A Little of This, A Little of That

I rarely blog on Sundays, but the darn humidity is so thick outside, it has turned into an inside kind of day. We had every intention of going to Heber Springs to visit my parents this weekend, but I was so sick (hyperemesis...pregnancy puking) on Friday and Saturday, that those plans fell through.

Instead, between trips of running to the loo, we planted our summer flowers, looked at tile and hardwood (we're getting ready to tile our master shower and replace our carpet with hardwood in hopes of helping Stephen's allergies) and took the pets for a few walks.

Here's a little randomness for your Sunday:

1. Have y'all tried the Kuhn Rikon knives? Let me say: WE ARE OBSESSED. These puppies will glide through a watermelon like it's a stick of butter. We received one as a wedding present and I finally broke down and bought a couple more off Amazon today. Check 'em out, if you're in the market for some new knives, (or just fed up with your current set.)

2. I really want to dress up our front door for summer. If I were crafty, I might attempt to DIY the sucker, but since we know I'm not, I'm relying on my friends at Etsy. I am LOVING the little initial door hangings and I think this S would be just perfect for us. Thoughts?

3. Have you Instagrammers downloaded the super fun A Beautiful Mess app? It's the perfect little tool to add cute words, doodles and borders to your pics! Read more about it here.

4. With our steak tonight, we'll be devouring some more of The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes. These are a MUST if you're a meat 'n potatoes kinda gal, (or if you cook for a meat 'n potatoes kinda guy.)

5. And finally, because I'm baby crazy right now with our little Caroline on the way, I bring you the Baby London Victoria line featured on Zulilly today. Cannot get over this adorable Yellow Joan Top & Bloomers for a sweet summer outfit option on baby! Since Cee will be a fall babe, I may have to go ahead and order this in a bigger size for her to sport next summer : )

Hope your weekend has been a fabulous one, love muffins. Until tomorrow...

Our Weekend

We had a blast this weekend! "What did you do that was so exciting?", you ask. NOTHING. Nothing at all and it was bliss.

Friday night, we made Cali burgers on our new grill. It's a hamburger topped with pepperjack cheese, avocado, tomato and jalapenos. Delish! I meant to take a pic, but didn't. #BloggerFail

Saturday, I gave myself a candy-colored mani, which was inspired by the lovely Sarah Jessica Parker and her recent pants/top ensemble.

Saturday night was date night at our favorite local haunt, Fred's Hickory Inn. I found the belt below at Old Navy for $14 last week and just knew it would be perfecto with white jeans for a fun, weekend look. I also dared to bare some tummy...whatevs.

Yesterday, Stephen and I took Ari out for a boat ride. As you can see, the little guy (well, okay - the BIG guy) really enjoyed himself, even taking time to pose for a pic for his momma. He understands that I blog and must photograph every single moment of our lives for the camera.

So that was about it. Oh, and we tuned in to the season premiere of Real Housewives of New Jersey. It was as loud and overly dramatic as it was last season, which means it was amazing.

I love pseudo-reality TV. Judge me.

What'd y'all do this weekend? Do tell.

Be blessed, lovelies-

U of A Banquet Weekend! (and pics...duh)

Hey girls, hope everyone had a delightful two days of rest and relaxation! We had a fabulous but fast weekend at the S household.

Friday afternoon, we headed down to Little Rock to attend the Walton College of Business Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, of which my employer was a sponsor. Stephen actually attended the Walton College of Business too with a concentration in Logistics, which made the evening extra special.

I wore the dress that Stephen got me for Christmas : ) He picked it out and surprised me with it...my husband has great taste!

We had the privilege of being in the company of Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe and many more of our state's esteemed leaders in business and politics.

After the banquet, we headed back to the Capital Hotel for some drinks and fun before bed!

Saturday was spent driving back from Little Rock and Sunday...well Sunday entailed church followed by 10 consecutive hours of lounging on the couch and enjoyed the fire in the fireplace.

Pretty decent way to spend a weekend, wouldn't you say?

Be blessed, lovelies-

Double Date Nights and Decorating!

This weekend was SO much fun for us! I tend to not do very many "what we did today" posts, just because our life is really not that thrilling, haha. But, this one entailed a couple of superb date nights and some FABULOUS fall decorating! I decorated my little blonde heart out this weekend and Stephen, bless his soul, supervised like a pro : ) He's very supportive of my obsessive seasonal decorating tendencies.

