Friday 5

and just like that it's Friday again! No big plans this weekend but I did go by Lowe's and pick up the new 9 footer tree I've been eyeballing since there were only two left. The reason I mention this is because it is going to be waaaay hard not to go ahead and put it up early. As excited as I am about the holidays this year .. I just can't... I have to wait until the morning after Thanksgiving (or even midnight that night!) Anyway, I hope everyone has an absolutely fabulous weekend!

Linking up today with the usual gang of pretty ladies: Christina, April, Darci, Natasha , Amanda over at Meet @ the Barre and Karli with September Farm - join in!

 

And today is the hubby's birthday! Happy birthday babe and hurry up and get home! Love you!

Speaking of the quickly approaching holidays- do ya'll need Christmas invites or cards? Well if so order them now because Groupon is kicking butt on some excellent deals! I just got 70 personalized cards for like 29 bucks and even ordered my Christmas party invites with a groupon for 27 bucks for 70 bucks worth of Vistaprint.com goods! #Winning

Click Here to see deals

Have you new Moms or Moms-to-be seen this article floating around? I made the hubs read it because the husband comments in it seemed so much like him! Bless his heart! (haha) Great, cute and funny read! Whew- bring it on!

 A Day at Home with a Newborn

 Ya'll- I just realized I finally need to order more Erase Paste from Benefit. If you know me- I love Benefit products and Erase Paste is fantastic! Also, the price isn't terrible because it lasts an incredibly long time! Try this out if you've never tried it and let me know what you think!

 Favorite recipe? Now that I've seen this, I can't stop craving it (along with the ritz crackers) Jalapeno Popper Spread

Hollins was featured in an article about cool autumn women's college traditions and it made my week! Representing HU all day every day! Green & Gold for life! (good grief I'm cheering in my head)

10 Fantastic Autumn Traditions Celebrated at Women's Colleges

15 Week Bumpdate

 

My omg face bc I'm huge!!! (I did just indulge in Cracker Barrel.....)

How far along? 15 Weeks 6 days

Size of Baby: a naval orange! 4.0 inches and 2.5 oz

Total weight gain/loss: up 2 pounds from last month's appointment (weight taken at Monday's checkup) 123.... whew

Symptoms: Pretty awesome so far!

Maternity clothes? Oh yes- 100% when it comes to pants and just starting ordering some cute sweaters and long sleeved tops (Old Navy, Target, Gap etc.)

Stretch marks? No... still using the Q10 stretch mark cream from Palmers

Sleep: Sleeping great and heading to bed way earlier than usual. Still waking up to pee every night 5 times or more! My new flannel sheets are seriously wonderful- I NEVER want to get out of bed!

Best moment this week: Knowing I'm already in the second trimester and that we scheduled our gender appointment for December 15th! (30 days until hubs is back!)

Miss Anything? Still wine- The Fre brand of alcohol-free is fab though. I'm also craving a subway melt!

Movement: Nothing prominent yet! But when I sit a certain way and take a deep breath, the bubbles are hilarious in my tummy

Food cravings: Fruits, jello and haagan dazs mango sorbet for the win!!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Have you started to show yet: Oh yea and boobs are 36C officially so far! ha!

Gender prediction: Looks like girl is in the lead on the blog poll- don't forget to vote on the right hand side! Cannot wait to find out!

Nursery: eeee! So pumped in this department. The sheetrock work and priming will be just about completed today. My father-in-law has scraped all the old (probably lead based) paint out of there and primed most of the trim and mantle to white!

Workouts: Still walking with Emma each night but having to rush because it gets dark so early- hate that! Also doing squat routine with my 3 pound weights for arms.

Labor Signs: No way

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Feeling more movement in the next couple of weeks & getting closer to having the hubs back home!

                                Week 12                                                               Week 13

Week 14

Tour of Blogland

I was so excited when Kristina from Medicine & Manicures asked me to be apart of the Tour of Blogland series. Lately, one of my favorite things to do is to learn more about bloggers and connecting with them! Some of you ladies I talk to multiple times on a daily basis and then some- I seriously do not know what I would do without the support from the blogging community. It is oh-so fabulous! Let's dive right in shall we?

