snippets

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I'm fighting off some serious allergies right now. I basically slept all weekend and yesterday was a BEATING. I'm trying to recover but these blooming trees outside of my house aren't helping! Here are some snippets of what we've been up to...

We started off our weekend on Friday by getting to see this sweet, SWEET baby profile! I'll share more tomorrow during my 21 week bumpdate, but you should know he's the cutest baby in the womb. ;)

This is what my Friday nights are made of...touch up paint and Dr. Pepper!

There are days that I forget I'm pregnant but I was cooking dinner on Friday night and caught myself in the mirror...whoa, mama! Sorry it's blurry, but there's definitely a bump there. 

Like I said, this weekend was full of sleep. As in, I didn't get out of bed until way past 2pm on Saturday. Mark was AWESOME though. Instead of making me feel guilty for being lazy (thanks pregnancy but really ALLERGIES) he told me to get as much rest as I needed and then proceeded to take care of me, work on projects for the nursery, and make our yard look nice and pretty. He's the best!

Nursery sneak peek! Eeek! It's seriously already 80% done. Still waiting on bedding, some homemade shelves, and the 'mobile' to go over the crib. Kitty has claimed the crib as her new safe spot! 

(side note: I wouldn't usually allow her to do this, but both cats are actually going to live with some of my friends on a trial basis this weekend. They have a new apartment and are lonely without animals and we have enough fur to feed five thousand plus we want to bring in a new baby with as little chaos around as possible. It works for them and it works for us. So...I'm letting her live it up while she can!)

Dinner Saturday night with my man and this bump!

And then...this happened yesterday:

yeeeeeks! I got an embroidery machine!

The sewing machine gods have spoken again and on a whim, I found this embroidery/sewing machine for more than half price and it had only been used once. I've been wanting something that would embroider for a LONG time to expand my Etsy shop and here it is! Expect an influx of goodies over the next few months!

Of course, I had to try it out. I've never used one of these so I have LOTS of practice to get in. Love it so far!

I'll be back tomorrow for my usual bumpdate along with lots of fun info about how our boy is doing in there after his 20 week ultrasound. Have a great week, y'all!

how to earn money the easy way

I started this mini-series on how we save money and I’ve gotta say, I’m enjoying it but it's a huge undertaking! You have to put in a little work to earn money (much like a career) but it pays off. I LOVE finding deals and saving money and I love when people tip me off to their tricks too. My mom passed down her frugal ways and I can’t even imagine how much I’ve saved or earned over the past 28 years in existence.

Check out my previous posts on how we save at Target and how we save on groceries.

Today I want to talk how I EARN money. It’s no secret that Mark and I have steady jobs, but I like to make a little on the side as well. Aside from my Etsy shop where I get to exercise my creative muscles while making a few bucks, I use programs, apps, and tricks to save and earn money during my everyday life.

ebates

I’ve talked about Ebates before so I’ll keep it short. I’ve really enjoyed Ebates and all of my friends and family that use it have let me know that they enjoy it too! If you don’t know about it, go here and check it out. You get cash back by shopping online at your normal stores. Go sign up and then refer your friends to make extra money and qualify for giveaways! I signed up last fall and here’s an overview of how I’ve done so far:

I made a lot of that by doing 95% of my Christmas shopping online and referring friends. Just so you know, I’m super wary of scams but you guys, I’ve gotten this money straight to my paypal account and in check form and it’s legit! Check out these other articles on ebates if you don’t believe me:

what is ebates?

how to get paid to shop

My mom (who thinks Facebook gives her viruses and doesn’t buy anything from China) uses ebates and LOVES it!

Have I convinced you yet? Go sign up!!!

shopkick

Speaking of Facebook, I saw a ‘promoted post’ for this app on there a few weeks ago. Shopkick is an interesting app…you download it and turn your Blue tooth on and (supposedly) when you walk into stores, you get “kicks” just for going. You rack up kicks and can earn gift cards this way.

I want you guys to know that I’m super honest with everything I write on this blog and I’ve gotta say, I’m not all that impressed with Shopkick. It’s worked about 50% of the time and it’s pretty frustrating walking around a store just getting the app to recognize where you are. You can scan certain items for extra kicks and even though I scanned it and it recognized the item (2 out of 4 times), it still didn’t give me the kicks for being IN the store where the item was located.

