A Special Kind of Friendship

When Jason and I got married in November 2011, we knew we wanted to do a honeymoon right away and we knew we wanted to go somewhere tropical. With the help of our friend/travel agent we booked a week long vacation in Riviera Maya, Mexico at the El Dorado Casitas Royale. We figured our honeymoon would be a nice relaxing week filled with new husband and wife time. And while it was, it was also SO SO SO much more. 

The very first night of our trip {Monday, November 7, 2011 to be exact} we were walking along the beach after dinner, trying to find our way back to our casita. It started to pour rain and we sought cover under a tiny little beach bar. There was a larger group of people sitting across from us, whom, after a few drinks we learned were all on their honeymoon and had all met that night. All it took was a massive gust of wind shooting the rain horizontal and all of us were ducked behind the bar. It was at this moment Jason and I officially met Billy & Jackie. 

They were our age. They were married the same day as us. AND, they lived in Iowa - just across the border of all places. This is going to sound cheesy, but we hit it off immediately. The four of us just clicked and had a blast. We ended up hanging out with Billy & Jackie every day {at some point} for the rest of the trip. I'm sure to some it seems super strange to spend so much time with strangers on your honeymoon but it truly made our honeymoon as amazingly fun as it was. Jason and I were able to have our date nights, excursions and newlywed time, and then we'd meet up with Billy & Jackie later in the evening...where hilarity would ensue. Again - super cheesy - but we all bonded so fast that we were heartbroken when it was time to say goodbye.

I don't know if it was fate, geography or just the amazing friendship we were able to build in 7 days, but we've managed to get together twice a year every year since. Well, that first year we only got together once because it turns out I was pregnant when they came to visit and didn't know it. WHOOPS! We label our get togethers with Spanish numbers as an ode to our meeting place and are always planning the next time before the current time is over. 

Part Cinco just took place a couple of weeks ago! Jason and I made our way down to Iowa early on a Friday morning so we could squeeze in as much time with our "honeymoon friends" as possible. Billy & Jackie just built a new home which is absolutely gorgeous and we were so happy to be able to see it. We spent Friday on the boat, stayed up way too late, drank way too much, the boys golfed on Saturday, we went to a Hawkeye bar, went to a carnival, created about 10 more inside jokes, laughed more than ever and as always had an amazing time.

These two are so special to us and it makes me so happy that we've made the effort to stay in touch and see each other on a somewhat regular basis. When we get together it's like no time has passed, there's never an awkward moment and all we do is laugh.


Now I just wait for part seis!

Getting My Head On Straight

1. July has been nuts. 

2. I need help. 

To start let's talk about nuts-o July. It's been a whirlwind. We have been so busy and I have had so much on my plate, something had to give and unfortunately that had to be blogging. I knew it was bad when Katie texted me and asked if I was pregnant, because we all know being pregnant is the only reasonable excuse for not blogging. No, I am not pregnant. I've just been busy. And if you don't believe me, this past month I have...

...had a girls boat day, celebrated the 4th of July, took Kenley to dance class, spent a long weekend in Iowa, went to Vinny's 2nd birthday party,  modeled in a fashion show for Tzu Tzu Sport, assisted Sara Jayne Photography with a 3 month shoot, a special little monster shoot and my little sister's senior pictures (!), helped my dad with his biggest basketball tournament of the year, celebrated getting through my dad's biggest tournament of the year (a little lot too much), helped my dad's friend with his basketball camp in Texas, had a double date night, planned a baby shower, oh, and ran the coffee shop I'm working at while the manager was gone.

And now I'm just trying to recover and catch up...maybe clean my house and maybe get some sleep.

As for the "I need help" part...I need help! I am currently working 5 jobs. Yes, 5 jobs.The combination of these jobs is allowing me to have pretty much the perfect arrangement of Stay at Home Working Mom. I am working both in and out of the house. While all of these jobs are very much part-time, there's a lot on my plate and I'm at the point where I don't feel like I'm doing any of these jobs well. SO, I need to get organized. Which is where you come in. I know so many of you are working moms or stay at home moms or stay at home working moms...and even if you're not a mom...how do you do it all? How do you get yourself organized and manage your time so you can accomplish everything you need to AND still have time to blog? Because I miss blogging and never want to go 20 days without a post again! I'd really love to hear your tips and advice!!!

***and don't forget to check out yesterday's post because you could win a Febreze Noseblindness Product Pack AND a $60 AmEx gift card!!!****

Summer Love

Guess who's back, back again...Kristin's back, tell a friend!

For all 8 of you who are still reading despite my severe lack of posting, THANKS! And, HI! I'm back!

I took a much needed bloggy break to refocus and get organized and I am once again feeling excited and inspired by Mama and Mou. 

I have been so busy with a variety of different things I am excited to fill you in on but mainly I've been spending my time enjoying summer. I LOVE summer, it's hands down my favorite season and if it was 85 and sunny every single day of the year, I would not get sick of it.It's been pretty raining these past couple of weeks but you better believe the second we see sunshine we are out making the most of our summer. 

We've been boating, spending time at the pool, celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday, betting on ponies at the racetrack, spending time with friends and family, going on nice long walks, having coffee dates on the deck and playing at the park!

