2018 Review

Books I read... 

I think I read more this year than I ever have!  I am always either reading on my kindle/phone or have an audio book going. (And sometimes both!) I have it on my Bucket List to read 52 books in a year.. after reading 26 this year, that seems crazy hard! Maybe when I don't have kids in the house.. I read some of the BEST books this year and I starred my favorites. Seriously though they were ALL good (With the exception of The Nightingale.. I hated that book. Even though everrryyyone else in my book club loved it). 

1. Crazy Rich Asians**
2. China Rich Girlfriend**
3. Rich People Problems**
4. When Life Gives You Lululemons
5. All We Ever Wanted
6. Girl Wash Your Face
7. The Wife Between Us**
8. High Tide Club
9. Little Fires Everywhere
10. Single State of Mind
11. Of Mess and Moxie
12. If You Only Knew
13. My One and Only
14. The Nighingale
15. My Oxford Year**
16. Swear on This Life** (I think this was THE best one.) 
17. The Hate U Give**
18. All Your Perfects
19. Match Making for Beginners
20. Big Sexy Love
21. The Nest
22. Educated: A Memoir
23. Whiskey in a Teacup
24. Primates of Park Avenue
25. On Second Thought
26. The Woman in the Window**

Updates to the Bucket List...

• Surf in Hawaii.. well I kinda did, more like paddle boarding, but I'm going to take it
• Go to a luau in Hawaii.. same trip! And best trip with some of my favorites! 
• Create a space only for me. My office! Which I need to blog about.. 
• Go to a BCS National Championship Game. I never blogged about it. I should.. I am not lying when I say after my wedding day and the day I gave birth to Maddie Jane, it seriously was the best day of my life. AND WE DIDN'T EVEN WIN. I can't imagine winning. Okay, okay.. I'm going to write a blog about it.
• Go to the European Christmas Markets.. another thing, another blog I need to do. See a theme here? 

Most Read Blog Posts

1. 29: Infertility & Loss
2. Bev's Bach
3. AJ's Doctoral Hooding
4. New Kitchen in the NC House
5. Hawaii part 1, 2, and 3

Top 9 on Instagram

1. AJ's Doctoral Hooding
2. My 29th birthday: I had a D&C for the baby we lost
3. Maddie Jane's first day of school in North Carolina post
4. Maddie Jane on Halloween
5. Just a random picture of my girl in the park! 
6. Our 5th anniversary in Chicago 
7. Maddie Jane's 3rd birthday post
8. Tailgating for a Georgia Tech game
9. A family pic from Hawaii 

2018 was ... a lot. We struggled..We were blindsided by secondary infertility then lost a child. We were stressed.. We bought two houses in less than twelve months, moved to a new state, and took on a major renovation. We traveled!! To Chicago, LA, Hawaii, and Europe. We were blessed.. with so much more time with friends and family being back on the east coast. We were lucky.. even with the bad, there was SO much good. I am thankful for 2018 and the things it taught me, the changes we made, and the amazing memories made.. So excited to see what 2019 has in store! 

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What's Up Wednesday

 Like every month, I'm joining Mel, Shay, and Sheaffer for their What's Up Wednesday link-up!

1. What we're eating this week...
Well this week I am in Nashville for work, so I am eating alllll the fancy things. Last night we went to Husk and it was amazing! And how gorgeous is this restaurant!? 



I had Ol' Fuskie Crab Rice.. think perfectly cooked/seasoned rice with some crunchy edges, freshly steamed crab, onions, garlic. YUM. And that pretty drink over there is called The Kramer.

My coworker Kaylie got the pulled pork sliders with pork skins and pickeled red onions. She had me drooling over them too! 

Tonight we are going to Pharmacy Burger which I have heard nothing but amazing things about. 

  2. What I'm reminiscing about...
I love when old blog posts pop up in my TimeHop. Today one year ago, I was writing about my baby girl being 9 months. How is time flying by so quickly!? 

3. What I'm Loving...
While I've been in Nashville, AJ is holding down the fort at home just fine. Love that man of mine and how great of a Daddy he is .. AND I love my daily morning pictures! You see those hair-dos!? #daddyoftheyear

4. What we've been up to...

SO much. Like TOO much. My head is kinda spinnin at this point, and I am so ready for a lazy weekend!! 

I talked about our parents' only weekend back HERE. 

 

I talked about our couple days at the lake HERE.


