Spring Giveaway!

First off I want to thank Kim over at Life As I Know It for becoming my 100th follower! I love her blog and just know we would hang out all the time if she didn't live across the country. I am completely humbled that 100 people actually want to read what I have to say! Blogging has opened up a whole new world of friendships to me and I would probably not have kept doing it if it was not for all of you!

Okay, now it's down to the good stuff. I am *dying* for a little spring around here. We had a few days of warmth and sunshine, but for the past three days it has been raining...again....I heard they have even mobilized our National Guard in case the rivers decide to really get out of hand...you know more than the crazy flooding they've already been doing.

Anyways, one of my favorite things to do to get ready for spring is to paint my nails a fun, bright color. So today I am giving away these beauties.

One lucky reader will win all four of these fabulous colors! I got these because they just look so spring-y and I am semi obsessed with this type of Sally Hansen polish. It has a wide flat brush and the polish literally dries in less than 2 minutes. Perfect for moms, or anyone who doesn't want to spend hours waiting for their nails to dry. Most days I can get away with just one coat as well! {I paid for these polishes myself...this is not a review...I just really like this stuff!}

This giveaway will be open until Monday April 5th at 8:00 pm EST. Here are all the different ways you can enter!

1. Leave me a comment about your favorite thing about springtime {1 entry}

2. Become {or are already} a follower {1 entry}

3. Tweet about the giveaway once per day...make sure to include @mommusings {1 entry per tweet...up to 7}

4. Blog about the giveaway and link back here {5 entries}

5. Tell me what your favorite Easter candy is {2 entries}

Please try and leave a separate comment for each. Good luck!!

Before and After - Full Bathroom

Here is the full bathroom upstairs in our house.

Before

After

This towel rack used to be silver...so I just spray painted it brown to go better with the decor

Same thing with this one!

Before and After - Nursery

{Note: This is my 300th post! Yay! I will be hosting a giveaway tomorrow in honor of it and the fact that I am only one person away from 100 followers!!! So make sure to check back!}

I had done a few before-and-after shots of our house a few months ago. If you are new to the blog you can check them out here, here, and here. I totally forgot to keep up with this, so I will really try now! Here is Little M's nursery. I obviously didn't add any of the pink until after she was born...it was all very neutral before then!

Before

After {please excuse the fact that I did not clean or tidy before I took the pictures}

A Few Girlie Touches

I have been making a few touches to Little M's room recently. We didn't find out the sex of the baby before she was born, so everything was very gender-neutral. But now that she's here I want her to have a few splashes of pink. Since her walls are a very pale green {even though you can't tell very well from these pictures}, it works nicely. Here are the two projects I've been working on recently....

I bought these foam letters at Michaels, along with the ribbon {it is a deep pink with green polka dots...perfect!} I painted the letters myself and then just glued on the ribbon.

I got these mirrors last week at the dollar store!! {which I am currently obsessed with} They had a tan frame so I just painted them the same color as the letters and added on the leftover ribbon I had. I am so happy with the way these came out!

I will be posting some pictures of her whole room soon, so you can see the finished product!

Flashback Friday

This picture was taken on Mother's Day 2008. I was about 2 1/2 months pregnant with Little M and so excited to be celebrating my almost-first Mother's Day! {you can also totally tell I am knee deep in morning sickness by my lackluster hair, pale skin, and tired eyes!}

Catch Up

I have been a bad blogger recently....only posting 'fluff' posts and barely commenting on anything! I just have been so busy recently! We spent a TON of time outside last week, enjoying the few days of warm spring weather. I also have been working on a lot of house projects recently...actually staying on top of cleaning, laundry, and some organizing. I also spray painted some things in our bathroom and made the cutest improvements to some mirrors for Little M's room. I promise some pictures soon! I also want to get back to my 'Before and After' posts about all the improvements I have made to our house in the past two years we've owned it. I also have been busy thinking of wedding ideas because my friend J.O. just got engaged and I am going to be a bridesmaid. So exciting! I just love weddings!

So that's what I've been up to recently {well those things and chasing after a very active almost 16 month old!} I have been reading all of your blogs and promise to start commenting more soon. But for now it's off to bed before I fall asleep typing!

Wordless Wednesday

I promise more posts tomorrow!

