winter! The struggle is real y'all!  

As you can see, things are still "toasty" here right now. It's pretty much the "dog days of summer". It's so hard to get all dolled up and stay looking frosty when your makeup is melting off your face. 

I've been watching way too much "Ru Paul's Drag Race" and have started to speak in "drag lingo" which is really getting on my Husbears nerves. The other day I walked up the stairs 

(I was sore from running) and when I got to the top I let out a big "Wheeew child!"My favorite saying though is "No tea, no shade", which basically means... I don't mean to come at you or offend you, but this is what it's really like.

I finally got to bust out my black bralette I bought awhile ago. I actually have two now because the first one I had purchased didn't fit so I bought this second one that I'm wearing here but now the first one actually fits so you'll be seeing a lot of peek-a-boo black bra straps coming up here soon. They are actually really comfy in that "house bra" sorta way. You know what a house bra is... one of the oldest most busted up, broken down bra you own that is so worn out that it's crazy comfy so you only typically wear it around the house to do chores in or when you know you're not going out and might get really sweaty. That's a house bra... 

In other news... I've been having fun experimenting with different recipes off of Pinterest. I made some amazing Ceviche the other day and managed not to kill anyone so that's a bonus. I also made some cilantro lime sauce that was delicious and can't wait to share all my posts on them. 

No that I'm done with my final manuscript (for the most part) it's time for me to get back into the grove of things and start crocheting and staining plaques. I had staining plaques, it's literally the worst part of the taxi head making process. It's always so tedious and labor intensive. I wish there was another way around it but unfortunately until I can afford to pay someone else to do it.... then I'm the one stuck. It must be done though....

Hopefully my orders on Etsy will start picking back up here now that it's getting closer to the Holiday season and there's always my stores that I have to keep up with as well. Things are looking up and I can't wait to start applying for shows again. 

That's about all this girl has got going on in her little ol' lifey right now. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

Jeans: Old Navy

Top: Asos

Bralette: Asos

Shoes: Target

Scarf: Thrifted

Cruel, hot Summer....

Is it Monday already?! It feels like this Summer is flying by right before my very eyes... 

We're at the tail end of July and it's about to be August soon... whew! If you haven't noticed I took a wee break from the Blogosphere.... it's nice to unplug every now and then and just enjoy life. Not only have I been enjoying life, I've also been working with the Mister on "fixin' up" our place. We just finished painting our guest bedroom "Saw grass", a very cool and calm grey color. It looks amazing and it wasn't all that bad because we did it together while listening to a mix that I made. It was actually kinda fun and I typically hate painting....

I wasn't sure if I wanted to post these images or not. I don't typically wear closes like this or haven't since I've lost the weight but they were there and I was like... "okay, why not?" I used to wear fit and flare skirts all the time to conceal or hide my tummy but now I'm more into form fitting clothes and actually don't feel all that self conscious in them either. I was also sweating buckets during this photo session and I think you can kinda see that I was all hot and flustered....

It's gonna be a "hot one" this week! There were even temperature warnings to take extra per cautions because of the humidity etc... It's almost unbearable to go running in this heat, I try to get up and go as early as I can but it's still just too hot. Not only that but there is like zero shade where I like to go running. It's times like these when I wish I could afford a gym membership or had a treadmill. Us broke people have to go outside and use old school workout video's.... which I'm totally not opposed to. I have some tried and true videos that are my favorites to use in a pinch. 

On top of all that the Mister and I have been doing the "21 Day Arm Challenge" by "Pop Sugar" and it's only week two and I've already lost 1/2 an inch on my arms! Matt gained 1/2 an inch... which was his goal and I wanted to get my arms more trim. It's so easy and I can't believe how fast we saw the results! The gals in my family tend to carry their weight in their upper bodies so I've always have been self conscious of them but now that I know how easy it is to keep them fit I'm gonna take it to a whole other level. I'm going to continue the challenge and use heavier weights and increase my reps. I'm really excited to see what they'll look like a month from now! 

In other news my BFF just gave birth to her little girl Eveyln Louis Hall last week and I got to meet her and hold her for the first time this last weekend. It seriously blew my mind!! She was pretty much amazing and perfect in every way and I can't believe my friend did such a great job delivering her! What a brave and strong gal my friend is... I'm so proud of her new little family!

This week I'm making some little but BIG goals for myself. I'm going to focus more on my book and finishing it up and sending it off to the Publishing Co. On top of that I want to knock out some plaques and stain a huge batch, which isn't going to be fun in this heat but it's got to be done! I'm going to pay more attention to my eating habits and implement the "no drinking rule" again for myself. I've been way lax on it recently and I've started to get into old bad habits again (drinking during week nights) and I hate the way it makes me feel. I don't get good sleep and then I wake up all anxious about life and it's just not a good feeling to have. I don't need those extra calories anyway.... so back to restricting myself once more. It's cool, I need to put myself in check every now and again.

Onto another topic... my messy milkmaid braids! I've pretty much worn this style since I can remember and just love it. It's so easy to do and it's perfect for this type of weather. I get a lot of compliments when I wear it this way and it looks great dressed up or down. I'd like to experiment more with different types of braids but I need some practice...

I hope every ones weekend was amazing! 

I already can't wait for next weekend to come... Ha!

xoxo

Skirt: Forever 21 (thrifted)

Blouse: The Limited (thrifted)

Shoes: Target