Weekly Update Vol. 01
Happy weekend, friends! A long time ago, as in four years ago, I started a series on here called Weekly Update. I would talk about things I was excited about, share a collection of my favorite articles / things from around the web, and it was meant to be a way for me to reflect on the week and download everything I wanted to share with you. Somewhere along the way, I took a break from the blog and focused more on social media, and only posting updates like this seemed redundant when I wasn't putting any other posts.
I'm so excited to be bringing it back, and though they might end up being a little long from time to time, I'm looking forward to having a place where I can just share. Share more of my favorite things that I find throughout the week, catch you guys up on what's going on in my life in a totally candid way that I can reflect on years from now, and I've added a few new features to this series as well! On top of all of the things that I shared when I first started the series years ago, I've added a section for "Shopping + Sales" where I'll share all of the sales happening online (+ my favorite picks from each of the stores), and my favorite new section is the "Life Lately" area. It's long, totally personal, and I'm viewing this portion as a way for me to download my week. Think of it like my personal journal documenting anything to note, and if you're not into the personal-oversharing-journal kind of thing, just scroll on through to the next portion of the Weekly Update. 😉
So, with all of that being said, the Weekly Update will be a permanent series around here. It'll go live every Saturday, and it makes me so excited to know that I have one place where I can share all of my favorite things and updates each week. Keeping up with the world of social media and constantly posting every little thing that I want to share as it happens can become insanely overwhelming. I hope you love this series as much as I do, and if you have any suggestions on how I can make it even better, let me know! ❤️
FAVE ONLINE FINDS
my favorite flower delivery service, living room couch dilemmas, and a delicious recipe to try
+ The Bouqs Co. / With Mother's Day this weekend, I figured I'd throw this one out there! It's a little late to order for tomorrow's delivery at this point, but The Bouqs is one of my all time favorite flower delivery services. The flowers last weeks, and they have the most beautiful arrangements.
+ Article / I don't know how I've never been on this website before, but I'm so thankful that I stumbled upon it on Anna's blog! We've been hunting for the perfect couch for our living room, and I think we're going with either this one or this one ... All of our current furniture was sized for an apartment, so when we moved it into our new living room the first thing I said was that it felt like a dollhouse. 😂 Any advice between the cloth or leather couch? We've been debating both ways, but with a pup who lays around with us on the couch all day, and a new baby on the way, we can't decide which one will be better!
+ Citrus & Pomegranate Fruit Salad / Like I mentioned in my 22 Week Bumpdate, I haven't had any super intense pregnancy cravings up to this point ... The one thing that I've found myself eating constantly though has been citrus! I found this recipe on Pinterest, and I immediately added all of the ingredients to my grocery list!
SHOPPING + SALES
mother's day weekend sales + my favorite picks
Anthropologie / 20% off everything with code WOWMOM
Fossil / 25% select styles with code MOM25
Loft / 30% off site wide with code LOVEMOM
Baublebar / 30% off site wide with code SAVE30
J. Crew / Up to 50% off site wide with code SHOPNOW
👉 Don't forget to "like" my Facebook page for sale alerts + my favorite shopping finds everyday! 👈
LIFE LATELY
kodah's gotcha day, getting things done, our typical weeknight, and pregnancy anxiety
+ We're celebrating Kodah's "Gotcha Day" this weekend, and it's so hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that we rescued him four years ago! I'm working on a full post all about our sweet bear ... his story before we rescued him, my weeks on end of convincing Sean to make the drive to visit him, and how much better our lives got once he joined our family. If you have any questions about rescuing a pup, the challenges, how we prepared, etc. drop a comment below! I'd love to answer anything I can while I'm putting this post together. ❤️🐶
+ The more I find myself falling back into a regular routine with work, the more I feel stress creeping in. I feel like we have literally everything left to do to get our house in order + get prepared for baby's arrival so dedicating a ton of time to work has made me go a little off balance. I have a whole post coming up about balance, my struggles with it, and some tips that I've collected from around online on how to work towards finding it, but in the meantime, I'm just trying to remind myself to breathe!
