I'm baaaaaaack!

Hello there! I took an unexpected, sudden, and longer than anticipated blogging break after giving birth to munchkin a month early. Since my last post in April at 34 weeks, I'm sure most of you knew or had to assume we had our baby boy by now... otherwise I'd be about 50ish weeks pregnant now and that just doesn't sound fun haha. Thankfully our eager to arrive preemie was healthy and just perfect and we've been loving on him for the past 3.5 months! Sorry for disappearing without notice like that but at least I have a good reason right?!

Munchkin at 20 days old
(photos by my dear friend Brittany Lauren Photography, of course)

Isn't he just the cutest!

I've been wanting to get back to blogging for awhile and now I feel I'm in a new normal state. New normal meaning slightly less sleep deprived but also getting more used to less sleep than in the beginning... the struggle is real. There are many posts I planned on writing the month before munchkin was due... my family shower, the nursery reveal, pregnancy must haves, etc. so my hope is to start writing those and have a goal of one post a week. Then I also can't wait to post some things related to parenthood like breastfeeding must haves, baby must haves and whatnot and maybe even munchkin's birth story (I always liked reading people's birth stories). But don't worry, this won't all be baby/parenthood related... I still have recipe and travel and other posts to come.. and maybe even eventually What I Wore again... although most days right now it consists of workout clothes or pajamas or occasionally a knit skirt and a top. Oh and spit up :)

Glad to get back to blogging and thanks for waiting patiently (hopefully you hadn't all given up on me and this little blog yet) as I adjust to being a new mom! Oh and if there are any posts you would like to see or questions you have just ask away!

Five on Friday

I've never done Five on Friday before but a few blogs that I read host it and I thought I'd participate for the first time since it is pretty easy... 5 things on your mind or 5 random things.

Here we go! ...(said in your best Mario voice).

ONE - The husband and I are celebrating our birthdays tonight with friends at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery!! If you are in the Charlotte area and haven't been you should check this place out sometime. It's German style with big long tables, variety of food on the menu (and delicious pretzels I might add) and of course craft beer. It has recently won some awards and Eric loves one of their beers that is almost always on tap, OMB Copper. I'm not a beer drinker (they do have house wine for anyone else that is not) but everyone I know really likes their beer. OMB is even better when the weather is nice and everyone can hang out outside.

TWO - Since I enjoy researching and planning it should come as no surprise that I've been researching the best diaper bag for our needs and reading tons of reviews. I was delighted to find out that Tom Bihn recently came out with a diaper bag, The Parental Unit, and it quickly rose to the top. I already know they make high quality functional bags and this bag seems like it will last well beyond diapering years and even be useful for other carrying needs (read about my Tom Bihn Aeronaut carry on bag review here). Now that I'm almost positive this is the bag I want, I just have to decide on what color... I'm torn between Aubergine (eggplant) and Steel (gray). At least I have a little more time to mull it over :)

THREE - I saw this flat bread on a Five on Friday post from a blog I read and it looks yummy! I hadn't heard of Flatouts before but saw them in Walmart in the bakery area this week and picked some up. We already have spinach, various cheeses, avocado and tomato on hand so thinking this might be a wonderful lunch tomorrow!

FOUR - the Clemson 2015 Football schedule came out yesterday! Eeeeee! In honor of my birthday no doubt. Looks like there will be many awesome games this fall... can't wait for some Saturdays in Tigertown!

FIVE - the Super Bowl is on Sunday (how could that be February already?!) and we aren't as into pro football as we are college especially with not caring much about either team this year but it is still a great excuse to eat delicious food and look out for the funny commercials. Luckily our neighborhoods host a fabulous party every year. If you are heading to a party or just hanging around the house to watch it, I suggest making my Avocado Dip! It is easy, creamy, addicting and healthy... doesn't get better than that!

Linking up with these blogs to Five on Friday

Kiawah and 5th Anniversary Dinner

Almost every summer we are able to get away for an extended weekend at a beach house that our friend Justin's parents graciously let a bunch of us use. This year was the longest we have been able to stay in recent years and it was wonderful!

We spent a ton of time on the beach relaxing, playing cornhole, reading and going on walks. We cooked dinners together at the house and also went out to a nearby restaurant one night. We played games and went on a very long (unintentionally long to be exact) bike ride to this luxury hotel on the island and back. The weather was perfect. I didn't get a ton of pictures but here are a few from my phone.

These next five our friend Chris took during the very long bike ride. I actually brought along my nice camera and spotted some pretty flowers at the Sanctuary. Who knew that my dance training would come in handy for photography balancing :)

And these are a few good shots I got of the purple flowers.

We went down to the beach on a Saturday and came home on Wednesday. It was really nice to have a 2 day work week and then having our 5th anniversary that Friday. We went out to a fancy dinner at a fairly new restaurant on top of one of the hotels in Uptown.

The food was great but the view was even better!

