I'd Have a Baby Tomorrow IF...

Her hiney and piggy toes were as cute as that. But honestly....could you blame me?

One of my bestest friends' daughter turned one on Saturday and obviously it was means for celebration. Not just for the cuter-beyond-words baby girl, but for her funner-beyond-words parents who survived rocked out their first year as parents. I mean really, isn't that what a first birthday is all about anyway. Not only was the baby cute, the decorations were fabulous, and the food was delicious. 

Oh and the company wasn't bad either. 

This whole growing up thing is weird. And seeing people I've known since elementary school having babies is definitely surreal. But I think I'm finally getting to the point where I feel like it's the coolest thing ever.

Plus, technically, her mom used to babysit me so she's totally old enough to be having her own babies.

Oh yea, and really cute babies grow up to be really cute toddlers. I mean, seriously? Those curls...

I rode to school with that little baby every morning while she grew in her mommy's tummy. And have been fortunate enough to watch her continue to grow. I seriously can't believe she's one!! Robbie and I are so blessed to be a part of her life and to be able to call her parents our friends.

Later that night, we kept the party going at Buffalo Wild Wings, where the grown-ups threw back a few beers and the babies threw back a few mini corn-dogs. Baby knows how to get down. 

Baby knows how to snuggle too. Melt. My. Heart.

I was going to blog...

...about the ah-mazing first birthday party I went to this weekend. The one that makes me think babies sound like a good idea.

...or about the grown-up after party that ensued. Seriously - coolest baby ever.

...or even about how I spent my Sunday going to church, antique-ing with my hunk-a-burnin love, and then running around the neighborhood in the almost 70 degree weather.

But instead...Dexter and wine happened last night. (I ran 2 plus miles for Pete's Sake.) And blogging will just have to wait.

Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow with details on all of the above. Until then, I'll leave you with this eye candy. Seriously, in love doesn't even begin to describe it.

Happy Monday love bugs!

I'm the kinda girl...

..who thinks cheap wine and snow days go together like peanut butter and jelly.

...who is cold 95% of the time.

...who loves going out equally as much as staying in.

...who recycles blog posts sometimes.

...who has to sleep with the fan on.

...who could live off cheese and cheese alone.

...who met her college roommate on Facebook.

...who puts pajamas on as soon as she gets home from work.

...who loves donuts.

...who doesn't know how to make a decent smoothie.

...who considers walking up and down the hallways at school every day an ample amount of cardio.

...who dreams big but lives small (I should probably work on this one...)

...who hates vegetables.

...who thinks knows her family is the best there is.

...who married her high school sweetheart.

...who sometimes pretends she knows more about something than she really does.

...who has never won a game of Monopoly.

...who drinks a Diet Coke everyday, even though she knows she's not supposed to.

...who isn't allowed to Google medical symptoms. Ever.

...who is excited about turning 25 and entering the "dreaded late twenties".

I'm the kind of girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. The kind of girl who almost always as an opinion and almost always shares it, whether you asked or not. I'm the kind of girl who is blessed beyond her understanding, who laughs until she cries, and loves with all she has.





Linking up with Holly.

Staying up past my bedtime

In honor of Jimmy Fallon taking over the Tonight Show (that comes on wayyyy past my bedtime, btw) I figured I would write a few "Jimmy-inspired" thank-you notes. And yes, I know it's not Friday but eh, you win some you lose some.

Thank you Twizzles, for being the funnest ice-dancing term around. I now spend my day finding ways to incorporate you into normal conversation.

Thank you Ice Dancing, for being an Olympic sport that makes less sense than curling.

Thank you Valentine's Day, for being stereotypically cliche this year. It's nice to know I can always count on you to flood my Instagram feed with pictures of flowers and chocolate and single girl grumpy cats.

Speaking of flowers....

Thank you Robbie, for not pulling a Kanye and delivering one thousand red roses to me on V-Day. I would have had to punch in the throat for that. Seriously  - what does one do with one thousand roses.

Thank you Mr. Sun, for giving the illusion that it's actually warm outside when really it's just bright as f***.

