Randoms

1.  I had a fabulous birthday. I went over to my mom's for part of the day and we had banana cake to celebrate. 

Then when Nick got home we headed to the mystery restaurant.  :oP  Turns out he made reservations at Tosi's.  We have only been there twice before but we love it! I'm sure we would go more often if it wasn't so far away and it wasn't so pricey.  

Nick got me the dress I am wearing... he wanted me to have something nice to wear to dinner and he knew I wanted a Maxi dress so he got me one for my birthday.  Well... kind of anyways.  He had his mom pick one out but it didn't quite fit, so I returned it and got this one.  So technically I picked it out but it was Nick's idea to get me a dress.  :o)

2.  Today we went to the European Market.  It was the first one of the summer so it was pretty crowded, but it was a lot of fun.  Nick got me these beautiful flowers.  Isn't that peach flower gorgeous!?  It's a peach peony!  I LOVE it!

3.  Hannah can sit on her own (for the most part). She is just always wanting to move so she will scoot her butt out so she can roll. I don't know... I think she might just go straight from rolling to walking.  She is already very stubborn!

4. The weather has been pretty nice here.  We had a chance of thunderstorms the past couple of days but the rain held off.  Below is a picture of my dogs laying in the sun.

Birthdays

Today is my moms birthday!  

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is also my birthday!

Yep, that's right.  Me and my mom have the same birthday.  What a great birthday present for my mom... to have her first child be born on her birthday.  Although, I'm sure thats not what she was thinking after 36 hours of labor.

But now, here I am, 27 (the same age as my mom when she had me) and  I have my own daughter.  It is weird to think that I am that old already.  I am officially in my late 20's.  Ew! And no Hannah was obviously not born on my birthday, but I had always wanted to try to plan to have my kid on my (our) birthday. I gave up rather quickly though because I was too impatient to wait.  But that's okay.  I'm glad that Hannah's birthday is in October.  Everyone else in our family has a birthday between February and May.  So now Hannah gets her very own month!  :o) 

Well, Nick is taking me out to dinner for my birthday.  He made reservations somewhere but he won't tell me where.  It is driving me nuts!  :oP

Happy Birthday Mom!  I love you!

Maxi Dress

I have been wanting to get a maxi dress (or two, or three) to wear during the summer. When we went to the outlet mall, I looked for some but I didn't find any. 

I have seen some at Kohls and Target.

Even Amazon had a few (I have posted a few below). 

$34.50

$39.99

$59.25

$59.00

Does any one have any other suggestions on where I can find affordable maxi dresses?

Mall Outing

While Sara was here we had to hit up the Lighthouse Outlet Mall.  

It was Hannah's first trip so I had to make sure I kept her spending in check!

Okay, yeah who am I kidding!? She was asleep before we even made it into the first store.

But she did perk up when we went into Old Navy!

I could have done so much damage at the mall, but I was disciplined. Nick's wallet thanked me later! :oP

(photos taken by Sara.  Thanks Sara!)

ME!

For those of you who had any doubt.... 

YES! I am VERY weird!

Things I Love

And now for the 20 things that I love!  :o)

1.  That I have a husband who loves me for me! He is my love, my partner, my soul-mate.  

2.  My little butterfly.  Words will never be able to express the love I have for my daughter.  

3.  The fact that our families live so close and that we don't have to plan trips to go visit them.

4.  My friends.  I don't have very many but the few that I do have, I consider family.  

5.  When both of my dachsies curl up on my lap and go to sleep.

6.  When the flowers begin to bloom and the leaves start to grow on the trees. It's new life!

7.  Being able to stay home with my little girl... to watch her achieve all of her milestones.

8.  When I am greeted by a little tiny smile every morning.

9.  Ice cream.  There is nothing better!

10.  Fall: the smell of leaves and the cool crisp air.

11.  When those little arms reach for me because she wants to be picked up.  

12.  The fact that we were able to sell the first house we built only to build a bigger and better house.

13. Curling up on our oh so comfy new couches to watch a movie.

14.  Coca-Cola.  I have to have at least one a day.

15.  My MAC.  I will NEVER go back to working on a PC...EVER!

16.  When the sun is shining but it is also raining. All of the plants glisten!

17.  That I was the 2nd person in my whole extended family to graduate from college.

18.  That I have the BEST photography subject ever... my little girl. She is growing so fast... every photo that I take reveals her ever growing personality.

19.  When my husband offers to give me a massage.

20.  My king bed, even though our dogs manage to hog most of it. But when they don't sleep with us, the bed feels empty.

What are twenty things that YOU love?

Things I Hate

A fellow blogger made a post about the 20 things that she hates... so I thought I would do the same! :o)

Here we go!

1. People who do not know where they are going and insist on slowing down at every road they come upon to see if it is the road they need to turn at.

2. The contestants who find it neccessary to scream the letters to Pat on Wheel of Fortune.

3. When my dog STILL pees on the carpet.

4. People who think that it is okay to make fun of other people behind their back like they're never going to find out you're doing it.

5. People who mow their grass so that the grass clippings spray out into the road, resulting in me having to drive through it and getting it all over my car.

6. The cheap plastic table clothes at those 'trying to be fancy' restaurants... but they're not fancy because those table clothes have holes in them and it just makes the restaurant look like crap!