Friday, we met our friends Kyle and Amanda at Carraba's for some vino and calorie laden goodness. No pics from that night, but as we were getting into bed on Friday night, I remember turning to Stephen and saying, "Is it possible for your stomach to literally burst?"

A couple of Pepcids and a glass of water and all was right with the world again though.

Saturday morning, I went on an hour long home decor buying bender at Hobby Lobby. I gotta say, I'm a pretty lucky lady. When I tell S I'm going to Hob Lob, he smiles, nods and says "Buy whatever you want." He knows that decorating our home within an inch of its life is good for our marriage, haha!

I attempted my very first silk flower arrangement after spying a couple at a local store up here for....$300! Woah, Nelly! Yeah, this chica wasn't paying three Benjamins for a silk arrangement, so I bought some supplies at Hob Lob and did my own version. I think it turned out pretty good!

Saturday night we met some of our other friends Jason and Shannon at Bonefish for drinks and dinner. A quick pic beforehand was necessary : )

Yesterday, I put up all the Halloween decorations! Here are pics!

Fall napkins!

New fall rug for the front door!

New fleur de lis lamps from our friends for a wedding gift...love the fall brick red color!

Pretty bowl of apples...a fall must!

Finally, if y'all needed more evidence that I'm a completely spoiled girl, the hubs made his famous spaghetti and gravy for dinner. (For those of you non-Italians like moi, I learned that 'gravy' is really just their version of a thick marinara or pomodoro sauce, usually with sausage or beef added in for flavor.) Stephen comes from a big Italian family and the recipe has been in their family since forever! Can't give it out, but lemme tell ya, it takes the boy 5+ hours to make it and it's worth every single calorie...YUM.

So tell, Blonde Ambitioners, what did y'all do this weekend?

P.S. - Our one month anniversary of being married is today! To the love of my life, Stephen - Thank you so much for an amazing month! I love you to the moon!

Be blessed, lovelies-

Anniversary Weekend Recap + Pics!

Hey girlies! Hope all of y'all had a great weekend! This girl SURE did!

Friday evening, we headed to...where else...Abuelo's! Again, one of the waiters was like, "I see you guys come in here a lot..." Mind you, he's never even waited on us, just observed our frequent eating there. Um, yeah, so embarrassing, haha!

Before we left, self-taken pics in the kitchen, seen above!

Saturday night, we re-created our first date : ) Yes, it may have been kinda cheesy, but that's the beauty of our relationship...we can be dorky and cheesetastic together.

Of course we had to take the requisite self-portraits before we left the house. In the kitchen, because the lighting isn't as crappy in there. We really need to get a tripod...

A little red from going out on the boat earlier Saturday morning...darn Scottish-Irish skin!

Yesterday, Ari posed for the camera in his new, Razorback red collar. GQ magazine, watch out! This guy is a lady killer ; )

A little closer-up...

We also started moving my stuff into Stephen's house, which was SO exciting! Although I'm not officially moving in until September, we're starting to move all of the big stuff that I won't need in the meantime. We worked up quite a sweat hauling stuff down those stairs at my apartment and into Stephen's house. Note to self, try not to have to move again during an Arkansas summer, haha!

So yeah, a pretty low-key but totally amazing weekend for us!

What did y'all do? Anything fun and exciting? Or maybe a low-key weekend for you too?

Be blessed, lovelies-

Weekend Afterthoughts

Hello, girls! Hope your Monday morning is off to a great start! We had a fun weekend on the lake with some out of town friends to celebrate one of Stephen's groomsman's birthday.

What else did we do this weekend? Welp, here goes:

1. Friday night, Stephen's mom was babysitting her new little grandbaby Lucas (mine and Stephen's new nephew). He was such a cutie and we had a great time holding him, cuddling and giving him his bottle : ) We both decided that maybe we don't want to wait as long as we thought we did to have kiddos, haha. Lucas was so tiny and SO precious....I think it's safe to say I have a bad case of baby fever now and we haven't even gotten married yet, ha!

One of the cutest little bambinos I've seen in a LONG time...he will be one cute toddler, too!

2. We went to the gym both Saturday and Sunday in keeping with our pledge to work out 5 days per week until the wedding. I'm sore and tired, but proud of us for sticking to it on a weekend where it would have been easy to throw in the towel.

3. We watched the Real Housewives of Orange County Reunion last night and it solidified our feelings of disdain for Alexis even more. For someone that claims to be such a staunch Christian, she sure can be judgemental! We felt so bad for Vicki and Don and the horrible situation that they are dealing with right now. I thought Vicki handled the tough questions so gracefully though and I admire how she "owned" her shortcomings in the marriage. A very good reunion special, in my opinion!

