Random Friday

1. Anniversary surprises!

     Our third anniversary is next week and it seems like Tim and I have a few surprises in store for one another. Since our anniversary is on a Wednesday and Tim couldn't get the day off because of some big meetings and projects at work, we will begin our celebration this weekend starting today with a surprise daytime outing that Tim planned. I have no idea what  we will be doing. I was just told to get up this morning and be ready to go. To another state!  
     I also know that we have a babysitter lined up for a dinner date for Saturday night as well. Tim bought me an anniversary present on Wednesday and then spent the entire evening following me whenever I went in our bedroom to make sure that I wasn't snooping to find his hiding place. I'm not completely finished with my gifts for him. I need to buy something to go with one of my gifts to him and I'm waiting for another to arrive in the mail. I think we will wait and do presents on our actually anniversary, though Tim is apparently about to die in anticipation of giving me mine. And I am working on coming up with a nice anniversary dinner to cook on Wednesday. Anyway, I am still shocked that we've been married for three years and I'm really excited about celebrating together. Times flies, right?

2. Art with Owen.

     I ran across a cute art project on Pinterest the other night and since I had everything I needed to make it already, Owen and I did it yesterday. It was a really cute idea where you take a blank canvas and write a word on it using painter's tape. Then you let your kiddo fingerpaint all over the canvas and after it dries, you remove the tape so they word is revealed in white. Owen painted around the word "Love" with mainly red and blue paint. He had a really fun time with it, though of course he enjoyed painting himself and the tablecloth he was sitting on more. I kept having to say, "No, paint on here." Anyway, I don't have the final product yet because it's still drying, but I will post a picture once it's dry and I've peeled the tape off. 

3. Cute Owen pic(s) of the week.

     The first cute Owen picture of the week is from when we moved out stove out away from the wall to paint behind it. I decided it was a good opportunity for me to clean beside the stove (you know, where people spill stuff down there in the hole between the stovetop and the countertop). Owen was fascinated with me wiping down the side of the oven so I told him I was cleaning and he picked up a piece of paper towel off the floor and started rubbing it on the side of the oven saying "Clean, clean," pronounced "keen keen."

     The other picture is just a cute one of Tim and Owen the other night when they were reading "Fox in Socks," one of his favorites. They just looked really sweet together. Owen is at a super fun age right now. He is learning new things every day. Right now, we are working on more animal noises and counting. Yesterday I taught him the word "cuddle" and he will wrap his little arms around me and snuggle into me whenever I say, "Cuddle, cuddle." I melt!

     

4. My favorite show on television.

     My absolute favorite show on television this summer is The Newsroom. I know I have mentioned it on here before, but I cannot say enough good things about it and I'm trying to convert everyone I know into watching it. Tim and I recently ended our trial period with our new television service where you get all the movie channels for free, but we just had to keep HBO so that we can finish this show. Plus, a couple of our other favorites come on HBO too.This series is about a fictional news show and each episode shows how they cover a certain news event in history in addition to all the characters' personal lives, romances, etc. It is so smart and funny and interesting. Take the political stances with a grain of salt because the show isn't about that. It's about teamwork, love, loyalty, and integrity. I highly recommend it. Recently, they did an episode about the night Osama Bin Laden was killed. It was great. And I laughed out loud three times during the last episode.The first season finale will air this coming Sunday. If you have a chance, find a way to catch up on this show and watch the entire first season. I'm not sure when the second season will start, but I'm going to hardcore miss it when it's over for the season. Here's a review from The New York Times. 

5. Julep pick.

     Well, it was that time of the month again (no, not that time of the month!), it was time to choose my box of nail colors for September. The colors this month were part of a collaboration with designer Trina Turk. The nail colors are meant to match her "Modernist Maverick" collection and are all based on the German Bauhas movement. I was really intrigued by the colors this month and was excited when the company offered the entire collection for a discounted price. I had trouble deciding which box to get because my favorites were all in different boxes so I decided to take the plunge and get the entire collection. It would have been too expensive normally, but because I had a free box this month, it wasn't too bad. The company is also releasing a new product this month: volumizing and lengthening mascara in black and brown. Again, if you're not a Julep Maven and want to be, you can join and receive your introductory box for just a penny using the code COLOR2012 or PENNY. I will warn you that it is super addictive, but also really fun. It's fun to try colors and styles that I never would have picked at a store. Those wind up being my favorites most of the time!

