My Favorite Dress, Transitioned

Remember this beauty? As in the dress? (I am not that into myself...)

In this post I promised I would show you how I would transition this mint little number into a fall masterpiece. I am no Picasso, but I think I can give a first grader a run for their money.

Texas gave us a taste of fall last weekend. As in taste I mean like licking the crumbs out of the cookie jar. We had just gotten our fix of the cool air then seee yaaaaa. It was gone. 

In the millisecond that my body stopped sweating I decided to throw on this dress and convert it into a fall staple piece. A simple cream cardigan and my favorite boots made for the comfiest outfit.

How are you transitioning your summer pieces?

Happy Tuesday!

Jogger Egg Nogger 15K



Cool and intriguing name, right? That is how they suck you into this race. "Oh, you get an unlimited amount of Egg Nogg after the race!" Why yes, sir, Egg Nogg is all I ever dreamed of after running 9.3 miles. Ummm, not! Barf. By the way, the picture above is for giggles only. No, I will maybe only once never be caught running in a Santa Speedo.

I have told y'all before how I used to play softball in college, which equates to working out. a lot. Fast forward a couple years, and a marriage later and BAM, see ya gym! Wouldn't wanna be ya!

Yup, basically about a month before I married my Prince Charming I kicked the can on the whole working out thaang. I was too busy buying a house, planning a wedding, attending graduate school, and working 65+ hours a week as a tax accountant. Add all that up together and there was no room for the gym.

"I ain't as good as I once was...", as Toby Keith once sang, is my anthem right now. Back in tha day (as in college years) I would spend hourssss at the gym playing racquetball, ping pong, doing aerobics, and chit chatting. Hey, you can't forget about the face muscles! My roommates and I all played sports so we lived in the gym. It was our comfort zone, our happy place. I guess we were gym rats...hahah totally kidding! These days sitting at my desk for 8+ hours a day is an unwelcome change of pace from my past active lifestyle. Add a husband that eats pizza everyday and never gains a pound to the mix, and you get a body that just feels blah.

Blah. Let's break that down. I am not complaining of how I physically look. Is any woman ever completely happy with their body? No, but you must love and embrace what God gave you. I will never be a double zippo. Never ever. So that is not what my goal is. My goal is to just feel better. When someone goes from working out daily, to not working out in months...blah.

This brings me to the Jogger Egg Nogger. Lucky for me I have to coolest sister-in-law ever and she convinced me to run this 15K race with her...IN THREE WEEKS! That is 9.3 MILES PEOPLE! What kind of sister-in-law is she?!? A great one :)

We got to talking and we both just feel blah. Physically and mentally. We just need some activity in our lives. We decided that in reality, we can't run 9.3 miles without stopping after training for only three weeks. After talking it over, we decided we would do it no matter how much we ran or walked! Since I am not planning on running a marathon anytime soon, it just matters that I finish!

Saturday was the day we decided on this, meaning Sunday was one last day to gorge myself on leftovers from Thanksgiving and Monday started "training" day 1.

That leads me to Monday morning. I set my alarm in order to get up and go workout. I snoozed that baby for an hour! Pa-thet-ic! Omg I am embarrassed for even saying that! Ha! I laid in bed and tried to talk myself out of working out. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to going to the gym. At 7:00 AM I decided enough was enough and I was going to the gym to run two miles. No ifs ands or buts about it.

Oh. my. goodness. Why is it that on a treadmill you see the time ticking, but it seems in slow motion? I mean I swear my snooze timer is on some lightning fast timer. One second I hit snooze and beep beep beep, five seconds later it goes off again telling me my ten minutes has already passed! Liar! The treadmill timer is the complete opposite. O..n..e, t...w...o, t..h..r..e..e, and so on. Sooooo slowwww.

Here is the treadmill after my workout. Yes, I ran/power walked two miles in 23:06 minutes. Woo hoo! I didn't even die/pass out/cry-and-make-Chris-come-get-me! Maybe I felt it later when I went to work and had to walk up stairs, or maybe I felt like I was in my prime, but no one has to know that I took the stairs and cringed on every step.

