Contest!!!

I won't do this often, but I just wanted to let you all know about a contest. Masons (clothing store in Fayetteville) is having a contest where you can win a $500 gift certificate. If you're interested in it, go here. They have really cute clothes, from jeans to shoes to jewelry and more! So check it out!

Thankful

This past weekend was busy but fun. On Friday night, I got to see my friend, Jessica. We went out to dinner and frozen yogurt for dessert. It was fun to catch up with her; wish we lived in the same town! Here's a pic she took with her phone:


On Saturday, I got my hair cut and got a pedicure with my friend, Mandy. Then we ate at Hammontree's for lunch. It was yummy! I got the Scarlet Cheddar. Here's a pic of us (please excuse the lack of makeup on my face):


After that, Dustin and I went to a baby shower thrown for us for my law school friends. My friend, Betsy, put the shower together and I am so thankful for her thoughtfulness and generosity in doing so. I had a great time seeing old friends and catching up with everyone. Here are some pictures from that:






Note, Dustin on his iPhone. Tssk, tssk... but overall, he was a good sport to come to the shower and be the main photographer.

We had one friend, Dannelle, stay with us last night. We went out to eat dinner with her and the Claybrooks; it was fun to have that extra time with people who don't live in the NWA area. It was especially fun to spend time catching up with Dannelle since she lives the farthest away! I was so happy, excited and thankful she took the time and effort to come all the way to Fayetteville just for me. What a terrific friend, huh? I am very blessed.

Exciting Times

I've had quite a bit going on lately. This past weekend, we picked up Graham's crib and put it together. Exciting (pictures below)!

I also finished reading Confessions of a Shopaholic. Then, I took a couple of books back to the library and got a new one: The Girl Who Played With Fire. I liked The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, so I think I'll like this book too. Looking forward to getting into it!

I was pretty worn out from cleaning, ...but not too worn out to shop for baby stuff! So, I went with my (about to have a baby any day now) friend, Mindi, to Rhea Lana's, a consignment sale, in Rogers. I didn't find too much I had to have, especially since I haven't had any showers yet. I probably will go back on Thursday, because everything that has a red dot on it will be 1/2 price that day. Maybe I'll find more stuff I need then! I did happen to pick up some cute Razorback baby bibs (that say "Lil Razorback Fan") and newborn Razorback hats. I figure it'll be cold when Graham comes, so he might as well be representin'!

When I got back, Dustin and I worked on cleaning the upstairs (we'll be having a special guest stay with us this weekend!).

My new Kaplan LSAT class started Sunday, so I'm excited about that. I ran a little long in our second class on Monday night. Overall though, so far, so good! I'm also looking forward to this next weekend for many reasons. I get to see my good friend, Jessica, on Friday night. I'm also having Dannelle, another friend I haven't seen in a long time, stay at my house and I have a law school baby shower on Saturday! It'll be a mini-reunion and I'm excited to see everyone who can make it and catch up with them!

And today, I picked up Graham's carseat! There's not too much to see in Graham's room yet, but here's what we've got so far:

Left to right: Dustin's childhood rocking chair, activity playmat my sis, Lori, gave me, Graham's awesome carseat, jungle swing Lori gave me, and crib!


Left to right: Vibrating chair Lori gave me (with carseat head rest on it), bedding/decorations (we don't have a mattress yet, so we can't put the bedding on), and adorable storage boxes my friend, Sisi, gave me (better pictures of those below)!


I came home today and had two packages waiting for me. My good friend, Sisi, sent me baby presents. I must say, they are AWESOME! This is a green (yellow on the inside) sling... it seems sturdy and like it'll last a long time. Plus it is gorgeous! [Oh, and Sam's foot on the left side of the picture]


These are storage boxes she sent to use in the nursery. They are so cute!!! They look like they are hand painted too (very intricate)! Here's another pic of them:


Aren't they beautiful?! I am so thankful to have such thoughtful, loving people in my life... Graham will be too!

There are some other miscellaneous items/clothing I didn't take pictures of, but you get the idea. It's becoming more real! I'm very much looking forward to meeting my lil' man.

My Busy Weekend

This was one busy weekend for me, or at least it feels like it was.

