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

Peaches, Princesses, and a Pilgrimage

Hey, friends!  I'm about to head to Mom and Dad's to watch the last half of the NBA World Championship basketball game... GO THUNDER!!  At the moment, I'm eating a Pioneer Woman peach dumpling (YUM) and writing this lovely blog. =)

So without further ado, here's a recap of recent photos and events... starting with this throwback to hanging out with Sarah and Chettles (and Nancy and puppy Shiloh and other LG friends and cute kids and firemen) at the Eugene Field cookout SIXTEEN years ago!!  

The Walmart bakery did a rough job writing on this one, but yay for Rach being a Certified Professional Coder!  Here's hoping she can find a great remote job that starts in early fall!

Jeffrey Edward took a very hot walk from the Wynn to the Bellagio to send an awesomesauce Vegas fountains video last week... it was Celine singing My Heart Will Go On, so that's my favorite place, favorite singer, and favorite movie all at once!!  He's there for another work event this week, planning a Mon Ami trip, and it's all inspiring me to go to Vegas again (when it's a little cooler outside there).

Speaking of inspiring, this is Ali, one of my CCU classmates during last year's internship course...

She recently went on a 10-day, 110-mile oceanside backpacking pilgrimage/hike from Portugal to Spain... Google says "the Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James, is a network of pilgrimage routes leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain."  She had read something about that being a pilgrimage to honor your ancestors, so she made a video every night talking about their day's journey and highlighting one of her parents/grandparents/great-grandparents with a few facts, memories, and stories about their lives.  She did this for her 50th birthday... they arrived today, and she dedicated the final video to her children and grandchildren.  I've been so inspired watching her videos - I absolutely love it - and now I wanna do this too, so who wants to join me!?   You have 8.75 years to decide. lolol  I'm adding it to my Life List, for real!

Happy 12th Anniversary to Chet Lee and Karli Marie today!!

From their fav third-wheely single fran! lol

I adore and admire them, and I'm grateful for their friendship and loads of fun memories together!

Shifting gears, I got a box of peaches from the Peach Truck on Friday!  Nom nom for us, David!

I spent Friday night washing all of my fake hair, which turned out to be a more intense and time-consuming project than I'd imagined. lolol It's a blond and dirty blond set of clip-in Cashmere extensions (as seen on Shark Tank) + the red Halo Couture extensions.  Now they're all fresh and ready to go! =)

Saturday morning was an 11am Princess Tea Birthday for Katherine Claire!! 

So much cuteness!

Kate wanted donuts instead of cake, and that was a hit and a little easier for serving!

Chet humming the song on Sarah's shirt made me laugh - an old school favorite of his for sure!

The Fulton fam... this turned out really cute!

Karli and Tate were at another birthday party that same morning.  I joined Teresa and Parker and Chet for ice cream at the Sand Springs Braums... literally all of us were planning on twist fro-yo, but their machine was broken.  #lamesauce

Group pic!

I randomly decided on the Tulsa outlet mall for my afternoon 5k walk... huzzah for ApplePay and pretzel nuggets and shade and air-conditioned stores I could pop in and out of!!

After that, Laura Allison and I had dinner at Cava and a 5-hour chat catching up on all of life!!

Today I met Kristin for lunch at Hideaway, then did a neighborhood walk 5k, then the Whitaker fam stopped by and Frankie got rid of the dirt dobber nest inside my garage!  "And then a hero comes along..." lol  I'd love for the family of bunnies to stick around, but I'm very happy the stinging insects are gone now!

The aforementioned peach dumplings... really good!  (Recipe HERE)

And now I'm ready to Thunder Up one last time this season... let's freaking go!! #maximumeffort

(Also, new AE jean shorts - yay!)

Okay, friends!  I love you and believe in you, and I hope the feeling is mutual! =)

❤ ❤ ❤

Life Lately...

Okay, lighter post this time! =)

Kristin and the boys joined me for lunch at McAlister's on Thursday!! ❤

Frankie and Diesel were at their Cross Timbers church camp, so it was just her and Wesson and Nash!

They were surprised and happy to see me, so that was fun!!  Nash's missing-teeth smile and joking with his mom to stay out of trouble makes me happy! lol

We ran into Christina Maynes, formerly Tina Barlow, the star volleyball player for the 2000 CHA team! =) She was always kind to me, and it was good to see her!  She played on a scholarship for four years at OU and is now the head VB coach for CCS.  Mom and Rach were ready to switch schools when I told them that. lol

Then Jaceman and I went to see Karate Kid: Legends that night.  We were both equally thrilled with this last-minute cameo! lol  "Miyagi-Dough:  Slice first, slice hard, no anchovies!"

