Mother's Day Weekend

I know Mother's Day was technically only Sunday, but really, we celebrated all weekend. On Friday I came home to the best presents - a home made card from Mason and TULIPS! Tulips! I've been searching for forever for some affordable, pretty tulips for weeks and Seth listened and found some and surprised me. I was SO surprised and happy. They were beautiful and perfect!

The inside had Mason's purple handprints!

Saturday was spent with my little family and we had the BEST time! In the morning we had a playdate with one of Mason's friends from school at a new play gym that just opened. Since the gym was in the neighborhood of Seth's dad's house, we surprised him by bringing over in n out for lunch, spent some time with him, and then hit the new Dunkin' Donuts that was just opened near his house. I've been wanting to try it ever since one opened by my co-workers house a couple months ago but she says the drive thru line is always so long so I haven't been able to convince her to brave the line to bring me some. After that, we came home for nap time and then in the afternoon/evening, we had a playdate with our friends Vickie, Lauren, Seth, and Logan. We love spending time with them and Mason and Logan absolutely adore each other. It's the sweetest thing to hear Logan yell "May-on! May-on!" when he sees Mason. I hope they stay friends forever!

Sunday morning Mason slept in! Hallelujah! Seth and I on the other hand? Did not. I was up and wide awake at 7:01am while my sweet little boy slept until 8:34am.

He was actually in our bed because the past two nights he's been having bad dreams or something and had woken up in the middle of the night around 3am SCREAMING. We decided to bring him into bed with us (he falls right back to sleep) so we didn't want to leave him alone on our bed (you know, after the incident on the last night of our vacation, we're traumatized and think he will fall off beds and cut his head open now) so we just hung out upstairs until he woke up. And when he woke up? He looked at me, smiled, kissed me, and grabbed my phone that was sitting on the bed. Nothing like technology 1.2 seconds after you wake up.

We all headed downstairs where I convinced Seth that I NEEDED chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (he obliged). I cleaned up a bit in preparation for our dinner guests later that day and then I left for my massage and mani/pedi. Yep, that's right. The husband did GOOD and picked up on all the hints I was throwing out. I left around 11am for my massage at noon and was gone until about 3:30pm. It was glorious.

I ended my spa afternoon with a Starbucks. I thought long and hard about getting another one of those delicious s'mores frappuchinos at half price but ultimately decided on my go-to drink of peach green tea lemonade.

I headed home, got ready, and then our family came over for a BBQ put on by the guys. We had margaritas to drink, guacamole and chips and deviled eggs as appetizers, tri tip, chicken, and these AMAZING ribs as our main dish, and potatoes and veggies as sides. Dinner was SO GOOD. And then of course we couldn't forget dessert - ice cream sundaes.

The day ended with selfies and kisses on the lips from my boy and I couldn't have been happier. I got a little alone time at the spa as well as time with my favorite boys. The perfect end to a perfect weekend.

I hope all you moms had the BEST Mother's Day and your family spoiled you rotten!

Five [or Seven!] on Friday!

Happy Friday! This week has been an interesting one. Monday seemed to drag on forever, Tuesday went by SUPER fast, Wednesday I had off (woohoo!), Thursday came and went and here we are at Friday now! Wednesday was super nice and just what I needed. A day to myself to do whatever I wanted. If you asked me what I did, I could throw out a few things, but honestly I feel like I did nothing and everything and got nothing done at the same time. Confusing. But amazing. A girl could get used to having Wednesdays off. It makes the week just fly by! And now it's time for my Five on Friday! Be prepared for an extra random five seven things today!

ONE.
This pin.

Have you guys seen this pin? I saw an arcticle on Facebook about the perfect road trip and 'screen shotted' it for future reference but Courtney told me there was a pin version as well so I hopped on Pinterest to find it. On Seth's bucket list is to visit every baseball stadium in the US and to be honest, I'd kinda like to also, so this may be a super fun road trip to go on once Mason is grown and out of the house and we are old and retired (you know, in like 40 years!). Maybe we can buy an RV and travel around the US and I can watch TV while he drives me around? LOL. I think I heard Seth yelling "NO!" in the background. Oh well. A girl can dream.

TWO.
Painted hands.

