Our Trip to Bali Part 1

Good Morning and happy Friday! Today I am recapping the first half of our trip to Bali so settle in with a cup of coffee and get ready for a LOT of pictures. It took us 36 hours to get there, including 29 hours of flying time. Needless to say, if it took us THAT long to get there, it better have been worth it... and it WAS! In many ways Bali reminded me of Hawaii. It has volcanoes, the volcanic black soil, beaches, surfers, and lush green vegetation everywhere. That being said, it is very different from Hawaii in many ways too, and it was definitely worth the extra hours of getting there to experience how unique this island is. 

Our first stop in Bali was in the town of Ubud. Ubud is a town in the center of the island and feels like it is in a rainforest. The AirB&B we stayed in was absolutely stunning, and our only complaint was that we didn't get to stay there longer. For anyone considering traveling to Bali I highly recommend this place. 

What's Up Wednesday

Good Morning and happy Wednesday! We just got back from our trip to Bali and to say we are jet lagged is an understatement. 

Currently me at the moment 😂 (I laugh, but I'm also serious!)

Lily Grace's Christmas List

Happy Cyber Monday friends! Is anyone else out there SO READY for the Christmas season to begin?? As a girl who starts listening to Christmas music in July, you better believe we are ready to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year. If anybody needs me I will sipping on some peppermint hot chocolate watching one of these with my mom:

#thankGodforDVR

Family Pictures 2018

Hi All! Before we begin, I wanted to let you know that we are heading off on our big trip to Bali today!! Woohoo! I would love for you to follow along with 2/3 of our sweet family on Instagram if you have it. My username is @dontmindourmess. 

I mentioned earlier in the week that we had a family friend take pictures for us for our upcoming Christmas cards. I wanted to share them with you and also tag any of our outfit details if I had them. Enjoy! Happy Friday!

Easy Dinner- Sheet Tray Veggies and Salmon

Weekend Highlights

Hi There Friends! This past weekend was another busy but FUN one! Here is a look at what we were up to:

1. Firepit Friday. On Friday we hosted a casual little get together for our friends. It was very laid back, I prepared an appetizer/some snacks and we ordered a couple pizzas. The point of this is a casual get together with friends, not go over the top with decorations/planning (there are plenty of other opportunities for that!). We played "Heads Up" and some card games while we all caught up about our week. We were too busy for pictures though, I wish I had taken some!
2. We woke up on Saturday morning and played around the house for a bit before Devin and I headed out for a little day date. We have friends who own their own cooking school and were testing out the new menu on friends and family so we stopped by. LG got all dressed up for the Ohio State vs Michigan State game and watched it with Pop Pop while mommy and daddy were out.

 Vest/Turtleneck/Jeans/Boots

3. Later that afternoon we had a friend take our family pictures at a nearby park. Kendall is an amazing photographer and our group of girlfriends is trying to convince her to do this professionally. She really has a gift, not only for envisioning how to take the perfect pictures, but also with editing them. We plan on using these pictures for our Christmas card photo this year, but also are so excited to have several to frame for our house/work/to give to extended family. She took a bunch of pictures, but these were the ones she sent me first. 

Dress/Boots/Scarf/Bracelets

 Before 

After

5. On Sunday morning we woke up early and headed to church, then to the grocery store.  After that we came home and pulled out all of our Christmas decorations and started decking the halls. We blasted Michael Buble Holiday station on Pandora and put up all of our Christmas decorations. I loved that Lily Grace was able to help us this year. She put a few ornaments on the tree and kept saying "WOW" to each one. It was too cute! But then, when we turned away for a second she started pulling the ornaments off the tree and tried to put a Christmas light in her mouth, so.... we had to put a barrier around the tree for when those moments when we aren't able to be right there with her. Tacky? Yes. Safer? Yes, so obviously worth it. What do you other mommas of toddlers do with your trees? They are such a fun part of the Christmas season and I want her to be able to safely enjoy it. I'd appreciate some feedback!

That was our weekend, hope you had a good one too! Happy Monday!

  

Classic/Casual/Preppy Fall Outfits

Happy Friday! I love perusing other blogs to see if I can find some casual outfits with a hint of preppy (my favorite style). Apparently these are your favorite types of posts too because these are always the top visited posts on my blog! Here are a few of the preppy/casual outfits I've been wearing lately...

Dress/Boots

Book Club-- October

Good Morning! It is time for the monthly Book Club post and this meme below pretty much sums up my month:

Weekend Highlights

Good Morning! We had a busy weekend over here and I thought I'd share some of the fun things we did. But before we begin with that, I thought I'd share a pic or two of Lil's Halloween costume. We used her crazy hair to our advantage and dressed her up as Albert Einstein :)

1. Charlotte Half Marathon-- Our race was finally here! We have been training for this for the past few months and were so excited for the big day to finally be here. Dev had been training right along with me but a few weeks ago hurt his knee while running. He took some time off hoping it would heal in time for the race but it was still sore the week leading up to the race, so he deferred to next year. This was really upsetting to him but I am so proud of him for making the right decision and deferring instead of pushing himself through it and possibly injuring himself further. He and Lily Grace were my #1 fans in the crowd and saw me at multiple places along the course. We got to celebrate together at the finish line.

Lil came on a little strong with her kiss 😂

2. After the race we made our way to the library for the last day of early voting. Lily Grace got to vote too and earned her "I Voted" sticker. 

3. I had scheduled a massage for the day of the race, so after rinsing off at home and resting for a few hours, I made my way to the spa for a little post-race R&R. While I was relaxing after the race, Dev and Lily Grace met up with some friends. 

 My trip to the spa was relaxing

Lily Grace and her friend playing (I blurred out his face because I didn't ask his mom's permission to post their picture).
4. Sunday morning we got all dressed up for church and then went for a walk around our neighborhood.

 Outside our church

 

5. On Sunday afternoon we hung out with friends and let all the kids run around together. We are so lucky to have a group of close friends with kids the same age. Getting to parent with a group of close friends makes it that much more fun!

That was our weekend, I hope you had a good one too! Happy Monday friends!

Monthly Goals-- November

Hi There! It is time to set some new goals for the upcoming month and I figured I'd share them with you. I will be honest, posting my monthly goals online has made a huge difference in whether or not I accomplish them. I don't want to have to write that I didn't accomplish one of my goals if my only reason is "I just didn't feel like it". So while I may not have had a "perfect" month goal-wise, I at least made a solid effort on all of my goals, which is a win in my book! Thanks for helping to keep me accountable :)

First let's take a look at last month:

Planner/Notepad/Washi Tape/Flair Pens

Marble Contact Paper Before and After Part 2

So a few weeks ago I posted about the mini kitchen makeover we did with marble contact paper and had a few questions about how exactly I did it. Luckily at that point we didn't have the entire kitchen done yet, so I was able to be more diligent with taking progress pictures as we completed it. If you missed the other post, click here to check it out.