Thursday, August 22, 2013

5 on Friday


{one}
Pink & Yellow.
1st Birthday Party preparation is in full swing.  As pink & yellow is my color scheme, I feel like I'm seeing the two colors together everywhere.  I find myself hearing this song in my head while strolling the isles of Target, Home Goods or Party City as I look for items for the party.  Humor me and listen to the chorus and say Pink & Yellow instead of Black & Yellow.

{two}
Basil Plants 2.0
Since I killed off my first basil plant, I sent out an SOS to my parents on what to do.  They went a hunt for a sturdier basil plant and found 2 viable options.  This past Sunday, my Dad came over and replanted them for me as well.  Thank God my parents have a green thumb! Here's hoping I do better with my Basil Plant 2.0

{three}
Oh Kale Yeah
One of my besties Anita is a Vegan and champion for the plant-based diet.  Over the past few months, I think I have seen her eat every type of vegetable the Whole Foods has to offer.  Most days at lunch, she entertains the questions of "what are you eating?" "did you make that?" and "that's kale, right?"  With Brad out of town this week, I decide to get some kale and give it a whirl.  Of course, Anita was thrilled and was armed with lots of tips.  Homemade kale chips here we come!

{four}
Kitchen Revamp.
As mentioned earlier this week, we had the interior of our house painted. With new paint, comes new decor!  In preparation for the new paint, I had picked up some new accessories for the foryer area and living room but completely forgot about the kitchen.  For some reason, I guess I thought that what I had decorated the tops of kitchen cabinets with back in 2007 was going to work with this new color.  Wrong!  As soon as I took these decorations down, I started to hate them.  That's how it is when you are redecorating - you instantly start to hate what you've had for years simply because you are so excited about the change.  Thanks to a few Visa gift cards I got for my birthday from my girlfriends & Home Goods, I was able to start revamping the Kitchen accessories immediately.  Lovin' the new look so far!

{five}
Last Day of Pumping!
I know, TMI.  Deal with it.  So, where's my medal?  We get a medal for doing this whole nursing & pumping for a year, right?  No medal? Oh, ok.  A prize?  We get a prize, right?  No prize?  What?  No medal, no prize, no nothing?  So, remind why I did this again?  Oh yeah, because I wanted to.

One thing that I have learned since the moment that I was pregnant is that motherhood is all about doing what works for you and sometimes simply just survival.  No matter what you do - natural childbirth vs epidural, breastfeeding vs formula or cosleeping vs sleep training etc - no one is going to give you "something" as a reward - no medal, no prize, no award.  All you get is the satisfaction knowing that you did the BEST THAT YOU COULD for you and your baby.  Seriously.  Think on it.  It's so easy to sit judgement of other mothers and what they are doing when you are having one of those supermom days yourself.  Believe me, I've done it more times than I would like to admit.  When fellow new moms or other pregnant women ask for advice, I've found myself telling them this: Do you what you can and what works for you and your family.  I made the decision to nurse Eloise as long as I could from the beginning.  I would take it day by day, week by week, and month by month.  Now that we are staring at the finishing line, I feel great that I made it this far and I'm ready to be done with whole nursing lifestyle completely in the coming weeks.  Real talk?  I may run my car over the pump just to show it who's boss for once.      



Saturday, August 17, 2013

Paint Before & After

Brad & I painted the inside of our house a fairly neutral yet warm color in April 2007 after moving in November 2006.  After almost 6 years, we have seen enough of this color and wanted a change!  We both loved the various grays Brad had decorated his Naperville townhome with and decided to go that route again.  With some design consultation, we picked 2 colors - SherwinWilliams Mesa Verde Tan for an accent wall behind the fireplace and Sherwin Willliams Pismo Dunes for the rest of the house.  Check out the Before & After photos of our house now that the painting is complete!  Thanks to Brian Sanderson at Aisling Decorating for the amazing job that he and his team did.  Check him out!
Before

After

Thursday, August 15, 2013

5 on Friday



{one}
Book of Mormon Soundtrack.

Brad & I saw Book of Mormon this past weekend after months of anticipation.  It lived up to all the hype!  We were cracking up throughout the entire performance.  All week long we have been singing the songs and watching you tube videos of the various songs.  I honestly don't know why we haven't just bought the soundtrack! 

{two}
Duck Dynasty started this week.

{three}
My Chocolate Peanut Butter Addiction goes to another level.
At the Farmer's Market at work this week, the bakery booth had Chocolate Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls.  Seriously.

{four}

Canada? Yes. As in the country right above us. Brad leaves today for a week long fishing trip with 2 of his brothers and some other friends. It's a total "man" trip as they bring minimal clothes, lots of gear, and make bets about who can grow a better beard in a week. You may be wondering why this is part of my 5 on Friday since it is Brad's trip. Well, to be frank...all I have heard about for the past few weeks leading up to today has been all about Canada. "I need this for Canada"..."This one time in Canada"..."When I'm away in Canada"..."I'll take care of that after Canada" and sometimes even, "the weather in Canada today is..." Gotta love your passion & excitement Bradley!  I hope all the hours of organizing fish tackle, sharpening filet knives, shopping at Bass Pro Shops, and practicing casting pays off and you have the wonderful trip that you deserve!  Try not to loose any fingertips like you did that one time in Canada.

