Oh Hey Real World, I'm back! Vacation Recap and a Photo dump

Last week we took our yearly trip to Topsail Island, NC.  It was wonderful and as it always is, went too fast!  The week was filled with lots of beach time, family, food, beer, bloody mary's, and fun!  We were so sad to have to leave!

Here are a ton some pictures from our trip:

Don't let her face fool you, Harper really loved the beach. 

Ainsley had a few wipe outs, but never hesitated to jump right back in!

After several handfuls of sand, she finally decided she didn't like it.

This is my happy place!  I miss this view already!

Dinah got to stay with us for a night and absolutely loved it!

Now I guess it's back to reality (wah wah)!  We started home school yesterday and it went surprisingly well!  I have had my hesitations but so far everything is going pretty smoothly!  

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Oh and Pin It & Spin It will be back tomorrow! Yay!

10 Things you probably don't care to know

So I just realized that in two short months, this little blog o'mine will be one year old! I also realized that ,while I share too many lots of pictures, I haven't really shared much about myself!

 I thought I would share 10 things about myself that you may or may not know! (Contain your excitement!)

>> I am a southpaw 

>> I have a birthmark on my neck that looks like a hickey. I have been asked my entire life (yes, even in elementary school!) if it was, NO it's not!

>> I can usually listen to a song about two times through and know 95% of the words to that song.  It's a really useful skill to have I tell ya!

>> I met my husband when I was 17 and he was 20

>> I am pursuing my BA in Interior Design

>> I sometimes wish I would have pursued Clothing Design

>> Scott says that I am the weirdest person he knows

>> I could listen to Motown all day every day

>> My thumbs are completely different, weird I know!

>> I have 4 tattoos, and yes, I regret them!

I know you are SO happy you wasted five minutes of your day to learn more about me!

On another note, Pin It and Spin It is back tomorrow AND it's a link up!  So, go try something, anything from Pinterest, write a post about it and link up!

Let's Be Friends!

Once again, I have the privilege of co-hosting this wonderful blog hop!  I've met some wonderful ladies so far.  So...let's be friends!:

Hey Guys! It is time for the Let's Be Friends Blog Hop #12! It has been an amazing 12 weeks so far. Bloglovin' is a great way to organize and follow other bloggers, and with Google Reader shutting down it's not a bad idea to promote your bloglovin' option!

I have a challenge for everyone. Can we reach 85 link ups this week? Let's do it! Promote this blog hop by putting the button on your page, or throwing a shout out at the end of your post today or tomorrow. The more link ups we have the more our blogs will grow! Invite a friend, tweet it, or let your facebook bloggy friends know! :)

                                             

Mandi from All My Happy Endings is my other host. She is an awesome friend I have met through blogging. We are committed to growing and promoting this blog hop.

Have fun and meet some friends!

Amanda from Rhyme & Ribbons 

Ashley from Let's Get Bananas! 

Kenzie from The Ashcraft Bunch

Lanesha from We Are The Tabbs

Francesca from The Happy One

Angela from My Silly Life

                                 

Yarn Easter Egg Garland

I was in a bit of a crafting mood and somehow had a little time on my hands, so I decided to try something I saw on Pinterest (where else?!).

First you will need to gather your supplies:

Liquid Starch (you could use Mod podge if you prefer, I just happened to have TONS of starch laying around from my last project)

Water Balloons

Yarn

  and of course an adorable assistant!

Blow up as many balloons as you want.  Cut fairly generous lengths of yarns and soak in a bowl of starch.  Allow the yarn to soak for a minute then start wrapping it around the balloon.

Make sure there is plenty of starch on the yarn (not dripping wet but close). When you are done wrapping, set all of your balloons in a single layer in a well vented area and let dry.  I left mine to dry overnight.  Once the yarn is COMPLETELY dry, pop the balloons.  From here you can string them on more yarn and hang as garland like I have done, or they also look cute in a bowl or vase! 

I love how they turned out but unfortunately it didn't really photograph as well as it looks in person!

Have fun and Happy Easter!

I Like You A Lot!

The amazing Erin came up with a great link up idea!  She is inviting one and all to share their current "blog crushes".  I couldn't be more excited to join in!  Without further adieu, here are some of my favorite blogs!

The Daybook:  There aren't enough words to describe how much I love Sydney and her wonderful blog.  She is beautiful, hilarious, has a great sense of style, I could go on and on but I might sound like a stalker!  Sydney, can we just go ahead and break the ice and become bff's for real like! This was the first blog I ever read and have continued to read everyday!  If you've never read her (climb out from under the rock) get over there as fast as you can, you won't regret it!