Just yesterday I was telling Sean it's almost the end of May! We have 3 months to get everything done! And he kindly reminded me, while shaking his head and somewhat laughing at my craziness, that it's actually barely the middle of May and we have plenty of time ... I honestly don't know what I'd do without him! If there's one thing I know about balance it's that Sean and I balance each other out in every way possible. Thank God for that man because I'd be even more of a hot mess without him, and Lord knows the world probably couldn't handle that! 😅
+ Sean and I spent our nights this week playing Wii (who knew your arms could be seriously sore from playing virtual sports ...), eating takeout every night (between working our way through the lasagna my momma baked for us), and catching up on all of the Designated Survivor episodes that we missed! If you haven't seen this show yet, we highly recommend it! My mom and step-dad were all about it when it first started, and I'm so glad we listened to them and decided to give it a shot. We're in-between shows right now while we wait for new episodes to be released on Hulu, so if you have any must watch shows or movies, let me know!
+ We had another doctor's appointment this past week, and if you follow along with me on Instagram then you know we got a perfect report back! Heart beat is strong as can be, my belly is measuring along just fine, and the baby was kicking the doppler nonstop. I was so thankful to get that report after sending myself into a worried spiral just a few days prior.
Let me explain ... Last weekend I had myself fully convinced that I was going into pre-term labor, because worrying about everything related to this sweet babe in my belly is what I do best these days. I was up all night tossing and turning, and each time I woke up I would end up googling every symptom under the sun. It totally didn't matter to me at the time that the symptoms I was having were totally normal at 24 weeks ... I found myself reading every horror story ever posted on the pregnancy forums (and then some).
I think my anxiety may have had a lot to do with the realization that we've hit 24 weeks, and everything that comes with that ... The fact that we've reached the point where the baby would likely be safe (with some intense medical intervention) if born right now, my body responding to growing so quickly, and the fact that I've been getting very little sleep from not being able to get comfortable at night. It's just a lot to take in, and let's be real here, the blackhole of internet forums is the WORST place for an anxious momma-to-be to find herself. Note to self: STAY OFF GOOGLE! 🙅🏻
THINGS I'M EXCITED ABOUT
a new CTD collection, baby's nursery, and gender reveal excitement
+ A new collection that I've been working on for Chelcey Tate Designs! In theory, I wanted to have it done and released by now, but it's looking like it'll be closer to the end of May once the line is live. I have t-shirts, tank tops, water bottles, baseball caps + more all coming your way with new designs. I can't wait for you to see them!
+ I'm working with a really great company who is sending us a beautiful handmade wooden crib for baby, and I got the notification yesterday that they've started production! I seriously can't wait to start tackling the design of the nursery, but in the meantime, I'm going to try and focus on getting the rest of this house together. 😅
+ We're planning on telling our family whether this little one is a boy or girl this weekend, which means that we're announcing it to the rest of the world soon, too! Sean and I had originally planned on hosting a gender reveal party, but between me feeling constantly sick, us buying a new home, and the fact that I am the furthest thing from a planner, it just didn't happen. We're going to do super small celebrations with both sides of parents and siblings with cupcakes from a local bakery, and then I can finally start using actual pronouns rather than constantly calling this little one, well, little one. 😂
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
+ Embroidered Babydoll Dress blog post
+ I started using a new tool on Instagram that allows me to add multiple links to my bio! Now you can find all relevant links from outfit details to sale alerts to direct links to blog posts by simply clicking the link in my bio instead of having to type things into your browser.
+ I've never been super active on my Facebook page aside from sharing when new blog posts or products go live, but this week I started something new. I'm starting to post multiple times a day sharing sale alerts, daily outfits, my hand lettering work, and more! If you haven't liked the page yet, you definitely should!
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