Lilly Pulitzer for Target Haul!

I’m sure by now you all know all about the mass hysteria that surrounded the very coveted release of the Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection.  It was pretty much a massacre at the store that lasted a little less than 8 minutes for me.  I did get some great pieces and I’d have to say that Lilly really hit the nail on the head with the prints that they came out with for this collection.  I just wish the inventory would have lasted a bit longer.  I’m was sad to realize that not every store carried all of the items and I was really looking for the bathing suits.  This is what I got below I think I got a nice selection the shorts in the Upstream pattern being my favorite!

The line at 7:40AM on Sunday not too bad I was about 15th but by the time the store opened there were about 40 people in line!

 

My haul including shorts, jumpsuit, weekender bag, small cosmetic, flip flops, and nail polish.

 

Did you guys make it out or stay in the comfort of your homes and fight the crashing site to get all of the items that you wanted?

 

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Pink and Teal- Nursery Reveal

Months ago I pulled together the plans for the nursery I had dreamed about for my baby girl. I wanted the room to be warm and inviting. I selected paint colors and furniture that would allow the room to be transformed as she started to grow and form her own sense of style.

There are a few odds and ends that still need to be completed (hang the painted closet doors, iron the curtains…) but the room is fully functional and is getting plenty of use.

Above the changing table are two shelves that display gifts, momentos from my childhood, and the guestbook from my baby shower. I picked up the dresser from Ikea and I absolutely love it!  The dresser has tons of storage and is the perfect height for changing diapers.

In between the windows, I hung three Ikea bookshelfs to display some of the books I  received as gifts at my baby shower. Ken and I  have a lot of reading to do with our little girl. 🙂 The glider in the right corner of the room was a big splurge. I wanted comfort and functionality, and that’s exactly what we got with this glider.  Totally worth the money!

Selecting the perfect crib was quite the process! If your interested, check out this post where I described the entire process.   The handmade mobile adds some fun and whimsy to this side of the room and was SUPER easy to make!

The final side of the room is the closet. I purchased an Ikea bookshelf to store the unbelievable amount of baby items we have. Eventually, I plan to use this bookshelf for toy storage, but for now, it’s helping me keep everything organized!

So there you have it! What your favorite room in your house? Have you ever decorated a nursery?

Homemade Super-Food Dog Treats

My boxer-pit bull mix; Ella,  has made some small cameo appearances on 5andwhine.  Most likely they involve Ella’s paw’s creeping into my craft photo’s.   One year ago in late February Michael and I were strolling through the Strip District with friends Meagan and Earnie.  It was that day we met our pup, knew it was a match – made  somewhere between here and heaven ;), and made our way through the adoption process.  She had a lot of what we wanted in a new family member- we wanted a pup to start training as early as possible, we wanted to adopt, we loved her look, and most importantly her demeanor.  At the time she was the calm one in the liter, quick to respond to commands, and the cutest wrinkly puppy face.

The day our lives changed, A LOT.

 

Life is hard!

She Cute!

 

We love our Ella dearly, we call her baby often.  Though those who know her also know she is a handful.  She is ‘driven’ as our trainer likes to say- and that drive has taken wrath over lipsticks, high heels, and lots of newly installed molding.  Although we are happy to have found a trainer that is teaching us how to communicate better with our high energy pup, we also deal with some health concerns.

Poor baby “L” cant stomach regular dog food.  And poor mama has to make her homemade dog food to avoid the disaster of what happens if Ella eats traditional dry food.   Over time I have perfected the recipe and shortened the prep and cook time.  I appreciate the fact that we know where Ella’s meal comes from, each and every ingredient.  She is slim (too slim by the Dr’s orders, but lucky for her that means more table scraps), her coat is incredibly soft, and she never has itchy skin.  Down the road I will post a recipe for easy-ish and affordable homemade dog food.

Today I will feature the new treat recipe that is SUPER FOOD for Ella, and she is SUPER excited to eat it.

Super Foods add-ins:

Flax Seed Powder: I use this to cut the amount of grains with oats and flour- just like us, a dog shouldn’t bulk up on filler.  Flax has many health benefits :omega fatty acids, flax seed contains alpha-linoleic acid, which offers benefits to your dog’s immune system.  It also has an anti-inflammatory effect, so it might aid your dog if he shows signs of arthritis or other joint problems. Lignans in flax seed contain antioxidants.

Coconut Oil: You will find several articles on how coconut oil is great for dogs.  This improves dry skin issues, adds moisture and shine to the coat, helps digestion, helps with dog-breathe, and many other remedies – including a digestion aid and brain health!

