Affordable Online Western Fashion

Happy Saturday!! So, this week, I asked y’all what you wanted to know from me as far as some of my favorite things and places to shop. The winning categories were budget friendly, online clothing options, so let’s see what I can come up with to help y'all out!!

You may be surprised to know that while I do have multiple western boutiques I absolutely love, tons of my pieces come from places that are actually far from western. I’m a firm believer in buying individual pieces you love and putting them together to fit your own style and vibe. I am not a person who buys a complete outfit from anywhere, ever.

So, that being said, one of my absolute favorite places to get tops online at super affordable prices is J Crew Factory. I shop the factory sale page and you can find some amazing deals. Since it’s a factory page to start with, things are already at a huge discount, but if you shop sale or clearance on top of that, its major savings. They will also occasionally do sale on sale, and you can lots of times get prices that are up to 70% off the already sale or clearance price. As my great-aunt would say, its practically free. Don’t miss out.

Booties aren’t really clothing, but I constantly get asked about my footwear. I get asked where I get them, what brand, how many pairs I have (I don’t even know truthfully), how small my feet actually are, the list goes on…so, I thought I’d throw in a great place for boots. Rivertrail Mercantile is one of my absolute favorite places to shop boots and booties. They too, have a great sale section. You’ll notice a trend that I rarely shop places that don’t have great sales. I would definitely not be able to have all the things I have if it wasn’t for sales! I hardly ever pay full price for anything, trust me. So, Rivertrail has a huge assortment of boots & booties, and they always have something on sale. My foot is abnormally small, so I am fortunate in that my size is usually always left in the sale section and they’re trying to get rid of them!!

Another way I find great deals is the Like to Know It app. Some of you are familiar I’m sure, but some may not be. I’ve been using this app for years. You find people (I usually find them on Instagram) whose style you like and then you follow them in the LTK app. They post outfits with links to everything they wore. They are great about posting sale items and good finds and deals. A lot of the people I follow in this app are not western fashion at all, but again, I’m just looking for pieces, not a whole outfit.

I will share with you 2 of my favorite western inspirations. They are both on Instagram but only one is on LTK. Allison Wiens is on the LTK app if you would like to give her a follow. Her Instagram is also great if you’re into western lifestyle. She always shares her daily adventures, and she is a super cute boy mom. I love her. She is a rep wesleysboutique.com which is a fantastic western boutique. I get things from there and of course; they always have sales! They also offer Sezzle so you can pay things out over time, which is a great option.

Allison Wiens

Probably my all time, most favorite style inspiration (besides Dolly of course) is Brooke Latka. She is THE cutest and I love pretty much every single thing about her style. She is on Instagram and shares her outfits there. She is a rep for allurewyoming.com. You know it, there’s a sale page! A lot of her things come from here, but she seems to style her outfits like I do. She always has an awesome piece she tends to build her outfit around, whether it’s a fabulous vintage jacket or a super cute vintage graphic tee, she always has a standout piece she makes a killer outfit with.

Brooke Latka

I hope this gives y’all some new inspiration and maybe a few places online you haven’t checked out before!! As always, watch my Instagram and/or Facebook stories for the outfits I post and always reach out if you have any questions about something I’m wearing!! Thank you all for following along and I’ll see you back here Monday with a beef recipe!!

Enjoy your weekend,

Jayde

Destin Family Vacay

Those of you who know me, or know a ranch-wife’s lifestyle in general, know that there is basically no free time. Ever. The past 2 years now have been exceptionally busy and stressful because what else? Covid. I hate even saying that word at this point, but it’s a thing that happened, so I’ll acknowledge it. Since we have had approximately 2 years with basically no time for actual fun, we decided to do a different summer vacation this year. Normally, we load up and go to Illinois to visit Andy’s family, but this year, we decided to head to the white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters of Destin, Florida.

We have been to Destin before, but it has been years. The last time we went, the boys were really too little to enjoy it. In fact, Declan more or less hated it. This year would prove to be a different story for sure.

