This must be my new trend, posting everything two months after the fact! ;) I'm not sure if anyone even still reads this old blog of mine but I find it hard to just let it go. I never kept up with a baby book for Violet (sorry, child of mine!!) so I at love at least having this to look back on. And Instagram, of course. I hope Blogger and Insta never go away!! :(

July was an interesting and busy month! My parents gifted us with money for new flooring and to just fix up our bathrooms and house in general. It was a belated wedding gift and just totally made our life. The focus this month turned into ALL THINGS HOUSE. It was fun but money goes FAST. Not sure if y'all knew that. haha But it was so much fun! We decided on new carpet, bought a bunch of random decor and got our master shower redone. I am forever grateful to my parents for that gift. We've always needed to do some upgrades at the house but with only one full-time income, that just wasn't possible before. We are falling in love again with our little 2 bedroom house and we want to make it work where we can stay here another few years (we've been here almost 3).

1. Celebrating the first day of July in winter fashion. ha. Girl is obsessed with all things cold weather! (Poor thing needs to be moved out of Texas! ha) // That time my parents took us out to dinner and gave us that amazing wedding gift! // We had a laid back 4th at home, and with Mexican food of course. // I started right away on buying things for the house. My little hatchback carries a lot of stuff but this was when I realized I NEED an SUV!

2. I actually bought and wore shorts in public! It had to be noted because I was always so uncomfortable in them. Not anymore! // One of my favorite pictures of her ever! That smile! // I went on a trip to Atlanta with some of the work girls. It was a good time of tradeshow'ing and drinking wine or beer in our beds at night. ha // My first tradeshow with my married name. So mushy and exciting!

3. I loved returning home to this monkey and her "pretty smile" // I think this was the month of trying out new restaurants. We blew a lot of $ this month eating out. Fun but UGH. // My parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary!! // This girl got to know Lowe's REAL well this month. We all did.

4. After I got off work one Friday, we got a wild hair and raced to Round Rock (an hour and a half drive) to hit up IKEA before it closed! That was the quickest, most fun shopping spree ever! // Boss lady bought us all fitbits in preparation for our big event. Plus, she encourages our competitiveness ;) // Our a/c went out this month. Fixing it didn't break the bank but we were told we'd need a new one within a year. UGH. // Upped my water intake a ton this month, thanks to these bad boys!

Coming soon, August! ;) 

the weekend haps

Have I mentioned how amazing it is to not work a Friday for the rest of the year?! Thanks goodness for enough vacation time to be able to do that because I am loving it and plan to do the same next year! I'm having a blast having that extra time with my favorites and it makes me never want to work a Friday again. ha! This past weekend was so quiet and relaxing and made about 100x better by the crazy "Artic Blast" we got in on Friday. OMG it's been so cold (for South Texas!) and I don't ever want it to end.

Friday, we braved the crowd and went to Target, Hobby Lobby and then scoured Home Depot for some things for the house. We've decided to really make an effort to customize and update our house, a little at a time. Things like new paint, new light fixtures, french doors to replace sliding doors (we have three sets!?), new sinks in the bathrooms, etc. We've been slacking on that stuff since we bought the house two years ago (or maybe we've just been tight on money ;) but our goal in 2014 is to make it a priority! This Friday we're actually having the four huge trees in our yard trimmed (a big expense we've been putting off but I'm happy we can finally do it) and also having the kitchen counter tops refinished!!! Our old 80s laminate counters will get an new look and I can't wait! It's a much more cost effective way for us to get an updated look since granite counters aren't in the budget right now! 

Saturday, we didn't do much but hang out at home by the fire because it was that freaking cold and it was so so perfect. I also cleaned the house (my weekend duty. bleh) and then my parents came over and brought us pizza for dinner. That was so nice of them to do and Violet loved having time with him, I'm sure they felt the same ;)   

Yesterday, was a day that deserves its own post so I'll get to that tomorrow!

Random share. Buy yourself this goodness // Shopping with my loves // C - O - L - D
Searching for the perfect "greige" - any recs? // Her 2013 ornament, "Minnigey" // Cool baby V

House + bebe talk

I am finally moving my ass and getting into decorating our house. Oh, just over a year since we bought this place! Things have been looking bland and I HATE IT. I know Ronnie does too. We need color, we need things, we need it to feel cozier! I blame the fact that we moved into the house just 2 1/2 months before Violet arrived so we honestly have never had the time to properly decorate! So I've started picking up a few things here and there and was surprised at how many cute things I found at Kohl's! I haven't really shopped there lately but we had some gift cards from Christmas so we've gone a couple times recently. I've added many things to my wish list for when they go on sale ;)

I think just picking up small things like rugs and wall decor really gets me excited for bigger projects! Last time we went, I picked up these rugs, one for the entry way and one for the kitchen. They're both so so cute in person!

Chevron  // Striped

Then I picked up this picture for our entry way gallery wall that is finally in progress and I had to grab the frame for my desk at work.

I can't believe how much she's grown since those pictures were taken!

We still have so many more things we want to do to the house but I think next up is PAINTING!

We (as in Ronnie) painted the house right before V was born and we hate the color (remember?) and fully DESPISE the color in the kitchen (lime green that sampled pale but painted BRIGHT. Yuck.). So that's what's been going on in my hizzy. Hopefully this painting business will get done soon. As soon as mama gets her tax refund, it is ON! ha

Now, I'd like to take a moment to get all whiney and sad because it is exactly 3 weeks until my girl turns ONE. I had a full on sob session last night when I was watching videos of her on my phone. The one that really had me sobbing was this one from when she was 5 WEEKS OLD. She had finally started smiling and LOOKING at me and would just stare into me forever while I held her. Oh, my heart.

