Fall Favorites

I'm linking up once again with some of my favorites April, Christina, & Co for my favorite kind of Friday post. And Andrea for Friday Favorites. Two is better than one :)

One | Friday Treat Day
Just like every other Basic B, I do love me a PSL. But, it wouldn't be like me to not complicate things just a little bit. So, my actual preference is a 1/2PS1/2VL {in Starbucks language that's a one pump pumpkin spice, one pump vanilla latte. Way more delicious in my opinion and almost always gets an eye roll from the barista.} I have always dubbed Friday as Friday Treat Day. I love Friday Treat Day and look forward to it all week long. My favorite Friday Treat is always my Vanilla Latte from Starbucks {or 1/2PS1/2VL, or Eggnog Latte, or Peppermint Hot Chocolate depending on what time of year it is.}


Two | Rainy Football Sunday
According to the forecast it's supposed to rain this weekend. This is extremely exiting. I love Sunday mornings when we're still in bed and Nick proclaims it a chili day. Nothing is better than sitting around all day Sunday watching football in pajamas with chili in the crock pot.

This is what a typical football day looks like in our house. Sweats, candles, and our fun fall decorations.

Three | An Empty Calendar!
In the fall our calendar always empties out. We actually have several weekends in. a. row. at our own house, waking up in our own bed and I love it. We have fun in the summer time but I miss being home. Right now being home means spending way more time at Babies R Us, Hobby Lobby and Pottery Barn Kids than ever before in my entire life.

This is what November looks like. Okay so it doesn't look THAT empty but trust me. Compared to other months that you can't even see the lines between the days on my calendar, this is bare bones.

Four | Beach Trips
Okay, I know this sounds really weird. The thing is, where we live, the fall is the absolute most beautiful time to be at the beach. Every fall we try to take a trip out to Half Moon Bay which also happens to be pumpkin patch central. They have so many cute pumpkin patches to visit and fun things to do. This year we didn't get to do our pumpkin patch visit but we did have a wedding in Half Moon Bay back in September and it was such a perfect weekend. Next year we will have a 10 month old to take to the pumpkin patch at the beach and I cannot help but be so excited for that!

This was our trip just last weekend to Pismo Beach. A little bit different than our normal fall beach trip but just as wonderful. I swear there is a baby bump somewhere in there...

Five | Fall TV
I love our fall tv line up. We have been watching Sons of Anarchy & Parenthood {both in their final seasons. I can't even deal with that.} The Walking Dead {this is my love to dread show. I always want to know what's going on with them but I really hate zombie anything} and our new favorite How to Get Away With Murder. Viola Davis is amazing and stunning and I just love her.

Happy Friday!

5 on Friday - Thankful Edition #2

This has been a weird week. Maybe it is the weather change {finally} or, maybe it's because November is the month of budgets for me at work and I am literally drowning in budget packets, either way I am exhausted.

I'm linking up with April & Co today and reflecting on 5 more things that I am thankful for this month. You can see my first 5 here.

One
I am thankful for my job. I might wake up and sigh a big sigh every morning when I think about going to work, but I am sure thankful that I have a place to go. I don't have the most fulfilling job in the world. I would love to do something that made me feel like I was making a real difference to other people, but that just isn't the path I took when choosing a career. Working for Homeowners Associations can be a thankless and tiring job, but I can't lie and say I don't enjoy it. I work with some pretty awesome ladies and we have a good time. So, for that I am thankful. Also, I'm thankful for my paycheck. Obviously.

Source

Two
I am thankful for my roots. I have blogged about where I come from a little bit here and there but not many details. I was born {at home} in a tiny mountain town at the tippy top of California. Practically Oregon. The closest Starbucks was about an hour away. I graduated from High School with a class of 80. Almost every single person in my graduating class I had known since I was in pre-school. Needless to say I didn't date boys from my hometown. Sorry.. I've watched you pick your nose on the playground dude. Someday I will dedicate an entire post to this, but I truly believe that I am who I am because of where I came from and I think I'm a better person for it. Also, my hometown is quite possibly one of the most beautiful places on earth. How many people can say that a Bing photo was taken in their back yard? Literally, that photo was taken right next to where my dad lives. {toot toot, I know sorry.}

Three
I'm thankful for the rain. We haven't seen much of it here in Northern California lately, until this week. We needed it so badly, and I needed it too. I think a little rain is good for the soul. I love sitting in my cozy cubicle at work with my desk heater blasting and looking out my window to the rain and the streets below {and yes, I do have Christmas music playing.} I love being snuggled in bed with my husband and our baby dogs listening to the rain and wind outside. I even love driving in the rain. I love every thing about the rain.

