friday fun-day!

are you ready? are you excited? if you are not i highly suggest you turn on your favorite song that you love to belt out like it's nobody's business - go ahead, you know you want to, dance around for awhile, heck stand on a table and sing. and then start reading again.

okay, you ready?
right under these little words from yours truly is my VERY FIRST GUEST POST written by my darling big sister who blogs about the daily life of being a stylin' thrifty momma over here at nugget on a budget. she is here today to talk to you about...well, why don't i just let her do the talking!

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Hello! So seeing as both my sister and I just started writing our blogs a few short months ago, we each have two measley followers. But we follow each others' blogs...meaning that we both really only have one true follower. It's a pretty sad situation. Lil sis decided that we should use this pathetic situation to our advantage and guest post for each other. Yes...that in itself also seems like a pathetic situation. BUT! It sounded like a great idea to us, so here goes...

If you clicked over to my blog before you read this, you'll know that I'm a semi-new mama with a six-month-old baby girl, named S. I absolutely love taking photos of her doing every little baby thing she does. While I'm nowhere near the creative fashionista that my sister is, I've been trying to spruce up my mama style now that including my little sidekick in my life has become second nature. She already has a better looking wardrobe than me! (Thanks to this mama's uncanny ability to make a direct bee-line to every store's baby section...or baby store...or baby thrift shop.)

top: Banana Republic factory store, jeans: F21, shoes: Sperry

 

 

Pre-baby, my style was 99% corporate America. Luckily, I wasn't required to wear a suit to work every day, but everything I bought was centered around my job. Dress pants, heels, conservative blouses and button-downs. Why spend money on new jeans and tops when 50+ hours of my week was spent in the office?

Obviously a majority of these clothes had to go once I got pregnant...and I knew that they would not be making their way back into my closet. Stay-at-home mama style did a 180 on corporate America, and now our church rummage sale is going to be getting some ridiculously nice clothing. Because if you've ever had a baby, you know that there are some other places (hello, new bra size!) that get bigger besides your belly.

I've come to embrace my comfy, yet trendy, new mama style. I'm loving skinny jeans and ankle pants, loose tops with cardigans or belted. When I'm at home all day, playing with S and taking her and my other furry baby for walks, my yoga pants are a must. My heels are now reserved for Sundays only. A mama needs a rainbow of flats paired with leggings to run around town all day with a baby in tow!

Following in her Auntie M's footsteps, Baby S is becoming her own little fashionista. In addition to scouring through baby consignment shops, here's some of what she is currently craving for summer...no influence from her mama, of course.

Black & Bold

Bubble

Safari Hat

Blue Bows

Little Lady Sandal

Well, that about wraps it up. It's been fun! Hope you all enjoyed my first guest post and (ahem) found yourself two new bloggies to follow. You can catch my sister guest posting for my blog over at Nugget on a Budget next week. Be on the lookout :) And happy weekend!

the office vs. my ear

have you ever covered both of your ears and talked and you could tell how your voice really sounded and it was really odd and strangely creepy to hear? well that is what the world has sounded like to me the past few days, all muffled and creep-ish. so, seeing as hearing is sort of something i tend to like, i decided to head on over to the doctor after i subbed today. well, even though i scheduled to go to that office, i don't believe that office scheduled to see me. because that office made it awfully difficult to get in and out of there in a jiffy.

first, there is that awful sitting in the waiting room part - which the office decided to say "hey, lets give this little hard of hearing lady a break and call her right on back." it always pays to be fashionably early too.

then, there was the nice lady doing all the usual check up stuff, she was just so perky and sweet and i thought to myself "office, you are doing a darn good job at making this appointment a winner."

and for the most part, i waited in my little room in the office, humming along to the country station playing on the radio, because this wasn't going half bad. until i heard it. that awful conversation that has absolutely nothing to do with a doctor, or an appointment, or a runny nose or crooked bone (or anything related to the medical field ALL TOGETHER). and the office, it let me hear this conversation for a good, long, 28 minutes. because the office -- when it wants to make you mad, it does so with a vengeance.

finally, the office let that patient go and i finally got to see my doctor (who, might i add, is the sweetest lady in the whole entire world!). but the office was not finished. because it wasn't like getting a huge giant cold metal contraption that squeezes and shoots water in to your ear to irrigate it isn't enough, it whispered to all that stuff that was clogging up my ears to be stubborn and not budge. i swear they made some sort of deal...

but to make an already too long of a story short, i'm an all hearing woman again, with a very inflamed eardrum and some pretty pink antibiotics to take. as for the office and i, it has another thing coming next time i'm there to visit.

oh, and if anger towards the office hasn't risen to a level of hatred that you might as well call me harry potter and the office "he who shall not be named", you should just hear about my trials and tribulations at the pharmacy..

