My Moving Monkey

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!

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!!

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!

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:

Charlotte

Nashville

Greenville, SC

Charleston, SC

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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?