Anyway, I’m going to continue to give it a try because obviously some people are successful with it. I do like that it gives me 'bonus' kicks every day just for opening the app, but the payouts aren't very much. I think it's one of those things that you just use FOREVER and kind of forget about and then one day you've racked up $100 or so. Does anyone out there use shopkick and like it? Please let me know your secrets!

If you want to check it out, go here.

chase bank

I’ve mentioned our banking before too, but I wanted to touch on it again. Whatever you do, if you are spending money, you should be earning money!!! Check your bank and see what kind of rewards they offer. If they don’t offer rewards, switch banks! We have used Chase bank forever. It’s nice because it’s a large bank that is in multiple locations. We started using the Chase Freedom card a couple of years ago and we use it for everything. We never carry a balance so that means we pay it off every month (and avoid those interest charges) but we are constantly earning points. You earn 1% cash back for every dollar you spend and every quarter there is a promotion. For example, during two quarters (3 months each) you can earn 5% cash back on gas. It’s so easy to rack up points on the items you’re buying everyday anyway. 1% might not sound like much, but if you can only use your credit card, it accrues quickly. We have “made” between $50 and $120 a month just in rewards. That’s a nice chunk of change! So go check out your bank’s options and start getting some of your money back!

Sign up right now and get a $100 bonus!!!

groupon

Groupon has been around for quite a while and it really gained steam about 8(ish) years ago, but since then I think it’s died down a bit. Recently, though, I’ve been on Groupon and I realized I had forgotten how great of a tool it could be! As long as you can plan ahead, you can save quite a bit on entertainment and all sorts of things. For example, Mark and I aren’t big movie-goers, but if we want to go to a movie, we always go to Groupon and buy our movie tickets there. We go to Studio Movie Grill which is just down the street and they charge $10 per adult ticket. Groupon offers the same tickets for $5 or $6 each and all we have to do is show the app on our phone at the counter! Check it out, you’ll be surprised at how many deals there are!

There is no way I could put a number on how much money we have saved and earned over the years, but I can tell you one thing, it has made a huge difference in how we live our lives! If you want extra money in your pocket, be sure to check out these easy ways to get it!

20 week bumpdate

Twenty weeks! TWENTY WEEKS, people! We are halfway and I can't even believe it. I feel like I've been pregnant forever, but I also feel like I have forever to go. I still haven't wrapped my head around the whole thing. The nursery is coming along quite well and the bump is hanging in there.

How far along?  20 weeks

Baby's size: a banana!

Total weight gain: 9 pounds. Eek! Sometimes I forget I'm pregnant because the bump changes by the hour but then I remember that I've put on 9 pounds. I BETTER be pregnant!

Maternity clothes? Yep. Pants, at least. I can still get away with non-maternity shirts and if I really wanted to, I could squeeze into some pants with the belly band, but why would I do that?? I'm still loving my ponte pants from this post!

Sleep: I'm not sleeping great this week. Lots of tossing and turning and waking up at 4am. I can always get back to sleep but every time I wake up I'm wide awake. Plus I wake up about every 4 hours with a runny nose and have to take more medicine. UGH.

Best moment this week: I came home the other day and Mark had bought me flowers and was putting together the crib. I usually have to ask him to do things (since they are technically on MY list) and I was so happy he was doing it himself, without me asking even once! It made me think he just might be excited to meet this little bean. :)

Worst Moment this week: I felt pretty crappy last night, hence the loungewear bump picture. Allergies and a weird tight/sore throat plus some achey legs got to me and I came home and tried to sleep it off. I'm hoping I feel better soon because I'm pretty sure there's nothing good about being sick while pregnant!

Miss Anything? I'm pretty sure sleeping on my stomach is going to be in this spot a lot over the next 20 weeks...

Cravings: Nothing really...My appetite is being weird again and nothing really sounds good. I had Pei Wei for lunch the other day and while it was the only thing that sounded good, I could only take two bites. Food isn't making me ill or nauseous or anything, it just sucks to eat it.

Symptoms:  I'm starting to grunt whenever I have to get up or down. Does this count as a symptom? It's super cute. (not really)

Looking forward to: Our 20 week ultrasound is on Friday! We haven't seen this bean since I was 8 weeks and Mark hasn't gotten to hear his heartbeat since then. This ultrasound will check all sorts of things as well as confirm he is in fact a BOY and I'm excited to see him up close!

       week 16                                week 17                                        week 18

week 19

my new look

You might notice I have a new look! Yep, the second trimester has been treating me well and I had the energy to give the blog a good spring cleaning. I'm still tweaking a ton of things but I changed my header, profile image, links, and added a search bar! Patience is key as I'm teaching myself HTML and finding my design groove, but I'm liking how it's coming! 

