SITTIN ON THE PATIO

Kenny and I are so excited that after living in our house four years we can FINALLY sit on our patio and enjoy watching Elle play or eat dinner in the evening.

You see, this little old lady lived next door to us.  She had some dogs.  Then it seemed like she had some more dogs.  The dogs liked to bark.  A lot.  Then it turned out that there was a animal hoarding problem that we and every other single neighbor on our street was unaware of and the animal control people came and took all their dogs. Silence.  Beautiful silence.  No more barking snarling dogs.  Hooray!!!

So as another anniversary gift to each other we decided to buy some patio furniture.  Just some simple things but still visually attractive.  I am already loving having the shade to sit under while Elle plays in her pool.

 And Kenny has had these chairs since college but my mom thought they would look cuter in black so she spray painted them this weekend.  Now I am on the hunt for a couple of cute outdoor pillows for each of them and then something unique to put on our little table that my mom found at a flea market.

All in all it is a definite upgrade just in time for summer!! Hooray!!

JAM PACKED

We had a fantastic jam packed weekend.  There was a lot to celebrate! Sunday was our six year wedding anniversary and my mom's birthday.  Yes, we got married on her birthday.  It was her idea.  

So my mom drove up Friday morning to spend the day with all of us.  Kenny and I were doing a little shopping for our upcoming vacation and my mom asked for a new pair of running/walking shoes for her birthday so my sister and I took her to some shoe stores.  She ended up with a very spiffy pair of Brooks.  That night we all went out for dinner and some frozen yogurt.  Kenny and I were so good and ordered fish for dinner and did cheat on our diets a little with some frozen yogurt and fruit.

On Saturday, my mom was so kind and kept Elle while Kenny, Annie (sister and our go to babysitter) and me all went downtown for the Wilco concert at Mud Island.  Kenny is a huge fan of the band and I have never seen them before.  We did a little patio sitting at Local Gastropub.We lived downtown for three years but we rarely get down there now so this was my first time to Local and I loved it!  I love any place that has a specialty drink menu.  And THAT was the end of the diet that day ha!  I had a Memphis Mule (a Moscow mule) and it was divine.   And then this happened.  Totally sinful and delicious. The other item in the background was a fried avocado stuffed with crab meat and salsa.  OMG! We had fun!

Then it was time for the concert.  We enjoyed the sunset on the river waiting for the concert to start!

The happily married couple!

Wilco's set was really neat!

Kenny and Annie enjoying a corn dog. 

Sunday, we spent the morning exercising and relaxing.  That afternoon Kenny and I were lucky to be able to have a little anniversary movie and dinner date.  We went to see What to Expect.  It was cute.  

Elting found CC's (my mom) glasses.  She was making the funniest faces when we put them on her.

FOTO FRIDAY

It's summertime addition!  I apologize in advance for the amount of normal everyday type of photos in this post.  It was just one of those weeks where I took a lot of pictures compared to some weeks where I take zero.  As you will see it is summa summa time and we spent a lot of time in our bathing suits trying to stay cool this week.  

Elle also started going to a PDO program one day a week.  So Kenny and I were feeling all sentimental that this was her first day of "school." I decided on a whim to send her to this program for the summer.  She will start a different one in August. We were thrilled because she looooooooved her first day.  And it might of been a coincidence but that afternoon she pulled up and cruised! Woooohoo we are making progress towards this whole walking thing!

Daddy and his little girl. They adore each other for sure. I love this picture so much!

 A quiet morning doing her favorite past time. 

 All ready for her first day.  I am going to work on getting her some cute school gear (i.e. lunchbox and bag) but like I said this was all last minute so I did the best  I could.  I realize it doesn't matter.

 Excited about being able to indulge in this treat.  Sugar free pudding with light whip cream.  It feels totally indulgent.

 Elle and I went to the zoo first thing the other morning for our morning walk.  We didn't really stop to look at the animals all that much but we will defintely be doing that more often.  Cooler weather, less crowded and all the animals were out and very active.  

