Mixed Bag

Lots going on this weekend!  On Friday night, we were invited to a dinner party at the house of our friends, Jonathan and Rose.  The food was uh-maze-ing.  The main course was leg of lamb, and much to my surprise, I loved it.  Rose made flan for dessert, and I was a happy camper!  That's one of my most favorite desserts, but it can be hit or miss depending on the restaurant.  Lucky for us, she nailed it.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day shopping for a new bed.  We didn't have any luck then, but we did pick up a couple of new chairs for the office.  Can you believe these were only $37 each??  I thought for sure they were quoting us an incorrect price, but we didn't complain and gobbled them up!  They were the last two of their kind in the clearance section, so maybe they were just ready to get rid of them.  Either way, we came out on the winning end of that deal.   

I had grown tired of the rugs in our kitchen, so I shopped around for a new set after I picked up the chairs.  I tried Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target, but nothing really jumped out at me.  My last resort was Walmart, and I actually found some that I really loved!  The colors in my kitchen are mostly neutral (beige, tan, brown, etc), but I have some hints of green and blue.  I thought these would match very well, and the touch of green makes them more fun.  I got a small one, a medium-sized one, and a runner for $63.

On Saturday night, a bunch of us ladies went out to Victor Tango's to celebrate our friend Ericka's upcoming nuptials.  We had a great time chit-chatting and joking around as she opened her gifts.  I won't go into detail about some of the items she received, but you can take a guess!  After dinner, as we were standing around waiting for our cars to be brought up, a guy walked by and caught my eye.  It took me a second, but I realized I was looking at Jason Kidd!  Holy crap!  He walked right by us and into the restaurant we had just come out of.  Dang!  If only we had taken a little longer to eat!  Haha.  It was cool to see one of the Dallas Mavericks out and about in the city.  I just wish I could've snapped a pic before he went inside!

On Sunday, I ventured out again in search of a bed.  My first stop was Stacy Furniture in Allen, and fortunately it was my last stop too!  The first bed I looked at in their store ended up being the one I bought.  It is made by Bernhardt and seemed to be a reasonable price compared to what I had seen the previous day. Meezy and I wanted a solid wood bed, with a sturdy, substantial footboard and headboard, for less than an arm and a leg.  We kept finding cheaply made beds at great prices, or very sturdy, nice beds at exorbitant prices.  I think we found a winner in this one:

 

With that decided, I then focused my attention on side tables.  The ones in the same collection with the bed really weren't calling out to me.  I figured the shade of the wood in the bed was pretty common, so I walked around the store in search of tables that could potentially match.  I ventured into the living room area of the store and spotted some that I liked, made by Kincaid.  The sales associate helped me carry one over to put beside the bed, so that I could be sure it would match!  It was perfect.  The scrollwork on the legs of the table looks very similar to the scrollwork on the bed.  I think they're going to look great.  I can't wait for everything to be delivered so that I can finally feel good about the furniture in every room of our house!  (The tables are actually a little darker than what is depicted in the picture below).

Friendly Shout-out

Lately I've been super impressed with the ambition of my friend, Lauren.  She's an accountant by day, just like me, but she has recently started devoting more of her free time to design.  If you check out some of her work, you'll see why she's doing it - she's really, really good at it!  She's won a few awards already, and has been featured on a couple of different websites.  Her work is currently available for purchase on Indigo Prints and Minted, or you can work with her directly (lauren@palmpapers.com) for a personalized design.  She does birth announcements, wedding invitations, save the dates, holiday cards, shower invites, stationery, etc.  If you've got a big event coming up, please contact her!  You can follow her blog here. Check out a couple of her beautiful Palm Papers designs below, and then go place an order!

Welcome, Bella!

After much trial and tribulation, my sister finally welcomed her sweet baby girl into the world early this past Saturday morning.  Little Isabella Grace was being a very stubborn girl, but she was worth the wait!  The entire family is thrilled that Bella is here, and we can't wait to see her live up to her beautiful name.  Enjoy the pics!

  Proud papa seeing his new baby

Hi daddy!

Tired, but happy mama

Hello!

My sweet little niece

Big Brother Joseph

Cute little dress my sister-in-law Michal-ann sent her!

A Year Already!

I can't believe it's been a year already since my nephew was born.  Meezy and I traveled to Amarillo this past weekend to celebrate the occasion.  We were so glad we got to share in this special time, and of course see the rest of the family that we miss so much!  I forgot my good camera, so I had to settle for pics and video taken on my Iphone.  Enjoy!

KC checking out a present

Playing with one of the toys we bought him

Having a little fun with cake!

Not even coughing will slow him down!  The best part was that the cake was blue and yellow, but he mixed them to make a nice green hue.  :)

Holy Night Terror, Batman!

I volunteered to babysit my niece, Olivia, a few weeks ago when my sister and her husband had late dinner plans.  When it was time to put her to bed, I thought she might put up a fight since her parents weren't there and she wasn't used to listening to me.  I followed the usual routine that my sister had told me about, however, and everything went well.  She was sound asleep by 9pm.  I went to the living room and laid down on the couch to watch TV until my sister got home.  Around 10:15pm, I heard crying from Olivia's room.  I went in there to see if she needed something, and the crying got intense.  She was wailing and screaming and inconsolable.  I kept trying to ask her what was wrong, but it was like I wasn't even there.  She was flailing about and trying to get out of her bed.  I picked her up and held her, but the screaming continued.  I realized that she was probably having a night terror because she wasn't awake.  She didn't hear my talking and didn't even recognize that I was holding her.  I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wake her up or not, because I'm no expert in handling night terrors!  I just kept trying to soothe her and rock her back to a calm state, but it really was just a waiting game.  After a few stressful minutes had past, she calmed down and stopped crying.  I put her back in her bed, and it was like nothing had ever happened...in her mind at least!  I was a little bit traumatized, but glad that we had gotten through it.  I felt so bad afterward though, like something I had done earlier that night had led to this event.  I told my sister about it when she got home, and she assured me that it had happened before, and I handled it well.  Thank goodness!  What a crazy phenomenon those night terrors are!