Weekend snapshots

Happy Monday! Well, ok, really, can Monday be truly happy? I try to keep a positive attitude, but I tell you, it's cloudy and dull outside and I've been a little clumsy so far today, and my to do list for my Oktoberfest next weekend is getting bigger and bigger so it's a bit of a challenge today.  I'm just going to keep drinking my coffee and instead of looking ahead too much and panicking will instead reflect on a nice weekend spent with my boys.

Friday evening we spent quietly at home, went for a walk before Ollie went to bed, then made some chili cheese dogs and watched a movie called God's Pocket, which was just ok in my opinion.

Saturday we got up and headed out into one of the chilliest mornings so far for a round of disc golf.  We made sure Ollie was bundled up nice and warm - even Nate and I ended up wearing gloves!  It was one of the best rounds I think I've played so far though, I'm starting to get a little better at my throwing skills! We headed home and attempted to put Ollie down for a nap, but he resisted a bit.  So, instead we cleaned up a bit and went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants - Brasa in NE Minneapolis.  Oliver had a great time, we ended up sharing almost all of what we had with him and he ate it all.  He loved it.  By the time we were heading home he was finally tired enough that he pretty much passed out and took a long early afternoon nap.

I was supposed to sing at a wedding, so I headed over to the church only to find out they double booked singers and because the mother of the bride contacted the other singer, they would not be needing me.  Sad panda.  So I ended up with a little down time instead before Oliver woke up from his nap.  After he woke up, we met up with some friends that we haven't had the chance to hang out with in awhile at a new to use brewery in St. Paul, Tin Whiskers.  We shared a beer flight, had a chance to catch up with our friends and Oliver finally met his new buddy, baby Alexander, in person.  Sadly though, Oliver was not happy to just sit still for terribly long so we headed for home by about 6:00 so we could get him ready for bed.  Nate and I just had some leftovers for dinner and watched a much better movie called Are We Here?

Sunday we all slept in and then Nate made us some delicious breakfast at home that we enjoyed while Ollie had a morning nap.  After he woke up, Nate and my dad started working on an area in our backyard where we've had trouble with water coming in the house while my mom and I took Ollie to Once Upon a Child for a little bit.  We came back and she helped me go through Ollie's dresser real quick to pull out the items that he's outgrown or are not really for the season any longer.  Then she left and I put him down for an afternoon nap and then I baked cookies for Nate and my dad and my "brother" Dave who had also come to help as a form of payment for their work.  Dad and Dave left and Nate and I chatted a bit about what we need to do for Oktoberfest and were just getting ready to go to the park with Oliver when Nate's parents called and invited us out to dinner.  We're not ones to turn down free food so we met up with them and Nate's sister and went to Red Robin.  Ollie did really well there too, he had fun sitting in his high chair at the table with us and Nate offered him scraps of various things on his plate.  After dinner we headed home and put him to bed, though he was so excited from his adventures it took him a bit to calm down for the evening.

So, it was a pretty decent weekend overall.  I didn't take a lot of pictures this weekend as you'll notice - sometimes I think it's good to live in the moment and just be, so it was nice to step away from my phone/camera a little bit and just be present.  I'm working on that balance, I want to make sure I capture moments I don't want to forget with Ollie, but again, I want to be sure I'm in the moment as much as possible too.

Looking ahead it will be a crazy week, but we'll just take it as it comes! 

