XO

Well it has almost been one week since sweet Miss Harper Snow came into our lives and we are undoubtedly in love with her. I now completely understand the desire to constantly share pictures of one's child or puppy or kitten because that has become my life. I take pictures of Harper all day long because she does the cutest things and I send them to Jim. Our iMessage conversation is now a play by play of Harper and her daily activities. Harper successfully pooping and peeing outside has become the highlight of our day. Jim works during the day and I work at night so we take turns watching her. She is very smart and very loving. She is still a bit insecure and we think she is scared that we will leave and never come back. That couldn't be farther from the truth and she seems to be getting that more and more every day. 

The is no question that Jim is her favorite. She follows him everywhere and looks for him when he is at work. She sits by the bathroom door when he showers and hangs on his every word. I don't mind it one bit. I love to see how much she loves him because I totally get it. He has already taught her to sit and fetch and even cooks her fancy chicken thighs while I'm at work. I know she loves me but I also know she loves Jim more. She is doing so well with potty training and tells us she needs to go by pawing at the door. 

I never knew I could love the way I love Harper. She is absolutely precious to me. 

Rumor Has It

Every day I become more and more convinced that if I stop planning, making, creating, wishing, dreaming, learning, and doing, my heart might stop as well. I have never been very good at sitting still. Ever. I can't help it. Everything fascinates me. I admit that there are days when I wish I had one interest and one passion that I could focus all of my energy into but then I think of all of the things I would miss out on. I am rarely ever bored and I love that. I have had so many different jobs and lived in many different cities and have made many friends. In my mere 26 years, I have lived a lot of life. I have always been a fickle girl and I don't see that changing any time soon. I thank my lucky stars every day that I married someone so loving and so supportive. Jim always smiles and nods and asks how he can help. He is an angel. He is my angel.

All of that said, I have started a new project!! While I wait for the inquiries to come pouring in for Dey Dreamer Productions, my photo booth company, I will be dabbling into the wonderful world of vintage. In the next week or so I will be revealing it all to you.

Here is some vintage I wore today. The turban headband is very near and dear to my heart because I made it out of an old shirt. I also made the one in the last post which should give you some insight on my new project. The coat is from The Salvation Army thrift store. There are quite a few thrift stores in this area and they a loaded with such good finds. My shoes are from a store called Plato's Closet which is a store that buys your gently used clothes from you and sells them to people like me. Paying full price for anything ever hurts my soul. To quote my fashion icon, Eva Mendes, "Nothing gets me like a $4 dress!"

Wherever you are in the world, I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Counting Stars

So much life has happened since my last post. Even as I was starting this post my husband broke his pinky toe and we had to make our way to urgent care. He was making a breakfast for us. He was so excited about his concoction that he ran over to tell me all about it. Let's just say Jim made it through the hallway but his little baby toe did not. It was sitting there quite perpendicular to the rest of his toes. If you are for some reason interested in what is looked like after some cleaning up click here. Jim kept apologizing for inconveniencing our Sunday morning. My husband is by far the most considerate person I have ever known. He is always making sure everyone else is being taken care of. He even apologized for not being able to drive because he knows I don't like to drive in the snow. I insisted that he stop apologizing and that I was sorry he had to go through this. He is an angel and a trooper and I love him. He doing alright now. He isn't in any pain and we'll be seeing an orthopedist later this week.

Last week I went to California. I was planning on blogging while I was there but I decided to just spend my time enjoying my family and friends. I'm still adjusting to being a blogger and figuring out my time management. I traveled to California for my sister's gender reveal party. She is having a girl!! It was a very nice party and there were lots of people to show them love. Since I was apart from Jim on Valentine's day I spent it with a lot friends. We had a fancy dinner at Chipotle and then went to see some friends in Dreamgirls at Center Stage. While in California, I also went to my friend Dom's going away party. He left to Japan for a whole year to sing and dance at Universal Studios Japan. He is ridiculously talented and I and so happy and so proud of him. It was nice to see so many of my favorite people but I was missing my husband very much so I was happy when it was time to go back to Illinois.