A&A

contrary to my perfectly scheduled and planned lifestyle that i (attempt) to lead, oh how i do adore surprises. but, in all reality, this is no surprise at all. big sista and little niece are currently sitting on the couch in mi casa to visit for the next two days. why you may ask? to spend some glorious time with their most favorite person alive? well, yes...and no. there are some other people that they will be visiting. like my cousin who just had a beautiful baby girl in january and my sister (and niece) are just dying to meet! and also to join momma and i in watching my dad coach his undefeated (yes that's 4-0!) girl's soccer team. but still...i'm counting their visit as a surprise!

shirt j.crew factory; pants old navy (old) (similar here); belt forever 21(old); shoes francesca's (old); purse michael kors

Awkward:

1. when i'm standing outside to take these purty little pictures and it's sunny and gorgeous and birds are chirping and oh yeah...downpour.

2.  going on an ice cream run to DQ and as i'm driving there it begins to rain. now this, you may say, is not so awkward but the fact that the nice little car in front of me in the drive-thru would not pull up and i'm literally hanging my head out the window, in the pouring rain, to scream at the intercom "can you hear me?!" is a little awkward...

3. how many people does it take to put together a $30 shelf from target? if you guessed three, you are correct.

4. when i get calls to substitute any time between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. and i am not awake and i'm groggy and don't even remember if the phone call happened or not and that poor lady and what she must think while she is talking to me on the phone, and i have her repeat the name of the person i'm subbing for maybe five times?
5. the hurricane that is my room. who said reorganizing my closet was a good idea? i'd like to find that someone and give them a piece of my mind! sometimes i wonder where i get these grand ideas.

Awesome:
1. big sista and baby niece are currently visiting! (always an awesome)
2. skype. shout out to whoever it is that thought of creating something as wonderful as video chat. you, whoever you are, are a lifesaver of friendships.
3. caramel delight pie blizzard from DQ - just saying.
4. that big sis will be writing a post on THIS VERY BLOG tomorrow. i cannot wait for you all to read all about what she has to say as well as take a look at her fly momma style (;
5. the arm that my niece has. i have never seen a sock monkey fly so high and so far in my life. honestly, i think that little girl can throw farther than i can (and that right there is just a little bit awkward)

fruit punch

scarf in deep peri, j.crew

there are some things that i simply can't get enough of all year round and a nice scarf is by far one of those things.  when people started wearing scarves in the summer i wasn't one to jump on the fashion bandwagon, so to speak. i loved the look, i adored the prints, but i didn't quite love the idea of adding an extra layer of cloth tied around my neck. of course, i happened upon a floral scarf and after slipping it on my neck, it was an instant hint and thus, my obsession for scarves spanned way past brisk autumn days and white-washed winter afternoons. this year i'm attempting to make myself accessorize more and began a hunt for some perfect sweet-summer add-ins to introduce to the bare neck and shoulders of summertime.  i picked up the scarf from the j.crew outlet (pictured here) and saw that little beauty above in CHERRY RED, but i walked away with only the previously mentioned. thinking my heart would forget about the punch of red, i went home happy with my finds. seeing as my heart did not go on (no titanic reference intended), i decided i NEED this scarf. wellp, it is not online (why i posted it in the pretty periwinkle color) and have yet to find it at other j.crew outlet stores i have bumped in to. will my heart ever find that red-spun beauty? i sure hope so. but in the mean time, here are a few other summer scarves i'm lusting after.

1.

2.

3.

