Out with the OLD in with the NEW

Saturday we are having a multi family yard sale at our house, so I have been digging through stuff for weeks now, and boy have I found ALOT to get rid of. I told hubby that I am not playing around this time, and I am gonna clean house! Basically I am getting rid of anything that we are not currently using. I know this may sound drastic, but since we live in a 1000 sq. ft home with only 4 closets, we don't have a whole lot of room to store things.

All this cleaning out got me thinking that it was time to give the house a little face lift. We have lived in our home for almost 3 years, and since then I have moved stuff around and from room to room, but I never got rid of much, SO, I think it's safe to say that it is time.

The wheels started turning in my head about what I could change, without having to spend much money. One idea I came up with was to change the look of some books I have laying on the entry table. They were just a collection that I picked up routing around my mom's house, so since they were free I wasn't too picky at the time on how they looked. So I thought to myself, "What could I do to change these books?", and then it hit me, I'll find some cute scrapbook paper and wrap them in it, and "viola" instant change.

So, I got in my car and drove to my favorite store Hobby Lobby, picked up a couple sheets of scrapbook paper and brought em' home. When I actually sat down to wrap them I wasn't sure they were going to be able to wrap all the way around, and sure enough I was right, but it didn't matter I just turned that side to the back and you can't even tell.

Here is how they turned out........

CUTE right?? And the best part is it cost me less than $2 to give my whole table a different look. My sconces are a new addition as well, only $11 a piece in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Hobby Lobby??

Well I hope this inspires you to give your house a little Spring face lift as well. Until next time visit Heather over at Life Made Lovely on this lovely Monday!

Mother's Day

Last Sunday was my very first Mother's Day with my sweet pea and it was a very special day! Hubby let me sleep in until 9:30 which was wonderful and then we got to spend a little time together before we parted ways to see our mothers. (I know it seems weird that we didn't spend the day together, but being as both of our mothers live here, it makes it hard to see both families in the same day, so we compromised, which was fine.)

Hubby went to brunch with his family and then went to his mothers to work on building her flower beds for her mothers day gift. Sweet pea and I went to brunch with my parents and my dad's side of the family at the River Valley Club (a small private club in Louisville where my grandmother is a member, and where hubby and I had our wedding reception). The club is located on the Ohio River and even though we have had a lot of flooding over the past several months, the sun ended up coming out and the river actually still looked pretty.

Brunch was delicious and it was nice to get to spend time with my mom and family because since everybody has such different schedules it is always hard to try and get everyone together. After sweet pea took her nap we headed over to my mom's house to hang out with her the rest of the day. Sweet pea loves my mom (Nana) so much and gets so excited when she gets to see her, so she was very happy to be spending the day with her Nana.

Since the day was so nice we decided to take a long stroll in my mom's neighborhood and little did we know what we were going to see on this adventure. Mom's neighborhood is very quaint and quiet and it's VERY suburban. There is some new development going up next to the neighborhood so we decided to peek in the windows of the beautiful new show home. As we were doing so, we heard a noise that we never thought we would hear in the city and became very confused. It was the noise of chickens (yes, you heard right)! We turned around and low and behold behind one of the older homes located next to the new development there was a whole coop full of chickens, and 2 small goats. It was like a mini farm right smack dab in the middle of suburbia. So we just had to walk over and check it out and yes folks, I took a picture.

So all in all my first mother's day was pretty eventful and I wouldn't change it for the world. I am looking forward to next year already. Until next time, BYE!

Me and my sweet pea

River Valley Club

Sweet pea in an old fashion high chair

my love

Mom and all her girls

3 generations

On our walk

The chickens! Aren't they cute??

The Most Exciting 2 Minutes in Sports!!

So being a Louisville native this weekend was one that I look forward to every year, it was Derby weekend. Derby is by far one of the most exciting things about living in Louisville. The festivities kick off at the end of April with the biggest fireworks display in the world "Thunder of Louisville", followed by the Great Steamboat race (which got postponed to June because of the river flooding), Balloon Glow, the Great Balloon Race, The Pegasus Parade, Chow Wagons, The Oaks, and ending with the most exciting 2 minutes in sports. Whew, that's a lot of stuff!!