 Mommy's favorite animal in the entire world.  Elephants!

 I bought Elle a baby pool to play in at our house.  She was not happy about having to come inside.  She was throwing a fit and rolling around on the floor resulting in the cutest baby wedgie ever!

 We had a play date with our buddies Lindsay and Loftin.  The baby pool and sprinkler were fun but the dirt seemed to be waaaay more fun!

The aftermath.  Kenny somehow managed to spill explode an entire glass of fruit punch Crystal Light all over our den.  Surprisingly he managed to get it out of the carpet.  Whining about all the scrubbing the entire time.

VIGGLE WITH IT

 I thought I would pass along an app that I am loving right now.  Viggle.  This television loving girl is loving this app! Basically it is kind of like getting paid to watch television.  And since I like to indulge in some shows, why not?

The way it works: You "check" into different television shows as you watch them and you are rewarded points for the amount of time you watch them.  So shows have bonus incentives for checking in and other's have trivia games you can play while you watch the show about the show to earn even more points.

In exchange for your points you can receive all kinds of gift cards from places like Starbucks, Fandango, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Spotify, Gap.  Or you can save up a whole lot of points and receive an Ipod Touch or a Kindle Fire. Very chuckycheese-esque ha!

I have had the app less a week and already have enough points to trade them in for a Starbucks gift card! Score!!

So why not get free stuff while you are watching a tv show that you love and would of watched anyway right?

I was not asked to write this post by anybody.  I just think its a cool app.  If you want to get the app you  can click here and set yourself up while giving me more points!  (Still trying to decide if I want to save up for a Kindle Fire despite already having a Kindle.)

Click here to get started!

THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

This weekend was a lot better than last weekend that is for sure.  Despite Elle and Kenny feeling a little under the weather we still managed to get out and about.  

Friday night we cooked out with friends at our friends Mollie and Wilson's house.  It was fun to see everyone and their children.  Of course I didn't take any pictures.

On Saturday we had a lazy morning and planned to go to the pool but the weather was gross so we just ran a few errands.  I needed some new powder.  I have been using the Bare Minerals foundation forever but made the switch to Smashbox's loose powder after my friend recommended it.  I would of walked out with the Naked 2 Palette but it was sold out.  Boo!

 Saturday night I made all the no carb fixings for taco salads and we watched a movie. We watched a movie called The Divide.  We are running out of things to have mailed to us from Netflix because we are such movie people.  This movie was crazy and weird and made us uncomfortable to watch at times.  I would not recommend it.

On Sunday, we wanted to start out Mother's Day in church.  The sermon was great.  About living as loving families.  After church we went to one of my favorite spots in East Memphis for brunch, The Booksellers Bistro. (formally Bronte cafe)  Originally I had said I did not even want to do brunch because my favorite breakfast food in the entire world is pancakes and if I couldn't eat those I just didn't want to go at all.  But Kenny and I ended up getting the same thing and we did CHEAT just a smidge. I got an omelet and a side of hash brown casserole because theirs is sooooo good.

While at brunch I was presented with cards and presents. Elle gave me a date night with Kenny.  We are going to the Lady Antebellum/Darius Rucker concert.  I am sooo excited.  Kenny gave me tickets to see Love in Las Vegas and a trip to the spa at the Mirage for when we go to Las Vegas in a couple of months.  I was overwhelmed with the love and the happies.  I am a lucky girl!

Getting ready to walk out the door for church. 

After we ate we let Elle play at the train table and in the children's area.  And of course we couldn't resist buying her a few books!  That book store gets me every time.

The rest of the day was spent napping, watching the Player's Cup and exercising.  We had to burn off some of those sneaky carbs we ate for brunch.  Don't worry.  We were back on the diet train immediately after that!

I do want to say Happy Mother's Day to both our mom's and also Happy Birthday to Kenny's mom!  Hope yall had a great weekend!

TID BITS

Don't have a whole lot of things to say about one thing so here are some random tid bits.

-Girls.  Are you watching? I am so obsessed.  The writing is so witty and the conversations (some of them) are so similar to conversations my girlfriends and I would have or I have heard other people have.  Plus I get a huge kick out of the fact that the girl who plays Marnie is Bryan Williams daughter.


-Summertime.  This Sunday I will be sitting down and making a schedule for Elle and I.  We are about to go CRAZY in this house.  I feel like she is so bored and I need to do more more more to stimulate her. I want to have at least one leave the house activity that we do every single week day if not two.So stay tuned.  Once I get the schedule situated I will be sure to share.

-New paint!  So we had our house repainted.  I was totally nervous because I was supposed to be picking out colors when the stomach flu hit so when they knocked on the door needing answers I made a really quick decision. I thought we wanted to do a hunter green but their darkest green when put on a shutter was more kelly green.  So I made another lickity split decision and went with black shutters/white trim.  I think it looks really good.

- No carbs, no sugar has returned and Kenny and I are both doing really well.  I can do anything for 31 days. I can do anything for 31 days.  I can do anything for 31 days.

-Shades of Grey - So I am ready to say that I am enjoying the books.  I finished the second book last night and will start the third book today.  Yes they are very risque but they are hard to put down.  Plus my friend Susan is reading them too so we are discussing as we go so it is fun! Have you read them?

- Kenny and I had date night on Monday night.  We grabbed some dinner and then went to see The Avengers which Kenny was dying to see.  It was good.  I will say it is pretty long and it did take a while for them to get the "crew" of super heroes assembled.  But it eventually picked up and turned out to be a decent movie. I thoroughly enjoyed our date and was glad I could make Kenny happy by seeing the movie.

THE WEEKEND THAT WASN'T

Oh, Kenny and I just had the perfect little weekend planned for our family.  We were going to spend Friday night relaxing and resting, maybe watch and a movie.

Elle and I met up with our friends Stephanie and Sam for a Friday morning at the zoo.  

We had fun but it was hot and crowded.  One of the reasons I love having a

 membership. No pressure to stay very long.

On Saturday, Elle and I were going to walk and exercise while Kenny went to the driving range.  Then we were going to go to the pool for a dip and Elle was going to take a nice long nap before we headed to our friends house for a crawfish and shrimp boil.  We were going to end the weekend with a morning at church and more relaxing.

NONE of that happened.  Nope.  Friday night went sort of okay.  But I felt tired and went to bed early.  When Kenny got into bed I mentioned to him that I was feel a little nauseous.  At 11:00 I sat straight up in bed.  Oh no!  And for 12 more hours that is all I did.  Heave ho. It was awful. By the time I finished throwing up for the last time I felt like I had been hit by a mac truck.  And Kenny made the decision that he and Elle were staying far away from me the entire day.  Which was fine for a lot of reasons.  The last thing I wanted was for either of them to catch this horrible horrible bug.  I am such a baby but I have not had the stomach flu since I was a kid.

 Gatorade, ginger ale, saltine crackers. I couldn't even keep that down. And I have my glorious 
stomach flu to thank for a 4lb weight loss.  I am now under my pre-baby weight.  
Not even going to pretend I am not happy about that little silver lining. I hope to 
only gain a couple of those pounds back when I able to eat again ha! And yes I realize I had t
o break my diet.  Back on track as of Sunday night.  
In crisis mode the no carb no sugar thing had to go!

My friend Mollie, (a saint) managed to track down some Zofran and bring them to me because the wait at a walk in clinic would of been two hours if I wanted to go get a Phenergan shot. So once I had some sweet baby Jesus relief I could finally sleep a little and Kenny and Elle spent the afternoon on a daddy daughter date.  I missed being able to spend time with them but  I love any time they spend together one on one.

Panera Bread for lunch.

My sister was babysitting a little boy yesterday afternoon and his mom invited Kenny and Elle over to play in the pool.   They had a good time.  

