create a life you love.

i love this time of year, the cleanse, the start of something new. there is something just really special about the chance to change it all. as we wrap up 2013, there is a central theme i have spent a lot of time thinking about: i waste time...i don't spend enough of my time creating a life that i love. i am not doing things i am passionate about, that move me. so in adding to the existing list of resolutions remaining from years past, here's to changing the course of the path, making promises and keeping them and champagne, lots of champagne. 

p.s. in keeping with this theme, i'll try my best to ensure this isn't my yearly, hey it's new years post. xx

happy weekend!

{image via}

i hope you have a wonderful weekend. i have been in bed for two days with some mystery illness (feels like the flu but isn't the flu? help.) so i am praying i feel like a normal human being tomorrow and can enjoy some time with my girl. xx

some thing i am loving around the internet this week:

six things to do before summer passes you by.

before it's too late: the best summer sales.

charlotte olympia cosmic collection. shoes + clutches in all zodiac signs? yes, please.

signs you are a list maker (i am totally a list maker).

speaking of lists, i love this list of ways to be a better mom.

i feel like since i am a golfer's wife, this "tee-time" necklace should be mine, right?!

dear photograph, a neat collaboration of past + present

letters

{obsessed}

dear root cabernet sauvignon, you don't talk back and you don't give me hangovers therefore you are my new best friend.

dear geico hump day commercial, you make me love wednesdays. mike, mike, mike, mike, mike, mike, mike.

dear skylar, you just said "hi" and it was cute. then you started crying for no reason and it wasn't cute.
also, thanks for spitting your dinner out all over my face.

dear mosquitos, please stop. just stop.

dear bee, i feel really bad about your swollen preggo feet. remember when i told you about the aveda peppermint foot cream? i think it's time.

dear hot yoga, please be kind. be really, really kind.

dear santa at phipps plaza, if i am having to register for you in july... you better get skylar everything she asks for. just saying.

celebrate: under the starry skies

{screen via sfgirlbybay, popcorn pillow via, string lights via target, popcorn cupcakes found here, 

popcorn bags via shop sweet lulu, beach chair via target, blanket via west elm, coca cola via turning point tumblr}

what could be better than getting your friends & family together for a movie night under the stars? 

here's how to set the scene:

screen: click here for instructions on making the perfect screen out of drop cloth

projector: did you know you could turn your iphone into a projector?! 

lighting: ambiance is everything. light candles (citronella if you live in the south) and hang outdoor string lights for a subtle effect. 

seating: use beach chairs...they are low to the ground, cheap and come in such fun colors. add cozy pillows + blankets like the ones shown above. 

snacks: what movie is complete without popcorn and coke. i love the vintage feel of these nostalgic paper bags and coca cola in a bottle. the cupcakes are such a fun touch too.

film: i picked annie because well...skylar and i love it. i mean really, who doesn't? (husband doesn't).

sunday edition

{photo of india hicks and her daughter, domino}

lately skylar has been talking. ok, talking might not be the right word, more like a yodeling sound with a few random consonants throughout. but when she "talks" my heart breaks about a thousand times because well, it's the cutest thing ever, but also...i realize how quickly she is growing up. and that soon these adorable sounds will be replaced with actual words. and then she's a teenager. i am just really trying to take in every moment of the day with her. we are so in love.

hope you all are having a beautiful sunday. the rain has finally stopped so we are heading outdoors!

xx

it rained on the fourth and it's still raining now...

{obsessed with my tank. the front says "running the world since 1776"}

hope you had a happy fourth of july. i think it's fitting that the above reflects my oven and my tank, which pretty much sums up my holiday. rain. all. day. but i'm not bitter people! i made a super awesome dinner (pimento cheeseburgers, sweet potato fries, grilled corn and tomato salad, and these super yummy lemon blueberry cakes). we cooked, danced and drank our way through the dreary holiday and were in bed asleep by 8. 

cheers to next year?!?! 

pensacola dreaming.

we sure do love vacation...

we woke up every morning to the sound of ocean waves

rode our bikes for popsicles, bushwackers and the best chicken caesar ever at native cafe

read books and surfed while our precious baby took naps at the beach

danced and drank wine at bands on the beach

went out on the town in downtown pensacola

indulged in our favorite tradition with lunch at surf burger

caught a shark deep sea fishing

had beer and oysters galore

spent time with our family

spent time with each other

loved every single second.

sweet & sour

the sweet:
the realization that a new jack johnson song came out. the race between me and husband afterward to see who could download it first. (i won, duh).

sometimes when i hold my baby, she pats me on the back to let me know everything is okay. man that girl gets me.

realizing the salt water and the sea are only seven short days away.

lemon ricotta pancakes...i want to stop talking about them, but i just can't.

