Friday, March 30, 2012

wishlist friday: rainbow connection

a couple weeks ago i did a modcloth contest where you constructed a rainbow-colored wishlist and a winner was picked at random for a gift card.  unfortunately, i didn't win (and i had a darn good wishlist), but i can still publicly pine over these rainbow goodies.








i thought my roygbiv inspired wishlist was perfect- and this was only a fraction of it!  i love all the colors for spring & summer- no blacks & greys here.  i think i'm loving corals & greens this spring- definitely coral (of course, i always love coral).  and yourself?
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

what ian's been up to

seriously, thank you all for your (gentle) opinions.  honestly, dave would tell me i looked good wearing a burlap sack and it's refreshing to hear some opinions.  i may try that again with everything else in my closet...

it's been 2 months since ian turned 2 and i stopped doing monthly updates, but i started this blog while journeying through his baking process and i do love to drone on talk about him- so i figure that i can update you guys!

 scalp treatments for eczema

"big boy" transitioning is under way- although he's far from being a big boy.  we moved him out of his high chair into a booster seat- mainly b\c i was tired of the high chair taking up half my kitchen.  he really likes being at the table and being able to sit in between us.  he's been a pretty decent eater lately- although he's on a bagel dog kick, and he insists on putting "sketchups" on everything.  eww.  there really is no telling what he'll eat- he still refuses to eat most vegetables too- but he still eats the baby food pouches "couches" which are full of veggies, so whatevs.

new big boy seat.  notice sketchups on the plate.

my child still uses a binky.  if you take issue with that, feel free to accompany us on our next 800 mile trip from illinois to georgia- it's in 2 weeks.  no really, feel free to join us.  i have no time table for getting rid of it.  before 3.  i have 10 months.  i figure that it's only used for "sleepy times" so it hopefully won't be a major issue.  i have so many other things going on right now that i figure that's still ok.

 giving eleanor a hug on valentine's day

ian is still in his crib too.  we have a super cool idea for his big boy bed if we can execute it.  it's going to take some work though- so we'll just leave him in the crib for now.  there have been no jail break attempts either, so we're safe for now.  he'll be out of it before we have the next one.


 wearing his dj lance glasses and totally "shredding" on his guitar

gosh, he's so big- it's scary.  i just want to remember every expression, every nuance.  he just lights up my life.  his giggles, his smile.  i don't want to get all sappy- but i just want to bottle it all up.  sometimes i just look at him and i cry because i just want to remember it all forever.  a lot of times he just laughs at me while i'm crying, or says "you ok?" 

 this is a typical reaction to the words "it's time to get ready for bed"

he loves movies- toy story is the favorite right now- we usually don't watch movies w\ him, so he picked that one up at the gym.  he mostly enjoys tv shows with me- gabba is the all-time favorite, but he's also really into curious george & chuggington.  he's also a big fan of music or "songs" as he likes to call it.  he's gotten to the point where he only wants to listen to certain things and has a complete fit if he doesn't listen.  for us right now that is the "brudders" or the "sons" (avett brothers & mumford & sons).  if we try to listen to something else in dave's car- a temper tantrum follows until we're listening to one of those two cds.  i won't make that mistake again.  he also likes to sing along with the songs and sometimes play the drums.  the other night he sang himself to sleep singing a mumford song.

 so glad this snowsuit was purchased last year on clearance considering this is the ONLY time he got to wear it all winter.  he is singing frosty the snowman to his snowman. 

he's also really into sports.  he got a hockey net for his birthday and was all about hockey, but we went to a friend's house a few times and she had a basketball goal, so he got some late birthday money a couple weeks ago and we bought him a goal set and now it's "bassetball" all the time.  he shoots, he scores!  is a favorite line uttered in this house!  favorite toys- trains & cars.  don't act so surprised...

 playing hockey and watching hockey


i'm so excited that warmer weather is just around the bend b\c he loves playing outside and we have a neighborhood playground just across the street.  ian also got a little balance bike for his birthday and he has a lot of fun riding that. 



