Five on Friday - Molly Anne and Mills

Thank you for all of your help on yesterday's post about the hardwood debacle in the master bath.  We shall see!  We have to look at pricing etc as well because that's a minor detail! ;)


ONE:
Hat day at Ms. Becky's. They all got to wear one of the hats she has there for dress up.  This little cowgirl is too cute!


TWO:
Yall didn't know Mills needed help eating his dinner al fresco?!


This part human is a SAINT!  She was poking at all of his body parts and identifying them the other morning.  I doubt he enjoyed getting poked in the eyes but he didn't care...he just laid there and took it.  Then she got on top of him and pretended he was a horse she was riding.  And then hugged him.  Bless.
 

THREE:
Checked on the house yesterday several times - they put the ceiling in the third floor, built the roof and ceiling for the covered porch and started on the front porch.  Those framing guys are amazing.

FOUR:
Something has been up with Mills.  He had never been scared of thunder and lightening until last year but now it's become ridiculous.  Last night we were up at 11:30, 12:30 and 2:30 because of RAIN.  Rain yall!!!  Not even thunder!  He was so scared and panting in my face while I was in bed.  I ended up putting him in his condo because mama has got to sleep!  He loves his condo too but he wasn't thrilled about getting in there.  Poor buddy.

FIVE:
Pretty jealous of this one's closet for this summer!

We have been enjoying music class every Thursday since last September but I think we are going on break for the summer and will do something different.  Debating going back to swim class or maybe we just go to our neighborhood pool during that time?  Anyone have any thoughts?

House Update - Swing and Tile

Are yall tired of hearing about tile yet?  Well, it's a big decision and night easily changeable sooooo we are taking are sweet time figuring it out.  

But first, we have to figure out where to put a swing on our porch.  This is the look we want - 

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The pink dot below is what we are thinking with it facing the same way as the arrow.  Thoughts?  Any other places you think it should go?  The left side jet out off the porch is a grilling station and the right side is a fireplace.  I'm thinking it shouldn't go by the grill and we won't want it to block views of our backyard too much.  

 


We revisited DalTile yesterday and had to pick out new master bath, guest bathroom and laundry room tile because we were way over budget.  

This is what we are thinking possibly for the master bath.  It's oversized gray subway tile but it has a neat pattern in it too that is pretty subtle.  We would lay it vertically which could be interesting.  And the glass honeycomb for the floor and possibly the ceiling if we do a steam shower.  We like that the subway and glass (it wouldn't be slippery) are super low maintenance unlike marble which we have now.  We are also thinking about hardwood floors in the bathroom.  
 

The tile on the top with the lines running through it is what we may use on the guest bathroom floor with the marble look below it in the shower in 12x24 horizontal.  The right two samples are options for our laundry room.  The dark gray brick look we may end up doing in a mud room in a herringbone pattern and then use the lighter gray (and cheaper) tile for in the laundry room. 
 

Two questions:
1.  Would you do hardwoods in a master bathroom?  I just like that they break up an all gray bathroom which is what we have now and I don't like how light the floors are - they show everything.  I know wet things and hardwoods don't mesh but isn't that what bath mats are for?  Plus, we have hardwoods in the kitchen and there are wet things there.  

2.  Would you do the above dark gray brick-like tile in a mudroom which adjoins the kitchen hardwoods?  We do have a pocket door between the rooms but I bet it'll always be open.  Or would you just use the hardwoods in a mudroom? 

Pots & Plans and Ramblings

Three things:

I had two awesome suggestions for getting meals on the table yesterday and I hope they will help you.  

ONE:
My friend Caroline who has a super cool meal planning company called Pots & Plans told me about.  She said to put dinner in the crockpot at night and then before you go to bed, start cooking and let it cook through the night and when you get up in the morning, dinner for that night is done.  Then you just have to reheat it.  Genius right?!!  I'm definitely trying this soon.

And let me brag on her company - 
Pots & Plans is a simple concept... each week, a full meal plan and shopping list will be delivered to your inbox for $10. The plan includes 1-2 breakfast recipes for the week, 5 dinner entrees and tips for utilizing leftovers for lunches throughout the week. And the real winner? Each plan is $100 or less.  

TWO:
My friend Tess told me that on a rainy weekend day, she makes numerous homemade freezer meals to stick in her freezer for a quick weeknight meal.  Pull it out the night before, and pair it with a salad and dinner is done.  Those are the quick kind of meals we need.  Like literally all you have to do is pop it in the oven.  

