I'm not dead. Just busy, apparently.

Hello, Monday! Hello, friends!

It's gonna be a great week. Don't ya think?

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I unintentionally took a little blogger break last week. Oops. Life happened. It was a crazy-stupid-BUSY week. (Like, whoa. Somebody pump the brakes, please.)

What keeps a stay-at-home mom busy, you ask?

Lots. Of. Stuff.

Mostly laundry. And cleaning. And bottle-washing. And breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. And vacuuming. And grocery-store-running. And dang-it-we're-almost-outta-diapers-running. And Dora. And playtime. And snuggle time. And snack time. And bath time. And bedtime. (It's clearly a very rough life.)

Last week was super duper busy, since I did all of those things, and much, much more.

• I Painted the kitchen and den ceiling at my grandmother's house. Back-breaking? Exhausting? Insane? Um, yes! But I kind of owe her (big time) though. Remember that time we moved to Knoxville when I was eight months pregnant? Well, my sweet mamaw was my most dedicated worker bee. She painted every closet in my house (she painted her fair share of walls and trim, too). Annnd she scrubbed my kitchen and all three bathrooms with a toothbrush. No, I am not kidding. She actually used a toothbrush. She's quite the thorough cleaning lady. Needless to say, when my mamaw calls and asks for help with a project, I am more than willing.
• In other home improvement news, I finally finished the gallery wall in Elena's room. (More on that later. Promise.)
  

{Sneak peek}

•  Took E-Bear to Market Square for lunch, shopping and ice cream. Oh, she loves ice cream!

Yummm!

This week is already shaping up to be another adventure-filled week for the mini and me. On the to-do list:

• Finalize and mail invitations for the BIG first birthday party.
• Finalize mamaw's big kitchen/den painting project.
• Finish a couple of projects in E's room so I can finally show you how cute it looks these days.

Let the fun begin!

Elena's First Year: Week 48

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday, friends! Lots to love this week!

I am loving that I finally got to see The Hunger Games last night! I read all three books within a week, so (of course) I've been dying to see the movie. The verdict: not as good as the book but definitely entertaining.

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I'm loving that Knoxville will soon have a Charming Charlie store! My friend Brittany introduced me to the fabulous little jewelry/accessory shop when I visited her in Atlanta last year. The best part; they offer trendy items at great prices, so you don't feel guilty about following a fashion fad. Like this cute orange watch. It costs $12.97. And it's orange. Doesn't get much better, y'all.

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I am loving that I recently spent an entire day cleaning/organizing Elena's bedroom. It desperately needed to happen! I packed up a year's worth of clothes (tears!!!) and finally hung the frames for her gallery wall. (Yes, I know. My baby is almost one, and her room still isn't "complete." Whatev. No judging!)

Baby's first year. In a box. Emotional day for this mama-bear!

I am loving the fantastic East Tennessee weather lately! Thank God for warm, sunshiny days!

Little Miss isn't too crazy about the feeling of grass on her skin. But she loves playing outside!

And, of course, I am loving my beautiful girl. I wish I could freeze time right about now. She's at the perfect, sweet, happy baby stage. I love every minute!

My sweetie angel.

Hope you have a fantastic day!

Rainbow Cake Practice Round

Since Elena's first birthday party will feature bright, bold colors, I decided a rainbow cake will be perfect for the occasion. I know y'all have seen the rainbow cake images on Pinterest. Like this one:

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So cool, right?

Well, I can now confirm that this pretty cake is sooo easy to make!

Last week, my mom and I baked a practice cake. It was super simple, and the cake was beautiful (and tasty, too!).

Here's how we did it:

• Using one box of white cake mix (any brand will do), mix batter in large bowl and then divide  batter into six bowls.
  *TIP* to make sure your layers are even, use six bowls that are exactly the same (cereal bowls work great). Then, use a kitchen scale to weigh the cake mix in each bowl.
• Add food coloring to each bowl to create rainbow colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple).

