Nice Gestures, Vacations, & Pay Day!

Happy Friday, friends! This Friday has been anxiously anticipated for the last few days and I couldn't be more happy to see it arrive. Unfortunately, I don't have any big plans like last weekend but we have all intentions of making this weekend a good one. Before we kick back our heels and enjoy some time with family and friends this weekend, I thought I'd drop in for a quick second for the usual Five on Friday. So let's get this show on the road.

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1) Nice Gestures

This morning I decided to treat myself to a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from Hardees on my way to work. When I got to the window to pay, the lady informed me the gentleman that had been in front of me had already taken care of my bill. I have no idea who the man was but it seriously made my day. Sometimes I often forget there are still people who care in this world and who make it a part of their day to do nice gestures. Whoever you were, thank you. I'll definitely be passing your kindness along.  

2) How to Get Away With Murder

If you don't watch this show, you should. It's sort of my guilty pleasure. After taking a short winter break, it aired again last night and I couldn't be more excited! 

3) Charleston

After many failed attempts at planning a trip to Charleston, we officially have a place booked and will be spending our Spring break in Charleston with my parents and siblings. We booked the most charming little plantation house complete with a back yard strung with lights. It's like a house straight from a movie. I can not wait till April comes! If you have any suggestions on things we should do and places to eat, please let me know!

4) Football

In honor of the Superbowl, we had NFL jersey day at school today. The only football jersey I happen to own is a Panthers Jersey considering I live in North Carolina. But despite my lack in Superbowl attire, you can count on me pulling for Seattle this weekend. My brother attended NC State with Russell Wilson and he is most definitely a what you see is what you get kind of guy. He hasn't let fame and fortune go to his head and he devotes most of his spare time to philanthropy work. In other words, he's my kind of guy. 

5) Pay Day and the Perfect Chair

Today is pay day which means while Kevin works tomorrow, Harper and I will be out on the hunt for the perfect chair. As mentioned in a previous post, I had picked out a chair for our master bedroom renovation project, only to find out it's out of stock at Target and they have no idea when it'll be restocked :/ Boo. So now the hunt continues. Fingers crossed I find an acceptable substitution this weekend so you guys can see the full room reveal later next week :P

The BEST Weekend

With the coming weekend almost near (whoop whoop) I figured I better share about this past weekend before it was too late. I had all intentions of sharing a weekend recap earlier in the week but it's just been one of THOSE weeks you know. The kind where things come up left and right, you're struggling to keep your head above water, and you're counting down the days to the weekend. Yes, those weeks. But that's okay because I'm still living off the high from this past weekend. Seriously girls, it was the BEST weekend we've had in a long time.

Friday around lunchtime I had an unexpected surprise. Due to some slight sleet and freezing temperatures, our school system released school early leaving me with an extra long afternoon to accomplish some much needed tasks. After sending my kiddos home and preparing for a new week, I ended up walking out of work several hours earlier than usual. I'd like to say I headed home for some much needed r & r but like any mama these days, I used my time wisely to tackle the laundry and get the house cleaned. Several hours later, I felt accomplished and headed out to pick up Harper. We spent the rest of the evening playing until the hubs got home then we headed out for dinner with my parents at a local diner before calling it a night sometime around 9pm. 

As I mentioned last week, Saturday was Kevin's much needed off day. It was his first day off in 25 days! With that being said, I tried to let him sleep in as long as possible. Though considering he's up by 4:30 each morning, 7 was as late as he could sleep. So while he laid in bed resting and Harper was still sleeping, I managed to get my tail in gear and fix some breakfast for us. When the cinnamon rolls were done, Harper woke up and we ate and spent the morning in bed watching her favorite... Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Sometime around 11, we managed to get back up and ready for a new day. While Kevin took one of the cars to be inspected, I rode out with a coworker of mine to do a little shopping. Her daughter isn't much younger than Harper so watching Harper and Hutson meet for the first time was pretty neat. Hopefully they'll grow up to be best friends one day (;

On the way home from shopping, Taylor and I swung by the drive thru at Pete's, a local hamburger joint, to take food home to the hubbies.  When we got back to the house, Kevin still wasn't back so Harper and I ate our lunch together then I laid her down for a nap. About that time Kevin was returning home, so while Harper napped, Kevin ate his lunch as we watched dvr'ed episodes of Fixer Upper. One of my favorite shows these days!

