Kiki La'Rue Giveaway Winner

Wowza! There were so many entries to the Kiki La'Rue giveaway! Since the giveaway, my go-to outfits have been their Pocket Full of Sunshine and their Blakely Cardi. Especially the Blakely Cardi, it is so incredibly soft and easy to wear. I feel like I've been living in it, I could wear it daily. I ordered a medium in the cardi and a small in the striped sweater. I think they fit true to size, I ordered down in the sweater because I wanted it to be a bit more fitted. The posted some new spring items and they are gorgeous! Be sure to check them out here!

Thank you all so much for entering, I appreciate all the entries!

Our winner is......... Danielle! I'll be sending you an email tonight!

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What I'm Watching

One thing I hate about TV seasons are all the dumb hiatuses they take. I mean some shows don't come back until April. April people! I know it's almost March, but Grey's Anatomy has been off air forever. I don't get it. I'll need to watch a recap episode just to remember what happened months ago in the same season. Anyone know why shows do this? I've often forgotten all about shows when this happens and never watch them again.

At least there's plenty of great shows to keep me going and some of my favorites too! Here's what's on my DVR and Netflix Queue. 

I’ve loved this show from the very beginning and I am so excited it’s back. Kevin Bacon is awesome and I like the new cast members that have been added this season. I don’t think that season 2 is as thrilling as its first season, but I am still enjoying the story, but I wish it would pick up some speed. It looks like next week's episode will finally take off, but time will tell.

Are you guys watching American Idol? If not, you need to. Harry Connick, Jr is amazing! My husband and his family have watched the show since the first season (except last year with Nikki Minaj, she was a mess) so naturally, I watch the show now too. I’m so happy to have Jennifer Lopez back as well, I love how sweet she is and she gives a lot of great feedback to the artists. However, Harry takes the show! He is so musically educated and has a great personality. I would watch the show for him alone. He is hilarious, charming, and honest without being mean. I hope he stays on for future seasons with the show. I don’t have any favorites yet for the season, but a few of them are beginning to stand out to me.

Hands down, Downton Abbey one of my favorite shows ever. I can’t wait for Shirley McClaine’s guest appearance, she is a hoot! I enjoy all the barbs between the grandmothers as they fight about which country has the upper hand. So for, I really like where this season is going and the storylines of all the characters. Lots of twists and interesting events are happening at every corner and I absolutely love all the cleverness in the dialogue. I just wish each season was a few episodes longer and that I didn’t have to wait so long between seasons.

I started watching Dexter a few months ago and I’m on the last season now. I’m trying to draw it out since one it’s over it’s over. So far I don’t care for the storyline and where’s it’s headed for the finale. I really hate what they’ve done with Deb, I was finally beginning to really like her! The show is great and I love that there’s not a lot of lull episodes in the seasons. I must say that season 5 with Lumen (guest star Julist Stiles) has been my favorite season of them all. 

House of Cards is amazing! I didn’t think I would like it since I’m not very political (or at least do not think of myself like that), but I was enthralled with the first episode and flew through the first season in just a few days. The full second season was released this past weekend, and although I haven’t started it yet (we were busy and out and about all weekend) it is burning a hole in my Netflix account. Luckily, no spoilers have been posted on Facebook, but so many of my friends were posting about how crazy the new season is. I can’t wait to watch it!

Hot Man Parade

Kiki La'Rue Giveaway!

One of my favorite online boutiques is hosting a great giveaway for my readers! The girls at KLR are so sweet and I've touted their shop several times before here on the blog. I love that their clothing is so easy to wear and fits for every body shape. I love that they embrace women's varying sizes and shapes and have women with real bodies modeling their clothes so you can see how it may vary depending on your body shape.

Spiced Eggnog Sweater (on sale now!)-  Bejeweled Sweater- Tis the Season (on sale now!)

I have been wanting to shop for some new clothes, but this transitional time is kind of awkward. I've been wearing some light weight sweaters that will easily transition into cool spring days. These three sweaters have been great to wear right now. I love how easy they are to just throw on with some jeans and booties and have also looked good with some cut off shorts.

Some of my other favorites right now is their Pocket Full of Sunshine and their Blakely Cardi (which I just snagged last night!). There are several ways to enter and the contest will run until next week when a winner will be announced!

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Weekend(s) Catch-Up

Since the holidays, our weekends have been packed! Now that they’ve started to slow down a bit (ha!) we’re been trying to get out more with Ellie as a family. A few weeks ago, we went to an outdoor mall by our home just to walk around and make a few exchanges. We set the app Map My Run on our phones to see how much we walked and we walked over 2 miles at the mall. I couldn’t believe it, it didn’t seem like you could really walk that much at just a shopping mall. While on leave, I walked almost every morning and I would like to do it after work, but it’s too dark right now to do so. It was nice to get out and about and get some walking in. We went really early to the mall and Matt and I split a smoothie and a pretzel and took our time looking around. It was nice to spend time with Matt outside of our house or at parties. I had a lot of fun shopping with him and Ellie. 

It had been really warm too due to a  heat wave and I’ve been living in my shorts and flip flops on Saturdays. Most of my shorts I couldn’t even fit over my thighs/butt since being pregnant and the last time I tried them on, I could pull them up, but not button them. I can button them now and wear them comfortably! Woohoo!! I was so excited about that, I floated on cloud nine all day. Breastfeeding for the win! I haven’t worked out at all post-partum and I’m waiting until I’m done nursing to do so because I’m afraid of it affecting my supply. I know they say it doesn’t need to and there are ways to still work out and nurse, but I’ve had an issue with my supply in the past and I’m too worried about doing anything to hurt it.

Matt and I have tried to also take turns taking Ellie out on our own as well on the weekends to give the other one time to themselves and with friends. It’s important to us both to take time to ourselves so we don’t lose ourselves to our role as parents. It’s been both hard and refreshing for me. I had a baby shower to go to and decided that Ellie and I should match for the first time. I know it’s super corny, but it was a lot of fun and I hope to do it more in the future. Maybe not so matchy-matchy, but coordinated at least. Even if I had a son, I think it would be fun to still match with him too. It was also the first time a lot of my sorority sisters got to meet Ellie and it was great to catch up with the girls. We even got a quick shot of all of us. 

Matt and I haven’t really eaten out much at restaurants, we tried it a few times and of course Ellie had a meltdown and cried the whole time. Now that she’s eating solids and can sit up using a high chair, it’s opened so many social doors for us. We can go out now with family and friends and she enjoys seeing everyone at table level and we just bring her homemade food, puffs, and mums for her to enjoy. I can’t wait for her to be able to just eat off of our plates- that will make life even easier!!

A few weekends ago, on my way to visit Matt’s sister and her family (Matt met me at her place), I stopped and picked up some goodies for Ellie. They were having 40% off the whole store and I had an additional 20% off coupon so I grabbed a few things in 12 months for her to wear this spring/summer. She’s wearing 9 months right now and I really like how Carter’s brand fits her and everything I have from them washes and wears well.

 

They had some super cute sandals, but I didn’t know what size to get her. Her feet are little, but they’re really chubby and I didn’t know what size she would be wearing in a few months so I just held off for now. I couldn’t resist these cute sunglasses for her, which she wore in the store, but hasn’t kept on since we left. I hope she takes to wearing them though, with her light eyes, I know she’ll be sensitive to the sun and I’d like to protect her eyes this summer. She also absolutely loved this mermaid doll  with a rattle we got and just giggles and smiles every time we play with it with her. They had a matching towel to go with it that I think needs to show up in her Easter basket.

I've never been more anxious or excited for Fridays to come in all my life since having a family. The transition to work was luckily pretty easy for me, but I still have days where I want to call in sick and just cuddle and play with Elle bell all day. I hope to stay home or work part time in the future, but for now I'm doing what's best for our family. 

Matt and I have also done really well with making dinners at home every day. This year we wanted to have more healthy, well-rounded meals and it has gone really well. We make chicken, pork chops, fish, lasagnas, green beans, zucchini, and asparagus most nights. We're not re-inventing the wheel or anything, but it's been great to plan our meals ahead of time and not be scrambling on what to have when we get home. This past week we challenged ourselves not to eat any candy, no snacking after 8pm (except for fruit/veggies, which we never ended up doing), and to drink only water after 8 as well. It was really easy to follow and not eating candy was going great until day 4 and I had such a hard time! I made it through the week though and packed some Sour Punch Kids with my lunch today. It was just a challenge to see if we could do it and it was a success!

Hope all of you had a great weekend and may this Monday start off with a bang for your week!