You know what happens when you give a girl a surprise week off? She starts living her life like she's always going to be a stay at home mom and like she's never gonna have to work again! No joke, I got into total "never wanna work again" mode last week. It was bad and I was pretty bitter about today and being forced to work again! ha. Honestly though, no complaints here. I had the best week off! And we got soooo much done this weekend at the house.

On Friday, our trees got trimmed (that was a half day job for those poor guys) and then our counter tops got refinished! Our awful 80s laminate counters now look like a faux granite! They look AMAZING and have totally given our kitchen an updated look! We didn't want to get in the way of the guy plus the paint smell was so strong so the babe and I holed up at my parents' house and got so comfy that we ended up just staying the night. It was good! And I know my parents loved having that extra time with Violet. They're still texting me, wanting to talk about all the cute things she did at their house - like her new "grandma walk". SO hilarious and such a random thing for her to do but she'll walk around hunched over with a little smile on her face, like she knows how funny she looks. That child is a mess.

Cozying up at my parents' house // First one to pass out at the sleepover

Saturday, we went to the San Antonio Coffee Festival! We went last year (omg look at how little V was!) but it was like 80 in December and so not coffee tasting weather. This year, it was sunny again but much cooler and breezier so I was excited about that! And this year, we let V taste the coffee a little and she loved it! Apparently Ronnie's already been sneaking her sips of coffee for a few weeks now. (We're talking like a sip every couple of days; don't go calling CPS! ;) We're raising a little coffee lover and I think it's awesome! Then that night, Ronnie installed our new kitchen sink (we needed a new one badly) and poor guy, that took up his entire evening. So lucky to have such a handy manly man! ha.

Sunday was the day we acted as crazy people. Our precious child woke us up way too early so we dragged ass all. day but when we finally "woke up" in the afternoon, we decided we'd paint the kitchen RIGHT NOW! So we rolled up into Home Depot and finally chose a paint color. It was time for the two year old lime green paint to go! Pregnancy obviously made me color blind because back when we bought the paint, I swore the color was a mint, pale green...but when it dried, it was bright lime green. Total vom and so not us but we stuck with it only because being 9 months pregnant and prepping for a baby didn't leave much time for us or energy to re-paint! Major shout out to my MIL for watching V for the evening because we were finally able to get the painting over and done with! I chose a safe, basic tan which Ronnie yawned over but I love it! I wanted calm in our kitchen after the lime green insanity and I've always loved colorful accents so I'm looking forward to adding some fun things in there, including a wall dedicated to our coffee love! Can't wait to get started and show y'all some before and afters soon!

Ronnie calls them side-swept hipster bangs // Side pony. My new fave // Can't paint without wine

Now, Monday. I should be totally relaxed about the fact that this is my last week of work until after the holidays but in typical Jessica fashion, I'm stressed as all get out...Why? Because I suck at Christmas shopping this year and still have about 95% of my list to buy for! And there's only 9 days left. WTF have I gotten myself into?? Wish me luck, y'all!

the yooj.

On Saturday, we garage saled.

On Sunday, we played in the mud and laughed at how funny your hair looks when you pull at it.

On Sunday night, she looked way too big. (as did her hair)

The weather was perfect on Saturday for a garage sale. We put out tons and tons of stuff (way more than you can see in the above pictures) and we made some pretty decent money! Ronnie's dad and step-mom came to help and even contributed some of their own items which was really nice of them. We had fun hanging out with them all day and it was so gorgeous and breezy outside. It helps that our yard has a ton of shade and I'm so grateful for that!! Also super glad the rain stayed away until the evening!

Sunday was me and the girl all day (Ronnie had to work 10 hours at his new job!). She and I did the usual playing, dancing, singing, napping and I did a little cleaning...It was a looong but good day. I think it's the sweetest thing how she lights up when she sees her dad so after the long day without him, she wouldn't let him go for the evening :) She curled up next to him to watch videos on the iPad and I was amazed at how big she looked. And sitting on her feet like that? Adorable. (She'd completely soaked her shirt with water beforehand hence the no shirt thing. ha. She loved it.)

It was a laid back weekend and looking forward to this time is what gets me through the work week for sure!

How was your weekend?

P.S. Thank you thank you thank you for all your comments on my previous post. Your advice and kind words mean so much to me. I shared all of them with Ronnie and he thought it was pretty awesome of y'all :) Sorry for being a sucky responder but I will reply back to your comments soon!

A happy weekend.

This weekend...

