Forget Packing....

After packing for a cross country move (well, kinda cross country, more like down country....that doesn't sound right....you get what I mean, right? a move down South... I'll stop now) packing for a three week trip seems like nothing, thus the procrastinating :) It's what I do best.

So instead of boring old packing, I've made my nieces cute head bands! I just took plain ribbon and tried to spruce it up, and I'm loving how they turned out! My nieces range in age from 2 to 12 and random ages in between. Ergo the reasoning behind them looking a bit different to try and accommodate their ages.  

This one is for my oldest niece, Taylor. The rosette is detachable and has a pin on the back so she can use it on something else--if she so pleases

Because my measuring was a bit off and this one was slightly bigger than the one in the below picture, it's for the next in age, Jordis

This one's for Jamie, who's four. Not sure if these girls will wear them, hopefully... I did painstakingly make all those pleats.... maybe I could guilt them into wearing them, something to consider.

The not-so-little-anymore Aniya gets this one, most comfortable and shouldn't slip off when she's running around like a maniac ;) 

And because Aubrey has outgrown a lot of her clothes for fall....understandably, she's been wearing her clothes from when she was 18 months. And before you go and think it's because we were too cheap to get her new ones and let her walk around with ankle biters and 3/4 length sleeves(not the cool kind), it was actually because I was a good frugal mom and bought her stuff a bit bigger....and then she decided she was too cool to grow. No joke, she can still wear a pair of 12-18 month jeans...she was blessed with my leg length, poor girl.

Anyways, this just in--clothes are expensive! 

So me being the crafty person I am (riiiight) bought some plain cheap/on clearance shirts from Target and Walmart and decided to do a little applique on them.

And they turned out so cute! ...if I do say so myself *insert pat on own back*

I mean, look at all that shabby goodness! 

So that was how I spent yesterday...I'm pretty sure I should get some packing or cleaning done today, buuuut I think I'll sew again. There's always tomorrow night to pack (that would be the Kliewer way....).

Make Up Brush Roll...

Zach and I travel.... a LOT! Well, we've slowed down since moving to Georgia (hard to travel when you work all. the. time.), but in the past? A lot. 

Be it an over night trip for an interview (again, happened before he got his residency position) or flying back to Canada to see family....or England to see family...yeah, there was a lot of traveling (from the sounds of it, you'd think we were loaded...we are most definitely NOT).

ANYWAY, the reason I began that ridiculously long rant was to say that I've been wanting something for my make up brushes for quite some time. They always get tossed into my toiletries bag and get smushed... not good because they're good brushes... MAC brushes... that my loving husband bought for me when I was going through my my-skin-is-awful-since-I-gave-birth-and-I-don't-want-to-leave-the-house phase after having Aubrey. He was like, we're going to MAC and you are buying all the make up you need to make yourself feel better! And then I married him all over again :) The End. 

Kidding. 

So I finally took the time to make this yesterday and I'm in love!

The fabric alone is fabulous, but it just turned out so cute!

I used to tutorial from Little Big Girl Studio, and just made it work for my brushes/eyelash curler/mascara/etc . 

Here's the tutorial, you're welcome.

Ain't she purdy?!

Nothing like an early morning photo shoot in some Georgian pine straw to bring out the beauty in something.

I'm linking this sucker up here....

I woke up yesterday morning and uttered words that I will regret, AM regretting, for a long long time...."hey Zach, let's go for a run." 

Yup, stupid.

We weren't planning on going to our new wonderful church, not because we are uncool heathens, but because Aubrey was up most of the night before coughing and snotting up a storm. We were not about to be those parents whole let their coughing, snotty child infect everyone else's kid in Sunday School. Annnd because she was up all night, I was up all night....and no sleep does not agree with this preggo gal.

Anyway, I get up, say the dreaded words to Zach and he's beyond excited to go and bounds out of bed. 

We started out ok, but about 2 minutes in I announce that this was, indeed, NOT a good idea (the words I used did not sound as nice) . 

Cue side cramp and wheezing of breath.

Let's just say we didn't go very far and I was in rough shape after. 

I'm not out of shape per say, I spend my share of time on our elliptical thing-a-ma-jigger, but running...on the road....is a whole other ball game. 

I can confirm that my body is in severe pain and my quads are so sore, I'm hobbling like a 90 year old man. My hip is officially making a weird popping noise and my lower back feels like it is constantly being hit with a bat. 

