I haven't posted my random links in quite a while. I was reading blogs but couldn't find the time to organize the ones that I liked. So now that we're starting to get things in order at home, I thought I would on my blog as well. Enjoy!
{Family}
Apparantly this is what I have to look forward to. LOL!
{Fitness}
A healthy - but delicious - snack after a workout.
{Food}
Love, love, love avocado toast!! This is my go to "single girl's dinner" when chad is not around. It's also good for a weekend lunch, but after reading these, I think I'm going to add an egg and try it for breakfast.
{Fun}
Disney movie secrets.
{Home}
Great organization ideas! I may have to try out trays in my pantry - ingenious!
{Travel}
I've always wanted to live in Europe!! This article only strengthens that.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Birthday Weekend Recap
Last weekend we celebrated my 38th (ouch!) birthday AND Mother's Day!! It was my "first" mother's day...and my only kid-less Mother's Day that I'll have. It was a very productive and fun weekend.
We kicked off the weekend with a birthday dinner at Bristol on Friday night followed by a yummy brunch on Sunday - both with delicious mocktails!! Chad had given me an early birthday gift a week or so ago - a Kate Spade zodiac bracelet. Love that it's the perfect green and goes great with my watch!! Then the best husband in the world surprised me with a picture of The Eiffel Tower. Love, love, love that the view of it is exactly where we sat when we were there...just to the right of the carousel!!! Can't wait to hang this in our new place!!
We spent Saturday purchasing new appliances for our new home - expensive but fun! Chad's going to have to take up a part-time job after that visit. LOL!
Sunday we headed back down to Buy Buy Baby to submerge ourselves in the strollers once again. Remember last post when I mentioned how many strollers they had? Well, here's a visual for you...and this is only about half of them!! It was a good experience this visit though. We had done our research and went with an agenda...to test certain strollers. Then one that I had originally thought I'd like the best ended up being waaaayyy to heavy for my back. So glad we tested these out!
We also spent time touring the KC Parade of Homes - a free tour of more than a hundred homes located all over the city and its suburbs. It's fun to pick and choose which ones you want to tour. We spent a portion of Saturday touring neighborhoods in the Northland near our new home and Sunday we toured homes in the Southern suburbs. I haven't done that much walking or stair climbing in a over a trimester. LOL! Good exercise!! Here's a pic of some of the fun lighting that we saw on the tour...
...and some fireplace inspiration, as we plan to change ours up a bit.
This past week has been super busy and this weekend and next week won't be much different. We had a fun evening with our designer on Tuesday picking out paint colors (I'll share soon!), and Thursday evening with our realtor talking over final details on our new home. This weekend is filled with Yankee's/Royal's games all weekend. Then it all comes to a head on Friday when we close on our new home!! Let the painting & light remodeling begin!
We kicked off the weekend with a birthday dinner at Bristol on Friday night followed by a yummy brunch on Sunday - both with delicious mocktails!! Chad had given me an early birthday gift a week or so ago - a Kate Spade zodiac bracelet. Love that it's the perfect green and goes great with my watch!! Then the best husband in the world surprised me with a picture of The Eiffel Tower. Love, love, love that the view of it is exactly where we sat when we were there...just to the right of the carousel!!! Can't wait to hang this in our new place!!
We spent Saturday purchasing new appliances for our new home - expensive but fun! Chad's going to have to take up a part-time job after that visit. LOL!
Sunday we headed back down to Buy Buy Baby to submerge ourselves in the strollers once again. Remember last post when I mentioned how many strollers they had? Well, here's a visual for you...and this is only about half of them!! It was a good experience this visit though. We had done our research and went with an agenda...to test certain strollers. Then one that I had originally thought I'd like the best ended up being waaaayyy to heavy for my back. So glad we tested these out!
