It's personal!

One thing I have always loved is stationery. There is something so classic about a monogrammed or personalized piece. The norm today has become emailing or texting, but I still find myself taking the time to sit down, put pen to paper and let people know I'm thankful for their generosity or even that I was just thinking of them.

When Basic Invite reached out to me, I jumped at the chance to work with them. They offer everything from invitations to wedding websites. One thing I really loved was that I could customize my paper goods and see what it would look like instantly. The possibilities are ENDLESS...even down to the envelope color...over 40 colors to choose from! I went with a classic card of different colored pink brush strokes and my name at the bottom. I plan on using these as Thank You notes. I'm obsessed.

Right now, most people are getting their family pictures taken and getting ready to start choosing their online holiday cards. Basic Invite has over 500 different designs.You can get as fancy as you want with foil choices or keep it clean and classic with simple Christmas cards. Having a Christmas party? They've got your Christmas party invitations covered too and they. are. gorgeous. I live for a party and picking the right invite totally sets the theme and gets your guests so excited. If you are ahead of schedule (unlike me), you've already gotten your pictures taken and are ready to start designing your Christmas card. If so, you can use code 'holi30' to get 30% off your order. We send out a good bit each year so these codes are always so appreciated.

Now let me go get our photo shoot SCHEDULED so I can get my order in for our card this year.

Thank you to Basic Invite for sponsoring this post. 

Life Update!

Hi Friends! Hope everyone is doing well. I'm not even apologizing for the radio silence. It is what it is. HA! Thought I would share a little life update & just check in.

I traveled back to South Carolina for our National Sales Conference. It was awesome to see everyone and get back in the groove of work related stuff. You can start to feel like an island some days when you work from home and everyone else is in the office. I wouldn't trade it for anything but I LOVE to get to see my teammates, sales managers, and actually dress up in work clothes for a couple days.

I turned 31 a week later and my parents came to visit. I managed ZERO pictures of my birthday and ONE of my parents with Luke. We also kicked off college football that weekend too! I have GOT to get better about snapping. I take plenty of Luke...and that's it. HA! Oops.

Luke turned 6 months. I cannot believe it. We have started thinking about his first birthday because if the first six months went that quick, the second half is going to FLY. He is such a joy to be around and is the HAPPIEST baby. He can be a little high maintenance when it comes to feedings but overall, he is EASY. He also graduated physical therapy on September 14th so we are moving and shaking with getting this boy 100%. He gets his second DocBand this week. He grew out of his first super quick. Cranial Technologies has been nothing short of amazing with scheduling to helping with insurance. They are AWESOME.

I became a Beautycounter consultant this month. I had been pretty strict about what we were putting on Luke and what we were eating. Well, guess what, I wasn't thinking of myself or Brian. Beautycounter offers safer skincare, beauty, and kids' line. We love the baby wash, oil & balm. I am also loving the dew skin, this palette, & this lippy in 'Twig'...the PERFECT everyday neutral!

I am training for my third half marathon & still doing FASTer Way To Fat Loss. I seriously love it and have seen TREMENDOUS results. I feel better and am overall eating 1000x better. My coach Loren Mattingly is amazing too. If you are interested in joining, the next round starts 1 week from today! I promise, you can do it.

That about wraps it up for me. If you're still reading, bless you! HA. I'm off to Vegas tomorrow for customer visits. It's my first time there so I know I'm in for a fun {quick} trip. Happy Monday, y'all!

Loving & Hating

It's Hump Day! It's been a week already and Friday can't come soon enough. We're over here just trying to survive Luke finding his way to the corner of his crib every night and getting STUCK. So. Tired. This too shall pass. Just as quickly as he learns something new or we have a tough couple days, it turns around!

I haven't shared anything recently that I am loving so I thought I'd share some today & then on a funny/lighter note some things that are just not at the top of my list.

LOVING

Beauty

Urban Decay Liner + Lipstick in 'Gubby'. It has a metallicized look & I just love it. I have been pairing both with this Buxom lip cream. It tingles a little bit which I like. This combo looks so pretty with a tan...high shine but still a nude lip.

Becca Soft Light Blur Powder. This is so light and perfect to put over your CC cream or foundation just to smooth everything right on out.

Benefit Roller Lash. I have sworn up and down how I hate those little spikey mascara wands. But, Benefit proved me wrong. I bought a small version of this just to try. It is SO good. It curls, lifts, lengthens and doesn't flake! Makes these tired momma eyes look a little bit more awake.

Shows

Is anyone watching "Very Cavallari?" I remember watching The Hills & Laguna Beach in college and thinking how much I disliked Kristin. Anyone else? She was the mean party girl and she just wasn't cutting it for me. I now follow her on Insta and love her cooking stories. Everything she makes looks SO good. She also has her jewelry line, Uncommon James and she has a shoe line?! Girl is killing it. 

