Fall Wish List [and Summer Wish List Recap]

With Fall officially started as of last Wednesday and with the announcement of our Scarf Exchange yesterday, I thought now would be a perfect time to share what we hope to do this Fall. As with our Summer Wish List, our Fall Wish List is just that... things I hope that we do. I know we will do some for sure, but the others are on there as a hope. I don't like the pressure that comes with the words "bucket list" (just like "resolutions" for the New Year) so I like to call this our Fall Wish List.

I know Fall technically lasts all the way until a couple days before Christmas, but for my Fall Wish List, I'm going to focus on October and November and come up with a Christmas Wish List a little later.

I know it looks like a lot, but I'm excited to try to accomplish the whole thing. And if all goes according to plan, we should have plans to do all or almost all of these things already. Let me tell you, it will be a busy two months!

And while we're talking about wish lists... I can't announce our Fall Wish List without a little recap of how we did on our Summer Wish List...

To recap we...

- celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday (here)

- went to Disneyland (here)

- went to an outdoor concert (July date :: here)

- did many Lowe's Build and Grows (here // here)

- went to a movie theater (here)

- saw fireworks (sparklers) and celebrated the 4th of July (here)

- went swimming (here)

- made our own popsicles (here)

- went to the OC Fair (here)

- had a family ice cream date (here)

And we also...

- went to story time at the library

- went to an Angels game (here)

- tried out a new park with a splash pad

- went to our local children's museum for an autism event

Even though we didn't get to do everything, I think we did a pretty good job! And now? I'm ready to put Summer behind us (if only the Summer temps would go away as well) and jump feet first into Fall! We already checked one thing off our list last weekend by going to the pumpkin patch and we're on to pumpkin patch #2 this weekend! I think it's safe to say... Fall is my favorite season!

Announcing... a Fall Scarf Exchange!

You guys. This. This is my jam. I LOVE scarves! I think in another life I must have lived somewhere cold because I love scarves so much. In fact, I would totally wear them year round if I wasn't so afraid of passing out from heat stroke. But enough of this Summer talk... it's officially Fall now and in my book, Fall = scarf weather and I'm super excited to announce that this year, I am co-hosting a scarf exchange with Courtney and Whitney. Scarves are TOTALLY my thing and when Whitney asked if I'd be interested in co-hosting a scarf exchange with her and Courtney this Fall, I was totally in.

The basic idea of the scarf exchange is simple - you buy a scarf for someone and someone buys a scarf for you! And then in a couple weeks, you join us back here and share what you got so we can all swoon over your new scarf and add them to our Christmas lists :)

Here's how it works :

Step 1: If you're interested in participating in the exchange (which we hope you are!), please send me an email with a subject line of "2015 Scarf Exchange". Comments below are always welcome but WILL NOT include you in the exchange. Please make sure you send me an email at chasinmasonblog@gmail.com if you want to participate. Please include your name, your email, your blog url (if you have one), your Instagram name (if you have one), and any other social media links that you'd like to share with your partner. Please also include your country (exchange is open to US and Canada residents only) - this will help with the matching! 

Sign ups will close on Monday, October 5th at 9pm Pacific Time so please make sure you email me by then.

Step 2: Partner matches will be made on October 6th and emails notifying you of who your partner is will be sent that night or on October 7th.

Step 3: Please make contact with your partner by Monday, October 12th. You guys can discuss things like what kind of scarves you typically like (infinity, regular, etc), any fabric preferences or allergies to fabrics, etc. You can even share a picture of some scarves you already have to give your partner an idea of what kinds of scarves you typically like. I would also encourage you to check out your partner's social media handles and blog to get an idea as well. You'll also need to exchange addresses.

Step 4: If you haven't received any contact from your partner by Tuesday, October 13th, please email me at chasinmasonblog@gmail.com and I will match you up with someone else.

Step 5: Mail your packages by Monday, October 26th. That gives you 2 weeks to go shopping and get the package in the mail.

