5 weeks to go!!

I started this blog entry this morning and I'm so glad I didn't finish/post it this morning.  I totally woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, and my mood could accurately have been described as heinous.  Pregnancy rage is real, y'all.  Luckily, my hormone levels evened out by lunch time, and after that I resumed normalcy- or, whatever I consider "normal" for myself right now.  I wouldn't be lying if I said that a slaw dog, fries, and sweet tea from Griffith's did the trick.  You do what you have to do, people!

We obviously have a lot to catch up on, amiright??  First things first.....Harper update!  I went in yesterday for my 35 week check-up, and so far everything is progressing nicely.  My weight gain is 30 pounds so far (I really don't know how on earth my weight gain isn't more like 45- guess the daily toddler-chasing, stair-climbing is burning off my crazy ChickfilA waffle fry obsession), my blood pressure looked good, and I haven't started to majorly swell.....yet.  Harper's heart rate was at 148, and I still get so excited when I hear that whoosh, whoosh over the Doppler.  Next week starts the weekly visits; I have mixed feelings about this.  Yes, it's great because I get to check on baby girl, hear that sweet heart, and once you hit that 36-week mark you are officially in countdown mode.  The one thing that I hate about these visits: pelvic exams.  Ugh.  At 31 years old, I am still the girl that pops a Xanax before a pap smear.  Can't stand it.  So yeah, the next few check-ups should be interesting.  I don't want to go all TMI here, but let's just say that after my delivery with Aaron the lady parts needed some significant healing, so the option for a delivery via c-section has always been available to me.  I am definitely not opposed to a c-section, and really prefer it as I do not want to go through what I went through with Aaron.  We'll see......

Sunday, my mother-in-law, my two sister-in-laws, and a friend hosted Harper's second (and final) "sprinkle."  It was wonderful, and just meant the world to me.  This shower wasn't as big as my first, but still so special, nonetheless.  I am lucky to be surrounded by such amazing friends and family.  Here's some pics:

Sweet friends

Brooke and I- due 6 weeks apart; both with girls!

Loot

My beautiful (and delicious) cake

Grub

Love the wreath!

And the diaper cake!

 Again, I am so appreciative of my family and friends that put forth the effort to throw me a shower, and just show up.  Everyone has so much going on in their lives, and it just meant so much to me the people that came.  So, if you're reading this- thank you!!!  I find it so rude and tasteless when you invite people to something, and they can't even simply send a text to regret not being able to show up.  There's just no excuse for that.  But, you live and you learn.  Point noted- moving on!

Finally, VMA's.  Thoughts??  We are now on Day 2 of the Miley aftermath.  My FB newsfeed has been flooded with opinions on the raunchfest that took place on stage Sunday night.  Wth???  I'm still confused.  And traumatized.  The tongue, the leotard, followed by next-to-nothing, the foam finger, the "twerking."  Absolutely ratchet.  Gosh, even Robin Thicke has gone down a few steps on the hottie ladder after he participated in that gross-out fest.   Y'all, I'm telling you, this girl is headed for Britney melt-down circa 2007.  It's so sad.  She needs help.  The only part of the show that was awesome and amazing was, you guessed it- JT.  Agh!!  Cannot.even.handle.him.  He brought sexy back.  As he so rightfully mentioned, "I still run this bitch."  If you haven't seen it, or you would like to watch it for the 57th time (like me) watch it here.


That's it, friends.  Gotta hit the sack!

~LL

Lots of catching up to do!

Hey!  Do you remember me??  I have a blog titled "Laughing Lolly."  Ever heard  of it?  If you haven't, I'm not shocked because there's been zero bloggage in what, three weeks??  Sorry, y'all.  We moved into our new house two weeks ago, and we just got Internet yesterday.  I wish I was kidding.  Let's just say that next time we make a move (which we're not planning to do for a long time) we might rethink the AT&T relationship.  Not impressed. 

Anyway, we are all moved in to our new house and loving it!  We've never had this much room since we moved into our first home in December 2006.  More room=lots of empty spaces which we'll have to build upon as the time goes by.  The new house things I'm super stoked about are: a separate laundry room, separate master bathroom, carpet (yes, I know I'm crazy), and the fact that I have a foyer.  I haven't been able to access Pinterest that much over the past couple of weeks, but since things are finally settling down and since we finally have internet I plan to get my pinspiration on.  I'll post pics of the house soon, I promise.  My hubs is super pumped about the fact that we have a partly finished basement that's the size of the house.  His own personal "man home."  Oh, the things we have planned......can't wait to put these plans into action!

The most important "to do" right now is getting Harper's nursery ready.  I am so lame that I haven't even picked out nursery bedding yet.  That's cray.  I'll be entering 3rd trimester this Friday (28 weeks- whoop!).  By this point in my pregnancy with Aaron the bedding was already chosen, and Adam was painting the nursery.  The only excuse I have is the fact that we just moved, and haven't had much time for nursery planning.  I do have my eye on some precious bedding from Pottery Barn that I will most likely purchase this week.  Once I do, I'll give y'all a sneak peek.  I feel like once the bedding gets here, the creativity will take over.....hopefully.  Her walls are already painted beige, and I'm fine with sticking to that color.  My main color is pink (duh), and I feel like I can pull in all kinds of fun colors with that as the base. 

Speaking of baby girl, we went for her Fetal Echo two weeks ago Friday, and her heart is healthy and normal!!!  Ahhhh.....relief.  Like I've said before, I've felt pretty confident from our past two ultrasounds that her heart was normal, but it was music to my ears to hear from a pediatric cardiologist that her sweet heart showed no abnormalities and is normal.  We are so blessed.
This Friday is my Gestational Diabetes test (the glucose screening) where I have to drink the yucky, orange stuff.  Not looking forward to it.  However, I am looking forward to the 3D/4D ultrasound of Harper Beth next month!  I just want to see if she has hair.  Aaron had tons of it.  I've been plagued with heartburn again this pregnancy so I'm taking that as a good sign.  My Aaron Mo came out with tons of black hair, that had basically grown into a rattail it was so long.  I could not believe I grew all that hair in my belly.....hahah!  Guess we'll see!

