Texas Fight - Go Longhorns!!!!

Well, if you don't know the Texas football anthem, then you don't understand why I start by saying Texas Fight!!!! It's how the song goes, ......and it's goodbye to A&M!!!! It's so good to be back living in Texas, in Longhorn Country. When I say Longhorn country, you can't get any closer than this. We actually live in a section of our neighorhood which is the UT Golf Club. For golf fans like my hubby, it's Nirvana, the amazing course and the first class facilities they have for the golfers. Last night marked the beginning of the Football season up here. Every Friday night before a Texas home game, the club hosts a massive tailgate party and you've never seen a larger collection of burnt orange clothing in one area. After all, we breed them to play football here in the south so a big party is always in order! Saturday is the big day for the game against Florida. Not to be left out, the kiddos all get dressed for the part as well. Customs for the girls naturally! Apparently we've done some growing since last year so larger shirts will need to be assembled for the next party but for now, these sufficed! Even though the highlights of the party for the kids are the snowcones, balloon artist and face painter, they did love seeing the official BEVO. The UT mascot made his way to the party and T was enamored with a real longhorn. He's seen many longhorn insignias and shapes, never the real thing. He kept asking to go see "Bo" again. I always love how the 3yr old brain scrambles words to be what they want to say. We can call him Bo for now.

One day when I reach heaven

I'm pretty sure my design space will look something like this!!!!!!! Full blown girly spot that even sports a couch for friends to come for coffee and chatter or just to play along with something they're working on. I've always loved looking at peoples homes and even more so, I'd love to see the homes of those that create. I'd walk straight to their creative space. I'm just certain people like Jennifer Paganelli, Sandi Henderson or Heather Bailey and all those gals that make the beautiful fabric out there have amazing places to go to and let their imaginations go to work. My sewing area couldn't be further from this but one can hope right? One day we'll get there! I'm not sure where I once saw this photo but ever since I came across it, I've been mesmerized about working in a room just like this!

....and they're off

Last night I had them all packed up with every emergency form, contact info, PTA request known to man and then a long list of rules for them to follow so they don't catch that lice that graces our presence down here in the South! (super yuck!) Lunches were essentially packed minus their sandwiches, clothes laid out, water bottles on hand and so on......sigh......., here are their backpacks the eve before school starts, all in a row , ready for grab-n-go mad dash to the busstop, holding all their precious goodies that they insist they need during the day! Hard to believe the backpacks have already returned into the mix of weekly routine!

Like lots of moms across the US, we're shuttling the kiddos back to school today. I do it with mixed emotions but by and large, the tears of joy are hitting me. I love Fall. I love the routine of the school year and back to seeing all those friends we miss seeing if it weren't for school and the after school activities. Oh and some free time to myself sprinkled here and there is not so bad either! We start school EARLY here, hence the dark skies, imagine how it is when the time changes later in the season! Kids are ecstatic though, only tears we had were from T who so desperately wants to ride the bus. Awww, the mystique of the bus and all that surrounds it to those who don't ride it yet. In T's mind, surely this is as much fun as a carnival ride, listen to all the laughing kids and dangit, he wants to ride! A few more years little guy, just a few more years! For now, you have to get in that car seat and ride with mommy to pre-school!

Vintage Funk....

that's what I've started calling this clothing style with the bold contrasting patterns. I put my knot up on etsy last night and it's already heading on it's way to a new home. I couldn't be more tickled! I am feeling in the Fall mood and just want to give you some more sneak peeks of the apron skirts I'll be sending over to ETSY soon!

Those who are opposed to a mish mash of pattern and color mixed together need not look! Click on any photo to enlarge them. I'm just going to give you a few shots of them with their cute aprons and trim and hopefully soon I'll get them photo'd all pretty with a real girl.

America's next top model!

Today was, "let's pretend we're famous and go do a photo shoot" day!!! Well, the days are winding down for Summer and in just a few short days, the kids will be scooting off to school. Me and the girls headed down to Zilker park here in Austin to take some photos for a few new coordinating sister pieces that I did. I love them and I love the vintage firetruck that they have down there so we made the haul to have a fun backdrop to do photos.

