our long weekend (in photos).

we had such a great weekend! Sean took off work on Thursday and Friday to get some things done around the house since the weather was supposed to be perfect. 

on Thursday, we spent most of the day outside - he cut the grass and dug out my garden bed while I hung out with Ronin on the patio and built our raised bed for fruits and veggies. we've had this thing in our garage since the fall of 2011. I wanted to plant vegetables last year, but since I was pregnant, I knew that I wouldn't have the energy to tend to the garden, so we put it off until this year. I was pretty proud of myself for putting it together solo... even if it did take me a few hours since I was working with an 8 month old's schedule. ;)

raised garden bed

outdoor rug

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Friday was spent cleaning around the house and finishing some indoor projects. we did get out of the house to go to lunch with Sean's dad and run to Target for a few things. we had lunch at Gordon Biersch, so a beer was necessary. I mean, when is it not?

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I co-hosted a baby shower on Saturday for one of my friends and it was SO much fun. we've been planning for months and I've been busy with DIYing a lot of the decor for the past few weeks. it was a wonderful day, and baby Tucker is surrounded by love already. 

also? it felt amazing to get all dolled up for once. and to be baby free for an entire afternoon, ha!

striped dress
nude heels

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today was a productive day around the house. Sean finished painting the trim and touch ups in the nursery (yes, the nursery. the room where Ronin is supposed to be sleeping. he is 8 months old and we're finally finishing it) in the morning, and then he took over baby duty while I got the fruits & vegetables planted. I had to run out for more soil, but once I had enough, it only took me maybe 2 hours to get everything planted. I chose veggies based on what we would actually eat and what seems to do well in our area (according to recommendations from friends & family). I planted cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, string beans, bell peppers (yellow, orange, and red), tomatoes, strawberries, and cantaloupe. can't wait to see how they do! 

oh, and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo by drinking beer while gardening. naturally. 

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I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! I'll be back this week with a post detailing the DIY baby shower decor (hopefully) and a Mother's Day wishlist. 

life lately (according to Instagram & other cell phone pics)

a handmade beanie from my talented Aunt, for Ronin... it has a matching blanket too. 

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we make Bear act out keyboard cat.

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watermelon & sweet corn = summer love.

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organizing baby shower goodies. talk about spoiled!

also? nesting FTW.

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she thinks those gifts are for her.

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I finally hung the map art that I talked about doing way back when (originally inspired from here).
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post-physical therapy bump.
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this was my baby doll for breastfeeding class.
I did not want that thing anywhere near my boobs.
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so, there's a little sneak peak into what's been going on lately.
you can follow me on Instagram by clicking that little icon to the right!
have a great weekend, readers! 

Friday loves

a smartphone wallet. 

aka the perfect little clutch for carrying minimal stuff.

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the top 100 best children's books.

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how to: create a home management binder.

dude. I love this. I NEED to be more organized at home, and this is one step I can take to accomplish that. I think once my nesting really kicks in, this will be one of my projects to take on.

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free: birth plan tool.

and another.

both of these were extremely helpful in creating a personalized birth plan for us. 

while I know a lot of people laugh at birth plans, there are a few things that I want to remember to do/to avoid during labor, and I know that having it written down will prevent me from forgetting to mention it.

I basically filled in the info in the second one and copied the results into a Word document. 

and then, when I found the tool in the first link, I just took some of the information from that and added to the document I had already created, since it contained some more options that I hadn't yet considered.

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John & Sherry's new DIY headboard. 

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how to tell if your eggs are still fresh:

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this ridiculously cute & creative love story.

holy crap, I can't imagine how much time it took to make that!

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this rug from Urban Outfitters. 

I need this for my entryway. right now.

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5 best places for party supplies.

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my baby shower is tomorrow, so I'll hopefully have a recap of that next week! 

I'm so excited to celebrate baby Ronin with my friends and family. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my feet don't swell up TOO bad. 

from what I hear, the menu is full of delicious goods, so you can't beat that! ;)

OH, and thank you all for your suggestions on my shower attire! the navy dress was a slam dunk among voters, and so that's what I'll be wearing.

Happy Friday, folks!

lately, according to Instagram (and cell phone pics)

I finished Insurgent, which is the second installment of Veronica Roth's YA trilogy.
it was, as expected, absolutely fucking brilliant.
it might kill me to wait another year+ for the third book.

Bear is still handsome. 

... and lazy.

2 more days until I get to see my BFF!
I can't wait for her to show me the city. :)

Sonic tots are amazing.

Ronin had his first IKEA trip.

our possible paint choices for the nursery, all Premium Plus Ultra paint from Behr.
from left to right: Misty Morn, Atmospheric, French Court, and Voyage.
we bought samples to put up on the wall and see in different light. 

love this fat face.

a rare sighting - ALL 4 kitties snoozing within a few feet of one another. 
L to R: Lily, Bear, Mama, and Pheobe.
silly felines. 

