birthday date night!

like i mentioned here, grant has really been intentional about making my birthday special this year! so grateful for that man!! so, we planned to jet off to indianapolis late afternoon to make our 6 o'clock reservation!

after have a child, i feel like you appreciate driving, eating, walking, etc so much more when you don't have your babe w you! i would consider holden an extremely well-behaved toddler, but the experience would've been a lot different if i would've had to help entertain him all the way to indy, distract him during dinner & hope he ate the food & then distract him on the way home again! needless to say, a date night was much-needed and a great way to make up for my slightly depressing & boring actual birthday (the day before)!

we decided to go to fogo de chau downtown. i've heard mixed reviews about the place, so i wasn't sure what to expect. it's an all-you-can-eat brazilian steakhouse. so, as long as you ask for them to keep bringing meat, they'll keep bringing it (on skewers). we had a god time for sure, but it was just okay in our opinions. it costs about double what it costs for us to eat at cheesecake factory, so we knew it'd take a lot to impress us. the different steaks were good, but i can only eat so much steak, y'know? and they had a huge salad bar w tons of veggies, but the veggies were all cooked and cold. it was too weird! 

all in all, it was great to sneak out of town for a bit, have a nice dinner w my hub and to try something new! i think we will opt for something we know we will love next time, though!

27, you better be good to me!!!

the big V.

valentine's is right around the corner (as if all the women in the world didn't already know that!). since we are in the midst of an expensive house renovation, i'm thinkin grant and i will just do a low-key dinner and i miiiiight order myself a couple little things. we'll see! anyways, if g were to surprise me with the best v-day gifts, here's what they would be!

one- initial necklace with 'H' for holden (sold here on etsy)

two- urban decay 'naked' eyeshadows. i got the 'naked 2' set for christmas and have LOVED them to pieces, so i'd like to complete the set and have both for more variety. ps-these are worth all $50. trust me.

three- flowers. i know, i know... totally typical. BUT, i love me some pretty blooms and valentine's day is just an excuse to have some fresh flowers in the house! :)

please tell me i'm not the only one that makes wishlists for holidays. at least i've come a long ways and don't circle everything in the toys r us magazine for christmas anymore!!! ha!

comparison.

i've seen this quote about 10 times in the last few months on pinterest, twitter & instagram. this morning at MOPS (mothers of preschoolers), we had a sweet lady sharing on "mommy guilt". since i'm on the leadership team, i was part of the planning for the year. we all decided on topics and provided speaker suggestions. i don't quite remember this topic being discussed, but if i did, i'm sure my thoughts would be something like...

   'do moms really struggle with being guilty? what is there to be guilty about?'

well, the speaker did talk about common guilts that we feel as mamas, but she also talked about how much we, as moms (AND just women in general) can easily fall into a rut of comparing ourselves to others. and as she explained how much of a detrimental thing this could be, i realized that i fall prey to these lies way more than i ever realized.

they drive a nicer car.
their baby is walking and mine isn't.
they don't live with their in-laws.
she knows how to cook & i can't even make homemade mac n cheese.
their husband cleans up after himself.

the list goes on. one thing the speaker said this morning that struck a chord was... 'if we are looking at how much we don't have, we aren't focusing on the things we do have'. how true is that?

i'm extremely grateful for this MOPS group and the challenge that i often walk away with. if you're a mama and aren't plugged into a local MOPS group, i can't stress to you how much you are missing out on! trust me!!!

husband project under way!

i am certain that i'm not the only one married who, if given the chance, would change a thing or two about their beloved spouse. i definitely love my man and wouldn't take back the journey we've had the last 5 years, but... i certainly wouldn't mind the next 5 years being a little less, well... bumpy. we got married SO young, i was SO immature and our marriage started off with a lot of NEW. new house, new job, new car, new church, new city, new marriage. it was a lot for this lil 20 year old to handle. let alone handle it with grace. there are lots of things i would change and lots of feet i would stick in my mouth if i could. however, here we are... 5 grand ol years into this rodeo and i am so excited for what the next 5 will hold!

a couple friends and i have recently started a project. the husband project, to be specific. it's all about planning things to do for your hub, following through & actually doing the planned things and reaping the benefits. its a 3 week challenge to bless the socks out of your husband and remind him how appreciated he is. needless to say... life is busy with a baby and house renovation under way. all 3 of us have fallen behind on the project, but that's not what matters. we are being intentional to love our husbands and in turn, it's really been blessing me too. what a deal!

the challenge takes a good amount of planning and thought, but once the planning is done, it's quite simple. like... pick up your hub's fav candy bar, give your hub a massage, send a sweet text, etc. if your husband is as unobservant of things as mine is, take heart! even if he doesn't respond to your sweet, thought-out, spent-5-min-trying-to-get-the-right-words text... know that it is doing something to his spirit inside. and that's all that matters!

i would highly recommend any of your married ladies out there to give it a try! it's supposed to be a secret to your man, so keep it on the DL and just have fun with it! i ordered my book off of amazon and it was only $10! worth every penny!!

m

ps-if you've done this before, i would LOVE to hear your experience!!