The Last One

I have been pondering and thinking what this would be like. To be loading up that last baby and take him off to school and leave. Not knowing what it’s going to be like for him or me. To him, I’m sure there is a lot of excitement and some fear. But for me, his mom, who has been with him constantly for the past 18 years, there is some excitement for him because he definitely deserved the Scholarship to play a game that he loves and has played for the past 14-15 years. There is also some…I’m not even sure what the emotion is. I’m sure I will miss his loud music, him entering a room when everything is quiet and he makes noise. But there is something different and strange about the last one. I’m not a rookie at this, I have 3 older daughters that have also gone to college for athletics and now are taking care of themselves. This just feels different.

From the first time that I laid eyes on him as a baby, nothing but pure mothers love.  I had no idea what he would become or what he would like. What his personality would be like or how he would make friends, what foods he would like and the list goes on. I will say that he has smashed all of my fears and desires that I had for him as a mom.  I only wanted him to be happy and to always be true to himself and he has done a great job at that. Even the times that I wanted to gut punch him or the times that I actually did.. :-)From the first time he bumped into a wall as a toddler and looked at the wall as if it was in the way. Or the time that he ate Cascade out of the dishwasher thinking that it was pudding. Or the time he fell off the kitchen table and had to get stitches or the first time that he saw the ocean and the look in his eyes was just pure amazement and joy.  He has helped to make my life fulfilling, enjoyable, happy, proud, strong, exciting and fun. My only boy and my baby boy has grown into a young man and heading off to college to pursue his dream. Playing Basketball!!! I am all over the place this morning emotionally. So I will stop here. More to come…But I wanted to share my thoughts.  He’s my heart! Love my babies!

Say it and Believe It

So much is happening that I can hardly keep up.

May 7th, my baby girl graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and finished her last semester with a 4.0. Proud mama! Time has flown by so fast and this little girl has made me happy to be her mom. Watching her walk across that stage and get that degree was such a proud mama moment! She went to college doing something for 4 years that she loved and almost all of her college was paid for..  #trackstar.

May 14th, dRea’s Style Sense participated in the Women’s Health Expo in Cincinnati, OH and I continue to tell myself that this is my purpose. I absolutely loved every second of teaching women about their individual Body Types and listening to their stories from how their marriage was going to how they are going through Menopause and gained that dreaded weight around the waistline. There are always ways to enhance your body so that you feel your absolute best when dressing. Body Type Analysis is what I do and what I do best.

May 22nd, my man is graduating high school. I can’t believe that it’s been 18 years since he came into this world weighing almost as much as me. lol…and now he is about to graduate high school and go off to College. Can’t wait to see him play basketball for Northwood University! It’s always proud mama moments watching my kids do anything. They wake up in the morning and I’m a proud mama! lol   I love watching them grow, watching them wrestle with making decisions and pull through each challenge and victory is priceless.

I know that I say that I am blessed a lot and I am. 3 of my 4 babies have had  college paid for through athletics. What an honor and a blessing.. And now their mom (even though I’m 80 years old, in Kera’s voice) is finally living her dream. It really is a wonderful life and one that I am very grateful!

Believing in Your Dream is Everything

My journey continues…Over the past month, I styled models in 2 different fashion shows for 2 different organizations. One had over 30 models and the other had about 8 models. I am so grateful for what I do and have the opportunity to do. It is a gift from God and I plan on using it as much as possible. I will be traveling to St. Louis over the weekend to scope out some venues for just the right fit for the Fashion Show coming in early Fall. This is a very exciting and once in a lifetime event. God is definitely driving this one as he has in the past and guides my life every single day. I also gained 2 new clients over the past couple of weeks and am in the process of organizing my information for the Women’s Expo next month. dRea’s Style Sense will have a booth! yay!

