2014: A Year to Remember

2014, you've been so good to us. Actually, "good" doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm having trouble finding the right word because I can only think about how grateful and blessed we feel for the amazing moments we were fortunate to experience this year.

Like any year there have been some tough times, but 2014 makes it hard to imagine how next year could possibly be any better. And yet, it most definitely will be. Things are about to get a whole lot more crazy, that's for sure!

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in Europe

Rome (Part 1 + Part 2). Siena. Florence. Venice. Paris (Part 1 + Part 2).

The trip of a lifetime is the only way to describe our European adventure. It was our first trip together across the pond and spending that time with my husband before we started a family was absolutely everything we hoped it would be. If you're considering a trip like this next year, don't think... just book!

We made some truly amazing friends thanks to this little blog

Blogger Night at Moon + Lola

I was 20 weeks here, back when I thought I had a bump. Boy was I wrong!

We vacationed, spent time with family, and played tourist in our own city

Florida. Pennsylvania. Charleston. Chicago.

Asheville.

We made a baby

Coming February 2015...

Found out he is most definitely a boy and showered him with love

It's a Boy. Baby Shower.

We also purchased a new SUV (read: mama + baby mobile) on a whim before looking at any other options. Mostly because mama was tired and hungry and just wanted to get out of there. Not really... but kind of.

These are just the highlights, they don't even begin to touch the seemingly insignificant moments from this year where I put down my camera and soaked in every second of it.  

I don't have resolutions for 2015. Lord knows I will struggle just to keep my head on straight once this babe makes his appearance! If I can manage a shower and not smell like spit up for a half a second a day, I'll take that over anything else. (It's all about low expectations, right?)

And I couldn't talk about being grateful without thanking those of you who follow along. It's truly amazing how this "blogosphere" has become more than just a creative outlet for me, but a place where I've met so many wonderful, supportive people like you! Thanks for being there, friends :)

Wishing you all a very fun, festive, and safe New Year's Eve!

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Christmas in Charleston

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas! Ours here in Charleston was very laid back, exactly what we needed after lots of traveling with this giant baby bump of mine. There wasn't any dressing up for Christmas dinner... just sweats, Christmas cookies, and Home Alone on repeat.

Christmas was a little surreal this year. This whole pregnancy, I've been thinking we had until Christmas before we had to really start building baby swings, learning how to use the car seat, and finishing the nursery. And now the final month is here.. whoa!

I'm also feeling very big all of a sudden.... like, "this kid might come next month kind of big." (Or maybe it's just the cookies I've been eating... hard to tell.) But the thought of having our little man crawling around next Christmas is just unreal and so exciting!

These two and Rowan are absolutely the best Christmas gift I could ask for. I'm not sure how I got so lucky to have them in my life but I thank God every single night. 

We were lucky to have both of our parents visit but on Christmas day it was just us. Though I missed all of our traditions in Pittsburgh, we took full advantage of the beautiful weather and decided to explore downtown. I could honestly walk around the streets south of Broad for hours, the houses are so beautiful!

Yep, I'll take this one.

 

Ruby did so well walking around with us, I think its safe to say her little bionic knees are feeling good!

I mean, so gorgeous right?! We found quite a few houses during our walk that we'd love to buy... so if anyone has a couple million sitting around that you'd like to share, that would be great. K, thanks. :)

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Merry Christmas Eve

Wishing you and your family a safe and very Merry Christmas!

 

I'll be taking a short break this week to celebrate Christmas with our little family here in Charleston, but make sure to follow on Instagram to see what me and this big ol' bump are up to!

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Weekend in Photos

I hope you all had a fun weekend! I managed to finish shopping before the masses came out on Saturday, which made me pretty thrilled to get out relatively unscathed, finish wrapping gifts, and relax for the rest of this week.

The shopping adventure wouldn't have been complete without at least one woman telling me my bump is "really out there" and asking me whether my doctor "checked me for twins." It took all of my Christmas cheer to be nice to her and point out that there is in fact a 4+ pound baby in there. Jerk.

