Why I'm Happy Spring Is Here...

Yes. yes. yes. All in favor of weekends JUST like the one we just had, say "aye!"

What an awesome spring weekend. I'm actually a little very depressed that it's come and gone so quickly (just like the others), but the one thing this weekend did do was remind me how much fun is ahead the next few months. 

I get along real well with spring and summer. Real well. Here's why:

1. Brunch (and dinners) outside on patio's. Specifically ones that involve Nutella pancake balls....also known as the most delicious little guys you will ever eat in your life. I went to brunch at Katalina's with two girlfriends on Saturday and was instantly reminded why this spot is one of my favorites...casual atmosphere, amazing food, and big patio.

 local Columbus gals-you must try them if you haven't yet!

2. Sandal weather, bright nail polish, and zero jackets...no explanation needed here.

 top / pants / sandals (see below pic!)

3. Light, refreshing cocktails on our deck. This weekend I made a new favorite cocktail for a few girlfriends...I mixed up tito's, club soda, and sliced pineapple in a big pitcher and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving with ice cubes and a splash of La Croix...it was so yummy! 

4. Fun shopping finds. I found this adorable anchor tee to wear boating this summer (bring.it.on...we are SO excited for weekends at the cottage this summer!), these sandals, and stocked up on some more of our favorite sheets/pillowcases this weekend. I swear by these sheets (you can find them at Bed Bath and Beyond)...they are even better than the Hotel Collection at Macy's (in my opinion). 

5. Sunday night dinners at my parents with this view! I'm even more excited to walk down to the vineyard (to the right of this picture) this summer and to go fishing...

6. This easy Greek Tortellini Salad recipe that I made for Billy this weekend. It is one of his favorite recipes that I make. I can't say I blame the man, it's pretty delicious.

7. Going to Mara's soccer games! This weekend Mara's team made it to the championship for a tournament here so I went to two of her games and loved being able to watch her. She has come so far the past few years and is really turning into a great little player! :)

getting so big! ah!

8. Pretty proof in our backyard that spring is in fact HERE!!

How did you spend your weekend? Are you happy spring is finally here?!

FIVE ON FRIDAY

{ONE}

It's safe to say everyone is loving this warmer weather, am I right? It's crazy what a little sunshine can do! :) But what makes it even better is using my new monogram seersucker mason jar (you can get one here for only $22-so many designs!). How adorable is this? I take it with me to work in the morning and use it all day long!

 {TWO}

J. Crew Factory and their sales lately...I just can't. Someone should block the website from me. 

Chambray Shirtdress / Shorts / Striped Skirt

(all are on promo right now!) 

{THREE}

One of my girlfriends, Genna, just had her baby boy Cash! We got to meet him this week and see their finished nursery, which is nautical themed.  Oh my goodness...not only is Cash perfect but the nursery couldn't be any cuter. Seriously. We are so happy for you, Genna and Justin! :)

{FOUR}

The iced coffee addict strikes again! Has anyone tried these iced coffee K cups?! They are the only ones that I've found that I LOVE! Donut shop for the win...

{FIVE}

Something that I hope will make you smile before heading into your weekend!

We always take Rocky running when it's nice out (sometimes I run with him and sometimes one of us rides the bike next to him-never very long but enough for him to get some good exercise in), but I've never filmed it before and have always said how I want to because he literally SMILES the entire time. I finally got a decent video of it! He just loves it and is so stinkin cute...our neighbors get a kick out of him running down the street! (and I must say, he's actually pretty fast for a little fluff ball!)

Sigh...he makes me so happy.

Have a wonderful, warm weather weekend! 
Link up with the ladies here!

Gender Reveal Party {Pink or Blue?!}

{dress is from here and only $40! so many cute other options too}

Happy Thursday everyone!

So close to the weekend that I can almost feel it! Dare I say the weather is actually on our side too?! High of 72 today and 72/75 this weekend...hooray! You can guarantee that I will be outside for most of it.

I know that Steph did the recap of her gender reveal party (read here) so I'm going to keep this short and sweet, but I thought it would be fun coming from a different perspective and that I could list some of the sources/inspiration for the party in case any of you will be planning a gender reveal party in the future. You never know! I was lucky enough to be included in planning this party with two of her best friends, Ashley and Brooke, at a local winery.

We wanted the party to have a rustic chic feel, which blended really well with the location, and I think it turned out pretty perfect. Here's the end result with the sources listed at the bottom....

 

For the chalkboards:

+One for the Old Wives Tales

+One for everyone to "Cast Your Vote" on if they thought boy or girl

+One smaller board with baby Howard's hashtag so you could follow along via instagram (this way friends and family could see everyone's pictures they posted from the party!)

For the BABY letters:

+I bought 4 cardboard letters from Hobby Lobby (they were only $2) and painted them all white. Once they were dry, I glued some blue and pink bows (also from Hobby Lobby) in the corners for an easy tabletop decoration!

For the pink and blue suckers:

+Bought them from Big Dot of Happiness! They have anything you could ever want or need for a baby shower or party like this.

+Blue and pink tissue paper was stuffed down in the mason jars to "hold" the suckers up and tied burlap bows on the front.

Bow and Bowtie Cutouts:

These were so easy and turned out really cute! These can also be used as a cute photo op with your friends and family to symbolize their "guess" of the baby. They are also great because they added some height to the table.

+I just googled bow and bowtie images, printed them out, and used pink and blue cardstock to cut them out (about 15 of each). Then, I bought one pack of the long wooden sticks (from Hobby Lobby) to glue on the back of them. To finish them off, we just placed them in mason jars with fun paper!