Four
I'm thankful for my husband. I know, I already said that on my first post, but this is my thankful list and I can do what I want. I am thankful to have married a man that is so supportive, loving, and selfless. He always knows exactly what to say when I need encouragement the most. He has given me such a wonderful life and I cannot imagine what I would do without him.

Five

I'm thankful for the family cabin. It is so nice to have a quiet place that we can escape to, just the two of us. We are going today as soon as Nick gets off work. I can't wait to bundle up and sit by the fire, play some board games, and wear pj pants and Uggs all weekend with no makeup without being judged. I'm thankful that someday we will take family trips and our kids will learn to swim in the lake and play under the pine trees with their cousins.

Happy weekend!

5 on Friday - Thankful Edition #1

2013 has been a really special year for us and we have so much to be thankful for. I think that it is so important to keep in mind how blessed we are, and to give thanks all the time. Not just because of a Holiday, but Thanksgiving is a good excuse to share those thankful thoughts.

I try to make it a point to pray every single day. Sometimes, depending on what is going on, I find myself praying consistently on and off, throughout the day. I am noticing that a lot of the time I am asking for things. Lord, please give me strength. Lord, please... instead of Thank you, God… I am trying to make a conscious effort to express my gratitude not only in prayer but also in my actions. {Believe me this is something that needs work.}

We have a beautiful life and it is important to remember that. Every. Single. Day.

One
I am thankful for my husband. For endless reasons. But really... he gives me butterflies, makes me laugh, makes me feel SO loved and appreciated, and even cooks dinner more nights out of the week than I do. He loves my family, like really loves them.  And most importantly? He puts up with me. My bed hogging, laundry piling, reality TV watching, Candy Crushing, ways are not always a walk in the park. But he loves me a lot and I am thankful for that.

Two
I am thankful for my family. My sister doesn't know it yet, but today, her husband will be loading her onto a plane for a quick 90 minute flight to San Francisco. My mom is driving down and we are going to be able to spend a weekend together for the first time since their wedding in June. I am thankful that my parents are going to be the most loving, sweetest grandparents. That is something that I wasn't fortunate enough to get to experience, being loved and spoiled by a grandparent. {That's a story for another time...} My sister is going to be the sweetest, most loving aunt. Something else I didn't really get to experience. 

 
Three
I am thankful for my husband's family. I have talked about this a million times before, but I seriously hit the in-law jackpot. Nick's family made me their own after we had only been dating a few months. We get to spend so much time with them and I have never been made to feel like an outsider. Not once. They are so welcoming and inviting, loving, and provide so much for us. And, they are so respectful. Of our space, our lives, our plans. Nick's parents are, at times, our favorite couple to hang out with. We have so much fun with them, they like to drink {Husby got his bartending skills from his Pops}, love good food, and are always down for a good time. I got a sweet sister out of the deal too. A sister that wears the same shoe size as me {a microscopic size 5 to be exact}. She's a built in best friend, confidant, and another amazing auntie to be.

Four
I am thankful for our home. Our house is currently undergoing one hell of a transformation. This will be the 4th Christmas in our house. A house that started out as an empty shell, an ex-rental house, a bachelor pad. We had roommates living in the 3 extra bedrooms for the first few years in our house. This helped pay the bills, built our savings, and enabled us to pay off our wedding in full, only months after it was over {another blessing all on it's own.} Anyway, when we had roommates we didn't do much to the house. We kept the décor simple and didn't have any photos of us up or around really. Our house became home, but it still felt temporary. We felt like renters in the home that we owned for the first few years we lived there. For the first time in a long time, we are finally roommate free and are able to start making some real changes to the house. Adding bits of furniture, adding gallery walls with photos, painting, personalizing, making it ours. This is really just the beginning. Once the holidays are over we are going to start some real renovations and I cannot wait to fall even more in love with this home we are building.

