[Friday Favorites] Instagram Edition

Oh Friday, I am SO happy to see you. It has definitely been one of those weeks and I am definitely excited for a low key weekend. Between catching Mason's cold and blowing my nose 28627362 a day, being behind on everything, and everything else that went on this week, I will be happy when 3:30pm rolls around.

Today's five on Friday is a little bit more like nine on Friday instead.

Here are my favorite Instagram snaps from the past month.

@shopsugarbit - LOVE this quote

@jillian.harris - definitely a new twist on a old favorite. i'm always stuck in a rut when it comes to what to put on bread and these were great ideas!

@minted - LOVE that heart photo!

@paperdollclothingco - lol! so true.

@hellotosha - love that quote on the wall - "you have my whole heart for my whole life"

@saltybison - GORGEOUS

@projectnursery - super fun play space!

@helloapparel - such a cute door mat

@thebouqs - the tulips i've been drooling over

And with that... I'm off to Trader Joe's in search of some tulips this weekend!

Have a great one! Happy Fri-YAY!

[A Year of Dates] April.

dear guy sitting behind us, thanks for the photo bomb

For our April date, I got tickets to our first Angels game of the season. I knew Seth would want to go to a game, so I figured, what better day than the Saturday of opening weekend for our April date? And since it was opening weekend, it just so happened that they were having a giveaway of a free calendar so we scored two free calendars - one for my co-worker and one for Seth's cubicle at work.

We arrived just on time due to slightly underestimating how much traffic there would be. Apparently everyone wants to go to a game on opening weekend - who knew? So as soon as we got there, we headed to get some food and find our seats. We spent most of the time actually watching the game (since we were alone and weren't constantly trying to make sure that Mason wasn't kicking the person in front of us or run away down the aisles) and taking selfies (at my request - Seth was over it after selfie # 1).

Overall, we had a great time! It wasn't anything overly special or crazy and the Angels actually ended up losing, but we enjoyed just being together and spending time alone, just the two of us. And extra bonus, we got a pretty awesome fireworks show at the end of the game (something they do every Saturday).

Until next month!

You can find our March date here
You can find our February date here

You can find our January date here

Introduction to "A Year of Dates" here

Weekending.

Our weekend was busy yet laid back.

It was one of those weekends that you want to share yet you don't know what to say. So, I thought I would make one square to summarize our weekend.

Top row

1 // I finally got to see 'Linus' in action. Seth and I got to pick up Mason together from school this Friday. Seth almost always gets Mason on his own after work or leaves before I get home from work if he's off but this week we were going to meet Papa for dinner so we went together. Seth has been describing how Mason grabs his blanket from his cubby (to take it home over the weekend to wash it) and he holds it in his hand and drags it on the floor all the way down the hallway just like Linus. This was the first time I have ever witnessed it!

2 // April date night. More coming tomorrow!

3 // Our little helper. Such a big help pushing the cart in Costco.

Middle row

1 // #doingitwrong

2 // YUM!

3 // I LOVE Ikea ice cream!

Bottom row

1 // The bubble and laser show at BubbleFest.

2 and 3 // These two - Mason and Logan. I just LOVE to see them play together! Their friendship has really developed over the past couple years and it is so cute to see them together. Mason is about 9 months older than Logan and Logan is at the stage where he wants to do everything Mason does. It is the cutest thing to watch them play together.

Not pictured

1 // All the chips Mason ate at dinner with Papa on Friday night. And the margarita I had.

2 // Mason's haircut on Saturday morning followed by a neck x-ray (to check on his adenoids) as requested by the ENT for our follow up appointment in June.

3 // The fact that Mason was in a horrible mood after his nap on Saturday and then was in an EXCELLENT mood once Nanny came to watch him so Seth and I could go out.

4 // The 6 pictures frames that we went to Ikea to buy on Sunday. Believe it or not, we didn't just go for the ice cream.

5 // All the free samples Mason had at Costco. I swear that kid makes out every time we go there.

6 // The $115 we spent at Costco. Can anyone tell me how to get out of there for less than $100??? I swear, no matter how many things we have on our list, we always find more.

