Random Things

This week has been flying by! Like I said in my last post, Matt's birthday was on the 5th and Hannah's birthday is coming up this weekend. I can't believe our littlest baby is almost 3! Sometimes it feels like she was born yesterday and sometimes it feels like she should already be 13 - haha! She's got the biggest personality. I'm planning on putting up a post later this week with pictures of her from when she was born to now and a little bit more about her for her birthday :) Hannah is such a ray of sunshine and I can't wait to share more about her with y'all! 

My parents watched the kids last night so we could go out to dinner for Matt's birthday (so thankful we live so close). Matt wanted to go to one of our favorite spots downtown, King Street Oyster Bar. We always wind up sharing oysters (usually a dozen) while we're there. Love the atmosphere there! If you ever get the chance to go for Sunday brunch, do it! Their blueberry cobbler pancakes are life and and I love their Mermosa ;)

Just wanted to share that after using Origin products for almost 5 years, I decided to switch it up and try Tula recently. I got this pack from Ulta for $52, but you can also get it online for the same price, here. I wish I took a "before" picture, because I'm loving these products and can really tell a difference in my face! If you have any questions about this line, send them on over! I'd be happy to answer them as best as I can :) 

The cutest picture of Hannah at school. They do a great job of sending us a ton of pictures every day!

 

I started adding collagen peptides back into my coffee again this past week (only stopped out of pure laziness). I can always tell a difference in my hair, skin, and nails when I'm consistently adding a couple of scoops a day to my coffee, so I try to remember to do it every morning. Just tried the beauty collagen today for the first time (lavender lemon flavor). I mixed it with cold water and it wasn't bad, but I think it would be way better in hot water. We'll see. You can get sample packs of both of these at Target for less than $3 near the face masks if you just want to try them out!

Hope y'all have a great rest of your week!

-Alex-

Weekly Update

This week flew by! Doesn't it always feel like you need a vacation immediately after getting back from one, even if it was just a long weekend away? I'm always so tired and ready for a break after getting back from a trip. Seems silly, but we always do as much as we can while we're away with minimal rest. Anyway - I've been focused on planning both Matt and Hannah's birthdays lately. Matt's birthday is on the 5th and Hannah's birthday is on the 9th, so it's a big week coming up for us! 

Matt and I started celebrating his birthday early this week and went out for a date night to Fireworks on Thursday. We love getting their spinach and artichoke dip and their chocolate chip cookie sundae - one of the best treats in the area in my opinion! You really can't go wrong with any of their pizzas, but our favs are the Quattro Carni and Fire Works. It's a smaller (and popular) space, so if you're in the area and want to visit on the weekend, get there early!

 Hannah got her first birthday card in the mail yesterday (from her school!) and she was so excited! She had fun going through all of the teachers' names that signed it - so sweet of them to send it in the mail :)

Our beautiful church today! We listened to a great sermon about love and one of my favorite passages. "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."1 Corinthians, 13. 

We had my parents over after church and made brunch to kick-off Matt's pre-birthday celebration! It finally started warming up this weekend, so the kids put their boots on and played in the backyard for the first time in a few weeks - it was so nice to see most of the snow melt today!

We headed to one of Matt's favorite breweries (Old 690) this afternoon and let the kids play outside some more. I tried the Gnarly Boar Pale Ale for the first time and loved it! 

Matty always gets so funny when he wears Matt's sunglasses haha. Love this picture!

Who are you pulling for in the Super Bowl? I'm hoping the Rams win! Hope you guys have a great week :)

-Alex-

First Trip to Charleston, SC - Part 2

Both Friday and Saturday in Charleston might've been chilly, but the sun was out in full force the entire time! I actually even got a little bit of sun on my face which, if you know me, is a wonderful thing. We woke up on Saturday with the same kind of plan in mind as we had Friday - go to breakfast/let the kids play, check out a beach, and then explore Downtown Charleston a little bit more. And of course, lots of food in between all of those things! 

We went to Vintage Coffee Cafe all three mornings we were there after it being recommended by a friend. I'm already craving their lavender latte again! They had a little playground outside that the kids loved, a fire pit, and lots of outdoor seating. Can't wait to go back in March and (hopefully) be able to sit outside more comfortably and drink our coffee while the kids play.