Jim picked me up from the train station with an adorable little stuffed unicorn and when I got to the car the dash was covered in cookies and candy. The plus side to being apart on Valentines is that my husband was able to raid the 50% off bin at the local grocery store. My belated Valentine's gifts had Jim Wilson written all over them and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

When I was in California I stumbled upon this hole in the wall clothing store and found this floral flowy blouse that just happened to be on sale for $4. I love flowy blouses. I love floral prints. I love collard shirts. It was a win-win-win. The jacket is an even bigger win. I bought it at T.J. Maxx for $10!! I looked it up and found the same exact jacket for $238. What?!! That is why I love love love T.J Maxx. You have to have the patience to look through things and scope out the finds but I think it's safe to say I NEVER leave empty handed.

Ooh and I wore my hair down which is kind of rare these days because I'm not a big fan of the length. I am however happy to say that I actually enjoyed it this day. It's a fun length. I have also decided to let the baby bangs grow out.

Peace, Love, & Happiness,

Dey

OUTFIT OF THE DAY

Jacket: Walter Baker at T.J Maxx

Pants: Express

Shoes: similar

Blouse: roughly similar

New York State of Mind

I just got back from New York. It was a sort of last minute trip and I am so very happy it worked out. My friend Jonathan and I made our way to the Big Apple to see our friend Derek Klena on Broadway originating the role of Michael in Bridges of Madison County. It also worked out for us to see our dear friend Branch Woodman in Cinderella on Broadway. It was a fun filled 3 days packed with Broadway shows, pizza, walking, very cold weather, and lots and lots of laughter.

DAY ONE: We spent our day hanging out with an assortment of friends. I even made a few new friends which I always love doing. We explored the city a bit. Time square was preparing for Super Bowl weekend so there was so much going on everywhere. I picked up a new lipstick at Victoria Secret since I forgot mine and I had a gift card burning a whole in my wallet. It finally came time to see Bridges of Madison County. Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale are breathtaking. The music is beautiful and the story is so compelling. Derek of course was awesome. It was so inspiring to watch someone I had done theatre with growing up making a name for himself on The Great White Way.

DAY TWO: We woke up very early because we were absolutely determined to get Book Of Mormon tickets. Jonathan left me getting ready while he ran over to get in line for standing room only tickets. There was snow on the ground and it was pretty darn cold so he turned out to be the only person in line. A man came out to tell him to go get some coffee and warm up because he was definitely getting in. He waited 45 minutes with no sign of a single soul interested in getting in line. He called me to let me know he and his frozen feet were heading to the coffee shop next door. I made my way over and hung out for a bit but I got very nervous that there would be a rush of people so I headed back. I left Jonathan to finish his coffee while I took the second watch. I lined up all alone outside. A man walked up to me and asked if I was waiting for tickets. I said yes. He opened the door and allowed me to wait inside in the warmth saying I would enjoy the show a lot more if I was alive. Jonathan soon joined me and together we waited inside for another hour before anybody else showed up. There was no doubt about it. We were getting in. While waiting in line we also entered our names into the lottery for front row seats and we won. So for only $32 I got to sit in the very front row and see Ben Platt and Nic Rouleau star in The Book of Mormon on Broadway!! It was everything I could hope for and more. I laughed and I cried. I loved it. After the show we thought we would try our luck at the Newsies lottery. Once again due to freezing temperatures there weren't very many people there so we won. What a high energy musical spectacular. Those boys are dancing for their lives on that stage and I was living for every minute.

DAY THREE: We slept in! Then we roamed the city visiting Times Square, Magnolia Bakery, and NBC store. At night we headed back to Derek's apartment where he made us a beautiful dinner of chicken with pasta. Not only is he a great host, he is a great cook. After dinner we were off to see Cinderella. Branch was a brilliant Lord Pinkleton and that show is just happiness all around. We ended the night with Broadway Bowling.

It was a spectacular trip!! Check out more pictures here.

OUTFIT OF THE DEY:

Beanie: Forever 21

Sunglasses: Forever 21

Scarf: It was a birthday gift 3 years ago but you can find a similar one here

Jacket: Paris Blues at Ross

Sweater: Charlotte Russe

Pants: Levi's

Bag: Similar

Lipstick: Victoria's Secret

Sweet Dreams

Jim and I are in the market for a new mattress. Since all of our belongings were going to be in storage for a month before heading east we decided to sell our California King in San Diego. We ended up bringing my mattress from my parents house. It's a full sized mattress and working out nicely for me because I'm 5'2" and roll up into a ball quite comfortably. My poor husband on the other hand is a 6'2" broad shouldered hunk of man. I'm reminded of a recent Saturday Night Live sketch about "sleeping" in a twin bed and I find myself humming the silly song that goes to it. Watch it HERE if you have a moment.

