Weekending.....

Happy Monday everyone :) I am linking up with B Loved Boston and Champagne and Suburbs for Weekending... This weekend was packed with just about everything-- and it obviously went by way too quickly. This week is the first full week of school-- FIVE DAYS! Yikes ;) I hope I am ready for it haha. But before I worry about the week ahead, I'll recap my happenings from the weekend. 

{FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT}

- Since the weather was much cooler on Friday, I found myself enjoying a nice walk around the neighborhood when I got home from school. I have been trying to stay active, but the heat has definitely made it difficult. Friday afternoon, there was a nice breeze, and I am so glad I was able to enjoy the cool temps. 

- Friday night, I went to a co-worker's house for an Arbonne party. One of my co-worker's friends is trying to expand her client base, so my friend decided to host a party for her. I didn't really know that much about the company and their products, and I did find the party very informative. Plus, it was nice to get together with friends and acquaintances and just have a "girls night." After reviewing some of the products, I decided to try out their shampoo and hand/body lotion. The only thing about this company is that the products are EXPENSIVE! The prices are reduced if you become a consultant, host a party, or join as a client or preferred client. I hope I like the products I purchased haha but I hope I don't like them too much that I want to continue purchasing them-- otherwise it would be smart to become at least a "client." I am also skeptical at how "green" or "natural" all of their products are. I did some research, and although they do not seem to be the best "all natural" company out there (there are so many companies out there!), their products are without a lot of chemicals that could potentially be harmful. After attending this party, I started to think about whether or not I want to change some of the products I use at home. I have to be honest though, it is hard to figure out/find the best products to use. For example, even The Honest Company has been under scrutiny lately. I have used their soaps and kitchen cleaners and I love them! There is so much to research and think about-- I'm a little overwhelmed. I'll keep you all posted as I continue to investigate! 

{SATURDAY}

- Saturday morning, my husband and I slept in :) Although, I must confess that I did wake up before him due to a lot of baby activity :). I was in the mood for a nice brunch, so we went to a local place known for their breakfast food: Parker's Maple Barn. 

Baby's first trip to Parkers! (Definitely not the last) 

- I had the most amazing pumpkin pancakes (with eggs, homefries, sausage, toast haha) and my husband got the Irish Breakfast. It was so so good! It kept us full until dinner :) Got to love brunch! 

- After we got breakfast, we headed to Lowe's. This seems to be our weekend tradition now :) There are a few projects "we" (mostly my husband) are trying to finish before the baby comes. We are pretty much done the baby room, and once we have the decor and crib all set, I will post updated pictures. The next project on the list is the kitchen. My husband is making my dream kitchen come true :) We are painting the cabinets white, putting down new flooring, and installing a backsplash. The first task is to paint the cabinets, which is what our trip to Lowe's was all about. 

- When we came home from Lowe's, my husband got to work taking down the cabinet drawers and removing the hardware. He then used TSP to clean the cabinets and doors, and sanded them all to prep them for primer. While he was hard at work, I was also hard at work cleaning the rest of the house. 

- Saturday night, after dinner, we went to get some much needed ice cream (baby needed it ;))-- even though it was raining-- I think we both needed to get out of the house for a little bit haha 

- When we got home, we were in the mood for a movie, so we watched "V for Vendetta." I had never seen the movie, and I have to say I actually really liked it. I honestly think I am the last person to watch this movie haha. 

{SUNDAY}

- After church, I came home to my husband hard at work prepping the kitchen area for primer! Once he finished sanding and cleaning the cabinet areas, he got to work priming the surfaces. 

Here are some before and in-progress pictures: 

This is how it will be for a while ;)

These pictures are after one coat of primer. It still needs another coat of primer, but I love how bright the kitchen looks already! Definitely what I was hoping for :)

While my husband was hard at work in the kitchen, I was hard at work grading. So. much. grading..... Thankfully, I was drinking pumpkin spice coffee (yes the only type of coffee I am craving during pregnancy), watching "Sleeping Beauty" (the classic cartoon one), and lounging with comfy pants on.   

This was my view for the afternoon/early evening. 

- When I finally finished grading one assignment, we made dinner: hamburgers, potatoes, and asparagus. I also prepped dinner for tonight-- a crockpot recipe from Mix and Match Mama: recipe here. I will let you know how it turns out! Lastly, I made pumpkin bread for the week-- seriously such a great snack or breakfast alternative. The recipe I use is from Simply Recipes found here. Again, I use the "old" recipe with oil instead of butter. 

- Finally, my husband and I relaxed and watched some football. 

It was a busy, but great weekend! I hope you all had a great weekend as well :) 

My Favorite Spring Items on Etsy (for now!)

