Chloe and Isabel

Two Fridays ago I had the pleasure of going to a neighbor's house for a Chloe and Isabel party!  

Usually I hate parties like this because you feel forced to buy something.  Our neighbor just said come hang out and if you buy something, fine, if not, who cares.  But then I fell in love with so much of it that I couldn't decide on what to order!  And I wasn't even under the influence of wine! ;)

So a few things I like about this line in particular - lifetime guarantee, doesn't look like the el cheapo statement stuff you can get just anywhere and most pieces you can wear different ways.  

One of the necklaces I bought you can wear with both pendants or just one or the other...so you can wear it three different ways.  Other necklaces you can wear as short or long.  Another necklace you can wear as a wrap bracelet or a headband.  Earrings - you can wear as the stud for work or add the drop to it and have going out earrings.  

Everything is reasonably priced and not outrageous.  Bracelets for $18, studs for $20, necklaces for $40.  They have gold and silver things to suit everyone.  

Anyway, I'm hosting a party in late May and some of you Charlotte girls will be getting an invite.  If you definitely want to be invited, let me know.  I think I'll also get a link in case anyone wants to buy online.  You can look at the online catalog which I did in advance of this party but seeing it in person was really great.  But of course, I do not want you all to feel pressured to buy...I honestly liked the jewelry so much that I want to share the find with friends!

One of the wrap bracelets I got.  

Lindsay is the queen of Chloe and Isabel.  She's super fun and will help you make a decision!  I told her I wanted a long gold necklace but something that is okay for work and fun.  She picked this out and I got it.  It's perfect!  Lindsay is so sweet and you'll really enjoy working with her!

Here is the link to Lindsay's page if you would like to take a peek around!

Nice Lil Weekend

Well I've kinda been out of commission since last Thursday.  I went to the eye doc that morning and they told me I had pink eye in both eyes.  I also really didn't feel that good which I thought was weird.  I tried to proceed on and pretend I was okay so I could get work done from home but truth be told - I felt awful and couldn't see a thing in my out of date glasses prescription.

Mills and I did a lot of this...

Between the eye doc and the gyn, they finally got a prescription right for me by the end of the work day.  Then the gyn told me I couldn't come to my 26 week appointment that Friday in fear I may spread it which I completely understood.  I chilled on Friday too but I was just knocked down which is pretty unlike me.  Usually I still can operate even when I'm sick but I was toast.  

Saturday AM Kevin took me to a follow up doc appointment and the ophthalmologist told me I didn't have pink eye and it was something else.  Well that's convincing.  Gah.  He said I could start wearing contacts again Tuesday but I begged for today so I could go on my work trip.  I don't feel comfortable driving with an old glasses prescription and without prescription sunglasses.  Today I am good to go and feel like a new person that can see again.  Enough of that craziness!  

On Saturday Kevin got the Britax B Safe car seat out and we used the adapter and got it on the City Mini stroller.  It's very cool!  Mills on the other hand does not like the stroller...because it moves haha!

Kevin and I went out to dinner on Saturday to Maverick Rock Taco and then drove around and looked at real estate - our most favorite hobby to do together!  I know, we're goofy but we love it!

This is what Sunday looked like.  We went to lunch, Target and Teeter.  Kevin drove me all over ha.  We hung in the yard all afternoon.  Mills was a tired pooch at 7pm last night.  

Honestly it was nice to have a weekend just the three of us the whole time.  Not that we don't love time with our fam or friends...it's just nice to be blah and us for a few days.  Yall know what I'm talking about?

Still at 7:30am this morning, he would not get out of bed.  He's nuts but I love him.  He got up when he saw my suitcase though. 

Happy Monday!  I'm cruising west today for a quick ride.

Five on Friday - Outside, Tulips, Mills, W&S, Lunch

ONE:  We have been spending a lot of time on our back patio in the evenings.  I just know that soon it will be 100+ degrees and mosquitoes so we are having dinner outside, hanging with Mills, swinging in the hammock and just enjoying the quiet.  It's SO nice!

TWO:  Mom and I planted tulips in October and it's been so cool to see how they change every day when I come home.  Yesterday, we met with our yard guy that helps us out and he's going to mulch and edge around some beds (like this one) in early April.  We are trying to hold off so the yard will be extra pretty for our baby shower weekend!

THREE:  Did you know Williams Sonoma will sharpen your knives for you?  I don't know if you had to get them there or not.  The first one is free and the rest are $5.  They examine them for any chips as well and will repair those at no extra cost.  I'm not willing to mess up our Shun knives and they really should be professionally sharpened so I was really glad to hear W&S will do them for you.