4.

and on a side note of something else that is punched full of that cherry red deliciousness, these red rainboots, which i also, regretfully did not pick up
did i mention i am a terrible decision maker?

i am sort of all over the place

v-neck and scarf J.Crew factory; shoes Sperry; jeans Kohl's; watch Francesca's

i am a little embarrassed to say that i have missed my little blog over the last few days when i went around gallivanting off to a mini-vacation with momma to new york. actually, i am not that embarrassed at all, because i have come to learn the importance that this little blog has given me and the new beginning it has prompted me to dive in to as well. so,hats off to you little blog, and i will try to pay the utmost attention to you this week.

any who - momma and i hopped over to the empire state to visit my big sissy, brother-in-law, my fury nephew and my sweet baby niece S. we missed my dad, who sadly had to hold down the fort here at home since flowers are quite the big deal during the Easter holiday. even without dad in toe, it was quite the enjoyable stay involving shopping excursions to here, there, and everywhere (and the outlet mall sent from heaven - and really, i mean that.), walks around the neighborhood, baking cookies, watching The Help and comparing it in depth to the book (i know - this may become my newest guilty pleasure and i will save that rant for another time), and many other pleasurable things that can only be done with the women of the family. oddly enough surely enough, the most prized of these activities being enjoying a cup multiple cups of coffee in the morning, in our pjs (until noon). 

while i was out and about rediscovering the bliss of having my older sister around for longer than a nano-second, i realized the importance of family. 

let me rephrase that, i rediscovered how important my family is to me. not saying that i have been completely naive to everything family-esque but it just made me realize where i would be currently in my life without the family that i have. the things i have been going through may be no where near as challenging as others, i am almost certain they are not (which is something i need to keep in check with constantly), but i do know that the things that are mountains in my life right now are being conquered because of the beautiful family that God has given me. i am someone who likes order and lists and plans and a destination that is always in sight and my life is anything but that. i've had meltdown after freak out and without my family to sit me down, refocus me, remind me why i chose to graduate early, why i worked so hard for all of this, why i love what i am going to be doing -- i have no idea where i'd be. with the mixture of what feels like a million other circumstances, it has made that far-off and seemingly unattainable goal a dream of the past -- but not when i have my family. i know that God will never give me more than i can handle and even when it feels as if i have reached my limit -- and trust me we all have our limits and we all, at one point or another feel as if we have reached it -- i will always have my family.

so to sum up my mini-vaca, i shall leave you with a few of my favorite memories:

• baby S and the way her little baby smile and big baby blues melt my heart in a million ways i never knew my heart could melt.
• curling up with huge bowls of chocolate brownie frozen yogurt (every) night.
• having my sister to talk to, no phone, no computer, just pure face to face conversation.
• my mom tearing up while rocking my niece to sleep - the love of a family is the purest love and a beautiful site to see.
• reading all sorts of books to baby S and having her babble back to me.

He is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

Happy Easter Sunday one and all.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 1:3

peachy-keen

okay,

have you ever had one of those days where you maybe just aren't feeling so great? maybe you woke up on the wrong side of the bed (honestly this phrase used to bug me until I started favoring one side of the bed over the other and then it made a lot more sense...)? maybe something happened that didn't quite fit in to what you planned for the day.

whatever it may be.  it has happened to all of us and today was just, one of those days.

well,

my mother decided to kick off our "vacation" (aka visiting my sister/niece/brother-in-law) by treating me to Rita's after a long day of subbing in 6th grade (insert waking up on the wrong side of the bed remark here).  so we arrive and I walk up to the counter at Rita's and order my extremely under-rated Georgia Peach Gelati (seems everyone these days chooses Mango..cough cough..mom) and the nice young lady behind the counter says the following:

"hey, I wanted to ask you, where did you get your watch, I love it!"

(insert me beaming from cheek to cheek here)
so,

I proceed to tell her and she just gushes over my watch some more and thanks me ecstatically because this little lady right here just made her day.  little did she know,
she made mine.

and just like that POOF it's like I woke up on the right side of the bed, on Christmas morning, with my french bulldog named Weasley waiting under the Christmas tree with a giant gold bow around his neck.  yeah, it was that good.  so thank you complete stranger who is still one of the few strangers that are nice out there for making my whole day.

watch: Francesca's Collections, similar style here

after-thought:  seeing as I will be traveling away my day tomorrow I will not be able to write my second installment of my previously pronounced "every wednesday" fashion post.  so, this sort of ties everything all in to one - and a day early. (: