Monday, August 31, 2015

Dining Chair Roundup

So this weekend I scored a dreamy round pine dining table on the cheap. As in <$100 cheap. It's broken in, filled with beautiful wood knots, and I can't wait to add our family memories to its well-loved state. The only prob? I have zero dining chairs. I spent much of yesterday afternoon daydreaming of the possibilities. 


Oh, and if you need a visual, here is the current situation. Yep...a near blank canvas. :)


I have a few favorites in mind, but I'd love to hear you thoughts. What do you think?


Shop the post:

Friday, August 28, 2015

Friday Faves

Good news! We finally have Internet, so I'll be back on the reg next week. WOOHOO! I'm pumped. I've missed y'all! Thanks for your grace as we've transitioned to our new normal in our home. Remember we lived at my mom's for the first almost 4 months of Nancy's life, so settling and finding a groove with just us was crucial. Thanks again, friends!

ONE | FRIDAY!
But this...it speaks straight to my homebody heart. When Hope and I are together, we're the best (worst?) at this. Aaaand currently the only people who have plans this weekend are our husbands (golf, shooting/hunting...not sure which...blah blah BOY STUFF). So the forecast for sister and myself looks a bit like the below. Yessssss.

 
TWO | PIZZA MONDAY
It's no secret that I loooove pizza. Here's the best pizza deal in town: go to Harris Teeter on a Monday, and get a big, hot out of the oven pizza for $7.99. Not just cheese or one topping....ANY of their pizzas. $7.99. Mondays. (Plus trashy reality tv? Even better.) You're welcome. (Just make sure you go to a HT with a Pizza Bar!)
 
Our family favorites are chicken pesto & Greek (without olives...I don't do olives).

THREE | BABY (+ MAMA) BESTIES
LOVE. THESE. GIRLS! That's all. :)
FOUR | STEALS
I knowwww it's August. But everyone is back to school, and it's reaaaallly close to September. I bust out all of my fall decor September 1, soooo....you must know that this large mercury glass pumpkin is $12.99 at Home Goods. Less than half the price of the PB version!
FIVE | GROWN UP GRILLED CHEESE
I found this on Pinterest, and HOLY GOODNESS I must try it. This is right up my alley. As the temps start dropping, I have grilled cheese paired with chili/soup on heavy rotation for dinner. What a delectable way to change up the grilled cheese...
FRIDAY means I'm linking up with...5 on Friday:  DarciAprilChristina, + Natasha | Friday Favorites: A Little Bit of EverythingMomfessionals, + Grace and Love | Oh Hey, Friday: September Farm + The Farmer's Wife

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Nancy | 4 Months


Dear Nancy,

What a month it has been. We moved into our new home, and we love settling in as a little family of 3 (4! Tina!). You have learned, grown, and changed more this month than any of the previous months. You're rolling, "talking," drooling (A LOT), smiling, laughing (only a little bit though!), trying so hard to sit up, and even standing when you lean against something. Daddy and I were just talking yesterday about how you've probably almost doubled in size since you were born. Time is flying, and we are trying to soak in every moment with you, our sweet, precious girl. 

You are joy--the purest little joy! In the morning, you always smile, smile, smile, and smile some more. The biggest smiles! Literally the first time you make eye contact with one of us when you wake up, you give us a smile so big and wide that has me tearing up just thinking about it! Your morning joy makes mommy sing "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in my Heart..." to you, and Daddy winds up changing the words to "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" and making them all about you. Your joy is so very contagious!!! This is the happiest we have both ever been, and so much of that is because of you.

God loves you, and so do I!

Love,
Mommy

4 Month Memories:

Your eyes have gotten even bluer. Lots of people comment on them when we're out and about together. And you've got more hair growing in. You have these random, hilarious long pieces throughout your head that have been there since you were born and more tiny blonde hairs are growing in all over too. 


You are still mommy's little sidekick. You're my little best girl. I love toting you around and just being with you all day everyday. After we moved into our house week, I told Daddy that this is the life I've always wanted and always dreamed of: I'm married to your daddy who I love and adore so darn much, we have a wonderful home, and I'm a mommy. It's safe to say that this is my dream life.

Mommy and Daddy celebrated 3 years of marriage this month. Did you know that on our 2 year anniversary we found out we were having a baby?! I can't describe to you how much I love your Daddy. He is such a strong, hilarious, honorable man and he absolutely pushes me to be my best self. I hope and pray that you'll see that as you grow.

