Ten on Tuesday

10 Things That Make Me Happy

Grace and I have started this new Tuesday blog series- Ten on Tuesday! Every Tuesday it'll be a new list of ten things going on in our lives. Check out her list here!

I am a Bravo TV addict. At any given moment throughout the day I know I can turn it to Bravo and I'll be interested in whatever is on. I just love it. In July I stumbled upon "10 Things that Make Me Happy" with Kyle Richards and Jonathan Adler. It was just a half hour show about 10 things, big and small, that make them happy. What a fabulous idea! So I borrowed it for my Tuesday post. :) Here we go!

10. Metallic Spray Paint: Yes. Random. But this stuff is amazing! I've used it on furniture hardware, frames, and a vase. I'm excited to try it on my $8 junk store lamp, faux pumpkins for fall decor, and more. I'm addicted. I need to SPRAY PAINT! 


9. Bargain Hunt: More commonly referred to as the "broken box store". And that is exactly what it is. All the items are either closeout or have damaged packaging. I have found some great gems and I've never spent more that $60 on any of them. My favorite finds are my two Trina Turk pillows, Kimchi Blue suede pumps, Sam Edelman boots, my reading corner chair (that's right, they have furniture!), and a Dwell Studio duvet cover. Amazing. It really makes me so happy.


8. Jonathan Adler: I had just recently discovered Jonathan Adler through my fabulous friend with fabulous interiors, Grace. After the "10 Things That Make Me Happy" show I was official obsessed! He's is fantastic! As a person, as a designer, as a ping pong player. This inside of his home is awesome! So much color and amazing randomness. Makes me happy!

7. New Girl: OB-sessed. I love love love this show! Zooey Deschanel and crew make me laugh until I cry. When I'm feel a little blue or run down I know I can always dig into the DVR and play my New Girl episodes and immediately feel better. Laughing really is the best medicine. And it makes me so happy! 

6. Adam Lambert: Okay. This one indirectly makes me happy. I like Adam Lambert as much as the next pop music fan, but my Aunt LOVES him! And her fierce obsession makes me so happy! She is a crazed "Glambert" and proud. She saw him in concert on back-to-back nights in July, travelling 8 hours in between, and rocked out until the wee hours of the morning. She is TOTALLY fabulous! And I love hearing her crazy stories and helping her pick her rockin' outfits. Now if I can just get her to wear her fake lashes we'd be in business. :) Aunt B and her "fall into the glitter" attitude makes me so happy!

5. My Wall: My current most favorite wall in my house is in my living room. Painted by my best dude friend and Grace's hubs, Jaron, the lovely color Sassy Peach by Valspar. (I will try to refrain from using the name of the color when tell my husband about it.) It is beautiful! And with my new owl vase and other accessorizing, it's my favorite wall in my house right now.  Every time I walk up my stairs it makes my happy! I love it! ( I will post pictures in a later blog. It's pretty awesome!)

4. Put A Bird On It: Speaking of my owl vase, this video brightens my day. And has inspired my goal to have at least one bird in every room in my house. Watch and love.

3. Boots: I am addicted to boots. I'm serious. I love boots, boot weather, and boot shopping! From time to time I can be found wandering around my house in pajamas and a pair of boots, trying to will fall to come my way. I can't wait to wear all my boots, and until it's cool enough to wear them, I will shop for them! Boots make me happy.

2. My Countdown: Folks, we are closing in on September. And you know what that means?? My husband is coming home!!! Yes! Yes! Jump in the air and high five, yes! I always wait until I have an un-depressing number of days left to commit my countdown to writing. And currently we are under 40 days until HOMECOMING! Hello!! This makes me SO STINKIN HAPPY! (And also makes me use a lot of exclamation points!!!!! Duh.)

Finally, the Number 1 thing that makes me happy:

1. This face: 

I mean, how could you not be happy looking at this grin! The little man who's helped me through this deployment. He makes me the happiest momma in the world. Love. Happy.

Join in the fun! What makes you happy today?

A Pinterest Kind of Day

Today was a beautiful day in Clarksville. 80 degrees, breezy, and glorious! I love days like today. It was the perfect day to put Pinterest to good use. I have almost 200 pins on my "For Elijah" board. Some of them are ideas for his room, clothes, or keepsakes, but I have a few whoppers that are full of sensory ideas. I decided to toss the To Do list for the day and spend the day entertaining (and at times confusing) my son! I used this blog post: 56 Sensory Play Ideas for Babies from Growing a Jeweled Rose blog. There are so many good ideas in this blog and I was so excited to try a few!  

