Review: The Hairbow Company

I feel SO BAD that I am so late writing this post! We had some big things happen that kept me from blogging this sooner, but I didn't want to let another day go by! Courtney at The Hairbow Company contacted me and wanted to send me some cute things for Evy. I thought they would just send a little bow or something (which would have been perfectly great!), but NO - they sent us a box full! It was so fun!

LOOK at my little tutu flower fairy princess!!!

Evy said she felt like Tinker Bell in her green wings! You have to look at all of their cute wings. I LOVE their angel wings!!!! I used some in Evy's nursery and I had trouble finding a good pair. If you're in search of some - this is the place!

Courtney sent this adorable flower. I mean, is this not adorable? All of their flower clips and headbands are the perfect size for little girls!

Of course I have to show you the pettiskirt and leg warmers! Evy felt so pretty in these (I could just tell!)! She was twirling so much it was hard for me to get a picture. :) You HAVE to go look at all of their pettiskirts and tutus! And the leg warmers are just the cutest.

I so appreciate The Hairbow Company sending us these precious items for Evy. They have high quality, adorable things and my favorite thing is that it's a one-stop shop. You can find ANYTHING girly you need here!

We highly recommend this wonderful site and look forward to shopping here in the future!

Guess what? The Hairbow Company has a special COUPON CODE for you to use! You can get 10% off your order by using the code "happily10"!!!! And this is even better - each customer can use the code twice! This code will expire June 30th, so stock up on your tutus, hair bows, headbands, leg warmers, pettiskirts, AND MORE!

Thank you, Hairbow Company!!

My Sister's a Teacher!

My sister Alyssa recently graduated from college with a degree in Elementary Education! I am thrilled to say that she has a job here in town teaching Kindergarten. I'm excited to help her set up her classroom, but most of all I'm excited to have her back near me!!!!

Here are pictures of the graduation weekend. My dad's parents were able to be there too!

My mom told my brother and sister to give "pretty, natural smiles" for the pictures. Below you will find their responses:

 

Happy Memorial Day

This weekend, I've really tried to dwell on the meaning of this holiday. When I hear the word "holiday," I think of happy, family-filled occasions that make me happy and fulfilled. The irony is that for families who have lost a loved one, the Memorial Day "holiday" is poignant, sad, and there's a gaping hole where that loved one should be. Regardless of whether or not we've personally lost someone we know, we as a nation are to be reflecting on the sacrifice of these men's and women's lives. Their LIVES. My dad shared this morning that we have a relative in our family who left to serve in World War I and was killed 8 days later. I just can't imagine the emotions of all the families who have experienced such loss.

I saw this on Facebook and it hasn't left my mind.

I think it's important that while we're remembering and honoring loss, we should be celebrating the lives of these men and women who gave everything in service to our country. They weren't just servicemen and servicewomen; they had personalities, interests, life experiences, families. They had favorite restaurants where they loved to eat; they had a favorite sweater. I really want to try and personalize these people, because to their families, they mean the whole world. I want to celebrate not just what they gave to our country, but who they were.

We commemorate and celebrate equally today!

Boston, Day Four

On the last day of our Boston trip, we decided to take another day trip out of the city. I REALLY wanted to visit Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott lived and where her novel "Little Women" was set. I'm also a big fan of the Little Women movies, so I wanted to see the real thing. :)

I started researching Concord and very quickly realized that it was a special time to be visiting. Orchard House was opened to the public on May 27, 1912, so this year is the 100th Anniversary. I was researching all of this in our hotel room, and when I went to the website I got so excited! I saw where the Concord Players were performing the play "Little Women," which is only performed every ten years! I immediately bought us tickets.

We arrived in Concord (about 30 minutes from Boston) and drove up to Orchard House. I could just hear the movie music playing in my head! It was a fascinating tour. I realized that there was so much I didn't know about Louisa May Alcott and her family. Her parents were Transcendentalist thinkers (Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were their very close friends) and were HUGE advocates for progressive eduction systems. (For the Cliffs Notes version of Transcendentalism, two core beliefs were that people were innately good and could attain perfection.) Her father even opened his own little school in their backyard. Louisa never married. She said that she felt tremendous pressure (from editors/society) to marry the character of "Jo" off in Little Women (the character Louisa based on herself). Even though she never married or had a family, when her oldest sister Anna ("Meg" in Little Women) died after giving birth, Louisa took in her daughter and raised her.

We also learned that Louisa's sister May ("Amy" in Little Women) was a VERY talented artist, and trained the sculptor who eventually created this little landmark:

Isn't that awesome!? I could tell you a million more things, but it's impossible to remember and adequately share it all. It was a wonderful learning experience, and so much of the home has original elements.

This is the school that Louisa's father opened. It didn't succeed because of financial issues and people not responding well to it.

Concord was such a quaint, beautiful place. The city center felt very much like a Norman Rockwell painting!

We ate at Helen's, a famous restaurant that has been open since the 1930s.

After we ate, we headed to see the show! It was in a small, cozy theater, which provided a very unique experience. We loved it!

The actress that played Jo did a wonderful job! 

 

We drove back to Boston and had sushi for dinner on Newbury Street (our favorite area!). We had ice cream and then headed home the next day. It was a wonderful time together! We love to travel because we always learn something and it's great quality time. We can't wait to visit Boston many more times in the future!

Boston, Day Three

Since we had been to Boston before and had seen a lot of the "touristy" things, we decided to take a couple of day trips for our last couple of days in the area. On our third day, we decided to visit Plimoth Plantation (where the Pilgrims landed and settled). It was so interesting, and we enjoyed our time there so much. The weather was perfect, which made it that much better! Here are pictures from our day: