Mommin' It Up!

May 13, 2013May 13, 2013

She’s a MAN, baby!

Happy day-after-Mother’s Day! Has reality set in at your house, too? If you’re like me, you did absolutely zero housework yesterday because it was Mother’s Day. Which means today, your house may look like this:

Just a big frightening mess with a vase of roses on the table. Everybody together now…SIGH.

But anyway. Despite the morning-after blues, my Mother’s Day was pretty great. We got a new bed/mattress which I am hoping will solve my back problems (ohpleaseohpleaseohplease) and Joshua made me a candy dish which I love – my first kid-made pottery!

Throw a couple handfuls of Starburst in there and this is the gift of my dreams

Sophie made me some cards and pictures at school. This was my favorite.

sophie mom day — Note to self: Sophie’s love can be bought with baked goods.

(Although it makes me sad that she thinks my favorite thing is to work on my computer. But oh well. The kids never really see me doing anything fun by myself.)

And on Sunday morning, while I slept until a blissful 8:30, the big kids made me additional cards. With one thing in common.

joshua mom day — Joshua really phoned this one in. He can do much better!

sophie mom day 2 — Good effort Sophie! Although it appears I am not wearing clothes and Bobby is wearing a burlap sack.

So what did a vain person like me immediately notice about these darling portraits my children drew? Let’s take a closer look!

Hmm…I don’t know…how about the fact THAT I HAVE A FULL BEARD in both pictures?

When confronted, both children exclaimed defensively that the beard in question was my long hair going down my back behind my head.

Mm-hmm.

Something must be done. I am the most manly figure in both of my kids’ family portraits! I need to either get a hair cut or a shave. What’s your pick?

P.S. Jonah is my favorite child because he can’t draw a picture of me yet.

May 10, 2013May 10, 2013

The Fainting Couch

fainting couch 2 — ‘Twere I a lady of leisure, I’d buy me a fainting couch

Have you ever wanted a fainting couch in your living room? You know, so when you’re having one of those days when things are so desperate that you’re making pancakes for dinner, and when you walk into the dining room to serve said desperation food, your toddler has gotten hold of your coupon inserts and strewn them all over the living area of your entire first floor? Not that that’s ever happened to me (last night) or anything…but sometimes, I have a day that calls for a fainting couch. But alas, I do not possess such frivolous furniture.

I found it amusing, then, that we had a fainting couch in our room at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel at the Mom 2.0 Summit. I mean, when my kids are a couple thousand miles away and someone’s cleaning up after me every day? I don’t need a fainting couch. But there was indeed, a very lovely one in our room, positioned at the end of Emily’s bed.

And it’s a darn good thing. Because Friday night, Emily had occasion to NEED it. “Why?” you ask? I’m not quite sure. How about I tell you the story, and then you tell ME why. Here goes:

Friday night we went to a rockin’ party given by the CVS ExtraCare people. Say what? A CVS party!?!!? You know that’s like my dream come true! We had an awesome time and met some great people. And we got our picture taken, a lot.

With our lovely and tall friend Rachel, backngroovemom.com

With the hilarious Jenny from the Blog, SuburbanJungle.com

Me getting interviewed about how I big puffy heart CVS and their ExtraCare Bucks

EmGlennia — Em and Glennia Campbell, who grew up in Emily’s teeny tiny hometown – yet they met in California!

I love this pic of us taken by Glennia herself!

See? LOTS of pictures!
The party was great. But we were hungry, and I’d been surviving on gluten-free slim pickins for a couple of days, so Em and I went out to dinner…by ourselves…because MAYBE we’re not as popular as we think we are. But us being us, we had a great time. AND steak. And Emily had a blueberry martini, which MAY have contributed to the next part of this story. The part that involves the fainting couch.

After a delicious dinner, Emily and I headed back to our room at the Ritz. I’m not really sure what time it was…probably before 10 p.m. We entered our room which was quite dark, even after turning on a light. That’s my one complaint about our otherwise wonderful room, I felt like it wasn’t very well-lit (which makes it difficult to perfectly apply your makeup, which as we all know is very important to me) and I would just like to say for the record that I had pointed that out SEVERAL times already before this incident occurred!

Anyhoo, we turned on the light and found that the nice staffers at the Ritz had left us a little present. This present, in fact. (Picture stolen from everydaymama on Instagram, please don’t sue me!)

I took a look at this new addition to our room, leaned in really close SINCE IT WAS DARK, and said, “Is that…cookies?” Because honestly, I couldn’t tell!

And Emily Berry, well, she lost her fishing mind. She howled with laughter and immediately collapsed on the fainting couch, cracking up and repeating, “Is that…cookies?” and oh, CRYING she was laughing so hard. Girlfriend was immobilized on the fainting couch. See?

Image at left has been auto-corrected, image at right is the original TO PROVE HOW DARK IT WAS IN THE ROOM!

I have no idea why Emily thought what I said was so funny, but seeing her weeping with laughter on the fainting couch cracked me up as well, and soon we were both crying so hard from laughing that our formerly immaculate eye makeup was down to our shoulders. All because of those three little words:

Is that…cookies?

It must’ve been that martini. Perhaps this re-enactment will help you be the judge.

Thank God that fainting couch was there! I hate to think of the damage that would have been done had Emily had to plunge all the way to the carpeted floor in her hysteria.

