How to dress for vacation

So, I read this article On A Cup of Jo

(I love her blogby the way)

Right before our vacation to Mexico for a long weekend

I knew i had to pack a wedding dress, a swim suit, a hiking outfit, and it would be hot

So I went on a mini shopping spree 

I also wanted a neutral color palatte (mainly black and white and jean material) so that pieces would go together more easily,

my accent color was teal

(LOVE IT!)

I am no fashion expert, by any means but I was so comfortable and still had room in my carry on 

Outfit #1: pink button down dress as a cover up with swim suit during the day,

and.. add a sweater and jeans for night

 Outfit #2: Striped t-shirt and jeans with a teal sweater and teal flats

Outfit #3: Hiking outfit

Printed teal tank top and jean shorts with tennis shoes

I also wore a hat with this outfit (it's next to the dog food, don't mind that)

at night worn with beige cardigan (above) and jeans

Outfit #4: Out on the town

The morning of the wedding we went to the market. Due to the amount of walking we were probably going to do i choose a dress with a hat (weird maybe, but it was hot). Polka dot black and white dress, gold gladiator sandals and hat.

Outfit #5: Wedding outfit

This was a must and the winner from this poll

I found these nude pumps from kohls for less than $20 and worn with my beige cardigan

So that was my suitcase

- one pair of knee length jean shorts

- one swim suit

- pink button down dress

- black and white polka dot dress

- teal cardigan

- beige cardigan

- brown polka dot dress

- gold gladiators (sandals)

- teal flats

- nude pumps

- tennis shoes

I would say not too shabby and could last at least 5 days in combinations. I could also take out the flats in the mixture. I didn't use them as much as I wanted to. I also would like to add a few more t-shirts to the mix.

Deffinately doing it again, especially when i go to LA in June/July.

Do you have any packing tips?



All in a name

In derby it is, ALL ABOUT THE NAME!!

I have spent many hours trying to come up with a name.

My first name of Ginger O. Snap was to close to another persons name.

You see.. when you have a derby name it is not your property

Anyways, I thought long and hard and if you know me personally you saw all the facebook requests and thinking it out. Some of the top names of consideration included Scarlet A. Vengence, Ginger Bone Snapper and another one (but I don't remember it)

Well, a friend also suggested Lucillle Maul, but it was too close to Lucille Brawl, which was taken

So, I started the rhyming game or used a rhyming dictionary.

and came up with 

LUCILLE HARDBALL

It's perfect! I love it and it suits me perfectly. yay!

In 2009, I dressed asLucille Ball for halloween.

This is the picture I was basing my look after

This is me as her.. what do you think, pretty close huh?

I thought so.

So if you could choose a derby name, what would it be?

24 hours

On Thursday, I got entralled in The Hunger Game mania. I know I live under a rock. I am not a fast reader either so that keeps away from a lot of books.

Well, my friend texted me to tell me a bunch of peopel were going to see the movie on Friday.

I knew a girl at work that was reading, immediately asked her for the book.

I got off work at 4 pm on Thursday and immediately started reading around 5p.

I read all day at work on friday and finished around 530p.

I loved the book and I love the violence

It reminded me of 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson

Here is the link to the story, beware it is violent

Than we watched the movie at 9pm, I think I ruined the movie for myself because I has just read the book. It was a decent movie, but I had the book engrained in my head, oops.

What did you guys think?  

2 weeks of derby

I making this #8 of 10 because this has been in my 10 in 10 days project
and its something important to me right now.

This was my 2nd week in derby and there were some things I learned along the way.. 

I have talked a lot about derby here in the past few weeks

Two weeks ago I was lucky to make the the farm team

You can read about that here

Well, being new to this sport I have learned a couple things so far

Practice # 1: Derby stance

Derby stance is a low and wide stance (think of a squat)

so that your center of gravity is lower and you are harder to knock over

(source)

Lesson: No matter how you think you are you can go lower.. feel the burn

Practice # 2: It doesn't matter what other people think

This was a hard for me, as I already have friends in derby and I want to make them proud all the time and effort they have put into me being where I am now. There are some skills I am not good at .. yet! and sometimes I get frustrated because I want to go to 0 to 60 and skip everything in between and I need not let that get in the way. 

(source)

Lesson: You are better than what you think you are, swallow some pride and put your full effort into everything you do

Practice # 3: Good pads are irreplaceable and tricks are easy to find

This practice was really hard for me, I really want to be the best i can be

No this is not an army slogan, but really I just want to make everyone proud

Not everyone knows this but I have had two knee surgeries in my left knee and this has always been a limiting factor in some sports like basketball and at time soccer because of the lateral movements. 

Well, I want so bad for derby to not be one of those things.

We practiced falls this week.

Falling for me is so not a normal process and especially with my knees, 

IT SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME!

Well thankfully a veteran player pulled me aside and worked with me, I WASN"T IN DERBY STANCE, ugh.. what an easy fix.

That made the first fall easy, no prob.

The second fall not so much

This is how its suppose to be done, not the way I was doing it

Needless to say I bruised my knees and it hurt and I cried 

I took about 10 minutes to collect myself and every one including my friend Jen and my friend Steph were so nice and just made sure I was ok and it made everything better. 

