28 June 2013

Almost naked...

 So it's Friday! And I decided to take 5 kiddos to the pool today....Jamison actually hung out in the daycare for a bit and I sat there relaxing and frying I might add in this crazy hot weather right now. It was great!

  I was trying to figure out a cute cover up over my suit because I needed to run an errand, and thought why not this? I love this dress or nightgown or whatever it is and I just don't get enough use out of it. I bought it on clearance this last fall at Anthropologies. I actually was just watching Weeds not too long ago and saw her in this. She was using it as a night gown I think and I remember thinking to myself Oh crap! is that not really a dress?? lol! But also thinking I was pretty cool to have a piece of clothing in my closet that she wore. I just love her clothing on that show!


 Yes my bootie is hot pink and the girls are purple;) and I am totally fine with that. I  was  over at Walmart and got these pieces for only 4.99 each from the OP brand..if you are in need of a swim suit go check it out you can't beat that! Have some fun mixin and matchin!

Anthropologie dress Bag gifted Jewelery Forever 21(old) Sam Edelman sandals
 Sounds like we will be having a busy weekend with Jeremy's company party at a super fun place!It's an island... and now it just occurred to me that I might be wearing this all weekend long.. Have a fantastic weekend!
          Linking up with The life of the part, penniless socilite,Mix&match fashion,atlantic pacific, I feel Pretty, My girlish whims, someday crafts,Because shanna said so

27 June 2013

A fun new way of shopping with Golden Tote!

Well hello there! So I happen to stumble upon this new adventure in clothing called Golden Tote. Now if you are familiar with those great lil goodies boxes like Birchbox that you can get in the mail every month full of sweet lil surprises, well this works the same way! Just with clothing!

Every month you can pick your tote, and they will also surprise you with clothing! How fun right?


You can choose a $49 (up to $250 value) tote or a $149 (up to $600 value) tote. The first tote you will get two items with one that you pick. They will surprise you with the other. The second tote you will receive six to seven items with two that you pick and then you will be surprised with the rest. Yes? Does this sounds like fun or what? Have someone else do the shopping for ya ! You do too also fill out a questionnaire so that they know more of what type of clothing you love. I did it and it was easy peasy! They also have a boutique too that you can shop from. I have yet to order a tote from them but am thinking here that I want to check this out soon! I think this is such a fun idea if you don't mind some surprises in your wardrobe! I will definitely let you know when I get my Golden Tote! 

26 June 2013

Summer neon lovin





 Can you tell I am in a neon kinda mood today?Lol I have had this skirt for a few years now scoring it at Ross I think and have worn it ever since. It was awesome too when I was pregnant! I just love easy breazy maxi skirts like this in the summer. No fuss.  But for some reason they are hard to find, and it has been hit or miss with these. I always have friends ask me where do I get them and I generally say you just have to hit TJ Max or Ross just right! Yeah I know I'm a lot of help right? I had a friend tell me the other day that says she is too short and came across fabric tape to start taping up her maxis... She says it works great! Now she is taping EVERYTHING. It's the little things in life isn't it? :):)




Skirt Ross (old) Stella&Dot necklace Target tank top Sam Edelman sandals DSW Jessica Simpson purse





                                                                Have a wonderful day!
                                 Linking up with The Pleated Poppy, Rolled Up Pretty, Fashion and Beauty finds.

20 June 2013

OOTD



Top Forever 21 Jeans American Eagle Sandals Sam Edelman DSW clearance Jessica Simpson purse
   Did a little Forever 21 shopping online last week :) I like shopping from them online a lot better than going into the store... if ya know what I mean. Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!
                                                    Linking up with Pea coats&Plaid today

18 June 2013

My six week vegan clean eating update

 Hey there! yup, I went vegan six weeks ago, and couldn't be happier about what is going on with me these days. This might be a little long, but I want you to know why I did this and where I am coming from, in hopes that if there is another mom or person out there that is struggling with what I have been going through for a number of years, and that I can offer them some kind of help and hope!



I have been struggling horribly with anxiety and depression for a number of years. I am 36 years old now, and I have been suffering from anxiety attacks  everyday of my life anxiety since I can remember. I have tried medication on and off only to be disappointed or to have a whole new set of problems from the side effects, or just because I am sensitive to meds. I started feeling pretty bad about 8 or 9 yeas ago on a pretty regular basis with no answers. I was so tired and worn out all the time. It seemed like it was just getting worse every year, and doctors told me I was fine. Well that's what my blood tests said. But I knew I wasn't so what do ya do? I just kept looking and trying but found no answers, while in the meantime things just getting getting worse. I have always remembered being tired, even when I was a teenager. I did not have a lot of energy and wanted to sleep all the time. SO I was beginning to think this was just me and that I was just going to have to deal with it and try and find some medication to get me through my life.

