Sharing some recent fashion favorites today!  Along with a lot of additional randomness.  I’m apologizing early again for the length of this post!  I guess we have some catching up to do. :)

{Zella Hoodie (on sale!)/Zella Leggings/Adidas Sneakers}  *affiliate links used

I can’t tell you how good it feels to be out of bed and getting dressed these days.  Of course my wardrobe has consisted of pretty much leggings and athletic wear, but I’ll take it!  This knee surgery has been a little harder on me than I thought it would be and has definitely helped me appreciate all of the little things I often take for granted.  I missed getting dressed in cute clothes!  I missed driving.  I missed being able to pick things up and carry them from one room to another.  I miss checking on my kids in their bedrooms upstairs each night after they fall asleep (still can’t do that one).  I even missed grocery shopping.  Not the cooking of course – I was happy to take a long break from coming up with dinner each night.  In fact I’m still conveniently suffering from major knee pain and needing to rest right around 5:30 each evening.. ha.  We’ll see how long I can milk this thing. ;)  Anyway.. happy to be among the living again and grateful that I have several pairs of these Zella high waist leggings.  They have been on repeat around here!  The Zella hoodie I’m wearing is so soft and warm and perfect for easing back into life.  And I know.. you’re all dying to know how you can get the knee brace.  It’s a hot accessory this season so I’ll link to it at the end of this post. ;)

{sweatshirt/necklace}

This sweatshirt might be my most favorite sweatshirt I’ve ever owned.  Honestly.  I love it so much I wore it three times last week!  I’m going to order it in a different color because I just keep reaching for it.  It’s so comfortable and soft!  And not too heavy.  Perfect for transitioning into Spring.

The material is so nice you could even dress it up.  Would be so cute with these jeans and my peep toe booties.  I miss wearing peep toe booties!

This Nike half zip top is so light weight and comfortable.  I love having the option of using the thumb holes on athletic tops like this.

This Zella hoodie is one I’ve had for a while and love.  It’s on sale and comes in coral and a darker blue that’s cute too.

I just ordered this cute half zip running top.  I love the blue!  It fits true to size except the arms are a bit tight so I might try it in a small.  (Wearing xs in this pic)

{Camo top/AG jeans/Adidas sneakers}

I ventured into jeans twice last week but could only wear them for a couple of hours.  My knee is still swollen and gets so sore and I’m moving very slowly (can’t bend my knee at all when I walk) so after a couple of hours in jeans I just wanted to be back in leggings!  But I was dying to wear this camo top I ordered.  I’m so in love with it!  It runs BIG so order a size down (this is an xxs).

It’s long!  I love it tucked in the front and hanging in the back.  And I know.. this brace makes me look like I’m right out of Terminator.

A newish cute flannel plaid top!  I don’t normally love pink on me but I love the pink and black together in this shirt.

K – these drawstring trooper pants.  I’m so in love!  Pants like these are my all time favorite and I live in them.  Soft, comfy, stylish.  They come in other colors and I want them in black too.  Or the green!  I think the pink sold out.  The camo pair was a no brainer for me. :)  Wearing them with this long time favorite linen tee.  Pants like this you can wear casual like I am or dress them up with different shirt/shoes.

This pic was from last year with similar cargos I bought at Anthro.  I love wearing cargo pants with these beloved strappy sandals.  A quick shoe change and you’re ready for dinner out!

I’ve had these black similar cargos for years and have worn them out!  Another look at this type of pants with cute strappy sandals.  Spring we are ready for you!  And speaking of gingham because I love this top.. there are so many cute new gingham things I have my eye on.  Here are a few..

Remember in early January when I shared this Dyson Supersonic blowdryer that my husband gave me for Christmas?  I kind of decided I didn’t love it and was going to return it.  Some of you suggested learning how to use it better and I probably should have done that but I had time to do a little blow dryer research this past month :) and I decided instead to give this one a try..

{RUSK Engineering W8less Professional 2000 Watt Dryer}

I’ve been using it the past few weeks and love it!  It dries my hair faster than the Dyson did, doesn’t get too hot and like the Dyson it’s really lightweight.

So since I had a little extra hair care cash after returning the Dyson.. ha :) I decided to try this T3 Twirl Trio curling iron.  It just came last week and I haven’t tried it yet but I’m so excited to because I’ve been hearing rave reviews about it for a long time now.  You can buy just the 1.25 barrel for less, but sometimes I like the 1 inch and I curl my girls’ hair often for events too so it will be nice to have the different sized barrels to swap out depending on the look we’re going for.  Do any of you have this curling iron?  Would love to hear what you think!  I’ll let you know if I love it or not soon.  I’ve always just used a super cheap $12 curling iron from Target but my last one broke and I’m excited to see if this is worth the extra cash!

This is random but I was looking for a new mirror on-line the other night and I stumbled on my barstools!

Well.. almost my barstools.  My barstools were made custom but because so many of you have asked about them I wanted to share that you can get almost identical barstools for a great price right now on Overstock!  Hope that’s helpful for some of you. :)

Random pics of life around here lately..

Bike riding with dad.

