- Part 97

January 9, 2015

High Five for Friday

Happy Friday, all! This week has sure been an adjustment for us. We had all gotten quite adjusted to sleeping in and taking advantage of Christmas break, but I think we’re finally getting back into the swing of things! I had a check-up this week and the baby looks to be right on track measuring in at just over a pound. We also found out the gender….which I’ll be revealing next week :) For the few of you that know, shhh! Any guesses from the rest of you?

Here’s a look at the rest of my week:

1) Little Suzy Snowflake enjoying some snow. Her coat can be found (on sale) here.

2) Our home always feels so bare once we get all of our Christmas decorations put away. Fresh flowers helped to fill that void and bring a little life back in to the house.

3) This week’s indulgence. These aren’t your ordinary jellybeans. There isn’t one that I turn away from.

4) 22 week baby bump. The second trimester is moving right along! You can find this ‘preggers’ tee here.

5) A little peek at baby Zerby rocking a mighty cute profile :)

How was your week? Have a fantastic weekend and I’ll see ya next week!

January 8, 2015

Personal Style

This look was obviously shot earlier as I wouldn’t dare step out of the house without a puffy coat, hat and mittens in this well-below freezing weather! Goodness it’s cold out there! I picked up this sweatshirt and scarf from Land’s End when I was hitting some Christmas sales. I also posted a sweater I found recently at Abercrombie on Instagram a few weeks ago and mentioned how I had previously felt too old to shop there. Then I find myself buying from Land’s End where I used to think I was too young to purchase from. I think it’s time to let go of some of my misconceptions and shop whatever items feel like me. I suppose that’s likely the definition of personal style, wouldn’t you say? One thing to note, however, is that sizing fluctuates. I find Abercrombie to run a bit small and Land’s End to run slightly large, so keep that in mind when shopping!

Details: Land’s End sweatshirt (size down) / Land’s End scarf / JCrew maternity Pixie pant (non-maternity Pixie pant) / Madewell tote / Seychelles booties / Stella & Dot monogram necklace / Baublebar necklace (similar)

January 7, 2015

Do You Know Your Season?

A new year brings a fresh new start for many people. Many work on resolutions, others set goals they then strive to achieve. I often find myself giving our home a little refreshing early on in the year. With Santa and our families always being overly generous during the holidays, the aftermath can feel a bit overwhelming. We’ve already done a ‘toy cleanse’ with our children, getting rid of broken items or toys with missing parts and donating anything they no longer use. Another benefit of this process is discovering toys they had forgotten about which makes them feel brand new!

Once the toys are tackled, I then turn to our closets. Since we find ourselves often stuck indoors during the winter, it inevitably seems to be a great time to work on de-cluttering. I recently read somewhere (for the life of me I can’t remember where…let’s blame that on the pregnancy) how one woman tied a ribbon in her closet and placed everything to one side of it as she wore it. Time will soon tell what you’re always turning to and what you may not have touched in years. Those are the items you’ll need to consider purging. On this note, I want to touch on the subject of choosing clothing that works for you (or alternatively, what you should be tossing). I did a series titled ‘Making Color Work For You’ a few months into starting this blog. I know there are many of you that weren’t around for it, and others that may need a quick refresher as I always do. When you have a chance, take a few minutes to read through the following:

Making Color Work for You / Making Color Work For You: Part 2 / Making Color Work For You: Part 3 / Making Color Work For You: Part 4

(image source)

The process of color analysis (and determining whether you are a Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter) is the basis behind every clothing purchase I make. Knowing the colors that work the best with your skin tone, eye and hair color as well as finding your perfect shades of makeup, can make a world of difference. Reading through the series, you should be able to get a pretty good feeling of where you fall. Once you do this, a great idea would be to snap a pic of your color wheel and turn to it anytime you’re out shopping. As appealing as black can be, I know it’s a terrible color for me which makes it easy to pass by on the racks. Trust me, shopping (and purging) can be a much simpler process keeping this idea in mind.

Let me know, did you already know your season or were you able to gauge a good guess as to which you are?

January 6, 2015

Raspberry Thumbprints

Not only am I continuing to mourn the disappearance of our Christmas tree and decorations, but I’m also missing the piles of cookies that were abundant over the past few weeks! Let’s face that it’s likely to be cold, maybe even frigid, for the next few months. With the cold comes hot tea and cocoa, and where there’s hot tea and cocoa, cookies should obviously follow! That being said, these raspberry thumbprint cookies are a simple, delicious cookie to accompany the aforementioned beverages. Luckily I managed to freeze a batch of these so I can have them at my disposal for the next few months…ok, maybe weeks ;)

Here’s the recipe via Parent Pretty:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup seedless red raspberry jam
sugar for sprinkling
1 cup powdered sugar
3 to 4 teaspoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl beat butter medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add the the 2/3 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Beat until well combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with electric mixer and then using a wooden spoon stir in any remaining flour. Cover and chill for 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Using your thumb, press an indentation into the center of each ball. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of the jam into each indentation and then sprinkle with sugar. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks to finish cooling.

