From the bookshelf

One New Year's Resolution I can say that I really have accomplished was to read more this year. I joined the Goodreads 2022 reading challenge and have just finished book 25/52! 

This past read was a "The Song of Achilles". This was a "BookTok" recommendation and to be honest I really didn't know anything about it before I picked it up. It seemed to be really popular on Tiktok and I thought this would be a good chance to step out of my normal genre. 

From the back cover: 

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

My thoughts:

Meh. It was ok I guess but maybe not worth the hype. To be fair, this book is not my typical genre and also revolves around Greek Mythology- which I can appreciate but not that into. 

This book took me about 5 days-ish to read, I just wasn't reaching for it, hooked into the story line, or eager to know what came next. I did get a little teary eyed at the end but was not as emotionally devastated as other readers reviewed. Not a book I'll be reaching for again but not a book I couldn't finish.

Up next:
I reeeeally planned to bring "It Ends With Us" on vacation with me- it's literally sitting in my suitcase right now.  I bought this book way back in December but still haven't read it yet. Buuuut I just got a notification that I had a book become available at the library. 

Annnnnd when I got to the library I found out that I actually I had TWO books available, including this behemoth 798 page book 😳😳😳 I'll get to reading "It Ends With Us" eventually... probably... 

What's on your reading list?

Kate Spade New Releases... Summer 2022!

 Summer is here! At least in the fashion world anyway. Kate Spade just dropped the first part of their Summer 2022 Collection and y’all it’s sooo good! 🍊

I don’t think I’ve been this excited about Kate Spade new arrivals in quite some time! The only thing stopping me from adding everything to my cart is that I’m about to head out of town. Lord help me if I find a Kate Spade store to stop in while on vacation!

Ooooh, cabana boy!

This collection is giving me alllll the heart eyes! I am loving all the beautiful details, bright colors, and all the fun novelty pieces! 😻😻😻😻😻

Perfection. I’m a sucker for seersucker

These are my absolute favorites! I think whoever the new creative director is really hit this collection out of the park! I’m so happy with all the new novelty. Fingers crossed there’s a buy more, save more event soon because I'm like Veruca Salt, I. WANT. IT. ALL. 

Which ones are your favorite?

Love your mother

 

Happy Earth Day! 

Have you used google at all today? Usually google has fun widgets and sometimes games celebrating holidays and events. However, today's google widget was much more somber. Instead of a game of cute doodle, google shared side by side images of the very real, on going climate crisis. 

Earth Day is a great time to reflect about how the choices we make can help the bigger picture. And the best part? It's never to late to start!

If you're like me, you grew up with the motto "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" and the first type of products that come to mind are papers and plastics. But what about clothing?

It's no secret that the fashion industry has a part to play in the climate crisis going on. The ugly truth is BILLIONS of products are created each year to keep up with the fashion world and the production of these items come with a heavy cost. Billions of trees are cut down and used, billions cubic metres of water are used, and even millions of these garments created end up in landfills or incinerated. 

So what can you do? Vote. 

Vote with not only your voice but also your dollars. Here are three of the easiest ways you can start voting:

1. Choose brands that are transparent about their practices, ethical and using sustainable practices. Now more than ever brands are listening to what their customers want- and we're not settling for green washing. 

2. Say goodbye to fast fashion and choose quality over quantity. I grew up with the rise of stores like Forever21 and did my fair share of shopping at them. And while Forever21 isn't the queen bee she once was, others have stepped up to take her place. Now there's online retailers that have unbelievably low prices and thousands of options, not to mention a world of influencers showing your their newest "haul"- it's hard not to get swept up! But what's the quality like? And many times can you wear that item without it falling apart (that's if it gets to you without holes already in it from poor construction!)? When look at the pieces in my closet that I've had for YEARS and refuse to let go of- I don't see any fast fashion labels. I see good quality pieces that are not only versatile, but have also held up over time because the quality is there. 

Once upon a time I overheard a conversation in a craft store and it has STUCK with me. An older lady was telling her friend about an expensive coat that she bought. The way she considered this higher priced item was by buying with the mindset of "Cost per wear". It's as simple as that. The more you wear an item, the cheaper (to you) it becomes and this ties right back into quality over quantity. 

3.Get thrifty! I have always loved a good thrift and now thrifting is a win-win for everyone involved. Not only are you getting a great deal on an item but you are also keeping that item from ending up in a landfill. There are more options now than ever for you to thrift your favorite brands with websites like Poshmark, Mercari, ThredUp, Ebay, Ect! The Lilly community really seems to take this practice to heart. There are soooo many facebook groups that are solely dedicated to the resale of Lilly. 

What are some of the other ways you are going from fast fashion to green fashion? 

A very merry half birthday!

 While updating some behind the scenes stuff here I realized that between my last post in 2021 and my 2022 revival tour that we had a major life update here…. We adopted!  A dog, definitely a dog 🤣 

AND we just celebrated his very first half birthday with us 🥳 

So without further ado, may I *officially* introduce you to Fennec!

I had been low key looking online at dogs for a good while but my heart was still completely shattered from my sweet girl going to heaven. Every now and then I would send one to Gray and often did not get much of a reply. While scrolling through the new dogs of the day I came across this fluff ball and texted Gray a link. 

And again heard nothing… until I got home! Out of the blue Gray said "that was a really cute dog you sent me earlier". So I decided to fill out an adoption interest from. This resulted in me bawling my eyes out because it asks about your previous pets and why they’re no longer with you. So I told the the story of my angel dog and her hemangiosarcoma (fuck cancer).

And then we waited, and waited, and waited. We kept looking back at that fluffy dog and I was beginning to think I tanked the adoption application by over sharing. That was until I got a call from the rescue owner. She had been sorting through applications for Austin (his shelter name) when she came across ours. She had also lost a dog to hemangiosarcoma and “had a connection” with us. As soon as we talked we knew we wanted to meet him and planned to make the 1.5 hour trip down. 

Right before we left to go see Fennec for the first time I walked into my girlie room and saw my Kate Spade Chow purse. I should have known that was a good sign that I already have a matching purse to this dog😂

Fennec was listed as a sweet, cuddly, collie/pyrenees mix- so we thought he was going to be on the mellower side. Boy were we wrong!

Immediately upon seeing him, he comes barreling down the yard and then proceeds to jump/punch Gray right in the 🥜s! This dog is going crazy! He’s running laps, playing in water,  jumping higher than our heads- at this point we are both thinking what the heck did we just get into! And yet we're still trying to impress the dog rescue because we want to take him home… and we did! 

The FIRST pic we took of Fen to let everyone know he was coming home!

We changed his name to Fennec because he looks like a fennec fox 🐕 We also did a DNA test on him and found out our wild boy is wild to the core because he’s made up of every crazy, high energy breed! 

Here’s six fast facts about Fennec that we’ve come to learn in the past 6 months:

1. Ball is life. This dog LOVES to play ball 🎾 

2. He’s a talker and he’s got A LOT to say!

3. Fen has “winter nose”, if you look at the first car ride pic of him compared to more recent pics you can see his nose has turned from black to pink 🐽 

4. This dog is also ✨ obsessed ✨ with lasers and lights. If he hears the jingle from the laser pointer keychain it.is.ON.

Look at these post bath crimpies!

5. He gets “crimpies” all over when his fur gets wet 🥹

6. He’s 💯 the goodest boy (even when he’s a little bit naughty 😈) And he puts up with his mom dressing him in Lilly! 

He’s brought so much joy and laughter to our lives that he definitely deserves to have every part of him celebrated, including his first half birthday with us! Happy 1/2 birthday wild boy!