"Retired" Bloggers: Who Do You Miss?

I was driving around yesterday thinking about a blogger I used to follow, wondering what was new in her life. Luckily, she and I can keep up via Facebook, so I can get my answer pretty easily. But what about all of the others I used to follow? I would check into their blogs daily -- before fancy blogreaders, before Instagram (!!!), before Snapchat. I felt invested in their lives and (selfishly) a little gypped when they stopped blogging about their day-to-day adventures. Of course I respected their decision to stop blogging, but I missed them!

SOOOO...
I had an idea. I'd love to reach out to a few "retired" bloggers to see if they would do a little life update post here for me and all of you. I thought it would be fun for all of us ... and for them, too! So, hit me up with who you'd love to hear from. What bloggers do you miss? Let me see what kind of strings I can pull!

Monday Notes

We had a good weekend. I mean, good -- but not incredibly exciting or anything. Saturday night we did have dinner out at Brio with some of my family members which was nice (and their gorgonzola beef medallions are a delicious menu choice!) but other than that, it was filled with normal family-type stuff. 

I did get time to freshen up my toesies, and used one of my very favorite Essie shades. The perfect fuschia with a little iridescent sheen. This color always reminds me of my college bestie Ashley that lives down in Miami now :) And not even for the name of the shade! 

Essie - Miami Nice ($8.50 here)

Essie - Gel Setter ($9.99 here)

I cleaned my nice jewelry this weekend which got me out of the rut of wearing my diamond stud earrings on the daily. I'm in love with these turquoise KS earrings and I wore them all day Sunday. Minus a few earring grabs by Baby Charlotte, they were comfortable to wear all day long. That's why I like KS earrings ... they definitely make a bold statement but without the heft. Nothing is more uncomfy than earrings that tug your lobes down, ouch!

Kendra Scott - Alex Earrings ($55 here)

Lastly, our home has been smelling wonderful recently thanks to my new Voluspa candle. I picked mine up from Nordstrom. When the sale goes live to the public on Friday, I am going to pick up this trio of candles because the price is awesome. I paid $16 for mine just for reference, and you can now pick up a 3-pack for $29.50.

Voluspa Candles

Two Wick Candles ($29.50 here) - this is the size I have and love.

Mini Candles ($15.90 here) - I have also owned this size and it's perfect for stocking stuffers

Saturday Sip and Shop: Baby Shower Time

Today I am focusing on an awesome punch recipe and some really nice gift ideas for baby showers! Seems like this time of year, invitations are popping up left and right. I rarely turn down an invitation to go celebrate a mama-to-be. These are some of my favorite parties to attend!

Sip:

Recipe HERE from The Melrose Family
This punch is non-alcoholic which is really nice for baby showers!

Shop:

A special baby shower gift is not hard to find, it just takes a little more effort sometimes! Camille's silver rattle from Ian's grandmother is so special to us. And both of these blankets are currently part of the Nordstrom sale (opens to non-cardholders on July 22 ... obviously open now to those who have a credit or debit card with them). My friend Beth gave Charlotte the Little Giraffe lovie and had it monogrammed. Such a sweet idea, and it's the softest, coziest blanket!

monogrammed stroller blanket (Nordstrom - on sale)
sterling silver rattle (Amazon)
little giraffe luxe baby blanket (Nordstrom - on sale)

Five On Friday

It's time for another edition of Five on Friday and I do hope you'll join along!

Remember, all you have to do is post about five things on your mind, add our logo (found at the bottom of this post), and join the party using the linky tools below. Easy, and a great way to find new blogs and be found. :)

O N E

Citrus jalapeno sauce. We don't have dinner plans tonight, but it might just involve some oven-baked fries and THIS sauce (recipe here)! Yum! 

T W O
Did you know that a little store called Nordstrom is having a sale? Yeah, me neither.

