Throwback Thursday

This week has really flown by; in fact, this entire month has flown by!! Tomorrow is the last day of October, and, more importantly, it's Halloween. Although we didn't get around to putting up any Halloween decorations (they're all stuffed away in the attic), we stocked up on plenty of candy for all the scary trick-or-treaters... and surprisingly my ridiculous sweet tooth hasn't made me devour all the candy before Halloween is even here - you're welcome little trick-or-treaters! ;)

We have a busy weekend ahead of us, but it's mostly doing things around the house - which in itself is a never-ending project. Saturday we are going to finish painting the nursery, which just needs some touch ups, and the carpets are getting cleaned. Sunday we will be putting together the nursery furniture and finally getting a feel for how we're going to decorate the room.

So in honor of Halloween tomorrow, here are some fun "Throwback Thursday" pictures of a ninja turtle sitting on a haystack and Dorthy with her Toto a.k.a. Snoopy-Dog. :)

 

Happy Hallows' Eve everybody! I hope you all eat lots and lots of candy tomorrow (and let's be honest, for the next couple of days too - I know we will), watch some spooky movies, and have a great Halloween weekend.

Sunday Snacks

Sundays are for snacking, at least they are in our household! Instead of making three different meals on Sunday, we love to snack on finger foods. It's easy, delicious, and doesn't really interfere much with all the football watching (or for me, crafting and/or napping) going on.

Yesterday, the hubs requested Pizza Balls! So, I thought I'd share this ridiculously easy recipe with you.

What you'll need:
2 cans of biscuits (we used Pillsbury Grands! Flaky Layers - butter flavor )
1 package of pepperoni (or 2 packages if you want it extra meaty)
Mozzarella (we used fresh sliced mozzarella)
1 egg
Oregano, crushed red pepper, garlic salt (and any other preferred seasoning)
Parmesan cheese
Marinara / Favorite pasta sauce
Non-stick spray
Baking dish

First, pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Second, start by flattening out the biscuit.

 Next you'll want to add your stuffing. I layered cheese, pepperoni, and more cheese (because I'm married to a cheese-aholic), then topped with some crushed red pepper flakes for a little heat.

Then you'll want to take the edges and bring them to the middle, which then forms a ball (hence: Pizza Balls). Do this for each biscuit.

Arrange them in your baking dish and top the biscuits with the beaten egg + oregano seasoning & garlic salt + a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. I also added a little extra shredded cheese on top to please the cheese-aholic. :)

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Heat up some marinara or your favorite pasta sauce - we had some four cheese tomato sauce left over from when we made baked ziti a few nights ago, so this worked perfectly for dipping.

And enjoy!

Weekend Happenings

What an eventful weekend to follow an eventful week! We started off the weekend right away by getting together for a surprise birthday dinner Friday night for one of our closest friends. After dinner, we met up at a local bar, which ended up being a really neat spot, and hung out till the wee-hours of the night (translation: 12:45 am).

Saturday, while the guys all got together and golfed, one of my girlfriends came over so I could help her by sewing "Lettuce Edge" to 24-yards of tulle to add to two of her daughter's friends dresses (for length) for her upcoming quinceanera. If you're unsure as to what "Lettuce Edge" is (it's ok... I didn't know either), it's basically a ruffled hem edging to knit or stretchy fabric:

Source: Donna Huebsch

It's been a long (huge emphasis on long) while since I used my sewing machine, so it needed to be pulled from the closet and dusted off. I also needed to brush-up on the instructions on how to thread the machine, which didn't seem to take too long... However, once I started attempting the "Lettuce Edge" I began experiencing the same problem I had in the past when using my machine - the thread just wouldn't stay in the bobbin, and if anything is wrong in the bobbin department nothing will work correctly. So, we (and by "we" I really mean "I") kept getting this horrible, straight from a nightmare looking hem on this tulle, which in turn made me super frustrated. By this time, my friend probably regretted asking me to do this for her, but I was determined to help her out. After playing with the thread in the bobbin and adjusting the settings (in other words, pretending like I knew what I doing) I gave it another shot. My friend shouted, "It's working!" and we both decided to celebrate with pizza.

After four hours of sewing, I felt like the "Lettuce Edge" queen. I also felt like I was capable of sewing anything my heart desired. So, since it's been a while since I've done anything super crafty, I'm now determined to start a sewing project or two! Do you have any good project ideas for me?

Sunday, I did some cleaning around the house and de-cluttered the nursery closet (mostly by moving everything to the guest room closet). Later that afternoon we headed to my dad's house for the Cowboys game and to celebrate a day early for my dad's birthday with dinner and cake. We ate dinner and watched the game outside (Cowboys are now 6-1!!), since the weather was so amazing - two rabbits even decided to hop their way into the backyard, but T quickly chased them off.