ian still has a milk allergy & a mild egg allergy- we will have those checked yearly- i'm really hoping he outgrows it in the next couple of years b\c sometimes i let him have little bites of things and that kid loves cheese (and who wouldn't).

 sometimes we like to lock ourselves in our room and squeeze half a tube of vaseline in our hair.  oh joy!

oh, and i almost forgot- and i won't expand on it a lot b\c i don't want to be one of those moms, but we are potty training.  it's going really well and he's going at least once or twice a day, but we're not quite ready to move out of diapers.  we have a system that's working really well for us, and maybe once he's trained i'll go a little more in depth, but i'm hoping that he'll be fully trained by this summer- but we'll see. 

 who me?

as you can see, there's always a lot going on at our house.  sometimes fun, sometimes crazy.  oh boy.


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Friday, March 23, 2012

(gentle) opinions needed

the jason wu for target collab came out about a month or so ago, and i once again dragged myself out of bed and woke the baby early for crying out loud to check it out.  i had my eye on the pink/yellow striped dress, blue floral dress & the blue poplin dress (google them b\c i'm too lazy to link)- neither of which i could find in the store when i arrived about 15-20 min after it opened.  when the missoni collection was at target last year i went to the tiny target by dave's office and was able to snag the one thing i wanted before anyone in the illinois suburbs found out what a missoni was.  jason wu was a little different, and i live near a different target- so the collection was picked through in just that short amount of time.  they didn't even have either of the dresses i wanted, so i grabbed a few things to try on that i thought might work.  in the end i went home with a black pleated skirt, a blush-colored tie top, a pale blue cardigan and a red striped dress.  

initial thoughts-  skirt- could barely squeeze into a size 8 (?!), but wanted a basic black skirt.  tie top- cute, but not bowled over.  cardigan- size small seemed to swallow me, but loved the color and snaps.  dress- my favorite, but shapeless. 

i wasn't 100% crazy about them, but i felt i wanted something from the collection.  i ended up letting them sit in the tgt bag on my floor for almost a month.  i got everything out about a week ago and tried it on again.  i ended up swapping the blush top for a modcloth dress, i put the dress in the laundry to be washed and was still undecided on the other items (now leaning toward returns). 

so like i said, i washed the dress.  to the instructions- machine wash cold, tumble dry low.  i even did delicate cycle with the wash.  i should've listened to my gut and not dried the dress, but our low dry does really well with things... big mistake. 

my dress is now pretty short, but since i'm short it's too long to be a tunic...  this is where i need you dear reader...  is this a keeper, or should i try to sell/swap it?

dress: jason wu for target
belt: target
sandals: sperry topsider

see- it's short.  i feel like it has to have the belt though or else it has no definition to it.  now without belt:

just kind of hangs like i'm wearing a sack.

b-t dubs.  i have my hair in a milkmaid braid- totes cute

 man, my back part is awful... and my hair is not the greasy hot mess that it looks- i promise.  just dark & shiny.

your thoughts on the dress though... belted, unbelted or see ya later?

happy birthday bb


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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

steppin' out saturday- st. patty's day

one of the things i dreaded most when we were planning to move up here was the weather.  i don't really like anything under 60- and it gets cold here fast and stays cold.  this past week has been a pleasant surprise- highs of 80 all week- shorts, dresses, sandals & tank tops.  ah.  my favorite- and it's march?!  it's been one of the warmest spd weekends in years.  we spent the entire day out & about- we started the morning at our favorite pub for kegs n eggs: beer (mimosas for me), corned beef hash, eggs, potatoes & sausage.  we left breakfast and headed for the parade- we were early, so we had to wait a while, and ian wasn't pleased with that.  he would've preferred running in the streets to sitting in his stroller- but we're good parents, so we made him sit in the stroller.  the parade was small- there were plenty of girl scouts, politicians, cheap candy, horses & bagpipe bands.  i'm not sure if i get all the scottish-ness of st. patrick's day, but everyone in chicago is apparently irish anyway (unless they're polish).  they were having an adult big wheel race afterwards, but we decided to take ian back home for a nap since we had a birthday.  after the nap we headed to a 1st birthday party and then back home for corned beef & guinness cake with bailey's frosting.  yummy.  now... what we wore... green of course!