Well anyway, I do follow a few fashion bloggers and really enjoy seeing their posts about upcoming trends. Here are my four picks from the sale -- all items I will genuinely be trying on for size. They're good prices, a heckuva deal with the sale going on. And all are trends that I would love to embrace this fall (sayonara, maternity yoga pants ... it's been real).

Pre-sale is open for cardholders now (not me) and the sale event opens July 22 for everyone else (me). I've got my calendar marked! This girl is ready to embrace some fall trends. I'M A COOL MOM ;)

blue cross-front blouse (various colors) // distressed ankle jeans

booties (various colors) // olive military vest

T H R E E
So Camille has decided that she would like a purple bedroom. We're currently looking at lavender colors for her! Anyone have experience with Sherwin Williams paint in those hues? This one is called Enchant and it looks pretty. I'd love to hear your ideas if you know any good paint colors.

F O U R

Speaking of purple rooms, look how pretty this color scheme is! Love light-colored walls with furniture in the same hue, but darker.

via

F I V E
I recently made these big fluffy boutique bows in Lilly's print called Lobstah Roll. A few have already sold -- if you'd like one, please email me or comment here!

TGIF y'all, and hope you will join in on Five on Friday this week! Cheers to the weekend!

Black And White Summer

Nothing is more sophisticated than black and white by the water. Today I've rounded up some super-affordable beach and poolside finds that I am loving this summer. Not only will these look chic, but they aren't a pattern that will go out of style next year.

halter bikini top

plus-sized bikini top

tassel coverup

jelly flip flops 

(and check this blush/platinum combo that's on sale for $29 ... I just ordered them)

b+w stripe flip flops (major sale for $12)

kendra scott alex earrings

Time for a poll: if you were going to sport one of the above items on your next trip to the water, what would it be?

Last Night's Painting Class

Last night I did something pretty cool -- I attended a painting class taught by the amazing Evelyn Henson. She's ALSO a fellow Furman alum, and a fellow ADPi too, but (ahem) quite a bit younger than me. Anyway, she's tearing it up in the art world and she has also partnered with our local Make A Wish Foundation to teach art classes to novices like me and donate proceeds to a very deserving charity.

I wanted to share some photos of last night's class with you for anyone in the Charlotte area -- or anyone who may be an artist themselves and could take a page from Evelyn's book and plan a really fun girls night out like this!

(I WAS wearing shorts. Mental note = this top deserves longer shorts next time)

The class was taught at an art gallery. Each table was already stocked with canvases, acrylic paints, paintbrushes in two sizes, and water cups. Evelyn walked us step by step through the process of creating a gorgeous floral painting like hers and even helped those who wanted to customize their colors (I used the same colors as hers, because why mess up genius?!).

I'm SO glad I took this class. It was a step out of my comfort zone; I left both girls at home, obviously, and I knew no one else in the class! But it was a fabulous way to chat with some new ladies and try to hone a new skill.

And you know what? I think I might be making a trip to Michaels soon to pick up another canvas. I think this vase of flowers needs a mate!

To see the upcoming class schedule, click here. 

A Mountain Weekend

In the nearly one year that I've been a stay at home mom, there have certainly been challenges (going from to incomes to one, mainly) but the most awesome benefit of our current setup is that it affords us the flexibility to sneak in some long weekends away when Ian's schedule allows. His busiest days are the three middle days of the week. It was awesome to be able to leave town for the mountains early enough this past Friday to make it to Boone in time for lunch.

It was also tremendously helpful when we ended up having to extend our stay through Monday due to the power being out at our home! It was out for about 44 hours over the weekend (!!!) and there was no way we were returning home to a dark, HOT, did I mention hot? home with two little ones.

Friday evening we went down to The Inn at Ragged Gardens where we attended Music On The Lawn. The outdoors area was packed with fold-out chairs and people sipping on cold bevvies, chatting, and moving to the music. This was my first time attending this and we will definitely be back. I wouldn't say that it's THE most family-friendly event but we set up our chairs over in a side area where we weren't too much in the way. It's not that it's anti-kids, but by far the vast majority of the crowd was older. You can read more about it and see the music lineup here. 