And while we're talking about Daddy, footy season just started. Here you are wearing the onesie I had made to tell Daddy you were in my tummy! You're the cutest little Aston Villa fan. I bet Daddy will take you to a game one day.


Daddy loves spending every second of time he can get with you when he's home from work. Here are some moments with you two twinsies: napping in Mimi's bed while she was away for the weekend, judgmentally FaceTiming with your Nana and Grandad Fanta in England, sneaking a peek at the tv when Daddy surprised us by coming home early on our anniversary, and pushing you on the swing for the first time at Auntie Hope and Uncle Spyspy's house. (Auntie Hope bought that swing for you!!! You look so darn cute in it!)


This is Auntie Hope's favorite: when you wear pjs and socks. She says you're like a little old grandma. And then when you crossed your legs like this it got even cuter.


Another reason Auntie Hope and Uncle SpySpy rock? They saw this play kitchen on the curb in their neighborhood, so they quickly snatched it up, and now it's yours. I know you won't appreciate it for a while, but Mommy scrubbed the heck out of it, and it's waiting in your playroom for you!


Your personality is growing...you make us laugh a lot.


I've been known to push you back down when you're trying to be all big and stuff with this "ab work." You're trying to sit up by yourself. Mommy thinks you're growing too fast!!! ;) You love for us to hold your hands and pull you up to standing when you're doing this "ab work." You smile so big every time!


At 14 weeks, you learned how to roll over, and now you're a rolling over machine! You first rolled over from back to tummy and quickly figured out how to roll from your tummy to back too.


My sweet little sleeper. You now only eat once during the night. You go to bed between 7-8 and wake up for one feeding anywhere between 2am-5am. Then you head right back to sleep again till 7-8am. You are the easiest little babe. Mommy is SPOILED. And you're now officially a tummy sleeper and loving it. When you're falling asleep, you constantly flip your head back and forth left to right and right to left. Mommy does the same thing. :)


Your FAVORITE thing to watch is Doxie and Tina tickle fighting. It's like you're in a trance watching them. You're obsessed. We're obsessed. It's hilarious.


You're loving your little air chair, too! You don't bounce much, you just like to twirl, watch the world outside, and especially watch the ceiling fans. Oh, and you always tuck one little arm inside. Even if we take it out 39501 times.


You and Tina are still the best of friends. I still can't get over how sweet she is to you. You've grabbed her a couple of times already (and were doing the same in our 4 month pictures today), but somehow she stays calm, knows to chill, and just moves away if need be. She knows you're in our family and definitely acts like your protector.


We had some quality time with your GrandMimi at the farm. My heart skipped a beat when I walked into GrandMimi's room and saw that y'all had fallen asleep together. You are so, so blessed to have her in your life. She watched you almost all day Saturday and Sunday the weekend we moved into our house too! Just last week she sent me videos that she took of you on her iPhone. You have the most tech-savvy great grandmother for sure. I cannot even describe what a treasure it is for me to see yall's relationship.


This nap cracked me up and reminded me of you chilling under the blue light when you were a few days old. So content.


Here you are in your nursery!!! (Finally!) I am obsessed with this glider that Mimi gifted us. It is just the best and makes that late night feeding easy peasy.


Your first night in your crib in our house. I thought I would be more sad and emotional not to have you 6" away from me like you were for the first 3.5 months of your life, but it was really okay. The transition to your beautiful nursery made the move to your crib exciting. That meant it was finally time to set up the monitor. Daddy sometimes sneaks in before we go to bed to tell you he loves you and pat you on the back like I caught him doing in the picture below. He's been doing that a lot. Mommy tells him that if he wakes you up, he's putting you back down...but you haven't woken up from him going in your room to give you one last kiss yet. :) (You have the sweetest Daddy.)


This is one of my favorite picture I've taken of you this month. Fresh out of the bath! Oh, how you love bath time. You've really started kicking a lot in the bath too. In just a couple months, we'll start swim lessons! P.S. This is currently Daddy's background on his phone. He loves this picture so much too.


Making memories in our home: 1) NoNapNancy was not ready for bed, so we propped you up and you watched us measure to hang our mantel. 2) You and Daddy playing on the playroom floor.


This. Your new trick is pretending you can stand up by leaning against something. What?! Nancypie. Time is flying. You look so stinking cute each night doing this while I draw your little bath in the infant tub. I could just eat you up!!!

Here is my other favorite picture from your 4 month photos...so serious but seriously beautiful, little girl! Daddy always tells you how beautiful you are. You. are. so! beautiful!

