This was our last week of Bible Study so I decided to whip up a quick thank you card for Blair's fearless teachers. I figured Starbucks was a gift most people like so I grabbed a couple gift cards and found a quick and easy way to make it "Pinteresty."

 If you want to make a couple of these on your own go here! She offers the free printables!

And because I've just been thinking about this tragic story so much I wanted to provide you the link so you can join me and many others in praying for Ryan's parents. I'm squeezing my girl and soaking her up a little more...

Sometimes I can be so frantic with trying to cross things off my to-do list that I get exhausted and Blair gets my second best, or my distracted attention. Trying to be less frantic and more purposeful with my time spent with her, especially after reading stories like Ryans.

 Today we are going to get a tour at a local fire station and then headed to the park for lunch with some friends. I think B is going to love it. Happy early Mother's Day and say an extra prayer for Jaqui, sweet Ryan's Mama.  

We've got Blair's bedtime routine down to a science. First she picks out two books from her shelf for us to read to her after she's all ready for bed. She flips through them while I put on her jammies and bedtime diaper. Next she sits on the counter while I brush her teeth and rub her essential oils on her back. Then she insists on standing up on the counter so she can "kiss herself" goodnight on the mirror. It kills me every time!

After that I put her in her bed and we read two books, say prayers, and sing. Sometimes she requests two "soft animals" to sleep with and then it's lights out. And 99% of the time we don't hear from her till morning!

PS this is the "you don't need a bath tonight" routine. Is that bad? Do you give your toddler a bath each night? Ain't nobody got time for that over here... ;)

The gold confetti has finally made its way into my vacuum from my birthday party. And while the party is over the thank you cards have just begun! Can you believe that I have blank thank you cards from my wedding still?! I have a hard time throwing away perfectly useful items so I decided to re-purpose them and add a little flair to make them less wedding-ish.

ugly old wedding thank yous

add a little gold polka dot action

coin a cute phrase inside with gold pen ("you're golden" matched my party theme)

 

add a little extra pizazz to the envelope and voila!

So if you are like me with ooodles of wedding thank you's left over get busy! This was super easy and in my biased opinion pretty cute. ;) 

And thanks to Little Baby Garvin's inspiration I dolled up my chalkboard for Cinco de Mayo. We actually had friends over last night to celebrate. So we called it Seis de Mayo. ;) Dare to be different!

Ahhhh Mother's Day. It's almost like a 2nd birthday except you have to share the day with your Mom and Gramma. ;) I've gotta be honest when I show you my Mother's Day gift ideas below...it's really just an extended birthday wish list. Is that bad? Oh and if I could bottle up Blair's kisses then I would add that to my collage as well. Especially when unprompted they are the best gift ever!

Swim Suit     Personalized Note Pad     Bracelet     Candle     Nail Polish     Yoga Pants

I would love to wear that swim suit while in Oahu in June! Oh, and I got that darling notepad in the mail courtesy of Tiny Prints (thanks!). Donuts need no explanation...I love them. I'm slow on the Alex and Ani bracelet trend but am now realizing I need one. ;) Amazing Grace is my absolute favorite scent and I would love to fill up my home with its scrumptious smell. I'm a nail polish addict so I would love to have the "latest" colors. Flowers are a given (although I'd rather have food). Annnnd those purple workout pants... pretty sure I would run faster while wearing them. ;) Boom. I made life super easy for you, Hubby!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I had full intentions of having a mini fiesta for our Bible study group tonight (chips and salsa) but between all my birthday festivities I slacked. You only turn 30 once! :)

I may get crazy and grab some authentic chips at Albertsons and stop by Trader Joes for my favorite homemade salsa. Wink wink. Annnnnd I'm a sucker for garland and a festive chalkboard so chances are that will be on Instagram today after nap time. Nothing like planning ahead! ;) In the meantime I hope these cutie Cinco de Mayo ideas that some other crafty bloggers came up with satiate your appetite!

chalkboard inspo by Jessica

invitation by Martha

tissue paper garland by Martha

here

This girl had her own mini fiesta this weekend...

