Red + Ruffles= Love

My dream winter coat. Oh, how I would love to wear this coat especially on these unusual chilly mornings we are having. After all, what is there not to love?! It's red & it has ruffles!

{I believe this coat is available at Anthropologie but when I went back to their website I did not see it}

Favorite Weekend of the Year

Not sure exactly what it is but I love Thanksgiving weekend. Perhaps, its because the weekend is full of yummy food, great shopping, and the beginning of the holiday season!

For Thanksgiving, we went to a friend's parents home where the food was wonderful, an outdoor bonfire was enjoyed, great company was held, and we decorated gingerbread houses. Each couple decorated their own gingerbread house and for never decorating a gingerbread house before I think we did alright. My friend's mom made the gingerbread from scratch so even better yet! I love how my friend's family decorates gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving. I may have to adopt this tradition as it was a lot of fun.

Then as soon as the clock struck midnight I was out with a friend and shopped for 6 hrs! That's right nothing like being 38 weeks pregnant and out shopping amongst the black Friday madness. So much fun!

On Saturday, my husband hung up the outdoor lights, topiaries, and wreaths, and then we ventured out to have dinner and watch the light parade with some friends. Sunday, was a full day of baking and putting up the finishing touches in the nursery {and yes, I promise photos of the nursery will follow soon}.

Here is my gingerbread house. Pretty sure Martha Stewart will not be featuring my creation any time soon. What matters though is the fun we had and I discovered a love for cherry sours!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and for my readers that are do not reside in the States I hope you had a wonderful weekend and treated yourself to something you love!

Thanksgiving Wishes

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers here in the States. May you find yourself surrounded by good food and loving company as we reflect upon the blessings we have been blessed with.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

{photos via martha stewart}

Giving Thanks

There are so many things that I have been blessed with this year. Since, Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, I felt it was only appropriate to reflect on several life and also guilty pleasures that have brought me happiness this year.

I am thankful for my job as I can honestly say I love going to work every day. okay 90% on some days!

I am thankful for a healthy pregnancy {I still have to pinch myself that is actually happened. speaking of which I only have 2.5 weeks left! Needless, to say there may be a slight break in the frequency of posts in the upcoming weeks}

I am thankful for thoughtful gestures

I am thankful for humidifiers - simply amazing how much better I feel in the morning when we run our humidifier at night.

I am thankful for the joy that my nieces and nephew bring me.

I am thankful for Target- after all it's my form of therapy {anyone else here with me on this one?}lol

I am thankful for the Sunday chats that I have with my best friends

I am thankful for my husband even when he gives me "budget speeches" Did I mention Target is my form of therapy?

So no matter where you are, what you are going through or have gone through this past year, the good, the bad, things that may or may not have gone accordingly to " our plan" know that someone, somewhere is thankful for you and all that you are!

Tasty Breakfast Treats

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. One of my favorite things about the weekends especially on Sundays, is having a delicious breakfast.

Here are some breakfast treats I am wanting to try:

recipe

{Cinnamon Polenta Pancakes}

recipe

{Butterscotch Sticky Buns}

recipe

{Baked Currant Doughnuts}

What are some of your favorite breakfast items?

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

I am not a fan of pumpkin pie so wouldn't these cupcakes be the cutest thing ever to serve for a Thanksgiving dessert?

{recipe available here}

What i'm Loving This Week

I love aprons so I personally do not think a person can have enough aprons. I usually get mine at Anthropologie or have received some as gifts in the past but these aprons are just too much fun!

perfect for the cupcake sweetie

Super cute to wear for all that holiday baking that awaits. Plus, how cute are the matching cleaning/ dish gloves?!
For the tea/ coffee/ cappuccino fanatic!

and we can't forget about the tea kettles!
sweet and classy
more apron designs may be found here

Friendship

The other day I was having a discussion with one of my students about quality of friends vs. quantity of friends and that it's okay if you only have a few friends vs having a big group of friends. My main message is it's how your friends treat you.

Over the past few years I have lost some "friends" but also gained some amazing new friends as well as some friendships that have continued to grow stronger. I use "friends" in quotations because at the time they seemed like they were my friends but in reality they were not. I do not miss these "friends" at all. In fact, I thank them for teaching me to understand what a true friend is. I can happily count on one hand who my true friends are and that is something I am proud of. And even though time has past and these "friends" have never able show their well being towards me I know I have raised to the top by still showing my well being to them when necessary. I guess you could say I felt as if I have been the one who took the "higher road".

