Life Lately

Where have the last two weeks gone?

We’ve been traveling so much lately, we’ve barely been home the last few weeks. In fact, out of the last 14 days, we’ve only been in town for three of them. We’re so grateful for the chance to get to travel (honestly we’ve been having the time of our lives) and visit places we’ve dreamed about going for so long. All of this traveling has also been forcing us to learn how to travel better together. Picture Type A PJ planning and packing and stressing and making sure everything is in order, and picture Type B Thomas waiting until the last minute and hoping he didn’t forget anything. Hectic, right? :)

We made the announcement two weeks ago that Thomas left his 9-5 job (that he went part-time at last year to help out with our business more) a few Friday’s ago and really felt the love you were sending our way. It wasn’t an easy decision, but maybe we had been heading that direction (him leaving for good to focus full-time on our business) for a while now and just didn’t realize it? We have huge plans this year for the land we purchased and we’re going to be putting all of our time and energy into that, getting it off the ground, and hopefully having it up and running by the end of the year. That is, when we’re not traveling, of course.

We have one more trip planned and we leave in two days! We’re heading to Disney World and we can’t wait to take you along with us. We both haven’t been in almost 20 years, so we don’t even know what to expect (besides magic!). How much has it changed? Have you been lately? It’s a shorter trip, and we’ll be home by the end of the week and once we do, we don’t plan on leaving the house for a few days, at the least. Our friend Dixie has been staying at our house and taking care of our fur babies while we’ve been out of town, but there’s still so much we have to catch upon- most importantly, getting our Easy shop back up and running! So many of you have messaged us asking if it’s broken or if we’ve discontinued our apparel and the answer is no! It’s just disabled for a bit while we travel, but we just got a new shipment in with a fun new twist on a favorite color, so we can’t wait to get it all loaded again and have it go live. Stay tuned!

We also uploaded a new YouTube video all about our time on the cruise we went on two weeks ago! Check it out here.

Let’s see…. what else? We just finished The Umbrella Academy on Netflix and LOVED it. Have you seen it? We love superhero/syfy shows and this one did not disappoint. What shows have you been watching and loving lately?

It’s been raining here for more than a week straight and our yard is flooded. Counting the days until spring gets here and we can start to do some serious yard work because it’s looking ROUGH. Hopefully it’s not too bad where you are. Today, however, it’s beautiful out. The sun is pouring through our windows and we actually opened some of them and let the breeze in for a bit. Feeling grateful for this weather because come Wednesday, it’s supposed to start raining again. A lot. A lovely thing to come home to, no? :)

We’re off for the day. Thanks for being here with us. We don’t think we could ever adequately tell you how grateful for you we really are.

xx

Two Fun New Swim Trunks

Hi friends! How was your weekend?

We just got home from our week long cruise with Celebrity Cruises and we’ve started the unpacking process (currently doing it as we speak). We had such a blast on their new ship, The Edge, and we can’t thank y’all enough for following along with us and sharing your feedback.

One question we got a lot on the trip was about our swim trunks and where we got them. We actually purchased them specifically for the cruise since we hadn’t bought new trunks in over three years! You can get the same ones for yourself by clicking the pictures below. Now all we need is some warmer weather and we’ll be set!

PJ’s:

Thomas’ (similar):

Feature Friday with Matt Taylor

Happy Friday, y’all! This is our last FF for a few weeks while we are traveling out of the country, and it’s a good one. Matt discusses growing up as a gay male in his small town (1500 people!), how it felt for him coming out, and who his biggest inspiration is (hi mom!). We had fun getting to know him a little better, and we think you will, too. Take a look below to see what we mean…

Name: Matt Taylor

Where are you from? I’m from Colorado! I was born and raised in a house my parents built between Elizabeth, colorado and Parker. I live out “in the country” as people like to call it. 

Where do you live? I live between two different towns, Parker and Elizabeth. Parker is a larger town, filled with more urban and diverse cultures. Elizabeth on the other hand has a population of about 1,500 and has a much more country feel. That’s where I actually go to school. 

