About Me

My photo
The day I said "I do" I married the love of my life and the United States Navy. Since then we have been enjoying the life that the Navy has offered us. This is the story of my days as a wife, stay at home mom of 3 , dog wrangler, and coordinator of our crazy lives!

Friday, March 29, 2013

H54F

I am going to start a new weekly post on Fridays...linking up with Lauren...High 5 For Friday!!


1)) We got about 10 inches of snow in WV, which resulted in playing eating snow and building a snowman! Playing with Uncle Zach is tough work!

2)) Excuse the self portrait and kissy face. I am not, in fact, 16. I was showing Ed my new sweater and, sometimes, when you send your husband a picture from 600 miles away a kissy face is necessary.

3)) My friend, Brenna, has been talking about this book forever and telling Preston, "you, monkey, you...give me back my hat". We were disappointed when she found out it was out of print. Apparently until now. Target saves the day!

4)) Our first time coloring Easter eggs. Yes, he's only wearing a diaper...I didnt want to take any chances!

5)) Cutest. Kid. Ever. Peaking out of his big pink beach towel after bath time!


So...how was your week?!?!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Liebster Blog Award!

I received the Liebster blog award from Colleen at parties and cardis, which was so sweet of her! Thanks, Colleen!


What’s a Liebster Award you ask? 


Liebster is a German word meaning dearest, and the award is given to up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers who deserve some recognition and support to keep on blogging.  It's also a great way to discover new blogs!




Here are the rules:


1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter and link back to their blog.
2. Share 11 things about yourself and answer the questions given to you.
3. Nominate 5 blogs that you enjoy to receive the award who have less than 200 followers, and provide them with questions to answer about themselves.
4. Inform them of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog.



11 Things About Me! 

1. I met my husband online. Eharmony.com to be exact. After our first date I called my best friend and told her that I had met the man I was going to marry.

2. This is the first love of my life. Her name is Bella, but she goes my B, BFran (her middle name is obviously Frances), Brown dog, and Frank. I credit her for teaching me to love something more than I love myself. Also, she's kind of a diva.



3. Zoey (also known as pants, face, and bugs) came along a few years later and taught me patience. She is naughty. Enough said.


4. I could dip pretty much anything in french onion dip, especially pizza.

5. My best friend convinced me to move to Connecticut with her for 6 weeks....I stayed for 4 years. 

6. I love sleep. A lot. Even when I am not sick or pregnant I could happily sleep 10 hours a night. My husband, on the other hand, is use to functioning on 5. 

7. This kid....he's my favorite person in the entire world (even when he's dressed like a 95 year old man on the golf course).


8. I've always wanted to be a runner. I usually get tired/bored/uninterested after the first mile.

9. I have 4 tattoos. I've considered having 2 of them removed but often flirt with the idea of getting another one.

10. I love coffee but I usually only love it with a ton of other things added to it...cream/sugar/flavors/hot chocolate...my husband makes fun of me. 

11. I have been to somewhere around 19 different countries, but I always forget at least one or two when I try to list them! 


My Questions from Colleen!

1. Do you have a day job and what is it? I dont know if I would consider it a day job, but I am an independent stylist with Stella & Dot. It's fun and I love that I can work pretty much when I want to.  

2. What inspired you to start blogging? Being a Navy family, we move around a lot and are often away from our friends and family. I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with people all over the place! 

3. What would be your tip for new bloggers? Ugh, I am definitely not the person to ask for tips! I am still floundering most days. I'd say to be diligent in posting and to not be afraid to ask questions.

4. Lemonade or Sweet Tea? Usually I would say lemonade but these two babies I am growing crave sweet tea All. The. Time.

5. What is your favorite workout?  There for a while I was into Slim in 6 by Beachbody, but lately I have been doing 10 Minute Prenatal Pilates, which I love!

6. What is your dream vacation? My idea of vacation is laying on a beach, reading a book, and generally relaxing. My dream would be to do this on one of those over the water huts in Bora Bora. 

7. Who is your first phone call after a bad day and why? It depends why my day was bad. It's either Ed, my best friend Katie, or my mom. 

