My First Cover!

My eyes filled with tears when I found out I {or rather my clothes} made the cover of the May issue of Fort Worth, Texas magazine. What a dream come true! Available on newsstands and in bookstores now, pick one up to see seven additional beautiful pages on my line inside.

An enormous thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you over there at the magazine, especially Jen, Craig, Jason, Paul and Hal, {did I miss anyone??}, to the wonderful divas at Lemongrass Salon for rockin' hair and makeup, and to sweet Dillon for such great modeling AND for saving us at the last minute!

You have no idea what this means to me. I am officially on Cloud 10. Thank you. Thank you.

xoxo Sheridan

How I Wore It :: Red + Pink

I have no idea why, but people are scared to death to mix red and pink. Porquoi??? I shall never know. Red heads look particularly amazing in pink, for example. It is one of my favorite color combos {as seen on the ever-popular Georgina Hot Lips dress from my Spring 2011 collection} and I absolutely adore mixing the two any chance I get.

These two colors make me think of a post Anne of The City Sage did last week on playing with pattern which is probably my favorite post she has ever done. Anne quoted the interior designer of the home featured as saying, "it's going to look good, but matching's not the point." I LOVE that quote! Too many people try so hard to match and end up missing the mark. This outfit doesn't necessarily make the boldest of statements as I just focused on red and pink accessories, but it does show a nice example of how to start small. For a big statement look integrate the colors into the entire ensemble {how fab would a pale pink dress and lipstick red trench look?!} Also, notice I am wearing several different shades of each color as well. Moral of the story: have fun and just wear what feels right to you!

scarf - etro, necklace - honeymoon in bora bora, t-shirt - target,

belt - j.crew, jeans - j.crew, bracelet - bali!, shoes - etro

xoxo Sheridan

Boon Love

image courtesy of Boon, Inc.

Last week in the Stroller Traffic email newsletter there was a genius-beyond-words item featured. I was immediately intrigued and clicked on the link to check it out.

The product is the Boon Wrap protective bowl cover shown above {also available in a beautiful tangerine shade}, or, according to the manufacturer's website, body armor for dishes. LOVE. Maybe Big Squish is just a maniac at meal times, but more often than not most of the food ends up on the floor and occasionally all the time an entire dish is thrown in a fit of happy rage. Boon Wrap, come to mama! This is totally one of those 'why didn't I think of that?' products.

I was so intrigued with the Wrap I began to look into their other products. Holy moly. Their entire product range is genius. Here are some of my favorites:

images courtesy of Amazon.com

What WHAT?! A gold high-chair??! Alert the media. It literally comes in nearly 20 other color-combos and has multiple positions allowing for use through roughly age 4 or 5. The downside? It breaks the bank with its $500 price tag. But then again it is gold...

Next up...Boon Benders:

image courtesy of Amazon.com

These are great. We actually own them and I had no idea they were made by Boon. When little piglets are just learning to feed themselves it is often tough for them to bend their wrists at the proper angle, and the angle of these utensils alleviates some of that difficulty.

Readers, meet Flo:

images courtesy of Boon, Inc.

Head over to the Boon website to check out the different photos of Flo. She's quite the knockout. Most faucet covers are a pile of doo and have zero practicality; the cover hardly fits the faucet, water shoots everywhere, and both the floor and parent end up drenched. All in all, no bueno. Although I have not personally tried out Flo, after viewing the pictures I don't think any of the above problems would occur. Added bonus: there's a built in bubble bath dispenser. These people think of everything!

Funny, our bath time is always this peaceful and serene, too.

We also own this bottle drying wrack by Boon. It is hardly a wrack, and its uses span far beyond that of just drying bottles. I don't mind keeping it out on the counter at all times either as it is far from an eye sore. The only other drying wrack that even comes close to this one is by Beaba, available here at Williams-Sonoma, but the Boon Lawn {which also comes in a smaller version, Grass} still wins for sheer creativity and cleverness in my book.

Now this one I am PUMPED about. Finally. FINALLY! A, dare I say it?, truly chic toddler training toilet. With storage?!

Me likey.

Amazingly innovative products in fantastic colors that are extremely well-designed and useful to boot?? Heartsies for Boon.

xoxo Sheridan

Happy Easter!

