The Move

"We live beneath the protective palm of a sovereign King who superintends every circumstance of our lives and delights in doing us good. Nothing comes your way that has not first passed through the filter of His love." - Max Lucado

A perfect reminder as we get ready to move and start a new and uncertain chapter in our lives a week from tomorrow!

Happy Weekend

Here's a beautiful song for your listening enjoyment :)



I'm off to learn how to coupon from the Coupon Queen!

Friday Find-Guy and Eva Jewelry

Let's talk about jewelry!  Jewelry is something that is apart of my daily life.  I never leave the house without something on.  I always say that accessories make an outfit, and it's so true.  So when my new Guy and Eva Rianne necklace, came in the mail the other day, you can imagine my excitement.  This necklace is so versatile, I've worn it every day since!

Rianne-$21

So you can get a better idea of its size, here's another shot of it on my bff, Lauren, who also has this necklace.  I think it adds the perfect little something, something to any outfit.

If you've never heard of Guy and Eva jewelry, let me tell you all about it.  Guy and Eva started its life as a retail brand with their collection being sold in boutiques and various fashion specialty stores.  But lucky for us, it's now being sold through catalogs, home parties and online.  What's quickly become synonymous with celebrities like Ashley Green, Taylor Swift and Paris Hilton, is now available to the masses!

Here are a few of my favorites from their Spring/Summer catalog.  *Note: Over half of the Spring/Summer catalog will no longer be available come September, so if you see something you love, get it now!

Kendra Earrings-$17

Maia Necklace-$34 
This one can be worn 5 different ways!  Talk about versatile.  My friend Bekah has it, and it's fabulous for dressing up or down.

Soleil Ring-$49 This is a great color for summer and fall!

Layla Bracelet-$35

Guy and Eva jewelry has been all over the scene lately, from magazine shoots to celebrities, people just can't get enough of it.  Look here to see all of it's latest editorial mentions.  

And last but not least, I have to gab on the adorable packaging all of your jewelry will come in.  I'm a sucker for good packaging, and Guy and Eva definitely does it right.

If you're big fan and want to make a little extra dough by selling it yourself, you can become an advisor.  It's $150 to sign up and you get $800 of free jewelry, plus 30% of everything you sell!  Contact my sweet friend Jennifer Baggett at jennifermbaggett@gmail.com to sign up.  She is super friendly and will help you get started in no time!

If you just want to throw a party to have fun and get some free jewelry, you can do it three ways: an online party, a catalog party, or a home party.  Jennifer can help you with that too!  If you host a party, you get 20% of your total party sales in free jewelry.  With the very reasonable prices and adorable styles, your friends will be shopping like crazy women!  And the more you sell, the more items you can buy at 50% off.  Plus, for every party that is booked by a guest at your party and held within 30 days following, you'll receive an additional $30 credit toward more jewelry.  Seriously, who isn't on board right now?!

To purchase any of the jewelry I mentioned today or to browse what else Guy and Eva has to offer, go here or click on the Guy and Eva link on my sidebar. Click on "Catalog" to browse the collection and click on "Shop" to place an order.  Trust me, you'll thank me later :)  Remember the new Fall/Winter catalog is coming on in September, so if you love any of the styles you see today, you better get them fast to be sure you don't miss out!

Striped Straws

Aside from my thrift store finds that I wrote about in June, this was my first baby shower purchase.

Fabulous, vintage inspired gray striped paper straws.  I got a set of 144 for only $5!  Obviously I won't need that many for the shower, but since gray is a neutral color, I figured I would be able to use the extras at other parties/gatherings...Halloween, Christmas, birthday parties, etc.  I love gray.  I think it brings a subtle sophistication to any color palette.  I also love straws.  And I think the combination of the two will be a cute little touch to Baby Smith's celebration. 

I mean seriously, look how cute they are!  I'm also loving this idea of using a drawer as a drink tray.

Straws, check.  One thing done, many more to go...

At least I already have a lot (if not all) of the serving pieces we'll need.  Look at some of the stash I brought home with me on my last road trip to Alabama.

Images via Unknown, The Pleated Poppy, Unknown

It's a...

...Boy! 

Meredith and Michael found out this morning that a sweet baby boy will be joining their family!

I had a dream last night that it was a boy, and when Mer called me this morning, it was confirmed.  I'm so excited to welcome a sweet baby boy into our family in December!  And now that we know it's a "he" the shopping, nursery decorating and baby shower planning can officially commence!

I've been skyping with my mom and Mer these last couple of hours and got a good start on what we're going to do in the nursery.  Here's a sneak peak!

Obviously there's still a lot to pick out...lighting, curtains, accessories, etc. but at least we have a good jumping ground.  And no, they haven't decided on a name yet.  I just put those letters in for a stand in.  Hopefully they'll pick one soon :)

Favorite Nursery Inspirations

In honor of Baby Smith's big gender reveal tomorrow, I thought I'd share some of my favorite nursery designs with you.  I can't wait to help put together he/she's nursery!  And as far as inspiration goes, I have a ton of it!  One tip for designing nurseries, is to pick furniture that will grow with the child (aside from the crib of course).  Accessories can easily, and often inexpensively, be changed out over the years, but furniture is a big investment.  Remember your child will only be a baby for a little while, so think of designs that will carry them through the years.

