5.24.2013

Confessional Friday: {Link-up}

via Mrs. Lillien

Can you believe it's Friday again? This week flew by for me, which is just fine, since I'm oh-so-ready for a holiday weekend. Ready to confess? Good. Let's do it.

1) I confess that I always have a brief heart attack when a car suddenly pulls out into the turning lane so that they can "merge" into traffic. Y'all know what I'm talking about? I always, always panic, thinking they don't see my car and that they're just going to careen right into the side of me.

2) I confess that it feels good to be doing outfit/fashion-related posts again. I felt so disgusting and vomitous (sure, it's a word...sure it is), that dressing up for pics did not feel very fun. That first trimester of pregnancy is for the birds. I finally feel like myself again...and I like it.

3) I confess that I am just SEVEN posts away from my 1,000th blog post! Holy smokes, that's a lot of blogging! Can y'all believe I've been at this for FOUR years? I cannot. It blows my mind.

4) I confess that I have no earthly idea what I'll write about for the 1,000th blog post, either. I feel an immense amount of pressure to produce something stellar...but, like most everything around here, it will probably pertain to t-shirts, high heels, hair curling or random celebrity gossip. All meaningful things in their own right.

Okay, you're up, kids. Tell me what's on your minds.




5.23.2013

Bumpdate: {19 Weeks}

Another week, another step closer to the day we meet Caroline Rose! Here's what's up in Bumpland this week:



Gender: A sweet baby girl - Caroline Rose!

Weight Loss/Gain: Gained back two of the three pounds I had lost last week, so hopefully my goal of getting back to pre-pregnancy weight is in sight.

Cravings: This week, I'm still enjoying lots of fresh veggies and fruits. Salads have been the theme of this pregnancy and I still enjoy them, 19 weeks later! We made some fresh fajita taco salads last night with organic, lean chicken, fresh tomatoes, cliantro, lettuce and salsa and it was SO good.

And sweets? Still a no-go.

Favorite Moment This Week: Feeling Cee flutter around...I cannot describe how cool it is to feel a little fluttery movement and know that's my baby. I can't wait until she starts kicking!

Funniest Moment This Week: Having the little barista boy at Starbucks ask me if I was going to the Sigma Chi (fraternity) party at the lake this weekend - ha! (If only he'd known he were talking to a 28 year-old, pregnant chick, hahaha!!) For the record, I told him that my husband might not like that ; )

Sleeping: Falling asleep is pretty easy. Staying asleep? Well, that's a whole different ball game. I'm having AWFUL round ligament pains and stretching pains. I've been relying heavily on my cushy pillows and warm heating pad to soothe everything.

Clothes: All regular clothing.

Most Looking Forward To: Making up our trip to Heber this weekend to visit my parents and grandparents. I'm elated to finally celebrate our pretty girl with the whole family!

State Love

Who doesn’t love a comfy t-shirt? I mean, to dislike the tee would be akin to not liking, I dunno, puppies. Or babies. Or pie.

Get the one I'm wearing,the Heart Arkansas Green Raglan Baseball Tee, here!

Sweet Kirsten of Riffraff was kind enough to gift me with one of her adorable State Love tees last week and, let me tell you, I’ve already worn it two times. In seven days. I wore it out shopping on Saturday, paired with leggings and some new Nike kicks. Even the hubs was all, "Where'd you get that cool t-shirt?" (Read: He wanted to know if they had them in his size.)

 

To me, these tees make the perfect top for summer. Throw it over a bathing suit for the lake, sport it at the gym, dress it up with skinnies and a bold necklace for an evening out ‘n about…the sky is the limit.


This week, (now - Saturday), Riffraff will donate 20% of sales on State Love shirts to victims of the OK tornadoes. Do some good and score a comfy shirt today, gals!

5.22.2013

From One Former Bride To Another

As this is wedding season and lots of you ladies are getting hitched in the coming weeks and months, I thought I'd share a few pearls of wisdom that I've gathered in our very long (okay, just shy of two years) marriage ; ) You do learn a LOT that first year, though.


Here are a few things I've learned that might help ya out, (or make you feel more normal if/when it happens.)

1) With men, it's better to just tell them how the heck you really feel. The beauty of guys, (and probably something we ladies should adopt), is that they typically prefer the blunt route. In the beginning, I used to keep S guessing. I wanted him to know exactly why I felt the way I did about something without me having to explain. Yes, clearly I that was flawed logic.

Problem is, this genius method of communicating with my spouse usually ended in me getting even more upset with him that he didn't just inherently know the cause of my foul mood. Men aren't psychics; do not treat them as such. Tell them when you're ticked and save yourself the extra time sulking. Besides, the making up is pretty fun ; )

2) Decide which household "jobs" you'll each take care of. We went into this with a 50/50 mentality. We'd each take on half of the household chores because we both worked outside the home and for us, it just made sense. We decided that Stephen would take care of the lawn, pets, kitchen cleaning and ironing (he's really quite good at it), and I'd take care of vacuuming, dusting, mopping and bathrooms. Laundry is a first-come, first-serve. On Saturdays, we split the chore list in half and in just a couple hours, it's done. Again, this method worked for us, but I know it's different for every couple and every unique situation.

3) Thank each other for the little things. I make sure to try and acknowledge his hard work both in our home and at his job. He does the same for me. Trust me, this will pay dividends.

4) Pray together. Shortly after we got engaged, we started praying together - out loud - daily. I understand that not every couple might feel comfortable with this and everyone has different religious backgrounds, so this is totally an "it works for us" thing. But, I love the connection that I feel with him when we openly share what's on our minds and talk to Him together. I'll be honest, when we first started doing this, it was a little awkward. But, I promise that within a week, you'll love the feeling of  intimacy that it brings.

5) Date. This is going to become even more important now that we are about to welcome Caroline to the picture. Be sure to take time one night a week or so and go on a real date. It can be as simple as getting a burger and walking around the outdoor mall, or having a fancy dinner and going to a movie. We even have "couch pizza" night where we get a pie and eat up while watching old episodes of The Office. The point is to turn phones off, disengage from social media for a few hours and concentrate on your partner.

6) Decide in advance whose family you'll spend each holiday with. For us, this came pretty naturally, as each of our families has different traditions. We always do Christmas Eve with Stephen's parents, Christmas Day with mine and Thanksgiving, we try to do with both families by hosting the dinner ourselves. Again, it works for us, but each couple's family sitch is different.

7) Remind them that you think they're attractive. Frankly, I married out of my league. My husband is a bonafied hottie. I make sure to tell him that I still think he's crazy cute, because, well, he is.

These are just a few of the things that keep us in check. It's tricky finding that balance of what works versus not, but hey, give yourself some time, sister. You'll get there.

Happy wedding bells, bunnies.

5.21.2013

A Must-Read from my SIL

For starters, my prayers go out to all the victims of the tornadoes this week in Oklahoma. I cannot imagine the terrible heartbreak and overwhelming loss that they are feeling. I hope that they are able to find comfort through prayer and our Lord during the coming days, weeks and months.

There are several posts waiting in the queue this week, but when I read this article my sister-in-law wrote, I knew I needed to share it with y'all. If you're an expectant mom, (right here!), a new mom or a long-time mom, I think you'll identify with her sentiments.

Weather pending for outfit photos, I should have two fun posts coming this week featuring cute threads from Riffraff and Savoir-Faire. We shall see how the forecast plays out, I suppose.