We started the day off at the park. We found an amazing park pretty close to our house that has lots of grass, a tiny river, and a playground. There were lots of other families spending the day there hiking, fishing, and picnicking. Eli loved the swing! And he loved watching the big kids swing. The cool breeze and the motion of the swing made him giggle and it melted me heart. Then we took a little rest and I let Eli investigate the grass. We don't really have grass at our house so this is the first time he's really been able to roll around without me worrying about rocks, mud, or dog poop. Yuck. He was very interested. He would run his hand back and forth and then grab a chunk and let it blow away. This lasted about 3 minutes and then he was more interested in eating the grass so it was time to move on. I decided to try a hiking trail. Now, I'm more of an "indoorsy" type of girl due to my allergies, the fact that I don't really like to get dirty, and my hatred of anything in the insect family.  So this was going to be a challenge. And it was a challenge I decided not to accept because I'm a chicken. One Charlotte's Web-esque spider web and it was back to the car for us. We will save this adventure for Daddy. 

Our next stop was the Dollar Tree.  I wanted to make sensory bags and bottles so I needed lots of supplies on the cheap. I ended up with a few bags of small rubber toys (sea creatures, turtles, and dinosaurs), a few bottles of colored hair gel and body wash, some glow sticks, sponges, puff balls, beads, noodles, and a Reese's Peanut butter Cup (for me, obviously). We headed home to continue our sensory experience.

I had saved some small water bottles and I filled one halfway with the beads and puff balls and then filled it with water. This idea worked like a charm! Eli was so interested! He kept shaking the bottle and then holding it really close to his face just staring at all the floating colors. He kept trying to hold the bottle with one hand and swat it with the other but his hands are still a little too small and he kept dropping it. So I dangled the bottle on a string from his jumper and let him swat at it for a while. I kept a close eye on him because I need to get some tape to secure the lid before I let him really go at it. But this idea was a winner! 

Next I made a sensory bag. I only had big baggies, but I think it still worked okay. I'm going to tape them to the side of the bath tub so he can play with them during bath time. For this I used a entire blue hair gel, a bag of rubber turtles, some sea creatures, and a handful of beads. Eli squished and squeezed the bag with his hands and feet. I think he loved the gel. I didn't let him play with this one too long because I need to reinforce the sides with tape. But I think it will really work in the tub! 

Next, we did sponges in the tub. This one was so simple and so fun! He loved squishing the sponges and flinging them around getting me and most of the bathroom a little wet. But it was awesome.

And I think he enjoyed his bath a little more too! :) 

Finally, I let Eli play with spaghetti! And let me tell you, I thought this would be the biggest hit of all. Well as you can see, he was not impressed with the spaghetti. I think this one just confused him and he wasn't sure if her was supposed to eat it (which he could have!) or play with it. But he seemed a little freaked out. Maya was thrilled with this sensory experiment. 

Now my angel is fast asleep. It was a wonderful weekend. So excited to watch my boy grow! 

Hunting Season

Yes, I hunt. I scope out a location, decide on my desired prey, and do my research. And while there are several hunting seasons, my favorite is approaching. No- I'm not talking about sitting in some tree covered in camo paint and being totally silent. Let's be honest, I would be terrible at that kind of hunting. I'm talking about the hunt that is shopping. I love to hunt for a good deal, the perfect pair of boots, or the perfect piece to finish decorating a room. To me, half the fun is finding exactly what I'm looking for. I've been doing a good bit of hunting lately...

Here are the things I'm excited for this Fall.

The perfect pair of riding boots. 

 The perfect little lion costume for Eli's first Halloween.

These metallic pumpkins. 

Leather jacket

Pumpkin. Spice. Latte.

When do you start itching for fall? What season is your favorite hunting season? Happy August!! 

"Ahn Wee"

Well friends, it's been a while. Blog fail. In my defense, I've been suffering from a severe case on ennui. (A French word pronounced "ahn-wee" that I picked up from Gilmore Girls back in college. No shame.) Ennui is a feeling of melancholy brought on by boredom or idleness. I wouldn't say my ennui was brought on by boredom or idleness. I have a 7 month old which allows little time for either of those things. However, I did allow myself to get a little overwhelmed by mommyhood and forgot to make time for me. Luckily a superhero decided to fly my way and pull me out of my melancholy....

My DAD!! 

Nothing could have pulled my out of my state of ennui faster than a visit from my Dad. He is the best! I had come to a halt on all of my projects (home, cooking, fashion, etc) and I couldn't find the energy or motivation to do anything other than hang out with Eli. Don't get my wrong, hanging with Eli is my FAVORITE thing, but at some point Mom needs to hang out with other adults in the real world. And consume something other than Diet Coke. 

So my motivation flew into Nashville and stayed only 4 days, but it was all I needed to get back on track. Dad would get up at 6 a.m. every morning and when I would finally drag myself out of bed with Eli around 6:30 a.m. there was always a hot pot of coffee and a list waiting for me. And you know I love a good to do list!  Not only was he planning on helping me start and complete several projects, but he also had a Mr. Fix-it list he had made after taking a lap around the house. We started on Wednesday morning and stopped only for food and adult beverage brakes, fireworks for the 4th, and afternoon nap time for all. 

