Weekend Recap: Arizona Edition

Happy monday folks! I'm feeling particularly lovely this Monday because I was able to catch two full nights of sleep along with a whole lot of Vitamin D this weekend!

I headed down to Phoenix on Friday to visit one of my besties for her birthday and we had so much fun sipping cocktails, doing "girly" things like pedicaures, hair and makeup and just hanging out. Phoenix was in the upper 80s and the sun felt so good on my pale pale PNW skin.

I landed in Phoenix on Friday and we headed to lunch and get pedicures done before deciding we wanted a cozy night in, lounging on the couch, drinking wine, eating good food and watching movies!

Saturday we slept in and when we finally decided to get moving with headed to The Farm at South Mountain. An awesome organic farm that had three different restaurants on it serving food from the farm and other local ingredients. We had brunch at Morning Glory and then wandered through the stores and farm grounds before heading home for a bit.

My girlfriend's birthday was Sunday so went out Saturday evening to celebrate and I wanted to make sure she felt fabulous for her big day so we made appointments to get hair and makeup done, including big fabulous fake eyelashes. Needless to say we were feeling pretty good. After meeting up with a few of her friends and heading to a few different locations, we made our way back home to her apartment to pass out.

Sunday morning we lounged, watched movies and made our way to In N' Out for the best burgers ever! You better believe  I had both my cheeseburger and my fries done up "animal style."

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with my girlfriend. Now I'm back home with my boys ready to take on the week.

Hope you all have a fabulous Monday!

Weekend Recap #7

This weekend recap is coming to you a day late because, honestly, I just didn't feel like writing anything yesterday and my Easter style post had been typed up last week and was just waiting for me to hit the "publish" button on.

So here we go...

Friday night was a date night in and after we put the little guy to bed, husband and I watched Mockingjay Part. 1. We got halfway through the movie before we realized we'd already seen it. Woops! It didn't matter though, because we had enjoyed it the first time and did so again the second time.

After the movie was over, I crashed hard and went straight to bed, at 10 PM, on a Friday. Party. Animal.

Saturday I was up early with my little man and we whipped up a batch of blueberry greek yogurt muffins. They were so good and good for you too! Then we were off to the store to pick up snacks for a little ladies + babies action. I've mentioned this a time or two before, but essentially its a group of mama's who get together with our little ones (all around the same age for the most part) and the mom's get to drink wine and chat/catch up while the little ones play. It's a win! win! for all involved.

That evening was dedicated to a little mommy/Lincoln time while dad got some much needed time off to go hang out at our local brewery. Lincoln and I made dinner and watched some shows before heading to bed early!

Sunday Funday has a whole new meaning these days and we made our way over to the park for some fresh air and play time. Lincoln is quite the explorer and hiked up a HUGE hill all by himself. He is so in love with doggies these days and gets so excited when he sees one in the park. He then proceeded to get down on all fours and "woof woof" like a doggy through the park. Kids. They are hysterical!

After we got back from the park, we made some home-made pizza and curled up on the couch for a Sunday family movie. I was pretty proud of my new pizza concoction - saute'd broccoli and leeks in a little butter and thyme and topped off with burrata. So good! (Oh and ever since our car accident, I've been right back on the dairy wagon eating all of the comfort food I can get my hands on....bring on all the cheese! Maybe next Lent I'll be better ;0/).

Because Lincoln is so into dogs these days, we downloaded Lady and the Tramp (I had no idea it's from 1955!) and he was mesmerized by it! Then it was bath time and off to bed. We're a pretty exciting bunch these days :)

Easter Style: Mama Edition

I started posting some little man style posts a few months back, but with spring coming and more importantly Easter, I thought it would be fun to put together a post on some Spring favorites that would work well for an Easter brunch too. And this time it's all about the mama's.

First things first...I'll admit I tend to be drawn to black and white and more neutral colors so if you're looking for something with more color, these picks are not for you!

Black and White Strips - I love stripes! So much so, that they are quickly taking over my closet. Some might think that stripes aren't that flattering, but I would disagree. I absolutely love this dress, but it's a tad bit dressy for our Easter happenings. 

Paper Crown Dress -I think this dress is so fun and is definitely something you could dress up or down. Put it on with a pair of wedges and you're good to go or dress it down with some leggings and boots and it'd be a fun fall outfit (so also very versatile!). I also really like that it has long sleeves since I'm not the biggest fan of my arms. 

