Happy Thanksgiving friends! I am so very thankful for each one of YOU and hope you are blessed with time with your friends and family this weekend. I worked on my parents' tablescape last night and have a few pictures for you...enjoy!

thankful for my little

I purchased the magnolia leaf garland from a friend with a wholesale flower license. I'm hoping it lasts throughout the holiday! The persimmons were from Sprouts and the flowers in vases were from Trader Joes and I arranged them myself. I mentioned earlier in the week that I got the napkins from amazon and printed the silverware holders off of Pinterest. The chargers were last years DIY chalkboard vision (that failed) and the plates are my great grandma's! The candles are mish mash of whatever I could find around my house. :) Happy Thanksgiving and good luck to all those Black Friday shoppers out there!

I've always loved Tiny Prints and this year I was lucky enough to get to choose a Christmas card from their Holiday 2014 collection. The only problem was that it was SO hard to choose! Below are just a few of my favorites with a little sneak peek of Blair from our photo session with Carrie.

I'm seriously obsessed with the metallic foiled ones...especially the rose gold. So pretty and different! Make sure you head over to Tiny Prints soon...they have a 30% off code (givethanks30) for one more day! I can't wait to share our Christmas cards with you soon. I just love the holidays! Thanks again Tiny Prints!

*This post was sponsored by Tiny Prints but the opinions are all my own.

Yesterday at 10:30 pm I realized I never published my blog post. Whoopsies. Every year I'm in charge of decorating my parent's Thanksgiving day table. I found a photo that I want to replicate on Pinterest...it's so beautiful! And lucky for me I have a friend who is a florist. :)

 

 

I had a tough time finding the right color of purple napkins this last minute but amazon prime saved the day and I'm going to try these out.

I also found this printable on Pinterest and already printed it out on ivory cardstrock.

And THEN I stumbled upon these AWESOME plates! I just love them! Christmas is coming M...this is an easy one!

What kind of "theme" are you going with this year for your Thanksgiving table?

PS I have a slew of "projects" going on right now that I can't even wait to show you/tell you about! Stay tuned!

It's amazing to me that it's November and yet our beaches are still so pleasant. This weekend we hung out with M's fam down in San Clemente (our home away from home). We ate a bomb lunch at my favorite spot, Nicks, had some pool time, and enjoyed a couple nice jogs on the beach. If I can't be at home working on my to-do list then this is where I want to be! We love it there.

mid-run selfie

making brownies with aunt lisa...gotta teach 'em young!

and just because she had a good hair day yesterday (aka she had a bath and hadn't napped on it yet)

Now I have some serious Thanksgiving tablescape planning to do! Nothing like waiting to the last minute!

Medical
Nothing new. Just in the waiting part of the process.

Emotional
The 10 or so days of waiting to see if I'm prego are the worst. Honestly these days mess with me way more than getting a big fat "no" from a pregnancy test. The non-stop over analyzing of every minute thing my body is feeling has me going insane. "Oh, I'm thirsty...maybe I'm pregnant? Oh, I'm kind of crampy... maybe I'm pregnant? Oh, it's Tuesday...maybe I'm pregnant?" UGH. I'm emotionally exhausted. At this point I'm not feeling prego at all and am all set to start my cycle on Thanksgiving...oh goody

Spiritual
Yesterday I caught up on some of my devotions and the author really hit the nail on the head with what I'm struggling with. The first thing I'm still trying to grasp is that God is all-sufficient for me. I want there to be nothing on earth that I desire more than him. I want to delight in him and rejoice in him in hopes of showing the world that I am blessed and to encourage them to turn to him in times of trouble. The second thing I'm learning is to truly want to glorify him in all I do. I do not want anything to set my heart beating so fast as my love for him. And finally to remember that he has taken up my cause and I am not alone in this. I so easily start to fear and doubt that God is with me through this trial. I often feel alone and frantic and wanting to solve the problem on my own by trying every known fertility aid on earth. For me, having peace/faith/trust has been the hardest thing. Slowly I know God is growing me and I absolutely can't wait to sing a song of praise when this baby comes!
(paraphrased from Charles Spurgeon Nov 16, 17, 20). 

