Six years ago today...

Happy anniversary to my amazing husband.  

The love of my life, my partner always by my side, my best friend.  

I love you more today than I did six years ago.  Thank you for the most incredible journey of my life and here's to the many, many more adventures together.

Here's what...

So here’s what I’m loving these days…
 

The Newsroom

 With what little time I have to watch TV, I found time to get caught up on the Newsroom.  Best. Show. Ever. Takes me back to the good old days here. Sadly now that it’s over, I’m filling my TV time with Real Housewives. Cannot wait for the Jersey reunion!

 

Gone Girl

 So we all know I’m a reality TV junkie and not much of a reader, but I have heard more and more people talking about Gone Girl.  A friend let me borrow it for the beach trip, and although I barely made a dent in it, I’m really loving it! Just hope I can find some time to actually finish it {the last book I read took me almost a year. And it was The Help. Not exactly a tough read.}.

 

Farmers' Market Skillet

Found this amazing dish on Pinterest, and we have been making it literally every week for the last couple of months. It is that good. And yes, it is crazy easy. I double the recipe and then we eat the leftovers for lunch. B is such a fan which is rare when it comes to my vegetarian dishes. Thinking this might have been our last week to make it since it is officially Fall, which means…

Fall clothes! Oh I am SO loving the Fall trends and am ready to ditch all open toed shoes and bare legs and jump straight into boots, tights and jackets. Sadly, my shopping budget is being shared with diapers and formula these days. So, I am all about a deal…and believe me there are many to be had!

 

I was eying these adorable oxfords at Anthro {which are now sold out but you can find them at Shopbop} and actually thought the $79.00 price tag was a steal...

That was until I saw these...

At Target for $19.99! They look identical to the Dolce Vita ones.  Sadly my Tar-jay was out my size, but I think I’m going to snag these when I find a seven.

 

I’ve also been salivating over this bad boy from J.Crew. 

Love the colors. Love the print. Don’t love the price tag. I could not justify paying $268, especially when I saw this…

$24 .94 at Old Navy! 

I ordered this immediately and have been living it! What Fall finds are you loving?

Beach bums!

Well I survived my big event this weekend with big hopes to just kick back and relax Sunday.  Wrong.  I’ve been playing nurse to a sick baby.  Poor G had a virus, and let’s just say the child had more baths these last few days than he has in his entire life {how’s that for honesty?}.  In the midst of switching the many, many loads of laundry I did manage to upload some beach pics {Finally, yay!}.

 

So last spring we were chatting with our best friends Beth and Justin about planning a beach trip.  We want this to be an annual tradition so our boys can grow up together, and the parents can have some fun too!  We were initially thinking Rosemary, Watercolor or Seaside, and our fabulous planner Beth was on the search for the perfect spot.  But then I came across this article from StyleBlueprint and was intrigued.  I had never heard of Cape San Blas but am such a fan of the Styleblueprint gals, that I knew if they were endorsing this spot, it must be the best.  And it was.

 

If you are looking for lots to do, lots of people and lots of buzz, Cape San Blas is not for you.  But if you’re like me and are just wanting to get away, relax and just be with the ones you love, quaint and secluded Cape San Blas is your haven.  Beth found us the perfect spot to stay.  The beauty of Cape San Blas is there are no high rise condominiums, so you feel as though you have the place to yourself.  And we did.  Literally.  Other than one other family that was there at the beginning, we were the only ones on this beautiful beach {which by the way is covered in the most abundant and beautiful seashells I have ever seen}.  We spent our mornings sleeping in, lounging by the pool, walking the beach and watching our boys play in the saltwater for the very first time {G LOVED it!}.  We spent our evenings eating, drinking, playing cards, listening to the guys jam and talking about the good old days. J  It was such a sweet trip that I look forward to making now each year.

As soon as we arrived to Port St. Joe, last stop before Cape San Blas, I told B all I wanted was to eat some fried shrimp on the water.

DockSide Cafe was the perfect stop!

G was excited to be out of the car. :)

I was so hoping for some raw oysters, but thanks to the hurricane, no oysters anywhere!

So we went with the other house speciality, dill tuna dip.  Delicious!

It got a little bright, so G needed his shades.  Ha!

My fried shrimp...

 

We made it to Cape San Blas and got all settled in, but immediately went down to the beach.

This baby was like a fish to water {forgive my lame pun, but he was!}.  

He LOVED the beach!

Forgive my picture overload, but is he not the cutest beach bum ever?

Well this one is pretty cute too!

My adorable Godson, Maddox.

Family pic!

Such special friends...Love these guys!

The scenery was just breathtaking.  I truly felt so relaxed.

We literally had the place to ourselves!

We stayed in most nights, but we did venture out one night to Sunset Coastal Grill. 

I am a sucker for good seafood, and this place did not disappoint.  The hot crab and artichoke dip was amazing.

Attempted a boys pic but with these little ones, this was the best I got.

Shrimp and Grits.

A storm blew through the next morning, and I was secretly so thankful.  It gave us permission to just stay in bed and lounge around.  Just what I like to do on my vacation.

Afterwards, I attempted a photo shoot for G...

He just wanted to play!

So we put him back in his beach gear, and he was ready to take on the waves!

 

 

 

 

Such a fun time with such sweet memories made.  Ready to be back there now!

Thankful...

You know what’s funny about social media, it’s completely subjective and self-selected.  When it comes to Facebook, Twitter and blogs, it’s all up to the author what they want to portray.  You can be that person that just focuses on the good, painting the picture that everything in your life is fabulous.  Fabulous trips, fabulous things, fabulous family.  You can be the person that tends to be too negative, only focusing and posting on breakups, sickness and disappointment.  It’s such a fine line.  I for one with my blog {because I’m the worst FB user ever} hope that I come across as authentic.  I have had several conversations in recent weeks with friends that have caused me to evaluate this.  I don’t want this blog to be a false impression of my life in any way.  My point in it is simply to celebrate everyday life.  Family, friends, trips, recipes, motherhood...whatever that looks like {the good, the bad and the poopy!}.  Please know that when it comes to motherhood especially, I love to share the sweet moments and precious pics of my little man.  I guess if I’m going to be authentic, I’ll need to start posting the pics of dirty dipes, runny noses and a face covered in carrots. Ha! Motherhood {and life for that matter!} is hard, but it truly is a gift and journey unlike any other. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world.  Since we’ve been back from the beach, life has been crazier than usual.  G started school, B is busier than ever and my new job is in overdrive with my first big event this weekend.  I cannot even find the time to go through my beach pics and upload them for the grandparents to see, and I have 557 unread messages in my Gmail account!  I’m so behind on this blog I just posted G’s seven month birthday pic.  And if I’m being really honest, we still have two suitcases that have not been unpacked from the beach {why yes, we’ve been back for nine days now}.   I say all this just to be real and authentic.  I know I personally can beat myself up when I follow other blogs of these supermoms who appear to be doing it all and wonder why I cannot.  But that’s just it.  No one is supermom, superwoman, superworker, superfriend, etc.  It’s impossible to do it all.  What is possible is just to do our best.  More importantly, do it {motherhood, work, life} with the right attitude.  In these last couple of weeks of craziness I have found myself complaining and not having the best attitude.  Shame on me!  I saw this pic on another blog, and it really convicted me.

 

 

So true! And such a good reminder for us all. I can honestly say it's working. This morning when I awoke to find the refrigerator door open {as it had been all. night. long.} and spent the morning throwing out the pre-made bottles and making new bottles that then made me late out the door, I just smiled and gave thanks for the husband that left the door open, the baby that needs the bottles and the job that forces me out the door each day. See how that works? J

Look Who's Eight Months Old!

Happy eight month birthday, George!

So these pics are getting harder to take to the more mobile the boy gets. :)

Month eight included his first time home without Mom and Dad {thank you, Oma!}, his baptism, a love for his whale bath and puffs!

He is growing up oh so fast.  I want time to just stand still.

Look Who's Seven Months Old!

Happy Seven Month Birthday, George!

For the sake of consistency I must post, but yikes am I behind or what {his nine month birthday is tomorrow!}.

Luckily I take notes...Month seven brought sleeping on his tummy, a love of peas, a cross country road trip and a love for grabbing anything and everything.

Love this sweet baby boy!!!

Scenes from the weekend...

I live for the weekend but especially a long weekend.  I would be so good with having a long weekend once a month.  Yes please!  We spent our holiday weekend enjoying the company of B’s brother and his wife.  G was so excited to have his Aunt Amy and Uncle Caleb in town!  We got a babysitter and enjoyed a night out with a Love and Theft concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame and dinner at the Southern.  Amy and Caleb headed back early Sunday morning to pick up their kiddos so our little family of three relished in the laziness of a rainy afternoon and night in, just us.  Spent Monday getting ready for our beach trip {YAY!} with a trip to Target…unfortunately Costco was closed.  Good for them but bad for me {I so wanted to take that amazing jalapeno Greek yogurt dip!}.  Got all our laundry done, and the car is packed.  We are officially beach bound!