Marme's Here!

My mom arrived Wednesday afternoon and will be here for 6 days.

 We are all pretty excited.

Do I Want The Baby To Be A Girl?

A lot of people ask me that question. 

A lot. 

And while a girl would be wonderful,

 I'd love to add another handsome face to this line up too.

They are a pretty amazing bunch.

Rock Me

One of my favorite songs of all time is Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show. Kev and I have spent many a late dancing dancing away to it, and in my Motherhood years, I have spent many more nights holding a baby close and softly singing them back to sleep: 

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel/

Rock me mama anyway you feel/Hey mama rock me.

So when I saw annacroswell's instagram a pic of their North Caroline bracelet, I knew I just had to have it.

I love it on its own, or stacked together with some of my other arm candy favorites. This bracelet is easily a piece I will wear several times a week.

After getting my bracelet, I wanted to know more about annacroswell, their designs and inspirations and the girls were happy to answer some questions for us all to learn more.

1. How did you get started?

Anna: This past Thanksgiving break, we were both back home and in a random bout of boredom/spurt of creativity, started making jewelry. We posted a few pictures on instagram and got overwhelmingly positive feedback. Yes, it was just our friends -- but we surround ourselves with honest people who's style we adore -- so this still meant a lot to us and was very telling that there could be something here. We've always been
creative/kindred spirits, so it wasn't a matter of doing something together, it was more a matter of what we would do together, and we realized that we had found our niche.

Lauren and Anna

Lauren: Also, I started making jewelry myself a few years ago and wanted to start a business, but was too overwhelmed to take a stab at it alone. So it was perfect when Anna and I decided to join forces! She is honestly the only person that I could be doing this with. We are both so passionate about our jewelry, our blog, and our vision, so it just works.

2. Do you find it difficult to design from two different cities or does it inspire you more? (Anna is in NYC and Lauren is in DC)

Anna: I think it inspires us more because we're able to draw inspiration from our respective locales. I see a lot of urban, rocker, hipster styles...and some stuff can't even be constrained to its own category. People in New York are on another level stylewise. Especially where I live with the NYU students, it's like everyone is trying to outdo each other in the "weirdness" department. Although, I must say-- these college kids were probably partially responsible for me dying ends of my hair purple a few months back.
It's nice though because we were brought up in similar environments, and our families still call Burke, VA "home." So while we're immersed in different things in our day-to-day, we share a very consistent and classic taste...I'd like to think almost wholly inspired by our mothers/grandmothers.

3. Spring is just around the corner, what are the biggest trends you are excited to see?

Lauren: Well first of all, I am hoping that peplum is gone for good, as well as varsity jackets. Very over both of those trends. As far as the biggest trends for spring, I think the contrast between black & white will be everywhere, which I love. This was very prevalent on the Spring 2013 runways and its a look that's pretty timeless. Also, there will be lots of emerald green in the spring.

4. What is each of your favorite piece currently in the shop and why?

Anna: Mine is probably the Savannah. It's the pantone color of the year, emerald green, and features a vintage broach that was an embellishment on an old gown my mom had. It's reimagined, and I think greatly represents our brand's vision - never not inspired (by what's up-and-coming, but also what has trended in our pasts).

Lauren: I really like the cancun earring because they're so fun and are very versatile, but for everyday wear, I love the evil eye necklace. I am obsessed with evil eyes and typically have no less than 3 evil eye bracelets on my wrist at one time, so the necklace is perfect to me.

5. Tell us a little about your blog.

Anna: The content is what we'd want to read. A summary of our interests, interviews with movers & shakers in the entertainment/fashion industry, songs we'd want to listen to, deals we'd want to take advantage of. A one-stop shop for lifestyle news.

Lauren: We've both had personal blogs in the past and it just made sense to combine forces for a blog when we decided to start the jewelry line. They pretty much go hand in hand. Also, we both love writing and always have, so its only natural that we created this blog together to highlight our passions. We post daily (Monday through Friday) so readers can count on our consistency. We've have awesome feedback so far and our readership is growing, so we are very thankful.

6. In three words define your style.

Lauren: classic, evolving, edgy
Anna: experimental, effortless, boho-chic

7. Of course, we have to talk about my favorite piece: What inspired your North Caroline bracelet?

Anna: We love the fact that the charm says "rock me" but isn't necessarily a "rocker" piece, but rather more dainty and feminine. We both were in sororities and it seems like the theme song for four years was Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" - and of course what specifically resonates is the chorus: "rock me mama like a wagon wheel." Because most of our pieces are named after places that have inspired us, we took the "rock me" to more of a place of southern charm; its namesake pays homage to the lyrics "headed down south to the land of the pines / I'm thumbing my way into North Caroline." We love that you "got it" because that just makes it that more personal, and special considering you kind of understand the conception of the piece.

8. Where can we find you? 

Anna: We're pretty much everywhere...blanketing the internet these days.

Lauren: We promise not to spam you too much!

SHOP / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Pinterest / Tumblr

*****

Feeling inspired for some new jewelry for Spring?

 GET TO SHOPPING!
 Use feb13 for 13% off any piece until Saturday.
Go, go, go!

Thanks to annacroswell for bringing a little pretty into our world!

The Weekend We Did Absolutely Nothing

You know how most of the time on Mondays I post about all the amazing adventures we went on all weekend long? Well, I have none to report today. Not even so much as a single picture from my real camera. We seriously had the laziest of days this weekend. 

Even Bubs was bored with our lack of enthusiasm.

Can we please talk about how much I love this picture?

 Saturday we took Cullen for a haircut, hit up Bed, Bath &Beyond for shower curtain liners and a new cutting board (excitement!), Kev played soccer, the boys and I took naps, and we went to Saturday evening Mass (to which Cullen made sure that 'just cuz we are going to night church again doesn't mean they's going to have that dirt for our heads again, right?')

Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful day and bright blue ocean.

 I'll be missing this view when we move.

 Our plan of doing nothing continued, except for jumping on the neighbor's trampoline, not getting dressed until 11 and letting Bennett discover Thin Mints. 

We watched a little racing, I took another nap (pregnancy people, pregnancy) and afterwards we took the boys to a park in Pacific Grove where 'hit brother in face with tether ball and both collapse laughing' became the game of the afternoon.

 The most exciting thing that happened all weekend was Cullen's snow peas sprouted. He shows us every five minutes that they are growing more and had me take a picture so I can show his teacher tomorrow because apparently he told her all about his seeds and invited her to our house to see them.

A few of you asked: we got the greenhouse and seeds at Home Depot

 And that my friends, was it. 

But with only 12 weekends left in Monterey and all but two of them with plans, it was just what we needed.

Hope your weekend was a relaxing one too.

Growing Green

Since skyping with my mom about planting her Spring garden, Cullen has been asking us if we could have a little garden at our house. We wanted to do something with him, since our backyard is basically a big pile of dirt, we decided let him grow a few things in a greenhouse to later transfer to pots. 

He picked cilantro, snap peas and peppers to grow because they are his favorite 'beggies.' 

Bennett of course wanted to help along the way.

 

We will see if it amounts to anything. Right now he is so excited about his greenhouse and checks on it every morning when he wakes up. I am praying will we get at least a few green sprouts for him to enjoy!

Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Three Simple Suppers

I don't know about you, but meal planning is not always easy around here. We try to eat as a family every night, but that means I need a dinner I can make during naptime and have simmering and ready to go at 5:45, or something I can easily whip up in 30 minutes or less while the boys are running beneath my feet waiting for  Daddy to get home. 

Here are three successes from this week.

Crock Pot Low Country Boil

This was awesome. I served it with a side of rice (the leftovers which will be used later in the week) and cornbread. It was a perfect family meal since the boys ate everything but the corn. The only thing I would do differently is half the recipe because it made a ton. The full recipe would be great for entertaining though!

White Chicken Chili

The recipe comes from a girl who pre-froze her ingredients for a week of cooking, but I just made fresh. I also added chopped green pepper, a can of black beans and left over corn from the Boil (toward the end). We served it with corn bread (also from the night before), mexican cheese and cilantro. It made enough left over to freeze and use for a later date. Cullen ate his on a taco and I think we might try that with the leftovers.

Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Cold, leftover rice (white or brown)

Vegetable Oil

Soy Sauce

Salt and Pepper

Frozen Stir Fry Veggies

Chopped carrots, onion and celery

1. Heat vegetable oil in large wok

2. Add chopped veggies, fresh and frozen

3. Stir in rice

4. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste

I love making this because it is healthy (and cheaper!) than take out, plus I can throw whatever left over I have on hand (chicken, pork chops, other veggies...). It is great for the boys too because they both eat the veggies in it. Apparently soy sauce masks the taste of peas and broccoli. Win for us all.

*****
What are some of your go to weeknight recipes? 

The Boys in Real Time

Just a few videos to help pass your day along.

The 'Major Daddy' song

Bennett does animals

C gets the giggles

So A Bunch of Kids Walk Into a Chocolate Factory...

And the best part was the hair nets, definitely the hair nets.

Monday morning, the usual playgroup crew decided to take the kids to tour Lula's Chocolates in Monterey set up by our friend Casse. Luckily when owner Scott Lund walked through the door and saw 8 children waiting for him, he didn't turn the other direction, but instead made sure each kid had at least one hand to hold and informed us that he has 5 children of his own, so he was pretty sure he could make this tour interesting. 

And after donning our sweet hair nets, we were off to see how fine chocolate is made. 

 Watching the chocolate melt (I had to trade B his paci for wearing the hair net).

Taste test!

 And the big box of chocolate C convinced me to buy on the way out.

 It was a really nice morning and I highly encourage anyone in the Monterey area to pay a visit to Lula's. Scott was so kind and incredibly appreciative toward our military families- there was even a discount on the treats! 

And thanks to all of you again for the congrats on our growing family, we are so excited to welcome another little one this summer!

We're Expanding

Baby #3 will be joining us in August!

Thank you for all the congrats based off my little clue at the end of Friday's post. We are so excited to grow our little family again. I am 15 weeks along now and starting (sort of) to feel like a normal person. The past few months I have been chasing the boys, sleeping, or throwing up, so I am hoping the entrance into the second trimester brings some energy back. But I am so grateful for the healthy, wonderful babies that we are able to create and can't wait to meet this one in a few months. 

For the record, I am positive that it is another boy and Kev is thinks it is a girl. 

Cullen thinks it is a boy and would like to name him Thomas the Tank Engine. 

And on to our weekend...

Friday morning, Kev was able to take some time off and while Cullen was at school, just the two of us brought Bennett to the Aquarium. It is such a rare occasion that B gets both of us on his own, so it was a really special adventure.

 

 Saturday morning, we decided to take the short road trip up to Santa Cruz. First stop was the the UC-Santa Cruz Arboretum. It was a fairly large garden, and we were a little disappointed in the vegetation but the boys were happy with the map, dirt and bugs.

 Afterwards, it was down to the beach for Boardwalk corn dogs, chasing sea gulls, sand snowmen and soaking up the sun.

 

 

 And then some passed out boys before we hit the highway.

We had a birthday party Saturday night, church and a trip to Five Guys on Sunday, and I spent a little time editing pictures of Jenny and her beautiful family that I took Friday afternoon.

Hope your weekend was wonderful, and thank you again for your well wishes and prayers for our new baby!