Gap Tie Stripe Dress - I mentioned I love stripes above so it's not surprising that two of the four dresses I picked have stripes in them! This is a another fun option I think you could dress up or down. Put on a pair of wedges to dress it up, or throw on some white tennis shoes for a fun day dress to run errands in. 

Kate Spade Polka Dot Dress - I feel like Kate Spade has been on a roll the past few years. Everything she does lately I absolutely love! This polka dot dress is so fun and because it's black (and white) I don't feel like the polka dots are too overwhelming. Love love love this dress! 

Friday Faves

It's time for some Friday Favorites!

First off...I'm loving the "Born Lucky" jammies I picked up at the Gap for little man to serve as both his St. Paddy's Day and Easter jammies! They are seriously the cutest and everything is 40% off at the Gap if you use the code SWEET.

I'm also loving this photo that you already saw if you follow me on instagram (meghan_alexander) of my two favorite boys twinning in their striped sweaters and blue khakis! I have the two most adorable men in my life!

We're having a little mommy and me play-date this weekend at my house and I get to meet my girlfriend's newest little bundle of joy! I can't wait to have a newborn in my arms again and I'm sure it will send my ovaries into overdrive ;0p

Image via

Finally, I'm heading to Arizona next week to visit one of my besties for her birthday and I cannot wait to get some SUNSHINE on my pale pale skin. I wouldn't be mad if I came back with a sunburn, not even a little bit!

Happy Friday friends!

Little Man Style: Easter Edition

I mentioned on Friday, that Lent started this past week, so you know I'm already thinking about Easter! But, before we get to Easter we have another fun holiday in the mix...St. Paddy's Day! I will most definitely be feeding my child green pancakes for breakfast and corn beef and cabbage for dinner and hopefully we'll make it to the St. Paddy's Day parade in our town, so as we prepare for both St. Paddy's Day and Easter...here's a little style guide for the littlest man in my life.

See below for this month's little man style: Easter (and St. Paddy's) edition!

1. Pink Oxford Shirt - Old Navy actually had the most adorable mint green Oxford with a Paisley bow tie so I ended up skipping the pink and going with that one. I couldn't find the same one online, but this one is similar. I cannot wait to see my little guy all dressed up on Easter Sunday!

2. Navy Twill Pants -  We have these navy pants and they will be the pants of choice for his Easter Sunday outfit!

3. Boat Shoes - I am in love with these boat shoes! I've mentioned before that shoes are not necessarily something Lincoln currently needs, but I might try and sneak this pair into his collection because they will be perfect for his Easter Sunday outfit!

4. Chambray Bow Tie - We have the most adorable navy and green anchor bow tie for Lincoln that he wore for Easter last year. It still fits him so we'll most likely use that again this year, but i'm in love with this chambray bow tie too.

5. Chick's Dig Me Graphic T - We're planning on hitting up my high school's alumni Easter egg hunt with Lincoln this year. They put out plastic eggs all over the football field and all the little kids collect Easter eggs the Saturday before Easter. Little man NEEDS this shirt for that hunt.

6. Striped Rugby Shirt - I mentioned i'd be including a few "st. paddy's day" items on this post and I'm loving this green striped rugby shirt. little man needs to sport this on St. Paddy's day so he doesn't get pinched!

7. Spring Bunny PJs - Easter jammies! I am all about the festive jammies for any holiday, so i'm hoping to snag these jammies for little man.

8. "Born Lucky" PJs - Bunnies + motor cycles + 4 leaf clovers....i'm in love! These festive St. Paddy's day jammies are so cute and they'd work for easter too! I scooped these up from the Gap at the same time I purchased the adorable robot heart PJ set for Valentine's day last month!

Check out past "little man style" posts here and here.

Weekend Recap #6

I'm recapping our weekend a day late, but that's because this weekend was a long one!

It started off with a fun little Valentine's Day party at Lincoln's school where we watched the littles decorate and eat heart shaped cookies and play their sugar loaded hearts out.

Saturday I had a "Galentine" Brunch at my girlfriend's house. We ate delicious food, drank mimosas (grapefruit mimosas are the best!) and sat around and chit chatted while our little ones played away. I went sans little man, so I got a little mama break and it was so much fun!

After brunch, we ran some errands and headed home to relax before making kibbee for dinner! I get so excited anytime I get to make or eat Lebanese food so dinner Saturday night was an event within itself.

