Friday, November 16, 2012

staying fit!

it's 2 days in a row here... could i be back in blogging?! yesterday i talked a bit about diet- but i wanted to hit a little on something i think is even more important than dieting- exercise. when i was pregnant, and even before... and sadly for a year or more after- i wasn't very active. dave & i would go on walks from time to time, but nothing major. when dave suggested we do a triathlon to celebrate our 30th birthdays, i thought he was crazy- but then i started working out, and you know what? it wasn't hard- it was actually kind of... fun. now working out isn't always an adventure, but it certainly feels good most of the time, and even better- it makes it a little more satisfying when you want to indulge every now and then. i've posted before on keeping your children active- but what better example can you set for them than the example of you yourself being active. i want ian to see that i tried, and that i worked hard. i love when we pick him up from the gym nursery and he says "momma's 'esser-sizin!'" i love being that example for him! i wanted to share this infographic because i think physical activity is so important, not only for children, but adults as well... just see what only a few minutes extra a day can do for you!!  lack of proper nutrition and activity is a serious deal for people everywhere- it's really scary stuff.  so please, take a look!

Inactivity Infographic
Infographic courtesy of here!

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

still strugglin' aka. worst diet ever.

i'm talkin' about mah fitness this week because that's pretty much all i thought about in august... and that's where i've skipped ahead to in my catch-ups...

if you have been reading my blog for a while, you might know that i ate myself to a 45 lb pregnancy weight gain.  not fun.  and, if you've been reading my blog for a little bit of time, you might know that i. can't. lose. that. weight.  ian is almost 3, and I still have 5-10 lbs of that weight depending on what day it is (and how much i pretended to weigh pre-baby).  here is me losing weight- i gain 5 lbs, i lose 5 lbs.  i never weight more than 143... i never weigh less than 137 (there, i said it).  frustrating.  i had been kicking ass in the gym, watching my calories consistently, and still... nothing.  i tried several different calorie intakes- 1200, 1600, 2000 (all recommended by the computer or people) and still... nothing. 

finally, i decided to have my blood work done.  maybe something crazy was going on there- i have been praying for a long time that i have a thyroid condition (not b\c i want one, b\c i want answers).  it showed up normal on the test too- and even a follow-up from my dr. with the 2nd thyroid test showed up ok as well.  boo. 

so i decided to go see a naturopath.  she is a friend of dave's parents, and they had been seeing her for a while, and i thought maybe it would work for me.  we went over my blood work, lifestyle, etc to see what i needed- and that was a whole bunch of vitamins.  low iron, low this, low that.  it's a wonder i was still alive... ;)  plus, i couldn't lose weight.  yikes.  so i got my recommendations and here is what it looked like...


welcome to vitamin world.  in  my kitchen.  5 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon.  plus my other recommendations:

breakfast- protein shake w\ water, enough orange juice to take vitamins.
lunch-  protein shake w\ water, afternoon vitamins, celery with peanut butter
dinner- meat (preferably red for the iron), veggies.

i was allowed to have 1 piece of dark chocolate a day and beef or turkey jerky as a snack.  no pasta, no rice, no beans, no fruit, no dairy.  i also needed to drink half my weight in water per day.

for 4-6 weeks.  yikes!

i actually stuck to this for the first 4 weeks easily.  my weight still went up and down, but it did get lower than before- and i even lost a couple of inches.  around the 5th or 6th week, we modified my diet to complete my triathlon... and once i got real food back into my system- it was all over.  I actually somewhat stuck to it for the next 2-3 weeks, but still not as good as I was doing before.  Just like usual though- I wasn't losing, but i wasn't gaining. 

plus, when you eat so much of the same thing over and over- you get a little sick of it... i can't even look at red meat these days... or protein shakes for that matter- just the smell makes me gag!  ugh!

so now it's been 3 months and i'm in the same exact spot.  looks like i'm doomed to carry an extra 10 lbs for the time being.  for now i'm going to just go back to my regular healthy eating patterns and working out...