Mason came home with paint stains all over his hands on Tuesday. It looks like the teachers tried to wash his hands, but it just didn't come off all the way. The stains were of the purple and pink variety and I have a strange feeling that I know what he was doing all day. To say that I am excited to see what comes home from his cubby today is an understatement! I just LOVE the artwork that he makes!

THREE.
Starbucks s'mores frappuchino.

via

HOLY MOLY.

I wish these things came with a 50% off calorie count as well as the 50% off price tag, but honestly, it was worth every last calorie! That marshmallow whip cream... HEAVEN. If I can convince Seth, I might go back again this weekend!

Happy Hour is from 3pm-5pm (or 6pm if you are a gold card holder!) so run, don't walk, to Starbucks this weekend and get yourself one of these babies! Happy Hour only lasts until Sunday, so don't wait! You can thank me later :)

FOUR.
Blurry profile picture?

Can someone please help me?! This picture doesn't do it justice, but when I load my blog, my profile picture is blurry. Is it blurry for you all too? If so, how do I fix it? I think it was originally a rectangle and I uploaded it as my profile picture and I'm guessing it stretched it or something and somehow altered it, but how do I fix it? Thank you in advance!

FIVE.
May the fourth be with you.

Umm, how talented is this mama? She did this for her boys for May the 4th (be with you) and I think it is just so creative!

SIX.
Teacher appreciation.

Speaking of creative, I channeled my inner Pinterest and made this for Mason's teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. We love his teachers a latte so I figured it was only fitting. It was seriously super easy and only took me like 5 minutes per one. #pinterestwin

SEVEN.
This post.

I try to keep things light hearted on the blog, but I also want to be real, and sometimes you come across something that just hits too close to come. Someone shared this post, A Letter to the Motherless Daughters on Mother's Day, on Facebook on Wednesday and I stumbled upon it. Being as it is Mother's Day on Sunday and being as though I lost my mom over 12 years ago, I found it to hit very close to home. My favorite part is when she says this :

She didn’t want to ever leave you and she still hasn’t left you. Your mother was greater than this world. I know sometimes life just doesn’t seem fair and it never will but please, please, don’t cry today, for your mother would want nothing more than to see you smile. I feel the pain within your heart as another day passes by without her. She doesn’t want you to be sad. She wants you to honor her life in the best way possible, and that way is to live it. Live it for you. Live it for her.

That's exactly how I feel. I know my mom didn't want to leave me, leave my brother and my dad. But sometimes we don't have a choice. I know she wouldn't want me to dwell on the fact that she is gone. She would want me to live my life. Live it for her. Live it for me. And in a weird way, I feel lucky. Luckier than most people. Though I can't physically see her, I know she is there. Always. Every day. Every minute of every day. How lucky is that? Not many people can say they have the privilege of being with their mom and having her look down upon them with a smile, beaming with pride, every day.

I hate to end this post on such a Debbie Downer moment, but please take this away.
Hug your mother. Call your mother. Tell her you love her. Tell her your miss her. Tell her she is amazing. Show her you care. Because one day, you might not be able to call her up and tell her you love her. She will know, but you won't be able to hear her voice telling you she loves you back.
Kids, hold your moms a little tighter and longer. And moms, hug your kids a little longer and tell them you love them. You can never say 'I love you' enough.

Happy Weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

[Mother's Day Mom Exchange] The Goodies!

I've been looking forward to this day ever since we announced the Mother's Day Mom Exchange a couple weeks ago! I just love being able to spoil someone on a holiday (or birthday) and what better way to spread the love on Mother's Day than to give each other something to make each other feel special. I can't wait to see what everyone got!

As for me, I was partnered with Holly from Holly's Housewife Life. I hadn't known her before the swap so it was nice to get to know her through email and through her blog. I found out that she was really in to makeup and thought I found the perfect gifts to send her...

...and then I went to send them and the USPS asked me what was inside. I wrote everything down, the lady took one look at the paper and said "you can't send nail polish". I said "but it's in a plastic bag!" (thinking, you know, if it opened or leaked, I was protecting it) and she said "you can't send nail polish" and I said "but it's in a plastic bag!" and she said "it could explode on the plane and blow up the plane". (ok maybe not blow up the plane, but she said it was combustable and I pretty much just assumed the plane would blow up). So I hung my head in shame for not checking the USPS website for what you can and can't send on an airplane and took the nail polish out. I felt EXTREMELY bad as my gift was now half a gift, but I did try to make it up to Holly. To find out exactly what I sent her, you'll have to head over to her blog!

