Weekend Recap {Halloween & Projects}

Hey everyone! I hope you all have a great weekend and did something spooky and fun in celebration of Halloween. We went out to a local bar for their Halloween party and it was a blast. We decided to dress up as Forrest Gump and Jenny this year. The outfit was super easy to pull together because we had almost everything in our closet. We just purchased Mark's bubba Gump hat, a ping pong paddle (only $3 at Walmart!) and I purchase a few items to make my head band. Easy!

His ping pong paddle was a huge hit!

at the gender reveal

The rest of the weekend was spent at a friend's gender reveal party and working on the house. Our friends are having a boy... congrats! So exciting! As far as our projects go, we got a ton done. We (well mostly Mark) finished the dining room table. I am so dang excited with how it turned out!! Mark is pretty amazing and can look at most anything and make it happen. I picked out the color of the stain and then stained the base and bench. He did much more work than me lol but I'll claim my portion! It looks great in our dining room and every time I catch a glimpse of it I smile. I feel like we are real grown-ups and can finally have people over for a meal! Who wants to be our first dinner guests??

a close-up of the bench and a cute doogie in the background

I love the rustic look of the tabletop!

Mark found the table legs on Amazon. Love them so much!

Chairs

I have been waiting to bust out this centerpiece I got at Kirkland's during their blowout Fall sale. I am missing a candle still but it will do for now. Also, I couldn't find a table runner that I liked so I used a blanket lol. I like how it turned out though! Kinda looks like a scarf from this angle...

Mark also worked on our shiplap wall for our bedroom. Now all that's left is paint which we should get done this week. You'll have to check out my One Room Challenge post on Thursday to see pics of the completed wall :)

It was a great weekend and so fun to have two full days together. That never happens! I hope you all had a great Monday and can't wait to see adorable pics of your little ones on Halloween.

...and because they are just the cutest, two more pics!

Confessions {October Edition}

I wish VA Beach looked like this picture! This was taken last year in Michigan. SO pretty!

Hey everyone! I am in the mood to write today but of course failed miserably with taking pictures this weekend or this week lol. Well, I took a picture of our beers at Green Flash but that's about it haha. So I thought why not post a good ole fashioned confessions post. Here we go!

I am so close to breaking down about buying Christmas decor. I can't help it when it's out everywhere and so dang cute!! Kirkland's has the best stuff right now and I'm nervous that it will all be gone. They are pretty much sold out of fall decor so I know it's only a matter of time until the Christmas stuff is flying off the shelf. Don't judge me... I am a Christmas fanatic. :) I love this painting because it's subtle Christmas and this is also a fave.  Also, check out their ornaments. There are SO many cute ones!

These loft jeans are my new fave! They are super comfy, are higher- waisted without being high-waisted (if that makes sense), and fit tightly enough around the ankles. For some reason, most jeans are too baggy in that area or they look like spandex, not a good look.

We have made some BIG progress on our dining room table. Mark designed it himself and has done most of the heavy lifting... buying everything, cutting the wood, sanding the pieces, assembling it, etc. My job has been to stain the table base legs and the bench. It's been pretty time-consuming but I am loving how it's turning out so far. We are planning on having someone apply the lacquer for us because that can be a big job. Hopefully it will be done within a week!

Unfinished base. How cool are those table legs?? Also, ignore the mess in the background lol

The Pioneer Woman has done it again with another great cookbook. I was so excited when this showed up at my door on Tuesday. I had pre-ordered it but kinda forget so it was like a mini-Christmas morning! This book is centered around quick and/ or easy meals. This is right up my alley because I am the world's slowest cook. When a recipe says 30 minutes it will take me an hour lol. I need this cookbook so I'm not standing in the kitchen all night. I already have several pages marked so I can test our some recipes. A full review to come!

I am missing my friends like crazy. This move has been pretty tough for me, way more than I thought it would be. I forgot how lonely it can feel in a new city and I was anticipating to just bounce back quickly lol. I can happily say that I don't cry every week any more so that's an improvement. Also, I've met some really nice people here. I just miss being able to call a girlfriend for last minute dinner plans or call up Dina and Meaghan to go dancing. You know I love a good dancing night!

