Category: Uncategorized

Home Improvement

So we Terence has been working on our yard a lot lately.  We plan on gutting our front flower bed and re-doing the whole thing.  When we moved in it was just builder landscaping there.  We would like to personalize it more and put some plants we actually like in front of the house.  I’m not sure what kind of border I want to use?  Just the plain metal edging or some sort of stone.  Stone is way more expensive though!  Suggestions???
 We finally got Connor in the grass. 
For some reason he has had a wierd fear of grass lately…it’s so silly!
And we have to keep him from running out into the road now!

 Here is what we are working on so far:
 This is a very small flower bed to the side of the front sidewalk
We got these flowers last weekend to plant here
I’ll show the finished results when we get it all mulched and everything 🙂
 Also, I had shared before that our guest bedroom was in need of some major decorating.
 We finally got a night stand!

Well, we had company coming and we had been putting it off so we finally purchased THIS one from Pier 1 Imports.  It’s not the greatest quality, but it works in that room for the time being.

 BEFORE :
See how the lamp was on the floor…
WHAT I WORE WEDESDAY:
Disclaimer: I realize I look like a total dork taking pics of myself!
 Shirt : Ebay purchase for $3.25 (Winning bid!) Love the polka dots!
Shoes: Old – Aerosoles
Pants: Black dress pants from Ann Taylor Loft
Have you ever seen such a wollering boy in your entire life?
I told you he loves everything SOFT!
He just clings to it!

We go see an upper GI specialist tomorrow.  Not sure what is going on, but we’ve been having issues getting Connor to eat well and take milk.  He throws up a lot afterwards.  Prayers are appreciated!

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter with Terence’s family this year.  I was still recovering from the stomach bug I got last week…but towards Sunday I finally started to feel a bit myself again. 
Sunday morning we went to Easter service at Terence’s Mom & Dad’s church.  I always like to go to church with family on Easter Sunday.  We are so blessed to live in a country that allows us to worship freely. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice, may we remember that on Easter and every other day of the year……
Afterwards we had a yummy lunch at Trinity Terrace with extended family.  The lunch buffet was AMAZING, and the dessert bar was even better 😉
I hope someday we can take Connor to Arkansas to the farm so he can see how his Mama celebrated Easter growing up!  There have been some pretty bad storms in Arkansas this past week.  My Nannie’s roof is having to get some major repairs 🙁 
It seems like Easter came really late this year and Easter and Mother’s Day are back to back…….
So here is our Easter re-cap :
 Connor with Dad & Mom
He doesn’t stay in one place very long these days
 Mr. Studly Stud

 Connor & cousin Arielle
See how hard it is to get a picture of two new walkers???
ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE!

 We decided to give Connor his Easter basket on Saturday night and he LOVED it 🙂

 He’s really into anything SOFT right now.  He just loves to snuggle anything and everything!
Connor also got an Elmo Easter card from Nana & Poppy!
Thank you Nana & Poppy so much and maybe next year I can see you on Easter too!!!
Love, Connor
Hope you all had a great Easter as well!
Love, The Branches

Hippity Hoppity Easter’s on it’s Way!

Are you ready for Easter???
 I ordered this precious Easter basket from Zulily a few weeks ago.  I love it!
(Still have to fill it up some more!)
I love Zulily, but their shipping sucks!  It takes like 3-4 weeks for you to get an item.
Thank goodness this came TODAY right in time!!!
I want to make sure Connor has good childhood memories like Bon and I did.  I miss spending Easter at the farm, getting an Easter basket, and hunting eggs at church 🙁  I miss home during the holidays.  But the most important thing is what the holiday represents and I am so thankful for our savior Jesus and that that he gave his life for our sins.  Where would we be without Him? 
(not my kid)
Connor will be sporting his tie from Taylor Joelle (Love this site)
If we all start to feel better that is!  I hope we make it to Easter!
ORGANIZING @ KELLY’S KORNER (LINK UP)
I’ve talked about organizing coupons HERE
Organizing my kitchen HERE
My obsession with bottle labels HERE
(Literally these labels have been run through the dishwasher 100 + times and have not come off or faded!)
Anything from the Container Store is KEY
I also love Stickers Galore for labels
Love all things from Paper-Source
Also – Target, Wal-Mart, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, & Ross have great storage solutions for those on a a budget.
Can’t wait to read about all your Easter weekends on Monday 🙂
Happy Easter weekend everyone!

Sick Again!

We are sick yet again!  Terence and I were talking the other night and discussing how we were never sick this frequently before we had Connor. 

First it was the flu in February early this year….that nearly killed us.

Wednesday night we went out to the Olive Garden with family and had a good meal!  Then fast forward to 1 am and I am on the toilet every hour until 7 am throwing up!  Yesterday I did not eat ONE.THING. all day. 

Then to top it all off Terence and Connor got sick too!  Connor barfed on my floor, on my wool Pottery Barn rug, on my sofa…you name it.  I have mounds of laundry to do now…..sigh….

I’m doing better today, I just feel extremely weak and my tummy is still upset.  I took some Imodium this morning in hopes that it helps calm things down.  At first I thought I had food poisoning, but I don’t know if food poisoning would last this long????  Or is it a bug of some sort???

I just hope we make it to Easter because I was really looking forward to going to church and dressing Connor up and spending time with family.

Such is life.  Such is life.

Good health come soon!!!!

Oh Barefoot Contessa!

