Best laid plans...

Hellooo lovelies!

Maybe you noticed I missed Pinspiration Thursday yesterday?  Yeah, I noticed that too!  Best laid plans got super undermined this week, but since I was missing y'all I just thought I would stop by and say "hi."

Hi!

I will be back soon to show you all kinds of creative stuff, home improvement, and other big exciting stuff! Until then...

Introducing Lindsey Turner Photography!

Oh my gosh.  Oh my gosh!  OH MY GOSH!  I am so super excited about my big news today!

I've got a new sponsor to introduce to you (!!!) and you are going to love her.  Her name is Lindsey Turner, and not only is she a wonderful, charismatic, optimistic, lovely person, but she is also an amazingly skilled photographer.  You must run right over and check out her blog!

I mean, look at these smiles she dragged out of us!

And oh boy, she had to work for it too.  Right as we arrived for our shoot, LB tripped and skinned up his hand.  Poor guy was wailing. But you would never know it from the way Lindsey had him laughing just a few minutes later.  I love the way she captures such natural expressions on the boys.

Another bonus of working with Lindsey?  She will help you with your wardrobe choices and consult with you on where and how to place her photographs in your home, including help with building gallery walls. It is so reassuring to know she is with you from start to finish!

Starting today, you will see her ad in my sidebar and I will be giving her an occasional shout-out.  But why wait?  Hop on over to her blog and see the other lovely work she has done, including maternity and newborn shoots. Oh, and tell her I said "hey!"

Pinspiration Thursday No. 10: Party On Boys

Hello darling!  How are you doing?

My baby turns 5 this Saturday, and oh my, that fact is just freakin' me out!!  I vaguely remember getting all choked up when Biggest turned 5, but this time is worse.  It's my BABY.  And he is turning FIVE.

How can this boy be five years old?  Sigh.

So anyway, y'all know what happens when one of the boys has a birthday party coming, up, right?  I go into crafty overdrive and become all-consumed with the theme and fall in love with it and get insane.  I think it distracts me from the bittersweet emotional sinkhole of watching my boys grow.  It happened with our Arctic Birthday Blast, and with Pirates and Star Wars, and a few others that never even made the blog. Therefore, this week I am going nuts over Hotwheels.

If you visit my Party On Boys board, you will see several ideas I've pinned, but what has come out has been just an amalgam of all those ideas, so I am having trouble attributing anything specifically to one single pin. But here are a few things I am working on for this weekend:

My water bottles are getting in the mood!

Goody bags ready to go!

All Access Pit Passes for all the kids.  And me, because I like to party, too.

Actually, for this last one I was totally inspired by Renee's Soirees:

Photo: Renee's Soirees

So, needless to say, that's all I have been up to this week.  Can't wait for the party and to celebrate my little big boy!

Pinspiration Thursday No. 9: It's a Spring Thing

Hey there, glad you stopped by today!  Yes, I am looking at YOU!  Are you as excited as I am that spring is in the air?  I am downright giddy, I tell ya.  So I wanted to share my spring mantel with you today as well as show you this week's Pinspiration.  Ready?  Awesome.

Here she is, decked out for Spring in greens and blues.

I really enjoyed pulling from what I could find around the house to make my happy little ode to spring.  (By the way, I once shared my process for decorating a mantel, which you can find here).

I painted this basket with Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Linen, then sanded it quickly for this effect.  Love!

 So, where's the Pinspiration?  Well, here is my original pin:

Photo: Love of Family and Home

And here is my split-pea wreath, which I put together following Tonya's instructions exactly:

I even loved her burlap ribbon...had to do it too...couldn't stand myself!  I could have spent more time on it and filled in my bare spots a bit more, but whatevs.  I am happy with it.

Are you spring-i-fying your home as well?  Would love to hear about it!

Whole 30 Recap

Heya Friends!

Last Thursday was Day 30 of my Whole 30 elimination diet, and WOW did the time move slowly!  Ha! Maybe the slowest 30 days ever.

Photo: Lexi's Clean Kitchen
One of my faves!  Loaded Paleo Breakfast Hash

So, the Whole 30 was hard.  But it was so worth it, and here are all the reasons why:

• I found out I am sensitive to foods in the nightshade family, and if I don't eat them I don't get migraine auras including extreme, crippling fatigue.  As opposed to having that fatigue 2-3x a week, yeah...big life changer.
• Hubs (who very supportively also did the plan) and I both learned a lot about our eating habits that are habitual...meaning, we eat out of habit or routine rather than hunger.  Learning these things is so helpful because being aware of your negative or unhealthy patterns can prevent you from falling into them again.
• My appetite shrunk.  I always ate when I was hungry, on this plan, yet I filled up faster and with less food.  I snacked less, and was more satisfied with the food I did eat.
• I learned I can live without A LOT of things that I thought were indispensable.  Yes, I will be going back to dairy in my morning chai, but do I need cheese three or four times a day?  Absolutely nope.
• I learned to love some new things: coconut oil, ghee, and various paleo recipes.  Rediscovered love for other things: mandarins, olives, bacon.  Glorious nitrite-free bacon.
• I lost 9 pounds.
• Wait what?  I lost 9 pounds!  In 30 days!  Yes, on Day 34 (after reintroducing gluten, cheese, and alcohol) I had gained 2.5 pounds back.  But seriously, it was the easiest weight loss ever, since I wasn't ever hungry.

As I mentioned, I have reintroduced some foods and am slowly bringing others back, watching for symptoms (especially of the headache variety) as I go.  So far, I haven't found any other triggers (besides nightshades) and I am grateful for that!  But my diet will not be going back to exactly how it was, either.

Would I recommend the Whole 30?  If you have a medical condition and think changing your diet might help, yes.  Otherwise, you might be able to apply some of the ideas from It Starts with Food without going through the whole thing... but then again, it's only 30 days, right?!?

Pinspiration Thursday No. 8

Heya friends!  It's Pinspiration Thursday, woo-hoo!

But FIRST I have some serious praises for you. Since I was here a week ago sharing all my trials and tribulations, I gotta also be good about sharing the great things God is doing.  We got news from Hubs's doctor on Monday: MRI results came back showing he did NOT tear his ACL!  The doctor changed the diagnosis to hyperextension and a bone bruise: painful and requires rest, but no surgery!!!!!  I am delighted and awed by the creative way the Lord has of answering prayers.  Prayers of provision, the answers to which I thought I could imagine, were answered in a completely unexpected way. We are of course totally psyched by the prognosis here, but also humbled by His refuge and mercies.  Just, WOW.

Okay, moving on...

Sometimes it is the simple things.  Actually it is very often the simple things, right? Since the floor of my Swagger Wagon is routinely covered in trash, this pin caught my eye as I was scrolling through my Organizing and Keeping Home pin the other day:

Photo: Organize & Inspire

What a simple solution, right?  So I quickly added "cereal tupperware" to my Target list (or y'all know I'll forget it).  Then I was all like, "Hey wait...I have one of those in the tupperware cabinet already!  And I also have some little plastic bags!  I can totally do this for ZERO DOLLARS."  Then my eyes spun around in my head due to all the frugal excitement.

And then I ran all about and did my thing, and here, ladies and gents, is my handy new trash can:



Lovin' it already!  I really thought about doing a more "crafty" post for y'all this week.  I have been working on my Spring Mantel, made a Cat in the Hat costume, and of course been experimenting with good real food.  However, I have also been totally obsessed with some of this...

...and I gotta get back to it now!  Can't wait to show it to you as soon as possible!

Lots of love!