The real friends I do have make me happy because of the joy we bring each other. We are always there for each other when good things and bad things occur in our lives, we are each others cheerleaders, we don't judge the weaknesses we have, we can be honest with one another and know that the other won't be upset but appreciates receiving a different perspective on things when circumstances call for advice we may not always like hearing. Despite having some of these friends living miles apart we still find the time to make our friendships a priority and the best part of all.... these women are role models, and I can't wait for them to not only continue to be apart of my life but also be "aunties" in my daughters life.

Have any of you ever had a falling out with a friend aka "friendship divorce" and if so what lesson/s did it teach you?

PS: if any one is interested in reading on "friendship divorce" here is a great article.

Pretty Dresses

all the things I love.... ruffles, bows, polka dots, flirty, sweet, and fun.

dresses via mod cloth

What I'm Loving This Week

I don't think I could ever get tired of headbands. I love how fun they can be and how they can easily dress up any outfit.

Last weekend I attended a holiday craft fair and I couldn't pass up buying one of these adorable headbands from Whippy Cake. Best part is, the headbands are interchangeable with other Whippy Cake products and by attaching onto the band with velcro.

Riff Raff from simmer town collection

butter bean from the gleam and sugar collection

Coco Bella from the haute and saucy collection

Cheeky Cha Cha from caught on candy collection

Whippy Cake also has a blog that can be found here!

One Month to Go!

I can't believe I am due in one month from today 12.10.10! Yikes! I can honestly say for the most part I have loved this journey. Don't get me wrong there have been tears when one day a shirt would fit and the next week forget about it or the fact that I don't even want to know how much I have spent on bras!

But, for expecting for the first time and not really knowing what are some "must have" items I have fallen in love with these following pregnancy items

A wonderful read especially for first time mommies! This was given to me as a gift and I love reading a new chapter every week.

I have never laughed so hard and this book made getting through the first trimester a little bit easier! I have also been giving this as a gift to all my expecting friends.

Love this Mama Bee belly balm to help moisturize my tummy area. It is all natural, no awful smell, and its non greasy. Found at all drug stores. So far no tummy marks!

Citizen by Humanity petite maternity bootcut jeans. At first I felt guilty for splurging on designer jeans but oh my gosh.. hands down the best purchase ever. They have been worth every single penny!

oh and did I mention watermelon, string cheese (esp at 2am when I wake up starving), and mac n cheese have been my most favorite food items.

For those of you that may be expecting or already have a little one what are/ were some of your favorite pregnancy items?

Song of the Heart

With Thanksgiving a mere three weeks away I have been finding myself thinking about all the things I am truly grateful for this year and how I blessed I am. I think if my heart could speak it would be speaking of joy, calmness yet feeling anxious with the arrival of our baby next month, love for others, missing my best friends and family, thinking of my mom on a more frequent basis, how I have never loved my husband more than I do now, and simply feeling truly thankful that God had not let me down and has blessed me with more than I could imagine.

{image via we heart it}

What i'm Loving This Week

I heart these over the knee leg warmers even though I would never get any use out of them living in the desert. They remind me of something the lovely ladies of Gossip Girl would wear!

I heart this white porcelain lace bowl

I heart this headband by Princy n Paris

Happy Monday

{Via we heart it}

Happy Monday Dear Readers,

Where did the weekend go? I want my lazy weekend back!!! My husband was in Minneapolis for a wedding/ guys weekend which I am glad he was able to do before our baby comes in 5 1/2 weeks. I had a lot of me time this weekend which was really nice in some ways. I did some baking and celebrated a friends birthday with lunch and pedicures on Saturday, and then on Sunday met another friend for lunch and was able to spend some quality time with her and her sweet little baby. Before, I knew it I was off to the airport to pick up my husband and ghouls and goblins were at my door.

Our evening for trick or treaters was in the 70's which made for a beautiful evening for the little ones. {not at all like the bitter cold ones I remember growing up and having to wear winter clothing under our costumes} and the kids were very polite compared to some I have had in past years. For someone that teaches social skills to children all day long I have to say "Thank you parents for doing your job!"

PS: Can you believe its November?!