Saturday evening we headed to Greensboro to do a little shopping for our master bedroom redo project. I'm on the hunt for the perfect chair and was hoping Homegoods or Marshalls would have the perfect one but unfortunately there was no such luck. After my failed shopping attempt, we headed to Olive Garden to meet up with Kevin's best friend and his wife and two boys (who are almost 2 and 4). We ended up having a blast. We put all three kids together at one end of the table and we sat on the opposite side. I wasn't sure how this would go but all three kids entertained each other. while us adults got to talk and enjoy each other's company. Since the kids were having such a good time together, we decided to head back to Brian and Stacey's and let them play in their playroom together. All I can say is Harper was in heaven. She's a bit of a tomboy loving all things sports related and vehicle related so the fact that their playroom was filled with basketball goals, ball pits, and trains, made her feel like she'd hit the jackpot! By the time we left it was nearly 9 and she could barely keep her eyes open. I don't doubt Griffin and Elijah fell asleep shortly after either.

Sadly, Kevin's short break came to an end Sunday as he had to head back to work for another I don't know how many days. So while he left the house sometime after 5am, Harper and I slept in until nearly 9. We got up, got ready for church, then headed out to meet Kevin for breakfast. After breakfast we made our way to church then headed to my Mom and Dad's for our usual Sunday lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent with naps and playtime. We finished up our weekend with a much needed grocery store trip and dinner with the in-laws.

Here's to hoping we'll have another great weekend like this soon!

{Master Bedroom}: Design Board

After coming up with a list of must haves for our master bedroom and searching Pinterest for inspiration, here's the design board I managed to come up with for our space. Since making this design board, we've made a few purchases and have began to paint and redecorate the room. Here's to hoping by next week I can do the full room reveal! Fingers crossed friends...

Thoughts for Friday

Happy Friday, friends! It's been a while since I've linked up for the usual Friday line up so today I thought I'd share a few random thoughts with you all. You can see who I'm linking up with at the end of this post. So let's get started shall we?

1. The Bachelor

I'll admit that I'm not much of a television watcher. Sure, I turn it on as soon as I get home each day but it's more or less just to fill the silence in the house, not to watch it. However, there are a few shows I do indulge myself in these days. The Bachelor being one of them. Farmer Chris.. oh yeah, he's got it. And blonde Ashley... please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks she might be a bit crazy? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to be sharing a room with her each day in the Bachelor mansion.... Just sayin'

2. Fifty Shades of Gray

And no, I'm not talking about the books. I'm talking about all the paint swatches I've looked at over the last two weeks. I'm seriously seeing gray in my sleep. Who knew there were so many shades of gray?! I seriously thought the book was just a fancy title.. not a segue into reality. 

3. Hubby's Day Off

I am so, so excited yall! After working 25 days straight, Kevin finally has this Saturday off. I'm so happy I don't even know what to do with myself. The fact that I can roll over in bed tomorrow morning and see the hubs in bed next to me instead of just a pillow makes me giddy. With the threat of bad weather for tomorrow, we haven't made any big plans for the occasion. Usually I'd complain about the possibility of snow keeping us in but after not seeing my hubby in so long, I think being snowed in could be a good thing!

4. Is it Easter yet?

So I know we haven't even made it to Valentine's Day yet, but can we fast forward to Easter. I've never been one to really decorate for the smaller holidays but after a quick stop at Pier One the other day, I'm rethinking my decision. How cute is this tablescape?! I need one of everything please! 

