Stop It

I saw this pin on my Pinterest recently and I saved it to blog about it at some point. I really felt this message speak to me - and it's something I am ready to do.  It's something I want to do. 

I have been guilty of holding some grudges now and withholding some forgiveness in a situation I dealt with this summer.  I had my feelings hurt by someone close to me, someone I used to look up to.  They let me down and I had a hard time getting over it.  From a healthy place now though, I'm ready to forgive, even forget a bit and move on.  I don't know the path this person has been asked to walk in life, I don't know their battles.  I'm offering this person grace and mercy and moving on.

I am also just so tired of negative, well for lack of better words, bullshit.  There is so much negative BS around sometimes and it can get so easy to get bogged down in judging others, tearing them down so it makes yourself feel better.  I don't want to do that anymore.  I don't want my son growing up thinking it's ok to bash others behind their back.  I may not agree with how someone chooses to live their life or handle a given situation, but you know what, it's their life, not mine.  I wouldn't want them judging me.  My mom and aunts and I have been rather fond of the Polish proverb "Not my circus, not my monkeys" lately - and that's where I'm at in terms of someone else and how they live their life.

Above all I just want to choose happiness.  It's so much better than being bogged down with anger, resentment, sadness, etc.  I'm choosing kindness.  I am going to work on not judging, holding grudges or withholding forgiveness.  I am going to simply STOP IT on negative behavior.  Of course, it's easy to SAY you will do all those things, it's another thing all together to put it into practice.  But I'm going to give it my best effort.  I invite you all to do the same.  Peace.

Currently in September

One of my favorite monthly link ups right now is the "Currently" link up with Anne of In Residence and Jenna of Dearest Love.  They post the link up on Wednesdays, but I wanted to do Oliver's monthly update that day, so I'm doing my Currently for September today instead!  I am taking the week off from TIGF - not that I don't have things I'm grateful for of course!  Just thought this would be fun today.
--Currently I am--
Writing - Nothing much besides blog posts!  Kind of boring I realize!  I did make a spreadsheet for all my style challenges earlier this week, does that count?  Ha! #nerd
Anticipating - Fall!  Everything about it.  It's my favorite season and no, I'm not wishing the summer away and I know it isn't officially Fall until September 22nd, but I just am so ready for cool nights, bonfires, sweatshirts, apple orchards, hayrides, baking pies, cider....the list goes on.  I love it all, bring it on.
Missing - Getting to see my friends as often as I used to - between kids, jobs, travel and other things we don't all get together as we used to.  While I love where my life is right now,  I miss some of those carefree days sometimes!
Wearing - Long sleeves for the first time in awhile!  And jeans for Friday!  I adore this top I scored on thrift store day!  Took the day off from all my style challenges today too, I love them, but it's nice to take a break.

Shirt - Old Navy (thrifted), Jeans - Levi's (thrifted)

Necklaces - Charming Charlie, Stella and Dot

Craving - I was just telling Nate the other day we never went out for a good old fashioned ice cream cone this summer.  I craved ice cream a lot when I was pregnant with Oliver, but I just didn't find myself wanting it this year.  But right now even though it's cold out it sounds kind of good!  I'm also craving a good slice of pumpkin bread with a latte or a cup of hot apple cider.  Yum.  Might be time to do some baking!

So there you have it!  Anyone have exciting weekend plans?  We're doing a mass with our music group - for the first time since Ollie has been born, both Nate and I will get to participate so I'm looking forward to having my favorite drummer back with us!  We're also hoping to get a batch of beer brewed and I might start a major closet cleanout, we'll see how ambitious I get!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thrift Style Thursday/Throwback Thursday - School days

This week's Thrift Style Thursday theme is Back to School.  I did a back to school inspired outfit on Tuesday of this week already, but decided to have a little fun with today.  I decided to put together an outfit inspired by my school looks from wayyyyy back.  Oh yes my friends.  We're going to take a little walk back in time at baby Bethie as she grows up.  I'm doing it up 80's and 90's style today. Hold on to your hats!

First up, elementary school:

The first picture is third grade, top right is kindergarten and bottom right is second grade.  I absolutely loved school at these ages and couldn't wait for the first day.  I remember going shopping for school clothes and picking out the perfect dress.  We'd put stuff on layaway - lots of stores did that before they had the store credit cards that most places have now.  You'd pick out your stuff, they'd set it aside for you and you'd pay it off little by little and then pick it up.  I know Marshalls used to do this for sure.  Anyway, as I said the other day, I pretty much wore a dress on the first day of school all through elementary school.  I loved skirts and dresses, I was your typical girlie girl!

Next up, the angst years - middle school:

First picture is 7th grade and next picture is 8th grade.  Oh 7th grade Beth.  What are you doing?  Double denim....eek.  Can you blame me for being afraid of doing double denim now?  Lovely vest too.  But ugh, that smile?  These were my AWKWARD years for sure. At least by 8th grade I put together something much more respectable!  I actually took much of my inspiration for my outfit for today from this look, you'll see that shortly.

