Fried Pink Tomato

Harper's Commercial Debut

2012-02-27T19:31:00.000-05:00

Harper's first commercial was released on national television today. We had friends all across the state call us and tell us they saw it airing on NBC. We haven't seen it on tv yet but I am going to watch NBC until I do! I am so proud and excited for my boys. It was such a great experience and we absolutely loved the client. We just bought our couches from Rooms To Go. And I am obsessed with the "big boy" bedroom that they shot in. I especially love the bunk bed and the guitar lamp. Here is the commercial! Hope you like it.

Accessorize

2012-02-22T02:44:00.001-05:00

I am excited for the spring and I am especially excited to wear bright, fun, and vibrant colors again! An easy way to brighten up any outfit is by adding a great colorful piece of jewelry. What is your favorite piece of jewelry for the spring? Do you know of any good Etsy shops with cute pieces?

Here are a few accessories that I love:

Sea Drop Earrings from Anthropologie

J. Crew Marina Necklace

Stella and Dot Serenity Necklace

Coldwater Creek latticed bead necklace

Enamel And Stone Bamboo Bangle

Dabney Bib Necklace

If you happen to see this post today, there is an INCREDIBLE deal on One Kings Lane!

You can get a Three Designing Women custom stamp for $19. I decided to go with the custom stamp, recipe cards, and stickers. The entire set was only $29. I had planned to purchase a stamp from Office Depot with our new address on it but I am glad I waited. This one is WAY cuter and cheaper! The sale ends today.

I'm Not a Fan of Secrets

2012-02-21T01:44:00.001-05:00

I want to start off by thanking Megan for doing such an incredible guest post last week! Unfortunately I have been all over the Southeast for the past week and did not have a chance to blog.

It has been a crazy few weeks around here. Last week we were in Greensboro, Charlotte, Atlanta, Greenville, and Charleston. Crazy/busy schedule! We have two huge opportunities on the table and we are praying one will come through. The waiting game stinks. I want to know! And I want so badly to tell everyone about them but we are under confidentiality agreements so our lips are sealed. I promise as soon as I can share, I will. Please keep us in your prayers. They would be a HUGE blessing!

We went to Charleston last week and did a mini shoot with Josh Norris. The photos were phenomenal, as always. Josh has such a gift. Check out his website here.

Here are a few photos from the shoot:

SO much FUN!

And I want to give a HUGE CONGRATS to our friend, Canaan! He just launched his first music video. And I love it. They did such an incredible job and it is so cool to see his dreams come true in front of our eyes. Trust me, you will love him! Watch the video ;)

What do you guys think? Don't you just love Josh's work and Canaan's video? I am so blessed to have such gifted friends!

What's the Dill, Pickle?

2012-02-20T16:46:00.002-05:00

I was on a Pinterest kick yesterday. Between outfit ideas, room designs, craft projects and recipes, Pinterst could keep me busy for years. I decided to dabble in a bit of everything. One recipe I have been eyeing for months is from the "One Perfect Bite" blog. It is a recipe for refrigerator dill pickles that originated from Bobby Flay. Growing up, I was spoiled with my Nana's homemade pickles, applesauce, jam... you name it! I always wanted to make my own but I never got around to it. I decided to give it a shot.

The recipe is very simple to follow! The only trouble I came across was locating dill seeds. Publix did not have them. So I substituted the seeds with dill weed. And honestly, I wonder if it was a typo on the original recipe? Any one out there ever purchased dill seeds? If so, where did you find them?

One more thing, if you are not very familiar with different types of cucumbers, I learned "kirby cucumbers" are the small ones at Publix that are labeled "salad cucumbers." They are a short, versatile cucumber that is used for both slicing and pickling. It's small, with bumpy yellow or green skin.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
1/4 to 1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
3/4 teaspoon dill seeds
2 cups hot water
2 pounds kirby cucumbers, sliced 1/4-inch thick
3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh dill
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1) Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, coriander seeds and dill seeds in a heatproof bowl. Add hot water and stir until sugar dissolves and liquid is clear. Cool to room temperature.

2) Place cucumbers, garlic and dill in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Pour brine over all and turn to coat cucumbers. Cover them with a plate to weigh them down and keep them covered in brine. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, stirring once or twice. Transfer to an airtight container and store for up to two weeks. Yield: 1 quart.

I made enough for three small Ball jars. YUMMY! They are awesome. It is a very similar flavor to the store bought dill pickles but they taste super fresh. I would highly recommend this recipe and my hubby agrees. These pickles will last in the refrigerator for about two weeks. Make a batch and give some to friends! Enjoy

Style Me Swanky

2012-02-07T21:18:00.001-05:00

Hi dolls!

It's Megan from Style Me Swanky.

I'm a recently engaged South Carolinian - currently living in (what I think is) one of the most gorgeous cities in the world, Charleston, SC.

When I'm not busy planning my wedding (i.e. pinning away all day!), I work in development for the Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital. We plan fundraisers; get to see our efforts thrive -so amazing!

Jaime is so sweet to have me for a visit at her adorable blog today.

She and I were talking about how we both have a bad case of spring fever ...and boy, do I have it bad.

Every year, once the holidays have wrapped up, I get the same old urge for summertime. It's my favorite time of the year -salty air, sunkissed skin, margaritas, breezy boat rides, the smell of burgers on the grill and the songs of Jimmy Buffet coming through the speakers. It's what I live for all year long.

Lucky for us South Carolina gals, we've had 70 and even 80 degree weather recently. (Not much of a winter!) I'm counting on some boat days soon!

via pinterest

Until then, I'm gathering inspiration through clean lines & bright colors, for both my wardrobe and for the home.

We all know that neons are back in a big way. Don't be afraid of these highlighter shades! There are more discreet ways to sport your bright colors, like on the sole of your heels or in your accessories.

1//2//3

I'm craving pops of color; cannot get enough of this cinnabar-colored bag.

Kate Spade Leslie Convertible Shoulder Bag

I have a newfound appreciation for white simplicity. These Lilly shorts are ultra feminine; a must for my closet.

Lilly Pulitzer Buttercup Shorts

Jewel tones are transitioning into spring, but in a softer way.

(Pair turquoise and purple together for extra points!)

statement necklaces in bold, bright colors....

Kendra Scott Harlow Necklace

...and finally, my most coveted item for spring:

Christian Louboutin Patent Rolando

I always say it's better to have quality over quantity, after all!

What are you dying to add to your spring wardrobe?

Tell me, tell me!

So nice to chat with you, darlings!!

Come visit me at Style Me Swanky.

Xo.

Interior Design Trends of 2012

2012-02-02T12:17:00.000-05:00

A big thank you to Christina Johnson for offering to be a guest blogger today! She shared an awesome article about interior design trends of 2012.

The year 2012 in interior design is going to be an exciting one, filled with remodels of all kinds, and uprooting tradition in lieu of progressive coloration and modern design.

In terms of colors, 2012 is all about looking towards bold colors that we normally would not associate with: oranges, greens, cyans, and yes, even neon colors like highlight yellow, fuchsia, turquoise, and lime green. Since these powerful colors will draw the eye, these intense shades should be carefully balanced out with neutral colors, lending a calm yet energetic feel to interiors. Using neutral shades like white, beige, and gray will visually soften the impact of the bold colors. Playing around with the colors to find something that works for you will ensure that you have a truly unique home. An idea to try would be soft gray walls combined with bright cobalt blue sofa covers. Or, conversely, try painting the walls yellow and balance it out with soft white furniture and rugs.

Thinking outside of the box in 2012 is the way to go. Mixing styles is a way to create and entirely new style that will make your home one of a kind. For example, take a minimalist atmosphere to your living room, but use accent furniture elements, such as an art deco armchair in a bright color.

Another trend in interior design will hopefully be one that will stick around for a long time: purchasing furniture and decor that has been made exclusively in America. After over three decades of sending our manufacturing overseas to lower cost, we have come to realize that this not only harms our own economy, but is not the best conditions for workers overseas as well. People are finding courage that returning to our American roots will strengthen our own economy once more. Look for companies who proudly display a "Made in America" tag, and avoid all those "Made in China" or anywhere in Southeast Asia. American companies pride themselves on quality, and these pieces are sure to last.

2012 will be sure to advocate for greener design - this calls for energy sustainability and technological innovations to support this. Look for window treatments that will help you save money (and energy) on heating and cooling costs. Window curtains from Creation Baumann actually have now produced a polyester that looks like the finest silk, which means that indoor air quality does not have to be compromised (these are easily washed), and minimized manufacturing waste means a cleaner, greener planet.

2012 is sure to herald in many new exciting design trends that will not only improve the look of our home, but work towards improving the health of our home, and the health of our planet. Keep these things in mind as you look to redesign your house and switch your decor style.

Christina Johnson who works remotely for Elliman Prudential in the NYC Rentals market. She is using her journalism major to combine what she loves most, writing and her career. Her specialties include home decor design and DIY home improvement projects.

I personally love the "Made in America" trend. We bought several pieces of furniture for our bedroom from Stanley furniture. They are all made here in America. They were more expensive but the quality of furniture is so much better than the rest of the furniture in our house. I wish the government would lower corporate taxes so more companies would come back to America.

I think I like the idea of a pop of color on one piece of furniture. I couldn't do the bold orange room but a bold orange chair would be fabulous!

What new style trends do you love?

PERFECT Spring Nails

2012-02-01T12:52:00.000-05:00

I love painting my nails bright spring colors! I came across the cutest nail design ideas on the blog, Cupcakes and Cashmere. Check out the post here. Emily gives a great "how-to" decorate your nails like the picture below:

Don't you just love it! She started painting her ring finger with glitter when she got engaged. What a fun idea! Now I know what you are wondering, "what do you need to create this look? " Here is a list of the colors she used:

Essie "Tart Deco"
Sally Hansen "light pink" nail art pen
Martha Stewart "sterling" glitter
Revlon clear nail polish

If you check out her post she gives a great step-by-step tutorial on how she got that look. That just made me think of the old Television show, "Step by Step." Did any of you all watch that show? I used to love it. Haha.

Be Our Guest Pears

2012-01-31T23:37:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for the sweet comments on our guest room! I love it too. I can't wait to completely finish it. But honestly, I already smily every time I walk in there. It is so refreshing when a project starts to come together. I had a TON of people ask where I purchased the "Be Our Guest" pears. They are my favorite fun decorative piece in the whole room. And for $24.00 they were an ABSOLUTE STEAL.

You can find them in the SkyeArt shop on Etsy. They come in a green or cream color. And you can get them with all sorts of sayings. I had Amy (the owner of the shop) specially make these little guys for me. I wanted them to say something that welcomed our guests. Thanks to Beauty and the Beast, I came up with, "Be Our Guest."

She also sells these adorable birds. I want to get some for our master bedroom.

