My Most Loyal Companion

Sometimes I feel coffee is the only one on my side.

If I Was Cool

I'd have a great blog for you all tonight. 

But I am exhausted from this past weekend. We were not home except to sleep. FOR REALZ. 

It rained today and I wanted to run and jump in puddles in my new boots. 

But. I didn't. I did laundry and dishes and changed diaper and diaper and diaper. 

fed four mouths 3 meals and tried to eat and pee for myself in between. 

Now it's 9pm and all I want to do is crawl in bed until next week...or tomorrow morning. 

To cheer myself up here's a few pictures from Pinterest that make me happy. 

Snow Days Snow Days

Really, I think we are all kind of over the snow for now. I admit, it was fun for the first two days. We ate hot soup, had fun with our new coffee maker (I bought it just in time!) We built fire after fire and watched movies and played dress up with Emery. I loved Benji being stuck with us but once he went back to work I was ready to see some green grass!

I've been too nervous to get my little car out with Emery. We've been out once (since Sunday) with Benji in his 4 wheel drive, today is THURSDAY and I'm thinking of braving the streets and leaving our "cabin" today.

Emery spent a few days out in the cold, she tried sledding with Benji and some of our friends but she wasn't too fond of it, maybe next year!

The last year we were in Louisville we got 16 inches so we've seen more but 6 inches is a lot of snow for South Carolina, maybe the most we will ever see. We are so un prepared for snow here in S.C that when we moved here I got rid of most of our heavy gloves, jackets and even our sleds. Emery had no gloves to wear in the snow (we had some that fit her when she was one) so I put some of my leather gloves on her to play. She was so hilarious in them! They made her hands look huge. Look at the picture of her standing in the road by herself and it looks like her hand is as big as her head. :)

I braved the cold one day with Benji and Emery but I stayed mostly on the porch because I was afraid I'd slip and fall....which would be not a great thing to do at 34 weeks.

Sun is out today so maybe we are on the way to clear roads!

This Man and This Week

I think this may be my new favorite picture of Benji. It shows perfectly how compassionate and kind he is.

How patient.

How loving.

How nurturing.

I love, love, love him.

I could not do this whole life thing without him.

This week has been hard. I'm physically and emotionally drained from the holidays. I'm anxious and nervous about all things baby. I'm still feeling nauseous every day, still feeling all the usual pregnancy aches. My hormones are ALL OVER the place. I almost cried in Publix yesterday...for no reason...none at all, I was just holding back tears the entire time I was shopping.

And on top of all that we decided to move Emery into her new room and new bed this week.

It's not going so well. The first night went okay, but it has gotten progressively worse as the week went on. Neither one of us has slept much at night since Wednesday. I thankfully have gotten in a few naps, there's no way I would have made it without them.

6 weeks before a baby comes is a stressful time any way and to add to it no sleep and holidays was a real doozie!

We did get new couches though! Fun! I love them. We've had the same light colored couches for 10 years. They've seen there share of chocolate, juice, milk, who knows what else since Emery, haha, so it was time to upgrade.

I also went out and bought one of these today! Totally an impulse buy. But I was sleep deprived, in Target at 9am...and had some Christmas money in my pocket..So I went for it and I'm not sorry!

I'm in LOVE! Keurig coffee maker is sent from heaven. It's a busy mom's dream. Most importantly the coffee is steaming hot when it comes out...and it's done in like a second!

No grinding beans, no luke warm temperature, no cleaning and setting up BEFORE you have to make it.... They just got one in Benji's office and he came home one day talking about how hot and fast it made a cup of coffee. Well that's all he had to say...

I also am really enjoying my Kindle. A total surprise Christmas gift from my Mom, I didn't think I would ever want one but I love it. The only bad thing about the Kindle is that it has introduced Amazon.com to me and now I can't stay off that site to save my life. I mean you can find ANYthing on there.

I found (and ordered haha) this body cream that Benji's mom bought me a few years ago for a gift. It came from this local shop in Gainesville that closed a short time after. I've always looked for it in random shops because it is imported from Italy and kind of a special item. I could not for the life of me remember what it was called but I knew I'd recognize the label and packaging. Well I did some searching and I totally found it! It is the Olive Oil Body Butter by Mediterranean Spa. Holla!

