#posituesday

A few years ago, a very dear friend of mine started a social media campaign called #posituesday.

The "rules" are simple; you share something positive on Tuesday. Last year I pushed myself for every Tuesday in July to "shake it up" posting my own #posituesday here—to forget the bad stuff and focus on the good. Epic fail on posting a #posituesday on the first Tuesday of the month during 2016.

Forgive me internet, I'm trying my best.

What do I love today?

It's flower planting time! One of my favorite things to do in the spring, when I organize my container gardens, is to dumpster dive at Walmart. Walmart policy is (basically) if a plant looks like it is on its last legs, and hasn't been watered, to mark it down 50% off. Over the years cruising these little carts I've got some killer plants for no more than a few dollars! Score!!!

Sometimes I don't have a ton of success—the damage has been done—and the plant dies a few days later. But more often than not, after some water and good soil not only does it come back to life, but pops back better than I could've hoped!

Here's my haul from this weekend. Can't beat three 8 in. pots of daisies, two six-packs of dwarf foxglove and two 3 in. pots of foxglove for $15.

What are you loving today?

Getting Cutesy with Erin Condren: March

I knew April was going to be a little, shall we say nuts for me, but I don't think I actually let it sink in that March AND April were going to be completely nuts for me. I'm still blaming Leap Day for throwing me off the month of March. And pneumonia. I can get away with that, right?

I'm back with my second (super, duper, probably slightly embarrassingly late) Erin Condren Life Planner month review. To recap: I absolutely love my planner but have been, previously, terrible at using the month view and am trying to get cutesy with stickers. As part of my non-resolutions for the New Year, I am trying to take time at the beginning of every month to plan out what goes where. I'm also taking the opportunity to look back at the month I just finished—hoping this helps me reach and set attainable goals.

It was a busy March. Not as busy as I thought it was going to be from the start, but busy all the same. I fell off the sticker wagon. This was the month of the flu and pneumonia so the fact that I even wrote ish down makes me feel like I accomplished something. AND I did use the cute little do-it-all dot for my dentist appointment #winning

April, which I am going to pretend like it isn't Apr. 25th and act like I have the whole month ahead of me here, is going to be an absolute blur with a weeklong trip to Atlanta for a conference my company produces, plus some charity meetings and exciting things like a Magic Moments reveal and a baby shower. Maybe this week I will really give it my all and start stickering the hell out of my planner.

Right. There's always the idea you can start fresh when summer comes.

Friday Favorites

I'm celebrating the end of this week with some Friday Favorites. Because all the basic white girls love Fri Yay! right?!

I am #obsessed with this balm. My friend Kelley gave me a sample to try on Fitz's patches of eczema and in just three nights the patches were mostly gone. By morning four they were so hard to notice—and you could just tell his skin looked better. I promptly texted her that I needed much, much more of this magic elixir.

Speaking of Fitz and Alex, this made me quite literally laugh out loud last weekend. We were out running errands, and it got to be lunchtime so obviously I wanted to go to Chipotle—because when we are on that side of town, where Chiptole is, I always want to go to Chiptole.

I craved, like FIERCE craved, Chiptole when I was pregnant. Jury was out for a while but the verdict has finally returned: they love Chiptole as much on the outside as they did on the inside.

I need help Disney people!! So I am a "Magic Maker" this year as part of my volunteer efforts with Magic Moments. I am in charge of helping to make the magic last a little while for one very special girl (and her family) as they prepare to go to Disney!! I am so excited but so overwhelmed. I am not a Disney person, and the available crafts on Pinterest seem insurmountable. What are your favorite things to do for kiddos when preparing for a Disney trip? I've got a limited budget, but I really want to knock this out of the park. Help!!

via Travel & Leisure

Seriously The Best Cookie Recipe Ever

It is not often I can say without a shadow of a doubt I know something to be completely true. I blame that on being an overthinker and Catholic school. Without a shadow of a doubt, the following is seriously the best cookie recipe ever. I've baked and ate my fair share of cookies, so I can tell you this is easy-peasy and totally delicious—complete crowd favorite at my house.

I got this recipe via my darling and fantastic baker-mentor, my mother, when I was in college. She's been making these cookies since the 1980s. I have no idea how it crossed her path, but my god, I am so glad it did.

Typically, she used to make them at Christmas, and so we called them Santa's Cookies. Now though, we both make them at any/all times of year so I call them Momma's Cookies. Who cares what you call them, they are DELICIOUS. #trust

Previous to this post, the recipe is a print out from my college email address, that she sent me in 2008. I wanted to make them to impress a boy, go figure.