Sunday is when everything went south. Lincoln and I were up early and headed out to pick up some surprise Valentine's Day donuts for Kevin. We were on our way back home, when a car ran a red light and we were in a pretty bad accident. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. Both airbags in our car deployed and since my hand had been on the horn, the airbag essentially blew up in my hand causing some bruising on both my hands and arms and a sprain in my right thumb and wrist.

I had never been in an accident like that and didn't realize that when airbags deploy it smells and looks like your car is on fire because of a powder that comes out with the airbags. I thought our car was on fire initially and couldn't get my car door open to get to Lincoln and get us safely away from the car. I was terrified and in complete panic mode until I was able to get my door wedged open enough to slide out and get Lincoln out of the car and onto the side of the road.

Our car was completely totaled. The entire front end was smashed in and there was fluid leaking everywhere. I forgot my cell phone that morning, so I was so grateful to the woman who stopped to see if we were ok, let me use her phone to call my husband and parents and stayed with us until the police, fire department and my family came. She also served as a witness to the accident as well.

After our car was towed away and the police were gone, we headed over to Urgent Care to get my hand x-rayed and make sure it wasn't broken. It wasn't. Just sprained, swollen and bruised and they sent me on my way with a splint and a prescription for some pain medication.

Needless to say our Valentine's got a little side-tracked, but once we made it home, I pulled out the little gift we had put together for Lincoln as well as a little something for Kevin and we opened our gifts before eating a very delayed breakfast and putting Lincoln down for nap.

Once the nap was over, we took Lincoln over to Nana and PopPop's so we could go purchase a new car seat (you have to replace car seats if you've been in an accident, even if the seat wasn't damaged because the plastic can be warped/damage internally), and head out for a little Valentine's dinner sans kiddo. After dinner, we picked Lincoln up and headed home to put him to bed and have a little date night/movie night in. It didn't last long and after a few minutes, Kevin and I had both fallen asleep. I think all of the excitement from the day had finally caught up to us.

Monday was an extra day off and we spent the day relaxing, getting ready for the week, talking with insurance companies about the accident and ended with homemade pizza with Nana and PopPop.

A pretty long, fun, terrifying and exhausting weekend if I do say so myself.

Hopefully this week and next weekend are better!

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies + Buttercream Icing

It's time for February's "cookie of the month!" I mentioned last month that one of my husband's stocking stuffers was a coupon book full of monthly cookie coupons. Last month I made Oreo Chocolate Chip cookies and they were delicious! 

February is "love" month with Valentine's Day and all so I knew this month's cookie had to be filled with love (I mean red food dye) because for some reason we all associate the color red with love, hearts and roses....so Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies with Buttercream Icing had to be it! 

I adapted this recipe slightly from Sally's Baking Addiction and then added my own special touch by drizzling the cookies in a buttercream icing. They turned out delicious! 

I hope you enjoy them as much as Kevin did! (Maybe these will last longer than the 48 hours the oreo cookies did ;0p). 

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies + Buttercream Icing

adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

For the cookies: 

1 and 1/2 cups
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1-2 Tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 Tablespoons red food coloring
1 cup milk chocolate chips

For the Icing

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2-3 cups powdered sugar (depending on how you like the consistency of your frosting)

1-2 Tablespoons milk (again, depending on how you like the consistency of your frosting)

Directions

Mix together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda and set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix well. Mix together the egg, milk and vanilla and add to your sugar/butter mixture. Cream together. 

Add in your red food coloring. It should be a bright red color. When you add the cocoa powder to the mix it will deepen the red. Don't feel shy about adding even more red food coloring after you add in the cocoa powder...as you can see from my photos above, they're more brown than red and that's because I didn't quite add enough food coloring. 

Slowly add in your dry ingredients and combine well. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Roll dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes. Cookies may not have flattened out as much as you like. Simply press lightly on the warm cookies and they will flatten out. 

While cookies are cooling, make your frosting. 

I wanted my frosting to be more of a glaze so I made the consistency much wetter than usual for a buttercream. 

Combine your ingredients until you get the correct consistency. Put the frosting/icing into a ziplock bag and cut a small hole in one of the corners. Drizzle icing back and forth over your completely cooled cookie. 

Enjoy!!

Friday Faves

It's time for some of my favorite things this week! I started this a couple of weeks ago, and it's basically a place for me to recap all of the things I'm loving this week.