5. Harper's Birthday Party

The fact that my child will be 2 in just a little over three months absolutely floors me. I have no idea how this happened. Every day Harper seems to change more and more. Despite that I love how much she's learning and growing, I just wish I could make it stop. But at least with her aging, that means I can do more fun party planning. And I'm not even going to lie... I've already planned her entire birthday party! Yes, I said ENTIRE birthday party. The theme has been chosen, the decorations picked out, the menu lined up. All that's left is to purchase a super cute outfit which I already have my eye on. For once, I'm a head of the game :P

Join the fun and link up with the following ladies! 

 Darci, Christina, April and Natasha

Karli of September Farm and Amy of The Farmer's Wife.

{Master Bedroom}: Pinspiration

When Kevin and I started talking about renovating our master bedroom at the end of last year, we decided it was best to sit down and come up with a list of things we wanted to include in the space. And of course, by we, I really mean me. As I laid in bed with Kevin one night, I told him of my plans for our bedroom and asked him for his thoughts. Of course, his answer for the most part was, "I trust you babe. Everything you decorate I always end up liking." Despite the compliment in his answer, it wasn't what I wanted to hear so after much pushing and shoving, Kevin finally began to offer his own suggestions for our bedroom.. be it vetoing some of my own ideas or adding to them. In the end, this is what we came up with for our must-haves.

• Neutral colors (whites, tans, grays)
• A linen nailhead trim headboard
• Floor length Curtains
• A sitting area
• Floor length mirror
• Some sort of gallery wall to display quotes and pictures

After having a sense of direction for our space, I headed over to Pinterest and started pinning away ideas which leads me to this post. Here below are some of my favorite ideas for our master bedroom...

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Check back next week to see my design board for our space (:

A Three Day Weekend

Well I'm back after a three day weekend.  Last week I busted my booty to get our house in tip top shape so I could truly enjoy my weekend. And enjoy I did. It was absolutely glorious to sit around and have no pressing to-do's. I spent the weekend cuddled up with Harper, doing a little shopping here and there, working on our master bedroom redo project, and even sat down to watch a few Hallmark movies that I dvr'ed forever ago. Might I even add that I actually sat down and read an entire book in just one day! I know.. I'm as stunned as you are. I was beginning to think it was impossible for us mamas to sit down and enjoy a book these days. 

I'd like to say I took a bunch of pictures from our weekend but I didn't. The only photos added to my camera roll this weekend were of tablescapes at Pier One, pictures from my furniture shopping adventures, and pictures of paint samples (more of that to come) and I doubt you're very interested in those. But I did manage to snap this one cute photo of the cutest little girl ever just hanging out in her car seat with her bag of cereal waiting on her Papa to come rescue us from our garage. Yes, I said that right. Our garage. You see Saturday morning I loaded the car up to head out and grab breakfast with the hubby as he worked his 20 something day in a row, only to realize my car wouldn't crank. So I called my daddy to come rescue us since obviously Kevin couldn't. By the time Dad arrived, kicked my car off, it was too late to go visit the hubs so instead we headed to my parents' house where we hung out with them for the rest of morning. But we enjoyed that visit just as much as we would have visiting with the hubs so it all worked out. 

Hope your weekends were just as low key! Check back tomorrow for inspiration for our bedroom redo! 

Family Photos

What do you give people who have everything? It's the question I ponder every Christmas. But this year, the decision was super easy. One day this past fall I was sitting at my in-laws' house looking at the pictures placed around their living room and I noticed one thing all the pictures had in common... none of them were recent besides the pictures of Harper. All of the photos came from Kevin's childhood or our wedding. So immediately an idea popped into my mind. What if we did family photos and kept them a surprise until Christmas? I ran the idea by my brother in law and his girlfriend and they loved it. Then I thought, why not do the same thing for my own parents? The last family photos we had taken together was in April of 2011, before Kevin and I were even married. So I sent my sister an email explaining my idea and she too thought it was a great idea. And so, at the beginning of November, after our usual Sunday lunch at my parents' house, we all met up with Amanda of Lulu Photography in downtown Madison to snap a few photos. All I can say is.. it was a day! Factor in a cold, tired baby as well as four guys that hate their picture being taken, and our photographer had her hands full but the pictures turned out amazing! When my parents opened up their album on Christmas morning, the frigid temperatures, crying, and complaining were all worth it (:

Check back next week for photos from our session for Kevin's parents. 

