hotlanta ladies: come one, come all!

hey y'all! exciting stuff today for any girls in atlanta:

the lovely ladies of three happy eaters and i are hosting a clothing swap this weekend benefitting hagar's house, a women's shelter in decatur, and YOU are invited!

the short and sweet details:

what: a clothing swap. bring $5 and any unwanted, gently worn clothing/shoes/purses/jewelry
when: this saturday, april 13th at 10:30am
where: amanda's house
why: to support a local ministry, clean out your closets, shop, eat good food and drink mimosas

for full details check out the facebook event page and make sure to rsvp while you're at it.

all proceeds go straight to hagar's house and all leftover clothing will go to oakhurst presbyterian, where they will be distributed to hagar's house and other ministries in need.

who doesn't wanna snag some cute clothes with a drink in their hand and good food in their belly all while benefitting a good cause and enjoying some girl time?!

it won't be the same without you!

<3 jojy and the three happy eaters


p.s. the photos above show just a taste of some of the clothing we have already collected for your shopping pleasure! and yes, we are considering being part-time models... but we'll probably still have to keep our normal jobs.

looking towards summer: how do you protect your skin?

good morning! i was catching up on the interwebs this morning [something i haven't done much of with the new pup!] and i came across this post from sally and molly at a piece of toast about a new brand of swimwear called cover. designed by a couple of skin-conscious ladies who wanted better looking protective swimwear. i think they succeeded! their collection is spf 50+ and still attractive/mature/sexy. 

it got me thinking about summer and what my game plan is for protecting my skin. if you have ever been poolside with me, you have probably witnessed me covering myself in opaque white sunscreen + sitting under an umbrella + covering myself up with a towel. i love feeling the warmth of the sun and being outside, but i do not want to mess with the wrinkles, sunspots and possibility of skin cancer that can come from too much unprotected sun exposure. 

inspired by cover, i started checking around for other cute, long-sleeved swimwear. i found these at j.crew. i love the cute prints and the bright solids. i'm digging the bottom right one. i would pair it with some patterned bottoms and call it a day. i also like the tomboy feel of the swim shirt. it would make me feel like the surfer-girl that i will never be!

what about you guys? how do you protect yourself in the summer? have you ever worn protective swimwear [in your adult life]? do you love to tan despite the health risks?

<3 jojy

[photos from left to right: one//two//three//four// via j.crew]

quick update: a puppy!

hello all! i just wanted to give a quick update and let you know the reason that i'll be a little less active on the blog this week.

harrison and i are fostering a puppy! we had been talking about getting a dog for a while, but didn’t have any serious plans to do so. then some of our friends adopted a sweet little girl puppy named maeby. we instantly fell in love with her, and when we found out that she had some siblings that needed a home, we reached out to the rescue agency. from there things happened super quickly. all of a sudden we had a puppy but no food, crate, toys or anything! [don’t worry, we have since acquired all of these items]

we're doing the foster to adopt program, so, if all goes well, we will keep him "furever" (yeah, i just said that. i'm becoming more and more of a dog mommy person or whatever. i feel funny).

he's a mixed-breed pup, about 3 months old. he may be the calmest, nicest, most well-behaved puppy i've ever known! 

if you're my friend you should come over and meet him. he loves people. the AT&T man came over unexpectedly yesterday, and you would have thought he was zissou's long lost brother. zissou was thrilled about the company and curled up at his feet immediately. what a guy. 

i'll try to check in here again in a few days! send happy puppy training thoughts our way!!

<3 jojy

[3.4.13] i'm looking forward to...

1. my new nanny job. i'm keeping a sweet baby boy just a couple miles from my house through may. it was funny timing, and you all know i wasn't really looking to be a nanny again, but it's a perfect situation and i'm really excited about it.

2. new books. some inspiring people from my church wrote some inspiring books that were released recently. i love having new reading material. i might love it even more when i actually know the person who wrote it. check them out here and here.

3. a new recipe for "healthier" mac and cheese that i'm trying tonight. found on pinterest, of course. we'll see how it goes.

hope your monday is above average!