Saturday, my mother-in-law and I took the girls to The Children's Playhouse while Ian got some things done around the mountainhouse. We all met up for lunch where Ian told me that he made two appointments for me, and I could take my pick: a 2 o'clock mani/pedi appointment, or a 3 o'clock massage appointment. This was a HUGELY nice surprise, and it took no time for me to choose the massage! I've been pretty stressed recently and this was such a treat. 

That evening we all went out to have some BBQ for dinner at The Pedalin' Pig and Ian and I ended the night by taking the ranger out to a nearby horse farm, solo cups in hand, and we enjoyed a drink together as the sun set. The only sounds we heard were dogs barking in the distance, whipporwills, and the swooshing of the horses' tails. It was fantastic. 

Sunday was our planned departure day, but with the power out back in Charlotte, we were in no rush home. We had a pretty relaxing day and even donned the kilts later that afternoon for a photo opp. I know this seems super random, but our original goal for the weekend was to try to attend the Scottish Highland Games, and we ended up deciding to forego it until the girls are a little older -- but I already had our outfits ready, so we figured may as well snap a photo. I'm wearing my mother-in-law's kilt ... how cool is it?!

Sunday night Ian and I had dinner together at our favorite area restaurant, The Gamekeeper, while my MIL stayed at home with the sleeping girls. It was a perfect ending to a nice family weekend.

REMEMBER!
Don't forget that today is Prime Day for all of you Amazon Primers! I'd love to hear about any deals you score. If you're not a Prime member but you want to take advantage of these sales, click here for a free 30-day Prime trial membership so you can take advantage of the low prices today. I can't wait to see what sort of savings I can rack up!

Five On Friday

It's time for another edition of Five on Friday and I do hope you'll join along!

Remember, all you have to do is post about five things on your mind, add our logo (found at the bottom of this post), and join the party using the linky tools below. Easy, and a great way to find new blogs and be found. :)

O N E
This has been an exciting week for Camille ... her first week at Summer Camp! She goes three days a week for the morning only, and they have been doing all sorts of arts and crafts and even had water play day on Wednesday!

This theme this past week was camping, and yesterday's snack was a s'mores cone ... an ice cream cone stuffed with graham crackers, part of a chocolate bar, and marshmallows. This girl was in HAWG HEAVEN. How can I ever serve her apple slices as a snack again -- ha! She is loving camp so much, and it's given me a lot of time to accomplish a lot around the home and get in some great one-on-one time with Charlotte.

T W O

So, recently I've had my eye on some removable peel and stick wallpaper. YEP, did you know that was a "thing"?! You get the fun of wallpaper without the hassle of putting it up with traditional wallpaper glue. And you can DIY it. And it's cheaper. Win, win, win! The seller I'm looking at on Etsy is this one and she has great reviews. 

I mean ... check out this option! You can even customize the color ... baby blue for a little boy's nursery, or a punchier pop of color for a small powder room maybe?

via

T H R E E
Mark your calendars for Amazon Prime Day next Tuesday the 12th! Four days away! So many items (over 100,000+) are going to be on sale for Prime members. Want a peek at what's in my cart (real life here)? I've got these diapers, and this meal-planning notepad, and this portable DVD player, and a kid's bento box (in Camille's favorite color, purple!). I'll pop in to my cart on Tuesday to see if the prices have dropped for Prime Day.

F O U R
I painted my nails this week (a rarity; but so awesome when it happens). I used my new favorite Essie nail polish color ... the perfect pale pink!

F I V E

Looking for a way to burn some time this weekend? Stick your child in box with crayons. HA! Thanks to our recent huuuuuge Amazon subscribe and save delivery, Camille was able to make some very fun art last night!

Camille's Nike shorts found HERE

TGIF y'all, and hope you will join in on Five on Friday this week! Cheers to the weekend!