We also spent time touring the KC Parade of Homes - a free tour of more than a hundred homes located all over the city and its suburbs. It's fun to pick and choose which ones you want to tour. We spent a portion of Saturday touring neighborhoods in the Northland near our new home and Sunday we toured homes in the Southern suburbs. I haven't done that much walking or stair climbing in a over a trimester. LOL! Good exercise!! Here's a pic of some of the fun lighting that we saw on the tour...
...and some fireplace inspiration, as we plan to change ours up a bit.
This past week has been super busy and this weekend and next week won't be much different. We had a fun evening with our designer on Tuesday picking out paint colors (I'll share soon!), and Thursday evening with our realtor talking over final details on our new home. This weekend is filled with Yankee's/Royal's games all weekend. Then it all comes to a head on Friday when we close on our new home!! Let the painting & light remodeling begin!
Cheers!
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Strollers and strollers and more strollers
We've been so busy with the issues in our current place, dealing with the inspection on our new place and touring daycares that we haven't had a ton of time to research baby gear. Babies can live in a box for awhile after they come home, right?!?!
Just kidding!!
Seriously though, we haven't had much time to deal with any of it. Granted we have time yet before Gnocchi arrives, but I'd feel much better if we could check a few things off the very long list. After our short & overwhelming visit to Buy Buy Baby last weekend, we promptly came home and started researching strollers. I have no idea why we started with strollers other than there were at least 50+ at Buy Buy Baby...no joke!!!
There were a few features that we knew that we wanted...mostly to relieve the stress on my already aching back. So we started with coming up with a list of "must haves". Logical, right? :)
So after an afternoon of researching every stroller known to man, we narrowed it down to these...
The UPPAbaby Vista
This is a top contender on our list. Lots of what we want without features that we don't. It can even be made into a double stroller (which we don't anticipate needing), and it has more rugged wheels for "off roading". Also, the bassinet is included in the price, which I understand to be a better position (flat) for the baby to lay while its still young.
The UPPAbaby Cruz
This is the other top contender. This one is similar to the Vista just without the rugged wheels and 2nd child attachment. So it makes it a tad cheaper (except that we have to buy the bassinet separately - still cheaper) and a bit lighter. I'm just not sure if we'll need the more rugged wheels to use it on the trails near our new place.
A few others that we've considered are...
The Orbit G3
Love the fact that the seat (including the car seat while in the car) swivels. This would be a dream for my back!! Unfortunately it's quite a bit pricier and missing a few other features.
The 4Moms Origami
This is probably our least favorite of the bunch. It receives good ratings & reviews. It's just a bit expensive and quite heavy.
Just kidding!!
Seriously though, we haven't had much time to deal with any of it. Granted we have time yet before Gnocchi arrives, but I'd feel much better if we could check a few things off the very long list. After our short & overwhelming visit to Buy Buy Baby last weekend, we promptly came home and started researching strollers. I have no idea why we started with strollers other than there were at least 50+ at Buy Buy Baby...no joke!!!
There were a few features that we knew that we wanted...mostly to relieve the stress on my already aching back. So we started with coming up with a list of "must haves". Logical, right? :)
- 5 point harness
- Adjustable handle
- Lightweight
- Car seat compatible
- Decent sized storage
- Tray/cup holder (child)
- Tray/cup holder (parent)
So after an afternoon of researching every stroller known to man, we narrowed it down to these...
The UPPAbaby Vista
This is a top contender on our list. Lots of what we want without features that we don't. It can even be made into a double stroller (which we don't anticipate needing), and it has more rugged wheels for "off roading". Also, the bassinet is included in the price, which I understand to be a better position (flat) for the baby to lay while its still young.
The UPPAbaby Cruz
This is the other top contender. This one is similar to the Vista just without the rugged wheels and 2nd child attachment. So it makes it a tad cheaper (except that we have to buy the bassinet separately - still cheaper) and a bit lighter. I'm just not sure if we'll need the more rugged wheels to use it on the trails near our new place.
A few others that we've considered are...
The Orbit G3
Love the fact that the seat (including the car seat while in the car) swivels. This would be a dream for my back!! Unfortunately it's quite a bit pricier and missing a few other features.