 on ian:  romper- carter's- bought at consignment sale

 earrings- american eagle
tank top- old navy
shorts- modcloth
sandals- seychelles
nail color- essie- ole caliente
cardigan (shown later)- shop ruche 

i found a new hair tutorial on pinterest (hold your surprise) & tried that out.  since i work out every day of the week- i have to wash my hair daily, sadly, the weekend has become my  hair's "rest period."  i love the way my reverse braided bun turned out!  woo hoo!



did you party it up in green this weekend?

linking up here...



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Saturday, March 17, 2012

wishlist friday: green with envy

all week i've been thinking about what to wear to celebrate st. patrick's day- there are a lot of irish people in the area- so there are always parades and all kinds of fun.  i think tomorrow we're going to go down to our favorite neighborhood irish pub for a kegs n eggs breakfast, then watch the local parade & an adult big wheel race.  i discovered that i really don't have a lot green in my wardrobe- no idea why- green is a perfectly nice color.  i had a roommate in college who once had nothing but green clothes- she finally branched out (not sure if you read this, but you know who you are).  ;)

here are a few green pieces that i'd love to give a permanent home to!

collared green top - modcloth






how are you going green for st. patty's day?  or would you rather be pinched?!
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Thursday, March 15, 2012

my first consignment sale

after some nudging from my friend kristen last week, i decided i would join her for a consignment sale adventure.  this was one of those serious sales that started at the ungodly hour of 7:30 and had a limited time frame.  i somehow managed to pull myself out of bed at a quarter to 6 and get myself looking halfway decent for kristen's arrival at 6:30.  we're both not morning people- but get a little starbucks in us and we're not so bad.  the sale was crazy when we arrived- it's at the dupage county fairgrounds- and they have several sales going on all at once spread out through the buildings.  we tried to hit up one sale to start with, but could barely squeeze in the door- so we moved on to the big sale.

right away we wanted to grab a couple big items- a new baby gate (that isn't made of wood and barely holding on) for both of us- then we quickly perused the toys (i found a goody on the way to the toys).  i found this cute little combo baseball/football/basketball toy- and i dropped that off with my gate to be held.  then it was on to the big show- clothes.  i decided to skip over most of the 2t (maybe foolish) and head straight for the 24 month stuff to procure more summer clothing (we got started at his birthday, and i just wanted to flesh the wardrobe out a bit).  basically you find a clear spot to nudge in, put your laundry basket on the floor by your foot and start flipping through clothes- you find something you like, you toss it at your feet. when you finish with that pile, you scoot your basket and keep moving.  once you've grabbed what you can (doesn't take long for boys- there just aren't as many options)- you head to a sorting area and sort- where you can get the opinions of other moms and maybe pass long what you don't want to them!  after sorting, we stood in line for 30-40 minutes, but i found myself something else + it didn't seem like the line took so long- they're pretty efficient.  fun times.

here's my haul:
 - plastic swing baby gate (sadly not wide enough for where i want it)
- sports toy
- 7 pairs of summer pjs
- 1 swimsuit/t-shirt combo (looked brand new)
- 1 l/s shirt (cookie monster)!
- 4 pairs of shorts
- 9 outfits (8 rompers b\c i love rompers on little boys and this is the last summer for them & 1 dress outfit)
- this dress
yeah, you saw that.  someone put a forever 21 dress in the girls size 16 dress section- you'd be crazy to think i wasn't going to be all over that action.  it's loose and comfy and perfect for 80 degree days (like TODAY)!!! 

so i got all that goodness for only $60!!!  so awesome!  but that's not all.  i got one additional "big ticket" item.  it's something i had been wanting for a while, but definitely couldn't afford!  


i got this bag, which normally retails for almost $200 for only $60!!  yippee!!  it holds stuff more comfortably than my old diaper bag, plus you can wear it as a backpack.  it's a super cute bag!  

the consignment sale was definitely a success- i spent a little more than i was expecting to, but got a lot of great steals, plus ian is outfitted for the summer (minus sandals)!  i'd definitely do it again.  

have you shopped or sold at a consignment sale?  successes?  horror stories?