The classes are quickly approaching this summer as well. I will be teaching teens and pre-teens about personal styling at it’s best and the how’s and why’s of why things look or don’t look polished.  Fulfilled life, yes, I would say so and very grateful for it all. I am learning to balance my time and space more and more each day. It’s fun and exciting! If you live in the Cincinnati area, please do come to the Women’s Expo on the 14th of May, would love the support!

Hustle Believe Receive for Life

I was asked to share my story on the HBR call this past Saturday and was very excited to do so. When I look at my life a year ago…wow..a lot has changed and so much more has happened! I shared a lot about what is going on right now and what has happened over the past year. It is amazing when you start to be grateful for your life, you see so much more and so much more is given to you.  Hustle Believe Receive reminded me to be grateful for every single thing that I have. I am grateful for my parents, I miss them, but I had to change my mindset in order to move forward and I did. This was definitely holding me back.  It was  hard to do, but I knew that in order for me to grow, that I had to stop blaming God and start thanking him. I think that this is one of the reasons that Sarah (author of Hustle Believe Receive) was put in my path. I live a life of gratitude, even for the things that others might look at as negatives, because somewhere in every situtation is a lesson to be learned. It’s not always easy, because sometimes I want to snap but I remember that there is always a reason for everything.

I will be styling the models for the Edina Ndebele (designer) featuring Tanatswa event in Fairfield, OH on April 9th.  My heart stops beating sometimes when I think about how full my life is right now and I know that this is only the beginning! Or so I’ve been told…But at any rate, if you live in the Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and want to come to the event to see the show in person and witness me in action behind the scenes, please feel free. Would love to see you! Tickets are $35 and please inbox me for additional details.

 

 

 

St. Louis Peeps Get Ready for the biggest Fashion Show of the Year-Fingers XX

I am in the early early stages of working with one of the top Designers/Fashion Icons in the world to host a fashion show in St. Louis!! Fingers crossed!! Pray for us, because we really want this to happen.  Cassandra McKissack, producer and host of the Life, TAlk TV in STL and myself are teaming up to make this happen!  That’s all I can say about that for now but will definitely keep you posted.  HBR Family is a lot of the reason that my life keeps happening this way! God saw fit for me to come across Sarah Centrella about a year ago, who is the author of Hustle Believe Receive, an 8 step plan to changing your life and living your dream. Buy the book! And of course, I participated in her 8 step boot camp! It has literally helped me to accomplish things that I didn’t believe could happen. I thank God everyday for my life!  None of this would be possible without him!

Lastly, stay tuned tomorrow for “Your Mood Your Shoes” to be featured in Cincy Chic’s On Line Magazine. One of dRea’s Style Sense Newest Campaigns to raise awareness to Pancreatic Cancer through shoes. 🙂

 

 

Going to the Women’s Expo, now we talking

First, I would like to say that my kids are awesome! They are so supportive of me, couldn’t ask for a better FAM. I also secretly adopted a co-worker daughter,  tee hee, Cara Chaney, who is like one of my kids. Cara is 24 years old and just started working for Luxottica about 6 months ago.  She has been just as helpful to me outside of work with thinking things through and planning my schedule.  So, I have 4 daughters now and a son. I always wanted 5 kids when I was in high school…lol  Kristen, Kayla, Kera, Kyle and Cara.  She pronounces her name with the K-sound, so funny! God always gives us exactly what we need at just the right time and he has a sense of humor.  Amazing! They all add something different to dRea’s Style Sense.  Kayla is my technical, creative child, she is working on creating all of my marketing materials and my business cards.  Kristen is my PR person and she proofreads a lot of my writings, she makes sure that I am going to events and that I am aware of events in town. Lucas, (Kristen’s boyfriend) is building my website and helping me to look at things from a business perspective. I am all about having most of  the time and sometimes I need to be serious. lol..Lucas helps me to buckle down.  Sometimes I don’t listen…lol…Kera will text me or call and it seems like, it’s always just when I need it, sometimes, she proofreads my work  and she will reshare some of my post and encourage me like crazy when I share things that I’m excited about. She always, always listens to what I have to say and will tell me to stop, if I’m way out there…lol..Kyle…helps me with twitter and he sometimes just looks at me and shakes his head..he has this look on his face at times like…she’s really doing this? lol…Cara is my social media advisor, helps me to share in the right way on FB/Twitter/IG and is helping me with Pinterest.  I will say it again, sometimes, I just don’t want to listen. LOL … But I am beyond blessed with the kiddos!  They are the best a mom could ask for!!! I guess you could say that I have 6 kids, 2 boys and 4 girls…lol

