I’m Still Alive

 

Hi, friends!

Man, LONG time no talk!  This is crazy!  It has seriously been forever since I have posted.  I am so sorry and I miss you guys terribly!  I literally just cannot seem to find the time to sit down and blog anymore.  That whole “full time job” thing will really put a kink in things! 

 

I’ve been spending my days (and some of my nights) here……

Yup…..my classroom and my job as a second grade teacher has completely taken over my life.  I guess I kind of knew that would happen, but man!  I had no idea it would consume every minute of everyday until I go to bed at night.  I spend about 2 hours with my child at night before she goes to bed and that’s about it.

But….I love it.  It’s been an eye opening experience (going back to work after having taken off for 2 years).

I also just got back from an amazing weekend in Palm Coast, Florida.  A bunch of my girlfriends from high school & college are all turning 30 this year (myself included), so we decided to take a big trip with our hubbies to celebrate.  We left the kiddos at home and had an epic weekend!  Here’s a sneak peek from that…..

It was so much fun!  And I finally have a little tan!  Yesssss!

Ok, the Real Housewives of New Jersey Reunion is on.  Until next time……

xoxo

Life As Of Late

So last week I took a couple days off from my cleaning and organizing madness.  I spent those days with my sweet baby girl.  So many days I get so caught up with cleaning, projects, organizing and making sure things are “just so” that I forget to stop and really treasure the time I have with sweet Emily.
So we took a few days last week to just chill and do fun stuff together.  One day we went to our very first “Mommy & Me” class!  It was so cute and I think Em had a lot of fun.

{These are all iPhone photos so sorry if the quality isn’t that great!}
 








We also went on a picnic!  Emily loves spending time with her B.B.F (baby best friend) down the street!  And I gotta say…..I really love spending time with her B.B.F’s mom!  It’s so nice to get together with other moms and have some adult interaction!



Emily didn’t even want to eat!  She just wanted to run and play!  And her B.B.F. quickly joined in!







And we went on lots and lots of walks!


Emily found a leaf!  She wasn’t sure what to think of it.  She saved it for later in her little storage compartment in the front of her car!  So cute.  Sometimes I just wish I could get inside that little brain of hers and see what she’s thinking!


We had such a great few days last week! 


Thanks to my parents watching Emily, I was able to sneak out for a couple hours one night last week.  I went to a cake class called “Corks & Cakes”.  My neighbor is actually the instructor and she was the one who made Emily’s smash cake for her 1st birthday!  When she posted Em’s owl smash cake on her Facebook page, she had a huge response and people wanted that cake to be one of the classes!  So, she made last week’s class the “owl cake” theme!  I just had to do it!  Here’s how mine turned out:


Not too shabby!  And it was yummy too!  Next month we’re making a ruffle cake!  I can’t wait to learn how to do that!

So….that’s what has been going on with us ‘round here!  Well, that and of course I had to squeeze in a few projects and a little organizing.  I’ll share some of that with you later this week!


Thanks for stopping by, friends!  You kinda make my day!

I’m Still Here {And Alive}!

Hi Friends!!

Wow!  First of all, let me apologize for my absence lately.  I can’t believe it has been weeks since I last posted!  Gah!!  Don’t worry, I’m slapping my own hand! 

I have been so busy!!  I can’t wait to tell you about everything I’ve been up to!

I guess the first and most obvious is the new design {if you’re in a reader you should click on over and check it out}!  You know, I have talked and talked and talked about getting someone to do my blog design for me.  Blah, blah, blah.  The problem is, I could never bite the bullet and just do it!  I just couldn’t justify spending the money {especially since my blog doesn’t really generate that much income}.  So I created a “test” blog and got to work figuring out all that HTML jibberish.  And I have to say….I am tickled pink with how it turned out!!

And because I know you guys are just DYING to know (hehe), here’s the run-down on the changes:

I got a brand new background & header!  I bought the background on Etsy for about $5 and I designed the header myself in Photoshop Elements.  I can’t talk about my header without mentioning the ever so talented Aimee @ Sprik Space!  That woman is amazing!  The yellow stripe you see going through the center is from her pattern pieces series.  Thanks, Aimee!!

I also updated the links in my header navbar.  Some of the links are the same, just updated.  But as you can see, I added lots of new links that I felt were important!

I also created fancy pants titles for my sidebar gadgets & widgets!  I feel so official!

Speaking of sidebar, you’ll find some new things there too!

Like this fancy guy:

Yeah!  I figured out how to add one of those neat-o tabbed widgets like all my fancy WordPress friends!  Here, you can find where to connect with me (Facebook, Twitter, Email, & RSS Feed), Subscribe to my posts with a reader, or search my blog!

