Katie Haller, Author at Thrifty Wife Happy Life

Las Vegas, My Home

October 4, 2017 by Katie Haller

It’s been almost 3 years since my husband and I found out that Las Vegas was going to be our new home. With that anniversary approaching, plus the recent tragedy that happened this week, I felt inspired to write a post dedicated to my current home, Las Vegas, NV.

When I first told people that we were moving to Las Vegas, I got some mixed reactions. Some people were excited for us, while others told me that they couldn’t see me living here. People asked me if they had neighborhoods that weren’t on the strip and they asked me if we were going to be gambling all the time. Now when I go home to visit my family, the TSA guy makes a joke about how I live in Las Vegas, but vacation in Detroit and the person sitting next to me on the plane is usually amazed that I am a teacher in Las Vegas and they actually have schools here. When I fly home, the airplane is full of passengers who are usually cheering when we land and ready to start their vacations. All I’m thinking about is how I have to go back to work the next day.

We were never planning on moving to Las Vegas. We were supposed to move to Florida, but then Kevin found out that he would be based in Las Vegas. Instead of trying to bid for Florida again, we decided that we would go with Las Vegas. Kevin kept telling me how nice the weather was and how much I would like it. I trusted him and with never vacationing in Las Vegas, I moved here with an open mind. I found a job right away, made friends and quickly became familiarized with the area. Exactly one year after moving here, I gave birth to Jack. My labor and recovery rooms both had a view overlooking the strip and we joked about how our baby had a strip view for his first days of life.

Although the summers are very hot, I’d say 9 months out of the year are pretty much perfect. I don’t even mind the cooler winter days. My child may never know what frost, dew or slush is, but we are only 40 minutes away from some pretty great sledding and skiing on Mt. Charleston. We feel like we can never run out of things to do. We are close to so many national parks and if we want to go to the ocean, we are only a 4-hour drive.

Kevin made a comment to me the other day after looking at all the “Pray for Vegas” pictures on Facebook. He said that the Las Vegas skyline describes Vegas perfectly. There is a little bit of every city in our skyline. A little of the New York skyline, a little bit of Paris, Rome, Cairo and more. Not many people are actually born and raised in Las Vegas. Most of the people living here are from all over the country and world, that’s why our skyline is so perfect for our city. Las Vegas is a little bit of everyone and so many people love this city. In the last 3 years, Las Vegas has become my home and no matter where life takes my family and me, Las Vegas will always have a special place in my heart.

Here are some pictures from just a few of our many family outing out and about in our town, Las Vegas.

Our first night out on the strip when we first moved to Vegas

I took this picture 2 weeks ago when we were walking around the strip on Sunday after getting lunch.

2 months ago we went to the top of the Effie Tower.

A favorite family spot for us is always The Linq.

Last fall at the Bellagio. This is one of my favorite spots.

Eating Graham crackers on the High Roller last spring.

My little Vegas born baby checking out the strip

Family photo.

Please pray for the victims and their families of the horrible mass shooting this week. Luckily, I did not know anyone personally who was a victim, however our neighbors, friends and co-workers know people that were effected. If you would like to help the victims of this tragedy, you can click HERE to the go fund me account to donate. Thank you for all your love and support this week!

Working Out as a Busy Mom

October 2, 2017 by Katie Haller

One thing that I have been really bad at since becoming a mom is making time to workout.

I have a love/hate relationship with working out. I love staying active and I love the feeling I get after a good workout, but I hate getting motivated. My biggest roadblock to working out is time. I work full time and when I get home at night, working out is the last thing on my mind. By the time I make dinner and get Jack in the tub, I’m ready for bed myself. On the weekends, I like to go for morning walks with Jack, but it’s really hard to walk in the summer when it’s 100 degrees by 8:00 am.

This fall, with the weather changing, it’s making me feel like it’s time to make a change. I am really trying to make an effort to fit in some kind of quick workout as much as I can, that’s why I was so excited when Aaptiv asked me to do a free 2 week trial of their workout programs. I thought that this would be the perfect way to get me started on a good path of getting active and strengthening my body again.

Aaptiv is an app that has any kind of workout program you can think of. It is an audio workout with a personal trainer who will help guide and motivate you through your workout. The app has classes ranging from Outdoor running, elliptical, strength training to even yoga and meditation.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link I will earn a commission for this blog. Thank you for your support!

The thing that I really love about Aaptiv is that they now have launched a new maternity program that is perfect for expecting moms who are looking to stay fit and healthy throughout their pregnancy. The new program has recruited top-tier talent to lead the design and development of the maternity program, including Kira Kohrherr of FitBump, yoga guru and author, Kristin McGee, and expert Aaptiv trainers who are trained and certified in pre and postnatal exercise. I wish I would of had this when I was pregnant with Jack, but I’ll have to save it for the second time around. They also have some great stroller workouts that I really enjoyed doing on my morning walks.

The thing that I really like about Aaptiv, is that you can workout anywhere and you don’t have to commit yourself to a long stretch of time. For me, the weekends are the best time for me to get a nice long workout in. That’s when I go for my walks and do the stroller workouts, but during the week, I’m crunched for time. I found that it was easy to pick out a quick 8-minute workout right after Jack’s bath time while he was playing. I liked how all the workouts that I tried were all quick and effective. I could feel a nice burn after only an 8-10 minute routine.

Whether you are an expecting mom looking to stay fit through your pregnancy, a working mom with no time for a workout schedule or maybe you are just someone trying to get a healthy routine started, I would highly recommend looking into what Aaptiv has to offer. You can download the app at the App Store or Google Play and start making changes today!

