{Weekend Recap} A Birthday, the Country & Bliss Spa!

Sunday isn't even officially over yet and it's already been a wonderful weekend. The best part is that the husband is off work tomorrow for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so we get a whole other 24 hours together with our babies. ;)

The husband turned 32 on Saturday and though I hadn't had the opportunity to plan much, it worked out pretty well. My parents came over early in the afternoon while the babies were still napping and I pulled on some jeans and my boots (with a little turquoise jewelry, of course, y'all know how I'm obsessed!) and took the husband to Texas Roadhouse for a steak lunch. It's seriously one of our favorite casual dining restaurants ever. We've been going there for years and it was one of the first things we looked up when we put a contract on the house we live in now!

He even spent a few minutes on Facebook for the first time in months to check out all the happy birthday wishes from friends and family. And he approved a photo of the two of us to share on the blog, ha.

After a late lunch, we made our way to a friend's house in the nearby country to catch up with them while they were in town from North Dakota. It's been a big adjustment for them since they've previously been residents of Texas, and I don't envy their super cold weather and snow right now! A recent low was -60F! No thanks!

We arrived at the party each toting our own six-pack of beer and sat on the patio in the setting sun listening to a little Roger Creager music (my country fav) and enjoying the company on a relaxing Saturday night. Reminds me of the song "Small Town Saturday Night" by Hal Ketchum.



Anyway, the next morning we slept until 8:30am thanks to our wonderful sleepy headed-kiddos then the husband made eggs, turkey bacon, biscuits and fruit for breakfast before I headed off to my long-awaited spa day!!! It was my reward for picking up the slack all the days and overnights he was gone hunting or traveling on business this past fall. I had a voucher for a great deal and enjoyed my second-ever facial, which was heaven. It was the "fully loaded facial" and came with a fruit acid wash, oxygen treatment, mask, O2 blast, massage and hair conditioning treatment. Loved it!

i finally figured out how to do the fishtail braid thanks to a simple diagram -
find it on my style board on pinterest

Bliss is one of my favorite spas—they're very modern and don't have too many extra frills but the nature of their service, their treatments offered and the environment is very suitable to my personality. Plus I always love jumping into their giant rain showers afterward that also have a eucalyptus steam option and leave you all rosy cheeked and feeling like you just inhaled a bowl of minty herbs. Then there's the Bliss-brand lotions and potions offered in the women's locker room, which I enthusiastically slather on. All I had to bring was my hair brush! (I also love the W Hotels and have stayed in the one in Dallas and the one in Chicago and would love to visit more around the nation eventually. They're so chic!)

Feeling relaxed and refreshed—and knowing the husband had everything under control at home—I stopped by Central Market on my way back and indulged in some Greek pasta salad for lunch then picked up a couple things and called it a day.

kailey and logan trying on momma's boots!

The husband just took Kailey and picked up a pizza for dinner from Pizza Hut so it's nearly time to chow down! I'm looking forward to catching up on the season premiere of Nashville and the latest episode of Revenge later tonight. Lounging on the couch with some good TV shows is one of our favorite ways to relax on the weekend or during a weeknight after the quads are in bed. We've become hooked on The Blacklist, Chicago PD and Almost Human as well as continue to enjoy our favorites like Elementary, CSI, Chicago Fire and Person of Interest. I think the only comedy/sitcom we watch anymore is Mike & Molly. I prefer action shows and movies, and the husband doesn't argue with that. ;)

What do you look forward to relaxing with?

P.S. Coming up on the blog this week: the babies 18+ month update and stats, my crock pot paella recipe, our record-setting overnight getaway and a giveaway celebrating my blog's one million (and more!) page views!

{Five Things} Rich & Indulgent!

There's a couple new additions to my day-to-day that I'm loving right now! This Five Thing's post actually has a bonus item (I sort of paired the lip balm and gloss as one in my mind). So here's six things that help make my world go happily 'round...