I got out there and tried my hardest, but I do need new gear. 

Lesson: I need to buy decent gear and something called a knee gasket that goes under your pads for more protection, midol is wonderful pain reliever and KT tape makes me feel 20 again and lifts my knees up (like a brace would)

Practice # 4: Husbands and knees come before derby

I was talked out of going to practice by friends because peter was coming home originally for one night and I should spend time with him.

I missed practice, but I am glad I did.

So that has been an update on derby and I will update you more often with my trials and tribulations. 

I love it, but it can be mean sometimes. 

New Recipe.. Week #8

This is #7 of 10 in 10.. eek. 

Almost there I can taste it.

(I know you dont care but I never finish anything)

This week recipe is inspired by one of the things I miss about California

It is of course a food item

That item is from a restaurant called BJs

See I told you I loved Chicago before i knew it was meant to be

They have an item called a pazooki

which is a cookie baked in a small (depends what size you get) pizza pan and served warm out of the oven with ice cream..

It is ooey gooey love

Well, I was inspired. My favorite is oatmeal rasin

I found this recipe on pinterest, halved it and cooked it in a 6 in spring form pan.

I greased the pan with butter and it worked out well.

I cut into to slices (to not over indulge) and served with ice cream..

delicious.

What have you tried this week?

This Post will be linking up this week.. for a list see above

$7 lamp makeover

#6 of 10

It was time.. time to change (again)

The lamp on my side of the bed needed something new

This was the last we saw it here 

I changed out the base at some point, I do not remember why but I think it was too tall or something

I ripped off the fabric, so this is what I got. 

A basic drum shade

I bought this base from the restore. It was wood and ugly (sorry I forgot to take a picture)

I sprayed it with good ol' ORB and love the way it came out

I had some burlap from coffee sacks left over from misc project and wrapped it around the shade

I took inspiration from these lamps

from Holly at Life 

(Source)

Lights on and Lights off..

lamp base.. $7

drum shade.. already owned

burlap... already owned

ORB.. already owned

Thats right.. $7!!!! woo hoo!

What do you think?

I love the change. 

This Post will be linking up this week.. for a list see above

This week

This week has been rough.. and thats even an understatement

This is project, well kind of #5 of 10 in 10 days

ME!

1. As of today peter will have been gone for 7 days which is good and bad

 

(source)

2. Started for real derby practice this week (Tuesday and Wednesday)

Does any one know of any good derby names for me?

(all advice is welcomed, preferably with the word Ginger in them)

(source)

Wish I could look like this.. but practices have been awsome and tiring all at once and I am pouring sweat at the end, which is such a good feeling.

Bad thing, I have not been going to sleep til 1 or 2 am! mainly because of something they call a derby high where I just lay in bed and wait.. ugh.

3. Eyes, I have run out of contacts and went in to get them changed and it turns out I have a severe bacterial infection in my eye. Of course there was no redness, drainage or itching. 

So I have had to wear contacts for the whole week.. boo! I hate glasses. I have also had to put drops in my eye 4x a day.

(source)

4. Today, I was driving to Springfield (hour and half away) on the interstate and my tire shredded. 

I pulled over (I am ok, I was just shaken up)

called AAA, but of course IDOT (Illinois dept of transportation)

got there before AAA and they were so much nicer, two old men

It kinda looked like this

(source)

Ugh.. the IDOT people escorted me to a local tire dealer and of course they didn't have my size so I drove back home-ish to get it fixed because they had it in stock.

So, I drove with a donut for 30 ish mile, woo hoo!

and i missed my class

5. I met a derby friend with the same name. 

We are both on the farm team, we are both training for the same marathon, we are both taken by a P (with the same name)

we have been running and had dinner tonight. 

Its awsome having a buddy for all that stuff. 

How was your week?

Bathroom mini-makeover Monday

I am writing this on a Monday.. does that still count?

I think so.. This is day 3 and project 3 &4 of 10.. woot.

Yup a double header..

Project one: organization

I had a problem with organization in our bathroom cabinets

We are limited in our bathroom organization and P is a minimalist so that means nothing can be out in the open 

The top shelf has a door and the bottom self is out in the open

I found this metal container at tj max and sprayed it with some ORB

and another look at it.. love it

Project two: towel holder

This is the back of the door and if you look closely you can see where the bar use to hang .. ugh

I needed a change

 

I found these hook at hobby lobby for 50% and fell in love

a place to hang my robe and my towel.. score.

My robe has been hanging in my closet it is awsome having it the bathroom finally

Any mini makeovers recently?

This Post will be linking up this week.. for a list see above

Spring Mantle

Day 2 of 10: Spring Mantle

I was inspired by Roeshel DIY showoff

As seen here

with original inspiration taken from Pottery barn 

This is my rendition..

"Happy Spring"

bird house painted with metallic silver and a soft ivory color

Paper mache eggs and flowers

Bird print from indiefixx.com

milk glass from the wedding

During the day..

I love this set up a lot and P is not here to tell me differently.

Do you have a spring/easter set up?

This Post will be linking up this week.. for a list see above