My partner ended up being Tawnya from All of Life's Little Adventures. I was so excited to find out that she was my partner because I love her and I love her blog! Tawnya's package arrived all the way from Canada and held lots of goodies that I absolutely loved!

PS do you notice something? Yes, that is nail polish. AND it came on a PLANE from Canada. And clearly no planes were harmed in the transporting of this nail polish, so the USPS must just be super strict!

She sent me a gorgeous notebook (and what blogger doesn't need a notebook?), a candle, some nail polish, and some Canadian candy. She also wrote me the SWEETEST card. I love it.

I immediately tried out the nail color and LOVED it. I've been starting to collect some Essie colors and only have 3 so this color was a beautiful addition to my small collection. And as for the candle... it smells amazing and I can't wait to light it! 

Also, I swear Canada has the BEST candy and I was so excited to try this Coffee Crisp. It tasted and looked kind of like a thicker Kit Kat with a coffee flavor. I promised Seth that I would save him some so I only ate half, but let me tell you, that took a lot of will power!

Thank you so much for everything, Tawnya!

This Mother's Day exchange was so much fun and I hope this is the first annual one because I would love to do it again next year! The mama's that participated this year were :

Ally // Even Miracles Take a Little Time

Angela // non-blogger

Ashley // Everything's Hunky Dorey
Ashley // Life on the Parsons Farm
Ashley // Perks of Ponder
Courtney // Sweet Turtle Soup

Elisabeth // non-blogger

Elizabeth // Chasin' Mason
Emily // Raising Avery Mae
Holly // Holly's Housewife Life
Jamie // Cocktails and Carseats

Jen // Everything in the Sky

Jenny // The Chronicles of We
Jessica // All Because Two People Fell in Love
Jessica // Being Mrs. Beer
Johannah // The Sirois Family
Kate // Creative House
Kristen // Rainbowtized
Laureen // Chateau Deveau
Liz // Ellie and Addie
Mama // The Mama Bomb

Michelle // Grammie Time
Nina // The Joni Journey
Sarah // Foxy's Domestic Side
Sarah // Seeing All Sides
Shelly // Windy City Baby
Stephanie // Wife Mommy Me

Susan // non-blogger

Tara // A Tale of Four Maples
Tawnya // All of Life's Little Adventures

Whitney // Work It Mommy

Participating mama's, please link up with us below and share your pictures on Instagram with the hashtag #mothersdaymomexchange so we can see the goodies that you got! 

Wishing all the moms a very Happy Mother's Day!

Mom's Day Wish List + a Giveaway!

scarf // gift card // nail polish // massage

dress // shoe // phone case  // jacket

With Mother's Day less than a week away, I thought I'd like to share a little wish list of what I'd like for Mother's Day. Though I've been a mom now for almost three years, which itself is crazy to think about, I still find it hard to believe that I get to partake in the festivities of Mother's Day. I still remember celebrating my mom and my grandma and thinking about 'when it would be my time too'. With that being said, here are a few things I wouldn't mind receiving for Mother's Day.

-- I've heard such good things about this scarf from some other blogs I read. Recently I've gotten so many printed scarves, these super cute plain scarves would be perfect staples for my closet.

-- Feeding my PGTL (peach green tea lemonade) addiction with a Starbucks card wouldn't be an awful gift either.

-- I just discovered Essie's website and I have to say I'm in love. Sorry Seth. But all those nail polish colors?! Holy moly. While I pine over all the colors I want, I'd love to be able to get a mani/pedi for Mother's Day! The last time I got my nails done was a couple weeks ago by me and let's just say... my nails look less than stellar and could use a little TLC.

-- Speaking of a mani/pedi, I'd also LOVE to have a massage. The last time I had one was last Mother's Day and it. was. amazing. I'm secretly hoping that Seth picked up on all the hints that I dropped and booked me a massage for Mother's Day!

