5 (or 6) on a Friday

Maggie says hi.

Today is her 5-year adoptiversary! She spend her first few years of life in horrific conditions as a breeder mom for a bulldog breeder and she encourages you all to adopt and support your local animal rescues. They do hard, life changing work. Lonestar Bulldog Club and Rescue saved our sweet Mags when she was a starving and broken and we're all so thankful for them. She now lives a life of strollers, fluffy blankets and winter sweaters (and allergy shots and opthamologist visits) and she deserves every bit of it.

(Yes, the cats have taught Maggie to loaf. They are her alphas and she does whatever they say.)

Okay, I've been trying to write a post for 2 weeks so I'm going to force myself into the "Five on a Friday" format stolen from Shu and Sarah and see if that will carry me through to the publish button.

(1) Changes. I'm coming up on my 2-year anniversary of leaving the SEC and rejoining private practice. It's been a lot of change: new city, new house, new schools, new needs, new routines, new support, new income, new goals, new expectations, new almost everything really. And I finally feel like I'm right now in a pretty good place with it all. I know we only moved an hour away, but that hour was far enough to need to change basically EVERYTHING. Every doctor, every specialist, every person or place we saw regularly in Fort Worth had to be replaced in Dallas for five people and three pets and that takes a while. I just finally found a hair salon and got my hair cut for the first time in over a year and I've already made my next appointment so I can be a real grown-up who gets regular hair cuts.

Speaking of changes, I found grey hairs the other day! I don't know why it shocked me so much- I guess because neither my mom and maternal grandmother have grey hair even now, but as part of my grown-up maintenance, I'm getting my hair "glazed" at my next appointment. I've never dyed my hair in my whole life, not even a highlight or teenage from-the-box boondoggle, but I really love my haircolor and just want to keep it vibrant in this next decade. I'm fine with some grey, and definitely can't handle regular maintenance (see first haircut in 14 months above), so the stylist recommended some glossing/glazing (I can't remember what it's called) to keep my color up but also let the grey blend in. We'll see.

On a related note, I got Skinvive yesterday. I've been really happy with my skincare since switching to Dr. Whitney Bowe beauty, but I haven't had a facial or laser treatment in two years and felt I could use a little extra "glow." The RN who does my Botox (I do a light touch around my eyes 3-4x yearly) recommended the Skinvive so I decided to try it as my treatment for the year. It takes a few weeks to show up and then continues improving your skin for approximately 9 months. I'll keep you posted.

A friend had an extra ticket to the Dallas Bar Association Inaugural Ball last weekend and asked if I'd like to go. I love a fancy night out with a friend and James had a swim meet, so I jumped at the chance for a Black Tie event. This is also why I finally remembered to schedule a haircut for that day, figuring I'd take my blow out to the ball. I also got to wear the dress I bought in 2019 to wear as a bridesmaid in my brother's summer 2020 wedding that got postponed and then canceled due to Covid. My dress, hair, and I were so happy to go out!

I wore my grandmother's pearl bracelet, my grandma Jo's garnet ring, my aunty Mary's pearl earrings, and the purse I bought myself for Christmas and had a great time.

(2) Winter Weather. I really like it when it gets cold outside and I get mad when it gets hot again (which is why I'm basically mad from May-September), but I do not always enjoy how Texas likes to have random extreme cold followed by mild weather followed immediately by a day it doesn't get above zero followed by 78 degrees. Just stay in the 40's for a while. Then I'll know what to wear when I leave the house.

We lost power during the last ice blast and spent a cozy evening playing cards by firelight. Maggie loved it.

(3) Travel. I spent last night booking our summer vacation! I felt we were really missing a good hiking adventure trip (like our Utah trip, which resulted in one of my favorite pictures of all time), so we're headed up to Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho- three states none of us have ever been to, to explore Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks!

I'm so excited.

Current plan is to fly into Glacier, stay 3 nights near there, drive down to Yellowstone and stay 2 nights near the top of the park, and then drive down to Swan Valley to stay in a friend's house for 4 nights and explore the southern side of Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I have a private all-day wildlife/hiking tour booked for our first day in Yellowstone, but that's it so far. If you've been to any or all of these places, I would LOVE your recommendations. Favorite hikes, stops, restaurants, etc.

