Five on Friday

1. Parents' Weekend!!!! Last night started our second EVER parents' weekend.  AJ and I have left her separately several times, but only once (Napa) for a whole weekend together. Last night started night one -- John Mayer concert! I was so worried about it pouring the entire time, but look at that gorgeous sky!

2. Gigi time! Mom and Grandma came up to Atlanta yesterday afternoon and snagged Maddie Jane for a weekend (full of spoiling I'm sure!) 

3. Lunches. I have been trying to change up my lunches AND pack them on Sunday nights to save some time during the week. Before AJ left for his business trip, he helped me assemble them all in THESE boxes I snagged - dishwasher and microwave friendly.

4. Special Time. Since AJ was on a business trip Sunday to Wednesday night and MJ would be going to my Mom's on Thursday, AJ kept Maddie home from school and they had a special day together complete with Burger King breakfast, playing on the playground, movie watching and no less than three servings of ice cream! 

While Daddy was gone MJ and I had special time too! We never eat out during the week, so this little Chick fil a date was pretty stinkin special! 

Little girl is a dipping queen like Mama! 

5. New face routine. Soooo a couple weeks ago, I grabbed the Publix brand of makeup remover wipes (opposed to Clearasil) and it completely broke my face out. I thought it was zits (when it was really just irritation) so I slathered my face in high power zit cream, and it made everything a million times worse. I went into panic mode and was about to order hundreds of dollars worth of Roden and Fields (totally not knocking their products, I'm sure they are great) when my mother-in-law suggested I just go back to the basics. 

So I stated removing my makeup with THIS, washing my face with THIS, and putting on a simple Clinique moisturizer. So cheap, so simple and look at the dramatic change in just 5 days. (That's not blush, my face was that red and splotchy!!) So happy to have calm, smooth skin back and really happy with my new routine!

And lastly... this is me today, HA. At work, we get "stars" for leads that turn into deals. So to promote participation, we were to dress as Hollywood stars. I was drafted at the last minute to be a Spice Girl.. so let's just pretend I look like Ginger Spice :)  

Happy Weekend friends!!! 

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Friday Favorites

Holy cow I have not done a Friday Favorites in MONTHS. Life is a whirlwind when you are traveling like crazy, planning a 2000 mile move across the country, changing jobs and you know all the other every day things of being a wife and mom. So anywho.. I am linking up with Andrea, Erika and Narci and sharing some of my favorite things from the week.

First up and my absolute FAVORITE is that we have a house!! It is so so soooo nice to finally have that done and to be able to start figuring out how to fill it up. It's quite the feat to go from 900 sq feet to 2200 sq ft, but I will get it done slowly but surely. We are just renting for a year before buying, so not really worried about getting it perfect.

Next up is my FAVORITE afternoon activity.. podcasts. My commute most days is over an hour, so I pass the time by listening to podcasts. This week I have been listening to S Town and it is... interesting. 

Soaking up our last few weeks in California has been my FAVORITE. Last Sunday morning we headed down to the beach to walk around and play at the playground. 

This tiny girl will forever and always be my FAVORITE.

Stripes are my FAVORITE thing to wear and consequently I put Maddie in them pretty frequently too. Love, love, love twinning with my girl! And I sure hopes she always looks at me like that. Make my heart melt girlfriend!! 

Side note, because I have to leave the house at 6:30 every morning, I have been trying to not shower in the mornings as often. In this picture, my hair is totally dirty saved the grace of dry shampoo. I got THIS dry shampoo in a birch box and it is my FAVORITE. But man oh man it hurts my wallet...

So Kelsey suggested I try THIS one. I don't love it as much, but for a fourth of the cost.. I'll take it. And bonus.. it smells so good!!

Getting out of my mom uniform last week and hanging out with my girlfriends was my FAVORITE. Obsessed with this cute little outfit.. you can find the links below..

TOP | JEANS | SHOES

Speaking of girls' nights. My nightly ritual after Maddie goes to bed is a glass of red wine, a piece of dark chocolate, and a face mask. I have tried several, and these are my FAVORITE. And conveniently the cheapest ones I have tried too! You can buy them HERE.

I was so reluctant to give up SnapChat for Insta Stories, but it's my FAVORITE. Big life changes over here, ha!! I mean just looook how cute. 

Another phone feature that's my FAVORITE.. the portrait feature on the iPhone 7. My sweet Molly Polly doesn't get enough love on the blog these days. But look at the pup model!! 

Bla as you can see it's "May Grey" over here in Cali, so I am trying my best to have some color. My FAVORITE new product I've been using are these tans towels. They tan really evenly (if you haven't had too many glasses of wine, oops) and give a really natural look (read: NOT orange). You can buy them HERE.

