How We Wore It // Blair Does It Better

After the fun I had last month joining Brooke and a bunch of other bloggers

for the "How We Wore It" challenge, I immediately signed up again for

this month. Here's how it works: Brooke chooses an outfit photo from a fashion/style blogger

and all the participants recreate their version of the look.

October's look comes from StyleLovely...

Now, black and white outfits are my jam. Basically black and white anything.

But I hated basically every picture that was taken. I couldn't

get my posing right and my hair was not cooperating. And I'm shallow enough

to not post bad hair day pictures on the internet. So I did a hand off to my one year old, Blair.

She definitely rocked it, torn black jeggings and all.

Now go check out all the other awesome bloggers that participated in the

challenge. And be sure to sign up for next month while you're visiting Brooke's

blog. It's the first link in the list!

Brooke at Silver Lining

Alexa at He and I

Aubrey at Aubrey Zaruba

Hannah at Hannah Rae

Sierra at Sierra's View

Sharlee at My New Lines

Berkley at Berkley Anne

Amy at Harris Inc.

Brooklyn at Brooklyn Jolley

Amy at Lamb & Ivy

Autumn at Stay Gold Autumn

Brielle at Breezy and Co

Riley at Riley Jo Blog

Maren at Maren and Co

Tori at The Doing Things Blog

Kyla at FordOlogy

Megan at Diary of This Girl

Robin at Penn & Quill

Justine at Little Dove Creations

Bekah at These Are The Days

Lex at What Life Brings

Shelbie at R+S Brereton

Jennifer at Jennifer Sikora

Sarah at My For Real Life

Deidre at Deidre Emme

Rachel at Rachel Sayumi

My Favorite Home Decor Items Under $50

This may cause me to be shunned by bloggers across the country, but I haven't stepped foot into a Target in months. Not because I don't like the store; in fact it's quite the opposite. Target is like Disney World for me. Like basically every other woman who steps foot into that black hole of trendy goodness, I cannot get out of there without at least ten items. Eight of which I did not need, or even go into the store to purchase to begin with.

That being said, I did venture onto their website recently and can I just say "wow". Some of their home decor is really hitting it out of the park. It turns out that my favorite right now is the mixing of silver and gold. And I have never really been one to mix basic colors. Black and brown together? Yuck. But I have to say that they gray and tan combo is really doing it for me.

Here's a few of my absolute favorites and guess what? They're all under $50. I'm super cheap and fickle so you'll never find me spending loads of cash on decorations that I'll just end up changing when something new and trendier comes out. (Especially if it's something I can probably get Andy to make for me. Hello hexagon wall shelves, I'm coming for you!)

1. Rustic lantern.

2. Plaid pillow.

3. "Yum" placemat.

4. Cable knit pillow.

5. Geometric lamp base.

All items can be found at Target.

LINK

Little Looks // Monochrome

I love buying little baby clothes. Especially when those clothes make your baby look like a tiny grown up. Not that I want them to be grown up; but it sure is cute when they look like it.

My current favorite place to buy baby clothes is Old Navy. Most of their stuff is pretty affordable and I have to say, their fall looks this year are killing it. So much plaid and so much black and white.

Andy says that I wear too much black and it makes me look "goth". I say it just makes me trendy. So with all that trendiness I've got going on, I put together a few monochrome looks for littles. And you can buy all of these pieces at Old Navy!

Five Things I Did This Week to Be Productive

It's finally starting to feel like fall here in Tennessee. And by that I mean, it's only annoyingly hot a few hours out of the day instead of the entire day. The kids and I have been trying to spend some time outside in the evenings. Emily has become obsessed with learning to ride her bike, although she hasn't quite mastered the art of pedaling. Blair "runs" straight down the driveway and into the road every time we are outside. (Well, she would if I let her get to the road by herself. I don't know what she's trying to tell me by always trying to get away like that...? I kid.)

Every week I wake up on Friday morning and think to myself that I should write a blog post with my list of five interesting things from the week. I rarely accomplish this, but it's the thought that counts right? I promise I'm not as lazy as I sound in real life. To prove it, here's a list of five productive things I did this week.

1. Wrote this blog post.

2. Showered.

3. I put a pre-seasoned roast in the crock pot

along with pre-cut veggies.

4. Only ate two pecan tarts, instead of the whole package.

5. Showered.

But seriously, I did bring up ALL 12 BOXES AND BAGS of outgrown and not quite grown into children's clothes from the basement and sort through them. Blair's almost got a full winter wardrobe now and the Salvation Army has about 10 boxes of kids clothes to hand out. That's a win for the week in my book.

