The Fortunate Plight

The older I get the more work friendships are, especially those with friends who live further away. Jen is my best friend from college and lives a few hours away from Charlotte so we rely heavily on calls and text messages to keep in touch with each other. The beauty of this is that we have managed to discuss nothing, and everything (in our case these two are usually the same) via text. Friendship is such a beautiful thing….

Happy Thursday (Can you believe it’s already Thursday?)!

-jenn

*note to all other friends: i had jen’s permission before posting these. you’re safe.

I am thankful for many things in my life, but my husband usually takes top honors. He might argue this statement and claim he often times feels the brunt of my frustration.

He recently told me:

I don’t ever want to be anywhere you and Dyce aren’t, so whatever I need to do to get there, I will.

While I won’t share the context of our conversation, I will tell you that this statement pretty much sums up his charm. No matter my level of frustration he has the ability to swoop in and poetically sweep me off my feet.

Brad got his wisdom teeth pulled this past Friday and it was the first time he has ever been put under anesthesia….I’m so happy I was there to witness this! Here is a little snippet of the hilarity that our ride home entailed!

Note: If you can’t hear us, our conversation goes like this:

Me: Babe, what was the last thing you remember before you went to sleep?

*long pause

Brad: Why isn’t this doctor wearing any pants?

xoxo,

jenn

This weekend I attended a blogger meetup where a small group of us gathered and were able to actually meet in person. Jess and Bekah were kind enough to organize the event and Jess was the ever gracious host, allowing nearly 20 “strangers” in her home for the afternoon.

Each of us brought a little something to eat and virtually every dish was lovingly made from scratch. I was in awe at the time and attention each woman put into hers. *Disclaimer-I did not cook (you know me), I hit up Amelie’s for some chocolate croissants and salted caramel brownies.

I was anxious about this meet up, trying to remember the last time that I ventured out on my own to do anything like this…where I truly didn’t know a single person. I was quickly reminded what an introvert I am and just how much I thrive in situations where I am comfortable and around those who know me best. My psyche took me back to grade school and I was the awkwardly quiet girl in the corner listening to everyone else’s conversations.

On the ride home I cut off the radio and rolled the windows down. The only thing I could hear above the wind were Dyce’s nasally breaths in the backseat. I began thinking about a question Jess asked me before I left, “Why do you blog?”. I started thinking about Dyce and became almost disappointed in my answer “As a creative outlet”. Yes, of course that’s part of it, but I think that has become the PC explanation I give to those who don’t really “get” it. The truth is that I think I do it partly out of guilt. I feel guilty that I work full-time and spend only a few hours a day with my family. It’s how I cling to the memories and time we have together because they are so precious. It gives me something to daydream about while I am at work…..sharing stories of this beautiful life I was blessed with. One day I will probably stop blogging, but I imagine I will be  thankful for the moments it has allowed me to capture.

This experience truly blessed me in so many ways. The women I met were incredibly inspiring and it was nice to feel like there were absolutely no expectations of me. I reminded myself that I am still the quiet girl in the corner sometimes.

Here are a few of the women I had the pleasure of meeting (i’m sorry if I forgot a few)…

Bekah from My Little Loves

Brooke from From Under His Feathers

Jess from Boho Baby Bump

Jessie from Some Stuff About Stuff

Anna from The Colorful Living Project

Paige from We Three Pilgrims

Carey from La La Lu

Rebecca from The Unsteady

Leslie from The Beehive Mutter

Brittney from Open Vision Photography

Kristina from Our Little Lentil

Tia from Two Birds on a Wire

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

-jenn

My friend Paige let me borrow THIS book; a beautiful story about a little boy and his brief trip to Heaven.

Heather posted this hilarious article about Pinterest! Definitely worth the READ!

For the next baby shower you host…THIS

I can’t wait to order THIS book!

Have you heard of the Diva Cup?! Im not sure what I think about it yet.

As promised, HERE is a picture of Claire and me ridding a bull last weekend at a friends bachelorette party. If we look terrified…it’s because we were!

The MOST adorable kids clothes ever and one of my new favorite blogs!

My husband and I are pretty excited that our Alma Mater is finally getting a football team. He found this cool website where we can check out the building process!

I came across this beautiful blog this week and immediately fell in love with this beautiful family from Athens, Georgia! Check out Paige’s incredible bags in her etsy shop

If you are a fan of The Fortunate Plight on facebook then you probably saw Dyce’s new Pumped Up Kicks! Seriously?!

I told you earlier about our photo feature on Ruffled but you can also check out more pictures on Jenna’s blog!

One of the kindest and most inspiring and talented people I know had some really sweet words about me in a post featuring her yummy little boy, Boone!

I am pretty excited to be participating in the NC blogging meet-up this weekend! Dyce and I will be sure to take plenty of pics with our new friends!

Have a lovely weekend.

xoxo,

jenn

“You guys have any deodorant I could borrow?”

This weekend we took Dyce to the driving range. One of his favorite things to do is crawl around on the course grass, he takes off and we can barely keep up!

Afterwards we hit up our favorite weekend lunch spot, Pinky’s. Dyce is always a hit there and is known to try and pass out crackers or french fries to anyone who dare pass our table.

Every morning he wakes up covered in swaggar. 

xoxo,

jenn

This is what I looked like this morning. Dyce crawls into the bathroom and over to me, pulls himself up by my shoulder and leans over to peer in the toilet.

This is how I imagine our conversation would go if he could talk….

Dyce: “Hey mom, whatcha looking at in there?”

Me: “Just the last Chipotle I will probably ever eat in my life.”

I promise to be back with something a little more pleasant next time. 

Stay Well.

jenn

 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.     

Happy Friday!

xoxo, 

jenn

When I was younger I used to get so irritated that my mom made us have two separate towels in our kitchen; one for drying the dishes that were washed by hand and the other for drying off our hands after we washed them.

This made absolutely no sense to me. Weren’t both objects clean upon drying? Did it really matter what towel was used?

I was constantly getting caught using the dish towel to dry my hands. Usually this was met with a disapproving stare from Mom, on her bad days I was lectured. One distinct memory of mine was after sitting through said lecture, I tried to reason with her and explain my point of view. She let me finish and then blankly stared at me as she said,

When you grow up, you can have only one towel in your kitchen if you want. In the meantime, this is my kitchen and we will have two.

For the past ten years I have enjoyed my single towel in the kitchen….until last night.

I made pizza for dinner and Dyce had been sitting in his chair eating his. I put him on the floor after he finished so I could clean up a bit. I keep our kitchen towel hanging halfway out of one of the drawers so it can be easily accessed. Dyce had crawled over and grabbed hold of the towel and started playing with it. I looked at his hands and saw that they were covered in pizza sauce…and so was the towel. Then it hit me….what will I do when he is old enough to wash his own hands, but not old enough (or won’t care enough) to thoroughly wash them?

Uggghhhhhhh……I’m gonna need two towels.

You win Mom, you win.

xoxo,

jenn

I’m not quite sure how I was able to function before my iPhone. Sometimes wonder if I use it more as a camera than an actual phone. One thing is certain, it is a lot easier to carry around than our bulky Nikon. 

I thought I would share a few images from the past week or so….

Happy Wednesday my friends!

xoxo,

jenn

Dyce had been sick all week. Brad and I were splitting our time off from work, taking turns catering to our fussy guy. He was pitiful and it was hard to watch.

I had just finished feeding him a few bites of waffles and mango (breakfast of champions) when he insisted he wanted out of his chair. I let him crawl around the dining room floor, as I often do, while I went into the kitchen to unload the dishwasher. I heard his babble and banter over the clanging of the dishes and even though I couldn’t see him, I saw the hanging bamboo swing back and forth frequently as he played with it.

Halfway through reloading the dishwasher I smelled something.

What is that? Cinnamon?

I thought I must have gotten a whiff of the candle on the counter and continued with the dishes. There it was again….cinnamon. I looked at the candle and read the side, “Island Colada”, a far cry from cinnamon. Just then I heard the slap of Dyce’s hands hitting the kitchen floor. I bent down to greet him and there it was, grasped tightly between his chubby fingers, the Wallflower oil air freshener! He was turning up the container and sucking the oil out of the wick!

I quickly scooped him up and ran to the bathroom, wet a washcloth, wiped out his mouth several times (he LOVED this, as you can imagine) before washing his hands and face. Next thing I knew I was on the phone with a pleasant woman from Poison Control. She quickly said,

First things first, it’s not toxic.

Phew! Then she tried to make me feel better by letting me know that my call was the third she had received that morning for the EXACT same thing.

Looks like I have a little competition for the Mom of the Year Award!

Brad and I considered this our baby proofing wakeup call and purchased a few needed items this weekend. We also moved all hidden air fresheners because apparently hiding one behind the dog’s kennel wasn’t enough to fool a Dangerous little boy.

I did somewhat enjoy the fact he smelled like a cinnamon bun all day…

xoxo,

jenn

p.s. thanks for keeping us relevant! :)

Phew….what a week! I took a few (much needed) days off to clear my head a bit and take care of our sick little boy. He was mistakenly diagnosed with pink eye on Monday and after seeing no improvement (and three days with a fever) I took him back to the doctor. Turns out he has a pretty bad ear infection….wish they would have caught that one on Monday.