Finally, we have high school:

Still a bit awkward, but not nearly as bad. We have 11th grade on the left and 10th grade on the right.  I was a band geek as you can see by the flute case.  Rocking some nice 90's floral and baggy jeans there. And we're not going to talk about my hair.  Nope.  Let's just say Nate used to say I had mushroom hair from how it poofed out - and he still married me, that's love folks.  I actually like this picture from 10th grade, if I still had that sweater around I might even wear it now!  

So, I took a few elements from these pictures and created a look for today.  I chose a skirt, simple top, a denim vest, short boots and a barrette in my hair.  Do you think I'd get to sit at the cool kids table rocking a look like this?

Vest - Vintage Lee (Mighty Swell Vintage), Top - NY & Co (from cousin)

Skirt - Xhiliartion (thrifted), Boots - Target

Necklace - Lia Sophia 

I hope you had fun going down memory lane with me!  I actually had a lot of fun looking back and throwing a little something together!  Check out how other Thrift Style Thursday gals styled some back to school looks over on our shiny new Thrift Style Thursday Facebook page - and feel free to join us yourself!  We'd love to have some new members!

Oliver - Nine Months

Wow.  Oliver has now pretty much spent as much time on Earth as he did in my belly!  Crazy how the time flies.  If I thought my pregnancy went by fast, the next nine months went even faster!  I've been really working on just enjoying every single moment and I would have to say we had another fabulous month. Here are some of Ollie's stats as we enter month nine!

Weight - We honestly haven't tried to check this in quite awhile.  If I had to guess I'd say maybe 22 pounds, maybe as much as 23?  We have a checkup with his pediatrician next week so we'll finally have some official stats then.

Length - Also haven't checked in awhile, he's still a bit short for the highest setting on his jumperoo, so I'm going with between 27 and 28 inches.

Nicknames - Ollie, Ollie-boy, Little Man, Monkey, Monster, Munchkin, Kiddo, Pretzel Boy, Squirmy Worm, The Boss, Buddy, Bud, Goofy

Sleep - Well, we still have one wake up over night but I think for the first month of his life I can finally say we're consistent!!  He goes down every night between 6:30 and 7:00 pm, gets a dream feed when I go to bed around 10 pm and then wakes up around 2:00 am usually and is up for the day between 6:30 and 7:00 am.  I know at this age he is very capable of sleeping through the night, but I honestly don't mind our schedule.  I am also happy he's been on a nice predictable nap schedule.  He takes an hour to hour and a half nap in the mornings and close to two hours in the afternoon, around the same time each day.  This makes scheduling things, especially on the weekends, SO MUCH easier.

Eating - Lots more veggies!  He seems to dig his veggies, his favorites have been cauliflower, sweet potato, squash and green beans.  We must be teaching him well, he turns up his nose at french fries!  We did attempt yogurt for breakfast but then he broke out around his mouth in a tiny rash, so we're waiting to ask the doctor on that one.  We've also tried some oatmeal, but we are not a fan.  Over the next month we're working on trying to get him up to three meals a day of solid food.  He still LOVES his nursing though and mommy doesn't mind that at all.

Diapers - Size threes during the day a lot and we've moved into size fours at night.  Both sizes seem to work fine, I notice there is a bit of overlap in the weight recommended on each size so that may be why.

Clothes - Still rocking mostly 12-18 month.  Some of the size 12 month stuff is starting to get a little small, but much of it still works well.

Mood - He's a pretty happy little guy!  He has his bad teething days here and there but even those days we get smiles, especially if we go outside.  He is ACTIVE.  He still can't quite figure out the crawling, but he is a busy boy, always playing, exploring, grabbing for things, wanting to be standing or moving.  He's all boy, that's for sure!

Loves - Mommy, Daddy, his grandparents, Taylor cat (we've regressed a bit on our friendship with Pippin a little bit), being outside, puppies, walks, sitting at the table like a big boy, banging on the table like a drum, giving kisses, playing with the kitty's toys, balls, bath time, swimming, swinging on a swing, sitting in the cart at Target or other stores

Dislikes - Teething, being strapped down for too long in his high chair, carseat or even stroller sometimes, car rides longer than 10-15 minutes (sigh), rainy days, not being able to just get down and walk

Milestones/What I want to remember - He now has four teeth and may have six pretty soon!  We had fun showing his St. Louis relatives around some Minnesota things, we visited the Minnesota State Fair, we celebrated our buddy Benny's first birthday.  He sits very well now and is working on standing.  He started giving kisses this month - cutest thing ever.  He is getting good at the "pincher" grasp and pretty much grabs at everything now, I'm almost thankful he's hasn't quite figured out this crawling thing yet because once he does and can start pulling himself up on things, I'm going to be in trouble!  He helped brew his first batch of beer with mommy and daddy - well OK, he watched us while we did it.  We visited the zoo again, I think it was his fourth trip now!  We made the most of as many fun summer days as we could!

