30 days away!

I can't believe there are 30 days left. That's it. 30 days! The nursery is totally done and I am so pleased with it. Since it's finally done I can post about all the work. I painted the room dove gray, outlined a 6 inch stripe, and painted that a green. For the life of me I can't remember the green paint color. I saw an adorable whale wallpaper pattern online but the cost was outrageous. My wallpaper skills aren't that great so I didn't want to make a costly mistake. After months of searching I found a similar decal online. Sadly they only came in 2*3's so I had to configure things a bit. I thought I would decal the one wall behind the crib, but only the portion above the green stripe. With that decision I ordered eight decals.

Herein lies problem number two. There is this weird soffit thing in the room making the wall surface bulge out a bit. Any attempt to decal or wallpaper that would be torture. I decided to make do and found a shelf that took up eleven of the fourteen inches this thing was interfering with. The shelf is from Ikea with several shelves on it, which is perfect since there isn't a closet. I actually purchased another shelf but its too wide so it didn't make the cut.

I found whale book slings from etsy to make use of the floor space since the room is so tiny. The slings are up and the books are in it. I finally made a decision on the glider and I am so excited to rock baby boy in it. We got a babyletto upholstered rocker and it's so pretty. Better yet, I plan to move it to the living room once baby is old enough and needs more space.

Matt put together the crib and dresser. Other than hanging some adorable Chinese lanterns that my mom made from my shower and a whale mobile over the dresser, the room is done. Baby Liam you can come now!

Just a quick maternity pic post

We did them at 28 weeks and I am in love. Seriously how do I not order so many? I mean I went crazy with the wedding ones, so eventually I will have to resort to the old gallery wall on the stair case. I started one with wedding pics. Sigh, still need a few with new frames. Anyway, Erin from Erin Dietrich Photography in South Carolina did them. How on earth did I find her...long story but she is from Goshen, Ny so it worked out perfect.

We did them at Krista's parents farm. Old school farm pics in the winter. They were incredible. My plan is to take the four canvas prints in the living room from the wedding and then add two from the maternity session. I can't post belly pics all over the house that would be weird. Oh and the chevrons are no more. We went stripes in gray and white, but more on that later. Then I plan on ordering four 8*10's and making a square in the baby's room and one canvas to sit in the shelf opposite the square. Matt was such a good sport about it I can't believe it. He was amazing.
I ended up getting my hair and make up done that day. I am so glad I did. I felt pretty. I can't believe I never thought of that for our engagement pics. Oh well, these are totally awesome. I can't wait to order and hang prints. Here is a sneak peak at the pics.

Wow 30 weeks today! 10 to go : )

November was so busy. I can't believe I am in third tri and there are only ten weeks to go. Obviously, I want to make it full time and I'm still comfortable but I can.not.wait! Seriously I wish I could snap my fingers and have a baby here. We had two showers in November. One was thrown by my mother in law and the other by my mother. The first was in jersey and my mom made the trip with me since Matt had to work. Mil did a tea theme complete with scones and tea sandwiches. She also gave me Matt's grandmother's vintage tea cup. It's so pretty but I am terrified of breaking it. It will likely sit high up on the shelf. We got a ton of great stuff from the shower and it was so nice to share it with Matt's side of the family. Sadly I was caught up in the moment and didn't get to take pics. My SIL took some, so I'm hoping she will send them soon.

The next shower was thrown by my mom. We had it at the Erie and the food was amazing. They really out did themselves with a brunch style menu and mimosa fountain. Mom did a story book theme. We have so many books to read to Liam I can't wait. She used adorable bed linens as table cloths, topped the table with a pillow, and made centerpieces balloons, stuffed animals, and paper lanterns made from books. The cake was the same baker we have been using for the past couple of months. It was her best one yet. So yummy. Mom also made cupcakes and used cotton candy to represent thing one and two hair. Matt was able to come to this one. I was surprised but giddy that he wanted to be there. Shocked me. We got so much stuff, honestly there isn't much more we need. Both sets of grandparents helped with the nursery. Matt's parents bought the dresser and mine bought the crib. We are so lucky and so is Liam. I am thrilled and so thankful my college roommates were able to make the trip! My good friend Jessica from second grade attended. Her mom made an adorable quilt for the baby. My BF Melissa, friends, family and favorite cousin. The only person missing was my sister. Sadly our grandfather passed away the week before, so Ash came home to attend services. I wish she could have been there but I'm glad she was there for grandpa's funeral and I actually got to spend more time with her under those circumstances.

24 weeks viability!

I haven't done a chalk board pic since 20 weeks. Slacking! I can't believe how quick this is going, but the last 3 weeks seem to be dragging. I feel good and still no complaints.

I ran through my first trimester but only sporadic in the second. Not because I didn't feel well, but because I was tired, busy, lazy, yada yada. I'm up 10lb so far. I need to get going again. Hoping to run until 30 weeks and then switch to the elliptical. My only complaint with running so far is my boobs. They are big and in the way. I hold my hand on the top of my stomach when I run to keep those suckers from bouncing too hard. My speed has slowed and that's hard to watch. Mostly walking with a few minutes of running here and there. I try for 5 and 6 minutes at a clip and then walk for a few. So today I decided to pick up where I left off. 30 minutes on the treadmill 2.2 miles. Hope to get another 2 in tomorrow and 10 for the week. Ahh, it's baby steps but adds up. So here are two pics. One is from the beginning of Oct, right around week 18 and 20. The second is from today 24 weeks. I felt so stuffed today, the side view pic shows it.