Healthified Summer BBQ

Now that it's warming up outside we have brushed off our dusty little grill and have once again been putting it to good use. We absolutely LOVE to grill at our house and it's pretty inevitable that the summer will be filled with BBQs with friends and family. But let's face it BBQs, while fantastic, aren't always the healthiest. Typically you'll find yourself downing burgers and/or brats and/or hot dogs with some potato salad, potato chips, maybe a teeny portion of fresh fruit and then some kind pasta salad packed with carbs and calories. 

Well no more my friends. I'm here to share my new Summer BBQ obsessions. 

 Pretty much the easiest thing ever....get some brats of your choosing, get some veggies of your choosing, slice them up, throw them on skewers and grill! We use Chilli Cheddar Brats with Red Bell Pepper, Zucchini and Onion. YUM!

1 head of Broccoli cut down to just florets, 1 container Hormel Less Fat Real Bacon Bits, 1 cup reduced fat shredded Cheddar Cheese, 1 cup reduced fat Mayonnaise, 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar, 1/2 tbsp Sugar

And, if you just absolutely can't avoid a pasta salad {let's be honest, it's my favorite part of a BBQ} make this one:

1 box Whole Wheat Penne Pasta, 50 Turkey Pepperonis, 2 small cans sliced Black Olives, 1 cup low fat shredded Parmesan Cheese, Fat Free Italian dressing to taste {I used a little less than a cup}

--it's still high in calories but is MUCH better for you nutrition wise!--

OK, so who is coming over to cook out?

Barbecue Couples Baby Shower

Even though Carolyn is one of my best friends, we know each other because our husbands have been friends since middle school. So when I was starting to think of ideas for Carolyn's shower and also think about who would be on the guest list, I thought it would be perfect if Jason and I hosted a couples shower for Carolyn and Jake that included the boys' friends and their wives.

I wanted this shower to really reflect both Jake & Carolyn and when I saw this on Pinterest...

credit

...I knew a Baby Barbecue Party was just the theme! 

I started with
the stationery
since it is after all my line of work, and everything evolved from there. 

When doing the decor I knew I wanted to stick with the chalkboard and baby blue for the colors, use the gingham pattern and the footprints throughout and incorporate some of Jake & Carolyn's favorite things like Burgers, Whiskey, Cupcakes and the Letter 'R'. 

Here's how it all came together:

the DECOR.
The decor was a lot of DIY and a few a store bought items, like the adorable balloons from The Corner Balloon Shoppe. Instead of going through everything, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

I also made a slideshow of Carolyn's bump pictures and other cute photos from throughout her pregnancy and had it playing on the TV.

the FOOD.
Carolyn loves burgers, like really loves them! So I didn't even have to give a burger bar a second thought. We had burgers, buns, toppings, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, deviled eggs, and a baby bassinet fruit basket handmade by yours truly.

the DRINKS.
For beverages we served bottled water, beer, wine and two different punches - one safe for preggos and one NOT safe for preggos {which included some Barcardi Wolfberry}.

the Cupcakes. 
Out of everything I did for the shower I was absolutely the most proud of the cupcakes that I baked and decorated myself! I even made the frosting from scratch (thanks for the recipe and tips Kelly!) What you need to understand is that Carolyn LOVES cupcakes, so they were a neccessity and also that I don't bake. I don't bake at all. I'm so bad at it. When I do bake I am either with Carolyn or she is on speed dial to help me through it. Needless to say, it was a pretty big frickin' deal that I made these on my own AND THEY TURNED OUT!

the GAMES.
PRICE IS RIGHT: Jason gave me the go ahead for ONE shower game and it had to be something that the boys could get in to. The Price is Right is my absolute favorite shower game and I thought it would be perfect! I bought some must have essential items for new moms, new dads and new babies. Then I listed all the items on a super cute game card and each guest had to guess the price of each of the items. Whoever's total came closest to the actual total won and Jake and Carolyn got to bring home all of the stuff.

DIAPER RAFFLE: On the invitations I included a cute little poem asking each of the guests to bring a pack of diapers and then everyone who brought diapers got to enter their name in the raffle and before we opened gifts we announced a winner!

the PRIZES.
Sticking with the BBQ theme, we gave away some fun BBQ accessories in a super cute lantern.

Inside the lantern was: Barbecue Sauce, Liquid Smoke, BBQ Spice Rub, a Can Koozie and Corn-on-the-Cobb Holders.


the FAVORS.
For the favors I really wanted to do a Jake favor and a Carolyn favor...which turned out to be simple! Whiskey for Jake and chocolate for Carolyn! J Thanks to our amazing designer at work I was able to have her create custom labels for the Jack Daniels bottles and "R" labels for the baby food jars. I really love how these turned out and they seemed to be a hit!

the GUESTS.

No matter how cute the shower, it's not complete without guests. Jake and Carolyn have some amazing friends a great family and I'm so happy that so many of them were able to join us and celebrate Baby Boy Roe!

 

It was such a fun day celebrating Jake, Carolyn and Baby Roe. It was so special to put together this shower for them and I really hope they loved it.