Tuesday was training day 2. I was honestly just proud that I made it to the gym!! The plan was to run two miles again...but my legs felt like jell-o. I ran one mile and was perfectly happy with that. Baby steps Sarah, baby steps. (Baby steps: sign up for a 9.3 mile race after not running for months!)

Wednesday was a busy day at work, starting with an early morning tax training session. I dedicated Wednesdays as my off day. Wednesdays and Saturdays Fridays.

Thursday was exactly like Monday. Literally. I walked/jogged two miles in 23 minutes...whao-buddy...shaved six seconds off that baby!

If anyone wants to run the Dallas Jogger Egg Nogger 15K, it is $40 until December 4th and then goes up to $45. They also have a 5K for the smarter people who would rather not run 9.3 miles.

Does anyone have any advice on training for a 15K in 3 weeks?? I need some secrets, magic, and a whole lotta pixie dust to train for this race!

a lot to be thankful for: thanksgiving 2012

This Thanksgiving was ah-maze-ing to say the least. I mean, isn't any day that you don't have to go to work a great day?! This was my first Thanksgiving as a married woman and Chris and I decided we were going to celebrate with my family. We have celebrated with his family the last two years, so my family it was!

One sucky thing about Thanksgiving: traffic. How do you avoid it? You leave Thanksgiving morning instead of Wednesday afternoon like every. other. person. in. America. We woke up early Thursday to make the four hour trip south and it was such a nice drive. Driving with this view reminded Chris and I we have SO MUCH to be thankful for.

We were in Austin (almost to my parent's house!) and this was the look Wrigley gave me.


"Seriously Mom, how much longer?!?!"

Once we got to my parent's it was full help-Mom-do-whatever-she-needs mode.

I had to make chocolate pie for Chris. Ok, here is the story on that. His Mawmaw makes him chocolate pie every year for Thanksgiving and it is his FAVORITE. He literally eats a whole one by himself. For an appetizer. Anyways, I wanted to make him one since we wouldn't be seeing his family this year. I got the recipe from Mawmaw and...ummm...I am embarrassed to say that it was terrible. It was runny and clumpy and (insert 1000 other words to describe a terribly made pie) I completely failed. I was so bummed. I think I will need another lesson from Mawmaw on how she makes her famous pie because mine was famously horrible.

Once I got over the fact that pies are not my expertise, I helped with whatever needed to be done. Finally, it was time to stuff-your-face-as-much-as-humanly-possible. Oh wait...this is my husband BEFORE we ate...



I guess the drive wore him out...

The below picture was the only picture I got because I was too busy...well, stuffing my face! Those dishes were my great-great grandfather's. I inherited them, but they are still living in my closet at my parents. Mom decided to whip them out for this special occasion. My clumsy self almost dropped them 10 times and just about gave everyone a heart-attack.

In attendance was Chris and I, my parents, brother, maternal grandparents, Granddad, my Aunt Susan, and her two kids, Erin and Austin. It was a great group!

This was the first Thanksgiving since my Meme's passing and I would be lying if I said it wasn't tough. The emotions hit me the night before we left. I couldn't sleep and for some reason all I could think about was Meme and how I so wish she was still here. I laid silently and a few tears fell until I drifted to sleep. Fast forward to Thursday on our drive down there. We were about 20 minutes from my parent's and I had a breakdown. Luckily I have the best husband ever and he reminded me to think of the good times and keep my spirits high.

Although Meme is no longer here, I am so blessed to have this man as my Granddad. Here is Sam, me, Granddad, Erin and Austin.



After we ate, there was a lot of this going on.

Yes, those are Buckee's boxers that I am wearing. Buckee's is the bomb. End of story. I changed after we ate due to the fact that my stomach grew 3x its normal size and my jeans were no longer comfortable. C'mon, everyone has that problem on Thanksgiving, right??

I got to spend a lot of time with this little angel.



Friday night my brother had a playoff football game. If you follow me on Instagram (sarahtuckerup) you saw that he won! Proud big sister right here. He is a senior this year, and quarterback of the football team, and I am so stinkin' proud of him. I hope they win this weekend so I can make it next week to cheer him on again!