We had our first case of Easterbunnyphobia today. The symptoms were fairly mild and thankfully Squish recovered quickly. I have been hiding eggs around the house for over a month now for practice so he would get the idea and know what to do and it totally paid off. Total pro at his first official hunt today! Munchkin looked pretty stinkin' cute, too:


So squeeeeeeezy! I want to chomp on her cheeks!!!

I meant to share this Easter table scape created by Eddie Ross {obsessed} last year but completely forgot and have been kicking myself ever since!! It is hands-down the best Easter set-up I have ever seen. Take a look at the progression...

images courtesy of eddieross.com

Isn't it spectacular?! I'm hoping the Easter Bunny puts some blue glitter in my basket tomorrow morning. Check out the full post here for loads more photographs and detail shots. Eddie is beyond BE-YOND talented. He also did this window for Elle Decor that is my faaaaaaaavorite ever:

The offer is officially on the table for you to come do my entire house. Call me @ 1-800-IHEARTYOU.

Happy Easter everyone!

xoxo Sheridan

Bali Travel Log :: Until Next Year...

hard at work in the office sipping on a coconut.
{yes, in the office. the Balinese aren't big on walls}

Work ended up being so crazy the last few days I did not even have a chance to write! I also spent half of one day worrying about a girl - Bridget - who did not come back to our hostel the night before. Please excuse the small rant I am about to share, but I am doing so as a word of caution for any young women reading this blog.

Bridget was traveling with a group of girlfriends from America all of whom were currently studying abroad in Australia. She ended up going out one night with some other hotel guests and left from the bar they were at with a guy, so reported the people she was with. When her friends woke up the next morning and realized she was not in her bed, everyone began worrying. After several hours passed and no Bridget, the mother me finally convinced her friends to began taking some real action: going to the bar where she was last seen, showing her picture and asking around, finding out who she left with, etc. In the middle of that conversation Bridget walked up with a "what's the big deal?" look on her face. I had not even spoken to this girl before and I wanted to slap her. Seriously. What's the big deal? Um, hello, Bridget, do you remember Natalee Holloway? Probably not. I did. The big deal is that you are across the globe in a 3rd world country, you are a young woman, you are Western, you left with a man you had never met before and you were drunk. All I came out with was, "What would your mother say?!" She looked at me like I was crazy, and I wondered when I officially got old enough to say things like that. Anyway, I am thankful she was safe but BRIDGET GET YOUR HEAD SCREWED ON STRAIGHT before you end up on a milk carton. Mkay? You can never be too careful.

Deep breath. I feel better now. Anyway!! The last few days, aside from potential kidnapping events, were great. I was able to see the samples of my bags and I diiiiiiiiiiied at their incredibleness. They took my breath away, and I will give you all a full rundown of what can be expected for next spring this weekend.

Heading to the airport, the taxi driver and I got to talking. By talking I mean trying desperately to understand one another through broken language skills, though I was beyond impressed at his knowledge of English. He began asking about America. I told him I was from Texas and he said, "like Wyoming?" Yes, kind of like that :) He then started asking question after question about horses. His fascination was immense. I then realized: he had never seen a horse. He was asking me about them as if they were unicorns. It was so endearing and I loved being able to tell him about my life with unicorns.

As the driver and I continued our conversation at the longest red light in the world {he could hardly believe I had actually ridden a horse/unicorn}, a mother and her two young children were walking alongside the taxi. Her with an outstretched hand, the baby, on her hip, and his brother clothed in sweatshirts in 90 degree weather to cover their little bodies because they could not afford sunscreen. I have never in my life rolled down a window to give money to anyone, but for some reason in that moment I was compelled to. I had a few notes left in my wallet and gave the mother and baby 5000 Rupiah, and handed the small toddler peeking out from behind her 1000 Rupiah. Total of roughly $1.00, which is much more than just a dollar over there. I know it does not teach them anything. I know it sets a terrible example for the children...to beg for what you need instead of working for it. Handouts. Not self-reliant. I know all of that. But in that moment I decided I would rather them eat and know that those babies would have a full stomach that night than worry about teaching them a lesson in self-sufficiency. Now, I am not going to start rolling down my window on a regular basis, but there in Bali in the taxi in that instant, it felt like the right thing to do.

