Birthday/Labor Day Weekend

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to celebrate my birthday with family and friends. It was such a wonderful, jam packed, fun filled weekend that left me feeling incredibly blessed and loved! It also included a lot of food, eating out, and cake. Always cake.

On Friday afternoon, a friend called me because they were headed my way for a sno-ball. The days of having a sno-ball from our favorite stand are numbered, so of course I said yes! Knowing I was going to eat cake that evening, I ordered a small. Might not sound logical but made sense in my head. Hah!

It was delicious, too!

That evening, we had a celebratory dinner with my parents. I wanted pizza but couldn't figure out where I wanted to have it from. There's a place in my town called Stonefired Pizza that is similar to the concept of Blaze at Disney Springs, so we went with it. It was delicious, too!

After dinner, we had cake and presents! I've stuck with the same exact cake for the past several years. This year, I changed it up to a strawberry/strawberry/strawberry cake from a local bakery. It was good, but I think I'm going back to my norm next year.

On Saturday morning, Jason made breakfast at home. The Mickey waffle is actually a new recipe for me - it was my first time trying Birch Benders Paleo Pancake mix and it was pretty good!

After breakfast, I met up with my friend Mackenzie for a little Junkin' Gypsies party. This was Kenzie's birthday gift to me and I had so much fun creating our new fall door hangers with her!

Blank Pallet!

Stenciling it up!

Finished product!!

I love Junkin' Gypsies so much! It's an awesome way to have a little homemade piece of art work (that looks amazing) in your home!

On Saturday evening, we had dinner with Jason's family as a two part birthday celebration (for myself and Jason's sister)! It was so much fun and the homemade meal Jason's mom made was delicious!

We also signed the traditional table cloth. After a lot of researching, we discovered that the table cloth goes back to 1995. It disappeared for a little while, then reappeared back in 2005 or 2006! I love fun traditions like that!

On Sunday evening, we didn't have church because of the Labor Day holiday, so we took that time to celebrate with my friends!

We had dinner at Walk On's, then came back to my house for cake and presents.

We might have reused the same cake because it was THAT good (and there was a lot of it)!

Twinning!

As an added side project over Labor Day Weekend, I also decided to spruce up our laundry room. The room felt drab to me and definitely needed a refresher. It was still the same off-white color it had been since we purchased the house and I wanted to change it to a more light and airy feel. I was inspired by our recent stay at the newly renovated rooms of Old Key West, so I went with it!

The color on the left is the cabinet color and the color on the right is the wall color.

Before...

After!

Although it doesn't look like much of a contrast between the wall and the cabinet in the photo, there is a slight one. The baseboards also received a little refresher and wow - the room feels so nice and clean now! I seriously love it!

On Monday, Brayden and I spent the entire day together (minus his nap). We swam, played with water outside, watched a little Mickey Mouse, and overall just had a great day together. During his nap time, I replaced all the doors to the cabinets and refilled them with items then after his nap, we went back outside for more water fun! We really had a great day together. I love soaking up those moments with him. They are passing by so fast, I love to truly live in the moment and enjoy my little guy while he's still little!

How was your Labor Day Weekend? Did you do anything exciting or fun?

Favorite Summer Treats

Happy Summer! Although it's felt like summer here in Southwest Louisiana for weeks now, I can officially say that summer has arrived in full force, complete with a tropical storm! What a way to kick off the season. The portions of Tropical Storm Cindy (the "eye") that hit SWLA only left us with minimal flooding, although other areas of the south can't say the same. Sad face....stay safe, guys!

By Thursday afternoon, all remnants of the storm will hopefully have passed through so life can resume as normal, including Dopey training!

With summer's heat and humidity and all things related, I like to enjoy a cold, sweet treat on occasion, especially after a hot run. I'm a sweets fan (bad, I know) and after a long Saturday run in the ridiculous heat and humidity, I usually crave all the cold things!

#1 Fruit

Strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, kiwi, grapes, bananas...you name it, I love it! Watermelon is definitely a summer favorite for sure!

#2 Gatorade

I guess it's not truly a "treat" but it's a necessity for me on long hot summer training runs, especially while training with longer distances!

#3 Snoballs

Hello...who wouldn't enjoy one of these after a hot long run?! They are the perfect way to cool down, although you have to eat fast if you're attempting to enjoy it outside!

#4 Smoothies

I know I mentioned it on Monday, but a local juicery opened here and oh my goodness...so many healthy and delicious options were available. I know I'll be a frequent visitor here this summer for sure! Also, nothing beat a nice homemade cold smoothie with a frozen banana and a little fruit...pure heaven!

#5 Iced Coffee

Aaaah yes...a nice cold coffee on a warm summer morning is the perfect way to begin the day! I enjoy these often during the summer!

