© 2014 sarahfortune.

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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Life

Lately – March 2016 Edition


shirt via @helloapparel

Is it just me or has everything been completely crazy lately? I feel very scattered with too many things on my to-do list. I still haven’t even unpacked my suitcase from my California trip and that was nearly three weeks ago.

What we’ve been up to lately:

– At home we’re more than half-way through our kitchen upgrade, so that means our kitchen gear is randomly stashed across the house. Cooking dinner now involves playing hide and go seek with my pots and pans. It’s coming along nicely though – I can’t wait to do a before and after post! Currently Todd is priming our cabinets to be painted and I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new refrigerator.


– I’ve been working out almost every day. If you know me, you know that I’m not an exerciser. Now that I’m 35 though, I feel like my “eat whatever you want and lay around” days are numbered. Plus, I have a couple of upcoming beach trips to use for motivation. Once I get my routine really down, I’m planning to share my experience in a blog post. And yes, I recently bought an Apple watch from a friend (on Snapchat of all places!) and am obsessed with tracking my progress… But judging from the photo above I clearly have more work to do.

– Speaking of the beach, we leave for our annual trip in less than two months. We’re headed back to Rosemary Beach, FL and this time going with a couple of our good friends. Since we’re going with more folks, we were able to rent a big house with a tower – yes, a TOWER! I’m counting down the days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds – well, you get the picture. Now if someone could find me this swimsuit in blue for a wee bit less than $350.

– This past weekend my mom, Iris, and I got to watch the Razorback Baseball game from the Chancellor’s box suite. And yes, the chancellor was there. I tried to act cool, but with Iris in tow that never works out too well (she was shoveling the free brownies in her mouth the whole time). Special thanks to my alma mater, The University of Arkansas for the sweet suite tickets!

Hopefully we’ll fill this upcoming weekend with a few fun things and a lot of work on the kitchen. Sadly, I think you’ll find me cleaning out our old refrigerator… Anyone need a fridge?

Travel, Words

Working Mom Life – California Edition

I occasionally travel for work. Not too much, just a handful of trips scattered throughout the year. After five days in California, my longest trip of the year just came to an end. Not only is it a lot of work inside the office preparing for our big annual meeting, but it’s a lot of work outside of the office preparing to leave my family for that amount of time. I admit, it’s as much mental preparation for myself as it is running errands, stocking groceries, planning outfits for Iris, paying bills, etc. before I hit the road. While I know Todd can handle everything just fine without me, I always feel a little better about leaving if I can help out ahead of time. Same goes for Iris. Now that she’s older, she understands why I’m leaving and when I’m coming back (and that I’ll most certainly return with souvenirs).

Being a working mom is tough. Being a working mom that travels is even tougher. You miss your people and you miss out on things. I’ve missed a couple school photo days, missed my last two wedding anniversaries, and will never forget being away on Iris’ second birthday. This past week was School Spirit week where Iris was supposed to wear a different themed outfit each day. I didn’t have much time to help think of ideas before I left, but Todd and Iris rocked it without me. As she gets older, I know that I’ll start missing bigger things like school events, sports matches, and more. With a little help from FaceTime and a lot of help back home, I’ll manage just fine. At the end of the day it’s all worth it a million times over. Not only am I fortunate to have a job that I love, but I hope that I’m showing my daughter the importance of hard work, dedication, and being proud of what you do.

Before I left for Newport Beach last Sunday, I made a quick trip to the dollar store and picked up a prize for every day I’d be away. I surprised Iris with a little note explaining that I left clues in envelopes for her to follow each morning. I’m sure she had fun finding her way to a surprise each day, but I just felt good knowing that she knew I was thinking about her a thousand miles away.

Even though I was in California for the full work week, we only had one afternoon to explore. I wandered around Balboa Island with a couple of my co-workers. I want to go back one day and bring the whole fam. It was adorable and beautiful all at once.

I’ll leave you with a few of Iris’ School Spirit Week outfits:
Individuality Day (Iris chose pajamas.. that’s my girl)

Professional Day

School Spirit Day

And of course, Fancy Friday

Giveaway, Life

Bedtime & Books

Dinner. Dessert. Bath. Books. Bed.

That is Iris’ routine almost every night. Just like most kids her age, Iris is a big lover of books. I was also an avid (more like obsessed) reader as a kid. In elementary school you would usually find me reading in a corner instead of playing on the playground. When there was a reading competition to see who could read the most pages, I usually won it. As I grew up, I drifted away from my daily book escape and now that I’m a mom I rarely make time to do the thing that I once loved so much. As Iris gets older, I’m more aware of that than ever so I try to instill a routine of daily reading with her.

Last month was an especially kind book month for us. First, I finally received my big Christmas present from my mom. She found a book that I wrote back when I was in sixth or seventh grade (apparently I was an avid writer too), called Galigore and Humfree. My mom hired an illustrator and actually got my book printed!