After what was an extremely productive trip, I am glad to be home, although this jet lag is the stuff of nightmares so for now I will end here. Below are a few more snapshots for you to enjoy {from a real camera this time, not my iPhone}. I had such a wonderful time and already look forward to going back!!

my morning glass of ginger tea with a fresh lime.

i walked by this house every day through the alley to and from the street to my hostel, and was obviously struck by the gorgeous array of bright colors. somehow, they all worked!

ohhhh so this is what people travel here to see. i get it now.

typical traffic jam. notice the third motorbike back {if it's too small, click on the actual photo to see a larger version}. mother with BABY sans helmet. saw this daily.

my best attempt at looking cool on the motorbike and clearly failing miserably

me and my sweet friend M! miss you guys already. see ya next year!

xoxo Sheridan

Bali Travel Log :: Day 9

I just had my first Balinese massage.

..........

I paused for like 3 minutes just then because I didn't even know how to start writing about the experience. Let me first begin by saying that I requested the fancy room here at my hotel/hostel. Fancy meaning I have a room and bathroom all to myself. There are only two or three of these rooms I think. Every other layout is dorm style with 2 - 10 bunk beds and one bathroom...that just wasn't gonna cut it for this mama. College me, for sure. Mother me, no chance in you know what.

Anyway, so along with the fancy room and the fact that I am staying here for a good chunk of time, I got two free hour long massage tickets. Ah-mazing. Even without the free pass it is only 70,000 rupiah for the hour. That is less than $10. For an entire hour. I am not even going to take the time explaining how silly that is. But I was still excited that I got mine for free :)

For those of you that have had massages, you know how the masseuse spends about 20 minutes on the drapey drape part alone? Leaves the room while you undress, then makes sure you are totally comfortable, warm, that no body part is uncovered inappropriately or that too much skin that might lead to ones embarrassment is showing? Yeah. Apparently no one told the Balinese about this. I get to the room and the sweet little Bali masseuse lady, so quaint and unassuming, no taller than I am and certainly can't weigh more than 90 pounds says to me point blank: Take off your clothes. Ummmm....nice to meet you too....Can we go to dinner first? Maybe I should explain I just had a baby and that my body usually doesn't look like this? Nah. When in Rome...

So this teeny tiny gorgeous Balinese woman proceeds to jump ON the table, making my legs all bendy like I never knew they could, pressing and rubbing every inch of my muscle fibers - yes, she got to the fibers themselves - and somewhere within the hour I relaxed more than I had in 12 months. It was perfection. Well, until she told me to sit Indian style and then asked if I wanted her to crack my back. No idea how to respond, I came out with, "Is it good for me?" when what I really meant to say was, "Will I survive?"

I survived, and I am praying I have time to go back tomorrow before I leave. Bali is growing on me. As I look out and see the rain floating down as soft and light as mist, resting delicately on the lush greenery and beautiful plants, I kind of feel like Jane Goodall. Jane Goodall with a cracked back that kills jumping spiders in her room at night.

Oh, and meet my slug friend that came around every day to say hello:

{Actual size}

I almost DIED getting that close to it. Seriously. I knew for certain it would be the first slug in the history of the world to move at lightning speed and swallow my finger whole. Thankfully I managed to get away unscathed. {barely}

xoxo Sheridan

Bali Travel Log :: Day 5

Yesterday was a long day. 15 hours of working without a break. Long. Day. Every day has been super productive so far though which I feel wonderful about. We were at the markets all day the previous two days searching for fabric inspiration and had great success. The best news yet: I made final decisions on women's clothing styles...and....get - ready - for - this...Bags! Baby! And Home!

That's right - you are in for some real treats. My interests stretch far beyond women's clothing {as you, my darling blog followers know} and I have been dying to dabble in those additional realms. I have to warn you though: prepare yourselves now and learn some restraint before the styles are revealed because you are going to want one of everything. It is all so freakin' great I don't even want to let go and sell it! I am very proud of the creations I have in store for you all and cannot wait to share them with you! But more on the specifics later :)

In other shocking news {she says sarcastically}, it's monsooning again. Ok not actual monsoon, but nearly. Bali is just on the tail end of monsoon season so the rain is still very frequent. It was sunny this morning pretty much for the first time since I arrived and I made the most of it, taking a breather from work and sitting by the pool. It felt amazing. Every inch of my sunburn was worth it.

xoxo Sheridan

Bali Travel Log :: Day 3

Been at the markets ALL day. Literally. All day all day all day. Half the time I am thinking, this is so sweet! I am in BALI! Across the world. What an opportunity. Baliiii!!!!