Today, my friends, has been a rough day for me.

Back to the elliptical tomorrow...assuming that my quads can handle it.....  

Went a Little Crazy...

It's bound to happen when your daughter's going to be a flower girl and you go into Jo-Ann's to find some materials to make her a hair accessory. 

Seriously, I'm in love with the kit I bought. 

It was $9.99, and includes all this....

Before I found this, I had a pretty button in my hand...which cost $5 on it's own, highway robbery. After buying the alligator clips and proper fabric to make the rosettes I had in mind, I would have been WAY over $10. The kit has the color fabric I wanted (and pre-cut!) and all the fixin's to make it! Win Win! 

Plus I can make a bunch more rosette clip/pins with fabulous buttons, which is a complete bonus. Maybe I'll make myself a little somethin' somethin'....

Speaking of buttons....

 I couldn't help myself! These were on sale, soooo in the cart they went. I'm thinking of using the middle one for Aubrey's flower girl hair clip thingy...we'll see. 

Bought some tulle too, going to add this to the hair clip. 

I better watch it, or she's going look like one of the two crazy sister's from William and Kate's wedding....

A Gift From a Friend....

Look what super amazing Amy over at The Little Beansprout  (who also happens to be my good friend!!) taught herself to do....

Seriously?? How do you even begin to figure that out for yourself?!? I'm pretty sure I'm going to con her into doing my whole blog.... now to come up with a plan.....

In Just One Week I'll Be...

- crying because I'm flying....pregnant. The two don't go well together, believe me.

- headed to Canada.

- drinking a slush

- seeing family I haven't seen in way over a year

- getting to squish all 14 of my nieces and nephews

- eating my dad's world famous BBQ(well, family famous)

- wearing pants and sweaters! YAY

- watching Zach's little brother (hahaha little, he's about a foot taller than Zach) get married...well in two weeks, but you get what I mean ;)

- watching my little girl be a flower girl for the first time.

- and a WHOLE bunch more!!

I'm not going to lie, we would not be going back if it wasn't for Jordan and Ashley's wedding. We just don't have the money. And for a looong time I let that get in the way of me being excited to go. How were/are we going to pay for the trip?... it always ends up being super expensive to travel back, way more than you plan on. No matter how hard you try, you get into vacation mode and eat out more. There are so many restaurants (as I listed in a previous post) that I have not been to in a LONG time and they don't have them here in the States. Not to mention clothing stores that I love and are cheap, but  add up in the end.

I had only planned on going for the week Zach was going (in Intern Year you only get one week off at a time, three weeks over the year, but you're not allowed to take them at once) because I have developed a MEGA fear of flying....and that started when I was pregnant with Aubrey and flew to England....and I'm pregnant now--not good for my fear. 

I did NOT want to fly with Aubrey alone, seriously. I end up just holding her in my lap and bawling while grasping the arm rests during turbulence......yup, I'm quite the sight on a plane.

But God provided me with the most amazing of amazing friends, Marcy. She's going to fly back to Georgia with me, which enables me (and my stupid fear of flying) to come back 2 weeks later than Zach. This is the same friend who has flown out to help us move, twice! Yup, she's amazing and is coming through for me again. Everyone needs a Marcy, seriously, they're amazing blessings ;)

And to be honest, I'm assuming God's going to provide us with the $$ because, well, that's just how He rolls!

So, I'm one week out and I'm now getting excited to fly back! Still nervous about flying, our finances, and being away from Zach for 2 weeks, but I'm looking at the amazing way's God has provided for us in the past and I know He'll do it again.

There are more reasons that I'm excited to go back to Canada, but I'll share those another time(have to ask permission to share first!). 

Now I just have to get past that pesky flight there and I'm golden! 

My whole family....minus Zach (another trip where he went home earlier than Aubrey and I)

Aubrey and her Opa (my dad)

with Grammie!

Playing with Jordan

Auntie Marcy

I Can't Be Stopped!

I'm a sewing machine (haha) these days (and by days, I mean two days in a row). Funnily enough, I'm not feeling that great (still), but I'm really in a crafty mood. So Sew I will!

I got this idea (and tutorial) from an awesome new blog I discovered, Ruffles and Stuff, and I had to make it....right away, as in minutes after seeing it on the blog. Yeah, that good!

lollipop shirt tutorial

I mean, seriously?? How cute is this lollipop?! And it was so easy to make, took a total of about 20 minutes (I had a plain tank on hand) and Aubrey loves it, perfect!