Early Reader

This is what happens when I am desperate to entertain Little M while I clean the kitchen

What? I'm just reading it!

Partners in Crime

Mr. B...let's take this ball and go up the stairs to take it inside

We have to sneak past Mom first...don't look at her!

Are you coming Mr. B?

Okay, I'll try it out first

See you go up one step at a time

You're getting it!

We're doing it now!

{Don't worry, I busted them before they got any farther. But I'm sure they are plotting to do this again!}

All About Me

My friend J recently sent around an email version of this survey. It brought me right back to high school when I used to send these out constantly! Anyways I decided to post my answers on here for all of you to enjoy:)

01. High heels, boots or sneakers- High heels..the higher the better!

02. What time did you get up this morning? 8:00 am

03. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds =

04. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Dear John....soo good

05. What is your favorite TV show? Grey's Anatomy

06. What do you usually have for breakfast? nothing...although I did have some M&M's this morning...real poster child for heathy eating over here!
07. What is your middle name? Patricia

08. What food do you dislike? red meat and vegetables

09. What is your favorite CD at the moment? the new mix CD I made

10. What characteristic do you despise? people who are late

11. Favorite Clothing? jeans and tank tops

12. Anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go only if it's safe? Turks and Caicos

13. Are you an organized person? I try to be...
14. Where would you retire to? a warm desert that gets no snow and very little rain!

15. What was your most memorable birthday? 25th...Skip threw me a huge surprise party with all my family and friends and this super fancy bowling alley!

16. What are you going to do when you finish this? Take M to the park and hopefully go for a run {if she'll sit in the jogging stroller}

17. Furthest place you are sending this? not sure

18. Person you expect to send it back first? whoever wants to should post to their blog as well!
19. When is your birthday? October 19th

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? A night person

21. What is your shoe size? 6

22. Do you own any animals? my two fur babies! Shiba and Mr. B

23. Any news you'd like to share? not really

24. What did you want to be when you were little? a mom, a wife, and a teacher

25. What are your favorite flowers? tulips and sunflowers

26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? this Sunday, because Skip will be off for two days!

27. Do you wish upon stars? All the time

28. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? light pink

29. How is the weather right now? Sunny and warm...praise God!

31. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My best friend J

32. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke

33. Favorite restaurant? The Melting Pot

34. Hair color? blond

35. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie dolls

36. Summer or winter? Summer! I love the beach.

37. Chocolate or vanilla? chocolate

38. Coffee or tea: neither, hot chocolate

39. Boy, do I wish I was still? in as good shape as I was before I had the baby

40. Do you want your friends to email you back? yes!

41.When was the last time you cried? I honestly can't remember...that's a good thing!!

42 What is under your bed? nothing

44. What are you afraid of? the dark

45. Salty or sweet? sweet

46. Favorite day of the week: Sunday during the fall....all the other months it doesn't really matter since I don't work and Skip is off randomly, not just weekends

47. How many people will you send this to? all of my followers!

48. How many will respond? no idea

49. Do you like to find out all this stuff about your friends? definitely!

50. Is today the first day of the rest of your life? always

Sunny Days

Before all the rain last weekend we did have a few days of warmth and sun {which thankfully is back in full force this week!} We were able to take Little M outside in the back yard. It was her first experience running around back there, {since she learned to walk this winter} and she is really enjoying it! {almost as much as her mom!}

Some Giveaways

Here are some giveaways over at Gather.com I wanted to tell you about. Head on over and check them out!

Deadline March 19^th

“Kendra" Season 2 Poster Giveaway - Comment to Win!http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978097057

Deadline: March 22

Win an iPod Shuffle!

http://bedtimetheater.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978081343

Also for this week’s Friday Freebie, Gather will be giving away 2 $50 iTunes gift cards!http://gathergiveaways.gather.com/

Dark and Wet

We've been busy in my little section of the country the past few days. Hurricane force winds, 7 inches of rain in one day, flooding, power outages, and tons and tons of trees down. You know, all fun stuff. The storm began Saturday and raged into Monday. My best friend J had to stay with us Saturday and Sunday night since she didn't have any power or heat...and with my husband working crazy hours it was nice to have some company. Our friend D had to come over to charge his Blackberry and soak in some warmth and light as he was also without both. And you all saw pictures of the pond in my backyard.