Hello everyone! Sorry about skipping out yesterday-- we had a teacher workshop day that got the best of me!  As many of you fellow teachers know, these kinds of days are not relaxing! By the end of the day, we are ready to get our students back! :) But no worries! I am refreshed and ready for the rest of the week :)

Even though I have given myself strict orders to spend wisely these next few months (my husband and I are taking our honeymoon in April), I still love to "window shop." One of my favorite online "window shopping" stores is Etsy. I love that many of these items are homemade, and that I get to support small businesses. I bought many items for my wedding on Etsy, as well as, many Christmas and birthday gifts. I have tried to narrow down my favorite Spring items and gifts (both for myself and others haha) below, but trust me, there are so many other amazing products on Etsy. If you haven't checked out Etsy (that is probably a silly statement-- I am probably the last to get on this bandwagon), take a few minutes (or days) to just peruse the shops. I promise you won't be disappointed!

{ONE: Spring Wreaths}-- I am so ready for Spring to get here! I am also ready to trade my winter wreath (which I love very much) for a colorful and green wreath. These are the options I am loving right now:

{via// via// via}

{TWO: Personalized Jewelry}-- I am a sentimental person. I love anything that has dates, initials, or special notes on it. I am very much into monogrammed jewelry (I gave all my bridesmaids monogrammed necklaces). Usually these pieces are simple, but have a personal and meaningful touch. These pieces would be a perfect gift for any female in your life-- even if it is a simple "Thank you for being you" gift. 

 

{via // via // via // via}

{THREE: Country Chic/ Pallet Headboard}-- I am absolutely in love with this rustic headboard. It is definitely on my favorites list-- and no not just because my cousins make it!). This headboard is has clean lines and provides a refreshing transition.

{via}

{FOUR: Canvas Decor}-- I have bought so many canvases from the Randy's Designs Shop! I am so sorry for keeping you crazy busy Randy! Randy has so many different canvas pieces to choose from-- I probably would buy all of them and put them all in one room if I could. The canvases are personalized, and are of amazing quality. They make the perfect housewarming gift, birthday gift, or Christmas gift. If you know someone who has to move from their beloved home, you can give them the canvas so they can be reminded of all of the great memories that took place at that house. Most of my family members (and my husband's family) have the following canvas hanging up (in all different colors): 

I also have (and love) this quote canvas (I went with a tan background and grey with red lettering):

 

I am loving these two canvases right now: 

{via//via // via // via }

{FIVE: Spring Outdoor Decor}: With Spring (hopefully-- fingers crossed!) right around the corner, I am starting to plan how I will decorate outside. I love rustic decor, flowers, herbs, and I would really love to start a garden. These pieces certainly provide excellent inspiration and would be great gifts: 

{via // via // via // via}

What are your favorite Etsy shops/items? Where are you finding your Spring inspirations? I would love to hear from you guys! 

Show and Tell Tuesday: My Favorite Room

Today I am linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals to showcase our favorite rooms! When we finish our kitchen (in the summertime), I AM POSITIVE that will become my favorite room :) For now, my favorite room is our living room. It is the room Jim and I spend most of our time in. It is the room where we have movie parties with my sisters, where we watch "House of Cards," where we printed our invitations, where we display pictures of our wedding, and where we sometimes (okay all of the time) eat. Our living room is the central part of our house right now. It is comfy, cozy, eclectic, and perfect for us.

It is the first room that we have decorated, and while I want to paint the room, I love it just the way it is right now. Hopefully in the near future, it will be filled with lots of baby stuff ;)

Excuse the poor picture quality. At 5 am, I am a little tired and so is my iPhone haha.  

One of my decorated bookcases (which my husband made) 

The other bookcase filled with a picture I will treasure forever. My husband printed out a picture with his birthday, my birthday, the day we met, the day we got engaged, and the day we got married. Yes I am a lucky girl :)

Our extremely comfy couch! 

I can't wait to see everyone else's rooms! I hope I will be inspired! :)

Dream Kitchen Remodel

My husband and I were extremely lucky to find our house. We started looking at houses last Spring, not really knowing when we would find "our house." We had a general idea of where we wanted to live-- we were trying to find a place in the middle of where we both work (I ended up with the closer commute-- love you :)). After only a couple of months, we found our house. Jim fell in love with it first-- his face said it all. Seeing him love this house, well it just made me love this house too. I have to give it to him-- he saw potential (where I saw dirt haha). He could see our family here, our kids growing up here, fire pits and bbqs in the backyard, summer night walks, and I saw it through his eyes.

We did A LOT of cleaning! But, once the grim was gone, we had a blank canvas to work with. I am not a natural decorator-- ask my husband haha. I love decorations, but sometimes my decorations look a bit cluttered. I have been a work-in-progress, but I finally realized that we could take our time with making the house our own. We are lucky in that there was nothing "major" we had to remodel or fix right away (still crossing  my fingers). The bathrooms were great and functional, the kitchen just needed updated appliances, and overall the floors and walls were in pretty good shape. This gave us the ability to pick which room we wanted to focus on remodeling first. We have decided to work on the kitchen-- luckily we can build off of the main aspects of the kitchen (got to love remodeling on a budget). 

Kitchen when we moved in (ignore the cleaning supplies): 

Our kitchen now:

My husband and I love watching HGTV-- which can be awesome and misleading all at the same time (everything looks so easy to put together!) and we especially love "Fixer Upper." Chip and Joanna Gaines are not only adorable and work extremely well together, but they can turn any house into an amazing, cozy home. I have also been looking to Pinterest for ideas and inspiration (have you ever seen "Pinterest fails?" I feel like that is in my future). 

