Friday Faves

Happy Friday friends!!

Hopefully your full week at work for the new year went ok--mine went alright and pretty quickly, thankfully, without too many bumps. Praise!! Hopefully the fact that it's Friday the 13th doesn't throw a wrench in the decent week.

Let's chat about some other faves from this week!

~I bought a maternity dress from Zulily the other day that I'm either going to wear for an upcoming wedding, or more likely for my baby shower in a couple of months

And, yes, I love that it has purple in it :) Hopefully it fits as well when it gets here as it does on the model in the picture (who probably isn't pregnant).

~A long weekend and a super short work week is ahead! I have off on Monday for MLK day, and then again next Friday for Inauguration. I'll take the days off, despite the fact that I won't be celebrating the Inauguration.

~We're having friends over tonight for dinner! I feel all Susie Homemaker prepping for it, and am really looking forward to it! Good food and friends always makes for a fabulous night! Just call me Shauna Niequist ;)

On the menu: hummus and tzatziki for appetizers

Mediterranean pasta bake for dinner with garlic bread on the side and salad

Dessert: our friends are bringing dessert (worst case, it will be ice cream :)

~I got this adorable mom and baby elephant necklace last weekend (thanks to Instagram sponsored ads--they got me), but I love love love the sentiment the website had about the necklace. 

www.gonazelo.com

Plus, I may be going down a bit of a elephant themed nursery (super cute, not over the top), so this kinda fit in with all of that.

~Our weekend last weekend started off with temps in the 20s and snow (a tiny bit of snow), and then Wednesday we got into the 50s, Thursday was in the mid 60s and I was walking around outside without a jacket on, and then tomorrow we're supposed to get icy snow. Doesn't Mother Nature know that snow and ice on the weekends is a no-no??

Before I go, I'll leave you with some funnies:

How I wish Republicans and Democrats could get along

{via} if only it was this simple

How I feel almost every time I turn on the news lately

{via}

How I feel as the minutes tick closer to dismissal on a Friday, especially before a long weekend

{via}

Here's hoping the weekend is snow-free and fun!

How to Paint a Striped Accent Wall

I've gotten a few requests for a tutorial on how to paint a perfectly striped accent wall since I posted our nursery wall last week.

I will say, this looks hard, but it's not hard. It's tedious, but it's not difficult, you just have to do things a little differently than when you just paint a room.

What you need for the stripes:

~A yard stick/longer ruler, preferably one with a level

~a laser level

~painter's tape

~pencil

(and paint obviously, in whatever color you want the stripes in)

We painted all of the walls of the room gray to start. I chose to do this because it required less taping, and I knew I would have fewer white stripes on the wall than gray (aka, less painting of the lines, and I wouldn't have to tape the ceiling or baseboards). 

To start the accent wall, I taped off the sides of the wall and ran over them with a credit card to ensure there weren't any bubbles for paint to run through. I did not tape along the ceiling or the baseboards because my top and bottom stripes were going to be gray and therefore already painted.

Then I measured the distance from the ceiling to the top of the baseboard (mine was 91") and divided that number by 7 (the number of stripes I wanted on the wall). Luckily for me, it came out to an even 13" per stripe.

Height of wall divided by number of stripes=width of each stripe

I started measuring from the ceiling down 13" and made a little mark on the wall, moved over a little more than a foot and did the same thing, until I'd made it across the length of the accent wall.

Then I took the laser level and shot it across the wall to make sure the dots lined up. This is most important during this step because ceilings aren't always level. I made a couple of adjustments to the dots and then drew a light line connecting the dots across the wall for my first line.
(you will need someone to hold the level, and someone to eyeball it, and make adjustments--this is a two person step)

the pencil lines are faint in this photo, but you get the idea

Having a ruler with a level built in helped me with this since I lined the top of the ruler up with the line I'd just drawn, then checked the level before making my dot 13" down from the top of the ruler. This way, I didn't really need the laser level again (although I checked every time, and it was always level).

I continued this process until I had all of my stripes outlined on the wall in pencil.

Now on to the taping. Remember which stripes you're going to paint and then tape above and below the lines you just drew. You can put an x in the stripes that you'll paint so you remember, if that helps. I continued to talk it through to myself so that I didn't mess up.

(example: the first white stripe, you will tape above the line for the top of the stripe, and tape below the line for the bottom of the stripe...and so on).

 When you're done, it will look like you have some smaller stripes and some larger stripes, but that's only because you've taped off the edges of the stripes you'll be painting.

