SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday, July 30, 2018

Our Trip to the Farmer's Market

Good Morning! This past weekend we walked to our neighborhood Farmer's Market to grab some flowers and a few other things. We had never been to this Farmer's Market before and we loved it! I love being able to support local farmers and artisans by purchasing from them rather than through Harris Teeter or Trader Joe's. 

Italy-- The island of Capri and Welcome to Rome!

Thanks for stopping by! Today I am recapping our trip to Italy with our stop in Capri and then heading to Rome. If you missed our first Italy post, click here


Okay, onto day two! So according to our itinerary we were supposed to go to Capri on our first full day in Italy, but the weather was supposed to be cloudy and cold. We decided we wanted to be able to appreciate the beautiful views in Capri and switched the two days. Before walking to the port to catch the ferry to Capri, we snuck up to the roof of our hotel and took a few pictures of the view.


Isn't that beautiful? We loved the view of the harbor, the castle (Il Castel Nuovo), and Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Friday, July 27, 2018

Current Obsession: Jack Rogers Knockoffs

Ladies. It dawned on me this week that I somehow have yet to post about one of my all time favorite finds... my knockoff Jack Rogers Sandals

Look, I love the look of the Jack Rogers Sandal to finish off a summer outfit. They always help to give it that final touch of class. It adds a hint of that preppy look to any outfit. I love that they seem to go with everything. I love that tiny hint of a heel in the back. I DONT love how uncomfortable they are. Anyone else own a pair of real Jacks? I made the mistake of wearing them to a tailgate and then a football game in college. Lots of walking, lots of standing, lots of wear during that time period and the next day my feet, legs and back were KILLING me. On top of all that, as a college student working part time, these shoes were at the top of my price range. I was paying a lot of money to be in pain. Those were the last pair of (real) Jacks I ever bought. 

Thursday, July 26, 2018

How We Use Points to Travel Inexpensively Part 2-- A Timeline

Hi Everyone! I was surprised by how many people checked out our little post about how we travel the world while using our points. Apparently there are a lot of you out there who love to travel too but don't necessarily have the travel budget you wish you had. In this next post, Dev gets a little bit more specific with it all broken down.



Monday, July 23, 2018

How We Use Points to Travel Inexpensively


Good Morning! For the past few weeks I have been promising that Devin would do a blog post about how we travel the world for (almost) free using our credit card points. We did this when we went to Italy and Turks and Caicos. Whenever people hear this they immediately get uncomfortable and assume we spend beyond our means or have terrible credit, I can assure you that is not the case!! Devin loves a challenge and one day decided he wanted to find a way to figure out how to "beat the system" and find a way for us to be able to travel for free. It goes without saying that I am SO HAPPY he's figured it out. 



Italy-- Pompeii in a Day

Where is your favorite place on Earth to travel? Do you have any of those places that you could go back to over and over again and wouldn't think twice about it? For me, that's such an easy question. Dev and I have been to 8 countries together, but I've been to well over a dozen in total and my favorite HANDS DOWN is Italy. What's not to love? The food, the incredibly friendly people, the history, the beautiful natural landscape... I mean, it has everything. 

Dev and I went to Italy in the spring of 2016 and I have been itching to go back ever since. We did not get to see/do everything on our list... we didn't even come close. But I figure that just gives us a reason to go back again to see the rest. :)

I'll attach our itinerary for anyone who is curious what our 10 day trip looked like.

This is a quick recap of the beginning of our trip.


Friday, July 20, 2018

Giveaway: One Stop Bow Shop Hairbows!

From the day this baby girl was born, people have always made the comment "She has so much HAIR!"

 

This is us at the hospital the day after Lil was born. Can you see all that?! SO. MUCH. HAIR! Being the girly girl that I am, I could not wait to accessorize it :) Through another blog that I read, I stumbled across a store called One Stop Bow Shop, and I am SO HAPPY I did! 
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Whats Up Wednesday

Happy Whats Up Wednesday! I originally posted this a week ago (my bad!) and am re-linking it today. Before we start, I am doing a giveaway for a box of One Stop Bow Shop hair bows and a $10 coupon this evening. To enter, follow us on Instagram @lcdarrell and comment on the picture with the hair bows (it's pretty obvious which one it is!). Only a handful of people have entered so far, so if you're interested, give it a shot!