{Master Bedroom}: Currently

Since moving into our home four and a half years ago, there are two rooms that have seriously been neglected. Strangely enough, they are our two most used rooms. One being our master bedroom, the other being the living room. That being said, my first big house project of 2015 is to renovate our master bedroom. Over the next few weeks, I hope you'll follow along with me as I share a little about this project with you all. I plan to share my inspiration, my decisions for bedding, paint colors, art work, etc. And of course, last but not least, the full room reveal.

But before I can start with all of that, I want to show you the space I'm working with. Here's our room as it currently sits (minus the carpet... these were taken before our hardwoods were installed). 

Please offer any feedback  that you would like to share. I'm welcome to all ideas :P

Pray or Worry, Don't do Both

A few weeks ago I read something that has stuck with me over the last couple of weeks. It said,  "You can either worry or pray, but you can't do both. We either truly believe in what God is capable of doing or we don’t. There should be no in between."

So often I'm guilty of praying for something, but yet I still find myself worrying and fretting over the situation. I don't doubt God and the plans He has for me. I know He has my best interests at heart whether I always fully recognize it or not. I refuse to let worry creep in on a situation I know God is in full control of.  This year, I'm determined to only pray; to not fall victim of doing both. So will you worry or pray this year? Just remember... you can't do both. 

Resolutions for 2015

As I shared yesterday, this past year was the first year I really stuck to my New Year's resolutions. In looking back at each of them, I can tell why I was successful and why in previous years I haven't been. It's really quite simple. Each resolution had three things in common. They had some meaning to me; they were specific and not vague; and when I made them I already had came up with some sort of solution to help me try to accomplish them. So this year, as I set out to write my new goals, I kept these three factors in mind and came up with the following three resolutions. 

Resolutions for 2015

Be Present

If you ask me what I value most in life, it won't be my car, my house, or even my health. Every time, hands down, it'll be my family. Those guys and gals mean the most to me. Be it my parents, my husband, my daughter, or even my third cousins. Nothing can compare to my family. But yet, if you saw me with them, I question, would you see how much I value them? So often when we're together I find myself on my phone or on the computer. I don't find myself truly investing as much time into them as I would like. The sad thing is, I don't often realize it until the day's over and I'm in my bed. I think about the time I lost. Was facebook and instagram really that important? The answer is always no. So this year, I plan to leave it behind whenever possible. My goal is to only check my social media accounts when I'm alone or have a free moment to myself. I'm going to do my best to keep it in my purse at dinner; in the car when I'm at my in-laws, and on silent upstairs in my bedroom when the hubs and daughter are at home. So ladies, you may see a little less of me, but my family will get to see a little bit more. And let's just be real, as much as I love you all, I love them more. 

Clean Out, Weed Out, & Organize

We've lived in our home four and a half years now and we still have boxes in our garage and outbuildings that we've never unpacked. I'm not even lying. Needless to say, it's more than likely stuff that's just taking up space that we don't need. So my goal this year is to tackle those boxes, weed out what we don't want, and organize what we do. Not only do I need to do this with our unpacked boxes in the garage but as well as to every space inside our home. We have so many things tucked away in our closets that we have no use for. So often I find myself looking at things I haven't used in four and a half years and think, we may need that one day or I never used that so I could hold onto it and just regift it. And yet, four years later, those things are still sitting there. Never used, never regifted. So this year they are going. I'm determined to rid our house of everything we don't use, don't need, or don't want. My goal is to tackle one room at a time until all that's left is what we need and want in a neat and organized manner. It's going to be one big job, but picturing the end result and how much less clutter and stress I'll have from it makes me oh so happy!