I have no idea what happened to the cookies. I can’t remember if Em ate one or not (I wasn’t about to due to the stupid gluten). Also, I didn’t find out til the next day that the starfish and sand dollar were white chocolate. DANGIT! I totally would’ve eaten those.

So you tell me, dear readers, what caused Emily to need the fainting couch? Any theories? I’d love to hear them!

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Lead image Photo Credit: creepyed via Compfight cc

May 8, 2013May 7, 2013

Jenny’s Lands’ End Loves from the Mom 2.0 Summit

Yesterday Emily got to show off her lovely Lands’ End looks from our time at last week’s Mom 2.0 Summit 2013, and today it’s my turn! Yay! I promise we’ll eventually post about what we actually did there and all the stuff we learned and cool people we met. Eventually. But for now…more fabulous clothes and accessories! I know Em is going to love this post because it will include So! Many! Pictures! OF ME!! Here goes:

Thursday I hit the airport bright & early (our flight left at 6:25 a.m., OUCH!) in this cute and comfortable ensemble. The sleeveless pattern tee was so soft, in my absolute favorite fabric, cotton modal. I paired it with a matching cardigan cause I’m always cold on airplanes. The slim leg jeans I wore with this outfit are awesome; so comfortable and they dress up or down really easily. I cuffed mine for a more casual look. On my feet I wore my favorite casual shoe, the Gatas canvas slip-on. I still have two pair from last year and they are in great shape and so comfy! The linen and leather tote bag I carried was perfect for travel. It fit my iPad, my precious makeup bags, my wallet, and all my essentials with room to spare!

Thursday night the conference opened with an Endless Summer Beach Party! Woohoo! I chose a Lands’ End Canvas sundress that was perfect for the occasion.

I absolutely loved the dress, it was so comfortable and flowing. Not to mention cute!

I accessorized with this belt, also from the Canvas line. I loved the way it looked with the dress! I wore the beach earrings and multi-strand beach bracelet which also matched perfectly, and these simple but fashionable leather Tia t-strap sandals on my feet.

On to Friday! During the day, I wore this pink stretch pique empire waist dress. I L-O-V-E it. It might be my favorite, I felt so good in it. And, it has pockets! So convenient when one is being handed business cards all day!

The Cara espadrille shoes I wore with it just made my day every time I looked down!

I took a risk with the dark blue beaded cluster bracelet and necklace, but I absolutely loved the way they looked! I’m so glad I chose them.

Friday night we had a big party to attend – a CVS ExtraCare party! Can you believe it? Y’all know how I LOVE CVS! But I digress…I went more casual and fun for this party.

I adore the slim leg white jeans. So comfortable and crisp – I’m going to wear them all summer long! I went with a black heritage rib tank from the Lands’ End Canvas line, and these adoooorable leopard-print Bianca ballet flats, which made the whole outfit! My gold coin necklace, bracelet, and earrings really made this outfit stand out, too.

Saturday we were up ready for another great day at the Summit. I was feeling great in this black & white floral shirred linen sheath dress.

This dress was SO comfortable, and it also had pockets! I love the shirring at the neckline (which is hard to see in the photo), which is so elegant and flattering.

The black Parker knotted espadrilles I wore on my feet were the most comfortable heel I have EVER worn. I want them in every color! I didn’t want to take them off. And the pearl cluster necklace and bracelet? My favorite accessories of all. I felt like such a lady in those. They are just so beautiful and I know I’ll wear them again and again.

The conference culminated in a fabulous Kentucky Derby Garden Party thanks to Whirlpool. For which I knew I wanted something bright and floral! This floral pique sleeveless dress did the trick.

This dress, like the others, was so darn comfortable I could’ve worn it for two days straight. And again, with the pockets! It was so nice to just put my room key and business cards in my pocket when heading to the party. I also am in deep, fashionable love with the Ashby nude patent-leather pumps Emily and I both wore that night. I wish I’d gotten a better picture of them – they are so, so chic. I wore a triple set of Lands’ End pearls from last year’s Mom 2.0 around my neck, and since it was a GARDEN party, a big, beautiful flower in my hair from the client I work with through my job, Girls Crochet Headbands.

Sunday, we were anxious to get home to our families but sad to leave the idyllic beach setting and the lack of having to clean up after ourselves at the Ritz-Carlton! But at least we got to travel home in style!

A loooong day of travel called for some pieces from my beloved Lands’ End Starfish line. I tried their new Starfish slim leg pant and I ADORE them. They are so comfy and the slim leg is super-flattering! I paired them with my (have I mentioned??) FAVORITE cotton modal short-sleeve scoop tee and matching scarf. To keep warm on the plane I chose the Starfish elbow-sleeve terry cardigan which is *adorbs* as well as super-comfy. And speaking of comfy, these cute flower flip-flops were so cushy and did my feet a lot of good! Sadly, it appears they are no longer available (clearly I must’ve sold them out with my trendiness, right?)

Finally, I must mention my super cute and functional striped tote I carried all throughout the conference.

Don’t you love it? It was perfect for holding my iPad, conference schedule, snacks, water bottles, and all the goodies from sponsor booths we picked up all day long. I know I will get great use out of it for years.

I am so privileged to have all these wonderful outfits to remind me of the great weekend spent at Mom 2.0 2013! Emily and I were beyond proud to represent Lands’ End – it’s really what I live in ALL year long. Hope you find something you liked amongst our outfits! Which was your favorite?