Can't I just stay home all day and decorate?? I am LOVING decorating our new house minus the fact that I don't have time to do it and it can get really expensive lol. It's so fun to pick out items and watch everything come together. If you've been following my One Room Challenge posts (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3) then you know I committed myself to finishing our bedroom in 6 weeks. Well we made little to no progress this week so I was thrilled when the ORC people extended the deadline. Look for my post this week to see what we've done :)

We are hosting our first Thanksgiving at the house this year. I know it may sound really silly but I've always wanted to host a holiday at our house. We've just never lived in anything big enough to make that happen. Our house will definitely accommodate everyone and when we are finished with the table, we will have a place for everyone to eat lol! I LOVE having people over ( I get it from my mom) and hosting an entire holiday week is like a dream to me. Now if only I didn't have to work that week lol.

I have been binge watching Gilmore Girls again. I just can't get enough. Rory and Lorelai are just the best when they are together. Yes, I know that I am a nerd.

Well that's about it for this confessions post. Hopefully, I'll be back on Monday with a weekend recap. Let's pray I can get my life together by then lol!

Five on Friday: Current Wish List

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! It was finally starting to feel like fall this week and I wore my first scarf of the season. {Insert a happy dance here!} It was back up into the high 70s today but still feels better than 90! This has been a doozy of a week and I am looking forward to some down time. Mark is back this weekend too so I can't wait to see him!

With the change of a season always brings shopping to the mind. I love an excuse to throw together some new outfits and all the cute bloggers out there have gotten me excited about fall clothes. I have racked up quite the wish list but I narrowed it down to 5 items today.

Green sweater
Slouchy tan sweater
Plaid Cape
Crossbody purse
Slip-on sneakers

I am in LOVE with these slip-on Caslon sneakers. I think the color is a great neutral and these are an easy shoe to throw on for any casual outfit. I don't know how practical they are going into the winter but I'm all about them for fall.

So to be totally honest, I just ordered the plaid cape pictured above. I am going to New York in a few weeks and I think it will be perfect to throw on. Plus who can resist this gray plaid??

My fall go-to outfit is usually a tee, a long sweater, skinny jeans, and ankle boots. It's so easy and always looks cute! This green sweater is the perfect fall color and will spruce up any neutral outfit.

I'm on the hunt for a new bag. I use my Longchamp bag every single day but want to change it up a bit. This saddlebag is a great neutral but the print is a little different at the same time. Also, I love the color!

This slouchy sweater doesn't look like much in the picture above but one of my favorite bloggers, Emily,  posted pics in it and I love how it can be oversized enough to wear off the shoulder.

Have a great weekend!

ORC {Master Bedroom} Week #3

Hey everyone! I'm back today with an update on the One Room Challenge. This past weekend I  painted our bedroom and holy moly what an undertaking. The room doesn't have very good lighting so it was very hard to see which areas were done and which needed more paint. I ended up doing two coats throughout the room and I can already tell I'll need to touch up some areas. That's on my list for when we paint the trim, which should be interesting lol. We have carpet so I have a feeling the trim is going to be tedious and time consuming.

I tried to get a good photo of the paint but it's too dark in the morning before work and then after work there are too many shadows lol. We used Behr's Salt Cellar in eggshell and I really like the color. At first, I thought it was pulling too blue but I think with some better lighting in the room, it's going to be great.

Other than painting, I purchased this wood and metal wall hanging. They don't have the exact one online but this is similar except ours is a gray/ green color. It's going above the dresser (as of now) and I think it will look great when the room is all put together.

These are the beach/ ocean paintings I purchased form Home Goods. They were only $16.99 each and are going above our nightstands. They are more muted in color than the original pictures I posted about.

This lantern is also a new addition from Kirklands. They seriously have the CUTEST stuff right now, especially the Christmas decor. I had to show great self-control while in there last weekend and managed to walk away not purchasing a single Christmas item. Although, I have my eye on plenty lol.

Let's take a look at the to-dos:

The room is coming along but I need to make some big purchases soon, including a bed frame (I forgot to add that above). See ya next week for some updates!

Week 1
Week 2
**See the pros here!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!! I'm SOOO looking forward to this weekend because I was gone all last weekend and holy moly I need some down time. I'm also excited to dig in and get some work done on the house. Mark got so much done while I was gone... thank you! I am going to attempt to paint the whole bedroom this weekend. Let's see how it goes!