WHAT I'M WORKING ON

I don't really pre-plan posts- I just pick what I want to share and write about that day and then dive in and go for it. (probably the reason for random rants and grammatical errors- I make up my own grammar) I use the week for blogging and always take a break on the weekends to focus on family, friends, house work etc.

HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN ITS GENRE?

Well I actually started this blog back in 2011 solely for crafting and it was called The Thrifty Blonde (yes ya'll I'm serious) I didn't know much about the blogging world but knew I wanted to document what I was making. When I started adding more favorite bloggers to my list and reading others that didn't only specialize in crafting I decided to do an overhaul and that's when Jessi's Design emerged so that I could expand what it was I was writing about. I guess I don't have a central style and that is what makes it a tad different- we have preggo issues, house renovations and every day life! As always, thanks for sticking around and reading along!

WHY DO I WRITE/CREATE WHAT I DO?

Mostly so I can look back one day. Blogging is like a virtual journal that you will always have no matter what (no misplacing it in a move or leaving it somewhere) and now with a little one on the way, I like to think of it as a tool for them to see the interests his or her mommy had/has!

HOW DOES MY WRITING & CREATIVE PROCESS WORK?

Simple. I just go with it. Literally whatever pops into my head (usually first thing in the morning) I will do a post about it. Of course some things are routine- for example, I like to do the Friday 5 series, Weekend Updates and I'm gravitating towards Wednesdays for my bumpdates.

Now we can keep it going with the tour! Below are a few of my favorite bloggers so be sure to visit them and read about their individuals tours as well! (love these ladies! xoxo)

Just the Joys

Martin Manifesto

Going the Distance

Weekending

Oh my word what that was such a great weekend! And you know what? I'm not even hating on Monday because I'm leaving at noon with Mama for my monthly check-up/appointment to check on baby O and hear his or her heartbeat today. Also, after today I have no more appointments until the gender one AND the hubs will be home! (30 days and counting!)

Friday I did some shopping to complete the guest room which I'll showcase soon, bought some fabulous warm flannel sheets from Target for me, had a nice salon visit with a cut and color (just a tad lighter on the ends! See selfie below haha) and some girlfriends of mine from college came in town (Heather & Hillary- update: Heather's twin girls are doing fabulous and I got some new pictures of those gals!) They were only able to come in Saturday and Saturday night since Heather had to get back to the girls but we squeezed a lot into that time frame. We went for 'drinks' and dinner and then came back and I probably stayed up the latest I've ever stayed up in what feels like forever! They also brought me some alcohol-free wines to try and ya'll- they are perfect! They brought an alcohol-free champagne with a pop cork and everything! Hillary brought her pup Maggie so Emma was on cloud nine with a girlfriend/sleepover of her own. It was sad to see them leave but man I needed the girl time and gossip! Love them!

Oh!!!!!!! So on my Friday shopping adventures I was on the way to the grocery store and I pass this little somewhat crappy antique store that always puts stuff out on the sidewalk and I saw this bar cart type thing. (I had passed it several times before but never stopped) Well, groceries and all, on the way back...I stopped. It is tall, 3 levels, a bamboo wood look, on wheels and the absolute perfect size for the space I want to put one. The guy told me $75 and I actually bargained it down to...ready for this? $50 bucks! A bar cart....for $50 bucks! Did you hear me? $50 bucks! I threw that thing on top of the groceries and it came straight home with me! I'm not sure if I'll paint, fix it up, change the wheels, etc. but for now I am loving it and it will be p-e-r-f-e-c-t for our big Christmas party!

Linking up today with the lovely Biana from B Loved Boston for Weekending

Hillary with Mags & Emma- The weather was perfect!

For all you mamas-to-be out there! Closest to the real thing!

Sunday we were worn out!!

Friday 5

Happy Friday and happy weekend ya'll! I gotta make this quick since I'm taking off to run some errands, get some cleaning done and squeeze in a little shopping before the gal pals get here tomorrow. So excited for some girl time and a sleepover and I'll have to share the upstairs/guestroom progress next week. Linking up today with the usual gang of pretty ladies: Christina, April, Darci, Natasha , Amanda over at Meet @ the Barre and Karli with September Farm - join in!