A few years ago I remember turning on Opera and seeing the actress Alicia Silverston on sharing her new Vegan cook book ( The Kind Diet) about how she started eating this way and it completely changed her life in all ways imaginable to awesome energy, improvement in hair, nails, skin, her sleep completely changing for the better. Her outlook on life just changed and she was thrilled to wake up everyday and live life, and she felt she was doing that to the fullest. Whoa?? What???! Seriously girls I think I was sitting on the toilet peeing and I think I just about fell off. Food can make you feel that way? It can change your whole outlook on life? Well as you can imagine I literally RAN to Barnes and Nobles and bought her book and read through all of it that day. Yeah you could say I was desperate for answers to my health. I loved her book and wanted to know more because it just made so much sense. I also started reading her blog and all the experiences of other people who where going through horrible health problems or suffering for depression and anxiety, you name it, it was in there. I was amazed and so thrilled that maybe I could heal myself through food and have a happy life. I mean really how aggravating is it when you have all these wonderful things in your life and beautiful sweet children, and it really means nothing to you because you are so unhappy and tired and exhausted and depressed and don't know why? And that right there just drives you made feeling that way every day. So I started doing alot of my own research looking on line and reading all I could about eating this way. I was inspired and excited to say the least from everything I was coming up with. So I tried it with her book for 4 weeks, and I saw my energy improving and things starting to change a little. But for some reason I quit and did not go back for a few years.



This last summer I had to have two different emergency surgeries during the month of August because my appendix bursting. I ended up being super sick not even knowing that my appendix erupted and had been for at least two days before I found out. Craziness I tell you! I have never been so sick in my life! So don't do that ok? Lol. I had to be on a tun of meds and antibiotics for  a few months. I spent well over two months in bed living on Vicadin. By the time things had calmed down and I could actually get to walking around a little by myself I started to realize that my depression and anxiety was getting really, really bad. Especially my anxiety. It goes right to my  stomach so my gut felt like it was going to fall out of me on a daily basis. At this point too we had three kiddos and one of those being only ten months old. My body had definitely been through a lot! I had also too found out right before I found out that I was pregnant with Jamison that I had pretty bad adrenal fatigue. The supplements just have not worked too well for me and I am not sure that I want to invest in the time and especially money for them to give it another go. My anxiety was so bad that I could not stand up straight because of the pain in my stomach, or really move around much. It was miserable. Then on top of that my depression was going to a all new high of craziness that I had no idea how to help or control. I had days were I felt suicidal. I knew that I just could not go on and did not want to. I felt like I had been trying so hard for so long that I was done. My kids were better with out me and besides I was a worthless mother anyway. I never felt like I could be the mom that I wanted to be for them, and I was losing time with them. They were going to be big in no time and I was not going to be able to remember much and I knew I would feel like I missed out on everything. Had been for a long time.There was really no hope for me I felt and even though my husband was being wonderful with taking care of me and everything, I was done. I wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again. This was how I felt everyday. There was also other things going on too that was making my depression really hard that I did not know how to get through that was just driving me mad. So I started seeing a therapist that I really liked. But that only lasted for a few months, because even though I liked her alot I just felt like it was going to take months and months before I was going to get anything out of this, and it just seemed like things were just dragging on with her. I felt like in a way it was making things a little worse for me and my husband in a way. We were having a hard time and I was not too sure that our marriage was even going to be ok.

I decided that I was desperate to get out of this and try and figure something out. Medication was just not cutting it for me. And besides that I just really hate being on it. So I had remembered about my little Vegan ordeal a few years back and decided to try it again. I had no other options and was miserable on a daily basis. So I went back on it for a month and could see a difference mentally in how I felt! Ohhh thank goodness! My brain felt lighter and I was able to function a little better. I felt like I could get through my days a little better and things were improving. But again after four weeks I fell off the wagon a quit doing it. Why? Have no idea. Hard headed I guess.. My grandma then came out to visit a few weeks later and she was talking alot about her health and telling me about being vegetarian and hoping that that would give her some results. Well I decided to have her watch forks over knives...have you seen that? You don't want to miss it! It's great! Well she got up and said "oh well that just makes so much sense! I am going to start right away! And Brooke this is what you need to do! You get going! And stick with it! I'm going to check up on you and we are going to do this together!" Ok Grandma I said and was excited about it again. I really wanted this time around to really see if I could feel wonderful some day and have energy . Could I ever really want to get out of bed? Could I actually be a mom that I wanted to be? Well I was about sick sick and sick of feeling this way and decided that I should just see what happens. An experiment you could say. How far could I take this and how much really could I heal my body and mind? I know that I have read a lot about it and how other people have really benefited, but me?? I think I am a pretty hard case. But let's put it to the test and do a lot longer than four weeks.. I have nothing to loos and no other options. so I started watching you tube videos and was really inspired by a girl that lives on raw food who juices on a daily basis. I was so inspired and excited! I can do that! She is rawfully organic. You should check out her and her juices sometime! Now I am not going fully raw but I have been doing a lot during the day. at least one juice a day right now. I have been really tring to educate myself on everything about juicing and the healing benefits of getting a lot of fruit and veggies everyday and eating the way we need to eat so that we can function to our full potential.