Step 6: Come back and link up your blog post with us on Tuesday, November 10th showing us your goodies! No blog? No problem! Share your new scarf with us on social media with #FallScarfExchange15

A little bit of additional information :

• Please plan to spend about $20-25 BEFORE shipping on the scarf for your partner.
• As mentioned above, the exchange is open to US and Canada residents only.
• You do not need to be a blogger to participate. You can get to know your partner through email and social media.
• Please make sure that you can commit to all the dates before you sign up. You don't want to leave your partner cold and scarf-less this Fall and Winter!
• And please let me, Courtney, or Whitney know if you have any questions!

And in case you have any doubt about my love for scarves, I've rounded up a few of my favorites that I have on constant rotation throughout the Fall and Winter (and even Spring if I can get away with it).

My favorite place to shop for scarves is Nordstrom. You might think, whoa, that's out of my price range. But fear not! They have amazing, good quality, CUTE scarves for reasonable prices! A few of these I was gifted but the purple and the white ones I got there at the anniversary sale for less than $20! I also love Old Navy and Gap and some shops on Etsy have super cute ones too!

So, if you love scarves as much as Whitney, Courtney, and I, join us for our scarf exchange!

Friday Fivin'

Hello Friday! Maybe it's because last week was a short week, I don't know, but this week felt like it dragged on forever! Lucky for all of us though, it's finally Friday and the weekend is in sight! So without further ado, let's get to it. Here are my weekly five.

ONE.
TGIT.

SO excited that Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder came back last night! I missed most of Grey's due to being out to dinner with a friend, but I caught Scandal and HTGAWM and let me tell you, they were GOOD. Anyone else watch??


TWO.
Halloween Plates.

I saw these plates on the Pottery Barn Kids website and seriously how cute are they?? I don't typically buy themed plates for holidays but these might be too cute to pass up!

THREE.

Birthday Presents.

As a little birthday wish list recap, I'm excited to say... I got almost everything I asked for on my birthday wish list! I got a couple Stitch Fix gift cards that I will be putting to use soon. I scheduled my first fix to arrive in October and I'm super excited about it! I also got some lots of chocolate from See's (3 boxes!) and 3 bottles of rose as well as the Whole 30 Cookbook and the immersion blender (which I'll obviously be needing to use after I'm done eating all the chocolate)! I didn't quite get a manicure or pedicure though I did give myself one so that's close enough. Oh and I got an Erin Condren gift card to get my new planner :) Overall, it was a GREAT birthday!


FOUR.
Visitors.

Grandpa and Grandma are coming this weekend and we are all excited about seeing them! I'm hoping to be able to do some fun Fall things (in the 96* weather) this weekend and share about it on our first Halloween link up in a couple weeks!


FIVE.
Giveaways.

I shared on Monday that some of my favorite bloggers (who happen to also have September birthdays) and I are hosting a giveaway to help you celebrate our birthdays with us! If you haven't yet, don't forget to enter! Hurry, the giveaway ends this weekend!


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And that's that. Have a great weekend!

The Guys Behind the Blog // September Edition.

A couple months ago, I found out through Crystal that Betsy from Heavens to Betsy has this super cool series called The Guys Behind the Blog. Unfortunately it was a little too late to join for March but I joined in April and have been ever since! While I do talk about Seth often, I don't really know if you all know him very well. Enter : this series. Every month Betsy has different prompts that the guys behind the blog answer.

Here are September's questions.

1 // What's the silliest thing you and your significant other have needed to compromise on?
Silliest compromise for our family... that I do all the cooking. Because I'd like us to be able to eat edible food. And that you do all the laundry because you'd like all your clothes to be done right the first time, not be left in the washing machine over night, and not dried when they should have been hung dry.

2 // If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 3 must haves would you bring with you?
Seth : Laughing.
Me : Why are you laughing?
Seth : More laughing. It's one of those questions...
Me : "I'd bring 3 beers."
Seth : Laughs. No really. I'd bring a machete, a lighter, and a satellite phone to call for someone to come get me.