First of all, did all of you new Mama's or Mama's-to-be out there check out this post? Definitely my favorite post/read of the week. My next appoint/check-up to hear baby O's heartbeat is on Monday so this was exciting. Check out my favorite post of the week here:

                                            Cheers Ya'll: Questions for.. YOU, Mamas!

I saw these on Pinterest and it literally made my day- how cute would this be for a girl baby shower? There's just something about pink and green!

 

Did ya'll catch the CMA's this week? Loved all the performances but I feel like there just isn't enough award categories for me! Also, I need more spotlight on the fashion people- where's the arrivals prep show? Anyway, Carrie Underwood blew me away with her performance and cute baby bump in that blue dress!

Annnnnd... did ya'll see the first official corn field-themed Bachelor promo!?! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't OVERLY excited for my man eye candy to be back in January. Bring on the farmer! mmmm

And lastly, I'll leave you with this! Have a great weekend!

Week 14 Bumpdate

Helloooo Second Trimester!

How far along? 14 Weeks 5 days

Size of Baby: a lemon! 3.4 inches and 1.5 oz

Total weight gain/loss: up 1 this week (will find out for sure at Monday's appointment)

Symptoms: No sickness still but getting a sicky feeling if I don't eat RIGHT on schedule...

Maternity clothes? Oh yes- 100% when it comes to pants

Stretch marks? No... still using the Q10 stretch mark cream from Palmers

Sleep: Sleeping great and heading to bed way earlier than usual. Still waking up to pee every night 5 times or more! I feel a tad bit more energized lately...a tad.

Best moment this week: Being on the road to finishing the second floor and putting together one of the guest rooms for my girls that are coming to visit on Saturday!

Miss Anything? Still wine- especially with all my Hollins gals coming in!

Movement: Nothing prominent yet!

Food cravings: Fruits, jello and all things Mexican.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Have you started to show yet: Oh yea and boobs are incredible! ha!

Gender prediction: Looks like girl is in the lead on the blog poll- don't forget to vote on the right hand side!

Nursery: Starting this prep (have to scrape, prime, etc.) soon!

Workouts: Still walking with Emma each night but having to rush because it gets dark so early- hate that!

Labor Signs: No way

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Feeling more movement & getting closer to having the hubs back home!

                                Week 12                                                               Week 13

Weekending

We are long overdue for a house update! We have literally almost finished the second floor and it is incredible. Again, my in-laws have kicked some major butt and the hubs is going to be so excited when he finally gets home. I'll throw in a before picture- but just in case you've forgotten, our entire house had that awful textured popcorn ceiling. The second floor actually has even higher ceilings so I was thinking "oh my goodness heights and yikes!" I was especially concerned about how in the world we would get it scraped over the steps. My FIL came up with a plank-like system that he dropped across the steps and walked on and let me just say that he is braver than I would have been.

The steps were tarped off completely to keep the pesky sheet rock dust from going back downstairs (which Emma loved- it was like a fun house) and the scraping began. Afterwards, the sheet rock mud was applied and sanded and then the ceilings were ready for paint. The walls were also painted which means I am so close to bringing in furniture and decor in the sitting area/hallway of the second floor! (also doing Christmas tree #2 up there in front of those large windows) The third floor ceiling is the worst and they have started the scraping and repair up there as well. Second floor recap: The guest room and guest bath is finished, the hall bath is now finished, the office is complete and the remaining rooms include another large guest room and NURSERY! Yes folks, I believe the nursery is next on the to-do list.

I am actually moving the bedroom set furniture into the guest room this week with some help because I have 3 gals coming in next weekend to stay and see the place! I can't wait to have the room completed and let my guests have a space of their own! Of course I need to do some shopping for some finishing touches and bedspread, etc. but I will definitely take pics! Also, I've added some pics of the hall (future kid) bath with the vanity in place. We changed the hardware and all we need now is a long mirror to go above it and some kind of free-standing linen closet for towels, etc. since we converted the original linen closet to the actual space for the toilet.

            Hope everyone had a great weekend- linking up with Biana from B Loved Boston

that's the door to the nursery by the way!!

The scary plank! Way to go Vern!

Toilet hidden in back left

$100 Craigslist vanity score!