less blogging. more secrets...

Yup. You’ve guessed it, my absence in blogging = ONE HUGE SECRET!!!

So, I promise this is it for awhile, so maybe I can actually get back to blogging on a somewhat regular basis. Without further ado…

SURPRISE!

Baby number 2 will be here at the beginning of May…again! Ya’ll think I go overboard with birthday parties for Kate? What on EARTH am I going to do now! 2 parties, 2 kiddos. Oh man. Maybe 1 BIG party with lots of cake and sprinkles? That should do it.

We are just over the moon excited for this little one to arrive. Now that my lovely morning sickness has calmed down a tiny bit and my energy has returned a little bit, I can be even more excited. You might be wondering how Kate’s reaction was to the news? I’m pleased to present Kate’s YouTube debut.

HA! As an update, she’s super excited now, talks about the baby ALL THE TIME and asks me on a daily basis if it’s here yet. Perhaps we should have waited to tell her the news?

Next obstacle will be putting up Kate’s crib in the baby’s room. She loved her crib and every now and then still talks about it. Then the real test…first week of December, gender reveal. She won’t talk of a baby brother. No boys allowed, just girls. Oh geez. We may have bad reaction to baby - part 2 - to video tape. Stay tuned.

Kate's birthday party feature!

Because we allllll know I can't keep secrets, I've been negligent in blogging because I've been keeping a little secret of my own :)  Last Friday, Hostess with the Mostess (my mostess favorite party blog!) did a full length feature of Kate's Schoolhouse birthday party!!!  I've known for a few weeks now that the feature would be live sometime in August.  Trust me,it was hard to not spill the beans!  So, without further ado, run on over to Hostess with the Mostess and see the full run down of the party deets and beautiful pictures!!



Click on the picture to be directed to HWTM!!! 

I also wanted to share a few pictures with you of sweet baby L.  My bestie, Misty and her husband welcomed him into the world on July 20th.  He is absolute perfection! AND he seriously is the most advanced baby ever!  Look at that smile!  Pop over to Misty's blog to see even more adorable pictures!

I just realized I promised a DIY that I was going to share with you.  I'm going to blame my being over 30 and say I have no idea what DIY I was going to do.  Maybe I already did it for a project over at Stockpiling Moms?  I'm losing it folks.  If so, then make sure you pop over and see all of the DIY projects that are posted every Friday by yours truly! 

Over the weekend we finished painting our bedroom and master bath.  I need a few more things to complete a wall vignette and after that's complete, I'll be sure to post pictures! 

Hope everyone is enjoying what's left of summer and gearing up for back to school! 

vaca!

Last week we continued the birthday celebrations of not only myself, but my brother and his life long pal, Ryan, in Destin, FL. There were a grand total of 18 of us between 2 condos and a beach house. We did dodge a tropical storm, but it only rained on our parade for 1 day. Life was pretty darn good for the rest of the week on a beautiful white sand beach and crystal clear water :) Here are some of my favorite pics from the week. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! I'm working on a DIY this weekend and can't wait to finish it up. I'll share more next week...until then enjoy!

thirty.

Thirty means I'm no longer in my 20's.  Thirty means I've gained some perspective on my life.  Thirty means I'm comfortable with myself.  Cheers to thirty.  I think I'm going to like this decade :) 

finishing up the list

Lots of pictures in this post.  Tomorrow I will be 30.  My 20's will be gone and I will be left with lots of sweet memories of way too much fun and reflections of a decade of personal growth. 

I might not have conquered everything on my list, but I'm looking forward to my 30's to continue setting goals for myself. 

Findlay Market

Saturday morning on the 9th we loaded up and headed to Findlay Market.  It was a beautiful and HOT day.  I was fighting some kind of stomach bug so our trip was short which makes me sad.  But, we did manage to get some awesomely delicious asparagus and a sweet watermelon.  Kate enjoyed the sights and really enjoyed her orange soft drink :)  We'll be back again Findlay!

 

Family Photos

Humidity is NOT a girls' best friend.  Especially if your name is Kate, you are 3 and happen to have ENORMOUS curly hair.  When Brittany of Brittany Brown Photography sent me a text with a preview of our shoot, I almost fell off of my chair from laughing so hard.  Her hair was SO BIG!  Ha!!!  But, nonetheless, the pictures were perfection. Brittany really captured our family.  We laughed a lot that day, like we do everyday.  She captured the sweetness of Kate, and the craziness too.  I still am having a hard time believe that this adorable little thing is 3 years old already.  We love you our sweet Kate. 



P.S. I also want to wish my love a very happy anniversary.  Kate and I love you so much!  It's been an amazing 7 years and I look forward to many, many more anniversaries with you!

 

mimi's baby shower

I want to share with you some of the details from Misty's (aka Mimi in "Kate speak"!) baby shower that I hosted a few weekend ago. 

