You Can Sit With Me

As a child I always had a heart for making others feel accepted. I was the first to ask the new girl if she wanted to sit with me. I found one of my most meaningful friendships by starting a conversation with a girl who also happened to be alone during our college campus tour. I remember being so nervous about being accepted in my husband's group of friends who were all in relationships. I really wanted them to like me, they were all in sororities and I wasn't. I was nervous about whether or not they'd accept me as the new girlfriend. I became giddy when they asked me to sit with them at the flag football game. When the next girlfriend came along, I would immediately ask them over, trying to eliminate as much of that anxiety for them as I could. I was always the girl who said, "you can sit with us!".

 

Moving to a new city and trying to build new friendships has proven to be challenging. I haven't had to sit by and wait to be "asked out" in a long time. All the time I've spent feeding, watering and growing the relationships back home had left me a little lazy. Thinking I should be the one who gets asked out, because you know, I'm me. I've got these amazing friends back home and I don't "need" anyone to ask me to sit next to them because I've got that back home. My puffed up view of myself as being this great friend,YOU should want to get to know ME. I should not have to beg anyone to be MY friend. Well, God has a way of bringing us back to reality as well as softening our hearts. Those moments came to me this past weekend at my church women's retreat in Breckenridge, CO.

 

As I sit around a group of beautiful women before it's my turn to share, I think "well I'm over that whole NEED friends thing". It's my turn and the feelings creep up like a bad habit. I ugly cry describing what it's like being here without friends and family. "Oh Lord, I thought I was over this, now you got me crying like a wimp in front of these people". The word was brought to us from 1 John 1:1-10. The word fellowship comes up and we talk about what it means.

 

 

 

With the most beautiful background, conversation with amazing women and only 24 hours, God renews the little girl in me.The one who reaches out for true fellowship. I can't expect to make lasting connections without making the effort. Sit back and wait to be asked out. Although I have been suppressing it for fear of "coming on too strong", it's really not in my personality to sit on the side lines for friends. I have always been the friend maker and God reminded me that He made me that way for a reason, not everyone is comfortable with doing that. I am an extrovert and it comes in handy for things like moving to a new city. I am so excited to get to know the women of my church and fellowship with them the way Christ intended. I hope you all are having a great week and HAPPY FALL!!!!!!!!!

10 Ways To Curve Your Baby Fever

I mean because let's be real, there is no way to get rid of it. You can decrease it, suppress it, minimize it, but it is almost impossible to be cured of the fever. So I am going to share with you how I plan on curving my baby fever until God gives us the green light. He is doing some amazing things in our lives right now and timing is everything!! So if you are in the same boat as me, planning your next child or preparing to start your family and the timing isn't quite right, here's what I advice you to do!

10. Unfollow anyone on social media that gives you the baby chills.

I can't do it, @jlgarvin is my favorite!!! Besides I'd be following a total of 10 people if I did this. 

9. Think about how much you'll have to worry about what to wear. 

But I did pin some really cute stuff, plus no sucking it in!

8. Ugh and how much work did it take putting together that nursery?

But it was kinda fun! 

7. Take the time to actually fill your calendar with ALL the things you have going on.

Oooo, here's a free day.

6. Plan a vacation or two.

NYC/Chicago/DR/Arkansas

I really am ready to sit down somewhere after our #summerofvacations

5. Think about all those tasty drinks you've been enjoying.

You know honestly, I really didn't miss it all that much the last time. 

4. What about how awful you felt/looked during pregnancy?!

Wait, I was kinda cute wasn't I? :)

3. Oooo, what about how much it sucked to pump at work…..am I right?

Wow, she was 12 months in no time huh?

2. Think about how refreshed you feel right now, after all those hours of sleep last night.

Come to think of it, Noelle did sleep through the night before 4 months old. She was such a good baby!

1. Babies cost sooooo much!!!

I would be willing to not eat out for lunch every single day.



So did this help you? Yeah me neither….
Happy Friday!!!