I just keep reminding myself that this is a phase of life and will get better.  Last night I made taco meat so we can quickly have taco salads for dinner tonight.  That's pretty easy and mostly healthy.  My other go-to's if I have time - order on the apps from Zoes Kitchen or Chopt (salad place) and literally run in to pick it up.  So good and easy. 

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ANYWAY, I've got some crazy stuff going on with one of my projects in Utah that is a major issue and I have been super stressed about that.  

I got up this morning at 5:15am and walked/ran with my friend Lisa like we always used to do.  I need to get on the train because I can tell I've been off the train lately.  I feel and look gross.  Yada yada yada. 

A woman got robbed leaving Nordstrom the other day about the same exact time I left the mall so I've been kinda freaking out about that.  Kevin said to solve it, I just shouldn't go to the mall.  ;)  Still, a scary world we live in.  

Lots of ramblings yesterday and today!  I'm done.

Random Life Updates

1.  It has been raining here for three days straight but the good news is that it's supposed to be super nice the rest of the weekend!
 

2.  I recently got Molly Anne the only thing I've ever bought her from gap - skinny white jeans!  I don't see them online -- I got them in the store.  She has never worn jeans in her life - except skinny white jeans last year and skinny white jeans this year! ;)
 

3.  She has been talking up a storm lately and putting sentences together.  I'm like HOW ARE YOU GROWING UP SO QUICKLY!?!!!  Last week I walked into our den and she was counting the eggs that she uses in her play kitchen.  She counted to 10.  I was shocked!  How do you even know those numbers or words?!  Thank you Ms. Becky!
 

4.  I'm still having trouble getting dinner on the table.  It's my biggest struggle as a working Mama.  If I really have my act together on the weekend, I can usually make them happen but if I don't, then we wing it every night which drives me nuts.  You all gave me wonderful suggestions and a crockpot was one of the most talked about ideas.  I leave too early in the morning and get back too late at night for that.  This weeks meals - all from the freezer.  Clean out time!
 

5.  Our house is coming along.  The rain has put a hold on things but hopefully the roof is done this week.  We are working on four big things this week: 
 - where to put our swing on the back patio
 - finalizing the plumbing fixtures
 - deciding on sauna versus steam room versus both versus neither
 - tile appointment today

 

6.  Speaking of - check out this local school that is one of the top in the country!  Awesome news!  Full article is here.  

7.  On Sunday night I was doing my usual upload pictures to the Blogger app on my phone.  The Blogger app had been driving me nuts for a long time now because it crashes when you add any text. It would only let you upload pictures.  For every post, I was uploading pictures then having to get on my computer (iPad wouldn't even work!) to type each blog post.  Well I decided to search the App Store and I found this app called BlogTouch Pro for $4.99 and it's awesome. It lets you click many pictures at once to upload instead of having to do each individual one.  I can't tell you how many years I've uploaded one picture at a time.  This is going to be a HUGE timesaver for me.  And I can write in the app too and post immediately.  Hooray! 

 

I think that's all I've got for now!

Amazing Wedding

On Friday night, Kevin, Molly Anne and I went to Inizio Pizza and then drove by and checked on the house.  

Saturday morning we went to jump with Gigi and Mary Scott!

Midday Kevin took Molly Anne to my inlaws and they kept her while we went to a wedding.  

We left the house around 2:45 via uber up to my office building.  Then we took buses from there down to South Carolina about an hour south.  They had champagne and snacks for the ride!

First stop was the hunt lodge for the wedding ceremony.  Gorgeous right?!

It was a stunning wedding. Any locals probably know David Chadwick who is the minister at Forest Hill.  He is excellent.  It was the second wedding I've been to that he has officiated and he does a wonderful and meaningful ceremony.  

They bussed us to the "barn" and I say barn very loosely.  It is fancy and was decorated beautifully.  

It has many animals, a lot of which are exotic. 

The food was unreal.  Any kind of food you can imagine, they had it. 

 The raw bar was huge. 

They had built a large room off the back porch. The above is the view from it.  It was tented and amazing.  This 'room' was like 30' up from the ground. Hard to describe. 

Bagpipes introduced the happy couple!

Fireworks midway through the reception. 

Band was awesome. 

Such a happy couple. They were so smitten!  And she was a beautiful bride!

Ashley and Lanier were there as well so we had fun hanging out.  We had been at a wedding last fall with Lanier but Ashley couldn't make it.  Great to finally meet you!

We took the buses back to Charlotte and got to our house at 12:30am.  Sunday morning came EARLY but it was worth it to go grab our girl.  We had a lazy, rainy day yesterday which was necessary.  I swapped out all of Molly Anne's winter to summer clothes and got some other clean up things done.  