Last, but not least, you're in size 2 diapers now. We are managing to get you in anything from 3 month to 9 month clothing, though most of your 3 month clothing is getting short on your legs. We look forward to getting your 4 month stat updates at the doctor's in a week or so. We are a little behind schedule from our beach trip this summer. :)

Oh, and you're no longer our little lankster. Girl, you have filled out! It still amazes me to know every pound you have gained has been form mommy's milk. God is an amazing designer!

We love you, our Smiley Piely girl!!!

Other 4 Month Memories:
Real Talk: Breastfeeding + Covered Goods

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Hi!!!


I'm not exaaaactly sure how this post is going to look because I'm writing this from my iPhone as opposed to my usual laptop. (We still don't have Internet. Apparently it's complicated with UVerse.) Anyway! Hi! Do you remember me?! Life has been a little hectic but a heck of a lot of fun as we are settling into our new home. Last night I typed this to the background noise of a drill as Mark is tackling hanging the mantel, installing more drawer pulls, and mounting our tv.

We spent most of our weekend surrounded by camp folks which was, of course, amazing. The occasion was Camp Thunderbird's 80th Anniversary. It's always good to be back at camp. It brings back a crazy flood of the best memories as I spent 12 summers of my life (and met the love of my life) there! My mom babysat on Friday and Saturday nights, and as much as we talked about the baby Pie, it was so lovely to reconnect and head out with just the two of us. Speaking of the baby...


Thank you for your patience as we settle. Can't wait to show y'all more of our new digs! Until then I'll keep posting little peeks on Instagram (@cheersyall_elise). I'll be back tomorrow with a 4 month (!!!!) update on Nancy. She has changed the most this past month. 100%. Waaaah! Thanks again for bearing with me! Heart y'all! xxxx 


Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Stripe Out

For the past few years, stripes have been my go-to pattern. They're my favorite. Pair them with any leopard print and/or a pop of color, and you're set. I will confess: coordinating with this little baby girl made my heart erupt with giddy happiness. Cheers to stripes with hot pink POC + a turquoise POC!

P.S. This swing dress is the best. My sister steals it often (which is an awesomeness indicator in my world). It's cotton. It's comfy. And I wore it though my pregnancy (remember seeing it here across the pond?) even though it's non-maternity! Do yourself a favor and get it for fall. 






Shop our looks here:

Mama
Dress | Earrings (similar) | Bangle (similar) | Necklace (purchased by my sister in Greece!) | Shoes | Lipstick

Mini
Dress (also comes in this color!) | Moccs | Bow

Monday, August 17, 2015

Pause.

Instagram

Hi sweet friends!

Please bear with me in this little transition called life without Internet. (Ha!) The whole world is coming to my house tomorrow (locksmith, security, cable guy, the list goes on...), so I'll be back up and running ASAP!

Until then you can keep tabs on house progress on Instagram. Ok...leaving my mama's internet filled home and heading back to the hurricane that exists in almost every room of our casa. Sigh. Moving in + Type A = crazy town. (But at least that means it all gets put away quickly!!) Woohoo nesting! 

Friday, August 14, 2015

Side Slit Legit

Sorry that I can't stop obsessing over side slits (here + here). Today I bring you: a roundup for F21 side slit pieces. Reason #1: F21 means they're all super reasonably priced. Reason #2: They're perfect for transitioning into fall. Reason #3: Come fall, they cover your booty when you want to wear all the leggings.

Have at it! Treat yourself? Because...it's Friday. 


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

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Oh, Hi!

Sweet friends, thanks for all of the anni love yesterday. We didn't do anything special or fancy this year, so it was just our style. :) Mark surprised me and came home from work early. (That was the best!) We had a cookout at my sister's house. Oh! And we put up a swing my sister got for the little Pie. She looked so cute swinging!

(Romper)

Cheers to 3 years (even though Nancy is not amused)!

ANYWAY! Did anyone spot me on Talk of the Trains the other day? Lauren is someone who I wish lived in Charlotte because I look up to her as a mama. She's doing this fun series called "The Talking Mom," and it's still cool to me that I get to be a part of it because I am, in fact, a mama (pinch me!). Pop on over and take a look!

Side note: this if my favorite post Lauren has ever written. It resonated with me. I think of it often. It's just a beautiful story, and I am so glad she wrote it down. (...and I so look forward to figuring out "Nancy's song.") :)

Happy Wednesday, y'all! Thank you for being a part of this little space--this creative outlet--of mine. I just want you to know that I appreciate your love, support, kind words, and readership with all my heart! I hope you have a great day today!!