Date Nights

Our last couple of date nights have been really fun! A couple weeks ago we had a double date with another couple that live in our building. They are really friendly and hanging out with them is always a pleasure.

Football Is Back

With the start of the regular season and my Cowboys playing on prime time tonight I figured I'd post my support for America's team along with some of my wish list items for the season. 

Of course I couldn't leave out Nelly.

All items from fanatics.com

Living and working in Bronco's nation has left me no choice but to purchase Cowboys gear to sport at the hospital.  In addition to wearing my Cowboys zip up, those things include this lanyard and a writing pen, with plans to purchase a drinking cup just to let them know, COWBOYS BABY. They are currently giving away Bronco's shirts at work. I declined the offer, even when asked if I could use it to paint in, negative!

In November we will be headed to Miami to watch my boys whoop up on Tj's team, the Dolphins! 

HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS?!

Elle's 17 & 18 Month Updates

Didn't your Mother ever tell you to be nice to the people who serve you food? Why yes, yes she did! Noelle will get this lesson sooner that later. I have no idea why my child dislikes wait staff so much but she is not into them. I try so hard not to laugh because we know as soon as they come over to greet us, she's going give them a hefty dose of "you can't sit with us" vibes.

We've got ourselves a phone talking, stroller climbing, pretend snapping, dancer on our hands and I can't get over her blooming personality. This is such a fun age!! Along with all this fun definitely comes its frustrations. I never imagined this much discipline would play a roll at this stage. It may sound silly but for whatever reason, I had this idea I wouldn't have to tell her "no" until two years old. Well I could've been more wrong. For awhile there she was hitting herself in the face when she said "no", no clue where she got that from because no one hits her in the face but to date has stopped the violence (towards herself anyway). She tests her limits often, and the test usually comes in the form of a raised hand to me. Listen, we don't play those games and she's starting to get the rules. When I tell her she is not allowed to hit Mama, she will wave her hand in front of my face out of frustration. It is pretty hilarious! It bothers me when adults tell me she is "ok" after I correct her for trying to hit them. No, it's not ok for my child to hit you. She needs to be corrected and failing to do so will have her hitting you when she's five, which won't be so cute then!

She names every part of her face out loud and I will never get sick of hearing "eye-bra" (eyebrow)! Her favorite number is nine and we know this because when we count to ten, after eight she'll scream out NINE!!! Walking backwards is now a pass time and singing along to her favorite songs is always a treat, her current favorite being "if you're happy and you know it", though "itsy bitsy spider" will forever remain her favorite jam. She is FINALLY beginning to fit into toddler sizes which means I can buy her a new wardrobe (and not so much PINK)! It has taken forever to reach the 12 to 18 month clothing and with fall right around the corner, I have already begun gathering the cutest of outfits. Hoping to do a fall shoot soon so stay tuned :)
We have also reached the stage of repeating everything she hears so Mom and Dad are on their best behavior in the vocabulary department. Eating with a spoon is incredibly messy and drinking from a cup comes with lots of clean ups but that's what big girls do so we deal with the mess.
Her imagination never ceases to amaze me, pretending to talk on the phone, "heh-whoa" and drinking tea from her tea set.
She loves dogs though she is still very cautious of them and grocery shopping is definitely one of our favorite times together. I am in awe of watching this girl grow up!

Noelle's 18 Month Photo Shoot

Noelle is a growing faster than a speeding bullet! We cannot believe our sweet sugar plum is a year and a half. She is all kinds of sassy and can definitely sprinkle on the spice when she feels necessary. We were so excited to capture her essence with our friend and photographer Natalie Suner. 

 This has to be my favorite picture! Her eyes are so big and bright, I could stare into them forever. She is wearing one of our favorite new headbands from a really cute Etsy shop SophiaCo. 

Thanks Natalie! We are so excited to work with you again!!!

