Styled by Jess

Fourth of July on Pinterest

I love the Fourth of July – it always makes me feel like summer has really begun, right? And I cannot believe the fourth is a week from Friday. Time to start planning some patriotic projects! Here are some fun Fourth of July ideas from my archives…

What to Wear

Patriotic Ice Cream Cones

Fourth of July Strawberries

And if you want MORE ideas – I am excited to be a part of a fun Fourth of July Pinning party curated from the ladies at Domestic Bliss Squared. I wanted to share the Board with you in case you’re looking for any creative Patriotic ideas for the fourth – recipes, crafts, and styles ideas. Click here to view – have fun!

Couple Things…

We had father’s day breakfast at a local favorite restaurant al fresco!

We made one of our favorite summer recipes for dinner this week – Charred Corn and Zucchini with Basil.

Just my friend Martha liking one of my Instagram photos (follow me here!) Get the DIY on the patriotic ice cream cones she liked here.

Siblings in stripes! They are just the cutest together…

And…5 years ago today I married this guy and life got even better…

Have a great weekend everyone!

Decoupage

decopauge-8

Decoupage is the craft of decorating an item by gluing layers of paper on top of something to cover it – and let me tell you, there is no easier craft to “master” than decoupage. And I say “master” because there’s really no way to mess up decoupage so your project will always come out looking great! I wanted to create a special piece of art with our new guy’s name to hang on his nursery wall (I’m thinking above the tickle monster and family photo). I saw these craft letters at Paper Source and thought decoupaging them in paper to match his nursery would be a great idea. Today, let’s talk about the decoupage part and in a few weeks I will post how I put everything together.

To decoupage, you’ll need: Mod Podge, craft letters (or whatever item you want to cover), a brush for the glue, scissors, pieces of paper cut into small-ish pieces.

Start by covering a small section of your craft letter with a thin layer of Mod Podge. Lay paper over and continue over the entire letter covering with more paper and glue – you can glue over the paper too if you’re layering over pieces to get it to stick down.

Use your fingers – get messy!

Once your letter is completely covered, brush a final layer of Mod Podge over the enter thing and let dry completely.

See, there’s really no way to mess this up! If you live locally, I will be teaching a Decoupage Craft Class this fall at Arlington Community Education – stay tuned for a date to be announced!

Stylish Wipes On the Go

We hit up a cute little festival in our town over the weekend where there were bouncy houses, pony rides, balloon animals, and lollipops – essentially a dream for a 2-year-old. We timed it perfectly with our new guy’s feedings and had a good hour or so to hang out and have some fun. Plus, I savor the time I’m able to just get out of the house these days!!

I have a list of “must-haves” when I leave the house that I can contain in my mom purse (snacks, toys, diapers) and at the tippity top of that list? Wipes. For the obvious reason of diaper-changing but for oh so much more… Really, they are the go-to for any spill, sticky fingers, messy face, or a general “hand-wash” when no sink or water is around. Enter Huggies Clutch ‘n’ Clean Wipes. Not only are they Huggies brand wipes (which are our fave) but they come in the most adorable clutch-style pouch that you can just keep refilling.

And you know how I feel about remaining stylish while in mom-mode!! Click here for more info about these stylish wipes.

*Disclaimer: I received compensation and goods for this post, however all above opinions and thoughts are my very own – we really do use wipes like no one’s business.

The Peonies Have Bloomed

I have been quiet all week! If you follow me on Instagram, you know our sweet baby boy was born last Thursday morning and we’ve been in the newborn bubble ever since. I forgot how wonderful, tiring, exciting, emotional, and tough these newborn days really are. Luckily our Z has been over-excited if anything about baby brother’s arrival, phew! And she is constantly asking to hold him and play with him – soon enough, Z! Although her nightly bedtime routine does now include a little brother time as he lays on her knees.

So don’t mind me over here as I remain in a little bit of survival mode and post more sporadically. I do have some fun projects to share in the coming weeks like his baby announcements (which I made weeks ago! Now we just need to add his photo) and a little decoupage project.

Oh, and the peonies finally bloomed in our backyard so I can join bloggers everywhere and post a photo of the flower of the moment. Have a great weekend!

What to Wear – Postpartum

Unless you are genetically lucky (or a Hollywood star) it’s going to take you some time to get back into your skinny jeans after you have a baby. Since my guy is coming any minute now I have moved on from maternity style to think about what I’ll be wearing this summer in my postpartum days of feeling chubbier than my norm. When I had my Z, the weather was cool so my postpartum style included yoga pants (obviously) and jeans that were a size or 2 larger than my norm. This time I’ll be postpartum in the heat of the summer so I’m lucky I’ll be able to wear flowy skirts and maxi dresses – only when I feel like getting out of yoga pants, ha! Another thing that I’ll be sporting is the newly trendy dressy tie (or elastic) waste pants. Have you seen these? They’re like fancy sweatpants! And everyone is making them! I got the pair from Zara below, but I’ve included plenty of links to others I’ve seen out there.

1. Nursing Scarf – I am by no means an in-public nursing aficionado and still rely on some sort of blanket/cover/scarf thing to ensure privacy. This nursing scarf is pretty cute.

2. Gilligan & O’Malley nursing tank from Target – perfect for summer as it looks more like a top than a nursing tank so you don’t have to wear something over it.