Actually today was a better day than I was anticipating. I slept maybe 4 hours last night, Benji slept probably less. He had to be somewhere for his job at 8am and so I was up at 730 with Emery... we ended up having a pretty mellow day though! I'm thankful that I have him to sympathize with and to fight this 2 year old sleeping issue battle with!

We are hoping for a better night tonight....

An Old New Friend

I worked at Starbucks for ages. I liked these okay, but never really thought much of them. But recently I've started to LOVE them. They are the perfect size, perfect amount of sweet.

Petite Vanilla Bean Scones

PDub lives in the middle of nowhere, unlike me who lives less than a mile from my neighborhood bux. But I'm trying to save money. And pregnant. These two things do not go well together when I'm wanting to eat these twice a day.... So I want to make these at home. I'm gonna try her recipe soon.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I really want an espresso machine. I've wanted one for awhile. But they are just so stinkin expensive! To get a good one, one worth the coffee, you have to pay a pretty high price.

But I'm starting to think about it alot. Trying to figure out how I'll get one someday.

If anyone has a good one they want to give me that'd be great.

20 Things

I've been inspired by other bloggers to share a few of my favorite things.

"20 things I can't live without!" (Which of course is an exaggeration, haha) so maybe I'll call it, "20 things I really really like at the moment" :)

1. My Boo

She is my entertainment, my job, my constant companion, my giggle partner...my everything. We've only been together for two years (and nine months of being in the oven) but I couldn't imagine my life with out her.

2. Reality T.V. Have you seen those real housewives? Those biggest losers? The Hills??? Any show on Bravo! All of it. I can't get enough.

3. Coffee
Everyone knows this. I bleed coffee.

4. Internet I mean don't all our friends live in the computer? AND NOW... Now since we have Skype, that just adds a whole new level of love....

5. Good sheets You never know how important good sheets are until you sleep on bad ones. I am always searching for the perfect sheets and will spend any amount to get the perfect set.

6. Sparkling Water
Trying to kick a Diet Coke habit is as impossible as kicking a crack habit. Sparkling water with lemon helps though.

7. Downtowns Moving back to Greenville was a dream come true for us. We love downtown areas and Greenville has one of the BEST in the country.

8. Summertime I'm a summer girl at heart. I feel better, look better, eat better, sleep better in the Summer.

9. RedBox I feel sorry for Blockbuster since the introduction of Redbox. But not sorry enough to go back.

10. Books Everyone knows this too. I did commit to myself that I would not buy books anymore and use the library instead. I've stuck to that for the most part. (Costco, which almost made this list makes my book buying addiction raise it's ugly head occasionally though).

11. Kombucha Learn more about it here! 'Hint' it's a health food thing.

12. Dogs


Vance has been my side kick for eight years. He is now Emery's closest friend. It doesn't get any better than a dog.

13. Garden One of my favorite parts of summer! Growing my own veggies.

14. Bath time For Emery and for me! I love to hear Emery laughing when Benji bathes her. I love to have alone time, and it seems to be only found when I'm in the bathtub.

15. YMCA Technically not alone time since I workout with a friend, but my time at the Y makes me stronger, and it has become one of my favorite things to do for myself, for my health.

16. Blogs My favorite of the moment is La Dolce Vita(you can find it in my blog roll)What did we do before blogs existed?

17. Keen's

half tennis shoe, half sandal. perfect really.

18. Tank Tops Have you seen me lately? If you have chances are I had on one of these. It's a habit I formed when I was pregnant with Emery. Old Navy makes the best, they are cheap and long enough for me.

19. Jeans Hello, does this need an explanation?

20. Strawberries Finally, numero 20...possibly the most perfect fruit ever.

Joke Of The Day

How many McDonald's employees does it take to load a gift card????????

Well. I don't know because I have rarely had it actually completed on the first try.

My mama loves McDonald's coffee. So a gift card for her coffee is something I like to give her for various gift giving holidays....

Any way. I'm not dissing on the "idea" of working in food service. Heck, waiting tables and slinging coffee got me through college, four years of seminary and nine months of pregnancy. I'm no stranger to the food service industry.

Which is why I know it is NOT THAT HARD to load a stinkin gift card.