We left at the actual crack of dawn. Actually, it was dark, so it was before the actual crack of dawn even. It was way earlier than I care to even exist, but the thinking was we would get down there at a reasonable hour. Wrong. The traffic was insane and add a fatal crash in Louisiana to the mix and it took about 17 years to arrive. So, the very first evening was spent just checking in and ordering pizza, which took over an hour, close to 2. Yes. For one pizza. There was also wine.

Day 1 was spent navigating hurricane Elsa. We headed to the beach early, but it wasn’t long until the lifeguards were telling everyone to get out of the water due to the strength of the undercurrent. We spent the rest of the afternoon back and forth from the pool to the beach. Luckily, it was a super short walk so it wasn’t hard to do. That evening, we had dinner at The Beachhouse, a restaurant located in the Sandestin. It was by far the quickest restaurant to get into as we only had about a 20-minute wait there. It was a great location, right on the beach, and there was indoor and outdoor seating. The food was good, a fairly basic menu, what you would expect for a restaurant on the beach…seafood, fried items, and a simple kid’s menu.

Day 2 was beautiful. We headed back to the beach and Elsa had left us and yellow flags were posted, so we were able to enjoy the water while using caution, which I can promise you I always do anyway. Undercurrent, sharks, jellyfish, old men taking a potty break, whatever the case may be, if I’m in the beach water, I’m using caution. We spent basically our entire day at the beach, as did the boys. They threw the football, boogie boarded, snorkeled (kind of) and did some back and forth to the pool because Declan met a girl, but that’s a whole other blogpost. That evening, we ate dinner at Harbor Dock’s, and it was delicious. I would definitely recommend it. We headed back to the room and to bed early that evening because our fishing trip was scheduled for 6 am the next morning.

Day 3 we went inshore fishing. Andy and Dryce tend to get a bit seasick, so especially with the aftereffects of the tropical storm, we decided for our first fishing excursion, we should stay in the bay. We used Scallywag excursions and had a fantastic time. It was definitely the highlight of the trip for me! We let the boys do all the fishing and our guide said it wasn’t a great day, but fish were caught and 5 of them were keepers, so it was a great day for us. The boys caught 5 black snappers and the guide recommended Brotula’s hook and cook option for us to take them. So, we put them on ice and headed to Brotula’s that evening. We had some fried for the boys and the rest pan seared. It was absolutely delicious. I was honestly surprised how much meat came off of the 5 fish. It was more than enough for the 4 of us. We didn’t even finish it all. So, I would absolutely book you a fishing trip (we did private, half day, inshore) and then take what you catch to Brotula’s. After dinner, we went to The Track to drive go carts and play some mini golf. The go cart line was long for sure, but worth the wait because the boys loved it. Although the place was pretty crowded, putt-putt wasn’t too bad, and we had a great end to our last evening there. I’m sure Andy would want me to mention he won by two strokes, because if I didn’t, what would have been the point of him meticulously keeping score and then checking and rechecking to make 100 percent sure he won?

Our last day we left about 10. We headed to town and grabbed brunch at The Pancakery and while we waited for our table, we hit up the HUGE candy store and some souvenir shops on either side of the restaurant. After some delicious omelets and pancakes, we hit the road and made the long, traffic riddled drive back to Texas.

In conclusion, Destin was a blast. It has grown quite a bit since the last time we were there. It is still absolutely beautiful and a fantastic choice for a family beach vacation. We will definitely return at some point to check out the things we missed. We're all curious and interested in hitting up Crab Island, we never got to eat at Boshamp's and I’m kind of thinking I want a redo on my Hawaii parasailing adventure since I spent the entire time gripping the harness for dear life and more or less keeping my eyes closed.

Hope you enjoyed reading about our experience in Florida and can’t wait to visit with you again next week!!

~Jayde

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

Happy Tuesday!

I’m doing something a bit different this week by posting a recipe my family actually will not eat. However, I LOVE a good meatloaf and I know there has to be others out there that do as well, so here goes!!

This isn’t really a super quick weeknight meal like I usually post either, however, prep time isn’t bad. It will take you 20 minutes or so to prep and it will just be your cook time that is over an hour, so something perfect to throw together and put in the oven early while you tend to other evening chores.

I hope I have some fellow meatloaf lovers out there and that you enjoy this delicious version!!