Today I will be answering all of these fun questions below:



Monday, July 16, 2018

Turks and Caicos

Good Morning! I'm sitting here sipping my coffee in bed looking back through pictures from our Turks and Caicos trip and wishing we were still there... ahh it was SO BEAUTIFUL!! 

So whenever we get back from a trip I go through vacation withdrawals and immediately start planning our next one. Anyone else do this? We are currently trying to figure out what would be the perfect destination for Babymoon #2-- any recommendations? And would you bring your first child with you? We can't decide that either! I'd love for you to share any opinions about Babymoons down below!

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Our 5 Year Anniversary

On Friday we celebrated our 5 year anniversary by taking a family trip to Romare Bearden Park uptown. We had a family picnic and let Lily Grace run around the park for awhile before we walked over to the church where we got married (and Lil was Baptized!) for a pic. 

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Wrightsville Beach

This past weekend we took Lil out to Wilmington for an extended stay with her grandparents. Dev and I are headed to Turks and Caicos (woohoo!) with friends and his parents are going to watch her while we are there. Thank God for our incredible families who love to watch our sweet girl while we get a little alone time or get some things done. These are a few pictures of our little lady at the beach. Have you ever been to Wrightsville/Wilmington area? What are your favorite things to do there with kids??



Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Tips from a Teacher on How to Motivate Kids


The topic this month in the "How We" link up is "How We Motivate Our Children" and while I can't say I have a whole lot of experience in motivating my own child since she is only 14 months old, I do have a lot of experience in motivating children as a classroom teacher. I have been a teacher for 10 years and have had plenty of practice motivating students to do things they don't want to do, so I know a thing or two! I figured I'd share my most common motivation strategy in hopes that it can help a momma or two!

Monday, July 9, 2018

Our Favorite Free Rainy Day/It's Too Hot Out Activities

Sheesh, the weather these past few weeks has been CRAZY hot. I know its July and I live in the South, but I'm used to spending a majority of my summers trying to soak up every bit of sun while lounging on a raft in the pool. Life with a little one has definitely changed up my typical summer routine... no more sunbathing for me! We love to spend some time at the pool, but our favorite time of the day to go is in the evening after Dev gets off work. Our pool is usually empty around 5-6ish and we have the place to ourselves. It has cooled off a bit, the sun isn't as strong, and we usually pack our dinner and eat together at the picnic tables by the pool-- its a dream. 

Friday, July 6, 2018

Current Obsession-- Caudalie

Today I am writing about one of my current obsessions: Caudalie. 

In case you haven't heard of it, Caudalie is a skincare line from France that uses natural active ingredients from grape vines to create something called Resveratrol which helps with anti-aging in skin. The owner, Mathilde Thomas, has written a book about her company and how she founded it called The French Beauty Solution. I read the book a year or two ago and was fascinated by what she wrote, but didn't want to spend a lot of money on a product I wasn't sure about. 

Thursday, July 5, 2018

4th of July Fun

I hope everybody had a nice 4th of July! We had a fun, busy day that ended with one worn out toddler, one worn out dog, and two worn out parents. A good worn out though, so we will happily take it :)

We started the morning at a little parade through the Myers Park neighborhood of Charlotte. This parade started at an elementary school where they were having a little festival. There was live music, a fire truck, an army Humvee, food trucks, popsicle trucks, and face painting. It was super cute, but would've been a lot better if it were in the SHADE!! At 10:30 am I think it was already in the upper 80's... and humid too. Gotta love that weather in the South in July, right? By the end of the parade we were all melting.

Monday, July 2, 2018

The US National Whitewater Center

This past Friday Dev was able to leave work a little bit early and we decided to head to the US National Whitewater Center for a little family fun.



The USNWC is located about a half hour outside of Charlotte and is one of our favorite places to go when the weather is nice. They have whitewater rafting, paddle boarding, kayaking, rock climbing, zip lining, mountain bike trails, hiking trails, yoga, live music on Thursday and Friday nights, and also just some great people watching. We used to get a season pass here every year when before we were married/shortly after we were married but haven't the past few years since life got crazy busy.