I started my weekend off right with a few of my girlfriends who took me out to celebrate the big 3-0. We had a great time...serenade and all!

Oh, and as promised...a picture of my friend Joel because I lost a bet and doubted that he could run a mile in under 9 minutes. To be fair the kid hasn't rain since 8th grade and he's now 25. The odds were against him but he pulled it together. So because I'm a woman of my word...

before

after

I gotta be honest, Joel, I didn't think you had it in you. But really you should have chosen a better "prize" than requesting recognition on "the blog." ;) I guess we still do owe you a meal...

With my recent birthday month (yes, I said month!) coming to an end it is time for me to get back on track with my budget! And while I love a good deal as much as the next girl sometimes those "deals" get the best of me. Does this happen to you too? Here are some of my biggest offenders...

{Baby Gap}

Since I have a Gap credit card I get a bajillion emails with 40% off coupons. Unless there is something Blair needs I just delete them right away. Otherwise I get sucked into their website and before you know if I've loaded my cart up with $100 (at least!) of clothes. No bueno. However, if there is something she does need I always wait for the 40% off sale. Annnnnd since I have a credit card I get "gap cash" back so I use that for necessities or gifts! So, it's not all bad. ;) 

{Target}

Target is the land of impulse buys for me. With their products being relatively "cheap" I seem to load up my cart pretty quickly. If I don't have something in particular that I am shopping for then I try to avoid their women's clothing department and toddler clothes. Otherwise without fail I'll toss some items in my cart. However, Target is a great place for last minute gifts...especially now that they have Essie and OPI nail polishes. Plus, who doesn't love a cute pair of strappy summer sandals?! 

{JoAnn/Michaels}

I swear I live at these stores. Between baby showers and the holidays I love a good DIY. One way I "save" here is by always remembering my weekly coupon. They make it super easy and even have apps on your phone you can scan in case you forget your coupon half the time (like me).

{The Rack}

This store makes me a frantic hot mess and we just got one right down the street from me. I always feel this urgency to buy things there for fear someone else will get it. I mean it's SUCH a good deal! ;) Well, that's what I tell myself when I see price tags like this $300 now only $148. I feel like I'm saving but M will be like, " how much was it?" and I'll say "50% off!" and he's like, "of what?". He doesn't care that it was on sale...he cares how much it was. One of the things that I say that he hates the most was, "I got it on sale."

{Zulily/Brickyard Buffalo}

This is another one of those stores that sends me into a panic, "must get it now or else it will be gone forever!". I actually purchased so many ugly stupid outfits for Blair on here that I deleted the app. And just recently I purchased some shoes for B on BB and they were too small and too much of a pain to return so I sold them for less to a friend. Fail. I'm over flash sale sights.

What are your impulse buys? How do you "save" instead of "splurge?" Go check out my friends over at Raise.com and see the insights they give you to save vs. splurge! And because no post is complete without Blair...

This girl was straight up hilarious yesterday. She insisted that Lala put stickers on her face and also wanted to wear her princess dress "with gwovs (gloves)" so she could be like princess Elsa in Frozen. She kills me. And I love her.

Thank you everyone for all the sweet birthday wishes. I had a GREAT day yesterday and survived turning 30 with flying colors! I went to lunch with my family and M threw me a great party (even if I did do all my own decorating and cake baking) and I couldn't have been more blessed by all my friends (I said no gifts but they didn't listen!).

seriously it's my birthday and this was the best she could do :/

it took me three tries

blair, charlotte, and ande. charlotte clearly knows how to party!

I'm overwhelmed with such wonderful friends in the community that I live in. We are all so invested in each other's lives and it's so fun seeing our kids growing up in the Lord together. I couldn't ask for a better birthday. Here comes the cliche hashtag...#feelingblessed ;)