WWLD?

After sporting the long, layered look for nearly 11 years I finally switched things up and got a new 'do! It was definitely time for a change. It's a simple bob cut- longer in the front, shorter in the back- with some bangs!

I actually had it cut twice. I was too chicken the first time to get it cut short enough, so I ended up going back two days later!

My inspiration for the change? My sister. She got her hair cut the weekend Belle was born and every time I've seen her since, I just thought it was so super cute. So, I texted her for permission to copy and I got the go-ahead. Mine is a little different with layers at the bottom and it's a little shorter. (I still like hers better, so I will be re-copying when it grows out a little bit.)

Once upon a time, I was the one with the cute wardrobe and she'd be wearing stuff out of my closet all of the time and then there was a brief period of mutual sharing of clothes. These days, it's only me rummaging through her stuff. She may borrow something of mine every once in awhile, but it's generally an item that she purchased!

Laura's become way stylish and as a mother of two children with an upcoming birthday--I'm lagging behind and getting dangerously close to being a prime candidate to be featured on What Not to Wear. So in attempt to avoid the mom-jean-rut, I have developed a new system:

What Would Laura Do?

What should I wear? What shoes would be cute with this outfit? What necklace? Should I keep this shirt or send it to goodwill? You get the point. Ever since I've adopted the WWLD philosophy, I get compliments every time I go out!

And what makes everything so much easier is that I have accumulated a ton of her hand-me-downs. She's gotten so skinny recently that's she's had to get new clothes and I totally called dibs on her leftovers. I'm not even insulted that I'm getting her too-big clothes or that I've actually got to get the rest of the pregnancy weight just to fit into them because I'm just too excited about my new wardrobe.

I wish her feet would get smaller (or bigger) so I could get my hands on some of her shoes.

(My other little sister Ashley always looks super cute too, but she's always been way too tiny for any of us to share clothes. Next time I see her I will be sure to ask her to put on a few pounds so she can join the fun!)

Our MegaBus Experience

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I purchased MegaBus tickets to head up to Chicago and I promised to share how that experience went. With great prices to travel to Columbia, St. Louis, and Chicago from Kansas City I was glad to finally get to chance to travel to Chicago and try it out!

Our tickets ended up being $35 one-way. The price was $20 a piece when I first looked, and I've found tickets as low as $15 each way if you book far enough in advance. I'm just browsing through the site and see that tickets to St. Louis in September are $1 each. How can you beat that?!?

Our bus was scheduled to leave at 8:30pm. The bus ended up arriving at 8:30, but we pulled away only hardly even 10 minutes late. We were able to pack away our larger bags so we didn't have to cram them in the seats with us.

The buses are all double-decker buses and Laura and I had hoped to get the front row up top so we could look out. It didn't work out and we were kind of bummed. We ended up sitting in the first row behind the stairwell, so we got a little extra leg room (about 4 rows back from the front window). I am pretty glad we didn't sit any closer because even from our seats we could hear the millions of bugs hitting the windshield and it was gross. Make note to self-- reserve front row seats for daytime or winter only.

The bus was clean and well-maintained. We learned after we got on, that the buses are equipped with Wi-Fi, so next time I'll plan to bring my laptop. There was a bathroom on the bus and Laura said they didn't have toilet paper. Fortunately, I didn't need to use it.

We stopped once on the way to St. Louis (10ish) and then in St. Louis (1am) to pick up more riders headed up to Chicago. One last stop one the way to Chicago (3:30ish). We arrived in Chicago at 6:20am, which was 30 minutes earlier than the projected arrival time at 6:50. Laura and I headed over to a Panera for some bagels to wait for our cousin to arrive.

Laura in her hoodie and sweatpants (and still cold!) at our stop in the early morning

The experience overall was pretty decent. The bus was freezing (understatement). Every single person was complaining about it and several people even purchased the ugly $22 sweatshirts at the bus stop to keep warm. The driver said something along the lines of "better than not having it at all" and it sort of made me think he didn't really know how to work it. I used my pillow case as a blanket (as best I could!). And then there were these super annoying people behind me who thought it'd be super fabulous to have a get-to-know-you conversation at 4:00am. But other than that, I'd say it was pretty good! And really, you can't really beat the price.