I'm so grateful for my Dad. He is so wise, selfless, and enduring. It inspires me and motivates me to power through hard times and constantly have a positive outlook. And I know that whenever I hit a bump in the road my Dad will be here soon with a good cup of coffee and a list. 

Thanks Dad! 

Milestones

Now that I have a baby I'm very aware of MILESTONES. It's something that I keep track of and wait for and record whenever they occur. As I'm watching my little man grow he's already hit so many milestones. Big and small. So now that Brandon and I have just turned 29 I was thinking about our milestones from this last year. There were some big ones!



Okay, well this is before my 28th birthday, but it was a pretty huge milestone ;)

Me and Baby Morgan kissing the Coyote and Fort Irwin "Goodbye!" The superstition says you have to kiss the coyote or you'll make your way back to Irwin. We all kissed it. Even Maya. Just to make sure.

We bought our first house!

And finally moving in once it was built!

Of course, the arrival of our baby boy Elijah Antonio Morgan on December 17.

Our first Christmas in our new home as a family of three! And Maya :)

Brandon's 3rd deployment.

And finally, both Brandon and I turned 29 within 6 days of each other. I made us a cake (and ate enough for both of us!)

My birthday date and favorite little man!

I can't wait to see what this year brings. Here's to the start of our last year of our 20s... man, we're getting old. ;) 

Week of Progress

Okay, I decided the only way to remedy my homesickness was to hit the ground running. So here a few projects from last week.

I FINALLY organized my closet. It's a pretty big space and I was so excited to have a real walk in, but I think I was initially overwhelmed and it never became what I wanted it to be. It took all week but it feels so good to walk into an organized closet! This is my favorite part (below). I can actually SEE all my accessories. I even rediscovered some great pieces that were hidden away in their boxes. So happy about it. 

I actually managed to cook a few times this week. My infant has become a bit of a roly poly and is no longer content just swinging in his chair for an hour while I cook every night. I'm looking into some alternatives that will allow him to be happy and safe in the kitchen with me, but in the meantime I made a few quick, delicious meals. 

1. Asian Inspired Flat Iron Steak

2. Prosciutto, Asparagus, and Parmesan Spaghetti 

3. Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Philly Cheesesteak Rolls

Today I finished some painting. A chevron wall has been on my decorating wish list for a while, and to be honest, I really didn't think I would have the time or patience to ever complete that task. But after I lot of measuring, pencil marking, remarking, leveling, and waded up pieces of tape I ended up with this! 

I kind of love it :) 

Feeling motivated! What projects do you have going? 

Coming Home from Home

Well... I'm home. No, not Oklahoma. But my current home in Tennessee. And I have to say: I'm a little out of sorts. So I'm just writing a quick one tonight to help me get back in the groove.

I had an incredible month in Oklahoma with the comfort of family and friends around. Eli got to meet his cool Aunt B and see his Uncle Bubs. He met Brandon's whole family and they couldn't love him more! We went on our first road trip and spent some quality time with some quality people. I even got to swing a golf club for the first time in over a year. (I'm rusty, but it felt good!)  And Eli had a couple "Guys Nights In" with Pops, letting Mom have some much needed girl time. I felt like myself. It was amazing.

So here I am back in Tennessee, fighting the urge to go back to Oklahoma. But I know I have to stay. I felt so happy in Oklahoma and, as I wrote about here, Oklahoma really is home. I'm so blessed that I get to spend so much time there during holidays, cross country moves, and deployments. But I don't live there right now. I live here. And I have to learn to love where I am. I'm an Army wife. I'm not stationary. And I'll never learn to love where I am if I'm always planning my next trip home. So in efforts to not fall into a depression, pack the car, and drive straight home: I'm making plans.

*Blogging- I want to continue writing. It keeps me motivated and moving forward.
*Cooking- I want to keep cooking as long as Eli will let me. He doesn't tolerate his swing so much anymore (he's trying to roll over in it!), but I'm sure I can find a way. At the very least, I will be cooking all of his baby food, which we started this week. More on that later.
*Fashioning- my goal remains to spend more days in real clothes than my fancy yogas. The shopping done in OKC will really help.
*DIYing- lots of projects on the agenda. Painting, organizing, and decorating. I will be so excited to share my finished projects.
*Exploring- I want to get out and find out what's awesome about this town. I want to enjoy Nashville too! I'm looking forward to it. If anyone has any Nashville suggestions let me know!
*Putting myself "out there"-meeting new people in high school or college is so easy! But after college is a different story. Sometimes I feel like making new friends is kind of like dating. It can be awkward at first and takes a while before you reach the "my house is a wreck and I'm still in pajamas, but come over anyway phase". But I'm joining some playgroups and going to do some Mommy and Me things with Eli this summer with the hope of meeting some mom friends.

If I can work on these things this summer I think I'll find my niche here.

So hello Clarksville. My goal is to be happy to call you "home". For a few years at least.

Finally- here's a little dose of Eli. 5 months old on May 17. He's pretty stinkin' cute if you ask me.