The time I cried in Old Navy

dress: francesca's   boots: target  vest: tjmaxx  necklace: kohls

I'd like to say that I have been pretty emotionally stable the majority of this pregnancy so far.  While I have shed some tears they have been at totally appropriate times, more of fear or anxiety during circumstances that happened the first two months.

Minus the one time when I walked into the kitchen to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to find out we had no bread.  Seriously disappointed I moved on to make a cheese quesadilla only to find out we had no cheese.

Tears.  Real tears.  And complete panic as those were the only two things I could think of that wouldn't make me throw up.

I am pretty sure I was way more emotional when I was on all the different drugs and hormones while we were going through our different fertility treatments.  Perhaps the most embarrassing case of irrational emotions happened in Old Navy this summer.

I went to get in line to buy a few things and unintentionally cut someone already in line.  She politely said, "Excuse me, I was here first."  To which I looked at her and started crying.

Crying because I cut her.  Yep. I have no idea what happened, but I couldn't help it.

I didn't even buy my clothes.  Turned around and left.

And on a rare occasion I'm not wearing a thing from Old Navy, on the day I do a post about Old Navy.  Maybe I shouldn't have left before buying those clothes.

So please humor me and tell me what the silliest thing you've cried over, pregnant or not.

Valentine's Day Decorations

I feel like my title would be a little more appealing if it said Valentine's Day Decor and I almost kept it, but you know how I feel about abbreviations so the long version it is.

Last year was the first time I ever decorated for Valentine's Day thanks to pinterest, and I plan on doing in now each year.

I saw a lot of cute banner ideas on pinterest (like this) and put a few of them together to make this one.  It was really pretty easy and quick.  The only part I don't like is cutting the burlap because it frays a lot! 

First I cut out my banner pieces from burlap.  Then I cut out my hearts and glued them on with a glue gun.  I used my sewing machine to sew the pendents onto a piece of twine.  That is it! 

The other things were pretty easy too, but a little more time consuming.  The vase on the right was a vase that didn't match anything in our house so I cut an old text book into squares and modge podged it to the vase. 

I took a styrofoam ball and glued candy hearts around it and then stuck a dowel rod through the bottom, filled a bucket from the Target dollar spot with sand and stuck it in.  

The red rose ball is a styrofoam ball covered in tissue paper roses:

1. Cut a piece about three to four inches long and fold it in half as you go. 

2. Start twisting your streamer into a little circle to form a rose bud. 

3. Keep twisting until you use all your piece.  Put a little dot of glue to hold it down.  Put a larger circle of glue on your styrofoam ball and place the flower on top. 

4. Keep going until the whole ball is covered. 

I just filled a mason jar with candy hearts and put the flower ball on top.

and the nice thing is I will use all of these each year!

Linking up to:

and Shine on Fridays

Weekend Highlights

dress: old navy  scarf: DIY  boots: kohls

1.  Wearing this outfit and making it to church this weekend.  After the busy holidays and being off my feet it has been too long since we've been.  

2.  A friend of ours is a manager at a nice restaurant and invited us to come eat dinner for free!  It was delicious and we even got dessert: apple bread pudding and ice cream. 

3.  We got cable this weekend and I am a little too excited about it.  I'm mostly excited about being able to watch Guilianna and Bill.  I'd list all the other reality shows I plan on watching, but would fear you will think all I plan on doing now is watching tv.  

 

4.  Right around being 5 weeks pregnant the idea of drinking coffee completely disgusted me.  Which is really sad, since I drank it daily.  I finally had a cup of coffee this weekend and I can't say that it was as good as I thought before, but definitely not disgusting. 

5.  Reading some of my favorite blogs.  Like one of my very favorites Shanna from because Shanna said so.

I'm pretty sure that if I could pick a family to join that I've met through blogging I would pick Shanna's.  Her family is adorable, her two girls are mini fashionistas, following in their mom's footsteps, and her marriage sets a great example.  I'm also going to honestly say that if I had to pick someone's wardrobe to steal or someone to dress me daily I'd pick Shanna.  But besides her adorable family and amazing clothes, my favorite thing about Shanna is that she is sweet, honest and no doubt you will want to be friends with her. 

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Next up is Tara from the Penniless Socialite

Tara is a girl after my own heart.   She is a queen of bargain shopping, which means we already have a lot in common.  She puts together the cutest outfits, like this pattern mixing outfit or putting together this lace skirt and flannel shirt, which I just may be copying this week.  Tara also shares about other random life happenings, like her trips, her cats or what she is loving lately. 

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And last you need to met Nadine from the Back East Blonde.

Isn't her picture adorable?  Both her and her cute puppy?  Nadine's blog is one that I recently discovered and I'm sure glad I did!  Nadine recently moved from California to the east coast and blogs about her life and adventures there.  From one of the cutest puppies I've ever seen to her "anti fairy tale" love story. And who doesn't love reading about embarrassing childhood memories and photos?

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Hope you all had a good weekend!

High Five for Friday

sweater: loft   jeans: kohls   boots: kohls

1.  I bought this sweater a week or so ago and feel as though baggy sweaters are a good choice for this beginning pregnancy, slightly awkward phase.

2.  After not cooking for quite a long time (like 6 weeks a long time) I finally made a real meal this week.

3.  I also made dessert: M &M Cookie bars.  These were SO good and really easy.  You don't even need a mixer!

4.  I'd like to blame this on some extreme pregnancy craving, but don't think I can.  I managed to eat an entire bag of cheetos in three days.  At first I would only eat a few if I finished writing a thank you note, but I can assure you I didn't have that many thank you notes to write.

5.  This one definitely takes the cake as the best blogging perk I've received so far, as I was sent a new HTC one x+ phone and I love it! It's the first time ever that Chris has been jealous of any technology I've had.

I'm sure you're so excited because that means clearer outfit pictures and I finally have a phone with a reverse camera so maybe that means I'll start taking hundreds of pictures of my face.

I'm SO happy it is Friday! Happy weekend to you!

To my husband

Let's just start out by saying that it's time I give my husband some major credit.  

December was a rougher month in the Vale household and he definitely stepped it up.  I was pretty much on bed rest for four weeks and was incapable of cleaning, cooking, getting food, all of it.  And then I'm going to add the next two weeks in there too, which weren't doctor ordered but still happened due to nauseousness and tiredness.

He even told me that he had no idea how much work I did around the house, which let's just hope he doesn't forget that now that I can do things.  Let's be honest, if he does - I will remind him.

I thought I would save this gift until Valentine's Day but decided it needed to be a "thank you for everything you've done the last month and a half" gift instead.

Enter Datevitation.

This company allows you to create custom made coupon books with over 200 date ideas to choose from.  While it would be a perfect Valentine's Day gift, you could give it for any occasion.  I loved this company even more after I watched the video of the owner proposing to his girlfriend.

Being very indecisive it took me forever to choose what 5 coupons I'd make for Chris.  I may have looked through all 200 of them.  I'll tell you ones that I didn't choose, although Chris probably wishes I did:

A coupon for skydiving together. 

Flight lessons.  

Being the cheaper and less adventurous type, I went with some of the safer versions like, 

I even offered to play chess.  See? I really really love him.

I'm glad I could add the "within reason" to that one. 

But if you are the adventurous type, there are quite a few exciting options, as well as some more "adult" ones too.  Just don't tell me you picked them because Chris would probably be jealous I didn't. 

Today you have the chance to win one of your own coupon books to customize and give to someone you love!  Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AND I get to share with you a code to take $5 off any order, which means your coupon book would be only $15!  Just use code: lauren