Happy Friday!!

My week has been crazy busy!!!
I'm back in town so here are the highlights :)

1. We got 3 sneak peek pictures back from Olive's one year photo shoot photographer and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!  We decided to take them in our neighborhood right along the river.  I wanted to document where she spent her first year of live especially since we are moving next month.  I can't wait to get the rest of the pictures.  I also cannot pick a favorite and know that I'm going to have the hardest time choosing which ones to frame.

2. Olive and I went on our first mommy-daughter road trip this week!!  I never got lost, took a wrong turn and we both enjoyed ourselves during the 10 hours in the car.  I became quite the pro at handing toys, snacks, sippy cups and dj-ing silly song cds for her.  We drove down to Mississippi to meet my parents and get some work done on our new house.  We made several pit stops that included honking the horn, sitting up front and other silly things in the car.

 3. We got to try out several local restaurants while we were in Mississippi and The Beagle Bagel was my favorite.  Yummy bagels, sandwiches and sugar cookies!  And it's right around the corner from my house.  I'm a sucker for state shaped things and these cookies were equal parts delicious and adorable.  I'll definitely be going back here.

 4. My parents spent their whole week helping me prep our new house to get it move in ready.  Let's call this PHASE 1 of the move in process.  We had a big to do list for the week - painting bedrooms, cleaning the whole house, tree trimming, moving into the kitchen, carpet cleaning, caulking woodwork, cleaning light fixtures, dusting, errands, and on and on.  My parents were quite the team and we got SO MUCH done.  Olive was very "helpful" and wanted to be into everything.  We had lots of toys and we rotated who was on Olive duty.  My mom also made a lovely wreath for my front door.  I helped shop for the items but she was the mastermind behind the wreath.

 My front door look so welcoming!!

5. We got to meet a few of my new neighbors and they were as sweet as sweet tea!  They excitedly welcomed us to the neighborhood, answered our questions, loved meeting Olive, gave us their contact information {just in case we'd need it} and then brought us over a "welcome to the neighborhood" bundt cake + cutlery and paper products to fully enjoy it.  Southern hospitality at its finest!!  I think I hit the neighbor jackpot in Mississippi and am going to love these ladies.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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Be Careful What You Wish For...

You know I how was just talking about how I was working hard to be more spontaneous and flexible??  That it wasn't something I do naturally and how I love to have everything planned out??  Well I should be careful what I wish for because I got a phone call on Sunday that went like this...

Dad's thinking we should head down to Mississippi TOMORROW

He can load up his truck with your boxes and we'll meet you there.

Does that work for you??

Eeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkk!!

Yes, it does work for me

and 

Yes, it does stress me out a tiny bit

BUT

I'm SO THANKFUL for their help

with moving and getting the house ready!

So things will be a bit quiet around here this week

because we'll be busy being spontaneous :)

Actually we'll be:

taking our first mommy+daughter road trip

praying said road trip goes smoothly for everyone

driving 

getting our house keys

unloading

vaccumming

taping

painting

cleaning

taking down wallpaper

moving in some things

and enjoying our time together.

Hope you have a WONDERFUL week!!

PS I'll be instagramming the week away so follow me @

polkadottyplace

to see what we're up to all week.

Our Place in Arkansas

We've lived in Arkansas for almost 11 months now.  We are pretty settled in and are enjoying ourselves.  We are renting an apartment and found our place on-line.  We agreed to rent without ever stepping foot on the property which was a bit nerve wracking for us.  We didn't have any other option so we are happy that it worked out as well as it did.  

We've been renters our whole married life so I'm always trying hard to make our home homey even though it' s not our forever home.  It's important to me for it to feel warm and inviting and I think it's totally doable even if you don't own your house.  Our walls have to stay the same neutral color so I always opt for bright curtains, furniture and art to liven up the space a bit :)

Let me give you a little tour.
I feel like our furnishings are 1/2 for adults and 1/2 baby gear.
Family room:

 tiny kitchen

our bedroom

 bathroom

Olive's nursery is my favorite room of the house.

A little backyard with all kind of birds, squirrels & bunnies.

PROS:

We have a washer & dryer - which I've come to realize is a necessity with a baby.

We have two bedrooms.

We have an ice maker. 

We are on the first floor.

We have a backyard.

We have big windows.

We are close to Kevin's work.

We have a neighborhood to walk in.
We have friendly neighbors.
We live in the same building as our friends.

CONS:
Our place is 750 square feet.

Our kitchen is TINY and I affectionately call our oven an easy bake oven.

