Mother's Day Gifts {with Uncommon Goods}

I'm so excited to share a few lovely Mother's Day gifts that we recently received from Uncommon Goods. I am a fan of this company and we've loved their wine bottle cork candles for creating ambience at the Thanksgiving table each year, so I was happy to check out their specially curated Mother's Day gift lists and see what beautiful things they were offering for this special mama day.

This is a store that offers unique products and gifts and is the perfect place to find something really special for a mom. They call themselves " ... an online marketplace where they can connect makers and their creations with individuals looking for truly special goods..." I love that! Half of what they sell is made by hand and with every purchase you make, you can donate $1 to a non-profit of your choice. You really need to check them out.

We received this incredible recycled Kantha table runner. I've always wanted to buy a Kantha quilt and so jumped at the chance to grab this piece. Each vibrant piece of fabric is unique in color and design and the back side is completely different too. They are sewn by using the kantha stitching technique, handmade in India. 

Our other gift is this incredible succulent living wall planter kit which came with all these tiny succulent clippings, carefully wrapped, and a rustic wood frame with a layer of moss and mesh. There were instructions included and Scarlet and I carefully built our own little garden together. It was super easy and the effect is so spring-y and lovely. This kit allows you to hang it on the wall once the succulents have rooted into the soil which I thought was a great idea. Can't wait to put it up! 

As you can see, we had loads of fun taking pictures of these cute little plants. 

This post is in collaboration with Uncommon Goods but the review and opinions are entirely my own.

Check out the living wall planter kit and other fun gardening gift ideas found at Uncommon Goods here!

Girls Day Out {for YOU Magazine}

Hello friends! YOU Magazine's spring fashion issue is now on news stands and I'm so ready to share all of our pictures from this girls day out at the beauty parlor. On the heels of a girls weekend away, this article had perfect timing! There's something pretty great about girl time and my idea was to inspire our readers to give themselves a little "me" time with their favorite ladies, as it's that time of year when we're all flurrying about in spring cleaning frenzies and throwing all our horrid winter clothes in storage, a pretty warm weather closet makeover (fingers crossed) in the plans. Surely I'm not the only one?! Spring time is a season to refresh our lives and we're eager for the change, so grab your girls and have a "beauty" day whether at the spa for massages and facials or the salon for blow outs and mani/pedis. Do it! ;)

I styled these beautiful ladies in looks from a few of our wonderful local boutiques, namely ZuLou, Wild Ginger and Azure. All must visit spots in Green Bay when you're in the mood for some shopping. 

And if you didn't catch our segment on Local 5 Live (link is up on our FB page, so check it out!), then I'll add that this spring I'm craving color! Beautiful bright color. Sure, I'll never stop loving my chambrays and whites, but there's something uplifting about a pop of color. Makes a girl feel good. Give it a go ladies, and if not on your entire person, then try a bold blouse or a jewel toned shoe. You'll not be sorry. :)

Here's Wendy, looking so lovely in a silk dress from Wild Ginger on Broadway, with lots of layered stone necklaces also from Wild Ginger and wedge shoes from Old Navy. This dress makes me feel like I'm a million miles away, at an island resort, strolling the beach pineapple drink with parasols in hand. Bring it on!

And the foxy beauty stylist above is Courtney LaFave, who is the owner of Village Mane Salon in Vickery Village, our incredibly pretty backdrop. You need to check it out! Such a cool hair salon (I've had several photo shoots here already, it's that good!) and her work is always drop dead gorgeous. Love to you Courtney! (You may even remember her in our Gatsby photo shoot.)

Next up is Jessica, one of my beautiful Pure Barre instructors. Seems that all the girls at Pure Barre  in Green Bay are made for dresses like these which gives those of us sweating and shaking in class some hope for the future. ;)

And that stunning turquoise number and her jewels are from Azure in De Pere. Her heels are from Nordstrom.

And last but not least, this is lovely Hannah (who is another YOU mag contributor actually). She is wearing a white floral dress and accessories from ZuLou, so romantic, and I think this is a dress I could live in this summer. Her gladiators are from Zara.

And there you have it! 

Thank you to Victoria Stencil at Salon 54 for doing makeup. To the ladies at Village Mane for hair. And to Wild Ginger, ZuLou and Azure for providing the looks.

Click to read the Fashion Issue below and more details about our looks!

 




Sometimes Ya Just Need a Girl's Weekend

Last weekend I went to Door County with a group of 14 friends, seriously the best girl's weekend ever. We spent a couple of nights in Sister Bay and had the most fun, silly time you could ever imagine and it was so needed for all of us. We're all moms, with lots and lots of kids, so getting away is never an easy thing. But we made it happen (with 4 pregnant mamas between us and 1 tiny newborn!) and it was a weekend we'll not soon forget. It does a girl so much good to spend time away with friends and I'm thankful for these babes. Love to you all! 

So the picture below tells a thousand words as we decided to hashtag our weekend on Instagram, so we could enjoy each others pictures. And this dessert pictured is called a "Better than Sex" cake which I'm assuming is not a dessert unique to Wisconsin, though for all I know, it is! Ha! They offer it at one of our favorite local restaurants and it is TO DIE FOR! So one of our lovely ladies made it for our weekend away and we cleverly thought, let's hashtag our weekend #betterthansexweekend? Cause I mean, why not? :)

So we left the hashtag on the gram so as not to deeply offend all our extra church friends on Facebook but here I am sharing on Blogger, so wink, wink. All in jest husbands, all in jest. We do think you're way more awesome than friends or cake. ;) ;) 

So let's begin with Anderson Dock in Ephraim. Wow, what an incredibly cool place! We stopped at several little beach-y spots to take pictures but this place was really fantastic. Our spring is taking ages to actually feel spring-y and you can see how the water iced over the rocks and grass (below). We're ready for warm sunshine up here in Wisco land but this sight really was beautiful! 

My sister made sure we had a confetti picture! She's always prepared with props for these sorts of occasions. No, really, we had a baby shower at Chop in Sister Bay the night before and Daena had decorated the table with colorful eggs filled with confetti. Perfect for pictures the day after.

And goodness! I just think this next set of pics is so funny so I'm sharing most of the set. Bare with me please ... we'll just say it's for the girls to enjoy. I asked them if they'd channel their inner model and strut that runway for the camera. It was just too perfect and our preggie friend, Sheana, who rocked the bump at the front was working it! Haha! Still makes me giggle. And thank you to Lacy for taking these. :)

Adding our graffiti to the wall before we took off for brunch at White Gull Inn. No paint handy so they grabbed their makeup pens. 

Here are a few iPhone pictures too. 

Four of us went one day early and had a little extra relaxation time to ourselves. We spent most of that time eating out at lots of great restaurants and taking pictures on the beach. :) Here we are enjoying pizza and the best cheese curds you've EVER tasted at Wild Tomato in Fish Creek.

Here's Anderson Warehouse on the first evening, before it froze over. We stopped to enjoy the view and take more silly pictures. ;)

 On our last afternoon we stopped by Harbor Ridge Winery for wine and cheese tasting.

 And to top it off, my lovely friend Nichole and I went to get our nails done. Perfect weekend right?