Random

The Fair.

November 15, 2011 3 Comments

This year was a little different.
I didn’t cringe at the thought.
Actually, I was strangely a tiny bit excited to go.
Despite my true feelings about it.
I knew this year the littles would REALLY enjoy going…
So, I put on a smile and off we went…
to the Fair!

This year Cliff rode rides for the first time.
He LOVED it.
The thrill, the excitement, the ability to participate.
He was able to join in the fun.
He didn’t have to watch from the sidelines.
And I loved seeing his little face light up with delight around every jerky turn.

Harper and I watched Cliff and Daddy with delight.

Waving everytime they whized by in a blur of craziness.

She clapped and yelled “weeeeeee!” the entire time.

She loved it cheering for her “Dada” and “Cleee!”

…and secretly I loved that she was still too small to ride the rides.

This year, she is still my baby.

The weather was perfect.

Fair weather.

A slightly cool breeze in the air.

The perfect excuse to wear our winter coats.

Then it happened…

we found the Fisk Fries.

My all time favorite.

(Yes, eating these fries is a VERY serious matter…)

The people.

The lights.

The mechanical sounds made my the rides that were thrown together waaaay to quickly.

The screams of those who were enjoying every tummy dropping, thrilling ride.

It is overstimulating.

The littles rode in the stroller wide eyed.

Taking it all in…

This year the Fair was fun.

Happy.

Exiting.

This year we are WAY too many corn dogs.

Then I teared up when The Boy eagerly hopped onto THE Dragon Rollercoaster with Ross.

He is growing up.

Way too fast.

This year Cliff understood how to play the games….

…and he won!

And on the way out…

…we HAD to grab a Candy Apple.

As strange as it sounds…
I think I can’t wait for the Fair to come back next year.
(Did I REALLY just admit that?!… strange!)

Filed Under: Family, Random, Seasons

Dear Amy Butler,

September 30, 2011 6 Comments

A package arrived at my house the other day and this was inside:

Yep.

A whole bunch you your wonderful fabrics!

I was like a kid in a candy store…

and still am!

I just wanted to thank you for creating the most fabulous fabric EVER.

And thank you for fueling my obsession with fabric…

Yes Amy,

you are an enabler to my addiction and I love you for that!

With love,
Natalie
(the fabric addict)

What are you loving at the moment?!

Filed Under: Random, Sewing

Like The New Look?!?

August 12, 2011 9 Comments

Kassie from Designs by Kassie created the PERFECT blog design for Johnny In A Dress!

I filled out a little form and then there was this fabulous design waiting for me in my inbox!

She KNEW exactly what I wanted.

Really, Kassie is AWEsome… and super fast too!

Really, if you have been thinking about doing a little remodeling on your blog, you GOTTA contact Kassie – this girl knows her stuff!

i’m lovin’ it!

Oh yea, this “look” is here to STAY.

Take a look around and stay a while!

Filed Under: Johnny In A Dress, Random

Tomato Festival!

July 26, 2011 4 Comments

A few girlfriends and I went to the Tomato Festival recently… and we had a blast!

Who knew there were sooooo many kinds of tomatoes?!

The location of the festival was at a local farm that grows all kinds of yummy organic foods.

Really, it was beautiful.

There were fun games and a ton of food!

Me and Mandy waiting in line… Yes, there was a LINE…

Beauty was everywhere.

I was shocked at the amount of people who came out to support local farmers and restaurants!

It was AWESOME!

After the Tomato Festival, we went down town to The Rooftop Bar for some girl talk!

Yep.

The bar is on top of this building overlooking the city - how cool is that?!

I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place. It is so easy to overlook the beauty that surrounds us everyday but I made a point to “notice” every little bit of prettiness our city has to offer.

We watched the sunset at The Rooftop Bar, which was breathtakingly beautiful.

This was a much NEEDED girl’s date!

I had so much fun and am so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

What is your favorite thing to do for a “girl’s outing?!”

Filed Under: Friends, Life, Random

Summer Days.