7 // The chocolate chip banana bread I made for breakfasts for the week.

Simple yet perfect.

Just what I like.

Five on Friday!

Hellooooo Friday!

I've been so tired on Thursday nights these past couple weeks that I haven't gotten my act together to post on Friday, but this week, I'm back! Here are my five favorite things from this week in no particular order.

ONE.

New purse.

image via

Tawnya posted a video on her blog a couple weeks ago about her favorite spring items. One of her items with this gorgeous purse from Aldo. When I saw the purse, a couple things caught my eye : it looked big (and she said it was big enough for her stuff AND Scarlett's stuff) and it was cute. I've been looking for a new purse for forever. One that can be a cross body if needed (hello running after a toddler and not wanting your purse to fall off your shoulder) and one that is cute and can hold all of my stuff AND all of Mason's stuff (diapers, wipes, snacks, water, etc etc etc). I hoped that it wasn't just a special Canada item and I was in luck when I went to the US Aldo site and found it too. It came in various colors and when I went to my local store, they only had beige and this gorgeous brown. Brown is slightly outside my norm and my comfort zone (I usually go for black) but it was so gorgeous and so perfect, I went with it! I just started using it and I LOVE it!

TWO.

Martha Stewart cookbooks.

all images from Amazon via the links below

She may be an insider trader and a former jail inmate but the woman can bake! I've had these three cookbooks of hers - Cookies, Cupcakes, and Pies and Tarts since when I worked at Barnes and Noble and I've used them often. The Passover cookies that I made last week Saturday for our joint family Easter and Passover get together were from her Cookies book and they are a family favorite. If you love to bake and don't have her books, I highly recommend them!

THREE.

Mason "reading".

I know it's kinda creepy to take pictures of your kid sleeping but Mason just does so much cute and funny stuff in his sleep/in his room that I can't help it. Here he is "reading". I say "reading" because how much reading can you do in your pitch black room? This was taken after Seth and I put him to bed, he got out of his bed, ran to his book shelf, pulled off a book, and ran back to his bed to sit down and read. I appreciate his love for reading and seriously, the kid must have night vision or something? So cute!

FOUR.

Airplanes.

A couple weekends ago we took a trip over to an area by the airport to have lunch and go see the airplanes. We'd gone before but decided to try to get a little closer to maybe the airplanes would fly directly overhead instead of slightly to the side (where the trees kind of covered them). Turns out this spot was not a whole lot better than the other, but we still loved getting to see the airplanes fly by!

FIVE.

No-Reply Blog Commenter.

I've noticed some new friends around here (hi and welcome!) and I've been wanting to reply to your comments but I can't because your account is not linked to your email (I only reply by email so I'm sure you get my comments back)! Check out the super simple and easy tutorial that Beth posted a couple months ago and then we can connect :)

And with that...

Happy Fri-YAY!

C U R R E N T L Y

This is my first time doing one of these types of posts, but I kind of love the idea. So here goes :)

via

Dreaming about // Hawaii! Ever since I posted about my favorite vacation the other day, I am DYING to go back to Hawaii and I can't stop thinking about it!

Drinking // PGTL. And for you non Starbucks-aholics like me. Peach Green Tea Lemonade. My favorite!

Eating // ALL. THE. EASTER. CANDY. Easter candy is my love language. I think Easter is the worst holiday for me because they have SO much good Easter candy! See's candy is my weakness and so many kind, thoughtful, amazing people gave us so much See's candy in the past week!

Hating // Printer ink. Seriously. Why does it ALWAYS run out at the most inopportune times? We applied for a passport for Mason on Saturday and I needed to photocopy Seth and my ID's and the printer ran out of yellow ink RIGHT THEN. I did't even need to copy anything in color and the printer wouldn't even let me copy in black and white. What gives?