have you ever tried an unusual diet, or had a recommended diet?  did it work?  Pin It!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

ombre, hombre

i totally stole that title from Heatha!  while i'm so behind on blogging and trying to reintegrate myself, i figure i'll catch up with my summer (which absolutely flew by).

around my birthday i decided i wanted my hair highlighted.  i have never highlighted my hair before- although I am no stranger to a box of hair dye (unforch) all over my hair- and not because i want to try something new either...  i deciding i was getting my hair done- professionally- and that was that.  I was a real good girl, and i saved my birthday money, and i got a couple of awesome gift certificates from dave & my bro- and it was off to the salon i went (nervously) for my consultation. 

i had never been to this salon before (only passed it, longingly), so i was matched with someone over the phone.  this girl was my soul mate- she loved my top- and we had the exact same idea of what we wanted to do- we went through a few magazines- found the right coloring and we were ready to schedule the appointment!  she loved the ombre and had just done one a couple weeks back and wanted to do another!  yay!

the appointment was a week out and i was on pins and needles with excitement.  all i had to do was color my roots and she'd do the rest.  during this time- my phone was acting a completely fool- first, i broke a piece on it- so i had to go all 2005 with the moto razr.  second- we renewed our contract and my new phone arrived- only to not work.  so i arrived at the salon to be greeted with a surprise- my stylist was sick- and they had someone in her place- didn't you get our voicemail?

no i did not, phone.  and sure enough, while i sat and waited (now anxiously), i checked my vm and i had 4 messages.  by this point, i felt like i had to let the new stylist do my hair- wouldn't she be insulted if i didn't?  and wouldn't my other stylist be insulted if i just let someone else do my hair?  so off with the other stylist i went (yes, i get i can say no- but i'm just too nice- i can't do it). 

things started bad- first i couldn't find the photos we used as a reference- then the girl didn't think that the number of the color i was giving her was right.  at this point we were both nervous, and probably a little edgy (i know i was).  we walked to the front in defeat- ready to reschedule with girl 1 when the receptionist pulled up my account.  girl 1 was so smart.  she put extensive notes on my account- we all felt relieved and i was ready to just get it over with. 

so, ombre highlights are different than regular highlights- first, they have to tease the ever loving mess out of your hair.  next- they put the foils in.  and finally- you sit forever looking like you're picking up a signal to mars...

ground control to major tom

but, if you thought sitting in one place for 45+ minutes was bad- no one even told me what was coming next- and that was COMBING all of my teased hair.  after the color was rinsed, the stylist had to comb through all of my hair, and i have a lot, and it was all teased bigger than a toddlers & tiaras episode.  that took another 45 minutes.  at one point in the combing- the poor stylist was treating my hair so gingerly b\c of all of my cries of pain- i asked her if I could comb it myself and save her the trouble.  she practically threw the comb in my face.  after that, it was just the dryer, some oohing and aahing from her fellow employees and i was on my way.  and in love.


this is definitely not this best picture, as the lighting isn't great- but you can definitely tell it's lighter.  i actually have some super blonde pieces underneath too.  i definitely spent the first week or so doing a double-take at my reflection- oh yeah, that's me!  

i wish i could say i have more photos of it... but... i don't ...   i will say that next time i won't waste so much time before getting pampered again- although i haven't had my hair or my eyebrows done since... so... 
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

through the years

i know it's been a few weeks since our anniversary, but when we took a photo that night, i was wondering (hoping) if we had taken a picture every year on our anniversary.  sadly, we have not.  i found a few from our anniversary, but the others i had to improvise.  it's definitely interesting to see how we've changed over the years!


1 - 2008
2 - 2009
3 - 2010
4 -2011
5 - 2012
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Friday, September 7, 2012

5 years!




high fives all around for 5 years of marriage!

on september 1, dave & i celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  we decided not to go all out on anniversary gifts this year.  we were bummed out because my bff and her husband were going to mexico that week and invited us along- but we had no passports and most importantly no one to watch ian- so the trip was out of the question.  since we have not been on a real live vacation SINCE OUR HONEYMOON (so seriously stop talking about your 5th vacay of the summer everyone else), we decided that maybe we can save up for one...  but who are we kidding?  our priority is to get out of debt- and that means those student loans need to be paid off... so one day.  i also haven't seen aforementioned bff in, oh, 3.5 years.  we're not bitter...  ;)

so, of course, we say we aren't getting each other gifts and we do anyway...  i got dave a cd he wanted & he got me a new pepper grinder since the traditional 5 year anniversary gift is wood.  i told him his "wooden" gift would arrive on sept. 11 when the avett brothers' new album "the carpenter" come out... get it?