On Saturday, Ally hosted Shelby, Jillian, Ashley and I for a cookie and gift exchange. I love these girls and I'm so glad blogging got us all together!

 
Ally's house looked couldn't have looked more perfect and festive! Everyone brought an appetizer and the spread was seriously amazing. I was such a fatty eating it all and chugging my sparkling grape juice. #notsorry

I brought this slow cooker artichoke and spinach dip, it was super easy to throw together and was really good. I just transferred it into a bread bowl to make it look prettier.

For my cookies, I made vanilla pizzelles. Has anyone had them before? Sometimes they are made with anise but I love the vanilla. The recipe makes about 14,0000 pizzelles so I was happy to pawn them off on everyone before I ate them all.

I wrapped them up using some free labels from Minted and they were ready to go!

Thanks to my prego brain I forgot my camera card, so we set up my iPhone with the timer to grab a quick group photo. And yes, I squeezed into a non-maternity blouse. It was a tad tight and I look particularly large here, but I'm totally over wearing my maternity clothes at this point.

Thanks again to Ally for being such a perfect hostess!

The hubs and I rounded out the weekend with a visit from his family, toured downtown Charleston with them, and ate way too much food. I think I'm starting to notice a theme...

Now I'm ready to wear pajamas all day, everyday. Who is with me?!

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Quick DIY :: Christmas Tree Bow

So it's the last Friday before Christmas which means I'll be rushing to finish Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, and generally losing my mind with traffic like a million other people out there this weekend! I've also got a girls night tomorrow which I'm so excited about, but I need some appetizer suggestions... anyone have some good ones?

I wanted to thank those of you who linked up with Lisa, Annie, Katie, and me for the holiday series. I'd say it was a huge success! I absolutely loved all of your Christmas posts this week, so festive!

I had a lot of questions about how I made the bow on top of our Christmas tree (see more photos here) so I thought I'd do a quick tutorial!

I don't have any of the ribbon I used left over, so we're working with a less pretty version which makes it look a little messy. Get yourself ribbon that isn't see-through mesh, something with some thickness to it so it holds its form. 

You will need: One roll of 2.5" ribbon with a wire trim, floral wire, and scissors.

When you're making the loops, you could actually do them accordion-style or just make a circle with the ribbon and pinch in the middle. It will get you the same bow, but making the circle might be a tad easier.

It's a really easy bow to make, but it took me a while because I'm a total perfectionist with getting the loops in the right place! You can also make smaller versions of this bow to throw on your Christmas presents and totally impress your friends and family. 

And now let the holiday madness ensue. Someone have a giant glass of wine for me, k?

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32 Weeks

How far along: 32 weeks... 8 months!

Size of Baby: A head of lettuce (he is measuring a little big, so we know he's over 4 lbs already!)

Gender: all things blue

Best moment this week: Completing our registry and feeling like we have what we need...even if its totally unorganized at the moment.

Worst (but most informative) moment this week: Learning about pain management (read: seeing the epidural needle) and watching birth videos during our childbirth class. Holy hell what did we get ourselves into?!

Weight gain: +29 lbs... Woof.

Maternity clothes: Getting so sick of wearing the same things but I refuse to buy anything else from this point on

 

Stretch marks: Still in the clear.. woo! My OB said if I don't have them by now, I probably won't get them so lets hope she is right!

Belly button in or out: Still in and flat

Wedding Rings on or off: On maybe half of the time but no swelling elsewhere (yet)

Sleep: I've been a total night owl lately. I think once I get the nursery done I will stop thinking about it so much and stop online shopping from my bed.

Miss anything: Wearing blouses. Random?! Its just one of those things you can't wear unless you get a maternity version (not as cute) and I have been wishing I had some for dinner dates lately!