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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

dinner by pinterest v. 3 aaand, winner winner.

dbp is back!  i'm ready to show a couple more delicious recipes that were made by yours truly.  

sweet chili lime chicken with cilantro couscous.
the mcfadden family loves couscous.  we are definitely fans.  this was so easy to make.  if you can boil liquid, you can make couscous.  the couscous cooks on its own while you cook the chicken, mix the glaze and then glaze the chicken.  very yummy and flavorful.  we served ours with szechuan green beans b\c we're eating more vegetables (successfully) this year!  can't wait to make this again!  pinned here.

slow cooker cilantro lime chicken
slow cookers are genius inventions.  they basically mean i don't have to do anything but throw a bunch of uncooked stuff in and then smell my dinner being cooked all day.  this one took 4 ingredients (5 if you want jalapenos) that you pour on top of chicken breasts.  plus, depending on what kind of salsa you choose- this could taste different every time you make it.  we used a corn & black bean salsa from archer farms.  the recipe suggested eating it alone, but we had leftover corn tortillas, so we made mini tacos.  pinned here.
 yummy tacos + a closer look!


and now for the moment you've all been waiting for (or at least 2 of you)... the winner of my sibu beauty giveaway is....  






congratulations julie!  you lucky girl!  email me!!!  

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Thursday, March 1, 2012

5 things i'm loving right now (march)

how in the world is it march already?!  cray.  i get my hopes all up because in georgia- march means spring is coming (and from the sound of it- it's already been spring all winter back home).  here in illinois, that's just not the case- today it was 60 degrees- how delightful, right?  by that evening it was 35 and sleeting.  boo.  all i know is that warmer weather is definitely around some corner & spring begins in march + daylight savings time begins!

here's what i'm loving this month...


modcloth!  i love modcloth every month, but there's extra love for them right now.  i'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my stylish surprise.  omg- what am i getting?!?  i guess we'll find out this weekend.  i can't wait to see.  i love that modcloth does surprising little treats + they have top notch customer service.  i'm so excited to be apart of their modsquad again this year!!

this book!  i've just started reading it and i'm really excited to see what's in store.  i'm sure i'm in for a rude awakening.  we're always making small changes to make our diet better.  for lent i've decided to give up coke.  so far i'm 1 week in and i really haven't had any cravings for it yet.  we'll see how the next 5 weeks go!


the hunger games movie!!!  i just finished reading the trilogy earlier this week.  i loved it.  i'm really excited to see the movie.  dave wants to read the series too, so i'm hoping i can at least get him to finish the first book in time to see the movie opening weekend.  anyone else a fan?

hair tutorials (not my own- but from other people).  they are the source of my greatest joy and my greatest frustration.  there are a few that i've mastered quite easily and some that i just can't get no matter how long i try.  seriously, i need someone to teach me the secret to back combing (just can't seem to get it right) and how to pull the top part of my hair up (just can't ever get that right either).  and i hated my long hair so much- but  now it's too short...  

i am obsessed with iced coffee (and coffee in general right now).  i go through stages with coffee- i drink it for weeks and then i quit drinking it for months.   right now i'm drinking hot coffee and iced coffee.  i have to say how much i love mcdonald's iced coffee.  we don't go there very often- rarely, but lately i've been making a stop there for some delish iced coffee.  i usually get a small with cream only & vanilla sugar-free syrup.  only 60 calories in that.  yesssss.  

what are you loving this month?  

linking up.




oh, and for crying out loud, have you entered my totally awesome giveaway?  i guess at least 2 people read my blog!! Pin It!