Coffee chat

So, first of all, I missed my blog anniversary this week!  Three years going strong!  I just want to thank you all for reading and sharing in my daily adventures and fashion hits and misses - and especially for all of the support and love during my pregnancy and after the birth of Oliver!  It's been one crazy year, that's for sure! And what better time than my anniversary than to debut my new weekly theme post!  I've decided to launch a weekly "Coffee Chat Wednesday".  Basically, it'll be a post of whatever is on my mind, sharing as if we were sitting down together and having coffee.  I'm hoping to start a link-up as well - so if you want to share your thoughts you can too!  It's not necessarily a soap box type thing - though I can't promise all sunshine and roses, some days it might be a bitch session, but some days it'll just be a friendly blogger to blogger chat about life's mysteries or other fru-fru stuff. Sound good?  Then grab a mug of your favorite hot beverage and let's dish!
First off, how are you today?  I'm good, I finally feel like I don't need as much coffee in the morning now that Oliver is only waking up once at night.  Yes!  I know, how sad is it that I'm excited that he's only waking up once right?  But seriously, it was brutal there for awhile, he was on this every two hour schedule and that was hard!  My uncle - his doctor - says he shouldn't even be waking up at all and he's capable of sleeping at least eight hours without feeding, so naturally, I feel like I must be doing something wrong.  But then I look at how far we've come in the last couple of months - we've established a bedtime routine, he puts himself to sleep instead of needing to be rocked and bopped, he sleeps in his CRIB in his OWN ROOM and I think the biggest achievement of all, he naps in his bed, not his swing!  So I think we're doing ok!  I am still getting the "he doesn't sleep through the night yet?" comments, but I feel pretty good about where we are honestly.  I think being down to one feed is still a step in the right direction and he'll sleep all the way through very soon. We're starting to talk about starting some solid food soon here - which scares me to death - but I know it will be better for him in the long run if we start getting him used to it!  I'm not sure exactly when we'll try it.  I want to do it on a weekend and this weekend I have my ten year college reunion so I'll be away from him for a little bit.  Yes, that's right, my ten year college reunion.  Yes, that makes me feel kind of old!  I'm sure there will be stories for the next time we have coffee together!  Anyway, I am pretty proud of my little Ollie and how far he's come to this point.  He's just changing by the day and it's so much fun to see!  Half a year down and I haven't screwed him too badly yet anyway! *laughs*
So what's new with you?

Inspiration Monday - I'm baaaack!

Hello everyone!  I'm back!  It's good to be back.  I have to give a round of applause/standing ovation to all my guest posters for last week - thanks so much Megan, Callie, Ally, Jess and Maca!  I hope you all enjoyed their posts and will check out their blogs too.  It was a nice break, even though I was home part of the week, I wasn't wearing much anything more exciting than jeans and a t-shirt!  But it really is good to be back, I've missed this and I've missed all of you! More on my vacation in a bit, but first, let's start off right here with this week's pick for Inspiration Monday - Elizabeth Olsen (god I feel old, I remember when her famous sisters were babies on Full House....)

This was pretty easy for me!  I was more than happy to pull out this dress that I love, I thrifted it last year and have worn it quite a bit on the blog, but it's been awhile.  I think of these colors as fall/winter colors.  And we're getting late into August here and getting close to fall, so it felt right.  I loved adding this denim vest to give this a whole new look!  I don't have booties yet - I had some light colored cowboy boots that I tried but they just didn't look right, so I stuck to sandals today.

So back to my vacation - it was lovely.  We spent four days in Itasca State Park with the Pants Monkey's family and the weather was perfect.  We were able to build a fire every night.  We went on a fun boat ride, we golfed a bit and on the last night we went down by the lake and watched the stars.  I even saw a few shooting stars.  I swear, Northern Minnesota is heaven.  If any of you ever come to visit MN I will insist on getting you out of the city for just a day or two, Minneapolis is great, don't get me wrong, but the Northwoods is what makes me heart Minnesota so much.  I love that I can escape there so easily!

After our return on Wednesday we still had a couple of days to enjoy.  Thursday we were pretty lazy, but we did go buy Mr. Monkey some new clothes.  He has lost some weight (on purpose, so proud of him!) and needed some things that would fit instead of hanging off his body!  Friday we brewed some beer.  Saturday we had bought a Living Social deal that allowed us to go on a bus ride to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin to tour the Leinenkugel brewery and go tubing down the Chippewa River.  It was a blast, we had no idea what to expect going in but we had a good time.  And then Sunday we totally vegged.  Now we're back to the grind!

It's tough to be back but it's another short week actually - we took this coming Friday off to go to the Minnesota State Fair!  I can't believe it's Fair time already.  Where did this summer go again?  I wish it would never end!

As always, please head over to two birds to check out the other Inspiration Monday looks!  And big congrats to Nora Bird on the birth of baby Ben!  Megan's rocking it solo over there for a bit, so make sure to show her some love!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - Axcess by Claiborne (thrifted)

Vest - Vintage, Mighty Swell

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company (DSW)

Necklace and two bracelets - S&D

Other bracelet - Bead for Life