3 // Talents aside, what is your dream job?
That's easy. An outfielder for the Angels.

4 // What are three things on your bucket list?
Go see a baseball game in every stadium.
Travel. Go to Spain. Go to Italy. Go to Australia.
Take professional cooking lessons.

5 // What kind of date is your favorite to go on with your significant other? (Romantic, fun, spontaneous, etc.)
Fun dates for sure! I like fun dates that we get to spend time together.

And there you have it! Thanks for playing along again Seth!

[Birthday Weekending] Food, Friends, Fun + our September Date.

This past Saturday, September 19th, was my 31st birthday. I can't remember the last time my birthday was on a Saturday (let alone any weekend day) so I wanted to take full advantage! If I had to label the weekend, I'd give it three words : relax and eat. Yep, the theme of the weekend was definitely eating!

But let's start at the beginning. The weekend technically started on Friday when I unexpectedly ended up watching my nieces all day. I picked them both up from school, we had lunch, we got Yogurtland, we played, and we had the best time! After Seth got off work, he brought Mason over and Papa later joined. We had pizza, we scootered, and we went to the park. It was a great way to kick off birthday weekend!



Then Saturday rolled around and it was my actual birthday. The big 3-1. I made a big deal about being "old" on my post on Friday, but in reality, I don't think I'm old. Sometimes I can't believe I am old enough to have a child and to be in charge of another human being. And then other times I feel like an old woman when I want to go home at 9pm and go to bed. Haha.

We started off the morning by dropping Mason off at ABA therapy. And thus began date morning/early afternoon. It's not really how I intended on spending our September date, but I feel like we've gotten more than our fair share of dates this month so I'll take what I can get. We stopped by Target on the way home and then hung out for a bit before meeting our friends for a birthday brunch celebration. We went to this yummy restaurant called Plums Cafe at 11am. We had mimosas (and bloody mary's for those who like them - me yuck!) and I had this DELICIOUS dutch baby. I'd never had one before, but let's just say - SO GOOD and SO BIG. After we were done eating, we headed to another local place for one more drink before Seth and I had to go pick Mason up.

Saturday night, we met up with Desiree, Scott, Marcus, and Julia for dinner. It was Desiree's birthday on the 16th and I suggested that if they weren't busy, that we meet up for a birthday celebration on Saturday night. Luckily for us, they were free, and we met at Nick's in Long Beach and had some delicious buttermilk fried chicken for dinner and this amazing dessert called butter cake. TO. DIE. FOR. We had the BEST time and were so happy to be able to celebrate with Desiree and Scott. The visit wasn't long enough but the kids were getting antsy so we all headed home. Poor Marcus wanted to play with Mason so bad and kept asking if Mason could come over to play Mario Kart. Sweet boy was so upset when we said we all had to go home so we'll be setting up a play date ASAP to fix that! LOVE when blog friends become real life friends and extra bonus points when the husbands get along so well too!







Sunday we met our friends Lauren and Seth at a local park to ride mini trains. You guys, this place is like a hidden gem! I had NO idea it even existed. Luckily they live nearby and found it. They have free (free!) train rides on the 3rd weekend of the month. We happened to be free in the morning and were so happy we could meet them. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but they don't let you use your phone (or camera) during the train ride for fear than the train will de-rail. The track is THAT small. I hope to go back again soon and take more pictures. It's seriously the coolest place and we would have ridden more times if it weren't so hot.





After the train, we ran errands like normal and I did a bunch of laundry and went grocery shopping. I also managed to convince Seth that we NEEDED to go to See's candy because you know, chocolate doesn't have calories on your birthday, so we NEEDED to get some and by some miracle, it worked. Mason pointed to every candy in the case but when given the free sample, he said "no no". Is he my kid? Oh well, more for me!