6. An Honest review.

    I have received all my The Honest Company products for this month and I have been busy trying them all out and seeing what I think about them. Stay tuned for a review next week to see my opinion on them. We have been using their diapers for about five days now and just got the household products (laundry detergent, hand soap, dish soap, shampoo and body wash, and dishwasher pods) about midway through this week. The company is a really great one and I really love their mission. Plus, having stuff delivered to the house was really convenient and awesome. They are definitely geared more towards families with small children, but I could see someone ordering just the family essentials pack to get beauty and cleaning products. 

Pregnancy Survival Kit

 

      One of my good friends recently found out that she is pregnant and I am super happy for her. She lives pretty far away from all her family and friends (and me!) so while I couldn't celebrate with her in person, I still wanted to do something special for her. I remember when I was pregnant with Owen and moved to Washington, it was really lonely being pregnant far away from family and not knowing many people in our new town. So to let her know that somebody in Kentucky is super psyched for her (and her husband too), I created my very own Pregnancy Survival Kit and mailed it to her right after she told me she was pregnant. Here are the contents of the box: 

1. Burt's Bee Mama Bee Belly Butter

2. Rainbow Light Prenatal One vitamins (these are gentle on the tummy)

3. Preggie Pop Drops (for morning sickness)

4. Bellybar Boost nutrition bars (in Baby Needs Chocolate flavor)

5. Fit Pregnancy magazine

6. "Baby Bargains" by Alan and Denise Fields

7. A gender neutral onesie from Gymboree

8. "Dad's Pregnant Too!" by Harlan Cohen

9. "Baby Name Wizard" by Laura Wattenberg

10. A picture frame from Target (first for the ultrasound and then a newborn photo!)

*I also included a cute bracelet that I got at Motherhood Maternity for donating money to the March of Dimes. It was really cute and had pregnancy tips on the back of it too. 

I found all of these products at Motherhood Maternity, Gymboree, and Target. And here are some other ideas you can include in a pregnancy box if you plan to make one. Though mine was so packed it couldn't fit any more inside. 

•  pregnancy journal - This one is from May Books. 

• psi bands (for morning sickness)

• maternity T-shirt (maybe something with a cute saying)

• belly stickers to commemorate each month of pregnancy for a belly photo

• a funny movie about parenthood

• a CD of lullaby music to play for her belly (Don't knock it. Owen still falls asleep to the CD I played him in utero)

    Here are some more pictures of the things I included in the pregnancy survival kit that I made. I included some close-ups so you can see the individual products a little better too. 

    I packed everything into one of my leftover Citrus Lane boxes because they are the perfect size for a care package and I just ripped the label off and readdressed it. 

Everything looks really nice in there and was cheaper and more personal than the one I found prepackaged online. Citrus Lane and Stork Stack both have a baby shower box, but I wanted something that was more for pregnancy than the baby. 

Here's a close-up of some of the items in the box. 

And some more of the goodies in the box. The bars are "Baby Needs Chocolate" flavor. Heehee!

Menu Monday

    Here's our menu for the week. I had someone ask whether I was going to keep posting our menus, so I guess that means that I haven't done it in a while and I need to get back on it. I have a few new recipes and some old favorites. I actually found a couple of the recipes on Pioneer Woman's Cooking site and they seem like healthier options from her. The rest are some of our favorite recipes, like the Island pork tenderloin from the P90X diet and the taco meatloaf from Paula Deen. What are you eating this week?

• Monday: Island pork tenderloin with sweet potato fries and sauteed spinach. 
• Tuesday: Italian pie. This is a Publix Apron's recipe. It is really yummy and makes a ton so we'll have leftovers tomorrow too. If you've never had this recipe, you should definitely give it a try. 

• Wednesday: Leftovers. 
• Thursday: Spanish chicken and rice. This is a newer recipe that I tried last month from Skinny Taste. It was super easy to make and really tasty. Tim described it as comfort food. 

• Friday: Low carb burgers. Tim wanted burgers this week so I'm going to try this recipe to see if we can't do burgers a little healthier. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe. 