The weather was PERFECT and I realized I could totally live in Texas forever and a day IF our April weather was always like this. But it's not so that's a talk for another day ;)

On Friday, we dropped this cutie off with my MIL and I got to have a REAL FREAKING DATE with her hot daddy. That's a big deal, y'all - our last date (alone!) was months ago. We went to a place called Josephine Street Café and having passed it oh, about 1000x in our time, neither of us had ever tried it! It was so good and so fun to have a real sit down meal. And we got prime patio seating. And the weather was perfect. (Have I mentioned that?) And the date was perfect. And the conversation was just so needed. Aaah, more of that please.

Since we spent a lot of time outside this weekend, this gave me the perfect lighting to obsess over my newest nail polish (Revlon Girly). It's just so well, girly, and so pretty in the sunlight!

On Saturday I shipped off packages to mamas who bought from my IG shop last week. Let me tell you, I am SO grateful to everyone who is buying from me. This has seriously been an awesome experience! Going to the post office on Saturday mornings (and getting breakfast on the way + spending about 45 minutes to myself) is a fun new routine for me. That night Ronnie made us some zucchini patties and OH EM GEE. Tastiest health food evah. Ronnie wasn't too happy with them because they fell apart so easily and just didn't look great, but I LOVED them. I'll share a recipe soon if anyone's interested!

And if you were wondering what V was up to ;) She spent her weekend attached to her "phone" (the remote), playing in her new "toy" (courtesy of the best daddy) and she hung out with me all day yesterday while I helped a friend unpack at her new place and also helped her open her own IG shop!

In between all of that, I caught up on the Dallas finale (holy crap.), started Downton Abbey Season 2 (I am completely in love with it, y'all) and did some cleaning and organizing. It was probably one of the best weekends we've had in a while :)

How was yours?

monday things.

I really hate it when fun plans fall through (like going to the Highland Games) but then I remember NETFLIX and I'm able to move on. I have a major addiction, y'all. Seriously, it's out of hand. At some point literally every night after work, I plop down on the couch to watch 1-2 episodes of Mad Men or Breaking Bad. All this while my child plays all by herself. (This independent play thing is awesome though.) I'm pretty sure this qualifies me as 2013's Mom Of The Year.

So since Ronnie was stuck studying most of the weekend, that meant I had the TV (geez lady, move on!) and V all to myself. She and I did a lot of playing, a lot of clapping (she's finally learning how to!), a ton of reading, so much talking (kid doesn't shut up. but I love it), lots of eating, some grocery shopping, a few tantrums were had and....

I finally opened up my Instagram shop!!!

What's an Instagram shop, you ask?

Basically I set up a profile where I upload pictures of outfits and price them, people leave their PayPal email address if they want to buy, I invoice them, then I ship their items! Easy peasy. I was hesitant to start one but I finally "opened" it yesterday and have had a really good response so far. I've sent out 4 invoices already! I seriously owe Jenn all the credit. She opened up her shop a while back selling her own clothing and this is when she introduced me to the world of IG shopping! I've bought V so many things since then (that pink romper up there is from one shop!) so I wanted to join in too! If you're a new girl mama or have any preggo friends, send them my way!

and in other news, you may have noticed - I have an updated blog design!

All thanks to Emily of Oh, Hello Love!

I've been reading her blog for a little while and noticed she does blog design (isn't her own design gorgeous?) so I approached her about it and though she's currently taking a break from doing full blog design, she generously offered to create some design elements for me! She created my header, my "About Me" and social media buttons. She also gave me tips for updating the rest of my blog. Emily is truly amazing to work with and I'm so grateful to her for making my blog pretty! Emily's own blog is just so sweet and she talks décor, DIY, photography and gives freebies too. Her last freebie was this wallpaper which is currently on my own desktop. LOVE IT! Do yourself a favor and go visit Emily! ;)

Happy Monday, y'all!

my 3 day weekend.

I took a vacation day on Friday so I could spend a day with Ronnie and the babe before his Spring Break ended and we had the most fun day ever. It was nearly 80 degrees out and breezy so we decided a picnic was a must...but we didn't want any old picnic so we took a trip out to New Braunfels and ordered some food to go from BJ's then took it to Landa Park. We had our picnic, walked the trails, took a ride on the train and grabbed some coffee on the way out of New Braunfels back home. Seriously, best day ever. Violet loves being outdoors so she had an especially good day, I think :)

Saturday was spent doing some Spring cleaning! Ronnie cleaned the yard and started organizing the garage. LOOK AT THIS. Holy eff shit we have a lot of stuff. This is just about half of the garage. You can't see the other side but it has my Christmas décor. When we moved in we just threw shit in there because we never park our cars in there anyway buuut the time has come to finally purge and organize the hell out of everything! (That was my 2013 resolution!)