And then at night, the eating continued! It was our family birthday celebration time and we went out to WoodRanch. I seriously love this restaurant and knew I wanted to go for my birthday. I didn't take any pictures at dinner, but I'll recap it for you - the most delicious bread, tri tip, mac and cheese, and bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes for dessert. I swear it's a miracle I didn't gain 20 pounds by Monday. If only I had pulled a Mason and ran up and down the walkway and up and down the stairs to the movie theater in the 95 degree heat, it probably would have helped with all the eating I did. The only time he stopped running was to stare at the fountain (and Seth and I stopped chasing to make sure he didn't climb IN to the fountain).

And there you have it, birthday weekend in a (large) nutshell! Nothing overly fancy but perfect none the less!

Oh, and if you didn't catch it on Monday, don't forget to enter our favorite things giveaway! I've teamed up with some of my favorite bloggers who also happen to be September babies and we're giving you the opportunity to celebrate our birthdays with us. Check out the rafflecopter below! Good luck!

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[Mom Talk Tuesday] Family Organization + How I Use my Erin Condren Planner

Today I'm linking up with Stephanie and sharing how I keep our family organized. Now, I can tell you, I'm definitely no expert in this field, but I do try to keep us somewhat organized on a weekly basis in order to maintain some sort of sanity and structure.

First of all, we always have a weekly meal plan. I usually make it on Sundays before we go grocery shopping. On the rare weekends that we have plans all weekend or are out of town, the week following is seriously disorganized and we're throwing things together willy nilly, so I always try to have a meal plan in place. I'm not going to go into too much detail on our meal plan since 1. I don't know that anyone really cares and 2. there really isn't that much that goes into it, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll get back to you or do a post if enough people are interested :) I will say this though, I always try to use what we have on hand first so I end up buying as little as possible. The items we buy most frequently (weekly) are milk for Mason and fresh fruits and vegetables.

I always post the meal plan on the fridge so everyone (everyone - ha! - aka me and Seth) know exactly what we're having. Seth is the one that does most (all) of the cooking so I always want him to know where to look when determining if he needs to take chicken out of the freezer, etc so dinner can be as easy as possible. I was using the white board (on the left in the picture below) to write our meal plan on but I found that the marker tip was getting dull and it was getting hard to read so I recently bought this "This Week" pad (on the right in the picture below) from Amazon. It has a lot more room, I can use regular pen, and I can jot down exactly what we're having to eat and if there are any events going on that day. The only major downfall is that it doesn't have a magnetic back so I've just ben ripping the page off and magnet-ing it to the fridge. I also use this "All Out Of" pad to check things off as we run out of them during the week or just to check off on Sundays when I go through the list of what we need to buy to complete our meals.





As for my main forms of organization, I have three calendars. Yes, you read that right - three.

First is my Erin Condren planner. I've had one for the past two years and I love it. There's so much room for me to write things down, jot down notes, make note of what's for dinner (if I wanted to write it there too), and so much more. I'm sure I don't even use it to it's full potential.



The first function I use is the weekly calendar portion. When I first get a new planner, I always fill in important dates and things that happen regularly, like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Then I fill in any other dates that I know of for sure - like the fact that Seth has off every other Friday. Then, as the days and weeks go on, I fill in the calendar as things get booked.







The second function of my planner that I recently started using the most and love is the monthly view. As much as I like to see my month laid out for me, there's just not enough room in those little squares for everything. If you see in the above pictures, I used to write down my blog posts on pink post it like washi tape and put it at the top of each day. Now I use the monthly view for this. My planner use has kind of evolved as the year has gone on. Everything use to have a specific color - blog was pink, Mason was green, Seth was blue, I was purple, and family things were yellow. It worked well until I realized I didn't like it that way.









My monthly view used to be blank. I literally did not use it. What a waste! Now it looks like this. FULL and tons of white out. I always fill in the spaces with things I know for sure need to happen on a certain day - like if I co-host a link up or want to do a certain link up that only happens on a certain day. Then I kinda fill in as I want, but more often than not, it ends up getting whited out or moved around. I should know better than to use pen, but they're just so pretty :) As you can tell, I've already started planning some into November (and December and next year - not pictured).