Missing HP

this isn't from Olympic day but this was our last BIG HP event together. :(

I am really missing my HP friends today because it's the 2nd grade Olympic day. Such a fun time seeing all those kiddos in their Greek costumes. Steph and I even dressed up last year or was it the last two years?? Can't remember lol. I'll be thinking about my work wife today and praying that everything goes smoothly. 

New Hilderbrand Book

buy it here

I have pretty much read every single Elin Hilderbrand book out there. I love that they are light reads but the characters always keep me interested. For the past three years, she has come out with a Christmasy book following the Quinn family and the next installment released on October 3rd. I actually preordered it so it would be delivered right before my trip last weekend. Perfect timing! I finished on the plane on the way to Vegas... an easy read but I loved it.   Check out the 1st and 2nd books.

Apple Cinnamon tea

buy it here

During the fall and winter I love to end my night with a big ol' cup of tea. It helps me to stop eating and stay away from desserts. Plus it's just so calming and relaxing. Right now I am loving the Apple Cinnamon Spice tea by Celestial Seasonings. It is still VERY warm in VA beach but I am pretending like it's fall!

New earrings

I recently bought some tassel earrings from Laura Cox Designs and they are so fun! I was nervous that they are a little too big for my tiny ears lol but the people of Instagram thought they looked great. Thanks for the vote of confidence! She has super cute tassel necklaces too!

Great Devotional

buy it here

Stephanie and I decided to do a daily devotional together as a way to connect since we aren't at the same school any more. Well we aren't even in the same state or side of the country :( We are both loving Paul David Tripp's daily devotional, New Morning Mercies. It's short and concise but goes pretty deep. I love how Tripp is right to the point and gives you a gut check with your faith. We all need that at times.

Have a great weekend!! I hope I can get my life together enough to write a weekend recap next week. Did anyone notice how I posted 3x this week?? I was impressed with myself lol.

ORC Week 2: Inspiration

Chair   |   Bench
Ocean Pictures   |   Be Still print
Headboard   |   Lamp

I'm back for week 2 of the one room challenge. I have to be honest, not a ton has been done to the room in the last week other than a little paint. I was out of town from Wednesday- Sunday and haven't had a minute to breath. So today I'm here to share my inspiration for the room and the overall look I want to achieve.

As you can see above, the colors are pretty neutral. I want a relaxed and serene vibe with pops of that teal that I just love. I don't really love nautical themes but I do like the idea of subtle hints of water elements and picturesque waves. I purchased two beach/ ocean pictures already that will be hung by our nightstands. They aren't the pictures shown above because I couldn't find them anywhere to leave a link. Gotta love Homegoods for all there random stuff! The pictures I got are more muted than the pictures shown above and I'm thinking I want all the colors to be muted. The lamp might even be a little dark for the look I'm going for in the room. We will see though!

Mark also has a painting of Ocean Beach in San Diego which I love. It needs a new frame and mat though. The current mat doesn't fit correctly and the sun has made it all look so yellowy. I even tried painting the mat which looked great but I really just think I need a different size to cover up the yellow. It will have to be a custom cut because the painting is an odd size.

We purchased this headboard from Wayfair and it was super inexpensive. Mark originally wanted to make one but he's just gone so much that it wasn't feasible. I love that Wayfair has free shipping on most items and things get here so fast. We have it propped against the way right now and I love how it looks. Can't wait to see if when it's actually attached to a bed lol.

After many many paint samples we finally decided on Salt Cellar. I really LOVED Ben Moore's Moonshine but it looked dark on our walls and our room barely gets any natural light. Mark kept reminding me that I hate "dungeon" type rooms and would want to repaint it lol. I decided to trust him and go with the lightest color option out of the several that I picked. It looks more gray/ green in the color swatch above but I would say it pulls more blue and is very very light.

Mark worked on all the edging while I was gone because I totally stink at that part. My goal is to get all the paint done this weekend... let's see how that goes ha! After that it's time to make a decision about the furniture. To try and paint or not to paint it??? I'm nervous lol. See ya next week for another update!

