Forty Before the Big 4-0

I turned 39 last weekend and I honestly can't believe it. I mean, when I was younger 40 sounded so old! My parents were old! And poor McKinley will definitely know that his parents are really old! However, I have decided 40 is not that old! If anything, I think 40 is the new 30. Who's with me? 

My 39th Birthday

As I look back on my last 38 years, and I don't want to sound terribly conceited, but I've done a lot of things. I've traveled the country, seen the Red Woods, been to Mexico and Jamaica so I can officially say I've been out of the country, I've moved A LOT, had several ear piercings that have since closed up, graduated from college, learned how to drive a stick shift and drove one for years. I learned to swim and was a lifeguard for five years. I've seen the ocean on both coasts.
 

With my Great Grandfather in 1974

Christmas in 1974 and 1976

 

Estes Park,  CO in 1984

 

Me and My Dad

My 18th Birthday. Elizabeth turned one!

   I've attended a few, okay numerous concerts in my day. I've seen Michael Jackson, U2 twice, The Eagles, The Police, Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffett, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Elton John and most recently Madonna. I have performed with some extremely talented friends around the metro in several Community Theater productions and I've been honored to play some amazing roles. I got married and will celebrate 10 years with my hubby tomorrow! Oh, and I gave birth! 

November 9, 2002

Me and McKinley April 6, 2011

 The list goes on, but there are plenty of things I haven't done. Hence the 40 before 40. This was a hard list to compile. Some may sound superficial and some are just things I've always wanted to do. They may not sound life changing, or significant in anyway, but that's okay. Again, they are just things that I would like to experience in my life so why not get a jump on them!

I will blog about my forty items over the course of the year and I will try to incorporate the fashion side of my blog as well. I hope you follow along.

My list of "Forty Before the Big 4-0"!

1) Travel to Italy with my family. This may not be accomplished by the time I turn 40, but should be planned and booked for travel in 2014!

2) Attend a Blogger Conference. Preferably, the Lucky FABB conference.

3) Attend New York Fashion Week in the Fall

4) Go to the San Diego Zoo

5) Attend a Cardinal game at the new Busch Stadium 

(Overall bucket list is to attend all major league baseball stadiums.)

6) Can homemade Apple Butter

7) Make homemade bread

8) Make a pie crust from scratch

9) Learn to crochet and actually make something

10) Learn to use my sewing machine

11) Learn to make a pattern

12) Design my own piece of clothing and sew it

13) Get back in the gym

14) Lose remaining baby weight

15) Go to the St. Louis Zoo

16) Attend a roller derby

17) Finish my fifth beer tour at Old Chicago

18) Make pasta from scratch

19) Perform with my parents in a public setting

20) Attend Synagog with Joel

21) Attend a hockey game

22) Style one person for an event and blog about it

23) Refrain from using the F word so much

24) Eat at Town Topic - during the day

25) Get a facial

26) Get a spray tan - a real one 

(Not the kind Julie and I got during West Side Story)

27) Make a will

28) Correspond more by written mail

29) Ride a bike - again

30) Go to Powell Gardens

31) Take a ballet class to see if I've still got it

32) Read Anna Karenina

33) Read the newspaper more

34) Get a passport - See #1

35) Try caviar

36) Drink a martini at a fancy bar

37) Drink a glass of Dom Perignon

38) Plant a garden

39) Spend more time with girlfriends

40) Perform in a show 

That's it. Not sure if I can accomplish everything on the list but I am certainly going to try! I hope you stick around to take this journey with me. Should be fun...

Fifty Shades of Blue

Top: LOFT; Skirt: J.Crew Factory (various colors);

 Belt: Ann Taylor; Tights: Hue;

Shoes: Manolo Blahnik; Bag: J.Crew (gift)

Bracelet: J.Crew (gift)

Okay, so there aren't fifty shades of blue in this look, but there are about three and they all compliment each other really well. The last time I wore this skirt I never got photos, which is a shame because I would love to show you the before and after of this skirt. This skirt, particularly this color, appears limited but it's really not. 

When I saw the top at LOFT, I immediately thought of pairing it with the skirt. The feathers and tiny bow at the neck are such great details! I then added the beautiful, blue bag that I got for my birthday, thanks mom and dad, and well Fifty Shades of Blue was born. I chose black accents and I think it really helped break up all the tones.

 

 

SHOP THE LOOK!

Thanksgiving - The Forgotten Holiday

For those of you who know me, you know how I love to decorate for the holidays! Starting with Halloween, my house changes almost monthly until Easter! As I started taking down my Halloween decor this weekend, I updated my Facebook status informing all that I was moving on to Thanksgiving. Afterward, I received a request to blog about holiday decorating so I took some photos the other night.

I refuse to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday. It's the day in which my husband proposed to me, so it's an even more meaningful holiday in my house! I don't go overboard, I leave that for Christmas and Hanukkah, but I do put a few things out here and there. 

This my dining room table display. Our dining room table that never gets used unless it's for decorations or desserts at parties. We dine at my parents for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we don't use their dining room table either. I guess you could say we are pretty informal people! Anyway, I usually go the same route every year. I add a mix of gourds to my Cornucopia, and when I can find it, dried corn. I love my little Pilgrims, purchased by my hubs, and corn cob candles. A sweet little display for giving thanks!

This little table is by our front door. It is constantly evolving from season to season or just month to month. The wheat sheave was made by my dad for my wedding. We had wheat sheaves placed on several tables such as our gift table and our well wishes table. We didn't have a guest book. We asked our guests to write wishes or sentiments instead of signing a book. Each had such meaning. This sheath moves around my living but generally lives here.