* Friday was my birthday. I turned 27; crazy! Part of me is in disbelief that so much time has passed in what seems like an instant. I still feel like my college years weren't that long ago. But now my sister, 8 years my junior, is in her second year at the U of A. Wow.
Anyway, I celebrated my birthday with my family last weekend, so my little sister, Christa, took me out for lunch at Einstein Brothers Bagels for lunch; it was good! Then, Dustin took me out on Friday night. We ate pizza at Gusano's and then went to watch a late movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. We even splurged for popcorn and a soda! It was awesome.

* On Saturday, we went out for a belated birthday lunch with Dustin's parents. Then, with the help of a good friend, Josh Portmann, we moved my law firm's office. I didn't finish unpacking everything and organizing the office, but we got everything moved.

* Today, we went to church and ate lunch afterwards. Dustin had to do some work for Foxwood Sports, so I got some much needed grocery shopping done and finished reading the book "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." It is a very intense murder mystery; makes me want to see the movie now, as well as read the rest of the Stieg Larsson series.
Then, we both went to Cross Church's Leadership Summit. We've been attending Cross Church for a while and decided we want to get involved somehow. Dustin is going to volunteer in the media area (surprise, surprise; my technologically savvy husband is doing media!) and I will start by volunteering in the Women's Ministry (mainly in the Service area, reaching out to the community in various ways).
The first service project we'll be doing will be related to foster children, so I'm all about it! I wasn't aware of this, but apparently one of the most prominent material needs of children in the foster care system is suitcases. So many children in the foster care system have to put all their belongings in trash bags in order to move them to the next foster home. Our service project, which will take place in September, will be asking for people to donate new and gently used suitcases for children in the foster care system. So, if you feel led to donate a new or gently used suitcase, let me know and I can certainly be the middle man!
Anyway, now we're home, watching Arthur and I'm doing lots of laundry. What a weekend! And I know I have a long week ahead of me too. Among other things, I've got to get into the doctor for my foot. I stepped on something or have something wrong with it and it's very painful to walk on. I'm typically pretty active (or so I've found out since I've been slowed down some), so I hope this foot thing can be figured out and treated soon. Wish me luck!

Baby Shower (No, Not My Own)!!!

I had the pleasure of helping host a baby shower for my friend, Mindi, who is having a little girl, Emma Grace, soon! She is due early September and we're all very excited for her and her husband, Jonathan, for this little miracle. Mindi has a ton of friends, so I had a LOT of help from them [Shout out to: Nicole, Bryttani, Holly, Erin, Mandy, Shelly, Sidney, Kayla, Kari, Alyssa, Mrs. Brinkley, all family members who helped set up/take down decorations; please forgive me if I forgot someone... I blame it on pregnancy brain!].

The theme of the baby shower was: Ready to POP! The invitation had the theme and so did the decorations! I took lots of pictures and will share some with you all, with the warning that the quality isn't the best in most of them.


The Entrance; the sign was really cute with pink and brown but you can't see all the details of it from this picture.


On the table: lolliPOPs, ringPOPs, About to POP notepads in the shape of a pregnant woman, party poppers, It's a girl! confetti, super cute maternity photos of the mom-to-be and dad-to-be, and super cute advice/well-wishes cards for guests to sign.


The cute advice/well-wish cards and directions for guests.


Super cute (and very tasty) Rick's cake Mrs. Brinkley brought to the shower.


Very yummy buffalo chicken dip and pink rice krispie treats (you know, snap, crackle, POP?).


Almond bark covered POPcorn, fruit, veggies, chips, and POPtarts!


Poppycock, some bacon covered pineapple treats, chicken salad sandwiches, etc.


Cute plates, napkins and forks, thanks to Bryttani J.!


Table decorations, the confetti says It's a Girl! and EMMA (baby's name), lolliPOPs and lolliPOP bouquets (as centerpieces), and the About to Pop! notepads.


People hung their advice cards on the pink and brown polka dot ribbon with clothespins... how cute is that?!


Group pic!

Hostesses and mom-to-be!

All the pregnant girls. I'm the second farthest along in this group, believe it or not (27 weeks today)!

All in all, I think Mindi enjoyed the shower and, thus, it was a success!

