Our Weekend

We had another very full weekend! Our Japanese students leave this morning so we had one more weekend to entertain them and show them Riverside's finest. :) I will miss having two live-in baby sitters!

Kaoru, Blair, and Mimu. Not sure who is teaching who. ;)

Sunday wouldn't be complete without a trip to the donut shop

then we had to work off our donuts on a hike :)

Riverside's beach ;)

top of Mt. R

daddy daughter selfie

Since we have had guests for the past ten days we haven't been as productive as we normally are. I'm ready to get that island painted! No rest for the weary! :)

And a happy 7 year anniversary to my love! Proof that "the 7 year itch" is make believe. ;)

Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yesterday I found a great recipe over at Erinn's blog for wheat banana chocolate chip muffins! I was stoked to have all the ingredients on hand and even happier to have an activity to entertain Blair with. :) So we whipped up the muffins and they were gone in less than 24 hours (embarrassing, I know). The recipe included wheat flour and greek yogurt, which I love for health reasons. Plus they are super easy to grab on your way out the door for breakfast. Winning! Now if that was the only time of day I ate one I would be in better shape. :/

Ingredients
1 C unbleached whole wheat flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C dark chocolate chips
2 mashed ripe bananas
1/3 C sugar
1/4 C greek yogurt
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan (mine made 12). In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In another bowl beat bananas, sugar, yogurt, egg, and vanilla until blended. Stir into dry mix until just combined (do no over mix!). Fold in chocolate chips and divide mixture into muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

 And just because I'm wondering if any other moms have to get to do this...wait for the trash truck to come because it's so entertaining...

yup. in the driveway in our pjs. awesome.

annnnd with lunch on her face.

Thursday is trash day and boy do we love it! Well one of us does, anyway. Happy weekend everyone!

Easter Basket Goodies

LBG inspired me to give you all a peek of what I'm planning on stuffing in Blair's Easter basket. Target was a gold mine this year and that's where I found all the sweet goodies below! I like to do a little bit of Easter bunny and a lot of Jesus. Any mamas out there trying to balance Easter out by doing something similar? Ideas are appreciated!

basket

what basket is complete without glitter eggs?!

these eggs are almost too pretty to use in a toddler's basket (almost!)

I purchased both the glitter eggs and the plastic patterned eggs at Target. Same with the fox sippy cup (I like to buy year round items as opposed to a bunny cup) and the Peeps chapstick and books!

Easter Attire

Thanks for the votes of confidence with yesterday's post about the baby shower vision...and the great ideas about getting some airplane decor!

With Easter around the corner there is no shortage of cute girly dresses. I picked this one up for Blair (similar similar similar) along with this headband and these shoes. Some bunny is going to be pretty cute! ;)

From Top: ears, chambray dress, watermelon dress, espadrilles, glitter flats, pale pink dress, pink embroidered dress, eyelet dress, bunny dress, jellies, paisley dress, saltwaters

Wishing they sold these things in MY size! Don't jellies just bring you back to your childhood?! Uhhbsessed.

Neutral Baby Shower Ideas

It seems that I am forever in party planning mode. Which is both good and bad. I love love love seeing the finished product but sometimes prepping for them can be challenging (ie: time consuming with a toddler). Now that Blair's 2nd birthday is over and I've had a couple weeks to recover I'm dreaming up my sister-in-law's baby shower for her sweet little boy (due August!). This is an extra special shower because her little boy will be Blair's first cousin!

Tiffany is planning a rustic, neutral, and industrial-ish style nursery so I am going with that for her shower decor. She is also adding a few rustic airplanes to the room. Here are a few things I have picked out below along with her sweet bump!

I kinda have a mish mash of things pinned on pinterest but am thinking less lace (it's a BOY!) But still lots of burlap/neutral tones. Not sure if or how to incorporate the industrial airplanes. We will see. I love the scripture and am thinking about writing it on one of my chalk boards. Either way it will all come together in the end and I'm excited to start planning the details!

Our Weekend

This weekend has been a complete whirlwind of activity. I hosted a CAbi clothing party for my Aunt and we also had 2 Japanese students arrive Friday night (they are here 10 days). Yesterday we took them to Newport Beach and had a great time! They are super sweet and love taking pictures of EVERYTHING. They even took video of our worship team during church which cracked me up. :) They love Blair and have been very appreciative of us.

real life: hubby naps while I entertain B (jk M)

baby photo bomb

the sweetest chubbiest toes

still working on her selfie skills...and yes our jackets are matching ;)

and for fun, one of my favorite CAbi looks! their clothes are so comfy and well made!

5 ways to wear a crop top

Thank you for the overwhelming support of our kitchen cabinets! And white for the island was the clear winner so we will be tackling that in a couple weeks! Eeek!

Yesterday I popped into Target and their crop tops caught my eye. I had a conversation with my bff a couple weeks ago about crop tops:

me: crop tops are in again. don't they give you horrible flashbacks to high school?
diana: no they are so much cuter now! think of them with a maxi skirt at the beach. love! i'm so doing it.
me: i guess...but i'm (almost) 30 now. 30 year olds don't wear crop tops.

...and then I bought one at Target. :) So apparently 30 year olds do wear crop tops. And moms...because I'm both. Don't get crazy, I won't be donning one at church but you better believe I'm rockin' it running errands and poolside. My wardrobes about to get cray cray. ;)

Here's what I like about the crop top...you can either show a lot or a little depending on how bloated you are that day. ;) Har har. Pull it up, pull it down...it's still cute either way! See below...

no bloat

bloat ;)

again, no bloat

bloat

So easy to adjust! Here's some other looks...

def only rockin this at the beach/pool (woah get a tan!)

And the back...

I love it! They had this same top in black and some options with sleeves but I loved this one the best. I never thought I could but I'm going out on a limb here and saying I can! OH and in case you are obsessed with my headbands (because I am) I scooped those up at Target too. You can thank me later. I'll be living in them all summer.


PS the mirror I used is REALLY forgiving so don't get all excited like, "dang Natalie looks good!" Nope. Still the same old me.

Items unavailable online :(

Kitchen Cabinet Re-do

     Lo and behold the cabinets are (almost!) finished! Finished enough to show you and see what you think, anyway! We are really happy with the outcome and are excited to tackle the island in a couple weeks once our arms aren't sore anymore. ;) We love how bright the white makes the kitchen and how it breaks up the brown tile, brown paint, and brown back splash. We were originally thinking of painting the island an accent color but are now thinking that we really like the white and don't feel overwhelmed by the white cabinets. But please tell me what you think!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

still can't wait to replace the lighting above the island

cup pulls by cosmas on amazon, handles by amerock on amazon

so fresh and so clean!

I could not be more pleased with the outcome. BONUS: the cup pulls were less than $2 each on amazon! Buying in bulk = winning! Same with the handles. I like how the round pulls soften the harsh rectangular lines of the granite counter top and the drawers themselves. We had a lot of rectangles going on and it was nice to have a rounded pull. And while I don't hate the original hinges I'd be happy to part with them eventually.

Soooo here's the next question...what color would you paint the island? I think we're leaning towards white. Thoughts?

Remember half of the island will be left the same color as the walls because it's not all wood, so it wouldn't be that much white anyway. Just this one side would be painted. I do like having pops of color in my home but am a firm believer that the color should be easy to change...like throw pillows, rugs, blankets etc...not expensive items like couches or re-painting an island for example. Thanks in advance for all your ideas!

PS yesterday I got the cutest little top at Target and I can't wait to show you how versatile it is! And at $12 you can't go wrong!