4. We also watched the Real Housewives of New Jersey, which followed the RHOC special. Jersey might be our favorite of the housewife series because it's so crazy and outrageous! I have to say though, I do miss Danielle : ( Sure, she was ten kinds of cray-cray, but girlfriend kept the show interesting! I still heart the Jersey women though!

5. Do any of you out there have granite countertops in your homes or apartments? Stephen has granite countertops in his house and we are constantly struggling to find good cleaners to clean it with. Everything we've tried makes it so streaky and leaves a film : ( Soap and water works pretty well, but we need something with good antibacterial properties, since we are both clean freaks and hate germs. Let me know if you've found a good granite cleaning agent!

Are you asleep yet? Sorry, ya'll. I know this riveting post was probably not what you needed to read first thing on a Monday morning to get 'ya going : )

What did you do this past weekend? Do share!

Be blessed, lovelies-

A Really Belated Memorial Day Weekend Recap

via Pinterest

Hey, girls, hey! I cannot believe I haven't blogged since last Friday....eep! That's a LONG time in my book, but then again, I'm a blogging addict and can't go for more than a couple days without having withdrawals. It's pathetic, really.

I'm going to warn you right now. The following content in this post may bore you to the point of tears (I apologize in advance.) If you're up to it though, here's a little recap of what we did this past Memorial Day weekend:

Saturday we visited Stephen's parents and sisters in Fort Smith (about an hour away from where we live.) His little sis graduated high school last week and they had a fun post-graduation party for her. It was a blast to spend the day and night catching up with his sweet fam.

And we got to see Sarah and Ava while there....LOVE both of those girls to pieces!

Sunday and Monday were spent on Beaver Lake, driving around the lake in the boat. We got lots of sun and, dare I say, the beginnings of what could turn into a great summer tan. A few pics:

My two fav boys lounging on the sun pad of the boat...

Mr. Ari, keeping watch over the front of the boat...

Me in my designer swimsuit $20 Target bikini. I don't usually post swimsuit pics (why would I want to subject you innocent bystanders to that), but I'm kinda proud of the work I've been doing in the gym lately : )

My hottie fiance in his "I'm the King of the World!" pose. Is it possible to be more and more attracted to someone as time goes on? I do believe it is!

This coming weekend, I'll be getting ready for a work trip to Chicago, but you better believe we'll be working in a boat outting that Saturday before I leave : )

What did y'all do this past weekend? Anything exciting or did you just take it easy?

Be blessed, lovelies-

Rainy Days and Sundays

Mornin' y'all! Hope all of you had a wonderful Easter weekend! We certainly did, although it was quite possibly the rainiest Easter weekend I can remember in my entire life!

Friday night (as most of you probably read on Twitter) was so scary for all of us in Northwest Arkansas. We had several tornados touch down in AR and so much rain that they had to close several roads in our county. Saturday wasn't much better and, needless to say, we spent the majority of the day inside baking brownies and watching movies : )

Yesterday was another wet mess and by 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, we had 9 inches of rain! Yikes...

The day wasn't a complete wash though (pun intended). We went to the early service at our church at 8:30 a.m. and got such a blessing out of the beautiful message and gorgeous music. We got all gussied up in our Sunday best, but our efforts were futile. We were completely drenched by the time we got into the building.

I had to dry my hair AGAIN when I got to Stephen's house before church yesterday!

Love how all our pics are in the bathroom...we really need to get a camera with a timer haha

I wasn't ready for my close-up...obvi : )

Stephen lookin' handsome in his Easter shirt and tie!

This look is called "drowned rat chic"...

Last night we decided to batten down the hatches, (sidenote: We don't have any hatches to speak of, however, if we did, last night would have been an excellent night to have battened them down.)

As I've mentioned on here before, my fiance Stephen comes from a very large, Italian family. He loves to cook and his specialty is his mom's spaghetti with "gravy". Italians refer to sauce as gravy, because their version is so thick and SOOO good! So last night, this girl was treated like a princess while her man made a wonderful dinner of homemade spaghetti and Italian bread with red wine vinegar/olive dipping oil.

Dinner was bellisimo!!

I ate approximately 4.5 pounds of the stuff.

What did you girls do for Easter? Was yours as soggy and messy as ours?

Be blessed, lovelies-