Home Projects

Since moving into our home four and a half years ago, there have been two rooms in our home that have been seriously neglected. Funny thing is, it's the two most commonly used rooms in our home. One being our bedroom, the other being our living room. So this year we decided it was well past time to do something about it. So throughout the year, you're going to see these two rooms get a major facelift! I've already started pinning away on Pinterest and have even started a few mood boards for both spaces. I plan to do a series with both spaces much like I did with Harper's playroom where I'll share my pinterest inspiration, my design thoughts, and then a full room reveal. And don't you worry ladies, I can guarantee you already that I'm going to need your input. So be ready!

That's all I've got ladies. Out of the million things I could choose to work on, these are my three biggest goals. After all, two of them are way past due and it's a fine time I get them accomplished for my own sanity  (; What's on your resolution list for this year?!

An Update on 2014's Resolutions

In years past, I haven't been one to really stick to New Year's resolutions. Most of the time they were vague or made up half-heartedly because I thought I needed to have a resolution. But then 2014 rolled around and I seriously pondered my resolutions and came up with five I felt like I could really work on throughout the year. As the year came to a close, I went back and looked at the resolutions I had made back in January and discovered that this is the first time in the history of me making resolutions that I truly stuck to them. I don't expect you to remember them so let me refresh your memory....

My 2014 Resolutions

Eat out less, cook more at home

Eating out was by far our biggest expense in the past. As I'd look at our bank statement, it would be covered with fast foods joints or restaurants galore. So when 2014 came around, I made it a point to do more to eat at home in an effort to save money and eat healthier. Despite that it was initially pretty hard to get in the hang of cooking most nights...especially with a child that was learning to be on the move, I'd have to say this was probably my favorite thing to accomplish all year. Through trying to meet this goal, I learned to be a better cook, discovered a few favorite recipes, and even became a pretty good master at menu planning. I'd say it definitely helped me become a better wife and mother... something I hadn't intended on when I wrote this resolution. 

Spend less on frivolous things, More on what's important

This year I really cut back on spending money on things I didn't need. In the past I found myself so often picking up things I really didn't need because they were a good buy or I might could use them in the future. But this year, I chose to look past good bargains and purchase the things I really wanted and/or needed. Each season I'd choose a few items I knew I wanted to add to my closet and focused on only purchasing those things. For example this fall, I made up a list of five fall must haves and stuck to purchasing just those items during the fall season. It also helped that when I went shopping on the weekends, I shopped with a purpose in mind. For example, if I was on the hunt for pillows, I'd only check out the pillow departments at stores such as Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Homegoods. I didn't allow myself to get caught up in the clothing and shoe departments. It definitely saved me a lot of time as well as money!

Keep our house clean

The biggest complaint in our marriage has always been that I felt like Kevin didn't pull his weight in housecleaning chores. Of course, that isn't really the case, but stress and anxiety can surely change a person's perspective. So this year I worked hard to tackle the growing to-do's at our home before I shifted blame where it didn't belong. I planned to do a weekly chore chart for me to help keep up, but none I tried ever stuck. In the end, I found myself just dusting furniture or vacuuming floors whenever I had a free moment. I'm not going to lie and say I feel like I accomplished this one 100% but I'd definitely say that there were much less arguments this year and I wasn't nearly as stressed about doing mounds and mounds of laundry week after week as I once was.

Entertain more

One of the biggest selling points of our house was it was great for entertaining. The problem was up until this year, we never entertained. But this year, we rocked it. We hosted game nights, dinner parties, birthday parties, holiday parties, you name it...we did it and it was awesome! So many new memories were made and I can't wait to continue making more this year!

Create and print our photo books

Thanks to social media, I take hundreds of photos and never print a single one. But this year I worked harder to change that. I made a conscious effort to print some of Harper's pictures and place them around the house. I even made a few photo books from family photos and one of our wedding. I still have many more to make but to have tackled three, I'd say that's pretty good. 