Momma's Cookies

Ingredients

• ¼ cup coconut 
• ½ cup chocolate chips 
• ½ plus 1/3 cup oatmeal 
• ½ cup cornflakes 
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup brown sugar 
• ½ cup white sugar 
• ¼ tsp baking powder 
• ½ tsp baking soda 
• ¼ tsp salt 
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted 
• 1 egg 
• ¼ tsp vanilla 

Directions
Combine melted butter, egg and vanilla, beating well. Add all dry ingredients, mixing well. Once mixed, flatten dough onto piece of plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a few hours to let butter set. Once butter has set, I usually leave mine in for about an hour and a half, form into quarter-sized/small balls. Bake at 350° for approximately 10 minutes, longer if balls are larger or you like a crisper cookie.  

Weekend Getaway: Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Ga.

Why was Easter so early this year? For me, Lent seemed to be extremely long, but then all of a sudden—BAM! It was Easter weekend. My parents are in the process of buying a house in Amelia Island, Fla. and we were thinking we would spend the weekend of Easter there. But of course, life never goes as planned and instead we found ourselves at a cottage on the Callaway Gardens property.

Originally I was hesitant, only because I wasn't sure what we might do with Fitz and Alex at Callaway for an entire weekend. Like with 98% of everything, I worried for naught.

Callaway Gardens, located in precious Pine Mountain, Ga. actually has a lot to offer families with kids of all ages. Since it rained off and on the entire time we were there, we didn't fully enjoy the hiking and biking trails, and the real star of the spring: Callaway's famous azaleas weren't fully in bloom yet. Even factoring that in we had an incredible time.

The cottages were fully stocked and made it so easy to transition to the weekend with F&A. Kitchen had everything you could think of, and we brought our own groceries to have dinner Friday night, breakfast both Saturday and Sunday and lunch Saturday at the cottage. Bonus!! Since they are part of the Callaway resort I didn't have to bring the pack and plays, they were already in the cottage when we checked in. I love not having to lug those things places.

Mark spent all of Saturday on the lake system fishing. I think he enjoyed some peace and quiet. His catch wasn't all that bad either.

While Mark fished my momma and I took the boys into town and browsed the shops. I fell in love with a little place called Whisk—a local Williams-Sonoma of sorts where I wish I could have bought the entire store. I found a few good finds, as I seemingly always do.

After the boys woke up from their naps we walked around the property a bit. As part of the Easter weekend celebrations, the Gardens had tethered hot air balloon rides available, and I OF COURSE couldn't pass up the chance to live my own Bachelor moment.

I'm so glad we didn't let the rain stop us from having a good time. Well, until the Easter Bunny and his weird looking green friend showed up.

After that completely traumatizing experience we trucked back to the cottage to get ready for dinner. We originally weren't sure about the food offerings in town, but spotted 153 Main Bistro shopping and decided to try it for dinner. I am very glad we did!!

A local favorite, 153 Main knocked it out of the park. We sat at a sidewalk table, which was perfect for F&A. Side note: one of my favorite things to do is enjoy a nice meal with the people I love over a great bottle of wine on a sidewalk. Known for steak and seafood, all three of us chose various meat dishes. I really enjoyed my bistro steak. Momma couldn't stop raving about hers either. F&A completely devoured the fried green tomato and okra plate we ordered as a starter.

This restaurant was a pleasant surprise in Pine Mountain and should not be skipped! You can call ahead to put your name on the list—seats fill up fast on Saturday and Sunday.

We enjoyed Easter Sunday mass at Christ the King and followed it up with brunch in one of Callaway's ballrooms. It was a buffet style brunch in a ballroom, so not out of this world but not garbage either. 

After brunch Mark and I just weren't quite ready to leave and decided to walk around the famous Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center.

F&A absolutely LOVED seeing all the plants and swirling butterflies. Another activity on my list that should not be missed!

All in all, I would say Callaway is a great getaway.

The Hard Hat Diaries: Feeling Punchy

Yesterday, someone told me they admired my ability to cope and juggle my life. That really struck a cord—because half the time I feel like I am not coping or juggling anything.

Do you ever see those instagrams from people with a picture of coffee and say they have completely dominated the day? That's never me. I am usually warming up my coffee five hundred times before 10 a.m. and I never am on top of emails or the to-do list. And to have a Starbucks is a real treat.

But I do stay busy, and because of that busy-ness, and constant travel, and constant terrible juggling act, sometimes I go a week without remembering I need to double check the drafts of my little online space and hit publish on the very best cookie recipe I've ever made. So I promise, even though it was written in my planner to share that recipe last week—it's happening this week. I hope. 

Life lately has been dominated by a week long conference and expo my company produces in Atlanta, Ga. at the OMNI Hotel at CNN Center. Being a tourist in my hometown is weird. Like super weird. Anyway, I worked five 16-hour in a row days in five-inch heels and a set of black pencil skirts, so I've been a little punchy.

How punchy, you ask? 

