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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Hello from Detroit!

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting on the runway at the Detroit airport waiting to take off back to Arkansas. I made the trip north with a few coworkers for the annual ASAE Annual Meeting. This is my second year in a row attending and, I have to say, it’s by far one of the most fun work conferences I’ve ever been to. Inspiring sessions (Alex Sheen from Because I Said I Would was hands down my favorite speaker), an extensive trade show where you can win prizes and drink booze, plus it’s always exciting to explore a new city – what’s not to love?

While I travel fairly often, I had never been to Detroit or even Michigan for that matter. Here are a few photos from my trip!

Layover in Chicago

Meeting Detroit for the first time
(and wondering if Eminem is out there somewhere).

Checking in at the meeting!

Kickoff event at The Henry Ford Museum
This place was pretty incredible. I think I was there for a full hour before I actually saw a car. There’s so much interesting history there beyond the automotive world. We went on Rosa Park’s bus, saw Abe Lincoln’s assassination chair, and the limo JFK was in when he was shot. And for a vintage lover such as myself, there’s a ton of stuff to explore from furniture, to an experimental 1950s home.

Our crew representin’!

After the meetings were over we decided to explore.

There are SO many killer walls in Detroit that I want to go back and bring Iris just to take her picture in front of them. That’s a legit reason to return, right?

No shortage of food or drinks on the trip.

Oh, and while we were in town, why not just pop over to CANADA?!
I already had my passport, so after just a little bit of research, we discovered that you can take a $4.50 tunnel bus from Detroit to Windsor (it’s less than a mile away!). This was actually my very first trip to Canada and only my second trip ever out of the USA. We were only there for about an hour, which was long enough to lose $20 at Caesars Windsor (or $25 in Canadian money) and to raid a souvenir shop that evidently hadn’t received new merchandise since at least 1986.

Greek Town
Fire eater, eating pizza outside in the 70 degree weather, and WINNING $400!
This night was alright.

Oh, Detroit.
Thanks for the good times! Hope to see you and your amazing walls again one day. Up next, Todd, Iris, and myself leave for a spontaneous road trip to St. Louis and will be posting about our adventures along the way!

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

Truth be told, I cried after Todd took my photos this week.

I’ve only cried a few times since being pregnant, but I think this batch of tears had to do with seeing myself as officially huge and the fact that I’m entering the stage where I’m constantly uncomfortable. Okay, maybe it had a little to do with hormones too. But the tears only lasted a few minutes and, all in all, week 29 was a good set of days.

● I spent a couple of days in Chicago on a work trip, which was a nice (slight) break from this southern heat. Traveling in the third trimester was surprisingly easy, but direct flights, good company, & lots of sleep certainly helped.

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

John Hancock building across from our hotel

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

I discovered H&M has baby clothes

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

Our laughable air-conditioner in the cab from the airport

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

● Speaking of the heat, can I just point out for a minute that I’m pregnant during a historic heatwave? It’s been terrible and this week is supposed to be even worse. We’ve had record breaking temperatures & days on end of reaching over 100 degrees. Now someone hand me a milkshake and point me towards a pool.

Pregnancy Blog: 29 weeks

● We had another doctor’s visit (this “appointment every two weeks” thing is awesome) and Iris seems to be doing great!

● Iris has started hiccuping within the last couple of weeks. The first time I noticed it I was eating a spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. Maybe spicy isn’t her thing. Sorry girl, it sure is mine.

● We have a new tradition of going over to my mom’s house every Sunday for dinner. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in the same town as a parent, so just getting together for a meal is quite a treat. I can’t wait to continue this once Iris is here.

● Todd and I worked a little more on the nursery, finally decorating a little bit. He hung shelves and I made paper flowers.

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So even though there were a few tears (that’s to be expect though), I made it through another seven days and am oh-so-close to that 30 week mark.

Hip hip hooray!

Washington D.C.

Recently I went on a business trip
to my old stomping grounds
of Washington D.C.

I brought along a dear friend
and stayed an extra day
to enjoy the sights, shops, and sweets.

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Donald Rumsfeld was on our flight
from Chicago to DCA!

Fall 2010

Our hotel,
the Hotel Palomar.

Fall 2010

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Our hotel was located across the street
from my mom’s old apartment.

Fall 2010

On the first night we were awoken
to a (very) loud fire alarm.
Thankfully, it wasn’t anything serious.
But we still had to exit the building,
down the stairwell & across the street.
In our pajamas.

See, here’s Laura & me.
In our mumus.
Haha.

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

A morning & afternoon in Georgetown.

Fall 2010

Laura's DC Pics

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

A yummy vintage shop.

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

We went to Georgetown Cupcakes,
which has it’s own reality show called
DC Cupcakes on TLC.

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

A few blocks away,
I realized we were walking next to
the three stars of the show.
I was a dork
and got a picture.

Fall 2010

We found the Exorcist stairs.

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Fall 2010

Doing the tourist thing
around D.C.

Fall 2010

Laura's DC Pics

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Laura's DC Pics

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Botanical Gardens

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

We had cocktails at the amazing
W Hotel rooftop bar.

Fall 2010

Watermelon Fiz & Strawberry Lemonade.
Adult versions, of course.

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Sipping our drinks with a
view of the White House
at sunset.

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

More drinks in Chinatown.

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Hotel room photo-fun!

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Laura's DC Pics
photo by Laura Hobbs

Fall 2010

Goodnight, Obama!

Busy, busy, busy

Girls Dinner

Busy, busy, busy. Story of my life! Here’s the breakdown on what’s been going on:

+ local540 officially launched! Our boys worked hard (and are still working hard), but I’m so proud/excited for them. They’re of course still busy with the Fayetteville Flyer too!

+ I successfully planned my very first convention. Months of event planning led up to five, 15 hour days of adrenaline fueled work in Virginia. The resort was gorgeous (what I saw at least) and I tons of amazing seafood. More than anything though, I’m just glad that it all came together so well.

+ Going to Chicago two weeks from today for a meeting/event planning convention. It will be good to ATTEND a conference, rather than worrying about the details of one. Not to mention I’ll get to learn a bit too! Only downfall is that I’m going all by my lonesome..

+ Planning not one, but two trips to Vegas! One for work, one for fun. Looks like we’ll be staying at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay for work and at Paris two weeks later for our annual LV girls trip.

+ Went to Little Rock (another girls trip) to dance to Girl Talk. We made the night of it by staying at a nice hotel downtown, eating good food, & drinking a little Patron. Fun fun!

+ Tons of other random stuff: Tasty dinners, the last few home basketball games (I cheered till the bitter end), birthday celebrations, rock shows, enjoying the new season of American Idol (with two people from Memphis and one from Arkansas), getting a corner office of my very own at work, and who knows what all else…

The guys' new website launched today!

Kitten chocolates from my Valentine

Beebs’ surprise birthday party!

Beebs' Surprise Party

Beebs' Surprise Party

Beebs' Surprise Party

Beebs' Surprise Party

Beebs' Surprise Party

Beebs' Surprise Party

Williamsburg, VA / Kingsmill Resort

Kingsmill Resort. Williamsburg, VA.

Williamsburg, Virginia

Girls dinner hosted by Laura

Girls Dinner

Girls Dinner

Girls Dinner

Thanks Aunt Wawa
Girls Dinner

Girls Dinner

Girls Dinner

Girls Dinner

Morning in the new office

First morning in my new office

Hazy shot of Brains on her 25th birthday

Brains!

At the American Princes show

Patron!

Cindy Crawford sayin’ See ya LATER!

Waiting.