While Ronnie did that, I worked inside. I sent Ronnie with a bin and huge IKEA bag of toys to a nearby resale shop and because everyone and their mom is spring cleaning too, they didn't accept a whole lot of stuff but we managed to get $20 for a handful of things so that was nice! We sold a few things on Craigslist too. As for V's clothes, any mamas looking for girls NB-6 month clothes? I'm going to set up a page here to sell those items.

Ronnie and I became fully addicted to Netflix this weekend too - and to Breaking Bad. We have so much to catch up on with that show but we are totally up for the challenge. We watched I think 5 episodes in between all of the cleaning and I also watched a couple Mad Mens last night. It's so nice that V plays independently nowadays, makes for some fun TV catch up time ;)

And just to have it on record, Violet took a couple steps on Thursday night, a couple more on Friday and then both days this weekend she took about 4 steps at once. She is well on her way to walking!! In case anyone is even interested (because my life is just oh-so-interesting), I took this video last night and caught her taking a couple running steps. ha. She hasn't mastered it but is definitely trying.

Disclaimer: My living room and carpet may be messy but they are not dirty. The lighting came out weird on video and my carpet looks downright dirty. Gross. If it was that dirty, my kid wouldn't be playing around on it. Just saying ;)

my messy house + a winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats to my sweet friend, Amber! Expect an e-mail from me soon.
 

Thank you to all of you that entered! I wish I could give you all prizes.

But alas, I'm broke as a joke and can't afford that so how about you treat yo self!

 

Through this Friday, get 20% off Chip & Chisel with the code YAMC20!
(Code must be entered at time of purchase + You must like her Facebook page first to qualify.)

Seriously. Do it.
Lindsy's jewelry is already super affordable so 20% off is a crazy good deal.

------------------------

So how was my weekend?

MESSY.

I cleaned out V's closet and clothing bins and basically just made a big mess of her room.

I posted about it yesterday but I really do need your help.

Should I sell the baby clothes at resale or open an IG shop?

And if you say IG shop, I'll need advice there too.
I don't want to lose a ton of time and money on it ya know? I'm torn.

 

Also, my kid has the BEST, cutest, funniest bed head ever.

Don't be jealous.

 

Also, get yourself some of this goodness.

 

Thankfully my mom doesn't read (or know about) my blog because I'd have to defend myself every day and explain that my house is not always this messy. Ok, yes it is, but we do clean up every day and especially when we have company coming over.

 

Apparently I feel the need to explain that to anyone who sees pictures of my mess.

 

happy Monday, foolios! :)

 

the weekend.

Oh, y'all. The week I've been dreading is here. Thursday, V will be a ONE YEAR OLD. To get all mopey and sad about it, this past weekend was the last with our under 1 "baby". I'm in denial. And not like I'm biased or anything but she really is the coolest kid ever. She may not sleep for shit but she's hilarious and so much fun - what more could you ask for? (Oh yeah. Sleep.)

So the weekend. Saturday, we ran errands for the party and bought a billion things and somehow I still need to pick up a few billion more. I'm excited for her party but dude, I'm ready for it to be over too so I can move on in my life.

Also have to share that we had lunch at RUDY'S. Y'all. We are lucky to have such good BBQ in our area. Oooh and the cream corn. This is why I can't have nice things. (Such as a nice body.) Violet got her first taste of that and it's safe to say she's hooked. Whoops.

While we were there, V was "talking" to a boy around her age at the next table so we got to talking to his parents and the mom and I exchanged info so we can get the babes together. Ever tried making friends as an adult? Shit's hard! So it's nice to have baby matchmakers that way.

1. Morning hair // 2. BBQ! // 3. Violet ready for BBQ!
4. Trying to love the curls // 5. Save the date happiness // 6. Just dragging my kid around
7. V doesn't leave poor Niles alone // 8. Weiner outfit! // 9. Nap time sillies

Sunday we did a whole lot of nothing (those last two pictures above) but nap and play while Ronnie was gone doing volunteer work. He's getting in hours every Sunday as part of his dietetics program and though we miss him, it's nice to get in some time alone with V.

 

In the afternoon we went to a birthday party for my friend's "Irish Twins" that just turned 2 and 3. (How any mom does the one baby after the other thing is beyond me. Those moms are my heroes.) I was bummed for V that she can't walk yet and join in with the big kids but she had a good time watching and crawling around in the wood chips. At least we know girl's not afraid of getting dirty.