And if you are a Beatle's fan, you will love this:

So go check out her Etsy page here! And tell me what you think. She can do custom sayings on them too! Serious bargain. I LOVE ETSY!

Guest Room Makeover

2012-01-31T13:59:00.002-05:00

Last week we started our guest room makeover. Before the room was VERY BLAND. It consisted of the mattress and box spring on the floor and absolutely no furniture. I had adorable Lilly Bedding but it was very girly. So we started a new project. Project: Spruce up the guest bedroom.

So far, so good! I love the color palette we decided on. Erik came up with the idea of incorporating Navy. I decided to go with Navy and green. The rest is history.

In one week we changed out the light fixture, purchased and built all of the furniture, built a shelf, painted the shelf, and threw some decorations together. Let's be honest... my dad and Erik did all of the putting together, I directed and decorated. Hehehe!

We still have several other things to do. We have to pick out a photo to enlarge for the big frame on the shelf. We have to get a little table of some sort to put in front of the bed with a television on it. And I am thinking about putting together a gallery wall with friends and family photos. And I am waiting on shams that match the duvet. I also want to switch out the door knob and make it pewter to match the chandelier.

Here are photos to show our progress:

This is where I need your help. The picture below is the section of the room that I want to add something to. Should I do a gallery wall? Do you think it would be too much in such a simple room? I just love the idea of having photos of all of our friends and family in this room so when they come to visit they can reminisce about all of the fun we had together. If I do a gallery wall do you think I should do all of the same frames? Mix it up? Do canvases and no frames? Maybe incorporate some prints and art work? Or leave it simple? Any comments are MUCH APPRECIATED!!

Pinterest Makes Me Feel....

2012-01-30T19:46:00.003-05:00

Let's be honest. Pinterest makes me feel inadequate. The houses and decor are so perfect. The craft projects are so creative. The outfits are so well put together. How can I possible live up to my pins?

I've concluded... I can't. Until I win the lottery and have beaucoup of money, it is nearly impossible to live out my wildest pin dreams. So in the meantime there is IKEA! We made a last minute late night trip to Ikea last week and started picking out furniture and decor for the guest room. It is so affordable! The only problem is that is makes me want to sell everything I own and start all over. I use to have a more traditional taste. I loved old antique furniture and anything shabby chic. But now I lean towards a modern feel. Much more clean and simplistic. I like chevron, quatrefoil, and creek key patterns.I like organized, new, and shiny.

Harper's nursery was the first room in the new house to receive a makeover. I love the way it turned out! You can check it out here.

Next up, our guest room. And we did quite a bit of work last week. I was going to take photos of the progress but my new pillows came in so I decided to wait and take some pictures when I buy inserts tomorrow. So far, I love it. And it has been fairly inexpensive. I took several concepts I saw on Pinterest then found the cheap way to copy them.

Here are 5 ideas that I loved and tried to use as inspiration for our room:

I love these colors together. Navy blue and as I call it "preppy green" are such a great color combination. I didn't want a ton of color in this room because I was going for a very calm and comfortable feel but I wanted enough color that it doesn't seem boring.

I love the shelf over the bed. Actually I am obsessed with the idea. It is so much easier to lean photos against a shelf rather than to try to hang them up in a perfect arrangement.

I love this bed spread and sheet set. I love the linen color. It looks nice and cozy. It works perfectly with the color combination I had in mind.

I love this cream headboard and white side tables. They look great together and this room loves very warm and inviting. Exactly the feel I want for my guest room.

I love the idea of having a little "guest basket" somewhere in the room. It is so nice to have a few chocolates and waters sitting out when your guests arrive. It makes them feel like they are in a hotel. Hotel Huffman! haha.

We still have more work to do but I am excited to share the progress with you. It is already a huge improvement.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2012-01-29T23:23:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend. On most weekends we have a LONG to-do list. We rarely relax. This weekend was refreshing. On Saturday we slept in, even Harper! We took Harper to visit Mimi and Papi's house and left him there for the afternoon. Erik and I went shopping at Trader Joe's (and that is a FUN chore, I am in love with that place) and went home and watched a bit of the Senior Bowl.

Then we met back up with Harper and the Huffman's at California Dreaming. It was delicious. It was nice having an entire day without a set agenda!

Today we met up with Brooke and Brice. It was so good to see the sweet engaged couple. Then Harper had a play date with his beautiful buddy, Saylor. Isn't Saylor the cutest name for a little girl!? I just love it. She is a doll and is so good with Harper. She would hold his hand and walk him around the park. Harper was overwhelmed with excitement. He wanted to run around like a crazy man. He managed to climb up the stairs and cross the bridge on the playground all by himself. I was impressed yet scared to death. The kid has no fear!

After the park we headed straight to a birthday celebration. Our friend Octavious has two gorgeous twin daughters. They turned two today! They are identical and I really couldn't tell them apart. We had such a good time. I think Harper loves to be around children, especially kids that are older than him. Here are some photos:

Overall, it was a very successful weekend! It is nice to have some time to just enjoy ourselves. But next weekend, I am determined to finish some of my projects. Our guest room is very close to being complete. I will share some photos tomorrow! I love it so far.

Capital One Bowl

2012-01-29T01:55:00.000-05:00

Erik and I made it to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida. As soon as we heard the Gamecocks were playing in Orlando, we knew we wanted to make the trip. We went back and forth trying to decide if it was really feasible. In the end, we decided we couldn't miss out on such a fun opportunity. Mimi, Papi, and Jenna offered to watch Harper for the long weekend. I was sad to leave him but I know he had a blast and he was spoiled rotten while we were gone.

We are so glad we made the trip. The Gamecocks won and it was one heck of a game. We had such a fun time. We met up with some of our good friends and ended up tailgating with some complete strangers after the game. The strangers were Carolina fans and showed us true southern hospitality when they offered us Crown & Coke and lots of snacks.

After the tailgate we met up with a bunch of USC alumni at the Renaissance hotel. And we had a wonderful dinner with the Elmores. Overall, it was a great day to be a Gamecock.

And if you love Erik's shirt, it is from Southern Tide. They started making collegiate polos. They have Carolina, Clemson, and Alabama ones! Check them out here! This is Erik's new favorite polo!

With USC quarterback, Connor Shaw.

New Year's Weekend

2012-01-28T01:19:00.000-05:00

Obviously the post is a little late but I wanted to put up some pictures from our fun weekend in Orlando. We spent a few days in Florida over the New Year's Eve weekend. And yes, we made it to DISNEY WORLD. I actually felt a little guilty because we didn't take Harper with us. I was advised by several mamas to wait a little while longer until I bring him with us. I was beyond surprised by the large amount of babies I saw at the theme parks that day! We even saw a few newborns. It made me miss my little munchkin.

We happened to go on a VERY CHILLY day. I didn't realize it got down in the 40's in Orlando but it does and it did on the day we decided to park hopping. The great thing about cold weather in Orlando, apparently it keeps more people out of the parks. We didn't have to wait in line at all! We could walk right on to any and every ride. So we were able to try them all out and it was worth dealing with the cold.

We started off at Animal Kingdom. I grew up in Florida but never made it to Animal Kingdom... we always ended up at Magic Kingdom, Universal, or Busch Gardens. I am so glad we decided to go. It was INCREDIBLE. We really had the best time. There were a ton of great shows, fun rides, and even one awesome roller-coaster "Everest."

One of my favorite attractions was the safari ride. Here are a few photos from the adventure:

Then we headed to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is my absolute favorite! It was still FREEZING when we arrived but once again... NO LINES! Yes, we even managed to go on Splash Mountain when it was 42 degrees outside. Not the smartest idea but I couldn't go to Disney and not ride Splash Mountain. So I persuaded Erik to go with me and we had a log all to ourselves. We got splashed but it wasn't too bad and I think it was worth it. The people that worked at Disney thought we were crazy! Erik had a photo shoot in Greenville the next day. He was a little stressed because he didn't have a chance to get his hair trimmed before we left for our trip. We would have never guessed that Disney has a barber shop! But we spotted it right when we walked in the park so Erik went in and got a nice trim!

We ended the night with Space Mountain, hot chocolate, and cinnamon buns. It was just as magical as it was when I was 10 years old. I can't wait to take Harper one day!

It was a Very Merry Christmas (only a month late!)

2012-01-26T03:18:00.000-05:00

December went by so fast! And now it is almost February. I think time goes by twice as fast when you have a baby. I never attempted to blog the week of Christmas. I just uploaded a ton of photos off of my camera and decided to go ahead and post some from the holidays.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We slept in... even Harper! We had so much fun watching Harper open up his gifts from Santa. After we showed him how to unwrap one gift, he helped unwrap the rest! It was adorable. And every time we pulled a gift out of the paper he would chuckle. It was one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed. We got it all on video, I am going to have to share that this week!

Erik's parents came over and had an early Christmas dinner with us. We had a wonderful time. Then we headed to my parents house and had another Christmas meal. The food was so incredible that we managed clear our plates twice!

Here are a few photos from the day. Harper seemed to love all of his gifts. And boy was he spoiled. One of his favorite gifts was the Rock n' Roll Elmo. He still plays with it on a daily basis.

Our tree. It has such a pretty shape it almost looks fake!

His new Pottery Barn chair and doggy puppet.

With "Mimi and Papi"

He just started feeding himself with the fork recently...talk about a mess!

Loves to sing and play the keyboard with Elmo!

He always gives me sweet kisses. Love that baby boy!

These were the overflow of presents from his stocking from Santa.

Not Trying to Cause a Fight but....

2012-01-25T15:16:00.001-05:00

I saw this and thought I should share. These statistics are SCARY! And I think it is important that we start focusing on improving our country's economy during this election and focus less on the "social issues." Honestly I think most social issues should be voted on at a state level anyway. If I can't spend more than I make, then the government shouldn't be able to either.

What are your thoughts? I think this chart is a great piece to share on Facebook. Feel free to save it and share it if you like.

Guest Room Makeover

2012-01-16T12:17:00.000-05:00

I love the feeling when you finish decorating a room in the house. Right now our home is pretty plain. It is sill beautiful and I love it but I want to add my own personal touch to each room. Harper's nursery is almost perfect. Every time I walk in there it makes me happy. It is so soft, soothing, and adorable. Now that it is done it is time to move on to the next room. Originally I wanted to do our master bedroom first. But it is going to take the most mula. So I decided to go with the guest bedroom instead. Since we are on a tight budget I am going to try some DIY projects and shop at IKEA for most of the furniture.

In our last home I had the guest room decorated with a "shabby chic" look. I bought old antique furniture and sanded them, painted them, and distressed them. It looked incredible. But I decided to sell all of the furniture on Craigslist. It all sold in less than a week! And now I am left with just a mattress and box spring and a white room.

Last night I spent a few hours on Pinterest coming up with ideas. Here are a few of my favorite room ideas:

As you can see, I am all over the place. Which one do you like the best? What color scheme do you think works best in a guest bedroom?