5. What I'm dreading... 
That drive back to Atlanta.. it's so curvy and always packed with 18 wheelers and it is supposed to be super rainy on Friday! On the drive up here, I took a tiny detour to have lunch at Rain in Chattanooga .. it's the sushi restaurant Maci from Teen Mom always goes to. Just letting my freak flag fly high today! hahah 

6. What I'm working on...
Even though I am missing my girl and hubby like crrazzyy this week, I am working on enjoying Nashville! Last night we headed out to Acme after dinner and it was gorgeous! 

The weather was perfect, and downtown was pretty much a ghost town. 

It was so nice to have that rooftop up there practically to ourselves! 

7. What I'm excited about...
Getting back home and having a lazy weekend!! While I am missing my girl it totally made my week to open up my notebook and find Maddie doodles in there :) 

8. What I'm watching/reading...
For our book club, I read The Nightingale. It has out of this world reviews and most people say that it is the best book they have read all year.. I just couldn't get on board. I struggggled through it. Maybe I just don't have an appreciation for things set so far in the past? Who knows. But check it out for yourself HERE.

Now I am reading a much easier book, If You Only Knew.. Great, light chick lit! I'm about half way through, but it's a page turner for sure. I think Kristan Higgins is going to be an author I come back to time and time again.You can snag it HERE.

9. What I'm listening to...
Podcasts per usual! One of my favorites was Oprah's Super Soul conversations with Present Over Perfect author, Shauna Neiquist. She talked about the strive for perfection and how it can ruin your life. It spoke to me on so many levels and really made me think. You can (and totally should) listen to it HERE.

10. What I'm wearing...
I did an entire work wear post back HERE, so I don't have many pics. But the ones I have, I reallyyyy like. 


I got so many compliments on this outfit!! The shirt is old from Target and those are my go to Vince Camuto dress pants..  I was wearing THESE shoes so often, that I bought them in black too! And y'all they are 50% off! I almost want to buy one more pair for when I inevitably wear these out!! They are that good.


I threw this cutie little outfit together for date night. I think the shirt, shorts and necklace are all from Forever 21??? HA. I've never worn this combo together, but I'm totally digging it!! Similar shoes can be found HERE.

11. What I'm doing this weekend...

A lot of relaxing combined with the best weekend of the ENTIRE YEAR... college football starts!!!! I cannot wait to cheer on the dawgs on Saturday from my cozy couch! 

12. What I'm looking forward to next month... 

FOOTBALL. Holy cow y'all I live for the fall months and being glued to espn every Saturday. On top of all the goodness, we have another parents' only weekend (complete with a double date night and 2Cellos concert!!), hosting a baby shower at our house, and kicking off the wedding shower season for my bestie! It's going to be another packed one and I'm so excited about it :) 

XOXO,

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Friday Favorites

THIS new book from Honey is our favorite! And this picture totally made Daddy's day! 

Little girl, big house. Living at the end of a cul-de-sac is our favorite. It's so nice to let Maddie Jane run around and ride in her car around our house.

Alright.. I don't know if this is my favorite yet or not.. I over plucked my eyebrows back in high school and now they are pretty much nonexistent. I bought an eye brow pencil for the first time EVER and I've been trying it out. What do you think with left vs right??

AJ's new workout equipment is his favorite! We have it down in the basement/playroom and he has to take a ceiling out to do pull ups, haha! 

Mid-week lunch dates are a favorite!!! We so so enjoyed spending a quick 30 minute lunch together and have decided to try to do it every Wednesday! 

Going and getting the mail every afternoon is Maddie Jane's favorite. She giggles all the way down the driveway and all the way back. Heart melter, that girl! 

We put a bunch of citronella tiki torches in the backyard and sitting out there (opposed to the deck) is my absolute favorite. It makes me so stinkin happy to just look up at those pretty flowers and twinkle lights (and not get taken over by mosquitoes, ha!)

And last night we started season 2 of one of our favorite Netflix shows - Last Chance U. So far, so good!

AJ's best friend from college, Zac, is coming over tonight for dinner, low key Saturday planned, and church + brunch on Sunday, then AJ goes on another work trip, boo! Soaking up every bit of that guy of ours this weekend. Y'all have a good one!! 

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What's Up Wednesday

 Like every month, I'm joining Mel, Shay, and Sheaffer for their What's Up Wednesday link-up!