Pretty colors!

• Coat cake pans with Pam or with butter. 
• Spread mix into cake pans. Layers will be very thin!
• Put your cakes in the oven (just follow the temperature directions on your cake box). We cooked two layers at a time, and determined that 10 minutes was the perfect bake time for such thin layers of cake. 
• After your layers are baked, be sure to let them cool.

The layers turned out great! Very fun and bright!

• Make the icing. This is our family recipe (it is delicious!). With so many layers of cake, we had to make 2.5 batches of icing. Yes, sugar overload. Of course, you can use any icing recipe.

Be sure to let your baby/child lick the blender beaters after you make the icing.
They will love you forever.

• Once cake layers are cool, and your icing is made, begin stacking layers, adding icing in between each layer as you go. (It's really too easy. You don't need my silly directions!)

•  Cut  the cake, and taste the rainbow!!!

Easy, easy, easy!!!

Total time spent: about an hour and a half.

A couple learning experiences:

• The cake layers need to be thicker to handle so much icing. Next time, we'll use one and a half or two boxes of cake mix.
• White cake mix tastes like nothing. It's just cake. Next time, we'll probably add almond extract (or some other delicious flavoring) to make the cake a little tastier.

If you're an over-achiever and want to make your cake batter from scratch, here's a recipe to follow. This recipe also offers a coordinating icing recipe.

Enjoy!

Elena's First Year: Week 47

Fantastic Spring Weekend!

Happy Monday, friends!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend.

Aside from my little Saturday morning doctor's office visit, our weekend was pretty dang fantastic.

The weather was aaah-mazing in East Tennessee, so we tried to spend as much time outdoors as possible.

Saturday afternoon we took Little Miss to the park and let her play in the sandbox for the first time. She was skeptical of the sand at first, refusing to touch it with her fingers. But less than half an hour later, she was trying to eat it. That's when we made a speedy exit and headed home to get ready for dinner.

Playing in the sandbox with dad. Super fun!

Sunday, we took Elena to her first UT baseball game. The sun was shining, the air was breezy. It was the perfect day for a baseball game. (Except Tennessee lost. No bueno.)

My girl and me.
Isn't her little baseball hat the cutest?

My sweet little fam.

Elena and her sweet friend, Victoria chowing down on puffs while watching the game.

Of course, we accomplished tons of household chores, too (mowing, laundry, cleaning, etc.). Annnd, the Mr. and me even made time for a movie night after the bambino went to bed one night (rare occasion at our house). We watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" on demand.

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The movie was great. Quite disturbing at times, but excellent story and very suspenseful. Too bad I didn't read the book before I saw it. (The book is almost always better than the movie, right?)

That just about sums up our little weekend of fun. Looking forward to many more sunshiny weekends with my sweet little family. Yay for spring and summer!

The Plague Strikes Again (sort of)

A couple of weeks ago, The Plague wiped out our entire little family. Elena and Jonathan and me were miserable. Remember?

Well, that nasty little germ finally ran its course.

Sort of. 

Jonathan and Elena are better.

Me? Not so much, apparently.

This past week The Plague settled into my lungs in the form of a new kind of plague. An annoying little condition called Pleurisy.

What the H is that, you ask?

According to Mayo Clinic:

Pleurisy occurs when the double membrane (pleura) that lines the inside of your chest cavity and surrounds each of your lungs becomes inflamed. Also called pleuritis, pleurisy typically causes sharp pain, almost always when you are inhaling and exhaling.

Symptoms include:

• Chest pain when you inhale and exhale (between breaths, you feel almost no pain)
• Shortness of breath
• Dry cough
• Fever and chills, depending on the cause
• Loss of appetite, depending on the cause

Image Via Mayo Clinic

Oh yea. Fun times.

Up until Friday it was mostly just an annoying breathing pattern that I couldn't seem to shake. By Friday night, though, I could barely move. My right rib cage felt like it was about to burst out of my body.

