Some of my favorite quotes...

I love quotes!... One of my unfinished projects in my home is taking some of my favorite quotes and framing them & covering one of the walls in the office with them...

My friend Beth was in search of some so I looked through my notes and thought I would share some of my favorites with all of you!...


"You don't always have to know what you want to do, but always know who you want to be." -Diane Von Furstenberg


Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God. -Unknown


Life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. -Unknown


Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down. -Unknown


"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are. -Unknown


"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Harold R. McAlindon


Character: Be true to your work, your word, and your friends. -Unknown


"Dream as you will live forever, live as if you will die today." - James Dean


"If you live to be one hundred years old, I want to live to be one hundred minus a day, so I never have to live one day without you." -Winnie the Pooh


"Love isn't finding a perfect person. It's seeing an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

Friday Fives: "What's in my purse"...

My dear friend, Beth ( http://www.mcclintockb.blogspot.com/ ), just started a new blog schedule called "Friday Fives"... This week's topic is "Five Things you Always Have in Your Purse"... Since I'm down for all things purse related, I told her I would play today! ;)

These days, my daily "purse" is usually thrown in sweet baby girl's diaper bag...

Here are a few of "my" things that you can ALWAYS find in there...

1. My iPhone- So just like most of us iPhone-addicts, mine is usually ALWAYS in my hand, but when it does come un-glued it goes in the diaper bag...
2. Chapstick- I ALWAYS keep something on my lips! I am addicted!! This is the one I wear when I go out of the house because it has just a hint of color & is SUPER moisturizing...

3. My Camelbak water bottle- Since I'm a breastfeeding momma, I need to stay hydrated... I drink water all day long so I ALWAYS have this with me! Besides my cup of coffee in the morning, this is usually all I drink throughout the day & it goes where ever I go...

4. Hand Sanitizer- Because I am a total germ-a-phob!!!...

5. Miracles of our Lord booklet- My family is Catholic & my mom gave me this booklet and told me to keep it with me where ever I go because it will protect me, so I'm just following orders & keep it in sweet baby girl's diaper bag! :)

Show Us Your Life: A day in the life...

I am really excited about this week's "Show Us Your Life" topic because it wants people to write about what a typical day is like for them! Now I have to admit my days are pretty boring, but I am SO interested in reading what everyone else's days are like!

For me, I'm a stay-at-home mom to a sweet 7 month old baby girl... this is what a typical day looks like for us through the week...

Baby girl will usually wakes me up around 7:00am with her sweet baby jabbering through the monitor... (she is SO jolly in the mornings! She gets that from her daddy for sure!) I get up and bring her into our room and lay her in bed with me & we'll usually play in the bed for a few minutes... Then I eventually get up & throw some clothes on (My weekly uniform is usually sweats, no make-up & hair in a messy bun)... If I'm lucky enough to get a shower now's when I do it or before bed... Then I change her diaper & we go downstairs to start our day! :)

Anniston swings in her lamb swing with her "dolly" while I make coffee & breakfast...

I HAVE TO HAVE a BIG cup of coffee every morning!!!!... For breakfast, I'll usually have oatmeal with blueberries & low fat vanilla yogurt mixed in or a veggie omelet with wheat toast ;)... {I put a lot of sour cream, fresh basil & tomatoes on top! Mmmmmm! ;) }
During breakfast, I'm lucky if I a few peaceful minutes to eat & read my gossip magazine while baby swings, but normally mid-way through breakfast baby girl is ready to get out of her swing & she sits on my lap while I finish eating...

Then around 8:00, I make her breakfast... usually cereal & bananas...

For the next hour, we usually play & read a book... and sweet baby girl usually drops a BIG morning #2 sometime in between! ;) ... Her 1st of her daily 4 POOPY DIAPERS OF THE DAY- 6 if it's a "really good" day! LOL ;)

Then around 9:00-9:30 she nurses & usually falls asleep...

During the day when she naps, she is normally sleeping on my chest because every time I try to lay her down she wakes up crying & doesn't go back to sleep!... She does great at night in her crib, but I can't seem to break this during the day! Her dr said to not put her in her crib during the day because she might think she has to sleep for a long time so we've tried the pack-N-play but with no luck!... {Any mommy tips would be appreciated because even though it's nice to snuggle with my baby girl & catch up on my shows, it would be nice to have the freedom to get things done!!}

The rest of the afternoon is normally spent playing on her activity mat, in her exesaucer & if I'm lucky another nap later in the afternoon...

She still nurses every 2.5-3 hours so I feel like most of our day is spent feeding & changing diapers... I'll give her pureed fruit around 2:00 and then feed her veggies & cereal around 5:00...