Then the other half of the time, I remember: I am not in the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton Bali. I am not doing the honeymoon Bali. As I go through these markets, I am doing the real Bali. I am standing in puddles of contaminated water and every ten yards there is a starving dog or rooster...or human. Today I was excited to see a toilet that was above ground level with four walls around it. I use the term "walls" loosely. There was no toilet paper or soap to wash my hands, not that there was a sink to wash them in...or water. But a toilet that I only have to semi-squat over to hit the target is a good break for my legs, as opposed to figuring out how to hover over one that is ground level. Not that anyone else bothered aiming, I think to myself as my sandals are providing a barrier between the "water" on the floor and my feet. The ground splashes as I exit.

Awesome.

xoxo Sheridan

Bali Travel Log :: Day 2

I hadn't been in Bali for more than 5 hours and already learned my first important lesson: don't get on the back of a motorbike the same way you mount a horse. It will fall over.

Good times.

I sit here at my quaint little hotel/hostel/abode for the duration of my stay - The Island - it is cute, relaxed and lovely in every way. The peace and quiet is so nice - no children screaming or crying, no one banging spoons on the table, no one throwing Thomas the Train engines across the room that hit me in the head - what a change from back in Texas. The primary noise is just the rain hitting the palm leaves.

The internet is in and out; I'll have to get help later on this morning when someone who knows what they are doing arrives. My grand plan was to have blog posts lined up for the entire time I was gone. Oops.... packing up the two little hooligans for two weeks at my mom's interrupted that. No joke, we filled up the bed of Biz's pickup with all of their super important necessary can't live without gear, including a whale shaped bath tub for Munchkin. Life or death item, of course.

Still haven't had a hot shower. The gas in my room was already turned off last night by the time I arrived, and it's not yet on this morning. So that makes...let's see...nearly 72 hours now without one. Can't complain though - it just felt good to splash cool water on my face after three flights totaling 25 hours, not including layovers.

I feel very smart as I sit here enjoying my French toast. Out of the seven other travelers in the common area I am the only one who knows how to figure out 3% of 5,105,500 rupiah. Gold star for 6th grade math! It is beyond humid here. Like, Houston has nothing on this place. The wind feels nice right now as it blows the slight mist of rain through the rooms. I use the term rooms loosely. There aren't windows, and actually there are hardly walls, just columns holding the roof up with roll down bamboo shades if necessary.

I haven't yet spoken to any of the other travelers directly - other than the math incident just now - but I am listening to their conversations. Eavesdropping rocks ;) They are talking about great night life, where they are on their journey, where they have come from, where they are heading to next and how many monkeys they have been attacked by. I am definitely the only mother and already missing Big Squish terribly. What I wouldn't give to have a wooden Thomas the Train engine smack me in the side of the head right now.

p.s. Dad, I know I know, I broke your no motorcycle rule. Kind of. For the first time ever in nearly 27 years. BUT it was only kind of breaking I swear, as it was pretty much just an electric scooter. We didn't go far, went slow, and I wore a helmet, of course. If it makes you feel any better nearly all of the other scooters had children piled on them, helmet-free {even though the parents were wearing helmets...?}, and it looked like roughly half of them were newborns making their first trip home from the hospital.

xoxo Sheridan

Bali Travel Log :: LAX to HK

I am heading back stateside today. Finally. Bali has been amazing, Spring 2012 is going to be BE-YOND amazing, but I am seriously missing my cowboy boots. The people here are wonderful, and overall it really is a beautiful place {if you can overlook everything that generally comes along with a 3rd world country}. I cannot wait to get back to Biz and the kids but I'm not gonna lie: sleeping through the night has been nothing short of spectacular! I wanted to share some of my travel logs as I make my way home. New posts coming next week! And p.s. can we just talk about the fact that you guys have helped me nearly reach the 400 follower mark?! I am on Cloud 9! I set my goal of reaching 500 back in January, and I feel sure I will get there. Happy happy!!! Loving you all with smushy hugs xx

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Sitting on the airplane right now in LA about to depart for HK. I'm 64A. I have never been on a plane that had row 64 before...and still wasn't at the very back. I am cursing in my mind {curse words for me are darn and shoot...with maybe the occasional crap thrown in} that I didn't bring my journal. My first trip to Bali and I left the book in which I write down every important event, milestone and more often than not current emotional turmoil taking place in my life. I didn't bring it because it would be too heavy in my bag. What a dumb reason. So this old piece of paper in my purse will have to do.

