Five on Friday Archives - Page 2 of 3

My Love of Aqua + New Home Decor!

February 13, 2015 by Susan 12 Comments

We made it to the end of the week! Hooray! Since I spent last weekend on an “almost-stay-cation” it made this week was a weird one. You know, coming back to your normal routine after there was a wrench in it is always rough. Even if it was a fun wrench.

The house has officially been listed for ten days now. We had two calls and two agent appointments set, yet neither of them showed up! What nerve! Lucky for them we were out of town… If I had rounded up the pets and spent all of last Saturday waiting for them to show up, I really wouldn’t have been a happy camper. The frustrating part of this process (other than forcing the husband and the dogs to keep the house clean 24/7) is that we cannot start building our new, custom home until our current home sells. Unfortunately this waiting period hasn’t stopped me from shopping and dreaming about how I will be decorating our new place! What really fueled this fire (and my pinboards) was when I discovered Minted.

Gals, Minted offers so many beautiful pieces of art AND unique framing options, I don’t know what I’m going to do! Oh, and let’s not forget that they also offer other amazing things like party decor, photo art and even colorful fabrics by the yard! Hellooooo new home decor! So today, for my “5 on Friday” post, I decided to pull my top 5 items from Minted that are totes magotes on my New Home Wishlist.

1 // I’m beyond obsessed with this print!

2 // We are going to have to tell our friends that we moved! I love these announcements. Or these… not sure which I like more!

3 // I can picture this in my beach-y bathroom… Love!

4 // We are totally going to have a housewarming party! How awesome are these party props?!

5 // I LOVE this fabric and can definitely envision it as chair covers or curtains for our dining room!

Quite frankly, if you can’t tell what color I’m currently digging for my new Southern-Inspired Home… you need to get your eyes checked. Is anyone else obsessed with this mint/aqua color for their home to the extent that I am?

Oh - and I definitely need to give a shout out to all my clients and brides out there… if you haven’t checked out Minted’s wedding stationary yet, you should definitely give it a gander! They have everything from Save the Dates to Shower Invites, in addition to their gorgeous wedding invites! At first look I see stationary that would appeal to all of my 2015 brides… everything from rustic and simple to elegant and glam!

Ah, I just love “window shopping” from my computer… Tell me, which piece of Minted art would you like for your home?

Today I’m linking up with these gals!

Full Disclosure: Items in this post were either gifted to me in exchange for this post or I was compensated by said company for my time. However, everything that I shared were my own thoughts, feelings and reviews.

Puppy, Mugs, and Things! It’s Friday!

January 23, 2015 by Susan 16 Comments

Oh hey Friday. It’s wonderful to see you! For the record, I spent this entire week drastically confused about what the day actually was… Maybe it was the holiday? Maybe it was the fact that they didn’t pick our trash up on the correct day? Maybe it was because I didn’t actually leave my house all week long…

Either way, I double checked the calendar before publishing this post. It’s Friday. So here are five things I am currently in love with:

Have you noticed my odd mug obsession on Instagram? As we are organizing, packing and cleaning up our house before it goes on the market - I am beginning to realize that Houston, I really do have a problem. I’m obsessed with witty coffee mugs. #icantstopiwontstop #butineedtostop. But seriously, how great is this one?

[ It was only $1.99 when I bought it last week at Target. ]

I cannot believe it took me until my fourth Whole30 to try my hand at making my own salad dressings and mayo. I’m pretty positive I was just afraid to try it. I assumed it would be difficult. I assumed it wouldn’t be worth the time it took to make ranch dressing.

What I learned is that I was wrong, on all accounts. It takes me just a couple of minutes to make a batch of homemade (clean/paleo/whole30 complaint) ranch dressing. It is one of the easiest things I’ve ever made. And ranch is ALWAYS worth the time.

Santa brought me this hand blender for christmas. It is amazing. It is also the best $40 Santa ever spent. While you can make ranch and other sauces with a food processor or even a traditional blender, I find it quite a bit less daunting with this little hand held guy. Did I mention it’s available in almost every color under the sun?

I am in love with my puppy when she is awake. But I am beyond obsessed with her when she is asleep. This is, by far, one of my most favorite pictures of her yet… I’m pretty positive that she fell asleep while wrapping up her prayers and praising Jesus.