Here we go!

First, I'm most excited for a long weekend! It's President's day on Monday which means both Kevin and I get the day off from work/school and any weekend with an extra day in it is a good thing!

Also this weekend...Valentine's Day! If you haven't picked something up for the love-bugs in your life, here's a gift guide for her and him for some last minute ideas! When in doubt, flowers and chocolate are always a good idea.

Lent started on Wednesday, and this year I'm choosing to give up dairy. Say goodbye to latte's and more importantly cheese! I am a sucker for cheese and put it on top of everything so this is going to be rough! Past attempts at giving food/alcohol related items for Lent haven't gone so well, so hopefully I can do this!

Another thing I have been loving this week...leaving work and having it still be light out! It makes the days feel longer and not like I'm heading home just to put my baby to bed. These pretty sunsets on the way home weren't half bad either :0)

And finally, a little girlfriend get together for a "Gal"entine brunch on Saturday! When my girlfriend texted me about the idea I thought it was such a cute idea! A Valentine's Brunch for just your girlfriends! I'm sure there will be plenty of good food, booze and conversation and what's not to love about that!

The Terrible...Eighteen Months?

So, I'll be honest...I was caught a little off guard this past week or ten days when my usually, adorable, totally chill, go with the flow, happy 18 month old started throwing tantrums...OVER. EVERY. THING.

You hear about the dreaded "Terrible Twos" and I've heard that three can be tough as well, but nobody warns you that they. can. start. EARLY.

Let me go back a little and set the mood. Lincoln really has been the best little toddler. We had a rough start to life dealing with reflux and a myriad of other issues (I'm looking at you germy germs and sickie ickies), but ever since he was 10 months old or slow he has been such a good baby/toddler. He listens when we tell him no, he goes to bed relatively easy (and sleeps through the night more often than not). If he falls and gets a bump or we have to take something away from him, he usually gets over it within seconds (seriously!). We even had the daycare compliment us on how great of a listener Lincoln is and how they can "tell" that we enforce rules, etc. at home.

And just as I was patting myself on the back for that one (Go Me!) and high fiving my husband (I literally called him and told him the second I left the daycare), we did a complete about face.

Here's my adorable son laughing in my face because he had us duped with his easy going-ness.

I'd like to blame it on the fact that we're weaning him off the bottle completely and going full on sippy cup, but he's been without a daytime bottle for months (he only got one in the morning and one in the evening after dinner), and his tantrums strike through out the day and they are for a variety of reasons....he doesn't like his breakfast, snack, lunch or dinner. We aren't playing with the right toy. We're playing with the right toy but not in the right way. (He also just started throwing his toys.,..oh joy!) I put my shoes on. I put his shoes on. I went to the bathroom (without him...the horror!). Want me to keep going? Kidding. You get the idea.

I also think a huge element is that he has all these big emotions and thoughts and is starting to figure out this world of ours but he doesn't yet have the vocabulary to communicate with us. I was chatting with my friend Nicole (or texting but you know how it goes) and she was explaining that from 20-24 months it was also really hard for her because of the same reasons. (She has an adorable 2.5 year old!) Our little ones are starting to gain a sense of independence and they want to exert that independence, but they don't yet have the tools to fully express what it is they want/need and the usual ways of soothing them and solving their problems (feeding, diapering, cuddling, sleeping, etc.) aren't cutting it anymore, because those little stinkers are smarter than we think.

So...long story short. Any words of advice for a frustrated mama who so wants to have her lovable, huggable, easy going kid back? Other than the obvious...keep calm and drink lots of wine ;0p. Or this too shall pass ( I really hate that one!).

I'm all ears (and eyes!).

Weekend Recap # 5 + a Mimosa Bar

I am moving slow this monday morning. And i can't even blame it on drinking too much at a super bowl party! Unfortunately I think a busy past couple of weeks is catching up to me and I'm coming down with a little something something. I'm loading up on the emergen-c's in an attempt to ward off any of the sickie ickies.

Moving on though...here's our weekend recap!

We had a pretty busy weekend (again) and it started off with getting the oil changed in our car followed by a trip out to the mall. It's my little sister's birthday tomorrow, so I wanted to pick her up a gift before we have her birthday dinner at my parent's house this evening. While we were at the mall, we also managed to pick a few things up we've been needing/wanting and our little dude got his very own big kid chair to kick back in and watch some 'toons (cartoons that is). HomeGoods had the most adorable chair and foot stool on sale for $79.99 ( a steal compared to the Pottery Barn ones that go for about $140) and we snatched it up! He was loving it!

