Life Lately and the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

candle

Hi everyone, I am popping in tonight just to share a bit of a ‘life lately’ post and of course, everyone is buzzing about the start of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale this week {they say it’s the biggest sale of the year} so I’d be remiss to skip over that I suppose, more on that in a minute.

Before we talk fashion, I thought I’d share a bit about why I have been MIA here on the blog for the last 10 days or so, this summer has been one full of curveballs. We’ve been bouncing from one thing to the next, so I don’t have much to show off as far as new home decor but I am hoping to get some things knocked out that I can post about in the next week or two.

 

 

Life lately…June came and went so fast, and we ended it with our trip to celebrate my parent’s forthcoming 50th anniversary. My parents, my brother’s family, and our family stayed together in Hilton Head, SC {always one of my favorite beaches} and we had the best week. My kids enjoyed their cousins, we all got a chance to relax and of course, there is nothing like sun and sand to make you feel like a new person.

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book {blogged about it here, though not my favorite of the series} |  sunscreen  |  cup  |  bathing suit

We had an impromptu, semi-surprise anniversary celebration for my parents at the beach house one night of the trip. I found some fun 50th items at Target and Amazon ahead of time and we kept vacation life easy by ordering in the makings of dinner, including a tenderloin, potatoes, and salad from Fresh Market. We celebrated with champagne and a gluten-free apple pie from Whole Foods {that I am still thinking about!}, it was a nice way to end a memorable trip. Aren’t they sweet? 50 years together 🙂

cups | straws

We also had several lovely dinners out in some favorite spots. This year we tried the Old Fort Pub and while the food was just OK the view from the top was spectacular, some of you may have seen the videos on my Instagram story. We took many, many pictures at sunset before we heading home.

 

dress |  shoes  | bag | bracelet

The fun of our week came to a quick end, and I am sad to share that as our vacation wound to a close my father in law’s health spiraled suddenly downward and he passed away shortly after we arrived home. My husband was able to be with him in the end and while it’s a personal story I won’t share too much about, is sufficient to say that our family is still recovering from both the shock and the loss of such a great man. He was the father to twelve children {my husband is the oldest} and grandfather to FORTY-ONE {yes you read that right!} grandchildren. He was a respected physician, published author, former radio show host and so much more and I truly couldn’t have lucked out with a better father in law. You can only imagine that with his accomplished life and large family his funeral was an exceptional event. Having a personal love of organization and event planning, the logistical feat of everything that came together, thanks to the hard work of his children, over the last week is not lost on me. Everything went so perfectly {an abundance of manpower certainly helps in these situations}, I have no doubt my father in law would have loved every minute of the celebration of his life.

 

 

At the end of his funeral mass, his 41 grandchildren {aged one to twenty} donned custom shirts each with their name and number in the ‘grandchild line up’ {the front of the shirts had the family crest}, the sea of little green shirts filing out of the church behind the casket was something I’m sure I’ll never forget.  While I didn’t break out my camera during the funeral for obvious reasons, I did snap a quick pic of my kids with their shirts the night before, and I don’t think my daughter plans to ever take hers off.

 

 

With all that has transpired over the last few weeks, some of you might be wondering if we are still moving. At this point, our home is off the market while we regroup from the last few weeks. One thing that I promised myself going into the sale of the home, was that I would just let God work it out–IF he wanted to. I keep thinking about how He always takes care of us, even through this. Early on we had an interested prospect, we even got as far as negotiating that we could be moved out by a certain date. I realized the other day that date was this week! In the end, they moved on to another property at the last minute, which at the time was frustrating but now, looking back, I can see that God knew that our family couldn’t possibly be moving this week. I am not sure what we’ll do going forward, but I’ll be sure to update once we make some decisions.

 

OK–now, I’ll swing back over to the lighter side of life! The Nordstrom Sale is starting this week. This is when they put Fall items on sale ahead of the season, and while I don’t really want to think about Fall yet it is always fun to see what they have discounted. You can see the entire Sale catalog HERE. What I wanted to mention is that you should definitely sign up for the Nordstrom Rewards, they will send you a $10 reward which you can use at the sale. Now, it is a little frustrating that they let only Nordstrom cardholders pre-shop the sale starting today. If you don’t have {or want} a card, then you can start a wish list {or add them to your shopping bag now, it will alert you if they sell out} then you can shop the sale when it starts on July 21, however, unfortunately some of the good stuff can out quickly.

My sale wish list already includes: this long cardigan, this fun shirt, and this sweater. There is also great stuff on sale in the Home department, not to mention the sale has great discounts on classic investment pieces like Tory Burch bags {love this one} and these boots {have and wear constantly}, even the quintessential TB ballet flat and perfect for summer, these sandals.

If you have the card and can shop already, don’t miss these jeans {my favorites} at just $38! If you now feel like you must shop early, you can get a card here.

 

Speaking of sales 🙂 I recently ordered this shirt {just $22} and it’s a good one {and not part of the anniversary sale so that is the current price}, I needed some basic tees and like how the knot dresses this one up a little. It’s nice and long and will transition to Fall nicely if worn under sweaters. I have the heathered gray color, I wear it with white jeans and a necklace or dress it down with shorts. There is even a cold shoulder version HERE for those of you trendy types!

I think that’s it. I’ll probably sleep for several days straight after all the events of the last week, not to mention the piles of laundry and mail and thank you notes and all that I need to catch up on. Thank you for reading all this everyone, and for those of you willing, please keep my husband’s family, especially my mother in law, in your prayers.

XO,