FOUR:  I went to Home Goods near my office this week and hit the jackpot.  Most times I leave with nothing so this was a good surprise.  As I mentioned yesterday, I got the two curtain rods for the nursery for $16.99/each...much cheaper than the $$$ Pottery Barn ones, though those are pretty.  I also came home with this guy.  He's huge so I had to put him on our sofa so you could see just how big he is.  We video'd Mills' reaction when he saw him for the first time....Mills definitely thought he was real!  Won't he be adorable in the nursery?

FIVE:  Lunch with the girls on Wednesday.  Always a highlight of my week!

Week 26 Pregnancy Journal

How far along? 26 weeks

Size of Baby: Scallion - 14"

Gender: Not finding out!  I know, we're crazy.  But it's SO fun not knowing!  

Weight Gain:  One pound!  Whoop whoop, I'm stoked to have gained!

Maternity Clothes: I'm definitely going to have to start wearing maternity clothes soon.  My old things just don't look good anymore.  Maybe I'll start with a bellaband.

Nursery:  It's painted!  Top is old, bottom is new.  SW Agreeable Gray.  And it's very agreeable, haha...I really like it!  I also found curtain rods and a big ole stuffed pooch for the room at Home Goods this week.   


Movement: Yes and Kevin feels he/she often now too!

Symptoms:  I can't keep up like I used to but I'm still trying.  On Monday and Tuesday nights I went to bed at 9pm.  I just need to start sleeping more and stop trying to be so stubborn.  Exercise and going going going at work are still necessary for me to feel normal though! 

Sleep: Pretty good but this week I got up every night in the middle of the night for the bathroom.  I need to stop chugging water before bed.

Cravings:  I still like fruit but I always like fruit so who knows!

What I Miss:  Nothing!

Best Moment This Week:  It was exciting to get the nursery painted.  We need to get the crib set up.  We also went on the hospital tour with Kevin's parent's family friend who works on the maternity floor!

Looking Forward To:  I have a 26 week appointment tomorrow so I always look forward to that.  It's been 4 long weeks since I've been there and I really like the reassurance!

People are Crazy

I've decided that we are all crazy.  I realize that's a very general statement but people are nuts!

For example:

1.  Everyone hates a particular airline for "that one time they delayed this flight and I missed this and I will NEVER fly them again..."  For the record, people that fly US Air often, as in almost every week, love them.  The people that never fly or only a few times a year are the ones with the most complaints about air travel in general.  Cracks me up.  

2.  Everyone hates a particular insurance company for "that one time they didn't pay out on a claim I filed" (even though the agent told you not to file it).  And now I have to pay more in premium even though I didn't get any money from that claim.  And that's if I even pay my bill.  Because I still expect insurance on my car even if I don't pay my bill for two months.  Kinda like the power company - they turn your power off if you don't pay your bill.  And they don't even call to remind you.  Insurance company's aren't required to call/email/mail you but they will...sometimes they'll remind you 12 times but it's still the agents fault you don't have insurance.  UNREAL.  

3.  Everyone hate a particular cable provider for "that one time that I had to wait 30 minutes on hold to talk to a human and then they hardly spoke English and then they told me they couldn't help and would have to send a technician out."  I'm never using them again.  But really they have no choice but to use them again.  

4.  It drives me absolutely nuts to see people unload their groceries in their car and then put the car in the grass island.  TAKE IT TO THE CART CORRAL or back up to the store where you got it.  I know someone who is handicap who struggles to get to the store in general but she makes sure the cart gets put away properly.  If she can do it, we can all do it.

5.  I travel one road to my office and on this particular road, it goes from 2 lanes to 1 lane and it backs up in the morning.  Everyone knows it.  But people still think their job is more important than everyone else's and will not wait in the same line that everyone else sits in.  They will bypass everyone in the right turn only lane and cut someone off.  Drives me insane.  I do not let these people over...the northern in me comes out and I refuse to let them in front of me.  Then I give them the "jersey hand" when they get behind me!

Gotta love us!  Let's end on a happy note...go compliment or help someone today!

Upstairs Paint and Bed and House Updates

I love some good before and after pictures, don't you all?

Last week, we had our stairwell and upstairs painted which is actually a pretty large space even though it's only one bedroom and one bath.    

Before:

After.  It looks really yellow in this picture...it's not that yellow.  We had the walls, ceilings and trim done (including baseboard and crown molding).  It got a complete refresher which was much needed.