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Now back to the world of distraction I have created for myself...

My friend and I hit up JoAnn yesterday to get supplies to craft a felt Christmas tree for our littles. The stinking thing cost me $40 bucks but I blame that on the new $10 scissors I bought to cut the felt and the glitter buttons etc. Surely you could make this for $10 but it wouldn't be nearly as cute ;). I'm excited to get started on it! B was a pistol when we tried to snap a pic in front of the giant Christmas tree (you're shocked, I know).

Since my friend lives so close to the shopping center we walked back to her house for some toddler play time. Give the girl a phone and a baby and apparently she's okay with photos...

And then on my way home I spotted a vacant home that just had some trees chopped down in the front yard. I've been on the prowl for affordable real wood stump chargers and can't find anything under $30 a pop! I quickly pulled over and hauled three big stumps into my car in hopes that M can slice them down into 12 lovely chargers. He's so lucky to have me. ;)

And that's a wrap! This weekend we are hanging at the beach with M and his fam. I'm looking forward to lots of hands on deck and some good old relaxation! I love to be busy at home but sometimes it's nice to getaway. Happy weekend!

The poor sequined skirt gets a bad rap. While I mostly reserve it for bachelorette parties and weekends in Vegas (because I go there so often) I think it's perfect for the holiday season, especially for Holiday photos! Dressing it down makes it more approachable. Here are some ideas below! And yes I definitely threw on some red lipstick to hide my dirty, messy hair. Now you know. ;) my other disclaimer is that I should be wearing tights with my skirt but it was 75 when I was doing this and way too hot for that. Feel free to adjust if you live somewhere that actually has a winter.

cozy cable knit sweater was so comfy!

a dressier look for a party or christmas cards!

this one realllly needs tights. i've seen other girls pull off the plaid and sequined look combined. i'm not convinced. it's like redneck meets LA party girl.

another cozy look. the sweater is actually a metallic silver in the light

nothing like juxtaposing the sequined skirt with a sweatshirt and converse!

and the post wouldn't be complete without some chambray!

Are you dreaming of new ways to wear your sequined skirt? Take that thing out of the "party girl" section of your closet and reinvent her!

We got our new pendant lights installed and some cans and wow what a difference! I absolutely love the lights we chose (even though they weren't any of the ones I featured!) and aside from our flooring I don't feel the need to change anything else about our kitchen. M is heaving a huge sigh of relief.

Since our kitchen is so big I decided to go with larger pendants. I like how deep they are in color because it matches our cabinet hardware and counter tops. I just love the pure white color of the new lights whereas the old ones threw out a gross yellowish light. I would love a medium stained hardwood floor but for now the tile is toddler proof and hides dog hair/crumbs very well. Clearly my cleaning skills are amazing. ;)

Thanks for all your input and for the one person who suggested we look at Lowes. :)

Ok friends it's time to get your holiday jammies on! Honestly there were SO many cute jammies out there and I had a very hard time choosing my favorites so make sure you stop by each store online to see for yourself.

{footed Christmas trees} {fair isle blue} {fair isle red} {santa super hero} {reindeer} {cars} {slippers} {lights}

{reideer and dots} {pink fair isle} {merry and bright} {gold bow} {christmas tree} {slippers} {red fair isle} {lights}

And while Blair is already set for this year's holiday jammies I'm thinking about taking advantage of the sale and getting some for next year. They are just SO cute and I know if I wait her size will be sold out. What I love about a lot of the jammies is that they are unisex! So those of you with boys and girls can get matching jams. It's just the cutest. :)

Today is the last day that Gap is offering 40% off and Old Navy is offering 35% off using the code CHEER. JCrew is offering 25% off with code SHOPNOW and Hannah Anderson  is offering 40% off too! Carter's always has great sales too.Happy shopping!

