This dress brings me back to my Wet Seal days. Bongo jeans, body suits and babydoll dresses were all the rage while I was working there (I think I was a senior in high school so it must have been ’92 or ’93). I could upsell matching scrunchies and matching (double) socks like nobody’s business. Ahhh…the good ol’ days. As soon as I saw this dress, I knew my husband would NOT be a fan but hey…at least I didn’t buy spandex biker shorts to wear underneath it like I would have in the 90’s. But I did also buy not one but TWO bodysuits last week. What’s going on here?!?!

Outfit Details:
Urban Outfitters Chambray Dress (on sale!)
Free People Sandals
Michael Kors Runway Watch
Stella & Dot Bracelet
Anthropologie Clutch

I was originally going to post this on Friday with my new schedule and all but since Friday actually IS the 4th, I decided to post today instead (and will be taking Fri off…if that wasn’t clear…lol…not that it matters…world’s longest annoying run-on sentence…are you still here?). We typically celebrate the 4th on the day of our annual community parade but now that Eep is getting older, we are excited to watch the fireworks this year. Before I had my son, I always thought the infant/baby stage would be my favorite but I have to tell you that EVERYTHING is so much more fun with him with each passing year. Although I wish time would slow down just a bit. They (whoever they are) weren’t kidding when they said that “the days are long but the years are short”.  But I digress. These pics are from this years parade and once again we had a blast! The first year we lived here, we just watched the parade…the next I walked with my decorated stroller, last year we drove the Polaris and this year we had even more flare and passengers on the back of the Polaris (my posse’s gettin’ bigger…ahhhh…bonus points if you remember “Posse on Broadway” by Sir Mix-a-Lot…LOVED that song back in the day)!

P.S. One of my IRL buddies (the blondie in the top pic) started her own blog The CHIC Insomniac. She is hilarious…I hope you guys will stop by and say hello!

It’s kind of amazing how much more free time I have by just cutting my blogging down to three days a week instead of five (and this is only week one!). I’ve never been a planner-in-advancer so I’m usually staying up late each night to put the finishing touches on my posts. I’m hoping this extra time will translate to earlier bedtimes, but it’s almost 11pm now and I’m still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. This trying to get to bed at a reasonable hour thing may take some getting used to…

Outfit Details:
Freeloader Open Shoulder Tee c/o Swirl Boutique (only $24, call 760-753-0870 to order)
H&M Shorts (old)
Ancora Ring c/o Geoffrey Scott
Michael Kors Bag
Topshop Flats (old)
Madewell Tracecraft Bracelet
Kate Spade Bangle Bracelet

*linked up with The Pleated Poppy.

I’ve teamed up with the following lovely ladies (see below) to give away FIVE $75 giftcards to Lisa Leonard. I’ve been wearing her designs for a few years now and just love them (click here to see past posts). The bracelet below is one of her best selling pieces and is perfect for summer!

Skimbaco Lifestyle | The Tiny Twig | The Mom Creative | Lady and the Blog | Pretty Connected | Dear Crissy | Mom Generations | According To Nina | Blue Eyed Bride

It’s super easy to enter to win…just use the widget below to follow any (or all!) of the bloggers on Instagram. Each follow is an entry so enter as few or as many times as you wish. Thank you for reading and good luck!

$75 Lisa Leonard Gift Card

One of my best friends that I’ve known since high school posted a beautifully crafted and totally personalized hand-written letter that she received from a high school friend on Facebook. She was a year older than me so I didn’t know the girl that sent the letter but I commented that I LOVED it and wished I could get something so special in the mail. A few days later, I got a text from my BFF saying that her friend wanted to send me a letter and could she get my address. A couple of weeks (maybe even less), this letter arrived for me. I don’t even think these pics do it justice. She had actually hand-written me a personal letter (gathering details about me from my blog) and handmade the envelope using pages out of a Vivienne Westwood book. It also included a mini diy post box w/ mini envelopes so Eep and I could make mini letters to mail to our loved ones. There was also a Beverly Hills post card and triangle map confetti. Even the stamps were cool…Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash! I LIVE for stuff like this! Thank you SO much KellyJo for taking the time out of your day to make mine! I loved learning more about you on your blog (what are the odds that we both have housewife in our blog names?!?). What an amazing life you have led. I hope our paths cross in real life one day!

P.S. Getting this letter in the mail totally reminded me of the time when we did a project in elementary school where we put our names & addresses in helium filled balloons and set them free hoping for someone to find them and write back. I remember we were all so excited to see who would get a return letter from the furthest distance. Sadly I don’t remember if I got one in return but this letter made up for it. =)