I think we all know I am not a great cook.  I really feel sorry for my husband and child because I am not the best at cooking meals for us.  It’s something I just need to bite the bullet and do!  Our family from the U.K. got here safe and sound yesterday and they are at the zoo with Grana now ♡
When Terence’s cousin Adrienne got here she started cooking right away in my kitchen.  She just whipped up dinner for the babies last night and I woke up to eggs and toast this morning!  Talk about great house guests….I have my very own home chef right now!  I should be the one cooking for them, but I have no idea what I would even make besides popping some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the oven.  More than likely they will end up like this…..Oh Lordy!
One of my favorite people to watch is Ina Garten aka Barefoot Contessa.  She has the most awesome house and garden on the coast.  I would kill for her garden.  Seriously. 
And Jeffrey, her husband, apparently only comes home on the weekends?  What is up with that???
At least he always comes bearing gifts from the cheese shop or a bottle of wine!
Lucky Ina!
The most hilarious site. ever.

“Oh Jeffrey!  Lets go down to the beach and have dinner tonight! 
I’ll make your favorite and we can have cocktails and toast to your trip next week!”
“What do you do while I’m away Ina???”
“Oh I’m buying more denim shirts and working on all my new recipes honey!”

Terence and I were watching 30 Rock the other night and this dialogue was on the show….I cracked up!

I was browsing around on Etsy the other day and I found this beauty!
I really want need this because Connor as started to eat my earrings and tangle all my necklaces. 
He just loves to get into the things on my night stand and dresser! 
I am without a car today.  I left mine at the house for our fam to use.  I asked my co-worker to get me a Starbucks because I was going through withdrawals.  She happened to be going to a place right next to where I used to work and stopped into that particular Starbucks.  My old Starbucks buddy Brian wrote me a sweet msg on my Starbucks cup!  He misses me  ♡  I miss ya’ll too!!!  I used to go every day and they are the BEST Starbucks peeps out there!
Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday Brain Dump

I am clearly looking forward to meeting all my friends in a couple weeks at the Dallas Blogger Meetup!  But if I don’t stop eating this CRAP I am going to blow up into a roly poly!  I’ve got to stop this business ASAP…no more candy bars!!! 
I mean why am I doing the C25K???
My sweet friend Lauren told me about KT Tape.  It has been helping some, until last night we started week three of C25K and my knees are killing me again, even with the tape on!  I think I need to take a breather and just walk, not run.  I’ve never really been a runner and I think I need more time to build up my body to this point instead of starting this cold turkey.  I don’t want to ruin my knees and then end up hobbling around everywhere. The pain is killing me!
 Awhile back I mentioned I ordered a box of makeup samples from Birchbox.com.
You go online and fill out a profile and for $10 a month you get a deluxe box of samples.
 So this was my first box- I got samples of the above products.
  • First of all I selected MAKEUP as what I wanted most in my box.  I got skincare???
  • I received a piece of paper with flower seeds in it to plant?  What do I do with THIS?
  • I also got a plastic display of nail color selections, again what do I DO with this???
Overall, it wasn’t too bad.  This month’s theme was “green” products, so I guess it fit the theme.  I hope next months box contains more items pertaining to my profile though.  We shall see!
 I am officially finished breast feeding!!!!
Can I get an amen?  I made it almost 14 mos. and I am so proud of myself!  I am glad to have a bit of freedom back and not be chained to the pump anymore!  I can actually take a full lunch break at work, I can sleep an extra 30 min in the morning, and I can go to bed early now too!  And the best part I don’t have to wear a bra 24/7!!!! 
Random question: Does Alicia Silverstone EVER wear a bra???
Every picture I’ve seen of her she has those things swinging around like tether balls.  Once she has that baby she’s gonna have to strap a bra on because she’ll be leaking!  And you know she is gonna breastfeed because she’s all vegan & holistic like that!
 I sent my sweet Summer a mustache pillow last week 🙂
I had seen it weeks before at a local store and there was only one on the shelf.  I was just praying they still had it because I knew she had to have it!  I got there and it was still there so I mailed it off and she got it!

Random thought for the day:

I was thinking of something this morning….nothing in particular brought this on.  But I was thinking about some of the things I do in life and ask myself “Would that person be proud of what I am doing?”  Often times I ask myself what if my Papa could see me from Heaven living my life….would he approve of the things I do?  He’s not physically here, but if he could see me and everything I do during the day would he be proud?  And the answer to a lot of things is “No”.  Then I began to think, yes, Papa is not here but he would not be happy about it.  God is not physically here either….yet I don’t tend to value God’s opinion as much because I don’t have a memory or a relationship with him like I did with my Papa.  That is not right.  Not right at all.  My relationship with God should be just as important….in fact more important.  And I should value what God thinks of my life and decisions even more than I would Papa’s.  Which tells me my relationship with God is not as personal as it should be if I don’t even value what God’s opinion of my life is and I just shove it off and say “Well, God’s not really here so what does it matter?”  It does matter because He sees and hears everything….and I just have to remind myself that.  He is here…he is present…and that does matter.  AND GOD CARES MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE WOULD!

I often find myself spending time doing things of no value at all.  Some of those things involve the Internet and being on my phone.  I never ever want to put these material things over time with my family.  My family comes first, and sometimes I need to check myself before I wreck myself.  I love to blog and I love to tweet…Facebook or whatever….it’s just finding balance that has been hard for me.  So I may not have as much time to do the things I once did, my house may not me perfect, and my makeup may be smudged….but I’m okay with that because the decisions I am making are finally ones I am proud of.

Maybe this makes no sense to anyone but me…ha..ha..

Looking forward to family getting here tonight and enjoying time spent with them!

What are you looking forward to this week???