-- I pretty much live in maxi dresses over the summer (even though it is so hot - my legs are sooooo white that I like to keep them covered - thus continuing the vicious cycle of white-ness) and I'd love to have this maxi dress to add to my current collection... of two.

-- I literally wear the same sandals everyday during the summer - my boring, old, black Rainbow flip flops. I do have one other silver pair that I wear when I want to be "fancier" but I'd love to ramp up my sandal collection for the summer with these babies.

-- I have been DROOLING over this phone case for months. I would totally just buy it for myself BUT I already have a perfectly good phone case on my phone right now that I actually do like and I'm tryyyying hard to cut back on buying things that I don't need (although I bet I could easily justify this as a need if I needed too!)

-- I've been looking for a cute, trendy, light jacket for Spring and when the nice people at Charles River Apparel contacted me about reviewing one of their jackets, I jumped at the opportunity. This Women's New Englander Rain Jacket is perfect for the crisp mornings here in California as well as perfect for that occasional (and I use occasional loosely) rainfall that we get. While I LOVE the aqua color (pictured above), I decided to choose the black color for myself because I know it will go with anything. And I love it. Unfortunately for me, I think I chose too large of a size (definitely check their size chart before ordering!) and it is a little larger in the arms and the shoulders than my typical jackets are, but as you can see from the pictures below, when I paired it with a jacket underneath, I found it to fit just fine. I'm hoping to take a trip (hopefully soon!) to Seattle (to visit the first Starbucks!) or to Portland (to visit Seth's cousins who just moved there) and I'm thinking this jacket would be perfect.

Please note : I am no fashion blogger. I have a lot to learn. I know my pictures don't do this jacket justice, but I swear, this jacket is awesome. I love how light weight it is. I love how large the hood is (I HATE when hoods don't cover your whole head). I love how a jacket AND a scarf fit totally comfortably under the jacket. I love that it has the option to synch in the waist at the bottom. And I love that you can unzip from the bottom too (in case you want to get something from your pocket). It's wind proof. It's water proof. It's lined with mesh. It has a hood and it has pockets. This jacket is wonderful and I know I will get lots of wear out of it when the weather gets cool again.

And now for the fun part... I get to give away one of these wonderful jackets to one of you! Seriously, I hope you love it as much as I do!

A few details... the giveaway runs from Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 12:00am Pacific time to Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 12:00am Pacific time. Open to US residents only (sorry!). All entries will be verified and winner will be notified by email by me.

Disclaimer : I was compensated with a free jacket for this review. All opinions at 100% my own.

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[Five on Friday] Five Reasons Why I Love Cardstore + a Giveaway!

Hello and Happy Friday! Today I wanted to change up my usual Five on Friday to include a fun review of a product I recently got to try. Well, actually, this is my second time trying it! Cardstore contacted me last year to see if I would be interested in a promo code to make a card for a mom for Mother's Day. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity and they were kind enough to send me two promo codes so I was able to make a card for my step mom and my mother-in-law. This year, they contacted me again and shared a promo code with me and I was able to make a wonderful card for Bubbie, Mason's Great Grandma! Regardless of the freeness of the card, I LOVE Cardstore's products and would definitely be willing to pay the money all on my own for such a wonderful product. Let me tell you a little bit about why I love Cardstore.

ONE.
Quality.

Best. Paper. Stock. Ever. Your cards are printed on high-quality, acid-free, 120 lb. Mohawk card stock. This means your keepsake cards won't yellow or fade with age. You can also rest assured that the paper is a Green-e Certified product sourced from FSC-Certified forests. No other paper has the same reputation for quality, consistency and uniformity. They're as thoughtful to the environment as you are to the ones you love. (via Cardstore)

TWO.
Ease of ordering.

You can upload photos for your card from pretty much anywhere you can imagine - Facebook, Instagram, DropBox, your computer, and many more.

They even have a mobile app (for iPhone, iPad, or Android!) that makes ordering on the go SUPER easy! Find a card you like, add some text, add some pictures, and Cardstore will do the rest. It's really that easy!






THREE.
Ease of delivering.

Cardstore has an option that you can chose where they will send the card to the recipient for you. How cool is that?! I'm always scrambling around trying to find a stamp (and of course have none and then need to go to the post office) and this option makes sending a breeze! I've never tried this option because the people I am giving my cards to I will be seeing in person, but I'm thinking of trying this option next time because it is so convenient!