For anniversary outfit details go here.

5 Years Ago Today

We were doing this....

I cannot believe 5 years of marriage have passed already! Time really does fly when you're havin' fun. Our wedding was such a fun day celebrating with our family and friends. We have had so many great adventures so far and I'm excited for many many more with my best friend! I could not have dreamed of a better guy to go through life with!

Love you babe!

Also this was my first time using Photoshop to edit photos... I barely know anything yet but ran some fun Pioneer Woman free actions and had fun playing around. I especially like the first one in black and white.

The DIY play kitchen is back

4 years ago I started this blog (actually yesterday 4 years ago to the day!) to write about projects, recipes and adventures we have and a little about myself too. My first blogged project was the DIY Play Kitchen made out of a thrifted nightstand for our niece's 3rd birthday. It was also my the first furniture redo. It is still probably my favorite project and is one of the most visited posts for good reason.

A few weeks ago Eric's parents said that our niece had outgrown the play kitchen and did we want them to sell it at their garage sale or did we want it back. (Side note... I cannot believe she is turning 7 next week!!) YES YES we wanted it back! With all the sweat and love that went into that project I couldn't let it be sold at the garage sale.

Eric picked it up and now it's in our "game room" but will probably go in the storage/attic soon. I have to say that for after experiencing 4 years of non-gentle play from our niece and countless friends of hers, it held up well! I'm sure something similar in plastic would not be in the same state. You can tell this kitchen was loved and enjoyed but it just needs a little paint, a new "faucet" and some dowel fixing for the stove burners to be good as new.

I am sure that there will be a little girl in the family or a very close friend that will enjoy this kitchen too and it can be passed on more times. It's basically like a family heirloom now :) Although I wouldn't mind making another one since it's just so cute and fun or even a boy or gender neutral version.

Read the step by step process to make a play kitchen of your own for a kid to enjoy! Thanks to everyone who has been following along with this little blog of mine!

New Birthday Toy

I talked about this fun little "toy" in my Gift Guide for Her post and have been wanting one for awhile. Luckily my mom pays close attention to my blog and got me this lovely label maker for my birthday today :) 

I cannot wait to use this thing and label everything... spice jars, bathroom organization, mail and paper organization, craft organization... so excited to label! Well maybe not everything... I'll try not to get too carried away. I guess it's a good thing we don't own a cat. Maybe Justin will bring Lily cat with him next time he visits...

 

 

No? Okay maybe not but these look just wonderful...

 

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Funny thing is our niece asked for a label maker for her 6th birthday this past summer. We got her one that was a little easier for a kid to use but she loves it! I mean how many 6-year-olds do you know asking for label makers? Perhaps she gets that from me :)



Hey Girl, Happy Valentine's Day

I'm sure you have seen the Ryan Gosling Hey Girl memes everywhere. After I saw Sherry from YHL made some of her hubby, I decided that would be great fun for Valentine's Day!

Here are two Hey Girl memes I made of Eric. Sorry ladies, he's alllllll mine :)

These definitely fit us perfectly! Of course how can they not... I wrote them!

My favorite Ryan Gosling one that also fits hubby and I to a T is:

In case you can't get enough here are a few more that apply to us :)

Oh, if you were wondering about the Zombie Shirt. It reads THE HARDEST THING ABOUT A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE WILL BE PRETENDING I'M NOT EXCITED

I got it on etsy for Eric's birthday last month. It's kinda an inside joke (by kinda inside I mean some of our close friends also get it) but zombies have become quite popular with the Walking Dead show and whatnot too. If zombies really did show up, I don't think I can share Eric's sentiment... but at least I know he won't be intimidated so perhaps we will survive.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Recently

This is where I tell you about why I haven't been blogging recently....

I started a new job at work a couple of weeks ago (same company) so of course any time you take a new job/position it's busy and stressful at first as you are getting acclimated. Throw a very critical project with extremely tight deadlines in our near future on top and you just multiplied that ten-fold.

I've been jet setting across the US... those of you who do it know traveling for work is not glamorous. Last week Plano (state #20 for me). This week Westlake Village, CA. And just working my butt off on this project.

So that is my excuse reason for slacking on the blog posts. The small amount of personal time I have had lately has been spent enjoying time with the hubby or working out.. still going strong with my new years goal of 4 workouts per week woohoo!! (minus a couple weeks I was sick in Feb)

The good news is I do have a few draft posts in the works and I hope to finish a couple of those up this weekend like the trip I took to Denver.

Thanks for hanging in there while things are hectic!

Blog Makeover

See anything different.....? LaForce Be With You got a MAKEOVER! After a little over 1 1/2 years I figured it was time for a new look. While I liked my whimsical and cute first design, I wanted something a little simpler and make it easier for all of YOU to find things here.