Five
I am thankful for our friends. I have always been very particular about who I became friends with. I tend to prefer to have a small group of extremely close friends, rather than a large group of not quite as close friends. When Nick and I started dating, I'm pretty sure I made about 100 new friends. I'm seriously not exaggerating. Nick came with the biggest group of extremely close friends that you can imagine. Many {most} of them are girls. Luckily they liked me and made me their own so quickly. I had never experienced anything like it. They are the most beautiful, sweetest group of girls you can imagine. These girls have never made me feel like they are my friends because of Nick. Of course I have my own amazing girl friends who I love more than life. Each of them is so special to me for different reasons. I wouldn't be me, if it weren't for each one of them. A network of people who love and support you is probably one of the greatest blessings of all. 

 

5 on Friday: Life Lately

I haven't been very good at blogging lately. You know it's bad when your husband starts asking.
The truth is I just haven't felt like I have anything new to share and as usual, work is kicking my back side and the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is look at my computer. Let's catch up shall we?

One
Dog Injuries - Nick & I had a very eventful week last week. It started the Friday before when we found a giant lump on the side of Teddy's head. It was hard to see since he is so freaking fluffy. We watched the lump over the weekend and took him to the vet on Monday. The morning after his first vet appointment we woke up to what looked like a murder scene on our bedroom floor. Poor Ted's head had exploded and we rushed him to the emergency vet at 6AM. They found he had an abscess that had ruptured and they had to do surgery to put a drain in his head. He looked like Frankenstein for about 4 days. He is doing just fine now and is back to his rascally ways. He's pretty stoked about not having to wear his giant satellite dish anymore too. No explanation whatsoever about what might have caused said abscess.

Two
Home Makeover - I caught a bug called "decorate every room in the house like a crazy person." Up until about two weeks ago we didn't have any photos of us up in the house except for in a little bookcase in the front living room. I've been bugging Nick for weeks to hang up some floating shelving that I bought and finally he caved. Our family room finally looks like real people use it! Now I've moved on to obsessing over our bedroom. I feel like that room should be my favorite room in the house, it right now.. it's my least favorite. I picked out some new bedding and have slowly been pulling pieces together that will fit perfectly. I am loving the new Threshold collection at Target and fell in love with the bedding we got. I'm pretty much designing the entire room around the bedding. I can't wait until it's done.

Three
Fall! - We pretty much had all of our fall decorations up by September 1st. I like to decorate in phases. I started in September with Autumn only and then slowly started adding Halloween decorations. As soon as Halloween is over we will transition back to Harvest & Thanksgiving pieces. I am very particular about how we decorate and I hate to rush the seasons. I cannot stand to start decorating for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. It seems like the year passes by so quickly that I hate to rush through my favorite time of the year. I am absolutely loving how cozy and warm our house is feeling right now. And.. it smells amazing at all times with all the crock pot meals and spice candles I've been burning.

 

Four
Getting Crafty - I caught another bug called "craft all the things!!" I have been refinishing furniture like a fiend and spending more time at the craft store than at home. My favorite of all Pinterest successes is this pretty little burlap wreath. I am in love.

Five
This one isn't really relevant to what we've got going on right now but I'm excited about it and wanted to share. I finally found a phone case on Etsy that I liked, it showed up yesterday and I am in love. Bee Covered has some of the cutest designs I've seen and her prices are so reasonable. Also I love anything with a cute monogram. I always prefer a sleek, slim case to a bulky rubber one. My problem is that for my job, I spend a lot of time walking construction sites and have to have my phone handy to take notes and photos to send to my assistant. I have dropped my phone way too many times and the thin plastic cases never give the screen any protection. This case is firm rubber and has the tiniest lip that would protect the screen if it fell but is thin enough not to bug me. I will definitely be using this shop again.

 Happy Friday!! Hallelujah.

5 on Friday

Happy Friday! I'm linking up today for my favorite post of the week!

5. We have been busy lately, running around like crazy chickens. We are getting ready to refinance the house and we are only days away from our appraisal, which means I have been and will continue to be cleaning like a maniac for the next few days. We have a few projects to take care of this weekend and I'm really just looking forward to being done with it all. This whole process has turned my husband into one holy stresscase and I'm ready for him to be able to relax. The refinance also means that by the end of September, I will officially be a homeowner! Nick bought the house when we first started dating, and while the house is ours, really up until now it's been his.