Netflix -- "Anne with an E." I so love this show. It is based off Anne of Green Gables. She is the sweetest and her vocabulary kills me. If you watch, you know. I have also half watched "Better Call Saul." B LOVES it and has been binging it when Luke goes down at night. It's pretty good and ties right back into Breaking Bad. If you haven't watched Breaking Bad...GO! It was so good and so intense and we were obsessed. 

Upcoming Trips

I have a work trip coming up at the end of August. I am super excited to get back to the office for a few days and see my teammates along with my sales guys. 

Also, we have a girls' trip booked for the first weekend of November for Siesta Key! Who's been? Any good rec's on restaurants, bars, things we must do? We are all excited to escape and lay on the beach!

source

Miscellaneous

COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!! We have a projector room in the new house so I know all the games will be going down there. With all the treats and beverages! Go Gamecocks!

HATING

#PPHL aka POST PARTUM HAIR LOSS. Y'all, it's EVERYWHERE. When does it stop?! MAKE IT STOP. I have to vacuum so dang much. Brushing my hair, washing my hair, blowdrying....it's flying everywhere. LOL.

There is not enough time in the day... really! Working, Momming, Cleaning, Cooking, phew! I'm grateful for the life I have but man, I just can't get it all done. Once one thing is done, I move on to the next the next day. Some days there's piles of laundry, other days piles of my hair. What can I say? REAL TALK. 

100 degree temperatures....all week. Along with my first electric bill for the new house. YIKES!

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday. Leave me some of your recent loves or things that are just irritating to no end. HA! 

Life Update - Home Buying, Luke, & the #NSALE

Hi friends! It's been a bit since I've written here. Life has been quite the whirlwind. I figured I'd update y'all on everything happening these days. We have been busy busy busy and had our both sets of parents in town in town one time or another.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!
That's right. No more apartment life. We moved about 30-40 minutes north of Austin to a cute little suburb. We love it because there is a lot less traffic, more ROOM to spread out, and just a change of scenery. It's so funny. When people found out we bought a house, they all said "So it's permanent huh?" Not really. Brian's job is here right now; but we both agreed, if they called him tomorrow to come back east, we would put the house on the market in a skinny minute. Nothing is ever really permanent. We love the house, but we definitely would love being closer to home more.

LUKE
He is growing like a weed y'all. He turned 4 months this past Monday. He is so happy and smiley. I can't get enough of him. He learned to roll to his belly 2 days before he turned 4 months old. Cue the freak out when I woke up and saw him on the monitor. But, it's just great because it means he is growing and learning to do all the things. We have also spent a lot of our Saturdays at the pool. He is so calm there and naps like a champ (AT THE POOL) when it's time. It gives Mom & Daddy a bit of downtime to enjoy adult talk....and beverages.

Bathing Suit, Amazon | Sunglasses, Quay Australia (ON SALE for HALF OFF!!) | Hat, Local Find

Luke's Rash Guard, Target | Luke's Swim Shorts, Target | 

Luke's Hat, i Play | Sunglasses, Target (similar)

We have also been in PT since a little bit past his 2 month birthday/doctor's appointment. He was diagnosed with Torticollis at his 2 month appointment. That was causing Plagiocephaly. He is doing GREAT with fixing his torticollis, and he will be getting a DocBand next week to help round out his head shape. And can we all say AMEN that insurance is taking care of it 100%?!

EXERCISE
I totally understand since having Luke just how tough it is to get back into the swing of things when it comes to exercising regularly. Between work schedules/feedings/all the things, it is TOUGH. When we moved, it became even tougher. My beloved CG (Camp Gladiator) was not really working out anymore as far as times of classes. I cancelled that, MUCH to my dismay. I really needed a 4:30am class to swing it. I didn't want to take time away from Brian and I in the evenings by going to a class. I started FASTer Way to Fat Loss which has been so eye opening. It pairs exercising with eating WHOLE foods, carb cycling, and the most important FASTING. Let me tell you something, nothing tastes as good as healthy food AFTER you have been fasting. And, you get to eat {healthy} carbs so there ya go. I will post more on that as I am only in the first official week. My main reasoning behind this was to get me eating better. As a mom, I found myself scrounging. Eating crackers here. Grabbing a cookie there. Not really focusing on what I was eating -- just putting something in my mouth because I was hungry. It has really helped me plan out my meals to hit those good macros.

WORK
Back to work has been good. I have a sales conference at the end of August. I am looking forward to it because it's always nice to really interact with other people when you work from home. It can definitely get lonely. I am thankful I can work from home, but it's always nice to get back to see my colleagues and be in an office setting.

Lastly, here are a few items I picked up from the #NSale. I didn't blow it out of the water but picked up some staples. What did you find? Are you shopping it?

It's good to be back. I really really really am going to try and do my very best to start being more consistent here. Y'all hold me accountable! What do you want to hear?!