The illustrations are by Elizabeth Arnold of Neon Glittery and the story is by yours truly. The characters that I created in Galigore and Humfree were drawn to life, as were their magical adventures. I had totally forgotten about their story, so when I got my bound copy it was like reading it for the first time. While I don’t expect this to be a New York Times best seller (sorry folks, only a few copies were made), I love that I have this lost treasure forever and can share it with Iris. By her request, we’ve already read it before bed a few times, even though includes a bit of scary dragon slaying.

Second, Iris was lucky enough to receive a copy of Mailbox Monster, which is a kids’ book available on Amazon. It’s as cute as it is sweet and, as a mom who is often tired in the evenings, the perfect length to add to our bedtime routine. It’s light-hearted and great for kids who are preschool age, like Iris. The author and illustrator, Cynthia Stuker, happens to live in Northwest Arkansas too and was nice enough to send two extra copies for me to give away. Check out my Instagram for details or, if you don’t win, visit Amazon to purchase your very own copy.

Here’s to making more time for reading!

Local Love

LOCAL LOVE: Wilson Park Castle

Recently I started a new series called LOCAL LOVE. I wanted a spot to dedicate to my city and everything I love about living here. Whether you live in Northwest Arkansas or perhaps have never heard of it, I’m happy to show you around through the eyes of myself and my little family.

* * * * *

When Todd and I moved to Fayetteville in 2004, the Wilson Park castle was one of our first stops. In fact, this picture was taken there right after we drove our moving van from Memphis to our new home in Northwest Arkansas.

A lot has happened since then (besides learning the harsh lesson that I can’t pull off blonde hair). We don’t look like babies anymore, but we’ve shared this very spot with our own baby over the last four years. Long before I ever made it to Fayetteville, Todd grew up playing here and now Iris gets to build her own childhood memories around the castle. Last weekend she caught tadpoles in the little pond with one of her friends and today we just stopped by so that Iris could burn off some energy.

Wilson Park has always been one of my favorite things about Fayetteville. There’s swimming in the city pool, picnics in the grass, playgrounds for the kiddos, exploring the creek, countless birthday parties to attend, walking the trail… but ask anyone their favorite thing about Wilson Park and, chances are, they’ll say the castle. It’s unique, weird, and beautiful all at once. And that, is as Fayetteville as you can get.

Life

15 Random Things

I was recently tagged by one of my Instafriends to share 15 random facts about myself. I love reading these when other people post them and, admittedly, I like answering them too. I mean, who doesn’t like talking about themselves? So I decided to take it a step further and make a blog post out of it so that I can share a few old, funny pictures too. Want to play along? Consider yourself tagged!

1. Fortune is really my middle name. I was embarrassed by it in elementary school, but I eventually embraced it.

2. I was homeschooled the last two years of high-school so that I could work, travel, and take photography & writing classes at local colleges.

3. I had a vintage clothing business on eBay while I was in college.

4. Years before I met my husband, I traveled five hours to Fayetteville for the first time to see Modest Mouse. Turns out, he was at the show too and we have photos from the same spot, but we’re not in each other’s pictures. We must have been standing right next to each other.

5. My degree is in Advertising & Public Relations from the University of Arkansas (Go Hogs!), but I work in the funeral service regulation field – and I love my job more than I could have ever imagined.

6. I once partied with the Jenner family in Mexico (I still regret not getting a selfie with Kylie & Kendall, but I slaughtered the dance floor with Kris).

7. I naturally have a gap in-between my front two teeth, but in elementary school I chipped my tooth and my dentist “fixed” all of it.

8. If Iris was a boy, I wanted the name to be Ransom after the grandfather I never met. Instead, she’s named after the Tennessee state flower and her middle name, Adella, is inspired by my grandma’s middle name which was Dell. She passed away right after I found out I was pregnant.

9. When we got married, it was literally on the front page of the newspaper the next day.

10. My first job was a dish washer when I was 15 for $5 an hour. It was completely awful, but it taught me a lot about working hard and, more importantly, how to treat people. I also saved up $900 and bought this sweet car (with the help of my dad).

11. In 2003 I was one of about 30 people who attended a dress rehearsal show of Justin Timberlake, Al Green, & the Black Eyed Peas. I was in the front row and it was increeeedible. Pretty sure JT was singing directly to me. Above is a video of the actual show, which I also got to witness (it was for a special on NBC).

12. I’ve seen someone get shot (in the butt during a drive-by in Memphis).

13. I was a stand-in & extra in Walk the Line. Yes, Joaquin Phoenix is as weird as you think he is.

14. Brunch, clean sheets, and being comfy are some of my favorite things in the world.

15. When I was 17 I had my septum pierced and dreadlocks. Don’t unfollow me, please.