tacos for everyone!

for cousins. and uncles. and brothers. and brother's girls-friends. and moms. and seesters ( especially those with birthdays ). and husbands & daughters. basically it was just a really nice evening spent with the ones we love.

but today we rest. while also celebrating the graduation of a very dear friend ( congrats barett! ) and a future wedding.

crud bucket.

that's what i feel like today. like i'm just not being the person that i want to be. not doing the things i want to do. not living like the honest and loving person that i intend to be. do you ever have these days?

it seems it's way too easy these days to always be confronted with so much! so many clothes. so many things for the house. it's everywhere. even for mila! i get on these family blogs with little girls and they're all wearing the cutest things and i just think that i HAVE to have them for m. but i DON'T! and then when i do go on a binge of shopping i just feel gross. like, really? did she REALLY need all of that? i feel even worse when i do it for myself, like seriously, do i need something new EVERY time i go out and do something?? i always think i do but i DON'T. then i just make myself sick thinking about it. is that really the person i want to be? a woman who just shops all the time? that's what i want to do with myself??? when i could be drawing for the project i'm working on with a friend. sewing clothes for m. fixing things around the house that need attention. doing more things for our firm. ANY of these things.

some days nick comes home and wonders what i've been doing all day and i think, "are you serious?" i haven't sat down ALL day. and i'm comfortable with that response because i know that i have been doing SOMEthing allllll day. but other days i'm like, "yeah, what HAVE i done all day today?" i'm so proud to have our happy healthy baby girl smiling when nick walks through the door at 5:00 because i know that's because of the attention i give her every day. but then what else have i done? cleaned. and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. seems that's pretty much all i do that i have something to really show for. a clean house. and thaaaaaat's just about it.

aughhh! and seriously. what does it mean to be the best dressed if you yourself aren't being the best you can be? now that mila is a little older, i know that i could be volunteering my time so much more. scratch that- i could being volunteering my time in general. because now? now i don't. but i could. i should. and nick, nick has been working so hard lately. doing things that i could be seriously contributing to. but i'm not. instead i cop it off to being to tied up with m.

it all ends today. seriously. TODAY. so here goes to just a little more cleaning {promise, this is NOT going to be the most productive thing i do today. i'm going to find something worthwhile before 12:00AM. something}.

oh!

so THAT'S what a perfect sunday looks like.

in addition to starting the day off with a nice cup of coffee with some dear friends, we also enjoyed brunch with some more family just before going to the beach. these photos really make me realize just how fortunate i am to have such a wonderful family that i love so much.
xo

easter celebrations.

outside.

some time with friends // mila's {and MY} new bff

with a little mimosas added to the mix {gotta love brunch time}.

hope every one had a HOPPY {never gets old} easter.

a little reminder.

about a year and a half ago, while nick and i were on our honeymoon, we were watching a late night talk show and discovered a then-unknown florence + the machine. so just before ms. welch became so popular stateside, we quickly became fans and have loved her music ever since. but it wasn't until a little car ride with my cousin the other day that made me realize exactly what it is i love about the music of ms. florence welch. i think her comment was something like, "don't you just love her? i love her. her music just makes me love being a woman and PROUD of it."

amidst all of these breast-feeding ups and downs lately, after a few months of smooth-sailing, i've been reminded of how proud I am to be a woman! and even more-so to be a MOTHER. often times, nick can come home after a long day at work, with no lunch break and wonder what it is that miss moo and i did all day. well, sometimes it's hard to explain on the spot but i know that most days i don't stop. not even once.

so yeah, i'm proud of all these little hurdles i jump and hills i climb that make me a mom. and thanks lex, your comment came out of nowhere but you're hilarious and i love you.

yeah.

my brother is sort of wonderful.


JUSTIN GAINAN AND EMMA HUNT from /thelistencollective/ on Vimeo.

and his work isn't bad either. some of my favorite stuff yet.

breathe easy.

this is my cousin dylan. and breathing easy is not something he's ever had the pleasure of doing.

**an old picture, but still just as adorable!

he's ten years old and was born with cystic fibrosis. this horrible disease is incurable and although it can set him back in so many ways, you would never know it if you met him. he is an adorable and thriving little boy with so much creativity and spark.
in the fight to get closer and closer to a cure, tomorrow morning, nick and i, and the great strides foundation are walking for dylan and every other cystic fibrosis patien. i know this is late notice, but please, if you can, donate to our cause. our family will be greatly thankful for anything you can do. and if you're not doing anything tomorrow, come and walk with us!! the fun begins and ends at heritage park. hope to see some of you there!

pen pals!

miss mila has a new favorite friend. it could be because she gets lots of cute clothes from her or that she's constantly entertained by the adorable pictures she sees on mama's computer. either way, i know that when they finally meet, she's going to instantly hit it off with her pen pal cousin.