It was super easy to purchase our tickets and way easy to board. Our luggage was unloaded in a matter of minutes. Other people we talked to (or overheard at 4am) mentioned using the bus regularly for a couple of years. Laura is already looking to take another bus up to Chicago and I'd love to schedule a time to go visit my brother- and sister-in-law in St. Louis. On our trip there were several young children (using car seats) so I will would feel comfortable bringing Jackson too!

For the record: I was not asked to give this review, nor did I receive any sort of compensation for this post.

Home Sweet Home

While getting away is always fun, coming home is nice too! My sister and I had a good time visiting with family and shopping in Chicago, but I really missed my boys and so it was so great to come home to this:

They were so happy to see each other and play together

Here's a glimpse at some of our Chicago fun.

The Bean at Memorial Park

The view from underneath

Laura with our little cousins-- they loved her!

On the drive home, we passed the wiener-mobile.

But that's all for tonight! I am super pooped from the weekend. I'll post more on the highlights later this week.

Walking, Talking Miracle

It was only a few short months ago when the doctors gave us news that my cousin Katelyn didn't stand much of a chance to survive her cancer treatments. I went with my mom up to Mayo Clinic the weekend things took a turn for the worse, but by the time we headed back home, Katelyn was improving miraculously- even though she still had a long way for recovery.

This past weekend, our entire household was preparing for Laura's graduation party and out of town family was arriving sporadically. Everyone was so surprised when Katelyn walked through the door after Grandma that afternoon. It was the real Katelyn, the one we all used to know: The girl with a big smile and ready for a hug.

Back in March, Katelyn's victories were sitting in a chair for thirty minutes at a time and getting out of bed to take a shower. These days she is out of the hospital and back home in Iowa (when she's not visiting Grandma) and is a walking, talking miracle. Katelyn still has major issues with not being able to eat and she showed me where she has a pump in her belly so she can get nutrients that way.

Here's a couple pictures of Laura and Katelyn, who have always been good friends since they are close in age.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a big surprise... My birthday present is almost finished!

Dear Laura

I spent almost an hour searching for the perfect graduation card. I ended up buying one, but as I began to write in it, it just wasn't what I wanted. (I thought you were supposed to be the indecisive one.) No card captured what I wanted to say, so I decided to write one myself.

Congrats on your wonderful achievement! Everyone is so proud of you. There was a point in time when I wondered if this day would ever come-- i.e. the double-spaced-incident and the closed-until-spring-incident too, but you've proved that despite some of your airheaded moments that you really do have a good head on your shoulders. Especially since you graduated with academic achievement. Way to go!

More than that, I am so proud of the person you've become. You are so kind, so thoughtful, so compassionate. Truthfully, you are just the kind of person who's fun to be around, which probably has something to do with getting voted the "Girl Most Likely To Make You Laugh" in your graduating class. It was no surprise that you were nominated as Homecoming Princess and Prom Queen because you are nice to everyone you meet.

I treasure our friendship. When I answer the phone, "What. Do. You. Want?" when you call me at some ungodly hour at night, deep down (or not so deep) it makes me feel good that I am the person you call. And even though I continue to tease you about the time we drove home from Grandma's and you spent the entire 75 minutes filling me in on the drama about your junior prom that went a little something like this:

Well, so-and-so is clearly trying to sabotage the evening because we had already decided as a group go to such-and-such a place for dinner and then he called and made plans elsewhere. He is trying to RUIN EVERYTHING! So-and-so is going with so-and-so and she doesn't even want to go with him. It is just going to RUIN EVERYTHING!

I did actually care because it was important to you. I loved helping you with graduation announcements and with your party. Even more, I love when I come over sometimes and we just sit and talk for awhile. It seems that the older we get, the age difference gets smaller and smaller.

I have to mention what a good aunt you are to Jackson. I always knew you were excited to have a nephew (not as excited as if he had been a girl, but excited nonetheless), but I had no idea that you'd be so crazy about him and especially not so quickly. He was barely two days old when you told me that nearly everybody at your school had seen the pictures of him and you came down to visit just so you could hold him. Now that he's older, I know you have fun taking him over to see your friends just to show him off. I hear about "Worwa" all of the time. He just loves you.

So congratulations on your high school graduation. Your whole life awaits you. You will have a blast at Mizzou. I'm not sure they are quite ready for your dedicated levels of team spirit and spunk, but campus will definitely be a happier place with you there.  Continue to love the Lord, work hard, remain happy-go-lucky and you will succeed. And you will make the world a better place as you do.

Love you!
Your Big Sis, Amy

P.S. When did you get so gosh darn pretty!?!