It's Monday!

Five on Friday - Boots, Happy Hour, Columns

1.  Miss Molly Anne is obsessed with her boots that Aunt Sarah gave to her for her first birthday!  She has worn them almost every day this week to Ms. Becky's even though it's only rained one day! ;)

2.  I got this dress from Lilly this week for a wedding we are going to.  It's on a farm so keeping it pretty casual but I do plan to dress it up with some jewelry!

3.  Kevin and I went out for a little happy hour last night with some friends of ours that we lived at The Avenue (our old condo building) with.  It was a big time just like the good ole days - aka pre-children!  

4.  We have to figure out what we want the columns on our rear covered porch to look like.  This is what we are thinking.  We aren't going the usual cedar columns route because our house isn't really rustic.  It's more traditional I think?  Anyway, we think something like this will look good.  

5.  Like Mother, like Daughter.  She took this Lilly bag out of my closet and ran into see Kevin and said, "More Lilly!"  I love her.  Poor Kevin.

Happy almost weekend!

House Update - Kitchen Sinks

2 things today - 

1.  Update on the construction - they are trying to get the house under roof by tomorrow or at least by early next week.  They still need to frame the back and front porches too.  They put temporary stairs in this week so on Tuesday Kevin and I were able to go all the way up to the third floor.  I had been to the second floor by a verrrrry shaky ladder but Kevin hadn't been up there yet.  It was so cool to see our rooms laid out!  We also marked doors to show which way we want them to open etc. 

The next few things we need to decide - what columns we want for the back porch, where and how much load the swing we want on the back porch will be and finalizing exterior secondary doors.

2.  The main thing is in the next week or so, we have to decide on our final plumbing fixtures - faucets for kitchen and bath, sinks, toilets, tubs etc.  I think we have most of them decided but I'm still questioning our kitchen sink.  

I have been dead set on this one.  It is just really special and a gorgeous focal point. 

I mean is that sink not perfect or what?!!  But I'm concerned about standing in front of the curve.  I've stood in front of it in the store and it isn't awkward but for some reason I'm still questioning it.  I like that it isn't the usual farmhouse sink and this one is a little different.

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This is also gorgeous.  I don't know.  I just really like the curve for some reason.  Tell me what I don't know!  Anyone have any opinions either way?!

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We are doing a pretty faucet for it too but I'm too practical to have one of the above faucets.  We need one that moves around and pulls down.  This is the one we are getting and it'll be in polished nickel which is a little pricier but makes such a difference! 

Anyway, do y'all have any thoughts on the sink decision either way?!

Easter Sunday

I posted yesterday morning about our trip to Maryland and yesterday afternoon all about Molly Anne's baptism so hopefully you all saw those if you were interested.  Today I'm playing catch up and talking about the rest of Easter Sunday!

The Easter bunny came to see Molly Anne in Maryland!  

And of course Nannie had made Molly Anne an Easter basket too.  And she made Kevin and I one and his brother and niece one as well!  Because why not?!  It's Nannie after all!  I loved watching Mom watch her open it!  She always finds the most creative and cute things!

Then we went to church as you all saw in the pictures yesterday afternoon.  

After church, we headed down to West Ocean City and went to Sunset Grille for brunch!  While we were waiting on our food, Molly Anne and I went out on the dock.  It basically terrified me having her out there without a life jacket but after this picture which was taken extremely quickly, I held her wrist tightly ha!

I love these pictures I snapped with my good camera of her!

That's the restaurant where we ate.  It was a gorgeous 84 degree day!

After we got home, we took a few more pictures.  My parents yard was GORGEOUS and in top notch shape!  The shadows on these pictures are terrible but I still love having them.  

After nap, Kevin's parents, brother and niece came over to my parents for dinner!  We played out back while the steaks were grilling.  

Girlfriend loves to smell the flowers.  She scrunches up her nose, it's so cute.  

Mom and Dad of course went all out on dinner.  Filets, baked potato, string beans and salad.  Smith Island cake for dessert!

Monday morning, we headed to the airport to fly back to Charlotte.  Not before two over easy eggs over crab dip!  YUM and calorie free.  

One day we will bring this piano to our house.  Molly Anne loves playing!

Little Nannie in Nannie's chair!

At the airport not wanting to leave!  

She fell asleep in Kevin's arms with 5 minutes to go in the flight.  Bless her little heart.  

We picked up Mills from Camp on our way home and he had gotten a big time grooming!  It's the shortest he has ever been!  He literally looks like a different dog!  I bet he will enjoy being a little cooler!  

We have a busy few days ahead!  Will try to update on the house tomorrow!