WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

I am pleased to report that my husband and I are expecting!! I will be 13 weeks on Sunday! We have been to the Dr. a few times already and I am happy to report the baby is growing healthy in my belly! Our due date is Feb. 20th! It seems like forever away but I know now that my second trimester is about to begin, it will go faster than we think.
This first trimester of pregnancy has been interesting to say the least and I have learned a lot so far...
I have discovered the following
--morning sickness is no joke, it stinks especially when you dry heave and cannot get up from the bathroom floor.
--it is hard to determine the difference between bloating and a baby bump early on, the only way to tell is if the bumps gone in the morning, it was def. gas (hehe)
--food cravings are intense! Sheldon has learned this quickly, if I want pasta and meatballs I will eat it four days straight
--seeing and hearing our baby's heartbeat for the first time and even the second time has been absolutely amazing and brings tears each time

UnBELIEVABLY {EASY} Cake

I went to a bbq on Friday night and a friend of mine brought this beautiful cake, it was decorated with blueberries and strawberries and white icing, perfect for the 4th of July! Once we all ate our brats and tasted the cake it was so yummy! Even my hubs loved it, he ate 2 pieces!! When I asked my friend Amanda what it was she almost shocked me with how easy the recipe was. Here it is...

Ingredients
1 box strawberry cake mix (you can use any kind/flavor)
1 can of diet cherry pop (again you can use any kind- 7up, Coke,etc)
THAT's It!! ONLY 2 Ingredients! (WOW)

Directions
Combine dry cake mix and one can diet pop. Mix well. DO NOT ADD any other ingredients such as water, oil, or eggs!!

Pour batter into greased 9x13

Bake for the amount of time and at the temp. the box says.
Once the cake is cool, ice with Cool Whip! Add your toppings, for mine I used strawberries and blueberries and made a flag!

Happy 4th of July, and THANKS Amanda!!

Summer Reading...

Today was the last day of summer school and I cannot tell you how HAPPY I am, I don't know what it was about this summer ( I have my ideas) but I was so ready to be done teaching until Fall! I cannot wait to do some home projects, organizing and of course lay poolside with a GREAT book, or a few! Speaking of; with the help of a couple friends, I have compiled a list of books for summer reading

OK, so maybe I choose too many for my time off...
What are your thoughts? What is your fav book to read by the pool? Any ideas on books I should add or thoughts of books I have selected?

"New" Lamps?!

Do you have boring lamps in your office or bedroom? We use to...but NOT anymoer! A while ago I bought a set of 4 lamps at Target, simple black lamps with plain cream shades. I kept looking at them not knowing what to do...until the wonderful world of BLOGGING!
For the first one, I decided to buy some scrapbooking paper that matched our bedroom, I then modgepodged the paper onto the lamp shade, spray painted the lamps base and viola! a "new" lamp.

For the second lamp on our desk in the loft, I decided to use coffe filters, so popular in blogland right now. It was super easy but time consuming! Another "new" lamp!

*One Year*

365 days ago, we said "I do." I remember the day as if it was yesterday and each time I think of it, my heart smiles!
This first year of marriage with Sheldon has been nothing short of an adventure, there have been many road trips, a couple vacations, house updates, two new jobs, and many laughs and through it all the two of us have grown together creating, with our pups Lily and Daisy, our own little family.
Sheldon, I am so thankful for your unconditional love! I am truly looking forward to many more happy years of marriage, growing, changing and falling more in love with you! I love you more than words and I'm thankful for you!

Here's a peek at our {First Anniversary}
We started the day at home, packed up a picnic basket and headed to Loose Park, where we took our engagement photos!

Next we drove by our wedding/reception venue! That was the best, we were going to go in, but it looked like a wedding was taking place or getting ready to.

Next we went home to take a quick nap and get ready for dinner at
Trezo Mare. The food here was so GOOD! and the vibe was very romantic! We started off with creamy chicken artichoke dip, and salads. I had the chicken parm for dinner and Sheldon had Linguine with clams, YUM!!!

After dinner we went home to watch our wedding slideshow (thanks Steph)and share our wedding cake for dessert! One year later the cake was just was we remembered, DELISH! (thanks Aunt Nancy)

THE.PERFECT.DAY.

Summer Day

New obsession...POLYVORE.com
You can create cute outfits from a huge database of stores! Checkout this perfect summer day outfit I made, all pieces are resonably priced which is even better! =)

Summer Day by maria4467 featuring white watches

Tie dye dress
$40 - delias.com

White shoes
$22 - amazon.com

TopShop slouch handbag
$30 - topshop.com

Nine West white watch
$37 - endless.com

Peace necklace
$5.99 - tillys.com

Zara belt
$16 - zara.com

The Maxi Dress...Question

I am totally loving the look of a summer-y blowing maxi dress, however being 5'0" can I pull it off? We will see, my goal this weekend is to find the PeRFeCt maxi dress for me!
Most annoying part of this sich is last spring, I had the PERFECT maxi dress ready to purchase until my hubs says, "those are weird and won't be in style for more than the summer at most" Note to self, DO NOT listen to Sheldon when it comes to fashion advice, I should have know. =)
If only I had that dress right now...

Bridal Shower

I am L.O.V-ING helping with the planning my BFFs bridal shower.
(You can check out her blog here http://www.stephandryanmoore.blogspot.com)
There are SO many cute ideas out there in blog land and I have gotten some for real inspiration lately, I am so excited!!! An added bonus was that while I was searching the hubs was yelling at the basketball game calmly watching the Mavs vs Heat, MAVS WON!
We are going for a brunch theme but not set on colors as of yet, I keep changing my mind, forgetting to think of the bride =( Whoops, maybe I am a little overwhelmed by my own ideas...
Check out what I have gathered so far!

Now of course the gals and I will put our own spin on things but HOW CUTE are the inspiration photos I found??!!

Our {Quickly} Approaching Anni

It has been nearly a year since Sheldon and I were MARRIED! (June 25, 2010) Wow, the time has sure flown by!! Now I am trying to decide on what to give him...are there specific gifts for each year? A special gift for the first year? We will be celebrating our BIG anniversary in Chicago (July 1)and was thinking maybe bringing the gift there... What about a nice watch like this one; (luckily he doesn't read my blogs hehe)

OR...something like this

THOUGHTS/SUGGESTIONS?!