Thank you Netflix, for taking procrastination to a whole new level.

Thank you DVR, for letting me record late night shows and for not judging me when I watch them the next day at 6pm.

Mushy Gushy Valentine

I know I mentioned this yesterday - but y'all. Valentine's Day in First Grade is seriously the best thing ever. I know there are a lot of V-Day haters out there. And I get it. It's a stupid holiday really.

A stupid good holiday.

Our day at school today was filled with chocolate, sugar rushes, ninja turtle valentines, heart stickers, crayons and love love love. (But no glitter...ain't no body got time for that.)

Most everything is more enjoyable through the eyes of a child. I've just come to realize that is a universal truth that we must all accept. They love everything. And get excited about everything. And on a day all about love, isn't that how it should be? Heck, that's how it should be everyday.

The valentines pencils I got them? You would think they were made of pure gold. And watching them open each individual valentine from all their "very best friends" really is the cutest thing ever. 

To top it all off, it's Friday. And if that's not reason enough to love today I don't know what is.

Because after those sweet little firsties opened all their valentines and took cupcakes, heart-shaped cookies, and juice boxes straight to the face they got sent home to share the sugary love with their parents. While I got to come home, crack open a bottle of wine and snuggle in with my valentine for the night. 

Valentine's Day = best holiday ever (or at least in February.)

Why We Work

We work because he legitimately gets concerned when I take an unexpected hiatus from blogging. No joke, two days ago he gave me the most worried look and asked if I was okay because I haven't blogged in forever...my bad.



We work because he listens to me ramble on and on and on...and on.

We work because he treats me like princess. Duh.

We work because we like to do things together.

We work because sometimes we also like to do things apart - and that's okay.

We work because we both talk to and treat our dogs like they're real people.

We work because we respect each other and always always put each other first.

We work because we both wear glasses and we both find it nerdly amusing when we make out with them on.

We work because we both have dreams bigger than reality and we know if we ever actually chased them down we'd do it hand in hand.

We work because we appreciate and support each other's interests, even if they're different from our own.

We work because we both have really great taste in socks.

We work because he tells me the zit on my forehead isn't really that big...even when it is.

We work because we're not afraid to fight with each other. We get angry and we talk about it. Sometimes we yell about it. And then we fix it and make up.

We work because we knew each other in our "awkward" phase and still managed to be ridiculously attracted to each other.

We work because we have fun together - whether we're going out with friends or just sitting on the couch, it's always fun.

We work because we love our families. And we love each other's families.

We work because we both appreciate lazy Saturday Netflix marathons.

We work because we literally tried everything we could think of to not work in high school.

We work because we know we have to. It's the only option there is. He's my husband and I'm his wife and we made a promise to work forever. We work because we don't break promises.

Why does your relationship work?

Go link up with Taylor and Bonnie and share your ways.

And happy almost love day y'all! If there's anyone out there that doesn't like Valentine's Day, I challenge you to go volunteer in an elementary-aged classroom for the day. No one can dislike Valentine's Day after spending it with children ages 5-10. Seriously. They'll change your mind about the whole thing.

A Photo an Hour - School Day Edition

Oh hey - time to pretend to be something I'm totally not. Today for your viewing pleasure, I will be channeling my lack of inner photographer and documenting my incredibly exciting day. I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat - as you should be!

I linked up a photo an hour last week with Stephanie and Meg O. When I first heard about their link up, I had already planned to document a typical school day hour by hour, because obviously life in First Grade is so exhilarating.

But then Eastern North Carolina decided to lose it's mind for a little while and have a snow storm. Resulting in 4 record long snow days. But I was still bound and determined to show you what my typical day looks like. Because, trust me lazy, snuggly snow days are not my norm (unfortunately).

~

5:24am - Rise and Shine time. Except I'm no where near shining at this point. This is when my first alarm goes off. I usually "tap to snooze" a few times before groggily letting the dogs out to tinkle.

6:24am - Carpool with my bestest friend to work, after begging Robbie to make me a breakfast smoothie.

7:24am - Enjoying the last few minutes of quiet before the bell rings.