While I'm talking about new looks, I have to share with you my new specs:

I got glasses in fourth grade after I wore my sister's glasses for a full day because I thought that looked cool. After that, I noticed I could see the chalkboard a LOT clearer when I put my friend's glasses on! I couldn't wait for the day in 8th grade that I got contact lenses. I could finally wear sunglasses!

Contacts haven't always been kind to me, though. My eyes got worse quickly and I had an issue in high school where I had to wear my glasses for the whole fall semester...not fun when you're sweating it out all semester in marching band! I hated it.

Fast forward to two years ago when I had all sorts of trouble with my contacts. Two doctors and a lot of eye drops later, it turns out I was allergic to my contacts. Yep, ALLERGIC to my contacts. That was horrible news! The sentencing was worse: I had to wear glasses for 6 months straight so my eyes could heal. This was in the middle of summer (sunglasses season!) and it was really hard to get used to it.

My eyes healed and I can wear contacts again but I try to give them a rest every once in awhile. I just wish I knew about Firmoo two years ago when I spent $300 on prescription lenses.

Firmoo is an online glasses supplier with trendy frames to choose from. Whether you're a frameless person or a 1950's cat eye person, they have something for you. It's so easy! Just go to their website, select your frames, and then enter the prescription information from your doctor. You can even insert your pupil distance and face size so the fit is just right. Even upload a picture of yourself to virtually try them on!

Since getting my glasses last month, I've found myself reaching for the frames more than my contacts every morning. They are so lightweight and comfortable, plus I've gotten so many compliments on them! Mark LOVES me in glasses so he was a fan from the start. I've gotten compliments from coworkers and even from a stranger in the restaurant bathroom!

The best part is this - the frames are all under $70! The frames I wear are $36, and you can get your basic lenses for just an additional $30. Tell me where else you can find a great pair of glasses for under $70?! You know I love a deal, and Firmoo is offering 50% off of two frames right now as part of their Easter sale, no exclusions! 

If you're a four-eyes like me, you know you can't beat this deal. The next time you need eye glasses, give Firmoo a try! I love my new look!

my glasses were provided by Firmoo but all images and opinions are my own. Thank you, Firmoo!

the five elements of baby b's nursery

It's about time I shared my inspiration for the nursery! I've been pinning things for about a year and I just about have it all in my head. In keeping with my usual five on Friday linkup but with a little fun thrown in, I've listed the five elements that gave me inspiration for the nursery below! I hope it all comes together!


one.

I'm all about geometrics and I LOVE this design! I was planning on painting this pattern on one wall behind the crib as the accent wall. I was going for a super light grey, even lighter than shown, and I was going to do the lines in white. Well, my walls turned out a little white so I'm either going to do the lines in grey or go a different direction either with one wide vertical stripe maybe with his monogram or a mobile in the middle OR I may just get crazy and do something on the ceiling instead. This definitely got my creative juices flowing, though!


two.

Pennants and pompoms are the key to my heart. These are so cute so I definitely want to add some somewhere for a little whimsy in the room. They may be integrated into the mobile or I may just put some up on the wall elsewhere. Love them!

three.

I posted about the super awesome buffet I got and when I bought it,  I had something like this in mind. One half will be the changing table and I'm thinking shelves above the other half with jars full of  baby things like pacifiers, etc. plus all of the cute decor he's bound to quickly accrue!


four.

Mark got a saw for Christmas and that means I get crafts whenever I want! I love the arrow detail and the reclaimed wood so this project is on his list! Anyone know where I can get some reclaimed wood?

five.

This pretty print caught my eye early on. I love the vintage whimsy and the 1950's boyish feel. It pretty much led the charge for my color scheme which will be orange/red, mustard, navy, and of course the neutrals like white and grey. It's on order and due to arrive any day!

So that's the inspiration for the nursery! I will share snippets as we go along and then of course the final reveal, which will most likely be closer to his due date!

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One more thing, on a serious note. One of my aunts (I am lucky to have many and love them all dearly) was admitted to the ICU last week and is battling some serious and unexpected health issues. She is fighting and our whole family is rallying around her in prayer. I ask that you keep her, her family, and the doctors and nurses caring for her in your thoughts and prayers. 