It has been 6 weeks now and I can honestly say that I am slowly turning into a new person! My anxiety is just about completely gone, and my energy is going up. I want to do more , and do more  with my kiddos. I am even starting to feel more positive and happy. I was even able to jog on the treadmill for over 10 minutes the other day and it did not exhaust me! That is huge for me! Did I mention too I did a three mile marathon a few weeks back and felt pretty darn good! I feel like there is hope for me and that just maybe I can have a great life with out medication. I am really enjoying eating and trying new things and love the fact that when I eat and drink I am only putting wholesome good food full of vitamins and nutrients into my body that is only making me better everyday! Now I will say that I will have a little meat here and there and some pizza here and there, but just a little:) I have stuck to my clean eating and am loving it! I am getting out of bed better staying up a little later. I have the energy to get things done at night when my kids go to bed so that I can wake up to a clean kitchen! Love that! I feel like I can actually think about things without it giving me anxiety and bothering me! This is amazing to me!! I keep telling Jeremy and he is pretty excited about it too! I feel like things just don't bother me as much as they use too and I do not feel constantly aggravated and stressed! That is huge for me too being a mom of three! I am pretty excited about what the future will be and how I will feel 4 weeks from now or three months from now! As far as I am concerned if I just keep getting better and my anxiety stays away, I will not be going back. This is like being on the best kind of medication, but not:)



So if I could offer any kind of advice or help it would be to take it slow at first and just do baby steps so that you do not get too overwhelmed. There is so much out there for you to read from other experiences, blogs, books, documentaries. I was even able to hang out with a scientist who studies diabetes, obesity, heart failure. She has been studying this  for the last 35 years. She told me that eating more of a plant based diet, getting rid of the bad sugars and dairy , cutting back on meat if you can or none at all, is the best way to go! So that right there gave me even more confidence in what I have been doing. even if you can just start one day a week of not eating dairy ,meat ,sugars, you might feel quiet a difference in how you feel the next day. It really is not that big of a deal and you start feeling better so you don't want to give it up! There is so much wonderful things that are good for us out there to eat! Educate yourself! It's definitely not boring or hard. I don't feel like I can't eat a lot either. I don't feel restricted. Quiet the opposite, I feel like I am freeing myself. I believe that God gave us everything we need to eat and nourish ourselves.. wouldn't he know what we need and what would be best for us? You would just be amazed at how bad food is that we are eating everyday, and how it effects our minds and bodies! Just remember you are what you eat !
                                                          
                                          
                                                                      Brooke xo

17 June 2013

Vail weekend trip part II


Hi there! Hope you had a great weekend! We had a really nice weekend with some family and friends! I am just loving summer right now! I wanted to share the other pics from Vail last weekend that we snapped on the good ol I Phone. Lot's of pictures for you!















 This was the spa area, and it was wonderful! We had so much fun just lounging around and I actually got myself a pedicure! They were having 25% off all their services so I though what the hay.. mommas feet are tired! Lol! They had this awesome fireplace in the middle of the spa that you could just sit at and relax in your robe. The views were just beautiful with aspens all over and a river that ran behind the hotel. It was heaven! Jeremy and I took all day Saturday at the river and sat there! It was just too pretty and relaxing to miss! I really could of stayed there for the rest of the week and had been a happy camper! We just loved staying here and look forward to another little mountain getaway! We definitely will be getting away I think more in the future. With three kiddos now, we need some down time her and there, and this was just what we wanted. Can't wait for another little adventure to the unknown.. Have a wonderful week!
                      Linking up with Still being molly, The seaman mom, Not dead yet style, Peacoats and plaid

13 June 2013

Feelin a little vintage bohemian today...







Dress Billabong Sweater J crew outlet (old) Sandals Sam Edelman DSW Stella& Dot earrings Bracelets vintage
  What a week it has been! It seems like we have gotten bombarded with mucho stuff around here, and it does not look like things are going to be slowing down much! That's summer though right? Daisy had surgery last week and is doing great! Pretty much back to her normal Daisy self, but with a little hole in her belly at the moment..eeek! She was bit by another dog after she decided that she was going to unleash her little dog syndrome and try and bite  this German Shepard's toes..I guess. We are just so glad she is doing great!