LINK

Lamb & Ivy Baby // Fall 2015

It has just very recently struck me that I did not ever share photos of the shops fall line on this here blog. I'm really excited for our fall stuff; it's gowns and harem leggings specifically for newborns along with coordinating knotted beanies and topknot headbands, which can be made to fit any size.

My favorite part about the line, is that you can design the gowns and leggings yourself. First you pick your base pattern: black triangles or black bird silhouettes. Then you choose from eight colors for your accent color (the color of the sleeves and cuffs). I'm pretty proud of these new additions to Lamb & Ivy and would love for you to check them out. It has given me some great ideas for the future of the company.

You can use code FALL15 for 15% off of your order!

How We Wore It // September

Top - From a small local outlet store; similar to TJ Maxx.

Jeans - Burlington

Boots & Necklace - Old Navy

What's "How We Wore It"? It's a monthly outfit challenge based on a photo that Brooke

from Silver Lining picks out. All you have to do is take some photos of your version of the

outfit and share them at the end of the month with the rest of the bloggers who participate.

This month's challenge is taken from this photo of Emily from Life With Emily.

Guess who isn't a very good fashion blogger? That would be me. I feel so awkward

standing in my backyard or driveway with my sister taking my photo. I never know where

to look or where to put my hands. I do know that I have to have more poses than just

me smiling at the camera; I guess I had better do some research for next month.

Be sure to take a few minutes and check out all of the other bloggers that

participated in this months "How We Wore It." If you'd like to join next months

challenge, you can sign up by visiting Brooke's blog. It's the first link

in the list below.

Brooke at Silver Lining

Robin at Penn and Quill

Kyla at FordOlogy

Bekah at These are the Days

Sierra at Sierra's View

Sharlee at My New Lines

Aubrey at Aubrey Zaruba

Jennifer at The Pepper Express

Amy at Harris, Inc.

Ashley at Absolutely Ashley

Berkley at Berkley Anne

Riley at Riley Jo

Tayler at The Morrell Tale

Jacqui at Drink the Day

Stephanie at The Artist + The Architect

Tori at The Doing Things Blog

Ashley at Practically Imperfect

Maren at Mark and Maren

Brooklyn at Brooklyn Jolley

Sarah at My For Real Life

Kallie at Life Through a Lens

Madison at Madison Custer

Amy at Lamb and Ivy

Alicia at Snowstorm

Shelby at R + S Brereton

Alexa at He and I

[LINK]

Instagram Crushes

By now I'm sure everyone knows that Instagram is the new Facebook. I don't even have a Facebook anymore. I try to limit the amount of time I walk around with my face in my phone, but let's be real. For any blogger or small shop owner, social media (especially Instagram) is life.

I love to follow accounts with pretty, bright, quality images. But I also love to follow accounts that are full of real life. You know, the kind that post selfies after they've been up with their teething baby every two hours every night for a week. I love pretty, but I love honest even more. Here's a few of my favorite Instagram accounts to follow...

@jlgarvin

I love that she throws in a pint of beer with

a fall shot of her beautiful girls. A lot of moms

would catch crap for that. #hero

@amandaward4life

Triplets, an older son and older step kids. It reminds me of

my family. And she is always so grateful and

thankful and happy for every moment of stress. #momgoals

@krista.horton 

Nice, thoughtful, stylish, helpful... I'm so jealous that

she just had her second baby and still has the time

and energy to make herself beautiful all of the time. #jealous

Want to follow me on IG? Look up @lambandivyco or click here. Leave a comment and I'll follow you back!

Pinterest Recipes That Don't Suck // Beef Entrees

Aaaaaaand we're back with another thrilling episode of "Pinterest Recipes That Don't Suck!" You all know as well as I do that just because something on Pinterest looks like the most amazing meal ever, does not mean that it is. Yes, some of them are. But some of them are total disasters once you actually make them at home. They're such a let down and you find yourself thinking that Chef Boyardee could have made you a more satisfying dinner.

That's where this series comes in. These are tried and true recipes that have the seal of approval from everyone in my family; including Andy, who will eat anything, down to baby Blair, who doesn't like bread or anything sweet.

Here's this weeks list...

Brown Sugar Meatloaf - I dislike regular meatloaf. I'm not quite sure why.

But this meatloaf is delicious.

Cheeseburger Pie - Uh, hello... cheeseburger + pie = never wrong.

Balsamic Roast Beef - The flavor of this isn't as strong as the picture made me hope,

but it is still extremely delicious and a must try.

Brown Bag Burritos - Andy actually isn't a fan of "Mexican" food. He gets heartburn

very easily. But the rest of us? Taco, burrito, quesadilla, enchilada... bring it on. Yum!