When the hubs gets home from work, I'm usually ready to "clock out" and hand baby off for a bit & sweet hubs is more than happy to get baby & daddy time!... I'll cook dinner & pack his lunch for the next day while they play, then we eat & usually after dinner its time to start baby's night time routine...

I'll "clock back in" to help hubs with bath time around 8:00...

Then I'll nurse her again & afterward hubs usually takes her upstairs to read a bedtime story & puts her to bed...

If we're both not too tired after this, we'll catch up on our shows on the DVR, but most of the time I'm ready to just take a shower & go to bed... and start it all over again in the morning! :)

See... probably pretty boring to some people, but I wouldn't have it any other way!! I absolutely LOVE spending my days with my sweet baby girl & husband! ;)

Wordless Wednesday...

Earrings & consignment sales...

Hi friends,

My mom was in town last week and I didn't have a lot of time to blog!... She got in on Monday afternoon and left early Sunday morning...

Last Tuesday while she was here, we got sweet baby girl's ears pierced!!! For the folks that read my "To pierce or not to pierce" post know, that I was really struggling with this desicion! But thanks to my persistant/somewhat overbearing mother ;) & encouraging words from my blog friends, I got over my fears and just did it!... and it went A LOT better than I imagined!! She cried more when she gets her vaccines than she did when they pierced her ears! Surprisingly, one of the hardest things was marking her earlobes where we wanted the hole to be! Anyone that has a little baby knows how wiggly they are so with her constant squirming (plus her chubby little cheeks didn't allow us to look straight on & see her earlobes) it was at least a 30 minute orderal of marking then remarking....{Sheesh!} Then when her doctor came in (we got them done at her pediatrican's office) with the piercing guns, he did one side fine but when he went to do the other side the gun got jammed or something!! So he pressed down hard 2x and she was NOT HAPPY >=[ then he just got a new gun and got it through! She cried just for a second when he was done & calmed down then when he cleaned it with the alcohol afterward she cried again, but just for a second... since then its been like they're not even in! I clean them every night with alcohol and she doesn't even flinch! I DEFINITELY recommend other mothers of baby girls to do it this way if they are considering it! She looks SO CUTE with her little earrings, just like a little lady! ;)

The rest of the week, we just laid pretty low & had mommy, baby, & grandma time... We went to a BIG seasonal consignment sale early Saturday morning & I found some GREAT finds!! I got 5 cute Ralph Lauren dresses & jumpers all for around $10-15 each and one still had the tags on!! I also found baby girl's possible Easter dress & a few new headbands & hair bows! {I am obsessed with cute hair bows!}

I just adore these little Polo dresses!...

I love this kelley green color!...

And how cute are these rompers!? I love big stripes & sweet baby girl loves the color yellow!...

This one is a 3T, but I just couldn't pass it up!... I want one in my size!...

And right now I'm thinking this may be her Easter dress unless I find something else I like better... this dress is really cute though! It has a big puffy skirt with a bunch of tulle underneath & was brand new with the tags still on for $5... you can't beat that!!! Even if she doesn't wear it on Easter it will be a cute church outfit...

Oh, and at the consignment sale, it took several arguments with my mother not to buy a truckload of toys!... My husband & I have an agreement that for as long as we can control it, we do not want our house overtaken by a bunch of baby toys (and as other parents know, that can happen very easily)!! I don't think a baby, or even a toddler, needs every single toy ever made! I think a few fun/educational things are great but more than anything they need to be read to & have plenty of interaction with mom & dad...

Then on Sunday after church, I got together for lunch with some of my girlfriends! We went to the Cheesecake Factory to eat & sat outside since it was 70 degrees in Nashville that day... it was a beautiful day!!... After lunch we were supposed to go see Dear John, but all of us decided to go shopping instead! {imagine that!}... My friend Jana wanted to go to Kiehls & buy a bunch of new face stuff so we all had a lot of fun playing & shopping in there & all left with fun new products & TONS of samples! :)

I also put out my Easter decorations this weekend! I have a couple more things I want to get for the house & then I'll be done! It was a nice week!

P.S. For the first time in MONTHS, hubs and I didn't have a BLT all weekend!!!! Can you believe it!?! I can't!! I'm having withdrawals! <=[ ... And I think we also have finally found a car! The car shopping has been EXCRUCIATING!! So hopefully we are done & this deal works out... I'll be sure to keep you all posted! :)

Show Us Your Life: What do you collect?

