Christmas Photo Challenge

I'm taking a break from High Five for Friday because of the holiday, but I'm excited for a fun little December Instagram Photo Challenge with Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me!  I've done monthly photo challenges in the past, and it just gives me something to keep an eye out for each day.

Our World Boutique Black Friday Sale

 
Happy Thanksgiving!  I've spoken of my love of Our World Boutique before, and today I'm here to share their awesome Black Friday sale (which actually starts today) and a giveaway!!
 

What I Wore Wednesday 11.26

Can you believe it is THANKSGIVING tomorrow?!  Where has this year gone, seriously? This week was a fun week in outfits. I feel like I'm getting into the groove with the maternity clothes I have. Lots of remixing to come from here on out!

 

Wednesday

Top: Motherhood Maternity (it's hard to see, but it has some fun detail around the neckline)

Cardigan: Kohls

Bracelet: my shop

Gray Jeans: Old Navy Maternity

Booties: Amazon

Sixteen Week Update

I don't really know how often I'll update you on my pregnancy. Maybe every 4 weeks? I don't want to overwhelm you or bore you, so we'll see how often they happen. I do feel like an update every once in a while is good, since you can't really see the full belly effect in my weekly outfits.

How Far Along? 16 weeks!

High Five for Friday 11.21

This week has been simply uneventful, and I'm totally ok with that. I'm revving up for my last weekend of grad class for the semester. Lots of presentations to listen to! Since this week was so uneventful, I thought I'd dig up five fun Instagram photos from about year ago. Crazy how much can change in a year!

{ONE}

 

Wes and me at my in-law's last Thanksgiving!  Look at that sweet little face! Also, dang I was having a good hair day that day! I still regret chopping my hair.  I'm letting it grow again.

Sunshine Award

Sweet Elizabeth over at Chasin' Mason nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award.  It's a fun way to get to know bloggers a little more.  She came up with a list of questions for me to answer, so here we go!

What I Wore Wednesday 11.19

So... how's your week been?  I feel like I just can't keep up! Truly though, I can't complain. Life is good. As I was putting together outfits this weekend and our room was a MESS, Russ made the comment that, "This is what our room looks like on Saturdays at nap time." I guess the good thing is it's just a few hours and then the rest of the week, I can just grab an outfit off the hanger. Planning ahead helps make the rest of the week run smoothly.

 

This outfit it more business-y than I usually do, but I wanted to wear the pants since I have a limited amount of them, and this outfit just fell together. 

Necklace: Our World Boutique

Top: thrifted Target

Blazer: Old Navy

Pants: Motherhood Maternity

Booties: Dolce Vita via eBay

November Ipsy Glam Bag

I always get a little giddy when I get the shipping notification that my 

Ipsy bag is on its way.  This month's bag was another great one, and felt I totally got my money's worth. If you're not familiar with Ipsy, it's a monthly subscription in which you receive a cute zipper pouch along with five beauty samples. It costs just $10 a month.

 

The bag this month was so cute; glitter with a pink zipper. Every month each bag comes with five items.  The items are chosen from a beauty profile you fill out when you subscribe.  Each month you can give feedback on the items you receive letting them know if you were pleased with the type of item, brand, shade, etc.  Four out of five items in this month's bag were definite keepers.  One will probably be tossed.

Our Holiday Travel Decisions & Holiday Blog Hop

My post for today's blog hop is actually over at Liberating Working Moms! I'm sharing how we make our choices for celebrating the holidays and making our family the priority.  Go check it out, then hop around to the other blogs participating in the blog hop!
 

Holiday Crafts~ Abiding In Grace

Our Holiday Travel Decisions~ bybmg

Keepsake Ornaments~ Almond Place

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas~ Simply Free Blog

Ornament Traditions~ Garay Treasures

UnStuff Gifts for Hubby~ All Kinds of Things

Saving Money on Christmas Cards~ Teressa Jane

Favorite Holiday Crafts~ Living In This Season

High Five for Friday 11.14

We have another slow weekend ahead, and I'm totally looking forward to it. More time with my boys and time to just chill in sweatpants.  This past week was pretty darn good though!

