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January 26, 2016

Valentine Gift Ideas | For Her

 
As we finish up this last week of January, it's time to start thinking about Valentine's Day.  I love the dainty, girlie gifts for this holiday.  My husband gave me the initial necklace for Christmas and I adore it.  I wear it everyday.  It can be worn casually or with dressier outfits.  On the back it says "one in a million" making it a really sweet gift.  This sleep shirt looks so comfy, yet very feminine with the lace detail.  And the coconut milk mango candle not only sounds like it would smell amazing, but I love the beautiful floral container as well.
 
So, some of these might be gifts you would be happy to receive from your Valentine.  For Christmas, my husband actually pulled up my blog on his phone in Nordstrom and showed the sales person ideas from my site :)  Never hurts to give them a little help with gift ideas, right!?  I'm rounding up some gifts "for him" too and hope to share soon.  Have a beautiful day!
 
 


January 19, 2016

My Makeup Must-haves

 
I hope you all had a nice weekend!  We had a good one.  We were able to catch up on a few things with the extra day, as well as look at a few houses, in between my son's basketball game on Saturday and then his baseball tryouts on Sunday.  Not sure what we would do if we ever had a totally free weekend.  It's been a long time since we had one of those. 
 
I am by no means a beauty or makeup expert, but I have a few basic everyday products that I love and thought I would share today.  There are some days I go around with no makeup, but most days I like to do a little bit.  And of course, I add a few more products for special occasions.  The Naked 2 Basics Eye Shadow is just the right shades for everyday wear.  Japonesque Velvet Touch Blush in Shade 02 adds the perfect color to my cheeks and I love their cute case!  The Smashbox Eyeliner is great.  It goes on easy and stays on.  I've used a really light layer of Bare Minerals Matte Foundation for years and it's great to even out my complexion.  As far as mascara goes, I've found that the cheap drug store brands work just as well or better than the more expensive ones.  I'm currently usually this waterproof Maybelline Colossal brand.  And I forgot to add it to my picture, but Burt's Bees Lip Shine in Blush is my favorite everyday lip gloss.  It adds a little color and shine.
 
Do you have any makeup products that you really love?  Leave me a comment if you do...I'm always looking for recommendations.  Have a wonderful day!
 


January 15, 2016

Workout Wear

 
Did you make resolutions to start working out?  I usually workout pretty regularly 3-4 times a week and my favorite exercise is running, but I did get behind over the holidays.  Last week was my first week back at it and it feels great!  I would like to add in a few more exercises (especially some abs) and light weights to tone things up.  For me, new workout gear is such a motivating factor when I'm in a slump.  So today I rounded up some training gear that I thought was cute and functional.  I got the Fitbit Charge HR for Christmas after my Fitbit Pulse stopped working and really like.  I also love all the fun legging patterns out now and Brooks runnings shoes are my favorites.  The support and comfort with Brooks is the best I've found for running outdoors.

You can shop these below:



Have a beautiful weekend!


January 11, 2016

Winter Neutrals

 
I hope you all had a great weekend!  Thank you so much for the very sweet and supportive comments about our move!  You guys definitely make me feel better about our decision.  So I really appreciate the encouraging comments! 
 
There is something about January that makes me want to cozy up in whites and neutrals.  Our weather in Texas can be warm one day and freezing the next, but we've had a stretch of cold weather here lately and I've enjoyed pulling out my sweaters and coats.  Speaking of coats, this toggle coat is an old purchase, but I've linked a really cute peacoat that is on sale for $28.90 and comes in four different colors.  I bought one last year and love it! 

Anyways, my daughter is home from school today and her movie is about to finish, so I'm keeping it short and sweet as I'm sure she will be calling my name soon.  Have a beautiful day!
 
  

January 6, 2016

Sold

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Good Morning!  We are finally getting back to our school and work routine this week which feels good to have some structure and to lessen my role as entertainment director :)  I hope you all are settling back in too.
 