4. I made an appointment with my OB/GYN this last week to talk about baby making. It really was more of a counseling session than anything else. Turns out I completely  misunderstood her the first time we spoke. She said to expect it would take 6 months to get knocked up. I turned that into, by 6 months I would for sure be a big pregnant lady. She clarified that it was unlikely that we would be pregnant before 6 months and that most couples {93%} are pregnant by month 9. Here's to hoping we are the 93%. I was not feeling in a great place when I wrote this post and I feel so much better now after talking to her again. I'm ready to just relax and enjoy this time. Baby M will come eventually.

3. A couple weekends ago I made a trip to Sacramento to meet with my sweet friend Jeanette to go wedding dress shopping. She is going to be the most beautiful bride and I cannot wait for her wedding. Have I mentioned that they are getting married at the zoo? The photo ops are going to be amazing.  We may or may not have downed two bottles of champagne while we were watching her try them on. As Maid {Matron?} of Honor I have started planning her SF bach bash and I am so excited. She looked gorg in every single dress she tried on, but didn't find the one.

2. We are almost one month away from our first anniversary! This seems to be a running theme around here, but holy jeez this year has gone by so quickly. We will be spending the weekend of our anniversary in Napa and I'm so excited. We don't really have any set plans yet but I'm just looking forward to some good food and a relaxing weekend with my sweet husband. Also, trying to decide on a good gift for the mister. The 1st anniversary gift is paper... so I'd like to stick with that. What to do... what to do...

1. We are officially two short weeks away from the {usually} bi-annual family Maui vacation. Our wedding threw the schedule off last summer but come August 30th, we will be on a flight to one of my favorite places ever. I'm hoping to check off at least one of my 30 by 30 items and finally tan my way too white for this time of year self. I need to load up my Kindle with all kinds of good books to read for the week. Work is kicking my hiney lately and I am soo looking forward to forgetting everything for the week. I've been counting down on Instagram with the photos below for way too many months.

Seriously TGIF is all I have to say. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Five on Friday

This is my first time linking up with these lovely ladies for the weekly 5 on Friday. But, if you've learned anything about me yet, you've learned that I love lists!

 

Today I'm going to share with you my 5 summer must-haves.

1. I have had my Tervis tumbler attached to me at all times for the last few weeks. I do not drink nearly enough water so I made a note to myself at the bottom of the cub to drink 4 of them a day. That's 64 oz of water a day folks. That's also 64 trips from my desk down the hall to the bathroom a day. So... I can safely say I will be fully hydrated this summer. These cups aren't cheap but I like that it has a lid that closes and it's double walled so my cold water stays cold. There are few things I hate more than room temperature water. I don't have a photo of my actual tumbler but it's a pretty one from our local country club.

2. I bought a pack of these lace creaseless hair ties at Icing a few months back. Who shops at Icing anymore? I do apparently. Anyway, I made a promise to my hair that I wouldn't be using a blow dryer this summer. I've been showering at night and then sleeping with my hair up in one of these and styling pretty in the morning. Where have these little lovelies been all my life?

3. I love a good tote. My closet is packed full of these things. I recently accidentally/on purpose bought enough swim suits at my favorite summer clothing supplier to get me this pretty little bag fo' free. We take a lot of weekend trips and I've been stuffing all my bathroom essentials in this bag and will be using it for many trips to the pool, lake, etc.

4. I recently discovered the Perrier skinny can. They are a 0 calorie, 0 everything else, slightly flavored treat. Our fridge has been fully stocked with their range of flavors. My favorite is the grapefruit. Apparently it's everyone else's favorite too because I have had one hell of a time finding them.

5. Nothing says summer to me like a good book. My kindle is not a new addition to my reading repertoire but it's definitely an essential. I'm currently reading Gone Girl and absolutely loving it. I love that I can dim the back light and read at night after Mr. M is snoring and that it is bright enough to still be able to read in the direct sun. It took me a while to convert to kindle reading (I do miss the smell of a real book) but being able to have all of my favorite books, magazines, and blogs  in one tiny little reader that I can stuff in my purse is worth it.

We are headed up to Napa for the weekend for a belated birthday celebration for Nick. You better believe every single one of the above will be tagging along!