 

This stand is unbelievably useful. It also has a glass hurricane lid. I use it for DIY displays such as this one below. I simply placed three candles in the center of the stand and put the fall garland around the grouping. I added several plastic acorns through out. The acorns and fall garland were purchased at Michael's and they were super inexpensive. With just a few little pieces, you too can have a small display for your table! 

 

Below are just tiny clay pumpkins. A set of three that I think my mom gave me. They too travel from room to room every fall. Sometimes they sit on the window in my kitchen. But this year I decided to scatter them among photos in our living room. Little touches make such a difference!

 Side note: What I have learned about decorating is that when grouping things together, do so in odd numbers. And, every room should have something black whether it be a table, a pillow or a throw.

Lastly, this is our kitchen table. A brand new table as of March. We updated our kitchen back in the spring and this was the final piece purchased. It is a pretty large table, larger than our old one, so I needed something to help break up the space. I stole the canister idea from Khloe Kardashian's kitchen. She has large glass crocks on her kitchen counters and they are filled with cookies and other treats. I purchased the two in the back from Home Goods and had the front canister in the basement. I fill them with candy and other goodies based on the season.

Fall colored M&M's, Brach's Pumpkins and leftover Halloween candy make pretty fall accents. The candles were purchased from Williams Sonoma several years ago. I think they bring out the color of the candies!

I'm not an interior decorator. I know this! But, I try to make my house feel homey by adding pieces that mean something to us which in turn makes a house a home. And, you don't have to spend a lot of money when decorating seasonally. Shop the sales at the end of the season. You can get things from 50-70 percent off. Browse through magazines for ideas. Martha Stewart, Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens, and Celebrate Magazine are all good resources for easy ideas. 

So, reader's poll. Do you guys like reading about stuff like this? Boring, useful or just a plain waste of blogging? Let me know! If you like it, well then bring on December! My house explodes with Christmas and Hanukkah! Until then....

And Counting...

Sweater: RACHEL Rachel Roy (gift); T-Neck: Target;

Jeans: LOFT(similar); Flats: Jessica Simpson;

Earrings/Ring: Silpada;

Nails: OPI Ski Teal We Drop and 

Deborah Lippman Across the Universe

This past weekend I celebrated my 39th birthday! I feel like Sally in When Harry Met Sally, "I'm going to be 40....Someday." And that someday is a year a from now! YIKES! Because I have a year until I turn 40, I'm taking a page from my friend Tina Morrison and making a "Before I'm 40 Bucket List"! I already have big plans for my #1 item... You'll have to wait and see what that is at a later date. I gotta make the rest of the list before publishing.

As for the outfit, I spent the afternoon at the zoo with my family. I always luck out on my birthday with gorgeous weather and this year was no exception. And what about this amazing Aztec blanket sweater? I got this on Friday, an early gift, and had to wear it on my big day! I stayed super warm and felt so chic all day! Even at the zoo!

 

I'm champagne taste on a beer budget kind of girl and champagne just happens to be my favorite drink ever. And in case you're wondering, my fav is Moet Chandon! Only the best for this birthday girl!

CHEERS to another year!

Our Little Lion

Halloween was a blast this year! Our little lion was a champ during the entire evening! However, I must say that earlier in the week I wasn't quite sure. We tried on the costume to ensure it fits, yeah a little late I know, but McKinley refused to wear the lion headpiece. REFUSED!! But come Halloween night, he was all about the costume!

We first visited our friends Jan and Tom where McKinley received the darling treat bag below. Mama left the Thomas the Train one at home... The photo below was taken on my husbands phone. Grainy but still so cute!

Then we were off to Julie and Danny's where McKinley played every musical instrument he could find in their living room! Every single one. This boy loves music! 

 

 

 

Finally, we made our way to Meme and Granddaddy's where we spent the remainder of the evening. McKinley was a total ham! He loved hanging out with my parents next door neighbor's son, who's two months younger. He handed out candy to all the trick-or-treaters while running back and forth from the front door to the family room. And by the end of the night, he was in tears due to shear exhaustion.

 

However your Halloween ended, I hope it was full of treats and bootastic fun!

L-U-V Madonna

That's right! My hubs and I attended the Madonna concert earlier this week and it was amazing! A music icon who has been reinventing herself and her music for over 30 years and we've followed her every step of the way. The only thing we didn't love about the show is that she only sang about five of her all time hits, but who cares! As I said all night, "it's Madonna"!!

I wasn't sure what to wear to such an an event. Do I go completely retro and stay relevant in fashion? Well, my decision was made for me when I came down with a fever! You see, I got a flu shot on Monday and by midnight that night I had a fever of 101 plus! Nothing like being sick the night before Madonna! I sucked it up though. I wasn't about to miss this concert! I grabbed skinnies, over-the-knee boots and a sweater coat I received last year for Christmas for a chic yet comfy look. Adding deep burgundy lips, we were out the door!

Sweater Coat: Ann Taylor; T-Neck: Target;

Jeans: Loft; Boots: Sam Edelman;

Necklace: Gift; Lipcolor: Dark Side MAC

 

 

The concert was a birthday gift from hubby!

Hanging with the girls pre-show! Madonna didn't go on until roughly 10:30 so we had plenty of time to grab a drink and chat! 

 

What do you think of the overall look? Did I get it right? What would you have worn? And, if you attended, what did you wear?

Photo of my hubby and I courtesy of Christina Brewer.
Photo of the girls courtesy of Tina Morrison.