Vacation Recap

First, I'd like to wish all of you beautiful mamas a very Happy Mother's Day!! We spent the entire day driving (apparently my husband didn't get the memo to buy me a plane ticket) so we will be celebrating next weekend instead :)

Today, I am sulking because vacation is over, but of course very thankful that we made it home in one piece. Traveling (basically spring-breaking in this case) with a baby is bit of a challenge, but overall we had a complete blast! I mentioned before that this was our first vacation, we never took a real honeymoon since we lived in Florida when we came back to Iowa to get married, so we took a lot of time off work for the wedding (and were still living on post-college funds). The beach means a lot to us since we lived there for a while, so we loved getting to take Harper to all of our favorite places.

She was a total beach babe & loved every second of it.

She was all smiles until she dug up a cigarette butt out of the sand & tried putting it in her mouth. Every single one of us said NO! at the same time, which lead to an immediate bottom lip & tears. It was too cute not to take pictures of, although she looks so incredibly sad.

She loved the water. Every time the waves came up to our feet she would get so excited & pant like a puppy with her tongue out.

Confetti Swimsuit (Gap), Coverup, Sunglasses, Jeweled Black Two Piece, Fedora (Target last year, similar here & here)

 She even wrote her name in the sand ;)

 Aside from the sandy beach, we also had a blast in the pool! Harper was so little last summer that she could only go in the pool once or twice for a few minutes, so it was fun to see how much she loved it this time around. Don't worry she had a floppy hat & shades on most of the time except for in this pic right before we hopped out of the pool :)

Green Punk Floral Bikini, Neon Yellow Swimsuit from Gap last season (similar here)

I want to go back.... right meow.

Up next... Vacation Recap Part 2 (aka. more photos), Roadtripping & Beach Essentials & our firsthand account of why hotel rooms are one of the most disgusting places on earth.

Greetings from Florida!

It's official, Harper loved the beach!

 

She couldn't get enough of the ocean & found the sand to be endless entertainment. We rock-paper-scissored for who got to walk her into the sand for the first time (Brandon won), and were lucky enough to have friends around to capture her first steps into the ocean with both of us holding her hands. It was a pretty magical moment seeing her eyes light up & listening to her say "oooooooooooh!"

  Thank you all so much for the sweet comments on my last post & on Instagram, we have all been having such a fun time! We feel so blessed to be able to make these fun memories as a family. (I didn't go to the beach for the first time until I was twenty!) The rest of the weekend will be filled with wedding festivities (champagne & chicken dancing) & our 7 hour drive back on Sunday. (Is it too late to ask for a plane ticket for mother's day?)

Can't wait to share more pictures when we get home. For now, we are sending lots of sunshine your way!

Sources: Confetti Swimsuit (Gap), Coverup, Sunglasses, Jeweled Black Two Piece, Fedora (Target last year, similar here & here)

Maycation!

Fact: My husband & I have never actually taken a real vacation. Granted, maybe this isn't even considered a real vacation since we are in a wedding, but it feels pretty vacation-esque to us! Not to mention, it's our first family vacation! Harper gets to sink her sweet little baby toes into the sand & see the ocean for the first time! 

She is ready to roll with her floppy hat & beach bag packed!

 Straw Hat, Sunglasses, Canvas Duffle

You'll hear from us soon, posting from the Sunshine State! And of course I'll have a tasty, poolside cocktail for each of you... dare me! ;)

Weekend Recap

 Hope you all had a fun & festive Cinco De Mayo weekend! I was excited to see so many of you on Instagram enjoying industrial sized beergaritas & giving your babes finger mustaches. Arriba!

Saturday, we ran some errands, Harper ate Chipotle for the first time & we shopped for bathroom accessories. All while in the pouring rain. I know, exciting business over here.

 Origami Stroller, Leggings (sold out from Old Navy) Towels, Gold Shoes, Lime Baseball Tee

Harper had her first water table experience this weekend.  As soon as we got outside to play with it, mother nature laughed in my face & the temp immediately dropped ten degrees. So, we threw a sweatshirt on her & let her go to town. She surprisingly didn't try to drink out of it, but she promptly took dad's idiotic golf hat off his head & slam dunked it into the water. Well played, kid.

If you can't tell from that hilarious little gremlin smile, she was loving life.

 Water Table

Sunday night, we celebrated Cinco De Mayo with a fajita dinner, sans beergaritas.

H-bomb clearly wasn't as amused with our festive dinner as she was with the water table, but such is life.

And now for the exciting part!

We also finished our downstairs half-bath (for the most part) with the new navy paint! We used Deep Space by Behr & I LOVE how dark it turned out! You can see the before pictures in this post.

 I ended up getting lighter mint colored towels from Target, but haven't found a rug yet. I actually get a little grossed out by bathroom rugs, so I'm not opposed to not having one at all.

 We also changed out the light fixture (purchased here) with the same one that we put in our upstairs guest bathroom (shown below). I love the industrial look of it! We are still in search of a new, much smaller mirror, but overall I am happy with the update.

So what do you think? Do you think I am crazy for painting the smallest room in the house, the darkest color on the paint spectrum? :) I happen to love it. I am considering it as a possible choice for the guest room.

Hasta la Vista, amigos!

Memorial Day Baby Style

Who doesn't love a good three day weekend, hot dogs on the grill & listening to their husband overuse the word 'MERICA. (Maybe that's just me?) I always consider Memorial day to be the start of summer, but I really can't believe all of the cold weather that is still lurking all over the midwest. Mother nature needs a bomb pop.

Either way, it's time for red, white & blue baby style, perfect for both Memorial Day & 4th of July.

 Red & White Striped Dress - Blue Polka Dot One Piece - Floppy Hat

Chambray Pleated Top - Striped Bow Romper

White Tassel Top - Poppy Flower Headband - Navy Dress

Star Bow Headband - White Eyelet Onesie - Jelly Flats

I would wear each & every one of those little girl outfits if they came in my size. Unfortunately they don't so I will probably settle for a navy maxi (my go-to weekend attire). And for those of you who still have a chill in the air, this red, white & blue tissue scarf would be the perfect way to make any outfit festive for the occasion!

 

Striped Button Shirt - Navy Cargo One Piece

Striped Overalls - Little Peanut Onesie - Plaid Conductor Hat

Scuba Shirt - Denim Shorts - Hamburger Shirt

Without a doubt, if I had a little dude, he would be rocking the hamburger shirt with those cutoff shorts. In fact, I think I'll get it for Harper. I have a weird obsession with trying to make boy clothes work as girl clothes.

Ruffle Sleeve Onesie, Headband

Although I guess it's pretty obvious that I like girl clothes on girls too :)

We are hard at work this weekend painting our half bath black navy, packing for Florida & apparently (not by choice) transitioning Harper to only one nap. Over the last week, she has been boycotting second nap, so we have been trying to push back her first nap a little later each day. Sometimes this means feeding her lunch at 11:00 am so she will nap with a full belly, but then she sleeps much longer. 

We are hoping to get it figured out just in time to screw it all up on vacation.

PS. Etsy is now offering instant downloads! If you purchase any of my chalkboard digital prints, you can download them right away AND there are a few new prints in the shop! :) A huge thank you, as always, to everyone who has purchased prints & to everyone for all of your support of the blog/etsy shop!! I appreciate you all so much!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Have I mentioned before that I hate gift guides? It's all fun & games until someone suggests gifting a $45 candle or some outrageously priced purse.  It is rare to find one that actually has practical gift giving items. I also hate getting roped into some secret-santa-bullshit at Christmas where you give an anonymous gift to an anonymous person, requiring you to spend $20 on a gift that would suit both an 85 year old man or a 20 year old girl. Not for me.

I pride myself on being a good gift giver. 
I especially love giving themed gifts. A good way to put together a festive gift for someone is to pick up a bunch of things of the same color! Even if they don't necessarily go together, a nailpolish, chapstick, planner, bag of striped straws & coffee mug would be a totally perfect gift when they're all the same color! :) My friend & I have been doing this for each others birthdays for years! 

With that said, here is my idea of a perfectly themed gift, a modern take on the two most traditional Mother's Day Gifts: a bouquet of flowers or breakfast in bed!

Using a large mason jar (which doubles as a perfect vase for flowers), fill it with these Floral Socks, a Seed Bomb & a Flowerbomb Perfume Roller. Flowerbomb Perfume never disappoints, it has been my favorite perfume for a thousand years & is a totally safe, subtle scent to give as a gift.

A creative twist on breakfast in bed can be made up of this affordable & modern Coffee Press, Glass Jam Jar, Honey Pot & these Ceramic Cream & Sugar Containers. You know how I feel about white ceramic items. You could also include a bag of coffee, fresh bread or muffins & a jar of homemade jelly from your local farmers market.

Does your mama like cocktails? (If so, tell her I said hello) How about a Mother's Day Mimosa Bar! You can easily whip this up with a few kinds of orange juice accompanied with a yummy champagne, fruit & festive straws! And if you want to be a true gift-giving-baller, throw in this amaaaaaaaaazing Mimosa Body Wash. But try not to drink it.

Of course this calls for a picture of me with my mama.... and little-teeny-tiny-chubby-wubby-squishy baby Harpie.

Hope these ideas were helpful & you feel extra inspired to find fun ways to celebrate your mamas this year! :) HAPPY MAY DAY!

PSsssst. Husband. If you're reading this. I'll take the mimosa bar. We can pretend that you thought of 

it all on your own.

Weekend Recap

It's Sunday night, the fun has been had, memories have been made & now it's almost time to face the work week. We call this "the empties." The lingering feeling of "blah" knowing that tomorrow you won't get to hang out as a family & do fun stuff. It's always worse if there is work travel in the mix. And I imagine for some of you with spouses that travel or are overseas, the empties is probably a very familiar feeling. I think we need more three-day holiday weekends in the lineup. Where exactly do you think I would go to get that put on a calendar? :)

This weekend we spent a fair amount of time in our pajamas, ate lots of good food & of course, blew lots of bubbles "bah-bahs."

She can't contain her excitement & it is oh so cute.

 Popsicle Pajamas

 My brother came to visit us from Iowa, so when we weren't busy blowing bubbles or turning down all of the chewed up food that Harper was offering (she is learning to share...?) we grilled out & hammied in the hammocks.

 

 Sunday morning, we woke up to a thunderstorm. I kind of forgot how awesome it is to have a thunderstorm when you actually have no where else to be other than your bed. Scratch that. You have to be in your kids room getting them up rightthissecond because the loud thunder woke them. Still, we made the most of it with a yummy, early morning breakfast of sourdough toast (and oh yea, breakfast casserole & fruit on the side).

 The rain didn't stop us though, we had important errands to run. Like getting ice cream.

We gave her one bite of each of ours to see which she liked better. Butterscotch beat chocolate cake batter, but in the end, her graham cracker won.

  Fuscia One-Piece, Hair Bow, Gold Shoes, Striped Scarf from J.Crew last year

The real reason for our outing was to finally go pick out paint for our downstairs bathroom! We saved this little guy as one of the last rooms to paint due to my indecisiveness. I am obsessed with dark paint, so we finally decided on Deep Space by Behr (the bottom color). It is daaaaaark. And I am excited! 

  

Here's a look at the half bath now. It's to the right of the entryway doors when you walk in & while it is very small, the ceilings are high so it doesn't feel quite so cave-like. I found some awesome artwork that I am going to hang in there using subtle coral & mint accents.  I have my eye on these towels & these mesh baskets as possible accessories!

 We also got a new light fixture (it's still in the box), which is my FAVORITE way to customize & update rooms. I'm so excited to see it hung! Painting sucks, but it's a little more fun on a Friday night with some cold beer & some good music. I also like to paint funny stuff on the walls before the primer goes on. #growuppeterpan

 (You can see the Fireplace Childproofing Cover that we got, it's not that ugly...ish)

The rest of our evening will be spent right here in front of the fire while it pours outside, making lists for the week (why is making lists so much fun?) & getting some online planning shopping in before our Florida trip. Turns out, ya can't wear pajamas or leggings to the beach. Or to weddings.

PS. Not only did Baby Gap get a boatload of new goodies, but today is 35% off your purchase using coupon code GAP35. Jackpot! I wait until sales like this to stock up (like this adorable bow dress for Harper) since I hate paying their normally high prices.
I feel like an extreme coupon-coder.