Well, there are four new videos of me on the internet, punchy.

Great screen cap, youtube. Really appreciate that one.

I have a stack of paperwork and story notes to swim through about seven feet high, so if you need me I'll be practicing how to not bob and weave while a handheld camcorder is six feet away from me—because clearly I need the practice. #thisiswhyiwriteandnotbroadcast

...KILLING ME WITH THE SCREEN CAP FREEZE FRAMES YOUTUBE KILLING ME....

Massaging Sensations Thanks To Kushyfoot

**I was given free samples of the following Kushyfoot products in exchange for my open and honest review. All opinions are my own and I have license to use all the following awkward cocktail party photos. Cheers!

Sometimes the best-laid plans fall to complete ruin. At least, that's my life lately. I guess it has something to do with having twin toddlers and a husband, a full-time job that has me traveling, various volunteer commitments, a Pure Barre addiction, this little ole blog and a few IRL friends. Oh, and tennis. I also play tennis. And I have a penchant for getting sick. Like real sick: You have a cold? Ehh, give me those germs and watch it become pneumonia—sick.

So back in January I traded emails back and forth with a representative of Kushyfoot, and she sent me some samples for me to review. I was so excited! Of course, our mail is as slow as Christmas; I am convinced it has something to do with having in-door mail slots over the traditional boxes at the end of the drive. I received the products in February and was super excited to put them to the test.

Then we had a heat wave and the last thing I wanted to do was put on knee high socks and knee high boots. But because this is Alabama, our February heat wave quickly gave way for a March cold snap.

During the middle of that cold snap, Mark and I attended a cocktail reception for a society I am a member of through the Junior League. The society celebrates our League's founding president, Lillie Lee Milliner, who got together with a group of her friends 90 years ago and formed what is now our League. She left a pretty awesome legacy. To honor that, we all donned our cocktail best and snacked on appetizers and enjoyed some libations.

Since we never get truly "cold" in Alabama, I never know how to dress for dressier occasions in the winter. I had this adorable French Connection purple dress I wanted to wear to the reception but it was short sleeve and short. THEN I REMEMBERED I HAD THE KUSHYFOOT TIGHTS. And the closet angels sang hallelujah!

So at first I was a little concerned that the tights, which came equipped with ribbed gel at the base of the foot, would drive me nuts and not work. Especially since I knew we'd be standing for hours on end as we mingled, and the only shoes I had that would work with the dress were five-inch stilettos.

I was wrong, oh so wrong. Not only did the little ripples of gel not bug me, they actually worked!! My feet didn’t hurt even the tiniest bit during the evening. I comfortably was able to move from the bar to the food, to groups of friends and acquaintances without worrying that my feet were throbbing. See, this action shot clearly shows my feet weren't a concern. Or maybe it shows I had one too many gin and tonics on an empty stomach and less than five hours after this picture was taken I would wake up with the flu, which would turn into pneumonia, but I digress.

The tights were thick enough offer some warmth traveling from the car to the door, without being too hot once we got inside the building. Don't you hate when the heat is cranked up somewhere and you are wearing warm clothes? I always feel like I am a little sweaty once I step back outside. Not cute.

Black tights are literally the answer to every outfit question I have now in relationship to cocktail parties and cold weather.

In addition to the tights, in my little Kushyfoot goodie bag, I also got some of their knee highs, which worked really well under my Frye boots. Typically I hate to wear knee highs with them, just because the socks always end up poking out the top and that’s just not my style. Kushyfoot's version actually hit below my knee a bit so they were completely covered by the boot, giving me the sock I needed while maintaining the look I like.

My final Kushyfoot product I am now in love with is the flat to-go. I've seen these before: ballet flats that are designed to fit in a purse or glove box and be completely packable. In the past, I was worried that these type of shoes would be cheap plastic and not look good.

Again, Kushyfoot proved me wrong. As fate would have it, our new puppy recently actually ate one of my black ballet flats, so I was in need of a black flat for work. I grabbed the Kushyfoots and headed about my day. They didn't look cheap at all; they are the perfect basic black flat. They are comfortable—feels like I'm not really wearing a shoe at all. I haven't tried the "packable" element to them yet, mainly because with pneumonia and work travel I've gone exactly nowhere I would need a packable flat. But Mark and I have a gala to attend in the coming weeks and I have a feeling they will definitely be making an appearance.

Kushyfoot's online store is currently closed while they transition to spring, but I was able to score a few extra pairs of tights at Nordstrom Rack in Atlanta, on some major sale. One of the benefits of being constantly off-kilter is being able to shop super sales because you're buying tights while the rest of the stores wants you to buy swimsuits. I have spent years working in retail and I still will never understand beginning to sell shorts in January when it is still only 40°. 

 

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Photography by Carter Photo & Design