Birthday Weekend Recap

This past Monday was mine and Tommy's birthday so we did some celebrating over the weekend. We were meant to go to dinner with my family on Friday night at Southbound but because of the weather we postponed to brunch on Saturday. The weather ended up not being as bad as we anticipated so I managed to make the birthday dinner for my friend Colleen. It was great to see my friends and one who came from out-of-town as well! 

Saturday for brunch we met my family (minus James who was on his fraternity formal in New Orleans) at Southbound. It was fantastic! Southbound is just a few minutes from our house and it's a favorite brunch spot for sure. After brunch, everyone came to our house to open presents and hang out for a bit. 

Saturday night we met some friends for an early dinner at Wing Factory and finished up our night with a Netflix movie and called it an early night to bed! MUCH needed

Sunday we went to church and then headed to our friend's, Kim and Andrew, baby shower. Baby Tashiro is due March 1st and I can't wait to meet him/her. I think it's a boy but we shall see! 

Sunday night I had a girls dinner with my friends for my birthday at Superica. It was really good! I had never been to Krog Street Market and was dying to see it and try it. It did not disappoint! 

Monday was mine and Tommy's actual birthdays. We went to dinner with his parents at Horseradish Grill. It was SO good! I got scallops on top of lobster risotto. MMMMM yum. 

So this weekend I was TERRIBLE about taking pictures. I think when you're pregnant and you don't like seeing yourself in pictures you just don't take any. I need to get better about it so that these next few months don't go undocumented. 

Speaking of pregnancy. I am 25 weeks now which seems so crazy. We are getting so much closer to meeting our sweet little one. I am feeling good most of the time. I am not sleeping awesome but that comes with the territory. She moves constantly which is reassuring to me when I need it. I'm getting bigger by the day it seems. Anyway! We have some things in the nursery now and have ordered the glider. Hoping for a crib in the coming month or so. I think once we have a crib in the baby's room it'll really feel real. We are off to Asheville this weekend to celebrate our good friend's, Kyle, 30th birthday. We are SO busy this Spring. SO many fun trips and times with friends/family we are looking forward to it! 

Show and Tell Tuesday

So my "momfessionals" moments have everything to do with pregnancy. I've learned and embraced at "pregnancy brain" is no joke. 

Just this weekend we had friends over for dinner and I was making the main (bbq chicken sandwiches) and baked beans. Well I got everyone's food out they brought and served dinner. An hour after we finished eating Tommy went into the kitchen and goes "Lisa, the baked beans!"  They had been in the oven for probably two hours. I am so forgetful it's unreal. 

The amount of times I've had to say at work "please send me an email of what we just talked about so I don't forget" is comical. I would forget my head if it weren't attached to me.

I am usually a very organized person but I'm driving my husband crazy with how often I forget things. 

Another thing I must admit is when I'm craving chocolate I just let myself endulge because I'm getting bigger with the baby so why not. chocolate won't hurt me (and hopefully not her either!) 

I'm sure over the next year I will gather quite a few more quirks. 

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was a quiet weekend to our usual. Friday night we went to my parents for dinner to see the twins before they headed back to school for the semester. My mom made a delicious dinner with butternut squash soup, pork tenderloin, roast potatoes, salad, and broccoli. Claire had asked for red velvet cake for dessert. We had a good time. After dinner, Tommy and I came home and watched "Making a Murderer" which I proceded to pass out while watching. 

Saturday morning we got up and ran a few errands. We then went over to the Stellings for lunch to meet their new precious pup, Bailey. She is so cute! 

From the Stellings we went and visited with the Chamberlin's while dropping off dinner for them. Sweet Langley is just adorable! 

From the Chamberlin's I dropped Tommy off before meeting a few friends in Decatur to hang out and go to dinner. We went to the Brick Store Pub for a few hours before eating at Sapori di Napoli for dinner. It was nice to get a girls night out with my college friends! 

On Sunday we slept in and when I say slept I didn't get out of bed until 11:30. That is a record for me! We missed church because of it but I could just tell my body needed that rest. We then layered up to head to Alpharetta for our first mixed tennis match of the season. BRRRRR it was freezing! I hadn't touched a racket since my last match of the Fall season but we managed to get a decent win. I played with Tommy. We stayed and watched a little of the next match until we were too cold to bare it anymore. Our team won 4/5 of the lines this first week so that was a great start to the season. I deserved a hot chocolate so we made a Starbucks run afterward!

I made us the Skinny Taste enchiladas for dinner which were delicious. I rounded out the weekend with some monogramming orders before calling it a night. 

We have a busy week ahead both of us. Just the way things seem to go. I guess I should soak it all up before baby girl makes her appearance and my life then is forced to slow down. 

Hope you all have a great week! 

Lisa 

Friday Favorites

Linking up with Andrea, Narci, and Erika for Friday Favorites. Loving the new logo for this year! 

1. One of my favorites from this week is that I launched my Etsy shop this week. I got a logo made and have been slowly adding more things to the site. I hope to go beyond just baby clothes in the near future but it was a good place to start! If you are local to the Atlanta area I also do monogramming to order of items people have that they just want monogrammed! 

2. This pillow is my saving grace right now. I am not sleeping well at all so I end up going to bed early so that I can accumulate a decent amount of sleep. Thanks to my sister for letting me borrow it. 