I'd never been to the park where the party was held and it was so pretty! Definitely a place I'd like to go back to with Ronnie. It's about 40 miles NW of San Antonio so it was a trek and then when we got there it was like 10 degrees cooler than SA and got so windy that we couldn't stay long. (It was like 60 degrees but you know us Texans. Bad asses about everything but cold weather ;)

 

I'm linking up with the cool kids even though my weekend was far from cool.

Phone Photo Mondays

Ok so I already posted once this morning (Fall Swap partners!) but I couldn't not post some pictures from the past week. You know how I do!


1. Mama likes her sparkletini // 2. Freaking ticket  // 3. Baby resale shopping // 4. Oh, donut holes + coffee
5. Jumperoo love // 5. Plastic wine glasses love // 6. Twins! // 7. Nom nom
8. Baby booty + Baby legs // 9. Perfect Sunday weather // 10. Watching football with daddy // 11. Lady Goo Goo. ha!

 Linking up with my frands Savanah & Ashlee! 

Today

Oh, Saturdays how I love you! You are no work and all play! Even if that play is just cleaning my house, I'm ok with that. Which I only say because this is the weekend of DEEP CLEANING so I kinda have no choice but to be ok with it ;)

 

My poor kid has had itchy, red, watery eyes for the past 2 weeks and we have no idea why. Her pediatrician said there's nothing we can do for allergies at such a young age but we can't just leave her like this! Have yours kid ever gone through this? I mean, it could be pet dander, outdoor allergens or I just need to dust the damn house better, who knows. I just hope all this cleaning helps - I hate seeing her like this.

 

But before I leave for mama cleaning duty (doodie. hehe), I leave you with some pictures of this goofy babe from last weekend. She'd rolled off her play mat to the floor and stayed there watching TV upside down. The pictures are cute and all....

 

 but they're ridiculously cute when you flip them around ;)

happy weekend, friends! :D

 

oh and if you missed the last time I posted about it, I still have stuff left on my mommy/baby gear blog sale!

the faux fall weekend

Happy Monday, y'all!

I feel like all my weekends lately have been especially lazy but hey, I'm not complaining. Ronnie's now the sick one so we didn't do much but we did have some bomb ass weather and that's truly all that matters in life. When you're used to humid 100+ temps every day, it's nice to have it drop about 10 degrees with no humidity. Us crazy Texas folk call that a "cool front". And it almost felt like Fall. Almost :)

A couple reminders before I get into the pictures:

You have gots to sign up for our Fall Scarf and Nail Polish Swap! 
& Check out my blog sale - it's mommy and baby gear!

I'm linking up in 2 spots today with some of my favorite ladies!

Is it just me or are 4-day work weeks what dreams are made of?! I would never complain about work again if I only had to work 4 days! Or I could totally be making that up because work is still work ;) Last week super flew by though and I wish every week could feel like that!

Thursday was Girls Night ! We got crazay! Or as crazy as a bunch of moms can get at Chuy's with $3.75 margaritas! We were home by 9. Wild and crazy let me tell you ;) Friday, nothing to write home about but it was a good mail day. I got in my Old Navy order and some stuff for Violet from Children's Place and Baby Legs. That child is already spoiled, even with broke parents. ha 

1. A crazy haired girl and her daddy at the Dr's // 2. Nekkid nails feel weird // 3. Cutie in her first ponytail!

Saturday we left sick Ronnie at hope to rest and went out to do some shopping! We had a fun mother/daughter day that included my favorites: Old Navy, Target, Starbizzles aaand Sonic Happy Hour ;) Why does caffeine excite me so much?!

1. In case y'all forgot, we have 2 wiener dogs :) // 2. Serious bedhead
3. Shopping with my girl // 4. V and her BFF Sophie // 5. Pretty night sky

Yesterday was an even lazier day. Aren't all football days that lazy? Ronnie was still feeling sick so he rested which meant getting to sit there all day watching football. Poor guy. (insert sarcasm). I, on the other hand got to do a lot of cleaning/laundry which you know is always fun times! We only ventured out once for lunch and for some coffee. It was a gorgeous day again and with football mixed in, it really did feel like Fall ;) 

1. The sign is up at our new Trader Joe's!! Open open open!
2. Brown sugar and cinnamon iced coffee // 3. Her Scottish roots are finally showing in her hair // 4. Ridiculous child, watching TV upside down

All in all it was a great weekend. How was yours?
Have a good one!!

Weekend in Photos

(warning: picture overload!)

Ronnie went back to school today so his days as a SAHD are no longer! I know he loves V like crazy (and is the BEST dad) but I know he also was ready to go back to "his" life. It had to be tough keeping her 10 hours a day while I was at work!