<3 jojy


[that's my friend amanda at stone mountain. she and some other cool girls just started a food blog. check it out!]

product review: soapwalla activated charcoal and petitgrain soap bar

it's been a while since i've done a natural beauty post! and i'm excited to review this little guy for you all.

i ordered the soapwalla activated charcoal and petitgrain facial and body bar towards the end of january. i woke up and my skin was just a mess. and i felt frantic and insecure. i opened my computer and saw something on facebook that nubonau had posted about this soap. all i saw was "good for blemish-prone skin" and i stopped reading, signed onto nubonau, put the soap in my cart. as i was clicking the last button to complete my order, i quickly yelled to harrison, "can i order some soap? its only ten dollars!" and, before he answered, i had already ordered it and felt just a little bit calmer.

my first reactions:

• it smells really good. kind of a light, earthy, floral scent. not overwhelming. 
• it's black. that's kind of weird, but i also kinda dig it. 
• it has a suuuuuper silky lather and feels very nice and luxurious on your skin.

after a month's use:

• my skin generally feels smoother [which is saying a lot since its winter and i usually get seriously dry skin]
• it's great for daily use. doesn't over-dry, which most cleansers for acne usually do.
• my break outs are not gone, but they do seem to be healing more quickly. my skin breaks out a lot more during the winter, so the fact that my skin is healing quicker is a sign that the soap is helping, i think. i'll be interested to see how things go in the warmer weather using this soap. 

will i buy this product again? yes. absolutely.

would i recommend this product? yes. absolutely.

is it worth $10? yes. absolutely.

there ya have it!

<3 jojy


[you can buy this product here and here]

[2.25.13] i'm looking forward to...

[an example of me not looking very positive. its hard to smile when there is a nasty dumpster right behind that fence.]

it can get a little difficult to be positive when you're trying to focus your interests and goals and find a career and dream big and then you realize you're still a housewife in your pajamas drinking coffee out of a dolly parton mug [i'm kind of complaining but not really complaining cause i know my life could be worse!]. SO. in an effort to be a little more positive, i'm going to do a weekly "three things i'm looking forward to" post.

i'm looking forward to...

1. the possibility of a redesign for the blog! what you're looking at now is the best that harrison and i could do with our limited knowledge and resources. and hey, it has served me well and looks just fine. but as things are growing, i would like to clean house a little. we're looking at our options and will hopefully get things moving in the next couple of weeks.

2. wedding season. i know, i know, i'm not a wedding person and i generally make that very clear. but hey, i love love. i love celebrating people that i love. and i love to dance in the name of love.

3. sandal weather. i know it's still february, and i'm probably jumping the gun, but yesterday's 65 degree weather made me warm and fuzzy. i can't wait to slip back into my saltwater sandals. i lived in them last summer and can't wait to do it again this year. i would also like to get ahold of a pair in black.


so there you have it. a little positivity for this dreary monday.


<3 jojy


p.s. this and this have helped me the past few days. 

imogene + willie

every once in a while something just hits you hard, and you can't stop thinking about it, and you have to find a way to be involved in it in some way, and you want you to tell everyone about it.

that thing for me right this very moment is imogene + willie.

i know, i'm late to the party on this one. someone probably feels smug and cool cause they already knew about this brand and i didn't. i don't even care, y'all.

maybe it's because i am continually on the search for the perfect pair of jeans [most jean shopping trips end in ugly cry face], or maybe it's because harrison and i dream of starting our own business one day and we've been dreaming particularly hard lately...i don't know, but for whatever reason, imogene + willie has resonated with me to a divine degree.

their products are perfection. the above photos are my favorite pairs of jeans from their website. besides several different styles of jeans, they also have a variety of cool button down shirts, jewelry, bags, shoes and other goodies. i'm currently coveting all of their work shirts and that beautiful pair of jeans in the top left [imogene slim black].

a great pair of jeans is nice and all but what about the brand behind them? imogene +willie is a brand to admire. based in nashville, TN, USA. husband and wife team. made in store. rich family history. i just can't think of a better place to buy my jeans. the duo behind the company, carrie and matt eddmenson, are passionate about what they do and have built their company on things that matter. they even named it after carrie's maternal grandparents! if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, or even if you just love a great story, watch the video and read about their history. it brought me to tears. i love the way that their families and values played a part in the creation of the perfect pair of jeans.

i told harrison today that we need to save our money and plan a road trip to nashville this spring, specifically to go to imogene + willie [the store is an old gas station!!!] and get fitted for jeans.

until then i'll probably just be pants-less. cause none of my current wardrobe measures up.


<3 jojy




[all images courtesy of imogene + willie:  imogene slim black // imogene rinsed // willie rigid // hencye]