3. Getting back on a schedule. We were able to eat dinner home every night this week and I was able to get back into a routine of cooking and having leftovers for Tommy to take to work for lunch. I used SkinnyTaste's meal planner this week. I made the potato soup and the baked Chicken Parmesan. I was going to make the enchiladas but my sister had made too much BBQ the night before so she offered up some leftovers to us so we jumped at not having to cook. Thank Bonnie!

4. I got to meet my sweet friend, Adrienne's, little girl on Tuesday after school. Langley is so cute and it was great to catch up with Adrienne and Tray. I am signed up to take them dinner tomorrow but I couldn't wait to go meet the little one.

5. These tanks are my saving grace right now. They are SO comfortable! My mom gave me a black and white one for Christmas. I need to buy some more because they are a daily essential during pregnancy. Right now they are buy one get one 50% off. 

6. Baby Kicks...Emma has started kicking me with bigger jolts when I sit down and rest at night. It's a weird sensation but pretty amazing. I don't get to have another ultrasound the rest of my pregnancy so it's the little things that get me super excited and closer to the little one growing inside me.

7. Nursery items...I got her large wooden monogram in the mail from Etsy yesterday and I can't wait to paint it and get it above the crib. I will do a full reveal of the nursery when we are done (not even close to being a third the way done!) but slowly I'm getting my vision together. 

Happy Friday! Looking forward to family dinner with my family tonight before my brother and sister head back to UGA for their Spring semester, meeting our great couple friend's new puppy, and playing our first mixed tennis match of the season. 

Show and Tell Tuesday

It's a new year and it's a new session of Show and Tell Tuesday link ups with Momfessionals. I participated a few times last year but want to make sure to link up more this year (one of my blogging resolutions!) Here are the topics for this year...

I am Lisa and I'm a 26 year old administrator in an Elementary School. I grew up in Marietta, Georgia, and then attended the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!). I moved back to Atlanta after graduating from college to pursue my teaching career. I taught at my school for four years in fifth grade before moving into an Administrator role this year. I am enjoying the change of pace and scenery that my new job brings. Tommy is a business developer for a financial recruiting firm. He would like to start his own business in the next year.

Tommy and I got married 18 months ago and have known each other since we were in High School. He's my best friend! I am so blessed to share my life with someone who makes me laugh every day and someone who just "gets" me. We have an adorable three-year-old lab named cooper!

We are expecting our first child (a little girl: Emma Claire) in May. We are over the moon excited about expanding our family. We had a bump along the road to parenthood but are stronger than ever because of it. We can't wait to meet her in just 18 weeks (or earlier hopefully rather than later!)

I come from a large family (I have 3 siblings, 2 sisters and 1 brother) and all these wonderful people are my favorite people in the world! I am so blessed to have the relationships I do with my parents, grandmother, and siblings. We became Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tommy in 2015 to our nephew, Collier. We adore that little man so much! My parents are from South Africa and immigrated to the States almost 30 years ago. They have instilled in us the love of traveling (wish we could afford to travel the world more than we do), hard work, and compassion. I am so grateful for all my parents have exposed me to and given me the opportunities for in my life. They are so special to me. 

I just launched my monogram business on Etsy this week and will be expanding what I monogram in the coming months. I have been monogramming now for about 9 months just by referrals of friends in the area but wanted to expand a bit. If you live in the Atlanta area I will monogram items you have as well (not just onesies). I really enjoy personalizing items for people! ElephantStitch is up for business! You can follow my instagram account @elephantstitch or email me at elephantstitch@gmail.com 

Tommy and I both like to keep ourselves busy! I am excited for all that this year has in store for us. My New Years resolutions are to get my monogram business up and running and spending more time in the coming months on me. We find ourselves saying "yes" to everything and find that our schedules are jam packed with stuff (all fun things I must add) but we don't take as much time for us.

I look forward to reading more on all of you through the linkup!

New Years Beach Trip

Last New Years we went on a last minute trip to the beach with friends and decided we wanted to make it an annual thing so we booked a house in Cape San Blas again for this New Years. 

We left early on the morning of the 30th so we could get half the day at the beach. We went with the Mitchlers (their dog Sullivan included), the Reynolds, the Martins, James, Scott, Ben, and Evan (and his dog, Big). We got a house at the very end of the strip that shared a side with the state park. It was nice and secluded and we didn't feel like we were bothering anybody. They allow dogs on the beach and bonfires so it was a win win. 

We spent our mornings relaxing and walking the dogs on the beach. The rest of the day pending weather consisted of beach sitting, bonfires, beach games, movies and such. Each night we took turns cooking dinner. On New Year's Eve we cooked an Italian dinner with the Reynolds. 

The weather was beautiful and even hot on New Year's Eve Eve and New Year's Eve. The weather turned on the first and it rained and got cold. We were still able to get some beach time each day just not all day. Yesterday we went to the local joint called Indian Pass Raw Bar for crab legs and shrimp. It's a hole in the wall but so good! 

We had a great time! Cooper is completely exhausted from the other dogs and playing on the beach. I'm sure we will be making this trip for years to come (if we feel we can once Emma arrives) 

Looking forward to all 2016 has in store for us. We started off with a bang! 

Happy New Year

2015 had its wonderful moments and those moments that tried to break us but we are stronger than ever. Looking forward to all 2016 had in store for my little family. We started 2015 at the beach relaxing with friends and ended it with the same friends. May 2016 bring you many blessings and I look forward to all we get to experience this year. 

Happy new year to you and yours!