Minted Review & Giveaway

Everyone knows how much I love invitations. I usually try to design them myself, but the designer of me honestly, truly appreciates those sites that go "outside-of-the-box" in terms of what they offer. I am not a cookie cutter person, and I try to go the different route myself.

Before I was even approached by Minted to do a review of their products, I could  honestly say they are the FIRST place I have ever gone when I have purchased them. I love how they feature and use designer designs and trends.

As you know, I stationery and invitation background myself, so I truly appreciate what they do and you will see beautiful designs there you will NOT see anywhere else!

And not only are the designs muy prec, they are a wonderful opportunity to just go and look around and get party and shower theme ideas. They have EVERYTHING: Wedding, Baby Shower, Birth Announcements, Stationery, Party Invites, Holiday Cards, etc. The possibilities are endless! And you have a chance to win $50! Details below :)

A super cute and unique baby announcements. They can be found here.

A baby shower invite! How cute would this be to do around a whole nautical/preppy theme? So cute! Can be found here!

Birthday party invite around a circus theme. Can be found here.



Or just use a precious picture if you aren't doing a theme.



And finally, barn/petting zoo themes are all the rage around here, so I couldn't resist this cutie.


Now, do you have a special event coming up? Minted is giving away our readers $50 towards any order of their choosing. To enter, just leave a comment below telling us what you would you use $50 on!

 Good Luck!!

Kitchen - Before and After

I have decided it might be time to post some before and afters of our house renovation. It was so fun to do the planning and design. We have never done anything like this before, and while WAY stressful, it actually turned out pretty good. 

The kitchen, like most of the house, we weren't planning to completely gut, but after getting in there, our contractor decided that was best.(yup, yeesh)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

I love the brick backsplash. It seemed no one could figure out how to do it, but I couldn't NOT do it after I set my mind on it - and I love it. 

What all we did: New floors, new cabinets, removed soffets, knocked a wall down..etc, etc, etc. Whew, lol.
My favorite parts are the sink, the light above the sink, the island (its called weathered granite, and the texture is awesome) and of course, the brick backsplash :)

3rd Birthday Questionnaire

I did this last year at 2, and decided to capture it on video this year! They are so funny :)


After all, it's never to early to learn what YOU think of your child's favorite things versus what THEY really think is their favorites, no?

Well, fine then. And, also my phone stopped recording. Lol. Good timing! They are a mess!!!

2012 - A year in the life of the Fabulous Baby Striblings

I did this last year, and even though it's OH, MARCH - I really did like how it recapped our year. So, here we go!

JANUARY

The biggest event was our super-awesome Mickey and Minnie themed 2nd birthday party!! We had a teeny snow day, started potty training Jules, and it was bad, did a birthday questionaire, and had our 2 year dr appt. 

FEBRUARY

The babes had their first sleepover at Gramas house, we conquered potty training, did an About me post, made our yearly trip to see my sister sing in a fab 80's band, got our 2 year portraits done, thought the babes were super funny, and Josh fell in love with trains.

MARCH

We had a much needed date night, started our what might be weekly trips to the zoo, died when my kids sing,  talked a little bit about my kids fashion, died again when Josh wore a bowtie, changed out their closet, talked poop (I'll never forget this), thought my babes were super smart (outside of the poop) and thought Pinterest could suck it. 

APRIL

I talked about how shy Jules was, saw the Brentwood firetrucks, did a Stella and Dot party, spent more time at the zoo,  and did some fun DIYs around the house.

MAY

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo, did some more zooing, talked alot about Josh, then Jules, then took a trip down memory lane on the blog. We went to their very first baseball game, and did a Baby Update!

JUNE

Went to the zoo (jeez), started PRESCHOOL!! whee! We went to a fun wedding, and Jake and I took a little trip to Atlanta to see the Yankees. They spent the night away again, and keep making me laugh.

JULY

I took some pics of the babes, took the kids to Cheekwood, realized I don't remember ANYTHING, cried when I saw this video, it rained and I realized how cute that could be. I went to traffic school, talked about their "Tacos", went to their first "LIVE" show, and went to the zoo again!

AUGUST

WE GOT A HOUSE!!! We also went to the fair and rode rides for the first time, and felt like a complete failure for the first time, started looking at house pictures like crazy, (we completely gutted it), did another episode of Our Favorite Things, and showed some random weekend pics.

SEPTEMBER

The babes went to a drive-though safari, I got a work award and took Jake to Disney World to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, wrote a letter to Josh, reviewed our Day Out with Thomas the Train, went to our VERY first movie, and took a look at our new house demolition!

OCTOBER

October is Heart Walk month, found the BEST post ever about parenting, blinked and my babes have grown up, made an Ode to our old kitchen post, and wished the hubs an awesome 10-year anniversary.

NOVEMBER

We moved upstairs to our still-unfinished house (oh vey), had a pathetic Halloween from a hotel, posted the Good Morning America video, and got their school pictures back!!