We went back toward downtown before the beach on Saturday while we waited for it to warm up a little bit. We decided to not bring the stroller on this trip and I'm so glad we didn't! The kids loved running around the open spaces and did well staying on the sidewalks when we were walking from place to place. Sometimes it surprises me how fast they're learning and growing up!

Lunch with a view and a perfectly-blue sky at Saltwater Cowboys! We actually wound up going on Saturday and Sunday for lunch. So good! I had their Bomb Bloody on Sunday and loved it. We also ordered their trash can nachos and pulled pork sandwich. There really wasn't a single thing I didn't like. They have heaters for every table on the deck, so we got to eat outside comfortably. (the last picture of Matty cracks me up!)

After picking up a few Charleston-related gifts and having lunch, we headed to Folly beach. I was excited to see this one after hearing sweet stories from my parents of when they took a spontaneous trip to Folly when my brother and I were very little. Once again, the kids rolled their pants up and ran straight for the water!

Have I mentioned that we ate our way through Charleston yet? Haha! We ate dinner at The Obstinate Daughter on Saturday and it was my favorite meal of the trip! I had The King's Honey cocktail and their Shrimp Roll - both were beyond delicious!

King's Honey cocktail ingredients:
King Charles Vodka
St. Germain
Cannonborough Bev Co Honey Basil Soda
lemon

We had an ice cream place in mind for after dinner, but our server told us about another concept related to The Obstinate Daughter, a gelato place called Beardcat's that was right downstairs. So glad she gave us that tip because the gelato was insane. The kids each got humungous pieces of rice krispy treats (topped with sprinkles & icing) instead; they couldn't resist. Haha! We headed home on Sunday and booked our next trip while we were on our way back to Virginia. It's currently 9 degrees here, so I think we're all wishing we were back in Charleston already.

I had so much fun putting these pictures together and can't wait to start writing some different content for you all soon :) Hope you're having a great week so far!

-Alex-

Our first trip to Charleston, SC! Part 1

After considering writing my own blog for years, but never doing it for one reason or another, I have finally decided to write it! I've wanted to write one for several reasons over the years, but the biggest couple of reasons are to 1. be able to reach out to other moms and generally connect to more people on this platform and 2. be able to look back on our lives in a more detailed way than Instagram. I love looking at past pictures on my Instagram account, but I usually only post one picture out of however many I took of something. Here, I'll put up more pictures and details of what we're up to as a family :) Speaking of my family, I'll write an "About Me" post a little later down the road, but for right now, I have a feeling anyone reading this already knows the basics about me, Matt, and the kids - haha. With all that being said, we went to Charleston, SC for the first time this past weekend and had an absolute BLAST! This past Monday, Matt and I decided we needed to get out of the frigid Northern VA weather, so we booked an Airbnb right then and there and took the kiddos down for a long weekend. 

We woke up bright and early on Friday and headed straight toward Sullivan's beach after breakfast. Part of the dock was flooded on our walk there, so Matt took his shoes off and carried us across one by one!

Honestly, it was so chilly out both days (mid-50s were the highs) that we didn't think we'd get in the water. But, surprisingly neither of the kids cared and would've run in and out of the water all day if we let them!

After the beach, we went shopping on King Street - I finally got to see the Lake Pajama flagship store  in person and it was gorgeous! I've been a fan of their pjs for a couple of years now - once you buy your first pair, you're addicted. I wound up picking up matching Valentine's sets for Hannah and me while we were there!

We ate at Kickin' Chicken while we were still on King Street and had to try one of their Charleston-brewed beers (Holy City Pilsner) they had on tap - loved it!

I personally couldn't wait to check out the famous pineapple fountain! Just as beautiful in person as it is in pictures.

When I say that we ate our way through Charleston, I'm not kidding. We loved Taco Boy! It had such a cool atmosphere and was great for the kids :) I had their pineapple-infused margarita and Mexican street corn - so good!! I'm planning on covering our trip in two parts since we were only there for two full days and wound up fitting so much into that little amount of time. I hope you guys enjoyed reading about our weekend - let me know if you have any more recommendations for places to go/ things to do in Charleston! We already booked our next trip down there - haha!

-Alex-