Want me to try your recipe? Want me to follow you on Pinterest? Leave a comment below! You can also follow me on Pinterest by clicking here.

Five Christmas Gifts for Your One Year Old

I know I'm probably freaking out half of you when I say this, but there are less than 100 days until Christmas. Yes, it's not even Halloween yet. But the more babies I have, the earlier I start to worry about getting the holiday shopping done. Some of you are laughing right now because you finished your shopping in July and some of you are laughing because you know you won't finish until Christmas Eve. I'd say I'm on a steady middle ground and should be finished by Thanksgiving. Or maybe the weekend before Christmas.

In my last post I mentioned that Andy and I had done a little window shopping to get some ideas brewing for the girls. ("Brewing" as in a witch's cauldron... see how I just made this post more relevant to the current season?) We found plenty of things for the two younger girls, but a ten year old girl is way harder to shop for. Someone send help.

1. Fisher-Price Bright Beats Dance & Move BeatBo - This toys name is kind of silly, but we saw a commercial for it yesterday. Blair went to the TV and pointed at it and said "THIS! THIS!" It's pretty cool; you can record your voice and it turns it into a song.

2. Fisher-Price Little People School Bus - My kids love any Little People toy, but they especially dig the school bus. We have three of them.

3. Y Pewi Walking Buddy - We got this for Blair's first birthday and she LOVES it. She can get off and on it by herself and it helped her start walking more. 

4. Wild Whirlpool Water Table - My kids love to make messes and love to play in the bath. We are thinking a water table will be perfect for Blair and Emily to share.

5. VTech Kidibeats Learning Drum Set - This toy says it's for ages 3-4 and that's probably because of the drum sticks. We gave it to Blair to play with in the store and she cried when we took it away.

I hope this inspired some of you moms and dads out there. All of these toys came from the Toys R Us website and they are ALL under $50. It doesn't get much better than that!

Weekend Views

Our weekend went by a little too slow; probably because it was almost relaxing. Alyssa and Emily were both out of town for the past week so it had only been Andy, Blair and me for the past seven days. It was a little bit relaxing!

Andy had to work Saturday morning for a few hours, but once he was done we headed to do a little Christmas window shopping. We had about one thing in mind for the girls for Christmas, so we thought we would look around a little bit and see what caught our eyes. Luckily (?), we found plenty. I'll post about some of our finds tomorrow, in case someone else out there needs a little inspiration as well.

Saturday night we went over to Andy's sisters house. We had some chili, drank some Redd's Wicked Ale and watched some football. Andy and his sister are Tennessee fans, so if you happened to catch that game, you know it was a slightly stressful night.

Our Sunday Funday consisted of an early breakfast and some not so delicious coffee from McDonald's and then took Blair and Emily to the park. They ran around for a few hours in the perfect fall weather we just started having. That afternoon we had a little cookout for my nieces birthday and let the kids have a little family sleep over.

The next morning was Monday. We all woke up on the wrong side of the bed and had a long day of work and chores. Here's to hoping Tuesday is a little better.

Bathroom Inspiration // Beadboard

A couple of weeks ago we started remodeling our guest bathroom/laundry room. It had nasty vinyl floors, no baseboard around the bottom and a coat of white paint that did a bad job of hiding the purple paint it was supposed to be covering. Plus, for a laundry room/half bath it is really small. Like, I can't even stand in the doorway to get a full shot of the room because I'm already so close to the other end that I can't even see the side walls. Here's a before shot of the bathroom I remembered to take with my phone before we got everything moved out...

YUCK.

So far we have put down tile flooring, painted the walls "Sunflower" yellow, decided we hate "Sunflower" yellow and hung some bead board around the bottom half of the walls. We still have to find a new shade of yellow we like and repaint the walls, put up some chair railing and move the washer and dryer back in.

Hopefully we will be done this weekend, as it has officially been two weeks with out my washer and dryer. Our kind neighbor let me do a few loads at her house last weekend, but that will get old for her and for me very quickly. I'll be sure to take lots of "after" photos as soon as everything is finished and put back together. If you're thinking about some beadboard or just a bathroom remodel in general, I'll leave you with some of my inspiration photos from Pinterest.

Like I said, I'm kind of into beadboard right now!

Summer Moments

I know that here in the south we have another month or so of pretty warm weather until we get to those really cool fall days. But with the end of August approaching and Alyssa being back in school, the summer is basically over for me.

Our summer was full of birthday parties (three!), sleepovers without any sleep and lots of coffee for mom. We had some pool days, a couple of yard sales and several cookouts. We tried (and failed) to keep the house clean and ended July with a trip to White Water in Atlanta. I'd call it a success. Here are some favorite moments.