steppin' out saturday- valentine's date

dave & i decided to have our valentine's date on saturday- grammy and grampy were available to watch the little beans boy, so we made a date of it.  we started out our evening by going to see dave ramsey speak.  it wasn't the cut up your credit cards now fest that i was expecting, but i still really enjoyed it.  we followed that up with dinner in the cute little downtown area by where we live.  we started off with a wonderful appetizer and then i had a delicious heart-shaped pizza topped with artichokes, prosciutto, tomatoes, arugula, mozzerella, lemon- delightful.  dave had a fabulous pasta dish with italian sausage & goat cheese.... nom.  our plan was to go across the street afterward for dessert & drinks- but we stuffed ourselves silly, so we took a trip to target to walk dinner off a bit.  after we had settled down- we headed back for an appetizer, dessert & drinks at what's becoming my favorite restaurant in the area (and i've only had apps and dessert from there).

dress: modcloth, tights: target, shoes: swapped

big valentine's day plans?  i'm pretty excited about tomorrow- it is my favorite holiday! 

dressember week 4: (december 25-31)

i slacked a little the last couple weeks of dressember because of our traveling, but nevertheless, here's the last week of dressember.  lots of fun- but not good for midwest winters!  sorry it's up so late too...  we have family coming next week for ian's birthday and it's time we finish unpacking....

week 4:

day 16- december 25

sorry, we all slept in one room- messy!

cardigan- forever 21

dress- modcloth

tights- target

shoes- old navy

day 17: december 29

cardigan- forever 21
dress- modcloth
tights- target
flats- old navy

day 18: december 31

yep, i'm  in the bathroom... only place to escape in a house w\ 17 other people....
cardigan- target
dress- hale bob vintage via rue la la
tights- target
flats- loft

well, that was fun.  18 days out of 31 isn't bad when you're chasing a toddler around...  i'd prefer warmer weather for this though- my legs nearly froze!!

so, here's the wrap up...

hair diaries: no heat curls (photos)

one of my dear readers requested that i do another post about my hair.  i apologize for not sharing any fancy 'dos lately- my hair has gotten really long- and when it gets too long and hasn't been cut in oh, say, 8 months (which is torture for a pre-baby religious every 6-8 weeker) it starts to get a little cray-cray.  when it gets too long, i need to start doing as my grandma used to and sleep on a silk pillowcase... but i don't have one, so i wake up with crazy matted hair every morning... therefore, it's lots of ponytails for me.  gosh, this sounds like an argument for more hair tutorials instead of less...

so, the big blog thing this summer in hair that kept catching my eye was the "no heat curl."  i have to admit, i never actually viewed any of the tutorials, or did anything more than look at the pictures of girls with their curls.  of course i kept thinking "no heat curl... isn't that what i do with my hair every day simply by letting it air dry?"  of course, i then realized that not everyone is cursed with has curly/wavy hair.  some people have to work for it...  so i went to the first place that i saw the nhc- the paper mama (view her photos & tutorial by following the link) and realized that this was probably the easiest thing in the world.  it's a style you make simply by sleeping (and i love to sleep).  ready to see how it's done?

step 1

start with hair that is mostly dry.  you can see how long my hair is getting + how it curls on its own.  

step 2

channel your inner mischa barton circa 2008 and wrap a headband on the outside of your hair (i use goody's no slip headbands).  

step 3

 starting from the front and working your way around take strands of hair and loop them around the headband until you're all the way around your head (see video tutorial on the paper mama's blog for help).

step 4.

 go to sleep!!  zzzzz  (bonus points with me if you can name the film whence this mask was originally seen)

step 5.

good morning- time to take the hair down!  (very carefully)

here at is at 1st glance- very curly.  now i'm going to shake it out a bit...

yikes... it got a little pageant-y....

then i had this one crazy piece that refused to curl that i ended up having to pin curl for a few hours

but overall... i'm impressed.  this is something you can tweak to fit your needs- pull thinner strands for more curls and thicker strands for less (i'm trying that next time).

these last 2 pictures were taken around 5:30- so for me it lasted ALL DAY!  if your hair isn't naturally curly like mine, i would suggest that you spray it pretty generously with hair spray and let that dry (i saw that in another no heat curls video).  as far as how you normally style it before you do the curls- i guess that would be up to you.  i stopped using hair products on my hair back last year when i stopped washing my hair for a while- however, i did use a pea sized drop of dave's gel and lightly ran it over the top, since it was a little fuzzy from being slept on.  i'll definitely be trying this again and experimenting with the types of curls i can get and ways i can style it.  

have you tried the no heat curls before?  do you think this is a look that will work for you?  let me know!

make new friends

i am still on such a super high from making 2 online friends my irl friends!!  after weeks of planning, a playdate was finally in the works with julie & brayden AND maegan & chester!  julie already lives in illinois, but she's about 100 miles south of us, and maegan lives in los angeles, but her hubby was going to be in chicago on business!  we decided that we'd all meet up @ the dupage children's museum.  it was a little crazy & overwhelming there with all the big kids running around, but the boys (and moms) all had a great time!

the next night maegan & i were able to get together for a mno!  we had such a blast!  please move here!!

i'm featured!!

go check out my feature with my newest irl friend here!  i'm practically famous!  more on how we are now irl friends later!!