Babymoon 2011

Dustin and I went on our Babymoon this past week. We left last Friday and came back yesterday. We stayed in Miami but we drove all over, including down through the Keys. Here are some of the cool things we got to do:

1. Friday - We had a very early flight. When we got to Miami, Dustin checked us into the hotel. He sweet-talked the front desk lady and she decided to give us vouchers to eat free at the breakfast buffet every day we were there. That breakfast buffet was HUGE and would've cost $25 a piece if it wasn't free. Crazy, I know. Not only that, she also gave us special access to the Club Lounge on the top floor of the hotel, where they had free breakfast in the morning and hors d'oeuvres in the evening, as well as free water bottles and sodas all day long... wow! I don't know what Dustin did to get the front desk lady to give all this to us... not sure I want to. ; )
After we got all checked into the hotel, we looked up places to eat and decided on Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach. Here's a picture of us waiting outside:


Friday was our 5th Anniversary, so it was our special, "fancy" dinner. It was an upscale seafood restaurant that came recommended. Dustin had crab and I had shrimp. While I really liked my shrimp, Dustin wasn't a fan of the crab. The service, unfortunately, was pretty horrible.
After dinner, we drove down Ocean Avenue, people watching and looking at the cool cars parked along the street. That was definitely some interesting people watching!
By the time we got back to the hotel, we were both worn out and decided to hit the sack.

2. Saturday - We slept in and it was heavenly! Then we got up and ate our awesome free breakfast buffet! Then, we decided to go down to the Florida Keys. We drove down a scenic route and saw fabulous sights. Here's a picture from our drive:


When we got there, we ate at Tower of Pizza in Key Largo, because we are such pizza connoisseurs, we had to try some on this trip. We weren't impressed with Tower of Pizza, unfortunately. The service, again, was awful. Reviews we read told us to try the garlic rolls, so we got those and then each got a slice of pizza. Long story short, too. much. grease. I did get my pizza craving out of the way though!
After that, we went to find a snorkeling company that would boat us out to good snorkeling spots. With that business done, we went to find a beach. We found one and swam around a little. We experimented with our underwater camera case and here's a product from that:


We stopped off at Mr. C's gourmet ice cream and got some homemade ice cream. At least, I'm assuming it was homemade. Their sign actually read "homade" and we joked around a bit about what that might mean, but in the end, decided to assume the best. It was delicious! We also got a glass bottle of coke, which was quite tasty too!


We got back to the hotel and decided to practice with our underwater camera in the hotel pool. Here's the results of that (i.e., crazy faces):



We also have some pretty amazing video, but I'm afraid that's a little too embarrassing to share. : )

3. Sunday - We got to sleep in again! Sadly, I think this was one of our favorite things about the trip! We ate our amazing free breakfast again (still can't get over that) and were off to Crandon Park in Key Biscayne. This place got great reviews for not being too busy and being family friendly (i.e., no topless females, as might be seen in South Beach/Miami Beach). Because it was a Saturday, though, it seemed pretty busy. It was still nice though. We laid out, got some sun, swam in the ocean, and got a great view of the Miami skyline. Here are a couple of pictures from that:




By the time we left the beach, it was time for dinner and I was sure ready! We decided to go back to Miami Beach and try out Shake Shack for it's burgers and shakes. It was pricey and took a little while to get our food, but once we got it, the food was very good! It also made for good people watching again. Thankfully, we never saw any topless girls (we weren't on the beach though). We did, however, have the pleasure of seeing an older woman with a wet, white tube top on (think see-through). Poor Dustin... I think he's scarred for life over that one.

4. Monday - We got up, ate and headed back to Key Largo. When we got there, we ate at Sharkey's, a restaurant recommended by many locals. It was pretty good and had a cool view. Here's a picture from that:


Then we hung out around Key Largo for a while until our snorkeling trip boat was ready. The snorkeling was one of our favorite parts of the trip. The water was beautiful and there was a lot of colorful, neat fish and coral to see. Dustin took a TON of pictures underwater and I took some of the view from the boat. Here are some pictures from that:




After snorkeling, we ate at Senor Frijoles in Key Largo. We were very pleased with both the food and service! I ate a chimichanga, my fave Mexican dish! Dustin also got dessert flautas for us as a surprise and they were delicious. Yum... not looking forward to my weigh-in this week though. : /

5. Tuesday - We, again, had an early flight, so we got up and headed to the airport. End of a fun and wonderful babymoon. I am very glad we were able to spend that time together before Graham arrives. I must say, however, that it might take us a couple of days to recuperate from all the fun. : )