Kate Middleton Inspired Dress

September 27, 2017 by Katie Haller

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Kate Middleton inspired look

If you have been following my blog for a long time, you know how much I love Kate Middleton and her sense of fashion. Her modest style is so timeless. I love to recreate her looks. I only wish that I could dress like her more often. I always wished that I could own one of her beautiful dresses. She always looks so classic at all her royal engagements.

A few months back, I won a giveaway from one of my favorite Las Vegas-based blogs, Outfits & Outings. It was for a $100 credit to Modique, an online boutique that sells modest, comfortable high-quality dresses. Typically, my shopping budget wouldn’t allow me to splurge at a boutique-like this, so when I saw the giveaway and browsed through the beautiful dresses, I knew it would be a treat for me if I won. Every now and again I get lucky, so I was so thrilled that I had the opportunity to pick out a dress of my choice. I went with the Tara dress. When I saw this style, I immediately thought of Duchess Kate. I could totally see her wearing a dress like this. It’s so simple, so classic and so chic. I just had to do an outfit post on this beautiful dress.

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life- Kate Middleton inspired pink dress

If you love this dress, you should defiantly take a peek at Modique to see their other dresses! I’m sure that this dress will be in my closet for many years to come.

*As a side note, this post was not sponsored by Modique in any way. I simply wanted to share the beautiful dress that I won with my readers.

Gingham Shirt with Shorts

September 22, 2017 by Katie Haller

Hey everyone! I’m so excited about the recent cool down in the weather that I’ve been getting a little ahead of myself in the outfit that I’d like to share. I just get so excited to put together fall outfits, that I have more outfits to post than I can keep up with. That’s why today I needed to backtrack a little to this cute transitional fall look that I put together a month ago, wearing my gingham button-down shirt.

I love this gingham shirt. I feel like gingham is just one of those closet staples that you should have. It’s so perfect year-round, but I especially love wearing it in the fall. Because our falls in Las Vegas are still pretty warm, I like to wear my button-down with my jean shorts. I also like to wear it with jeans and as the weather gets cooler, I like to layer it with a cardigan over.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link, I will receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Gingham Shirt with shorts and convers

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Gingham shirt

Shop my closet

Top- Target (similar, similar) || Shorts- Abercrombi, thrifted from Goodwill (similar) || Belt- Old Navy (similar) || Purse- Last Call Neiman Marcus (similar) || Shoes- Convers (exact) || Bracelet- Kate Spade (exact)

4 Ways to Wear Black Slip-On Sneakers

September 19, 2017 by Katie Haller

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || 4 ways to wear black slip on shoes for fall

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed these black slip-on shoes that I’ve been wearing lately. They were my first purchase from my fall wish list, and I’m just loving how practical they are for fall. I was originally eyeing the Steve Madden pair of black slip-on shoes (here), but they were almost $60 and I knew I wasn’t going to spend that much. Luckily, Target does a great job of making knock off styles. I found these almost identical slip-on shoes (here) at Target for only $25, less than haft the price of the Steve Madden shoes.

Today, I want to share 4 fall looks wearing my new black slip-on sneakers. They can be worn with almost anything, but for today’s looks I styled them all with 4 different pairs of pants; white jeans, black jeggings, jeans, and leggings. All four of these looks are perfect for me to wear to work, or wear on the weekends. They are very casual and very mom-friendly!

*This post contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link, I will receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || White jeans, stripe shirt and slip on shoes

Top- Old Navy (exact) || Pants- Target (similar) || Necklace- Charming Charlie (similar) || Purse- Last Call Neiman Marcus (similar)

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Black jeggings, grey t-shirt and black slip on's

Top- Zappos (similar) || Pants- TJ Maxx (similar) || Necklace- Kohl’s (similar) || Purse- Last Call (same as above)

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Jeans, Stripe t-shirt and black slip on's

Top- H&M thrifted from Goodwill (similar) || Jeans- Thrifted from Goodwill (similar)

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Leggings, tunic and leapord scarf

Leggings- Last Call Neiman Marcus (similar) || Tunic- Nordstrom Rack (similar) || Scarf- Charming Charlie (similar) || Purse- Last Call (similar)

Year of Color- Blue Dress

September 15, 2017 by Katie Haller

Thrifty Wife, Happy Life || Blue shirt dress || Teacher outfit

It’s time for another Year of Color link up! This month’s color is blue!

Blue is one of my favorite colors to wear. Some of my most favorite dresses that I’ve ever worn were blue. September is my birthday month, and my birthstone, the Sapphire, has always been one of my favorite stones. For today’s blue look, I picked out this Old Navy Sapphire blue shirt dress. I love the style of this dress. I used to wear it all the time at my old job with a business casual dress code, and now I can still style it down with a denim jacket and some flats and wear it to my casual dress code at my current job. It’s a great teacher dress to wear in the classroom! It’s also perfect for church. Another plus about this style of dress is that it’s great for breastfeeding moms, especially if you’re pumping at work.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means by clicking on and/or making a purchase through a link, I will receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Shop my closet
Dress- Old Navy (similar, similar, similar, similar) || Shoes- Old Navy (Thrifted from the Goodwill) (similar, similar) || Purse- Last Call Neiman Marcus (similar) || Necklace- LC Lauren Conrad- Kohl’s (similar) || Bracelet- LC Lauren Conrad- Kohl’s (similar)

As always don’t forget to link up with your blue posts. You can share anything blue…recipes, outfits, crafts… anything! Next month’s color is black! See you back here on October 20th!

An InLinkz Link-up

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