This is the room upstairs - old lady pink walls and ceilings and very white trim.

After....including our new mattress and bedding.  The high gloss trim makes a big impact.  The white ceiling really opens it up.

Before...

After...so we are deciding what to do about the foosball table.  We are talking about building a two car garage with a man cave/Kevin's office above it.  The foosball table could go in there.  That project probably won't happen until next year...as you can imagine, it'll be a pretty penny.  But since this room is so big, it really is fine to stay in here for now.  Plus, this room won't get used very much anyway.  Our main guest room is still downstairs.

Last after picture.  We are going to probably move the bed frame from the downstairs guest bed up here because it would go well with this bedding.  Then we will get a new bed frame for the bed downstairs.  We need to get some side tables as we see them but I'm not going out and getting matchy matchy everything.  I hate matchy matchy.  As we see things, we'll pick them up.  I want to find a couple coral pillows to jazz things up.

Overall, I feel like we gained the whole second floor to our house.  It's a real bedroom now!  

If you all will remember, we moved in 2.5 years ago and moved a one bedroom, 750 SF condo into a 3,500+ SF house (we still have Kevin's condo fully furnished uptown).  Yes, we had a lot of furniture to buy and things to make our house a home to us.  I tell all of my friends who buy a house...be prepared to make the hefty 20% downpayment for the loan but also be prepared for $5k-10k in moving costs plus $20k for STUFF you need when you move in (ie - new fridge, washer/dryer, bar stools etc.). 

We have accomplished SO much over the last 2.5 years.  Maybe I should make a list one day...

Our house was in great shape when we bought it but we wanted to do things to make it ours.  I'm a big believer that even if you buy THE PERFECT house, you're still going to want to do things to make it yours...whether you don't like the backsplash or the front door...you're going to change things.  It's just normal.

The lady's husband had died a couple years prior so she was left with a large house to care for by herself.  She was so sad to leave the home but had to because she couldn't get around by herself any more.  She was 91 for goodness sake!  Sadly, she ended up dying a few months after we bought the house from her.  I will still hang on to the picture of the three of us at closing and the memory of her daughter bringing her back over to visit once we had moved in.  That was special!  At closing, she told us how happy she was that a young couple like us bought her home.  She said there were many years of love and happiness in that home (and only golden retrievers had ever lived there!).  We promised her we'd continue the traditions!

Anyway, I have no idea why I'm reliving this today but quite frankly, I'm proud of all Kevin and I have been able to do to our home.  Recently, we've been sitting on our back patio having dinner or playing with Mills talking about all we want to do to our backyard.  We have big plans and over the next few years hope to make some of them happen.  

Weekend Fun - GNO and Fam Time

We had some nice little family time this weekend and some friends time too.  

Friday night we had dinner with Kevin's parents then I went to a neighborhood Chloe and Isabel jewelry party.  I think I may host one of these parties because the jewelry is SO cute and reasonable and has a lifetime guarantee.  I'll do a separate post about it later this week.  

Saturday morning I met up with Jenn and David for our weekly Flywheel date.  This weekend was Charlotte's 3rd anniversary of the studio so they had lots of fun treats for us.  

I stopped on my way home to grab lunch for Kevin and I to have on the back patio.  

Some lil puppy was very good while waiting for his Daddy to get home from work.  

After lunch I met Sarah to look at houses then came back and Kevin was all excited to take the jeep out and wanted to know if I would go with him to ride around.  Well that led to the frosted lemonades at Chick Fil A.  Ummm....YUM!!!!

Saturday night consisted of Elevation, a quick dinner out and lots of basketball...including NC State winning against a number 1 seed and going to the sweet 16!

This lil boy woke up and didn't have a very good Sunday morning.  Doesn't he look guilty?  He ate my underwear I guess at some point on Saturday and threw it up Sunday AM.  Crazy animal.  We don't know why he is doing this because we have been giving him tons of attention and he has just started in March eating random things.  It's not like he started when we first found out I was pregnant.  Who knows.  Needless to say, we are getting a clothes hamper with a top today.  Until then, closets are closed. 

He went back to sleep afterwards with his head on the windowsill.  Haha!

Sunday we did all kinds of errands that morning.  We tried a new breakfast spot at the Aboretum called Le Peep.  Highly recommend!  

We also did our hospital tour yesterday.  Kevin's parents have a family friend that works on the L&D floor and she showed us around.  Just so happened my friend through my friend Lindsay also was working up there.  She just started.  It will be nice to have familiar faces come July!