I will have to share another “Parenting FAIL” story with you at some point. It resulted in me frantically calling poison control at 9 in the morning. Ughhhh.

Anyway, I want to blow your mind with a few gems I discovered on the World Wide Web the past few weeks. Enjoy…

I had forgotten about this movie until I saw THIS and literally cried laughing.

A very cool video 

Love THIS site for some dreamy color combinations. You can visit their BLOG too. 

I want THIS amazing bag!!!

My new favorite style blog!

If you live in Charlotte, a new cupcake joint opened near SouthPark! For those of you in California, keep an eye out for one of these!

Something amazing for your nails!

Tired of your old shoes? Consider trying THIS!

MY new favorite site for the babes, Poppy’s Closet! 

WHY do these have to be so expensive, because I want them!?!? 

One of my oldest friends makes the most amazing drapery! Check out her shop, DRAPE BABY!

A very cool project worthy of donating to, In A Day.

Finally, I will leave you with a little something we learned last weekend…..Dyce hates Dinosaurs.

Have an amazing weekend!

xoxo,

jenn

Please forgive me if I am a little absent this week. Given this weekend’s events I am not much in the mood for blogging. 

If you follow me on twitter or instagram then you most likely saw some of the images I posted Saturday. Brad and I were asked to take part in a little project that was shot Saturday morning….I will explain more later but for now I wanted show you a few behind the scene images from the morning.

xoxo,

jenn

p.s. thank you so much….I just saw that we are now on the second page! 

This weekend a friend of ours lost his life in a tragic turn of events. Today has been hard for so many of my friends. Many knew him much better than Brad and I did, yet we are all suffering a loss.

We gathered today to celebrate his life and mourn his tragic death. He was far too young to leave us. I have been crying off and on all day today. Not only mourning the loss of a friend and beautiful spirit, but trying to make sense of it all and comfort those around me who are hurting as well. Many who gathered were with him earlier that day, some ran to be by his side even in death. 

Brad asked me as we were driving if I was going to be ok. I had to explain to him why I was having trouble pulling myself together…..I was weeping for those he left behind, particularly his parents. No parent should ever have to outlive their children. The thought of losing Brad or my son makes me physically ill. It is a pain I pray none of us ever know.

I looked around the room where we all gathered and silently thanked God for each person. I held Brad a little tighter, I kissed Dyce hundreds more times than usual, and tonight after we got home I quietly wept as a chain of texts came in from each person who gathered today…..telling everyone that we love the other.

Life is so precious. 

We lost a good one.

Heaven is for real sweet “Bear” and we’ll see you there one day.

xoxo,

jenn

Here are a few of the looks I’ve been wearing lately (sorry I have to photoshop the backgrounds out. I take these pics when/where I can and it isn’t always the best backdrop)…

Sweater: Thrifted, Necklace: Small boutique in Charlotte that is now closed, Skirt: Harve Benard, Boots: Nordstrom

Top: H&M, Scarf: NYC street vendor, Jeans: Ann Taylor, Shoes: Royal Threads (these shoes once had a bow on the end. one fell off so I pulled the other off and super glued the back of some vintage gold earrings instead. Voila!)

T-shirt: J.Crew, Pants: Vintage, Wedges: Steve Madden, Felted Wool Bracelets: Etsy

Scarf: NYC street vendor, Tank: Urban Outfitters, Blazer: Harve Benard, Pants: United Colors of Benetton, Shoes: DSW 

Denim Shirt: F21, Jeans: Target, Belt: J.Crew, Shoes: Target

I hope you have a fantastic weekend! Brad and I are participating in a little modeling project tomorrow…can’t wait to share it with you guys! You can follow me on twitter for some sneak peak pics!

xoxo,

jenn

I recently came across a quote that said simply, 

Decide what to be, and go be it.

I sat quietly for a bit, reading this over and over. It sounds so simple, right? Way to really dumb-down a complicated decision. 

This reminded me of something my mother-in-law sent me this week. It was an email with 4 simple questions:

1.  How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Answer

2.  How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Answer

3.  The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals     
attend….Except one. Which animal does not attend?

Answer

4.  There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and  
you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

Answer

I’m not sure about you, but I got EVERY single answer wrong! I found this to be incredibly frustrating. The email goes on to say that around 90% of professionals tested got ALL the answers wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers!

Maybe things don’t always have to be so complicated. Perhaps we could all use a little “dumbing-down” every now and then.

Or, maybe we should just ask our preschoolers what we should be?

Thanks for playing!

xoxo,

jenn