After fighting a three-week losing battle with The Plague, I finally gave up and went to the doctor's office Saturday morning.

With antibiotics and steroids, I'm already feeling much, much, much better!

The good news: I'm still down five pounds thanks to The Plague Diet. (Sweet.)

The other good news: I'll soon be able to get my butt back into gear and attend Barre3 class again. (I have missed it so, so much!)

Oh, and don't worry, I didn't let The Plague Part II ruin my weekend. It was action-packed with family fun (more on that later). What can I say? I'm a mom. Moms don't let a little illness knock 'em down. It's how we roll.

First Birthday (Inspiration)

You guyyyyys...

Elena is almost eleven months old.

Eleven is almost twelve.

I can't believe her first birthday is so quickly approaching.

(Where, oh where, did my little baby go?)

Since the BIG O-N-E is right around the corner, I've spent a lot of time thinking about/planning her first birthday celebration.

I mentioned before that it won't be an expensive/over-the-top party. And, it won't. But it will be adorable. And thoughtful. And colorful!

I've decided to go with a multi-color theme for baby girl's big day. Sure, I could do the standard all-pink first birthday for a baby girl. But isn't a rainbow much more festive than pink all by itself? I think so.

Here are some images that inspire me...

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Sooo cute, right?

I'm currently in the process of creating the invitations. They're DIY, and they're fabulous! A post on that coming soon!

Birthday Loot

Did I tell y'all I postponed my birthday?

No? 

Well, I did.

Since The Plague destroyed any chance of a happy birthday for me, I decided to change the date. So, I didn't turn 30 on March 29. No, no, no. I turned 30 on April 6.

What can I say?

I'm a mom.

I'm powerful.

How do I feel about turning 30?

Honestly, I feel like I never shoulda revealed my age on this lil ol' blog! 

When I was 27, 28 and 29, I just flaunted my 20-something-ness like a proud little young-un. Now, I am kind of wishing I could lie about my age. But I can't. 'Cause you know the truth.

Dang it.

Can't change it. Might as well embrace it.

I celebrated 30 by spending an entire day all by myself.

It. Was. Amazing.

I slept later than usual, took my time getting ready and treated myself to a little shopping spree.

I desperately needed new clothes since my mom-bod is in a weird in between phase. Pre-prego clothes either don't fit well or look too "youthful." Post-prego clothes are too big.

Here's what I bought:

First, I racked up at Old Navy...

Burnout Strip Tee

Mixed-Print Jersey-Linen Tank

Embroidered Gauze Top

Women's Perfect Khaki Shorts in Rifle Gray

I also got a super cute pair of cobalt blue linen-blend shorts at Old Navy, but I can't find them on the website, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Annnd, I just wanna say that Old Navy is the perfect shopping destination for early 30-something mother-bears. Their clothes are trendy without being over-the-top. And the fit is ideal. In other words: no hoochie coo short-shorts. Thank God. (Nobody paid me to write that. It's just my opinion. It is also my opinion that nobody ---I mean nobody--- should wear hoochie coo short-shorts. Regardless of age, size, gender, etc.)

Moving on...

I also stopped by American Eagle looking for cropped jeans. HUGE fail on that front, since their "crops" fit me like pants. Unless you're 5'11"their crops are just bad, bad, bad. Thankfully, it wasn't a big fat waste of time, because their sandals were on sale. Buy one get one half off? Yes, please.

LOVE these sandals!

T-strap sandal

Final stop: Target.

Oh, Target. You never disappoint.

These crops by dENZiEN are amazing! The fit is excellent for a post-prego body. The rise is just high enough to conceal the muffin top without being so high that you feel like you're rockin' mom jeans. If you're a mom, you know exactly what I'm talkin' about.

I also picked up a couple of casual v-neck tees and a new pair of yoga capris.

Nice, eh?

After I spent hours shopping all by myself, I sat on the patio at Panera and ate a bagel. All by myself.

Best 30th birthday ever.