Is anyone else ready to give up everything they know and love in life because Parenthood is about to end? I have loved this show from the beginning. I’m extremely crushed that it will be over next week. While it had great drama and a little wit - this show was good for one thing: keeping me in tune with my emotions. I could always bank on one good, whole hearted, ugly cry a week thanks to Parenthood.

I will be out of town for work next week, so I will be sobbing through the series finale, all alone in a hotel room. If only I could drink wine right now…

Like I said, I haven’t left the house in a week. What I didn’t say is that I really haven’t gotten dressed in a week either. I’ve been living in these, these and this. Without this. For the record, I have brushed my teeth.

Maybe I should make it a point to leave the house at least once this weekend… #dreambig!

What are you loving this week?

TODAY I’M LINKING UP WITH KARLI, LESLIE, REBECCA, AND AMANDA!

Five on Monday?

December 1, 2014 by Susan 8 Comments

I have seriously missed y’all! I feel like it been forever and a day since I have had five minutes to sit at a computer to write, nevermind stop by all of your lovely blogs and catch up. For me, a work-from-home-wife, I find that a huge perk to blogging is the friendships. I don’t have co-workers and I don’t see anyone other than my pets, my husband and my neighbor on a regular basis. To me, some of my Blog-Friends have become some of my closest friends! So thank you! I hope to swing by your blogs this week to do a little catch up - so don’t be surprised if there are 27 random comments on your older but recent posts!

Life has been crazy lately. And when life gets crazy, sometimes Blogland has to be pushed to the side burner. So, while it is rare and typically a Friday thing, today we are going to celebrate “Five on Monday!” Because I have five things I want to share with you!

1 // The Geoghegans are Growing! By four feet!

Meet Olivia Benson. {Yes, we named our brand new border collie pup after Law & Order SVU.} She will be ten weeks old this Friday. While she is a handful {as all puppies are} she is slowly working to win over Chloe’s love.

2 // Be prepared to see many more pictures of Chloe and Olivia in the very near future. You have officially been warned! The cuteness factor on this blog is about to go way, way up. In the mean time… I need help with a good hashtag for Olivia Benson the Border Collie AND another for Chloe and Olivia. {I feel horrible using either #ChloeAndOlivia or #OliviaAndChloe as both of these are some family’s kiddos… should I just crash their hashtag party and throw my furbabies into the mix? I’m pretty positive in the future, people will be buying and selling hashtags, or some how protecting the use of “their” hashtag. I have already had a bride {#foxpartyof2} be attacked by another bride {who got married at least a year prior} over using “their” hashtag… How do y’all feel about this? And please give me suggestions!

3 // I collided with a big moose-like-deer. I wrecked my car. I now hate deer and driving at night.

My hood, bumper, and whatever that blue thing is are totally jacked. The passenger side door won’t open. And there’s a crack in the windshield.

As you can see in the second image, I have deer fur as a lovely souvenir slash parting gift. The King Kong of all Bambi’s decided to jump in front of my car, on the way home from buying my Amish puppy. {Did I forget to mention that I drove all the way from VA to PA, and back, to buy Olivia Benson?} The damn thing almost left me stranded in Southern Maryland, but the state trooper told me to “just keep driving.” So I did. Toting the fur, and the bumper all the way to Southern Virginia. Does fur across the state line count as animal trafficking?

4 // We survived Thanksgiving! But just barely.

I didn’t take TOO many pictures, as we were the hosts of this holiday. I spent the entire morning and afternoon prepping food and drinking champagne. And everyone knows there’s not a lot of time for pictures when food and champagne are your two main objectives.

Since we were hosting both of our families, my dad said it was Michael’s job to carve the turkey! The torch, or shall I say the electric carving knife, was passed on!

Not everyone showed up, but we still had a great afternoon with both sets of families. Unfortunately though, Chloe got her paws on some table scraps {we NEVER feed her human foods} and she has been very ill ever since Saturday. We are heading to the vet in a bit, so if you are a prayerful kind of person, shoot one up for my furchild please.

