// Weekend Recap

Weekends seem to whiz by in the blink of an eye lately, so I'm never really sure what day it is. Though to be fair I guess I'd say the week days are doing that, too. By the time Monday rolls around I'm totally oblivious to what happened on Friday and I have to check my Twitter and IG for a refresher. What's that all about?

This weekend was a busy one and I feel like we didn't see much of our own home. Friday evening the three of us battled the weather and went out to eat at the local Mexican restaurant. It seems like that's almost become our Friday tradition haha. We kept the evening nice and quiet otherwise, because we knew we'd be so busy on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning rolled around and we were up and at 'em bright and early. We needed to be in Dickson at 10am for a makeup appointment and then we photographed the most precious family ever at Montgomery Bell State Park. I was amazed at how beautiful that park was and we'll definitely be going back! It was so hot and so humid on Saturday though! 5 minutes into directing some poses and I was already a bucket of sweat. It was a great look on me, I promise ha! We spent about an hour photographing Sarah and her brood before saying our goodbyes and trying our own thing. The plan was to use the rest of the afternoon to shoot some maternity photos of me at the park, but Mother Nature and my body were not seeing eye to eye. After feeling like I had sweat through my outfit, we were like "Nahhhh!" We did end up finding a shaded creek area to photograph at on our way out of the park and I'm crossing my fingers the photos turn out because the area was beautiful! We're sending off the film this morning so hopefully we'll know in about 2 weeks.

After that we hightailed it to Franklin to grab some lunch and then go to our Apple appointment. My office iMac gave me the white screen of death all day Friday so I was in a hot panic. Of course Mike lugged that big ol' 27" monitor through the mall to get to Apple only to have it start right up at the Genius Bar. We were convinced the tech worked his voodoo magic or something! We were so elated to avoid a $700 logicboard bill that we finally replaced my 7 year-old MacBook Pro. (Seriously, you should see this thing... It's hanging on by a thread, can't close all the way, and the battery has expanded so far out that we can't even rest it on a table haha! It was time...) I'll miss that big 17" screen but I'm so happy to have a functioning laptop option again. Anyway, after that we ran a few errands and then headed toward home. We spent a little while over at my Nana's house keeping her company as a huge storm blew into town. Then all we could think about was rolling into bed. It had been a long day.

Sunday came bright and early and since Toby was at my parents' house for the night/morning we took full advantage of the opportunity to clean the house. Sounds so boring, but man oh man it made a world of difference! I love starting a new week with a clean home. After picking up Toby and getting ready, we headed down to Lawrenceburg to Mike's parents' house where we were being given a small, family baby shower and cookout. It was so nice to just relax in the afternoon/evening hours, eat delicious food, and be surrounded by such good people. Toby had a blast and came home covered head to toe in filth, so I'd say it was a pretty good day!

This morning I woke up feeling a bit under the weather so I'm trying to take it as easy as possible while still being productive. We plugged my iMac back in to get me all set up for the work week only to be greeted with the white screen of death again. If you want to know how to make a pregnant woman cry, try that. Luckily with some troubleshooting Mike realized that my external hard drive was causing it and now we're thinking it's corrupted or something. At least I can work for the time being while we get ready to transfer everything back over to yet another external. It's always something, right? Counting down the days until Florida (11... in case you were wondering! haha) and crossing my fingers my doctor gives me the thumbs up to even go. Guess I should make the most of these days... Happy Monday! xo

// A Day In The Life : June 3, 2014

It's been a while since I've done one of my "A Day In The Life" posts (uh, a whole year!), so I figured I'd spend the day documenting what I get up to in order to share it here on the blog! No two days are alike at our house, but at the same time they're not too terribly exciting either haha. Even though I don't get into a whole lot, I really enjoy putting together these posts because they're so fun to look back on! I'm going to try to do them much more often. Here's what my yesterday looked like...

6:45am - I set my alarm to wake up before Mike headed off to school (He leaves at 7am each morning so he can study a bit before class starts), but I just was not feeling it this morning. Something about the hum of the fan and the crispness of my sheets... I turned my alarm off, told Mike good morning, kissed him goodbye and then crawled back under the covers. I finally woke up for good around a quarter past 8. I was amazed Toby was still asleep!

8:30am - I sat down to my computer to churn out some work! I was determined to get through my inbox and take care of some business yesterday. I was super productive on Monday and had hoped it would spill over to Tuesday, too. I was stoked that I got as much accomplished as I did. It always helps me to start early in the morning (though my days are most productive if I'm sitting down at my desk no later than 7:30... but those sheets!)

9:15am - I don't know what got into this kid while he was sleeping, but he was knocked out! He slept for a solid 13 hours! Normally he's wide awake at 6:30am so I was totally stoked to get a head start on the day. But look at that dirty face! I swear the kid had a bath right before bedtime haha. He's always getting into something...