She loved this little pool.  Going to have to buy a baby pool I've decided.

Mac and Elle cleaning up after getting dirty in the yard.  

On Sunday, I was feeling much better and was so relieved that my quarantine seemed to have kept Elle and Kenny from getting sick.  I was still so weak so I spent the day on the couch.  I wasn't giving kisses to Elle just yet but I was happy to be able to play with her a little.

So it wasn't the fun weekend that we had planned but we made the best of it.  Kenny was the BEST husband and father to Elle and I.He was at Kroger at 5:30 AM!!!! to buy me fluids and crackers and did not even hesitate to tell me to stay in bed and not to worry about Elle.  He tended to her every need and mine.  We are two lucky girls.

30 DAYS

Well technically 31 but who is counting.  I can do anything for 31 days right?!?  The other day when Kenny and I were out for a walk I told him that I wanted to quit eating carbs and sugars (and mostly no alcohol for me) for the month of May.  Reason being, we are headed to the beach for a week at the beginning of June.  I. cannot. wait.  However, not so thrilled about the ol' bathing suit part.

A few summers ago I had crazy results by following the South Beach Diet hardcore.  Looking back, I was a nut about it but I was the smallest I have been since college.  I was at a really happy weight and I would do ANYTHING to get back to that weight.  In the meantime cutting out some carbs and sugar can't hurt anything.  So Kenny said he wanted to do it with me.  So we resolved to no carbs, no sugar and working out every single day the entire month of May. Who knows maybe it will stick and I will continue to refrain from these things after the beach.   But I'm excited to tone up and maybe/hopefully lose a few pounds.

Does anyone else get frustrated with the weight battle and trying to lose just knowing that you are going to be pregnant again at some point down the road. It stinks.  I would love to know that if I lose a substantial amount of weight that it would be for good.  But I also don't plan to "enjoy" pregnancy as much as last time when it comes to food.

Alright, so there it is.  Today is the 3rd and so far I have been doing really well.  No carbs, no sugar and exercise!  I can do anything for 31 days!!

P.S.  I love carbs so so so so so much.  So much.

WEEKEND APART

As I mentioned on Friday, Kenny and Elle drove down to Fairhope over the weekend to spend some time with his parents and my mom came to Memphis to help me do a ton of work on the house.  We are redoing our small master bath and this weekend we tiled the floor and painted it, bought a new sink and fixtures.  I am having the toilet and sink installed tonight so pictures to come.

My mom and I also did a lot of small projects around the house that I had just been neglecting to do for a loooooong time.We planted a ton of flowers in pots and fixed up our back patio and made my front patio cute.  It all looks so good.  And we worked so hard all day Friday that we were actually able to make some time for pedicures, errand running and yummy mexican for dinner on Saturday.

Kenny and Elle enjoyed their weekend with his parents too.  They spent their time down on the water and walking around the shops downtown Fairhope. One night they bought boiled crawfish and grilled some sausage and had themselves a little makeshift crawfish party. I know Elle loved the weekend with her daddy and the undivided attention of her grandparents.

 "Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go. " 

 I loved that song as a child.  Anywho, Elle and her Daddy down by the bay.  Obviously.

 Elle and her Grandpa. 

 Out to eat and pondering life.

And I am the absolute worst at remembering polish colors but this is the 

color I chose for my toes.  I love it!  (thought you would appreciate the bottle of 

polish more than a pic of my feet ha!)

FOTO FRIDAY

Sorry for my absence this week.  Elle and I have been loving Kenny being home. We are both just so much happier when we are getting to spend time with him.  We took lots of a long walks and Elle was so happy to have him back doing bath time/bedtime routine.

This weekend Kenny is taking Elle for a little daddy daughter weekend in Fairhope to spend some time with his dad before he has a surgery and my mom is coming up to help me do some more work on the house.  It will be a fun/productive weekend for all!  Here are some pictures from our week!

Getting ready for a breezy walk at Shelby Farms.

 I cannot get over how adorable Toms look on baby feet.  Obsessed.  Now I just wish they would stay on a little bit better.  We had to do a 20 minute back track looking for one on our walk when she threw it out and then a good Samaritan sat it on a something thinking we would see it.

We had a play date on Thursday with my friends and all their little boys where we played outside.  I need someone to have a little girl STAT!  Elle is definitely outnumbered.  She seemed fine with it though. She was loving the dirt.  Me-not so much.  She might have been the dirtiest out of all them when we left. It was straight into the bathtub when we got home.

 Look at those brown legs and red cheeks.

 Still wearing that bow though.  Can't give up all the priss.

 This was Elle's first ever Popsicle.  (Only a mother would care so much)  She loved it.  And yes that is dirt on her Popsicle.  A little dirt consumed never killed anyone.

A LOT OF NOTHING

A whooooooole lot of nothing.  So much nothing that I am seriously about to go insane.  I can't remember if I mentioned last week that Kenny was out of town.  He gets home tonight after being gone for a full week.  During the week we managed to stay pretty busy.  I had a lot of projects that I was doing around the house and I also had people coming in to do work on our house so the week went by fast.

Then the weekend came.  And we were so bored.  Elle and I that is.  Bored! Bored! Bored! I was trying to avoid spending money since we are doing work on the house so shopping or going out to eat was a no go.  It was kind of cold and rainy a lot of the time.  At one point we went over to my sister's house so I could let Elle go through all of her drawers and crawl around her apartment for a change of scenery. She did have a lot of fun making a mess.  See picture below.

On Sunday, Elle and I took a stroll in her pink caddy to the park for some swinging action.  I made the mistake of letting her crawl around the playground for a little bit but I was worried she was going to hurt herself so I tried to put her back in her car.  HUGE FIT! Quite possibly the worst she has ever thrown and it was in front of a ton of people. I felt like a horrible mom and was sad that our trip to the park was ruined.  So naturally I cried the whole way home.  Completely normal ha! 

So now it is Monday and Kenny is driving home as I type this and gah I am so excited to see him and I know Elle wants to see someone/anybody else besides me.  I have had a horrible case of mommy guilt today.  Just anxious.  Worried that I am not doing a good enough job of entertaining Elle and keeping her stimulated.  Without sparking a working mom/stay at home mom debate sometimes I think she would like daycare so much more than staying home with me.   She would have more fun toys to play with and lots of kids to be around.  She will start PDO in the fall and it can't come soon enough because I know how much she is going to enjoy it.  I love her so much and I am so incredibly grateful to get to spend the time with her that I do.  I would never trade it in.  I am just having an off day and felt like writing a stream of consciousness blog post.   

I find any time I have a really off day like today we have a really amazing day the next day. So off to find some story times to attend and check the weather for a nice long walk tomorrow.  Thanks for letting me ramble.

A WEEK IN THE LIFE

As told by my iPhone of course.

 Nap time bottle snuggles with daddy before he went on a business trip. He was sad about leaving.

 Lena girl. Let her snuggle with me in the bed for a little bit 

because the maids were coming in the morning.

 This is what she does when she is unhappy or sometimes I just catch 

her laying like this quietly.  It is so funny.

 Dinner for one. Made this Fontina Cheese Sauce with some premade gnocchi for myself.  

It was delicious.  Click the link for the recipe.

 She wanted to feel the grass underneath her knees.

(Don't you love our bald patches.  Thanks Lena.)

 Enjoying this book.  Might not be getting through it very quickly because of a certain 

other risque book that everyone is talking about that I am totally embarrassed to say I am reading 

on my Kindle so no one can tell that I am reading it.

 We are making improvements to our small little master bath.  Elle was not sure what to think of this.

Enjoying the nice weather and burning off some of that gnocchi I was going to eat.  But that is besides the point.  Look at how much hair it "looks" like Elle has!  Yay!  Maybe now people will stop asking me what her bows are holding onto.  Hair people! Hair!!!