bored

said traffic

What do you all do when bored?  Specially in a car bored and stuck in Los Angeles traffic?  On my recent visit to Los Angeles, I curbed my boredom by taking pictures with my phone, some of me, some of traffic and some edited in instagram.  Please note, I am not vain in the least, just bored.  Ha.  

That's me, like the tan lines?

Did I mention that my brother was laughing at me the entire time while I was taking my pics.

Same photo above but edited in Instagram. I heart Instagram and my Kate Spade sunnies.  

more traffic

My Ry Guy

My Jake

I couldn't get anymore proper photos out of the boys.  They were more interested in their Nintendo DS and the television in the car. 

My go to hat for summer, I am obsessed with Fedoras people. 

Me without my shades or hat for that matter.  

Okay, my eyes look all watery but I think it's my contacts and my forehead is not as large as it appears.  I was attempting to take a photo of my makeup that I had just done.  Yes, we were hardly moving and I was playing with my makeup.  Can I say though, that it barely looks as if I am wearing any make up.  You wouldn't know that for a few years I worked in cosmetics as a makeup artist.  Oh well.  

What do you do to entertain yourself on long car rides?  Clearly, I need some new ideas. 

In Memory

WE LOVE YOU DADDY

Summer has gotten the best of me and my boys.  

Aside from being out of town most of it, July has been a emotional month too. 

 A year ago this month Eric passed away. 

To celebrate Eric and his life the boys and I stopped off in the Grand Canyon for a little dedication in the form of balloons and signs to send off to daddy in heaven.  To say the boys were excited about daddy receiving these would be an understatement.  We had long talks about how daddy would get them and how happy he would be as a result.  The signs spelled out We Love You Daddy.  

Although the day was hard, we made it through.  I have found with my grief, somedays I just don't know how I can make it through, but I do.  

I saw a quote recently and I think it's so true, at least for me. 

"The soul is healed by being with children" - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Without our sons, I do not know how I could have gotten through this year.  They made me get out of bed when it was the last thing I thought I could manage; they wouldn't stand for me not to cook for them, play with them, be present for them.  So to them, thank you, you saved me my little angels. 

I'll be posting loads of family pictures of our summer in the weeks to come.  I will leave you with two images of the Grand Canyon, one of the seven wonders of the world.  

These photos will not due the true beauty of the canyon justice but I hope they will intice you to visit it and be awed by it's sheer awesomeness. 

The Jacket

This pic is of me at Nordstrom in the Hinge Gathered Leather Jacket in Caramel. 

Two months ago I tried on these beauty but didn't buy it.  $300 bucks for a leather jacket in the summer seemed crazy.  Problem is, I couldn't stop thinking about it. 

via

So I did what any crazed fashionista would do, I went online to Nordstrom to see if had gone on sale.  Guess what, it had, 40% off.  Although I still wasn't sure if I should buy it.  

So, I put it in my shopping bag online and waited a few more days. 

Until last night when I went online to buy it and it showed that the item was no longer available  Eek. 

I was in despair.   That's when I decided to call Nordstrom today and see if they could find one at a store. 

Thanks to Audrey in the TBD dept because she found the jacket within a minute and my order was done within five.  My new coat will arrive to me within three business days. 

In other news...

I am in love with my new glittery spoons on twitter.  If you don't follow me, you should... We can be twitter besties.  A big thanks to Amanda at LustLuxeLove for redesigning my blog, my etsy, facebook, tumblr and twitter.  She is the sweetest and seriously good at what she does.  Find her here. 

The boys and I are off to the beautiful + sunny Los Angeles today to visit friends + family. If you follow me on instagram, you can see snapshots of our trip.  

Garden Party Peeps

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Getting back into blogging daily is proving more challenging than I thought.  We are in and out of town so much that I am finding I haven't the time.  I need to start blogging from my phone.  I've used BlogPress in the past.  Any recommendations for other apps?

One thing I have been working on the past six months is my house.  The interior is pretty much done (pictures to follow next month) but the exterior is still a work in progress.  These are my planter boxes that I had made.  Hope to get to planting all my herbs and veggies by the end of the month. 

I need to have the ground leveled and then dirt delivered, I need that much.  So excited though.  Also, planting a lemon, orange and lime tree on this side of the house. 

This is my new grassy area.  The patchy grass is the original grass and the rest is new.  

This is one side of the house where more new grass was added.  By thursday, the hill of dirt should be covered in plants and more trees.  Still left, adding bark and some cement around here and the pool.  More pics to come once it's finished. 

Any home improvements projects in the works for you this summer?