(This seems the right spot to throw in the fact that I did in fact finish the kids' photobooks for last year and they got them at Christmas and they love them and even though they are my annual albatross, the kids love them SO much and so do I. I constantly find them reading them (we keep a random stack in the living room and change up the years) and repeating stories I've captured inside to one another.)

Looking forward to photobooking this next big adventure!

(4) Health and Fitness. As noted in my last post, I recently got into running. I even ran during our crazy snow and ice storms of 2 weeks ago when the lake I run along looked like this:

Then my knee started hurting pretty badly, so I took a little break before running again when my knee hurt just as badly. So then I decided if it's going to hurt I might as well run (spoken like the true high-level athlete I used to be), but then it started hurting when I wasn't running so now I have a physical therapy appointment on Monday. I'm annoyed because I was genuinely enjoying running and particularly loved feeling like I got a really good workout in the smallest possible amount of time. But I've been doing my HIIT and pilates work outs up in my room, so I'm still feeling pretty good. Missing running is almost as weird as the fact I started running in the first place.

(5) Clothes. As I've written about intermittently over the last two years, I embarked on a major clothing/style journey when I took this new job. Particularly after 2+ years of working from home during Covid, I needed an upgrade of nearly everything for going back to the office (I'm in 4 days a week), a lot of work travel and speaking engagements, and just a generally more dressed-up environment. Even when it's casual, it's a designer casual and while this is superficial, when you're building something new, the superficial matters.

Bonnie has been my style guru for the past 2 years and has completely changed how I think about my clothes and shopping. After spending the first year in an acquisition phase- actively adding to my wardrobe with each season, I now just add the occasional piece, or sometimes replace an old staple with an updated one. And after years of wearing dresses to work, I now almost never do- it's always 3 pieces: top, bottom, and blazer, and I love how it looks and feels.

I love The Real Real and have picked up a few pre-worn/consignment pieces from there over the last year. I'm now so picky when I shop. I actually hardly ever shop anymore at all- just my annual birthday trip with my mom and the occasional online order. I feel like I have to justify any add to my closet to Bonnie when she comes so it's a very strict and deliberative process. I have some favorite brands and I now keep an eye out for their occasional sale or perfect new piece, but overall, I love where my clothes are at. I feel strong and smart and put together and it matters.

Favorite Brands:
Vince (skirts, pants, cashmere sweaters, silk anything)
Veronica Beard (blazers!, dresses)
Frame (jeans, tops, dresses)
L'AGENCE (blazers, jeans)
Evereve (denim and sweaters)

Bonnie is back for my Spring styling appointment in mid-February and I can't wait. I got the most beautiful hot pink L'AGENCE blazer on The Real Real in November (and an amazing sleeveless vest blazer from Veronica Beard at their year-end sale) and she's going to do magical things with them I'm sure.

(6) The Kids. I knew I couldn't keep to 5, but a quick note that the kids are all fine.

The girls had their first swim meet together last weekend and both did great. We're still playing it cool about the fact Claire is back in the pool, but we're secretly VERY EXCITED and HOPE SHE SWIMS IN HIGH SCHOOL VERY MUCH. But also, you know, whatever, it's cool if you don't want to, we just love you so much and want you to have a team who loves and supports you and helps you feel connected and successful. But whatever. (We love you.) (You should swim.) (Love you.)

Landon's sophomore year is going well. He's progressed to needing a large pizza for dinner on Friday plus a bowl of cereal after. He's looking forward to the end-of-season swim meets that are coming up and to finally receiving his class rank for the first time. Also, I sometimes feel like I can't breathe when I realize he has less than 2.5 years living in this house, but that's okay everything is fine.

I've been writing this off and on for most of the day and I'm now on the couch with my Milo snuggled next to me and life is very good. I will now press publish nad move on to sipping my Friday glass of wine and googling everything on the internet about Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. Happy Friday to everyone!