ArtPrize

       It's our favorite time of the year again! And no Lola, it's not the half off white wine sale at D&W...It's ArtPrize! This year Grand Rapids was once again filled with creative, innovative and absolutely amazing pieces of art work from artist from all over the world! Lola and I decided we would take Jake the intern on a little adventure around ArtPrize on Sunday! But before we filled our day with art we obviously had to head over to Leigh's to try on some of their new fall fashions. It was a little chilly so Lola and I wanted to be dressed properly. I went for this really fun green plaid jacket that Leigh's just got by LAMB, with a pair of really comfy jeans by James Jean, and because it was so chilly out I just had to have this super warm turtleneck by Autumn Cashmere. Lola found this adorable fur vest by Dolce Cabo that everyone at ArtPrize loved, paired with an amazing sweater and pants from Vince! And we of course both wore shoes by Cole Haan!

Down the elevator we go to check out ArtPrize! I'm so clumsy I tripped while going into the elevator and smacked my head on the wall! Silly me!

       Our first stop was to the Gerald Ford bronze statue that was at the heart of ArtPrize! We didn't realize how big it was until we stood right next to it.

Look at Lola trying to whisper something into Gerald's ear, we know you love older men but not that old! 

       Well after Lola was done flirting with Mr. Ford we made our way to another area of ArtPrize and found the coolest painting ever! It was called "Family Portrait" The meaning behind the piece was to try and unite people, and spread great peace in the world. 

We couldn’t get over how big yet detailed the painting was! 

        While Lola and I were admiring this beautiful art work, we actually ran into one of the main artist himself! Eric Kravako, a Muskegon native was finishing up a tree, and stopped what he was doing to come over and talk to us girls! He was so nice and his message about the art work was so inspiring! 

Lola watch those hands! Mr. Ford wouldn’t appreciate you talking to other men! 

       The purpose of the painting, was like we said earlier to spread peace and unite the people of Michigan, but what I didn't mention was that this entire piece was on the side of this large bus, which was meant for housing art classes to underprivileged children, which me being a mother just melted my heart! 

Here’s the school bus that Eric was talking about! 

We met some lovely girls that Jake the intern knew from Grand Valley State University! Julie and Abby were so nice! 

       We had such a fun time taking Jake around Grand Rapids and ArtPrize, thank you so much to all the artist and everyone else who made this years event so memorable and special! See you guys later! 

The Ice Skating Adventure

Debating whether or not ice skating was a good idea!

Eloise and I had lunch together on Friday and decided to walk over to Rosa Parks Circle and ice skate! We were fortunate and had an awesome day that was full of sun! Because of the nicer weather in the middle of winter, we had some trouble deciding what to wear! Luckily, Leigh's had the perfect outfits! Eloise and I decided to wear our new favorite trend, colored skinnies. Leigh's had so many different brands to choose from...Seven For All Mankind, J Brand, James Jeans, but we finally decided on these great ones from Sold Design Lab which I paired with a Magaschoni cashmere sweater, a scarf from Theodora and Callum and fab boots from Stuart Weitzman! Eloise opted to go with a Michael Stars tee and jacket with her skinnies. Of course, once she saw I was wearing a scarf, she had to copy me (of course) and threw on a cashmere one from Claudia Nichole. If we must say, we were the best dressed there!

Eloise posing with her ice skates!

After much debating, Eloise dared to give skating a try.  She hasn't been skating since she went on vacation in Minnesota when she was 10....good luck Eloise!  We went inside and picked the most fashionable skates to go with her outfit! We thought these skates matched her orange skinnies and black jacket nicely! Eloise took a little while to warm up to skating (she might have been a little rusty or it could have been one too many sips of wine at lunch), but once she got going she was a pro....at falling!

So many kind people were skating and willing to help Eloise back to her feet!

Eloise skating around the rink!

After skating a few times around the rink with a limited number of sprawls on to the ice, no one commented on how bad of an ice skater she was!  Instead, they all wanted to know where she got her outfit! There were so many mothers out with their children and we both couldn't stop talking to them about Leigh's! Eloise even posed for pictures with their children!

Some cute girls posing with Eloise! We loved their hats!

More children having fun and posing with Eloise

Besides mothers, there were also many single gentlemen ice skating. I took this as the perfect opportunity to find a date for a later trip back to Rosa Parks Circle. I found this nice gentlemen and he seemed to really enjoy hugging...kinda cute, huh?  Bye, bye Match.com, hello Rosa Parks Circle!

Me hugging the nice gentlemen

Us posing in front of the GRAM and getting exciting for our visit!

Once Eloise had enough of ice skating, we took one last walk around the area. We walked right past the GRAM where we will be this coming Friday! We will be attending Friday at the GRAM in some very fashionable Leigh's clothing (come see us!). We just love downtown Grand Rapids and there are no better days spent there than those with friends.