Holiday Traditions

2012-01-08T12:25:00.000-05:00

I browsed through my photos on my laptop and noticed how many important blogs I skipped over during the holiday season. Recently I started to feel like I don't have time for anything. And I am pretty sure most mother's feel the same way. Being a mom is incredibly challenging and I feel like you constantly have to figure out how to balance your life and your time. I am still learning this balancing act! Do any of you all have any tips or pointers? How do you have time for cleaning, cooking, working, your hubby, your baby, and even yourself? I think I need to start waking up SUPER early. But I am not a morning person, never have been and never will be. So I am sure my husband is totally down with my idea of waking up early... as long as he doesn't have to be around me! Haha!

I want more time to work out, read the Bible, have a girl's night, pull Harper around the block in his wagon.... yes it looks like a 5AM wake-up time might be inevitable.

One thing I really missed out on this holiday season was time for traditions. We really wanted to make our way to the NC Mountains and cut down a tree like we did last year. It did not work with our schedule so we ended up going somewhere local, which was still fantastic but I want to start traditions that we do with Harper each and every year.

What are your favorite holiday traditions? Which ones do your kids seem to enjoy the most? One thing we managed to do this year was bake Christmas cookies! I am so grateful that the Boland gang invited us over to bake with them. The babies had a blast and made a complete mess. By the end of the day they were down to their diapers because their clothes were covered in red and green icing.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Curious George First Birthday Party

2012-01-07T23:50:00.000-05:00

I was looking through my blog and I realized I never did a full recap of Harper's first birthday. It was on September 18, 2011 and we had an absolute blast! We had a Curious George theme. I need to find his invitation and take a picture to show you all! I designed his invite in Illustrator and then I made the envelopes with my Cricut Machine out of old vintage Curious George books. I even found Curious George stamps on Ebay! Cute, Cute, Cute!!!

My sweet friends came in town for the day and they were a HUGE help! Thank you Cissy, Brooke, Marisa, and Bri for all of your help! And Kent and Brice too... they were quite the little helpers!!!

Here are some photos from the big day:

At the last minute we decided to get a bounce house. I am so glad we decided to go that route. All of the kids loved it and it kept them occupied for hours. Even our dog Fender loved the bounce house! He literally ran up the ramp then started running around inside the bounce house with all of the kids. We decided to buy Harper a swing set for his first Birthday present. It was a hit too!

Harper absolutely loves going on the swing but it seems to put him right asleep. He passed out within a few minutes on the swing. It was so cute.

And then there was cake! We decided to get a chocolate miniature cake for Harper to destroy. He took it out. That cake had NO CHANCE!

Crazy Beautiful Life

2012-01-07T17:27:00.001-05:00

How many mom's wonder on a daily basis how other mothers do it? Sometimes I feel like I am a complete train wreck in comparison to the "super-mom's" out there. Then I had an epiphany. Someone asked me, "How are you so well put together all of the time?" HA! But they were not joking. Apparently when some people read my blog and check out my Facebook I trick them into believing that my life is organized and perfect. Man did I fool you guys. It is not. Not even close! I can't complain because I am beyond blessed but we are not living this fairy tale life...

Erik and I both work and work hard! Both of our jobs require extensive traveling. So we are constantly on the GO! If our house is clean and organized it is because it has been a week since we have been home. For the most part, my monkey destroys the house. His favorite activity is standing at the top of the staircase in front of the safety gate and chucking all of his toys over the gate and down the stairs. Crap everywhere.

Yes, I will admit, our jobs are pretty darn cool. But they can still be very stressful like every other profession. When people hear that Erik models they tend to be envious but let me tell you there is a whole lot more to modeling then standing there and looking pretty. Erik constantly watches what he eats. We go out to dinner and I always order a steak and pototo. Erik orders salad and chicken. The food runner always gives me Erik's meal first... yes my husband has to eat like a woman! Not to mention he is on a strict work out regimen. He has to deal with rejection on an every day basis. Can you imagine going to castings where you are up against 20 other highly attractive people? And when you don't get booked they don't give you an explanation. You just have to wonder, "Why didn't they pick me?" I couldn't do it. When Erik lived in NYC and modeled full-time with FORD I would get pissed. In my mind, he should get every job. And when he didn't I would wonder why. He was used to it but it bugged me every time. Not to mention he has a "real job" too and he is taking a full load of classes. His life is insane...far from "perfect."

We all know the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side." I am convinced it is true. We all struggle in our own lives. Some people are just better at hiding it than others.

Here are a few more photos from Pasha's shoot! This guy has MAD photo skills!

Oh Christmas Tree!

2011-12-22T02:26:00.002-05:00

Last week (yes we are VERY behind) we finally went and got a Christmas tree. We wanted to go up to North Carolina and cut one down but we were pressed for time so we decided to go somewhere local. We found a cute tree farm in Greenville called Elves Christmas Tree Farm. It was great! We normally buy a Fraser Fir and they had some available that were pre-cut but we decided we wanted to cut our own and go with a local type of tree. We ended up with a Leyland Cypress. It has a beautiful shape! We really love it. I highly recommend checking out Elves Christmas Tree Farm if you live in the Upstate! It is fun to enjoy in the old Christmas tradition of choosing your own Christmas Tree in the field. They always offer FREE Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Candy Canes and free hay rides are on the weekends.

Here are a few photos from our adventure. It was such a gorgeous place, next year I want to do folks family photos at the tree farm!

Canaan Smith's "We Got Us"

2011-12-20T12:45:00.001-05:00

I just downloaded in awesome new song off iTunes! It is by an incredibly talented friend of our's, Canaan Smith. Erik and I became friend's with Canaan years ago when we lived in Nashville, TN. He is one of those great guys that you really want to see succeed. He has already had a very successful song writing career. He wrote, "Runaway" by Love and Theft.

He has opened up for several great musicians including Vince Gill, Dierks Bentley, Darius Rucker, Corey Smith, Gavin DeGraw, and LeAnn Rimes.

Check out Canaan's new single on iTunes HERE! Buy it, listen to it, love it!

Here is my song review:
It rocks.

Harper and Canaan.

Fun Giveaway

2011-12-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

Beautie & The Belle is hosting an awesome giveaway. It is hosted by Marley Lilly. Marley Lilly has awesome monogramming and personalization gifts. Here are a few of my favorite things on their website.

Beautie & the Belle is giving away a monogrammed scarf. It is so cute. Check it out here!

Christmas Family Photos

2011-12-18T15:33:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, Pasha Belman Photography had a family photo contest. The winner received a free session with Pasha and a disc with all of the images. Our family won! Thanks for all of your help. We really appreciate it. The photos are incredible.

I have followed Pasha on Facebook for quite a while and I absolutely love his work. His lighting is very unique and his beautiful wife helps with the artistic direction of his shoots and she is very talented! Check out his incredible work here!

Here are a few of the photos from the shoot! You can see the photos better is you click on them.

There are actually a ton of other pictures I love from this shoot. I will try to share more this week. In the meantime I am off to watch some football. I am very disappointed with the Bills performance for the second half of the season. I am personally not a huge fan of Fitzpatrick. And I really hope we go for a solid QB in the next draft but knowing our draft selection we will probably have horrible picks. It is rough being a Bills fan! Ha!

Harper's Little Man Nursery!

2011-12-14T13:36:00.004-05:00

I am a delinquent mama. We moved several months ago and I never posted photos of Harper's new nursery. We call this room his "little man room" because we decided to go more classic and less baby. He was already 6 months old when we moved so it didn't make sense to me to do another themed nursery. I wanted something that he could grow with. Harper's sweet Nana gave him a giant giraffe for Christmas and it is the perfect final touch for his room. I still have a few more crafty projects up my sleeve for fun decorative pieces that I want to put on his bookshelf but I think it is pretty much as close to finished as it will ever be. It could be years before I have time to do daily craft projects again!

The crib is by Baby's Dream and it is the Legendary Safety-gate Crib is espresso.
The wall decal is by Back-40-Life. It is a wonderful Etsy shop with lots of fun decorative decals. The family that owns the shop is actually local. They are from Greenville, SC!
The bedding is "Master Blue" by Hoohobbers. We love the pale green, blue, and beige combo.
And we have a sleep sheep on his crib. I recommend this for every expecting mother. Harper still loves it every night. It is a cuddly plush toy that provides soothing sounds to help your baby sleep. We got the travel version because we are always on the road.

The glider is by a company called, "Four Seasons." The green fabric was a perfect match so I was thrilled! And it is a slipcover. So if Harper decides he hates green one day, I can just change the cover and not have to worry about buying a brand new chair!
Our sweet friend, "MiMi" made the window treatments for Harper's room. It was such a gracious gift. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mimi! I had a hard time finding pre-made boy valances. All of the cute ones were so girly. These couldn't be more perfect.
And I found the cute little owls at West Elm. They reminded me of Jonathan Adler without the huge price tag!

I love the blue stripes on the one wall. We decided to do just one wall so it wasn't overwhelming. We used a metallic paint so it has a nice shine to it in the light!
I found all of my artwork in the nursery on Etsy. It saved me HUNDREDS of dollars! Expecting mom's look here FIRST. Trust me. All of the Etsy artists custom do the colors to match your room perfectly. The "Little Man" print was found here. And the fox and owl print was found here.
My mom bought the giant giraffe from Imagination Station in downtown Spartanburg. It is the perfect addition to the room and Harper LOVES it!
I found my piggy bank and frames that are on the book shelf at TJ Maxx Home. They were CHEAP! I think the bank was $12.99 and the frames were all less than $8.
I bought the scripture that is above Harper's closet from Back-40-Life too! It was about $12.

The changing table is the matching dresser from Baby's Dream.
I got a matching Hoohobbers hamper and had it monogrammed with "Clothes" & "Towels"
Bird Ave. did his "Oh Baby" print. It is actually a little paler in real life. He matched the colors PERFECTLY for the nursery! Check him out here. All of his prints are adorable!
And the little animal watercolor illustrations were found here. I had them matted with a burlap and pale green matte.

And this is the last little nook of Harper's room. It is actually right when you walk in his door.
I bought the white cube shelving system at Target.
I bought the prints at this Etsy store! They CRACK me up!
I bought the plastic container at Pottery Barn Kids outlet and the finger puppets inside at IKEA.
The giraffe frame was hand painted by an incredible artist!
The lion toy on the shelf is made of cordorouy. I LOVE IT! And it is sooo soft. We bought it at Imagination Station too!
I found the airplane globe at TJ Maxx Home.

I hope you all like Harper's room! It is my current favorite room in the house. Next up, the master bedroom!

Montana Mixtape Project

2011-11-18T12:05:00.001-05:00

Now and days, it is hard to find time to take a minute and do something entirely selfless. Awhile back Erik and I entered a wedding contest where we needed people to vote to help us win the wedding of our dreams. We had so many friends, family, and COMPLETE STRANGERS that took the time to vote for us day in and day out. We also had a few "so-called friends" that deliberately tried not to help us out (I will go into that another day.) But it was an incredible feeling to know that people were willing to take a moment out of their day to help us out! And we are forever grateful to those who took their time to make our dream a reality.

My friend Hope is a part of a duo, "Me and Mr. Cassidy." They are brilliant musicians and it is their dream to make it in the crazy music industry. They need a little help starting up. They just entered a contest that could give them an incredible amount of exposure if they win.

The Billings Newspaper in Montana releases a free downloadable CD through the paper for everyone around the holidays. It is called the "Montana Mixtape Project." They choose 10 songs from Montana based artists based on online votes.

"Me and Mr Cassidy" is one of the bands trying to get a spot on the CD. Scott {Mr. Cassidy} and his family hail from Billings, MT.

People from all over are able to quickly register and vote once a day (everyday until the contest ends.)

If you have a moment please check out their song, "Keep Me Awake." The album from beginning to end tell a story. It tells a tale of love from childhood to death with a sentimental beauty. It is appropriate for all ages and an amazing gift for loved ones to share. I think you all will LOVE IT!

Please, Please, Please take a moment to vote for their song and help make their dreams some true! It will only take a minute and it really could make such a difference in their lives.

Here is the link to vote:
http://billingsgazette.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=40768#SubmissionDisplay

If you are interested in hearing more about it, or more about "Me and Mr. Cassidy", continue on to their website, or feel free to contact them at MeandMrCassidy@gmail.com.

In addition, If you would like to hear the entire album ( FOR FREE! ) it is streaming live at : http://meandmrcassidy.bandcamp.com/

You can follow this incredible duo on Twitter at: @MeandmrCassidy
You can "Like" them on Facebook at : http://www.facebook.com/MeandMrCassidy

Shopping Spree!

2011-11-15T22:53:00.000-05:00

Do you have a ton of clothes in your closet that you haven't worn in years or even have the tags still on them? Do you have great shoes and accessories that you would love to sell? Wanting to remodel your house but still need to sell your old furniture first?

I personally have a ton of stuff that is in PERFECT condition. Too nice to give away but I never seem to wear them myself. I wanted to bring them to a consignment store but by the time you take them to the store, wait for them to sell and then the store takes a large percentage... it is not really worth it. I have seen consignment pages on Facebook and thought the idea was brilliant. The only problem I have with the current pages is that they are usually very specific with the brands and items you can sell. I have some awesome shoes/clothes/furniture that aren't necessarily covered in the approved brand list. I wanted a page with no rules, no regulations, and one that is absolutely free.

I came up with the page, Carolina Consignment. All you have to do is "like" the page. Then take a photo of the item you want to sell and post it on the wall. Include the price, condition, contact information and size. Then if someone wants to purchase this item from you they can send you a message! It is that easy.

I recommend buying the items though your Paypal account.

Check out the page HERE! If you have any items you want to get rid of, feel free to post them. And shop away. I have a feeling it will take a few months to get enough followers, shoppers, and sellers before it becomes a booming market place. But, I think it could be a great way to clean out our closets and find awesome bargains. And by viewing it on Facebook it removes the sketchiness of Craigslist.

What do you think!? I just added some adorable shoes in sizes 7.5, 8, and 9. And Marisa put up an awesome pair of Versace sunglasses!

Happy Shopping!

Our Little Road Warrior

2011-11-14T12:02:00.001-05:00

For the past several days, the Huffman Family has been on the road! Our first stop was Atlanta, GA then we headed to Louisville, KY and now we are in Nashville, TN. So far, so good!

Harper is our little road warrior. He gets a little irritated in the car sometimes but for the most part he is a great little traveler.

Yesterday we had a wonderful time with the Jenkin's Family. We have missed them so much since we moved away. Their sweet daughter Ella and Harper just love each other. It is so fun to watch them play together. Maybe one day they will date!? hehe

Yesterday I spent about 30 minutes taking photos of the babies and I snapped a few of the Jenkins while we were in Leiper's Fork. The photos turned out great. Here are a few:

Hope you all have a fantastic Monday!!

THIS is SERIOUS!

2011-11-08T12:58:00.000-05:00

I just stumbled across a great deal on Southernsavers! Sign up for Hautelook HERE!

HauteLook is a premier members-only site that offers private, limited-time sale events on the world's best brands. Each day, members receive an email invitation to the newest, most exclusive sale events on the best merchandise for men, women, kids, home and beauty - at prices up to 75% off retail. HauteLook is free to join and everyone is welcome - there are no commitments or charges for membership.

They have TONS of incredible sales and right now I am in LOVE with their Michael Stars sale! You can get a signature long sleeve henley (normally $42.00) for $17!

A long sleeve scoop henley dress (normally $88) for $35!

Or a cashmere cardigan (normally $285) for $89!

And to make it even more sweet!!! You can sign up for HERE to buy a $50 gift certificate to Hautelook for $25!! You can really rack up here. And if you use the PROMO CODE- fabulous you will get an extra 10% off. So I just bought a $50 gift card for $22.50!

I WANT it all!

2011-11-08T10:23:00.002-05:00

On Zulily this morning I noticed they had some of my favorite brands for sale! I had to share. These are GREAT deals for ADORABLE outfits. If I had a little girl, I am certain I would be broke.

Mud Pie (I am OBSESSED with their clothes and accessories!) These are a few of my favorites but there are plenty more!

ONLY $11.99 (normally $28)

(ONLY $13.99, normally $31)

(only $12.99, normally $30)

(ONLY $17.99, normally $43)

(ONLY $12.99, normally $30)

(ONLY $17.99, normally $42)

And they MOMO Baby shoes on sale for $9.99!

This is a great price, they are normally $17. Harper only wears these type of shoes because his little feet are so fat!

(These are on sale for $13.99! CUTE!)

And they have the cutest MeMoi tights on sale starting at $9.99:

If you haven't already signed up for Zulily, sign up HERE! They have awesome deals on women's clothing, shoes, accessories and everything you can imagine for kids!

For an extra 10% off $30 or more, use PROMO CODE- BRADSZUDEAL11

Good Bloggers Needed! HELP!

2011-11-07T22:29:00.000-05:00

Now that I am back blogging, I need your help! Which blogs should I read? I feel like I am so out of touch with the blogger world and I have no idea who is still blogging, what new blogs are around, and what blogs I need to add to my blog roll. I would LOVE to update my blog roll so if you are a reader and you would like me to add your blog to my sidebar, PLEASE COMMENT and let me know.

I also want a blog design UPDATE. Sweet Harper is running now so the illustration of him wrapped in a blanket is sweet but completely not relevant. It should be a photo of him swinging from a chandelier or wreaking havoc on my home. Who did your blog design? Do you have anyone you would suggest (that is not too expensive!)

All your input is much appreciated. I can't wait to start following your blogs!

And of course, I will leave you with a photo of my sweet boys:

My Hubby-The Musician

2011-11-07T16:45:00.001-05:00

Now that we are back in South Carolina, Erik doesn't get to play music quite as much as he use to. He is an extremely talented musician. I miss going to all of his Florez shows! He can play bass guitar (I guess you would say that is his "specialty") and he can play the acoustic guitar and sing. Erik started singing to Harper when he was in my belly. And now he sings, "Jesus Loves Me" to him every night before he goes to sleep. Harper will just lay there and stare and smile while he sings. And whenever Harper is sad and Erik is out of town, I will pull up YouTube and play the old Florez song, "Sweet Tea," for him. He immediately stops crying and starts dancing. It is so sweet! I wanted to share one of Erik's videos with you all. I absolutely love this song!

Huge Sale on Kids Clothing!

2011-11-07T08:48:00.001-05:00

I spent the past week trying to coordinate outfits for our upcoming photo shoot with Pasha Belman Photography. I found an awesome deal on Gymboree online. You can get 30% off your entire purchase! They have some really good deals right now. I bought Harper the cutest pair of dress pants:

An adorable pair of boat shoes:

A festive hat:

And a tie for the holidays:

The sale ends today. Use online code: REWARDSCOF

The ABC's

2011-11-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

I saw this on The Hamilton Family blog and had to steal it! :)

A. Age: 26 (Although sometimes I still say 25, not on purpose I just forget...BABY BRAIN!)

B. Bed Size: King! When we moved to our new house I persuaded Erik to upgrade. Now we couldn't have anything but a king. When Harper and Fender sleep with us it is a full bed!

C. Chore that you hate: Laundry, so much so that sometimes I take it across the street to the laundry mat and pay them to do it for me. They wash and fold for 90 cents a pound... well worth it!

D. Dogs: Fender Bender Huffman. He is a Mini Australian Shepherd and he is my second child. We named him Fender because Erik plays a Fender bass guitar.

E. Essential start to your day: Feeding the baby so he stops screaming. And I love to start it off with an iced Chai tea latte!

F. Favorite color: Aqua and I love yellow and gray together.

G. Gold or Silver: I like gold. I love gold sparkly things.

H. Height: 5'7" and with heels I am REALLY tall! I was actually extremely short growing up and in the 8th grade I grew about 6 inches. Prior to my growth spurt my nickname was "little Jaime," "munchkin," and "shorty." I used to pray every night that I would grow one day.

I. Instruments you play: Not many! I played the violin and keyboard as a child. My great grandmother played the piano at Juilliard School of Music in NYC... I wish I would have taken piano lessons!

J. Job Title: Mother and Casting Associate- I put cool people on television.

K. Kids: Harper Michael Huffman (he just turned one!)

L. Life Motto: "Don't worry, be happy!"

M. Mother's name: Julie

N. Nicknames: Blondie, Duganator

O. Overnight hospital stays: Just one! (When I gave birth to Harper.) It was actually quite pleasant. The people at Spartanburg Regional were fantastic!

P. Pet Peeves: I wish I could just list specific people here! haha. I would have to say people that talk crap about others behind their back. If you want to say something, say it to their face. But usually those people are just full of jealousy and are insecure.

Q. Quote from a movie: I LOVE the Lion King!
Pumbaa: It's like my buddy Timon always says: you got to put your behind in your past.
Timon: No, no no. Amateur. Sit down before you hurt yourself. It's "You got to put your past behind you."

R. Right or left handed: Right but my hubby is a lefty.

S. Siblings: Jenna Renna

T. Time you wake up: whenever Harper decides to wake me up!

U. Underwear: whatever is clean in my drawer. I really love the Gilligan & O'Malley® underwear from Target!

V. Vegetable you hate: asparagus

W. What makes you run late: My baby. My hubby. Procrastination.

X. X-rays: I got an x-ray of my ankle once.

Y. Yummy food you make: banana bread! I am OBSESSED with banana bread.

Z. Zoo animal: Monkeys!

The Cutest Skunk in Town!