DECEMBER

We went to Fantasy of Trees in Knoxville, and put up the Kid tree. I compared mantels, took a walk down memory lane with Santa Visits, met Santa here, here , here and here. Our elf returned! We went to an outdoor Dickens festival and took some crazy cute pictures, and then showed off this years Christmas Card!! I made some teacher gifts, and did our yearly trip to Opryland Hotel. We made cookies, and had an awesome Christmas here and here. 

All in all, it was a super fun year. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with us and keeps coming back to read about us!

The Weekly Project 27 - Little Peanut

Because I was so camera happy today, Jules gets her own post too on Weekly Project this time. So, two Weekly projects :)

Her hair is either a complete mess or the most beautiful head of hair you have ever seen. 

Dear Jules, 

My spunky, hilarious, beautiful little girl. You are headstrong, brilliant and so funny. I don't  know what is is lately but you have jumped head first into a princess phase. I was more of a tomboy growing up, so not sure what has caused this. You ask to wear your little purple Crewcuts dress with tulle every day. "Mom, can I wear my purple tutu today"? We signed Josh up for Baseball lessons, and when I asked you what you wanted to take you said, "Um, I want to take princess lessons". (what? was thinking dance??) Not sure where I'm going to find those around here. Me: "Jules, are you a princess?" You: "Not yet." Let's hope the royal family has a son. Other than that, I'm not sure I can fullfill your wishes little one. 

You are by all stretches, the perfect child. You mind, you are a people pleaser, and you cannot stand to get in trouble. If you for one second think you are about to get in trouble (spill your milk, etc) you immediately burst into tears and punish yourself. If only we can get this nap/bedtime thing squared away we'd be golden. As..you still love to stall and sing about a million songs before you fall asleep :)

You are your mommy's girl through and through. My twin, and my little love.

Love, 

Mommy. 

The Weekly Project 26 - My Son, the model

Okay, so here's the deal when you own a DSLR. I sadly have not picked in up unless there has been some major event (Birthday, Christmas, etc) After posting one of my New Year's Resolutions, I have tried to get out my DSLR more. And let's just say, Katie Bar the Door. I have snapped a ton lately, and I have needed to. It's about time to step up this camera thing and actually learn how to use it properly (it's only been 3 years, lol)

So, once I get it out, its crazy. And who better to practice on then my own little models??

I haven't done a Weekly Project in a while because I haven't been taking a ton of pictures that aren't with my iphone. so expect some picture heavy posts in the future :)

Couldn't you see this in a print ad somewhere? Hello- any agents out there?

Beautiful - seriously. 

Dear Little Buddy, 

Boy three had been tough for you! What used to be my little sweet, snuggly little cuddle bunny has tuned into a very rambunctious little boy! You are into everything, like to whine, argue, throw fits, etc. Everything that was supposed to happen at two that you just skipped right past. While those don't happen often (thank goodness), they do pop up from time to time. And thats okay. I was expecting it. Everyone says you are just like your daddy and he was apparently just as wild and even worse so I hear. We still have our moments, and you still love to hug and give kisses, but I have to accept the fact that you are growing up and are ready to explore, explore, explore. 

You are just the smartest little guy with an elephant of a memory. It kills me what you remember. Today even we just drove by The Puffy Muffin,a restaurant, just to see what the wait time was. And you called out, "Hey Mom, remember when we went to that street festival? We haven't done that in a long time!!". Josh - we went and ate at The Puffy Muffin one time. It was after going to the Brentwood Street Festival back in September - 6 months ago. How you remember that I have NO IDEA. And you know your grocery stores! You know Publix, Trader Joes, Harris Teeter, and Kroger. You can drive by them and call each of them out. At our Easter event we went to today, they gave you free packs of crayons. At the top there was a tiny Publix logo (I didnt even notice) and you said, "Hey Mom, these are Publix crayons!". It is crazy!!

Keep growing up buddy. But just try and grow a little slower, m-kay?

Love, 

Mommy

Steppin Out - Southeast Easter Event

Jake is out of town - he is in Las Vegas for some March Madness fun. (yes, such a stressful thing, no)

So, this time my sister, Ginny (Gigi) came to help me out with the kids. For some reason when fun Aunt Gigi comes in town, it has to be 100% fun, 100% of the time. So, so far our weekend has been action packed. This morning, Ginny found some outdoor event called the Southeast Easter Event. It was an free outdoor Easter event with an egg hunt, characters, bounce houses, etc. I had never heard of it, but we decided to give it a try.

It wasn't so great, but the kids had fun. It was cold, and we parked a gazillion miles away, and it was packed. Oh well. We didn't stay long. We did some bouncing, and got a balloon and met Dora, which was a major highlight of their short lives so far.

On Jules: Pants: Ralph Lauren//Shirt (cant see) Matilda Jane//Shoes: Squeakers//Jacket: TCP
On Josh: ACDC Tshirt: thrifted//Button down: Target//Jacket://Jcrew//Jeans: Gymboree//Shoes: Polo

On Moi: Shirt: F21//Cardigan:Ann Taylor//Jeans: JCrew Matchstick