7. Not having the money to get the business I want to start off the ground.

8. Going to a store only to find tons of things that I want, but no money to get them.

9. Going to the post office because the people who work there have no concept of speed!

10. When the news finds it neccessary to cover a story for MONTHS even though no one really gives a shit.

11. People who just laugh at something that they think sucks or is stupid, instead of maybe giving constructive criticism to help that person.

12. Humidity and my naturally curly hair. NOT a good combination.

13. Those stupid blue tinted headlights.

14. The price of gas.

15. Those infommercials where they scream at you to buy their product.

16. When people taste test something and before the food even lands on their tongue they are raving about how good it is. Can you maybe chew the food first before you comment on it!?

17. Making a doctors appointment for 11:00 and getting there at 11:00 only to sit for another hour + before you are actually seen.

18. When my dogs bark at EVERY SINGLE MOVING OBJECT they see out our the back sliding doors. SHUT UP already!

19. When one light bulb goes out and the rest of the bulbs in your house seem to all go out within a week... so then you have to replace like 20 light bulbs over the course of 7 days. Why can't they all converse with one another and go out on the same day?

20. People who talk about things before they know all of the facts.



What are twenty things that you hate???

Weekend Party

Our weekend party went really well.  We had quite a few people show up so that was great and the weather was perfect!

I didn't take very many pics... but here are some random ones:

Dodger having fun playing in the yard.

The trifle bar.  YUM!

Bean Bag Toss

Engagement Photos--Sara & Erin

My bestest friend, Sara and her fiancé came into town from Columbus this past weekend. It had been a year since I had seen them so I was really glad they could make it up.  

While they were here we did an engagement photo shoot so they could have some nice photos of themselves together.

I'm really happy with how they came out... so Sara, I hope you are too!

Here is a little sneak peak!  :o)

7 Months Old

Today, Hannah is 7 months old... 

7 MONTHS OLD!

I can't believe it!

Holiday Weekend

I hope everyone has a fabulous 3 day weekend!  I know I will!  

My husband actually has Monday off. His job made him take mandatory PTO days for Monday and July 3rd.

We've got the party today. They're calling for a chance of a few thunderstorms but hopefully they go around us.  I still have some stuff to do to get ready but for the most part we are ready to rock!

Our out-of-town guests should be arriving in the next few hours.  :o)  I'm so excited! It has been way too long since we've seen them!

Sunday I will be taking engagement photos of two of those out of town guests: my bestest friend, Sara and her Fiancé, Erin.  It has been a long time since I have done a photo shoot...the last wedding I photographed was, oh, 3 years ago.  But I am excited and I know once I get out there and start shooting, everything will just fall into place!  Maybe I will even post a few on here as a sneak preview!  :oP

Well, I must run! T-minus 7 hours until the party starts!  :o)

Enjoy your extra long weekend!

Bloglift

In case you didn't notice, I gave my blog a significant facelift... aka a bloglift!  :oP

I still need to make a few tweaks and I think I might remake the header but for the most part it is finished.

I'm not sure why I found it necessary to do this... I'm guessing it was to avoid my super long to-do list for this weekend.  But it was fun and I like (for now) how it turned out.  :o)

Enjoy!

This Weekend

This Saturday we are having a party... the first one at our new house.  

The weather looks like its going to be perfect.

We have invited a lot of people so we are ready to have a good time! We've got friends coming in from out of town... friends we haven't seen in about a year.  (Hi Sara, Erin and Kevin!) We've also got family and co-workers coming.  

We've ordered chicken and I'm making three side dishes.  Sara is being nice enough to make some cookies for the party. Plus I am setting up a trifle bar. 

We are also setting up our fire pit, horseshoes and bean bag toss.

Friends, food and fun... it can't get any better then that!  :o)

What is so great about the coffee table?

Is there a sign on the coffee table that says "Go Under Me"?  

Hannah's Attempt #1

Hannah's Attempt #2

Baby Food

squash-- loves it

peas--loves it

green beans--loves it

carrots--loves it

peaches--loves it

bananas--love it

do we see a pattern?

we have yet to try these yet:

sweet potatoes

applesauce

pears

It takes a while to get through all of the foods when you're giving one kind to them three days in a row. But we're getting there. I really think Hannah is going to end up liking everything, but I think we'll try applesauce next!  YUM!

Baby/Pet Gate

I have been looking for a decent baby/pet gate for the opening from our living room into the kitchen.  The space is extra wide which has been causing problems when trying to find a gate that will fit for not a ton of money. Plus we wanted it to have a swing door and we didn't want it to mount to the wall.

Well, I think Babies R Us just started carrying this gate and I think it is perfect for what we need. I have looked at Babies R us before and I don't remember seeing this gate, but the last time I went I saw this one.

It's the Regalo Extra Wide Walk Through Gate.

$69.99

I have a 15% off all gates good through the 28th, so I think we are going to go get it.  :o)

Living Room and Master

Its been a while since I have given an update on our house... so here are some pics of our finished living room (with our new couches) and our pretty much finished master.  I still have to make the headboard in the master and get photos in the frames (90% of those frames do not have the photos that I want in them). But I thought I would post some pics.

Our next adventure is building our deck and finishing our hardscaping and landscaping in the front yard.  Once those are finished I will be sure to post pics.    :o)