Blueberries: Just like the benefits for people- blueberries are chalked full of antioxidants and vitamin C.  They contain silicon which can aid in the pancreas process, controlled blood sugar levels, and more!

Carrots: Low cal, nutritious snack for your pup!  Most dogs seem to love carrots!  Tip: frozen carrots are great for teething pups.

The Super Food shopping list!

 

It is essentially baked oatmeal for a pup.  Here are the ingredients:

• 1 Cup – Flour (whole wheat is best if you have it)
• 1 Cup – Old Fashion Oats, milled.
• 1/4 Cup – Flax seed, milled.
• 1 Cup – Coconut Oil
• 1/2 Cup – Dried Blueberries
• 2 Cup – Carrot, shredded or fine chop (about 6 carrots)
• 1 tsp – Baking Powder

1. Mix all dry ingredients: Flour, Oats, Flax Powder, Baking Powder

2. Add remaining ingredients: Blueberries, Carrots, Coconut Oil.  Incorporate ( I basically knead with my hands).

3. Press flat to even distribution on parchment lined baking sheet.

4. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

5. Cut and let Cool.

pressed, packed, ready to bake!

Although I understand the novelty in hearts and bone shape cookie cutters, I realize Ella does not know what a shape is.

Ella will do just about ANY command for this yum-o snack !

 

 

 

My All-Star Themed Baby Shower!

My baby shower was in Bedford, PA, this weekend.  My family is from Eastern PA, Lance’s is from Central PA, and our friends are from Western PA, so what better place to have it then in Bedford!  My mother-in-law and best friends worked very hard to make the day special, and all I had to do was register and make sure I got to the party on time.  It was fabulous!

The shower started at 12:30 with buffet style sandwiches, pasta salad, fruits and vegetables and the decorations were amazing.  After 3 generations of Waltman men who loved and played baseball, the theme couldn’t have been more fitting for our soon-to-come baby boy.

There weren’t too many games, just some guess how many with sunflower seeds, and bubble gum, and a game where you froze these little plastic babies in ice cubes.  Everyone got one in their water glass and when your cube melted, you had to yell, “My water broke!” and then you got a prize.

see the little baby in the ice cube?

see the little baby in the ice cube?

All in all it was the perfect day with my favorite people.  Thank you so much to those who made it possible!!

Happy Shower Week, Kristina!!

This is it!!! In just a few short weeks you will be meeting your sweet baby boy! Life as you know it is about to change!

Kristina, I am so proud of you and all that you have accomplished in your life. You are the most driven and devoted person I know and anything you put your mind to you will be great at, including mommy hood!

Our friendship journey began in 5th grade at the community pool, but even though we had a brief break-up we picked right back up in 12th grade. We experienced so much together our senior year of high school; boyfriends, break-ups, parties, party busts, learning how to drive stick, learning how to drive safely, and navigating through life. We even carried on our friendship long distance when we went to different colleges. The summer between graduation and your move to Pittsburgh was one that I will never forget! Life was so easy then, and we didn’t have a care in the world.

As life rolled by, things got a little bit more serious; jobs, husbands, homes, now babies! I wouldn’t trade all of the amazingly fun memories we had together, but these are the memories I have looked forward to…to see you grow as a mommy, to see you bond with your son, to see how much bigger your heart will grow, and to see you happier than you have ever been. I can’t wait to force our children to be friends, and to receive pics of your sweet boy at all hours of the day, and to hear all about your delivery!

You and Lance are going to be amazing parents and Baby Dub-ya is already to soooo loved; he is one lucky little boy! I know you aren’t loving pregnancy but the end result is so worth all of it! You are doing and will continue to do a great job with your perfect little man! Happy Shower Week, momma and welcome to the club!!

Cheers to you Kristina!

Kristina, where I can I even begin we have literally been through it all.  If two people can go through as many life experiences together as we have they must be related in some weird way.  It’s been an incredible ride and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next.

From the moment that we met we had an uncanny relationship unlike any other friendship that I had; had before.  We just got each other.  We complimented each other so much that our friendship came so naturally.  You have always been so explosive and dynamic and that is something that I have always admired about you.

When you first told me that you were pregnant I was literally overwhelmed and in total shock.  Knowing that you wanted this so badly made me so happy.  I also knew that our lives and our friendships would never be the same, this little guy was/is going to be the most life changing experience in your entire life.  You don’t often get to say that you have had a best friend that you have been through everything with from rec dances to houses and babies.

I am so privileged to have you as my best friend.  Someone that is always in your corner routing you on, a confidant when you have no one else, and someone to share in the most happy times with you knowing that they truly are equally as happy as you are. You are going to be the most compassionate mother and especially someone that this little boy will look up to, I also hope that he inherits your sense of humor (I mean you really do think you make all the funniest jokes).