It's also an exciting time, because of all the celebrities that travel to Louisville during this particular weekend. There is a party held every year the night before the big race called the Barnstable Brown Party. It is hosted by Trish Barnstable and her twin sister (can't remember her name right now), who were the Doublemint twins back in the day. All the celebrities that come in town are invited, and the who's who of Louisville are there too. Not gonna say how hubby got in, but he has attended twice and gotten to meet people such as Michael Jordan and Richard Branson!

This year was hubby and I's 4th Annual Derby Party. I'll take any excuse to throw a party, but throwing one for Derby is so much fun! We get to bring out all the Derby glasses that we have collected over the years, and make all the food that's native to Louisville, like hot browns (yum). You get to wear fun outfits and beautiful hats, and especially get the chance to win a little CASH, if you pick the right horses (which we didn't :( )

This year we decided to throw a little theme action in the mix and called it a 70's themed Derby party. The theme didn't go over so well, so I think next year we may just stick to the normal Derby theme. I think everybody that came had some good food, conversation, and most importantly a good time. I am excited to start planning for next year's party, but for now I have some planning to do for a certain sweet pea's 1st birthday party!!

This weekend was also my 1st Mother's Day and I had an awesome time celebrating with my family and most of all my sweet pea! Pictures to come in a later post. But for now I will sign off and leave you with some photos from the Derby party.

Until next time!!

An Easter 1st!

I know Easter was a few weekends ago, but I am just getting around to writing this post. This Easter was even more special to me than any before, because it was the 1st for my sweet pea! Something about having a kid makes every holiday that much more exciting. I think because as a parent you finally get to buy all that cute stuff they put out in the stores for the holidays, and you get to start your own family traditions to go along with the ones that you may already have from being a kid yourself.

Even though I had fractured my arm the day before I still wanted to make the day as special as possible for her. (Yes I know she is only 10 months and doesn't know any better, but I like to think she does!) Thankfully hubby was such a big help and recorded and captured the day on film. I don't know what I would have done without him! Here are a few shots of sweet pea opening her Easter basket.

After we ate breakfast we all got ready (Which took me forever with just one arm!) and headed over to my mother in laws house for Easter lunch with hubby's family. It was very delicious and we were so excited that hubby's Grandma was still in town and got to spend Easter with all of us this year, especially for sweet pea's very first. Mom helped me make a chocolate chip cookie pie for dessert the previous day, another delicious recipe from the ladies at Our Best Bites.

Once our food settled (and hubby snuck in a nap) we headed over to my parents house for ROUND 2 with my mom's family. Everyone was so excited to see sweet pea and snuggle with her because they don't get to see her that often. Sweet pea also got to open another Easter basket from her Nana and Pop.

All in all the day was pretty perfect (Except for the nasty rain), and I look forward to next year when sweet pea can walk and have her very first egg hunt. Hopefully everyone else out there had as great of a day celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus as much as we did.

Until next time!

Yummy Delights

Well because of my bum arm (see previous post) it's been a while since I have been on here, but I am glad to be back. I bow down to all people with permanent disabilities that take care of children on an every day basis, because taking care of my 10 month old with one arm (and not my dominant arm) has proved to be a task in itself. Hopefully I will be back to my normal self very soon.

Anywho, while reading some blogs one day I stumbled across the most awesome food blog that I have ever laid eyes on. I am sure some of you have heard of it if you have been blogging for a while, but me being new to the blogging community was over the moon excited to have discovered it!! The site is called Our Best Bites, and it's fantastic. I was so ecstatic to find new recipes to try, since I think my husband is getting tired of me making the same ol' things.

I am sure some of you out there are just like me, and get stuck in a rut when it comes to making decisions about what to purchase at the grocery and make for dinner. (Especially when you ask your honey what he wants, and his response is always, "I don't care", and then when you get home he states "We don't have any food", UGH!!) I tend to always stick with the same safe things, and chicken seems to be one of my staples. I know I should step out of the box since both of us work for a chicken establishment, but there are just so many things you can do with it.

I decided that I would share one of the recipes I got the chance to make before I hurt my arm. They are called Creamy Chicken and Bacon pastry pockets and you can find the recipe here. They are actually under the appetizer tab on the site, but I decided to make them as an entree. They were delicious, and we decided to pair them with a salad for a little green with the meal.

Hopefully once my arm gets better, I will be able to share some of the other recipes that I am going to try. Until next time!!

I am linking up with Heather at Life Made Lovely today, go check her out!