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I hope everyone has a great weekend!

my maternity style

Being new to the 'pregnant game', I was not prepared for the sheer disappointment that is the maternity clothing selection. I mean sure, if I had an unlimited budget and had no qualms about spending more than my usual clothing allowance on clothes that I can only wear 3-6 months max, then I wouldn't have a problem finding maternity clothes. However, that's not the case.

You see, I'm stingy. I've always been that way. I rarely, RARELY buy any item of clothing at full price. My mom brought my sister and I up this way and it has stuck with me. I've gotten through life loving clothes and shoes and having LOTS of them because I have always bought cheap, meaning I can buy more.

Sure, I can splurge every now and then for a nice dress or quality jeans, but overall I'm always heading straight to the sales rack. $20 is a general threshold I tend to stay under for most items of clothing or shoes.

All that being said, maternity clothes are kind of few and far between on the sale racks. I haven't needed much so far, but pants are tight and I want to be comfortable, so I've tested out a few items and I already have a few favorites. I've gathered some of those favorites here and I may check back in later in pregnancy if I need more items. I'm hoping I can get by with a lot of my wardrobe since I have quite a few flowy things, but pants and dresses especially aren't fitting right now!

First, I have one word for my pregnant mamas: ponte.

In our office, we can't wear jeans or leggings so the next best thing: ponte. If you don't know what ponte is, it's basically a thick jersey/legging type material that has more shape than jersey. I have both pairs of these pants from LOFT:

The first pair are kind of a heathered maroon color - perfect for fall, but I'll be wearing them through the summer too. I bought that pair for about $12 on sale. Then, I went back last weekend and saw that LOFT was doing a 70% off flash sale ADDITIONALLY on top of sale items. So I bought the black pair and another grey pair not shown. They were about $7.50 each, marked down from $70. Steal! These pants are great because you can wear them like leggings - tucked into boots OR you can roll them up and wear them with booties, etc. And of course, they score like a 100 on a scale of 1-10 on the comfortable scale. YOU WILL LOVE THESE.

I haven't bought this shirt but it's a good contender. I like that it looks like a normal shirt I would wear and that it doesn't have the ruched side detail. I think you might be able to get away with wearing this post-baby.

Another good one at LOFT for a STEAL. I like the tie around the waist! It seems like this one would accommodate a growing bump, rather than just the biggest bump, which is what I seem to be finding with a lot of the dresses. Plus, I love a shirtdress! I think the hemline is super flattering.

I bought this dress at Old Navy and am waiting for it to arrive. It looks cute, but the jury is still out on it. I'm thinking this could totally be one of my summer go-to's. I'd pair it with flip flops and a necklace for those hot days outside and a jean jacket and my white converse for other days like when I'm inside with the cold AC on! One thing I have noticed with many shops is that the dresses are made to accommodate a rather large bump. I'm sure I'll appreciate that later on, but it's a little weird that it's all bunchy in my stomach right now. I really wish there was a way to remedy this! For that reason (and because it will be summer) I'm looking mostly at jersey dresses which tend to be a little more forgiving. Just keep it in mind!

I'm LOVING maxi dresses already and I've had my eye on this one for a while. If the coral jersey dress works out, I'm going for this one next!

This is such a cute dress for Easter or a baby shower! Again, I'm thinking it's probably pretty roomy but it will work for us later in pregnancy!

They have this dress in maternity AND regular, and it's super cute. I've seen a few instagram snaps of it on and it's surprisingly adorable! It is another great summer option.

I bought this dress last week and tried it out. Mark really liked it, but it had the extra space issue. I'm keeping it because its comfy, long enough for work, and I just generally like it. I'm thinking I may pull it out for July 4th, depending on the Texas heat! Otherwise I may show up in just a swimsuit with a constant bucket of water poured on me.

I've saved the best for last: Maternity jeans.

I ordered SO many pairs of jeans and tried on a bunch in stores with no luck. I tried H&M first because I like their jeans and the price, but I was super early and they just weren't working. I may go back later and give them another try.

I've heard great things about GAP jeans, but as always, they tend to be vanity sized (meaning you might wear a 2 or 4 at GAP when you're really a 6)  and they just weren't working for me...I ordered three times and returned them all. 