{five}
Oh Daddy
Brad's dream is that when he returns from Canada that Eloise will do this...
Brad & I are obsessed with this video as well as many other "welcome home videos." 
We know it's weird.  We can't explain it.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Love at the Lake

This past weekend, we ventured up to Lake Delavan, WI for a big family meet & greet with Brian's (Brad's youngest brother) future in-laws,  the Snows.  It was great to meet everyone and share tons of fun stories of our two families.  We are all looking forward to Brian & AJ's wedding next year!

 The "Snow on the Lake" estate was a beautiful backdrop for an impromptu mini engagement photo shoot with Brian and AJ after an afternoon of boating and jet skiing.  I had a blast shooting these two lovebirds and I can't wait to do their real photo shoot this Fall.





Friday, August 9, 2013

5 on Friday

THE GOOD LIFE BLOG   
{one}
The month of August is National Breastfeeding Month and the week of August 1-7 was World Breastfeeding Week.  I feel very blessed that I have been able to breastfeed Eloise for her first year.  Those first few days or weeks were hard to say the least.  Making it to 6 months seemed like a lofty goal and making to 1 year seemed impossible.  Seeing that August is Eloise's birthday month, I find it a little kissmet that the month of August celebrates breastfeeding.  Not gonna lie, I'm glad that we are in the home stretch!

{two}
My name is Mandy & I'm a Striped shirt addict.

If this whole stripes explosion/nautical look goes away tomorrow, I'm screwed.  I will have nothing appropriate to wear.  I don't know how it happened but I have at least 5 black & white striped shirts that I've bought this summer.  Granted, they are all different styles, stripe widths, and looks.  Don't remind me about how I'm not supposed to wear horizontal stripes if I don't want to look wider.  I'm a sucker for a cute clothing trend!

{three}
Project Life Scrapbook
A few of the bloggers that I follow have been raving about this Scrapbook kit and I'm totally digging it.  I used to love to scrapbook and I have grand ideas for making one for Eloise's first year but I feel like I don't have the time to sit down and do it all.  It's hard enough editting photos, journalling about the week, and putting it all together in a blog let alone making a awesome scrapbook too.  This seems like a great compromise between doing nothing and making a scrapbook that lives up to the masterpiece I have created in my head.

{four}
RIP Basil Plant.
I don't what my problem is when ti comes to Basil Plants but I can't keep them alive to save my life! My parents made me my own personal herb garden for my birthday and everything else is thriving but that basil plant.  Dang.  Back to buying overpriced packages at the store. Any tips on how to keep suckers alive?

{five}
To say that I'm excited about Eloise's 1st birthday party is the understatement of the century.  I have planned out every detail, made my checklists, and cleaned up my secret Pinterest board chuck full of all my ideas and plans.  The invitations have gone out, the various party attire pieces ordered from Etsy have slowly been arriving, the decorations are in production, and the menu is being finalized.  Brad has been helping me plan and indulging in all my random party conversations.  My sister & I are having a sleepover next weekend with 2 goals in mind: complete a central decoration/craft for the party and finalize our game plan for the cake pops.  

Friday, August 2, 2013

5 on Friday


{one}
"Working out as a working mom is like a unicorn. It's a myth. It doesn't exist." - Sarah Thakur
THIS is why we are best friends.

{two}
Fall clothes for Eloise
Fall is my favorite clothes season, hands down.  I can't wait to dress Eloise in skinny jeans, cardigans, jean jackets, and hoodies!  I may even have to buy us matching outfits.  Carters had a great sale last week and I was able to stock up on some fall essentials.  Here are a few of the outfits that I got.
 



{three}
Frozen Waffles
My poor baby is getting her 1 year molars or at least that's what we think.  In lieu of her sticking her fingers deep in her mouth to chew, we have been giving her frozen waffles along with her dinner.  It seems to be helping and I'm grateful for all the fellow moms who recommended this!

{four}
Guided Access on my iPhone.
Before you want to judge us for letting our 11 month old daughter play with our phones, just try and keep a child calm while their bottle is warming or you are trying to give them antibiotics by syringe.  I read on another blog about the Guided Access option on the iPhone and instantly set up.  Nothing is more frustrating when your child deletes an app, email or photo from your phone because they are clicking and swiping away.  Here is how to set it up:
1. Settings>General>Accessibility>Turn on Guidded Access
2. Set a passcode
3. Open an app that you want to tun
4. Triple click the Home Button to start.  You will be prompted to turn it on. 
5. When you are done, triple click to turn it off.
Boom!  No more baby finger deleting disasters!

{five}
THIS
http://onenation.livenation.com/shows/exclusive-world-premiere/episodes/new-kids-on-the-block-exclusive-package-tour-video

...still obsessing over NKOTB