dRea’s Style Sense will not be going to the Women’s Expo to browse, but we have a BOOTH!!!! I keep thanking God over and over again for my life, I have so much gratitude in my heart, I can’t think straight. I haven’t slept in 2 days, because I am riding high on this life thing and I don’t want to miss anything. lol  My cousin, Daphne Turner told me today that I was going to start looking like a raccoon if I didn’t get some sleep. LMBO So tonight, I’m getting some sleep, no matter what.

So back to the Expo-General Admission is free, but there are a few Lunch and Learns that a small fee is charged for. After Kristen told me that she would be out of town and not able to attend the Expo with me, I thought that I would have to do it alone. I mentioned this to Cara (work daughter) and she jumped at the opportunity to help out, now you know my life is blessed. 🙂  The expo will take place on Saturday, May 14th from 10-2  I will be sharing and doing what I love to do most and that is talk to women and share about something that is so dear to my heart (fashion and Pancreatic Cancer). My mom and Pancreatic Cancer are the reason!  2016 is already a busy year for me and I am so looking forward to what else is in store for the year. I have a fashion show coming up later in the year and I will share details later, all I can say is, it’s a big one!!! I am teaching a class in June on Personal Styling and how to break into the business. me? I am doing what I love and I want to share it with every person that I come in contact with! God is good!

Let’s Talk Fashion in Kansas City, MO

Haven’t writen in awhile, been a very busy couple of weeks. I traveled to KC, MO to host a fashion show/women’s tea on Body Types for Women. What a fun filled, stylish, memorable time. This was the first traveling  show, so it was a learning experience as well as exciting. I had one of my girlfriends, Kim Warrick to pick the models, based on body types and measurements.  She did an awesome job with finding exactly the type of women that I needed. Amazing how God just works things out, exactly the way that you need him to. So I landed in KC on Thursday afternoon and of course, my first stop was to get something to eat and me being a fried chicken lover, we headed to Stroud’s Fried Chicken. OH MY GOSH! Yummy!!! Then headed to her house to chill and for me to have some quiet time to prepare for the show in a couple of days. Afterall, this was a brand new experience for me and one that I was looking forward to. I never back down from a challenge, or new things, they all help me to grow. I fell asleep that night between 8 and 9, did NOT wake up the next morning until it was time for me to get dressed and go do a store visit, which was about 7 am.  I was also in KC to visit one of our Luxottica Brand Stores, and boy did I learn a lot. Kim dropped me off on her way to work that morning and the location that I was visiting didn’t open until 10am, so I had a lot of time to go over the information that I had prepared for them and prep further.

After my store visit, I was picked up from the store by another girlfriend of mine around 1:30 and we headed to lunch at Joes’ Crab Shack! I loved catching up with Susan, have known her since I lived in STL and it’s always good to see old faces and find out how things are going and have gone. After we had a 3 hour lunch, I think there was more talking than eating, lol..She dropped me off at the mall to begin shopping for the fashion show. I had all of the sizes and pictures of the models, so I knew exactly the type clothes that I needed to purchase. NY & Co and Lane Bryant were the stores that I chose, you can never go wrong with them. Oh and we also hit another plus size store called Torrid, which has amazing clothes and very stylish. We left the mall to get to the church to do a walk through for 6:30 and for me to finally meet the models and get to know them and they get to know me. Had a great time, Kim and I  headed back to the mall to exchange a few items and were done for the night around 9:30-10:00. I passed out around 11:30ish, the big show was the next day as well as Kyle, my son was playing the district champion basketball game for the Southwest District of Ohio. So that next day was going to be like no other!

I was up early, thanking God for everything, that’s usually the first thing that I do when I wake up and ask him to guide me through the day. We went to Kinko’s to grab some copies and I listened to Kyle’s game on the radio and was heart broken that Mason lost. I couldn’t even imagine not being their with my little man..ugh..what was I thinking? I sent him a message!  I got outside my feelings and re-directed my mind to get in the right mindset for the show. 🙂  Afterall that was one of the reasons why I was in KC!

We arrived at the church and everything was beautiful and my heart started beating really fast and I could feel myself getting nervous… I guess that was a good thing, but i didn’t like the way that felt. I met with the sound guy and the music crew and the models before starting and the show began! I was introduced by one of my best friends in this world and then it was time for me to get up and share what is my passion and heart for women. My goal is to make women feel beautiful and confident! If I’ve done that, then I’m good! And I did that! I had such a long line of women waiting to talk to me afterwards and I loved every second! The fashion show was a success!! God is good! and he continues to bless my life. After the show, I hung out with another girlfriend of mine, I know I have a lot of girlfriends, but I just love people, so I don’t know any strangers. We had dinner at a Chinese Restaurant…Sooooo good and I arrived back at Kim’s around 8:30ish, packed my bags and headed to bed around 10:00. I fell asleep with a smile on my face and woke the next morning, headed to church with Kim and Malvin and off to the airport afterwards! Flight was awesome and arrived back in Cincy around 7:30, got home to see my babygirl and Kyle. What a wonderful time and a great weekend! We sat and talked until almost midnight, even though, I was tired, but I was excited to see my babies. This is the life that I love, this is the life that I created, this is the life that God is giving me! This is the life that I’ve waited and dreamed about! Pictures to come soon!

True to Your Heart—You Will Never Fall Until you Let Go

The weekend was the most rewarding time that I have experienced in awhile. Friday night I was in the Cintas Center watching Xavier Women’s Basketball Team play St. Johns. I was only going to see Briana Glover play. 🙂 She graduated from high school with my babygirl, Kera, and even though they lost by 5, it was a great game!

Saturday morning, I was up early at 4:30 am preparing for the day and fighting a migraine.  I knew that I would be working an event with Cincy Chic beginning at 11 and the one and only Marvin Lewis would be in attendance. Had to make sure that all my bases were covered…lol You would’ve thought that the event was for me, technically, it was, as I am continuing to learn as an intern. That rhymed. lol I left home about 9:45 because I was planning to stop at Kristen’s (my oldest daughters place) to see baby Jada and to let her see my outfit of the day. Even stylist need that second set of eyes. I didn’t eat any breakfast, but had a few nutter butters and headed to Kristen’s, grabbed a coke on the way and some tylenol to fight the headache. I arrived at Kristen’s and finished putting on my makeup and took a few pictures, then headed over to the event. I was in charge of taking donations for the Marvin Lewis Foundation and they had some fabulous prizes that were being given away. I arranged the tablewith the giveaways, made it nice and pretty. Around noon, in walks Marvin and his crew. He did NOT look like I expected, he was very tall, nice brown clear skin, but he looked just like he looked on TV. Go figure. lol…I’m not sure what I was expecting, but anyways, I introduced myself and finished my responsibilities.  Marvin stayed about an hour and I got a chance to take a picture with him, I was smiling the entire day! LOL I was thinking to myself, wow, this time last year, I was going through the bootcamp, Hustle Believe Receive and trying to figure out how to make my dreams happen. I knew the life that I wanted, but wasn’t sure how to make it happen. Now, I don’t know how to not make it happen. Opportunities are coming out of no where and I am extremely thankful and grateful for the life that I’m living. In the past year, I’ve grown from 1 client to now  6 paying clients for drea’s Style Sense that are consistent.

Saturday did not end with Marvin Lewis. After the event with Cincy Chic, I headed downtown, beause Nick Lachey was having his one year anniversary Lachey’ Bar.  I wanted to meet him and talk and I DID! I arrived at 7:00 and they arrived at 9:30. I got the chance to introduce myself to him and take a picture. I even asked him why didn’t he respond to one of my tweets? haha Life is grand!!! I also told him that my son saw him at the UC basketball game earlier that day and that he sat a couple of seats down from him. (the one with the crazy hair) and he remembered Kyle!!! He asked if Kyle played basketball and where and if he was going to play in college. I was in awe at the interest he had in Kyle’s future as a balla. lol…So we finished talking and he thanked me for coming and I gave him a hug and left. I called my kids on the way home and told them the story and they were just as excited as I was!  Before I got home, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything all day and was starving, not good, so I swung in BK and got a whopper jr.  I was exhausted! I fell up in the bed and couldn’t go to sleep, because I was still flying high. Everything that I sat out to do that day, happened!!!! I fell asleep thanking God for a wonderful day and for making my dreams come true! God is good!

If you look at the picture to the right, Kyle’s head is right below the referee (crazy hair) and Nick Lachey is to the right of Kyle.

 

This is Why I do what I do…

Please take a moment to read an email that I received from one of my newest clients. It warms my heart, so grateful for what I do. God is Good!

After getting a visual look at myself from our company’s photo shoot celebrating 30 years in business … I knew I had gone too far into the ‘comfort’ clothing zone.  I was just throwing on drab clothes, comfortable drab clothes to be exact. I had basically just became a walking blip in this circle of living.  I knew it … but I didn’t have motivation to do anything about it.  Who would, when you’re comfortable!

With the help of social media I had found old friends … one of them was Andrea.  She had shared pictures and posts of her desire for fashion and doing fashion shows.  I watched and observed her excitement at doing something she loves …. so when I finally had that awakening of my clothing nonsense – I stepped up and reached out.  I was nervous as all get out but excited at the same time.  I told Andrea upfront about my struggles.  How I would look at something, pick it up only to return it to the rack thinking “not on me”. Andrea sent me a collage of clothing outfits that would fit my lifestyle (not girlie and absolutely NO dresses).  They were cute and fun.  And tight fitting and figure showing …. and I was back tracking a little in my thoughts.  Andrea was adamant about TRUSTING.  And I’m a big believer in gut feelings and trust.  So she won my trust and I believed in her! I  received my first box of clothing!  Excitement!  I was stripping down and trying everything on!  The black sweater added “style” to my otherwise long sleeved shirt, paired with some skinny jeans and cute boots!  I looked slimmer!

I went to a hairstylist who is also a motorcycle chicka … she could relate to the helmet head, bandana wrap.  Also the pizazz of adding some color character on that flying mop twirling in the wind!  We’re starting small with the highlights but bolder as we go along. With this little transformation and someone believing in me and my body shape to look hot and hip … I’ve begun to watch what I eat, did a few sit ups (lol) and down 7 lbs.  The weight begins to take hold with the mindless eating and listening to your cravings instead of your health.  Hard to be the parent of “yourself”.  So much easier to tell your child “no” to the sugar snacks than it is to tell yourself that’s for sure!

Thank you Andrea for your ambition and grabbing ahold of your dreams to make frumpy women like me feel beautiful  🙂

I think I might go buy some lipstick!

Jeanette has a rectangular body type, meaning that her measurements are about the same from her bust, waist to her hips. So I focused on bringing the attention away from her waistline, for now, by making her top and bottom the focal point. After speaking to Jeanette, I realized that she needed subtle changes, so we are starting slow. But here are a few of the outfits that I chose for her and she even got a new hairdo!

 

 

 

All I do is WIN WIN WIN, NO matter What…God is AWESOME!