Run a credit card over the stripes to again help get rid of any bubbles that might let paint leak through.

I've labeled where the white stripes will be to help give a visual for what I'm referring to:

Here comes the extra step. You now need to paint along the edges of each of the future white stripes with the gray color (or whatever your wall color is). This seems counter-intuitive since that's not the color the stripe will be, BUT it seals in the background color from any leaks that might come through the tape, so that when you eventually put white paint on, it's already sealed with the other stripe color. Make sense?

Future white stripes, outlined in gray paint

Let this dry well. Then you can start rolling the white paint into the same stripes that you just outlined. Ours took 3 coats since the background wall color was darker, but we were able to do it with 1 pint of white paint.

after one coat of paint

Make sure that when you do your last coat of paint, you're taking the tape off when the paint is still wet otherwise the tape will pull the paint off of the walls. Pull in a downward motion to have the angle help "cut" the tape from the wall.

And voila! A perfectly straight, clean striped accent wall!

Hopefully this helps to explain the process a bit more. It took me a while to figure it out (and several attempts at talking it out to both myself and MG before each step to ensure I didn't mess something up), but I think the visuals here will help.

If you have any questions or anything is confusing, feel free to reach out and ask!

WHW {#75}: Currently

Happy What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday, friends! 

Reading ...

Just One Day by Gayle Forman--only a few pages in, but it had really good reviews on Goodreads, so I'm hoping this is a winner! Check out my post yesterday to find out the other books I've been reading.

{via}

Watching ...
The new season of The Bachelor but, you guys, I can almost not take it. There's like 1-2 girls that I don't mind on the show and the rest of them are super stupid. It was slightly painful watching on Monday. Plus, all of the redemption that Nick had from me towards the end of Kaitlyn's season and into BIP is kind of gone when he gave Corinne the rose on the group date after she took her top off, interrupted 3 girls for time to talk to him and was a general B. 

{via} Probably one of the 100 times she said "he held my boobs"

Another example of the stupidity: "You know how you like talk on one topic and stick to that topic?.....Yeah I find that really attractive"....oh...my....God...I can't.
I'll give it another week, but I'm not sure I can hang in for the whole season this time.

Eating....

lots of Mexican or Mexican-like flavors recently. I was always a fan of Mexican before getting pregnant, and now it's just a decent excuse to get in that fill even more haha. The taco twice baked sweet potatoes on Sunday were delicious (and nutritious), and we have Mexican Quinoa on the docket along with some chili from Chrissy Tiegen's book Cravings (even though that's not technically Mexican, I feel like I put the same toppings on that as I do Mexican so it's in the same realm haha)

{via}

Looking forward to ... 

having 2 couple friends over for a little informal dinner party on Friday night. It's been a bit since we had friends over for dinner, and the time for that will probably be nil once we have a kid, so we're looking forward to it. On the menu? My mediterranean pasta bake which is always a crowd pleaser.

Wishing...

that next week's  3 day work week with MLK day on Monday and having off for Inaguration (blech) on Friday gets here soon--these full work weeks are for the birds lol

Enjoying ...

all of my students' reactions when I've told them or had them figure out that I'm pregnant (I played Hangman with the message "Mrs. G is having a baby!" with the ones who can read). The reactions have been pretty entertaining from squealing in my 5th grade girls group to boys who looked shocked, and another group who accusingly asked me "How long have you been keeping this from us???" haha

Drinking...

lots of water still, and coffee on the weekends. Trying not to get baby girl addicted to caffeine so early on!

Loving....

that MG finally felt baby girl's movements and kicks the other night. Every time she was moving around, and I would tell him to feel, she would stop (tricky little thing!) They're stronger to me since I can feel them on the inside and the outside, but I was so glad he was finally able to feel her moving around.

Wanting ... 

the call with our potential newborn photographer to go well today. She was recommended to us by friends who used her for their newborn photos and oh my word, were they cute! Still, the cost of newborn photos is mind boggling (like a kick in the jimmies), but we'll see what we come up with!

Wearing ...
Layers and layers and layers the last 4+ days as the temps have either been below freezing or just barely above it. Somehow, though, temps are supposed to be in the mid 50s today and in the 60's tomorrow. Mother Nature is obviously having a bipolar moment.

{via}

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Grateful For...

having at least 4 other friends who are pregnant and due around the same time, going through this together with. It's nice having people who relate to what I'm going through and experiencing (and freaking out about haha). 
Plus, having friends who have already been through it that I can turn to and ask all of my millions of questions is a HUGE help too!

