Under the Sea First Birthday

What We Wore Wednesday-Apple Picking!

We did a little Apple picking, cider drinking, and donut eating for my birthday! Emilie was more a fan of being outside and crawling around in the dirt, picking up apples and trying to put them back on the tree, and of course chewing on sticks. Cider and donuts, not her scene. 

N: Chambray shirt and patterned scarf from Nordstrom.

Leggings from Target. 

E: White shirt was a gift, vintage Jordache denim, an apple barrette, and leather baby slippers. 

What amazing, warm, sunny Fall weather we have been having! My birthday visit to the Apple Orchard was perfect! Jared and I even got to sample some homemade wines! 

What We Wore Wednesday

First attempt at WWWW on a very busy, full time teacher schedule, but it's happening! I have to show case these fun outfits Emilie and I had on this week!

My coral tails (Nordstrom) and dark jeans (JCPenney), with faux snake skin sandals from Gap. 

The toddler moods...all within a second. Emilie has an adorable Michigan onesie from my friend, Allison, grey capris from Carter's and blue bow. 

Pairing up with A Life From Scratch and Toronto Mama

Very brief, but now it's time to have some chocolate, watch a show and go to bed. The first week of school starts this week! o_O

WWWW August 7

Yet another week of What We Wore Wednesday. This was taken from our little FroYo date with Jared.

I love this linen top, with an open back from Nordstrom. 

All frilly and pink! This outfit is from Carter's. Em picks this one out every time she gets in the closet!

Look at these cuties! Em just adores her daddy!

Oh the tasties! It's good for you because it's yogurt, right? Even if it does have hot fudge, brownie bits, and snickers in it?

Some beautiful architecture downtown. Jared and I had an Instagram competition. He was faster, mine was better :). She who writes the blogs shall write history. 

Linking up with Toronto Mama, Just Another Day in Our Shoes, and A Life From Scratch this week.

As an added bonus, this is what was going around this time last year....(late Wed/early Thursday).

High Five for Friday

{H54F}

is an Emilie heavy one.

1. New haircut on Monday makes her look like a little toddler!

2. A Craigslist purchase and she ADORES her car, especially when her daddy drives her!

3. We briefly attended Jared's work picnic at the zoo, but it was cold, and rainy and Emilie was NOT impressed. She did greatly enjoy the bread to chew on though!

4. A throwback to teeny tiny newborn Emilie.

5. And finally, independent eating...at least attempting with the spoon...she was enamored. 

WWWW

 Here we are again for another What We Wore Wednesday! This actually happens to be a compilation of last week and this week, as I missed last week's WWWW!

Emilie also got her first official haircut. We thinks she looks a little like Madeline now.

Me: 

Purple top from Banana Republic

Lavender shorts from Target

Em: 

Baby Gap t-shirt

Grey Carter's leggings

Robeez shoes

Makeup and Birch Box

My BirchBox came! So excited to try all the new goodies.

My favorite product so far has been the Benefit Foundation. I thought at first it was tinted moisturizer/sunscreen, but I was pleasantly surprised when I put it on, only a couple drops needs to cover my whole face, and the coverage was beautiful. I'm definitely sold.

I like the face sunscreen moisturizer, and have been using the hair product. I have not tried the tan towel (I don't know that I would use that) or the lotion packets. 

I did make a new lipstick and mascara purchase. I am in love with this mascara. I like a natural look, and don't like the look of tons of makeup; I just feel like I look weird, or I'm trying too hard (just me). This mascara doesn't give me clumps and it just enhances my lashes, without seeming overboard.

I don't usually wear a lot of lipstick, but for some reason I just love it. I've always been fascinated with lipstick, and would use my mom and my sister's when I was little....even if it was to draw on the bathroom mirror. 

mascara: Grow Luscious by Revlon in Blackest Black

lipstick: Super Lustrous Lipstick in Coralberry by Revlon

High Five 4 Friday!

1. MY BIRCH BOX CAME! That is all. Produce testing and playing to come.

2. Just baby and me enjoying the a/c on our hot, humid Michigan summer day!

3. The birthday party supplies from Florida Grandma came and I got to open them as if they were Christmas presents!

4. I just get excited about making Emilie's lunches. She had kiwi, Michigan black cherries, cottage cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, and homemade banana bread with yogurt butter. YUM! That's like one of the most exciting parts of my day!

5. I finally got tired of having cold, albeit delicious coffee from the French pot press, so I had to break down and get a timed coffee maker so that once I feed Emilie, do dishes and eat breakfast I can actually enjoy a cup of HOT coffee. First world problems.

Linking up this week with the lovely, Lauren Elizabeth!

"I'll make it look like a Bonsai tree!"

And finally, we had the trees around the property trimmed. It's a big job, so they will return on Monday to finish, but already there is actually daylight in our back yard. This also exposes the terrible roof, but at least that will be replaced soon too!

H54F July 12

Well, it's definitely NOT Friday here, but I will post our collage of our week's shenanigans any way!

Here goes....

Finished and sent out most of the invites for Emilie's 1st birthday party. More on that in another post!

I had to include the over-photographed runner's view of feet, I couldn't resist. Annnnd, if you look closely, you can see my freaky ankles, which have been sprained so many times that they cave in; I'm not very good about working to strengthen them.

I made a delicious concoction for sweet potato seasoning and before I shook it I thought it made beautiful layers.

Emilie and I have been trying to hit up a few parks we've never visited before. These were bells you could ring with the top lever. She made a friend at the park too! A very friendly little six year old girl who was just enthralled with Emilie because, "She's the same size as an American girl doll!" :)

Lastly, Emilie and I couldn't resist this cute crab with sunglasses for 70% off at Joann's. It'll be a perfect little decoration for her party in August!

Sweet Potato Seasoning

Here's a lovely recipe from Perry's Plate for sweet potato seasoning!

2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons sea salt (I just used regular salt as I had no sea salt)

Here's what it looks like when you pour each ingredient in!

Love the layered look and I just used an old, washed out canning jar. This made for delicious sweet potatoes, seriously, the best! We've made sweet potatoes many times over, just using olive oil and salt, but this was to die for!

Emilie's 1st Birthday Invitations

So, the theme for the party is "Under the Sea". It's been a great theme for a summer birthday as there are so many options, and I'm finding a lot of summer things starting to go on sale.

I DIY'ed Emilie's invites, although I can honestly say I will probably not do that again. My biggest struggle was getting the text or image (I tried a lot of different styles) to not be so pixalated. While I can navigate a computer, I am not super literate on graphic design business, thus the frustration. Even with the final product, the text is still a little pixalated. I did have a lot of fun adding some sea shells with twine to the invites though!

The finished product.

Sea shells from Florida, twine, printed invites, scissors, and thread.

       I bought some colorful invitation envelopes at Staples and added some puffy fish stickers.

The invites were made with PicMonkey', and some great inspiration from Toronto Mama!