Since it's been forever since I last blogged, and a lot of things have happened since I'm just going to let my photos document the past few weeks:

My girlfriends and I went to see NKOTB/98 Degrees/Boyz 2 Men a few weeks ago.  Y'all, we had a blast!  We started out in the nosebleed seats at Phillip's Arena, but ended up on the second row right before NKOTB took the stage (thanks, Lori!).  I know we're totally tweens, but I'm just going to put it out there and say: NKOTB put on a great show.  We even lingered behind after the show was over trying to get a glimpse of Joey and Company.  My sweet friend Brooke and I even tried to pimp out our pregnant bellies to get backstage access and all we got was a set list from a nice guy that was working production.  Oh well, it's the little things!  Here's a video of the guy's singing "Tender Love;" an old-school love song that I've been obsessed with forever!

The next day after the concert, we closed on our house!  Here's a pic of the front of our new casa:

Wish I could say the white BMW was mine also, but sadly I cannot.  Dreamers can dream!

Best news of the week!!! 

We were only in our new home for a week before we headed to Destin for our family vacation.  With the exception of the last three, rain-drenched days of vacay, we had a wonderful, relaxing time. 

The night we arrived.  Heaven. 

Crab Cakes at The Crab Trap.  My mouth is watering. 

We took our annual boating trip around the Gulf to Crab Island and Dewey Destin earlier in the week due to the terrible rainy weather at the end of the week:

The Captain & his Skipper ;)

We're on a boat, y'all!

My boys enjoying Crab Island.  The water was a little green this year, but nevertheless beautiful!

Mi familia

Our last night dinner at Whales Tail.  See you next year!

Sadly, I didn't get as many pics as I would have liked to, but like I said before, it rained.  A lot.  Boo.  Oh well, there's always next year!!

Enjoy your Tuesday, friends!

~LL

Weekend Photo Dump

Since I'm on a maj food hangover from a late ChickfilA lunch, I'm just going to let my pics narrate my weekend:

I kicked off the weekend at the Vet's office with Sophie May Friday afternoon.  I knew baby girl hadn't been feeling well all week, although there were no outward signs; she was eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom like normal.  Call it mother's intuition I guess; she has a UTI.  Bless it!  Needless to say, she's back to normal now and letting everyone in the house know who's boss. 

This was my Saturday.  Amazing.  My sweet friend, Brooke, had myself and 2 of my other girlfriends over to her mom and dad's house for a girls afternoon/early birthday celebration.  Isn't it gorge??  This house is probably one of my most favorite places in the world.  Brooke's parents live on Lake Tobesofkee in a beautiful house that looks like it should be on MTV Cribs.  The best part: it comes equipped with a beautiful pool, hot tub, and overlooks the lake.  It was the perfect day.  We ate lots of yummy food, drank, or in mine and Brooke's case (she's preggers too) we partook in some O'Douls non-alcoholic beer.  Only 2 of them, but hey, they were delish!  I've been craving beer, and this definitely hit the spot.  Later that afternoon, Brooke's precious mom took us for a ride on their pontoon boat to cap off the end of our day.  I got there at 11:15 that morning and didn't get home until 6:30, and time flew by!  I cannot wait to do it again!

{L-R: Jayme, Lauren, Nikki, Brandi, Lauren, Laura, Tina, me, Jessica, & Stephanie}

This was taken yesterday afternoon at my friend, Laura's, baby shower.  She's expecting a baby girl in late July!  Watching her open all of the presh baby girl stuff made me so excited for my future baby showers! 

• Aaron starts swimming lessons tonight.  He'll be going Monday-Thursday.  I'm half excited/half dreading it.  I'm excited in that he needs the lessons, of course, with basically all my family having pools; I'm dreading it in that Aaron can be super stubborn, and I can totally see us getting there and Aaron going into toddler meltdown no. 325.  Good thoughts, please!
• The Killing came back on last night, and it did not disappoint.  Between that, True Blood, and Keeping Up With the Kardashians my DVR is going to be out of control on Sunday nights.  My newest swede obsession is Joel Kinnaman who plays Holder on Killing.  Feast your eyes upon the hotness:

He dates Olivia Munn in real life.  Biatch.  Via

• Rant: Why is there now a show about Mistresses?  Every time I see a preview of it, I'm confused.  Is it now officially cool to be a mistress?  Did Olivia Pope make it okay (Scandal)?  I'm going to watch the first episode because I'm really, really hoping that these girls aren't mistresses on purpose. I just don't understand the glorification of hoochies.  I don't care if Alyssa Milano is the freakin' lead.  

• My birthday is a week from today.  Whoop! 

That's all, y'all!  Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

~LL

Shenanigans

I can't believe it's already Thursday!  Love that!  One more day till the weekend- whoop!

Aaron and I have had a low-key week.  I've been letting him stay up a little later than usual at night, so we both get to sleep in until at least eight if not later in the AM.  We've spent a lot of time at the pool, and thanks to the horrible sunburn both Ashley and I acquired last Friday, I now have a decent early summer tan.  Who'd a thunk?? 

Tonight and tomorrow night we're celebrating my sister-in-law's high school graduation.  She is a wonderful sister to Adam, sister-in-law to me, and aunt to Aaron Mo.  Congrats and we love you, Haley!  Tonight my in-laws are throwing a party in her honor complete with Mexican food (too bad I can't indulge in a marg) and tomorrow's the big graduation ceremony.  It's crazy that even though I graduated high school 13 years ago, I still remember it like yesterday.  I look back and think about all the things I would have changed; where I should have gone to school, what I should have majored in and actually stuck with it, who I should and should not have dated, etc.  I guess we all do that, right?  But then I think, would I be married to Adam?  Would I have an Aaron Mo and a baby girl on the way?  Who knows.  When I think about those things, I know I'm where I am supposed to be.  All part of His plan I suppose!