Having all the kids home now has been a big adjustment, and I feel like they are bored already. Jamison is so ornery and such a handful right now that I have been beginning to think he is going to be the death of me !Lol . Ohhh but so sweet and cute!

 I just LOOVE these sandals! I got them on clearance over at DSW the other day, and they seem to go with just about anything! They even give you sunburns ,if you might get one, a little bit more character..anyone out there like sunburned stripes on your ankles? Lol. Yup I have been living in them and hope maybe I can find another cute pair on sale.

I was aggravated to with all the turquoise jewelry my grandma has given me over the years, and I have NO turquoise rings! A really cool big ring like that would of looked great with my bracelets! Evidently I need to make a phone call.. haha! My grandmother use to make her own jewelry as well as sell and trade  with Indians in New Mexico, Arizona. I remember going with her to this huge warehouse and watching her pick out turquoise. I can still remember the smell. I even remember running around with the Indian kids when I went with her. So I just love the jewelry she has given to me over the years because it truly is handmade and vintage, and reminds me of her, and how cool and awesome I think she is. Hope you are having a awesome day! Big hugs from me!!

12 June 2013

CND Vinylux review


 Hello girls! Have you heard about Vinylux yet? It's a polish that you put on your natural nails with no base coat, two oats of color and top coat. It's suppose to last four seven days with no chipping! I had to try it to test this out for myself...


 Evidently it has a new technology that when exposed to uv rays it gets harder and lasts longer. This was just released at the end of May,so I was excited to gets my hands on some! Of course though when I got there there were only three colors left, so I grabbed the color in cake pop. I really do not care for the color, but I have to admit it does make my hands look tanner . 

I cleaned my nails and applied the color making sure to lightly cap my ends also. You just apply two coats of color, no base coat, then top coat. That's it people. Easy peasy as nails get! I was impressed with how fast it dried, In under ten minutes! But I did find that this color was hard to put on chalky and streaky. There are 62 colors that are the same as the Shellac colors, so that will be a bonus if you love some of those colors! So was it just the color? I am hoping so..

After four days it started chipping. I was not too thrilled with this especially because I was relaxing and not doing much, other than stuffing my face with food and taking in the beautiful scenery. I applied it Tuesday night and by Sunday I could not wait to get it off. Most of my nails had good chips in them. I was impressed though with how easy it came off with regular polish remover. 


Sorry not a very clear picture at all, but I think you can see what I mean. All my nails have some pretty serious chips on them. And in the polishes defense I did decide to clean a little Sunday night, because I was done with it and not impressed. And that's when it just turned ugly fugly and it was time to get this stuff off. I feel like I can keep my regular polish on when I use my Mavala top coat and base coat this long if not longer and be conditioning my nails at the same time. I do want to try it again though in a different color and see if It won't last for at least for five days, when it claims to last for seven. My nails also are weak right now and are peeling some, so when that is happening, product will not stay on your nails as well as healthy nails. But they are not that bad, and like I said I was not really doing much in those four days. Besides that there are few people out there with healthy nails.

So I am gunna give it another go and I will letcha know! Thank so much for stopping by!

11 June 2013

Our weekend getaway to Vail Sonnealp Hotel

Hi there! How was your weekend? We decided to take off to the mountains! We have been having a lot going on lately, and needed a break. We are only a couple of hours from Vail and Aspen so we thought that would be nice for a little escapee. It was really beautiful and relaxing! Jeremy and I are pretty quiet and layed back so we don't do a lot and love to just lay around and take advantage of the scenery . 
The Mountain games were also going on down in the village, so we could hear at night from our little balcony the bands that were playing. Here are some pictures that I snapped on my I phone for you guys. Just so you know there is a ton of pictures and more to come this week!

View from our little balcony right into Vail Village. People watching was great there :)


Eating some lunch at Beau Jos in Glenwood Springs



Hotel lobby


View eating dinner Friday night on the patio











This was one night out of the balcony, the clouds were just beautiful! Full of oranges pinks and greys!





We had a wonderful time at this little boutique style hotel. I would highly recommend it if you will be staying in Vail! This was a suite that they upgraded us too when we arrived and I wanted to cry... LOL
The bathroom was beautiful and large with HEATED floors! My feet are always freezing so this I have to tell ya was awesome! The staff was wonderful too and very friendly. This is also a green hotel, so they would give use glass bottles and ask us not to leave towels on the floor if we did not want them changed out, and could use them again. They try and recycle as much as possible. I have to say too the water was awesome to drink! We could not get enough of it! 
I will be back this week with more pictures of the spa and the beautiful river that we lived at that is behind the hotel. Just gorgeous!