Happy Hump Day!

lately, according to instagram

I think it's safe to say that I'm obsessed with instagram. 

ever since I downloaded the app on my phone, I've been using it like crazy. 

so here's a little peek at what's been going on... 

I re-read Divergent (finished yesterday) in preparation for the second book of the series,
Insurgent, which was released last week.
I forgot how much I loved this book last year.
Tris & Four = SWOON.

oh, and I feel as if I should also mention that
I have devoured all three books of the Fifty Shades trilogy.
and they were so hot that I might read them again. 

Mama Cat approves. 
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Daddy & Mama Cat brushing sesh.
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my BFF got married & moved to NYC. 
we're visiting her & hubs for Memorial Day weekend.
I cannot wait. I miss her dearly.
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handsome baby daddy.
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Bear is handsome. 
and lazy.
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yes, I am still craving pickles. 
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tomato sammich for dinner. 
SO DELICIOUS.
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HAPPY HUMP DAY, yo.

Pinterest Challenge!

today I'm participating in the Pinterest Challenge, hosted by Sherry & John of Young House Love, Katie Bower of Bower Power, Emily Henderson (yes, theeeeeee HGTV's Design Star winner), and Lana of Making a House a Home. 

I was super excited when YHL announced the challenge last week (with a hilarious video you should definitely watch), as I knew already that I had a handful of projects to submit, since about 75% of my ideas for Kaley's baby sprinkle originally came from Pinterest. 

Pinterest is so great for finding inspiration for... clothing, home decor, DIY projects, and even baby showers! I took a couple of the ideas that I found (and then subsequently pinned in my 'Rhys Baby Shower Ideas' board and turned them into real DIY projects. 

on Friday, I blogged about the projects that I was working on that were inspired by Pinterest finds. let's see how they turned out! 

#1 - veggie dippers from here. 

this one was super easy. all I had to do was buy a bunch of plastic cups, fill the bottom with ranch dip, and throw in some speared veggies (I used celery, carrots, and cucumber). next time I will probably use shorted cups, because once you took a bite of the veggie, it was too short to double dip. here's how they turned out:

[photo courtesy of Kaley]

#2 - mason jar lemonade from here. 

another easy copy-cat project. it was just a matter of finding the actual mason jars, and filling them with lemonade. as much as I would have loved to make my own lemonade, I took the easy/lazy route and used Minute Maid canned lemonade, and then Kaley added a slice of fresh lemon to each jar. combined with the blue & teal stripey straws though, this little detail left a great impression with our guests! 

#3 - marshmallow pops from here. 

I'm happy to report that these little sugary goodies were a huge success. making them was pretty easy, and after a little practice with the Karo syrup (which I used in place of melted chocolate), I got them done fairly quickly. 

the process was simple - place the lollipop stick in the marshmallow, dip the marshmallow in Karo syrup (and wipe off the excess on the side of a cup or towel), and then sprinkle with blue sugar sprinkles. they ended up sticking together during travel, but they still looked and tasted wonderful. 

#4 - candy buffet as seen here 

(and a million other places). 

I'm so happy I decided to do this - it looked really nice and brought the colors together like I wanted them to.  the candy buffet had rock candy (blue & green), blueberry candy sticks, M&Ms of different colors, chocolate covered pretzels, and of course, the marshmallow pops. I also provided goodie bags for the guests to take candy home in, which came in handy for those sticky marshmallow pops too! ;) 

[photo courtesy of Kaley]

[photo courtesy of Kaley]

#5 - onesie decorating from here. 

as I mentioned in yesterday's post, this didn't really turn out as well as I had hoped it would, but we did get a couple decorated onesies that I know Kaley is happy to have! the kids really loved this idea because it was like arts & crafts for them, which definitely made me relieved. I'm glad that some people used the fabric to create different patterns and shapes! unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of the final products. 

[photo courtesy of Kathy]

#6 - cupcake toppers inspiration from here. 

these ended up being one of my favorite DIY projects for the shower. I just used a scallop punch, and then I traced the shape of a onesie (from a cookie cutter, no less) onto different patterned card stock. glued them together and then onto a craft stick, and voila! 

whew! I think that's everything! obviously, a lot of the decoration ideas came from Pinterest as well (like the poms and the banners and pennants), but I didn't really make those based on specific pins that I found... more so just from my own head of ideas. I will definitely be using Pinterest for many more DIY projects in the future! don't forget to check out the other projects listed at the hosting blogs above! 

have you constructed anything lately that was inspired by something you saw on Pinterest?