We made it home and we, including the dogs, called it an early night - after Peyton Manning broke the record for touchdown passes, of course.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and continues to have a great week!

50 Shades of Gray

If you follow me on Instagram (@matkinson87), then you already know that the hubs a.k.a. The Paint Master painted the nursery! To some this may not be a big ordeal, but to me it's HUGE because it means we have officially begun preparing our home for our sweet little babe.

I've known for a while, and I mention it in my Nursery Inspiration post, that I wanted the room to be a light gray, but which light gray was the question?

Colors by Sherwin-Williams

While it felt like I was looking at 50 different shades of gray, I really tried to not get overwhelmed and stick to what I originally wanted, which was a definite light, crisp gray with no hints of other color(s). Pinterest was pretty dang helpful in narrowing down the number of grays for the nursery; that's where I discovered Repose Gray and Passive Gray. I really liked the way both colors only looked gray and no other color (like beige, green, blue, etc.) and how they made the white baseboards just pop with brightness. If you remember, the room we're working with was a darkish-blue... so anything bright and light-colored just made me smile.

via Pinterest here

via Pinterest here

So, off the hubs went to the paint store to pick-up a sample of Repose Gray and Passive Gray, as well as a third gray sample he thought may work. I've been nagging asking him for at least a month about picking some paint samples out, so I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was to get this party started.  He painted the three color options on the wall and I quickly noticed how Repose Gray was just too beige and the random gray he picked out (I was too obsessed with Passive Gray that I didn't bother with the name or brand of this third paint) had a major hint of green.

With Repose being too beige and the random gray being too green, this made it obvious that we were going with Passive Gray (yay, we have a winner)! While I was at work on Thursday, the hubs was busy prepping and painting the nursery - he'd send me a picture every now and then so I could see the progress, since I couldn't be there and am unable to help. When I got home, he just finished with the second coat and was about to begin painting the trim.

Ignore the floral love seat - it won't be around for long, I promise.

I am in total love with this paint choice. I know it can be a lot more difficult and overwhelming for some to choose such a neutral color, especially if you don't mind a hint of another color, but this was just about as easy/pleasant (minus the constant nagging asking of my dear husband to start looking at paint chips with me) as it gets and I could not be happier with the outcome.

Ok, so now that I've talked your ear off about the color gray, let's get started on the color blue... just kidding. :) I hope everyone enjoys their weekend - I know I'll be spending mine admiring the new gray (I swear that's the last time I mention that color) room and thanking my amazing paint master of a husband!

Pregnancy Update: 6 Months

Hi everyone :)

I thought I would start doing a monthly bumpdate. I'm currently in my sixth month of pregnancy, so that only leaves three months of updates, but that's better than nothing... right?!

So, I'm six months pregnant. Where has the time gone?



This month baby is roughly the size of a head of lettuce (11 to 14 inches) and weighs around 1.5 pounds.

My absolute favorite thing right now is feeling and seeing this little man move all around. He's super active all up until I mention that he's moving and he all of a sudden becomes shy. Luckily, we caught him off guard one night and the hubs was able to feel him kick.

For my entire pregnancy, I have hardly had any serious cravings. I think one day I craved fresh pineapple and another day I had to have super syrupy pancakes, but besides that... I'm not that picky when it comes to food (just feed me, ok?). However, I am into cheesy foods (pizza, quesadillas, cheese sticks, etc.) - the more cheese, the better.

My skin and hair are something else! I've never been one to have perfect skin or hair, so having such a clear complexion and soft, shiny hair is something I can totally get used to. I have been trying to be better about doing a facial scrub twice a week and deep condition my hair every two weeks, so this may be another reason behind the fabulous skin and hair... but I'm going to blame it on the pregnancy. ;)

Over the past few weeks it's been getting harder and harder to bend over to pick up anything or put on my shoes. I'm also getting terrible sleep - I just cannot stay comfortable for long periods of time, tossing and turning throughout the night. So, by the time 2:30 pm comes rolling around I'm dragging. Tips??

Also, trying to find something to wear is impossible!! Okay... maybe not impossible, but it's definitely becoming more and more of a challenge. For casual wear, I've purchased a pair of maternity jeans from Old Navy that are way more comfortable than actual jeans. They're also a side-panel, which I think I like over the full-panel pants. These jeans are great, and I am pretty sure they will become my annual Thanksgiving pants! For work wear, well that's another story. I've outgrown all my skirts and mostly wear dresses or my one pair of maternity work pants. Maybe it's time to purchase a few more outfits for work to fit this growing belly of mine?!

