Friday, April 28, 2017

Blushing

I love dresses and I think this one is so lovely. It's not only decorated in pretty florals but it also has little birds throughout the print. The bell sleeves and lightweight fabric are perfect for this transitioning weather. The minute I saw it I knew I needed it and I loved pairing it with my new favorite go-to shoes! This dress is perfect for date nights, garden parties, wedding or baby showers or even just to church on Sundays. Every girl needs a floral, twirly dress in their closet and I think this one fits the bill perfectly. At under $50, you just can't go wrong!
This dress is at a local boutique here in Northwest Arkansas that I love shopping at--Trinkets at the Promenade Mall. I looked on their website and they're all sold out but I found it at another boutique online and they also have free shipping!
Dress // Mules 

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Patio Gardens

I love gardening. I just love seeing my yard and porch decorated by colorful plants and flowers. It brings so much life to the space! We spend so much time on our back patio when the weather is nice outside so I love to make our surroundings beautiful. Today I thought I'd share a few of my favorite plants and flowers that I like to do for my containers on my back patio.
A lot of people can become overwhelmed with gardening but it's really quite simple. As long as you put your flower in the correct sunlight (it will say it on the tag) and give it water daily then it will bloom and thrive! I love to mix different flowers and plants together in big containers. I just play around with them when I'm in the nursery and bunch different things together to see what look I like best.
A lot of people don't know that a potted hydrangea will come back year after year. I never do anything with mine in the winter. I just leave them in the same spots on my porch year round and they both come back, bigger and better every year! I personally think that potting a hydrangea is one of the best things you can do for your back patio. Not only are they so beautiful but you get a lot of bang for your buck and you never have to do anything with it except water in the summer! Such a win. If your porch has a shady spot, get a hydrangea and enjoy it for years to come!!
Another one of my favorite plants to put in a pot is coleus. You can buy a tiny little 6 pack of coleus for two or three dollars and it will quickly become huge! Coleus is hard to kill and creates the most beautiful foliage. I love having red and green leaves on my back porch and it's a different look from all of the colorful flowers. It provides nice texture, a beautiful visual and something different for you to look at. I plant my coleus in the same pot every year. It's a big pot so I get two 6 packs which equals only $6 and it ends up growing so huge and looking so great within a few very short weeks. You just can't beat the price so if you don't want to spend a lot of money on plants, go with coleus!!
Finally, every patio needs a beautiful rug! We always get ours at Sam's. They're a great price, hold up wonderfully and they have so many pretty designs. We get a new one every few years because after a while they just need to be replaced. I also have a few little lanterns on our patio and I put fake, battery powered candles in them. They have a timer so I can set them to go on and off at the same time every day. Having that pretty flicker of light outside makes the ambiance so lovely! I get my candles at Target in the outdoor living section.
I had planned on doing this post using photos of my patio but it won't stop raining here so I decided to just use these of Campbell helping me pick out flowers at the nursery instead. I'll share our patio soon though! It's really simple and not very big but it is definitely our happy place during the spring and summer months. Happy gardening!!

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Wordless Wednesday

These are some shots I took of Bennett for his first birthday party invitation. This is at a local nursery in our town. This nursery has a beautiful garden area with swans and flowers and tress and they had rows and rows of daffodils. I knew they would be perfect for his photo! I actually didn't end up using these though. We went in the greenhouse to shoot just a few pictures and I ended up loving one of the photos from inside the best. Of course. I took about 10 photos inside but about 200 outside. Ha! That's always how it goes. I think these daffodil photos are so sweet. Aren't daffodils the best?!

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Baby Registry List

When you're a first time mom and the time comes for you to register, it can be completely overwhelming. I always say that baby stuff is like learning to speak a second language. There's so many items and you pretty much have no clue what any of them are. I have a lot of friends who are having babies and I get asked frequently what they need to register for. I finally decided to just make a new note in my phone titled 'Baby Stuff' and I jotted down every single item I could think of that you need for a baby. So whenever a friend asks me, I just email it to her. Everyone has said that my list is so helpful so today I thought I'd share my list with you. These are particular items/brands that I love and recommend. I'll also add that I was much more minimalistic as a second time mom, mostly with all of the gear, but I'm glad I had all of it just in case I needed it.

Gear
-Rock N Play
-Bouncer
-Swing or Mamaroo
-Activity Mat
-Bumbo
-Exersaucer
-Pack and Play
-Car Seat
-Stroller
-Ergo
-Fisher Price Sit Me Up Floor Seat
Breastfeeding
-Medela Pump In Style
-Extra Pump Parts: Valves, Membranes, Breast Shields, Tubes
-Freezer Storage Bags
-Medela Breastmilk Storage Solution
-Lanolin
-Breast Pads
-Pumping Bra
-Breastfeeding Pillow

*I never used the breastfeeding pillow but some women love it. There are other pump accessories but the ones above are all I use.

Bath
-Tub
-Munchkin Inflatable Duck Tub (for when they sit up on their own)
-Towels/washcloths
-Bath Toys
-Spout Cover
-Munchkin Cup Shampoo Rinser
-Shampoo/Body Wash/Lotion

*I think they angelcare baby bath support tub is the best. I use Noodle and Boo Shampoo, Body Wash and Lotion. It smells so good! I never used the duck tub with Bennett but loved it with Campbell.
Health and Safety
-Nose Frida + Extra Filters
-Thermometer (Braun Ear)
-Grooming Kit
-Humidifier
-Baby Monitor
-Gas Drops/Gripe Water/Gerber Soothe
-Diapers
-Wipes

Crib/Bedding
-Mattress
-Matters Pad Waterproof Cover (2)
-Sheets (2)
-Changing Pad
-Changing Pad Cover (2)

*You may or may not register for these items but this is how many of each item you will probably need.