Images via Chic & Cheap Nursery, With Two Cats, Belclaire House, D Magazine, DecorPad, DecorPad, Belclaire House, YoungHouseLove, Life & Style Magazine, Aubrey + Lindsay's Blog

And here are a few more that I stashed away prior to my Pinterest days so I don't have the sources for them.

We're Moving!

Jon got his orders from the Navy today!  So that means we now know when we're officially moving.  Yes, August 8th will be our last day here in Oklahoma.  Cue the Mickey Mouse Club closing song..."Now it's time to say goodbye..."  That's right, two weeks from today, will be our last day here in Enid.

We both were surprisingly calm when talking about the 2-week deadline over lunch today.  We have a lot going on in the next two weeks, but we're ready!  Jon is going on his last cross country flight this weekend, and while he's away, I plan to tackle all of my final yard sale pricing/organizing. 

Next Monday Jon will pin on Lieutenant Commander (I'm so proud!) and fly his final flight (aka"fini" flight) here at Vance.  Five days after that we'll host our yard sale, and two days after that the movers will pack up our things and move them into storage.  Like I said, LOTS going on here :)
 
I guess I better start setting aside all of the stuff that won't be going into storage (candles, official documents, medicine, and our wardrobes for the next 6 months).  No big deal. 

We should be in Alabama in mid-August.  I'll be staying there with my mom while Jon is in training and flying in his new job which he is set to start at the end of August.  Did you get all of that? ;)

Let the chaos fun begin!

P.S. Baby Smith's gender will be revealed in 2 days!

Friday Randoms

As you may have noticed, there have been a few changes to HoH today.  I'll talk more on that (and our new sponsors!) later.  Today, I feel like being random.  

This will be the first weekend I've spent in Oklahoma in 4 weeks. It's hard to believe it will be one of the last. 

I made this sour cream pound cake last night, and it turned out great. My grandmother (aka Mow-Mow) used to make one just like it when I was growing up :)

My sister and her hubby will find out the sex of their baby next Wednesday!  If you can't tell, I can hardly wait!

Regardless of the sex, Baby Smith will definitely be getting a Jellycat.  I love their Cordy Roy collection the best.  The Bashful collection is a close second.  Aren't they adorable?

This is one of my current favorite spaces.

I am ready for fall.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Images via Jellcat, Style at Home, Trialx

Yard Sale Tips

If all goes according to plan, Jon and I will be out of Oklahoma within the next few weeks.  Kind of crazy, right?  It's been a little hectic knowing that everything is coming down to the wire, but we're hoping to know something solid by the end of the week.  And because our stuff will be packed up and moved into storage by movers, I'm not as stressed as I would be if we had to do all of the moving/packing ourselves.

Even though we're not packing up our own things, I've still been trying to go through each room of the house and figure out what we can get rid of.  There's no sense in storing and moving things that I will ultimately want to give away once we get into our new place anyway.  But then the question arises "What should we do with the stuff we no longer need?"

Jon and I usually just donate our unwanted items to the local donation center.  I'd say we've given away about 15 bags of donations and hundreds of dollars of furniture since we've been married.  At the time, it was the easiest and fastest way to get our house together.  But now that we're just trimming down for sanity's sake, I really want to try to make a little dough on the items I'm wanting to purge.  After all, because we've already given away so much, the items that remain are all good, useable items that are fine for someone else, just not being used by us.
 

All that being said, I think it's time to have our very first yard sale!  I'm not going to lie; the whole idea is a bit intimidating to me.  But I think it will be worth it in the end, so I'm all aboard.  Jon took a little convincing at first, but in the end, he warmed up to the idea.
 
Here's my list of things to do:
-Purchase a yard sale permit from the local police department.  Luckily a friend told me about this.  I definitely would have been a law breaker had they not. 
-Finish gathering and sorting items to sell
-Price items.  I hear this is a must for a smooth yard sale.  People don't want to constantly have to ask the price of items.  Nor do you want to have to always be telling them.
-Advertise event via facebook, craigslist, etc.
-Borrow or rent tables to hold merchandise
-Make/place signs
-Get proper change

My biggest question was what to price each item.  I did a little research, and learned that 1/4 of the initial price (also factoring in the age of the item) was a good place to start.  But I needed a little more guidance so I kept searching and found Garagesalestracker.com.  This site broke items down into specific categories and suggested prices for each.  They also had several helpful tips that I thought I'd share with you in case you were in search of answers too :)

Yard sale price guide
Yard sale planning guide

Better Homes and Gardens magazine recently featured an article on how to have the best yard sale as well.  Here is a link to that.

Alright, it's time for me to get back to the purging.  I've already gotten rid of 30 clothing items, 4 purses, 4 pairs of shoes, a whole bag of jewelry, 5 frames, 2 photo albums, 13 movies, and 20 books.  That, my friends, is what you call an accomplishment!

I'll be sure to let you know how it all goes!  In the meantime, PLEASE let me know if you have any tips of your own.  I am a complete newbie at this, so all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Images via Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens