Life Lately

I figured since so many things have been going on for us, it was time to do a little life update.

As I'm sure most of you have seen on Instagram, we recently got back from a 5 day trip to NYC - I was actually hoping to have some blog posts up this week for it but haven't had time to write them. Stephen had the opportunity to put his name in the running for a conference with work in NY and he got picked! This was an exciting thing for us because he's usually so busy at work, he can't even request to go so all the office people in Denver get to go. I've always wanted to go to NYC but Stephen's always been indifferent about it so when we found out the conference was an hour north of the city, we jumped on the opportunity to make a mini-vacation out of it. Stephen was extra excited because he didn't have to pay for a lot of his expenses due to work ;) We left on Friday and his conference was Saturday & Sunday so my sister actually flew in so I could ride the train into the city and hang out with her and her friend. It actually worked out so well! After Stephen's conference was over, we moved into the city for our final days and saw so much! I can't wait to recap everything and share all the pictures - especially the ones Stephen took!

We got back on Wednesday and I was invited to tag along on one of the group's team building event at work the next day. They rented a pontoon boat for the day and we drove around one of the river's nearby, stopped at a swamp house for lunch and then cleaned up and went to a German restaurant for dinner. It was so much fun and the perfect way to ease back into the work week ;)

I went to work on Friday - at the last minute, I joined a few co-workers for a Good Friday service at one of the nearby churches. That was a neat experience getting to worship alongside your co-workers.

Saturday, we headed down to my in-laws for Easter weekend. It was so much fun seeing our niece again - we definitely can't go 4 months without seeing her again because she grew so much in that time! I will say it's been so nice being home this week.

Stephen finally finished most of his work on his big project at work which I am so thankful for - no more 60 hr weeks!

It's so funny how everything hits all at once... my business has had a steady flow of orders but over the past week, I've gotten over 20+ orders and all need to be done by the first week of May. I am so so thankful for the business and I can't wait to get these orders done but I am a little overwhelmed. This entire weekend is blocked off for PPE.

We're finalizing plans for when my family comes down to do a week at Disney after my sister's graduation and I'm so excited! I picked out all of the fastpasses last night and we have all our dinner reservations made. I did run into problems when I attached two sets of tickets to two different accounts for my sister but thankfully, Disney is the absolute best and got it all straightened out for me.

I've officially joined Tone It Up and signed up for their bikini series which starts on Monday! I've been preparing this whole week since we didn't eat healthy for 10 days with NYC and my in-laws and I've been loving living a healthier lifestyle. I can't wait to see how the bikini series goes!

Linking up with Annie.

Easter 2017

Hey y'all! Long time no see! We are finally getting back into a normal routine which we are both looking forward to after traveling to NYC then packing up and heading to my in-laws 2 days later for Easter. I'm really hoping to blog about our trip this week but we'll see what happens with life...

Dress

Since I don't want our Easter to get lost in the archives, I figured I'd go ahead and share our weekend with y'all :) Friday, we really hung around at home most of the night, relaxed and then I made Stephen watch "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!" - he was slightly weirded out by it lol We were in bed by 9 pm which was lovely after a tiring week.

Saturday, we got up, made breakfast, I packed real quick and then we headed to my in-laws. There's a small outlet mall about half way to their house so we stopped in for the J Crew Factory sale and boy did we rack up... the whole store was 50% off and their clearance was an extra 60%! We saved about $260 which was fun to see on the receipt - and helps justify it ;) I got these scalloped shorts, this ruffled top, this black tank with a fun bottom, this polka dot dress (this is the first dress in this style that didn't make me look huge as a house), this pencil skirt, this floral print dress (I ended up wearing it for Easter), this structured dress, this button down for work and this button down for work - these are seriously my favorite button downs for work. I wanted to share this leopard sweater was on sale and this ruffled button down - I have both and love them!! What I really wanted to get from this visit was this ruffle sleeve shirt in white but they're literally sold out everywhere - I hope they're restocked by Memorial Day sales.

This is getting really long already but Stephen also made out like a bandit - even getting a button down shirt for $4!!! He walked away with these shorts, button down, button down and button down along with another button down and tie that wasn't online. We popped into Restoration Hardware outlet but didn't see anything so we headed down to Okeechobee.

We had lunch when we got there and then went to work. We dyed Easter eggs with our niece, Siena - we tried the egg inside the whisk trick which worked well but I think next year, things will go a lot smoother. We played with bubbles, chalk and did a few rounds of corn hole before the boys did yard work and the girls sewed. My MIL is a wonderful sewer (she made Siena's Easter dress) and taught Lauren and me how to sew with a kitchen towel project. It was a lot of fun and the towels turned out great! After, we ate dinner and settled in for a movie before I fell asleep during it and went to bed.

When we first arrived, Siena woke up from a nap so she was tired and we hadn't seen her since Christmas so it took a little warming up. Stephen was the cutest and wanted to play with her so badly - it didn't take her long to warm back up to us :)

Lauren sewing it up like a pro!

The finished product

Sunday, we were up early for the sunrise service. Thankfully, the weather was nice and the service went well. Since Stephen's dad is the pastor, we had to hang around until breakfast, Sunday school and 2nd service was over. Once we got back to the house, we did a small Easter egg hunt for Siena and the boys grilled steaks for lunch. After lunch we packed up and headed home which was nice because we were able to relax and get everything in order for the week.

Lauren and I took Siena to play in the kids rooms during the 2nd service sermon and she loved the keyboard

She was so over the pictures at this point

She was a pro at getting Easter eggs! The kids at the hunts next year better watch out ;)

I am so looking forward to a normal week (minus Stephen's launch on Tuesday) and I'm finally getting back on track with my nutrition plan and workouts - so ready for feel good again! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! I loved seeing everyone's beautiful families in their Easter best on Instagram :) Linking up with Biana

Five on Friday

We are officially on our way to NYC and we are so excited!! Thank you to everyone for your recommendations while we're in the city.

One
My mom knows me all to well and picked up these adorable pineapple shorts from J Crew! I can't wait to get them (hopefully they fit lol) - I love how they're a little dressier and navy is always a good choice :)

Two
I finally received my new Fitbit Blaze band the other week and I love it! I love that it's super lightweight and makes it look like a regular watch which is perfect for work.

Three
They've been done for a while and I haven't shared them but we finally painted our corn hole sets we made at Christmas. I bit the bullet and painted them while Stephen was working one weekend and we're both so glad they're done! We brought them out when we had our friends over and it was so great - we can't wait to break them out all summer!

Four
I'm so excited that the girls from Tone It Up released their newest Bikini Series this past week! I don't know all of the details but basically it's an 8 week series to get into shape before summer. I'm really excited to have a program to work towards in which I already love. I can't believe it but I created a separate Instagram account to document, check in and create community with other girls doing this program as well.

Five
One of my friends on Facebook posted a link to these banana ice cream recipes and since I'm trying to find healthier alternatives to delicious foods, I figured I'd try it out. I tried the dark chocolate chip one and it wasn't bad! I will say, it was a lot better after it sat for an hour and not after it sat for a few days in the freezer because it got pretty hard. I'll have to try this again and maybe try another recipe.

Weekending

We had a wonderful weekend to kick off the month of April! I wish we had just one more day to lay around the house and get prepared for the week ahead because let me tell you, I'm feeling tired as can be as I write this on Monday evening.

Friday, Stephen got off work a little later so I ate healthy leftovers while he got Taco Bell lol We finished up the night with the movie Masterminds and then headed to bed. We thought the movie was eh, okay. I did enjoy the fact that it was based on a true story and there were some great actors in it.

Saturday, we slept in and I made breakfast. After breakfast we got to work - Stephen spent all day working on the lawn and I ironed, cleaned the house, did laundry and worked on a few orders. It was a great day to be productive and get everything in order for the week. That evening, we met our friends for dinner and got to meet their new baby girl, Amelia. We had so much fun getting caught up and Amelia was so precious! We got to hold her after we left dinner and Stephen about melted into a puddle - he probably would've taken her home right then and there if he could've ;) We rounded up the night with a trip to Publix and then we went to bed early

She loved Stephen! Melt my heart

Sunday, we went to the local air show with some of our friends! It was an all day event which I was not prepared for and we certainly paid the price... It was a great event with great company but we all got FRIED (mainly Stephen and me because we used crappy sunscreen before we left). The show was super neat and just so amazing to see the planes and what they can do - the French team was our favorite. They had a French announcer that kept saying "This is for you, America! We love America!" - it was so funny! After the air show, we came back to our house for some corn hole and Stephen grilled out. It was the perfect way to end a weekend and the reason why this post is a day late ;)

"This is for you, America - an American flag!"

Old School and New Fighter Jets

Thunderbirds

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!! Now to try to make sure these sunburns don't peel while we're in NYC ;) Linking up with Biana

Five on Friday

We've made it to another Friday - I seriously cannot believe it's already April... how is this year flying by so quickly!? I do have to say March-July is one of my favorite times of the year so I'm not too upset ;)

One
I will be the first one to admit that I'm not very adventurous when it comes to trying different cultural food, so when a co-worker asked if I wanted to go get Vietnamese food one day I was weary of that idea. A few people said it was delicious so I figured why not and I'm so glad I did! He took us to a cool, trendy Vietnamese place that was in a sketchy plaza but oh so delicious. I got the chicken rice bowl and it was so good and I'm so glad I ventured outside of my food comfort zone - not to mention, it was very instagram worthy ;)

Two
One of our co-workers recently moved onto another job and our admin asked if I wanted his stand up desk - I couldn't say yes fast enough! I've been wanting to try one but I was unsure if I'd really use it given my head is above the cube walls and I thought my legs would tire easily. It's been a few days but I really enjoy it! Let's hope it helps keep me active and moving throughout the day instead of sitting for 8 hours

Of course I have to have a Lilly background - and yes, the men make comments on how bright it is lol

Three

Work stepped it up and finally brought in a Yoga instructor for the end of women's week. We were all super pumped that they're finally letting us do group exercise activities on the lawn behind the building. We had a great time - minus the bugs but the weather was perfect! This was my first class since I do this Tone It Up yoga video in the morning and man, it was a lot harder than I expected! I also didn't expect a normal class to be so "spiritual" so that was new/odd to me. We're all hoping this becomes a semi-regular thing!

Four
I've received so many good recommendations for our NYC trip a week from today!! We're still in disbelief that we'll be in the Big Apple so soon! I'm pumped but now I need to figure out how to dress warm without looking too fall/winter - this is a struggle I've never really had to deal with being in FL. I'd still love any recommendations y'all have for things to do, places to eat and now, what to wear

Five
We are super excited for a low-key weekend. Stephen might have to work tomorrow but regardless, I have some orders to get done and we're going to an air show on Sunday with some friends. I've never been into an official air show before (just seen them from the sky) so I'm really excited to see what it's all about. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!