3. Loose-fit Printed Trousers from Zara – the print of these is perfect for summer. I am showing how I’d wear them every day with a nursing tank and my Birks, but you could easily dress these up with a buttoned top or dressier tank and strappy sandals once you’re out of the barely-leaving-home infant stage. Here are some other links to similar elastic or tie-waste pant options: GAP, Asos, Asos, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, Old Navy

4. Skip Hop baby bag – we haven’t used our baby bag as much now that Z is older, but infants require SO much while out and about we’ve taken it out of the closet and will use it constantly. Ours is actually the Wave Dot design but the one above looks cuter with this outfit.

5. Silver Gizeh Birkenstocks – I think I said enough about these shoes yesterday.

Happy Feet

Back in my mid-college days, I went through quite the hippie phase. I hung out with a hippie crowd, I started listening to a lot of Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens, I thought about turning my hair into dreadlocks (but after like 4 days of not washing my hair I quickly changed my mind), and I wore big ‘ol brown suede Birkenstock sandals. Sometimes with socks – those thick hiking socks. What a look – I think I may have just surprised you a bit! It was a fun phase, but thankfully I grew out of it. So you know I was wary when I heard that Birkenstocks had made a comeback since to me that would always be ugly hippie shoes! I immediately declared I would never follow this trend.

Fast forward – a week or so ago my Z and I hopped into Nordstrom to check out summer sandals at the half-yearly sale and I walked away with my usual type of cute, on trend sandal for summer. Well, I got them home and tried them on again and immediately thought about how in like a minute I’ll be a mom of 2 – spending my days nursing, going to the playground, running errands, and all of those sorts of things. And how most of the playgrounds we go to are either sand or wood-chip covered and these sandals would be ruined in one wearing. You know I feel strongly about maintaining my sense of fashion while being a mom but something had to change so, they went back.

Soon after we were at one of these wood-chip and sand-covered playgrounds and I saw a mom happily walking around in her…Birkenstocks! And she looked cute, not hippie-like at all. I decided it was time to reconsider. After a major internet search of style, colors, and whether anyone was selling them discounted (no one is AND Birkenstocks are always discluded from online coupon codes, boo) and decided on this style called Gizeh in silver.

You like? I love em and if you haven’t heard, Birkenstocks are actually really good for your feet – they mold to your foot after just a few wearings and provide great support. This is also something I need because in my early 20’s I went through a Sex and the City Carrie Bradshaw phase where I would only wear 3 to 4 inch heals wherever I went from work in the morning through drinks after work and boy am I paying for that now (I’ll need foot surgery some day!). So that’s my story of my recently declared happy feet. This post was not sponsored by Birkenstock, I didn’t get anything for free (I didn’t even get a discount and I almost never pay full price for anything) – I just wanted to share my story of what I thought was comfort winning over style – until I realized I actually think these silver Birks are totally cute.

Date Night with Kozy Shack Pudding

Being pregnant while having a two and a half year old hasn’t allowed us to have many date nights lately (although we did go to a Red Sox game a few weeks ago!). So when I was given the opportunity to try Kozy Shack pudding and their Pudding Made Right campaign, I knew just when we’d eat it – date night at home! We saved our most recently received Netflix, bought our pudding, and scheduled our date night.

We decided to try 3 flavors: original rice pudding, tapioca, and chocolate. But we couldn’t just open the container and pull out a spoon – it was date night after all! I got out some cute little bowls and added tasty toppings to each pudding.

Traditional whipped cream for the chocolate…

…chocolate shavings for the tapioca…

…and a few fresh blueberries for the original rice pudding.

We clearly enjoyed the pudding. Kozy Shack Pudding is pudding made right – made with simple, wholesome ingredients, so it’s simply delicious. When it comes to ingredients listed – if you can’t read it, don’t eat it! Click here to learn more! Do you ever do an at-home date night? Tell me what you do to make it special!

*Disclaimer: I received compensation and goods for this post, however all above opinions and thoughts are my very own.

Couple Things…

We made the most amazing blueberry buttermilk muffins over the weekend, you have to try this Ina Garten recipe.

Z likes to join us as we read the Sunday paper – she is perusing the Toys R Us ad here.

This little girl is always up for shopping!

A close-up of the “Tickle Monster” print we’re going to hang in the baby’s nursery.

I always remember my mom putting little vases of lilies of the valley on the windowsill growing up so I decided to do the same now that we have them growing in our yard.

She can’t help but try on shoes at any store that has shoes out (as seen here as well). She does always have good taste though, these striped wedges are perfect for summer.

Have a great weekend – we’ll just be sitting around waiting for this baby to arrive!

What Z Said, part ii

Since I got such fun feedback from my last What Z Said post, I thought I’d put together another because Lord knows she is full of saying funny things right now!

When asked how old she is, Z replies “I two half.”

After her bath she runs around in her hooded towel pretending to be a superhero only she yells “I super…I super…I super!”

I confirmed with you yesterday that we’re having a baby boy! Z understood this (as much as she can) until a couple months ago she changed her mind and started saying “Baby sistah” when we was asked what kind of baby we’re having…uh-oh!

She seems to be using my dad as a scapegoat these days. When she does something I have told her not to do she says “Papa likes it.” For example…in our backyard, there is a rule to keep the sand IN the sandbox. She was taking small cups of sand and walking across the yard and pouring them out. I said “Z, sand stays IN the sandbox.” And she replied while pointing her finger at me “Papa likes it!” Well then…

And yes, in the photo above she is reading her baby doll a French dictionary. That’s my girl!