{Red Gingham}

I found this gingham shirt at Old Navy last week, and I'm so in love! Typically I'm not a fan of Old Navy. I feel like the quality isn't there, but this is so soft and incredible! I actually just ordered another color online :) 

Jeans: Loft / Gingham: Old Navy {25% off right now!} / Boots: Target {recent} / Bag: Phillip Lim for Target / Sunnies: Ralph Lauren / Watch: Fossil /  Pumpkin Spice Latte :)  

As you can see, this is my go-to hair-do these days. My hair is at that awkward length...so up it goes! 

Happy Monday! 

{Friday Five: Counting My Blessings}

Happy Friday! I don't know about ya'll, but this week flew by! I feel like I was just enjoying our awesome weekend, last weekend...but here we are! Another weekend to enjoy!

So it's been a pretty rough month for me. For random reasons. Maybe one day I'll share them with you. But just know that I'm struggling right now.

But guess what? It's not with perfectionism! Silver lining?

One of my favorite bloggers Corilynn spoke to be today.

Sometimes life isn't amazing. Sometimes there are struggles.

But in those struggles, there are amazing blessings!

So that's what I'm doing today...counting my blessings!

1. I have the most rockin' husband.

Ya'll, seriously! He's the best! He gives me grace and loves me even in my {what I like to call} "crazy!" He tries his absolute best to make be as happy as possible, and that is all I can ask for in a husband. He's wonderful, and I feel so so blessed!

2. My mom is just awesome 

She listens to my frustration and crying, and never once judges, never loads me with lots of advise, and never tries to fix all of my problems. She just listens. And sometimes...that's all you need! 

3. New Shows Are Starting

I love fall for the colors, clothes, and weather, but I also love fall because all of our shows start back. But I'm still suffering the loss of Dexter {we're behind so don't give anything away!} and Breaking Bad...dying to see what happens this week! 

4. Loft 

This is random, but I finally found a style of pants that fit me perfectly, and if you're a woman...you know how much that means! But this means that I want to buy them in every single color so yeah...Wendel is scared :) Also, they are exactly half the size that I was before I lost weight...so yeah. That feels amazing! 

5. Decorating! 

I love to decorate, and I know right when fall hits that this means a few months of holiday decorating! It's also a tad daunting because I realize that our house won't look normal" until January...but I still love it! 

There are so so many more, but I have some cake pops to make :) So I'll end with decorating...because...well...decorating is just so much fun!

We have lots of changes about to happen in our house {hello basement demo happening this weekend} and can't wait to share some of the deets along the way! 

Have a great weekend! 

{Bucket Lists...}

You all know I love me a bucket list! 

But, man oh man, am I bad at them! 

Let's just remember our summer bucket list from a few months ago...

This is what we actually got done...

That's less than half that we actually completed! 

Oh well...lists are meant to be...no finished? 

We may try to fit a few of these in this weekend...in between our crazy busy schedule :) 

But a few of these will roll onto our fall bucket list...I just can't learn can I?

So here we go...

Fall Bucket List 2013

I made this myself in Word. Feel free to save it to your computer and print this puppy off!! 

Now let the fall fun begin! 

{Feathers, Food, and Fall}

It's Monday...boo...

So to make me feel better, I'm going to remissness about my awesome weekend!

Sound good? 

Awesome! 

This weekend was busy, busy, busy but so much fun! 

Let's start off with Friday night, shall we?

We were honored to be invited {by Wendel's cousin} to the Cincinnati  Zoo's big fundraiser, Zoofari. 

Ya'll...it was a blast! Amazing food, lots of cool people, and animals around every corner! A preschool teacher's dream, right?

Oh and did I mention it was black tie so we got to get all dressed up? 

Yup...most important fact, right? 

I kind of went all out and had a father head piece made by a woman I follow on Instagram...can't wait for our daughter to rock this out someday! 

Dress: White House Black Market/Feather Awesomeness: A Tiny Arrow/Shoes: DSW/Earrings: Etsy/Bracelets: J.Crew and White House Black Market 

Ya'll...this dress...I love! I can't wait to wear it with tights and boots this fall!

Sorry for the rest of the photos...all iPhone and bad lighting! 

But can I just say...Wendel cleans up quite well :) 

So we had our own little cabana...I'll be honest...it was awesome! 

The perfect spot to come and relax for a bit!

The food was "dinner by the bite" All of the amazing Cincinnati restaurants were there passing out little plates from their place. It was so fun to walk around and take a taste from the best of the best! We hit some of our favorites, and tried some new places as well! 

I just thought these were so cute...it was beef brisket with a little gravy-filled syringe to squeeze on top...so cute! 

These were tiny ice cream cones that they were dipping in liquid nitrogen so they were all steamy...the picture didn't capture it, but they were amazing. The only thing I went back for a second time. 

It was rainy...like really really rainy, but it was an absolute blast! Crossing our fingers that we get to go again next year!  

Saturday, we got to go and spend some time with some incredibly inspiring married couples at our church. It felt so much like fall, so I pulled out my new Target cowgirl boots and we went to town! 

Jeans: Loft/Shirt:Last Seem Here/ Boots: Target {early summer}/ Purse: Phillip Lim for Target/ Watch:Fossil/Bracelet: Ebay/ Sunnies: Ralph Lauren

And of course a pumpkin spice latte was thrown in the mix!

Sunday was church, then a Dewey's lunch date, then the Bengals game...and we won! Who Dey!

Then it was family dinner time. We are so blessed to have most of our family within five minutes of each other. Pretty much every Sunday we get together for family dinner, and it's one of my favorite days of the week! Love getting to catch up with everyone and squeeze on the kiddos!  

Few...I'm exhausted just reliving it!

And now it's off for another busy week! 

Happy Fall ya'll!

{Ireland Recap: The Aran Islands}

We got to our B&B late at night, so it was straight to bed because we had a very early morning! 

I love B&B's and their cute breakfast!  

The coffee was very, very necessary! 

Then we were off, headed to meet a ferry, to meet a boat to get to the Aran Islands...lots and lots of water! 

We made it to the boat...and this is where everything gets a bit blurry for me. 

You see, I get pretty car sick. A brought lots of Dramamine with me, and used it whenever necessary. 

But no one could have prepared me for the boat ride which I playfully nicknamed "The Boat Trip Lelia Almost Died On"...I'm not dramatic or anything! 

I'll spare you the details, but thankfully, I didn't throw up...so I'll count that as a huge success! 

We made it...and after about thirty minutes, I started to feel normal again. 

And let me tell you...it was beautiful! 

This was the cute little man we got to have lunch with...he was just precious playing his little accordion. 

On the boat ride back, we got to go pass the Cliffs of Moher...I didn't see them because I was in the fetal position in the middle of the boat...but the pictures were pretty :) 

I was so thrilled to get onto dry land and get back on the road! 

We headed to Gallway to spend the night! 

The view of our hotel room. I totally miss a lot of our views! 

Once we got settled and freshened up, we headed out to find a place for dinner. 

This is where we ended up...The Front Door...but we actually ended up eating near the back door...bad joke?

Can we just chat about how the flowers are always so gorgeous in Ireland? It's because the weather is so mild and misty. The grass and flowers were unreal ya'll! 

The next morning, after breakfast, Wendel and I headed out to explore a little more while everyone else got ready. The street that was packed the night before had tons of trucks and vans unloading new things for that night. Funny how the street changed so much over a few hours! 

Our hotel...

Then we were on the road again...headed to Northern Ireland...my favorite slice of Ireland! 

Happy Almost Friday!