A little close up of the "candy" part. Man I'm good ;)

And this little scarf I whipped up from a half yard(or was it a quarter of a yard...hmmmm) of jersey I had bought, back in Jersey (haha man I'm on a roll today). It was so simple to make, just sew three sides together and turn it right side out and slip-stitch it closed! It's so soft and I can't wait to wear it on our up-coming Canada trip!

It's a bit shorter, so it has a bit of a cowl look when on.

I'm planning on buying white jersey and making this one from

Dear Lillie

(click on the link....and then check out the website...and their blog! You'll be glad you did....well, maybe not. You'll want to buy everything and get lost in this woman's life and photography for hours like I did.....but do it. It's good, and worth it.) 

And here I am, modelling it...

The lighting in our bathroom is not really picture friendly. Our place is pretty bright, but not enough for pictures. It's annoying.

and SHAZAAM! Here I am. Large and Lovely at almost 14 weeks. Yup, the memory foam in my body is remembering my pregnant body just fine. Awesome.

Totes Magotes...

I finally got some sewing done yesterday which, to be honest, is kinda funny because yesterday was one of those days that pregnancy kicks your butt. But hey, I'll take what I can get. I've been wanting to make Aubrey a library tote since, well, she got her very first library card a few weeks ago :) 

 She's so cute when we're there, just wandering and grabbing books, not really looking at them and just shoving them in the bag! 

Random Story--- on our first visit to the library, Aubrey was doing her thing and picking books. We did a quick once over and got rid of a few we didn't like/agree with and Zach saw one that said, "getting ready for the new baby" and he's like, "oh that should be good" and I agreed.....well, little did we know, but it was some crazy random book about kids feeling left out because of the new baby and addressing why they don't like their baby brother/sister(I really don't want to fill her head with those thoughts because she hasn't uttered a peep about it yet). 

But the worst part?? It explained (in depth!) the birds and the bees!....with pictures(of animals oddly enough)?!? WHHHATT? It was totally geared towards Aubrey's age too, I want to know who tells their child at 3 ALL the ins and outs of procreation?!? Seriously??

Anyway, back to the tote... I wanted it to give it a little somethin' somethin', so I added her initial and a few cute buttons to the front pocket(which I wish wasn't that purple color, but hey, whatcha gonna do now).

And there's a cute little pocket inside for her own personal library card :)

I used some Amy Butler fabric from her Love line and I wish I had bought more than just a yard of this when it was on sale at the local fabric store back in NJ. I absolutely love (haha, get it??) this fabric!

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but Aubrey's even happier! And that's what matters most.

Linking up at....

Scenes From Savannah...

Well, the long weekend with Zach really was everything I had dreamed it would be (that's for you Astrid!)! We made the most of his whole time off, we didn't waste a minute! 

Saturday was spent at home relaxing. Zach and Aubrey went in the pool for hours, and by hours I mean 5! Seriously, they have waaaay too much fun in that thing. I was able to go out by myself for a couple of hours and did a few errands/returns/crafty shopping. Any alone time is coveted! We grilled some steaks for dinner and it was just a fabulous day. 

Sunday we tried a new church that was recommended to us by one of Zach's coworkers and we LOVED it! I'm so glad we tried it, it's totally not something we would have gone for on our own. It's one of those mega baptist churches that I've been so intimidated by, but they did such a fabulous job of making it feel close knit and the worship and preaching was amazing! And don't get me started on the Sunday School program! Aubrey was in her glory! 

Right after church we headed into Savannah. Only Zach and I would make an afternoon trip with a 2 and a half hour drive one way! We had such an amazing time and it's an out of control gorgeous city!

My only complaint was that it was super cloudy out. Now, it was fabulous for the comfort/sweat factor, but the pictures took a bit of a beating. It was the super dark kind of cloudy, not good for the pictures(my skillz just aren't there).

We were there for a total of 5 hours and we made the most of it, walking around to see all we could. 

I love love love Savannah and I can't wait to go back...soon!

Monday was a get-stuff-done-around-the-house kinda day. We finally tidied/cleaned out the garage(and by we, I mean Zach) and we can actually park our car in it! Yay!! We'd been putting it off for quite some time and it felt so good to get 'er done.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell. A pretty great nutshell if you ask me :)