I had sent the info over to my pal, Jessica, at Pen n Paperflowers who has a beautiful blog and is so crazy talented it hurts my head sometimes.  I shared with her Misty's story (with Misty's permission) and Jessica was anxious to share Misty's story with the world. 

Her post was so incredibly touching, elegantly written and inspiring!  Go straight over there to view her post.  http://www.pnpflowersinc.com/2012/06/inspire-real-party-baby-shower-hosted.html

While I'll let Jessica and Misty share those details, I wanted to share some other details about some good friends who stepped in to help me make this day as special as possible for Misty.



I finally got to meet this lovely, lovely lady, Deanna, at the Birds of a Feather Fair.  She was one of our vendors and I wish I could have stayed all day and chatted with her.  She is so super talented and creative and awesome.  As I began making my email rounds letting our vendors know that we would be holding off on the Fair while Misty recovered, Deanna emailed me back asking what she could do to help.  I had told her that I would love for some of the vendors from the Fair to help me with some items for Misty for the baby shower and she offered to create the printables (invitations, signage, etc.).  We ran with some ideas based on Misty's bedding she had picked out.  Deanna is so easy and fun to work with!  So next time you need invitations or party printables head on over to Mirabelle Creations!  To Deanna, thank you over and over again for helping me make this day so special!



I also wanted to send a special shout out and thank you to Cristin of Hazelnut Designs.  I also met Cristin via a craft show that Misty and I did a few years ago.  We've stayed in contact and she's always my go-to girl for my sewing needs!  I'm sure everytime she gets an email from me she cringes because I've always got some crazy project up my sleeve :)  She produces gorgeous work and she shares my love for the bunting banner.  You know, a real quality I look for in a friend! Ha!  I sent the bedding Misty had picked out and of course Cristin knew exactly who the designer was and even had scraps to make a bunting banner that matched!  Misty was SO excited about the banner to put in the baby's nursery!  To Cristin, thank you so very much for your unwavering support for me AND Misty through the Fair and now through this.  I really hope someday soon when you are visiting your sis that we can spend some more time together! 



This is Cristin with her stash of fabric. Raise your hand if you are jealous.  **both hands raised**

I have a couple more post lined up before my birthday on Tuesday!  We finally got to Findlay Market and got some family pictures/Kate's 3 year pictures taken over the weekend.  I only had 1 entire year to get this stuff done :) 

5k

I did it!  It was almost a year ago that I told myself sometime within this next year, get your butt up and get outside.  I had told myself from the beginning I didn't care if I walked all of it, ran all of it, or a combination of both.  Just do a 5k.  So, last weekend that's exactly what my friend Jill and I did.

 

I'm NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.  Unless its A) Christmas morning, B) the morning of a party, or C) an awesome yard sale you will find me still yawning and carrying on until probably close to 11:00 am.  But, Saturday the 2nd, I was up with the birds.  Even up before my hubby and Kate were up.  I snuck out of the house to meet up with my friend. 

Jill's 5k attire (sunglasses and iphone case) compliments of her teenage sister!  Ha! 

Let me tell you about my friend/5k buddy Jill.  She is this BURST of sunshine and energy.  The funniest person I've ever met in my entire life.  She can have me doubled over in stitches laughing and crying and unable to breath from laughing so hard within seconds of seeing her.  Sometimes even just thinking about some of the crazy stuff we've done together makes me laugh out loud.  She's just one of those kinds of people that just make your day when you see them or talk to them.  Now my funny little friend Jill has worked her @#$ off this past year and has really accomplished some AMAZING fitness goals that I only wish I could/had the motivation to do!  She is a total 5k pro.  I couldn't have asked for a better person to have my first 5k experience with! 

We headed across the river to Cincinnati to our 5k destination.  This particular 5k was in honor off a little gal named Becca.  (More on that in a bit)

It wasn't a huge 5k, but just enough people that I didn't feel overwhelmed or super intimidated.  They already had burgers cooking for the after party and that certainly motivated me to get back there as quickly as possible! 

We started with the walkers and headed on our way.  The course winded through a lovely, lovely neighborhood.  We had almost as much fun talking about the houses we saw along the way as we did walking!  We walked fast and ran some.  My friend beat her personal best time, so for me that was a win! 

At certain markers in the course, like at every .5 miles, they had yard signs with encouraging messages to the 5k participants.  They also had some statistics about Becca's fight with Leukemia.  Heart breaking to see the numbers on what that brave little girl went through and made you pick up your pace and take your mind off of your feet pounding the pavement. 

It was a fun morning and Jill and I were proud to support childhood cancer research here locally at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.  You can watch Channel 5's story on the event here.  Race For Cure Inspired By Young Cancer Patient | WLWT Home - WLWT Home

I thought a lot about Misty that day too.  I hosted her baby shower that evening. Finishing that 5k couldn't have been a more perfect way to begin the day with helping raise money to find a cure for cancer and to end the day with such a fun celebration with Misty! 

 

Only 9 more days in my 20's!