Movement: Lots of shifting going on and some hiccups! He pushes his butt up against my belly a lot and I noticed a heel pushing out the other day. It is so entertaining but slightly uncomfortable now. I never know what he's doing in there....

Cravings: French fries and Christmas cookies. Together or separate, I don't discriminate. 

Symptoms: Tired and out of breath quickly, hungry all of the time, and having difficulty putting on and taking off socks/shoes. Yeah I'm definitely feeling 8 months pregnant!

Labor Signs: None yet but we know Rowan turned and is now head down... woo! I'm starting my 2 week appointments this week, whoa!

Nursery:  Making some major progress finally! I have a couple DIY projects to do, like turning an expensive Restoration Hardware sheet into a crib skirt, so wish me luck! Stay tuned for more sneak peeks until its ready for the full reveal!

Looking forward to: Christmas! We're not traveling from here on out so I'm excited to have visitors and a few days off from work.

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Christmas in our Home + Link Up!

Today is the final holiday link up with me, Katie, Lisa, and Annie! I can't really wrap my head around the fact that Christmas is already less than 10 days away... or that we'll have a little babe crawling around this time next year!

<div align="center"><a href="http://homesweetruby.blogspot.com" title="Holiday Linkup"><img src="http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q792/lisampray/holidaylink-upbutton_zps47581a5e.jpg" width="250" height="250" alt="Holiday Linkup" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Because I'm closing in on my 8th month of the pregnancy I took it easy with our Christmas decor this year. It's been tougher than I expected to muster the energy to go all out like I normally do, let alone take it all down a few weeks later, so we stuck to the basics.

the tree

We try to get ornaments from all of the places we visit, so this year we added Paris, Venice, and Rome. And of course one for Rowan!

 
This was the first year we purchased a real tree and it's absolutely my favorite tree yet! And I'm pretty proud of my giant bow at the top even though that beast took about an hour for me to make. 

Tree Skirt.

the mantel

Love seeing that 4th stocking on our mantel! You better believe Santa will be dropping off some things in Rowan's stocking this year.

One trick I like to use with our mantel is to get tree clippings for free from places like Home Depot and use them to fill in the bare spaces in the faux garlands. It makes a big difference and brings more of that evergreen smell into the house.

Stockings.

I love that our house has such an open plan living space, especially since we spend the majority of our time there. You can see our tree from almost every part of the house. Including my office, which I love!

No Sew DIY Deer Pillow. 

We also have a few little Christmas details in our entryway and on our dining table. I'm still pretty crazy about the plaid decor (if you didn't notice yet!) so I reused our table runner from last year which I made from a huge tablecloth.

Now all we need is my favorite Christmas music, a fire in the fireplace, and some hot chocolate! Or if you're my husband, you get my favorite Pinot Noir and drink it without me...

Now its your turn! Link up with us and share your Christmas posts below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Favorite Sugar Cookies + Fancy Icing

I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was festive and delicious, just how I like it this time of year. Not only did I ingest far too many of these sugar cookies, but I topped it off with the most delicious gnocci from Wild Olive on Johns Island before cruising through the holiday festival of lights.

I also attempted royal icing for the first time this weekend, and though I got a little lazy with it at the end, I love how the cookies turned out! Royal icing is that frosting a lot of bakeries use... it hardens after an hour or two so you can stack the cookies easily. More on that later...

One of my favorite cookies this time of year are sugar cookies. The good news is, this recipe makes a lot of sugar cookies and you'll want them all because they are delicious. The bad news is, you end up decorating approximately 4000 of them. And if I'm being real, they just started looking sloppy by the end. But this preggo was not about to miss out on them this year!

Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Then add eggs, milk, and vanilla to mixture. Beat on medium speed until well mixed.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add this to the egg mixture.

Once dough has formed, it will be sticky. Place on a large piece of clear wrap, cover and form a ball, then refrigerate for about 2 hours. You can also refrigerate overnight if you're not making the cookies immediately.