anyway, our friend offered to watch ian (which is perfect because they love each other dearly) so we could hit the town to celebrate our day.  we went to a local restaurant that we had never been to before that came highly recommended- and, man, was it good.  it was recommended because of it's crazy beer selection, but we fell in love with it because of the food/mission- everything is local- the meat, the bread, the veggies- heck, even the pickles.  all the food comes from farms located in various parts of illinois.  it's sustainable living at its best.  the food was amazing.  you could really tell everything was fresh.  yum.  if you live in this area- check it out!  dinner was amazing from start to finish & we were even feeling a little sentimental & split a piece of carrot cake for dessert (we had carrot cake as part of our wedding cake).  we then spent the rest of our evening at buy buy baby- so any cool points went out the window...

dress:  modcloth "good enough to premiere"
heels:  seychelles via amazon (can usually find a good deal there)!


<3 br="br">




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Thursday, August 23, 2012

worst blogger ever. yes, that would be me.

i have been "trying" so hard to be a good blogger, but it's definitely hard.  ian is so active and so busy right now, sometimes it's hard to find my balance.  i'm going to keep trying and keep plugging on and maybe i'll get back into a regular schedule.  we'll see.

dave & i finished another triathlon.  i have been losing weight.  i have the craziest kid ever.  this is all coming up- i promise.  Pin It!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

catching up: then i got older

lots of big things going on during my blogcation... up next.  i turned 30... plus 1.  ugh.  i guess i shouldn't be freaking out about this, but for some reason, this seems worse than 30 did.  who knows why... maybe it's that 30 is a nice, even, round number, but 31 kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.  plus, i kinda do feel old, even if i'm not.  my birthday was on saturday this year, which is a real treat because dave is home and i get to spend the whole day with him!  for starters, i slept in.  yay!  dave got ian up and kept him busy for a little while, so i got some extra rest.  when i got up, he was baking me a cake- which he did last year too.  i'm pretty impressed with his baking skillz.  ian was watching tangled, so i watched with him, of course.  we had lunch and then decided to open gifts then- probably because dave couldn't wait.  i figured out why ian was so interested in tangled that morning- i got tangled on dvd & dave had picked out a tangled bday card.  ian was pretty excited about both.  i also got a gift card to get my hair done- yay.  i'm pretty sure i had not had a haircut since... december.  yikes.

for dinner we went to a place called the ram that i really like- mostly b\c it's family friendly.  dave & i have a list of restaurants we really want to go to- but we don't want to take ian to any of them.  date night material.  the ram passes the family test.  after dinner, we headed to krispy kreme- the lone one in our area, because people around here think dunkin is the donut king.  they are crazy. 

 smart husband

 creepy mommy

 mmm, cake!

dress:  cinema foyer dress- modcloth - via swap
shoes:  seychelles


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Monday, July 9, 2012

catching up: first we had family photos

as i said before my blog sabbatical... we had family photos made.  asking a 2 year old to do anything is kind of a joke, but, ian seemed to do ok.  he had a hard time sitting still (shocker) and had to be bribed with fruit snacks (another shocker!)...  i'm happy with the results though.  julie (dave's cousin's wife) always does a wonderful job.  if you're in the ft. wayne area- be sure to look up king photography.  here are a few of my favorites...





love!

on ian:
polo: the children's place
pants:  target
sandals:  keen

on mommy:  
earrings: forever 21
dress:  it's a sher-bet dress- modcloth
sandals:  outer-bank on it sandal in white (saltwater sandals)- modcloth

these are officially ian's 2 year photos... even though it was 4 months after his birthday.  i think once a year is pretty good for photos.  how often do you do family/children photos?
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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

i am ending my self-imposed blogcation.  be back later. Pin It!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

long weekend

sorry if i upset any of you with my previous post- we are not expecting.  again.  sorry. 