I had a hair appointment on Saturday, after Chipotle lunch with the wonderful Wilson fam!  (Tate and Parker were out back playing when I took this pic, but they ran out to hug me as I was in the process of driving off! lol)

So many cute bunnies in and around their yard... they're apparently eating the lovely flowers Chettles planted, so I don't approve of that, but still love seeing them! lol 

Thanks to my counseling homework project, I signed up for info on Thursday and ended up trying out a new Moore Lifegroup this morning...... imagine my surprise when the leader texted me her address a few houses down ON MY STREET! lol  God is funny sometimes!!  There were only three of us there for this first meeting, but we had a really good talk, and I'm excited about finally knowing one of my neighbors!  We're meeting every other Saturday, starting with the Captivating study then moving on to Lysa TerKeurst, so yay for all of that!  And yay for the pink backsplash and green cabinets in her Taber home! =)

It was Katie's very first time leading/hosting and Devon's first time attending any group.  I've done both more times than I can count, but it's been a while, and it was really nice to connect with them today!

So thankful it's not all up to me - God is guiding my steps and showing me which path to take. 

Adore them - so happy to have them back on a monthly basis now!

New rosy check vase with pink flowers and polka dot bow from Mom - love it! ❤

Happy last day of May, friends and fam!!  Reassessing wellness goals post-Marathon, and my June/July goals are to open a physical Bible and read one chapter a day + include a serving of veggies every day (spinach blended into a protein shake totally counts) + reach 175 by July 31st + complete a 5k (3.1 miles) every day of June and July (can be walking or running, all at once or in 2-3 segments).  

Let's make it a great summer ahead!!

❤ ❤ ❤

Framily Fun!

Happy Sunday, friends and family!!

Look at us, up bright and early to support the Mini Miss K in her summer volleyball league!  It was a 9:00am game at a gym that was 45 minutes away yesterday, and Mom and I agreed we would not set an alarm but would come if we happened to wake up on time... so we were both fairly surprised to see each other there.  Stupid Walmart grocery text at 7am. lol

We had fun cheering for her new team (they won the first game and lost the second, but both went into a 3rd set).  One of the dads behind us commented to his friend, "So this girl's our ace, huh!?" while Kyndal was serving. =)

*Also, this story is from a past tournament, but it made me laugh.  During the serving warm-ups, a volleyball was coming in hard right at me, but a little 6- or 7-year-old girl ran by and hit it back to the court just in time... then Sailor's dad sitting behind me sang in his best Mariah impression: "And then a hero comes along..." and I laughed about that for a stupidly long time. lol  What a great song I'd mostly forgotten about!

Okay, so after the morning games, Mom and Dad and I had a delicious Cheesecake Factory brunch!  We sat outside, and it was pretty nice weather.  Mom and I split the Belgian waffle with strawberries and pecans and whipped cream (obvi), and Dad had pancakes, and we all had a good talk! ❤

So much cuteness... Miss Hope Renee in her cap and gown - I so wish CHA did this!

Speaking of graduates, Laura's niece, Hannah, is graduating from Baylor this week - yay!  Sic 'em, Bears! lol  Anything with Baylor will always make me think of Jeffery.  Also, I applaud Baylor for creating this perfect photo spot... well done!! ❤

Katherine Claire with her parents during their mini-trip to OKC!

Ellie Faye with her parents on her last day of dance class!

Jace Michael with Rach, trying on his suit and tie for graduation!

An awesome gift and card from Bill and Jill! ❤

One year ago today.  A life-changing dinner convo with ripple effects that are still continuing!

Eleven years ago today - LifeChurch Tulsa with Tiffany and Kyle!

Followed by cheering for Karli and Baylee in the Full Moon 5k, followed by dessert at Yolotti! lol

I sooo applaud whoever thought of this.  I've never once eaten a whole loaf of bread before it expires, so I'm a big fan of this smaller & cheaper option!

"I am not alone because the Father is with me...
But take heart, because I have overcome the world."  ~Jesus

 The month of May is very full!!
Praying you find peace in Jesus today!

❤ ❤ ❤