Friendship and Cancer

I was just flipping through some pictures one of my favorite websites (www.people.com) and found this picture of Kelly Pickler:

Kelly Pickler with a shaved head? YEP! 

Why did she shave her head?!

Did she have a Britney Spears moment?

NOPE.

She did it to support her best childhood friend, who is battling cancer.

This really hit me and made me thankful for all the great friends I have in my life!

Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."
- C. S. Lewis

On another note...

CANCER SUCKS!

In the past year, I have personally known three families that are affected by it.

Sometimes, all you can ask is WHY?!

Have you guys heard the new Taylor Swift song titled "Ronan"?

Katie shared it with me.

Taylor wrote it for a mom who lost her young son to cancer.

The mom has this blog: http://rockstarronan.com/2012/09/09/hey-maya-its-taylor-swift/

Taylor read her story, met her, and wrote her this song.

Here's a video of Taylor Swift performing it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Buv4RenxQ

Here's the lyrics:

I remember your bare feet down the hallway
I remember your little laugh
Race cars on the kitchen floor
Plastic dinosaurs, I love you to the moon and back

I remember your blue eyes looking into mine like we had our own secret club
I remember you dancing before bed time then jumping on me waking me up
I can still feel you hold my hand
Little man, from even that moment I knewYou fought it hard like an army guyRemember I leaned in and whispered to you

Come on baby with me
We're gonna fly away from here
You were my best four years

I remember the drive home when the blind hopeTurned to crying and screaming, "Why?"Flowers piled up in the worst way
No one knows what to say about a beautiful boy who died

And it's about to be Halloween You could be anything you wanted if you were still hereI remember the last day when I kissed your face
I whispered in your ear

Come on baby with me
We're gonna fly away from here
Out of this curtained room in this hospital
We'll just disappear
Come on baby with me
We're gonna fly away from here
You were my best four years
What if I'm standing in your closet trying to talk to you?
What if I kept the hand me downs you won't grow into?
And what if I really thought some miracle would see us through?But what if the miracle was even getting one moment with you

Come on baby with me
We're gonna fly away from here
Come on baby with me
We're gonna fly away from here
You were my best four years

I remember your bare feet down the hallway
I love you to the moon and back.

Much Love,

Sara

Peppers, Love and Iowa State University Wins

GOOD AFTERNOON!

Below is a shot of my precious green bell peppers and marconi peppers! I just got done crunching away at the bell pepper. I love raw pepper. It's almost like a chip for me. YUMMO and healthy!

Speaking of "healthy".. Katie turned me on to sauteed carrots. They are delightful. All you do is put olive oil in a pan, add sliced carrots, then cook then on medium heat. Add salt and pepper. They are good.

Below is Colby and I at Outback.

Love love love.

We always get the Outback Special Steak.

You get a 6 oz. steak and two sides (I always get salad and sauteed brocolli with a side of cheese sauce) for $9.99.  I'm sorry but that is a D-E-A-L if I ever saw one, and it's yummo! There are two options on how you can get your steak cooked--wood fired or the original pan seared with normal seasoning. I do the pan seared and Colby does the wood fired. Both are good, but I love the original way (it's the best).

Last Saturday was the annual Iowa vs. Iowa State football game! I root for ISU because I grew up thirty minutes from Ames and had a sister go there.. We went over to my cousin Chris' and had some good food and fellowship. Here's a picture of me, Ashly (colby's sister) and Colby.

Iowa State won!!! Colby's "team" didn't.. So sorry, CA.

The other night, Colby and I had to run some errands, so I took my mom's car because my car has been on the fritz. So, I took the white Camry and off we were. As we were about 5 minutes from my house, this girl pulled right out in front of me---she was supposed to be stopped at the stop sign that was in front of her--causing me to t-bone her--and screw up my mom's car. UFF DA! However, the girls insurance is taking care of it, so I am just happy my mom's insurance isn't going to take a ding! Here is a picture of the car:



Hope everyone's Tuesdays are peachy and filled with love, sunshine, kisses and something to eat that includes apples!

Sara

Earrings! Shopping technique!

I picked up these earrings the other day for $4. I love them. The color is a perfect antique green....I will get lots of wear out of them!

So, I have a new shopping method to try. I am going to shop directly from outfits on my pinterest board! I know, brilliant. Right?! Lol. I am sure y'all have been doing this for the last year...but the light bulb just went off for me! I always struggle to put things together because I buy bits and pieces. Plus, a huge section of my wardrobe are mom clothes. Meaning, comfy but still acceptable for public. I hope it will bring some cohesion to my wardrobe. Here are some items I am lusting over on my board!!!

Cardigans!!!...especially this cute animal print!  Plus I love how the t-shirt underneath makes it look more casual!

Cardigan in neutral with a darling belt!  Totally Mommified but super cute!

POLKA DOTS!  Classic cuteness.

Scarves!  I love this chunky scarf...this is the perfect Saturday lounge scarf!

Little Yellow Dress!

I am soooo mad at myself for not getting a better picture of my new yellow dress!  ERG!!
Jon and I road-tripped to Minneapolis for the weekend to visit our besties....somehow the girls won on our Saturday activity!  We spent the day at IKEA and The Mall of America!!  YAY!!  We didn't get a ton of shopping time because of our kiddos...but I did manage to find this cute yellow dress from H&M!  It was on sale for $20!  It wasn't a total steal...but for all the wear it will get....it was well worth an Andrew Jackson from my wallet!  Next time I wear it, I'll try to get a better pic! 