Making // Lists on my phone. My 'notes' app is my new best friend. Seriously I think of the most random things at the most random times and jot down notes there. Blog post ideas while I'm driving to work {please note, I try realllllllly hard to remember the thoughts and then jot them down when I get to work, not as I'm driving to work}. What I need to buy at Target or Costco or the grocery store. To do lists. Thoughts on a certain topic. Bucket list items. Christmas/Birthday ideas for me/Seth/Mason. You name it. I probably have it.

Needing // A car wash. BAD. I kind of HATE paying money to wash my car but we don't really have a lot of other options here. I've never seen anyone wash their car in our complex so I'm not even sure if it is allowed. Plus, a professional does a WAY better job than me. And can actually reach the top. I'm starting to not be able to see out my windows because of the dirt and it's starting to be a problem...

Planning // A little home remodel. Now don't get excited, but I have some ideas in my head of how to decorate our living room/family room/playroom and adding a little something to Mason's room. We've lived here for almost two years and I STILL haven't fully unpacked {we have one box left lol} or fully made this place home by decorating. I'm determined to fix that.

Reading // Blogs. Seriously it is embarrassing to admit the last time I read an actual book. I'm not even sure I know, but if I had to guess... before Mason was born.

Thankful for // My health. SO many people have been posting about being sick recently and thankfully, we haven't gotten it {knock on major wood!}. Thankful for being healthy!!

Wanting // Tulips. I've seen SO many people post pictures of tulips recently and it's giving me serious spring fever and wanting some gorgeous tulips for my house.

Watching // Baseball. Baseball. And more baseball. Specifically Angels baseball. On TV for now. And in person on Saturday!

Wishing for // More hours in the day. I swear I never have enough hours in the day to do what I want to do! Add it to the 'to do' list... Oh, and a little extra 'fun money'. See 'planning'. There's so much I would love to do but we just don't have the extra cash to do so right now. So I scale it down and do what I can.

Wondering about // Vitamins for me and Mason. I've taken vitamins before, but then I slack and forget. I've been wanting to get some sort of vitamins for Mason, but don't know what brand or kind is best. {Suggestions???} Also, vitamins haven't been recommended by Mason's pediatrician {they haven't been not recommended, I just haven't asked}, so should I really be giving him any without her telling me so? Can a multi vitamin hurt? I'm sure he doesn't eat a balanced enough diet of foods to be able to get everything he needs. I mean, unless goldfish are all of a sudden vitamin filled. I heard Costco has the gummy kinds for kids like they do adults and am thinking of trying those.

[Blast from the Past] My Favorite Vacation

Today I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals to share my favorite vacation.

I went on a lot of great vacations with my family growing up - a cruise to Alaska, road trip to Oregon and Washington, (multiple visits to) DisneyWorld (and to visit my Grandpa who lived just outside of Orlando), a trip to Canada, a road trip to LA and Disneyland, and many more. Unfortunately I don't have any of those pictures that I can share with you since they are all hard copies and I don't have a digital version (you know, those were back in the days of disposable cameras and non-digital cameras).

So, today, I want to share my favorite vacation to date : our honeymoon.

For our honeymoon, we went to Maui and Kauai. It was the MOST amazing 10 day vacation I've ever been on. Not only was I just so excited to have just gotten married to my best friend, but I was also in paradise. And not to mention, I was probably the most tan I have ever been in my life. We did amazing, fun excursions, sat by the pool and the beach and had tropical drinks, went on an airplane ride to the big island, went on a helicopter ride over Kauai, went zip lining, and much much more. Just looking at these pictures again makes me want to go back SO. SO. BAD.

***hint, hint, ten year anniversary Seth, hint, hint***

These pictures were taken almost 4 1/2 years ago, November 2010, so please don't judge my photos too harshly. Cameras and my photography have come a long way since then :)

Maui

Kauai

These pictures don't even do the beauty justice. If you've ever been to Hawaii, you know how beautiful it is. We had an absolute blast and I didn't want to leave. In fact, this is how I felt about our honeymoon being over...

And there you have it.

My favorite vacation... to date.

E A S T E R 2015

Easter weekend was pretty great. It definitely didn't go as I had planned. But when do holidays ever? With kids, you can have the best laid plans, and then something happens. But regardless of plans or no plans, we had a great weekend and it was definitely one for the memory books.

