Love it...Keep it...Active Gear

This week I am really loving my active gear. When Erin was out here visiting we did a ton of shopping. I didn't buy too much but lucked out and found some awesome yoga pants at New York & Company. I don't usually shop there but was really impressed with these pants! They are so comfortable. They are the perfect combination of tight but not so tight that you are embarrassed...know what I mean? Plus, for all us tall girls, they come in tall sizes! I was really excited about that because it's sometimes impossible to find cute yoga pants that are long enough for me. I'm 5'8" and usually once I wash yoga pants they shrink and look silly on me. But not these! They are the perfect length. And they were on sale for less than $18! I bought them in gray but think I might need to go back for another pair, I love them that much! Click HERE to check them out.

 

I also got new running shoes yesterday! My old ones were starting to fall apart but I dragged my feet about buy new ones because my oldies were so comfortable. Luckily these New Balance shoes are perfect for me. Plus they are red! Couldn't pass them up.

And finally, I'm totally lovin' on the new Taylor Swift CD. Clearly from this photo Pancake loves it too. (Taken from my iphone...sorry about the poor quality). I'm already obsessed with the song Revenge....perfect to run to at the gym. If you like Taylor Swift go out and buy this CD now! You'll thank me later.

What are you lovin' this week?

Wordless Wednesday: Can't get enough of that face

Another Monday....

These past two weeks have gone by so fast. First my mom was here visiting and then Erin came for a visit too. We had a great weekend together. You forget how fun it is to just go shopping and to a movie with your best friend, you know?

On Friday I took the day off of work so that Erin and I could go shopping. Then in the afternoon I tagged along while she took engagement pictures of my co-worker, Kaleena, and her finance.

The pictures are going to be so, good! We had a ton of fun walking around downtown. I didn't take any photos but did manage to snap a pic on my phone of Erin doing her thing!

Then on Saturday we did a little more shopping and went to go see Life As We Know It. Loved the movie! It was so cute, funny, and touching. And yes, I had to hold back tears a few times. The best part was that Erin and I had a candy fest during the movie....so good!

Then we went out to dinner with the husband and a few friends and introduced Erin to life in Michigan...I tried to talk her into moving here, but I think it might be a smidge too cold for her.

It was a great weekend and I was sad to see Erin go. And Wrigley was sad too...he loved Erin!

Love it...Keep it....Erin's coming to visit!

This week I'm loving the fact that my bestie, Erin, is on her way to Michigan to see me! She's also taking engagement photos for one of my co-workers...but really she's coming to see me, right Erin? What's the benefit of having a friend who is a photographer you ask? Well, not only will she take some awesome photos for my blog, she also books weddings out here in Michigan...which means not only do I get to see her now, but I also get to see her and her husband in June when they come out to shoot my co-worker's wedding. Awesome.

When I get home tonight from work she'll be there.....having already fed my cats and been loved on by my dog, I'm sure.

Wordless Wednesday: The husband did good

Road trip to Ikea...

While my mom was here we had to make our usual journey to one of my favorite places...Ikea. What usually is a two hour drive somehow took us four hours....probably because we spent too much time chatting and not enough time navigating. We were almost to Indiana before I realized we had gone about an hour our of our way. Oh well...we had fun, right mom?

Me with our two carts. We picked up a new bed frame and bedding for my guest room (reveal coming soon!) and some canisters for my kitchen. Somehow we were there for over two hours....I heart Ikea.

What? The hot dog is "*not actual size"? We were totally planning on buying a ten foot long hot dog for 50 cents. Bummer.

After Ikea we made a stop at another favorite, Trader Joe's, to stock up on some yummy food. I didn't take any pictures but I did manage to get a few of us in some awesome Halloween hats at Cracker Barrel.

Mom with a spider headband. She said she would have bought it to wear to work on Halloween...except she isn't working that day. I would have paid to see that.

Me with a witches hat complete with a black veil. Awesome.

Project time....

My mom is currently visiting me from California and we've been having the best time. Whenever she comes to visit we always try to do lots of projects around the house. This time we wanted to install a cat door on our basement door. The goal is to move the litter box down there once they get used to it. 

Getting set up. Pancake helped.

Wrigley helped too.

Seems like an easy project right? Well, it took over 2 hours. It was really hard to get both sides of the door to line up. 

 Finally, we finished. Pancake was curious but it took a long time for him to actually use the door.

Unfortunately once he went through he refused to go back the other way. Instead he just cried and scratched at the door. Hopefully he figures it out soon....otherwise I won't be too happy about having a huge hole in my door!

Love it...Keep it: Personalized Pumpkin

I LOVE pumpkins. Love everything about them...except carving them. The mess. The carving knives. Trying to get it perfect...no thank you.

So this year I decided to avoid all of that and do something much simpler....paint my pumpkin! The whole process only took about 20 minutes and I was thrilled with the results. I decided to paint our pumpkin with an "R" for our last name.

First I  printed out an "R" on computer paper. I used Times New Roman size 600-800ish. I can't remember exactly. Then I cut out my stencil and taped it on to the pumpkin.

 

I traced around the stencil with a pen. I tried using pencil but it was too hard to see. If you make a mistake with the pen you can just wipe it off really quickly with a damp paper towel.

 

Then I took a small paint brush and some random black paint I had in my junk drawer and went to work. It was really easy and only needed one coat.

 

And there you have it, a personalized pumpkin! I've already received numerous compliments from neighbors and friends...definitely will be doing this again next year!