I'll be honest though, some weeks I totally forget to write anything in my planner. Sometimes I write it on our family calendar and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I just forget. Or am too lazy to write it down.  #keepingitreal And sometimes I over write things down. Like if you were to see my December calendar page right now, I have about 3 full post it notes with ideas of things I want to do in December/for Christmas. It's a bit nuts.

Speaking of our family calendar, that's the second calendar that I use. I use my Erin Condren planner and write down all the important dates from it on to our family calendar hanging in the kitchen so Seth knows what's going on too. He doesn't like to look through my planner (I think it's too overwhelming for him lol) so I write it on a monthly calendar for us both to see. It seems to work well.



My last and final calendar is my iPhone calendar. I don't have a screen shot of my iPhone calendar but if you were to see it, it's pretty much just all reminders of things to myself. Like if I need to call to make Mason a haircut appointment, I'll set a reminder/alarm for myself for when I get home from work. And then sometimes I'll think of something I want to text a friend... when I wake up at 5:30am and it's obviously not an appropriate time to text someone, so I'll set a reminder to text them at 9am. Sad, but true. If I don't make a note, it will be 10pm before I remember I wanted to text someone. I also set reminders to register for the Lowe's Build and Grows since they fill up so quickly as well as various other things. I'll also put actual events in my phone but it's kind of just a holding place until I can get home to put it on paper because I legitimately witnessed my phone delete a reminder I added the other day. No joke. I'm thinking maybe it just won't let me back date an event because I wanted to remember when Mason's last hair cut was and I input it twice and it deleted it twice. Super annoying, but again, why I like pen and paper.

And last, but not least, I thought this would be a good time to note that I chose the planner that I want for next year! After much debate and after getting some awesome input, I have decided to try out my EC planner again for next year, but this time, getting the horizontal layout instead of the vertical layout. I really do love my current EC planner and I think I will like this layout a lot more. I got a gift card to Erin Condren for my birthday and while I'd LOVE to start my new planner now, when I was at Staples the other week checking out what EC stuff they had, I noticed how much bigger the spiral was and how much heavier the planner was with the extra months, so I decided to just keep the January to December months in my planner instead. Regardless of when it starts though, I'm pretty excited to get shopping and pick out what design I want!

And there you have it! That's how I keep my family organized. How do you keep your family organized?

Announcing... A Halloween Link Up + a Birthday Giveaway!

Today I wanted to introduce to you a fun Halloween link up - Countdown to Halloween: 31 Days of Fall Fun! I'm SO excited to be co-hosting this Halloween Link Up this year with Courtney from Sweet Turtle Soup. She and some other of my favorite bloggers hosted it last year and I'm more than excited to be co-hosting with her as well as some other fabulous ladies this year : Amanda from Tickled Pink, Nina from The Joni Journey, and Kelly from Happily Ever Mock.

Starting with my birthday in September and ending with Christmas in December, the holiday season (yes, I did just refer to my birthday as a holiday) is upon us and I am so excited to celebrate! I always love Halloween and Fall but this year I am even more excited about it and can't wait to share all the fun we'll be having!

The link up days will be every Monday in October as well as the first Monday in November - Oct. 5th, Oct. 12th, Oct. 19th, Oct. 26th, and Nov. 2nd. The link ups will open on Monday and close on the Thursday of the same week so feel free to link up anytime between Monday and Thursday. No blog? No problem! Share in the fun by posting to Instagram using #cdtohalloween15! (with the exclamation mark!).

You can tell us all about the Halloween activities that you've been doing throughout the month or just tell us about what Fall activities you've been up to. And it doesn't have to be a literal countdown (unless you want it to be!) - you can share what you've been up to all month or you can just share a couple different activities. Big or small, we'd love for you to share it all!

If we think about Fall and cooler weather, it will come, right? Haha! Just a fair warning, be prepared for pumpkin patch pictures in shorts and t-shirts! We're still dying for cooler temperatures here in California!

We'd be so happy if you'd link up with us and share your Fall fun every Monday in October. So start brainstorming and come back on Oct. 5th and let us know what you've been up to! If you have any questions or comments, please shoot me an email or leave a comment below. Happy Halloween-ing!

