JoaS

With only about two weeks left before Maggie arrives, I thought I'd share some photos of the completely finished nursery! It took quite some time to launder and organize all the clothes and blankets. We were simply blown away by the generosity of our community, friends, and family. We are more than set with baby gear and little Margaret Elizabeth should not want for attention or love, that's for sure. Leftover shower decor makes for pretty cute nursery decor, if you ask me. The OG Margaret Elizabeth (my 93 year old great aunt) gifted Maggie this beautiful silver rattle with her name engraved on each end. I know it will be a cherished keepsake. Every child also needs a globe, in my opinion, to dream about and discover faraway places. This one happened to be Michael's as a child. My brother painstakingly hand cut each of the letters to make this beautiful pennant banner for our baby shower, and I promised we would keep it forever! It looks fantastic and...

There are so many celebrations going on right now: back to school, off to college, birthdays, anniversaries. We are heading into Fall and the holiday season will be upon us before we know it. Not to mention, it's Labor Day weekend and there are so many sales going on and many great deals to be enjoyed. I am someone who loves to get an early start on holiday gifts, and thought I would go ahead and share my thoughts on gift giving. Gifts is my second love language and I love thinking about the perfect gift for a certain person and the best way to stretch my limited resources or funds the furthest. One way I love to "give far" is to support small businesses . As a small business owner myself , I know just how much every single purchase means to the person behind the shop. It's one more drop in the bucket that fuels the dream, and it is particularly encouraging to those who sell their handmade wares. It's another vote of confidence for their craft and talent. Not...

I try to post once a month, consistently, more if I have something worth sharing. This is the first post for April because IT'S A BIG ONE! And I couldn't share before. But now I can, so here you go: On top of learning the meaning of "sanctuary" this year--untainted and reliable--I've also been made a literal sanctuary--a place of refuge or safety. 2019 is officially the year we become a family of four! Margaret Elizabeth Hardee is scheduled to arrive in November 2019, and for obvious reasons this has eclipsed the vast majority of my thoughts, energy, and time. I literally could not think of anything else to blog about because our little gummy bear has pretty much eclipsed our lives already but it was all pretty hush hush until now. The beginning was the most difficult, but things are sort of settling now. My food aversions are STRONG. And ever changing. It's very difficult on a tight grocery budget, but will be very worth it in the long run. I...

So, one of the ways we work our grocery budget is by buying proteins in bulk at Costco. Their Kirkland's Smoked Pulled Pork is a little strong in the smoke flavoring, but we've found several recipes that could not be easier and provide a variety of flavors and dishes to get us through a week or so. Without further ado, here they are. The first, and easiest, dish is to just heat up a helping of pork, roast some veggies, and serve the whole thing with BBQ sauce. The pork comes fully cooked, so all you have to do is heat it. The photo above is the pork simply heated. We actually do prefer to cook it further in the other dishes, but this is easy and good, too. I also love a good BBQ pork stuffed sweet potato, or baked potato. One of my favorites is this Slow Cooker Pork and Apples dish I discovered on Pinterest years ago. The original recipe from katheats.com calls for pork chops, which I don't particularly love, but I used this shredded pork as a...

At the outset of this clean swap journey, I mentioned several of the Avalon products I was loving and using on Instagram and in previous blog posts. Today, I want to update you all on the products I have been using most recently. I have since found products that really work perfectly for my hair type (fine, medium thick, greasy roots, dry ends, but healthy-very lightly processed) and my budget (wooo!). Let's jump in. ACURE Vivacious Volume Peppermint Shampoo and Conditioner : I love this stuff. Love it. I get it through Thrive Market  for under $7 each! I've also purchased through Amazon or at Whole Foods, and they now carry it at Target (though it is a limited selection). So it is quite accessible, and even the full retail price is only about ten bucks. I love that this particular brand is very clean, so I've purchased many of their skincare products, too. Publix even carries a handful of their facial products.  I like to add some sort of oil,...

I love shoes. It seems like there are so many great options and uses for every element and season, there's always another good reason to buy a pair. These are some of my favorite shoes I've found in the past year and intend to wear a ton this Fall. OTBT Womens Lunar Sneaker Tennis shoes are both practical and (for now) trendy. Thank goodness. Because I am not an uncomfortable shoe wearer. I have many pairs of slip on sneakers, New Balance and Adidas classics, and a pair of Asics for walking or running. These OTBT Lunar Sneakers were a huge splurge for me. I love this great floral pattern in subtle tones that's interesting but not juvenile. There is a line. I think these shoes are appropriately adorable for my age. And supportive. Which is equally important at my age, if not more so. Asymmetrical D'Orsay Open Toe Flats I. love. these. shoes. They are easily the coolest shoes I've ever owned. Like, I may not be cool enough to wear them. But I...

First and foremost, I feel the distinct need to cover Fall decor, since that is on the brain at present. I just need those cooler temps to roll on in so can stop feeling like a fool with my cozy candles lit when it's 100 degrees outside. Anyway, here's a lovely picture of our fireplace to inspire cool thoughts: The truck in the first photo and the pumpkins in the lower left hand corner of the above photo are both new from Hobby Lobby this year. Pretty much everything else you see pictured above or below came from my mom, Michael's, or Marshall's over the last decade or so. I usually root through and get rid of old cheap decor and buy only one or two new things a year--one always being a seasonally scented candle (on which Michael and I both have to agree). The pumpkin banner is actually from Amazon, and it was under $10! This year's seasonally scented candle is this Rose and Currant candle in the most beautiful ruby jewel tone and smells divine. ...

My absolute favorite season is Fall. I love Summer, but Fall has football, crisp breezes, pumpkins, squash, caramel apples, and my birthday. Hard to compete. I also absolutely love to wear sweatshirts and boots. I've done a teeny bit of Fall shopping this year (not that I needed a single thing) and I thought I'd share some of my favorite, and somewhat unexpected, finds. This sweater was at Walmart. Walmart . For under $15! They have several colors, and it's so. soft. Women's Tier Sleeve Sweater I also found these great staples that I've somehow been missing the past several years--a simple grey cardigan and festive plaid shirt. I couldn't find the exact shirt, but there were many from which to choose. Both under $15! Women's Open Front Cardigan   Long Sleeve Plaid Woven Shirt I also did a bit of shopping at Shein , kind of for the first time. I've ordered the odd item from them here and there over the Summer, but found my...