5 // Can you believe it is December?! I can’t. I’m still off in October-land. I decided, as a fun way to celebrate Christmas here at 2 cats & chloe, I am going to do a bloggers version of an advent calendar. Every day, until Christmas, I will be sharing a festive holiday picture at the bottom of my blog posts. {The real reason? I want an advent calendar for my home, but glasses of wine won’t fit behind the little tiny elf doors.}

So today, for December First, I bring you this:

Wanna join the advent calendar fun? Let’s make this a social thing! If you join, please link back to 2 cats and chloe and share on instagram and twitter using the hashtag #2catsBlogAdvent

I’ve been a bad blogger…

November 14, 2014 by Susan 8 Comments

Ah, guys… I’m a bad blogger. At least I feel like I was this week. I will admit that I’ve listened to the Taylor Swift album more times than I have actually sat down at my computer to write this week. I am not sure why, but this was just one crazy-busy work week. When I wrapped up my wedding season on November 2, I was hoping for a mere few minutes of down time. Instead I am trying to clock hours in with all of my other clients to help save up as many pennies as I can. With a bunch of expenses and the holidays on the way, ya gotta feed that pig.

So to keep my blog motivation up for next week I figured a “Five-Fabulous-Upcoming-Things-on-Friday” post would do the trick. Get excited for a few awesome topics of conversation that will be coming soon to a 2 cats & chloe blog near you!

1 // Be prepared for more house talk. I’m cleaning and organizing our home, with the hopes of putting it up for sale on December First. God help me. It’s a huge plus that Thanksgiving is the week prior… not sure why, but I volunteered to host The G Fam and The B Fam here this year. Overwhelming, but let’s be real: The only time I really clean my house is when we have company coming or a party to throw! {Am I alone in this?} So I’m mentally prepping myself for both sets of parents and siblings, along with some strangers, to view and judge our house within the next 30 days. Hopefully someone will buy it and I can continue planning and then building our new house!

2 // Veterans Day. Yes, I realize Veterans Day was this past Tuesday. {Everyone who lives in a military area, who wanted to go out and eat on Tuesday, was well aware!} But being the bad blogger that I am right now, I didn’t think about an awesome Veterans Day blog post until mid way through my husband’s free dinner at Applebees, midway through the holiday. In college I wrote a memoir for a World War II veteran. While most of the kids in my class hated this project, Leroy and I became such great friends, ten years later we danced together at my wedding. His stories were amazing. And they deserve to be shared. The memoir I wrote for him was later published in the US Library of Congress. I am working to pull out some excerpts from that memoir for a blog post. It is going to be a time consuming, heartfelt and meaningful post, so I didn’t just want to throw it together and then toss it up on the blog… so stay tuned.

3 // My favorite Whole30 Approved, Paleo, London Broil Recipe. I’ve taken one of my grandmother’s recipe and made it healthy! This is by far one of my all time favorite meals and it will be live on the blog next Tuesday for the Celebrate Southern Linkup!

4 // Potential Puppy Talk. YES! You read that right. Last night my dad gave me the crazy idea that we need to get a puppy before we move into our new house. No one wants puppy piddle and teething on their new carpets and corners. So… I’ve talked to the husband and if we can get Chloe’s blessing, we are seriously going to consider getting a border collie puppy… EEK! {Chloe hates dogs so we may just have to convince her that this border collie puppy is actually a kitten…}

5 // Wanna know how I plan my weekly menu? This cute craft will be on the blog on Wednesday!

Throw in Thanksgiving Prep, a blogger meetup recap, a bit more fall fashion before we head into winter, mixed with a note here or there from our sponsors and there ya have it! I have a hodge podge of topics and things popping up on the blog over the next couple weeks! I know my “Lifestyle Blogging” habits drive my husband crazy. He does not understand, nor can he handle how my blog hops from one topic to the next. I’ve tried to explain that those are the ways of girly lifestyle blogging… But readers, can I ask you - What subjects do you like to see from this blog? Are you okay with me popping from one topic to the next and then back again? Or does this drive you crazy too?

I’m linking up with: High Five for Fridays, Blogger Love, Friday Favorites, Meet at the Barre’s Friday Favorites, Oh Hey Friday, That Friday Blog Hop.

Friday Faves including my BFF.

October 3, 2014 by Susan 39 Comments

I’m slightly hesitant to even do this post today, but after spending the week in transition (did you notice the new look??) I feel like I can timidly venture back out into Blogland. While I want to sit here and tell you all about my new space that is casually sneaking into the wonderful world wide web, I definitely do not want to jinx myself. There is still a massive to-do list, chock-full of both fun things and lame things. Fun things like the new “Clean Eats” page full of paleo and whole30 approved recipes, in an awesome, pro-foodie blogger layout. And then lame things like getting in touch with Disqus because half of my comments didn’t make the move with me…

But ya know, it’s Friday! We shouldn’t be wasting our time talking about to-do’s and blog chores! We should be talking about all of the awesome and wonderful things that Friday’s are made of! With that, I give you a few of my things you should know:

1 // I spent part of my yesterday picking! No, not my nose. Or my seat. I spent a crap ton of money to get across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in order to find myself a mantle from some old Eastern Shore estates. And then I accidentally bought TWO. #whoops. More to come on this nonsense next week.

