Friday Favorites: My All Time Favorite

 I thought for this Friday Favorite, as we celebrate Emersyn's First Birthday, I would share some of my all time favorite photos and memories from the year.  Gosh this whole year is honestly my FAVORITE!!!

Ian becoming a father! Amazing to watch him love her!

Taking our little girl home- scared to death!!

Emersyn's first night home already in a Pacers outfit

Nightly summer walks

Someone grew into that Pacers outfit just in time for the playoffs.

The look on her face here is priceless- she looks mad as hell- bahahaha

I love her expression in this photo!

Ian toted her around in this everyday during the summer. 

Trying food- not a fan a first but now she can't get enough of her food.

Growing fast and having such a sweet, happy personality.

Watching her on the beach for the first time brought such a smile to my face.

Best fall season ever with trips to pumpkin patches and apple orchards.

Having fun doing silly things with this little gal.

Watching her make funny faces- where did she learn that from??

Celebrating the best year ever!!!

I could have loaded this post with hundreds of pictures!  I have been looking back at pictures all week and just can't believe how fast she has grown...tear!  I have loved everything about being Emersyn's mother.  It is truly my all time favorite thing.  I can't wait to share a post from her birthday party on Saturday.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

I honestly can not believe that Emersyn turns one TODAY!  I literally remember every tiny detail about this time a year ago.  It was a Monday night and I was excited for the final episode of the bachelor.  I began to feel a bit funny but I stuck it out- then about 3 hours into the show I had to admit that yes I was in labor.  So off to the hospital we went!  Little did I know that is where the long 26 hour journey would begin until the amazing moment we welcomed Emersyn Leigh.

Throughout her first year I promised myself that I would take as many pictures as possible and DO something with them.  So often pictures just sit on my camera.  So I started a Shutterfly book and completed the pages month by month.  Time goes by so fast and looking back at this book as it is nearly complete, I am overwhelmed with love for my sweet little girl.  Here are a few sample pages...

I found it so important to do the book each month to stay on top of all the photos and keep track as she changed so quickly.  I plan to finish the book after her first birthday party this weekend then order them!  I think they (the year is split into 2 books, first and second six months because there were so many pages) will be books we look through over and over!!  What do you do with all your pictures?  How do you hold on to all those keep sake pictures?

Friday Favorite: The Perfect Snack

Well it's Friday again- but this Friday is a BIG one for me!  I just completed my first week as a working mom!  It was HARD!! It was LONG!! There were lots of tears from Emersyn and from me!!  But we are here- FRIDAY, and we now live for weekends like everyone else.  I could go on and on about the emotional roller coaster of emotions this week brought but I will spare you the spiel and get straight to my favorites this week.
I realized this week being organized is the only way I am going to survive this whole working mom thing.  I need to know what Eme and I are having for lunches each day and they need to be packed the evening before.  I must create a menu on Sunday of our dinners and have the ingredients ready or dinners might not happen.  This week I had two of my all time favorite granola bars with me at all times and they saved me.  I had one for breakfast some days and for a snack in the afternoon just about every day.  Granola/protein bars can get tricky.  There are so many to choose from and so many that are just plain bad for you.  I have two favorites: KIND Bars and Lara Bars.  These two are at the top of my list because of the ingredients.  Both brands are all natural with a clear and simple list of ingredients such as: almonds, dates, honey, crisp rice, dark chocolate, and other REAL items- no artificial stuff.  I have found that both of these brands fill me up but don't hurt my stomach (which other bars with fake sugar and other processed ingredients do).

My favorite KIND Bars are the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and Fruit and Nut.

My favorite Lara Bar is the Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter.
If you haven't tried these two granola/protein bar brands I would highly recommend them.  They get my vote for FAVORITE this week!
On a side note here is sweet Emersyn having lunch on her 2nd day of TOTS.  I guess she looks like she's okay:)

I am exhausted from this week- here is a quick pic of my morning coffee from the Keurig.  Opps- guess I forgot one important step- mug in the holder not on the counter as the coffee brews out! LOVELY... because I had tons of time to clean and make a new cup.

Friday never felt so good!!!

Friday Favorites: A Pattern Obsession

When I was thinking about what to do this week for my Friday Favorite post I had fashion on my mind.  With spring 'hopefully' just around the corner I always get so excited to add new pieces to my closet.  Do you ever evaluate your closet and notice a trend happening?  Maybe you have a large amount of one certain color, type of top, or pattern.  Well for me I noticed that I had a lot of items in the polka dot pattern.  I found everything from scarves, button ups, sweaters, tee shirts, shorts, etc.

Okay I like polka dots... a lot I guess!  Then I laughed out loud because as I was taking a look at my own closet, I looked down at my little lady crawling around on the floor in... you guessed it... polka dot jeans!!  So I thought to take a look in her closet and that's when this week's 'favorite' clearly changed to 'obsession'!  Holy Dots!!!

Now with my polka dot obsession put on blast, is it too much that I kinda have some new dots in mind??  Here are my TOP 5 possible next polka dot purchases to feed my obsession!

Pink Baby Top/ Blue Jumper/ Blue Jean Shorts/ Blazer/ Ruffle Tank

So what is your go to pattern or color?  Anything you are excited about in Spring Fashion?

So Fresh and So Clean

Our master bathroom is the first place my husband and I go in the morning and the last place before we go to sleep; therefore, it is a pretty important room of our house.  Although I do love our master bath, it needed a little help to make it feel fresh and clean again.  When our home was built it was painted one color throughout all rooms.  It is a neutral beige warm tone that I actually really like.  However, they painted all the rooms in a flat paint and this is NOT best for bathrooms.  Bathrooms have water, hairspray, toothpaste, hair gel, and who knows what else flying around and somehow it all ends up on the walls.  In a bathroom, I want to be able to use a wet cloth and wipe the walls if something gets on them and to do this you really need to use an eggshell or semi-gloss finish.

We decided to change the tone in the bathroom to make it feel a bit brighter and fresh.  So we wanted to switch from a warm tan to a creamy beige.  Be careful when picking out a beige wall color- so many have an undertone to them that can cause them to feel pink, green, or yellow- you need to lay them out against each other in the lighting of the room to find the right one. 

In addition to a bright beige, we wanted a bit of color to pop against the color of the travertine around the tub and shower.  Our master bedroom has blue tones so we wanted to coordinate with that.  We chose a blue for the walls and blue for a few accents.

We stuck with clean and simple white for our bath towels.  They do have a bit of a pattern on them which gives them a more decorative look.  It really is amazing what a little paint can do for a room.

On to the next project...