A Fond Farewell Fiesta!

Last night was a Farewell Fiesta party for the Shoemaker family, who are moving back to Texas next weekend!  Here's our bright and summery group picture, which delights my soul!! ❤  (JEM was also there but had to leave a little early with Henry and Holly.)

Chet Lee grilling the fajita veggies on the Blackstone (after the tortillas and before the chicken)!

The food was awesome!

Parker Elizabeth and Zealand being cute friends (and classmates)!

Tate Haywood ready to swim!!  I was happy he conquered his fear of the poolside slide on Saturday!  Also, their flippers make me happy!

Heidi Claire enjoying the photo wall of memories!  I printed around 75 photos of the Shoemakers and our friend group over the past six years!

Wilsons and Shoemakers!  Two of my fav families!! ❤

Pinata time!!  (Harvey, Parker, and Sophia)

So much candy!!

Mark and Rachel are both counselors, so we've had lots of great conversations about that!  I'm super grateful for their friendship, support, advice, and encouragement!!

Parker Elizabeth wanted a picture with the moon. lolol  LOVE IT.

Exactly six years ago today (7-7-19), Chet invited a few friends to help his clients paint their new home.  That was my first time meeting Mark and Rachel.  They came to Friendsgiving that November, and to nearly every fun friend group event over the past six years!  I so appreciate people who show up and participate and engage in conversation, and they've been top-tier, dependable friends in that way through the past six years!!

With this move, they will be closer to their families and better able to support Rachel's mom through her cancer treatments.  So I'm sincerely happy for them, while being genuinely sad to see them go!

Much like myself, I think Tulsa will always have a place in their hearts.  Unlike myself, I don't see them moving back down the road.

Our random patriotic final pic with Chet's flags - I couldn't love it more!!

That's all for today - proud of myself for getting these written before work!

Happy 7-7, friends!!  I love you and believe in you, and I pray God gives you the daily grace and strength you need to have an awesome week ahead!

❤ ❤ ❤

Food & Fireworks with Friends!

The Wilsons had a low-key gathering with friends and family for their neighborhood fireworks show on Saturday night!  I insisted on a couple pre-swim pics knowing my hair would not be the same afterward!  Also because Chettles and Kristin Renee are two of my favorite people... but mostly the hair thing! lol ;-)

Me and Karli Marie!  (My shirt is a Melanie quote from the Big Boo Podcast)

Me and Teresa, who brought strawberry fluff and chips! lol

Speaking of, the food was great - Tate was craving apple pie, so I stopped by my fav Jenks Reasors and grabbed it for him.  Chet grilled burgers and hot dogs, and we had lots of fun desserts!  I snuck in a prayer pic because every once in a wihle, I'm just gripped with intense thankfulness to have a friend group like this.  Seeing Parker and Hope and Kristin holding hands while Chet prayed was one of those times. ❤

Swimming and playing with Parker Elizabeth was a rare treat! ❤  She went back and forth between me and Kristin and Karli about 500,000 times.  Vivian (the Halo hairpiece) did not fare well, but it was very worth it! lol

Chet and Chet (a pic from their morning neighborhood parade, a sign one of his Thunder fan neighbors was carrying) - and the new fort built by Bill and Chet... it was a hit with all the kids!!

The Country Crossing fireworks show was fantastic and memorable - Jessica sat on the back row with me, Miles loved it all, Tate was less sure about it, Kristin brought bug spray to share - yes please, Melissa had a spider on her chair, I was concerned about the bat flying above us, Chet and Teresa had some fireworks debris land on them, and Evan stayed back with Sophia and Parker!

Quote of the Day = Evan:  "I mean, best case scenario, it all goes well and it's just like every other fireworks show you've ever seen!  Worst case scenario, something goes wrong and somebody gets hurt!" lol  Mark and I were kinda with him on that.

Anyway, grateful for fun times with a friend group I adore!

❤ ❤ ❤

A Fun-Filled Family Fourth!

Mom and Dad hosted a family get-together on Friday, July 4th... here's our group photo of the whole crowd!! ❤

Our annual girls' pic(s)!

We had approximately 1,000 dessert options (including my Pioneer Woman Strawberries and Cream Sheet Cake), and we had Mom's broccoli rice casserole + corn + mac and cheese + Al's brisket + French bread Charlene brought + ribs and chicken... lots of great food, and LOTS of leftovers, but we split them up and everyone got to take some home!

Cousin pic with Kristin, whose 39th birthday was Thursday!!

(We did a Cheesecake Factory brunch yesterday to celebrate - YAY!)