Saturday, my girlfriend, Brooke, is throwing a girls days at her mom's lake house for myself and another friend that have upcoming June birthdays.  I'm so excited!!  Brooke's moms house alone is a vacation to me.  It's huge, beautiful, overlooks Lake Tobesofkee, and comes complete with a pool and jacuzzi.  Ahhh.....Heaven!!  I think if I lived there I'd never leave....there would be no point.  Definitely one of my happy places!  I will miss my boys, but mama is overdue for a day away with friends.  Holla!

Sunday begins the first of a summer of baby showers.  My friend, Laura, is having a baby girl in July and we'll be celebrating her sweet baby girl Sunday.  Yay for babies.....lots of them! ;)

Busy weekend!  Also on the itinerary: packing, and going threw all of Aaron's clothes.  I think I'm going to attempt a FB album of his clothing and try to make a little $$.  I know the easiest thing would be to just drop the bags off at Goodwill and call it a day, but I can't just give it away....my baby boy is growing up too fast!  Plus, I'm trying to get rid of things so we don't have to pack them.  I.hate.packing!!!!!

What's your weekend looking like?

~LL

Catching Up

Hope y'all had a great holiday weekend!  I can't believe it's already Tuesday.  Our weekend flew by- time flies when you're having fun and staying busy I guess. 

Friday, Aaron and I met Ashley at the pool for a little fun in the sun, and we had such a great time!  Aaron was on his best behavior (save for a meltdown or two) and I was lucky that Ashley's husband basically babysat Aaron the whole time.  (Thank you, JG!!)  Ashley is having a sweet little boy in late September, and I'm due a week later, so you can imagine all the fun we had discussing our crazy, growing pregnancy bods.  So nice to have prego buddies!  I'm so excited to do this all summer- this big belly is going to stay in a pool.

We left town for the weekend, and didn't get home until late yesterday.  We drove up to Marietta Saturday to spend the night with my sister and her hubby.  They moved into a gorge house last August, and luckily their subdivision pool just happens to be right next door to their house (score!) so we spent the majority of Saturday afternoon by the pool, too.  While my mom, sister, and Aaron got to enjoy the sun I sat under the umbrella with a magazine since I decided to not wear sunscreen the day before and turned into a lobster- I'm smart. (Eye roll).  Sunday we spent the night with my parents, and left late yesterday.  Fun but busy weekend. 

I still haven't packed one thing to move into our new home.  And we'll be moving in the next 3-4 weeks.  Can you say procrastination??  I just cannot get my act together.  I hate moving.  And I don't mean I hate moving to a brand new house that we're in love with; I just mean I hate the process of moving.  It sucks.  I know that most people feel this way, but I just have to whine for a second.  After Aaron wakes up from him nap, we're heading to Lowe's to get some moving supplies.  Here we go again......

I think my belly grew more over the weekend.  I feel hurge; like I might be carrying Renesmee hurge (Twilight reference if you're wondering wth.)  My mom and I went to Subway to pick up sandwiches Sunday, and the girl asked me if this was my first baby, when I responded no she asked if I was "that huge with my first baby."  I said "yep", whipped around, and stomped my fat a$$ out the door.  The nerve.  Yesterday, my family and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch I just realized that I'm that girl that talks about food all the time.  Not good. and every time I went up to the buffet (which was only 3 times, y'all!) everybody watched.  I mean, have they never seen a pregnant belly before?  Were they worried that I was going to eat all of the cinnamon sticks?  Because if they were, then they had a right to be- those things were damn good.  Over it.  I got a little over 4 more months to go, and I'm wearing this bump proudly. 
And btw, I did go back and look at pics of my pregnant belly with Aaron and no, I was not as big with Aaron as I am with Harper.  Go figure. 

Alright, gotta go.  Enjoy your Tuesday, y'all!  Only 3 more days to the weekend- whoop!!

~LL

It's all happening

TGIfreakin'F.  I hope y'all are enjoying this rainy afternoon as much as I am.  We have been super productive today, surprisingly.  My two boys and I headed up to Lowe's to pick out our new kitchen flooring.  Exciting stuff, and I'm being totally serious.  Adam and I were convinced we were going to do sheet vinyl based off of web research, but once hitting up Lowe's we realized that vinyl tile was less expensive.  Who'd a thunk?!?  We ended up going with this pattern (it's actually browner in person).  We both love it, and still cannot believe it was cheaper than sheet vinyl.  After hitting up the cabinet hardware aisle, we picked out these plain silver knobs for the cabinets.  Nothing fancy.  I'm so excited Adam's on board with this plan.  His pockets can be a little tight sometimes (and who can blame him- he married me!), but he seems just as excited about this kitchen redo as I am.  Next up: our hall bathroom.  I know in the previous post I kept on referring to it as our master bath.  This is not true as the master bath is located in the master bedroom, right?  (I am seriously so dumb since getting knocked up; I mean more dumb than pre-pregnant Hayley.)  Well to clarify what I said earlier, our hall bathroom is our next project. 

Geez....somebody give me a drink already.  (Kidding!  A little bit...)

BTW, I watched Snow White and the Huntsman last night as Grey's and Scandal were old eps.  I liked it, y'all.  I almost forgot what a lil' hooch KStew was while watching; the keyword being almost.  Anyway, I'd totally forgotten that Sam Claflin was in this movie and I just have to post a pic of me and my brush with fame when Mr. Claflin himself happened to be staying at Atl's downtown Marriott last October:  Poor guy:

Thank God for Bachelorette parties & liquid courage!

One last thing: my mom sent me a link to this hilarious blog post today and I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.  Please check it out as this mom is totally keeping it real and speaking real mom truth.  Love it!!

Enjoy your weekend!

~LL

Weekend catch-up

It's Monday, y'all!  I am not a huge fan of Monday's; however, the sun is out and although it's f-reezing out with the crazy wind, it's nice to see a blue sky after days of cloudy ones.