If two people can go through as many life experiences together as we have they must be related in some weird way.  It’s been an incredible ride and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next.

Here’s to you, Kristina!

This week’s WCW is 5andwhine’s very own Kristina Waltman.  It’s time to shower her with the love she so greatly deserves as we all excitedly count down the weeks until the arrival of Baby Waltman.

The friendship between Kristina and I started when we were in 5^th grade. From the beginning, it was clear that Kristina had a good heart and was so kind and welcoming.  As the years have passed, and our friendship has grown, I have no doubt that she is going to make one fantastic momma for so many reasons…

 -She stands up for what is right and is confident in her beliefs.  In both her personal and professional life, Kristina in an advocate for the ones she loves.

-She loves with all of her heart.  Through thick and thin, Kristina is a true friend who will always be there when you need her.  You can always count on her to find just.the.right.words for any situation.  Whether it be loving words of encouragement or advice, Kristina is constantly there with an open heart to listen and help you through it.


-Her laugh is contagious.  I have so many fond memories of the late night sleepovers that we shared in middle school and high school that were filled with her laughter.  Kristina is great at finding the positive in any situation and does it with grace and an infectious smile/laugh.

 Baby Waltman, you are lucky to be welcomed into a family that is sure to be loving and nurturing.  Your Momma is one great lady who will also be there to support you in your times of need, and celebrate you in your times of achievement.  Here’s to you, Kristina!

 

Tribute Week ! The baby Waltman and his Mommy :

Here we are once again!   T Minus 4 days until we celebrate the soon-to-be arrival of baby Dub’s, second-gen-5andwhine-Alum.  It looks like we have created a tradition and wish to spend this week honoring our best friend Kristina.  We want to share all about what has made her our best friend, and why she will be an even better mother.  Stick around all week to hear more!

 

I have always idolized all of my friends.  Each for separate traits that they carry so flawlessly.  I look up to Kristina for her boldness.  She is bold in so many ways of the word.  She has always been boldly gorgeous, funny, successful, professional, bold in the face of adversity, bold in times that would frighten others too deeply to continue on.  She is bold in her speech, in her comedy, and really in her approach to anything she does.  She will be a bold mother, and what a lucky boy that baby is for that.

I think for Kristina and I this is a trait we have always admired in each other.   Because both of us are hardly afraid of much- we find ourselves bringing otherwise controversial matters to head.  This is the magic of our friendship.  We’re aggressive and we work hard.  We have been lucky enough to have chances to test our teamwork  so many times over the years- and its purely a success each time.

One of my favorite times of each year is when the Arthritis Foundation holds there major fundraiser’s- the Jingle Bell Run and the Bone Bash.  A few years ago it became a tradition that I volunteer for these events.  What a blast it is to idea share, create, and challenge ourselves to do something more fun than the year before.    It really blossoms our friendship further every event.  Kristina has continued to trust in me high responsibility activities, and I get to admire her and watch her run events and relationships that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a worthy cause.

That is enough to make me fall in love with her.  But her ability does not stop as a leading women in the community.  Kristina is an elephant- which we all love and hate, she wont forget a thing that you ever did or say.  This is endearing (and humiliating considering we spent our teenage years together).   She is brilliant, observant, absolutely hysterical, she is passionate and BOLD.  Oh- and dare I forget to mention, I met the love of my life at her wedding – and basically owe her my entire life for that!

Baby, you are lucky.  You have a support system so prepared and so qualified.  Kristina my dear- be fearless as always.  There is not a thing in the world you have not succeeded in.  Everything else in you will carry your son so far into a comfortable and loving world.  Cheers Mama!  Sit back and relax – because all it takes is for you to be you.

How to make your Yard Sale Worth it!

A few months back I posted about my plans to prepare for a yard sale called “Just Put a Sticker on It!”  In this post I ran through a timeline and tasks to get myself and our house ready, and while I didn’t follow the timeline to a T, I did do everything I said I was going to on the list.  Completing these tasks brought a sense of calm to me, even though I was physically exhausted.  I’ve said many times before that it feels great to re-organize the things in my life which feel hectic, especially in my living space.

Here’s what we did to make over $300 at our yard sale. 

1. Invite your friends and family to join you and bring their stuff over.  Just make sure they have their own petty cash.  We did our yard sale at my friend, Meagan’s, house, and had the neighbor join in as well as another friend. A shared yard sale means shared responsibilities for set up and tear down as well as a wider variety of stuff to sell.  Our friend had lots of antique games to sell which brought forth a lot of unique buyers.