10am - I started working on my Things I Love Thursday post for this week and Toby went to check the mail. On his way back in I heard him shout "Can somebody open the door for me, please?" so I hopped up to help. When I opened the back door I saw him standing at the bottom of the steps with this big silly grin and some "flowers" for me. He said he picked them just because he knew I'd like them. My heart! I started crying immediately. Maybe I'm just hormonal, but I couldn't help it. I'm so so lucky that I get to be this little dude's mama. His heart is seriously just so big! He helped me pick a little milk glass vase and fill it up with water, too.

10:45am- I spent the rest of the morning working on to do lists and June's editorial calendar for the blog. I've been loving this new planner that I picked up a while ago and I'm going to do a whole post about it soon! I'm also going to update how I organize my blog content so I can share it here. I'm all about some lists!

11:30am - Mike came home for lunch and I packed up a ModCloth return. Toby had been so well behaved all morning so he earned himself a Dum Dum. Mike's lunch hour always seems to rush by, but we love getting to see him in the middle of the day.

12:30pm - I started making out a list of things I need to pick up at the grocery store here soon. I've got a running list of cocktails and mocktails I plan on whipping up to share, so stay tuned if you're in the mood for something delicious and refreshing! (See! More lists!)

1pm - I worked on photographing one of my absolute favorite Summer recipes, and then I allowed myself a little bit of TV time. TV time has been so rare around here lately. We're actually thinking of nixing our cable subscription completely just to push us out of the house more. (But let's be real - Netflix ain't goin' nowhere!)

2pm - Georgia and Pipkin took a little cat nap on the couch while I caught up on Better Homes & Gardens and painted my nails. Nothing like a little reprieve for the day!

3pm - Mike got home from school and was elated when UPS dropped off a package at the door. Inside was his shiny, new stethoscope (not pictured, obviously). I also ordered a new book for both Toby and the baby. Toby was over the moon with his new National Geographic book. He gets so stoked when new reading material comes in the mail. I think he might enjoy them more than toys!

4pm - I excused myself from the living room so Mike could study and I treated myself to a mid-day bubble bath. The baby is always so active when I get in the bathtub. I love just laying there watching him squirm all about.

4:30pm - After my bath I downed about 17 glasses of lemon water (!!! so refreshing!) and we let Toby play with the pups outside in the backyard. Georgia looks for any chance to jump in the little doggie pools we have in the backyard, so she always needs to be wiped down when she comes inside. I'm pretty sure she thinks it's totally worth it.

5pm - Toby brought me yet another bouquet of "flowers" to add to the ones he had already given me that morning. He added them to my vase at my desk and then toted out my ModCloth return to pop in the mailbox. He loves raising the flag on the mailbox and heaven forbid you let a piece of mail come to (or from) this house without going through him... haha!

5:30pm - My parents invited us all over for dinner last night so on our way we did our typical car-ride tradition: quizzing Mike with his flashcards from class. I'm so so proud of him for doing so well in nursing school so far! He has the highest class average currently (!!!) and he's really enjoying it. I know I look for any and every opportunity to brag on him, but he seriously deserves it. I'm just so impressed! - My mom made a delicious meal for us and after a nice little round of conversation we headed home. We had plants to water!

7:15pm - Toby loves to help water the plants in the yard and garden because he loves using his little watering can I bought for him. We gave everything a nice little dousing and then we enjoyed what was left of the sunshine on the back deck. Our cherry tomato plants are going crazy and our marigolds are in full bloom! We even have squash and jalapenos already budding out. Hazel is always roaming about and making her presence known. (Monday Hazel jumped up on a piece of wood I was painting and tracked white paw prints all over our picnic table and deck... Sigh! She's such an attention hog haha)

8pm - 8pm means it's time for a few bedtime stories and to get tucked in for the evening. Toby asked if he could pick a few books from the baby's room to read and I happily obliged. He's been loving "Daddy Wrong Legs" lately because he loves to read it and laugh. He read both it and an Eric Carle book to me before settling down for the night. He said he's excited for his baby brother to get here so he can read the stories to him, too. I'm telling ya, that kid! He's a keeper!

8:30pm - After Toby was down for the night, Pipkin and Georgia got a turn in the bathtub. Pipkin does not like water. She might as well be a cat. Georgia on the other hand? She lives for it. I'm so glad they're all cleaned up because goodness knows they smell better now! haha Too bad Georgia will be right back in those pools tomorrow...

9pm - After a long, productive day I finally sat back down to my office computer to edit these photos and churn out this post! Better late than never, right? I answered a few emails while Mike studied and then called it a night. We've been going to bed so early lately (Seriously, by 9pm we're out!) and I'm not complaining one bit. 

Today - An early wake up time and I'll be out the door by 6:45am. My Nana has a doctor's appointment at Centennial this morning and both my mom and I plan on taking her. We're making a day of it, I reckon. I have an ultrasound at 1pm (!!! Seeing how big this little bundle is getting!) and I'm hoping everything checks out well. We're getting so close to our travel dates that I'm trying to be extra cautious of anything that could go awry. But that's something for another post entirely! Here's to having another fun, productive day! Hope there's sunshine wherever you are! Thanks for taking a peek at my day! xo

PS; See past A Day In The Life posts HERE!

// Kicking Butt + Taking Names

I've been lucky enough to basically stumble into a few solid days of productivity this weekend... I don't know what happened, but something came over me and I wanted to do ALL THE PROJECTS! Of course when that happens I naturally gravitate toward things that are fun rather than practical (i.e.: crafting instead of cleaning), but this weekend I was able to check off almost every major task I set out to do. 

That's the best feeling when you're going into a new week, ya know? Heading straight into Monday, feeling fully charged and ready to go! Sometimes I have the habit of being really, really productive one day, then absolutely worthless for the next two. It's like my body and mind have to find the perfect balance haha Heaven forbid I just get too much done, right?

Yesterday alone we managed to: mow (most of) the yard, spray paint my white wicker furniture, clean the kitchen and deep clean the living room, move the tufted chair into the nursery (just for now), steam clean all of the rugs, wash multiple loads of laundry (even if I did forget the detergent in one load...), installed a new tub spout and stem, and best of all: we finished painting the front porch railing that mike built on our house last year! It looks so good! I know most of it sounds so incredibly boring, but it felt so so good to just check off each one of those boxes. It's crazy to think I started yesterday as fatigued as ever, about to nap on the couch (at 9:45am!), and then instead I just got up and started cleaning. Some kind of second wind kicked in because it was full throttle until 9pm last night. And then we both crashed into bed early and I slept like a rock haha.

It wasn't all work and no play though! Saturday Mike and I had a little "date" day after I spent the morning doing my little cousin's hair and makeup for her dance team photos. Toby went to hang out with my parents for the day/night and we ventured off for lunch and a movie. There were a few hiccups along the way (like the furniture store that basically tried swindlin' us on our nursery chair... that was fun...), but overall we had happy bellies and minds. We went to see The Other Woman and we really really enjoyed it. I tend to love everything Leslie Mann is in and it was full of laughs. 

Today I'm popping around to my 4D ultrasound rescan with Toby and my mom. I had an appointment Thursday when I was around for the Cosmetic Market blogger party, but sadly the baby didn't really want to cooperate. We got one half-decent photo of his face, but even that took 45 minutes to wrangle. We're crossing our fingers he'll be much more compliant today, but so far we've noticed that Baby Flynn is going to be one stubborn little dude haha Until then I'll be tying up loose ends on a few client design installations and then who knows! Maybe I'll paint a few things just for fun. Whatever I end up doing, I hope I get the jolt of productivity and energy that I had yesterday. Going into a new work week with a spotless house feels awesome... now I can maybe knock out a few of those fun tasks on my to do list! Or you know, get lost of Pinterest for hours, just dreaming about doing them. That's usually what happens to me at least. Anyone else? (Better question: Got any fun tutorials/DIYs you want to share?! Let's take advantage of this nesting phase!)

Happy Monday! I hope your week is full of productivity, too! Go out there and kick butt!

// Life Lately

wise words from a hillsboro village gas station // a bloom from my mom's rose garden (and dirt under my nails from digging in said garden) // two ridiculous pups // some lyrical doodles // gorgeous roses on mother's day (there's a nest of newly hatched baby birds right on the inside!) // our first haul from my mom's strawberry patch (there's an even bigger batch waiting to be picked!) // dusting and organizing to start the new week // bulldogs are lazy dogs // my bedside table

How was y'all's weekend?! I hope it was full of sunshine, family and friends! Mike and I spent the day popping around Nashville on Saturday and we were totally worn out by the end of it. We were hoping to get more accomplished than we did, but isn't that always the case? On Sunday I woke up to some gorgeous hanging baskets of flowers for Mother's Day, and we finished putting together our gifts for both my Nana and Mom. We spent the afternoon with my family over at my Nana's house and it was nice to catch up with everyone. My best friend Shannon was in town from D.C. for the weekend so she came over afterward and I was able to spend a few hours with her! I haven't seen her since she was a bridesmaid in my wedding, so it was long overdue. We spent the evening reminiscing over high school adventures and wondering what all of our past acquaintances had gotten into. I was sad to see her go but I'm crossing my fingers another 18 months won't past before I see her again! Long distance friendships are the pits, right?

After Shannon left I helped Mike study and then it was off to bed. Monday came way too quick for my liking! It's Toby's last full week of school so I'm soaking up all of the solo time I have left. I wish I could say I was being more productive than I am, but Orphan Black has been calling my name. I'm almost finished with the first season and I'm totally hooked! Have y'all watched it?! I think I need to catch up on Parenthood after I finish this because I can't handle everyone talking about how this upcoming season will be the last. 

If you have any suggestions for shows to watch on Netflix, Hulu+ or Amazon Instant Video, I'm all ears! Not that I need to be watching tv... but hey, a girl's gotta relax, right? This week I'm planning on trying a couple of different recipes - both savory and sweet - so if they go well I'll be sure to share them here! I mean, this blog is called The Clueless Girl's Guide... and if there's one thing I'm clueless about, it's the kitchen. Bring on the learnin'!

Any fun adventures y'all feel like sharing?! xo