We had a busy weekend.  Saturday afternoon we celebrated Aaron's 3rd birthday with a party at McDonalds.  The party was a success!  It really couldn't have gone better than if I had dreamed it.  Most importantly, my Aaron Mo had a great time and that's really all that mattered.  He had around 10 friends show up, and the location couldn't have been better.  The kids played their hearts out at the inside playground while the parents got to socialize.  My only expense (besides Aaron's presents, decorations, and cake) was the $40 for the kids happy meals.  And I have to rave about the McDonalds (on Bass Road in Macon)- their customer service was excellent!  So if any of you readers are interested in a Mickey D's party, I say go for it.  The best part is- it's not your house that you have to clean afterwards!  Can't beat that.
Aaron got a massive amount of cars, games, legos, a tee ball set, a baseball mitt and baseball, and etc. and now has a cool trampoline in our backyard thanks to his grandparents and great-grandparents.  Now that we've survived the third birthday party, let's hope we can survive the third year just as well.  Fingers crossed!

Yesterday I met up with four of my besties for a long lunch.  It's so nice being able to spend time together, especially when we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like to.  I've always believe that the definition of a true friendship is one where you can go weeks, months, heck in some situations, years without seeing each other and pick up right where you left off.  That's what these girls are to me, and I'm so lucky to have them.  Anyway, after a long, leisurely lunch I stopped by my parents house for a quick hello before hitting the road to head back to Macon.  On the way home I had the brilliant idea of creating a "Mo Thugs" station on Pandora, and I seriously jammed out on the way home.  It was high school all over again: "Ghetto Cowboy," "Thuggish Ruggish Bone," Notorious B.I.G.  Ha!  I know so random, but sometimes you need some rap in your life.  This is totally the station we're using for our next dance party, y'all!

Um, can we talk about Walking Dead??!  Daryl crying?  Oh em gee.  Merle dying.  OMG!  (For those of you that haven't watched I just gave away the major spoilers- sorry!)  Seriously, somebody needs to take the Guv'nah down.  I'm over him and he's seriously cray.  And I'm probably going to get some haters for saying this, but will they take Glenn as well?  He just annoys me.  Is it weird that I was a Merle fan?  He really was a somewhat good guy way, way down.  He let badass Michonne go.  He loved Daryl (but then again, who doesn't?).  Daryl breaking down was almost too much for me to handle.  He needed a shoulder to cry on.  Like mine. ;)  Next Sunday's going to be good.  I'm a little bit too excited about it.

We have Aaron's 3 year pics tonight. I'm hoping this insane wind won't make things unbearable tonight.  Needless to say, I'm arming myself with suckers and probably chocolate in order to get these pics done right.  Don't judge.

We're meeting our realtor to look at a couple of houses before we meet to take pics.  I wish I could say I was looking forward to it, but I'm not.  We just haven't found anything we're in love with, and we aren't going to settle for less.  We want a certain school district, we want a garage (believe it or not we've never had one!), we want a freakin' laundry room.  It seems like the only houses available (in our price range) offer only one of those things.  Frustrating!  Why must the houses that we love, that has all those things we want, and would be perfect for us are out of our price range??  Ugh!  Trying to stay positive.  We have another 5 or so months to find our dream home.  This will work out.  It has to. 

P.S. If the dirty rumor that Perez Hilton has started is true that my ASkars is dating Ellen Page I just threw up in my mouth.  If Juno can date him than I sure as hell can! (of course, in my non-married imaginative world!) ;)

Enjoy your Monday!

~LL

Sweet Sundays

Sophie May and I are camped out in my room, watching New Years Eve on HBO, while my husband has taken over the living room to watch the Falcon's play.  We had to get away from him.  Apparently, today is the Falcon's playoff game and a serious nail-biter.  Or in Adam's case, you're biting your nails, you haven't taken a shower, and you're going back and forth between pacing the room and/or yelling at the TV.  This is the exact way I feel before Britney performs live these days. 

Today is a big day, y'all.  Golden Globes comes on tonight AND it's the Girls season premiere.  Wha??  I can't even handle it.  Will JHutch make an appearance at the Globes in a dapper suit??  Will Hannah tell Adam that she loves him too and will Marnie get back together with Charlie on Girls??  Eeekk!

Yesterday, Ashley and I met up for a Mexican lunch and we had a blast.  A 1:00 pm lunch turned into three skinny margs, a shopping trip, and an (almost) Michael Kors bag purchase.  *This is what happens when you drink tequila during the day.*  Luckily, our restaurant is planted in a shopping center so we were able to walk off the alcohol, and aside from the fact that I accidentally knocked over a boot display in Dillards, no one was harmed.  I even kept my spending to a minimum only buying a long-sleeved knit tee on clearance at Express, a fabulous new iPhone cover, and a couple of pairs of earrings from NY&Co.  Nothing like a full afternoon with a dear friend that you so rarely get to see!

Before I forget, Adam and I had date night Friday and we went to see Silver Linings Playbook and it was awesome.  Bradley Cooper is gorge and y'all know how much I adore some JLaw.  I won't go into tons of details, but it's basically about a guy (Bradley Cooper) who is released from a Mental Health Institute, moves back in with his parents, and meets JLaw's character.  It's hilarious, but in a dark way if that makes sense.  Adam and I loved it.  So, if you're in a movie-going mood I totally recommend it!

Au revoir!

~LL

Review

I was going to post yesterday, but I was experiencing the hangover of the century.  Like, I could barely move my body hurt so much.  One margarita led to three, and after having 2 glasses of champagne at our friends house I was DONE.

Midnight

 

 

 

 

Not long after the above picture was taken was I passed out on their couch.  I'm talking within the hour.  Geez...

All in all, we had an awesome time.  It was a perfect, laid-back evening.  Since we knew we were spending the night, we brought breakfast for the next morning.  I made these Bacon-Cheese Pull Aparts (recipe from Pinterest) and they were divine.  Cheers to 2013!

