Project Nursery

I am so excited that the nursery is finally complete! It has become my favorite room in the house. It seems like we have been working on it for a long time! We knew we had to get to work early because once September came and football season was back, we would be traveling to Auburn on the weekends and we would leave ourselves very little time to get everything done.

We made our first purchase when I was about 12 weeks along, we found a deal on cribs that was too good to pass up, so we bought them and Project Nursery began. We had to disassemble the room as it currently was (a guest room) to make room for our new purchase. We were able to get the cribs up in no time and instantly the reality that there would be 2 babies living in there in a few months became very real.

Before paint

Next step, was paint. I knew I wanted to use a neutral color, we didn't know what we were having yet and needed to get the paint done so we could start on the furniture. I originally had planned on using a gray, I bought several samples and put them on the wall (as you can see in the picture above) only to be disappointed. I didn't like any of them! With only a couple of days to go before the room was going to be painted and on the verge of giving up, mom to the rescue! She had found a beautiful aqua. She had seen it and said it would be perfect. I didn't even bother with a sample, I knew she was right. Chris' parents came that weekend and painted it and it's perfect!

We used Sherwin Williams Rainwashed. It looks much more blue in these pictures that it actually is. These pictures were taken at the end of the day, when the sun is coming in, it is much lighter. I am so glad we decided to go with a color rather than a neutral. We are able to use neutrals for the bedding and curtains which works out really nicely since we are having a boy and a girl! I am working on getting pictures of the room and will post the final product soon!

Gender Reveal

Well it has been quite awhile since this blog got some love, I won't promise again to do better because with only 8-10 weeks to go until our twins arrive, I would be kidding myself to think I will have tons of time to write so I wil do the best I can. We have been busy preparing our hearts and our home for our babies, we cannot wait to meet them!

When I wrote my last post, we were about to do a gender reveal for our family and friends, so I will pick up there.

With family and friends scattered all over the country, we wanted to do a gender reveal that would be fun and exciting for everyone. So to Pinterest I went searching for ideas and found one that had not been done in our circle of friends/family....scratch off cards! I thought, how fun, we can mail them to our friends and family that we won't be able to tell in person and it will be fun for them too. I made the cards myself, but ordered the stickeres from here. I used cardstock for the white part and scrapbook paper for the backing. I used a scalloped paper cutter to make the edges pretty and stuck the stickers on, super easy! Here is a picture of the finished product.

The hardest part was waiting to find out what we were having! At our 16 week appointment, we were able to find out the sex of Baby A, but Baby B was being shy so we had to wait another 4 weeks. We went back at 20 weeks and Baby B still did not want to cooperate, which was a huge letdown since we had invited our moms and one of my brothers to the sonogram so they could find out with us. With a little persuasion from the tech (i.e. jiggling of the ultrasound wand), Baby B finally decided to cooperate and we were able to find out, FINALLY!! As soon as we left the doctor I got the cards ready and put them in the mail. We were going to be seeing my dad's family that weekend so we decided to wait and let all of them do the scratch off cards together, including my dad and youngest brother. Props to mom and W for keeping the secret!! We got together for a big family dinner and let everyone scratch off their cards and this is what they saw....

A BOY AND A GIRL!!!!  We could not be more excited! In just a few weeks, we will finally be able to see their little faces. Until then, we have lots to do....nursery pictures coming soon!

Doubly Blessed

So my promise to be better at the blog has not gone so well,  BUT I do have a good reason. At the beginning of May we found out we had a BABY on the way!! And on June 4th, we found it it was actually 2 BABIES!! TWINS!! We are beyond blessed and so excited! It was shocking at first since twins do not run on either side of our family, but now we could not be more excited. They are due in January, but we expect them to arrive in December so needless to say, we have been very busy trying to do as much as we can to prepare for their arrival before football season starts! I will post pictures of our progress soon.

Here is a picture of the card we sent to our friends and family to announce our pregnancy

Gender reveal post coming soon!! We are telling our family tonight :)

Until then, happy football season!! War Eagle :)

 

Lately

Here lately, we have not been up to much. We have had several free weekends in a row, which is very out of the ordinary for us. We made a quick trip to the lake for the Fourth and since then have been home. I had some high school friends come in town which was so much fun to see them and catch up and other than that we have been doing some projects around the house and this....

This weekend we will enjoy our last free weekend for quite some time. We have lots going on over the next few weeks, celebrating our favorite 2 year old's birthday, sending our best friends off to their new home in GA :(, a bachelor party (for Chris), a trip home (for me & Shugar), two very special weddings and a lot of family, friends and fun! I promise some not so boring posts soon! Until then, here's to lazy weekends.

Happy Birthday America!!

We are headed up to our family lake house tonight to celebrate America & spend time with family. I am so excited, 4th of July is one of my very favorite holidays. Have a happy and safe America's birthday!!

Also, a very happy birthday to my dear grandmother. We miss you!! xoxo

Happy Birthday Josie!

Dining Room Redo

I have neglected my little blog lately. We have had so much going on, but I promise to be better.

