How Erin Does Nautical

This spring and summer season is all about the nautical trend. I personal love it, but of you've been out there shopping for it, you know it's definitely not a cheap look to pull off. Here's a quick example of some trends I've been tracking that I love.

Listen to the waves. by ♥Kate featuring Chanel jewelry

So instead of going bankrupt on a seasonal look, I decided to make it work for me and my budget. Here is how I accomplished it:

 

Top: Canvas, Shirred Tunic, Marshall's $14.99 (April 2010)
Vest: Drapped, Stripped Open Front Vest, Marshall's $12.99 (April 2010)
Bottoms: Indigo Jean Leggings, Kohl's $9.99 on sale (April 2010)
Shoes: Camel Leather & Wood Wedges, Target $24.99 (May 2009)
Necklace: Driftwood Beads, ??? I cannot remember where I go this from but I've it for a while

Our Baby is 2!

Our baby girl Sadie is 2. her birthday was Friday and celebrated with a weekend filled with treats. First came her birthday dinner. Matt and I got Buffalo Wild Wings  to go Friday night. Sadie doesn't get people food/table scraps, but we thought on her b-day she deserved a little something special. I love the mini corn dogs so I graciously shared them with Sadie. Her eyes were so big!

Saturday morning we took her along for our usual tennis game. She loves being the ball girl and loves to get to run around the court.

After about 2 hours of tennis in the sun, we were all very hot, sweaty and in need of some serious AC.

After a little resting up we decided to go get her actual b-day gift. We decided that she was finally a big girl and no longer a puppy. So, she needed a big girl bed. Since we brought her home at 6wks old, we have crated Sadie. She never had a problem with it and it kept our house pee, poop and chewed up furniture free while we were at work each day.

And now... her big girl bed, well it's actually a play area. She seems to really like it :)

Our goal is that we can gradually get Sadie comfortable with being left along in the house. We'll see what happens!

DEAL FLASH

We all like a good deal and I am up towards the front of the line anytime there's a good bargain to be had. I wanted to share some great findings I've come across this week. I would like to make this a weekly submission, so stay tuned and see if I can actually pull it off!

First, this Saturday the 22nd Old Navy is having a sale on flip flops - $1.00! Most stores open at 7am so I would be there early as I'm sure they will run out quickly. Cannot beat shoes for a $1!

Second is a big score in my opinion. Since we got our new grill back at the end of March we use it every possible meal we can. We love it!! I am always trying to come up with what I can make next. Here is a whole book of options for FREE.

Martha Stewart's new cookbook Summer Grilling - Recipes from the Grilling Hotline can be downloaded for FREE using this website.

http://www.sirius.com/wo/i/martha/grilling_cookbook_full.pdf

I know downloading isn't quite like having your own book, but hey, it's FREE! And, if you only find one, two or a few recipes that interest you, at least you haven't spent $19.99+ on a new cookbook. It only costs to print the pages you want. It requires Adobe Reader to open, but you can download that for free also at http://get.adobe.com/reader/ .

I feel I've done my good deed!

What I'm Loving - Primer

I know your natural thought process is leading you to think about paint primer and Home Depot, but this post has absolutely nothing to do with painting the house. I have recently fell in love! Not sure if Matt knows yet, but something tells me he will soon. Hopefully he will be okay with my new found partner...

If you haven't guessed yet, it's makeup primer. Up until just a very few months ago, if you said the words makeup primer I would have shook my head in agreeance and then thought to myself "are they talking about moisterizer?". Why did my mother never tell me about this wonderous beauty secret? Why do fashion magazines and pop culture television not educate us more on this subject? Why am I 25 and just now finding about this?? On to the present now...

I have never had what most people would consider to be good skin. It's very uneven in tone, I have frequent breakouts (yes, I'm 25 and they still have not gone away), I get oily in my T-zone, and I do have what I think is bad pores also in my T-zone. Quick backstory on the pores. I used to be a fairly freckley child throughout my face. One day in college I just woke up and bam, they were gone. However, in their absense, they seem to have left these pores I battle these days. That's probably not what actually/biologically happened, but that's what I think happened, and that's really all that matters, right?