1 + 2. Revlon ColorBurst Lacquer Balm in Demure and Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Snow Pink - I hadn't seen these before this week, probably spotted them in a magazine ad. I grabbed both at the grocery store one morning and tried out the balm when I got home and love it! It really does feel like a super soft chap stick with a subtle shimmer and color of a light gloss. A definite addition to my makeup bag and great for under lip shine. The gloss is the perfect pairing to the balm pencil and I love light, natural looking colors for my lip wear. Plus my tube of lip gloss that I loved ran out and since it's from Australia and a bit more pricey, I'm hoping this Revlon version is my new fav!

3. Hannah Max Baking All Natural Crunchy Cookie Chips - Holy moly, these things are dang good. I got them on a whim at Tom Thumb. They come in a variety of flavors and we tried the chocolate chip, which were obviously delicious. But I can't lie to you. Between myself and the babies the entire package was gone in one day. I intend to make the next bag last (a little) longer.

4. Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet wine - Cookie chips aside, this is my newest addiction. It's sooooo good. I wasn't sure I'd like it much, since I wondered if the Red Velvet flavor would be too sweet. (I tend to like mildly dry red wines.) It was perfection. You can actually taste a hint of red velvet flavor in between the sip and the swallow. Yum! I checked the website and their description says it best: Our Red Velvet blend delivers over-the-top aromas of chocolate, deep dark blackberries and luscious red fruits that follow through to the palate. Finish with a hint of coconut and creamy mocha that shows unmistakable intensity and length. Red Velvet combines Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah.

5. St. Ives Coconut Milk & Orchid Lotion - I've professed my love for coconut-scented things many, many times before and this lotion is now officially a staple in my house. And I say house because I tend to keep some in the kitchen, my bathroom and maybe even the living room. My hands get really dry from washing them so often and using lots of hand sanitizer—especially if the babies are sick—so I'm constantly reaching for a pump of lotion. But this stuff is now my after-shower essential as well because it's refreshing and makes me want to lay on a beach. It's light, creamy, very moisturizing and absorbs completely with no greasy after-effects.

6. St. Ives Triple Butters Intensely Hydrating Body Wash in Creamy Coconut - Pretty much just repeat everything I said about the lotion! Except the body wash has a more intense coconut smell, so that's a bonus in my book. It's so affordable (less than $4 at Wal-Mart and Target!) and has a rich, thick, creamy consistency, thus it's in my shower year-round.

What are you loving lately?

P.S. Did you know my blog has been viewed over a million times?!? More than 1,191,600 times to be exact. The husband actually suggested a giveaway to celebrate, so I'll be thinking of something fun! In the meantime, here's a link to my very first blog post.

{DIY} Spring Wreath

I'd been searching boxwood decor on Pinterest lately and pinned a couple DIY boxwood wreaths onto my Crafts board the other day, but decided I needed to come up with an even more frugal wreath idea based mostly on what I had on hand. Which involved a few sprigs of faux boxwood, a couple faux white hydrangeas, a grapevine wreath with a "B" I'd attached to it previously with twine, burlap flowers and zip ties. I grabbed a simple garland of green ivy from Hobby Lobby for $5 and went to work!

I simply used the zip ties to strategically attach the ivy garland around my wreath, cutting the ties when I was finished so they were hidden amongst the greenery. I bunched the garland up in places to give it a fuller effect.

Next I tucked the ends of my boxwood into the wreath and zip tied a couple of the sprigs to keep them in place, then stuck in my hydrangeas and a few pearl-colored picks I'd found in my craft closet.

Ta-dah! Easy peasy with a fresh look for spring to welcome me at my door. :)

What's your favorite DIY wreath project?

{Style File} Vest Obsessed!

I love me a good vest. Faux fur, puffer, sequin, leather—they're all good in my book. They have to have a modern style and they need to be comfortable, though. I tend to layer faux fur or puffer vests for winter wear since they're an easy way to stay warm and I don't like wearing jackets and coats.

vest: boutique in scotland (similar styles at old navy and H&M) / striped shirt: target
scarf: courtesy of love quotes / jeans: old navy / boots: langford market 

Here's some older photos of other vests that rotate through my wardrobe regularly in cold weather months...