My first destination wedding!

My friend bridge got married in Daytona beach this past weekend. Since we could only afford the trip if we didn't go as a couple, my other college roommate Amanda and I made it a girl trip. Amanda's mother is bridge's aunt and she joined us too. This was my first ever destination wedding.

We boarded the plane out of Newark and headed south. Once in Fl we rented a sweet mustang convertible. After that it was off to find the hotel and a place to eat. We were all pretty beat, so we didn't last long that night. Dinner was at a place called down the hatch. The food was good and the atmosphere was even better. We sat on a Pier, listened to a band, and had dinner.

Saturday was the wedding. After goofing of that afternoon we headed to the beach for the ceremony. It was beautiful and perfect. Dinner was held at the Chart house, in Daytona Beach at a marina. The food was excellent! I'm so excited for Bridgette and her groom.

30 blows!

30 blows was the theme for my husband's 30th birthday party. I found some inspiration via Pinterest and went to town. Originally I wanted to do a southern BBQ food menu with a pig roast, some bails of hay for seating, and adorable food markers. Well things changed quickly and I decided to have a food truck. How awesome right??

We kept the menu BBQ theme. The party started with apps. I made bacon, apple, onion custinis, which I saw on Rachel Ray. I made the mistake of cooking it in a crock pot, which in turn, made it less crispy for the toast, but the toast off set it. Kind of like a bruschetta. I made a buffalo chicken dip, always a super delicious no fail. And we also served veggies, dip, crackers, and cheese.

On to the food truck menu. Plan b-stro did the catering. They pulled into our driveway and set up shop. The food was amazing. They served pulled pork sliders or buffalo chicken fried chicken, with sides of Asian coleslaw, horseradish potatoes, and baked beans. I am so thankful for my genius idea. Honestly though, when we were wedding planning a knottie bride had one at her rehearsal dinner and I thought fab idea. Magically a year later two food trucks came to town in port. Seriously we never had one and now we have two. Had they not come to town I would have been cooking. Ha.

So dessert. I thought since we were doing BBQ why not have a pig blowing out a candle on an apple. Except I do not bake. Also I found adorable pig faced cake pops but w everything going on didn't have the time to give that a whirl. We hired the woman who did the bee cake last week for the pig cake. She did an amazing job. It was red velvet with buttercream and fondant. I had a Wife fail and forgot to buy candles. But we had sparklers, left over from the wedding. I stuck a sparkler in the pig and we sang happy birthday.

Decor: so back to the theme. I made centerpiece a with blow pops and cut a piece of card stock w the cricket that read 30 blows. Then I made a 30 blows banner. I had a hard time running a theme through it, but they got the idea. It's not like you can go BSC for a 30 year old guy the way you can for a child's party so mom brought balloons for something extra. The best part of the party was the food truck. I tried to keep it a secret from Matt, but ya know I couldn't contain myself and told him anyway.

Married one year

Ya know, I thought I had this all typed out and just had to had pics...nope I was wrong. So now I kind of feel like a bad wife. But without further delay, lets talk our first anniversary. We had two, well three, dates to celebrate our anniversary. I mean, who doesn't like to celebrate multiple times. Kind of like the birthday week concept. Anyway we went to the Melting Pot in Hoboken, which was my date to him. Neither one of us had been there and it was a treat. So we ordered a cheese fondue appetizer and with that they gave fruit, crackers, and bread for dipping. Need I say more?? Dinner was several different meats in a Merlot wine and Dessert...Dessert was honestly the best part and I'm not typically a dessert person . We had a sample of rice crispy,  fruit, cheese cake, yummy marshmallows covered in graham cracker crust and I should have wrote this sooner, because there was plenty of deliciousness but I'm forgetting. After dinner we walked off some, yea right, and looked at the city from the Jersey side.

On to date number two. Matt found this adorable restaurant in the town of Goshen, but apparently the town of Goshen is closed on Monday night, so he found another restaurant, even more adorable. We ended up at II Tosero. A small Italian family run place right in town. The food was amazing. Matt had chicken parm, like there is another option, and I had pasta with....god I can't remember. Lets blame my memory loss on being pregnant. Anyway what I do remember the food was phenomenal and the waiter was super kind. He couldn't have been much older than 16, that kid new his menu and his food. He even brought us out salads because the dinner was going to take longer than expected. Not that either one of us noticed or were in a hurry. Well babe, thanks for the date and for missing Monday night football. I do remember we went on a Monday. Thanks to shift work, its highly unlikely that we will ever celebrate anything on the actual day.

And finally date number three. Surprise Surprise we had dinner again.  This time at Friday's on Matt's parents. I think we were super busy running around Middletown and decided to do dinner out. Fridays was like any other, but I thought it was funny that Matt wanted to order a beer. He got carded but didn't have his wallet. Apparently Eli enjoys leather and decided to munch on it after taking it off the counter. Sorry love, you didn't get a beer. But you did get a new wallet after what 15 years?? We could have worked a scheme if we thought ahead of time and I could have ordered your drink. Despite turning 30 this year, they still carded you. xoxo

The great thing about celebrating our anniversary this year was that we did it three times. Most of the time we don't get to eat dinner together or even have the same days off. So to do it three times for a special event was priceless. Next year we are taking a vacation! 

Up next: Matt's 30 blows birthday party. Which we already had but I am playing catch up. I'd like to pat myself on the back for my menu. My plan was to keep it a surprise but I suck at that. More to come, hopefully before November!