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Oh and today, the fun doesn't stop there! I've teamed up with some of my favorite bloggers for a September birthday giveaway! Desiree from Macke Monologues and Tawnya from All of Life's Little Adventures shared a birthday on Sept. 16th, mine was last Saturday, Sept. 19th, and Courtney from A+ Life has a birthday coming up on Sept. 26th! We'd like celebrate our birthdays with you buy giving away some fabulous prizes - a $10 gift card to Starbucks, a $10 gift card to Target, a $10 gift card for Amazon, and a scarf from Urban Cowgirl. Enter the rafflecopter below and help us celebrate our birthdays with you! Good luck!

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20 Questions + 11 Things = Turning 31!

With my 31st birthday coming quickly (tomorrow! eek!), I thought it would be fun to do a little Q&A session. Last year I did a little 30 things about me on my 30th birthday post and so this year, here is a sort of spin on that.

I stole the 20 Questions idea from various people and then was nominated for 11 things by Mariangelica from Chasing Littles so I thought I'd combine the two for a total of 31 things before my 31st birthday. See what I did there? 20+11=31. Clever, huh? No? Just me? Not funny... moving on :)

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1 // Favorite food
I'm SO bad at picking favorites. I feel like it's so much pressure to pick one thing. But I guess if I had to choose one thing I couldn't live without if I could never eat it again, it would be chocolate. I like to have at least one small piece a day.

2 // Flip flops or high heels
Flip flops for sure. I'd wear them year round if I could (which I almost can in California). Now that I have a more laid back work dress code, I pretty much wear flip flops everyday. However, when it's colder or if it rains, I usually wear flats. I almost never wear heels and haven't in years, mainly because I am almost the same height as Seth and if I wear them, it makes me taller and I don't like that, but also because I probably can't even walk in them now since I haven't worn them in so long lol.

3 // Favorite places to shop for yourself
I feel like I haven't shopped for myself in forever. For clothes though, I'd say Target or Old Navy/Gap. Sometimes if I have a gift card or want to splurge, I'll go to Nordstrom. Right now I'm loving all these little boutiques I follow on IG, but I just can't justify the cost of the items. For other stuff? Definitely Target or Amazon.

4 // Standard Coffee order
Decaf Non-Fat Vanilla Latte. It used to be a regular Non-Fat Vanilla Latte but after cutting out coffee for a month (since I couldn't have creamer) for the Whole30, I can't drink regular caffeine anymore, I have to get decaf. (And, in case you were wondering, my standard tea order, which I'm sure you all probably know by now, Peach Green Tea Lemonade. I hope they keep it all year round and it's not just a summer drink!)

5 // Road trip must have snack
Depends on how long the road trip is. For a short road trip (like 1-2 hours), just some sort of drink (water or maybe a drive thru to Starbucks to get an iced tea) and pretzels. If it's longer, then waters, maybe some fruit, something crunchy, something sweet, and I've been really into those nut/cheese/dried fruit packs from Sargento lately.


6 // DIY or hire it out?
Depends on the occasion. We've been doing a couple easy DIY things around the house and we did an  IKEA Hack for their LATT Table (here, here, and here) and a couple other things. But anything big and for the house, we'd definitely hire out. In terms of birthday parties, depending on what it is, we try to DIY as much as possible, but have hired out for certain things as well.

7 // Top 5 TV shows
Fixer Upper, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, NCIS, and Flip or Flop.

8 // Favorite Book
Books? What are books? But in all seriousness, I really don't even remember the last time I read a book. But when I had time to read, I really liked Emily Giffin's books.

9 // Favorite Form of Exercising
Ummmmmmmm.........walking around the mall? (I think Kary said it best!)

10 // How tall are you?
5'6'

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11 // Do you try something new at restaurants or stick to your favorites?
Stick to my favorite for sure! I've occasionally branched out and ordered something different and either not liked it or wished I ordered my favorite so I tend to stick to the tried and true.