I have been meaning to update on Christmas; specifically, update on my Clarisonic Mia 2.  Obsesssssssssed!  I posted last November about wanting one because my skin has gotten seriously OOC.  Well, Santa granted my wish and it's as fabulous as I thought it would be!  First of all, I love using it.  I've never been one to love washing my face.  In fact, I'm downright lazy about it.  Usually while giving Aaron his bath at night, I would wipe my face with a makeup remover cloth, apply toner, and dab on my eye cream and moisturizer.  Nothing special. 

My, my, how things have changed....

This thing is awesome.  After charging for 24 hours before use it was ready to go.  Along with your Mia, you get some Clarisonic Cleansing Gel.  After wetting your face and the brush, you apply the gel to the bristles, press the power button, and let it go.  The brush stays on for a minute (20 seconds on forehead/20 seconds on nose/chin area/10 seconds on each cheek).  The Mia is already set for you to follow this standard.  Afterwards, your skin feels amazing.  Like, just had a facial- amazing.  My only concern was if it was harmful to use it once in the morning and at night, but according to the FAQ's on their website it's A-Okay to use it twice a day.  Again, I love it.  I even talked to the fabulous woman who does my facials, Angelique (here's her FB page if interested), to get her opinion and she thinks it's great as well.  Score!  She did inform me that with all of the exfoliating (i.e. deep cleansing) this brush does, it will bring up all of the impurities in your skin; bottom line, I shouldn't be shocked and demand my money back when a zit or blackhead pops up.  Just means it's doing its job!  So, if you're interested in this wonderful little gadget, and hesitant about the cost, it's worth every pretty penny.  I promise!!

Okay, gotta go cook dinner.  One last thought; I purchased Divergent on my Kindle today because I wanted to read something like The Hunger Games (and frankly, I'm still madly in love with JHutch/Peeta and I simply cannot get over him).  Has anybody else read this series?  Thoughts??

~LL

Happy New Year!!

It's NYE!!  I'm actually excited for our plans tonight.  We're meeting friends for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant and then headed back to our friends home for games, drinks, and (I'm sure) a dance party or two.  My sweet parents took Aaron Mo for the night so we can indulge in some much-needed adult time.  I honestly can't remember the last NYE that we got dressed up and went out (that's sad, right?).  Cheers!

So, let's just go ahead and get it out of the way: Kimye's having a beybey.  Celebitchy predicted this last week.  I don't think it's that shocking.  I guess she felt that her clock's ticking and her divorce is dragging, so she might as well get knocked up.  Please God, let this child look like her.  Or Mason.  Or Penelope.  Check out this link for the hilarious twitter reactions to baby Kimye.

What are your resolutions this year?  I have a few.

• To wear a bikini next summer.  I really, really need for this to happen.  For great beach pictures, of course.  MyFitnessPal app is downloading on my phone as I type...
• To let go.  Of everything.  To stop worrying about everything.  To pray and trust that God's in control.  To grow closer in my relationship with Him.  To be a better person.  A better mother.  A better wife.  A better friend.  Just be better.
• To read more. 
• To blog more.
• And finally, to stop cutting my hair off. We don't work well together.

Some things I'm looking forward to in 2013???

image via

The return of this guy (well more like True Blood) in June.   I'm sweating right now.

The return of this show next month.  Eeekkk!  Love them.


And of course, I can't talk about 2013 without talking about this...

Aghhhhh!  JHutch!!  Finnick!!!  Too much excitement for me to handle!!!

Is it bad that all of my excitement involves televisions shows and/or movies?  Oh well.


Anyway, from our home to yours...........

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a side note, Aaron got a helmet to use while riding on his "Show-Wheeler" AKA Four Wheeler, and he refuses to take it off. 

~LL

What is Santa bringing YOU??

I cannot believe Christmas is only 5 days away.  Heck, Christmas Eve is only 4 days away and it's almost as big of a deal as Christmas day is!  I was just talking to my sister-in-law on the phone about who's bringing what to our family gathering Monday, and we both agree that it doesn't really feel like Christmas.  With all of the turmoil and devastation of last week, it's been a very difficult week for many.  Hopefully, I'll get into more of the "Christmas spirit" over the next few days.  In the meantime, I'm excited about giving (and of course, receiving).  Of course, the real reason for Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, and I've been reading the Christmas story to Aaron this week so he can somewhat understand.  However, he sees Christmas presents and his eyes light up with excitement.  I can't help but be excited for him.  I'm excited, too.  I mean, what time of the year (besides your birthday) can you tell people what you want?  Sooo....without further ado, here's my ultimate wish list.  Hope I've been good this year!

The Naked 2 palette.  Dying.  Obsessed.  All those pretty colors.....all the different combinations......all the different looks....agh!  Love.it.  Ashley over at Kindredly had this on her "wants" list a few weeks back and I followed suit.  It's just too fabulous not to!  Luckily I was able to send this palette via my +Sephora app to my mother-in-law.  Fingers crossed!

 Mix No. 6 Orion Wedge Boot.  I was online shopping at DSW for Riding Boots and found these instead.  I can't resist a heel....or in this case a wedge.  The color is "cognac" so I can wear it with both brown and black....hopefully!

An ifinity scarf.  I wear a scarf as much as possible.  In fact, most every day.  Since my daily attire usually involves jeans, jeggings, or leggings, tunics or tees, and boots/flats I need something to make me feel better about myself when my biggest outing of the day is a trip to the McDonalds playground.  A'la: a scarf!  And since I basically have worn out the whole loop the scarf through the hole, tie it in a knot look, I needed something different.  That's where the infinity scarf comes in!  All you do is put it around your neck, make a figure 8, and, VOILA- a chic, new way to wear the scarf begins!  The one above is from Target.

The Clarisonic Mia 2.  I don't know what it is, but ever since I've turned 30, my body has gone into pre-puberty wack-out mode.  My hair is greasier than ever, as well as my face.  I've had more zits on my mug in the past 4 months than I've had in the past 4 years!  I've done everything: brought the mildest face wash on the market (Cetaphil) and alternated that with an apricot scrub every other day; that didn't work.  Bought the expensive Mary Kay Timewise cleanser; that didn't work.  I'm over it.  After doing my research I decided this might be the answer to all my face woes.  And yes, I've made sure Santa (AKA Adam) is giving me this as I've already ordered it for myself.  Here's to hoping and wishing it all works as planned!