I talked to dear hubby (a.k.a. code monkey) about what I wanted and showed him some various blogs and things I liked and didn't like about their designs and this is what he came up with. Well really he came up with something very close to this and we sat down and made some tweaks to end up with the final product! We kept the same color scheme since that worked really well and still makes my blog recognizable. I especially love the custom ribbon coming off of the "F" in LaForce.

In the future I am looking to have indexes with thumbnails for the main buttons (recipes, top diy, adventures) but for now they just link to categories same as clicking on a grouping on the right-hand side.

Hope you like the new look! Thanks hubby!

The Birthday Bag

Wow, it's hard to believe January is already over and February is here! Although that does mean 1 month closer to summertime which I love.

January is usually a fairly busy month as work ramps up again after the holidays and a big cleaning happens after the decorations are put away. January is also when I celebrate my birthday (and hubby celebrates his too).

When my parents visited at the end of December they brought up my birthday gift along with the Christmas gifts since that would be easier than mailing it. The main part of my gift was this amazing bag made just for me by my mom!

Aren't you impressed? I sure am. My mom is a fabulous sewer and has made many clothes, make-up bags, pillows, etc. but she had never made a bag or purse before! I mentioned around Thanksgiving time that I really wanted a mustard colored bag with pleats and buttons so of course she set out to make that happen. Mustard is not a color I can wear well but I like it so I knew a bag would be perfect! The inside fabric is the same as the rosette on each side of the bag AND the inside has POCKETS!! Every girl loves pockets.

She used an Amy Butler pattern and actually ended up with Amy Butler fabric too but that was just a coincidence. Little does she know that now she can also make bags/purses, I'll have some future requests :)  I've even already found some cute free patterns on pinterest!

Turns out, I did get to see my parents on my actual birthday this year when I came for a funeral. Although it was a very unfortunate and sad circumstance, it was a blessing to get to spend the weekend with my best friend and get to see my parents and godmother too!

So here's to 1 year older (and wiser hopefully) and a new month of fun things ahead!


Linking up at these fun parties:

(M) Motivate Me Monday, Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Monday Marvelous, Just Something I Whipped Up, The DIY Showoff, Mad Skills, (T) Today's Creative Blog, All Thingz Related, Tip Me Tuesday, Ladybug Blessings, Try it Tuesday, A Little Birdie Told Me (W) Whatever Goes Wednesday, Blue Cricket Design, We Did It Wednesday, Wassup Wednesday (Th) Hooking up w/HoH, Somewhat Simple, Lemon Tree Creations (F) Remodelaholics Anonymous,  Frugalicious Friday,  FrouFrouDecor, Fingerprints on the Fridge, FFA Friday, Weekend Wander, (S) Weekend Wrap Up Party, Lamb Around (Su) Sunday Showcase Party, Sundae Scoop, It's So Very Cheri

Versatile Blogger Award

I just received a Versatile Blogger Award!

The rules of accepting the award are as follows:

1. Thanks the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

Thanks, Stevie at Moore Babies! Stevie has some cute crafts and yummy recipes, not to mention 2 adorable little girls! You should check her out.

2. Tell 7 things about yourself.

I did this same thing for the stylish blogger award so here are 7 more things... in no particular order

1. I love warm weather and hate the cold. I am a baby about being cold for sure.... probably has to do with growing up in FL.
2. I bring my lunch to work every day. Seriously, every day. I am thrifty like that and want to eat healthy.
3. I am trying my hand at all sorts of different crafts and redos therefore my list of "want to do's" has gotten rather long.
4. In reading that Stevie is slightly afraid of the ocean, I was stung by a stingray while with my family on a beach trip in high school. It was not fun and now I HIGHLY recommend the stingray shuffle.
5. When I was younger I was a total danceaholic... ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, you name it.. competitive dance team in high school too. I did the sorority dance team in college which was a blast! And I still love dancing now at weddings, randomly around the house and such.
6. I went to the State Science Fair in high school with a project about biodegradability... totally ahead of the being green thing.
7. I love going on neighborhood walks with the hubby :)

3. Pay it forward and award the Versatile Blogger to 15 recently discovered new bloggers. Or perhaps new(ish) to me cuz well 15 is a lot! I tried to find blogs I like to read that did not already have the award too so hopefully most do not.

Click over to these awesome blogs!

1. Jenn @ Rook No. 17
2. Kitty @ A Law Student's Journey
3. Clemson Girl
4. Handy Man, Crafty Woman
5. Melissa at Kensington Cottage
6. Christina @ It's a Keeper
7. Allison @ Little Lovelies
8. Rachael @ Lovely Crafty Home
9. Becca @ Home is Where My Story Begins
10. Courtney @ Not So Homemade
11. Jill @ Women Who Do It All
12. Heather @ Real Crafty Mama
13. Ashley @ Ashley Creations :)
14. Kara @ Happy Go Lucky
15. Krista @ While He Was Napping

4. Contact everyone and let them know they've been awarded. And now on to the contacting...