I wanted to add something that had a more personal touch and came across the idea on Pinterest (what else?) for a memory book, and knew right away it was what I was looking for. 

I bought this baby scrapbook from Hobby Lobby and filled it with blue and pink card stock paper, with a note in a frame next to it for people to leave a special note to the parents and/or baby. I love that they can keep this and put it in her nursery!

Last but definitely not least...the sweets table. Every party has got to have one....every good one that is. :)

We used these tall glass mason jars and filled them with blue and pink candies (from Party City) and put cute mason jar labels around the top with their name choices. Guests could take home some of the candy using plastic scoops and small plastic bags! 

There was also cupcakes, cookies, and some other bowls with candy spread out on the table that Ashley and Brooke did an amazing job on.  

 Mommy and Daddy to be! 

Beau's sister, Julie, with one her triplet girls! (you can find her blog here)

And as most of you know by now...baby Howard is a GIRL!!

(I think I repeated this maybe 11 times that day, but girl was my guess and it felt SO good to be right! Mainly just because everyone honestly thought it was a boy and because I like to hear Steph say I was right over and over again... ;))

To the Mommy to be-I'm so glad I got to be there when you found out you will be bringing beautiful miss Paisley into the world! I wouldn't have had it any other way, and feel so lucky that I was able to meet all of your friends and family that you've known for years. They made me feel like "one" of them, which I'm so thankful for. I absolutely cannot wait to be an aunt, to support Paisley in every way I can, and to continue this journey by your side! Love you!

Houston Round 3 {Part 1}

I'm back, I'm back! Did anyone miss me?

Don't answer that.

Now that my stomach is fully digested from eating my way through the state of Texas and I feel way less sleep deprived, I guess I can recap my trip! 

I'll be honest...I've never had such a love/hate relationship before when going on trips with Steph. Even before on our other trips/vacations, I still somewhat expected that you know, it would end at some point, but this time when I got home it felt different. Different as in since I've been there three times now and created so many new memories with her that it feels more natural to always be around each other and it kind of does have a small feeling of home to me (maybe it was the fact that I drove us around in her car, around her city, or that I had some of my clothes delivered there in "my" room...I can't be too sure about all this...) But we joke that since "we" have a house in Ohio and a house in Texas, that now we need one somewhere in the middle of the U.S that we can go to. ;) We better get to work on that one...

 

This trip was already so special due to the fact that it was Steph's gender reveal party that me and her two best friends hosted, so there was no way in you know what that it wouldn't be amazing already (I will recap all the details of this tomorrow!), but we had so much fun the other days as well. Would you expect any less? I think NOT! AND I can't forget to mention that I got to get in so many kisses and cuddles with my other favorite pooch, miss Oakley (I'm her favorite aunt by far, naturally...)

The first few days that I was there we: got pedicures, ate at Zoe's Kitchen (Holy cow! Why Ohio doesn't have one of these fine establishments is just RUDE), laid out at the pool (do you see it up there? #heaven), had priceless drives around in their golf cart going to garage sales and meeting all her neighbors, and going to one of my now favorite places, Dekker' Mesquite Grill, with their friends Brian, Kristen (blogger Kristen who now doesn't have her blog..wah!) and Chris.

When Steph and I originally talked about what I wanted to do when I was there, one of the things I mentioned was "dinner at a cute place where we could sit outside and hang out by a fire pit with good Texas food"...Dekkers delivered.

I mean, I knew it would be a winner when we spotted this truck in the parking lot....

Everything really is bigger in Texas, isn't it!? This picture doesn't even do the truck justice! The sweet owner of it actually told me to stand up here for the picture (after Steph told him "she's from Ohio!" ha)...I'm not just randomly posing on it, don't worry.

 

{dress from here and on sale!}

 Beau, Chris, and Brian

 Of course we got a picture with the Chef...

 Kristen, Me, Steph

 The soon to be Wylie's! 

This was probably my favorite night on our trip, which you can pretty much see from this last picture. It was just what you think of when you think of good ole Texas fun and I loved every minute of it...from the food, the setting, the weather, and of course I loved getting to hang out with the Kristen and Chris (love love love them) and spending girl time all three of us together! One happy Ohio girl that's for sure...

{new favorite quote right there}

The day after Steph's party, we went to get BBQ for lunch from Goode Co., which is the best of the best in Texas so I've heard! Billy was insanely jealous that he was missing out on this at this point of my trip. He is a HUGE BBQ fan and I couldn't help but text him a bunch of pictures to make him jealous...and yes, of course I splurged and got a huge beef brisket sandwich (there is absolutely no way that Steph would let me go to a BBQ place in Texas and not get any meat, it just wasn't happening...but one time was a-OK by me!)

It was worth every single bite. If you ever visit Texas, please make sure you go to eat at Goode Co. Heck, eat there more than once. Eat there daily. I won't judge you.

And just to prove my point that I literally ate my way through the state...my last night there was spent learning how to eat 2 pounds of crawfish, or mud bugs as they call them. I liked the crawfish (it was actually really spicy!), but the best part? The corn on the cob that came in the bucket with them...oh my lanta, I could've probably ate 12 of them. Oh, and my last lunch before the tears starting streaming down at the airport? The most heavenly Tex Mex you will EVER have from Lupe's...

Next up will be all the little details about planning and prepping for Steph's gender reveal!

Sadness that I'm not there but 1200 some miles away setting in right about....now, but hey I did come home with a bunch of goodies!

 

thank you Steph for both of these amazing necklaces & also notice the adorable keychain (from here) she got me...there's a heart leading from Texas to Ohio! This makes me happy. :)