2011-11-05T12:47:00.000-04:00

For Harper's second Halloween we decided to dress him up like a skunk. Last Halloween he was only a month old. We bought him a monkey costume but it practically swallowed him up and he HATED wearing it. This year he loved dressing up! He giggled and waddled around in his silly skunk costume. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! By next year he will probably tell me what he wants to wear...boo!

We decided to take him trick-or-treating. We only went to the houses on our street but it was an absolute blast. Some people think you shouldn't take your baby trick-or-treating. But it is not about getting candy, it is about taking him trick-or-treating for the first time. All of the neighbors loved seeing him in his little costume. And he really enjoyed it. He helped ring the doorbells and laughed at the folks when they opened their doors. It was so much fun. And thanks to Harper's Nana, he tried his first Snickers bar. No, I wasn't there...I would never let him eat a Snicker's bar. But Nana spoils him rotten and thought it was perfectly fine. Apparently he loves Snicker's. He is going to have to wait another year before he tries them again. ;)

I want to wish Harper's sweet Nana, my mom, a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We are so blessed to be able to spend another year with her. Two years ago we thought we only had 5 more months with her. Each additional moment we get to spend together is such a blessing!

Fall, Football, and Family

2011-11-04T15:03:00.000-04:00

I am not a cold-weather person. I grew up in Florida, we wore sweaters when it was 70 degrees outside. I have a hard time thinking when the temperature starts to drop. Erik doesn't bother conversing with me when we walk out to our cars on a chilly morning, I don't respond. To put it bluntly, I HATE the winter. But I absolutely love the fall! I love anything and everything pumpkin. I love the fall foliage and hot apple cider. I love cute leggings, sweaters, and boots. So during this time of the year I am happy as can be.

Every fall we go to the pumpkin patch. We wanted to go to Denver Down's this year but our jobs kept us too busy and we missed out. Luckily we went up to Nashville, TN a few weeks ago and went to Gentry Farm with the Florez Family. The babies were so sweet together. We were so excited to spend time with our amazing friends.

In other news, we decided to get Harper a swing set for Harper's first birthday. We actually purchased it months ago. It sat in the garage and collected dust. I insisted that Erik put it together before Harper's birthday party. So we recruited my dad to help. Don't be fooled...this swing set was quite the man project. It came in hundreds of pieces. Luckily I have two highly skilled men that were willing to help out and put this bad boy together.

Harper loves it. He laughs and giggles every time we swing him. And it was a hit at the birthday party. Definitely a good purchase.

What are your plans for the weekend? We are preparing for the big game... USC vs. Arkansas. It should be a good one. I am pretty devastated that Marcus Lattimore is out for the season but I was impressed with Brandon Wilds game last week. He stepped it up! So my fingers are crossed. We gotta have faith in our Gamecocks. So far this has been a great football season for me! The Bills are looking really good and USC has had a fantastic season. Who are you cheering for? Any other NFL fans out there?

How cute is this Southern Tide Nautical Stripe polo? It is perfect for tailgate. And it comes in BILLS colors! They have it in several different color choices. If you an Auburn or Vandy fan, they have the PERFECT one for you. Check them out here!

I went to the USC vs. Navy game a few months ago. It was a blast and we WON! We went with the Elmores, my dad, and Cissy. It made me miss college and the student section.

Have a wonderful weekend! I am on a blogging roll so hopefully I will keep it up and post tomorrow. :)

Family Photos

2011-11-03T08:38:00.002-04:00

In July we had family photos taken by Monica Parkkonen photography. Wow, that shows how far behind I am on the blog! We won the session at a silent charity auction when I was pregnant. We had such a fun time during the shoot. I love looking at these photos because Harper was so small and was still my little "Gumby." Now he has 6 teeth!

Here are a few photos from the session:

Let's Play Catch-Up!

2011-11-02T19:00:00.000-04:00

Is has been AWHILE... a long while since I have been able to sit down and blog. My life is CRAZY but crazy in a good way. The Huffman family has been going through many changes (for the better) in recent months and we feel extremely blessed for the new opportunities life has presented us with.

Over the past few months Harper has hit many milestones. He no longer crawls! He is only walking and running at this point. Oh how this changes things. The boy gets into EVERYTHING!!! And I mean everything. He is very smart and figures out how to get around the barricades mommy puts up. He can climb up onto our coffee table, open boxes, open saltine cracker packages, climb into the bathtub on his own, go up and down stairs, and open his drawers and remove everything from them. He pretty much thinks he is a man. I am not sure how many one-year-olds do these things?! I spend my days chasing him around and picking up after him.

He is the happiest baby I have ever seen. In fact, he laughs at himself and our dog Fender all day long. His laugh is contagious and I find myself laughing more now than I have in my entire life. He is an absolute trip.

I took him for his first haircut (daddy was out of town for work) and he did GREAT! He just sat there smiling and played with a comb the hairdresser gave him. I decided it was absolutely necessary to get his hair cut. His beautiful curls led many people to believe he was a little girl. How they mistake a baby boy dressed in a blue sweater with a FOOTBALL on it for a girl....I have no idea. But it happened and it happened often. And even when someone knew he was a boy they would say, "That is the prettiest boy I have ever seen. His eyes are just so pretty and look at those gorgeous eyelashes." Handsome people, the word used to describe baby boys is usually handsome. Now I have to admit I completely agree with these folks, he is a good looking baby boy but if you are not sure a child's gender, just say, "What a precious child." So now he has short hair... and people still mistake him for a girl...FIGURES!

In other news... we celebrated Harper's first birthday! My baby is officially a toddler. I get a little teary-eyed thinking about it. This past year went by WAY too fast! I will do a longer post about his birthday party but here is a sneak peek.

Harper also went on his first plane ride and his first bus ride. He made friends with all of the people around us. They seemed very impressed with his good behavior. I am sure they were all pissed when they realized they were sitting next to a baby on the flight so I am sure he was a pleasant surprise.

I have a TON of photos on my iPhone... I finally have an iPhone, what a relief. In my humble opinion, the Droid sucks compared to my iPhone. I need to stop listening to other people's opinions and go with my gut...I knew I wanted an iPhone from the get-go. I should have bought one in the first place. The Droid X was a complete fail. So back to my initial thought...I will upload those pics on my camera and share some tomorrow.

I have started to list out my current goals. Here they are:

Blog daily
Exercise at least 3 times a week
Drink water (this is going to be tough, I actually HATE water)
Take photography classes
Learn how to sew
Teach Harper the ABC's
Finish decorating Harper's new nursery
Decorate the master bedroom

Fingers crossed!! This list is pretty ambitious so we shall see. I will leave you with a video of our sweet pup Fender. Erik and Fender recently perfected this awesome trick:

Laugh Out Loud

2011-10-04T23:28:00.001-04:00

This was my laugh for the day.

And I continuously laugh at my son. Today's funny moment... he would chuckle every time he let out a burp or fart. What a boy!

Completely Obsessed!!

2011-09-30T23:42:00.001-04:00

Trying to decorate our new home has been rather difficult. Apparently I am incredibly picky. If I am going to spend money on something for the house I want it to be perfect. And "perfect" and my budget do NOT go hand in hand. So I am left with bare walls and empty shelves. BOO!!! But I have great news. I found an INCREDIBLE deal on Living Social... let's be honest, I am obsessed with finding a good deal. I bought photo canvases for $28! It turns your favorite photos into large wrap-around canvases. I love it because I don't have to buy frames. Erik love it because that saves him lots of mula!

The first one came in the mail today. To say I am obsessed is an understatement. I am so obsssed that I purchased another one tonight. The first one that came in is one of my favorite photos of my boys. It was so cute, when I opened the box Harper saw the rather large photo of him and daddy. He immediately started smiling and pointing at "Dada." Then I put the canvas on the floor against the wall and he went right up to it and patted Erik's face. So sweet!! Here is a picture:

I took the photo with my iPhone so you can't tell how perfect the canvas is but it is really high quality. I think I am going to put it in our bedroom or in the dining room. Now I want one for every room in the house. This was a large one, it was a little more expensive. The one I bought today was only $28. Check out the deal HERE!

I think I am going to get some made from different phases of our lives... childhood, college, our engagement, our wedding, and then Harper's baby photos. Our house is about to turn into a photo gallery. Should I get a few of my artsy photos from Europe made into canvases? I bet it is cheaper than buying prints and getting them frames. Oh the possibilities are endless.

I Want you to Meet My New Friend...

2011-09-29T22:12:00.002-04:00

Wilbur the Ant!! This little ant started in June of this year as a simple character on Instagram. He was then named Wilbur and the character took off. He is now a twice daily cartoon on there that is seen by my audience of 40,000+ people. He also has about 1,400 followers on his own acct of @wilburtheant. He is absolutely adorable and I know you are going to LOVE him.

The creator of Wilbur is Kewiki, one of my good friends from Nashville. We used to work together and he was always very fun and creative. He just announced that his first book starring Wilbur will be published!!! How exciting.

The book has been reviewed by a child psychologist and tested with over 100 kids ranging pre-K to 13. Everyone loves him! The reading level is 2nd grade.

This is a perfect gift for any child or adult for that matter. Please pre-order a copy and make this project a success. All pre-orders of the book will come signed and numbered by Kewiki and can include a special message to you or someone you gift the book to. If you are a teacher, there are also significant teacher's discounts you can take advantage of. Just visit www.wilburtheant.com to place your order or find out more about about the teacher's discounts.

You can "like" Wilbur the Ant's Facebook page here- http://www.facebook.com/WilburtheAnt and check out more of the daily comics. Here are a few of my favorites:

I just ordered Harper a copy of the book and we can't wait to receive it!!!

Weecycled Wear Consignment Sale!

2011-09-14T10:09:00.004-04:00

I am VERY excited about this weekend! Weecycled Wear is going to be in Greenville!

Weecycled Wear is a semi-annual children's consignment sale of new and gently used children's and maternity clothing, toys, furniture, and baby equipment. They have thousands upon thousands of items!

This is considered the "biggest and best" children's consignment sale in the Upstate! I can't wait to go. At the last consignment sale I went to I bought Harper a Radio Flyer tricycle for $6, tons of smocked outfits for less than $10 a piece, Leapfrog toys for $4! It is pretty incredible how much money you can save. I bought a ton of stuff and it was crazy how many of my items were actually brand new and still had tags on them. I got his favorite item, a Sleep Sheep, brand new in the box for 8 bucks. We already have one at home but I wanted an extra to travel with. This is a steal considering a new one at Buy Buy Baby is over $30! I remember coming home and telling Erik, "I am never going to buy Harper anything new again!!" Here are a few photos from last year's sale so you can get an idea of how BIG this sale really is:

For any expecting moms, you MUST go to this sale. I am kicking myself for going to my first consignment sale after Harper's arrival. I could have saved thousands (literally) of dollars.