{ONE}

 

Russ sent me off for a morning to do whatever I wanted on Saturday.  I hit up Tarbucks (Target with a Starbucks), TJ Maxx, and Trader Joes.  It was heavenly.

What I Wore Wednesday 11.12

The temps have really dropped here the past few days!  Highs in the 30s this week. Crazy!  Looks like more excuses to wear scarves, like I needed an excuse. 

 

Scarf: Charming Charlie

Tunic: Old Navy Maternity

Bangles: Lia Sophia

Leggings: LuLaRoe

Flats: Target

My First Trimester Essentials & GIVEAWAY

(Pssst! If you're not pregnant or planning to ever be pregnant again... there's still something in this post for you, a GIVEAWAY!  Keep Reading!) 

I haven't been feeling the best with this pregnancy. It's not a surprise, because I felt like crud with both the boys' pregnancies, too, but I felt like this time it started earlier. With the boys it was about 7 weeks before I started to feel icky. This time around I remember right when I hit 5 weeks feeling out of sorts and of course wondering if it was twins (it's not). As I write this, I'm 14 weeks, and still feeling not myself. With the boys it was 14 and then 16 weeks before I felt better. So, I possibly have a few more weeks to go.

I wanted to share a few things with you that helped me get through. I know there are a ton of suggestions and remedies out there, but this is what has helped me both feel better and get myself dressed and to work every day.

{Lemon Jolly Ranchers}

 

These babies have been my friend in my desk.  People say sour candy helps with nausea, and these have taken the edge off.  I actually found them at Dollar Tree.

My Top 5 Holiday Shopping Tips

I love Christmas shopping. I really do!  I love buying gifts for people.  I don't, however love crowds, lines, or spending a ton of money.  Here are some of my holiday shopping tips!

High Five for Friday 11.7

Phew! What a long week it's been. We had conferences this week which meant working from 7:30-7:30 on Monday and Thursday.  It's a great time to celebrate the learning of my students, but it sure wears me out and I miss my boys like crazy!  Hooray for the week being over and a calm weekend ahead. Besides being completely exhausted, the week had some great spots.

{ONE}

 

I made my very first pumpkin pie.  I love all things pumpkin, but I realized I'd never made a pumpkin pie.  I just followed the recipe on the canned pumpkin, and it turned out fabulous.  It was a wonderful treat to come home to after long conferences, and I may have had a piece or two for breakfast.

What I Wore Wednesday 11.5

Well, the maternity pants are in full force. Besides a pair of jeans, I pretty much packed all non-maternity pants away. So, get used to seeing the few pairs of maternity pants I do have on repeat for the next 6ish months.  It's all about the comfort, and my belly couldn't take it any more.

 

Scarf: Our World Boutique

Top: Gap

Cardigan: Old Navy

Pants: Old Navy Maternity

Shoes: Sperry 

The Lovely Lookbook: Stripes

Today I'm linking up with Caitlin and Sarah for a monthly link up called The Lovely Lookbook.  The goal of the link up is to find looks that work for you. It's for women of all shapes and sizes to share a look and hopefully inspire others. This month's focus is on stripes.

 

For this look, I went with one of my favorite things to do with stripes, and that's pattern mix! Big, bold polka dots and stripes just go, in my opinion. 

Customized Tableware with Create UR Plate

I received the items in this post free for review, but the opinions expressed are all my own. See my disclosure page for more information.

I've never been the best at putting together a cute table setting. When company comes over, I'm often like, "Shoot!  Do we even have enough clean plates?!" When I read about Create UR Plate and their Plate-Ables™, I was really excited to try them out. I also don't have much space to store cute decor or holiday wares, so the compactness of the product was also very attractive to me.  All the decals I ordered fit into that pretty little package.