Please ignore my annoying voice (I'm pretty sure my nose was stuffy) AND please oh please ignore our horribly messy house! We were way tired ok and not in any condition to clean! haha

christmas tree weekend

I finally brought out the Christmas decorations on Saturday but we had some major cleaning and organizing to do first. It's insane how quickly our house had turned into a clusterf*** ever since a certain little girl graced us with her presence 9 months ago ;) But I am happy to report that the looney bin is back to normal and the Christmas tree finally made its debut yesterday! V got to put up the first ornament - meaning Ronnie placed it on there and she yanked it back off ;)

I'm so awful with our little point and shoot and have no clue how to take good pictures, let alone pictures of lights!
So, blurry shots is what you're getting!

By the time I started decorating last night, I was just so exhausted. It made me think of how different things were last year when I put up the tree, over 8 months pregnant. No baby to tend to and how immaculate the house already was. It was so easy back then. Luckily, I'm a million times more in love with life now :)

Playing before I started decorating // Baby tree for baby

Total #firstworldproblems but I have to show y'all. While cleaning out V's room, I discovered she has THIS MANY Christmas things to wear. We don't even have that many Christmas events to go to! So, girlfriend's gonna wear a new outfit every other day, no matter where we're going. ha

Ready to venture out into the cold just so mom and dad could get some night time Starbucks ;)

Ooh, and I finally caught up on Nashville! Do y'all watch it!? I LOVE Rayna and seriously want to just be her (if it includes that amazing house of hers!) when I grow up ;) Just minus the politician husband. And am I the only one who thinks Juliette is a little biatch?! Gah she irks me. Maybe it's just because I'm not a big fan of Hayden herself. Either way, the ending was really good, it totally surprised me! And that boyfriend of hers is HOTT.

It was a really good, tiring weekend. Too bad all good things must come to an end.
And notice how I didn't post a picture of a completed Christmas tree? Probably because it's not completed. Babies, man. Always wanting attention and stuff ;)

I hope you had a fabulous weekend!!

 

Rando Post

Not a whole lot going on around here...Just here being pregnant and uncomfortable. ha! I've been racking my brain for post ideas but really all that's been going lately is getting ready for baby girl's arrival (seriously just 7 weeks away!) and trying to fix up our new casa as much as possible since we know we won't have the time for a while after she gets here...

Poor Ronnie spent so much time painting our house last week only to discover that the paint color looks pretty freaking different than we were expecting. The color is called "Sandstone Cliff" which to us looked very much like a beigey gray on the swatch and even on the test patch we tried out. But when the walls were fully painted, it looks more just like a light gray during the day and powder blue at night! UGH. So not the look we were going for. But here's a pic of it during the day. Not that horrible, right? But let me tell you, it's awful at night. I'll have to get a picture. One wall in the living room even looks sage green because of the lighting!

My photo shoot interrupted poor Sibley's nap. ha!

Needless to say, we're trying to let it grow on us and see how we can redecorate a little around that color... It sounds like too much work to me to buy new things and redecorate but Ronnie thinks it's way too much work to redo all the paint! Stop being so lazy and just do it, right?! ha! j/k But as much as I just want him to repaint, I know that's not a good option. Especially spending all that money again for paint. Oy vey.

Also on my mind lately? Shopping. (When is that not on my mind? :) I've been scouring through winter clearance sales on baby websites so I can load baby girl up for her first winter. It's my favorite time of year so I'm excited for later this year when I can get her all done up in cardigans, dresses and tights. Ronnie's sis from Dallas sent down a Christmas gift for V too.. Check it:
 

Ridiculous, right? :) They should fit her in time for winter too!

And last rando bit...I would LOVE a blog makeover! My design by Meg O. is amazing and I love it but I get so ancy and just want something fresh for the new year. She's booked for a while I think so if anyone knows of a designer who is awesome and pretty affordable, let me know! :)

Happy Wednesday!

My favorite Friday yet

As of 4:30 pm yesterday, I became a HOMEOWNER!!! I couldn't be more excited and I'm fully enjoying the pregnant excuse because while I work today, Ronnie and his best friend are moving our stuff in!! Tomorrow he's going to paint what rooms he can and then Sunday will be our first night in our new house! I am seriously so relieved to have the home buying process OVER AND DONE with! Since Ronnie's still a student, this house is just in my name (but it's still totally OUR house) and it was a stressful time being the only one working out all the numbers and paperwork with the lender, realtor, title company..ugh. It really wore on me but I'm glad to say it's done!! I couldn't have done it without Ronnie by my side either.

To say I look awful in these pictures is an understatement. Seriously. So if you're thinking "Yikes", I'm right there with you. But it was such an exciting day, I could care less! lol

Right after this we went out for a celebratory dinner...Normally I would've said "Margaritas!!" but since that obviously isn't an option right now, we went to our favorite little Mexican joint and pigged out. Funny how being pregnant makes me want breakfast for dinner a lot so I had some migas (a mix of scrambled eggs, cheese and corn tortilla strips) and was happy for the night :)

I'll be posting soon all about the house but for now, I'm going to relax my butt off and enjoy not having to send yet another email or text to my realtor and mortgage lender. They're awesome people and all but I'd like to not talk home buying for a long time, thank you!!

And to all of you who've been such a support throughout this process, THANK YOU!!!! If I could have every one of you over to our house, I would! Having the support of my blog friends definitely helped me keep my eyes on the prize, y'all are the BEST!

Happy Friday :D