Dear Oliver,

Well baby, you've been with us now for as long as mommy was pregnant with you!  How is that even possible?  We sure had a lot of fun this month didn't we?  You loved the State Fair so much, especially riding that merry go round!  You bring such joy to everyone we meet - every time we go to the coffee shop or a restaurant or store people tell us how cute you are! We'll have to be careful not to let that go to your head, but you seriously are the cutest.  We had a great summer but I'm also excited to show you all the best things about mommy's favorite season - Fall.  We have apple orchard visits to look forward to and next month we will teach you all about Halloween!  For now, we will keep enjoying these beautiful days while we can!  I love you to the moon and back little man!

Love,
Mama

Back to school inspired style

So I mentioned yesterday when talking about my recap of no shop summer that I'm attempting three style challenges for the month of September.  I figure between the three I can almost always hit one!  If not, no big deal, but it's fun to play along with what I can.  Today I managed to hit two of them - back to school favorites and the first Pinned It Spinned It look.  I find a khaki skirt and denim jacket to be very classic looks for a back to school type inspiration.

It's not super cold here so I opted for a lighter jacket.  I also don't have fun peach shoes like the ones in the pinned picture, but I do love these fun ones my mom passed along to me.  They're pretty comfy I must say!

Shirt - J Crew (thrifted), Jacket - LOFT (consignment)

Skirt - Old Navy, Scarf - two birds garage sale

Bag - Old Navy, Shoes - Born (from mom)

 I was definitely a bit of a preppy girl back in the day, I almost always wore a dress or a skirt on the first day of school until I hit my teen years and the grunge era was popular.  Then it was all flannels, jeans and oversized shirts!  I always like to joke that I didn't have the greatest fashion sense for a time in high school but I still got the guy anyway!  To this day though he most definitely prefers me in a skirt and I think I have to agree!

No Shop Recap and New Challenges

Well here we are. Labor Day.  Technically the end of my no shop summer.  How'd I do?  Well I kept up my pledge, but sadly, my goal is still not quite attainable.  I have been thinking and reflecting on this all weekend and trying to figure out where I went wrong.  I think there are multiple factors.

First of all, I said my shopping ban included all clothes, accessories but also bath/body or makeup for myself.  I did cheat here.  I bought a few makeup items and also some facial products to try out in my ever suffering quest to have better skin.  Most of these things were things I didn't truly need.  And I was guilty of "I'm just buying this one small thing here or there".  Small things add up.  Fast. 

Secondly, I didn't include Oliver in my shopping ban.  He's a growing boy, so he did need some new clothes this summer.  I also bought him a few more age appropriate toys.  I tried to do it secondhand when possible, but it still added up.  Nate's theory is maybe I was channeling my energy of not shopping for myself into shopping for him, he may be right.  Either way, it didn't help my cause much!

I also have a significant car loan from purchasing my parent's car in March.  I'm so happy to have it, but I don't want to take advantage of them in any way so I'm trying to get it paid off as soon as I can.

Beyond that, the grocery trips, items for the cats and our various activities do add up.  It's hard to give everything up all together.  I learned a lot about just our daily expenses and it makes me wonder where we'd be if I hadn't given up shopping at all.

So where do I go from here?  Well, I don't have the answers yet.  Sadly I just know we are not ready for me to cut a day from my work schedule yet, I don't think we can afford to lose that day of pay.  I am continuing to count my blessings that I have the type of job I do - an understanding boss, close proximity to my parents so I can at least get my lunch hour with Oliver, I have a nice time off program.  I am going to keep working on not shopping - my closet is full to the brim and there is nothing I truly need.  That being said I am letting myself hit the thrifts later today for 50% off day but I'm going to be very discerning as to anything I choose.  I only want things that will work with other items I already have.  After today though, I'm back to no more shopping.  I have a birthday in two months and Christmas and I plan to ask for gift cards at that time. 

Helping me continue to shop my own closet and remix are three more Instagram style challenges that I'm very excited about - Style Me September, a Patterns challenge and another round of Pinned It Spinned It.  I have been enjoying these Instagram challenges - I may not hit all of them at once again, but between them they give me ideas and options and I like interpreting them my own way.

The other thing I'm going to attempt for the rest of the year is a Project "Use It Up" - I am going to try to not buy any new makeup/bath and body/hair products/etc until I use something up.  If you have seen my bathroom shelf, this could take me awhile.  It's just time.

Beyond that, Nate and I are really going to start working on a budget and figuring out how we can best still enjoy our day to day life while working towards the goal of me being able to stay home a little more.  I still believe we can make it work, just gotta keep on trucking.  I am not going to really say a whole lot more about this for the time being, but I do thank all of you for your support while I have been working on this shopping ban!  We'll see how things shake out as we keep going!