Farmer's Market opened down by us this week so BLT's were what was for dinner.  

Ohhh and we got a lot of painting done last week so we worked on our upstairs bedroom last night.  We set up our new mattress and bedding.  I'll do a post on that soon!

Ready for the week!  

Five on Friday - Spring, Shorts, Mills

ONE - the weather in Charlotte has been so nice lately.  The tulips in our yard are blooming and that makes me so happy. These are some pretty ones in Southpark that I snapped a picture of and sent to my mom.  I always feel like March and October are the months that you can really tell Charlotte is more south and the northern states are still cold.  

TWO - one of Kevin's and my favorite evening activities in the summer is taking Mills to TCBY for yogurt.  He loves it.  We took him this week for his first 2015 trip and he was thrilled beyond belief!  Kevin keeps talking about taking the doors and maybe top off the jeep soon.  Mills will really be in heaven then!

THREE - I did a random search for 4" maternity shorts the other day and Loft had some for $5.93 each.  I got white, khaki and teal.  I'm so excited to have these for the summer and I couldn't pass up $18 for three pair.  

FOUR - has anyone read reality steve to find out who the next bachelorette ended up being out of Britt and Kaitlyn?  She has been named and the dates have started filming.  Exciting!

FIVE - we got rooms painted yesterday and today - this is the upstairs - still old lady pink walls AND ceiling.  And that stark white trim.  I will do some before and after photos next week!  I love how paint instantly changes things!

Cheers, it's Friday!

Week 25 Pregnancy Journal

How far along? 25 weeks

Size of Baby: Cauliflower head ha!  13.5" and 1.5 pounds

Gender: Not finding out!  Kevin really likes this new middle name for the boy but I'm iffy.  

Weight Gain:  I was so excited about that 2 pound gain last week but I'm back down to what I was pre-pregnancy.  AKA I haven't gained any weight.  WEIRD because I definitely look bigger. 

Maternity Clothes: Regular clothes though I don't think some of them look great any more.  Definitely need the baggy shirts.  Things have redistributed!

Nursery:  It's getting painted tomorrow and if they finish we'll hopefully set up the crib this weekend! 

Movement: Yes and he/she is very active in the morning!

Symptoms:  Ribs and I had to take my headache medicine yesterday for the first time in awhile.  I think that was stress. 

Sleep: I cannot wake up in the mornings.  I am TOAST by the end of the day...evidently.  But I'm still trying to ignore my tiredness and continue on.  

Cravings:  I went to Trader Joe's on purpose last weekend for groceries instead of Harris Teeter solely so I wouldn't buy Salt and Vinegar chips.  I have always liked them but eating an entire bag between two weekends should be illegal...but it was done.  And I still didn't gain weight...evidently the baby likes them too and is absorbing them from me?!  Ha!

What I Miss:  Being able to sit for more than 10 minutes without my side killing me...but I will try not to complain because I'm thankful for the feeling at the same time.

Best Moment This Week:  Kevin felt the baby move which was very cool!  The stroller is all set up including the gadgets that go on it.  

Looking Forward To:  The nursery being painted will be a huge step in the right direction and it would be great to get the crib set up too.  Basically I want everything done yesterday and that's not reality.  

Veterans Dinner

Basically my friend Sarah is a rockstar.  She is a HUGE advocate of taking care of veterans when they return home and also their caregivers.  Sarah knows first hand what it's like as she's seen her husband through over 100 surgeries and is a caregiver every day.  Last night she invited a few of us to an event her company hosted to honor veterans.  She included my father in law who is a Vietnam Veteran.  What a honor and privilege it was to be in a room with so many people who have fought and continue to fight for our country.

L to R - Me, Sarah, Lauren and April

Kevin and I with Gigi!

Thank you Sarah for including us in this very special event.  My FIL won't stop talking about how great of a time he had and how wonderful you and your hubby are.  We agree!

St. Patrick's Day

Good morning!  A tradition that mom

always did for us growing up on St. Pattys Day was green cereal.  I did the same this morning and not to name any names but someoneeee wouldn't eat it.  Bah humbug! ;)

Last night I got to watch Gigi. Well she was a bit tired when Wendy handed her to me for a requested pic from her mama. Poor lil girl. She calmed right down and was asleep in no time!

Molly and I hung out after Gigi went down. I don't think I stopped petting her!

One is out like trout. 

Two is out like trout!

;)