quick visits with sweet friends

This past weekend, I drove to Charlotte for the annual Hamilton Lakes girls' weekend. I need to make it a new rule, that whenever I visit Charlotte, I stay for days because there are so many friends to visit! I wanted to stop at Mary Jo's to look for crib bedding fabric, so my fellow crafting friend, Christen met me there! She also has an etsy shop and wanted to look for some fabric! It was a short visit, but so fun to see her face!

If you've never been to Mary Jo's, you need to go! I ended up not finding the fabric I was looking for, so I didn't buy anything. I could have walked out with a ton, but I only had a short time to shop and didn't want to make any impulse purchases.

Once I got to Charlotte, I stopped to visit Nina and William! The last time I saw him, he was only weeks old. I love seeing my friends' children and them as parents. Will is just the happiest little guy. Just look at him.

He laid on his blanket and showed me his kicks. He has such a sweet demeanor. Pure happiness. I can't wait for baby Parker and William to become friends!

Asheville Girls' Weekend 2013!

I love the traditions of annual trips. In past years, we have had a cabin trip to Boone with these friends in the fall and a girls' weekend in the summer, but we merged the two trips to a fall girls' weekend! I am so happy that Ashley moved to Asheville- it's the perfect midway point for us to meet, and it's one of my favorite towns! 

We spent the afternoon on a little fall adventure. First stop was Sky Top Orchard (a first for all of us). 

Not only do they have apples, they also have a pumpkin patch!

 We had a little picnic before walking through the orchards.

This was a great orchard- you don't have to pay an admission fee like other places, you just pay for the apples you buy!

 And the views are beautiful!

 So thankful for these friendships!

Second stop on our fall adventure: Lake Lure!

 It was gorgeous

We ended the night at French Broad Chocolate Lounge, probably my favorite place in Asheville. It was the perfect weekend!

pregnancy: weeks 19-21

So here we are, full swing in the second trimester, and I'm starting to pop out a bit more! I finally feel like I look pregnant rather than like I ate too much... I had a boost of energy around week 20 that has lasted for the most part! I'm so thankful I don't feel as tired as before. I'm still running a few times a week and feeling good! At week 20, I ran four miles and felt amazing. It just depends on the day... I help with running club at school, so that keeps me going at least twice a week. I've been feeling lots of little pinches internally, so I know the baby is moving around in there... Still no kicks externally, but hopefully that'll come soon! 

19 weeks

 20 weeks (blurry!) 

 21 weeks

I have a shower coming up in the beginning of November, so we decided to go ahead and register for baby stuff.. It's a little overwhelming- so many choices! It's a little exciting too though. :)

I also completed the task of painting the dresser we got for the baby's room. I was waiting to choose a chair before deciding on the color I wanted to go with. The chair is a medium gray linen, so I decided to go lighter with the dresser. Here's a picture of the swatch of the chair fabric.

I used Annie Sloan's chalk paint for this project and absolutely fell in love with it. It's so easy! No priming needed, and it has a really nice shabby chic finish. 

I started out with a coat of Paris Grey. Then I mixed that with Pure White and Old White to come up with the top coat color. Once it was dry and waxed, I sanded a little around the edges so some of the darker grey color could be seen. 

 Here's the dresser before:

And after! I painted the handles the same color to give it the look I was going for.. It's similar to our wall color, but still lighter. I think it'll look great with a striped changing pad cover on top and pictures hanging on the wall. 

So things are starting to come together! I can't wait to make decisions about more of the details and get it really looking like a nursery. Every time I pass this room, I get more and more excited about our baby coming in just four months! We're over half way there!

visit to TN

At the end of September, Brian and I drove up to Troy, TN for my cousin's wedding. My grandfather was going to be there, and I hadn't seen him in over three years. A lot of my cousins came also- I wish I had taken more pictures!! 

My dad brought lemon macarons from Lemonade in LA. These alone made the 7 hour drive worth it! :)

This was my parents first time seeing us since we found out I was pregnant. I had seen my mom for a few hours back when I was 10 weeks pregnant, but I wasn't showing yet. They were so excited and welcomed us with baby gifts!

The next morning, we ate breakfast at Charlie T's with the rest of the town of Troy. The population of the Troy is 1,349. The student population at my middle school is 2,300. :) There are signs around the town that say: "Troy. Nice people live here." Gotta love small towns!

After breakfast, we drove a few miles to Martin, where my mom grew up. We wanted to look through my grandfather's house since it had been so long since I'd been there. He is no longer living there, so it's quite different, but it brought back so many childhood memories. 

On our way, we passed my cousin Brian on a billboard. 

Magu (my grandmother who passed away several years ago) was 4'11". When she designed this house, she had the counter tops at a lower height for her small frame.

My mom found her mess kit from girl scouts in a pile of memorabilia.

And my grandfather's flight jacket and helmet from World War II...

I don't know if these pants were my mom's or her sister's, but they both wore them in high school. And the waist is ridiculously tiny. Brian didn't believe an actual person fit in them. 

 Here we are at my aunt's house before the wedding. I hate that we didn't get better pictures...

And this is the only picture I had of my grandfather. He will be celebrating his 90th birthday next month! I'm so happy I got to see him again.

After the wedding, all the aunts, uncles, and cousins went back to my aunt Norma's house, and they threw Brian and I a surprise baby shower! It was the sweetest thing ever! Seeing all of these cute little boy outfits made me so excited about having a baby boy. We can't wait!