Arms.

I love a song that explains 

perfectly what you can sort out in your own head.. 

Sorry to be all emo but you need to watch this video.. 

Tear.

Ornament Wreath

There are tutorials for this DIY ornament wreath all over Pinterest. I was feeling particularly festive and crafty the other day and thought I'd give it a go. Being especially frugal nowadays, I decided to use this tutorial from Watchout Martha because I did not have to buy a wreath form. I made some tweaks to make it my own like adding a bow and a mixture of gold ornaments. The whole project cost me a whopping $7.00 and I'd say it turned out A OK!! What do you think??

A Book Review.

I never do book reviews, mainly because I don't usually finish books. To be honest, I am probably the worst reader ever. Although I do enjoy reading, It is extremely difficult for me to find a book that captures my attention. I have something like a ten to one ratio for completed books. But this one, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh: not only did I finish it, I loved it enough to tell you about it!

The basis of the novel is about a girl named Victoria. She has just turned eighteen and freed from the foster care system in which she was raised. She finds work at a flower shop, Bloom, where the owner takes her under her wing. One of the reasons I enjoyed this book is because of the style in which it is written. The short chapters go back and forth from present day to Victoria's childhood. It is extremely captivating how the two worlds connect as mysteries about her life unfold.Although you do not have to like flowers to enjoy this book, I have always had somewhat of a passion for flowers and floral arrangements but after reading this book, I will never think of flowers the same!

If you are looking for an easy escape from the upcoming holiday stress, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this beauty. And as an added bonus, there is a flower dictionary in the back!

Happy Reading!

Fall Fashionista.

I saw a leaf drop today and almost jumped for joy! I'm sorry but I am NOT a summer person. I don't have summer clothes, I get cranky when I'm hot and I  would be perfectly happy never having to put on a bathing suit! I am beyond ready to start pulling out my chunky scarves and leather boots so I've thrown together some looks that I cant wait to wear this fall to help get you in the mood too!!

Look 1: hat, scarf, tee, cords, boots
Look 2: Chambray, tee, skirt, shoes (similar)
Look 3: leather jacket (similar), tee, jeans, booties

Love! Love! Love!
Let the leaves rain on me!!
(until I have to rake my yard!!!)

beaches.

tales from a recent trip to OBX:

 

Inner Child

 

Inspiring my inner (and sometimes outer) child today!!

Back in the Saddle.

 

Oh hello blog world. I've missed you dearly on my adventures over the past few months. Boy have I been busy, I have:

Driven across the Country

Moved to Richmond

Been to a Wedding

Gone to the Beach

Attended many Concerts

Explored Virginia

Decorated a new Home

Taken my dog to a Baseball Game

 and many many more . . .

 I'm excited to tell you all about each of these wondrous times and my new life here in the River City. So stay tuned chickadees cause I'M BACK!!

 

The Liebster.

ERRHMEGURD!! ERRMEGURD!! Im special!! Crystal, the most awesome lady over at Seoul Sold nominated me for this little bloggy award and I could not be happier! Crystal is fabulous, she writes about her adventures as an American living in South Korea, and her her vintage fashion style, AMAZING! So anywho, this is a little explanation of the Liebster award:

The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. So, what is a Liebster?  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn't that sweet? Blogging is about building a community and it's a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs.

Thanks to Crystal's blog post for mapping it out for me. 

And The Rules:

c/o Muggle in Converse

 So Here Goes:

11 Facts about myself:

1) I am in the process of leaving my beloved Colorado for a new adventure in Virginia

2) I can't whistle, sad story.

3) I have a lot of siblings, like 4 brothers and 3 sisters a lot, I LOVE IT!

4) I would give anything to have a Pygmy Hippo as a pet

5) I know every word to Salt n Peppa's "None of yo Business"

6) I have tried to learn how to sew on multiple occasions yet failed every time! ONE DAY!

7) I live for trying new restaurants.

8) There are very few movies that I do not like.

9)  I want to own a flower shop, I would call it Poppy.

10) I prefer sandwiches cut into triangles rather than down the middle.

11) My first job was at Marble Slab.

