What I’m Loving Wednesday {June Edition}

I’m loving THESE SHORTS.  Is it a little dramatic to say that these shorts are the best thing that have ever happened to me?  Maybe?  Yes?  Haha Well seriously you guys, I discovered these shorts at Old Navy a few days ago and I seriously just want to give the person who designed them a huge hug.  Even before I had two babies, my stomach was always a trouble spot – and now 4 months post-partum I am still waiting for it to shrink all the way back down.  We’re getting there!

 

 

These shorts are FABULOUS because they have a drawstring waist BUT they feel fun.  I am 5’2” (almost 5’3”) and they come just past my fingertips.  They are light and breezy and they totally pass my “feel comfortable wearing them around any person I know” test.  I am not kidding when I say that they are a full THREE sizes smaller than the other Old Navy shorts I was trying on (and I could probably stand to go to a fourth size down, but I’ll wait to lose a bit more weight first).  They are the best thing ever for anyone whose waist is bigger than their lower half.  GREAT  job Old Navy – thank you!! { I just wrote two paragraphs about shorts.  Oh my gosh!  lol}

 

I’m loving that the previous owners of our house left a strawberry patch for us to inherit!  Last year it produced enough for me to put up several batches of strawberry freezer jam and I’m hoping the same for this year!  Strawberry season is just barely starting up here in Connecticut and this is what I was able to pick on Sunday night.  Soon I will hardly be able to keep up with it, but that’s okay – I can’t wait for homemade strawberry jam!  Mmmmm I could eat it straight from the jar with a spoon.  And by that I mean I can and I DO.  ;)

 

 

I’m loving that today marks 5 weeks since Livi’s surgery and she is doing great!  Her next follow-up visit to monitor the fluid around her heart (common after surgery) is on June 23rd but all signs are pointing to a healthy recovery!  That also means only ONE week left of our 6-week children/sicknesses/large crowds quarantine!! Yaaaay!  She is happy and thriving and putting on weight like crazy now that her hole has been patched (the pedi told me that now that she doesn’t have a hole in her heart, her body has more calories to put toward growing rather than making her heart work harder.  And BOY is that ever true!  Sister is growing like a weed!) She’s chunkin’ up and we LOVE it over here. :)

 

 

I’m loving my great deals I was able to find at a local consignment shop on Saturday!  I found Liv everything in the picture below for just under $23 – and that includes tax.  That’s 12 outfits, 4 onesies, and 2 church dresses for $23!!!  They were having a killer 75% off sale so I nabbed most of these outfits for crazy low prices – some were $1, some were $1.18, some were $1.38 – only one thing was over $2! Plus some items still had store tags on! She is almost four and half months old and just now fitting consistently into 3 months clothes.  I am having SO much fun dressing a girl!  I LOVE dresses and oh my gosh, rompers?!  Don’t even get me started. ;)

 

 

I’m loving that I FINALLY figured out the secret to using Dr. Bronner’s hand soap at home without it being liquidy and runny! The key is a foaming hand soap pump!  I picked up mine at CVS but they really sell them anywhere now.  Fill it 1/3 with soap and 2/3 with water – perfect!  Comes out creamy and smooth and perfect!  I’m loving the almond scent – yummmm!  Reminds me of my Italian great-grandmother (I mean like literally, from-the-boat-Italian) whose house always smelled like almond cookies when I would visit.  {Definitely wish the dispenser was cuter, though – I think I might take off the sticker and wrap it in twine?}

 

I’m loving this energy bites recipe!  I made up two meals on Sunday night for two dear friends that are new mommas (time to start paying it forward!  We have been SO blessed with kindnesses the last few months!) and I included a few of these in the meal delivery for my friends.  Motherhood involves a lot more on-the-go eating than I ever realized so sometimes it’s nice to have something healthy and filling to pop in your mouth!  Thanks to my sister for the tip! Deeeelish. :)

{Recipe and photo via Gimme Some Oven}

 