• Saturday: Grilled chicken with chipotle cream sauce. Another recipe from Pioneer Woman. It was part of her Bush's baked beans competition. Each meal had to be paired with Bush's grilling beans. This recipe looks really interesting. I love chipotle peppers and grilled chicken lately. 

• Sunday: Taco meatloaf. One of Tim's favorites. This Paula Deen recipe is one I cut out of her magazine several years ago and Tim loves it. Since our anniversary is next week, I decided to treat him with one of his favorite meals. 

Random Friday (plus Julep spoiler)

     I just got back into town a few days ago, so Random Friday won't be super long this week. We have had a few things happen in the past week and we've done a little more work on the kitchen. I've received a few goodies in the mail. And I have a few books that I'm about to start reading. I also found out the Julep nail colors for September when they were leaked a couple nights ago. So since the cat is out of the bag and you can easily find these online, I thought I would post them for anyone interested. And if you don't want to see the colors, don't read the last item on my list. But if you want a sneak peak a few days early, go right ahead. If you want to get in on the action, sign up for Julep for just a penny HERE. Use the code COLOR2012 or PENNY and you will get your introductory box of either three polishes or two polishes and pedicure cream for just a penny and you'll receive an e-mail on August 20 so you can order one of the September boxes (shown below) or skip the month. 

1. Cows are maybe just a little scary. 

     While I was visiting family in Georgia last weekend, my aunt and I took Owen to the University of Georgia teaching dairy farm where my uncle works to show Owen some cows. He was pretty scared for most of the trip. Cows are pretty big and even the littler ones still try to lick your arm off so he was not amused. He's starting to cry in the first picture. Still, it was pretty fun to show him that cows exist in real life and not just in his books. We did find a couple barn cats and those were a big hit with the little man. And the little attention-starved kitties loved seeing us too. Below are some photos from our little field trip. 

2. What's on my Nook.

    The next book on my reading list is "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein. It's a historical fiction novel set during WWII when two friends are captured and interrogated by the Germans. Here's a synopsis from Amazon: "A British spy plane crashed in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun. When 'Verity' is arrested by the gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?" The book has received some really great reviews so I'm looking forward to reading it. 

      I also have the second book of the Mortal Instruments series - "City of Ashes" by Cassandra Clare. I really enjoyed the first book and I'm interested to see where it goes after several huge revelations and twists at the end of the first book. There are I think three more books in the series at the moment. I'd give you a synopsis of this book, but it includes some spoilers from the first.

3. Julep Mystery Box.

   My mystery boxes came last weekend and I received some pretty colors and new products. I received, from left, travel-sized glycolic hand scrub and hand brightener, Lily, Lynn (a duplicate, but one of my favorites), Charlotte, Diane, Sandra, Megan, basecoat, and a lip balm. I also got the color Ellen, but I'm trading it with a woman from the Julep Swap webpage where you can trade colors. The swap page is my new favorite thing and I have recently traded one of my new colors and a couple older ones that I never used for ones that I like better. It's a great system! Overall, I'm happy with what I received, but I am starting to prefer knowing what I'm going to get before I order. The mystery boxes are fun for the surprise, but they typically don't have the colors that I want in them. I don't think I will order another mystery box for a while. Someone please remind me of this when they introduce one and the temptation is hard. My sister-in-law won a big mystery box and got a lot of new colors (about $200 worth). And my friend Katie won a gold box last month and received all the new colors from August. So I'm hoping this next month is my turn to win something big. Fingers crossed!

4. Love with Food

     The special deal that I got for my Love With Food box last month automatically renewed so I received a surprise box this month. The theme for the month was "Traveling Treats." I received pretzel sticks, lime and ginger-flavored mustard, gum, ginger candies, dried cherries, two vegan cookies, and a bag of coconut toffee peanuts (my favorite of the box). It was a really fun box and I really enjoyed it. If you want to save two dollars on a box and try it out, go here and use the coupon code AUGLOVE through August 31. Its not a referral link, just a regular link to their website. 

5. Bridesmaid dress.

    I went shopping with my cousin on Sunday to find my bridesmaid's dress for her wedding. Her only requirement was that it be orange-ish and coordinate with the other bridesmaid dresses. This was easier said than done, but after looking at at least five stores and trying on lots of dresses, we were able to find a dress for both me and for Johanna's other cousin Hannah. My dress is made by Jessica Simpson and was actually 65 percent off. Yippee! I think that I'm going to replace the sash with a leather belt to better match my cowboy boots. 

