Girly Mom

I love Aquis Hair Turbans. I can’t get ready without them.  Everyday I wrap one around my hair then I’m off to make breakfast, get the kids ready for the day, put on my makeup, do the laundry, paint the house, refinish some furniture and teach French to small children.  Okay, my mornings aren’t quite like that.  I sometimes put laundry off until the afternoon.

This little towel absorbs the excess water in my hair which means it takes less time to dry.  And less time with the blow dryer means less damage to my hair.  That’s really important to a girl whose hair is, ahem, chemically enhanced.

Aquis also makes a small hair towel, but I prefer the turban because there’s a little button that secures it on my head and keeps it from falling off every time I lean over. These turbans are available at Amazon and several online stores as well as places like Bed, Bath and Beyond.  They’re well worth the price especially if your hair takes forever to dry.

If you have a product that you can’t live without, please share it with me.  I need an excuse to go shopping.

On July 4th, we loaded up our three kids and headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the weekend.  I packed for a family of 12 heading to the desert for 4 weeks.  I’m a horrible packer, I admit it.  I always pack one outfit for each day, a few extras in case we go somewhere nice for dinner or someone gets their outfit dirty.  Plus, I always throw in a few extra items in case the weather goes all arctic on us.  And I never forget the shoes for dressing up and for dressing down and for walking around.  Unfortunately on this trip, I forgot sleeping bags, swim goggles and one kid’s medicine.  But hey, they sure did look good.

Anyway, we planned to leave around 10 in the morning, so of course it was noon when we pulled out of our driveway.  That’s actually not too bad for us.  We had a pleasant and uneventful drive, which any parent of small children will tell you, is a wonderful gift from above.

Our kids entertained themselves with their video games and movies and even looked up occasionally to enjoy the view.  We didn’t make the usual four stops every ten miles, which was great.  My husband and I were able to have an uninterrupted adult conversation.  I’d almost forgotten what that was like.

We checked into our hotel in Chattanooga, threw the luggage in our room, then headed off to Lake Winnie Amusement Park to meet our best friends, J and M, and their four kids.  We have traveled more times than I can count with them and surprisingly, they still seem to like us.

Using our parenting genius, we divided up so the kids could ride as many things as possible.  The toddlers rode a bunch of kiddie rides, including a mini roller coaster. I rode with the kids the first time and M rode with them the next go-round.  As is her luck, the coaster stopped part way into the ride.  She had to drag two of the kids out of the car and climb over the tracks.  She also got stuck in the hotel elevator on our NY trip last year, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Crazy things always happen to her.

The bigger kids rode paddle boats, the ferris wheel and several spin-you-around-until-you-throw-up rides.  M and I agreed that we were insane to let our kids ride some of those rides.  We’ve put too much time and effort into getting them raised to this point to lose them on some crazy rickety old ride.  Our husbands just laughed at us.

The kids loved the park. We thought it seemed kinda dirty and some of the people there were just plain scary.  Maybe it’s not normally like that, but ewww.  It’s definitely not Disney, but it’s nearby and the kids had a blast.  Plus, I did enjoy a huge Icee and a funnel cake. That was definitely worth putting up with a few carny folk.

Summer is all about sun, sand, BBQ and flip flops.  Yes, flip flops.  I love them.  They are comfy, cute and I can get several pair for the price on one pair of winter shoes.  What’s not to love?

Now, I love Havaianas.  They are absolutely the most comfy flip flop I’ve ever worn.  But sometimes, they just don’t work right with that little summer skirt or those cute capris I just got.

I wanted to find something different.  You know, a flip flop that looks a little dressier.  OK, I know that a flip flop can only be so dressy, but I wanted something that didn’t look like I just walked off the beach.

So,  I began my search for some new flip flops.  I looked in stores, through several catalogs and online.  Oh the work that we girls endure when shopping.

I was looking at my Garnet Hill catalog at some super cute skirts and there they were.  They were just what I was looking for.

Look at those fantabulous colors!  I love them all.  I ordered the red patent and the silver.  About a week later, I went back to order more and the color I wanted was on back order.  I really wanted to take them on our vacation, so I checked at Zappos.

And of course, I found them.  I love Zappos, just take a look at my credit card bill.  (Just kidding, honey.)

Zappos doesn’t carry all the same colors but they have most of them.  And you can’t beat the superior service from Zappos. Their free returns policy is insane!

So, I now have them in red, silver, and brown.  And today, while I was making sure my Zappos link worked, my fingers slipped and I accidentally ordered the yellow.  Oops…