Today I wanted to share a little about what we've been up to over the passed few months regarding our home.  Both my husband and I grew up in a small town, went to college and moved to the Houston area 16 years ago.  We lived in our first home (before blogging) for 10 years and then bought our second home, which is the home you've seen on this blog, for almost 5 years.  We loved our home.  The size was good and it had all the rooms and space we needed.  The piece that bothered us is that the schools are very large.  They are good schools, just big.  We are in a suburb west of the city and people move out here for the school, so they just keep getting bigger.  The elementary schools have been great and our kids have done so well with school.  But as they get closer to junior high age we can't help but think about all the advantages of a smaller school.  Our neighborhood junior high that we are zoned to has about 2000 students and the high school is near 4000 (and is one of 8 in our ISD).  There are private schools, but paying for college already is hard to wrap my head around $$.  The area we live in has had so much growth over the last 10 years that new schools are built every year to keep up with the booming housing market.  It has changed a lot since we fist moved out here 15 years ago and is difficult to avoid traffic just going a short distance. 
 
For a long time and more seriously over the last couple of years, we have talked about moving to a smaller town mainly to get in a smaller school system, but to also have a little more land and all the little things small towns offer.  I want our kids to go to the county fair, collect candy at the home town parade, run around at the Friday night football games, and bust loops :)  Our oldest is a fourth grader this year, so we really want to make a move before next school year to give him time to settle in before junior high.  So back in September we started looking and thought we found a home, but decided to let it go and keep looking, all the while trying to sell ours.  After turning down the first offer, we finally got a good offer so we decided to take it and move into a rental hoping that after the New Year and into the Spring, homes would come on the market.  So the Fall and holiday season was been way busier then normal for us.  We closed on the 23rd of December and had to be out by the 28th making for an interesting Christmas.  As if that wasn't stressful enough on top of already busy work schedules, kids' activities and the normal hustle and bustle of Christmas, we also hosted Thanksgiving, I took on a lot with my blog including two Christmas Home Tours, we celebrated two birthdays (my son is 12/25 and mine is 12/26), had a baby shower, a college graduation, and traveled to our home town twice to have Christmas with our extended families all in between packing up our home.  But we did it and we are as settled as we can be with most of our belongings in storage. 
 
With all that said, I still plan to continue blogging just as before, but with more recipes, fashion, home inspiration post and of course house hunting updates!  We are actively looking for a new home and excited about finding our future home.  We have built our last two, but we are thinking a fixer upper might be the way we go this time, but we haven't ruled out building either.  Our goal with this one is all about location, so if that means a fixer upper we are ready to take on the challenge!  We hope to make this one our forever home and I hope you all will continue to follow along on this adventure with us!
 
Before I go today I thought I would do a little look back at our now old home...
 
Kitchen



 
Dining

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Living
 
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Office

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Master Bedroom

 

Lyla's Room

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Preston's Room
 
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Playroom

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Mudroom


 
Patio and Backyard

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She was a good home and we made great memories here, but I feel like she was a stepping stone to our forever home.  I won't lie, I have had a few moments where I've panicked a bit through this process thinking about whether we are making the right decision.   It's so hard with kids and I worry about them, but I strongly feel in the long run this will be a good decision.  I'm prepared that this will be an adjustment for all of us, but we will come out on top.  We want to find that home and community that feels right and that is a good fit for our family.  On to the next adventure and new memories!
 

January 2, 2016

The Best of 2015

 
Happy Sweet '16!  I hope you had a fun time ringing in the new year with family and friends!  There's nothing like a new year to recharge your mind and the feeling of a clean, fresh start.  I recently read a quote that went something like this, "new year's day is the first page of your new 365 page book...write a good one."  I love that!  Today I thought I would take a look back at a few readers' favorites from 2015 that include house updates, decorating tips, recipes, fashion favorites and a few personal moments.  For a full post on each, you can click the link below each picture.  Let's take a look...
 




 





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I love looking back over the year and re-living each of those special moments.  But I'm also ready for what the new year will bring.  Thanks so much for following along in 2015...the encouragement, support and shared passions by you all is what keeps this blog going :)  I hope your 2016 will be the best year yet filled with much joy, peace, love and great health! 
 
Happy New Year!
XO,
Becky