We got a kick out of the people staring at us. People stopped and watched as if we might be some important folk! Uh huh, take a look at me now, while I'm not famous, this is where it's starting right??? Hey, it could happen! August is the blazin' hot month here in Texas so to have several layers of Fall clothing on being photographed by someone with a fancy camera (i love my digital SLR) gets heads turning. M was a champ and didn't complain one bit. I think she secretly loved the audience and that people were kindly moving their toddlers out of our frame if they wandered in it. Here's a sneak peak and one of my favorite photos. (click on it to enlarge) Ahhh, the shoes, I'm back on the shoes but they just work!

The old is new again...and now my kids wear them!

Knot dresses are just fun and if you think you won't like them, they're one of those things you really just have to try. It's probably not because it's a knot dress, but more the fact that it's fun (for me anyways) to experiment with the random pairing of fabrics along with the untraditional layering of pieces from different brands. This seems to be the new hot trend in custom clothing.....and then it meets the old!

Someone once told me that if you are old enough to remember wearing a trend then you're too old to wear it the next time it comes back into fashion. Wow, I think on most counts that's actually right!!! You will not see me sporting any skinny tapered jeans, wearing jelly shoes and if acid wash dares come back along with a feathered bi-level haircut hairsprayed to death, that too will not be in my house!!! I did have a love for converse shoes though when I was young. I had all the colors they made, changed up my shoe laces to make them colorful and that was a big presence in my closet. I still love them, some things are just too cool to give up. My girls have jumped on this train and now we love wearing them with all kinds of stuff. Here's M sporting a new Fall combo I made. Not for the faint of heart but the mom who loves to sport the funky stuff on their kids! This is on ETSY right now but is soon moving to ebay. Grab the Buy it Now if ya like this one of a kind! I liked this photo so much, I cropped it and kept in those delightful shoes and made a new logo today. fun stuff!

A girls weekend..........yeah!!!

Summer has been fantastic but I will admit, I'm ready to be back in the routine of Fall and school! I think if the truth be told, my kids are ready for the routine of school too and to see their friends on a regular basis. My neighbor had a fantastic idea, you know, the ones we always talk about but rarely make time for? Let's do a girls weekend! Girly stuff like shopping, margaritas, spa and lounging by the pool........heaven!!! Leave your aprons at home, no one is cooking this weekend. So here's where I'm stealing off to, if you can't find me, check this place out!

My Fall listings

I mean isn't this little girl TDF gorgeous!!!! Her mama ought to be scared of a mini-van driving slowly past her house to snatch her up so I can keep her for good!! kidding, but I could just keep gushing over this little girl! what a natural beauty. I want her hair! Okay, so that next cutie shown works for me too!!!! (um yes, that one lives under my roof) Thanks girlies for your gorgeous poses! Click on either photo and it will take you directly to the auction link on ebay.

Come check out The Girlfriends Manor

I'm so excited to be teaming with some wonderful ladies both on ebay and etsy. We're giving away lots of goodies our launch season (which is right now) so be sure to join our mailing list. The link below should be a clickable link that will take you directly to our site.

I'm back on apples!

My brain is all over the place and I kept staring at my apple fabric pile. The Grandparents decided to give us a treat and take the kids away for the weekend. Whoa Nelly!!!! what is a girl to do? Well, I hung up the apron strings and announced this was going to be a cook free weekend. Let's go live it up, I mean how often do you get to do this and revel in the silence in your house! We ate out lunch and dinner both days, had some fun filled evenings out and filled in some of the daylight hours with some sewing. Fall always seems to bring out lots of peasant tops and I've never actually tried this pattern so I figured I'd give it a go. I think it'd be the perfect outfit to start the school year with. Maybe even take that bright red apple with ya on the first day of school and really get on the teachers good side. I've got this listed on EBAY right now and it's sized to fit the average 5 yr old best but I've got the jeans measurement listed for you to decide.

A girl can change her mind right????

I got steered away from apples for some reason and started going back to an old fave, brown paired with just about any color. Does it get old, apparently not for me!!! Well, here's a sneak peak at my first Fall listing that will be going up on ebay next week. I can't wait to get it modeled and photo'd. These are the backside of the pants, I thought the pockets turned out cute!

Speaking of getting some photos done, my girls have just grown up way too fast and don't fit and more importantly, don't care to fit into my samples anymore to take pictures. Check out these new faces. Can little girls get any cuter? You'll get to see a lot more of their faces as my creations come about! Lucky me to have crossed paths with the mom who gave birth to these beauties!