12 // One make up item you can't live without
Chapstick. Does that count? If not, mascara.

13 // What's on your nightstand?
The baby monitor, my phone, a battery operated alarm clock (I'm paranoid and set two alarms JUST in case I accidentally turn my phone alarm off and snooze forever), a light, my perfume, and a pad of paper and a pen.

14 // What's one thing motherhood has taught you?
That I'm much more emotional than I thought. Everything effects me so much more now! I used to never cry (unless something was really sad obviously but I'd never cry at a movie or tv show) and now I find that if I can relate to a situation that's sad or if it involves kids, I'll for sure tear up.

15 // Music that reminds you of high school
Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, Michelle Branch (LOVED her!), Hanson, TLC, Brandy and so many more! Early 2000's pop all the way!

16 // If you could live anywhere in the world besides your current city where would you live?
You know, I don't really know. I feel like I haven't really been enough places to say that I'd want to move there. I'd definitely like to live somewhere cheaper where I could afford a house, but (unfortunately) I'm pretty partial to California.

17 // Tell us something about you we might not know
I hate talking on the phone. I don't know when this hate came about but I'd much rather text or email than talk on the phone.

18 // Websites you read/browse (besides blogs)
It's pretty much just blogs and email. Sometimes Pinterest and Facebook also. And then various store websites if I'm looking to buy something.

19 // Morning person or Night owl?
Morning for sure. I used to hate getting up early (and still do if given the opportunity to sleep in) but I love what you can get accomplished when your house is still sleeping and you're awake. That and I pretty much fall asleep on the couch every night around 9-9:30pm so I definitely an not a night owl anymore.

20 // Favorite Breakfast meal
Challah bread french toast! Yum. But really, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day (and we often have breakfast for dinner!) so I really love it all.

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21 // What is your favorite quality in others?
Realness.

22 // If you were an animal what would you be?
Oh gosh, this is a hard one. I'd like to be a fly so I could "be a fly on the wall" and eavesdrop and hear people's conversations (lol). I'd love to be a bird to be able to fly wherever I wanted and not have to sit in traffic everywhere. And I'd love to be a cat because I love getting my feet rubbed or my back rubbed or my hair brushed and cats have it easy where they just sit on someone's lap and get petted all day.

23 // What is the last nice thing someone did for you?
You know, oddly enough, it was Mason! He did the cutest, nicest thing ever the other day when I dropped him off at school. We got buzzed in through the main gate to go to the side door of the school and the handle is a little high for him to reach so I started to open the door and he pushed on the part of the door that he could reach and opened the rest of the door for me. There was another family behind us and he full on held the door open for them (all 3 of them!) and then me to go inside. I was shocked and my heart nearly burst with pride that he was so sweet and thoughtful!

24 // What was your favorite subject in high school?
Lunch time? Haha. Umm, seriously, I'd probably say math because it came pretty easy to me or ceramics or yearbook because I got to be creative.

25 // If you could travel somewhere for free where would you go?
Bora Bora. I've only ever seen pictures but it looks GORGEOUS. I'd love to stay in one of those little huts about that beautiful crystal clear blue water.

26 // What would you tell your 18 year old self?
I guess it would be more my 17 year old self since I started college when I was 17 (and then quickly turned 18 a few weeks later)... don't go to such an expensive college. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED college and I am so happy I went there and made such great friends. But what I don't love is that I've been paying off my student loans for almost 10 years now... and I still have probably that many to go. I definitely could have gotten the same education at a state/public school instead of private. #ihatestudentloans

ain't that the truth - born before social media was invented!

via

27 // What is your favorite hobby?
Blogging. It used to be scrapbooking but that's kind of been put on the back burner (though I really need to do something, even if it's just an online scrapbook. so. many. pictures). I guess you can say blogging has replaced scrapbooking as this little online journal is kind of like my online scrapbook.

28 // If you wrote an ebook what would the title be?
Ebook, wow, that's very specific, not a regular book? lol. Honestly, I have no clue!