It was a nice day out with a high of 41 degrees so we decided to run a few errands and test drive some mattresses. We found ourselves at a Mattress Firm. It must have been a slow day at the firm because the salesman, let's call him Larry, was very eager to see us walk in. He kindly said hello and asked, "havy'allevbintamattressfirmbfor?" We smiled at him nervously with wide eyes. He asked again, "Mattress Firm? Y'all ever been?" I didn't even know people said "y'all" here. I could tell we were in for a good time. When he found out we were new in town fresh from California he marched us straight to the Cadillac of mattresses. We weren't in any hurry so we decided to play along. The poor man didn't realize that we were the kind of people that go to Costco to eat samples for dinner so we definitely weren't about to drop $3000 on a mattress. He went on and on about the double coil blah blah blahs. It was a nice mattress but I wanted to see more. After every mattress we tried, Larry would give us all of the details that made it so special. We were like Goldilocks and the three bears. Since Jim is the blonde I guess that would make me... a brown little bear?! Scratch that. I was like Cinderita at the mattress ball. That has a better ring to it. Anyway we didn't get a mattress and Larry was sad to see us go. If you know Jim then you already guessed that he looked up mattresses on amazon.com as soon as we got home.

We headed to Chipotle for dinner because we had a gift card and it was right next door. I am now going to let you in on my secret Chipotle order. I ask for ONE chicken taco in a bowl with brown rice, black beans, grilled veggies, pico de gallo, that corn salsa that rocks my world, and lettuce. It's a mini salad bowl for like $2.45. I love their salad bowls but I really don't like paying for food I won't finish or overeating because I don't want to waste it. An observation I made while ordering at Chipotle, calories don't have to be posted here in Illinois. We're definitely not in California anymore.

Since it was a pretty clear day and there wasn't much snow on the ground, I was excited to wear something other than snow boots along with one of my new favorite shirts which actually used to belong to my older sister. Being the youngest of four children, I am no stranger to hand-me-downs. I love that the polka dots make it fun while the black and ivory color scheme keep it classy. I of course finished this look off with red lipstick because it was the right thing to do.

 

OUTFIT OF THE DEY

Beanie: Calvin Klein (similar)

Blouse: Papaya (similar)

Coat: Paper Doll at Ross (similar) 

Pants: Charlotte Russe

Boots: Paprika on Amazon

Earrings: Target

Lipstick: Rimmel London at Wal-Mart

Let It Snow

I drove in the snow for the first time. I thought it would be terrifying but it wasn't bad at all. I did however feel like everybody knew something I didn't and I found myself questioning whether or not green lights mean the same thing here. It's silly I know. I made it safely to the university. I was picking up Jim so we could set up our Illinois car insurance. Did you know that when you move to new state you have to get a new driver's license within 90 days? I have to take a test!! I'll be sure to study so I'll know that when you park your cow uphill you cramp the hooves to the curb. I'm only kidding of course. I have yet to even see a cow. The good news, according to our insurance agent, is that the DMV here is not nearly as much of a nightmare as in California. As much I will miss the people watching, catching up on emails, and the exuberant feeling of finally hearing that automated voice announce G23, it will be nice to have the rest of my day open to adventure.

We have been married for 10 months but I am just starting to change my name on everything. I must say it is quite the process. I don't think people realize how many things have their name on it. It's also a little strange to sign a new name but it's equally exciting to put all of the pieces of our puzzle together.

I have been a California girl my entire life so moving east to Illinois has been quite the transition. I am loving the beautiful winter weather and all of the boots, coats and scarves that are not only adorable but absolutely mandatory. When everything is covered in white, it's fun to wear bright colors and really stand out.

OUTFIT OF THE DEY

Coat: Old Navy (similar)

Scarf: Old Navy (similar)

Sweater: Forever 21 (similar)

Leggings:  Mossimo at Target

Boots: Northside on Amazon 

Gloves: (similar)

Lipliner: Beautique at Sally's Beauty Supply AUBURN

Lipstick: Rimmel London at Wal-Mart BORDEAUX