The sale is at the TD Convention Center/Carolina First Center (formerly Palmetto Expo Center) in Hall 2.

Here is the address:

1 Exposition Drive

Greenville, SC 29607

Here is the schedule for the sale this week!

SUPER VOLUNTEER SALE

Wednesday, September 14th 6:00 p.m.

VOLUNTEER SALE

Wednesday, September 14th 7:00 p.m.

CONSIGNOR SALE

Thursday, September 15th 6:00 p.m.

NEW MOM & NEW GRANDPARENT SALE

Thursday, September 15th 7:00 p.m.

GUEST SALE

Thursday, September 15th 7:30 p.m.

PUBLIC SALE

Friday, September 16th 9:00 a.m. -7:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 17th 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 18th 12:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m. (select items will be 1/2 price)

Do any of you all consign or shop at consignment sales? What are some of your best finds? Hope to see y'all there!

This brought me to tears!

2011-09-07T07:19:00.001-04:00

I saw this on my mother-in-law's Facebook and had to share. What an incredible story and an incredible young man! Fair warning- you will cry by the end of this video. Such an inspiration and a reminder to be grateful for our many blessings.

Harper Can Walk!

2011-08-31T00:36:00.000-04:00

It's official, our little man can walk!! On Friday night Marisa and I saw him take 2 full steps. He has taken one or half steps for several weeks now but that was the first time I saw him take a full stride. Then tonight he had a huge breakthrough. He literally walked across a part of the kitchen. It was adorable. We caught a bit on our camera. I felt so proud of our sweet baby. But it was a bittersweet moment, he is growing up way too fast! Here is the video:

Three Little Blessings!

2011-08-30T18:58:00.000-04:00

I wanted to introduce you to Harper's sweet friends. The Boland triplets are as cute as can be! They were born at 27 weeks and it is absolutely incredible to see how well they are doing now. Charlie and Harper didn't miss a beat. They crawled around after each other and tried to get into things for most of the afternoon. And of course Harper loved both of the sweet girls. Do I detect a future girlfriend? The Boland's journey has been so inspiring. You can check it out on Lucy's blog HERE. She is one strong and loving mama. And Ben is a fantastic father. What a beautiful family! Here are some photos from a play date last month:

If You Are a Busy Woman...

2011-08-29T06:41:00.000-04:00

This website is for you. It is called Hootsuite. It is a social media communications dashboard often used for online brand management. It publishes to websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, MySpace, and WordPress. It is also a Twitter client.

What that means is it allows you to do all of your social network updates from one easy website. For instance, I don't usually have any free time until Harper is down at night. So at that time I will get on my Hootsuite account and post a few "updates." Hootsuite allows me to schedule what day and what time they will post to my Facebook/Twitter page. So I can post things throughout the day and never have to get on my computer. It is a fun way to stay up to date when you are way too busy to do it yourself. Hope you all enjoy!

Free Chick-fil-A!

2011-08-28T16:11:00.001-04:00

I have no self-control when it comes to Chick-fil-a. So I was very excited to hear that they are giving away FREE breakfast.

They are running a promotion where you can get a FREE BREAKFAST ENTREE at participating locations September 6-10.

You have to sign up for this giveaway HERE. ONLINE RESERVATIONS beginning Monday, August 29th. You choose the Chick-fil-A location, date, time and breakfast entree you desire and they do the rest.

A Wedding To Remember

2011-08-26T18:10:00.004-04:00

In June, I was honored to be a part of Marisa and Kent's GORGEOUS wedding. Marisa and I have been best friends since I moved to South Carolina and I absolutely adore her. She has always been an incredible friend and we have so much fun together. She is someone you can always count on and trust. Kent is a lucky man!!!

The wedding was in Jamaica and was a blast! The weather was perfect (hot, hot, hot!) and the resort was beautiful. I am so glad I was able to make it to all of the fun festivities.

This was my first time leaving Harper overnight. It was pretty tough... I missed my little man. But it was a nice a relaxing retreat that I definitely needed! We started off the wedding weekend at a welcome cocktail party. It included delicious fruity drinks, a steel drum band, hors d'oeuvres, and an incredible group of people. The next day I spent some time at the beach, swimming in the pool, and I went on a snorkeling adventure. We had rehearsal and a rehearsal dinner that night. The rehearsal dinner was a blast! The food was fantastic and it was a perfect setting. They had tables set-up on the sand, overlooking the ocean. It was picture perfect. The next day we enjoyed a yummy bridesmaid brunch, then we spent the afternoon getting out makeup and hair done. Marisa's mom surprised us and had a violinist come play while we were all getting ready. I thought it was such a special moment!

The wedding was on the beach and everything was perfect. Marisa looked absolutely gorgeous and she married her prince charming. I couldn't be happier for them!! We spent the rest of the night partying at the reception. They had an awesome band and it was an absolute riot! CONGRATS MR. and MRS. CECIL!!! Love you both very much!

Here are some photos from the weekend:

(you can click on them to make them bigger)

A Southern Tide Affair

2011-08-24T06:57:00.000-04:00

One more reason to love Southern Tide...

They had a nice little meet and greet at M. Dumas in Charleston. The gathering included cute models, the founder of Southern Tide, great looking clothes, kegs and Kickin' Chicken. Can't beat that!

If you make your way to Charleston, make sure to stop by M. Dumas!! It is a GORGEOUS store.

Let it Out!

2011-08-24T06:19:00.000-04:00

Do you all feel like it is hard to share exactly what you are thinking or what you are feeling on your blog? The other day I had a realization... I censor 99 percent of the things I would like to say on my blog. I get nervous whenever I start typing up a post. "Will this offend someone? Will this person know I am talking about them? Will this person misinterpret what I write?" And then I end up doing the same ol' same ol.'

It goes like this-
#1) post a cute photo of Harper
#2) Find a few good deals and share them with readers
#3) make my post as "P-G" as possible.

And just like that my blog becomes super cliche and somewhat impersonal. But what exactly is "appropriate" to share? What are your thoughts on the matter? Does anyone have any words of wisdom to go by? Should we just let it all out? Or should we continue on with the "fluff" (as my old professor would say.) I would love to hear your thoughts!

(And no, I am not just talking about venting when something upsets you. I am talking about discussing more in-depth ideas and subjects. i.e. religion, diet, feelings, relationships, past relationships, lessons learned, trying times...and so on and so forth)

And of course, I will leave you with a photo:

Poe's Tavern-Sullivan's Island, SC

2011-08-23T06:20:00.000-04:00

If you are in Charleston, you HAVE to make your way to Sullivan's Island for lunch at Poe's Tavern. Their fish tacos are to die for! I love the spiced Yellowfin Tuna tacos. YUM!! And they have amazing spritzers (I recommend the "Evening Star.") Erik was off on a shoot so Harper and I made our way to Poe's for a lunch date. He spent most of his time eating Saltine crackers and chewing on the coasters (lovely!) Here are a few photos from our date:

My Beach Boys

2011-08-23T06:02:00.000-04:00

Great deal on ORGANIC baby food!

2011-08-21T20:24:00.000-04:00

To all of you mama's out there... we are trying to do a mostly organic diet for Harper. It tends to be a little more expensive but with good deals, coupons, and Trader Joe's, we have made it feisable. Harper LOVES Earth's Best baby food and this week there is a great deal on it at Ingle's. It is buy one get one free! It is normally 80 cents per jar. So this will make it 40 cents per jar. And to top it off you can get a coupon for the baby food here. With the coupon, it will make the baby food 26 cents each. Not too shabby for organic baby food! Bon appetite Harper.

Baby's First Ice Cream

2011-07-29T06:33:00.000-04:00

Every time we go to Charleston we make a trip to our favorite local restaurant, Five Loaves. On this trip Uncle travis joined us for dinner. It was incredible, as always! Erik bought me a gorgeous original painting for my early birthday gift. I turned the big 2-6 on June 30th. Here are a few photos from dinner:

We went to our favorite little ice cream shop on Sullivan's Island. Our original intention was for me and Erik to grab an ice cream cone. Harper kept starring at our treats and we decided to let him have a bite. When he took his first bite of ice cream his facial expression was priceless. To say he enjoyed it is an understatement. When we took it away from him, he was not a happy camper.

Harper's First Dip in the Ocean

2011-07-28T19:19:00.002-04:00

I think we have over 300 photos from our Charleston trip. Sometimes I am a little picture happy. I want to capture every cute thing Harper does. And the child is so darn cute that I tend to continuously take photos. I think I am going to break down the trip in separate blog posts. (Yes, we went on the trip a month ago...i'm a little late.) We enjoyed so many people and places that I would love to share it all. Today's post is Harper's first time in the ocean:

Walking down to the beach at Sullivan's Island

Checking out his toes hitting the water for the first time.

Taking a dip in the water with daddy.

(Erik is all dressed up because the just wrapped up a photo shoot.)

Stealing kisses from my sweet baby.

A little airplane action.

Harper LOVES Charleston!

Sale, Sale, Sale!

2011-07-25T06:31:00.000-04:00

My friend Lucy introduced me to this amazing website Zulily! I love it! It's a new online store offering daily sales events on top-quality apparel, gear and other goodies for moms, babies and kids. They carry the best brands at the lowest prices. Members enjoy savings of up to 90% off retail prices.You never know exactly what you'll find—the brands they offer change every day. It's like finding a treasure chest full of cute stuff. Membership is free and I know you'll love it too. The prices are sometimes cheaper than wholesale. They carry everything from maternity clothes, baby and children's clothing, toys, strollers, baby accessories, school supplies... you name it they have it!

It's like a ticket to an amazing sample sale. Only members can take advantage of zulily's low prices. Membership is free and you can signup HERE!

AND USE COUPON CODE FAMILY10 TO GET 10% OFF YOUR ORDER.

I bought an adorable outfit for one of Harper's birthday presents this morning. I can't wait to get it. Here are a few cute things I came across today:

Under the Back to School boutique I saw this adorable Preppy Plates Milbank Green Personalized Tumbler only $22.99!

They had several family calendars that are so cute! I love this yellow one. Only $16.99 (originally $32.00)

Absolutely adorable Christmas outfit for a little girl! Only $10.99! And they have it in all different letters.

Cutest smocked Halloween outfit. I bought this one for Harper. I can't wait to see him in it! Only $36.99!

Cutest outfit for a Carolina tailgate!! It is only $11.99 on Zulily!

A Few More Beach Pics!

2011-07-19T02:10:00.002-04:00

Today was a great day! Harper and I met the Boland triplets. They are so freaking cute!! And they all have the sweetest personalities. It is so fun to watch them interact with each other and with Harper. I think Harper really enjoyed having another baby boy to play with. He and Charlie crawled after each other and played with the toys together. Of course I took a ton of photos but I haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I will try to get them up tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are a few more of Josh Norris' photos from Harper's first beach trip:

Beyond Blessed

2011-07-17T06:25:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here looking at the most beautiful photos I have ever seen. They are a wonderful reminder of how very blessed I am. I am blessed to have such a sweet, smart, and loving husband. I am blessed to have such a beautiful and healthy baby boy. I am blessed to have met such an incredible photographer who went way out of his way to give us these photos. (A huge thanks to Josh Norris for capturing these precious moments!)