a ONEderful chance to give

i wanted to share something with everyone and invite you to be a part of something really special.  one of my favorite blogs belongs to kelle hampton... enjoying the small things is a blog that kelle started a few years ago to write about her oldest daughter lainey and her photography- it turned into something phenomenal (nearly 10,000 followers!) with the birth of her daughter nella last january (just 2 days after ian).  i started reading kelle's blog in february or march, and i have been a loyal follower since.  nella's birth story is beautiful and in the same breath heartbreaking.  i go and reread it every once in a while, just so i can remember- because you can really feel all the pain that kelle felt. 

now nella is almost a year old, and kelle needs your help.  her goal is to raise $15,000 $30,000 $47,000 (!!) for ndss (national down syndrome society).  the goal of ndss: for us to live in a world where we are all accepted, included and valued for who we are!  kelle is so close to her goal: just over $3,000 to go (she's raised all this money in 2 days!)!  all it takes is $5, hell, $1 would work!  need inspiration on why you should give- visit kelle's blog.  this entry should help!

in decent order: my fridge!

i love people who are creative and craft- because i am neither of those things!  my friend tara runs a blog called in decent order (or indecent order) where she talks about what it's like to actually be organized and crafty!  a little more background on tara: we were camp counselors and roommates at camp skyline (go nightriders) nearly 10 years ago.  not only is she my favorite former camp roomie, she's a mother of 2 boys, funny, a southerner turned northerner who is now a southerner, always has something wise to say, and she does a mean michael jackson dance impersonation! 

anywho, a couple days ago tara opened the doors of her fridge for all to see, and she asked for her readers to do the same!  so, i took to my fridge with a camera, and shared a peek inside! 

you can view what's going on in the mcfridge here

what's your always stocked fridge item(s)?

elephant parade

i had a hard time deciding what kind of room to do for the baby. i didn't want a cartoon character, i didn't want sports if it was a boy, and i really didn't want a mess of flowers if it was a girl. in the end we (i) decided it would be birds if it was a girl, and elephants for a boy because i had found some bedding i really liked.

why elephants? well, besides being so darn cute, they're known for their intelligence and memory- i just liked the whole theme. maybe we "overdid" it with the room, but this is probably the only time i'll have a major say in the decor in his room. i thought we did a pretty good job with everything.



here is the dresser/changing area. i opted against a changing table because it's just a waste of money if you have a really good dresser. this dresser was mine when i was living on my own in atlanta. dave and i sanded the finish off a bit, then painted it brown. then i went back and painted the knobs to match the wall. i like the way it turned out because the brown isn't perfect. we have the changing pad and diaper station on top and then his humidifier and monitor as well. the lamp is the lighting for the room because there's no light fixture (boo). we have the diaper genie on one side and dirty clothes hamper on the other.




here are some shelves we put up. we got a lot of stuffed animals, etc. we needed a place to put that stuff and something to break up the empty wall. below is our play gym. he is really loving that thing these days.



here is the crib. it's where you really see the theme of the room. perhaps we overdid it? i think not for a baby room. we have the rug since the entire house is wood/tile. the bedding is elephants and circles. i really like the cute wall art and his name above the bed. i'm sure the letters are crooked, but we are the least artsy people around. beside the bed is an adorable hippo chair we received as a gift from pbkids! then there's the rocking and reading corner...



i love this! we got the chair off of craig's list for practically nothing. i hate that it's not the same color wood, but after the adventure of painting the dresser and room, dave wouldn't let me anywhere near that chair with paint. it's right by the windows so the light is wonderful during the day. we have blankets for covering up if it gets chilly over there, and our little table with a cute little elephant lamp.

i think we did a pretty darn good job. now i wanted to do some other kind of elephant something for our 4th wall (the longest, which has nothing on it).

i don't know if i want to do another elephant or something else. Chronicles of a Babywise Mom is doing a great giveaway from Lola Decor. there are so many cute vinyls on here, and they would be perfect for our sad empty wall (also perfect, a bookshelf with tons of kids books, but one step at a time)...

i can't decide what i would even pick if i won. if i had had a little girl and gone with the aforementioned bird theme, there would be lots of choose from, as i couldn't even pick which bird vinyl i liked best. but i have a few things i like for our little guy. (images below from Lola Decor)


i really love that verse. i also like the quote, "let him sleep, for when he wakes he will move mountains."

choices, choices.

anyway, i'm really proud of how the room came together! i think husband and i did a wonderful job on our little man's room!

piggies in a blanket

so, it's march 9th, and it's finally starting to get warm enough to go outside here. by "warm enough" i sadly mean 40-50 degrees. i'd love to start taking ian out for strolls around the block once it gets slightly warmer, but i worry about him being cold (we have 4 month old snow on the ground still).

so although this wouldn't really work for him now, i totally see it working this fall perhaps, and definitely this spring. what is it? this adorable baby stroller blanket. it's got a pocket for baby's feet so he/she is all cocooned in. it's like a baby snuggie, but with feet, and for your stroller. this is pretty awesome for anywhere you'd be taking your little one outdoors, especially before summer gets here.

i'd like to win one. you can too. just head to Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. you have up to 7 chances to enter. btw, i love this blog. it's saved me from many a baby meltdown.