Questions from Crystal:

1. Where did you grow up?

Dallas,TX

2. Your house is on fire and you have time to grab ONE thing. What do you grab?

Well my animals seem like an obvious answer and not even a question, so other than them, my scrapbook that I started in the eighth grade.

3. What's your biggest guilty pleasure?

an ice cream sundae, with sprinkles!!!

4. What is one of your talents? 

cooking slash entertaining

5. What would you do if you knew you wouldn't fail?

Start a Band.

6. Where is your favorite place in all of the world?

Its a tie: On top of Vail Mountain & My grandparents home in Alabama

7. The craziest thing you have ever done?

Peed out of a moving bus in Costa Rica

8. Have you been in love?

Yes, I am in love with Tyler.

9. What is a piece of wisdom you would like to share?

Today is far more important than yesterday and tomorrow. Live in the present and everything else will fall into place.

10. Why do you blog?

I blog to share my thoughts and my inspirations. It is a wonderful way to connect with people you otherwise would not have known existed.

Questions for My Nominated:

1. What song or band are you currently jamming to?

2. What is your dream vacation?

3. If they were to make a movie about your life what actress/actor would play you?

4. What would be your last meal?

5. Flats or Heels? (or barefoot)

6. What is your favorite day of the week and why?

7. What is your greatest accomplishment thus far?

8. What is your favorite dance move? (ex: the lawnmower, sprinkler, twerking. . .)

9. Who is your biggest inspiration?

10. You feel lost without. . . . .?

11. Where do you feel most at peace?

These Chicks: the New Nominees:

1. Freely Ronnie

2. Sweetnessaboos

3. Down Home Traveler

4. tshirt and jeansss

5. Your Modern Couple

6. Sein.box

7. Floral Mountains

8. Flourishing

9. Emerald Homestead

10. Feathers and Ash

11. The 25th Hour

I love all of these ladies for vast and different reasons, if you have not checked them out already, you seriously need to get on it!!! I can't wait to see what they come up with for their Liebster Award posts!!

c/o Day to Day Stories

Thank's Y'all & Have a fabulous Weekend!!

 

Dreaming.

Giddy On Up! The big move is approaching so quickly that I don't even know what to do!! So naturally, as I procrastinate packing, I dream of new house decorating. Mind you that we have not even found a place to live quite yet. We'll get there, we'll find one, and it will be perfect! I just know it! I am so excited to decorate, organize and unpack when we get there! Here is a sneak preview of the posts you will see Mid July (hopefully we will be settled by then, HOPEFULLY!)

Oh and PS: HAPPY MONDAY! Hope you had a great weekend!

15 Summer Jewelry Must Haves.

SHOP ALL JEWELRY

This collection is some of my favorite, fun pieces for summer!! I love how versatile and practical each piece is!! And you know you always need some new flare to add to your warm weather wardrobe!!

Get your shop on ladies and remember you can always find this jewelry and tones more by going to my store!!! Happy Hump Day!!

Campout for the Cause.

This past weekend was a good one. There is an amazing place not too far from where I live called State Bridge. It is a little slice of heaven on earth! State Bridge is a small outdoor amphitheater nestled in the woods alongside the Colorado River! It is always filled with good music and good people!! This weekend was their annual Campout for The Cause. Its a mini festival they hold each year! I have been to almost every one!! This year, like the last few, a bunch of my friends and I filled our cars and headed to the campsite on Thursday afternoon! The weekend was glorious and here are a few of my favorite captured moments!!

Enjoy! 

We all came home sunburned, hungover, and happy!! Can't wait till next year y'all!!

A little something about nothing.

Sorry I have not been very diligent about posting recently. In all honesty, I have not had any grand ideas or explorations to share with you. Do you ever just wake up and feel BLAH! like nothing at all, not good or bad or angry or happy or sad or anything!! Well I have been having a bad case of the Blahs lately! There is so much going on around me that I guess I just don't know how to feel. I want to take it all in but it is proving to be a bit challenging. There are so many mixed emotions when I think about leaving this beautiful place where I live and so many decisions to be made, maybe I am just a little overwhelmed. And then there is money. That stupid little green piece of paper that has the power to take such control over our lives. Let me just say it: being an adult really stinks sometimes!!! Like realizing that you have to make rational sacrifices like missing a good friends wedding or skipping out on one of your favorite band's concerts!! Sometimes I just wish I was five again when my biggest decision was "crayons or markers" and I only worried about things like "the best way to pull this loose tooth out". Yea, those were the days man!!! 