Weekend Recap {R+F Convention 2017}

Good morning everyone! I meant to get my weekend recap up and ready to go yesterday but I was exhausted from my weekend spent in Vegas. I was there with Rodan+ Fields for their annual convention.  It was soooo much fun but I'm on the struggle bus with the lack of sleep lol. I will survive but it's going to be a hectic week.

I landed in Vegas super late on Wednesday night and went right to bed after chatting with the girls for a bit at the hotel. I knew it was going to be an early morning with our first event starting at 8. I was able to see my mom that morning because she joined me in business a few months ago. So fun to do business with the people you love!

Military spouses

 I was so excited to just hug my mom, especially after everything that happened in Vegas last weekend. I knew my family and friends were okay but being there and getting the chance to see them in person made me feel better.  I'm still trying to process what happened and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected. It was very sobering to see the festival area and the 58 crosses for the people who died. It is truly amazing how the city has rallied around each other to provide support for the victims and their families. Just beautiful and proof that there is so much good in this world! I was also super impressed with all the support from R+F as well. They had signs put up all around the convention and even opened up the event with a moment of silence for the city. The consultants and company also raised money to support the victims and their families as well. LOVE this!

I love meeting these ladies face to face!

I don't even know how to accuratley put into words the experience I had this past weekend. I spent time with some dear friends, most of which I never would have met if it wasn't for this business. I was able to learn all about the incredible innovations that the company is developing and let me tell ya, you're going to be blown away. I LOVE the new products so far and I seriously don't know how they develop more and more phenomenal products. I felt poured into by the company leaders and home office staff. They truly believe in us and want each of us to succeed in whatever we want out of this business. Such an incredible feeling!

The weekend was a total blast and I was able to see most of my fam (minus Dylan) and my brother in law and mother in law too. We went out for Brittany's birthday and had a great time listening to some live country music. Nothing better!

the Gala

Convention is in New Orleans next year! Can't wait!!

Now that I am home it's time to buckle down for this crazy week. I am ready to dive deep into my business though and I am so grateful for this experience. I miss my R+F girls already!

One Room Challenge: Master Bedroom

Hey everyone! As most of you know, we recently moved to Virginia and I have been hard at work decorating our new house. It's going to be a long process because the new place is significantly larger than our last home and we need a TON of furniture.

One room that is seriously lacking is the master bedroom. It's a pretty good size room but it's kind of long, which is different. We also upgraded to a king sized mattress when we moved here and haven't purchased a bed yet. The dogs LOVE the floor bed lol. The headboard has been purchased though and just arrived. YAY! Now we need a frame and box spring and we are good to go.

The room desperatley needs to be painted because it's a terrible yellowy white (it's not showing up in the pics but trust me, it's bad) and the wood trim has to go. The previous owners had started painting all the trim white but didn't finish the upstairs. It will look much better a crisp white. Now for the rest of the room, we are still debating on colors. Why is it so hard to pick one??? I think it's because of our bedding. It has a lot going on, so you don't want anything that will clash. I would actually love crisp white bedding but our little fur babies sleep with us and LOVE to track in mud and dirt from outside. Maybe I can convince Mark it's a good idea though. :)

Our furniture is a little beat up from three moves but at the moment we aren't in the market for new dressers.  I think I can make them look better with some added decor to distract from them haha. I'm also thinking about painting them but once again, what color?? Decisions, decisions. I have quite the to-do list already so let's take a peek.

My to-do list:

1. Pick a paint color... like now.

2. Paint room and trim

3. Hang paintings above nightstands

4. Hang mirror above dresser

5. Get a new frame for the Ocean Beach picture (not shown)

6. Purchase a few items to style the dressers

7. Find a new bench for the end of the bed

8. Purchase wingback chair (or two) for room

Looking at these pictures seriously makes me cringe. I can't wait to share this transformation with you all! Six weeks sounds like a long time but Mark is gone a ton and some of the bigger things are hard to do on my own. I want to get the majority of it done in that time frame though. Check back in next week to hear some updates! Make sure to check out the official blogs doing the One Room Challenge on the Calling It Home website. There are always the most gorgeous results from the official participants and I will be taking notes for sure.  A lot of the time they work with some great designers and companies. I'm not that lucky but one day maybe I will be :)