Life Lately.

 I realized today that I was so busy through my birthday & this week that I barely took any photos! What a dork. At the very least, I had a wonderful & full birthday weekend :). Let's see:

Thursday / 9th: We met Jenna & Marc at Smoke in Plano for dinner. E & I had been to the Dallas location quite a bit, & the new digs do not disappoint. It has the same ambiance, & the same amazing food. Jenna's brother is a bartender extraordinaire, so go visit & get a good cocktail.
Friday / 10th: We had a free day (gasp!), so we ran some errands & took some much needed couch-time.
Saturday / 11th: I got to join Liz's gorgeous family for brunch at Mercat Bistro, which is always so much fun. Those ladies are just so cool. We kidnapped Liz for the afternoon & hit up the Old Monk before dinner with E's family for my b-day. That was my first time at Whiskey Cake, & it was prettyyy good! If you go & you are alcohol-free, ask Dave to make you a Jessica Wabbit - carrot juice, ginger, mint, & some other delicious things that made me feel like a grown-up.
Sunday / 12th: E & I slept in a bit & took it easy during the day. We met up with Liz before she had to fly back home (wahhhh!) & had a quick dinner with Mum. Full-on exhaustion at this point, haha!
Monday / 13th: I woke up to coffee & breakfast in bed :). Along with presents & lotsa love. We headed over to Mum's in the afternoon to hang out & then out to dinner with those awesome, pesky little brothers (heh). I picked Cheesecake Factory, for a huge helping of Chicken Bellagio & lemon raspberry cheesecake. It was a great end to 27, & a yummy hello to 28.

Thank you, everyone, for making this birthday a special one. It's one I think I'll always remember - the last before little one arrives.

Since then, we've just been hangin' tight, getting ready for peach. I had my glucose tolerance test today, so the past 2 weeks I've been keeping an eye on my sugar intake & making sure I'm not giving in too much to the sweet cravings (they are intense!). I'm still at least 10 pounds down since I got pregnant, so I'm not doing too bad ;).

We had lunch at Braindead Brewing in Deep Ellum on Sunday, & I had an amazing BLT. I had to take a picture of it. Just thought I'd share, it felt wrong to keep it to myself.

The painters are coming on Wednesday to get our nursery done; I am STOKED. This means all the organizing & decorating is coming up, which is the fun part, right?

Hope you guys are having a wonderful April.
xo Chlo.

On Sunday confession.

Real talk: I have a bad habit of running over past conversations in my head, wondering if I said the wrong thing, or upset someone, or shared something I shouldn't have. I have a small dose of social anxiety, paired with a nice tall glass of judging myself a bit too harshly. I have two fears: representing myself inaccurately, & leaving another feeling judged or criticized.

When I have a full day of conversations with friends & family, I also have a full night of reliving those conversations & dissecting if I've said something stupid or thoughtless.

We all have times when we can't express ourselves effectively, or we accidentally say the wrong thing, or everything just becomes misconstrued & you're left trying to correct yourself with a bad taste in your mouth.

It's ridiculous, right? We all have these things that go bump in our heads. We all have shortcomings, things we're working on, things that make us want to be better. I'm just thinking about this now because my day-to-day conversations are becoming so much more embroiled with opinions about raising our daughter, & I'm entering into conversations with other women that I would have avoided like the bloody plague before. As much as I want to continue avoiding them (please, just let me smile & nod), I can't get any better at it without practice. So, I suppose my point is - please ignore the foot in my mouth. It's sort of lodged there & I have an appointment with my communication skills to have it looked at. Also, your hair looks great.

xo Chlo.

Life Lately.

A few snapshots from the past couple of weeks :). We've been getting ready for spring - gardening, cleaning, organizing, the usual.

I'm in full-on nesting mode; I didn't think that was actually a thing, but I am FEELIN' it. I've never been a super-domestic person, but I'll be damned if I can't stop cleaning. Not complaining, our little house is happy & I'm feeling pretty productive. Since a vacation isn't really in our future, at least getting ready for bub doesn't feel like such a chore.

Today is rainy & a bit chilly, so I'm taking the day off with a Charmed marathon. I can't wait until next weekend; Liz is coming into town & then it's my birthdayyyyy! It's going to be a special one.

Happy Easter, everyone! Eric & I don't really celebrate, but I can see lots of egg hunts in my future ;).

xo Chlo.

On sweet gifts for our little one.

Hey guys! I've gotten a few questions about a registry for bub & I just wanted to update you on where we are with that.

We've decided that we aren't going to have a baby shower before little peach's arrival. We are so grateful for the love & well-wishes we have gotten, & we have been so fortunate to receive gifts from our parents & the luxury of planning financially for our little one. I may regret this once she's here & the one thing we need more of is EVERYTHING, but for now, we're happy to go with the flow & try not to accumulate for the sake of it.

However, I know that gifts for her aren't just about what we need. Trust me, I spend every day trying not to overdo it! So we've setup a wish list on Amazon & Etsy, for things that we still need & things that are just too cute to pass up, haha.

It is our goal to instill in our daughter a good balance between material & sentimental possessions. In order to do this, we want to keep her belongings to a minimum & keep our focus on what's important - family, friendship, kindness, & a happy life. So, if you feel so inclined, we would love a donation to the Children's Advocacy Center of Collin County in lieu of gifts. We are big fans of the mission of the CACCC, who bring so much support to children in our community who need it most.

We are so grateful for everyone's love during this time, & that's just everything that we could possibly want.

xo Chlo.