29 // Why did you start blogging?
I originally started blogging back in 2012, just a couple weeks after Mason was born, as a space to document Mason and our lives with a new baby for friends and family that lived far away. And for a long time, I wrote and wrote and am not even sure if anyone read it. And then, somehow, it evolved into what it is today and has kept evolving! I've met so many people through blogging, made so many friends (and some that I've met in real life too!), gotten some amazing opportunities (beyond my wildest dreams), and just learned so much. It's my hobby and I love this little space of mine. I can't wait to see where the future takes me.

30 // What color would your hair be if upkeep wasn’t an issue?

Honestly? I really like my hair color! When I was in high school, I added some reddish highlights to accentuate the natural hair lights that I'd get from the sun, but it really required a lot of upkeep. But even if that wasn't an issue, I think I like my natural hair color anyway!

31 // What’s your favorite store? What’s the last thing you bought there?

I guess this kind of goes along with #3. I'd definitely say my favorite store is Target and oddly enough, the last thing I bought there were some window clings and a prescription! I was with Seth and he didn't really let me look around as much as I wanted to. I plan to go soon to pick up a couple things and look at all the Halloween stuff they have out!

And there you have it! 31 things about me on the eve of my 31st birthday. The next time you hear from me, I'll be an old lady :) Happy weekending!

[Favorite Finds] Insta-grammin'

It's been a while since I did my last Instagram photo dump finds from some of my favorite IGers that I thought I would share some more today. As I've mentioned before, Instagram is BY FAR my favorite form of social media. I check it most often and post most of my pictures there. Facebook is a distant second and I recently started trying to use Twitter more... and was just confused. So, needless to say, I haven't been posting much on there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does IG seem more like pictures and Twitter seem more like words? And I guess Facebook is more in the middle? I much prefer pictures to words, so it's no wonder I like IG more!

Oh and to be helpful, I linked the IG account names to IG this time :)

@houseofrose // Love the custom bunk bed. Love the sports theme. Love it all!

@busytoddler // Such a clever idea to put down some painters tape and make a race track. This would be a big hit in my house!

@shopjumpingjack // SO. TRUE. And so me! Ha!

@everydaypartymagazine // A little hard to see and I think it might have gotten cut off, but I love the school theme to this. There are cards all over that say things like "Pp is for pencils" and "Ee is for erasers".

@carrieunderwood // Overnight oats with oatmeal, almond milk, almond slices, chia seeds, pumpkin pie spice, and blueberries. Sounds good!

@magnoliamarket // LOVE everything Chip and Joanna do and especially love this galvanized bucket with craft supplies and the Mason jar with crayons!

@petitepartystudio // This. WALL. Swoon.

@oreo // I recently started following Oreo and with my love of their cookies, I'm not sure why I didn't start sooner. I mean, these cupcakes?!

@henandco // Such a cute idea for a snack for kiddos. Healthy and fun = win win!

@thewholesky // Seriously love Andrea's feed. She takes the most gorgeous photos and makes me want to live in the Pacific North West.

@megawat // Crock pot chicken tacos. Megan always has the most delicious looking food pictures and making chicken in the crock pot for a quick, easy meal is a win in my book!

@ohdangitsrah // Color coordinating cars with the shapes and colors on the paper. Genius!

@mulberrypressco // Love love love the quote on the mug. I need this in my life.

@momtog // If you don't follow mom tog yet, you should. I started following recently when Erin was featured and have been hooked ever since. I've learned SO much from fellow mamarazzi's! I especially love that they teach you how to edit photos taken on your iPhone - my camera of choice!

@magnoliamarket // I saw them make a sign similar to this on the show once and LOVED it. I love the concept and love how it looks. And the saying is pretty great too.

@theellenshow // Genius. Pure genius.

@jillian.harris // DYING over the placement of this bed between the walls. Looks so cozy and such a space saver!

@saltybison // Love their signs and especially love the layout of these ones and the California one!

Do you follow any of these accounts already? Who are your favorites? I'm always looking to add some wonderful IGers to my feed!