my nightly ritual of picking up toys, books, kitchen utensils and anything else skylar has gotten into throughout the day. makes me really feel like a mom. makes me feel really happy.

the sour: 
my dvr cutting off the last ten minutes of the season final of game of thrones. noooooooooooooooooo.

the swimsuit situation.

accidentally buying an $8 fathers day card at target. they make cards that are $8!?

letting my kid play with the sugar packets at a restaurant to keep her from having a full blown breakdown. as a former server, this is a full circle moment people. i would like to note that i did put the sugar packets back in the container in color coordinated order. thank yew.

lemon ricotta pancakes

sunday morning, i got up and did something i never (but always aspire) to do. i made breakfast this morning. ever since i pinned the recipe for lemon ricotta pancakes it has been all i can think about...so i made them this morning and man, are these guys amazing. and easy! make these asap, but make sure its a weekend...

because you are going to be really full,
and need a nap, 

and have a baby and not be able to take a nap...

lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry sauce

recipe adapted from food network

¾ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
vegetable oil

in a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. whisk to combine and set aside. In another bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, eggs, milk, lemon zest and lemon juice and stir to combine. add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk gently until just combined.

heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and coat with vegetable oil. for each pancake, pour approximately 1/3 cup of the batter onto the pan and cook on both sides until golden brown.

blueberry sauce 

4 cups fresh blueberries
¼ cup cold water
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch

place ingredients in a saucepan and stir to combine over medium-low heat until the sauce bubbles. cool slightly before serving.

uno.

a month ago my little girl turned one. ONE. i can hardly believe it. i feel like saying the past year has been the best of my life, doesn't even give the year justice. its has been better than that...truly. I have grown with this child and become a better version of myself, for her.  Thank you sweet girl...for being such a dream, and for showing me how much i can truly love. 

a few pics from her fiesta themed birthday party:

 {the invitations, while adorable, took forever...so naturally mimosas became involved}

 {photo booth}

{of course we had mini layer dips in mason jars...}

{...and sangria}

{me and my big girl}

 {another labor of love - diy pinatas}

 {i loved the favors - instragram cookies...of course, i had too much sangria & forgot to give them out}

{family}

february fourteenth.

hope your day is filled with sweet surprises and lots of love. xx

also...happy birthday to my beautiful sister in law, holli hart. (yep, hart, like heart, get it?)

a weekend of mostly nothing

we are still in flu recovery over here but well enough to at least enjoy a weekend of mostly nothing. february is such a blah month, no? 

saturday i did get to go to a beautiful baby shower and celebrate my friend karen who is having...wait

for it...twins! every time i say the word "twin" i have a brief moment of anxiety because i can not even imagine. but if anyone can handle it, it's her and don't worry because she has three pack and play's now. #registryissues

my dad and step mom came up and treated us to dinner at Leon's which is just, so freaking yummy. included...my sweet angel child allowing her parents to enjoy a night out on the town, a bottle of merlot and the best fries ever.

 today we are watching the rain, finishing off valentines and in keeping with our italian sunday dinners, cooking chicken piccata.   if there's one thing getting me through this month...its our sunday dinners. and live texting with my best friend through all the red carpets.

february...blah, blah, blah. xx

i didn't get the flu shot and now i have the flu.

{my view}

to be honest, i thought that seeing as i had bronchitis for A MONTH followed by two colds and constant anxiety that it would be very cruel for life to give me the flu. but okay world, lesson learned. and can i just say, that being bedridden for three days makes you do crazy things....like have full blown breakdowns over super bowl commercials about horses and farmers, and google things like "beyonce post-baby diet" and "fifty shades of grey casting news." 

help.

because it's mine.

is anyone else obsessed with this photo? i am. no shame. 

i just feel like this is me and my best friend in 40 (gulp) years. 

and i kind of love us.

hello two thousand thirteen

{family}

i know i know, there is a statute of limitations on how long you can reference the new year once you reach the middle of january...but here we are. and i want you to know that...looking back on 2012...i feel nothing but happiness. i mean, what a year! i spent this year really taking the time i needed to bond with my little girl and to figure out this new, insane and just really lovely new life. i closed a chapter at the end of this past year. the chapter where i learned what it feels like to be a mother and in the process became more comfortable with who i am than i have ever felt in my life. and this next chapter, i feel, i hope, will be the one where life just makes total sense.

throughout my journey into motherhood, i realized very quickly there were several things that would have to sit by the wayside while i figured it all out and unfortunately this blog was the first to go...but i love this little online journal. i love being able to chronicle our lives and take a little snapshot of how i am feeling, or what we are up to in the moment. for myself. so one of my many goals this year is to really make an effort to capture more memories and keep them here...in this space where our friends and family can see what we are up to but more importantly, where we can look back and remember.

cheers to a new year, a new life, the next chapter...xx.