I hope you all are surviving this little heat wave!!  I am looking forward to the cooler weather this weekend!  Love to you!
Katie

Life Lately

This weekend was a busy one! I love any holiday that falls on a weekend!

Friday night, I spent the night at my friend Kelly's house. We were overall pretty lazy and hung out watching movies.  Here's a funny picture I had her hubby take of us:

Allie (baby sister), me and Kell Bell! When I sent Colby this pic, he goes: "Whose the hot librarian in the center?" HEHE. I have a sweet BF.

Saturday morning, I was up bright and early to play in my highschool's Alumni Tournament. I haven't played in a couple years and it was really fun! It is always good seeing everyone together. Makes you feel like a kid again:) I did realize that I am officially OLD because my arm was killing me from being the catcher and throwing the ball to the pitcher---literally it felt like it was going to fall off!!



Sunday I went to a church, then a church picnic.  Here's what I wore to church:

I got this dress from Charolette Russe forever ago (it's got cute little buttons and fixed me well). It was a cheap sale rack dress. The boot are real Ostrich boots I received from my friend LaNeysa. The sunglasses are freebies I got at the Rascall Flatts concert.

Sunday night...went to play Nertz (card game that is aka as Pounce, Racing Demon, Peanuts or Squeal) with my card club! We had a great turnout and things got pretty competitive--even though my team lost horrendously! If you haven't ever heard of Nertz.. you need to go buy some cards and play! Here's a link on how to play..http://www.pagat.com/patience/nerts.html. Here's a picture of what its (kind of) like:



Monday, I was a pretty big bum all day. I went to play volleyball that night and it was a blast! A bunch of people went up to a park and just played pick-up games. I really loved it.. and I discovered I can actually serve pretty well!

Random things I haven't blogged about lately.....

Last Thursday night, we went out to celebrate my friend Lindsay's graduation from Nurse Practitioner school! We went to Centro downtown and then to Chili's for a Molten Lava Cake. YUMMMO! Congrats Lindsay!!

Last weekend, I attended my highschool's State-Qualifying Basketball reunion! I was a statician for this basketball team, and our old coach invited all the players and the "stat" gals. It was really fun and was a nice way to remember the success the team had!

Colby got a new shirt! It's cute:)

MUAHHH!

Mom turned 50! Dad got her a stretch Hummer, took out a bunch of people for dinner, had a party, got her granite countertops, and much more! Great bday if you ask me! Love you mama!!

Basically this post was a compilation of iPhone pictures that made me think about events I hadn't blogged about! MUCH LOVE.

Sara

If I could have everything I wanted.....

I wanted to make a list of things I would aquire if I could have every tangible thing I wanted. Here goes:

1. A house in the country with 2 horses, a coop full of chickens, 1 goat, 1 cow and a couple dogs and cats running around. I'd want the house to have a big porch where my family could hang out in the evenings. Also, I would love having an outdoor shower.  This picture looks nice, huh? Love the green roof and brick chimney. Colby would need to have a big barn/shed looking building.

2. A nice car... Preferrably a jacked up truck that got 45 mpg.. I don't think this exists, but still this is just me wishing! I think trucks like this look cool because they are old school.



In all seriousness, here are some other cars I want:

Mini Cooper Roadster. How cute!

Range Rover. The inside of this looks so nice.

3. This plane:





Cirrus SR-22

4. On a random note, I am having a really hard time thinking about things I want.. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing????

5. A winning lottery ticket for $210 million dollars! HAHA.

6. Celebrity Closet (Jennifer Aniston). I love her style, its casual, yet on-point at all times. Plus, I would love a posh looking closet!



7. A garden that contained: every kind of pepper imaginable, roses, wild flowers, hydrangeas, sweet corn, snap peas, green beans, herbs to cook with, tomatoes (just for things like salsa, I don't like tomatoes), squash, zuccini, strawberries, red raspberries, black raspberries, blackberries, some red grapes, and watermelon.



8. Shelves and shelves of these:



9. Four children: boy, boy, girl, then boy! I have all their names picked out too!



Vander Ross

Mac Bradley

Chesney Renee

______ Colby

(Please don't steal my non-existent children's names!!!! HAHA, but seriously).

10. Nothing else!

Much Love,

Sara

Hallie's first day and Better than thrifted clothes.

So...I really do have good excuses for my lack of posting.  I figured I better post about them!  We had a couple of fun play dates last week!  Play dates are one way SAHMs (stay-at-home-moms) keep their sanity...just in case you were wondering.  Beyond that, I spent a lot of last week thinking about and preparing Hallie for back-to-school.  We met her teacher (who was lovey) and did a little shopping.  I wanted her to feel special for her first day!  She picked out an outfit and a cute backpack on our shopping date.  Here is my little Hallie sporting her new items!

Hallie also had her first soccer game on Saturday!  She scored 2 goals and had a blast!  She was so excited the whole entire game!

Did you know there are clothes out there that are cheaper than thrift store prices?  No lie.  They can be found in your friends and family's closet!! LOL.  My girlfriend Ally cleaned out her closet and gave me a bag of clothes!  She gave me a lot of really great items!  I have already worn several.  Here are a couple low quality photos to prove it!  Both of these tops came from Ally!

I am going to post later about my mom's big bash for her 50th!  For now, I will leave you with this photo of Sara and I at the Iowa State Fair.  Unfortunately, thanks to Instagram crop, you cannot see the giant Dutch shoes we are standing in. Good times.

Love to you,
Katie