The last two photos were taken while we lived in Scotland! I wore the blue vest during our road trip across the country and the black vest was worn often as well, but I'm pictured in it at Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh at Edinburgh Castle where the Scottish Crown Jewels are kept!

What article of clothing do you turn to for a dose of cozy bundleness during the winter?

P.S. Blast into the past and read all about our arrival to Scotland back in 2009 right here!

{Home Decor} Master Bedroom Update

Our second floor living hasn't been the biggest of priorities. Other than getting some minimal decorations up in the kid's rooms and making sure they are baby proofed and functional, I seriously haven't spent much time upstairs. Most of our day centers around the play room, kitchen and living room. Oh, and let's not forget the laundry room where you can often find me huddled in front of the dryer stuffing my 4,237th load of laundry in it!

Finally, at last, I felt a little rested, a little less overwhelmed, a little more energetic and a whole lot motivated to spend an entire nap time working on our room! The babies cooperated beautifully and slept or hung out in their cribs without ONE SINGLE COMPLAINT for three hours and I worked steadily the entire time. 

It was pretty important, because, y'all. Nap times are like my sacred time of day. When the babies go down, I get at least two hours (more if they're content) of time to myself to do whatever I need or want to do. My new rule is that most of it has to be spent off my feet since my bones are still aching a lot and the rest of the day is pretty active for me. And I generally have to remember to eat something before I dive into articles I'm writing for work—I just wrapped up a coffee table book on wineries in Oregon!—get a blog post put together or merely zone out and watch about 45 minutes of TV. Or there's crafting, laundry (which I fold while sitting on my bed), bill paying, phone calls for work or to schedule doctor appointments and so on. The list never ends and so neither do I, but I at least have to make time to slow down!

That being said, I snapped these photos of our master bedroom in the evening so the lighting is yellowish and grainy but it still looks waaaaaayyyyy better than it did before! There's only two boxes left up there to unpack and a boat load of papers and things to file, yet I can see carpet and a love seat and all my photo frames have been unearthed from their cardboard trappings!

Our striped duvet cover and matching monogramed striped pillow cases are from West Elm, the sheets were an awesome clearance purchase at Stein Mart, the customized pillow cases were a Christmas gift one year from my sister—ordered from Personal Creations—and the wall decal was sent courtesy of Personal Creations as a house warming gift for our new digs. The pillow cases and decal were acquired a couple years apart, so funny they ended up matching! The company has super cute stuff for home decor and gifts with monograms, names, last names and more. (I am tempted to snag one of their customized door mats for our entry way soon, like this chevron cutie.)

We still have more things to hang on the walls, like our treasured Texas flag, and I plan to purchase new pillows and a throw blanket for the love seat eventually. Everything I used for our room and bathroom came from things I already had around the house. And for now I threw all my books and framed photos on the shelves, but I'd like to style them better with more interest in the future.

The bathroom was a work of art in itself. There's a lot to still be done in there, like paint all the cabinets, doors and trim and address our giant jacuzzi tub and shower. The shower isn't the best design and is just a tiled box, while the jacuzzi tub leaks from every pipe and is completely unusable! It's really sad, because it'd make for some pretty awesome bubble baths! We hope to have a plumber come look at it soon and one day we will renovate both the shower and tub to better operating status. In the meantime, I cleaned and organized the whole space from top to bottom and it was a makeover in itself. I hadn't touched it since we moved in and we had stuff everywhere. I was so intent on getting the job done I didn't get a photo of what it looked like when I started. Take my word for it: bad!

During the peak of daytime sun, we have a decent amount of natural light thanks to the large window that overlooks the backyard and the ceiling skylight. These photos were taken at dusk, however.

I also have a tall shelf-like space to decorate eventually on one wall in the bathroom and look forward to scoring some large-scale pieces for that area.

And not all is finished, as you can see by my messy desk area and the ever-growing pile of laundry! I still have some things to hang on this wall and a massive amount of organizing to do for my work space but it'll come together.

There you have it! Not the prettiest, best-lighted photos but definitely an update on what our space is looking like these days. Stay tuned for my next Style File post!