I cannot describe the way the cards are packaged when they are sent directly, but when sent to me, the card was packaged so well. It came inside a hard envelope (kind of like those flat, cardboard envelopes you send important papers in via FedEx or UPS overnight) and was in perfect condition. I was very impressed!

You can also upload your address book and Cardstore will save addresses for you so you don't have to go looking for your address book every time you want to send a card. They have it right there for you.

Their shipping time is super fast as well. I think on my last order, they quoted me a week, and I got it well before then.

And, one of my favorite features - future send. This feature would be AMAZING for me because I am so bad at remembering birthdays! It's like once I flip my calendar to the week of the birthday, it's too late to send a card that will be delivered on time. Not only can you personalize it (with pictures or just with words) but you can advance schedule cards to ship. So, knowing that my Dad's birthday is in August, I can make him a personalized card today, and mark that his birthday is August xx and Cardstore will make sure he gets my card on time! Amazing for us busy moms (and us moms with mom/pregnancy brain...even almost 3 years after their kid was born!). Here's how it works : (1) the future send is only available when you choose the "mail to recipient" option, and can be found on the "mailing options" page. (2) just select "schedule a date" when asked about delivery date. (3) cards set up through the future send tool will be mailed via first class standard mail - anywhere in the USA. (4) you will receive a confirmation notice via email after you set up your future sends, and a second email will come once the card has shipped. (via Cardstore). So simple!





FOUR.
Cards for every holiday imaginable.

I've only ever ordered Mother's Day cards from Cardstore, but they offer so much more than that. Of course they have your typical cards like birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, and wedding. But they also have cards for occasions that you wouldn't even think to send (or at least I didn't!) like moving. I especially love that they tell you what day specific holidays are as well because I am horrible with that! Speaking of, I didn't realize that teacher appreciation was next week. Looks like I have some shopping to do. But in all seriousness, you think of an occasion, and they have a card for it!





FIVE.
100% satisfaction guaranteed.

Not that you would ever need it, but Cardstore offers 100% satisfaction guaranteed. I've been 110% happy with all my cards from them so I'm sure you'd never need to but just in case, they offer it. Just contact them within 30 days of receiving your card, tell them you are not happy, and they will fix it and send you a new one free of charge or just give you a refund. Always good to know!


Disclaimer : I was compensated with a free greeting card in order to share this review. All opinions are based on my experience and may not be true for others. All opinions are 100% mine and my love for Cardstore is 100% mine, too!


Now for the fun part! The lovely people at Cardstore were kind enough to let me give away a free card to one of my readers as well! All you have to do is follow the rules below and you could try their amazing cards for free!
Entries are open to US residents only. Giveaway begins on May 1, 2015 at 12:00am and ends on May 7, 2015 at 12:00am. All entries will be verified. Winner will be notified by email by me.

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[Mini Vacation] Days 3, 4 and 5... and a trip to the ER

Welcome back to Part 2 of our mini vacation! You'd think with the title 'Mini Vacation' that it would only take one post for me to share, but I am what you call an 'over picture taker' and couldn't narrow the pictures down so I thought it would be better to break it up into two posts so I didn't bombard you with photos. With that being said, don't think you are getting off picture easy today - this post is just as picture heavy as yesterday!

Day 3 was forecasted to be the best day weather-wise of the 3 whole days we had to explore and Day 4 was forecasted for rain so we opted to hike on Day 3 and go to the aquarium on Day 4. Day 3's weather was GORGEOUS and definitely did not disappoint. We went to Point Lobos State Park and hiked around and explored the area. Gorgeous is an understatement. I could definitely get used to that view all the time!

But, although the scenery was beautiful, I'd definitely say that hiking with a two year old is not high on my list of things to do again. Not only did we have to watch out for poison oak, but Mason basically hated walking and made Seth or I carry him. Not so easy when you are climbing a mountain. BUT I am so glad we did it. Because, seriously. Just look.

Around 11:30am we decided that we would try to go find some lunch. Mason was starting to get cranky and even the gold fish weren't working their normal magic on him so we headed into town and found a lovely little deli to have lunch at.

