Friday

     I'm up to my ears in party crafting so I know you will understand the short and sweetness of this post. :) With one week left till go time things are getting serious over here...

For one of us anyway...

Others of us are just along for the ride. :)

I'll be painting my kitchen some more this weekend along with crafting for Blair's party. The thrilling life of a DIY mom! But really I love this kinda stuff and wouldn't trade it! I hope you all have a great weekend. I'm so thankful for all my readers and all of the sweet and encouraging things you say to me on a daily basis. xo

Bumper & Blanket

     I've been meaning to show you the cute baby doll blanket that B's Gramma made. When she sewed B a new bumper she used the extra fabric to make a mini blanket to match...genius! Blair loves all things regarding baby doll care so this was a win. Thanks Gramma!

notice the strategic "i love gramma" backing ;)

i just can't wait for this girl to be a sister one day! hopefully soon...

Also today for the first time Blair said, "Bless You!" to me after I sneezed. SO cute! She's also really into having her back and arms tickled so while I was taking these pictures she was making her stuffed kitty "tickle" my back. Melt. My. Heart.

Stripes and Floral

     Since you, lovely readers, gave me such great feedback last week with my LGD I thought I would throw out another mix of outfits. This time I focused on two things: my new floral skinnies (thanks mom!) and a striped tee (similar).
     Mixing patterns, especially floral and stripes is IN! And I think it's pretty cute.
     The jeans were on mega-sale last week for $15. Winning! Although they have a really low rise which isn't super friendly to my mom pooch. Moms, you know what I mean. I just make sure my shirt is a bit on the long side. For $15 I'm ok with that.

{SPORTY} aka "mom wear"

{COZY}

{SEXY} (?) yes that's a question

{FEMININE}

Which look are YOU!?! FYI I bought a size 6. I'm 5'4 128.

Oh, and Blair requested that I take of picture of her in her shoes...

and this is the face she gives me...cheeeeeeeeese! i see some pretty awesome preschool pictures in the near future...

her dress: on sale now!
her sweater: similar
her shoes: on sale now!

Kitchen Cabinet Overhaul

     Thanks for all the sweet complements on my dress in yesterday's post! It's an old find from pre-Blair times. I bought it at Nordstrom and have gotten a lot of use out of it!

I actually came down with a yucky stomach virus Sunday night and was in bed all day Monday. I'm sure I got the bug from B. Lucky for me M has been a ton of help. How do moms with morning sickness do it with a toddler?! That would be awful.

Without further adieu we (almost) finished one section of our kitchen cabinets. A few of you have asked for tutorials and honestly we just followed the directions on the kit that we bought here. Of course there are little tricks that we have learned along the way (don't use a roller as a short cut) but we really just adhered to their instructions. Warning: this project is not for the faint of heart. It's a doozy.

We decided on pure white although a creamy white would also be beautiful. M and I battled about this and he ultimately won with several opinions from my friends and family. We have not decided on a color for the pulls yet (either brushed nickel or brushed bronze. When those arrive I'll be asking your opinion on what you like!

My original thought on the pulls was to do a dark oil rubbed bronze. The granite is dark and with so much white I thought it would be a nice contrast. But a friend mentioned that all my appliances are stainless and she would go with that. Ultimately we decided either would look nice but I would appreciate your opinions! I want to use cup pulls on the drawers and bar handles on the cupboards since we already have the holes drilled in and filling them would be a huge pain. We shall see! Either way I'm really excited to get the rest of the kitchen done...I love it!

 

Palm Springs Trip

We had a great weekend away from home in Palm Springs. My parents and we attended a wedding of a dear friend of mine while B stayed home with M's parents. It was so relaxing knowing she was in good hands.

In other news I felt realllllly old at the wedding...like my dress was not short or tight enough compared to the rest of the crowd. And then I had wine instead of a cocktail. I kind of just wanted to sit and watch everyone too. But I'm thinking maybe this is a good thing since I am (almost) 30. And a mom. We still dominated the cake and photo booth and that says something! To be honest I kinda like that I didn't have to impress anyone with my crazy dance moves (trust me they're good) and sky high stilettos. Also I actually wanted to hang with my parents. This girl is getting old. Or wise. You decide. ;)

M's face! I die.

how beautiful is the bride?!

how cute are my parents?! Mom borrowed my shrug...adorbs

It was a great weekend! And to top it off that morning we found out my brother and his wife are having a BOY!!!!! Blair's first cousin will be a BOY! So much fun we can't even wait!

Gift Card Holder

Ah, the gift card. A super easy gift that is sometimes frowned upon for it's impersonal touch. We don't hate on gift cards over here and I recently whipped up this super cute gift card holder for one of B's friend's birthday. They call him "man cub" so this did the trick! I used my cricut machine to cut out the card then secured the edges with washi tape so the gift card wouldn't fall out of the sides. I actually keep a stack of Target gift cards in the junk drawer for those "oops I didn't get you anything" moments.