2 // Have you heard? I’m teaming up with J over at Bless Her Heart Y’all! Starting on Tuesday, October 7, we are going to start hosting our very own “Celebrate Southern” linkup! Basically we want to come together and celebrate anything and everything “southern.” The linkup is open to all types of posts: Southern Recipes, Southern Style/Fashion, Southern Cities you live in or visit, Southern Crafts/Decor! Best part? You don’t even have to be from the South or use the word “Y’all” to join the fun!

3 // Monday is Michael’s birthday! And get this, he told me I wasn’t allowed to throw him a birthday party! I mean, come on… I’m an event planner! That’s like telling a dentist not to brush his teeth. {Well, not quite. Just go with me on this one…} After a little pouting {on my end} he gave me permission to throw him “a cookout. But not a birthday party!” Now I just have to get the house clean and festive before everyone comes over tomorrow… #WheresThatDarnCleaningLady?

4 // I’m having a SALE on my ad space! Since I’ve made the leap to word press, it’s time to spice things up! I have some great things coming, and a really fun opportunity for all of my sponsors beginning next Saturday! Want all the deets on sponsoring 2 cats & chloe? Check out my advertising info in the navigation bar above! Oh, and the most important part - us this PROMO CODE to get 50% off: SWITCHEDTOWP

5 // Speaking of sponsors and J… If you haven’t met her yet, you need to! She is my billboard sponsor this month, so we sat down over a glass of wine and did a little q&a. {Because let’s be real… I’ve known her since we were 14, there’s gotta be SOMETHING we can learn from each other!}

What made you decide to start blogging and where did your blog name come from?

I woke up at 3am one morning, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed and decided that I needed to start a blog. No reason, I just had this need/urge/want to start a blog. The name “Bless Her Heart Y’all” came from what I thought other people’s reaction to some of my choices would be when it came to my bargain outfit posts (my slogan is “Southern Charm on a Budget”) and my shopping destinations (one of my fav places to shop is goodwill!).

Since everyone knows and frequently sees Chloe, tell us about your dogs-behind-the-blog! Are they ever featured in any of your fashion posts?

I have two Boston Terrier pups, Pipsqueak and Thelma. Thelma is terrified of cameras so she never is around when snapping pics. Pippy loves to be in pictures, so much that when she is around she usually sneaks her nose right in front of the lens so all that you see in the pictures is a hairy nose.

I love your style! You can rock things I don’t think I could pull off! What fall fashion trends should we know about?

I went to a fashion bloggers dinner a few nights ago and we talked a lot about the fall fur vest, wearing pastels in fall (hard for me to do, but very trendy!), leather skinny jeans, chunky booties, and big floppy hats! Ekkkkk! I am so excited about all of these trends!

What is one (or two) pieces that I must have in my closet for the fall and winter? I need your help!

So I know how much you love your hats! I would try a berry or warm fall-colored wide-brimmed floppy hat…and booties! Booties galore, booties with buckles, booties with studs, booties with leather straps! And many people forget about the booties without heels. There are so many cute booties with a flat sole. I know that heels are not your best friend.

I know you have a lifestyle blog that you keep on the side! Do you have any delicious paleo or gluten free recipes I would love?

Paleo, no, but Gluten free, yes!

Anything else my readers should know about you? Do you have any weird talents or fun hobbies?

I am a self-proclaimed professional high-fiver and also hugger. My hobbies are horseback riding, horseback riding, and horseback riding!

How can we find you in blogland?

So that’s it for today guys and gals! I just got an email from the super helpful customer service folks over at Disqus… time for me to get the blog and my comments into tip top shape! Go spend some time getting to know J {she’s wonderful}, don’t forget about the linkup on Tuesday, and take advantage of the 50% discount on my ad space!

Today I am linking up with Friday Faves, Oh Hey Friday, High Five for Friday, Friday Favorites, and Virginia Blogger’s Friday Favorites!