Now you tell me, what's on your wish list??

~LL

I am such a Scrooge on Monday's..

It's Monday.  Monday's suck.  And I haven't updated my blog in almost a week sooooo......here I go....

Did y'all have a good weekend?  Mine was nice.  Very low-key.  Aaron and I hung out in Griffin over the weekend spending time with my mom and dad.  I love visiting my parents on the weekends that Adam works because: 1) Aaron has lots more room to run around and play both inside and outside, and 2) I get a break from full-time mommy duty which is always nice.  Yesterday, I went and spent some time with one of my besties, Natalie, who is due to give birth anytime over the next few weeks.  Eeeekkk!  I'm so excited to meet her sweet baby boy!  It was heartwarming to see her and her sweet belly, and to know that in a very short time she's going to be holding that sweet bundle of love.  Very happy and excited for her and her hubby!

On a random note, whilst in Griffin this weekend my mom and I decided to do a little Christmas shopping in G-town (AKA hit up Marshalls).  After putting my whining toddler in a buggy (while he's wailing "I not wide in buggy, I wide in buggy car!!"  The "buggy car" he's referring to is indeed a buggy shaped like a car that he rides in when we shop at Publix.  This.is.my.life.) we proceeded to start shopping.  That's when I noticed a girl in high school....who used to terrorize me.  Literally.  She once chased me down the 400 hall at Griffin High.  I was wearing high-heeled loafers.  Don't hate, that was the style back back then.  She stalked me by phone, threatened me through messages delivered by her buddies, the works.  I'm not kidding, y'all.  I know some people reading this will know exactly who I'm talking about.  I was Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls eating my lunch in the bathroom (except not really, I would just beg my teacher to let me eat my lunch in my 4th period class room) this girl harassed me so bad.  And you know why she hated me?  All because of a guy.  Now this guy, he was gorge back then.  And it was a full-on high school love affair for me.  Getting back to my story, I run into this girl while shopping.  And do you know, she wouldn't even look at me?!  Seriously.  Saw me walk in, put her face down, and wouldn't even make eye contact with me.  I gave her several chances- she wouldn't bite.  Now let me say, I don't hold grudges.  High school was a long, long time ago and I'm sure she doesn't even think about high school drama.  I don't either, until it's right in my face like it was this weekend.  I just wanted to smile at her.  That's all.  Let bygones be bygones.  She wouldn't make any sort of eye contact.  And she saw me.  Oh well.  I hope she's happy with her life.  And can I just say that it was so nice to run into this person who used to scare the s&*t out of me, and be able to look at her and think "I really don't care anymore."  I wish her the best.  I really do.

Anyway, a busy week awaits.  Another one of my besties is getting married Saturday and I'm so excited for her!!  It is truly a joyous, happy time for many of my friends. :)

I have some news.  Well actually, a new development in my life...................................

I GOT BANGS (again)!!


They're side bangs.  And, I loved them at first sight.  And I still do, surprisingly.  I'll try and post a pic of the infamous bangs.  Agh!  I heart them....again!  Our relationship is like JT and Jessica pre-wedding: they treat me bad but I can't stay away!  The saga continues.....

~LL

Rant

The past few days these Instagram photos of Rihanna and Chris Brown have been leaking all over the Internet:

image via

image via

Uhhh.  I'm sorry, but they disgust me.  I know that's not a nice thing to say, but if you put it out there people are gonna talk.  Rihanna is the one of the biggest singers/celebrities around; for goodness sakes, she's supposed to be a role model.  And she instagrams/tweets pictures of this?  Her straddling the guy that beat her down 3 years ago.  He tweets a picture of her practically naked with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  It's gross.  They're gross.  Sorry, I'm not sorry.  (BTW, I want to give a shout out to Ashley over at Kindredly for letting me steal her awesome phrase.) 

What happened to self-respect?  Does she even know what kind of message she's sending out to young women?  "It's okay for a man to hit you.  It's okay to act like a slut."  I know this blog entry is harsh, but I'm so sick of it.  What happened to good role models?  I know there's something to be said for not caring what other people think, but have a little self-respect.  Posting classy pictures like this are doing you no favors:

image via

The thing is, I love her music.  And I'm sure she's probably a really great person.  She's probably just very confused.  I can't imagine living under the telescope she lives under.  It's a double-edged sword.  However, if I see one more picture of her and Chris Brown.....together.....looking like they just crawled out of the bed or are about to hop in the bed.....I'm going to puke.  For real.

Getting off my pedestal...

Walking Dead: I'm glad Sunday was the mid-season finale.  I'm getting bored.  I actually fell asleep 15 minutes before the show ended, and had to re-watch the last thirty minutes yesterday morning.  I will say I was worried that Michonne was going to get taken down by the Guv'nuh's zombie daughter.  Guess we all know how that ended....

Looking forward to seeing Daryl take care of bidness' next year.  Love him.

Sad to say, but those are my thoughts.  I'm kind've in a mood today if you can't already tell.  Luckily, tonight five of my girlfriends and I are going out for a Christmas dinner/gift exchange and we're heading to my fave- Carrabas.  Stoked.  Excited about some vino.  And pasta.

Laters, baby!

~LL

The rundown

It's Monday, y'all!  I'm still recovering from our busy weekend in the Big Apple.  We had such an amazing time.  It was so nice just being away from everything and everybody for a couple of days.  I am so proud to be married to such an amazing, wonderful man.  5 years!  Wow. 

