What I'm Loving Wednesday: Monograms

Like almost every southern woman, I love monograms. If I could, I would have an embroidery machine and I would monogram everything Graham & and I own. 

One day I will have an embroidery machine (I should probably learn to use a sewing machine first...), but for now I'll just pin all kinds of fabulous monogrammed things and give Etsy shops way too much of my money. 

Here are some of the monogrammed things I'm really loving right now. 

Monogrammed J. Crew chino shorts. So cute. 

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I'm not nearly in shape enough to wear this, but I adore it. 

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I need the duffel. With pink script, please. 

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How cute is this monogrammed stationary? 

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Graham is being stubborn, but this pillow is eventually going to find its way onto our bed. 

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What I'm Loving Wednesday

These mini cups of guacamole from Wholly Guacamole are AWESOME. At first I was a little sketch about the idea of prepackaged guacamole, but the ingredient list & the first taste have convinced me. In a week and a half, I've now bought three boxes of these. 

Paderno World Cuisine A4982799 Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer

The day after we got back from our trip, my Spiralizer arrived. I LOVE this thing! Graham and & have been making veggie noodles for a while now, and it seriously would take like 45 minutes. But the Spiralizer has changed that. This is from three zucchini and took less than five minutes. And it also cut down a LOT of the amount of zucchini that gets thrown out. LOVE this thing!

This t-shirt that I bought in Boston (or Bahston =)) is pretty much the best thing ever. It was designed by a teenager in Boston as part of a program called Artists for Humanity. They gave me some literature about their organization and I love what they're doing with talented youth in the city. They're definitely worth checking out!

This photo of the royal family at Prince George's christening. William was supposed to be my husband... but oh well. This photo just makes me smile. They're such a gorgeous family. 

Yay! Boot season is finally upon us! And I am ABSOLUTELY LOVING this little tip from Glamour.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Gold, gold & more gold!

(Which is really strange, because I've always hated gold...)

It started about a month ago when I decided I wanted to paint navy & gold chevrons on the bathroom wall. I changed my mind pretty quickly when I realized
1) We're one month into our six month lease... not really worth the time.
2) We have 11 foot ceilings.

But ever since then, I haven't been able to get enough of pretty, sparkly gold things! Here are some that I'm loving right now.

Here, here, here, here.

These napkins from C Wonder are pretty gorgeous. $38 for a pack of four. 

Unfortunately, it's four of the same design. I want one or two of each...

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This set of (four) glasses, also from C Wonder. $54 for the set. 

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These bamboo salad servers (also from C Wonder) are pretty awesome. $44. 

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This gold dinnerware from Z Gallerie. Holy gorgeous. I'd absolutely LOVE to have a set of one of these!

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Gold. Quatrefoil. I need this right now. At $99, it isn't cheap, but I don't care. It's beautiful. 

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You can't buy these beautiful mason jars, but you can make them! Check out Lilyshop for a great tutorial!

Here & here.

I've never been a nail person. Ever. But I want a manicure that looks like one of 

these before I go on vacation!

Here.

Eligible for an upgrade right when new phones come out? Yes, please! I have the iPhone 4 right now. The 8g version. Which means I am constantly having to delete stuff since I never have enough storage. That's coming to an end when I buy this little beauty on FRIDAY. 

What I'm Loving Wednesday

What I'm Loving Wednesday

1. This video:


My friend Heather linked to this on Facebook last night, and I was crying like a baby by the time it was over. Please watch it if you have two minutes to spare. These kids and the coach are all amazing, and watching this restored a little faith in humanity.

2. It's almost March! Graham and I have been spending out of control lately, so we gave ourselves an allowance for the month (more on that tomorrow). I actually did really well on my spending, but I'm still ready for a new start =)

3. Jennifer Lawrence

Source: youtube.com via Heather on Pinterest

While I didn't love the Hunger Games movies, I did love her as Katnis. And watching the Oscars Sunday night, I was really excited to see her win for best actress. She's young & so talented, but she's got a really good head on her shoulders and I think she is a great role model for young girls. I absolutely adore her, and she's now on the list of women I have a full blown girl crush on.