I tried on a pair at Old Navy and immediately took them off. They were  BAD, y'all. At least for this 5'9" prego.

One more stipulation: I didn't want to get jeans with any distressing because when we CAN wear them to work,  they can't have holes in them. 

So, I finally bit the bullet and bought this pair from Asos:

They are a bit more than what I was wanting to spend but I really like them. They are my longest pair of jeans (ever) which I LOVE. They fit like normal skinny jeans and have a nice stretch. They are super comfortable and I love the wash. They even have a true waistband with a working button! My only complaint is that the maternity band (the cloth that goes over your belly) is really loose, which wasn't the case with the rest of the jeans I tried. I can totally grow into them, though, so I'm keeping them and loving them right now!

One more thing for pregnant and NON pregnant people: head to your trusty Google or ask around and see if there is a discount Dillards in your area. We have two in the area and we lovingly refer to them as "Dirty Dillards". If you like a deal and don't mind places similar to Goodwill, Ross, TJ Maxx, etc., you must check out Dirty Dillards. This is where all the out of season, overstock, etc. items go. It's a final sale (no returns!) store where everything is marked down (I want to say 60%). On top of that, they have additional sales every weekend. Over half the store is marked down each weekend. You'll see signs like "additional 40% off" on the racks that are on sale. I bought all of my prom/banquet dresses plus loads of other clothes (I'm talking $28 for a prom dress and $8 for a sequin BCBG dress) at Dirty Dillards. One time I went and they were selling their dresses as buy one, get two FREE. I've seen multiple items discounted at Dirty Dillards selling for full price in the regular Dillards just because a store maybe ordered too much or something. If you want quality clothes for a STEAL, you must go!!! I haven't checked it out since being pregnant so I'm not sure if they have maternity or not, but it's worth checking out!

I fully plan on consigning most of my maternity clothes once I'm done with them. I'm constantly cleaning out my closet and donating or selling, and if I can't wear it when I'm not pregnant, I don't want it! I'll keep some staple items like the jeans but I'm sure the next time I'm pregnant, I'm sure the trends will have changed and I'll want different things anyway.

So that's where I am right now! I've bought 4 pairs of dress pants, one pair of jeans, 4 maternity dresses, and one maternity top. We'll see how long that lasts me! Please share more tips in the comments!

*none of the links in this post are affiliate links, I just wanted to share the good news!

19 week bumpdate

19 weeks! I feel like the tummy stalled out this week but I bet a growth spurt is coming soon!

How far along?  19 weeks

Baby's size: a mango!

outtake: I love both mine AND Motley's face upon spotting a wasp trying to enter the house. bahahahaha!

Total weight gain: I'm thinking 7 pounds. "They" say I should be gaining 1/2 a pound to a pound a week here pretty soon...yikes!

Maternity clothes? Pretty solid on maternity pants and dresses. And leggings. Oh man, how sweet it is to get home and put on yoga pants/leggings/sweatpants and a t-shirt. Mark loves me. haha!

Sleep: I've been tossing and turning a lot, but I'm trying to go to bed later so I'm more tired and can sleep all the way until my alarm goes off. I'm definitely more awake when I do wake up, though. Weird how that works!

Best moment this week: I THINK I felt baby boy having a case of the hiccups on Saturday but I'm not sure, so I'll say the best moment was starting to transform the nursery. We hung up a vintage/retro sputnik light I got from my grandparents in his room and I LOVE IT! It's pretty much the best thing ever.

Worst Moment this week: Allergies. UGH. So many people have asked me how I'm feeling (due to pregnancy) and I feel fine! Pretty much 100% normal...except for the allergies. I'm taking some safe allergy meds on the DOT every 4 hours when I'm allowed to, and I'm still sniffly throughout the day. I'm so happy our trees are finally budding out but PLEASE STOP!!! 

Miss Anything? I miss not having allergies but that's not pregnancy related!

Cravings: Still going crazy for the french fries. The lemonade craving definitely subsided but I do have a coupon for a free frozen lemonade at Chick-fil-A so I'm checking that out soon!

Symptoms:  I have totally messed up my back. I'm not sure what I've done, but it is painful and uncomfortable! I hope I can get it to heal soon so I'm not in pain the rest of my pregnancy and worse - during birth!

Looking forward to: a relaxing weekend ahead and making more progress in the nursery! 

       week 16                                week 17                                        week 18