We arrived in NYC around 4 pm Friday afternoon.  The crazy thing was, it was already dark by 4:30.  So what was really 5pm felt like 8pm.  I'm guessing it's because of all of the tall skyscrapers and such.  Anyway, it was breathtaking.  All of it.  I've been to New York twice before and stayed on Times Square both times, and still the sights/sounds/smells never cease to amaze me.  You truly feel like you're in a whole different world.  Anyway, with all of the traveling we were hungry, so needless to say, we found a local burger joint in a side street off of Times Square and had a drink while munching on buffalo wings.  Afterwards, we were ready to explore.  We ended up walking.  We did A LOT of walking.  I have finally figured out how Gisele, Miranda, Alessandra, and the other Victoria Secret baby mamas are able to shed the baby pounds in enough time to fit into a diamond-encrusted bra and panty set for the Christmas Fashion Show: they live in NYC and walk everywhere!  Geez.  If I lived there I'd be a freakin' size 4.  Well, maybe not, but I'd definitely be a size 6!  (wink!) 
Anyway, we walked over to Rockefeller Center and saw the huge Christmas tree.  Breathtaking.  Walked all the way to Radio City Music Hall.  Beautiful.  The Christmas decorations were massive.  We ended up stopping at an Irish Pub for dinner, and then headed back to our room to warm up, and take a break before our next outing.  It was only 7pm but felt like 10 pm!  After gearing up for a second outing with a cup of coffee, we were ready.  The plan was to hop on the subway to head further downtown to see the Empire State Building.  (As a side note, we didn't take cabs at all.  Well, I take that back, we took one cab ride from the airport to our hotel.  It was $60.  At that point, we decided we'd either walk everywhere, or take a page out of JLo's book and hop "On the 6."  Ha!)  This is where the planning should have been better.  You see, if you don't study a NYC Subway map before hopping on said subway you will be confused.  As hell.  Adam and I bought MetroCards, then hopped on a random train thinking it would take us to our destination and we ended up in freakin' Brooklyn.  Um, no thank you.  After an hour spent walking around the Subway station trying to get our bearings, we agreed to start over Saturday, and made the trek back to our hotel. 
The next morning we were ready to take on New York.  Once we had gotten back to the hotel the night before, we made a plan: wrote down everywhere we wanted to go, the train(s) we needed to take, and the paths we needed to walk.  We learned that once you get the hang of the subway system, it becomes A LOT easier.  Our fist stop: SoHo/Tribeca.  We headed to Bubby's for breakfast per my in-laws recommendation.  I'm so glad we did because it was delicious.  All organic.  All "free-range" this, and "fair-trade" that.  We split a breakfast plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon and we both agreed that the pancakes were better than any IHOP combo we'd ever had.  After we left, we walked at least two miles, if not three, to (you guessed it) Dash- the Kardashian baby.  Upon hitting Spring Street (their boutique location) I immediately broke out into a sweat, and my heart started thumping like it was going to pop out of my chest.  "What if Kimye's in there?  What if Kourtney has those presh babes in there?  What am I going to do??!"  I was freaking out.  FYI, as celebrity-obsessed as I am, I'm not the psychotic fan that's going to attack you.  I'm the psychotic fan that cries and has a panic attack when I see you.  I honestly don't know which is worse. 
The doorman (who oddly looked just as excited as I was to be at a Kardashian shop- stalker.) opened the door for us and there we were, in Kardashian territory.  And I was unimpressed.  The clothes were beautiful; you definitely could tell which sister picked out which piece.  The prices were weird, though.  You would pick out a dress thinking it was going to be $700 and it'd be $300.  On the other hand, I found just a simple white tee with Dash embroidered on the front and it was sixty freakin' bucks.  What??!  Knowing that it was one wash cycle away from shrinking I put it down and walked out the door.  Again, I was not impressed.  Not impressed with their super smug employees and not impressed with their weird prices.  The one thing I regret is not getting a picture of the store.  I was so frazzled!  Moving on...
We left from there and made our way to the Financial District in Manhattan.   We were both wanting to see the World Trade Center Towers and how much was rebuilt.  It is still a very somber place.  So much has been rebuilt, yet so much still needs to be done.  I just kept on seeing the pictures in my head of these terrified people running down those same streets 11 years ago as I walked in the very same location.  We didn't have passes to the World Trade Memorial, but I was glad that I finally got to see the rebuilding of these massive buildings.  It truly was extraordinary. 
Since we had basically done everything we wanted to do in the SoHo/Tribeca area (which is so utterly cool by the way) we got back on the subway and headed uptown to Fifth Avenue.  We went from an area where the locals/celebs live and hang out that's not crowded at all to an area where we were once again shoulder to shoulder with every other person.  Major switch-up!  We walked past Harry Winston, the St Regis Hotel, the Trump Towers, Bergdorf Goodman, The Plaza.  Ahhh.....I felt like I was in a movie.  Absolutely amazing.  We stopped at FAO Schwarz and picked Aaron up a collector's box of Hot Wheels.  Talk about panic attack.  FAO is HUGE (2 stories large) and there were no less than a 700 people in the store- no kidding.  I totally felt like I was in the Hunger Games arena  Adam and I walked out breathless, sweating, and grateful we were still alive.  Where's the Xanax when you need it?
At that point we headed straight to Central Park.  Ahhh....paradise.  It was as beautiful and peaceful as it looks in the movies.  As soon as Adam and I got there I started crying.  I don't know if it was because we had just escaped the zoo at FAO, or because it was so amazingly gorgeous, or even because I felt so incredibly blessed, probably all three of those things to be honest, but in that moment I felt like the luckiest girl on the planet.  It was my favorite part of the trip by far.
Afterwards, Adam and I walked the 10 or so blocks back to our hotel and ended up eating a late 2 pm lunch before heading back to the hotel to rest and watch the SEC Championship game.  We were truly exhausted.  I'm not kidding when I say we walked at least 5 miles that day. 
That night, we went to see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.  It was my second time seeing it; Adam's first.  We were in the very top row of seats, nosebleeds, but the performance was still awesome.  And surprisingly, Adam loved it.  I wore my leather-coated leggings from Fab'rik and felt very New York chic.  I even got a compliment from a local....winning! ;)  All in all, a wonderful night with my hubby.

We had to be out of the hotel by 6 AM Sunday morning to make our 9 AM flight.  It was excruciating.  Then once we got back into town yesterday, we had a family photo shoot late afternoon.  Oh my goodness.  Between flying, dealing with a wine hangover, and trying to get two toddlers to cooperate on a two hour shoot- it was insane!  Needless to say, I'm still recovering today.

