multitude monday.

129. my yellow flowers-and-butterfly starbucks mug. so spring-y and it makes me happy. especially when full of coffee.

130. bluebonnets. i mean, they're no maine "pine cone and tassel" ;) but i love when the state flower of texas colors the sides of the highways and fields. so. pretty.

131. roadtrips with my man. and our ipod. always so fun.

132. my sweet husband. this is a weekly staple in my multitude monday.

133. watching bella explore.

134. snuggle time with bel on the couch while she drinks her bottle. (i'm realllllly dreading her being done with bottles; this is the only cuddle time i get with her now that she's on the go!)

135. MY FAMILY. i love the way we laugh, talk, reminisce, play games, eat... pretty much everything.

136. getting to watch my family with bella... and watching her play with her cousins!

137. being in houston for the final four and going to reliant stadium with my husband and my dad. so special.

ten things {around the house}.

so i'm doing a new blog-thing called "ten things". it will be random posts of exactly what it sounds like... ten things. this week is ten things around the house: ten of my favorite things in our home. some of them i just think are pretty. some of them are helpful. some of them i couldn't live without. well, maybe... but they make my life a whole lot easier.

1. chandelier table lamp (target).

i've had this lamp for seven years... i purchased it for my room when i first moved to dallas (awww). now it is the perfect addition to bella's nursery. i love this character piece and it adds so much elegance to a room for under thirty bucks. love it.

2. letter stand (anthropologie).

i bought the "c" version of this home accessory when nick and i first got engaged. it was our first decoration that we had in our first apartment and looked great on our mantle. i love, love, love anthropolgie and these vintage little stands are $28. which meant i could actually afford it. i love this as a wedding gift idea!

3. toaster oven (ge).

this, in my opinion, is one of life's greatest inventions. not only can you use it to toast your bagels or bread in the morning, but you can make pizzas on english muffins or tortillas, heat up pastries or items that would dry out in the microwave or take too long in the oven, or cook frozen items. such a time saver. makes my life so. much. easier.

4. parker bowls (crate&barrel).

hands down my most-used wedding gift (besides my dishes). i l-o-v-e these bowls. one of them are always in my dishwasher. perfect everyday use gift for someone else, or for yourself. cute enough to use as serving dishes too for a fun, casual dinner.

5. neti pot (neil med).

my savior. i get terrible allergy headaches and i discovered this goody when i was pregnant and couldn't take any medicine. it quickly became my best friend. it's pretty disgusting, i'm not gonna lie but if you have allergies--and especially if you're pregnant or limited in what you can take for meds--buy one NOW!

6. media baskets (target).

stocked up on these babies when i was doing bella's nursery. perfect for stocking diapers, toys, hair accessories, and i have one on her changing table to hold wipes, lotion, medicine and other items. perfect for storage for grown up items, too. we have one on our tv stand to store cords, our flip cam and camera for quick accessibility. a mama- must-have.

7. hair straightener (chi).

an investment, but *well* worth it. priced at $99.99 at target.com, its is definitely the most expensive item on this list, but i couldn't live without it. with my thick, kind-of- curly hair this is the best thing i've found to help smooth and straigten. and you can also use it to add wave or curl to your hair as well. love. the. chi.

8. mug collection (starbucks).

my name is megan and i'm a starbucks mug addict. i have a thing with mugs... i can't stand puny ones. i love the big, oversized ones and it doesn't hurt if they're really cute. nick has banned me from buying any more since we have no room in the mug section of our cupboards, but i *love* them. buying them puts a smile on my face.

9. lamp pendant (ikea).

this lovely lil lamp hangs in the corner of nick&i's bedroom. i just think it's really fun and cute. for some reason i also see these lamps hanging in frozen yogurt places. strange, i know. but it's only 34.99 at your nearest ikea. have i mentioned i get the warm fuzzies just walking around that place? i mean, everything is so cheap and the whole store smells like fresh cinnamon rolls. it's like disney world to me. almost.

10. garlic press (pampered chef).

my mom got my sister and i these for christmas and it was one of my favorite gifts this year. not even joking. i realize this probably makes me sound like a huge nerd, but i really don't care. if you get one, then you will understand. i looove using fresh garlic in my cooking but i abhor dealing with it. whacking it, peeling it, chopping it and trying to get the smell off my hands... this lil beauty minces garlic--peel and all. it has changed my life.

thursday three.

it's been a good week. nothing extraordinary, but good. spring is in the air... after a couple of weeks of snow&ice, it's been in the 70s the past few days here in dallas.

crazy.

there's something about valentines day that i love, even though i think it's annoying it's become such a commercial "holiday". i still think its fun. i've had to convince nick of this fact a little bit... he always says he'd rather show me he loves me every day, rather than one day dictated by the pink and red aisles at target and flowers-chocolate-and-candy-businesses. true, but i'm still a fan. i've been real nostalgic lately... amazed and thankful at how our life has changed in the past year. this year, i had two valentines; last year one of them was hiding out in my belly:

can't believe how fast time flies... so thankful for where we are right. this. moment. here is this week's thursday three.