After his game we had family game night with all the cousins. We stayed up until 3:30 AM playing Catch Phrase. THREE THIRTY IN THE MORNING. I don't know about y'all, but even in college I didn't stay up that late. It was so fun. My throat hurt the next morning because of the intense laughing that was happening the night before.

Saturday morning Chris and I headed back to Dallas. We are just so grateful to have had such a wonderful holiday.

Sunday was full Christmas mode. I can't wait to show y'all our decorations and all of my Christmas DIY projects!!

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.

Have a great Monday :)

What I Wore Wednesday - Weekend Shopping

Read: This post was intended to be a normal WIWW post...that was until...well until I decided to write for 20 minutes and realized there was no turning back. Gotta mix it up every now and then!

I started my shopping weekend Friday after work. I ran out at 4:00 - and never looked back - and went straight to Franny's, or as most people know it, Francesca's. I had my Pinterest app in toe and was focused on buying items I had pinned.

When going through my closet last week I realized I am lacking in the long sleeve shirt department. That is probably due to my abilities to produce heat like a fire-cracker on the Fourth of July. Chris and I are that couple who don't turn the heater on unless it gets below 30 degrees, and we would rather go to the snow than the beach. Because of that, I ususally wear short sleeve shirts and just throw a cardi on over it. I am only in my 20's, but I swear I get hot flashes.

My shopping mission was to find long sleeved blouses and jeans. Yes I have lots of pants, but I noticed they are similar to the colors of a rainbow and I am in need of some "normal" jeans. Luckily a friend of a friend sent me the friends and family coupon from Banana Republic, so I got five full priced items for 50% off. Score!

Do you ever get in those moods where you have your game face on, credit cards hot and ready, and you are ready to shop until you drop? Friday was that kind of day evening.

After scoring big at Franny's, I decided that I should head to Forever 21 in search of "essential" items that I had pinned numerous times on Pinterest (i.e. I have pinned the same blue jean shirt four times...I think it was time I bought one!). Follow me on Pinterest (https://pinterest.com/sarahtuckerup/) and you will see my repeated pins and love affair with food. That was your warning, I love food.

After scouring the racks of F21 (can I shorten it like that?) I got in the fitting room line with my clothes. After waiting approximately .0078 minutes I decided to hope for the best and head home without trying on any of the clothes. I should know my body, right?

When I got home I tried on my flannel button down, blue jean shirt, light blue flowy blouse, and the other items I had picked up from Francesca's. Friday was a long-sleeve-shirt buying day...Saturday was the day to buy for the lower half.

Here are some of the cute tops that came home with me. Chris, they were all free. I spent no money :)


Pleated Blouse from Forever 21

Jean Shirt from Forever 21

Cross Sweater from Forever 21



Similar to what I bought: Plaid Top from Forever 21

Polka Dot Top from Francesca's

 I can't find the other top I got from Francesca's. It is cream colored and flowy with gold beads down the front. Totally GORG!

Also at Francesca's I hit the shoe jackpot because they were having a 40% off fall shoe sale. It was like the shoe fairies were with me because they had one pair of grey boots left in my size!!! They have this adorbs colored zipper on the back. I was in heaven when they got discounted to $40.

Side note: I just realized this post is taking for-ev-er and I now have no chance of writing my normal WIWW post, so I am going on with my shopping tanget.

Pushing forward now with Saturday's shopping finds. I will say that I needed jeans and having the Banana coupon came at the perfect time.

Ya see...here in Texas we don't wear jeans for the majority of the months out of the year. We usually have summer year around with a few weeks of fall. Then randomly we have an artic freeze, and everything is shut down...as in you don't leave your house...so jeans are not needed, only sweatpants. With that being said, your my body tends to change from year to year. Being that all my jeans are from high school, seriously, I decided it was time to upgrade.

Good for me the jeans still fit! Bad thing was that junior sized jeans are not made for woman with, as Chris calls them, "child-bearing hips." So yes, I could still get my eight year old jeans on, and yes they fit super funny. It was time I bit the bullet and bought myself some new jeans.

Banana came up clutch with five new fab pairs of pants. Blame my lazinees on why I just linked the pants I bought instead of providing you with lovely pictures.