I'm so glad Adam and I were able to take this trip.  Our official anniversary isn't until next Saturday, and with Adam's work schedule we celebrated a little earlier.  I will never forget one second of our trip. 

Check out my Instagram or Facebook for pics.  If we're not friends, friend me!

I heart NY.

~LL

I need another cup of coffee

It's Monday, y'all.  Blah.  Luckily, it's Thanksgiving week so it's a short week- whoop!

Yesterday, Adam and I scored some free last-minute tickets to see the Atlanta Falcons play and other than the two-mile walk to/from our car, we had a blast.  My awesome in-laws kept Aaron Mo all day so we could go, and it was some much-needed time away.  I am no football fan, nor have I ever claimed to be.  However, yesterday I was standing up screaming, jumping up and down, and high-fiving all the other fans around me like I was Falcons Fan Numero Uno.  It probably helped that I had three Bud Lights and a serious buzz.  I also didn't mind the fact that during breaks in the game they broke out some old school Luda, because hello?!  What's better than hearing "Move B--ch" after a touchdown?  Classic.  We ended the game by getting a funnel cake with powdered sugar AND chocolate syrup on top, which I'm positive blew my calories for the week.  It was absolutely worth it.

I think we all know what today is.  Walking Dead recap time.  Here goes:

• The person on the phone was really Rick's imagination.  No big surprise there.  I kinda figured in the end it would be "Lori" snapping Rick out of his funk and telling him to get his act together.  I think it's safe to say he's back....thoughts?
• I am officially a Michonne fan.....even though she's crazy.  As Hell.  She saved that box of formula (we all know how expensive that junk is!), and pretended to be a walker with zombie guts splashed all over her.  Impressive.
• Can I just say that as long as you don't piss Merle off he's your greatest ally?  When are these people gonna learn??
• The Gov'nah and Andrea got it on.  Shocker.  Single lady in a Zombie Apocalypse- what what!  
• Carol is not dead and Daryl saved her.  Again....shocker.  Are we seeing a parallel (yeah, I just said that) between the Lori/Carl mother/son relationship with Carol/Daryl?  I think Daryl thinks of Carol as a mother figure, especially with him telling Carl the story of his mother's death.  And again let's just put it out there: Daryl's hot.  End of story.

It's going to be interesting to see the Michonne/Rick dynamic.  Also, when Andrea was getting her booty call, and they heard that knock at the door, did y'all SO think that was The Governor's walker daughter?  Would that not have been hilarious??

Enjoy your Monday, folks!

~LL

Twilight Thursday

Tonight is Breaking Dawn premiere night.  I am pumped.  My girlfriends and I are going to the 10 pm showing at Tinseltown and I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with myself for the next 9 hours.  Torturous.  I'm also sad that the whole franchise is over.  Where did the time go?  I remember in late 2008 when everyone was talking about "Twilight."  I just didn't see the appeal.....until I finally picked the book up in December 2008.  Whoa.  At the time I was working as a Financial Aid Counselor at a local college, and in between working and lunching, I read.  I could not put the book down!  Luckily, the staff was given a two-week Christmas holiday, and between Christmas presents/money I was able to buy the next 3 books (which were, I swear, like 500 pages each) and finished the next 3 within 7 days.  That's how crazy I was.  I remember I finished Breaking Dawn New Years Day and I cried.  Horrible.  I had invested so much time and emotions into those damn books that I was depressed when they were over.  That's when the vampire obsession began.  Cut to late 2011, New Years Eve, when I picked up the third book in the Sookie Stackhouse series and the vampire obsession went from this:

(http://robertpattinsonwho.com/?p=8901)

To this:

(http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/alexander-skarsgard?before=1336823750)

You're welcome.


I've totally been stalking the Breaking Dawn premiere photos, and although I'm certain she's a hein witch, KStew has been looking pretty fierce thus far.  Exhibit A:

(http://www.sheknows.com/beauty-and-style/articles/976863/kristen-stewart-at-the-breaking-dawn-premiere)

Here she is in Zuhair Murad at the Los Angeles premiere.  I know critics have been off and on about this dress, but I think she looks stunning.  And (I will probably catch flack) LOVE this dress.  I do.  I think it's fabulous.  And, she has the perfect bod for it.  Somebody super curvy (a' la: Kim K, Sofia V, ME!) couldn't pull it off.  It's made for super skinny, straight people, but hello?!  Girlfriend's got bootay!  I'm impressed.  No wonder RPattycake can't stay away. He's an ass-man.  Taking note.  Moving on.

Here she is at last night's premiere in London.  This is my fave:

(http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2012/11/14/twilight-kristen-stewart-style-breaking-dawn-london/)

She looks hot.  Love the lacy, see-through bodysuit.  This is also designed by Zuhair Murad.  It shows just enough in my opinion.  Looks like the days of this are over.  Thank God. 

Now, off to catch a nap while my baby naps.  Got a big date tonight. ;)

~LL

Baby Showering

Yesterday we celebrated my dear friend, Natalie's, baby boy who is scheduled to arrive January 4th.  Seven (including myself) of Natalie's family and friends, held the shower at the Baily Tebault house in Griffin. 

The shower was wonderful.  Natalie is glowing and gorge.  Everything from the food, guests, and weather were amazing and there was nothing short of pure love, happiness, and excitement over this precious boy.  Here are some pics:

How cute is this cake??

The initials are JDD for sweet James Dailey Davis "Jimmy"

The loot.  And this is before the other 100 presents arrived!

The grub.  Num num num!

One of the mantles.  Do you like my tilted photography?

Here's a shot of me and the beautiful baby mama and another with the hostesses:

Love.

All of the hostesses minus one (we missed you, Jennifer!)

Now we wait.  Natalie has around 7 more weeks to go.  I told her they need to aim for being the first New Years baby so they can make some moolah.  Here's hoping!

~LL