nick
as usual, i forgot to ask him about his highlight this week. but i like to think i know the mind of my husband so well that i can figure it out on my own. here goes. nick was the assistant coach for the second year in a row for the girls varsity basketball team at his school, first baptist academy. while he enjoyed it, and it was fun for bel&i to go to his games, the season ended on saturday and i know he was relieved to have a bit of a break! his girls were so sweet and gave him a big bag full of gift cards and other goodies, which was really nice. seriously, i think my husband has gotten close to $100 in starbucks gift cards over the past couple of months. crazy. and he loves it, that coffee addict that i married. i would also guess that another highlight for nick would be our date night on saturday which we used as our "valentines date". we dropped bella off at his parents, went and got take out from our fav sushi place, brought it home and watched a movie on our couch. we've done this alot lately for date night, but it is our favorite. with our weeks being so busy, it's so nice to be able to relax together, baby-free, at home in our pj's. our idea of a perfect date night.

meg
definitely date night would be a highlight for sure (goes without saying). we also wrote each other letters this year for valentines day... which is always the *best* gift ever to me! another highlight for me was some "me" time i was given this past weekend! on saturday afternoon, nick took bella to his sisters while he was at his game and i got to go have some great time with my girlfriends. it's such a blessing for me to have time to myself, and i was so excited! even better: we had an "anne of green gables" marathon. can we say blast from the past?! so fun. i grew up on those movies, so it brought me right back to being an eight year old girl watching them with my sister. we ate snacks all day and got lost in the world of prince edward island. it was pure bliss. so thankful for my girl friends!

bel
baby girl is changing *so* much. it's pretty unbelievable. she has her four front teeth, is eating chicken and toast and graham crackers, and loooooves people; mostly when they're giving her attention :) if she could tell me what her highlight was this week, i think she would say getting to see so much family. she spent the afternoon on saturday with her aunt jessica, uncle james and her favorite: her cousin wyatt :) then, she got to spend the night at her nonni and papa's saturday night, which she loves! and sunday she skyped with her grammie and grampy in maine, smiling, shrieking and kicking her feet with excitement! such a fun weekend for our little social butterfly.

there you have it, friends. this week's thursday three. so much to be thankful for.

thursday three.

is it just me or does it seem like the weeks have been flying by these days? probably because it's my favorite time of the year. september 1st to december 25th seems to just be a blur. anyhow, here were the top moments of our week.

nick
again, i don't have to ask him on this one. i already know (i think i do anyways!). nick's high school football season ended last week, which meant nick officially has his weekends back! it was very exciting. he--once again--got to make us breakfast on saturday morning; every saturday morning since we first got married has started off with nick making scrambled eggs (half whole, half whites), turkey bacon and coffee. any time i've tried to mix it up with waffles or muffins or cinnamon rolls, nick still has to include the s.e. & t.b. combo. he's truly a man's man. i had really missed his saturday morning breakfasts. he got to lay around and watch college football and play with bella aaaaand saturday night included a date with his oh-so-fab wife (okay, okay... i added that last part, but i know he'd say that too; just probably in different words) :) AND to top everything off, his beloved cowboys finallllllly won a game sunday afternoon against the hated giants (and maybe even more hated, eli manning). the only thing that could've made this weekend better for my husband would've been if jerry jones had announced his resignation... which, let's face it. he will probably still be controlling and overmanaging the 'boys from his grave. we had SUCH a great weekend together that monday morning when i brought bella in bed with me when she woke up, she kept looking at nick's side of the bed, wondering where he was. so cute. i felt the same way. life is just so much better with him around.

meg
it's hard for me to pick just one highlight every week, but especially this week. date night would definitely be on the top of my list. it included four of my favorite things: nick (obviously), sushi, a little bit of christmas shopping for bella, and white peppermint mochas from starbucks... which we drank out of their red christmas cups. *perfection*. it think it was when we were wandering around the christmas decorations at kohls laughing at the ridiculously tacky "texan" ornaments that i wondered who else i could have this much fun with walking around a department store at ten oclock at night. my other highlight would have to be the other day when i stepped on a scale for the first time in about a month or so. because of my recent trouble with arthritis, i have not been able to exercise {sad face} thus i have been avoiding the ole scale. however, this week i was elated to discover that not only am i back to my pre-preg weight, i am a few pounds lighter. i gained exactly 48 lbs when i was pregnant and i'm still not exactly sure how that happened. i ate frozen yogurt and sherbet when i wanted ice cream and the biggest craving of my whole pregnancy was grapefruit juice. go figure. so shedding all of that weight with being in too much pain to exercise was quite an accomplishment. a nice lil pick-me-up. i still have a ton of toning to do once i get feeling better, but bye, bye 48+ lbs. i'll gladly bid you adieu.

bella
this week has been a tough one for little bel. between teething and a never-ending runny nose, life has not been so fun. but... it always looks better with a trip to target! we walk up and down the aisles and there is just so much to check out; especially now with all of the christmas decorations. annnnnd grammie and grampy had given her a gift card for a halloween present. bonus. so baby girl now has her very first cell phone (thanks, fisher price). although i'm not sure she's that into it yet. i mean, she's just as fascinated with her hands these days. but, still. every girl needs a pink cell phone. especially one that has a button on it that says "i love you" when you push it. niiiiice.

and there you have it. our thursday three.