Lastly, I’m loving that tomorrow I’ll be on a plane headed to sunny Florida!  One of my best friends in the whole world, Erin, is getting married on Saturday and I am totally honored to be a bridesmaid for her.  Erin and I were college friends (same major), then college roommates.  She was in my wedding and actually the person that is responsible for introducing me to Chris way back in 2003.  I just LOVE this girl and that she is finally getting her happily-ever-after!  And of course I love her a little bit more for having lived in Florida the last 6 years and therefore getting married there and therefore meaning I get to travel to Florida to be a part of her wedding.  lol

 

{Erin (on the left) has lost over 30 pounds since this picture AND I am no longer pregnant.  lol  But it’s the most recent picture I had of us – from last summer.}

I seriously cannot wait to see her and a bunch of our other college friends and celebrate!  Of course I wish Chris could come along (that was the original plan) but with Olivia’s situation being so delicate there was just no way.  So I am off by myself for 3 days and could not be more excited!  Of course, I will definitely be the whitest girl at this wedding – I am missing “beach day” on Thursday since my plan doesn’t land til 5:30!  Bummer!  But that’s okay. :) Looking forward to a fabulous 3 days in the land of sunshine. :)

{Essie “Ole’ Caliente” - doesn’t this just scream “Florida” to you? :)}

 

 

Alright well that’s it for me!  Everybody enjoy the rest of your week! :)

Linking up with Jamie today!

Two Summery Projects

Hey all!  In the last few weeks I have actually found pockets of time to do not one but TWO crafty things that were on my crafty to-do list.  I KNOW. How this happened I have no clue but I’ve learned to take those pockets of time and just run with them because with two little people around, you just never know then it’s gonna happen again! 

First up was the front door wreath.  This was the wreath, remember, that I decked out for fall, left brown and dead over Christmas, then decorated for Valentine’s day…for four months.  LOVELY.  That’s what being very pregnant and then having a newborn will do for you! ha!

 

 

I realllly wanted to deck her out for the patriotic holidays over the next few summer months.  I have been loving the combo of sky blue and coral lately, so when my amazing husband sent me off for Mother’s Day with money in my pocket and the day off without kiddos, I headed to Hobby Lobby (of course!) and picked up some felt.  4 for a dollar – gotta love it! 

I love making these rosettes.  They are SO easy with felt! 

Seriously just trace circles of different sizes….cut in a spiral…then twist the spiral in on itself and secure with hot glue.  Trim any sharp corners.  I like to double up the flowers (nestle a small inside a big) for some depth. 

   

Voila! 

I’m really, really happy with how it turned out!  It makes me smile every time I look at my door.  Maybe someday we will replace that door with a lovely Craftsman-style one, but we’re not in the position of life right now to replace things simply because don’t like them.  They have to break or die first.  (So…anyone want to come split my door down the middle with an ax?  Kidding!  Sorta.)

Anyway, on to craft project number 2!

I found this simple little tray ages ago for 99 cents at Goodwill.  I’d been saving it to use for Olivia’s room, but I decided I wanted it for the kitchen island instead (is your island a drop-zone for everything, too?!) 

   

 

I followed the tutorial on Shanty 2 Chic about distressing with Vaseline and I love the results! 

Cheap brown acrylic paint…brush on the sides and edges…let dry, then rub with Vaseline…rub it in WELL (very important, I learned the hard way!)…then spray paint with desired color.  Distress with sanding block once dry. 

 

 

I’ve had this spray-paint for a while and I have to admit it came out a lot brighter than I was expecting.  It kinda screams “HI I AM A SUMMER COLOR!” but I do think it works for the summer months.  It’s definitely bright and happy.  :) (And NO I did not actually drink all that wine!  It’s mostly filler from Target coupled with wine corks my brother saved me from the catering company he works for.  lol) And the flowers are from a lovely friend last week when I was sick.  Thank you Amy!!

 

 

 

And to show you how bad I am at keeping non-human objects alive, here is my mother’s day pansy (MY FAVORITE FLOWER, TOO) from Luke.  It was on the counter but is now replaced by the living other flowers. 

 

It had a good run, it really did.  We enjoyed it for a while.  And then it got leggy and….I also forgot to water it.  Whooopsie!  lol

At least this one from preschool is still kickin’! 