i have been very lazy with the blog lately.  mostly because i do not budget my time wisely, plus i have a crazy house & a crazy son- plus i feel like i have a lot less time to do these things now that he is bigger- he requires a lot of my attention.  plus.. potty training. 

for memorial day weekend, we headed to ft. wayne, in to see dave's family (gma, aunt, uncle, cousins) & to have some family/ian photos made.  having photos made of a 2 year old is kind of a joke.  he wasn't having it.  dave's cousin's wife, julie, is a talented photographer though, and i'm sure she was able to make some magic happen somewhere.  other than the photos we just took it easy.  we did spend one day out at dave's aunt & uncle's lake house- heaven!  ian loved going in the water and playing in the sand.  lakes kind of make me nervous, but i went in a couple times and we had a lot of fun just enjoying a gorgeous relaxing day & spending time with the family.  plus.  we want a lake house now.  ahem parents & in-laws....  i definitely wish we could have stayed longer b\c i hate that you spend almost a whole day driving... which is a bummer.  plus, i secretly (or not so secretly) love ft. wayne.  definitely love it more than here.  i don't know what it is about that place-  but i just want to live there! 

it's another busy weekend for us.  dave's sister & her husband are in town from philly & saturday we are celebrating the family may/june birthdays + mother's/father's days.  6 birthdays + the moms & dads.  luckily, we already had a bday party for the nephew & the other nephew is only a month old- so it's actually only 4 birthdays.  best part- one of them is mine! 

i am throwing in the towel on ever losing weight & being thin ever again.  i might as well just have the rest of my children and then let the biggest loser take care of me eventually.  actually, i'm going to have some blood work done soon.  we'll let that be the deciding factor. 

i've been looking for this necklace ever since i found out i was the last person on the planet to know of its existence.  i've found some that i like on ebay.  they may not be of the best quality, but i can't argue at those prices.  thank you china & hong kong!

i'm off to bed for now.  another crazy toddler day.  fits & potty training galore tomorrow. 


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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

we were so busy last week that i forgot all about this special day that happened on may 17, 2009.  shame on me because i've been thinking about it for weeks!


i just can't believe it's been 3 years since that date- that crazy day when i drove like mad woman to walgreen's thinking i was going to pee myself, but i had to have that test & i had to know.  boy, the last 3 years have been an adventure!! Pin It!

Monday, May 21, 2012

dinner by pinterest v. 4

after our back to back trips i was glad to get back home and into the kitchen to cook!  although we had a pretty mild winter here, spring has been very slow coming around- this week finally seems to be the beginning of our true spring.  i sadly missed a gorgeous day inside the office at work- but such is life for most people.

here are a couple yummy recipes that i want to pass along to you...

another simple recipe with only a few ingredients that cooks in the crockpot all day while you are free to do whatever you'd like!  can easily be vegetarian by omitting the chicken & added more veggies +  you can add spices to your taste.  my only complaint- it was a little salty for me (my taste buds can be sensitive to salty things), but next time i'll fix that by not adding the entire pack of ranch dressing mix.  overall- very tasty and a different take on chili.  pinned from here.

 
yum yum.  this might be one of my favorite pinterest recipes ever!  it was super easy to make & really yummy!  we did some uncle ben's 90 second white rice with ours & some veggies & it was perfect!  we don't eat chinese out or in hardly ever & this was a perfect way to have some chinese food at home.  i might throw in a little broccoli next time for some extra veggie goodness!  make this!  pinned from here.

have you made either of these ?



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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

steppin' out saturday: mother's day weekend



 on ian: top- target, jeans- sonoma, shoes- nike.  on me:  top- trinity (via zulily), jeans- old navy, sandals- urban outfitters, earrings- modcloth.

we took it easy this weekend.  we decided to have our mother's day dinner saturday night to avoid the crowds on sunday.  and while i named off about 50 places i really wanted to go- we decided to put those on a "date night" list & go somewhere family friendly so that ian would enjoy himself, which means we would enjoy ourselves.  sunday we all had breakfast in bed & i got to open my mother's day gifts- chocolates, a gift card to ulta (new makeup!!) a cd and some hello kitty workout headbands.  we lazed around for a while and then decided to head out for the day.  we had lunch at panera, took ian to target to get him a new car, played for a while at the neighborhood playground & then headed out for ice cream (sorbet for him, of course).  when we got home, ian napped while dave & i just relaxed.  when everyone was awake again we headed to dave's parent's house to have dinner.  i made sure to give my mom a call (they're in florida)!   after spending time with them we came home & crashed.  perfect days spending lots of meaningful time with my boys.

how was your mother's day?

tomorrow is a big day for us...  i am going back to work!  it's only 1 day a week, but i think it will be nice to have a few hours out of the house to get my work done and ian will make some new friends & have lots of fun.  we found a great place for him which i'm sure i'll talk more about later.  i'm so nervous, and a little sad.  as much as i want time to get my work done, i don't want to leave my boy this long.  so keep us in your thoughts tomorrow- but i'm sure everyone will be just fine!!






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Friday, May 11, 2012

happy birthday

to you!
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

reviews: nuvia cafe instant coffee




i am a fair weather coffee fan.  i will drink it daily for weeks straight and then hardly touch it for months.  this drives dave crazy.  he hates coming home from work and seeing coffee still sitting in the pot, or even worse: half a cup of coffee or more in a mug.  the only time i will drink coffee it seems is when i buy it (probably something about paying for it) & if we're at a dinner or something.  instant coffee is more up my alley- but the taste leaves a lot to be desired.  with that being said- i was a little skeptical about nuvia cafe when i found out it was instant coffee- that's how i used to drink my coffee when i lived in my apartment without a coffee maker.  it. was. awful.  however- nuvia cafe doesn't taste like instant coffee- and it actually tastes better than the coffee we've been brewing at home (sorry dear)!  i was pleasantly surprised!  dave & i are both fans of strong-flavored coffee- and nuvia has a delicious bold taste- just the way i like it.

made up of only 4 ingredients: sumatran arabica coffee that is infused with african mango seed, pomegranate &  ganoderma (all certified 100% organic).  so you're probably wondering what those ingredients are, especially since nuvia cafe says they're instant healthy coffee.  ganoderma is an ancient asian mushroom that's been used in traditional chinese medicine.  the ganoderma mushroom is thought to have many healing benefits- immunity booster, anti-tumor effects, blood pressure lowering.  nuvia cafe also is a premium appetite suppressant & supports healthy energy.  i can't really speak for the appetite suppressant- since i work out during the day, i find myself pretty hungry throughout, but i do feel like it gives me good energy without an afternoon crash- and I can still sleep at night without feeling wired!

i'm sold on the taste of nuvia cafe alone, but add in these health benefits, and i'm hooked.  i'll definitely be carrying some nuvia cafe with me when i go back to work next week! 

nuvia cafe can be ordered online, ships the next day and comes with a 30 day money back guarantee!  also be sure to check them on out on twitter or facebook

I received a sample of the above product to try for free and keep in exchange for a review.  I received no further compensation.  All opinions are honest & my own.
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Friday, May 4, 2012

wish list friday: mother's day

oh, how i love random holidays where i can get a present... not that mother's day is a random holiday- it's a tough job.  it's nice to feel appreciated about once a year too!  here's what i'm wishing for- holding out hopes for one thing!

a gift card, of course.

while we're on the subject of gift cards, i wouldn't mind one to ulta or to a salon so i could actually have someone cut my hair that doesn't' work at "great" clips- i wouldn't mind a salon coloring either!  ooh, or birch box (do they do gift cards?)

monogrammed necklace.  super sweet.

always, this mixer.  yes, still the mixer.

or this cookware.  love the blue. 

a concert would be fun too.  fiona apple, jason mraz, florence + the machine & the avett brothers are all playing relatively close to here.