In other news thank you SO much for all the get well comments for Blair...they worked! Girlfriend woke up like her normal self this morning and has kept everything down. I haven't been brave enough to attempt milk again...maybe when M gets home from work. ;)

She even felt good enough to hit up the park yesterday...just another chance to catch some more germs and get sick again I'm sure. :/ 

I bought that dress for B when I was prego! It's so fun to finally see her fit into some things that have been hanging in her closet forever. Still waiting for her to catch up to her shoe collection. :) Have a great weekend, babes! See you Monday!

A First Time for Everything

B, post puke show

If you want a good laugh you should read this. But if you have the flu I recommend not reading ahead...

Karma's a beast. Remember when I mentioned B's little puking episode at the end of yesterday's post? Turns out I missed all the action then but made up for it today. Apparently she didn't puke because she was having a melt down. I should've known.

I woke up this morning to find her laying in her own puke. Her hair was spackled to the side of her face and everything in her bed was a crusty mess. Surprisingly enough she didn't seem to mind. She made her bed and was lying in it.

Our day went ahead as usual. We ran to the bank, the post office, Sprouts, and the beauty supply store (I needed top coat). At the store she requested some milk. Now I'm no idiot. I know that dairy is no bueno for toddlers with upset tummies. So I figured I would play it safe with flax milk. It freaking says "non-dairy" on the carton for crying out loud.

We got to the car and I filled her cup up on the spot. Besides, she was saying "please" and "thank you Mama" so sweetly I couldn't resist. Fast forward to thirty minutes later in our backyard (thank God this didn't happen in the beauty supply store). B was in her swing while I was watering some plants and then I heard her frantically say, "Mama up! Mama up!" Before it happened I knew it was coming. So I did what any good/smart mother would do and backed up. ;) Sure enough projectile flax milk spewed from her little mouth all over the concrete. She seemed surprised but not upset in the least bit. I really thought I hit the lotto on this one...a) we were outside b) she was in her $2 jammies and c) Bella was there to lick it all up. Yup, it was a pretty tasty sight watching her enjoy B's seconds. Yummy.

Needless to say I haven't fed her anymore dairy, fake or real. And we spent the rest of the morning outside with her in her diaper. It's been in the 80's here so that was a win.

The ironic thing is that I was telling someone yesterday how B has never thrown up. Ever. Like in her whole two years of existence. Ha. Jokes on me. So next time you think you're outsmarting the dairy fairies by giving your kid "dairy free" milk you're not. And you better get home real quick afterwards or at least bring your dog in the car. ;)

LGD: little green dress

Thank you thank you thank you for all your encouraging comments yesterday! I'm glad I'm not totally off base with my wide stripe idea...I just know it's going to be quite some time before we get to that since all we are doing now is eat, sleep, and paint those kitchen cabinets. M predicts it will take us two months. Oy. I sure hope not. As it is we have been painting every night till 11-12 pm. Gotta do whatcha gotta do!

On to more girly things...work it Wednesday is baaaaaack! Well, for this week anyway. I was browsing through some of my old posts and realized how much I like styling one piece a few totally different ways. I enjoy seeing how people do this in fashion magazines as well as Pinterest. Let me know if it's something that interests you or if you just want to see more of Blair. ;)

I recently picked up this green dress at Target (Xhilaration). I loved the bright green and have found that it's actually more versatile than you would think! Plus St. Patrick's Day is coming and this will be spot on. :)

Here are a few ways I styled it below for many different looks...

 

The dress is fitted up top and then flares out at the natural waist. I got a size small and am 5'4 128 ( I usually wear a 4/6). Glad the whole world knows my stats now...

A jean jacket makes it casual but the wedges and statement necklace add some flirtiness

for those of you bearing the storms i added leggins, rain boots, a jacket and a scarf

i literally dusted off these shoes for this shoot. clearly not going on too many dates. i toughened up the dress with a leather jacket and leather heels along with a chain necklace

my go-to teacher outfit...dress, cardi, skinny belt, and flats keep it work appropriate

maybe my favorite look?! i turned the dress into a skirt by adding a chambray top. the skinny belt gives me a waist and the boots bring out some country. every girl's got a little bit of country in her!

took a risk here with the Cal Poly (go mustangs!) sweatshirt but i like the look! converse make it super sporty and mom friendly. hair in a pony would complete the look.

Hope you liked my little run down...M for sure rolled his eyes every time he read the phrase "the look." And he definitely heavy sighs when I call my clothes "pieces." Like, "these pieces are SO cute together!" But hey, it's true...they are! ;) What was your favorite look? Are you on your way to Target now?! 

Side note: B made herself so upset last night (over something silly) that she projectile vomited her cup of milk all.over. Matt. Yup, daddy took the hit while I was at the gym...oops. Don't worry he got Bella outside before she licked up all of the puke and even gave B a bath afterwards! He did the unthinkable and washed her blanket! But for some reason B was ok with it...PHEW. Good times over here. I knew something was up when I walked in the door and a) there was a load of laundry running b) there was sanitizer out c) Blair was in the bath and I hadn't requested one. It all makes sense now...