I am scared right now. Well, not as scared as I was when I left Dallas. I downloaded the book Eat, Pray, Love onto my phone as I kind of somehow remembered seeing a movie preview for it of Julia Roberts bicycling through a rice field in Bali and figured it could be a little guide map real quick?? Maybe? I started on Chaper 73 - apparently she is in Bali for the second time now - and it's working. Chapter 80 and I already feel better. I also sat next to the most wonderful woman on my way here to LA. She and her husband were taking two boys from their youth group at church to LA for their senior trip. I showed her a book I brought, Heaven is for Real and we got to talking. She asked if I knew I would go to Heaven when I died. Strangely {I don't know why I say strangely...} it was the most wonderful question she could have asked. I was so happy and smiley and excited to say yes. I instantly found peace and a huge amount of my worry about leaving was gone. IF anything happened {the root of my scare}, I would be more than ok.

Ever since having children I have an irrational fear that I might die like at any given moment. It is horrible. Plane crash. Car wreck is a big one that runs through my mind these days. You see - and anyone with children knows this - once you have a child, your heart is no longer in your body. I am a part of them and they are a part of me. I have to get back home to my heart. Everything is more difficult when I am away from them. Even breathing. Anyway, so I am scared to be going to the other side of the world all by myself and leaving my heart at home, but at least Julia Roberts is making me feel better and I'm glad I remembered I'm going to Heaven.

They just turned off the lights. About to take a Melatonin and pray it knocks me out for the next fifteen hours. Jesus. More from HK.

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Things I learned on the airplane from LAX to HK:

- There are two different bottles of lotion in the bathroom {or washroom as the flight attendant so nicely called it} labeled Face Lotion and Hand Lotion. They are actually the very same lotion.

- There are 346 different positions one can sleep in whilst in an airplane and I tried them all.

- I really need this brake. So much so that just now when I wrote that, I subconsciously spelled it brAKE. Maybe not a coincidence.

- I love to write. I don't know why this just occurred to me. I love blogging, and have thought in the past about writing a book. And now I really want to. Hmmm...thinking...I'd better hurry up and do something major so people want to read what I have to say.

- New task: do something major.

xoxo Sheridan

Mission: Spring 2012

I have to apologize profusely for my lack of posts this past week. I am kind of playing my own little Where in the World is Carmen San Diego game {anyone else remember that?} on Mission: Spring 2012. You won't be disappointed! Sneak peek just for you guys...

Beeeeaaaauuuutiful! And just for you :) I need it - NEED. IT. - to be Spring 2012 already so you all can get your hands on the goodies I have in store for you!! I will give you an in depth post of what is to come very very soon. Hang tight until then!

In the meantime, check out the sweet post my darling girlfriend did over at her blog, The Company She Keeps: right here.

xoxo Sheridan

H.E.L.P.

Image courtesy of Dr. Lill

Happy weekend!

I officially joined Twitter in January of 2010, but had no clue what to do with it until last week. I love it! Why didn't you guys insist I jump on the Twitter bandwagon sooner hmmmm?! Time out! Seriously though it is super fun and my name {or whatever you call it...I still have some catching up to do} is @sheridanfrench. Follow away!

@RevRunWisdom {Rev Run of Run DMC} is quickly becoming my favorite person that I follow. He tweets the most wonderful things...wisdom in one little sentence. His most recent is this: People fail because they don't ask for help. HELP = (H)is (E)verlasting (L)oving (P)resence.

Really something to think about if you ask me.

Anywhizzle, here are a few picture updates from the French household that many of you have been requesting:

Cutie cute!

I LOVE this picture of us!

While Munchkin and I were busy with our fun photo session, Big Squish just did this...

...the whole time...

Ha! Typical 21-month-old going on 13-year-old playing video games.

{At least right now they involve counting, excavators and Sesame Street...maybe he will continue to adore Elmo into his teen years? Wishful thinking much??}

He also requests that I put Bandaids all over him during lunch...normal? Cause for concern? The little man is kind of scaring me.

I'll leave you with a few more of @RevRunWisdom tweets to have in your heart this weekend:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you." Jeremiah 29:11

God is concerned about your every concern. Remember! There is NO spot where God is not.

God can guide your feet; if you ask, he will also guide your stumbles.

Kisses to all.

xoxo Sheridan