The fam!! ❤  (Kyndal did a screen mirror of a fireworks video, and it made a fun background for all these photos!)

Dad and his sisters!

Nash and Amelia!

Mamaw and Kyndal Faith!

The Whitaker Fam (just missing Anthony)! ❤

Cute cousins!!  Diesel, Wesson, Nash, Clara, and Amelia!  (Patriotic photo props by Nancy)

Gene and Nancy! lol

(Gene and Alan were both very complimentary and kind about my weight loss - they hadn't seen me in a while, so the change seemed more dramatic to them!)

The Tinker fireworks show didn't start until 9:45, so everyone but the Myricks and Charlene had gone home.  It never disappoints, though, and I love watching it all from Mom and Dad's backyard...

...with my feet in their pool! =)

All in all, there were cute kids, good conversation, good food, and awesome fireworks for a fun-filled family holiday!!

❤ ❤ ❤

Beauty Icons of Yesteryear

Going with something lighter and a little shallow today - the women who defined beauty for me in the late '90s and early 2000s!

There was once a life-size poster of this black-and-white Estee Lauder ad in our local mall.  I remember just standing there and being mesmerized by it.  My teenage self was convinced that Elizabeth Hurley was the epitome of beauty and class (pre-Austin Powers, of course). lol  She did approximately 500 other ads for Estee Lauder, many of which were more globally popular (based on how long it took me to find this particular photo), but this was the clear favorite for me, and still what would immediately come to mind if I put on any Estee Lauder makeup or perfume!

Total twinsies, right!? ;-)  I remember feeling so grown up and proud of this tapered-bob haircut in 8th grade, and I can almost promise I was thinking of Liz and this ad when I did my hair for this 1998 photo!

Next up is everyone's favorite older sister, DJ Tanner.  Candace Cameron had a natural beauty and radiant joy, a round face, golden-blonde hair, and a fluctuating body size that made her character more real and relatable for me.  That coupled with me growing up as she was growing up on TV, so her '90s fashion choices all felt perfectly on point!

Once again, I loved her shorter haircut in the final season of Full House and equated that with being a real grown up!

1995 Alicia Silverstone, more specifically Cher in Clueless.  Her vocabulary, confidence, wardrobe, hairstyles, lip liner, workout routine, pink fuzzy pen, leather jacket, cute heels, plaid suit, sheer overshirt, and wide-eyed innocent look were all things I very much tried to emulate! lol

Jennifer as Rachel Karen Green... not so much in the famous "Rachel haircut" look of season 1, but this exact hair from Season 3 of Friends was her best look, in my opinion!  As a die-hard Friends fan, I appreciate how often Rachel's hairstyle, hair color, and clothing style changed throughout that 10-year period.  It inspired me to remix it up and keep trying new things, and I'm glad for that!

My favorite actress through most of childhood was easily Julia Roberts - loved several of her movies, and I loved her red hair, brown eyes, big smile, and full laugh!  This red dress scene from Pretty Woman gets all the attention - and I get it, the red dress and red lipstick and ruby necklace are pretty fab...

But it's this quieter scene for me.  He totally misses her at first, then does a doubletake when he recognizes this transformed version of her.  She gets up with her fancy clutch purse in hand and says, "You're late."  And he's totally smitten...

The summer before my senior year at CHA, Elle Woods was there to help me see what college life might be like! lol  I love Reese to this day, and I loved Elle's joy, ambition, resilience, and nearly every makeup, clothing, shoes, and hair decision she made in that 2001 movie!!  Loud and sparkly and pink ...and scented - it gives it a little something extra, don't you think!?  ;-)

And finally, pre-addiction-struggles Lindsay Lohan was the fashion icon of my early 20s.  JMM and Sarah and I were obsessed with quoting Mean Girls at the time.  She inspired my first set of extensions (red, obvi), and I still have this page from 2004's 50 Most Beautiful People Magazine saved in a box somewhere.

So there you have it.  Elizabeth, Candace, Alicia, Jennifer, Julia, Reese, and Lindsay... the top 7 women who had a positive influence on my young adult makeup, hair, and clothing decisions! lol

Now that I'm officially in the "midlife" stage, I feel more grateful than ever for all the things that make my face and body and story unique.  I'm happy with who I am today and excited about who I'm becoming!