Now it's your turn to link up with Jessi and I to share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

Bookin' it Through the New Year

I'm back with another round of what I've been reading!

I realized that last time I shared my books, I totally forgot about one I'd read--oops! So I'm including that one to start us off!

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

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Part of the Goodreads Synopsis:

"Francesca is stuck at St. Sebastian’s, a boys' school that pretends it's coed by giving the girls their own bathroom. Her only female companions are an ultra-feminist, a rumored slut, and an impossibly dorky accordion player. The boys are no better, from Thomas, who specializes in musical burping, to Will, the perpetually frowning, smug moron that Francesca can't seem to stop thinking about."

In addition to that, Francesca is dealing with some trouble at home when her mom falls into a depression.

I enjoyed the story, and how Francesca developed and changed throughout the book, as well as how her relationships changed and evolved. This book was short (I think only about 250 pages), but it packs in a good story, and was an easy read. 

I gave it 3.5 stars

The Bay At Midnight by Diane Chamberlain

{via}

Part of the Goodreads synopsis:
"Her family's cottage on the New Jersey shore was a place of freedom and innocence for Julie Bauer -- until tragedy struck when her seventeen-year-old sister, Isabel, was murdered.
It's been more than forty years since that August night, but Julie's memories of her sister's death still color her world, causing turmoil in her relationships with her teenage daughter, Shannon, and her mother, Maria."

This one is a good summer read. It keeps you interested, and the story goes back and forth between present day and the past leading up to the murder, with pieces of the story unfolding a bit throughout. 

It's not my favorite of Diane Chamberlain's books, but I still enjoyed reading it and would give it 3.5 stars.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

{via}

This one had really good reviews on Goodreads (over 4 stars) and it kept popping up in my suggested books to read, so when I got a notice that it was on sale, I bought it and read it. This one was a bit tedious to get through for me. It took me over a month to read it. I just felt like some of the plot line was repetitive and mentioned the same thing over and over again--maybe that was intentional, but it made the book drag for me.  I did really like how the book tied up in the end, though, which made me give it a higher rating than I would have. 
I'd give this one 3 stars.

Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark

{via}

The Goodreads synopsis:
"Los Angeles D.A. Rachel Knight is a tenacious, wise-cracking, and fiercely intelligent prosecutor in the city's most elite division. When her colleague, Jake, is found dead at a grisly crime scene, Rachel is shaken to the core. She must take over his toughest case: the assault of a young woman from a prominent family.
But she can't stop herself from digging deeper into Jake's death, a decision that exposes a world of power and violence and will have her risking her reputation--and her life--to find the truth."

My mom lent me this book and I'm glad that she did. After my previous read that felt like work to get through, this was a welcome change. It was an easy read, I enjoyed the main character, and the story line kept me wanting to read on. I finished this one in a few days and really enjoyed it. I gave this one 4 stars.

That's it for me! Hoping I have some other good ones to share with you next go round!

Chilly Weekending

Happy Monday, friends and I hope that you were able to stay warm this weekend! Temps by us dipped into the teens this weekend with wind, so it was definitely a chilly one, in addition to getting our first snow!

Despite the cold, the weekend was still filled with highlights:

~Friday casual date night at Chuy's since I was craving Mexican food (shocker haha), followed by a lazy night in

~Sleeping for 10+ hours (being back at work obviously took its toll!)

~Had to drive out to Fairfax to pick up a part for my car that the dealership took forever to get done, and in the middle of that drive, the snow started to fall and stick. On the way home I discovered that during my last oil change with this dealership they apparently never filled up my wiper fluid and I had none, so I had a panicky traffic-filled, and blurry window drive home. #nevergoingbackthere

just the beginning of the flakes...

~Lots of Cooper cuddles while MG was out watching the JMU game with his college friends

~Went to one of the friends' houses for a bit once the game was over and got to catch up with everyone for a bit before heading to my principals after-holidays party.

Got in a picture with my friend who is pregnant and due right around when I am (and our other friend who tolerated all of the preggo talk lol)

~Had pancakes on Sunday morning, then ran errands (literally ran into and out of the stores because it was so windy and cold)

~Went on the hunt for a new dining room table with no success

~Had our neighbors offer us their baby jumper which was in almost perfect condition--score for nice neighbors who have kids outgrowing their stuff (and one less thing to put on the registry!)

~Tried out a new recipe which was pretty tasty and healthy--twice baked taco sweet potatoes in the crock pot (will be sharing soon)

~Watched the Golden Globes mainly because of Jimmy Fallon and then made my way up to bed to rest up for the full week ahead!