Wordless Wednesday: Snuggle Buddies

Lady Antebellum Concert

On Saturday Ali and I went to the Lady Antebellum concert. They were so good! Amazing voices and of course amazing songs. Ali and I had a great time singing along and dancing in our seats. We especially loved Hillary Scott, the lead singer...she was so cute! And totally rocked some sparkly leggings!

Ali and I at the concert. I forgot to take a picture of my sparkly top...darn!

Thanks Ali for a great time!

Maui Part 2

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I'll share about my weekend later....because right now I need to finish my Maui post! After our zipline adventure we decided to be brave and try taking a surfing lesson. I was terrified but the husband was excited. We took a group lesson with two instructors and two other couples. They spent about 30 minutes on the sand going over the basic techniques and warning us about coral and tides and all the other bad stuff that can happen to you while surfing. Great.

I knew it would be hard but I didn't realize how tired your muscles get! The instructors carried the girls' boards down the beach for us...to help save us some energy for paddling. I should have known right then that it was going to be tough! The husband and I were just crossing our fingers that we would be able to get up on our boards.

Luckily I was able to get up several times! The instructor stood in the water (It wasn't too deep) and held your board and then pushed you off when it was time to go. And they were right about the paddling....it was no joke!

The husband got up too. About halfway through the lesson they sent out a photographer with a zoom lens to take pictures of us, which of course you know I loved!

During the last few minutes of the lesson I fell off my board and when I was coming up for air it smacked me in the face and gave me a bloody nose. Yuck. The husband and my instructor freaked out because I guess from a distance it looked really bad. Later the husband told me he thought I had busted some teeth! Luckily it was just a bloody nose and it wasn't broken. But I was out the rest of the lesson because it hurt and was hard to breathe! The instructors were impressed that I held myself together and didn't cry...ha! I also banged up my knee on some coral and the husband scraped his leg. But it was worth it!

After surfing we were so exhausted. You use so many muscles you didn't even know you had. Even my ribs and hip bones hurt from hitting the board. Our arms were the worst and were sore for a few days.

After a shower it was time for a much deserved drink and snack. My nose is still swollen in this pic..ha! It hurt for at least a week.

Later that night for dinner we went to a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you. It was yummy!

The next day we took it easy and hung out by the pool. Of course I stayed in the shade the entire time!

Love this picture of him!

 

After some pool time we had a couples massage! Just what we needed for our sore muscles.

For dinner we went to the Lahaina Pizza Company, which for all my California friends could have been the sister to BJ's Pizza. The pizza was amazing and we had a bbq chicken salad that was really good too. The food was so good that the husband didn't save room for dessert. I was mad!

The next day we got up early to go on a snorkeling trip. It s so fun! Here is our boat and crew...the Trilogy IV. Highly recommend.

They took us to a different part of the island. The views were so beautiful.

It was a little overcast once we reached our snorkeling spot. I think it even rained for a few minutes after this shot.

We're on a boat! That was for the husband...we forgot to sing the "I'm on a boat" song...darn!

All suited up in our snorkel gear and ready to go! We snorkeled for a while and then they fed us some lunch. We snorkeled for a little bit more and then they set the sails up and we sailed back to our section of the island. It was a really great trip and a must for anyone traveling to Maui

That night we headed out to dinner at our favorite place...Aloha Mixed Plate. And we finally got our picture taken by the pretty atrium in our hotel.

Showing off our pretty drinks. It was such a great trip and I'm so glad we went! Now...we must plan our next getaway...any ideas?

Love it....Keep it: Erin's Wedding

This week for Love it...Keep it I finally get to share pictures from Erin and Mike's beautiful wedding. The wedding was September 18th in Santa Monica, California. Everything was perfect, the details were amazing, and the guests had a great time! I had the pleasure of being Erin's matron of honor. She was my maid of honor and seriously was amazing! She took care of so many details for me on my big day. I was really excited to be able to do the same for her. I got to share responsibilities with Erin's little sister, Nicole, who was her maid of honor. The bride was so organized that there wasn't too much for us to worry about....but I did get to help with a little emergency dress pinning....that's what friends are for!

While we were getting ready the day of the wedding, Erin and I, along with our friend Heather, made this wedding themed scrabble. It turned out so adorable!

The beautiful bride to be....ready to walk down the aisle.

All of our shoes lined up together....the bride wore the pretty gold Kate Spade shoes....love!

Erin was so excited to put her dress on. We kept fussing over her and she finally said "can I see myself now?" it was really cute. I loved the back of her dress...very dramatic and very Erin.

The flowers were gorgeous.

Show time! Me walking down the aisle.

The bride with her dad...ready to get married!

 No pictures of the ceremony....that was the husband's fault. (still love you honey)

 Me and the husband post-ceremony.

 Me and Heather. We've both been friends with the bride since our freshmen year of college. 

 Heather and her boyfriend Adam.

 The cake! It was yummy, but I only go to have like two bites....same as my own wedding!

 Somehow I had three drinks: Champagne for my toast, wine, and a martini. Time to celebrate!

 The father-daughter dance. Erin's dad's toast was so so sweet. 

And now I absolutely have to share some of Erin and Mike's professional photos. They are gorgeous! Their photographer was Jasmine Star...and if you are getting married in Southern California look her up! She was so sweet to everyone and even had a little slide show playing during the reception of photos taken earlier in the day....such a great surprise!

 Erin and Mike did a "first look" before the ceremony. So pretty.

 Hello bridal party! Rockin' our awesome sun glasses. The boys were singing at some point...cracking us all up!

 Erin rocked it and got in the sand in her wedding dress....amazing!

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Vancura! Your wedding was amazing...and so are you!