How'd you do at meeting this year's resolutions?!

Bringing in the New Year

I know I've said it a few times already, but Happy 2015 friends! Our New Year's Eve was fairly low key. No more elaborate plans these days with a toddler in the house. We started the evening out with a cook out at the in-laws' in celebration of my mother-in-law's birthday. Then finished the night off with a few episodes of Idiotest, a game of Monopoly on the xbox one, and watched the ball drop with the hubs, his brother, and Bryan's girlfriend... all from the comfort of our own couch. It was glorious friends, absolutely glorious. Especially since you could find me curled up in my bed at 12:30 pm. That my friends is the life. 

How'd you spend your New Year's Eve?

A Surprise Day Date

If you've been a reader here for a while, you might remember that Kevin and I rarely exchange gifts for any occasion. It hasn't always been that way of course. When we dated, we exchanged gifts like most normal couples. We purchased Christmas, Valentine's Day, and anniversary presents. But then we got married, got a joint bank account, and realized gifts were a little pointless for us as we can get whatever we want, whenever we want and it comes from the same bank account regardless. So instead of exchanging gifts for each other, we worked out a little system. For Christmas we usually complete a project for the house be it redecorating a room, getting new furniture, laying hardwood floors, etc; Birthdays and anniversaries we splurge at restaurants that we wouldn't normally go to. And for our anniversary, we usually take a trip somewhere be it a trip to the beach or just spending a night at a hotel to get away. In the end we give each other the gift of our time, which is something we don't often get these days. I'll take that over a new shirt that I don't need any day.

With that said, this year our home project was Harper's playroom. If you didn't catch the reveal, you can see it here. It was a labor of love that was worth all the time, energy, and money that went into it. However, since this project was really part of Harper's Christmas, I decided to go a bit above our usual Christmas gifts and decided to surprise Kevin with a little road trip to Chapel Hill; the home of our beloved Tarheels. Christmas morning I gave him a gift bag. Inside was a bag of coal (it happened to be candy haha) as well as a ticket for a surprise day date. Of course Kevin was curious and had many questions but other than telling him we could go Monday or Tuesday, that's all the details I was willing to offer up. 

So come Monday, December 29th, we dropped Harper off at daycare then hit the road with my brother in law and his girlfriend. It was so much fun with all of us knowing where we were going and Kevin not having a clue (;

Our first stop was to grab lunch at Top of the Hill Restaurant, Brewery, and Distillery. None of us had ever ate there but it came with great recommendations from several of our family members who lived in the area. And I have to be honest.. the food and scenery did not disappoint!

Kettle chips with homemade sour cream dip. 

Cheeseburgers and beer battered fries! Yum!

Our second stop was to browse Franklin St. for a little shopping. Johnny T-shirt happens to be my favorite Carolina shop so we popped in so I could pick up these cute UNC themed people for my car that I saw online. Corny I know :P

Our last and final stop in Chapel Hill was the Carolina Basketball Museum. None of us had ever been, and quite frankly, I never knew it existed until Amanda over at A Sweet Simple Southern Life shared about her experience there on her blog. After seeing it, I knew it would be a big hit for each of us. Combine our love of history with a love for Carolina Tarheel basketball and you have a sure fire hit! 

Love the marble floor entry way with their logo. 

The inside entrance.

Tarheel themed Christmas tree.

Championship game balls. 

Who knew when you win a NCAA Championship that they give the winner the hardwood flooring from center court?!

Standing at a point of a game winning shot!

I remember this game winning shot like it was yesterday!

Had no clue this many Tarheels had been drafted into the NBA.

Look at all those 'Heels!

And on to the trophies...

Check out all those National Championships!

As you can see, it did not disappoint. The museum was filled with history of Tarheel basketball. It took us nearly two hours to get through the museum after reading all the plaques and watching most of the videos. If you're a history buff or Tarheel fan like myself, you'll love it. And the best part, it's all free. A bargain lover like myself can't turn a deal like that down :P