Our living room is smallish especially when you add in the baby gear.

Our place is older.

There is not much storage.

Everything seems to be 20 minutes away from us.

Although this isn't the most interesting post,
I wanted to record it for my own memories.
Here's to making the most of our remaining time in Little Rock.

Summer Short Hair Dos

I'm hoping to try and replicate these looks now that the temps are soaring.  I want my hair to look done and not be a sweaty mess when I'm out and about so I think these looks will help me all summer long.  Now if only I could perfect my braiding skills or teach my hubby to braid - haha :)

via lamacedoniademariola

via besthairstylesgallery

via slodive

Hooray for Friday!!

It was a good filled with road trips, seeing family, hanging out with friends and wrapping up with getting back into our routine at home just in time for the weekend.  Summer always seems to have a way of bringing a FUN, relaxed vibe to our schedule.  The highlights of my week were:

1. The most exciting news of the year is that WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!  After months of searching, multiple weekend visits, we found THE ONE.  We are moving to Mississippi in about a month and these first time home buyers couldn't be more excited!!  The drive down to MS was perfect and I actually did some of the driving.  Enjoy a few pictures of our very own secret garden of a backyard.  Let's not forget about the HYDRANGEA bushes that were bursting with flowers on our walk through.  It's as if the house was bursting with excitement for us to move in.  I'll definitely be filling my house with bouquets of them.

 2. I almost always order predictable, safe items when we go out to eat.  I decided to be brave, branch out and order the chef's dessert special Fried Cheesecake - cheesecake wrapped/fried in a tortilla shell, coated in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with chocolate.  It was DELISH!!

3. I'm getting excited for the 4th of July and all of the festivities surrounding the holiday - fireworks, red, white & blue foods, and the patriotic USA vibe.  I found this cute outfit for Olive so she's ready to party.

 

 4. We got to go to a fun baby shower for my bestie.  Not many kids were invited but Olive made the cut :)  It was her first shower and she was really well behaved - hallelujah!  Maybe she's already figured out that getting dressed up in a new dress is guaranteed to put a smile on your face!?!?!  We had a great time celebrating a new baby girl joining the friend circle.  Tune back in for a full shower recap including all of the special details.

 5. We had friends over for dinner several times this week.  I've never lived in the same building as good friends until this year and we have really enjoyed walking back and forth to each other's places for dinner.  Kevin picked the menu - homemade strawberry pie, Raspberry Lemonade, BBQ chicken, brown rice & greens.  We love to host friends so I'm hoping we'll do more of this when we settle into our home.

Finish This statements of the week...
I could spend all day...
blogging.
I enjoy reading blogs, writing for my blog and working on projects for my blog.
  
My primary and most essential goal in life...
to be a great wife and mother.  The kind of wife that is her husband's biggest fan and encourager.  The kind of mom who adores her chlid and spends her days creating wonderful memories with them.

You might be surprised to learn...
I have ZERO musical abilities!  I have a hard time clapping a beat, can't sing a note in tune and my lack of musical talents crosses over to no gifts in the dancing department.  I avoid most music/dancing related tasks but I do enjoy listening to music - just don't ask me to perform.

My most favorite place in the world is...
Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
I've been there a half a dozen times and it never gets old.  The scenery is beautiful, the town is enchanting and there is so much to do - national parks, dude ranches, mountains, wildlife, delicious food and basically the little perfect wild west town.  You need to go and visit if you have never been there.

I wish I had known sooner...
everyone says it's hard to lose the last bit of pregnancy weight and it's true.  It seems like the scale just wont budge.  I'm eager to get back into all of my pre-pregnancy clothes but it just hasn't happened yet.  Darn sweet tooth!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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Kale Bandwagon

I realize I'm kind of late to join the

KALE

bandwagon

but better late than never.

My husband came home with a bunch of kale and I'm not sure what to do with it.  I made a kale hash but would love to hear your favorite ways to eat kale.  Leave a comment with your favorite way to prepare it or a link to your best recipe for me.

Thanks in advance for expanding my kale repertoire. 

Hospital Bag Must Haves

I'm just now getting around to sharing my hospital bag must haves with you... a YEAR after my baby was born is better late than never - right??  I read so many lists before packing my hospital bags and think I've come up with the perfect list.  I'm an over packer and love knowing that I'm over prepared so my list reflects that.  Typically you'll stay 2-3 nights for a textbook delivery, but we all know that you can easily end up staying longer for a variety of reasons.  I stayed 4 nights because my baby was having issues maintaining her blood sugar so here are my must haves: 

Hospital Bag Must Haves by polkadottyplace featuring Vera Bradley

The hospital will provide you with mesh underware, pads, robes, blankets, pillows, meds, food and very basic toiletries.  That's technically everything you'll NEED, but I knew that I would be most comfortable with my favorite things.  I packed everything I would normally use in my daily routine.