"The LORD bless you and keep you;the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." -Numbers 6:24-26

One of my MANY favorites:

Fireworks and "Firsts"

2011-07-16T15:08:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We spent the day with our entire family at Lake Bowen. The Elmore Family throws a phenomenal party every year and it has become a very fun tradition.

On the 4th, Harper said his first word! He said "Da-da." And now that is all he says all day long. It is adorable. You can tell he is very proud of himself. He also learned how to give high-fives. He caught on very fast. Now we are working on getting him to touch his nose... o the little things!

Here are a few photos from the day. Unfortunately my camera died... but I managed to snap a few:

My sweet boys!

Gorgeous lake house!

He loves to swim! And he especially loves to dunk his head under the water.

My sweet water baby!

Karaoke...typical!

Like Father, Like Son

2011-07-15T15:17:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago we made our way to Charleston for the weekend. Unfortunately with our busy lives we rarely have time to take a vacation. The trip was work related but we managed to really enjoy ourselves. Erik and Harper were asked to do a photo shoot together for our favorite clothing company. We couldn't refuse the sweet offer... I mean who doesn't want incredible pictures taken of their boys!?

One extremely hot and sunny day we headed to Sullivan's Island and Harper participated in his first ever professional photo shoot. Josh Norris was the photographer and to say his photos were insanely gorgeous is an understatement. I actually teared up when he showed me some of the pictures. We don't have copies of any of the images yet but as soon as we do I will make sure to share some with y'all! If anyone in the Upstate is looking for a fantastic photographer make sure to check out Josh's website!

I have to admit, I was the overly zealous mother cheering in the background. I was so proud of my sweet boy. He was a total natural and giggled and smiled for the entire photo shoot. I can already start to feel the pride a mother feels for their children. There is nothing quite like it!

And Erik was absolutely thrilled to get to do a photo shoot with his son. I wanted to share his reaction with you:

"When I model, I mostly work with people I've never met before. It can be fun, but it's never completely comfortable or "normal." Recently I got to do a photo shoot with my 9 month-old son. We had such a great time. Not only was it so easy (it was like we were just hanging out on the beach), but I must admit I was very impressed with Harper. We stood in the 95 degree heat for over an hour, and he didn't fuss. He just smiled for the camera and acted so pleasant. He was a natural, I didn't even have to coach him.. haha. Maybe it's in the genes :) This shoot was a great experience, and I hope that Harper and I can do it again in the future.. I have a feeling we will."

Here are some photos I took from the sidelines:

U-S-C Go Cocks!

2011-07-15T00:01:00.002-04:00

Gamecock sports are on the rise. When I was in school we struggled a bit. But now we are two-time National Champs!! Thank goodness for the USC baseball team.

I am VERY ready for football season. We had a great recruitment class. I am can't wait to see Marcus Lattimore school his opponents once again. Alshon Jeffery is the best receiver in the SEC. And Jadeveon Clowney looks like a beast. He has so much potential, I am excited to see how he performs.

Today the Southeastern Conference office announced nine University of South Carolina football players were named to the 2001 Coaches Preseason All-SEC teams. Running back Marcus Lattimore, junior wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, junior defensive end Devin Taylor and junior defensive back Stephon Gilmore earned first-team recognition. Second-team selections include South Carolina senior quarterback Stephen Garcia, senior offensive lineman Rokevious Watkins and senior defensive end Melvin Ingram. Gamecock senior offensive lineman Kyle Nunn and senior defensive tackle Travian Robertson were named to the third team unit.

Sweet Mimi bought Harper the cutest tailgate outfit. We can't wait to take him to his first Carolina game.

Are you looking forward to football season? What team do you pull for?

Why Don't Friends With Kids Have Time?

2011-07-14T21:28:00.000-04:00

I saw this on my friend Darci's Facebook page and I couldn't have said it better myself.

Amen.

Wipe Out!

2011-07-13T00:18:00.000-04:00

The last two months have been fantastic!! Life is crazy, as always, but our first summer with Mister Harper has been a blast. Harper changes by the day. We continue to celebrate and experience more "firsts" in his life. I am constantly reminded about all the blessings in my life.

On June 15th we took Harper to the pool for the first time. Our neighborhood has a gorgeous outdoor pool. It opened in May but we have been so busy that we hadn't had a chance to make it there until now. We already knew that Harper's favorite time of the day is bath time. I had a strong inkling that he would love the pool. Boy was I right. Harper is a total water baby. He had no fear whatsoever. He giggled as soon as Erik carried him down the steps into the water. He splashed around and tried to dunk his face under the water on several occasions. We bought a floaty for him from Target and it worked out great. It protected his face from the sun and made it very easy for us to cruise him around the pool.

By the end of the day Harper was exhausted. He passed out while Erik fed him his bottle. Our trip to the pool was a success and we look forward to spending many more summer afternoons swimming together.

My Moving Monkey

2011-05-31T02:09:00.000-04:00

It is amazing how fast my little man is growing up. He has two teeth, eats solid food, crawls, stands up on his own and the doctor thinks he will be walking any day now! (let's hope his prediction is wrong...once he starts walking it is all over!) We call him "Bam Bam" because he loves to hit things. It is absolutely adorable. And now when I put him in his Pack and Play, he stands right up, holds on the side and walks around to the light that is in the corner of the Pack and Play, he smacks the light and turns it on, then he switches the music on. It is hysterical. It really is amazing how quickly he catches on to things and how fast he is growing up. Here are some of my favorite photos of monkey when he was a few months old. Still bald and tiny!

I saw this quote and it made me SMILE!!!

"There comes a time when a woman needs to stop thinking about her looks and focus her energies on raising her children. This time comes at the moment of conception. A child needs a role model, not a supermodel. -Astrid Alauda, on the "hot mom" trend

Not only do I agree with this quote by I can totally attest to the truth behind it. Nope I have not made it to the gym since Harper arrived...and they are plenty of mornings where I wake up, get the baby bathed, dressed, and ready to go, pack his diaper bag, and by that time I don't have time to do my makeup or make myself look pretty. But it doesn't even phase me. I rather make sure the munchkin is ready to go than worry about my mascara. Now I still try to take care of myself and get dolled up for special occasions but that is NOT and will never be a priority to me anymore. My sweet Harper is my number one priority. His needs come first and if that means I go to work with no makeup on...so be it. I feel like there are so many moms out there that still try to look like they did in college even once they start having children. Sure it is great to look nice but if you take several hours to get ready you are missing out on precious moments with your baby. Plus getting compliments on your cute baby is way better than getting compliments on yourself! But hey, that is just my personal opinion. What do you think?

My Little Gamecock!

2011-05-30T00:41:00.000-04:00

Last week, Erik and Harper came by work to eat lunch with me! I love when my boys come in and surprise me. It makes my day! We ate at my new favorite, Earthfare and I shot a few great pictures of little mister. He knows how to smile for the camera! And don't you just love the Gamecock attire? So sweet.

And the Winner Is!!

2011-05-27T18:18:00.001-04:00

These are a few of my favorite things right now!

I am in love with Sally Hansen Salon Effects - Real Nail Polish Strips! They are so easy to put on and they last forever. I prefer all of the pink colors. I am currently wearing the pink glitter. SO cute!

I can't get enough of Adele. I absolutely love "Rolling In the Deep." It is one of those songs that I can listen to over and over again and I still love it.

MiO water enhancer has got to be my new favorite invention! It is DELICIOUS! My favorite flavor is the strawberry watermelon. For those of you that don't know, I hate water. But mixed with this delightful enhancer, I have drank more water in the past week then I have in my entire life. Very excited about this!!

I love the entire Calypso collection at Target! I bought this adorable elephant teapot! I was so excited to find this little gem, he matched my KitchenAid mixer perfectly.

Want to know the fastest way to loose weight? Start eating lunch every single day at Earth Fare. I eat their lunch bar at least 4 times a week and my baby weight is gone baby gone! Freaking fantastic. And I haven't worked out a single time since Mister Harper has arrived. They weigh your food so you tend to try to get just what you want to eat. It saves money and causes you to eat less. Brilliant.

What are your favorite things right now? Any good new beauty products? Summer must-haves? I would love suggestions!

And the winner of the fantastic giveaway is...... A Babbling Brunette!
Congrats!! Please e-mail me at JaimeNHuffman@gmail.com and we will send you your prizes.

Vera Bradley, Nautical Necklace, and Bird Ave art print GIVEAWAY!

2011-05-20T00:37:00.003-04:00

On my current "must-have list" are all of the prints from the most amazing Etsy store, Bird Ave. I came across the store when I was looking for the perfect print for Harper's nursery. When I saw their "Oh Baby I Love Your Way" print, I knew I needed it!

The only problem was that I wanted a print that had blue and green in it. Well Jose solved that problem right away. I sent him color suggestions and he customized it for me! When I received it in the mail it was exactly what I hoped for and I was very impressed with the high-quality and vibrant print! A total steal for 20 bucks. So I wanted to share a little bit about Bird Ave with you all.

Bird Ave is the product of Jose and his lovely wife. They make an absolutely amazing team. One of my favorite series in Jose's store is the Cities Series. It is absolutely fantastic! I think I have to purchase the Greenville, SC print and have Jose match the color to my KitchenAid mixer. Wouldn't that be cute!? The series has cities from all over the world including Boston, Washington DC, Louisville, Sydney, LA, NYC, Wilmington, New Orleans... and MANY MANY More! You can check them all out HERE and these are some of my local favorites:

He has several other "Carolina" themed prints that are fantastic. I think this one would look pretty darn good in garnet and black!

Jose Shared Some Facts About the Shop:

A lot of effort is put into making sure each print goes out perfect. Even though I have designed the prints earlier, when each order is received I often make little changes that enhance the print or add dates, etc. that customers request.
Custom requests are welcome. It is great when customers make requests for quotes from their wedding song or places they have traveled.
We always want a customer to smile when they open their print or have a feeling that is unexpected. So, we put a lot of thought into the packaging. (I absolutely LOVED the package!! I had a huge smile on my face when I opened up Harper's print!)
We understand that artwork can be very expensive; therefore, the prints are designed to be affordable to fit Ikea frames.

I absolutely love Bird Ave and LOVE the fact that EVERYTHING and I mean everything can be customized. I sent Jose the two colors in Harper's bedding and he matched his print to the bedding perfectly!! Colors, wording, you name it and Jose will make it happen.