 

{Have you seen this from Pinterest?  Story.of.my.life.}

 

Hopefully this weekend I’ll pull down all my summer decor from the attic – I’ll be sure and update when I’ve dressed my little house for the summer months! 

See ya!

 

Linking up with:

Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

Weekend Wrap-Up @ Tatertots and Jello

Strut Your Stuff Saturday @ Six Sisters’ Stuff

Meeting Other Bloggers IRL–Have You Done It?

{Thank you to all those who were a part of praying for my daughter’s heart surgery!  She is alive and thriving right now – I’m not ready to process it all on the blog, especially since I’ve been documenting it all on her Facebook page, but maybe I will someday soon.  So for today, just a fun post.}

Meeting other bloggers in real life is something I’d probably never tell my mom I’ve done, because I’m pretty sure she’d be a nervous wreck, bless her heart!  haha! I have to admit, it DOES sound pretty shady to meet people you’ve only ever chatted with on the internet, but two of my “blogging friends” have turned into actual, real-life friends that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know their kids and homes. 

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The first was Abby, back in 2011.  Abby and her husband used to be a military family and they ended up getting stationed only about an hour from my house.  I can’t remember how I found Abby’s blog, but I think it was through a project linky.  We had used the same wall color on our living rooms, I think, and then of course I totally acted like a stalker read through like every one of her past posts and decided that she was someone whose blog I wanted to follow.  {Tell me you do a little screening process like that too?!  I take my blog reading very seriously!  haha}

 

{Hanging out one last time, a few weeks before she moved back to Oklahoma. I look like I haven’t slept in 37 days but at least you can see a picture of us. ha!}

When I first met Abby in person, my first thought was, “she looks so cute!”  I have a freaky almost-photographic memory for certain things, so I can still remember what she was wearing!  (So that I can creep out the whole internet, it was a cute denim chambray-style shirt and riding boots.  Abby you still want to be friends?!  lol)  She was SO soft-spoken, which made me nervous at first because I am pretty much the definition of an extrovert and when I meet quiet people I start to launch into verbal-diarrhea mode.  Quiet people scare me.  There, I said it.  lol 

But she is a total sweetheart AND she is Southern (didn’t realize until I met her that Oklahoma is a Southern state?).  She says y’all and if you’ve been reading here at all you know that I’m a little obsessed with the South and if they ever figure out how I can simultaneously live in Georgia and New England, I’m all over that. 

She has two super cute little boys and we share a mutual love of thrift-store and yard-sale shopping.  She and her family recently decided that they are going to adopt a little GIRL from Ethiopia!  It has been so, so fun to follow their journey to bring home their precious girl.  I try not to be jealous that she gets to adopt before me.  ;)

Abby blogs over at Eat, Run, Teach if you want to read all about her life like I do!  :)

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The second blog friend I’ve met is Sarah.  Kelly from Kelly’s Korner once did a moms link-up of some kind and she had you list where you were from.  I participated, and so did Sarah, and we found out that I was living right near her hometown!  (This was in PA).  She ended up moving back to PA from Indianapolis only a few months after I moved from PA back to my home state of CT.  I will forever be sad that we never got a chance to live in the same state at the same time! 

 

{First time to meet – Fall 2012}

I got to meet Sarah this past fall on one of my trips back home to visit Chris’s family.  My first thought when I met her was, “Oh my gosh, she is so tiny!”  (I mean, I was also pregnant at the time, so that didn’t help!  lol).  To meet Sarah you would never ever know that she has had two kiddos! She is in great shape and super petite to boot.  She also has an adorable sense of style.  She knows how to put clothes together really well.  I joke that if I didn’t like Sarah so much, I’d have to hate her – she’s seriously a little Martha Stewart!  She is good at EVERYTHING.  She runs her own baking/catering company called Pink Balloon, she has a super cute house, she knows how to sew and applique and sent me THE CUTEST gifts for Olivia when she was born, she is an awesome photographer…the list goes on. 