Well I think it's pretty obvious for my followers or anyone who looks at my blog title to know that I have a purse problem! But I'm not going to tell you how many I have because I have no clue anymore?!... they have truly taken over my life as well as my closet! {When I had my bridal shower, one of the questions on the "How well do you know the bride" quiz was "How many Coach bags does Jayne have?" LOL} ;)

Another thing that I started collecting about 4 years ago are aprons! It began right after I got married & started to fall in love with cooking... It felt great to put on a pretty apron and make a delicious meal for my sweet husband! I felt like such a good wife! ;)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Jessie Steele aprons!!! They are so girlie! It just makes me smile to look at them!! These are some of her designs...

How cute are they, right?!... :)

And to make it even sweeter, they have mother/daughter aprons!!! You better believe I will be getting this cupcake set for me & sweet baby girl when she gets big enough!!... I actually gave this cupcake apron to my bestie, Jana, for her bridal shower & she loves it!

These aprons run around $30 and you can find them at Anthropologie or other boutique/specialty gift stores... I've even bought some on eBay!

New Followers & their comments...

Ok so I just realized something...
All my nice, new friends & followers who have left me comments recently, I have sent most of you emails back because everyone has been so nice!... Then I started wondering, "Hmmm, I wonder why none of my new blog friends are emailing me back?!" {sad face :( }
I just realized when I get an email of your comments, when I hit reply, it goes to one of those "no-reply" things & my blog friends aren't getting my emails! :( ... (Can you tell I'm fairly new to this whole blogging thing! LOL)
Anyone know how you can reply to someone who leaves a comment?!

Thanks!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday...

Recipe: Granola Balls...

Hubs & I love these!!! During the week, he usually just has enough time to grab one of those pre-packaged granola bars on the way out the door... then I found this recipe on my Whole Foods app for my iPhone {where else- ha!} ... They are our new favorite!

They are super easy to make & so yummy!!... You can have a couple for breakfast on the go or I just like to have them as a snack :)

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut {I could only find sweetened & that works fine!}

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup of your favorite trail mix

Preheat oven to 350. Spread the oats & coconut on a baking sheet. Place in the oven & toast for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, combine the peanut butter, honey, and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved, stirring continually so as to prevent scorching.


Add the toasted oats and coconut to the peanut butter mixture along with the trail mix and stir to combine. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. {I actually let mine cool for 15-20 minutes cause after 10 it was still too hot to handle}

This is the kind of trail mix I like... it has dried cranberries, chocolate chips, & nuts...

Working with dampened hands, shape into 12 one-inch balls and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. {As you can see below, I shape mine into smaller balls :)... This is a great time to get the kiddies to help!}

ENJOY!!! :)

Vuitton for Valentine's...

My oh my! What a day it has been!!... It's now 9:00pm and this has been the first time I've sat down to relax all day!!

It started out to be a normal Sunday... hard to get out of bed... had a mini-meltdown cause I couldn't find anything to wear... running late for church... hubs had my bagel & coffee ready and waiting for me when I came downstairs... all normal Sunday morning routines... except this Valentine's morning, he had the raspberry chocolate candies I had been hinting around about waiting for me on the kitchen table! :) {So sweet!}... Since we needed to walk out the door 5 minutes ago, I didn't have time to read my card before we left :(

After church, we all headed to the mall & that's where the day gets REALLY EXCITING!!!!!!!!! Hubs informed me that we are going to the mall because he wants to take me to LOUIS VUITTON TO PICK OUT A PURSE FOR VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!}

(For my blog friends that don't know me very well, to me Louis Vuitton is the Holy Land! LOL :) It's probably obvious from my blog title that I am a purse-addict!... I'm not too big of a shoe person or a jewelry person, but give me a designer handbag and I am your girl!!!)

Up until recently, I have been a loyal Coach shopper! (When I found out I was pregnant, the first thing I did was go out and get myself a FABULOUS Coach diaper bag!)

We got a Louis Vuitton store at our local mall a few years back & since then I have been obsessing over owning one! Every time I would walk by their window displays, it took everything I had not to lick the glass because I was in such lust! LOL ;) and hubs knew about my obsession!... He even took me while I was pregnant to go pick one out as my "push present" (i.e. a present a new father gives the mother when she gives birth) but when the baby actually arrived we had 2nd thoughts about spending that on a purse so I picked out a watch instead...

Anyhoo, so when hubs told me about my Valentine's surprise I almost pee'd my pants!!! I was SO EXCITED!! I was getting my very own Louis!!! {I have a small evening bag, the "Pochette", that was a hand-me-down from my aunt because it was old & she got a new one and I have a wallet that was my mom's... and I also have a couple "replicas"-which I do not condone! Those just sit in my closet & I haven't been able to bring myself to get rid of them!... but now that I have this new one, "she" probably won't want to be in the same room as those! I told hubs we needed to turn the office into "her" room & get her a lighted pedestal to "sleep" on! Ha ;) }

Of course I acted like a total tourist inside the store, but I didn't care!!! I was getting a brand new Louis dang it! Of course I'm gonna capture every moment on film!!...

I really wanted to get baby girl's picture inside since it was her first time at Louis Vuitton!! She was so enthralled by the bags that she couldn't take her eyes off them long enough to look at the camera! LOL {I was terrified that she was going to spit up in there, but she was a total lady!}...

Here I am leaving the store... I look like a complete goober in this picture! I've got my "Holy $*%T my husband just bought me a brand new Louis" face on! LOL... ;)

And here she is... the newest member of our family!...

I told my husband that I totally don't deserve him OR that purse!!!... but I'm taking it anyway! HA! {I have a feeling this will be my Easter gift, anniversary gift, birthday gift, & Christmas gift rolled into one!... and that's ok!}

The rest of the day was a continued whirlwind... my sister-in-law came over to finish taking baby girl's 6 month portraits, I finished doing laundry, cleaned the house a little, then I made a "romantic" dinner for me & hubs! We had been so busy the whole day that we didn't even have time to get anything special for dinner. So guess what we had... you guessed it... a BLT!! LOL :)

I made it "fancy" though and put it on a real plate instead of a paper plate & added corn on the cob & my husband's favorite fruit salad I make him in a martini glass! :)

It couldn't have been better & more perfect Valentine's Day! {sighs}

Shopping for Easter...er, I mean Valentine's Day...

Hi friends!

I had another enjoyable Saturday! Hubs let me off baby duty for the afternoon to go shopping! Yay!... I needed to go out to get some last minute Valentine's Day gifts for him & baby girl, but ended up finding more than I set out for!... {Don't worry, the things I bought we "somewhat needed"... I just didn't expect to find them today}

In the area we live, we don't have a huge mall real close (it's only about 30 minutes away) but we have a few stores up the road that suit me just fine when I want to get away and do some shopping... I went to JCPenny first to try to find these dress shirts my husband really likes, but of course they didn't have his size... but I went a few doors down to Ross & TJ Maxx and found a shirt & tie I liked so I got that for him...

Hopefully he will like what I picked out! He usually always likes the ties I give him but he is pretty particular about his shirts so we'll see...

Then whenever I'm at TJ Maxx, I just have to go over to the Home Goods section!... and that's where the unexpected purchases come in (as they normally do!)

Since we have a little one now, my goal is to do special things for all the major holidays & decorate the house accordingly. Up until recently, I would just decorate for Thanksgiving & Christmas, but this year I got some Valentine's stuff and today I found a few Easter things!

I found this Easter egg wreath!... and I got the matching garland and a couple boxes of coordinating vase fillers :) All for around $50!

I did refrain from buying up these oh so cute polka-dot dishes though! {I LOVE polka-dots!} so I was pretty proud of myself! My friend Beth probably went and cleaned them out after I sent her a picture mail of them! She has a polka-dot problem too! LOL ;)

Then of course I came home & made BLTs for me & hubs!... we seriously are gonna need to go to BLT rehab! We've made them every Saturday for lunch for more than I'd like to admit! We are ADDICTED!! It's that dang bacon with the brown sugar I talked about a few posts back that you cook in the oven!... Its like crack!! I mean who doesn't like "candy-coated" bacon?!

Then later in the evening, I sent hubs to Publix to get more bread and he came home with a couple steaks and made me a Valentine's Eve dinner! ;) So sweet!!....

We put crumbled goat cheese on top of the steaks & it was DEE-LICOUS!! :)

Tomorrow we don't have a whole lot planned for V-day. Hubs & I don't usually do an extravagant Valentine's celebration anymore... we're both just pretty happy to get take-out or cook a nice dinner and stay in. We're homebodies really- and perfectly happy that way!

After church we may run to the mall & later we are getting the rest of sweet baby girl's 6 month portraits done... Then I need to spend the rest of the day cleaning house & finishing the laundry because my mom is coming in town Monday to stay for a week!

I'm just hoping hubs comes through on the dark chocolate, raspberry candy I've been dropping hints for for the past week or two!... I'm still working on convincing him that we need to leave for church early so we can stop by a donut place to get some of these festive heart-shaped treats I saw a commercial for... :)

Anyhoo, I need to go upstairs and fold laundry & try to find something to fit into tomorrow!
Y'ALL HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! ;)