After a few months of debate (who knew naming a baby would be so freaking hard), we finally decided on little man's name! We put lots of thought into what we wanted in our son's name. First, we wanted his name to begin with the letter "B," like his daddy. Second, we wanted a name of the same origin as my hub's name (English). Finally, I thought it would be neat if our son's name had the same number of letter's in it as mine and the hub's name. With all that, we were pretty limited on what names meet our requirements. For a while, we had it narrowed down to two contenders, but decided recently on his name - which couldn't be more perfect.

Now that our baby officially has a name, I feel like both the hubs and I have a little pep in our step and we are actually beginning to get things together (instead of just planning everything out in my head)!

I could honestly go on and on about my pregnancy or just talk baby, but this post has to end at some point. So, I'll end on that note... until next month!

Shopping for a Little Man

Hello Monday morning, we meet again. As I sit here sipping my Starbucks Caramel Macchiato trying to get into the groove of things, I can feel my little man moving all around and I can't help but think what life will be like in the few months that he'll be here. We still have a lot of preparation before he makes his arrival, but it's so much fun to look at all the baby stuff, with the occasional purchase of a few items of course. ;)

I have to admit, before I knew baby Atkinson was a boy, I would browse the baby section, but only really looking at the baby girl clothes and accessories. So, when I learned that I'm going to be shopping for a little man, I was slightly disappointed because you always hear how much more "fun" it is to shop for little girls. Now, don't get me wrong - shopping for little girls IS FUN, but it's also a lot fun shopping for little boys, too!

Gap | Old Navy | Carter's

Since I looked at what seemed like all the baby girl clothes and accessories prior to knowing the gender of baby, to my surprise I was a bit overwhelmed when I started looking at all the baby boy clothes! I quickly noticed that boy clothes are hands down freakin' awesome, and it made me even more excited - as if that's even possible at this point - for this little man to get here so I can put these adorable little outfits on him (and snuggle, and kiss, and the list goes on, and on...). So far, I've only purchased a few outfits for this little guy... but I'm constantly finding myself on Gap's website looking at baby boy clothes! This might be considered an addiction (sorry, I'm not sorry)?

I'm really loving all the adorable knit beanies and the thick sweaters with the fun buckles, but unfortunately it doesn't get that cold here in Texas. So, here's to hoping we go on a family trip to somewhere cold sometime soon so I can indulge in this current obsession of mine.

Oh and just in case you were wondering, I do plan on purchasing that ridiculously cute bear sweater hat from the Gap, because what baby doesn't deserve an adorable bear sweater hat?! At least it'll be somewhat chilly when he makes his arrival and we'll have to keep those precious ears of his warm, and that's a good enough excuse for me. ;)

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!! This week seemed to go by unusually fast. Maybe it's this delightfully cool weather (and by "cool" I mean mid-to-low 80s/high 70s) we've been having down here that just happens to put us all in a great mood and ready to tackle each day, except for yesterday, yesterday was horrid - who knows?! Whatever it is, I'm glad the weekend is here.

Lately, I just can't seem to find the want to wear heels... it's all about comfort right now. So, I've invested in some flats, these leopard flats from Old Navy in particular are so comfortable AND stylish (and on sale). I had some leopard flats I loved, but I wore them to death, so this new pair is perfect for casual and work wear. Can you believe it's already October? And Halloween is only 28 days away! Craziness. I'm semi-obsessed with these fun bat bowls from Crate & Barrel, which would make the perfect spooky Halloween candy dish! This time of year the air is pretty dry, so you can never have enough good lip balm. I used to be a ChapStick kind of girl, until one of my friends made me buy the mint EOS Lip Balm in New Orleans. Ever since then, I've been hooked (not to mention, they're just plain out fun to use). This balm is a necessity in my make-up bag, too. I'm totally on the Kendra Scott train! I love just about all of her jewelry, especially this iridescent Elisa Pendant Necklace. It's so pretty and dainty, and can be worn every day. Finally, who doesn't love a good soap?! This sweet cinnamon pumpkin foaming soap from Bath & Body Works smells great - definitely a fall favorite.

We don't have too much planned for this weekend, mostly just the very much anticipated Texans vs. Cowboys game on Sunday. If the Cowboys play anything like they did last weekend, then I have a good feeling about Sunday's game. :) Do you have anything fun planned for this weekend?

I tried the Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks for the first time this week. I'm not a huge lover of pumpkin flavored things; however, pumpkin may be growing on me because this was very tasty! I would suggest giving it a try, if you're one of the very few that have yet to do so. Cheers :)

Wishing everyone a great weekend and a very happy, yet very spooky October!