6. Kitchen progress.

    While I was in Georgia for an extra couple days, Tim got to work on painting our kitchen. He primed and painted about a quarter to a third of the kitchen and it's so crazy to see our paint choice on the walls. It looks so very different from the original green color. I think it looks a lot cleaner and prettier. And I think the kitchen itself is going to look larger. I can't wait to finish painting (hopefully, this weekend!) and start finishing off the kitchen renovations soon. At least the ones we plan on doing now. New countertops will have to wait. You can see our newly painted gray wall on the left. What do you think?

7. The Honest Company.

    I received my trial pack of diapers and wipes and some household products last week and was really impressed with The Honest Company. Using a deal from Plum District, I got our first month's supply of diapers and wipes for about a third off. I ordered the skulls, anchors, and blue gingham diapers. They are really cute and so soft. And they don't contain any extras like scents and chemicals. This is really important because Owen has been having bad reactions to his diapers lately (Pampers specifically). He has a rash around the edges of his diaper and has been scratching himself a lot. I also ordered some of their household cleaning and beauty products and I am interested to try them as well.  

8. Julep mystery boxes - Spoiler alert!

     Through some sort of sneaky means, some people on the Julep Facebook page figured out the top-secret colors for the September boxes a few days early. The company typically sends out e-mails revealing the new colors on the 20th of each month, but the boxes were leaked this month. I had a feeling that they would be these Trina Turk collaborative colors because I had seen them on sale on another site online recently. They will also feature a new product from Julep - mascara. I'm not that excited about the mascara, but I really like a lot of the colors and it will be really difficult once again to choose which box to get this month. I will be getting my box for free again based on their referral program. If you want to join in the fun this month and aren't a Maven already, check my link above to join the subscription box service for just a penny! And that way you'll join just in time for a new round of boxes. Which box would you get? What colors are your favorites? I am a Classic With A Twist, but I have always switched to Boho Glam in the past. 

American Beauty – Eileen (white), Hoch (teal green), and Julep American Beauty Volumizing Mascara in Jet Black

Boho Glam – Gunta (blue), Popova (kelly green), and Julep Boho Glam Lengthening Mascara in Espresso Brown.

Bombshell – Annie (turquoise blue), Alma (dijon yellow), and Julep American Beauty Volumizing Mascara in Jet Black.

Classic With a Twist – Sophie (mushroom), Brandt (off black), Julep American Beauty Volumizing Mascara in Jet Black.

It Girl – Otte (camel), Delaunay (chili pepper red), and Alma (dijon yellow).

Wedding Weekend

   Tim and I were in Georgia this past weekend for the wedding of my childhood friend Nathan (we still refer to each other as brother and sister) and his fiancee Kristen. It was a really beautiful wedding and was for sure a Pinterest-inspired one. It was definitely both an example of why I'm sad there was no Pinterest when I got married and also why I'm happy there was no Pinterest when I was wedding planning. 

     They got married outside at an old house with beautiful land and a "barn" out back for the reception. (My cousin is getting married at the same place in October, but I think it will look completely different from this wedding). They had really cute signs and antique dressers outside for the guest book and a cute book with marriage advice. It had the whole rustic chic country theme going on. Some of my favorite details in addition to the ones I listed above were the flowers in mason jars, the mismatched china that we ate on, and the metal tubs of old-fashioned glass bottles of Coke and rootbeer and orange soda.

The bride and groom with the groom's parents, brother Marcus, and sister-in-law Jodi.

See Jodi? You looked so pretty!

My parents looked so cute. 

I snuck a quick picture with the groom while the bride had pictures taken with her family. 

     I also loved Nathan's groom's cake. It was so personal and it tasted awesome. Actually both cakes were great. The bride's cake was chocolate and red velvet with cream cheese in the middle with chocolate chips in it. Yum! Typically, I'm not a big fan of wedding cake. Of course, I give each one a fair chance, but most of the time I don't think they taste that special. Ours, of course, was one of my favorites, but one of the tastiest I've ever had was made by the Publix bakery!  

At the reception.