With all of these yummy treats, I'm destined to survive marathon training during the hot and humid summer months!

What's your favorite summer treat?

The Color Vibe and a Baby Shower!

This past weekend, I spent time doing something I love to do...volunteering! Since Brayden's been born, my volunteer time has been cut incredibly short which is ok because I really love spending time with him. However, it was nice to get back into my old routine, even if just for a short time!

My first volunteer opportunity happened on Saturday morning with The Color Vibe. The American Cancer Society has been the charity partner with this race for the past three or four years and since I'm on the Relay for Life Committee, I had the opportunity to volunteer!

Our crew's main job was the water station and boy did we have it going on! There were over 1,800 runners and only five of us, so it was incredibly fast paced once the runners began flowing in.

 

We rocked it! 

 This was the first wave of runners (there were five waves total).

I also had a couple of friends participate in this race and they did amazing! I was so proud of them!! This is obviously the "before" picture...

...and after!

They might have tried to hug me...but I ran away! Haha!

After the color toss, they really had it going on!

If 5K's that involved colored powder is your thing, check out the Color Vibe! It's a great organization and gives back to local charities. They also know how to have a great time!!

After the run, we had to have breakfast of course!

My second function of the weekend took place at our church for my sister-in-law's shower. I was asked to provide the decorations and I had a lot of fun making them! She went with a green/mint nursery theme, so that's what I based the decorations around.

 

There were several signs like this. Others said "Precious Little Miracle" (because he is...another story for another day), the verse from 1 Samuel 1:27, and the fourth one had his name in bold print. 

There are two types of tables in our glass foyer - tall skinny tables and short big tables. I chose two different centerpiece ideas off Pinterest and ran with them.

He's due in April. Get it? April showers! :)

My niece had so much fun pushing Brayden around in the stroller! She's too funny! 

After the shower, several of us went shopping at Sams and all happened to purchase matching skirts. They were so cute we couldn't pass them up! After our shopping excursion, we stopped for a sno ball - our favorite, "The Little Mermaid"!

Brayden was all dressed in his St. Patrick's Day themed gear for church this morning. I LOVE the plaid shirt with the blue jeans!

After church, I continued my project of getting the flower beds nice and neat once again. 

The weeds were making my head hurt. There's just something about Disney trips - I always want to get my yard looking nice every time I return home from a trip!

Thankfully, this little guy napped for a while then played outside in his jumper while I pulled weeds and guess what?! I'm almost finished! I just knew that the weed pulling would be a week long project and now it's not! YAY!

Next, we are going to buy a few new flowers as well as fresh mulch and make everything nice and pretty once again!

It was an exhausting weekend, especially with the time change, but we had fun! I hope your weekend was great, too! Stay tuned for more updates from our Princess Half Marathon Weekend! :)

A Weekend In New Orleans

My husband and I spent the weekend in New Orleans with plenty of fun times to share! I even made a vlog because yes, we had THAT much fun!! Don’t believe me? Watch and see!!

For starters, we had tickets to see Wicked and it did NOT disappoint! We loved every single moment of it! Unfortunately, our usual 3 1/2 hour trip to New Orleans took almost 5 hours – which means we were SUPER rushed for Wicked! As soon as we arrived at our hotel, we RAN to our room to change, then RAN back to our car – we sat down in our seats in the theatre with only moments to spare. We were so scared we wouldn’t make it but thankfully, we did!! Whew! 

Since we saw Wicked on Broadway in NYC, we weren’t sure what to expect. I can honestly tell you that Wicked off Broadway is VERY very good!! I definitely noticed the difference in caliber (which…hello…comparing on and off Broadway is like comparing apples and oranges), but it was still amazing and definitely worth the time if you have the chance to go!

On Saturday, we met up with friends and visited one of our favorite places ever (and a Mandeville tradition), the original Broken Egg Café! SO yum!



This is how the “boys” spent the remainder of their weekend…



They didn’t even move to take a potty break. Not joking (I wish I was)!



Heather and I spent our weekend talking and catching up since we haven’t seen each other since Goofy’s Challenge! It was great to see our friends again! We really have a great time when we are together – lots of laughter and of course, lots yummy treats!

Speaking of yummy treats, I made Liberty Tree Tavern’s version of an Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake! (It just so happens to be Heather's favorite Disney dessert!) Served with Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell ice cream…delicious!



After leaving New Orleans on Sunday morning, we visited with Jason’s family and mine for Mother’s Day!

All in all, we had a FABULOUS weekend and really enjoyed every moment! It was nice to sit, relax, talk, and not have to worry about doing a million things at one time. A much needed break, for sure!

How did you spend your weekend?