**See also - running around like a chicken with my head cut off because I decided to leave my room in shambles the day before. No time for a picture of that madness. 

8:24am - Finishing up my first reading intervention group. 

9:24am - Planning time, tinkle time, chatting with my teammates time.

**See also - cleaning up a pee-pee accident. I missed half of my planning dealing with that (oh the joys).

10:24am - Peer editing snow day stories. 

11:24am - Usually my most favorite time of the school day : Work Station/Guided Reading time. Except this week my TA is running my Guided Reading groups while I'm assessing (God love her).

12:24pm - Lunch Time.
No I don't eat school lunches. No I don't have duty free lunch. No I don't want to talk about it. 

1:24pm - A little tens and ones action for ya.

2:24pm - Time to pack up and head to the carpet for I Spy. 

3:24pm - Wednesdays and Thursdays are meeting days. With my daily Diet Coke in tow. 

4:24pm - Finally on my way home. 

5:24pm - Unwind time. This is when Robbie and I usually catch up on our days or I catch up on Friends. Or I play a short game of tug-of-war with Roxy. You know, whatever I'm in the mood for.

6:24pm - Time to start dinner. Thanks to my weekly menu this is a much less annoying process than it used to be.

7:24pm - Time for snuggles and Wheel of Fortune.

The rest of my night usually consists of social media stalking, puppy snuggling, and TV watching. Somewhere in the mix I pack my lunch the night before so everything's ready to go for the morning. I'm usually in bed between 10 and 11 depending on how comfy I am on the couch. And then come morning it's time to start the routine all over again.

Pre-Teen Angst

I am obsessed with my memories. They are my most prized possession and losing them is one of my biggest fears. I love those conversations that start with "remember when...".

Unless "....we were in middle school" follows. Of all the memories I have and love, my middle school years are not one of them. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would block out those awkward years if they could.

Taylor has recently started Limited Too Tuesday where she shares blurbs from her middle school self. And let me tell you, it is quickly becoming my favorite part about otherwise dreadful Tuesdays. Like Taylor, I too kept a diary of all the trials and tribulations of middle school because let me tell you, there were a lot of trials and tribulations of middle school. And after reading through some of Taylor's past entries, I've decided our pre-teen selves would have been fast BFFs. And we both would have written horrible things about the other in our respective middle school diaries - with code names and everything.

One person that my pre-teen self probably wouldn't be friends with though is my sister-in-law, who is a current pre-teen right now. Solely because I wouldn't be cool enough to be her friend.

Seriously, I could be bias but she's pretty cool for a pre-teen. I wouldn't have been able to hang.

She turns 11 next week and is still only in 5th grade so I guess the awkwardness could still come. But seriously the girl wears infinity scarves. And boots. Like me. I'm sure this could say something about my fashion sense but I'm going to choose to just chalk it up to the fact that she's so cool. 

Also, she has the coolest room ever. The messiest room ever - but definitely very cool. Robbie and I spent the night in Kinston last weekend and stayed in her room. The whole time I felt like I was reliving my pre-teen dream years (minus the bearded boy in bed beside me) because when I was 11-13 I would have killed to have a room like hers.

I mean forreal, that bulletin board. Why is that not in my house?

There's teal and peace signs and zebra print everywhere. And she's got, like, every flavor of Bath & Body Works lotion you could imagine. Those rainbow loom rubber bands kept getting kicked around on the floor. And there was a magazine collage scotch-taped to the back of her door. It was great.

The fact that Robbie's parents "started over" when he was 14 (only 6 months before I met him) makes for such a fun family dynamic. It's definitely different having almost 11-year-old in-laws but it's definitely very cool. We've watched the twins grow up and I'm honestly really proud of the cute little pre-teens they've become.

I'm also glad my pre-teen years are behind me.

Southern Snow Days Are the Prettiest Snow Days

Lauren, I thought you could appreciate this pic. 

Roxy playing with my dad's dog Clipper.

We may not know how to drive in it. And we may be ready to complain about it after two days. 

But gosh, it sure is pretty. And I'm sure glad it doesn't do this all winter long.