3. For icing, in a medium bowl combine powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon water and 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract. Add enough of the remaining water to make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle cookies with icing.

January 5, 2015

Sweater Coat

Have you guys been doing any after Christmas shopping? I didn’t do much, but I did grab a few things. This sweater jacket for one, which I’m glad I threw in my cart immediately because it’s already sold out! Don’t worry, I’ve gathered a number of others below that are still in stock (and on sale!) for you to browse. The faux fur happens to be attached on this one, but you could just as easily throw a fur stole over any jacket to create the same look, and a more versatile one at that! Being that this is likely my last pregnancy, I’m not all that eager to purchase much maternity wear this time around, so I’m doing my best to purchase items that I’ll easily wear again next year post-baby. This most certainly falls into that category!

Details: Anthropologie sweater coat (see options below) / Target maternity jeans (similar non-maternity) / Gap maternity shirt (similar non-maternity) / Sperry wedges / JCrew Factory necklace / Stella & Dot monogram necklace

Shop a similar look:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

January 2, 2015

A Look Back on 2014

Before I jump into 2015 next week, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this past year. 2014 was my first full year blogging and I’m enjoying it more and more as time goes on. In addition to our third child, I’m excited to see what all 2015 will bring our way. Thanks for continuing to stop by and I’ll do my best to continue to pass on inspiration in the coming year. Here are a few favorites in fashion, food and family from the past year. I still can’t believe it’s over!

January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!

2014 was full of ups and downs but the years continue to shape who we are. I look forward to jumping into 2015 and all it will bring. Thanks to all of you for joining me for the ride, I appreciate you all! Here’s to a lovely year ahead!

December 31, 2014

Still Shopping?

Happy New Years Eve! I hope you all have more exciting plans than I do. We’ll be having dinner with our family and spending some time downtown for the evening. My goal is to stay awake until the ball drops :)

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to all of these after Christmas sales, but they are crazy. I swear, one of these years I’m going to delay our gift giving until post Dec. 25th! In case you’re home relaxing today, prior to any plans tonight, I’ve gathered a few things I’ve been eyeing. I may have placed an order or two as well, can you blame me?!

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

December 30, 2014

Baked Blueberry French Toast

With two weeks off for Christmas break (for my son), we’re able to enjoy much more relaxing mornings than usual. With some extra time, it’s nice to break out of our normal bagel/oatmeal/cereal routine and step it up a notch. I love breakfast dishes that you are able to prep the night before and pop in the oven the next morning. This baked blueberry french toast was the perfect addition to our Christmas morning brunch. I also served my egg and sausage casserole along with some fresh fruit. It all paired wonderfully and this will be going on my ‘repeat’ list for sure!

Blueberry French Toast Bake via Mix and Match Mama:

Ingredients:

1 loaf of bread (about 4 cups of cubed pieces), torn into bite-size pieces (I used Challah but you could use croissants too)
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups fresh blueberries
Maple syrup to drizzle on top, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Arrange bread in a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan; set aside.

Beat with a whisk your eggs, milk, half and half, vanilla and cinnamon in a mixing bowl; pour over bread. Sprinkle your blueberries down over the top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, remove from oven and bake 45 to 55 minutes. (Check after about 30 minutes and if it’s getting to brown on top, cover with foil and continue cooking.)

Remove from oven let stand 5 minutes before serving. You can drizzle maple syrup down over top if you’d like.

December 29, 2014

Ruffled

I hope you all had a wonderful week celebrating Christmas, ate plenty of goodies and were able to spend much time with family and friends. Outside of one sick child, we had a great time! I know many of you have exciting plans as NYE approaches in a few days. Pregnancy tends to put a damper on that for me, but I’ll be doing my best to keep my eyes open until the ball drops :)

We have had somewhat mild weather going on around us lately and I’ve enjoyed the fact that I don’t need to be bundled quite as much, not that I bank on that lasting too long. I pulled out this lightweight sweater from last year and found it to be very forgiving for a growing belly. I believe ruffles and bows are in my genes, passed down from my mother and grandmother, I’m always drawn to their girly appeal. I paired it with python pumps to add just a bit of an edge. I also added two pieces of jewelry that were gifted to me from my sister and girlfriend for my birthday. I had been eyeing these 360 earrings for a while and I’m thrilled to now have them in my jewelry box! And this necklace that my girlfriend engraved with my initials is my new everyday go-to!