July 15, 2011 5 Comments

Our summer days are spent on our boat.

Snuggling in our bed every morning because it’s summer and we have no where we HAVE to be.

Summer means little getaways with the hubs and great friends.

Summer days are spent under Palm Trees.

and sipping cocktails by the pool with my bestie.

We cool down from the heat that summer days bring by eating popsicles…and letting them melt everywhere.

Summer days are spent with great friends staying in places where trash is called “rubbish.” Which is officially the new name for garbage in our house. Rubbish.

Summer days are spent hopping on a random yacht and pretending like we own the huge vessel, just because we can.

Summer days are spent in bathing suits and life jackets…with lots and lots of sunscreen.

Summer days are spent drinking lake water, which makes me gag every time… but he just HAS to do it every.single.time. he goes swimming.

Pedicures.

A summer must.

Summer days are spent being a big boy “just like Daddy” in his Columbia Fishing Shirt and his Vineyard Vines Bathing suit. He is growing. Growing way too fast.

Most importantly, summer days are spent surrounded by the friends and family we love.

God has blessed us sooo much and we are so grateful.

How are you spending your summer days?!

Filed Under: Family, Random

Be inspired.

July 12, 2011 5 Comments

A few weeks ago we stayed at the coolest lake house EVER (as in if I had to sell EVERYTHING I owned even my glue gun and sewing machine and NEVER buy another can of spray paint ever again in exchange for this amazingly eclectic house….I totally would!). From the moment we walked in I was in AWE and I pretty much took pictures of every INCH of the house (not kidding… like stalker status… thinking back I am actually kind of embarrassed…). I wish you all could have been there with us because this is one of the most fabulously decorated homes I have ever been in.

Yep.

The ceiling is purple and it is fabulous.

A glimpse of the “pantry”…

Even their closets were beautiful (and yes, I totally snooped…)

The porch was the biggest porch I have ever seen. It felt as if I was walking through the pages of Southern Living and Pottery Barn with a little Ballard mixed in – this house is pretty much my version of Heaven on earth and totally knocks Hobby Lobby down a knotch.

Yes.

You are seeing BEDS that hang from the ceiling.

Does it get any better than that?!

(this is not even 1/4 of the porch… really.)

Every detail was perfect. Beautiful. Breath taking.

I couldn’t sleep because the creative side of my brain was completely overwhelmed by the inspiration around me. This house is truly amazing.

The mixture of “old” and “new” was effortlessly mixed together.

The perfect balance.

The perfect combination.

Inspiration was around every corner, oozing out of every nook and cranny.

Even the smallest things were inspiring.

Every tiny detail of this house was perfectly planned.

Nothing was overlooked.

Not one inch was spared.

Even our meals were beautiful.

And after dinner, sitting on one of those hanging beds, on the world’s largest porch we watched the sun set, which was just as stunning as the house we were staying in.

The time flew by while staying in the most fabulous house ever…

and I can’t wait to go back.

Be inspired.

Filed Under: Decorating, Inspiration, Random

Randomness.

June 9, 2011 Leave a Comment

Lately I feel like our days have been filled with randomness… and I kinda like it! Like when I walked outside and Ross was cleaning out the boat. A simple, boring task, but for some reason, the other day it happened to be beautiful.

Lately The Girl has been much sweeter to her stroller lately!

Gotta love it when my mom comes over 30 minutes before dinner and gives The Boy a cupcake… in the kiddie pool…

…and then he does this… Random. But we embraced it.

And speaking of pools, the water is finally warm enough for the littles to take the first official “dip” of 2011! Harper is a little fish. She loves going in the water!

Laughing when she randomly makes this face:

Celebrating when Cliff stands up in the pool for the first time ever! Go Cliff Go!

Random, late night snuggles with daddy because The Girl decided to get up two hours after going to bed. These moments Ross and I soak up. We close our eyes and pray that we will remember the way it feels to have them cuddled in our arms forever.

Trips to the zoo.