Date Nights

Date nights!!! I can't tell you how excited they make Tj and I! To get away for a few hours alone hasn't always come so easy to us. We've met some major challenges, including moving across country to a place we know NO ONE. I thought I'd start posting about date night ideas, outfits and some fun make up tips now since we do the damn thang. Excuse the length of this one, they won't all be this long but I promise there are lots of pics to go with!!

 In the last two weeks we've been on three dates, this is certainly not our usual but we could not pass up the fun that was happening here. So how do you start leaving the cutest face you've ever laid eyes on to go on a date with your spouse? I would be lying through my fingers if I told you that it was easy, especially when you don't have family or friends you can trust to watch them. If you are blessed enough to have either or both of those people around, USE THEM! Most of your friends and family would love nothing more than to play and snuggle with your adorable kid. I'm not sure if our values are the same but I strongly believe in putting my marriage extremely high on my list only second to Christ. Your children would love nothing more than to have two parents madly in love! It's not only healthy for the both of you but your family as a whole.

Tj and I really struggled when we first moved to San Diego, Noelle was 5 months old and we knew no one. We thought there was no way we were going to leave our baby with someone we didn't  know. We had a few date nights thanks to our family coming to visit. We probably went out a handful of times for the 5 months we lived there.  When we made the move to Denver and Noelle got a little older we knew something would have to give. Not only did we need to find someone so we could get the heck out of the house but we also needed someone to care for Noelle a couple times a week while I was at work. Daddy day care needed some revising so we had to make a decision. Now it definitely wasn't a popular one by any means, but one we had to pray about and move forward. Care.com. I know there are stories, but we couldn't base the entire website off a couple of stories that we had heard through the great vine. We had also heard of people having some really good experiences using it. All I can say is it worked for us! We found a day time sitter and a date night sitter, both whom Noelle loves.

Ok enough about that, let's talk date night ideas!! Moving to Denver has been one of the best decisions ever in regards to stuff to do. There is NEVER a shortage. Wherever you live, keep you ear to the streets. Find websites, social media pages, anything that keeps you plugged in to what is going on in your surrounding areas. Living in downtown Denver has made this super easy. Our apartment gives out weekly event flyers and we see signs everywhere we drive for fun events coming to Denver. Now dinner and a movie is always a good staple but switch it up!! Do something you've never done together, and it doesn't always have to be at night.

For this date night we found this event called "Denver Cruiser Ride" that happens every week during the summer. They meet at a bar and ride a different route ever week. People soup up their bicycles and go all out, and the best part is there is a theme to accompany each week, the one we attended was freak show. Don't go judging our outfit, we had zero time to pull this together and I was ashamed, so very ashamed, I would have been all over this! The end meeting place is lined with food trucks and live music. It was so much fun and we can't wait to attend another one. Preferably when the theme is "People of Walmart".

By the way we have new friends!!! Natalie and Andy :)

Date night #2 was the Nicki Minaj concert. I am not a huge fan of hers but it was something to do. I ended up being really happy we went, she put on a great show and her opening acts were well known (in the hip hop world) and also put on really entertaining performances.

Date night #3, I was stoked for this one. Though it was just dinner, it was an opportunity that doesn't come around all that often and I am all about opportunities like this one. Dining under the lights was the name of the event. It was on a historical street in downtown Denver where the street is lined with stringing lights. We had never eaten at Ocean Prime and you know I'm always down for some good grub #savagelife!

Here's what I wore.

Top/Jeans/Bag/Shoes

My whole outfit is from H&M and shoes are most similar to the one's I linked. Mine are older but also from Nine West! I was so excited to buy girlfriend jeans, I've been wanting to own a pair and they are super comfortable! Though I didn't take a great picture of my makeup, I did a heavier eye with pale pink lips. 

I have always been a big fan of simple outfits, accessorized with a great bold eye or lip. I am as minimal as they come, though I love to have one thing that pops! I like for my outfit to speak for itself and not be overshadowed by too much jewelry. I only wore small black and gold hoops with this look. You can get a great idea of my style from my Pinterest board here!

I promise I will get better with taking pics of my makeup and giving you the details on what I used. Let me know if you like this post!!