Tickled Pink Y'all

Check out fellow blogger friend over at Tickled Pink!! She was so sweet to blog about my new venture with Stella & Dot! Anna and I used to work together at Uniquities a few years back. She is GREAT and I really enjoyed working with her...she was always so bubbly, which you needed that kind of attitude there to deal with all the drama that existed!! We've kept in touch lately through Facebook, and I was so excited to hear she was going to start a blog! Thanks Anna for the shout-out!! :)

XO

30 Rocks

I'm a little late in posting a recap of the hubby's 30th birthday bash up north! It was such an awesome weekend! My brain is fried at the moment, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Overall, the surprise, but not such a surprise trip was a hit and he loved it!!

Nesting

Oh the joys of nesting. It has officially begun at our house. The weather was not very pretty this weekend, so I took advantage of couping myself up in the house and beginning to organize. Our house unfortunately has VERY little closet space, and well, between both of us we have A LOT of clothes! So, I packed a bag full to donate, multiple bags to take to the consignment store to sell, and then boxed up almost my entire closet into colored tubs (easy to find) of pre-preggie clothes that hopefully I can pull back down come Sept/Oct. That is probably wishful thinking on my part :) Now there is room for all the maternity clothes I've purchased (and some SUPER friends who have been sweet enough to lend me theirs) that have now taken over my closet. And sweet little peanut already has quite the wardrobe piling up that it is half squeezed in with daddy's clothes and half still in the bag. But we made big strides this weekend, as on Sunday we ventured out to purchase peanuts crib and changing table/dresser. I sure do hope she is happy with it...we like it! It should be delivered on Friday, so hopefully by weekends end it will all be up, and so begins the decorating! I can't wait!!! We also managed to scoop up a new dining room table while out and about, so once that is up, I'll post pictures.

I also sat for at least 2 hours on Sunday night trying to make a dent on our registry. WOW- baby registering is not at all what wedding registry was like. I have read review after review after review. Unless you've had a baby, it's really the only way to know if what your looking at is good quality or not. Luckily I am extrememly fortunate enough that I have quite a few friends who have had babies, and two who have little ones on the way. Everyone is alway so sweet to forward "the baby essentials" on to you.

No, while this was only one weekend of "nesting" under our belt...there are still many to go. We've both got a date in mind we're striving to have her room all wrapped up, so we'll see if we can make that happen!!

Hello Jersey

The hubby and I are off to New Jersey and New York City tonight to celebrate his big 30th birthday that's on Saturday!!! I have had this planned since the beginning of March, and finally surprised him with the plane tickets and itinerary over Easter weekend, and needless to say, he was totally surprised!! Mission accomplished!!
Tomorrow we plan on spending all day in the city (as long as weather permits. We may have to go to plan B!)...lunching on the Hudson River, acting like kids at the Natural History Musuem, walking around Central Park and renting rowboats. And we're ending our day in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium with our friends (and newly engaged couple) Jeff & Betsy!! I'm super pumped about going to my first Yankees game, who are playing against the Rangers. Then on Saturday it's PARTY TIME! We're having a big cookout at Matt's parents house and all of his local friends and family are coming to help celebrate!! It should be an awesome time for sure!
I was a little worried the hubs would not be happy about me doing this since we have a little one joining us in September and we need to be cautious about a few things- but I just couldn't resist. You only turn "30" once, and for us, I feel like it's about to represent a whole new chapter of our lives. Plus, he knows me well enough to know how much I love birthdays, and don't ever let one pass without making a big celebration of it. Sorry honey, I was raised with birthdays being a big deal, and I plan on carrying that through :)

So cheers to us for a fabulous weekend ahead!! I won't be blogging tomorrow, but will definitely be back on Monday with lots of pictures!

Happy Weekend!!

xo

SURPRISE!!

19 weeks

So this week, our little peanut is 19 weeks old. She's weighing in around 8 1/2 ounces this week- and continuing to grow, grow, grow! I've actually been sitting here at my desk this morning, feeling her move for the first time!! Or, at least this time I can tell that's what it is. What an awesome feeling!!

 I've still been doing great, although sleeping at night is starting to get a bit annoying, so I can only imagine the many weeks from now what it's going to be like. The hubs heard me moaning & growning and tossing & turning last night, and asked what was wrong. I said, I'm just uncomfortable and really want to sleep on my stomach and back (however, last week the dr advised that i need to stop doing that), and of course the hubs response was, "sorry babe, get use to it!". Thanks for  the sympathy nice guy! :) So really if that is my only complaint these days, I'll take it. Oh, and the fact that dressing myself now to go out and to work takes a lot more planning, as my wardrobe is dwindling quickly. I have finally though have made it back to the gym about 3 days a week which has made the world of difference with how I feel. SO, i'm going to "try" to keep that up for as long as she will let me.