That's all for today! I hope you guys have a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend. Bummed to not be with my mom for the third year in a row, but SO looking forward to some sweet time with the girl that made me Mama. And not to mention, AJ does Mother's Day SO WELL. So dang lucky to be doing this parenting thing with him!!

xoxo, 

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What's Up Wednesday.. On Thursday

 The last Wednesday of every month I link up with Mel at The Larson Lingo, Shay at Mix and Match Family, and Sheaffer at Pinterest Told Me To, however this week it is happening on Thursday. Yesterday there was an awful tragedy in my little home town back in Georgia and I just could not bring myself to write out a cheery blog post. It has rocked so many lives of so many people close to me and I just ache for everyone involved. Tons and tons of prayers going up for our community.. 

1. What we're eating this week...

Sunday: Grilled Shrimp & Rice Pilaf
Monday: Hot Ham/Cheese & Tomato Soup
Tuesday: Gumbo
Wednesday: Chili Mac
Thursday: Potstickers
Friday: Out! 

Last week I posted about Money Saving Meals, and you can check it out HERE.

2. What I'm reminiscing about...
Being pregnant!! Almost daily I see pregnant pictures on my time hop and I just can't believe that time was a whole year ago!! Earlier this month I did a side by side of 37 weeks in and 37 weeks out with our sweet Maddie Jane :) 

3. What I'm loving... 
In the midst of the awful sickness that hit our house, we had a concert we had been planning to go to for months. Our family from Phoenix had coordinated their Universal trip with the concert so they could keep Maddie Jane while we went. She was still feeling so awful on Saturday and we debated forever if we should go.. We finally bit the bullet and decided it would do us some good to have a couple hours break :) 

We LOVE Dave Matthews and have seen him 10ish times? They had a huge board where you could write your "Dave Story" so of course I had to write ours.. (Got back together after a break at a DMB concert, walked down the aisle to Crash, and our first dance was You & Me!) 

LOVED having a date night with that husband of mine and SO thankful for amazing family members that were willing to keep our girl (sickness and all!!). 

4. What we've been up to...
Lots of this..

And tons of this.. 

And more of this..SO HAPPY our girl is finally feeling better!! 

5. What I'm dreading... 
This crazy girl being on the go!! She is already such a fast crawler and I just CANNOT believe she will be a walker soon. 

She pulls up on something every chance she gets, and let me tell ya.. she is fearless! Scares me to death! So not ready for her to grow up this fast!! 

6. What I'm working on...
Trying to get keep this house clean and picked up with this tornado girl on the move! (Side note: Please look at alllll of her toys on the floor, and she is digging through Molly's.. -_-)

New favorite activity - pulling out all the tuperware and banging around! 

7. What I'm excited about...
So many packages lately!!! I never buy make up unless it is Clinique free gift time. (With so many retailers, you can pretty much always find a promotion..) And I was so excited to get my newly purchased eye shadow and the $70 value free gift!

I think Molly girl was equally excited to get her monthly BarkBox. If you have a pup, you should definitely look into this service. They are so stinkin cute and have a theme each month. AND we haven't bought treats or new toys in over a year!

Maddie got this shipment from Auntie Paige! We sure do love having her and her monogram machine in our life :) 

And Auntie Jess sent this!! Jessica has THE BEST taste in clothes and always gets Maddie the cutest stuff! My friends y'all. Out of this world.

8. What I'm watching/reading...
Oh my guilty pleasure is back... don't judge me. I am still totally hooked on Teen Mom. It's a train wreck, and I can't look away.

Bachelor in Paradise is for comedic relief. It's so ridiculous, but I love it. I actually started liking Nick during this season and I am really looking forward to seeing him on The Bachelor!

Let's just say I'm pretty well rounded in the TV watching department. So obsessed with Hard Knocks because #Todd. 

9. What I'm listening to...
Closer - Chainsmokers.. Trying my best to teach Maddie to dance in the car on our commute! She has quite the role model :) 

10. What I'm wearing...
Let's be honest.. I never remember to take pictures of my outfits. But I do take pictures of Maddie Jane every single day, so...

LOVE these little blue jeans from Gap and their lace pocket detail!

This little outfit is from Eleanor Rose. I REALLY want to order some stuff from this line, but trying to restrain until she can wear stuff longer than like a month! 

Gigi got this cute little top (and several others) from Osh Kosh to help us end out these warm summer months. 

It was cooler last weekend (and Maddie was sick) so we rocked this cute sweatshirt from Gap. 

This little chambray shirt is from Carters and the leggings from Nordstrom. 

11. What I'm doing this weekend... 
We are picking up Gigi from the airport TONIGHT! So excited for a weekend with her!!! We have shopping, football watching, hiking, and some yummy eats on the agenda!

12. What I'm looking forward to next month... 
It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!! Thank the Lord, sweet baby Jesus, college football season is finally back!! You can find me on my couch from sun up to sun down every Saturday next month :)

I hope y'all have a great holiday weekend!!
XOXO, 

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