To give this post a little more substance, I'll end with one of my favorite quotes on beauty. ❤ 

“We desire to possess a beauty that is worth pursuing, worth fighting for, a beauty that is core to who we truly are.  We want beauty that can be seen; beauty that can be felt; beauty that affects others; a beauty all our own to unveil...  A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough.  She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that He find her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in Him, she is enough.  Her soul is alive, and we are drawn to her!"  ~John and Stasi Eldredge, Captivating

A Family Dinner to Remember

'Twas a memorable fam dinner last night... 

We had a delicious breakfast for dinner meal + the chocolate cake with Oreo icing - all good!  Mom and I are flying to Colorado tomorrow morning, and I wanted lovely curls for Graduation.  It always takes me forever to get them right, so I brought my Halo extensions hair for Rach to curl.  Naturally, I'm holding that hanger and flinching every time the hot curling iron gets close to me whilst Rach elevates and ices her bleeding ankle (the same varicose vein that erupted during Kyndal's birthday party).  Somewhere in there, I was struck by the comedy of all this and asked Mom to take our photo! lol

Apparently, this is normal for varicose veins that start bleeding openly.  Once again, Rach bled through multiple towels and used pressure and ice to try to slow and stop the bleeding...

Rach:  "I didn't think it would be this bad.  This is INSANE!!"

Mom:  "Dad's getting towels to help, and Lindsey's grabbing her camera!" #accurate

Rapidly soaked riiiight through the gauze and layers of paper towels and medical tape!  Sorry if you're squeamish about that... maybe skip this post. lol

Twice, it stopped for a tiny minute then started back up when she put any weight on her leg.  After a literal hour and 20 minutes of that, I insisted that we go to the nearby ER/Urgent Care.  Mom took J&K home while I took Rach to Saint Anthony's.  Comically, we got seated inside, and it stopped bleeding fairly quickly.  I encouraged her to walk on it, and again, the bleeding started back up immediately... then she echoed my "Take some steps" in a mocking tone. lolol

After bleeding through several small kitchen towels, we had taken a huge beach towel from Mom and Dad's house on our short drive.  Rach was filling out the paperwork when I noticed blood dripping onto their waiting room floor.  She got blood on the pen as she bent down to clean that up, then she somehow knocked one of her press-on toenails off her other foot.  She was angry-laughing as she put that in her pocket, saying "WHAT ELSE!?" whilst I was laughing too hard to be super helpful!  The officer came over to grab her paperwork, and Rach told him there was blood all over the pen, so he let her keep that as a special souvenir. lol

(A couple minutes later...)

Rach:  "Oooooh, now he's sanitizing the clipboard.  This is so embarrassing!"

Me:  "Don't worry about it - I'm sure you're not the first person to bleed in the ER."

We waited about five more minutes, and in that span of time, the bleeding actually fully stopped and she was able to walk around on it without issue.  Thennnn the doctor came out to get her.

Doctor (realizing Rach was joking around about it all):  "Those varicose veins just bleed like crazy!  You can follow up with your doctor to get that fixed...  You're welcome to check in if you want, but all we can do for you here is amputate your foot!" lol  (Pic = the angry veins once it finally stopped bleeding. Woof.)

The whole thing was fascinating and entertaining.  Rach is often funny to me, but never more so than when she's mildly flustered or irritated, which she definitely was by the end of the night!  Earlier, while Rach was curling my hairpiece - LOL - I freaked out about the curling iron and dropped it on the ground right where she'd just cleaned up a pile of blood.  Five second rule!? lol  I just washed it that morning, and now it may smell like blood and/or bacon, but whatevs, you can't smell a photo!! lol  In the end, we laughed a lot and all was well.  And we spent zero dollars and less than 30 minutes at the hospital, and Mom got to help a bit with the laundry and packing for Kyndal's 5th Grade Creation Nation trip (in progress right now - hope she has a total blast)!

Way back Wednesday:  The 2-year-old Jace Michael, 11 years ago today!

And the 24-year-old very blonde Lindsey Claire, 17 years ago today! =)

Suggested shortly after my marathon, I'm in a new FB group called "Slow AF Running Club." lol  It's mostly fun and supportive and inspiring posts, and I'm enjoying that.  This one made me laugh!

Another post from that group.

Just me using ChatGPT for some free therapy as Mother's Day approaches.

Not getting into that more here, but it's been a whirlwind of unanswered questions lately.  Here again, I'm reminding myself to stay tethered to Jesus and anchored in eternal hope!!  Easier said than done, but our walk with God is worth every bit of effort we put into it.

He is with us.

One day at at time.

God's grace is sufficient.

Today's trouble is enough for today!

Okay, I'm headed home to pack soon.  Excited for our Colorado trip ahead... prayers appreciated for safe travels!

❤ ❤ ❤