Random Chit-Chat

I have never in my life had trouble sleeping at night...until last night!!  I tossed and turned every hour on the hour and was wide awake in bed from 2:30 until 5:00, when Matt got up to get ready for work.  I think I have figured out the culprit...Allegra-D.  With the weather changing, I am starting to fight all this congestion and sinus crap.  I was being pro-active and thought it would be o.k. to take it around 4:00 yesterday afternoon - WRONG!!!!  OH this kid is tired today!! 

On a fun note, I went to a Matilda Jane trunk show on Tuesday night and found this adorable dress for Miss Brynlee Claire.  Her birthday is coming up and I thought it was precious!  Lord help me if I have a little girl one day...I know where all my $$ will go!!

Matt and I are getting our fall pictures taken on Sept. 30th.  We finally got a dated nailed down!  I had no idea how hard it would be to plan things with him being a nurse at the hospital.  His schedule is made on a monthly basis (a little aggravating to me, but I guess I am spoiled with taking off whenever I want to.)  I am going to have to make some serious adjustments to the fact that he WILL have to work some holidays.  We are both so family-oriented and it's going to be tough not to have him there sometimes for special occasions.  I know...WAH WAH...that's the real world, Kia.  It may be the real world, but that doesn't make it easy. 

I have recently been obsessed with decorating my house.  I am blaming it on the withdrawals that I was having the past two years because we were paying for nursing school and didn't have any extra cash! :)  Here are some of my favorites places that I have been frequenting...

Pottery Barn

Pier One

Notice I said "frequenting."  I did not purchase any of the above but have found some other cute little odds and ends.  And of course you can't forget the ole' Hobby Lobby!!  One could get lost in there for hours!!  I am sad that we don't really have any cute local stores that specialize in home decor - they're all chains.  I am however having fun adding a little bit here and there. 

As I'm sitting here, I have a smile plastered on my face today because our Christmas vacation is now finalized.  I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Yep!!  You guessed it!!  Matt and I are off to New York City the week before Christmas!!  I am SUPER excited to see the big tree in Rockefellar Center, go ice skating, get hot cocoa at Serendipity, see the Rockettes, have dinner with friends, and do some shopping!!!  I am keeping my fingers crossed that Matt's work schedule will cooperate and we don't have any kinks in our travel plans.  A big SHOUT OUT to my beautiful cousin, KAYLA BETH, for letting us stay in her brownstone in Manhattan!!!  (serious cost-savings)  I can't wait to see her!!

Gotta get to work!!  Happy Thursday!!!

Labor Day Weekend

I love three day weekends!!  Matt and I had the best time on the lake in Rogers with lots of our family.  This was more than likely the last weekend we'd be able to get up to NWA for "lake season" and we enjoyed every minute of it.  Here are lots of pictures...

Lola and Barb

A little nap time for the boys...

Landon and Brandi were away celebrating their 4th anniversary, so Dale and Pat (Brandi's parents) brought the girls out for the afternoon :))

Time for a snack...

I stayed on the boat and watched this cutie-pie!!

She was totally entertained with this water bottle that had ice in it :)

Laughing with Uncle Matt

 

Swinging with Grumpy

Saturday evening everybody came back to Mom and Dad's to eat dinner and watch the HOGS game.  Jack and Patti and their crew got in town just in time for some food and fun.  We had a great time watching the game until it became a blow out.  The Oregon/LSU game took precedence after that.  (The hubs was happy :))  Aunt Patti has a birthday coming up, so we celebrated her 50th with a big cookie.

Singing 'Happy Birthday'

Sunday, the weather was a little cooler and the water was pretty choppy in the morning so we didn't head out until after lunch.  Aunt Vicki and Uncle Gary came over from Tulsa to join in on the fun.

 

Love these girls!!

We've been out on the lake a lot this summer and have loved every minute of it.  Fall is my favorite time of year, but for some reason I am still wanting a little bit more of summer!  Although I have to say, the weather on Monday was amazing!  After a big breakfast with the family, Matt and I left to come back to Little Rock.  I stopped by one of my favorite stores on the way out of town and bought a couple of things to decorate for Halloween. Yes, I know it's over a month away but I have been reading some blogs that are motivating me to decorate my house more through the different holidays and seasons.  How cute are these?!?

This is an adorable centerpiece I am using on one of our coffee tables.

These spiders (not the hats) are going on our hearth in front of the fireplace. They're actually pretty big!

My sweet mom also picked up this adorable front door HOGS ornament for football season and surprised me with it this weekend.  I love it!!!

(All of these I found @ Signed, Sealed, Delivered - "like" them on FB and you can see everything they have.)

I am SUPER excited about the Razorback game here in Little Rock this weekend. We (of course) will be tailgating and cheering on those HOGS.  The weather prediction is a high of 82!!!  It's going to be perfect!! 

Thankfully it's already Tuesday and this week will be a short one!!  Hope everybody had a great holiday weekend!! 

Almost September?!

I can't believe that September starts this week!!!  Where has the year gone?!?  We've been at home the last couple of weekeds, taking advantage of some down time before this next month starts...it's going to be crazy!!  Matt worked last weekend, and this weekend we spent most of our time just enjoying our two days off together.  Below are a couple of things that have been keeping us busy!!

I finished my scrapbook from our 2006 girls trip to Italy.  (YES, a little behind, I know :)

We bought Matt's new golf clubs. 

I put together a Picaboo book of our Hawaii trip and received it in the mail on Saturday.

Here are a couple of pages...I love it and thought it turned out great!!!

We enjoyed a yummy date night at YaYa's on Saturday

Sunday, after church, we enjoyed brunch with a group of friends at B Side.  I don't know what it is about going to early church/Bible class, but I LOVE coming home after a delicious brunch and taking a HUGE nap.  And that's just what we did!  All in all, we stayed busy but took advantage of some time to relax. 

We are looking so forward to Labor Day weekend, where we will be spending all our time on the lake in Rogers.  I can't wait to kiss two sweet little girls and soak up the sun with family.  Hope everybody had a great weekend!!!

Friday Favorites

YAY for Friday!!!  This has been one busy week...I think that's why it's flown by!!  I am super excited to do NOTHING this weekend!  Here are a couple of things that make me smile on this Friday afternoon.

That this little munchkin is walking!  My mom sent me the cutest video of Brynlee talking up a storm and Emma walking all over the place!!  So sad that they are getting so BIG, and real sad that I couldn't get the video to upload!!

The September People Style Watch that I just picked up!

My new Razorback dress that just came in the mail for the September game here in L.R.!!

The fact that my sister and I will be here, in sunny Miami next month!!

The porkchops I have marinating for our quiet dinner at home tonight.  Matt's been @ the hospital since 6:00 this morning and I am looking SO forward to spending the night curled up with him. 

YES, it's the little things that make me smile today!!!! 

Girls Weekend In Atlanta!!!

After a busy week working in the field and flying to Dallas for a two day meeting, I was super excited to head to Atlanta for a girls weekend with Devon and Rhonda.  I flew in Thursday night and Rhonda had wine with cheese and crackers waiting on us as soon as we got to her house.  I can honestly say that the fantastic hospitality that she and Jim showed us the entire weekend was unbelievable. 

Friday morning, we slept in and then the three of us sat around drinking coffee and visiting in our pj's for over 3 hours.  It was so nice to catch up and have a leisurely morning. We headed to eat at Goldfish, a great sushi restaurant and then went to the Perimeter Mall for some shopping that afternoon.

After shopping, we went to get pedicures and manicures at Jazmin Spa.  It's the most quaint little shop right around the corner from their house.  They live in an area called Little 5 Points and it's absolutely adorable!! 

After some pampering, we went home to change and headed to eat dinner at Fritti.  Jim (Rhonda's husband) had bought us gourmet popsicles, rasperry champagne, and was kindly our chauffer for the weekend.  I am telling you, this guy set the bar VERY HIGH!  :) 

We cleaned up after dinner and got ready for a night out on the town.  We went to the W Hotel for drinks and then went to a place called CosmoLava.  It was a fun night of dancing and we didn't get home until WAY past my bedtime. 

CHEERS!!

Two of my favorite people...Jim and Rhonda

At CosmoLava

Thankfully, the next morning I got to sleep in and Jim, a.k.a. ROCKSTAR, cooked us a massive breakfast full of eggs, bacon, biscuits, grits, etc.  It was delicious!!  The afternoon was full of laziness and movies.  I loved every minute of it.  That night, Jim had bought us tickets to the Braves vs. Cubs game.  YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THESE SEATS!!!  We were in the dugout level, right by the Cubbies.  Although the Braves didn't win, it was probably my favorite thing we did!!  We ate until we were almost sick (chicken tenders, fries, hot dogs, cokes, cotton candy, ice cream, and the list goes on :)

Turner Field

After the game, I was ready to crash.  I know I was only gone for 3 nights, but I cannot tell you how ready I was to see my handsome husband!!  Sunday morning I got on a flight and headed back to L.R.  Thankfully, I arrived right in time to go eat lunch with Matt after church.  We had a big nap afterwards and spent the afternoon just enjoying each other.  It cracks me up when people say we are still in the "honeymoon stage" because we miss each other.  I'm pretty sure that it's just called LOVE!!  :))

I feel blessed that I got to spend time with these girls and am thankful for the safe travels to and from.  Now, I need to get motivated to get through a VERY LONG WEEK!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!