FOR MOM:

1. comfy pjs, light robe, socks, yoga pants, sports and nursing bras, flip flops and slippers.

2. make-up, face wash, moisturizer, brush, flat iron and hair ties all organized in pouches to keep everything in your small room tidy.

3. cell phone, charger, extension cord (because the outlets are in odd locations)

4. fully charged camera, video camera, wallet & pen for paperwork

5. Bring your own pillow - a friend gave me this advice and it was a game changer!!  You'll be sitting a lot and the hospital pillows are pretty hard.  I know that I slept better and was more comfortable because I had my own pillow.

6. Snacks - you'll be starving after delivery and the hospital food won't quite cut it - granola bars, trail mix, mints, gum and candy.

7. Extra bags to carry home things the hospital gives you

FOR DAD:

*We lived close enough to the hospital that my husband went home to shower & check on the cats so he didn't pack much to bring to the hospital.

1. pajamas

2. his own pillow

3. phone, charger, tablet

4. change of clothes

5. snacks - trail mix, chex mix, chips, beef jerky and granola bars

FOR BABY:

*My hospital does a professional newborn photo shoot in your room if you are interested so I was thankful to have a pink swaddle blanket and headbands to choose from.

1. Going home outfit - not a dress because it'll be too hard to put them in their carseat

2. Headbands and hats

3. soft swaddle blankets

4. pacifier 

5. a few things to decorate the baby's bassinet - I had a bunting with Olive's name on it and the nurses all complimented her personalized bed.

6. car seat safely installed in your car - my hospital had us carry in her seat and then check to make sure she was buckled in correctly before discharging us.

I packed and DID NOT USE the following items: 

1. my boppy - hospital pillows worked just fine

2. over sized underwear - I just wore the hospital ones

3. video camera - I used my phone instead

4. magazines/reading material - I had no interest in light reading

5. outfits for the baby - my hospital wanted the baby to wear their clothes and use their blankets for easy access to her so I didn't get to dress her until we were about ready to go home.  I'd only bring a going home outfit with a few head accessories.

6. Journal / my planner

7. Lots of lotions for me and for the baby - the hospital will give you anything the baby needs and any creams you might need for breast feeding.  I just used hand lotion and was fine.

8. Only bring 2-3 pairs of pjs/comfy outfits and don't worry about bringing real clothes.

Anything else you'd recommend??

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Worth Reading

A few of my favorite articles for you to read:

I found out that I've been using bobby pins the wrong way for years

The Small Things Blog

The importance of listening earnestly to your young kids

The Vanilla Tulip

I'd love to try these cookie smore shortcuts

from Comfy in the Kitchen

Some GREAT tips on how to get BIG savings for BIG home purchases

I Heart Organizing

I smiled while reading this article

Portraits of Much Loved Childhood Teddy Bears

BrainPickings

Great tips for Packing LIGHT

(which is not my specialty)

The Pleated Poppy

Fascinating Way to Limited Screen Time

Narrow Back Slacker

I'm anxious to try out all of these summer lemonade recipes

I Put a Bird On It

One of the grilling recipes I'd like to try GRILLED CANTALOUPE

Elise Blaha

I'd love to learn the art of this stitch for scarves

The Purl Bee

Any great articles that I should read??

Leave a link to your favorite article below 

& I'll look forward to checking them out.

What WE Wore Wednesday

My outfit photos this week were perfect for a busy, travel filled week.  We spent time in Arkansas, Mississippi and Indiana and my outfits had to work for multiple functions throughout the day.  All of my shots are action shots and were very doable options for a busy mom.

1. A Quick Snapshot in our NEW Backyard

top - Limited

jeans - Wal-Mart (NEW)

flats - Payless

earrings - Francesca's

Olive is wearing a pineapple romper from Carters

2. Father's Day Breakfast

top - Limited

cardigan - Old Navy

necklace - vintage

jeans - Wal-Mart (NEW)

flats - Target

Olive is wearing an Osh Kosh outfit & headband from Hobby Lobby

 

3.  Family Dinner

chambray shirt - Limited (NEW)

top - Limited

gold chain - Talbots

jeans - Wal-Mart

flats - Target

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