But by Monday night the storm was over, all our friends had gotten their power and heat back, and Skip and I were looking forward to a relaxing evening watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager {don't judge that show is fabulous!} Skip was heading upstairs to put Little M to bed when all of a sudden OUR POWER WENT OUT!! 'Are you freakin kidding me!!!' I yelled. Of course we are the only people who lose power three days AFTER the storm.

After being on hold to our power company for what felt like forever, we found out that they had cut our power in order to fix some of the other power outages in the area. Apparently it would have been too much trouble for them to give us a little warning about this! Oh yeah and they couldn't even tell us when it would be back on.

Two and a half candle-lit hours later though, our lights and heat finally came back on. I was so happy thinking we had gotten away with so little problems. However I should have known better than to relax.

As soon as the power came back on Skip went into our dark scary basement to make sure we hadn't gotten any water in the basement because when you lose power, your sump pump apparently also stops working. So what do you think...do you think we got water or was it nice and dry??

Yeah right, of course we got water! About an inch and a half in some spots. And of course we have tons of storage in the basement. After about four hours of moving things upstairs, doing laundry {because some of Little M's baby clothes got wet and I refused to lose them!}, throwing lots of stuff out, and sweeping all the water into the now working sump pump, our basement was empty and dry.

It could have been a lot worse, and Skip could have been at work and I would have had to deal with all of this myself, but seriously I'm done with Mother Nature. No more snow, no more rain....I'm moving to the desert.

{not really, but some days I would like to!}

I'm With You Sandy

I normally don't blog about politics or celebrities or anything on here because I try to keep this blog just about me and my family. But I have to throw my two cents in on this whole Jesse James thing. First off, seriously dude WHO CHEATS ON SANDRA BULLOCK???!?!?!? How dumb are you. But I am so happy to hear that Sandra has moved out of the house. I am so tired of all these women 'standing by their man' when they openly cheat on them. It's just disgusting. Women do not need a man to support them, so I don't know why these women stay. Good for you Sandy. We all support you!

Okay, rant done. Post to follow about what's been going on with us!

Wordless Wednesday

My dad took this adorable picture of Little M tonight at dinner. She just loves St. Patrick's Day....and her new hat from Aunt L!!

Prayers

I am asking all of you to say a prayer tonight for Mrs. P who at 23 just lost her husband, a Marine, to the war in Afghanistan. They just had a beautiful baby girl two months ago. Pray for strength for her and her family as she must go through this terrible tragedy.

Got the Animals, Now Waiting for Noah...

What's this a picture of you might ask? Some adorable ducks swimming peacefully in a nearby pond.But wait a second....why is there a fence surrounding the pond? And a garage at the edge of it??
Well in answer to your questions...there is a fence and garage around the pond because the pond is in MY BACK YARD!!!! And no it wasn't there previously. Having waterfront property is a new exciting chapter in our lives today.

Thankfully The Mrs. has her dash boys making me an arc. Because I'm definitely going to need it!!!

Flashback Friday

This is a picture of Little M from about a year ago. Cannot believe how much she has grown!!!

It's Good to Have Pals

For just over a year, I was worried about Little M. She had no lovies! No specific toys she wanted when she was sad, no blankey she took to bed. And it was not from a lack of trying on my part. I was constantly trying to force different lovies on her. "Skip, she's not normal...every kid has a certain toy she loves" I would cry to my husband {as you can see I'm totally rational about everything to do with my daughter}

Well about a month ago Little M started favoring these two guys.

She now wants these two 'pals' as we call them whenever she naps or goes to sleep at night. She wakes up holding them and snuggles with them at night. Sigh...all is right in the world:)

Vacation Pics

Sorry, these are out of order and I'm just too lazy to fix it!

Outside the Marine Corps Museum

National Museum of the Marine Corps

Driving and driving and driving some more!

So happy to be driving the last 5 hours home!

Skip at the bar in our suite at the Ramada...*love* that place!

Little M's favorite hotel activity...pulling out all the tissues!

Playing on the bed

She loved playing in the big king-sized bed!

Visiting some friends on the way home

Empty baby pool as a make-shift playpen....Little M was not happy

Palm trees

Check out how windy it was!

My two loves enjoying a little sunshine...Little M obviously not happy about being held