young house love, i heart you too

I love reading Young House Love's blog.  It makes me laugh, envy their style and gives me tons of decorating goals.  They sometimes post several times a day, which makes me a very happy reader!  With every post I'm one step closer to putting our house on the market and buying a fixer-upper to remodel and re-decorate from floor to ceiling.  After floating back to realty, I remember that I should at least try a project or two before things get out of hand.  And out of hand they would get. Trust me.  Remember that time I had a baby?  I can hardly get anything done outside of work and baby-wrangling.  All my projects lately have lasted under 30 minutes...perfectly coined "speed-crafting" by Chelsea.

Anyways.

John posted today on YHL about a brass chandelier that they refinished for their office.  Its fun and whimsical and i LOVE IT.  He asked for comments about any chandelier projects we'd attempted, so I just had to share about Elliot's chandelier.

And Sherry commented back almost immediately:

They like me!  See how much?  ALL CAPS.  That is a loooot in the blogging world peoples.  Seriously.  I feel so validated.  I am one dorky happy mama.

Almost makes me want to craft again.  Anyone have any 45 minute ideas?

buy it, you'll like it

Buy it, you'll like it....well, if you're a girl.  Well, these days I guess I should say buy it, you'll like it...if you're into makeup.  I've seen plenty of boys lately trying to pull off at little matte foundation and/or eyeliner (hello jay manuel).  But that is so another entry for another time.

So, for all of you beauty-minded individuals out there: take note!

mary kay cream blush in cranberry $13

I always swore I'd never want to get into the whole "mary kay" deal.  I didn't want to go to parties and feel pressured into buying stuff, I didn't want the awkward conversations that I just knew would happen and I certainly didn't want to part with any of my hard earn moolah for products that I thought were sub-par.

Hello. My name is Blair. I will be eating crow from now on.  Please pass the mustard.

Yep. I'm a convert.  Well, a convert as far as face wash, moisturizer, mineral powder, mascara, eye-liner, eye shadow and cream blush are concerned.  (And, in case you're keeping track, that includes every item that I've tried.)

I am in LOVE with their new cream blush.  The pigment is great, its build-able (meaning: you can wear just a bit or layer it on for a sultry pop), it glides on super smooth and lasts all day!  I wear such minimal make-up during this time of year (hello 97 degrees and 80% humidity, I kind of hate you) and this cream blush is just perfect.  I've worn Bobbi Brown blush and Benetint, and may always keep them in the rotation, but this little baby is my new favorite.

And for those of you out there in need of ordering some of this blush perfection, let me introduce you to my friend Allison:

ok, so this is us at the virginia beach half marathon that we ran last year...

here's a better picture of allison:

Allison and I have been friends for years and she may be the least pushy saleswoman I've ever known.  She has been wearing Mary Kay for a while and I found myself asking her about where she got her eye-liner from: MaryKay.  And what about that new eye shadow? MaryKay.  I invited Allison to come over to my house and I got to play dress-up with all her make-up.  It was sooo fun.  Now I look forward to the new looks each season--can't wait to call her up and try out the products for myself.

You can (and should!) email allison at allison.cook@marykay.com to order your own cranberry cream blush.  You won't be disappointed!! (you may also want to order the amethyst eye liner, honey spice eye shadow and waterproof mascara---the whole look is gorgeous!)

brittany got married

This past Saturday our little family joined up with the rest of the Jones family for a big ole party.  Josh's baby cousin Brittany got married.  It was so sweet to see two people so much in love with each other, so thankful for the Lord and so grateful for their families; we were so very blessed to witness such a ceremony!

Here are a few of my favorite moments from the wedding:

what a view!

bride's side

groom's side

beautiful flowers!

super fun guest book

elliot and yaya

my mom's baby dress!

keeping baby entertained

coolest entrance ever

looooove the dress

does it get any prettier thank this?!

seven years and going strong

and baby makes three	awkward family photo ;)

elliot weekly: week 23

looking large at 23 weeks!

what we've been up to this week

Beach Time: We spent is past weekend at our favorite beach: Sullivan's Island.  Its just north of Charleston, SC and is the perfect family beach spot.  We love it there.  It was Elliot's second trip to the beach (the first was when I was on my last week of maternity leave.)  I figured that she'd like the sand and water more this time because she's gotten into grabbing things more and splashing during her baths.  She smiled when the breeze blew across her face and she patted the water when we were sitting in a shallow portion.  I hope that we get to visit the beach more as she grows up.  We always went every summer when I was growing up and I have such fond memories!