Sarah is someone I can talk to for hours upon hours.  Actually, the first time we met, we met at a frozen yogurt shop.  We still had so much to talk about after the first two hours or so that we moved on to Starbucks to continue talking.  After another hour or two at Starbucks, our husbands – we had both informed them where we were, obviously – called within a few minutes of each other to make sure we were okay and not like, in the back of a van on the way to Mexico or something.  haha!  It was really cute.  Time just got away from us! 

 

{Livi and Sarah’s daughter Lucy – soon enough they’ll be playing dolls together!}

Our boys have some similar eating issues so it’s been so nice to have someone who can commiserate with that since it’s not too common.  (And, ironically, we both are passionate about healthy eating – Sarah actually has a degree in nutrition!)  And it’s fun that she has a boy and girl just like me.  I LOVE spending time with this girl and I’m thankful that at least I might get to see her once or twice a year on trips back to PA! 

Sarah blogs over at Growing on Gettysburg, if you want to hate her for being so talented and sweet check her out!  ;)

 

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What about you?  Have you ever gotten a chance to meet a blogging friend in real life?  It’s definitely scary to bridge that gap between the internet world and reality, but I’m so glad I did it in both cases!  I treasure Abby and Sarah and I’m thankful for their friendships! 

Or if you haven’t met anyone from the blogging world yet, who would you like to meet?  I have a lot of favorite blogs, but I have to admit that some of my favorite blogs aren’t necessarily people I’d most want to meet!  lol  (I feel rude to say that, but mostly it’s because I follow a lot of home design blogs for house inspiration.)

Of the “famous” bloggers, here are some I would LOVE to meet:

Kelly from Kelly’s Korner (I literally think I would faint if I met her – plus she’s Southern)
Sandy from Reluctant Entertainer
The Nester from Nesting Place (Southern)
Edie from Life in Grace (Southern)
Melissa from 320 Sycamore
Sarah from Clover Lane
Shannon from Bless Our Nest (Southern)

And some“regular” - but still fantastic!! - mom bloggers like me:

Clarita from Skies of Parchment (just found her blog and I LOVE it!)
Amy from The Blessed Mom (New England girl transplanted to Texas)
Lauren from Only from Scratch (Southern)
Kelly from Joyful Adorations (Southern)
Sarah from Through the Picture Window (New England mommy)

And that’s just a few of my favorites off the top of my head (please don’t be offended if I didn’t include you – I have total mom brain right now!!)

P.S. - Notice a trend in my favorite blogs?? lol

Prayers for My Daughter

In just about 24 hours from right now, my precious daughter Olivia will be heading into the OR for her open-heart surgery.  It’s hard to put into words what this feels like – but “swirling” is a pretty close description.  I simultaneously want it to be over immediately and never ever begin. 

If all goes well, she will be through with her surgery early tomorrow afternoon (it’s about 5 hours in the OR) and then we should be in the hospital til about Monday.  She is being operated on at Yale-New Haven Hospital here in CT.

 

I’m a busy little bee today trying to pack up all four of our lives for the scattered places we will all end up over the course of this week.  But I wanted to mention that I have started a Facebook page for Olivia, called “Olivia’s Page,”  and you can follow the link here:

https://www.facebook.com/oliviasheartpage

I’ve been putting specific daily prayer requests on the site over the past week, and I’ll be updating it all day tomorrow as I know news from the nurses and doctors and then once we are (God willing) in post-op.  I’ve already seen some sweet blog friends' names on there and that blesses my heart so much. 

My husband and I and our families appreciate your prayers more than you will ever know!  And I just want to publically declare that no matter what God’s outcome for my daughter tomorrow:

He is good. 

He is faithful. 

He loves Olivia more than we do.

He is trustworthy.

And if He calls Olivia home, I know that she will never again experience pain or fear or suffering.  My mommy heart takes immense peace in that.  