Instagram: Matttaylor.14

On his favorite place he’s ever travelled: Asking where my favorite place I’ve traveled to is hard. My parents have made it very important to our family to travel and see different parts of the country and world. This past summer we just took a trip to Italy and Sweden. They were the prettiest places i’ve ever seen and getting to experience the different lifestyles were incredible. 

On what made him want to come out: From probably 5th or 6th grade I had a feeling I was gay. Once I figured it out for sure, I hated that I couldn’t tell people or openly be who I am. Honestly, social media had a large part in why I had the confidence to come out. Seeing openly gay, happy, confident men on Instagram really gave me the courage and strength to finally come out. 

“I stress about little things too much. Coming out was something I thought about 24/7, 365 days a year, and now that it’s done, it seems like I could do it 100 times over.”

On his coming out experience: Coming out for me has been amazing. Before I came out I thought I would be judged and harassed a lot, but it was truly the complete opposite. All my friends and family members have all been extremely happy and supportive to me. I actually came out to my whole family about 3 hours before we left for Italy. I sat them all down and told them together. we all cried together and hugged. I could feel their unconditional love for me. 

On what he learned in the coming out process: I’ve learned so, so much about myself in the process of coming out. 1st things first, I stress about little things too much. Coming out was something I thought about 24/7, 365 days a year, and now that it’s done, it seems like I could do it 100 times over. The second thing I learned about myself is that I, like all LGBTQ+ people, am strong. Before coming out you go through so much! From the first “am I gay?” to “I am gay,” so so much goes through your head, and the ability to admit that to yourself and open up to others about it takes a great amount of strength and courage. 

On facing backlash since coming out: I haven’t really faced any backlash since coming out. I know there are a few people in my school don’t agree with with my sexuality, but that’s okay. I know there will be people throughout my life that are too ignorant to see more than just black and white. I have nothing to apologize for, but I hope they find the love in their heart to open their closed mind.

On his experience growing up as a gay male in his hometown: Growing up where I did, I didn’t have any older males to look up to that were also gay. I was also raised in a Christian household, so it was pretty hard trying to figure out everything. Once I got a little older and realized I wasn’t the only gay kid in my school or in my area, it definitely eased my nerves a little bit.

On religion: I think religion is a tough thing. Do I believe in a higher power? Yes. Am I dedicated to a specific religion at this point in my life? No. Trying to figure out what branch or specific religion you’re a part of is hard while being gay.

On his true passion: Making films for me probably stemmed from being into photography as well. I’ve only just in the last year or so started to make films. I’m apart of my schools advanced Audio Visual Production class. In my films I like to touch into real, serious topics or creative, more aesthetic themed ones. I’m not 100% sure, but I would like to go to a film school when I graduate to further my passion for film.

On his biggest inspiration: This may be clichè, but my mom is hands down my number one inspiration. She’s the hardest working, most love-filled, wholesome person I know. She is the type of person to drop everything no matter what to be there for you, and I really admire that about her. She has also built her own business from scratch and works hard to keep it going. Her work ethic is outstanding. She has always supported me through every decision I’ve made and I couldn’t have come out without her. I’m very grateful.

Thank you Mom for inspiring me everyday! 

Just A Few Things This Week

How fun are these navy shoes from ASOS? They almost look like slipper socks. Would love to wear these come spring (which seems like it’s going to take forever to get here this year, though we have had some unseasonably warm weather the last few days!)

Thomas has been wearing boxer briefs for the first time lately (!!) and it’s taking him a minute to get comfy in them, but he’s adjusting (no pun intended) pretty well so far. This pair from Target are fun and won’t break the bank, which just so happens to be our favorite combo.

Speaking of fun, wouldn’t this scratch off map make the perfect gift for a certain holiday that’s coming up? Seems like such a cool way of keeping track of all the places you’ve travelled to (or plan to travel to) besides just posting IG pictures. Need this ASAP.