Once you're ready to cut out your cookies, roll half of the dough out to your desired thickness. (I like them to be thick like you would get them from a bakery.) Make sure to use lots of flour to make sure dough does not stick.

Bake on wax paper at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes (until edges are barely starting to brown). Leave on the tray for a minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack (I have this and I love it, total space saver!)

FYI these cookies freeze well. I made them last week and froze them in an airtight container until I had the patience time to start frosting them!

I always like funfetti frosting but if you're willing to give royal icing a try, it makes a less messy cookie in the end and you have a little more control over how you decorate them. And since I am by no means a pro at this, make sure you check out Annies Eats for really great instructions and a picture tutorial!

Royal Icing Recipe
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder (find it in the baking section at Michael's)
1/3 cup water
2 tbsp. vanilla

This part is easy, the tricky part is getting the right consistency for piping and then flooding your cookies. Basically just mix all of the above ingredients on slow speed for 8-10 minutes. When its ready for piping, the frosting will form "peaks" when you pull the mixer or a spoon away from it. If its way too sticky to form peaks, just add a tiny bit of water at a time.

Separate the white icing into several different airtight containers and color with gel food coloring.

When ready to pipe, one easy trick is to put a small amount of frosting in clear wrap, twist the ends, and then cut one end to place into a pastry bag. I used a #2 Wilton tip for piping.

Pipe the edge of your cookies with whichever color you plan on using to fill your cookies. Allow to air dry for about an hour.

My white needed thinned with a tiny bit of water because it was a little tough to pipe. Once you're done piping, add small amounts of water gradually until the frosting becomes more like a maple syrup consistency. Then fill with a toothpick.

Make sure to let the icing harden for a couple hours before touching it, then you can stack the cookies in a container until ready to eat or serve.

You can do a marble effect with multiple colors like I did for the snowflakes, or stick to one color, throw some sprinkles on before it hardens, or come back with more detail after the first color has hardened. I was too lazy for that last option!

Royal icing is a little time consuming, but not difficult once you get the hang of it. Lets just say, I'm definitely still a beginner and my cookies were pretty and edible. Win!

And thank you for reading through this giant tutorial. :) Any other sugar cookie lovers out there?!

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Friday Favorites

This week has been absolutely crazy around here and I couldn't be more excited for the weekend! Of course I'm linking up again with Amanda, Christina and the rest of the Five on Friday crew!

Baking

Finally having some weekends at home is giving me a chance to get some festive Christmas stuff done, like baking cookies! Though I admit I'm really struggling not to eat the cookie dough... I'm a huge sugar cookie fan and decided this year I'd do them a little differently with royal icing. I can't wait to share these with you next week!

Christmas Cards



Minted has done it again! Even though I switched the design from "the more the merrier" at the last minute, I love our cards this year! (You can see ours from last year here) And the free recipient addressing was such a good call, especially since my hand is still cramped from writing out baby shower thank yous! Definitely recommend!

Nursery Progress

Pom Pom Throw (they have lots of colors, love this one too!). Name Blocks. Elephant.

Y'all we're finally getting somewhere in the nursery with just 9 (or less) weeks to go! Thanks to a Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware Baby sale (20% off everything with the code PRIVATE), I managed to commit to some things for the room! And I'm loving the pom pom blanket and name blocks above... they would be great gifts actually!

J. Crew Factory Sale

Just wanted to give y'all a heads up, J. Crew Factory is having a huge sale in the store! My husband picked up my favorite jeans for $15. (Let's hope I can fit in them post-baby... eek!) Everything is 50% off plus you get another 15-20% off at the register. Major Christmas shopping opportunities here people! I may not fit into much but that won't stop me from raiding the accessories and shoes... or sweatpants.

Christmas Link Up

Don't forget about the last of the holiday link ups with me, Lisa, Katie, and Annie on Tuesday! Share your favorite Christmas cookie recipes, decor, traditions, etc. I can't wait to see all the festive posts!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Only one more before Christmas, can you believe it?!

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