HELLO
Mom to Iris. Wife to Todd. Our little family lives at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We love it here and I love sharing little bits of our life.

© 2014 sarahfortune.

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Articles written by: Sarah

End of the Summer

Once again, summer is almost done. Being from the south you would think I hate our hot, humid summers, but it’s always been my favorite season. Sure, fall is lovely with the crisp air and turning leaves… Nothing quite like it, actually. But I think one of the reasons it’s so lovely is that it’s so temporary. You know it won’t last. Summer, on the other hand, seems to last forever. I love the long days, the day drinks to keep cool, the pools to keep even cooler, the road trips, and the summer dresses. I love it all and this summer has been no exception.

We have one more big family trip before we completely bid farewell to Summer 2016. We’re spending a few days in Houston and then taking our first ever cruise to Mexico (so hurricanes, let’s chill out for a minute, k?). This is fresh off the heels of a work trip to Salt Lake City, and then another trip to Kansas City and the wineries of Hermann, Missouri.

My trip to Hermann, though a whirlwind, was well worth the time it took to get there. I had just flown in from Salt Lake on Tuesday night, worked Wednesday and Thursday, then drove the 3.5 hours to Kansas City on Thursday evening. Bright and early the next morning, I took a four hour train ride to the tiny and very old town of Hermann to explore the wineries there. I went with six other ladies in celebration of my friend Bev’s 40th birthday. My only regret is that I would have taken more pictures because the town was so lovely and full of charm, right down to the trolley that took us everywhere we needed to go. After a night at a grape-themed bed & breakfast, we took the train back to Kansas City to hang with a few more friends.

Below are just a few photos of our trip by Laura Hobbs. As mentioned, I should have taken more photos, but hers are so much better than what mine would have been anyway!


by Laura Hobbs


by Laura Hobbs


by Laura Hobbs


by Laura Hobbs

Portraits of Iris

While in Kansas City last weekend my old friend Laura (and by old I mean she was in my wedding nearly a decade ago!) took the time to take some photos of Iris. I have a post on our recent travel coming up soon, but Laura just emailed me these and I had to share. By the way, Laura lives in Boulder, Colorado so if you are in the area and are looking for a portrait photographer, give Laura a shout at Darling Creative.



TRAVEL LOVE: Cabo San Lucas

After what seemed like YEARS of planning, our 2016 Girls Trip has come and gone. I went with six of my best girl friends to Cabo for four nights… FOUR NIGHTS! I thought that would be too long, but I’m pretty sure that is the magic number for a girls getaway. Any longer and I would have missed my family too much, but any shorter and I don’t think I would have fully relaxed.

We came from all over – Boulder, Kansas City, Houston, and of course, Arkansas. Somehow all of our flights were magically on schedule and we all arrived at the airport in Mexico around the same time. We hopped in our van that was waiting on us and hit the road to our beach house. You know it’s going to be a good trip when you get in the airport shuttle and they ask you what you want to drink, and they only have beer. So Pacifico in hand, we took the 45 minute ride to our ahhhhmaaaazzzing house. We stayed in the gated community of Pedregal, which Google tells me is the “Beverley Hills of Cabo.” We all Real World-ed it and ran around claiming our bedrooms (our pal Lacy took charge and planned every detail of the trip, so she fully deserved the master).

One of the best things that we decided to do for this trip was splurge and have lunch ready for us when we got there. We walked into our house and there was already a team of people making us fresh tacos and mixing margaritas. We also had the house stocked with groceries and drinks before our arrival, so there was no shuffling off to find a grocery store or a bottle of wine. GENIUS.

That first afternoon and evening we stayed put, hung by the pool, caught up, and drank lots of wine.

The second day we ventured to town and did a little shopping (more like haggling), stopped by Cabo Wabo for a drink, had more drinks by the marina, and then experienced dinner at The Office where I got to live out a life-long dream and drink a pina colada out of a pineapple, so my night was made.

The next day, Bev and I had our own little excursion to the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Golf & Spa Resort. We got the grand tour of the property, which is all-inclusive and adults only. Greeted with a mojito before we even hit the hotel lobby doors, this place was heavenly. The first thing we noticed was how lovely the entire place smelled. Even though the resort is rather large, they only have around 150 sleeping rooms, so it never gets crowded. That’s some good planning right there.

After walking around by the beach daybeds, scoping out the restaurants, and seeing the rooms, Bev and I were treated to the best spa experience of my life. I opted for a hot stone massage and it was 80 minutes of bliss. We had extra time to lounge in the spa with cucumbers on our eyes, drink fruit infused water, and eat chocolate too, so the overall experience was perfection.

After an afternoon at the resort, we made our way back to our humble abode and where all the ladies got dressed up for dinner at Toro (I think everyone in our group is in agreement that this was by far the best meal of our trip).

Each night we all went to bed pretty early and each morning we all got up around the late hour of 7 am. On our final day, we were all well rested and were up for the adventurous walk to the beach. The waves were insane. Gorgeous, but terrifying. The pictures don’t even do it justice. So after a hot hour in sand, we were done “roughing it” and wandered back up to our very safe pool to cool off.

For our final night, we had private chefs come in and whip up our last meal. Complete with margaritas and churros, it was the perfect grand finale.

All in all, this was such an amazing trip with some amazing girls. In fact, we’re already planning where we’ll go next year, so stay tuned. And check out Bev and Laura’s recap posts on our the trip while you’re at it!

LOCAL LOVE: The #MaudeWall

Okay, Fayettteville… Have you seen this wall yet?! Maude Boutique recently painted the entire wall behind their shop on College Avenue and it is magical! Iris and I were invited to take a few photos with the talented Jo Johnson, so of course we hopped right into the rainbow.

Anyone is welcome to stop by and take photos (it’s seriously an Instagramer’s dream), but if you’re in town this weekend, Maude is having a wall kick off event on Saturday, August 13. It’s free, but you’ll also have the opportunity to snag a mini-photo session with Jo Johnson Photography and all proceeds benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.