Red Red Wine

My husband and I set four goals for our family in 2012. We made a plan to not announce each goal until we have achieved it. At this point I have nothing to report about (come on, its still only January, I have 11 more months to go) but hopefully soon I will! I also set a personal goal for myself. In the past I have not been a big fan of red, and no we are not talking about red wine, I have been a fan of that for a while. My personal goal or should I say style goal for myself in 2012 is to embrace the color red. I am going to wear it more (and not just on my lips as I have already mastered that), shop it more and style more outfits including this color. So far I would say I have done pretty well. I recently purchased a new red coat which brings my total for red coats and possibly all red items of clothing up to 2! I also just altered a pretty darn ugly red dress into a brilliantly beautiful red wrap skirt that I am so tempted to keep instead of selling in my soon-to-be store. You will have to wait and see where it ends up, either in my closet or yours!

P.S. Does anyone else love UB40's version of Can't Help Falling In Love better than Elvis's?? Yeah, me neither ...

Say You Miss Me

You can all rest assured now. I am alive. I will squash all the rumors by saying that no I was not kidnapped and held for ransom, no I did not run away (although I did think about it), and no I did not lose all my fingers in a freak boating accident and therefore all ability to type. I simply have taken a little six month break.

So much has changed in the last six months and I will get to it all at some point but for now I just want to concentrate on two things. First, please know that there is no reason to say how much you miss me, my heart knows and that's all that matters (but if you really want to tell me, you can). Secondly, my Carole & Clarence store will be opening very soon!! I have a ton of work to do in the next couple weeks but my goal is for it to be open by the end of the month. I'll keep you updated so please stick around and I will promise to stick around this time too!

Never Give Up On The Good Times

I think I have mentioned this before but I am somewhat of pack rat. I really hate how that term sounds so maybe I'll come up with a different way of describing what I am. Let's say I am a nostalgist or maybe a super smart and sassy saver. Now, doesn't that sound better?

I am trying to get better at not keeping every little thing I've ever received since I discovered, after moving five times in the last four years, having lots of stuff makes things more difficult. I guess I just never want to give up on the good times and have a hard time throwing anything away that has a memory attached to it or might be useful later in life although I am not currently using it. I have found that my way of doing things (as opposed to the "if you haven't worn it in a year, toss it" rule) can pay off! Case in point ... my lovely wooden platforms with woven leather straps. 

I have owned these beauties for over nine years and wore them only once for the first eight and a half of those years. I originally bought them for the Junior Senior Banquet (similar to prom, I went to a private school) my junior year of high school. That whole getup from head to toe was my favorite that I put together for a high school dance. I couldn't get rid of the shoes even though I didn't really have any reason to wear them anymore. I tended to wear more casual clothing options in my high school days and didn't really start dressing up, or more ladylike as my mother said, until I was in college. Not to say that I dressed like a boy, I have just gone through many different clothing phases ... my nicknames in my neighborhood growing up were Cyndi Lauper and Madonna since I dressed like a crazy woman at the age of five, but that's another story for another post. 

So in a bin, mixed with many other pairs of shoes, my wooden platforms stayed. That was until a few months ago. I was itching to buy some new shoes, wooden platforms to be exact but my cute husband didn't really see the point in me buying another pair of shoes. Our conversation went a little something like this ...

Audrey: "Ohhhhhhhhhhh my goodness, do you see those super amazing shoes???!!!!" (pointing to picture on the computer)

Pete: "Huh? Oh yeah...."

Audrey: "Those are perfect and wonderful and exactly what I have always wanted!!!"

Pete: "That's cool...."

Audrey: "I think maybe I'll stop by the store tomorrow if I get out of work early and get me a pair!!"

Pete: "What are those on your feet right now?"

Audrey: "Boots ..."

Pete: "So why do you need another pair of shoes if you already have one?"

Audrey: "Do I need to explain the difference between boots and platform sandals again?!"

Well, I will spare you guys the rest of the convo but let's just say it didn't end in my feet's favor. I remained wooden platform-less for another couple weeks until one morning before work. I was frantically looking in one of my bins of shoes for a certain pair that were nowhere to be found in my room. I can't quite remember if I found them or not because I got very distracted when I saw my beautiful old wooden platforms mixed in with a bunch of other old shoes. I didn't wear them to work but they did move from the bin into my room. That's how things know if they are really special to me or not. Bin or room. Pete generally stays in my room :)

Wearing the Levi's from my latest thrifting adventure.

P.S. I may or may not have been a big Spice Girls fan in junior high ...

Bandages

Okay this post title is a bit of a stretch but I am using it anyways. I was looking for a song with the word 'breakdown' in the title but couldn't find one by an artist that I wanted to put on my blog (Jack Johnson, I don't think so). As I was typing in breakdown I thought there was some song I used to really like that had something to do with making up and breaking down. Well I was close. Hot Hot Heat had an album called 'Make Up the Breakdown' that I listened to quite often my sophomore year of college. The song 'Bandages' will always remind me of going out on Tuesdays to an 80's night at a club (that didn't actually play that much 80's music) and dancing the night away with my friends. There is a part of the song that my bestie and I would dance around in circles until we couldn't stand up straight. It's funny but some of my favorite songs to this day are from those Tuesday nights. So although this post was supposed to do more with breakdowns rather than bandages, it will work.

Our RV, Miss Priscilla, can be quite temperamental. When she gets all hot and bothered she sometimes decides she doesn't want to work anymore and will just stop on us. She did it twice today! Twice, in the hot hot heat (I just used the band name ... does that count?!) in Georgia. The first time we were able to pull off the freeway but the second time we got stuck at an intersection and blocked traffic off the freeway for almost an hour.

A true southern gentleman stopped and tried to help us out. We strapped up the RV to his station wagon but Priscilla is a big girl and the straps broke when he tried to pull us. Soon after a cop pulled over by us and ended up calling a tow truck for us. For some reason Priscilla decided to work just at that moment and they guys were able to pull her into a Waffle House parking lot. We let her cool down for an hour or so and then started her back up to make it to the show tonight in Atlanta. Maybe she just needs some bandages (there it is, big stretch I know ... maybe I should have just gone with the band name).

Once on our way we got stuck in the craziest storm I have ever seen! Talk about a weird day. Going from being stranded in 90 degree weather to driving through thunder, lightening, and flooding on the freeway. Well we made it to the venue finally, only a few hours late. We only have about another week on the road. Hopefully Priscilla will be able to get us all home!