And are you ready for the best part?? Jose has offered to give one lucky reader their choice of any print from his store. In order to win you have to do two things:

#1) Follow my new "Greenville Baby" blog.
#2) Go to the Bird Ave Etsy shop and comment on this post with your favorite print.

And want to hear something even better!? The winner will also receive two other amazing gifts!!

#1) A gorgeous nautical necklace, perfect for the summer (retails over $50!)

#2) A Vera Bradley sunglass case!

So make sure you enter for the chance to win these fabulous prizes!!

If you would like an extra entry, simply blog about this giveaway. Leave another comment with a link to the blog and you will be eligible to win TWICE! Yippy!

And if you see a print that you love in the Bird Ave shop, Jose graciously gave us a coupon code that is valid through May 31, 2011 for an extra 10% off your order!! Just use the code FRIEDPINK or GREENVILLEBABY.

I will pick the winner randomly on May 27th!

And for all of you Apple nerds (like myself) here is a print of Mac shortcuts. Of course, I love this in PINK!

And it is UP!

2011-05-19T17:49:00.000-04:00

The new blog is up!! Woo Hoo. A big thanks go to "A Mommy's Sweet Blog Design" for doing such a fantastic job. If you have a moment please check it out HERE and let me know what you think!! I am doing a special giveaway tomorrow to celebrate the new blog so make sure you check it out.

My New Hero!

2011-05-19T00:35:00.000-04:00

Originally, I was going to post an amazing giveaway today but my new blog design isn't installed yet so I decided to wait one more day and hopefully it will be ready to launch!! So in the meantime...

I came across this video on another fabulous blog and I have to admit, this girl is my new hero. Most of my friends know, "I don't sing, I rap!" I have a horrible singing voice and can't carry a tune. But I have a pretty awesome memory and can talk fast...which means I can rap a whole lot of songs. When we karaoke, I am known to bust out Tupac, Biggie Smalls, or Ludacris. It is usually a hit and once in awhile the managers at these fine establishments even gives me free drinks because they are so surprised by my mad rapping skills. But this girl kicks my white girl butt! I mean seriously. I have heard this song on the radio several times and every time I do I think to myself..."man I wish I could rap Busta's part, thats insane!" Well guess what, this chick manages to nail it! Check this out, I promise you will love it! I should probably go print out the lyrics and start practicing now....

Oh Baby I Love Your Way!

2011-05-18T00:02:00.000-04:00

My sweet baby is growing up on me. He is all about standing up on his own and the doctor thinks he will be walking any time now. His favorite toy is his Leap Frog Learn and Groove musical table. He crawls right up to it, pulls himself up and plays on it for hours! And Mister Harper still loves his bath time. The only hard part is keeping the water in the bath tub. I bought the sweetest print off Etsy for his nursery. It says, "Oh Baby I Love Your Way." I am obsessed with it. Tomorrow I am going to post a photo of the print hanging in Harper's nursery and a special giveaway by the Etsy artist. Your not going to want to miss it!!!

Nursery Update

2011-05-17T17:36:00.000-04:00

We are still in the process of decorating Harper's new nursery. It is completely different from his last nautical nursery so it is taking a little longer than expected. This time around I decided to go a different route. I loved the nautical theme but I didn't love my Pottery Barn bedding. The bumper just didn't cut it. I found it flimsy and it never looked like it fit properly. Not to mention because it wasn't as sturdy, Harper figured out how to pull it down and chew on it. For all of you expecting mamas... I highly recommend a boxed bumper. They fit in the crib SOOO much better and it makes the whole bedding set look crisp and clean. This time around we went with Hoohobbers bedding in "Master Blue." I love, love, love it.

I decided to go with more soft and soothing colors. The powder blues, creams, tans, and celadon green look perfect together. Above the crib I put an awesome decal. I felt better about having a decal above the crib so I didn't have to worry about a picture frame falling into the crib. And I love adding a nice personal touch to the room. I was so excited to find these awesome decals at Baby Furniture Plus Kids. They are only $35 and are custom colors and design. They had several great "boy" designs which are hard to come by!

I had a really tough time with his new nursery chair. I am obsessed with Best Chairs. They are by far the most comfortable nursery chairs on the market. Expecting moms, you will want... actually NEED one of these chairs. In his nautical nursery we had the "Tryp" recliner glider and it was amazing. My old one was navy blue so it didn't go with Harper's new color scheme (yes it would have probably been much easier to just buy new bedding that had a similar color scheme... oops!) Erik and I wanted to get the same exact recliner glider in a green color to match. Then came the bad news.... the "celery" color I picked out was totally off. I tried to make it work but it just looked horrible. So I went back to the drawing boards. I debated between a neutral brown, burlap, linen, but none of them added enough color to his room. The baby store carries a new line of nursery chairs called "Four Seasons." These chairs are different because they are slip cover and down filled. Unfortunately they do not come in a recliner but they do have about 500 different fabrics to choose from! They had the exact green I was looking for. And they even had the exact cream color I wanted for the piping. They are a bit more expensive so buying the matching ottoman was a little out of our budget but I decided to get the glider chair. They are custom made so I am patiently waiting for its arrival. Not having a chair in the nursery has been driving me crazy... I never realized how much and how often I use that thing! I can't wait to test it out his new glider. I really hope I like it as much as my last one. Mister Bear is sitting in the chair's space until it arrives.

I found some incredible prints for the nursery. Today I took three to Michael's to get them framed. They are supposed to be ready in two weeks. I also found a cute rug that matched the greens in the room perfectly. It is called a shaggy raggy rug. It is the softest thing ever! I love how it feels on my toes. So we are making great progress but there is still quite a few things left to do. Maybe the nursery will be complete by next month? Then I can start on the rest of the house!! But as all new moms know, the nursery is always going to be number one on the priority list.

New Baby Blog

2011-05-06T13:35:00.000-04:00

I am excited to announce that I am about to launch another blog. Now I am going to keep this blog of course. And this will be more of my personal blog. But the new blog is especially for expecting mamas. I found a ton of amazing advice though blogs when I was preggo so I thought I would try to do my own now that I am a mom. Right now the blog is not very cute but an amazing graphic designer is working on it as we speak (or would it be better to say "as we read?") This is going to be a baby blog! I am going to try to do real life nursery ideas on a weekly basis. I will try to give insight on baby situations that I am going through with Mister Harper, and I will feature some of my favorite things to buy for your baby. I went ahead and did two posts to get the party started. I am going to try to update it frequently once the design is complete. It is set to be complete on May 17th. If you would like to check it out go HERE!!

Sweet Excitement!

2011-05-04T14:14:00.001-04:00

It is the little things that really excite me these days and I am not going to lie, I am pretty excited about this! Starting this Friday, May 6th, through Sunday, May 15th, you can get a Frappiccino at Starbucks for half price from 3-5 pm. No coupon necessary! YAY!!! What is your favorite flavor of Frappiccino?

Baby's First Easter

2011-04-29T14:23:00.001-04:00

Harper had a wonderful first Easter!! We were so blessed to spend it with our good friends. Travis, Becca, baby Ella, and Mimi came to visit from Nashville. We had such a nice time visiting with them! We went to church on Sunday morning, had a delicious brunch, then had a blast showing Harper his first Easter basket.

He crawled straight for the basket, grabbed the carrot Reeses bag and started swinging it around his head. Then he went for the Easter eggs and chucked them across the blanket. It was adorable. Here are some photos from the day:

Nursery News

2011-04-20T22:19:00.000-04:00

The new nursery is PAINTED!!! And it looks amazing. Erik and his dad worked hard painting until late last night. For the base color we used Sherwin Williams "Roman Column"

and then we did one accent wall with power blue metallic stripes. We used a paint from Lowe's and it was surprisingly easy (from what the guys tell me) to get the pretty metallic finish.

I am so in love with the new color scheme. Everything is really starting to come together. Here are a few photos from last night:

In baby news, Harper is growing up way too fast. The kid can crawl like its nobody's business. He crawls straight across the room and tries to pick up things. When we bring him outside on the blanket he crawls right off and picks the grass and tries to eat it. It is hysterical. But now that he is crawling life is much more complicated. We can't leave him for a split second. If I turn my back he manages to go after something. I can't imagine how much things will change when he starts walking. He can also sit up on his own. He is so proud when he sits up. He giggles and gets an absolute kick out of it. And the kid can fly in his walker. He goes back and forth all over the house. It is really cute when he gets stuck because he throws a little fit but as soon as you turn him around he laughs and takes off again. He still has the sweetest personality of any baby I have ever seen and he is an absolute joy to be around. He enjoys most solid foods although he is not a huge fan of peas and he really loves playing with toys and balls. I can't believe my sweet baby boy is 7 months old. But I am absolutely loving this new stage and all of the fun "firsts" that come along with it!

Casting Call!!!

2011-04-19T13:07:00.002-04:00

Hey y'all! Hope you are having a wonderful week. I just received fun news. I was asked to help cast an upcoming show on Country Music Television. I am looking for engaged couples or couples that have been together at least 2 years and are ready to take it to the next level for a new reality show. The show based on the book "10 Dates Before I Do." If you are 18-35 years old and want to share their story with America please e-mail me at UpstateCasting@gmail.com. Include your contact info, a photo of you two together, and a brief paragraph about your relationship. If you could answer the following questions in the e-mail it would be a huge help:

How long have you all been together?
How did you meet?
Do your friends and family think you are the "perfect couple?" If so, why do they think this?
Do your friends and family disapprove of your relationship? If so, why?
If you are engaged, when is the wedding going to take place?
If you are not engaged why are you all ready to take it to the next level?
What has been the hardest thing you have overcome as a couple?
Why were you all attracted to each other?

Pass this information along to any of your friends. And if you happen to live in the Upstate I am holding a casting call next Tuesday so e-mail me for more details!

One down, One Hundred to Go!

2011-04-18T14:34:00.000-04:00

I knocked the first thing off my "new home" list! As soon as we decided to buy our new house I knew I wanted to hang the South Carolina flag on the front porch. I am so happy to be back in SC and I absolutely love our state flag. I think it is the prettiest flag of all the 50 states. And it is officially up!!! Now I just have to finish unpacking and knock the other hundred things off my to-do list.

Up next-

*Unpack (unfortunately this one does not excite me so I keep pushing it to the bottom)

*Hang baskets of flowers on the rest of the front porch poles

*Paint Harper's nursery

*Find prints for Harper's room (I could really use suggestions! Does anyone know of any good Etsy stores for nice nursery prints?)

*Get a gamecock welcome mat

*Get shoe boxes and take photos of my shoes to put on the front of the box

and the list goes on and on and on....

And if anyone knows of someone looking for an AMAZING nursery recliner, I am selling mine. It does not match Harper's new room so we are going to sell it. It is made by Best Chair and is the Tryp recliner in Navy. They are FANTASTIC! If anyone is interested shoot me an e-mail. JaimeNHuffman@yahoo.com.

Here is a photo: