happi anniversary to us.

"The best love is the kind that weakens the soul, that makes us reach for more, that plants fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that is what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. "

Happy 1st Anniversary to my best friend.



LOTS more wedding pics can be found here.

reason #1305

...why i love my husband so much. he still leaves me love notes!

(the scheduled, early pot of decaf coffee won him points too)

big mtg @ work today so i brought the post-it for good luck.

baby mccutie.

i apparently have no willpower. we were back and forth to the baby store a few too many times this month b/c somehow this st patty's day onesie & bib couldn't resist jumping into my cart. baby king is already a McCutie.

36 week update.

my how the belly has GROWN since 31 weeks.

so far i've gained 25 lbs (total, not in 5 wks!) and many more inches than that around the middle :) baby king has had some very active days the last week keeping me on my toes, and up at night! i'm starting to slow down a bit which is making me more restless, but easing into the last few weeks i'm trying to embrace the slower pace while i still can.

one of my latest, more vivid dreams was about baby king's love for NINJAS. he was about 3 yrs old, wearing a ninja bandana across his forehead and came flying into our kitchen to ask me if April O'Neil could be his girlfriend.

Turtle in a half-shell April O'Neil?!

Girlfriend?

I told him to go ask his father...

baby book quest.

i'm trying to find a darling baby book to record baby king's first moments & i stumbled across this gem...

it's the Mother Stork’s Baby Book. the story goes something like this. the founder discovered her Grandmother's baby book, filled in by her Great Grandmother, and she loved the book so much that she wanted to get the original 1904 version republished. so she started a company to do just that! The republished 100 year anniversary edition of Mother Stork's Baby Book is now in its third printing. And clearly, to purchase one for your child is to have an heirloom in the making.

Vintage. Charming. Lovely.

You can take a tour of the inside pages here.

only problem is... it's $135. YIKES.

have i gone completely out of my mind to fathom spending this much MOOLAH on a baby book?!?

anne taintor.

i discovered anne taintor designs when i was shopping for bridesmaids gifts. her modern, vintage humor is RIGHT up my alley. i scooped up some flasks & luggage tags for the travel themed occasion and have since, thoroughly enjoyed sending her cards to deserving recipients who will appreciate the humor.


i've decided that the next opportunity i get to have a ladies night cocktail hour, these beverage napkins NEED to come with me. you can shop for them here. AND since i'm not a stickler for rules, cocktail hour can be achieved by one or more persons attending.

happy valentine's day.

we're off to spend a night at the lovely country inn where we were married almost ONE year ago. i hope everyone enjoys Valentine's Day!


(guess I shouldn't have spoken too soon about being in a bathing suit)

nursery inspiration.

we've been plugging away at baby king's nursery and making good progress! it pays to have a plan down well in advance given we had so many projects lined up prior to actually being able to start it.

the inspiration for the nursery came from an unexpected place. hubby and i were registering together and we realized that neither of us really wanted your typical pastely, light blue on light blue nursery for Baby King. (hubby can be VERY picky when he wants to be!) there were strict rules, no Disney, no teddy bears, no pastels on the walls, etc. in fact out of ALL the bedding and decor ideas at Buy Buy Baby that we saw, we only agreed (in principal) on TWO. An alphabet design in primary colors OR a woodland-forest themed colorful nursery.

when we ran across this bouncy seat at Target, the color scheme was nailed. this baby will be surrounded by deep chocolate, lime green, turquoise blue and bright orange. throw in the occasional creatures of the forest and VOILA! we were fortunate enough to receive the bouncey seat as a shower gift so the daddy-2-be went to town last weekend setting it up. cheers to making progress!!

buffalo chicken wing dip.

remember this recipe?! well it came out just for the superbowl tonight. my husband is really spoiling me! YUUMMMMMMY.

nursery progress.

the former guest room has seen quite a bit of transformation over the last 2 months. previously lavender in color with a shabby-chic guest room flair, it is making it's way (slowly, but SURELY) to a modern, colorful forest themed nursery!

we went with a deep, rich chocolate brown color for the walls which will really make the white furniture and colorful accents POP. here are some pics of the painting progress lovely hubby made:

swimswuit love.

being 34 weeks pregnant, i really have no business even THINKING about swimsuits. but so far it hasn't stopped me from wanting this one and this one. they're just lovely.