Visiting Ganny.

The little’s Great-Grandmother who is 92 years old! She is one of the sweetest women I know!

My little sister is now saved! Praise the Lord! (this was NOT random!)

Going to Funday Sunday at our Church and Cliff demanding to go down the huge slide. I was sure he would freak out at the top, but he LOVED it! This boy is growing up.

Bubbles… and suckers. A seemengly random combination that my littles demand when we go outside. It wouldn’t be Summer without them!

Randomness comes and goes in our lives. Sometimes we need structure and schedules. Sometimes we just need to lay back and see where life takes us. Lately we have been embracing randomness, craving it, living it, loving it.

Filed Under: Family, Random, The Boy, The Girl

O.C.D. Anyone?

June 3, 2011 3 Comments

As if you didn’t know already, I am pretty O.C.D. especially when it comes to my littles. So when preparing to leave for our trip to the Keys, this is what I did. Just to let you know, I obsess over every little detail just to keep myself occupied when I am anxious about something and this was the first time I have EVER left the littles. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck. So, this is what I did: (it’s ok, you can laugh…)

I labeled, coordinated and laid out 10 different outfits for Cliff to wear each day we were gone…

Yep. I did it for Harper too:

See how each outfit had a day on it so whoever had the littles that morning just had to grab an outfit and slap it on?… craaaazy… I know….

Once I finished obsessing over what the littles would wear each day, I mapped out their daily schedules… Including when to wake them up, feed them, Cliff’s therapies, who would be at the house with them throughout each day or night, meal times, bath times, nap times, etc. I also made list of phone numbers as well as Doctors information and a note with updated HIPPA forms for each little, oh yea, and their insurance cards too - I promise I am not completely crazy… just a little.

And after I went to the grocery store and made sure the house was stocked with the littles favorite foods and snacks, I moved onto our stuff and completely took over the guest room laying out each outfit complete with shoes and jewelry that I wanted to take… ok, please don’t commit me to the loony bin… this IS how I stay sane…

Oh yea, and I also spent a ton of time with the littles too! Soaking them in, remembering every little detail, snapping a million pictures to take with me, trying to make up for the 10 days they would not see us.

Am I a total kook?

How do you prepare for a trip?

Filed Under: Family, Random

A Few Things.

May 17, 2011 6 Comments

Here are a few things we are loving right now.

Happybaby Happy Tot Pouches.

The girl’s favorite snack introduced recently by one of her new best buddies. Really, these are sooo delish!

…I even sneak a few sips every once in a while…

They are best when eaten by sprinkler soaked babies. These have definately been declared the “snack of Summer 2011″ in our house.

Sippy Cups, Baba’s… and Beer. What’s wrong with this picture?

Living in a place where people who drive crazy things like this allow Cliff to have to opportunity to “play” on it (I am not too sure what this thing is called… so it’s an “it”). This was the highlight of the boy’s week.

I mean where else in this world can you let your three year old, decked out in a Pink Polo and Stride Rite sandals ”drive” an “it” with a skull on the front?!

Being comfortable. I finally feel like our family is in a comfortable place. We are so blessed. I love it when Harper sucks her pointer finger and loves on her blankie, which she now carries all over the house. These are the moments I want to remember forever.

Splashing in the kiddie pool while soaking up the rays from the warm sun. I love watching their relationship grow. They are truly best friends. The way they interact with each other makes my heart melt. I pray they remain best friends forever.

What are you loving right now?!

Filed Under: Family, Random, The Boy, The Girl

Anger Management?!

May 10, 2011 16 Comments

Ok, what you are about to see is real. Harper is a little sweet, a lot sassy and now she has me wondering “Do I need anger management for my one year old?!”

Watch this and let me know what you think:

Ross and I watched this over and over laughing until tears were streaming down our faces. So tell me, does your little one act like this or is it just my Little Miss Priss Pot?!

(Disclaimer: No baby dolls were harmed in this video… the stroller was empty, thank goodness!)