2. Market your yard sale online!  Three weeks before the event, we started posting about our yard sale on yardsale.net, craigslist, and facebook.  As people started to arrive I asked them where they heard about it, and most of the early birds found out about it on a website and ours was the first of many yard sales they were going to that day.   We included details like the types of items we were selling as well as the place, start time, end time, and address of the yard sale.

3. Market your yard sale the old-fashioned way!  Most people who came to our yard sale saw signs for it on the street as they were driving by.   I hung signs in the little downtown area near my friend’s house as well as on her street and in her yard.  The signs were big and neon yellow with her address, the date, and time of the yard sale.  This was a $7 investment that was well-worth it.

4. Prices at your yard sale.  I went back and forth about putting a sticker on the items and ended up doing it in the end.  You can put stickers on, but know that it’s really just for your own sanity.  People will still ask you how much you want for it, and you can look at the sticker and decide to say what’s on it, or come down a dollar or two depending on what you think is best.  I would say I sold 70% of my items at a discounted rate because I knew what I didn’t sell was going to goodwill.  The things I sold at full-price were mostly because the person didn’t ask.  In the end, I don’t know if it was worth all that stickering time!

5. Let people know you’re willing to negotiate!  The last few hours of our yard sale we started slashing prices.  I had a brand new juicer that my husband and I had bought 2 years ago for $180 and had only used one time. There wasn’t one person who was interested in buying it for $75, so I took the sticker off of it.  The person who was interested asked what I wanted for it and I told her $30 because it was the end of the day.  She ended up taking it off my hands  after years of it sitting in my cupboard and I made a little money back in the end.  Also, I made over $40 on my clothing because I was willing to discount it to $.50.

6. Bundle your sales.  If someone is willing to buy an expensive item or a number of things, throw in something else they were interested in at a dirt cheap rate, or for free.  It makes them feel good!

7. Talk to your customers.  Every person who came to our yard sale was greeted and we asked if they were looking for anything in particular.  This helped us find them what they needed or at least started a conversation with them so they wanted to buy from us.  We didn’t bother them if they were perusing, but we didn’t make them feel awkward by being silent and starring either.

8. Have plenty of petty cash!  I got a role of quarters ($10), $30 in 10’s, $30 in 5’s, and $30 in 1’s.  $100 did the trick!

9. Provide Bags and offer to walk things to people’s cars.  We used recycled grocery bages and people were so grateful and they could keep shopping for longer.  Some heavier items we offered to take to people’s cars for them.

10. Take your leftovers straight to goodwill or put them on the curb.  We put the leftovber large items like furniture on the curb with free signs, and took a car load of stuff to goodwill.  It felt great to drop the last of the items off for a good cause.

Front Yard Reno: Part 1

I feel like I have written so many lists (around my house) about what projects need to be done and by when.  I even started a new pretty notebook filled with Spring/Summer projects.  As the warmer weather is setting in I’m getting more excited about doing some serious work to the front yard.  Our front yard is very small and last year we took out several very large trees exposing our front yard (which means more time on the porch to people watch).

Here is my list of things that are in the works to revive the front of our house with out spending too much dough!

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1. Create flower bed – plant 2-3 box woods and some smaller perennials in the front with a red brick outline for the border

2. Purchase two new outside lights for either side of the door – ours are super outdated and look so drab and are literally falling apart.  This is a quick  and fairly inexpensive way I’m going to dress up my front door.

3. Plan two potted plants on either side of my front stoop – I have the pots left over from last year and we filled in the dirt from a local recycled compost that was FREE!

4. We are researching putting down sod.  Since the front of our house is so small and half of the front yard will be flower bed we are thinking sod will be a great fix to quickly dress up the front without the use of waiting for the grass to come in.

5. Two hanging flower baskets – we have several hooks on the front porch that were there from the original owners so I think two would look really pretty hanging from the front.

6. Grind down the stumps in the front yard and back yard (this is my hubby’s job!)

*Additions (if I get the time, have the energy, or feel like spending the entire money)

1. Last year we purchased patio furniture super duper cheap from the local Kmart at $140.00 for a table, and 6 chairs!  It was a total steal and even though we only go to to use it twice I think it will be great this Spring/Summer.

2. To dress up the porch.  I was thinking of purchasing an outdoor rug.

3. My mom bought me a flower stand so I also wanted to put that on the front porch.

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And here is my not so impressive front yard progress…

FREE RECYCLED MULCH!

We cleaned up any weeds and old leaves and filled holes from old plants that we ripped out.

Do you guys have any other inexpensive ideas for making my front porch look cuter?