We had a great last week/weekend before school. Per usual, there were a couple trips to Target. I finally picked up V's dress there for our Fall family pictures - thank you Rhonda for showing it to me a couple weeks ago! Then at work on Friday we were treated to some yum-ass Kona Grill for a co-worker's birthday and had beer thirty at the end of the day. Nice start to the weekend!


1. THE dress! // 2. Cutie and her two teeth // 3. SUSHI! // 4. Girly pomegranate beer.

Saturday we had a "family date" with my sweet friend Elizabeth, her hubby Eric and their cutie Hannah. We met up at the Pearl Brewery for the Farmer's Market, did some shopping there and at some cute nearby stores, then went for brunch. We had such a good time with them! That afternoon, we went to Ronnie's sister's and their dad BBQ'ed for us. We had a lot of fun with them too. It was a pretty long day for us though!

1. Getting the stroller tires filled at the bike shop! ha // 2. Pearl! // 3. Hannah and Violet meet

4. Cute men, cute babies //5. Elizabeth looking lovely as usual // 6. Honey looking cute at the bookstore

6. Chatting girlfriends // 7 Elizabeth loving on V at lunch!

Sunday, V and I went to lunch with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday! I was nervous about how V would behave but she did so awesome. Her only freak out was at nap time. She gets that from her momma I think ;) After lunch we hung out at my parents' for a while and she got tons of attention from them, it was sweet!

Happy birthday today to my Momma!!!

just the weekend

happy monday, y'all :)

1. Violet has really taken to her lovey, Bobo. It's amazing to see your child learning right in front of your eyes and I get giddy seeing her grab onto the lovey as if she really understands that she's supposed to cuddle and love him. Maybe not but I just love seeing her little chunk arms wrapped around him <3

2. I discovered that the people of Taco Cabana (or just the one by my house) really love dogs. Either way, Frasier scores. I went through the drive thru with him on Friday and they gave him his own cup of beef fajitas! Probably his proudest moment in life. Ronnie went again on Sunday and they gave Frasier more fajitas. I fear he could get used to that sort of thing.

3. My favorite time with Violet is in the morning when she's just been unswaddled, has a fresh clean diaper and is always so happy and talkative. I noticed on Saturday morning just how long and thick her hair is getting and I couldn't help but wonder what little hairdo she'll have as a toddler. Not like I'm in ANY hurry for her to grow that fast.

4. Ronnie and I are completely obsessed with the HEB (grocery store) by my office so we go all the time, even though it's not the closest one to our house. We dropped by this weekend for lunch and I had quite possibly the best sandwich ever. Turkey, mozzarella, basil pesto and salso pesto. Obviously it was good enough to have its picture taken.

5. That afternoon on the way home, I begged Ronnie to stop at Sonic so I could feed my addiction for Coke Zero + Vanilla. We got there exactly at 1:50 pm and you're crazy if you think I didn't make him park and wait the 10 minutes so we could order during the 1/2 off Happy Hour. That 10 minutes seemed like an eternity but it was worth it, my friends!

6. We've tried all kind of different tricks for bathing Violet but nothing works because she still screams throughout each bath. She cries like we're hurting her but she seems to forget what comes after. She gets lotioned, massaged, comfy pj's and put to bed. Which I'm sorry, little girl, but that ain't anything to complain about!

Besides all that excitement, Violet got her 2 month shots (3 weeks late) on Friday. I took off of work because I was afraid she'd be super fussy or get a fever. She ended up taking the shots like a champ and we had an easy, non fussy weekend!

how was your weekend? :)

 

Weekend Photos

Happy Monday, y'all! How was your weekend?

We had a seriously wild weekend, let me tell you!

On Saturday I gathered up a bunch of coupons I had and we took our Babies R Us and Target gift cards and loaded up on formula, diapers and wipes for Miss V. We have a nice little stockpile going now and while it looked like a lot at first, we realized it'll probably last us hmm about 3 weeks? ha! We also did more plant shopping since we're trying to spruce up our yard and it was nice taking Violet for a stroll outside. Then Sunday we finally cleaned house and Ronnie's sis came over for a visit to see Miss V. 

So yeah, wild and crazy weekend. If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be excited about a weekend like this, I'd have told you you were crazy :)

If you follow me on Instagram (jeyreycupcake) you've probably seen most of these!

It was breezy and looked so pretty after it rained!

Posing with a pinata at Grandma's house...It's Fiesta time here!

Feeling down about my weight, I treated myself to a sundae :p

Out shopping for plants, we came across this pretty behemoth!

Looking pretty for shopping with her parentals!

  

I LOVE that she's becoming so aware of her toys!

  

Up close and personal!