I have a brand new button to match!  I would love it if you would grab one and add it to your sidebar or blogroll list!

Some other small things I did:

• Took off the Blogger navbar at the top
• Added code to remove that annoying border/shadow thingy around pictures
• Updated the welcome picture
• Updated my sponsors section
• Added code to make the sponsor’s buttons line up all nice & pretty
• Added an Etsy widget so you can easily visit my shop

What I still want to do:

• Get a new watermark for my pictures
• Get a new signature
• Continue to update & change things as I learn new code

If you find that something is just wacky and isn’t working right, please, please, please shoot me an email and let me know!  I tried to go through and test everything to make sure it was all working right, but you know how it’s so easy to miss some of the little stuff!

You’re going to see a lot from me this week!  I have so much to share with you (Emily’s 10 & 11 month posts (yeah, I totally forgot to do the 10 month one when she was actually 10 months.  Don’t judge!), my Fall front porch, Emily’s first birthday sneak peek, some new wreaths, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some other stuff)!

So glad to be back in the swing of things!

I would love to hear your thoughts on the new blog design.  Tell me what ya think!

 

TGIF

Hey guys!

I am taking a little break from crafts & Etsy orders today to have a little “me” time!!  Yeah!!!

Little E & I are headed to the mall to find an outfit (or 2, or 3) for the Florida v. Tennesee game tomorrow!

Hoping to put together a little something like this:

{via}

or maybe one of these…..

{via}

This is pretty cute too!

{via}

Man I love orange & blue!!

What are you up to this weekend?

 

Happy Friday

Hi friends!

Happy Friday! 

I’m not gonna lie…..I’m kind of excited to see this week come to an end.  It has been a crazy week for me!

We have a studio apartment type room above our garage {we call them carriage houses ‘round here}.  We ended up renting it out, which meant I had to get all my crap treasures out of there!  We got back from Chicago on Sunday and the movers came on Monday {yes, there was so much stuff that we had to hire movers}.  I’ve been up there cleaning and getting it ready for our tenant to move in on Saturday. 

Also, Scott’s birthday is coming up on Wednesday and I’ve been working on his gift.  I am soooooo excited about his gift!  I can’t wait to share with you guys!  It’s a really special gift that I hope he loves!

Also, my Crockpot Lemon Herb Chicken recipe is being featured on Madigan Made today!!  Say whaaaa??  I was so excited when I clicked over to Madigan’s blog this morning and saw my recipe!  I absolutely love Madigan and her blog!  If you haven’t checked it out yet, I strongly suggest you head on over and give it a looksie!  You won’t be disappointed.  Promise!

And I have to mention that the past few mornings have been GLORIOUS here in North Florida!  Oh my word!  These cool mornings have me so excited for Fall!  I literally cannot wait!!!!  I just can’t wait for pumpkin patches, soups & stews, Halloween {it’ll be Emily’s first}, Emily’s birthday, Gator Football, and that cool air!  I can’t wait to wear outfits like this:

{via}

And have this on my front porch:

{via}

That’s all I got for today!  Have a great weekend!

 

NKOTBSB {The Aftermath}

So I am back from my whirlwind trip to Orlando, FL to see New Kids On The Block & The Backstreet Boys.

I’ll just start by saying my voice is finally back to normal.  It started coming back around Tuesday and I finally didn’t sound like a man anymore.

It was ah-mazing!  I swear I feel like I’m 12 again and that I shouldn’t be acting this way because I am almost 30.  Almost thirty year olds don’t act this way, right?  Whatever.

I literally almost don’t even have words for this trip.  All I can say is the concert was amazing, the after party was even better, the hotel was so-so, and the company was the best! 

Now……the pictures!

Dinner @ Urban Flats was soooo good.  And CHEAP!  We all ate and drank cocktails for under $20 each!

Seriously??  Ugh!  I don’t even have words.

D-Dub’s after party was amazing.  We were so close!

 

Boyz II Men goin’ on……

So you’re probably wondering why Boyz II Men was there.  They ended up doing a surprise appearance at the concert and they did a few of the classics (End of the Road, I’ll Make Love To You, Motownphilly).  It was such a blast.

But, now I’m back to reality.  My voice is back.  And I’m ready for my next concert!

But until then, I’ll leave you with Jordan’s new video for his new song featuring Donnie Wahlberg!!

 Aaahhhh……*love*Ok, I’m done now.  Have a fabulous day!!!!xoxo,Amy