The 4Moms Origami
This is probably our least favorite of the bunch. It receives good ratings & reviews. It's just a bit expensive and quite heavy.
We'd love to hear any experience that you may have with any of these products.
Cheers!
Monday, May 4, 2015
Insta Recap
I didn't get to blog much or take pics last week. Chad was off on a work trip, so things were crazy around here!
Aside from having to keep the house clean for potential showings & being super tired, we also had construction going on & a negative-pressure containment tent up all week. A couple of weeks ago we noticed water leaking into our unit from the tops of our living room windows. After some investigation, we were told that the drain on the 4th floor ledge (above us) had sprung a leak, which was causing the "water feature" in our unit. (Not a useful feature when attempting to sell your home.) The only good thing about it is the issue was in a "common area" and not our unit. Translation...it's of no monetary expense to us...just time & aggravation. So they called in a contractor, who had to cut into our ceiling and through the building firewall, which contained asbestos (not conducive to breathing let along pregnancy), to fix the drain. I basically spent the week confined to the bedroom, because the living room was impossible to use with the large tent and constant fan running. It was like having your stove vent on high x100....so annoying!!!
Things are getting back to normal this week. Chad returned home on Friday, and the containment tent was removed today. The repairs should all be complete tomorrow hopefully, and we can get back to selling our unit!
Here's a few randoms from the past week...
Aside from all the fun above, we had a busy & productive weekend. Chad & I hit up First Fridays in the Crossroads for the Food Truck Fest on Friday night. Saturday, we ran errands and picked up some maternity clothes from a friend. (Thanks, Jen!!) We spent Sunday checking out the Brookside Art Fair and being completely overwhelmed at Buy Buy Baby. LOL. Now it's back to the grind. Hope everyone had a fun & relaxing weekend!!
Aside from having to keep the house clean for potential showings & being super tired, we also had construction going on & a negative-pressure containment tent up all week. A couple of weeks ago we noticed water leaking into our unit from the tops of our living room windows. After some investigation, we were told that the drain on the 4th floor ledge (above us) had sprung a leak, which was causing the "water feature" in our unit. (Not a useful feature when attempting to sell your home.) The only good thing about it is the issue was in a "common area" and not our unit. Translation...it's of no monetary expense to us...just time & aggravation. So they called in a contractor, who had to cut into our ceiling and through the building firewall, which contained asbestos (not conducive to breathing let along pregnancy), to fix the drain. I basically spent the week confined to the bedroom, because the living room was impossible to use with the large tent and constant fan running. It was like having your stove vent on high x100....so annoying!!!
Things are getting back to normal this week. Chad returned home on Friday, and the containment tent was removed today. The repairs should all be complete tomorrow hopefully, and we can get back to selling our unit!
Here's a few randoms from the past week...
- Chad & I tried out a new place for a quick Sunday Brunch yesterday, The Mixing Bowl Noshery. It's like a home-cooked diner. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to sit outside. The patio is right next to the drive-up sign, which is right next to the front door. Too funny!
- A great pic of K & T! I couldn't resist sharing!!
- Chad's replacement. 'Nuff said. LOL! Actually we're calling this "The Lifeboat". I truly feel like I could float on this thing at sea. It's huge but very comfortable. It's just missing a cup holder and remote pocket, because one you're in - you're in.
- New arm candy!! Chad surprised me with this early birthday present...a super cute zodiac bangle from Kate Spade!!
- Another that I couldn't resist sharing....Hanna is so excited to be playing in the mulch!
Aside from all the fun above, we had a busy & productive weekend. Chad & I hit up First Fridays in the Crossroads for the Food Truck Fest on Friday night. Saturday, we ran errands and picked up some maternity clothes from a friend. (Thanks, Jen!!) We spent Sunday checking out the Brookside Art Fair and being completely overwhelmed at Buy Buy Baby. LOL. Now it's back to the grind. Hope everyone had a fun & relaxing weekend!!
Cheers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)