My dream kitchen (and trust me- I am indecisive so this plan could change) includes the following: 

White Cabinets// Dark Knobs// Farmer Sinks

I don't know when my obsession with white cabinets started, but it is a full-fledged obsession. We can use our existing cabinets (solid oak wood), so all we have to do is sand, prime, and paint (I think-- Jim will figure out the details, and I will just be doing what he says haha). I am also just as obsessed with farmer sinks.  I'm loving the look of the following cabinets, knobs, and farmer sinks: 

    

via // via // via 

Subway Tile: Back splash

I blame HGTV for my insane love of subway tile back splash. When did I become such an adult? haha-- I never noticed these things until I had a house of my own. Surprisingly though, one of my students was well versed in home improvement projects (one of my many tangents in class), and did have an opinion on house decor. However, I feel as though I did not care about these things until I had my own house (I am so sorry mom and dad!). Regardless, back to my back splash! I love subway tile, particularly in aqua and light green. 

       

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Dark Hardwood Floors (or flooring that looks like that) and Potential Counter tops: 

Our flooring at the moment is a tile-like laminate that is falling apart, cheap, but surprisingly hides a lot of dirt (I have a feeling I am going to like floors that this in my future), however, Jim and I love a dark, hardwood look. We don't necessarily need to have real wood for our flooring, but we do want a functional floor that has that same look. We also like the butcher block look for our counter tops (which you can see in a lot of these pictures), but we also love the way gray granite counter tops look. We are even loving the sleek look of concrete counter tops. Help! Too many choices :)! 

          

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How about you guys? Have you recently done a kitchen remodel? What did you do? Did you go with white cabinets? What are your counter tops? What did you do for flooring? I would love input!!!! Thanks for reading :) 

February Pin-spired and Weekend Wrap-Up

Well.....another snow day.....we are now at 4 snow days. I am sure I will be complaining about it in June! To brighten up this cold and snowy day, I am again linking up with some great blogs!

First up February Pin-spired!

Mix and Match Family// Pinterest Told Me To// The Larson Lingo

This is my first link-up, and while I do not have any pictures of myself, you can be assured, I will next month! I also realized while going through Pinterest that I am very predictable when it comes to my outfit choices. Anyway who knows me knows that I have three staples in my closet: a cardigan or sweater, scarf, and jeans. While looking through the pictures on Pinterest, I came to the conclusion that my wardrobe needs a little boost. Not a big boost, but just a boost into 2015! For many of the outfits that I pinned, I had at least 65% of the outfit, but I was missing things like a styled cardigan, riding boots (or any other shoe), and accessories like belts and earrings. I was missing the chic part, the fashion-forward part. I would like to think that I am a simple person (when it comes to clothing), and that because of that I am all about comfort when picking out clothing. So, for the spring and summer, I want to challenge myself and expand on what I typically wear. Fingers crossed!

Here it goes!
Since it has been unbelievably cold here in New England, my winter staples have been out in full force! Sweaters, puffy vests, UGG boots, leggings, warm dresses, thick scarves, you get the idea!

Some of my favorite pins (and outfits that are similar to what I wear)!

 


{Outfit One}// {Outfit Two}// {Outfit Three}


The following pins are outfits that I aspire to put together myself in the near future! Again, I have many of the staple pieces in these outfits, it is just about re-arranging the pieces and adding a few accessories and basic changes here and there. Any advice or suggestions anyone has about updating part of your wardrobe on a budget would be greatly appreciated!

  


{Outfit Four}// {Outfit Five} // {Outfit Six} //{Outfit Seven}


Next up......Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne and Suburbs!

Again, this is my first time linking up and I couldn't be more excited!

~ Friday I helped my mom and dad run the concession stand at my old high school. It is a great way to catch up with my parents, but also to see my youngest two sisters who are cheerleaders.

~ Friday night my husband and I just relaxed! After a hectic and busy week filled with snow days and rushing around, we needed this!

~ Saturday morning and early afternoon was exciting ;).....my husband and I cleaned! There is nothing better than having a clean house! This is something I never truly appreciated until I moved into my own home. Thanks for making us clean so much mom! It really does make a difference :)

~ Saturday afternoon, my cousin-in-law brought over a buffet table that he made for my husband and I. It is perfect! It has the rustic feel that I wanted, and fits perfectly in our dining room. If you are looking for recycled pieces, you have to visit his Etsy shop: RecycledPallet! Thanks Nick!

~ Saturday night, my husband and I had dinner with my two cousins and their husbands. We usually see each other every Sunday for dinners at my grandparent's house, but it was so nice to spend some quality time with them! I always have a good time and laugh a lot with them (mostly at my expense!).


~ Sunday was all about spending some much needed time with Jim's family and the SuperBowl! The Patriots won! Let me tell you, I don't think anyone thought it was really going to happen in those last few minutes of the game!




I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Here's to a new month in 2015!!! :)