It’s been a very busy week in the Turner/Lamotte households. With Kyle committing to Northwood University in Midland, Michigan, that was huge! He, his dad and myself drove to Midland for the weekend to check this school out and wow, were we blown away by the love, hospitality, the programs that they offer and the closeness of the staff. It has been a long time coming from dropping Kyle off when he was a little boy and picking him up from practice, spanking his little behind, lol  guiding him through school, his dad staying up with him to help with homework and riding his back to make sure that he turns his assignments in on time. That’s all apart of raising our kids.  I am very lucky to have a family situation such as this that we both work together and agree on raising the kids, most of the time. 🙂 I feel secure and at peace with leaving him there in the coming  fall when it’s time. Kyle was happy and felt like a load was lifted off of his shoulders. So proud of him! He twitted that he committed and wow, his phone was blowing up on the way home. So many people/friends/family were texting him and responding to his tweet, it made me feel, that this boy is loved beyond anything that I could ever have imagined and it felt good. 🙂 It amazes me that the news reporters were just as anxious waiting for a decision from Kyle.

The Mason Comets won the GMC Title last week and Coach Richards celebrated his 300th win at Mason High School. WOW!!! Senior night was last Friday night and Kyle played his last home game at Mason High School on Saturday,  so emotions are flying high right about now but it’s more joy than anything else. I am looking forward to the future!

So to update you all on my Personal Styling  journey, I started work on Barbie’s Holiday Gown, Lucas (Kristen’s boyfriend) started work on my website, I think he tried to get me in check and say that I needed to get on the ball. lol…I am preparing for the Fashion Show in Kansas City on the 5th of March. Received a text from a girlfriend of mine last Friday, saying that she has a business partner that is in need of a personal stylist and wanted to know if it was ok to give her my name and number?!?!?!!? Of Course, I said, (if I could scream through a text message, i would have) lol and she gave me her information and said that she is a Fashion Design Professor at one of the local Universities and would be in contact with me. On our drive back last night, I recevied a phone call from the now client stating what her needs are. She is looking for someone to teach a class to high school girls one day in the summer as well as middle school age girls on a different day in the summer. Two separate classes, but I would be introducing them to the Fashion Industry!!!! I was speechless, grateful, happy, scared, overwhelmed, thankful, flabbergasted, overjoyed all wrapped up into one. All of my dreams were coming true minute by minute and this is something that I never imagined could happen. This was a gimme from God and I was too happy to please. So just like my mom, I am a teacher as well! 🙂 I’ve never taught teenage girls, but I have 3 daughters, so that counts! The winner of the 1st Your Mood Your Shoes was announced and presented with a pair of Gucci Shoes that he won by simply donating $5 to Your Mood, Your Shoes on Facebook! So excited, the 1st month was a success! 20% of proceeds benefit Pancreatic Cancer Research in honor of my mom (Darlene Turner) that   passed away from complications of the disease. Go to Your Mood, Your Shoes and click on the link for a chance to win, winners are announced on the last day of the month, it’s easy to make a donation.

Through Cincy Chic, I work with other interns and was also asked by one of the interns if I would be willing to help out with organizing a Fashion show coming up in April or May. Of course! I am now styling 5 clients and am so happy that I can hardly sleep at night, because I have all of these ideas going through my head. I usually get up and write them down or put them in my cell phone in the notes section so I don’t forget. I am creating the life that I want and it makes me hop up out of the bed to get going everyday as if I really needed a reason. I was told once, that I needed to start off in 1st gear, but instead I start off in 5th gear. lol   I learned to not EVER let fear stop me from doing something/anything. I’ve dreamed of speaking to other women on fashion/style and making an impact and it’s happening. This weekend, I will be at 2 different events, one is Cuts, Cars, and Coach for a Cause through Cincy Chic and at the One Year Anniversary of Lachey’s Restaurant downtown, who knows, I might meet Nick Lachey! This is an awesome awesome life!