Seriously.

I have probably purchased 8-12 Mickey D's gift cards for my moms coffee....and every single time. It takes at least 10 minutes and no less than three employees and a shift manager to figure out how to sell it too me.

A few times, I've even been denied the purchase after they've exhausted all their intelligence and given up on trying to figure out how to ring it up.....So I leave and try the next one down the road.

I guess maybe I should try and get my mama to switch to Starbucks???

On A Good Day

So today, yesterday and the day before, were good days.

You know what I'm talking about. Well, if you're a mom you do.

Some days are just better than others. Today I've caught myself thinking, "man, I love__________".

More than once in fact today I've thought that. So I figured why not take advantage of my overtly sunshiny disposition and list my loves!

Things I Love Today:

1. Emery: She finally feels better, which means she is in a better mood/and sleeping/napping better and this makes her so much easier to love.

2. Zumba: If you don't know what it is google it. I. Love. it.

3. Coffee: Today I would have married it if I could have.

4. The Lovely Bones: The book, I'm reading. I can't get enough.

5. Sleeping 10 hours: Like I did last night. (See #1.) When Emery sleeps better I sleep better.

6. Peanut butter: (See #2) I've upped my workout schedule to 5 days a week. I need/want/ have to have more protein. Yay for peanut butter.

7. Benji: He did all the laundry yesterday. And put it away. And let me sleep in (see #5).

8. Netflix...again, if you don't know. google.

9. 2010: The promise and freshness of a new year.

10. Nick Jr....makes it possible for me to go to the bathroom ALONE.

LOVE TO ALL!

52 Lbs, Gone, Just Like That

It is with great sadness that I announce I am down to my last pound of my partner markout coffee.

Many of you may know that Starbucks partners get a free pound of coffee EVERY week. You have to drink a lot of coffee to go through a lb a week.

I gave away many of my markouts over the four years I was at da bux.

But my last year of work I knew I would never get such opportunity again, so I began stock piling it. (Hoarding it whatever).

I also happened to be pregnant my last year at work, so I wasn't drinking much coffee, the occasional decaf, but I was so nauseous I mostly wanted nothing to do with coffee.

Well I managed to save around 60 bags of coffee. I gave some away, and kept some...today I opened up the last bag.

It is a sad, sad day. Not because I will never taste fresh ground Starbucks coffee again, oh no. But because now we will be out ten extra dollars a month, since I will now have to buy the beans.

I have officially graduated to the other side of the counter.

The Starbucks Experience

Our good friend Matt Carter took Emery's one year photos.....he also happens to be the son of the pastor of our church, the guy that hooked Benji up with his job while we were in college, and our realtor that helped us find our hizzous......thank you GOD for Matt Carter!

We started taking the photos outside, but it started pouring and ended up inside Starbucks, which I thought was fitting giving the fact that Emery was basically "grown" at Starbucks as I worked there up until the week she was born.

Enjoy the pics....these are just a few of the best...more later.

20 Favorite Things

Benji is in Ecuador and I miss him SOOOO much. This is really the first time he has been away this long.

Needless to say I have spent a few days in Gainesville with my mom. Which has been awesome. I swam, (aka laid out by the pool) every day....Ate way too much and had Starbucks every morning....

I'm spoiled rotten. I know. So what.

Any way. I've been driving back and forth to Gainesville a bunch this last week, so I've had some time to think.

Think of things that have changed my life.

You may think some are insignificant things really, but they have changed me for the better none the less.

*No significant order*

1. DVR
2. Crushed ice
3. Oscar Mayer, fully cooked bacon....I ain't kiddin people,have you tried it!?
4. The Twilight series
5. Baby Legs: leg warmers for baby
6. My garden
7. Reusable grocery bags
8. Bare Minerals Cosmetics
9. Sugar In The Raw
10. Emery Hart Ladd: EST 7.31.08
11. Ipod
12. Whole Foods
13. Benefit: Benetint
14. Burts Bees lip balm
15. Starbucks Pike's Place roast
16. My old/new friend at Brushy Creek: Jocelyn Kay
17. Splenda
18. Advil
19. YMCA
20. Trader Joe's Lavender Dryer Bags

It's the simple things in life really.....