© 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

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.

Life

Lately – January 2016 Edition

We’ve been busy with quite a few things this first part of the new year. First of all, we finally started our kitchen renovation. We’re waving buh-bye to our 1980s style cook area and hellllllo to our revamped space. After spending a week of my lunch hours at Lowes and Home Depot, I finally picked out a white, marbled quartz for our countertops. They are being installed in less than two weeks, so we (i.e. Todd) is doing as much work as we can before they are here. Today he made my dreams come true by scraping off the popcorn ceiling in our kitchen/living/entry area. And I’ve got a new stainless sink and gas cooktop just waiting patiently to be installed, which will all happen once our counters arrive. Add some subway tile backsplash and white paint to the cabinets and we’ll be back in the current decade!

Beyond house stuff, I’ve been planning our annual trip to Rosemary Beach. This weekend it’s been in the high 60s and I’ve been loving it, soaking it up at the park with Iris. I’m so ready for summer, especially as I stalk every beach house in Florida.

Another thing that is kinda fun is that we’ve been featured several places recently! Iris came in at number SIX for in the Top Viral Stories of 2015. I did an interview over on The Village. I had a story featured on PopSugar Moms. And last, but not least – remember that interview we did for a UK show? It finally aired overseas!

I’ve got to go help Todd clean up the mess in the top photo, but I’ll leave you on a cute note. Iris recently had “Dress Like Your Favorite Emotion Day” at school. I’m proud to report that she chose happiness. When I asked her what she would wear, she quickly answered “a smile.”

Life

Hello from the Wino

UPDATE: They are officially SOLD OUT! Wowza! Glad I’m not the only wino around here.

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Hiiii there. Yep, that’s me. Lover of an after-work cup of Cabernet. I don’t need anything fancy, in fact I’ve learned to really love my trusty Bota Box. So much so that a few weeks ago I subtly mentioned to Todd about how much I wish I had a cover for my boxed wine. It’s always sitting out on my kitchen counter, so instead of being ashamed – I just wanted to embrace it. Not long after my little “hint hint” Todd whipped me up this beauty.

Not only does my wine look more fabulous, but when we stroll over to a friend’s house, I can just grab it and throw it in our wagon. After several compliments, Todd decided to get craft and make just a few more. He has like twenty jobs and hobbies combined, so this is probably all that he will make (at least for a while). There are three boxed wine holders, all slightly different, up for grabs in my Etsy shop – Shop Sarah Fortune.

Here are the three that are available:



Take a look, scoop one up, and have a drink with me.

Life, Toddler Blog, Words

8 Things I Didn’t Know I’d Miss as a Mom

Before having a baby, you always hear things like “sleep while you can” or (the opposite) “have fun while you still can!” I expected the no-sleep thing and I expected the financial burden of daycare and diapers, but here are a few things that I didn’t expect to miss once I became a mom.

Driving Straight Home From Work
For years I took for granted the simple task of driving home after work. Now, my standard routine involves about an extra half hour (on a good day) of shuttling around in rush-hour traffic to pick Iris up from school. Before becoming a mom, I would get off work and have the luxury of driving straight home, to the gym, or even better – to a bar for happy hour. Fast forward to being a parent and now any extra stop means I don’t start cooking dinner until later than normal, meaning who knows when the food will be ready, meaning I have a cranky kid who will likely be up past her bedtime.

Not Having to Hide My Trash
I can’t throw away an old Happy Meal toy or stale cookie without Iris finding it in our garbage can. If there’s anything that we need to get rid of that Iris might be interested in, I have to hide it beneath the coffee grounds and banana peels. And don’t forget about the bathroom trash! You have to cover some things with toilet paper, otherwise who knows what awkward questions you’ll find yourself dodging.

Spicy food
I love spicy food. My child does not. She has been known to even call white rice spicy. I miss being able to pour in the cayenne pepper to our chili and buying the hot taco seasoning at the grocery store. Having a kid doesn’t always mean that I must forgo my spices, but it does mean that I often have to cook a second, different version for her. JUST what I have time for.

Eating Desserts Out in the Open
Iris eats her fair share of sweet stuff, but when it’s my turn for dessert she will still request to share. Iris can tell any time that I’ve eaten sweets without her. She can sniff out a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup on my breath hours later and has a way to find any candy wrapper that I’ve thrown out. I swear she must keep a spreadsheet of our dessert stock because she always knows when a cookie has disappeared. I can’t be the only mom who’s eaten ice cream in the bathroom, can I?

Peeing in Peace
It’s like there’s a sensor on my toilet seat that alerts Iris whenever I sit down. I’ve learned to the lock the door, but that doesn’t stop her from knocking (banging) and asking (yelling) questions through the door.

Flying
Want to fly somewhere on vacation? Sure, but that will cost you a whole extra plane ticket. We’re a small family, but anytime we consider flying anywhere I usually run the airfare, times it by three, and immediately change my mind. Road-trip, it is!

Eating Without Poop
What is it about sitting down to a meal that makes a kid have to poop? Even though she has been out of diapers for a couple years, we still sometimes have to assist Iris (especially in public restrooms). I didn’t know that it would be normal to eat piece of pizza, wipe a butt, and go back to eating pizza – after throughly washing my hands, of course. This one I should have known, but four years later and I’m still amazed at her timing.

My Thoughts
R.I.P. my stream of consciousness (1980-2011). Whether I’m at work or at home, it’s nearly impossible to think about something without being interrupted. For example, I have been jumped on, whined to, and begged for juice just while I’m writing this one little paragraph. I miss being able to really hold onto an idea and think it through.

As parents we often have to pause our thoughts, dreams, sleep, fun, pizza, and happy hours, but thankfully it’s all worth it about a million times over. We’re a part of something sweeter than the dessert we sneak in the bathroom and something more thrilling that flying through the clouds. Sure my food may come with more poop than flavor, but I have a feeling one day these will be the things that I miss.