fancypacks by carrotcake

I’ve been meaning to do a post about these incredible bags by Carrotcake for some time now, and I’m finally getting around to it. A fabulous friend of mine came up with the concept for a bow-shaped fanny pack a few years ago and began hand-crafting these. They’re the perfect bag for going out, especially for dancing! Hands-free, adorable, and lots of pockets – what more could you want? I just think it’s a totally great idea and to me it’s an item that lots of girls (and some guys) would really want to wear.

I actually just got my very own mini Fancypack a few days ago, and I have worn it almost every time I’ve left the house. It’s so cute and convenient, especially since I’ve been really into not carrying a purse lately. I had actually reverted back to my high school ways of just carrying wads of cash in my pockets – until now. You will definitely see lots of it in my future posts.

I love the fish scale belt on the gold foil one so much! I think my next one will have to be gold like that one, it reminds me of my favorite purse….

I thought this Neapolitan one was pretty adorable too.

Carla just came out with the new Fancypack handbag, which I think are suuuuuper cute.

I must say, they’re really sturdy too- we sell them at Chicken Lays An Egg so I have a good feel for them. Many of them are made out of vinyl which is super durable, but you can order them in any color or material you like on Carrotcake’s Etsy page. She even does some custom orders, such as the over-size Fancypack that she made for Rachel Ray’s makeup artist. If you are interested in featuring them in your shop, she also does many wholesale orders for just such purposes. In fact, she finished an order for Consider, a new shop that will be opening in Louisville in October. Check her out!

birthdays galore

Maybe it’s due to the fact that my birthday is in August, but I feel like it’s non-stop birthday month! The trend of me being a total summer slacker continues; I am just now posting the pics from my birthday which was August 5. Not that I’m behind or anything.

This year my birthday fell on a Thursday, and I was crazy busy and stressed getting ready for the fashion show we were participating in that weekend. So the Monday of my birthday week, my boy and I took a mini road trip to Indiana and spent the day driving around in the country. When I was first out of high school I joined my brother and some of our friends working at a summer camp out there for a few years, so it is kind of like going home for me. Although I only worked there for 3 years and it’s just a summer program, I feel like I’m home when I go back. It’s definitely the same kind of rolling countryside that I grew up in too. It makes me so happy to finally get out to those wooded areas where you can feel the temperature drop 5 degrees automatically; I can just feel my whole body relax.

Fun side story: my boy and I thoroughly enjoy driving around listening to music, and this trip is definitely no exception. Unfortunately, someone ripped the stereo out of his car about a week before. Surprisingly, we didn’t have a boombox around the house so we were starting to get really bummed about not having tunes all day. That’s when my MacGyver of a boyfriend fashioned this!

One cell phone, one camera tripod, and one gaping hole

What a man! :) AND since his phone has a navigation function, it also served us very well as a GPS! Anyway, back to our trip…

Hope you weren't in a hurry, cause you're not going anywhere soon!

Look at that gorgeous corn! We spent a few hours just driving aimlessly around looking at the countryside and stopping at little shops. I could spend days doing just that.

One of my absolute favorite things ever are abandoned buildings, especially houses like these. There are so many out in the country too.

One of many Amish homes in that area; it reminded me how amazing sun-dried sheets smell. I swear, there’s nothing in the world like it.

At some point during the day I absolutely had to be in a creek at some point during the day. Originally we had planned to go to a swimming hole that I used to know about, but we never did find it.

Ahhhhhh….

Our next big stop was in Madison, this cute little river town in southeastern Indiana.

I’m a total sucker for old movie theaters, I wish there was one around me that played classic movies.

This is what I really came to Madison for. Hinkle’s is a must if you are ever near there!

They have the best milkshakes there too, and everything is supercheap. What more could anyone ask for?

After we gorged ourselves on mini burgers and milkshakes, we decided to walk around the town a little. It was just getting to be sunset so it was perfect for a stroll.

We walked down to the river and sat on this pier for a while, just chillaxin’.

I shall hide.

We’d been gone for 7 or 8 hours by then and it was getting late, so we hopped it the car and headed home to let our pups out.

Almost home!

More very soon!

sabertooth goofball

I don’t know if most of my readers live in the area or not, but if not, then you are lucky! It’s been in the high 90′s and 100′s almost everyday for pretty much the whole summer. The heat has finally broken in the last week or so and is now bearable, thank god. Although it is that hot in many other parts of the country, we here in Ohio live in humidity central. I’ve never lived anywhere else so all I know is humid, humid summers.

Stylistically, the big bummer about this is that you just can’t wear any clothes. Every little piece of clothing just feels like a wool blanket, and I’m not even out in the heat for extended periods of time. I really give props to anyone who has to work outside, I think I’d die. In a lot of past summers I worked at summer camps and such, but I don’t know how I did it in heat like this!

Anyway, here’s a little simple something that I wore to work the other day. I got the skirt from a friend and chopped about 6 inches off, now it’s perfect. Black and white stripes like that get me every time!

Yeah, I’m really shy. That’s why I do stuff like this.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

That's what 'special' dinosaurs look like.

Yeah, I had fun doing this post. :)

WHAT: blue mini dress (as shirt), forever 21

tooth necklace, chicken lays an egg

black patent belt, rainbow

stripe skirt, from stacey

black rubber flats, target

WHERE: work at chicken

WHEN: wedensday, august 11