Kole does such a fun thing in his 2nd grade class.. every Friday he writes a journal entry to someone in his family and then over the weekend we write back. :)  This journal will be so fun for him to keep forever full of sweet notes from his family.  I love this so much and want to continue this with him next year even if he isn’t doing it in class.  Thought I’d share it in case any of you want to start it with your kids too. :)  You could even write the letters back and forth once a month if once a week was too much to keep up with.  I love how he ended this one “I hope you are having the best day of your life.”  Hmmm.. some laundry, housework, computer work and driving kids around.  Definitely a top contender. ;)

Leaving Physical Therapy.  Another dreadful winter day in southern California. ;)

Sisterly love.

Leaving student led parent/teacher conferences last week.  I have lots of good pics of the back of Kenny and the kids lately because I’m always walking at a snail’s pace behind everyone.

What most evenings have looked like the past two months.  Thanks for all the love on my master bedroom post btw!  I was so happy to finally share it with all of you. :)

I gave Kole this set of Roald Dahl books for Christmas (long time favorites) and we are almost finished with them all.  I’m looking for a fun new set of books to start with him.  Moms of boys in Elementary school.. what have been favorites?

I seriously love life with a 7 year old.  :)

{this pic was taken one week after surgery – which is more scary.. the brace or how white my other leg is? Ha.}

Ok.. this post has already gone on too long but so many have asked on Instagram what the deal is with my knees so I’m going to quickly explain the situation for those of you who are interested.  If you don’t care (or if hearing medical issues makes you queasy) just skip to the Valentines ideas at the end of this post!  :)

My knee caps dislocate.  Both of them.  Often.  I could be exercising or just walking or whatever and my knee cap will pop out of place and I fall to the ground and have to put it back in place.  (I told you not to read this if this stuff makes you sick!).  Whenever it happens it hurts so badly (I always cry!) and then I’m usually icing my knee and limping for a week and then back to normal until it happens again.  It happened the first time when I was in Elementary school and has been happening ever since.  My sister has fun childhood memories of the Easter I ruined the egg hunt because my knee dislocated right when they blew the whistle to start the race and she didn’t get any eggs because she was comforting her crying sister in the grass. :)  I dealt with it a lot during high school and college because I danced so much and did physical therapy to help.  It happened when I was pregnant with Kole and I hit the ground so hard we had to go to the emergency room to make sure he was ok.  It happened once when he was a baby and I was carrying him coming out of Target and I fell and dropped him in the parking lot.  One of the saddest days ever for me!  Thankfully he wasn’t hurt.

It’s genetic and the reason it happens is because of the structure of my knee.  The surgery to fix it is major (it lasted 4 hours) and that’s why I’ve put it off for so long!  But the past few years one of my two knees was dislocating at least once a month and I just couldn’t deal with it anymore.  To fix it they had to do basically 4 surgeries in one.. break and realign the bone below my knee (I have a fun long scar on my leg from that one), add donor tendons to help keep my knee cap in place, reshape things and then clean out the joint from all of the damage done from years of my knee cap dislocating.

Isn’t that fun!?  Are you all so jealous?  Ha. ;)  I can’t even think about doing all of this again on the other knee.  I think I’ll need to wait a year or two for that.

The first two weeks were rough.  A lot of pain and the meds made me so sick!  My kids have been so sweet through the whole thing.  The first few weeks after surgery whenever they were home they were either in bed with me or playing right next to me.  The girls help me shower and pick up the house and put Kole to bed because I can’t go upstairs.  Kenny has been working non stop covering his work, the kids activities and all of the other stuff I usually do.  I have been so grateful for my little family through it all!  Things have definitely been different with everyone taking care of mom lately.

I’m doing physical therapy once a week and feeling much better than I was.

But more than anything I’m just so grateful to be done with crutches!

My parents were in town for a week and that was a huge help.  Plus I just enjoyed the company.  Nice to have people to chat with when you’re spending most of the day in bed!  I was glad they were here in time to see Kole’s ancestor program in school.  It was so cute. :)

So!  I’m through the worst of it and now just have to keep doing my exercises and wear this brace that locks my leg straight when I walk for the rest of February.  It has to be so tight to stay in place that it pushes my thigh fat up at the top.  Such a cute look.  Can you tell how much I love it?  Ha.  If my X-rays look good in March I will be able to toss the brace and walk normally and I’m hoping the pain will be minimal by then.

Thank you SO much for all of your kind and encouraging words!  So many of you have reached out to check on me and offer well wishes and it has meant so much.  I’m sorry if I haven’t been able to get back to each of you but please know that I read every message and comment and e-mail and I’m beyond grateful for all of your love and support.  I have had quite a few not so fun days during recovery and your sweet words have honestly cheered me up more times than I can count!

Because this post isn’t long enough.. ;)  here are a few past Valentine pics and links for anyone looking for ideas!

{Over 10 Fun Ideas for Valentines Day}

This post is full of Valentine decorating ideas, fun Valentines for the kids and our favorite pretzel hug V-day treat.

{Our February Tradition.. Sharing the Love}

Doing this with the kids tomorrow!

{Simple Valentine Party Ideas}

{How to Make a Cupcake Valentine Box}

An easy solution if you need to help throw something together for the kids.  Happy February friends!  :)

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