Hoping your weekend was warm (or at least filled with cuddles) and fun!

San Diego Babymooning {Part 2}

I thought today I'd finish up my post about our babymoon with our last two days in San Diego.

Wednesday morning we went to Clayton's for breakfast again, but this time decided to split a breakfast since the meals the day before had been WAY big and we both had leftovers afterwards.  The breakfast burrito was perfect to split (and continued on our Mexican kick haha).

Unfortunately it was off and on sprinkling that morning so our plans to go to the tide pools that morning got a little derailed. Instead, we bought tickets to see the USS Midway Museum which was on our to-do list for the afternoon anyway. Luckily by the time we got there, the drizzling had stopped.

We were at the ship for over an hour and a half and probably could have spent even more time there. It was really eye-opening to see what life for a member of the air force on an air craft carrier is like.

I highly recommend doing the Sky Deck tour when you're there. It was about a 10 minute wait to get started, and lasted about 30 minutes, but was a very cool part of the tour. MG even got selected to play "captain" and got to sit in the captain's chair lol

It was around 12:30 when we finished the tour and mama was hungry, so we went over to the Seaport Village and grabbed lunch at another Puesto restaurant because it had been so good in La Jolla the day before. Then we walked around and poked into several of the shops they had. It's a really cute little area to just wander through.

After lunch, we made our way to the Sunset Cliffs and thankfully the weather had cleared up so much! Sunset cliffs has some beautiful overlooks, and it was just super peaceful up there.

After taking in the views there, we decided to go to Cabrillo State Park since we'd missed it earlier that morning, and knew that the weather didn't look great for the next day. I had no idea that there was a national cemetery there, and was pleased to see wreaths laid on some of the graves.

We visited the lighthouse and got to enjoy the view from there as well

The clouds and the sky lent itself to some really great photos

After our long day of exploring, we headed home, turned on the firepit outside and both enjoyed a beverage while relaxing (mine was root beer even though it looks alcoholic)

We got ready for our dinner out at Alexander's on 30th. This place was SO cute--it was all white with candles and the mood was super romantic. To top it off, the food was insanely delicious! I had the salmon with the gorgonzola cream sauce and veggies (to die for) and MG had the baked bolognese.....in addition to the loaf of garlic bread that we both ate lol. And despite the rainy weather that had returned, we had a fabulous time! I definitely recommend this place if you're in the area.

We made our way back to the house, but before we got home, we drove around Coronado looking at all of the Christmas lights. Then we watched a movie while cuddled on the couch, and went to bed.

Thursday was our last day there and it was pouring down rain when we woke up. The showers were off and on, so we just went and picked u p bagels for breakfast and then decided to drive down to the Outlets at The Border which had awesome reviews online. And what better way to beat the dreary weather than to shop?

We were literally a mile from the border and Tijuana and could see "the wall" from where we were on the road which was pretty crazy.

The shopping there was great! I found two non-maternity shirts at J Crew (one of which was in my 22 week bump photo), and then stumbled upon a Motherhood Maternity outlet where I found 2 pairs of maternity pants and 3 tops. Success!!

After our morning of shopping, we checked another item off of our to-do list, which had been a must for me: In N Out Burger for lunch

Oh my goodness, was this SO heavenly and tasty. I'm actually salivating just looking back at this picture lol.

The afternoon was still overcast but not raining anymore, so we decided to walk down to the beach area by Hotel Coronado, and ended up exploring around the hotel which had an outdoor ice skating rink, and a man doing some pretty awesome holiday inspired sand castles on the beach!

the lobby

After our windy walk, we popped into some shops on the way back home and picked up a gift for my in-laws as a thank you for hooking us up with the house, and for watching Cooper while we were away, and headed home.

We went out to dinner at the Coronado Brewing Company and MG enjoyed the fish tacos he ordered. I made the mistake of getting a salad to try and be healthy but was super disappointed in it. Since it was back to being crummy outside, and we had an early morning wake up, we headed back to the house and relaxed for our last night in the house.

And all too soon it was 4 am and our alarm was going off to get our butts up and head back home. Luckily we had no problems getting to the airport or through security since it was the day before Christmas Eve (and there had been delays the day before with the storms).

I'm so glad that we had this opportunity to take our babymoon. It was such a great chance for us to get away, explore another city, and enjoy the time of it being just the two of us.

And a huge shout out of thanks to all of you who gave us recommendations! We tried to pack as much in as we could while we were there and your rec's definitely helped!