Yard Sale Jackpots

Over the last two weekends, I have hit up some awesome sales!  Two were at a church and one was in a big high school auditorium to support Child and Family Services in our area.  So much fun, and so many bargains! And half the fun of grabbing great deals is sharing what you found at such great prices…so here you go. ;)

Last weekend I went to a church yard sale with Lindsay.  I was SO excited, because I haven’t been to this particular church sale in years – since we lived in PA – because our trips out there have never aligned with this sale.  This time it did, and you better believe the angels were singing!  It’s everything you can shove in a brown paper grocery bag, for a DOLLAR.  That’s right, you heard me! :)

I snagged a milk-glass vase, a mason jar (actually technically this was given away for free at another yard sale we went to later), a cute little mug, and a pink bowl I’m using on my dryer to store my dryer balls in.  I also got a bunch of comfy clothes to wear to bed – Old Navy shirts, Target pink sweatpants, a J. Crew shirt, a local college long-sleeve tee (super comfy!) and some slippers. 

  

 

I also Gap jammie pants and a beach hat for Miss Liv, as well as a crib fish tank and a Cadoo game with all of the pieces.   I originally thought the white lace was a crib skirt and I was freaking out – come to find out it’s a bassinet skirt, but I’m still going to try to make it work somehow in her room.  It’s so lacey and sweet and girly and I love it. 

 

 

I also snagged this gorgeous floor-length dress and adorable pink coat for her, both from OshGosh!  They’re both 18 months but totally worth hanging on to!

 

 

So I seriously got everything here (PLUS two hardcover books, not shown), for a dollar!  Insane, right?!

 

Moving on to this past Friday – my mom and I went a local church sale.  This church has great prices and there is always a huge line outside waiting for them to open!  This week was no exception.  My dad was off work so he watched Luke but I brought Olivia in a sling.  I had at least 5 people ask me if I had a real baby in there.  (?!)  People are strange.  lol

At this sale I found a lot of great kitchen items.  I’d been looking for a biscuit cutter for a while so I was happy to find one for 50 cents!  My favorite find here was a complete set of 6 Pampered Chef 1-cup bowls, with lids, for $4!! They retail for $21.50 on the site!  No kidding, these have been on my Pampered Chef “wishlist.” Score! :)

Basket, bird feeder, and can opener (ohhh I needed a new one badly!) were $1, and the cutter and grater were 50 cents. 

 

I also picked up two magnet boards with the cutest little birdie magnets for $2 each!  I’m going to mod-podge over the current design with some cute scrapbook paper.  I thought they were too cute to pass up. :)

 

Lastly was the Child and Family Services sale.  Mom and I went to this one yesterday, on half-price day.  We weren’t sure if we’d find anything good, since the sale had been going on since Thursday night, but boy were we wrong!  So much fun!  I got everything in the picture below for $2.12!  (AND a little potted tree which didn’t make it into the picture.)Insane! :)

 

Seriously, the prices were unbelievable! 5 cents for the mini Anthro-knock-off latte bowl, a quarter for the little pink candle holder, 15 cents for the cute little lantern (which ironically looks like the one I picked up at this sale last year)…

 

The chopper is brand-new and ended up being 50 cents!  The frame ended up being 2 cents (yes, seriously) after the sale (it doesn’t have glass but I don’t care! Oh and I’m totally going to pop out those beads and hot glue them again evenly spaced around the frame.  It’s stressing me out a little.  haha!) 

 

This apron was one of my faves – it’s no secret that I love the fall and for $1 I seriously couldn’t pass it up!  It’s so cute.  And the basket was only 10 cents!  I have an obsession with baskets.  Seriously.  The chalkboard was a quarter after the discount.  A quarter, people!  I already re-painted it with chalkboard paint yesterday and it looks great. 

 

 

When I realized my tally was so low, I went ahead and bought this Aero shirt for Chris for $2.  It is so soft and it still had the tags on it!  It fits him great and he really likes it.  They also had puzzles in another room so after I cashed out from the first room I snagged these three for Luke for only 25 cents each!  And the truck one is Melissa and Doug!  He has already played with them all for hours.  My boy LOVES puzzles!

 

 

So all told, everything on this blog post totaled $17.87.  Not bad, right?! :)

This mama is sooooooo happy that yard sale season is back!

