on the road.

we are off to the land of 10,000 lakes today to spend a week w my family!!! i live for this week each summer! it's full of a huge family reunion, mustang rides, bonfires, seeing old friends and spending some great time with my family! love!

it's 7:08 and my alarm is set for 7:30. annoying! holden was awake at 6 just jibber jabbering and then fell back asleep. i tried w all my might to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening! so, i'm embracing this early (for me) morning and took a shower while i had the chance (ie no baby trying to peek in on me or bringing every toy he owns to play on the bathroom floor... i know-barf!)!

i pray you have a great holiday weekend! eat some tasty treats, embrace the fabulous weather, take a nap! 

oh, and i just snapped a few pics of holden the other night. he's so at the age that he won't give you a good smile for free! oh no... you gotta work for that sucker!!! we got a lot of good ones, but have been too busy to edit any others! here's my sweet lil love! his ummm 20 month pics... haha! they may just be his really delayed 18 mos pics or they might be his 18 mos AND 24 mos pics if i don't get around to it again in nov! yikes! life of a photographer!!!

he's reaching for the stick that he was playing with! it was my tickling stick! yes... tickling his belly with a stick all while trying to snap a few decent pics!!! i'm exhausted just thinkin about it!! ha

have a great day!! :)

stella & dot is off the ground!

since getting all set up to be a stella & dot stylist, i have had lots of thoughts of 'this is the greatest thing ever!'... 'what have i gotten myself into?'... 'can i really do this?'... 'gosh this jewelry is seriously amazing!'.

it's been a whirlwind, but i have officially had my first styling session and an open house, so it's safe to say that we are off the ground! i've got a handful of parties on the books and i'm optimistic of what's to come! thought i'd share a little bit of my setup!!

i am slowly building up my display, so i did my best with what i have!

how seriously gorgeous is this necklace??? the jolie is one of my favs! and i love it next to the script!

dakota necklace draped over a cake plate and some fab stackable rings.

ob. sessed. with this bag. literally! the print, the surplus of pockets. amazing!

since grant had to jump ship with holden for the day, i had no photographer! ha! here's my selfie with my display!

thanks so much to everyone that came out to support me, check out s&d and i look forward to spreading the stella & dot name throughout lafayette!!

h54f

hey hey! it's friday! i have been sick w some sort of bug for the last 36 hrs, so I'm hoping today will turn out to be better than yesterday! grant & i are shooting a wedding tomorrow, so here's to hoping i'm 100% by then! i am linking up w lauren to bring you my top 5 highlights of the week!

5. i love grabbing lunch w a friend! it doesn't sound like it should be as dear to me, but it is! it's just good to catch up and really talk, y'know?? plus, it gets h & i out of the house and gives us a reason to eat out! i didn't snap a pic of my fiend, julie, and i, but i snapped this pic of me in the car. i was channeling my inner hippie or something... 

4. as i've said before, i don't tend to cook well. it's not that i can't cook anything, but my success list is kind of slim and i'm not quick to try something way out of the box! i had a coupon a few weeks back for a pack of the 'fresh takes' by kraft. similar concept to 'shake & bake'. i did the southwestern three cheese one and it was great! grant even liked it! this particular one was maybe a littttle spicier than we prefer, but good nonetheless! and easy!!! :)

3. since i registered w stella & dot, I've received several different shipments! and let me tell you... those days are good days!! i am so excited to start styling and showing off this amazing product! did you miss something? check out this post! 

2. a couple nights ago, some sweet friends of ours joined us for a hillsong concert! i think this was our 4th concert! we are longtime fans of theirs and when i saw a groupon for half off, we jumped on it!!

-rockin my new stella & dot 'jolie' necklace! ob. sessed!-

-strolling through downtown indy-

-what better way to end the night than cheesecake factory??-

1. top of my list this week is father's day! i have been blessed w a great dad, father-in-law and daddy for holden. it wa great to celebrate these men in my life! we went to church and then had brunch at this ballroom place. it was delicious! then, we all took naps. it was a beautiful thing!! 

-broke out my new $12 target dress! target win!!-

hope y'all had a great week!!!

lock love wednesday!

hi friends!! today, i'm linking up with christy at tala hair life blog to bring you lock love wednesday! i can honestly say that i am purposefully not doing LLW every week because i know that's too much of a commitment! so, my goal is maybe once or twice a month! it is a fun little thing to do and keeps me from letting my hair be an afterthought!

like everyone, i'm really into braids right now. i went through a big phase a couple years ago where i braided the heck out of my bangs. like everyday. you know what I'm talking about?! bangs in a french braid and then the rest of the hair down, curled, pony tail, etc! lately, though, i'm liking putting the braid in other areas (like middle of head as opposed to right up front). it's more subtle, but still adds interest!

here i kinda twisted my bangs back and did a small french braid just behind my twisted bangs. i then pinned my hair half up to ensure good volume & stuck in a clear pony tail holder. got lots of compliments and it only took a couple more min than a regular pony!

my other go-to style these days is soft curls. i use my cheap conair curling iron! to get this look, i pin the top half up in a clip or something and then curl the bottom section (typically split the top and bottom in 4 sections each). super easy, but way prettier than my usual straight & boring look!

isn't it fun to be intentional about doing your hair? for me, it helps keep me out of the frumpy, stay-at-home mom rut!!