Laughing: We've had a few laughing spells with Elliot, but she is becoming a regular giggler.  She's always been a big smiley baby, but lately we've gotten more and more laughs out of her.  They are just about the cutest thing (I think only a pink baby unicorn could be cuter).  I've been trying to get her on camera, but I get so wrapped up in her sweet giggles that I forget to run and find the camera.  Josh and I were laughing with her as we were putting her down for her 5pm catnap yesterday and managed to get a few giggles on camera:

Friends: Ryan Clark, one of our best friends, was in town for a quick flyfishing trip with Josh. Ok, so he was actually in town to visit his family, but we managed to snag some time with him.  We all ate dinner together last night and he's flyfishing with Josh today.  He's having a third baby soon--he's such a natural with the babes:

i promise elliot loved it

Hugs: Elliot has been giving some really good snuggles lately.  She'll put her head on your shoulder and even wrap her arms around your neck a little bit.  When she does it to me she gets a bit tempted to pull out my hair or at least give my ponytail a good yank--the girl is strong, let me tell you!  Here's the hug in action: 

Reach For It: Elliot has been reaching for me and Josh, and it is SO cute.  It melts my heart every time.  I'll be holding Elliot and when Josh walks up to us, she reaches her arms out to him and leans toward him.  It is SO SWEET!  I'll have to try and get it on film soon.

Sleep, Sweet Sleep: I've been trying to recreate the "windy gap amazing sleep environment" at home.  Since it was basically just a pack-n-play in a closet, I haven't had to be that creative!  I crank the AC down to 72 degrees (hey, that's cranked down for us--y'all know I'm a penny pincher!), we took the night-light out of her room (it was really just for us to see her anyways) and we traded her super-soft-potterybarn sheet out for a super-thin-target sheet.  Its been great!  She has slept the past three nights until 6:30ish am!  Hallelujah!  Josh is enjoying the cooler night-time temperatures, Elliot is sleeping better and I'm one happy momma---sounds like a good recipe we've got going...I just pray Elliot stay on board :)

It just seems like Elliot is growing by leaps and bounds--I'm trying so hard to soak up every minute with her.  I am SO glad that I get to have her at work with me and I that I'm available for so many milestones.  I love that I get to see her face so much during the day!

beach time!

Josh and I spent this past long weekend with Elliot down at Sullivan's Island, SC.  It is probably our favorite place to vacation together.  Josh and I are pretty different, so when we find something that we both love we don't really deviate that often (remind me to tell you about the pub where we've gone for our anniversary and valentine's day!)
So, we love Sullivan's Island...we love it so much that the name "Sullivan" was actually on our list of potential baby names.  But then we found out that the name "Sullivan" is actually pretty popular; seems that a lot of folks named their kids after that pilot that landed that plane in the Hudson River?  Anyways, I digress. 
Our next few weeks are going to be pretty busy, so we relished the few days that we had to relax together and play.  Here are some pictures from our long weekend:

did someone say beach baby??

this baby loves some beach time!

Josh getting ready to attack the red fish on the marsh

happy baby!

a family that runs together, stays together...unless one person is a faster runner

vacation=yummy food!!

happy baby...even when stuck in labor day weekend traffic!

Our vacation is over and now its back to real life; guess its a pretty good thing that we love our "real" life too.  We are a blessed, blessed family.

elliot weekly: week 22

all smiles at week 22

What we've been up to this week

Young Life's Windy Gap: Elliot took her very first trip to Young Life camp this week.  We stayed at Windy Gap for Josh's Young Life conference Sunday-Tuesday.  It was so good to spend some time with the other staff (and staff families!) at one of our favorite places.  I was so happy to take Elliot to Windy Gap and tell her about how kids will come with their YL leaders to share in an amazing time and hear the Good News of Jesus.  I cannot believe that our leaders will be there with our high school friends in three short weeks!

Teeth: Ok, I know its supposed to be too early to Elliot to be teething....but I swear she is.  The girl is drooling all.over.the.place. and putting every.single.thing. in her mouth.  She really gnaws on the side of her chupo more than she sucks on it.  The fussy and irritability factor has definitely been up as well!

Sleep, such sweet Sleep: Elliot got three nights in a row of sleeping until 6+am!  Unfortunately, it was all at Windy Gap and not in her nursery here at her own house.  We've been trying to recreate the environment here in her room.  At Windy Gap she was in her pack-n-play (what she naps in at work) and was in a huge walk-in closet in our room.  We've put a plain sheet in her crib (took out the super soft and fuzzy sheet), took out the night-light (that closet was DARK) and put diffusers over the ceiling vents (certainly weren't any vents in that closet!)  I'm about this.close to putting her in a pack-n-play in our walk-in closet at home and seeing how she does ;)

we've been traveling a lot and elliot does great in the carseat

Fight for Amy

Ok folks....I'm halfway to my fundraising goal for the October 1st kick-cancer's-ass-in-honor-of-my-friend-amy 5k. 

You have 30 days to help me raise the remaining $75.  Come on folks---can you think of anything better to spend your money on than helping this sweet family??

You can go here and donate.  So far only my daughter and mom have donated.  This is embarrassing friends...Elliot is only 5 months old and she's giving $25!  Help a sister out!

I'd really love to have you on my team.  You should come with me and Elliot and Josh as we lace up our running shoes and get our game faces on.  Sign up for the 5k here and donate to our team here.  Seriously....what do you really have better to do on Oct 1????