Memorial Day Weekend

We unofficially kicked off summer this past weekend by taking a (small) break from the moving "situation" to indulge in some of our favorite things!

Friday night Mike had a work event that was kid-friendly and involved tailgating before the Pirate's game, so I was all for getting out and soaking up as much of Pittsburgh as we can, while we still can. We didn't make it to the actual game, but we had a blast eating, drinking, and playing before it started.

{hair clip}

Saturday was spent wrapping up more home projects during the day, but Saturday evening we took some time to unwind and had an outdoor fire and some adult beverages, while Max went crazy for roasted "mushrooms"... aka marshmallows.

On Sunday our friends invited us to spend the day at their neighborhood pool, which was honestly pure bliss as far as this family was concerned. We were in desperate need of a break from all things "moving" related, and some fun in the sun was the perfect anecdote. M&E literally swam, snacked, played, and ran themselves to the point of exhaustion.

Sadly though, that was the end of the fun stuff for us. Monday we were back down to business as usual. My mother in law came out to watch the kids and Mike and worked on painting, packing and more cleaning/purging. I am seriously blown away by how much stuff we have collected over the 7.5 years we have lived in this house.

We're hopeful all of this hardwork will pay off as our house officially hits the market this Thursday, with our first potential showings this weekend. 

Next week the moving company is on their way to start packing, loading, and shipping us off to NY! 

In the meantime, I plan to try and continue to blog as usual, but if I miss post or two, you'll all know why.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

-J

Swoon Worthy

With another weekend full of cleaning, packing, and hopefully enjoying some Memorial Day festivities ahead of me, I'm going to get right to the point this Saturday, and dive right into what I'm swooning over at the moment...

1. This breakfast idea straight from Pinterest is definitely not new or original, but if you've never made these delicious "waffles", you absolutely must!

2.  The beautiful work of Anna Rifle Bond turned into a dress... Swooning for sure!

3.  Seeing as this weekend is the unnofficial kick off of summer, I'm dreaming of lazy pool/beach days ahead, lounging in this float, drink in hand of course... Obviously this is a dream, because in reality I'll be too busy chasing kids to lounge anywhere.

4.  Speaking of summer, I'm adding this book to my list of beach reads!

5.  I love a good warm weather appetizer, this sounds delightful!

6.  This dress... I think Ella needs it in every fun color (and they're on sale this weekend).

7.  You guys know I love a good free printable, and this one from Hello Maypole, is perfection!

8.  Looking for a fun and festive drink idea for your cookouts this weekend? I love this idea!

9.  With all of my online browsing for home decor for the new house, I'm having a tough time choosing from all of the things that I love from this shop!

10.  Who knew there was so many amazing ways to enjoy my favorite summer fruit? I might just have to try them all!

I hope you all have the most amazing holiday weekend with your friends and family. A HUGE thank you, on Memorial Day and always, to those who have given their lives so that the rest of can continue to enjoy our freedom!

-J

Can't Live Without It

I am a firm believer that having a cute water bottle totally encourages me to be better about staying on top of my hydration game.

When I was about 8 months pregnant with Ella, I began to suffer with "pregnancy related kidney stone issues". If any of you have any experience with this, pregnant or not, my heart seriously goes out to you... I would literally rather deliver 5 more children naturally, then have to endure that pain again... It was absolutely unbearable!

All of this sounds super glamorous, I know, but if nothing else, the experience has forced me to make it a point to drink as much water as possible on a daily basis. You know, between all of those (much needed) Venti skinny vanilla lattes.

I picked up this water bottle at Target awhile back, in lavender, and I loved mine so much, that I picked one up in gray (there are many more color options in-store) for Mike too.

Not only do I love the fact that we each get to have our own designated/color-coded water bottles on hand, but I really enjoy the options this bottle has to offer. You can choose to either just screw part of the top off, and drink from it like a typical water bottle, or you can screw off the whole top for more of a wide mouth feel.

I am fully aware that a water bottle isn't exactly super exciting, life-changing stuff, but seeing as water is pretty essential to my health (and everyone else's), I suppose that this is something that I truly "can't live without", and the fact that it comes in lots of fun colors just helps to make drinking copious amounts of H2O a little more fun!

This post is part of a link up with Steph, Cait, and Laura!

Don't forget to check back on Saturday for this week's Swoon Worthy post!

-J

Our Weekend

It seems to be par for the course lately, that I'm a little behind on recapping our weekend.

As much as I wish this was a post all about our relaxing, leisurely paced days together, spent enjoying each other's company, the reality is, that this weekend was full of lots more packing, cleaning, and purging, with a dash of Trader Joe's and Target somewhere in the middle.

The official date of our move is creeping up really quickly, and we have a little less than 2 weeks before we are off to New York... Which doesn't seem like nearly enough time to accomplish all of the things on our list... So I'm keeping it short and sweet, and recapping our completely unglamorous few days in photos!

And now back to the chaos! Hope you all have a great week ahead!

-J

Swoon Worthy

You guys, stuff is getting real, real quick around here.  The movers were here this week, doing their walk-thru/giving us an estimate of just how much it's going to cost to pack up our entire house and ship it off to New York.  Mike was up there this week for meetings, and had the chance to do a bit more exploring, and from what he had to say, I'm getting pretty excited about our future home...

With that being said, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to the fact that I'm also suffering from some pretty extreme anxiety over leaving our current home.  After the movers left, I started thinking about what it would be like in a few weeks, to see this house completely empty... stripped of everything we have put into it, to make it our home, over the last seven years, and I have to say that the thought had me feeling really emotional.

I'm trying to keep my eye on the prize, and I know that in a few weeks I'll be so consumed with unpacking/decorating our new house that I will have little time to be sad about what we are leaving behind, but it will be an adjustment to say the least.  

As I mentioned before, taking the time to sit down and write these blog posts is actually pretty cathartic.  It gives me some time to focus on something other than all of my (many) feelings about our impending move. So, with that, let's move on to the lighter much more upbeat stuff.  Here's what I am swooning over this week...

1. Starbucks went and turned my favorite dessert into a beverage, so naturally after my run yesterday, I had to treat myself, and try the mini version of this  new Frappuccino.

2.  I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the adult romper fad, but they look super comfortable, and I'm considering taking this one for a test drive.

{soda fountain ice cream cones}

3.  How cute are these little dishes?  I kind of feel like I have to have them!

4.  I love it when I find shoes that Max can a) put on himself, and b) can easily be cleaned with a quick wipe down, so I'm kind of feeling these cool kicks!

5.  I've already raved about my love for boyfriend style jeans, but now these shorts are calling my name!

6.  I'm kind of dying over the thought of Ella rocking this little hat at the beach this summer.

7.  It's just too hard to select one thing from this shop that I love... If I could, I would take one of everything!

8.  I am seriously considering making these breakfast cookies this weekend!

9.  I'm totally digging this adorable tote as a summer bag!

10.  I'm pretty sure adding fruit to your wine erases the guilt factor, so basically, this sangria is almost like drinking a smoothie!

Cheers to the weekend friends, hope it's a good one!

-J

Can't Live Without It

Ladies, it's here... The time of year when the warm weather comes along and suddenly forces us to bare our pasty white skin, before we are really and truly prepared to do so!

This week's "Can't Live Without Post" is dedicated to a product I honestly cannot live without... Jergen's Natural Glow lotion... Both their Daily Moisturizer for the body and for the face!

I love this stuff, because when you apply it daily, it gives you a lightly sun kissed glow, rather than the orange-y Oompa Loompa-like complexion you might end up with after using other self-tanning lotions.

It's tinted just enough to make you feel less self conscious about your pale legs, and more confident when rocking that sweet sundress for the first time this season! Also worth noting, it doesn't have that funky scent that other tinted lotions have, and it leaves your skin feeling silky soft!

This post is part of a link up with Stephanie, Cait, and Laura... Head on over to these lady's blogs to see what items they can't live without!

Mother's Day In Photos

Seeing as I'm knee deep in boxes and junk piles of things that are on their way to be donated, I thought I'd recap my Mother's Day weekend in photos. 

We spent the day at a local (kid friendly) winery, so as you can imagine, I was in my happy place.

Really and truly though, as tough as motherhood can be at times, I feel so blessed to be Max and Ella's mommy. God has certainly been good to me, and a getting to spend a beautiful day with my babes and my handsome husband was by far this mama's favorite gift.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

-J