Little Baby Garvin:  This is a wonderful blog documenting the life of sweet little Harper Garvin.  She started documenting her pregnancy with beautiful chalkboard drawing (for real this girl is talented!).  She has a great sense of humor and style for both herself and Harper.  We both have a daughter named Harper and have a major love for decorating and holidays, I feel like we would be great friends if we ever met in real life.

Pinterest Told Me To: Sheaffer is absolutely hilarious!  She started her blog to recreate looks she finds on Pinterest.  She brings these looks to life and puts her own spin on them with entertaining captions.  Plus, if you are a bachelor lover like myself, she has a connection with the current bachelor Sean Lowe, and she give amazingly accurate and comical recaps every week!

There you have it, go check out these killer blogs! Also, just an FYI, I'm pretty sure these ladies have no clue who I am, so ladies, please don't be freaked out!
 I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested!

There are SO many more blogs that I could go on and on about but I have two little girls who are requiring my assistance at the moment!

Who is your current blog crush?

Link up here!

30 for 30 Challenge

This challenge was started by Kendi over at KendiEveryday, here . This is such a great challenge to get you to use what you have in your closet instead of going shopping everyday, which I found myself doing lately. If you haven't heard of the challenge, the rules are very simple:
 1: Choose 30 items from your closet: tops, bottoms, dresses, and shoes
 2: Create a new outfit everyday
 3: No Shopping!

 This should be very interesting for me as I continue to get larger! I may end up bending the rules a bit or swapping some of my original pieces for items that I can fit into.
 I will stay true to the no shopping rule!
 My plan is to start this challenge September 1. Only a few shopping days left!
Please feel free to join in the fun, I would love to see some of your outfits! Just leave a comment in the comment section with a link to your outfits!
 Here are the items I have chosen (I do own an iron, I promise!!)

 Tops:

From Left: Blue Print Top: Target, Red Stripe Shirt: Thrift, Red Shirt: Motherhood, Rose Shirt: Consignment, Pink Shirt: Thrift

From Left: Black Shirt: Gifted, Black/White Striped Sirt: Motherhood, Blue Tee: Target, Tan Shirt: Ross, Black/White Layered Top: Gifted

From Left: Pink Shirt: Motherhood, Black Tee:Target

From Left: Blazer: Thrift (Ann Taylor), Purple Cardigan: Gift, White Cardigan: Ross, Grey Cardigan: Ann Taylor LOFT, Purple Cardigan: Target

 Dresses:

From Left: Grey Dress: Ross, Striped Tube Dress: Ross

 Bottoms:

From Left: Shorts: Motherhood, Capris: Motherhood, Navy Skirt: Thrift, Teal Skirt: Thrift, Black Maxi: Thrift

 Shoes:

From Top Left: Black/Brown Wedges: Ross, Brown Sandals: Target, Silver Flats: Ross, Flip Flops: Rainbows

I will try to take a picture everyday of my outfits and do one post a week including the last week's outfits.
Wish me luck and happy mixing!!

Growing Pains

Ahh growing pains! I am feeling them from every direction, literal and emotional! These last few days have been extremely bitter sweet! Aside from the actual growing pains from peanut #2, my little sister got hitched this weekend and yesterday was Ainsley's first day of preschool. I am not generally an overly emotional gal, so I'm going to blame my raging hormones for the abundance of tears in the last 5 days. Who knew watching my little sister walk down the isle, dance with our dad, and do the Cha Cha slide would be so emotional, I sure didn't. The uncontrollable sobbing that ensued while watching the father/daughter dance caught me completely off guard. So Saturday happened and I dried my eyes and put on my big girl panties. Sunday rolls around and I lose it just looking at pictures from the wedding. Oh boy! Monday went off without a hitch and I'm thinking I'm back, enough with this emotional crap! Well, seeing your little girl run so eagerly into a classroom without a second thought, or hug or even "bye Mom", will rip your heart right out of your chest! I am happy to say that this morning went much better, I even got a long kiss on the cheek before I left! Growing pains suck but are necessary. I am just lucky to watch it all happen, even if it is gone in just a flash! Here are some pictures from, apparently some of the saddest, last few days! Seriously, how gorgeous is she?!

This guy always knows how to cheer me up!

And now my baby!

P.S. if anyone has figured out how time travel works, hit me up!!