After lunch, we headed back to the condo, stopped for gas and a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner (and a peach green tea lemonade #ofcourse) and then Mason fell asleep in the car.

I mean... those cheeks and those eye lashes!

all the heart eye emojis!

We got back, played, had dinner, took a bath, played some more, and then went to bed in anticipation of our Day 4 adventure at the aquarium.

It rained over night but the weather was surprisingly good in the morning. It was cold and windy but with no rain so we had no problem exploring the inside and outside exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

We came home from the aquarium with a few hours to spare before dinner so we hung out and played and then went to this delicious Mexican restaurant called 'The Whole Enchilada' for dinner. Seriously, for being in the middle of nowhere, it was delicious.

And the just when you start thinking "wow, Mason is doing SUCH an awesome job sleeping on the big boy bed, maybe we should get him one of his own" is when something goes wrong.

But let's start from the beginning. On Day 1, we knew we were going to have Mason sleep on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed. He is too big for the pack n play and he for sure knows how to climb out so this seemed like the better option. We had planned on getting a side rail for the bed when we stopped at Target but forgot and just hoped that he would be ok. And he was. For nights 1-3. We looked for anything that we thought might hurt him if he fell and we removed it - mainly the glass table covering on the table right next to where his head was. We thought we were good to go since the corners were rounded and was also slightly above head height if he were to fall.

Enter night 4. Mason went to bed at 8pm and I went to bed slightly later around 9pm. Everything we fine. We were both sleeping and Seth came to join us later around 10pm. Then all of a sudden, SCREAMING and CRYING. Seth jumped up immediately (he was on the side that Mason was on and I was against the wall) and I woke up and was slightly confused. Then all of a sudden Seth yells "LIZ GET UP". I knew something was wrong. I asked what happened and he said that Mason was bleeding. I can't even really remember what happened in those next seconds but I jumped up so quickly and I'm sure I must have slammed my leg on the bed because I have a huge bruise now but at the time, I don't remember doing it. Seth carried Mason into the bathroom and I started to freak out. Blood. So much blood. All I could think was "what happened to my baby?!?!?" Seth got a wash cloth and tried to stop the bleeding but there was so much blood that he said we needed to go to the emergency room. By this point, Mason is screaming and Grandma and Grandpa are awake. My Dad googles where the nearest hospital is, I put in my contacts, throw on a sweatshirt, feel like I am going to throw up and/or pass out, tell myself I need to pull it together, and we were off.

Thank GOODNESS the nearest hospital was only like 6 miles down the road and we got there relatively quickly. Mason was SO brave the whole time and was barely crying in the car. I kept holding his hand and telling him it was going to be ok, that he was so brave. We got to the ER and filled out some paperwork and checked in. The ER crowd was... interesting... but that's a whole other story for a different day. We got there around 11pm and got seen by a doctor around 11:30pm/11:40pm and then was done by like 12:15am. Mason was a rockstar the whole time and only cried when the doctor cleaned his cut to see if he needed stitches. THANKFULLY it was a small cut (maybe 1/2 a centimeter) and it clotted very quickly. They said he was ok, he didn't need stitches, and to watch him and make sure he didn't have a concussion (which he had no signs of having). They gave him some Motrin, told us to wake him up once in the night to make sure his pupils weren't dilated and he knew who we were and watch for any throwing up.

We got home and Seth and Mason were going to sleep on the floor but Mason didn't want to. He climbed back up on his big boy bed right away (so sweet - he loved that bed) so Seth scooted him over and slept there next to him to make sure he didn't fall again. We woke up at 4am to check him and then went back to sleep until he woke us up at 6:30am - totally back to himself and totally fine. 

So there you have it. Quite the way to end a vacation and scared the cr*p out of me and Seth, but thankfully my brave big boy was totally ok. We think that when he fell, he hit the bottom corner of the end table next to him (something we didn't even think to protect him from) and it cut his head. The edge was not rounded and was pretty pointy so that must have done it. The mama guilt set in HARD when I realized that we should have gone back and gotten him the side rail or put pillows around the bottom of the end table, but alas, you can't go back in time so we have learned for the future.

Despite the trip to the ER to end our vacation, we did have a great time and can't wait to go on another vacation with Grandma and Grandpa again... hopefully soon!