We barely survived our Christmas card photo sesh this weekend. But it wasn't without bribery, a toddler foot to Daddy's face, and some melt downs. Sigh. Poor M was trying to put B on his shoulders at one points and she kicked him right in the eye with her new red mary-janes. His poor eye matched her shoes after that. :( She did manage to squeak out quite a few darling pictures so I'm happy and relieved. I thought we might have to send out cards with either a crying toddler or the back of her head. It didn't come without a lot of effort on my Mom's part though. We picked her up last minute and she preformed quite the show pretending to fall down and hit her head with her own hand. B was rolling and I'm convinced that my Mom is the 4th Stooge. So now when you receive our Christmas card and B is smiling you know why. ;)

We also installed new faucets in our master bathroom this weekend and while doing that we managed to break our main water shut off and pressure reducing valve. Suuuuper fun not having water and then having to pay a few hundred to get running water again. Merry Christmas! We now have running water! Womp. Womp.

Sundays are my favorites though because I don't have to rush to my gym class and we get to snuggle with B in our bed while reading books. This weekend we also officially busted out the Christmas jammies.

jammies from Carter's

Did you guys do anything holiday-ish?

Yesterday while the workers installed our new kitchen lighting (can't wait to reveal!)we went to a local donut shop because hello we couldn't cook and a banana with peanut butter was just no fun. I'm not surprised that Blair chose one with sprinkles... or that she picked out this headband to go with her outfit. :)

 We hung with my pal all day till nap time. What was supposed to be a cheap hang out sesh ended with a walk to Starbucks, lunch at a local deli, and dessert at a local bakery. Whoopsies! But man did we have fun (and eat a week's worth of calories)!

before I bribed her with going out to lunch

annnnnd after. not great but not crying...

before i told her we were going to the bakery to get a treat

annnnd after.

I'm starting to see a theme here. My child will (likely) perform for food. I wonder where she get's that from? ;) But seriously I can't catch a break with her hatred of picture taking and it's so annoying. I'm a blogger for goodness sake! Doesn't she understand that? Ha. With our Christmas card pictures happening this weekend it looks like I'm going to busy out a Christmas present early to get this stinking kid to smile. Desperate times call for desperate measures...

not pictured: the chocolate cake pop with an orange flower she chose as her treat

Not much to report on the infertility front. Had a good doctor's appointment on Monday in which the ultrasound showed that my lining looked good and I had one mature egg that was about to release. When I was taking Clomid I only ever had one mature egg as well so we have decided to stop doing Clomid since it doesn't do me any good. The doctor also said she didn't think IUI was necessary given all our chemical pregnancies. The chemical pregnancies (while annoying) show that at least my body is fertilizing. Now we just need one to stick! This month the only thing I am doing is taking Progesterone. Oh and praying praying praying. :) Have a happy weekend!

The holidays are just around the corner and I'm giddy with excitement to choose a dress from Rent the Runway for M's work bash. His party is 3 weeks away  at a winery in Temecula and very formal. I've gone through and picked out a few gowns that I love and wanted to know which ones you guys like? M you are welcome to chime in too. ;)

I have used Rent the Runway before and LOVED it! I got so many complements on this dress. I feel like all I do lately is have you guys vote on stuff but I love to get your opinions! :)

Get ready for another super awesome Photoshop post! Sarcasm included. :) Since we have moved in we have wanted to change out the old school "elementary school" lighting for something a little more a lot more in style. The electricians are coming to install some canned lights around the outskirts of the kitchen and some pendent lights above the island. They come to do the work on Thursday so any help deciding which lights look best would be appreciated sooner rather than later! Nothing like waiting till the last minute.

current nasty lights

option 1

option 2

option 3

option 4

Which option do you guys like best? All pendents are from Home Depot. 

 And how could I have forgotten to post this sweet picture of B and her cousin?! They were celebrating my Mom's bday last weekend. Can you spot the imposter? ;)