After we got back from the mall, we walked to our neighborhood park and then finished off our day with a trip to our favorite local brewery, Perry Street Brewing.

Sunday was Super Bowl and we made up a bunch of food and went over to my parents to watch the game with our family. We had a Nacho Bar, Hot Wings, Super Bowl Puppy Chow, White Trash (a not so politically correct but very delicious dip), chocolate covered pretzels and a Mimosa Bar I threw together! Everything was delicious and we all ate too much food! And the best part, the Broncos beat the Panthers! I'm not a huge fan of either team, but I didn't want the Panthers winning after they beat the Seahawks in the playoffs.

Other weekend highlights included little man being mesmerized by Grease: Live!,  the usual laundry (with a super helper), cleaning and some epic games of hiding and peek-a-boo!

Cheers to a new week!

Mimosa Bar

Orange Juice
Pomegranate Juice
Peach Mango Juice
Champagne of Choice (we used Brut)
3 Juice Carafes
Mixed Berries (for garnish)

Fill a champagne glass about a 1/3 of the way full with fruit juice of your choice. Top with champagne and garnish with a few berries.

Enjoy!

Super Bowl Puppy Chow

I've got the perfect last minute festive treat idea for tomorrow' Super Bowl! Most of you know Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow or whatever other name it goes by, but if you don't just know that it's both delicious and easy to throw together. It's a mix of Chex cereal, chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar. I know you're drooling now. What takes it up a notch is to add your favorite team's colors to the mix by adding in m&m's!

I'll admit I'm not a fan of either team this year, but I refuse to cheer for those filthy Panther's after they beat my Seahawks so this year, I'm rooting for the Broncos. I grabbed two bags of m&m's at the grocery store and weeded out all of the blue and orange ones to toss in with my Puppy Chow and voila Super Bowl Festive Puppy Chow!

This literally took all of 10 minutes to throw together, so if you're still looking for something to bring to your Super Bowl Party, try this!

Super Bowl Puppy Chow

9 Cups (or 1 Box) Chex Cereal of your choice (we grabbed Rice Chex)
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar
M&Ms (or other colored candy of your choice)

In a large bowl pour the cereal and set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine butter, peanut butter and chocolate chips and melt for one minute. Remove from microwave and stir. Add in vanilla.

Pour the chocolate mixture over your cereal and stir till all the cereal has a generous coating of chocolate.

Pour mixture into a gallon size ziplock bag and pour in about 1 cup powdered sugar. Zip the bag close and shake to coat all of the cereal with powdered sugar. If it looks like you need more, add about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar until you reach the right consistency.

Pour into a large bowl and mix in your m&m's.

Enjoy!

Friday Faves

I started this last week and to be honest almost forgot! Here are a few of my favorites from this week:

Ladies + Babies. Several of my girlfriends and I all had babies around the same time, so once a month (give or take a little) we try and get all the littles together so they can play and the mamas can catch up and drink wine. We had a little Ladies+ Babies action last night and I so enjoy those nights!

I know I mentioned these already in my Valentine's Gift Guide: For Her but I am in love with these New Balance tennis shoes. 

Another earlier mention, but also this pineapple pen holder is so cute and each time I look at it, I want it more and more!

I know I'm like a year late on this one, but I'm so very excited that they brought New York Seltzer back! I'm not a big soda drinker, but I enjoyed one of these bad boys for the first time in a good twenty years for lunch today and it brought back lots of memories of big flip bangs, leggings (which are still amazing today) and bad haircuts.

Again...about a million years late to this, but I had no idea there were free downloadable desktop backgrounds you can download for your computer. Discovered these little gems this week and I'm absolutely in love with my new desktop background at work! Makes my day that much brighter :)

I finally purchased a 2016 planner this week and I love it! It was only $7.99 at Target and my OCD loving heart is happy. I couldn't find the exact one online, but here's a similar one. 

Finally, all of the Superbowl Recipes floating around the blogosphere as we get ready for game day! You can see some of my own Superbowl recipes here and be sure to check in next week when I recap my wings recipe and a Game Day Mimosa Bar!

Happy Friday Friends.