THESE black skinny jeans are THE MOST COMFORTABLE jeans ever. I put them on and was in awe of how much they felt like leggings, yet the were jeans. Does that mean I just confessed to loving jeggings? Hey, I'll rock the jeggings all day long if they are as comfortable as these!

THESE dark wash skinnies need to get hemmed. Height was not something my family was given.

THESE trousers are so comfortable. I already have a pair of trousers, but I have to wear heels due to my reasoning in the previous paragraph. I bought these, and am getting them hemmed, in order to be able to wear flats with them.

THESE pants are the most comfy "business" pants ever. Go try them on and you will see. They are secretly stretchy and when you sit at a desk all day (blah!), stretch is necessary! I also got a pair in this color.

So there ya have it. My annoyingly long post about almost everything I bought this weekend. I did pick up a couple pieces of cheap jewelry from Forever 21 and some leggings from Franny's, but you get the gist.

Some people may wonder: why so much shopping? I will give you a hint...it has to do with my New Year's resolution....but you will have to wait until closer to New Year's to find out! Eeekkk! I am SO excited! Can you believe less than 50 days until 2013...un-be-lieve-able.

Let's just get through Wednesday! Happy Humpday!

What I Wore Wednesday - Green Jeans!!

I know, green jeans?! That is what I was thinking when I spotted them. But, then I saw the price tag and they hopped in my basket like stink on poo, or white on rice?? Anyways, I knew for that price I could figure something out.

Since fall has kinda-sorta arrived here in the Lone Star State I have been wearing my boots as much as possible. I promise all winter it will not be boots every Wednesday, or at least it won't be these boots every Wednesday :)



Everyday when I get home I let the dogs out in the front yard for some play time. They hardly ever actually play in the back yard, but the second they are let loose in the front yard, they are running around like crazies! Also, when their Daddy gets home they like to show off their playing skills and put on a show. And then Chris gets them all riled up and they have been known to run smack-dab into me without even skipping a step. Thanks in advance, Wrigley and Bailey, for my future blown ACL because of your lack in looking before you run.

Now for the budget break down:

- Steve Madden Boots: $165 - as I said before, totally justified

- Grey Sweater from Nordstrom: $32

- Black Scoop Neck Blouse: Maybe 20 bucks or less from Banana Republic. I just remember it was heavily discounted.

- Necklace: Free, thanks Momma!

- Kelly Green Pants from Target: $11.78 <-- Yes, less than 12 dollars (holla!)

Do you remember these pants? Well these green gems are the same brand and marked down to the same price. I will admit they are a bit big, but based on my lack of working out since I got hitched, I might need that extra room :) Or of course an extra couple rounds in the dryer could always do the trick!

Be sure to check out my other WIWW posts here!

Happy Hump Day!

1st Annual Tucker Halloween Party

The girls at the party. A tooth fairy, flapper, spring chicken, smartie pants, old woman, cowgirl.

Over in this post I mentioned I was wanting to have a Halloween/Housewarming party at our house even if Chris thought the house wasn't "ready."

Well, ready or not we had a par-tay and it was perfect! The entry way walls were only halfway painted and we have a lot more DIYing to do, but everyone loved getting to see the house, eat great food, dress up, and play games. Oh, did I mention eat great food? I ate my weight in sugar, and loved every second of it.

I was running around like a normal crazy person all day in preparation for the festivities, so I had about three minutes to get ready and put on my costume. Luckily hopping into my "Spring Chicken" costume didn't take much time :) Chris was a (cute) gorilla! I purposefully chose a costume that needed little time to put together because I knew I'd be baking little bacon wrapped smokies (drooling? they were like crack. no one could get enough!) and making punch up until the last second. Luckily my bestie (from before kindergarten), Kirstin, was there to lend an 'old' hand.

Thanks, Jessica, for snapping these pictures!
 



 

Kirstin's husband Tyler, on the left, looked just like an old man. He did the make-up perfectly! Someone saw him and Kirstin walking up to our house and thought it was someone's parents!

I made Oreo dirt cake, punch with teeth and eyeballs, and bacon wrapped smokies. The smokies went so fast I never had a a chance to take a picture! Recipes to come!

Thanks to everyone who came! Let's make it a tradition!