Well there comes a time when enough is enough! I have to remember that only I have the power to decide how I am going to feel and I don't want to feel blah any more!! Have you ever heard the phrase that "fine" really stands for "frustrated, insecure, neurotic, and emotional"? (Yea, I had some serious therapy as a kid!) Well I'm turning Blah into an acronym as well and I think it stands for: BOISTEROUS, LIVELY, AWARE, AND HAPPY!!!!!!! Hows that for your daily kick in the pants!! So I have decided that:

I know that great things lie ahead for me! I am so excited about my future and blessed that I have the best partner in crime to share it with!! Today, I am going to enjoy the sunshine and enjoy the mountains! I will take each thought as it comes and not stress about the small stuff but "live and let live". So thank you for listening to my rants and rambles and remember that life is what we make it. I'm leaving you with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors:

The Zale in Richmond?

{ photo cred. }

Big news on the home front folks!! Tyler and I have officially decided that we are moving to Richmond, VA! This is Tyler's birthplace, well actually not his birthplace but the place he refers to as "home". I could not be more excited. Of course it is saddening leaving Colorado, oh and then there is the small fact that my blog is called "the Zale in VAIL"!!! I don't think I'm going to change it though, partially because I can not think of anything more clever and partially because a large part of my heart will always remain in this valley. new readers will just have to be confused!! JK!

However, all that aside, this is an extremely exciting adventure in our lives together. Ty is gonna go back to school for environmental engineering and who knows what I am going to do!! I'm thinking a career change is on the horizon!! Maybe I'll be a florist? Maybe I'll be a Realtor?? Oh what dreams may come!!

Now that we have set an official move date, we have been diligently looking for places to live and let me tell you, it is no small fete. I'll admit we are a bit picky but, hey, we know what we want!! And I just know that there is a perfect little bungalow just waiting for us to find it! As someone who has only been to Richmond twice in my life, finding a place and moving there is a wee bit scary. I know it will be completely different from our not so sleepy mountain town. There is part of me that is oh so excited to have endless possibilities when it comes to dinner decisions and part of me that will miss my view walking to work each morning. Although I grew up in Texas, Colorado has always been my soul state and I will miss it dearly. More about that later.

At this point, I just want to look onward!! I can not wait to be around Tyler's fabulous family and friends while we make a life of our own in Virginia. I have always loved change and this is a big one! So here's to the future!

Pre Summer Gift Card Giveaway Extravaganza.

Hey Errbody, get your booties and patooties over to This Gal Cooks ASAP and enter this amazing giveaway that I am lucky to be a part of!!

Get to winning and then to shopping!!!

InstaVacay.

Howdy Y'all, Thats what Im talkin' like now 'cause I got back from Nashville LATE last night!! And then of course I had to be at work at 7:00 am this fine morning. It is safe to say I am a bit tired!! I have soooo many great pictures and stories that I can not wait to share with you from our little trip, however all that aint ready yet!! So until I can get all that together, I wanted to give you a little taste!!

1.) Arnolds Country Kitchen. the most amazing Chicken n Dumplings known to man.
2.) The boot wall at Goodbuy Girls! I want to live in this store, no joke.
3.) Ernest Tubb Record Shop, legendary.
4.) Gruhn Guitars, I only wish I knew what to do with all of these beautiful instruments!
5.) Hatch Show Print, maybe the coolest place around, "Heavens to Betsy"
6.) The one and only John Bell EVERYBODY!!
7.) A shot of Kim of Goodbuy Girls in Hello Boys
8.) Roberts Western World, a honky tonkin good time
9.) The Ryman Auditorium, history at its finest.

Make sure to tune in to my blog in the next few days to get real picture of what my trip to Nashville was all about, I feel pretty confident in saying, "I dun this town right"!!
And remeber, you can always follow me on instagram.