4. Ruzzle. I'm completely addicted.

You have two minutes to find as many words as you can. I know, I know... there are other word games like it. But what I really love about this one is that you get badges for accomplishments. I'm extremely competitive with other people AND myself, and so I love getting these stupid badges. I'm HNWEST if anyone wants to play me =)

5. This banana bread.

A few weeks ago I made banana bread with chocolate chips & pecans. Graham thought the chocolate overpowered the flavor of the bananas, so the next loaf I left it out. This bread (with or without the chocolate) is SO good! I've made a loaf ever single week this month and I find myself scouring the grocery stores for overripe bananas so I can quickly make more. I healthified this from an old recipe by reducing the sugar to 1/4 of a cup and substituting some of the flour for whole wheat flour, but you would never notice. This is by far the best banana bread I've EVER had.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

1) My SodaStream. Those of you who are Facebook friends probably never thought you'd hear me say that. I never thought I'd say that... Maybe one day if I can think back about the experience without my blood boiling, I may share it. Anyways, once I got the stupid machine I didn't want to like it. I left it unopened on the kitchen table for three days before I finally gave in. Once I did, I was hooked. This thing is awesome. It's only a tiny bit cheaper than store bought sodas, but I really am enjoying it. We've made our way through most of the samples they sent. My favorite (so far) is the diet grapefruit. Graham's is the diet Dr. Pete. My CO2 tank ran out last week, and today I finally made my way to Bed, Bath & Beyond to replace it, and I was surprised by how much I had missed being able to use it.

2) The healthysELF challenge! This challenge was started by Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean & Elle over at Nutritionella. The purpose of the challenge is to make healthier choices for ourselves year round, and to create a community of support. I am LOVING this so far! I've already met some fantastic people, I've gotten some delicious sounding & healthy recipes, and I'm going to be doing things I wouldn't typically do (like a 100 burpees on Thursday... oh dear God...)

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3) This pink grapefruit smoothie I found over at Crafty Little Gnome. I made it this morning for breakfast and found it was the perfect combination of tart & sweet. It's made with a ruby read grapefruit, a chopped, frozen banana, a cup of chopped strawberries (also frozen) and a cup of orange juice. I can't wait to have another one of these tomorrow!

4) These shoes from Target. SO CUTE!!! And of course I notice them right when I'm actually trying to stick to a budget! However, right now Target does have their shoes 'buy one, get one half off'. So.... ;)

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 5) This quote came to me at the perfect time. I worry a lot. I stress out a lot. And I'm less stressed out and anxious when I'm thinking positive. It's so easy to get bogged down with the little things that bother you or when you're not getting your way. We just need to stop and focus on what is good in our lives.

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What I'm Loving Wednesday

Christina over at Hungry Meets Healthy has been doing this for a while now. And I'm bored with just blogging about food, so here you go:

What I'm Loving Wednesday

1.

These Girl Scout cookie candy bars. Oh. My. Gosh. They come in flavors based on three cookies: tagalongs (chocolate & peanut butter), thin mints, and samoas. The samoas are my all time favorite cookie, so of course the caramel & coconut bar is my favorite, but all three are very, very good.

2.

The people I deal with at work get stupider & stupider. I love my job and I really like the people I work with, but some of the people who call & stop by are total morons.

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3.

Someone please tell me where I can find one of these. And give me some crystal clear, clean water to lounge in. We're experiencing 100+ degree days here in Arkansas, with no end in sight and this looks like my definition of heaven.



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4.

I love these decorative wine bottles from Etsy. Thanks to Pinterest, I've been saving all of our wine bottles and this is a super cute idea to do with some of them.



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5.

A backpack for Hermione. Yes, I know a dog backpack is probably something most people would think is borderline crazy, but when she and I go for our workouts every night, it would be the best thing ever. My shorts don't have pockets, and it's really awkward stuffing the roll of dog clean up bags, my car keys and my cell phone down my sports bra. So, it's either a doggy backpack or a boob job so I can have more cleavage. The $30 backpack is cheaper.



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