Spring Decor & Our Easter 2013 {and a link to Olivia’s Page}

My heart was so blessed by the e-mails and Facebook messages and comments I received after my last post about my struggles with Olivia’s heart condition.  Thank you all so very much for being such wonderful readers and friends.  We found out at the doctor on Wednesday that she WILL be having surgery this month!  She gained just the right amount of weight to clear her for operating.  I started a Facebook page for her on Wednesday night so that all of her updates will now be in one place, and so that we have a place where people I’m not personally friends with can have access to her information.  I would be honored and humbled if you would “Like” her page and support our family with your thoughts and prayers during this time!  I don’t have that many Facebook friends (on purpose; I am very uptight about my family’s privacy), but my goal for this page is 1,000 “Likes” before her surgery.  In about 36 hours we are at 270 – I know we can reach our goal!  To find her page, search for “Olivia’s Page” on Facebook or use this direct link:

http://www.facebook.com/oliviasheartpage.

THANK YOU for your support and love!

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Our Easter was very, very low key.  But it was nice. We had big plans to have a nice dinner with my parents and an Easter egg hunt for Luke and Easter baskets and all that.  But then my mom called to say that they’d been around people whose kids had been puking in public and they’d taken them out anyway (!!!) and long story short my parents had exposed themselves accidentally to the stomach bug. 

Well, unfortunately for us, Olivia’s doctors have stressed over and over that she CANNOT get dehydrated (whether through vomiting or diarrhea).  It is super dangerous for a baby with a heart condition and she would need to be brought back to the NICU immediately.  So we had to scrap all of our plans for the holiday to keep her safe.  (And thankfully my parents didn’t end up getting sick, but at least we did what we could.)

I’m not going to lie – I cried.  Holidays are a huge deal to me and the memories and the photos and especially with this being Livi’s first Easter and in the back of my mind I just kept thinking, “What if this is the only one she ever gets?” But there was really nothing I could do, so I just accepted it.  We decided to have Luke’s Easter egg hunt next Sunday instead (thankfully we hadn’t told him about it yet).

We did get dressed and went to church.  I told Chris that having a girl is so fun for me – it’s like having a little dolly to play with and dress up!  I LOVE putting her in little outfits and big bows (although 9 times out of 10 she’s spit-up all over the outfit 10 seconds after it’s on her!). 

 

We came home and relaxed and then my parents did a “Meals on Wheels” thing and brought us Easter dinner all wrapped up!  My poor mom had already made all the food on Saturday night and she said she didn’t want to waste it.  Plus she had gotten Luke a helium balloon that wouldn’t last.  So they ate their Easter dinner, then drove over and delivered a hot meal to us, along with Luke’s basket (Livi got a first Easter bib from my mom) and his balloon. 

{best I could get with Luke – ohhhh the difference in my children right now! lol}

But to keep us from getting sick, they stayed on the front step while Luke opened his presents inside the front door.  OHHHH I wish I would have taken a picture!  haha I’m sure our neighbors were thinking, “Wow, tight family bond, huh guys?”  LOL

So next week we will do “part 2” of our Easter and go have a little Easter egg hunt for Luke at my parents’ house.  I’m going to dress up Livi in her Easter outfit again since my parents didn’t get to see her in it.  Her beautiful dress was made by a wonderful etsy seller named Shelby whose shop is called Plain Jane & Co. 

There’s a very special story behind that dress, but I will save it for its own post. 

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Here are a few shots of my “Springtime” decorating. 

 

 

I love documenting my house decor on the blog because each time the season changes, I can check the link on my blog to see how I decorated for it the year before! :)

 

  

 

I am very much looking forward to fresh flowers in mason jars and bringing in big long branches of forsythia for the kitchen island.  Spring really doesn’t come to Connecticut until May (or end of April if we’re really lucky!) 

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and a lovely weekend coming up! 

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P.S. It’s 7:50 am and I wrote this WHOLE post this morning while my kids were both sleeping!  And they’re STILL sleeping!  It’s a Christmas miracle!  I love cloudy mornings!! Quiet house and coffee?!  BLISSFUL.  :)

P.P.S. I had to google how to spell “diarrhea.”  What a weird, weird, word. 

P.P.S.  This post is actually getting finished and published at 9:37.  It was fun while it lasted. ;)