Friday at work we had inventory. One of the most dreaded days of the year. Thankfully it went well and we were done early so my boss let us go home early. I was pretty excited because I had a lot of Easter/Passover baking to do for our joint Easter/Passover celebration on Saturday night. I got home just in time for Seth and Mason to leave to go to Mason's speech appointment so I had the house to myself. I got started baking and made one Passover dessert and one Easter dessert. Mason and Seth got home about an hour later and then we left to meet our friend Vickie for dinner.

I had thought that we were having a family Easter egg hunt on Saturday night during our family get together but I found out that that wasn't going to end up happening. I wanted Mason to be able to still experience hunting for eggs so last minute Seth and I decided to take Mason to Irvine Park where they were having an Easter Eggstravaganza. Irvine Park is one of our favorite parks in the area and we have been going a lot lately. We've never been for the Easter celebration but we went last year for Halloween and Christmas and had a blast so we figured, why not?

We arrived early (or what we thought was early) to an almost fully packed parking lot. I was a little worried we wouldn't get the Easter egg hunt time I wanted, but with a little luck, we were able to get one of the last tickets available. We walked around a little, Mason drooled over the choo-choo and then at 10am we lined up for the egg hunt. They had a rule of only 8 Easter eggs per kid, no parent touching the eggs and no 'I'll just keep these 20 eggs in my kids basket and put the other 12 back "later"'. Fair enough. So after we learned the rules, Mason was off. Seriously he must have remembered how much fun he had last year because he knew just what to do.

It was pretty awesome to watch him this year since he totally knew what to do. He didn't go straight for a patch of eggs and pick up as many as he could. It was like he had a plan and he knew he wanted certain eggs. He picked up an egg, then walked to another area, picked up another, and repeated. It was pretty fun to watch. Once we hit 8 eggs, we knew he was done but then... I spotted what looked like one of the "good eggs" that had something other than candy. I encouraged Mason to put one back (that's not breaking the rules if you put it back right away... right?) and pick up the one I saw. I could tell there was a ticket of some sort in there and when we got back to the bench after he was done collecting his eggs, I was right. We scored a free bike rental at the park!

he was SO proud of himself for playing the games. he literally just tossed the rings straight down to the ground as well as the bean bags. but he clapped for himself each time and got a blow up bunny for his efforts

After the egg hunt and the opening of the eggs, we played a couple games and rode the train. We opted to skip the Easter bunny this year because 1) he kinda terrifies me and 2) I didn't feel like scarring Mason again. We'll leave that one to Santa.

Mason's selfie skills are on point

unimpressed by me wanting to take more pictures

Mason started to get hungry so we went home for a little while, had some lunch, hung out and then went to apply for a passport for him. I was a little worried about it since it was scheduled right for the witching hour - 12:45pm...15 minutes before nap time - but he did surprisingly well. I was the most worried for him needing to take a picture but he totally nailed it and I am obsessed with how cute his picture turned out!

Apparently they don't normally/aren't supposed to let you smile so the lady either made an exception or it didn't matter since he was a kid? Either way, I'm pretty sure his picture is better than mine.

We hopped back in the car, arrived home, put Mason down for his nap, I finished making desserts for our party, and Seth went to Costco. After Mason woke up, we headed over to my sister-in-law's house and we celebrated Easter and Passover with our family. It was a great night with great food and family! And, on the plus side, everyone loved my desserts.

candied matzah // Chocolate Chip Cookies for Passover // Peeps Smores Bars

Sunday we just had a lazy day. We woke up late, I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, we all got ready, and we went grocery shopping. When we got home, I made a little Easter egg hunt for Mason, and we enjoyed our morning hanging out. The afternoon was spent doing some stuff around the house, doing laundry, and enjoying the peace and quiet time. And then for dinner, we made this cauliflower crusted pizza and it was surprisingly good!

nailed it!

And now we're back to the Monday grind.

Hope everyone had just as good a weekend! Happy (belated) Easter!