Feeding
-Boon Lawn or Grass + Accessories
-Munchkin Dishwasher Basket
-Spoons/Bowls/Plates
-Bottles
-Paci's
 
Misc.
-White Noise Machine
-Portable White Noise (Homedics Sound Spa--perfect for on the go)
-Eddie Bauer Diaper Caddy
-Diaper Genie + Refills
-Car Mirror (2)
-Shopping Cart Cover
-Toys

My Personal Favorite Items
-Aden + Anais: dream blanket, swaddles, bibs, sleeping bags and easy swaddle
-Woombie Swaddle
-Halo Swaddle
-A fun blanket/quilt for tummy time, etc
-Solly Baby Wrap
-Kickee Pants: pajamas, bibs and blankets
-Freshly Picked Moccs
-UPPAbaby Mesa Car Seat + Cruz or Vista Stroller (I have both)
-4Moms Pack and Play (it's the best and easiest to set up)
-Boon Flair High Chair (SO easy to clean)
-Jellycats
-Wubbanubs
Again these are just my favorites and what I've used with both of my boys. These items have served me well. Like I said previously, I was much more minimalistic with the gear with Bennett simply because I didn't want all of that stuff in my house!! It worked out just fine. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything but if I did let me know so I can edit to add it.
Also curious to know what some of your favorite baby items are? Leave them in the comments!!

Monday, April 24, 2017

iPhone Photo Editing

Today I thought I'd share with you guys some quick and easy ways to edit your iPhone photos to make them look nicer. For so many of us, Instagram is our little scrapbook where we store our photo memories and even go as far as to make books out of our Instagram photos using sources like Chat Books, etc. Since these images are special, we may as well make them look as nice as we can! You don't have to have a nice camera to have nice photos. Plenty of Instagram users that have thousands of followers use iPhone photography for their entire feed. So much about what makes a photo look great is the way you edit it. I'm no expert but I know a thing or two so I thought I'd share some tips and tricks with you guys on editing your phone photos.
The first thing you want to do is get a photo editing app on your phone. I use Snapseed but there are plenty of other great apps. I never use the Instagram filters simply because I like for my photos to have a clean and natural look but that's just a personal preference. The editing tools on Instagram make my photos look grainy so I stay away from those as well. Occasionally I'll use the vignette feature to make my edges a little darker if I feel like it needs it but otherwise I don't even mess with the tools. Snapseed has a lot of great editing tools and here's some examples of before and after photos that I've taken with my phone then edited in Snapseed.

I shared this photo on my Instagram last week of me and the boys strolling through downtown Bentonville. It's a cute pic but needed some help. I tuned the image by making the photo brighter. I added some ambiance to make those colors more vibrant which especially helped with the buildings in the back. I added a little bit of warmth then turned up the saturation just a tiny bit so the flowers in the front would really stand out. Finally, I whitened the edges quite a bit by using the vignette feature just to give the photo a softer feeling.
Here's another example. The original photo didn't need much but it did need to be brighter. Almost all photos do. I warmed Campbell up just a tiny bit so he doesn't look so pale then I added a white vignette to soften the edges.

Here's a photo of Bennett in his cute new chair I found at the Flea Market today! I shared this photo on my Instagram tonight because I think he looks so cute and happy! So this photo obviously needed to be a little brighter. Like I said previously, almost all photos do. I turned up the ambiance so the colors in the flowers and his outfit would really pop. I finished the photo by adding a dark vignette around the edges. It's not a huge difference but the after looks so much better than the before.

All of that editing talk may seem a little overwhelming but once you start playing around with it you'll pick it up quickly. These tips are just basics and a great place to start. Snapseed has really cool tutorial videos within the app that you can watch and learn different techniques. They're very short videos and worth watching to learn how to make the most out of your photos! I hope you found this helpful! When it doubt, make your photo just a little bit brighter and it will (probably almost always) automatically look better.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Red Maxi

So, funny story. We had a garage sale a few Saturday's ago and since I haven't worn this skirt maybe, ever (whoops!) I decided to throw it in the sale. A lot of my clothes got snatched up but this skirt was one of the few items remaining. Since I was too lazy to box things up and take them to be donated, I just decided to give it another try....as in later that evening. Ha! We had a birthday party to go to then had dinner with friends after and I got so many compliments on this outfit. I snapped a few pics and decided to share this look. Unfortunately this skirt is a few years old so I couldn't find a link to it but I got it at Forever 21 for like, $9. They usually have great maxi skirts and I think they're perfect to wear in the spring so if you're on the hunt, check out Forever 21. Simply pair it with a little tee and you're good to go!

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

More From Easter

I told you guys I'd have a lot more Easter photos to share. I always take so many pictures on special occasions. I have a feeling I'm not the only one. Anywho, I usually always share photos I take with my camera but I always have photos from my phone that I love too so I thought I'd share some of those on here as well.
The Easter Bunny came to our house! Bennett got a new blue bunny, wubbanub and book. Campbell got a Trolls microphone, a few Little Golden Books and some skittles. 
My sweet little baby's first Easter. This was right after I got him dressed in his Easter Sunday best. I wanted to eat him.
Campbell and Bennett in their matching outfits from The Bailey Boys. I loved their outfits. I wanted to be a little different this year so I thought the check plaid was fun. Their monograms are on the collar of their outfits and I went with matching Sun San's too. If you have two little boys you might as well dress them alike and #letthembelittle! It's not for everyone but I think it's adorable!!
 Me with my sweet littlest once we arrived to church. I was so happy my hair didn't end up drenched because of the rain. Not sure how I managed it honestly. 
Our only family photos from the day. So bummed Scott was sick and we weren't able to get a family picture of the four of us but I'm thankful just to have these few of me and my boys!