And on to the miracle worker - the primer. Here is what I'm loving now. They work so well. They fill in every pore, line, wrinkle... you name it. They go on so smooth and velvety. It evens skin tone and helps your makeup stay on longer during the day. I use it everyday and will never go without it again. Here are my 2 favorites. You can find them at Target, Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart maybe. They are a little on the pricey side for the size, but so worth it. And you only use a small amount so it should last you for a while.

Mother's Day Weekend

Even though I'm not a mom persay, I still kind of feel like one since I'm a mommy to my baby girls Sophie, Scarlet and Sadie. Matt and I had some yard work to do this weekend and I found a new bloom. I have no idea what these are. They kind of look like a cross between a peony and a garden rose?? They are so pretty thought. I don't remember ever seeing these when we first moved in...

The blooms were so pretty I could resist. And besides, since they had already bloomed so big, I figured it would be only a matter of time before they died. I cut them off at the stem, so hopefully they will bloom back again. Anyways, since my babies can't exactly give me gifts (Sadie did give me lots of kisses and sweet cuddles on Sunday morning) I decided to make my own flower bouquet.

Easter With the Watsons - All 8 of Us!!

We were so happy that Matt's brother Andy, sister-in-law Ashley and the kids, Liam, Ty, Jillian and Benjamin were able to come visit us for Easter this year. Since we bought the house last July, there has not been a good time for them to come and visit. The boys had Spring break the week after Easter, so they all packed up and came to Nashville for roadtrip. We were so excited to see everyone and have a house full of kids. At first I was a bit nervous and didn't really know what to expect since our house is normally a kid-free zone 365 days a year. But once everything was all said and done, it wasn't as hectic and crazy as we thought it would be. We loved having them at the house and it was fun getting to be with the kids and Andy and Ashley in our space. However, the visit was not without it's issues. Because lets face it, if Matt and Erin have spent time planning something, there inevidably has to be something that goes wrong. Let go through the list...

• Friday Scarlet was sick all day and ended up getting "sick" on the cushion in the sunroom. I tried to wash it and it got ruined.
• Friday morning we blew a circuit and none of the outlets in the bathroom worked.
• Friday night the washing machine broke
• Saturday Ashley and I had to go to little mexico to a coin laundry
• Sunday night, the lights, fans and outlets in half the house stopped working
• Monday we called a washing machine repair person to end up telling us that our valves were clogged from the foam of the before mentioned sunroom cushion
• Tuesday our handyman came and had to replace our electrical breaker, rework some wiring and replace some switches

Despite all the issues though, we still had a great time. Although now I feel like we are well seasoned hosts. I don't know what else could be thrown our way!!!
Here are some sweet pictures of the babies from the visit. We missed them as soon as they left the driveway.

Attention US Media - Have You Noticed There's a Natural Disaster in Nashville???

I know this title may sound a little weird, but there is a large group of us Nashville locals that are outraged at the lack of coverage over the flooding that has happened here in Nashville and the surrounding areas. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, 15+ people have died and entire sections of the city are currently uninhabitable. The National Guard is here, FEMA is here, the Red Cross is here... but you wouldn't know it if you lived anywhere else in the US.

Okay, sorry, my rant is over. I had to get it out...

For those of you unaware of what has been going on, middle TN was hit by a succession of massive storms Fri, Sat and Sunday. We received more rain in 48 hours than we do in 5 months. The major rivers and lakes flooded and large sections of the city and suburbs are completely under water. Thousands of people are without homes. We were lucky and were not affected at our home, but many of our friends and people we work with are without power, water or their homes are completely under water. However, we do live about .25 miles from the Nashville dam. If for some reason the levy breaks, our entire neighborhood would be gone. The large tourism area around Opryland Hotel had over 6ft. It's all very sad. I have friends at work that had to be rescued from their homes via boats.

This is the Target and Kohl's shopping center about 2 miles from our house.

Here are some pictures of downtown Nashville

This is an arial shot of downtown Nashville.

This is I-40 and I-24 going in and out of Nashville.

So, as you can see, there is a lot of recovery and clean-up to be done. Please keep Nashville and the people affected by the floods in your thoughts.