1. What we're eating this week...
On Monday AJ got home from a loooong work trip and surprised me with a REALLY yummy dinner! Homemade gnocchi with snap peas, goat cheese, bacon and mint. The combination was out of this world! 

On Tuesdays and Fridays AJ has conference calls that go till pretty late, so we try to keep it easy. So last night we had potstickers and edamame that we got at Buford Highway last week.

Wednesday: We have a dinner party with Kel and Michael! We are having pork loin, sweet potatoes, and grilled corn.

Thursday: Lemon ricotta ravioli from Trader Joe's with mushrooms

Friday: Grilled prawns and sweet potatoes (When you buy a bag, you gotta use them up!)

Maddie Jane's dinners are always hit or miss. Sometimes I have her a well balanced meal with a protein, fruit, and veggie and then sometimes she ends up with popsicles and yogurt covered pretzels for dinner. Sometimes she sits down and eats everything like a perfect angel, and sometimes I am throwing food at her in between jumps into the baby pool. Last night she had ice cream before dinner and Chef Boyardee. Just keepin it real... 

2. What I'm reminiscing about...
Tiny baby MJ! And football season!! 38 days till kickoff! But who's counting!? 
(I might add we have been practicing on our GOOOO DAWGS!)

3. What I'm Loving...

Yesterday was our sweet pup's birthday!! Molly girl turned 6! I can't believe our first baby is that old! So of course we had to celebrate with ice cream (pup friendly kind for Molly)!

And after ice cream AND spaghetti, it was off to bath for this girl! She is so giggly - I could just eat her up!! 

4. What we've been up to...
We had such a fun July!! And I managed to get so much of it on the blog!! You can check out our 4th of July HERE. 

And we finally have our house completely moved into! You can check out the home tour HERE.

And a fun weekend for Peyton's birthday HERE.

5. What I'm dreading... 

Nothing other than another month of this hot weather! I forgot how HOT Georgia gets!! WOOF.

6. What I'm working on...

I walk the line of documenting our life and keeping some stuff personal. But I do want to remember this time where AJ and I really worked hard on our marriage. After reading The 5 Love Languages (which you can find HERE), we became really committed to speaking each other's love language. Our marriage wasn't a mess by any means, but we have seen SUCH a difference. Our home is so much happier because we are truly being intentional with each other. I would really encourage any couple to read this book. It is life changing. And maybe you will get breakfast in bed like I did this morning :) 

7. What I'm excited about...

Just life.. Life is really good right now. You know it ebbs and flows.. I have had some REALLY low times over the past few years. I can't remember being this happy in a really long time. To be completely transparent, I make a lot less money now than I did in California. But the decrease in money has been completely overshadowed with the pure joy we have right. Being home feels so good. Being a mom feels so good. Being a better wife feels so good. And I'm proud. I'm just really stinkin proud.

8. What I'm watching/reading...
It's been a really long time since I have read a book like this.. Y'all it was going along like your regular ole chick lit and then BOOM. It got real. The last half of this book ripped my heart out. Stomped on it. Made me literally CRY. Goodness this book was intense, and draining and really made me stop and think. Am I intriguing you to read it yet?? HAHA You can find it HERE.

And against my better judgement, I downloaded book two. You can find it HERE.

9. What I'm listening to...
I am addicted to podcasts. I listen at work, in the car, before bed. I just love being able to listen to something so intriguing while getting other things done. 

Then this brand new podcast, by one of my favorite people ever - Jen Hatmaker. Jen is just so REAL. Her new podcast is For The Love and has been so inspiring! 

And on Tuesdays, Kaitlyn Bristowe releases a fun, girly podcast - Off The Vine! 

10. What I'm wearing...
I remembered to take pictures this month!! Woo. I will try to give links under each pic - some things are super old and some brand new. And no, I'm not cool enough to have an RStyle account... Just doing it out of the goodness of my heart :) ha! 

Shoes | Pants | Similar Shirt

Top | Jeans | Shoes

Pants | Tank | Shoes

Shirt | Pants | Shoes

Shirt | Jeans

11. What I'm doing this weekend...

Maddie Jane has a play date.. Molly has a play date.. Grilling out with Bev and Ben. And a lot of cuddles on the deck with popsicles :) 

12. What I'm looking forward to next month... 

Mom is taking Maddie Jane for a weekend and we have a concert and date night (!!).. Pryor family vacation at the lake (and the eclipse!!), a baby shower, a wedding shower.. August is going to be fun! 

XOXO,

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