Wednesday Words

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Motherhood Mondays

With spring like temps we have been enjoying visiting the neighborhood park, playing with our neighborhood friends, and most recently we got Elle a playhouse that our friends were selling. 

I wanted to make the playhouse a little bit girlie (until her daddy builds her one) and so with all the repainting ideas I saw on pinterest my husband made it a reality. We used the rustoleum spray paint with primer and paint in one. We went thru 2 cans of black, 3 white, 1 stainless steal color for the sink and 1 can of pink. All together it costs us about $30 in paint and a playhouse for under $100! 

All we need to do now is plant some flowers and Elle will be ready to throw a house warming party. She does after all refer to her playhouse as her "party house!" 

Not sure if that should have us worried or not?!

Original house had a blue roof, brown siding, with yellow accent door, fence (not seen in photo)

Wednesday Words

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Class and Teacher Valentines

I literally threw Elle's Valentines together this year. She is obsessed with Princess so when she saw the Princess box of cards they were a must buy.

Plus, don't you all remember receiving paper character Valentines as a kid? I think they are a classic and a must for Valentines Day.

I ended up adding this Valentine tag to her Valentines after I came across a bag of bubbles hidden in my craft closest that I had purchased last year. We had a bag of kisses laying around and viola the combination of Blowing you Valentine Kisses came into play.

And a few weeks ago I saw Target had teacher Valentine gift sets so I snagged this paper note and heart chocolate set for her Preschool Teacher and Teacher's Assistant. 

Motherhood Mondays: Girls Weekend in Austin

Nothing is better than quality girl time especially when its spent with some of your greatest friends a girl could ask for. Three of my close friends from our Delta Gamma days in college flew in for the weekend.  One friend came in from Charlotte and the other two flew in from Minneapolis. The best part is our friend from Charlotte had no idea Amanda was also coming along! 

All four of us recently celebrated birthday so the timing worked out perfectly to get away from the busy demands of motherhood, work, and to simply reconnect and celebrate being with one another. 

Everyone flew in around noon on Friday where we then headed to lunch and to do some shopping at the Domain. If you have never been to Austin this is a beautiful outdoor shopping mall and my favorite place to shop. Now if only our Nordstrom and Pottery Barn Kids would move to the Domain.

Enjoying some cocktails before our afternoon of shopping.

Friday evening we kept it low-key with an around the world dinner to kick off the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. We had brats and potato salad with beer to represent Germany, a Greek salad for Greece, Macarons for France, and Prosecco to represent Italy,.Just a few of my favorite countries and ones I have all been to except to Germany. 

Then it was bedtime for Miss E who enjoyed having story time with her "honorary aunties."

Saturday morning we took in the sights of Mount Bonnell, strolled Congress and stopped for coffee at Jos on Congress, ate lunch in the food truck court, and wondered into some boutiques on 2nd Street. 

We also made a quick stop into Waltons Fancy and Staple to grab a sweet treat. We grabbed macarons and a piece of their flour-less chocolate cake which was really good. 

 Saturday night we headed back into downtown for dinner at Garridos.

It was good but definitely not my favorite Mexican restaurant for what it cost. I think it is a place worth checking out and in the end you will either like it or hate it. 

 Us girls at dinner

We ended the night at the Wine House where we enjoyed table side s'mores and enjoyed great conversation.

Amanda and I. 

Almost as if we were 22yrs old again and in Winnipeg for DG Senior Weekend!

Sunday morning Brooke and Amanda flew back to Minneapolis and since Lisa had a later flight we wondered back into downtown. It was such a beautiful day which was a good thing since we waited for an hour standing in line at Hopdoddy Burger Bar. Hopdoddy came recommend to us when we first came to Austin to house hunt. It is now one of our favorite places to eat at.

After lunch we ended our city wide macaron tasting at La Patisserie. It might not be Laduree but it works for me. This month they have champagne macarons. I love champagne so I was all in favor for a champagne flavored macaron and it certainly did not disappoint. 

 and what better way to say Thank You for the amazing gift of friendship and wonderful new memories than to pose with the famous wall from Jo's Coffee on Congress.

There is definitely something to be said about the closeness of college friends being your lifelong friends and for me me this is one of the things I am truly most grateful for.

Valentine Art Work

Miss Elle is sharing today on The Little Style File how to make this Valentine art craft!

and yah don't mind the paint on the forehead either! 

Crew Cuts Sale

I love a great bargain especially when I score some great deals at Jcrew.  Right now with the code Shophappy you can get an additional 40% off with free shipping!Now that Elle can fit into the crew cut sizes I am always on the hunt for some crew cut bargains.

Right after Christmas I picked up this bag similar to this color block one for Elle, but in gold glitter for $20. (no longer available). I have put it away as a birthday present.

The items I scored today is this black and white dress. I scored this deal for... $14!! plus free shipping. I can't even get a dress at Target for this price. 

I think this will look really cute next year with these boots.

Other adorable pieces that I was wishing I could added to my cart are

You gotta hurry though as sizes and quantities are limited. 

The black dress I purchased at 7am this morning is already sold out! 

Motherhood Mondays: My Birthday

I celebrated my 34th Birthday over the weekend. Thank you to all my friends near and far and my family for making my day so special.

Here are some memory pictures of little Miss E and I on all of my birthdays since she was born. 

1 1/2 months old hanging out at our neighborhood park in AZ

13 1/2 months hanging out at our neighborhood looking at the ducks

2 years old having a birthday lunch at Waltons and someone getting to taste her first macaroon.

Follow me Mommy, Off to take you to brunch

3 years old and taking mommy out for brunch at Annies

and the best part is I get to host girls weekend with some of my best of friends from college this weekend here in Austin! All of us will have recently had birthdays so we will be doing lots of celebrating on Saturday night!