Happy Wednesday!

XO

Ripley Jr.

This weekend we celebrated the sweet upcoming birth of baby Matthew!! Some friends and I hosted a baby shower for one of our besties, Kathryne who lives in Virginia Beach. We had such a wonderful time showering her little bundle of joy! Not to mention, it was THE most picture perfect day we've had in a while! Ripley Jr. is going to be one blessed little boy! Here's a few pictures from the shower...

Just another Manic Monday over here!

XO

Lilly Bargain

I think this dress might just be the deal of the season, at least for me! My sweet mother-in-law was at Lord & Taylor (in NJ) and spotted this adorable dress! I ponerdered if I really needed it considering if I was lucky, I might be able to wear it through April and May, but then it would have to be retired until next Spring. But I caved and told her sure, why not! Now, I have found some pretty unbelievable Lilly deals particularly at this store, and what's even better is that they will accept all coupons!! For those familiar with Belk's here in Raleigh, they have every exclusion under the sun on their coupons, and Lilly is definitely one of them. ANYWAY- to get back on track, this dress retails for $298 and I got it for a whopping $47!!! Now that is what I call a bargain!

I'm helping host a baby shower tomorrow afternoon at our house for one of our dear friends and her soon to be sweet baby boy, and plan on squeezing myself into this little frock! I'll be back on Monday to post some pictures! Oh- and the hubs is away in Charleston for a bachelor party, and I must say I am looking forward to a quite house with just me and the pooch. I may even try to surprise him by doing a little nesting as we start to really prepare in the next couple months for our little peanut!!

Happy Spring weekend everyone!

XO

                              

Paradise

Does this not look like paradise or what? Torture email of the day (yesterday was JCrew's new arrival email!) was just recieved in my inbox. Over at Lilly Pulitzer they have an enter to win a fabulous getaway trip HERE! I'm such a sucker, because even though I know the odds are totally against me, I always still fill these things out. Bermuda is definitely up there on my places to visit list (which surprisingly isn't very long), so maybe, just MAYBE I'll be a winner! Until then, I'll just continue to wish my feet were strolling through the white sandy beaches, and not hiding underneath my desk.

18 weeks

This week our little one is the size of a bell pepper...weighing almost 7 ounces. I had my usual four week check up this morning and everything looked great! Her heartbeat sounded perfect, and the doctor felt her move, however it was too quick and I missed it. But hopefully soon I'll start to feel the little peanut moving around in there.

Happy Wednesday! xo

                                                                                    (this is at 17 weeks)

Easter Recap

What a great three day weekend!! It's always hard to come back to a full work week after one of those. But after having a wonderful time with family & friends, and an abundance of sunshine- it's quickly making me look forward to our next holiday weekend coming up next month!
My in-laws came into town from New Jersey on Thursday night, so I spent most of Friday shopping with my mother-in-law...and of course did some damage on our sweet baby birl. I just couldn't resist. I have been SO good for the past 4 1/2 months, and I just caved! But it's okay though, because "most" of it was on sale or super cheap any way. We also went fabric shopping for the nursery, and think we were successful, so I'm really excited about that. And my sweet MIL has offered to sew all of our window treatments and crib bedding! So now I am on a mission to find pictures with ideas of what I like, even though I'm pretty sure I already know. Friday night we had a cookout at our house with a couple other families and friends (and three canines) that were down from NJ also, which was a fun time and great company! Saturday was another day of shopping along with a few house projects. Well, the house projects were going on all weekend with Matt and FIL. Saturday night we went out to a yummy French restaurant, Coquette and had a wonderful meal! That is where I decided to surprise Matt with his 30th birthday present, more on that to come later. Sunday we wrapped up some house projects (hanging new window treatments in both guest room and master-and I must say, they looks FAB!), planted flowers in our flower box, and finished yard work. We fixed a delicious Easter dinner that I am still enjoying leftovers from, and enjoyed great company again :) Overall, it was an awesome weekend.
Oh- but did I mention that the frameless glass shower door we have been waiting for over a year to be put in, that was installed last Wednesday, shattered at about 1045pm Saturday night during the Duke game. This needs no explanation- just see the pictures below.

*the shower incident*

*just a "few" of the baby splurges*

*Friday night cookout*

*Easter Sunday*