One little project I have been working on is a makeover for my dining room. When we moved in last July, it looked like this:

Well, we are not really red people, not to mention this was not a soft red, we are talking fire engine red. My mother in law volunteered to come the day after we closed and paint it for us. Between trying to pack up our old place and all the craziness that a house closing can bring, I had not properly prepared so I made a quick decision and chose a chocolate brown, so we got this:

I really liked the color and it turned out great, but with the dark walls, it made the room look small and since it wasn't a large room to begin with, I decided it needed a new look. I wasn't sure if I wanted to use a neutral or go with a color, so I had several different paint samples on the walls for probably a month. I finally got sick of looking at it and now we have this:

I love it now! I used Sherwin Williams Interesting Aqua, we have also used this color in our breakfast room and master bath. I painted it early one Saturday morning and when Chris woke up the first thing he said was how much better and bigger the room looked. I am so happy with it, our living room opens up right into the dining room so it brightens up that entire space. Now onto the next project :)

Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday Chris!!

Happy, happy birthday to my wonderful husband!I love you!! xoxo

 

Cesare's at the Beach

If you find yourself in Clearwater, FL, you MUST go to Cesare's at the Beach. Hands down the best Italian food I have ever had! I know Italian is not customary beach fare, but it's worth it! Cesare's was recommended to us and since Chris & I aren't huge seafood fans, on the night we got to chose dinner on our vacation, we picked Cesare's. Everyone at the table got something different, and it was all delicious. I think we would all agree that Dad's meal was the best. He got the lasagna, a family recipe so secret that it isn't even shared with the kitchen staff. The owner's mom makes it at home and delivers it to the restaurant every day. The tirimasu was wonderful as well, also made by the owner's mother and delivered daily to the restaurant.They have a nice little patio so you can enjoy your dinner outside and the portions are quite large. They have quite a few daily specials and everything is made fresh to order to pretty much any dish can be tailored to your liking. I am going back to the Clearwater area next week for a work conference, I hope we can go again!

Click to Give

Breast Cancer Awareness is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. I lost my grandmother to breast cancer almost 5 years ago and have had several friends and family members affected by breast cancer.While Breast Cancer Awareness Month is not until October, I wanted to share an easy way you can help fight breast cancer year around. The best part? It's FREE & it's as easy as a click of your mouse. Follow this link to The Breast Cancer Site and click on the pink box in the center of the page that says "Click Here to Give". The site's sponsors donate mammograms to women in need. I have made clicking on the site a part of my daily work routine. I shared the site with my dear friend Whitney soon after we met almost 4 years ago and she told me the other day that she still clicks everyday. It's easy, it's free, it's worth it! Try to make it part of your daily routine.

Camera Strap Slip Cover

Chris gave me a new camera for my birthday.  It's been fun to have a "real" camera and I've been trying to learn how to take pretty pictures. Since I was going to be using it a lot, I decided I wanted to jazz it up a little & one of my very dear friends has the same one so this would be an easy way to tell them apart without having to check through the recent photos. I had seen camera straps on Pinterest and Etsy and decided I wanted to try to make one. My first couple of attempts were nothing short of failure, but I discovered some helpful tricks and was finally able to come out with not one, but 2 that were functional. It was pretty easy and didn't take much time. Here is a step by step if you want to make one for yourself!

**Disclaimer: I am not a skilled sewer. I bought a sewing machine just for fun and have taught myself just by practicing so this project really is easy!

Supplies:
Fun fabric (I bought a 1/2 yard of 2 different fabrics, I made 2 straps and had plenty leftover)
measuring tape
scissors & pins
interfacing or batting (this was the missing piece from my first couple tries)

1. Measure your camera strap.

2. Cut 2 strips of fabric. My strap was 1 inch wide by 28 inches long. I cut my stripes 2 inches wide & 30 inches long for plenty of seam allowance. If your fabric isn't long enough to stretch the length of your strap, you can cut smaller pieces and sew them together. I had to do that for one of mine.

My strips are folded in half in this picture.

* Take note of your fabric pattern. If you are using stripes or dots, you may want to cut according to the pattern on the fabric. This is what I did for this fabric, the cover is much wider than my actual camera strap, but it is still functional, the interfacing helps the fabric keep it's shape.

3. Pin the fabric to the interfacing and cut around the fabric. Iron the inferfacing to the wrong side of the fabric.

4. Sew the ends of your strips first. Make sure you lay your strap over your fabric strips to see how much seam allowance you have. Use something other than a straight stitch for character if desired.

5. Now you are ready to sew the strips together. Pin your strips so the right sides of the fabric are facing each other and sew a straight line all the way down. repeat on the other side

6. Turn the strap right side out. This is the hardest and longest part. The first one I did took me about half an episode of Mad Men :
* the wider your strap, the easier it is to turn it right side out

7. Slide your strap into the cover and you are ready to go!

Chicago

We spent our anniversary weekend taking a very short, but wonderful trip to Chicago. Neither of us had ever been and with not much time to work with, we got some restaurant recommendations from friends as well as the sites we should definitely see and what we could skip. Here is a glimpse of our trip in pictures.

View of the city from our hotel room

Giordana's: Of course we had to get Chicago style pizza

View from the observation deck of the John Hancock Building

Anniversary dinner restaurant

Delicious brunch place with $5 mimosas & bloody marys!

Riverwalk

Riverboat tour

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower)

Trump Tower

View from the Pier

Wrigley Field

Breakfast place across from our hotel

pretty flowers on Michigan Avenue

Hopefully we will get to go back when it isn't so cold and we have more time to spend there. Overall, it was a wonderful way to spend our first anniversary.