and how could i forget the little playlist that we've been jamming out to!?! thank you to MY two favorite cousins!!

tonight is for.

relaxing.

hope everyone is having as nice of a sunday as we are.

eleven for eleven.

so far, miss mila moo has successfully breezed through flights on eleven planes with minimal crying. thanks to some helpful hints from babble.com, we nurse almost immediately upon boarding and once that engine comes on, she's out.
like that past few, this last weekend was another full of traveling and m breezed right on through. love this kid.

when do i blog?

when this babe decides to fall asleep before me.

and she's not hungry anymore. and dinner is done. dishes are clean. house is spotless. laundry is folded and where it's supposed to be.

and i manage a workout.

yeah, that's my 'might get a blog post in today' criteria.

and today was one of those days.

today's day.

according to my iphone.

had a blast with these two today. even if taylor did hog all of the grapes before jett and i had a chance to have some.

this is how we look.

when husband is appearing cuter than ever and therefore helps divert one's eyes away from my giganti-sized belly.

SOOOO ready to meet you miss mila.

this is what our mothers' day looked like.

wayyyy too much fun watching this kid. he's seriously THIS happy all the time {not according to his mom, but we never see another side of him and i'm fine with that}.

this little girl making her way through my kitchen. after reorganizing the cabinets,

she decides that she deserves a little treat, with mom's permission or not.

no need for words.

getting some practice in.

again...words can't do this picture justice.

and lastly, this little guy {again} because this smile seriously never leaves his face {and the little carrot-orange nose doesn't hurt}.

obviously the husband has some serious fatherly instincts. he didn't get in front of the camera once, although every one of his pictures has at least one kid in it. might need to get some new shelving space for all the pictures and photo albums in miss mila's future.

hope everyone had a lovely mothers' day.

hadn't even thought of that.

the more i think about it, the more i hate the idea of making baby purchases only to discard of most of the things within barely a few months. husband and i are still at opposite ends when it comes to a bouncer {with recall after recall, i honestly have a panic attack every time i see a child in one....especially when the parents place them on a table. yeah, it happens}, pack and play's kind of gross me out, unless they're used as an alternative sleeping solution {but what happened to children being able to roammmmmm around a house and not be confined to jersey mesh walls??} and i can't even begin to elaborate on how i feel about all of the completely unnecessary toys and electronics that come with our {'our' meaning 'our society'....not nick's and my} new approach to baby-raising.

yesterday, when a client of mine asked what we have yet to receive, and need, from our registry {aside from feeling a little awkward in having to tell someone what to specifically buy for us} i resorted to telling her that we really need everything else that's on our registry since we only registered for those things that we saw necessary. buttttttt, another client of mine in the class commented on how we would still need some keepsakes. 'KEEP' being the word that sold me. my mom passed over a few little silver pieces from my childhood and i would love for mila {and the rest of our children} to be able to do the same when they start families of their own. in searching for some items that are both beautiful and timeless, i definitely got excited about the idea of having these things placed around our home for years to come.

{tiffany & co.}

{kissy kissy christening gown}

{baby nambé utensil set}

{baby nambé children's cup}

along with a lovely basic and handmade toy that i intend to put at the top of my 'crafts to make once i'm not working and incredibly impatient for baby to arrive'

{courtesy of momtastic}

a little treat.

after giving my adorable little niece and nephew a bath this weekend {aunt jessica and uncle nick got some baby practice and watched these kiddos on friday night}, apparently my nephew jett wanted to show off his iphone skills and snapped a few photos of his littler seester.

obviously the quality isn't the best {little hint i might be in need of the new iphone} but it was a fun surprise to find these on my phone the next day and have a sneak peek into some sibling secret behavior.

happy wednesday.

once upon a time.

the husband and i {pre husband and wife} lived in a little college town in east texas called {appropriately} college station, texas. soon after moving there for the boo to attend graduate school, i reunited with an old friend.

got to work with a few new ones.

and lived in a quaint little casita.

and even though i miss it {especially college station's npr programming schedule, keos and my neighborhood grocer} when i never thought i would. our new casita is shaping up quite wonderfully. our little baby mila is only three months away and spending as much time as we do with our family really makes this little corpus christi life that much more perfect.

although.

it didn't result in the best sleep. last night we made our way to a little dindin for the school district's super-intendent {our architecture firm designs mostly schools}. there were a lot of laughs to be shared but i mostly enjoyed my time with two of my favorite-est people.

{my red lipstick queen}

{the husband and me. because he's great}

happy weekend.

friday.

which means....

lunch with nick's grandma
dinner with friends
hanging out with this guy...

taming a few of last weekend's bright colors with a little bit of this...

{natural twine from the home depot}

and possibly taking a little day trip up to h.town. and i just miiiiight have to do a little v.day shopping for the husband.