or i could just snuggle with my little boy all day... but he won't let that happen!  moms (or not) what do you like to get or give for mother's day.  that reminds me that i need to send my mom's gift out too!!
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

mommy reads: drowning ruth


lately i've kind of been coming & going with reading.  if i get involved in something too intense, i usually need to take a breather.  this happened after twilight and happened again after reading the hunger games (i guess i never reviewed those either).  i finished this book pretty quickly too, but life hasn't slowed down, therefore i haven't read since i finished it....

drowning ruth was picked for oprah's book club in 2000.  i honestly couldn't care less about what oprah thinks is a good book, but i was still drawn to the storyline.

drowning ruth takes place during wwi.  older sister amanda has just had a nervous breakdown & left her job as a nurse to head home to rural wisconsin for a break.  she goes to live with her sister mathilda & her daughter ruth (malthida's husband carl is fighting in france).  less than a year after amanda's arrival, mathilda is dead- she is found under the ice in a pond on their property.  when carl arrives home from france he finds ruth under amanda's tight grip.  the story is told by 2 narrators- amanda & ruth.  amanda alternates between past & present while ruth mostly tells about the present, but every now & then brings up the night she drowns.

i don't really want to go into too much detail b\c it would totally give the book away, but the entire time you're reading you're trying to figure out how mathilda drowns and the secrets that are uncovered along the way are pretty crazy- and will lead to the shocking truth about the night mathilda drowns.  i remember several times just stopping and saying "omg!"  it was an easy read & an enjoyable read.  i'd recommend it (i actually left it for my mom to read).

4/5!

anyone else read this?  thoughts?


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Friday, April 27, 2012

easter weekend

we spent our 3rd easter week in atlanta in a few weeks ago and we had a blast, per usual.  our drive down went pretty well- it was actually the best ian has ever done on one of our trips.  there was minimal crying & screaming.  he was pretty content watching his movies ("monsers" (monsters, inc), "cool cars" (cars), "twains" (the little engine that could), gabba & george).  we made it in about 13 hours with 2 big stops, and ian took 2 really good naps.  on our last big stop, we turned off the dvd player, got him a little snack & told him it was time to rest & he could listen to the brothers and rest.  he actually fell asleep for a few hours- if it weren't for a stop for gas, he probably would've slept until we were at my mom & dad's house.

i was really excited to visit with my grandparents while we were in town.  they were hoping to make it up to visit us at my parent's house, but my grandmother ended up having to have surgery a couple weeks before and she was staying in a rehabilitation house.  ian was excited to see his "pop & gigi" too, although he had a hard time b\c he wasn't allowed to just run around and do whatever he wanted.

 ian and gigi (look at that sweet face)

 mommy, ian, pop & gigi

frustrated mommy, crying baby, pop & gigi.  my face is so full of concern.


that evening we took ian to see the easter bunny.  the photo speaks for itself.
ian likes the idea of the easter bunny- in fact, every time he sees the picture he gets all excited and says "bunny!!"  the bunny himself, not so much.

then we met friends for dinner at gladys & ron's chicken n waffles.  omg- delish.

love you heatha 4eva!

jacket: loft
top: modcloth bonbon voyage top
jeans: old navy rockstar jeggings (love them)
sandals: seychelles

since i already talked about coloring eggs and the hours of throwing the football, i'll skip right ahead to easter.  the easter bunny came to visit our family, and we headed to church at the horsepark for an easter egg hunt and the easter service.  

easter is so fun... but exhausting.

 little easter stud!







lots of easter egg hunting fun!

family photo time- notice how everyone is looking in the full family photo- it's an easter miracle!

 ian's easter outfit:  blazer, polo, pants, tie- target.  sandals- old navy
my outfit (i love, love, love this dress):  dress- modcloth (swapped).  belt- forever 21. wedges- seychelles




fun with uncles

my dad set the backyard on fire in the middle of the last round of the masters, much to everyone's dismay.  luckily, it went to a playoff and we didn't miss anything.



ian tried to learn how to escape from the packnplay.  he didn't.  thank goodness.  i'll have none of that back at home. 

there's always time for coffee, donuts, and wedding talk with a friend!


whew, atlanta trips are fun.. but exhausting.  we got back & were home for less than 24 hours before we were off on our next adventure... more on that to come later!


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