8. If you had to choose just one beauty product what would it be? Chapstick. I'd die without Chapstick. 

9. Three adjectives to describe you..go! Sarcastic. Giving. Funny?

10. Lipstick or lip gloss? Lip gloss. 

11. What celebrity would play you in a movie? I'm going to go with Jennifer Lawrence. In my mind it matters very little that we look nothing alike. She's so sweet and normal and funny. I'd want someone normal to play me. 


Questions for my Nominees: 

1. If you won a million dollars, what is the first thing you would buy?
2. What is one of your favorite quotes?  
3. If you could become a character in a TV show or movie, who would it be?
4. What is your biggest pet peeve?

5. If you HAD to change your name, what would you change it to?
6. What is one item that you will splurge on for yourself?
7. Where is the one place you have always wanted to visit? 
8. Would you rather a take a picture or be in a picture?
9. Guiltiest pleasure? 
10. What book are your reading right now?
11. Name one thing that you consider yourself to be really good at.


And My Nominees Are...


Navy Girl @ Marrying The Navy
Chelsea @ The Life We Love

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Our Big News!

Since it has become public knowledge now (or at least as public knowledge as Facebook makes it), I thought I would share on here that we are expecting our 2 AND 3 children in October :-)

This is the announcement that I used to post it to the world. I found a similar variation on pinterest and made it work for us. Then we found out they were twins and had to tweak it again. Regardless, I thought it came out cute. 

Just a couple of days ago Ed surprised me with a minivan. We were actually in the process of buying a new Ford Fusion when we found out about the twins. That being said, there was no way I was going to be able to cram 3 carseats in the back of a Fusion. We started looking at larger SUV's and found that we really couldn't swing getting such bad gas mileage (especially with all of the moving and traveling we do). We settled on a minivan and low and behold my husband sneakily traded in my Escape and bought me this:


I love it and it was very nice to drive it north on our partial move (more on that later). I just never imagined myself being a minivan kind of mom, so I am having some adjustment issues. It seems unnecessary with only one little one to tote around and I feel even weirder when I am the only one in it.   I just keep reminding myself to enjoy the solitude because soon it is going to be packed to the brim with babies and dogs!



Saturday, March 9, 2013

Farewell Memphis

My girlfriend Jane and I are hosting a
Farewell Memphis Girls Night Out Trunk Show

Essentially, it will be my last Stella & Dot Trunk Show in the Memphis area for the foreseeable future, as Preston and I are leaving in t-minus 10 days!

If you are in the Memphis area I'd love for you to stop by and say hi!!


If you can't stop by but are still interested in shopping check out this link:
http://www.stelladot.com/ts/qs3o5

And if you are interested in hosting your own show and earning oodles of free jewelry just let me know!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Key West Grilled Chicken

I thought I'd mix things up a little bit on this beautiful Friday and share a recipe that I tried for the first time last night

Key West Grilled Chicken

This recipe was so easy and I loved that I had everything on hand to make it. Lets be honest...I like to cook...I do not like to buy a bunch of random ingredients that I will rarely use. Regardless, I found this on pinterest and decided to give it a shot! I am so glad I did because it was DELICIOUS!


Ingredients:
 - 3 tablespoons soy sauce
 - 2 tablespoons honey
 - 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
 - Juice of 1 lime
 - 1 teaspoon minced garlic (I may have cheated and added a bit more garlic)
 - 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (which, seriously, why couldnt they say 2 chicken breasts? I used 4 small chicken breasts..how's that for stickin it to the man?)


In a small bowl combine the soy sauce, honey, vegetable oil, lime, and garlic. Mix well so that the honey gets blended in with the rest of it. If you want to just have chicken breasts you can stick the entire thing into the mixture. I opted to skewer mine, so I chunked up the chicken and put it in the mixture. Let marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

If you're like me and you want festive meat on a stick, when the chicken is done marinating, put it onto the skewers. I used metal skewers, but if you use wooden ones make sure to soak them in water first. No one wants their dinner to catch on fire.

Gril on medium high heat for about 6-8 minutes making sure to rotate it.

I served ours with rice and asparagus. To make it a little more zesty I added lime juice to the cooked rice as well.


If you'd like to take a look at the actual recipie you can find it here. This website has some really cool ideas for food budgeting. I am especially interested in trying out their "$50 Weekly Menu" ideas.

Please pardon my the wonkiness of my picture. I am new to photographing my food. 


I love meals that take very little time and effort! What's your go-to after a busy day?!?