January Favorites (A little late)

1. Zella Live In Leggings: Just like the title suggests, I live in these! They are the best leggings I have found on my quest to find the perfect legging. They have compression spandex so they are super slimming, they will not fade, and they have a wide waist band so there is no unwanted muffin top. Zella is Nordstrom's athletic line that is very comparable to Lululemon. I own 4 pair and plan to keep adding to the collection :)

2. Tangle Teezer: Amazing. I have a lot of naturally curly hair, but it is fine and prone to being dry. I used to dread combing out my locks after a shower even after using Moroccan Oil conditioner. I saw this creepy looking thing on a YouTube video and then spotted it at Target. I plucked out $9.99 for it and have never looked back. This brush is SO gentle and my hair doesn't make that ripping sound that used to make me cringe while thinking I should rush to salon for a hasty pixie cut.

3. Algenist Face Oil: My face is combo on a good day, and oily on most. Putting oil on my face seemed counterproductive to my skin care goals. I love the Algenist line and the girl at Sephora suggested I give this a try. After threatening her with a window egging if my face blew up with acne, I took home a sample to try. LOVE IT! It actually controls my oil and tricks my skin into thinking I have enough and it doesn't need to produce anymore. The anit-aging benefits are a plus as well. Hello, 30's.

4. Spinach and Kale Chips: We can't get enough of these guys!

5. Earrings: The new Morningtide Stud earrings have been my go to earrings as of late. They are so simple, but full of gorgeous detail. I love vintage feel and pop of pink.

6. 2 in 1 Statement Necklace: I'm obsessed with this necklace, or rather, necklaces... I love the nautical feel of it and it comes with two chains; navy and antique brass. I can instantly change the look of this for day to night. Just look at it! Perfection! Want $25 off? Just ask :)

7. Slippers: I found these at Target in January and they are so cushy and soft. Perfect for those chilly Florida nights :)

8. Hape Pound & Tap Bench: My friend gifted this to Isla for her birthday and the kid LOVES it! She's a little young to play with it as intended, so she makes sweet tunes with the hammer and xylophone, and plays fetch with the balls. Seriously, this chick throws the ball and then fetches it, then throws it again and fetches it. My dog acts like a cat and baby acts like a dog. Who knew?

9. Nosefrida: Honestly, this was not a fave of mine until Victor and I proved to be bad parents one night. Isla had just taken down her evening milk and we were making her laugh. Hard. She then threw up her milk and it came out of her nose! Her nose was packed with disgusting milk snot! I whipped this out, stuck it in her nose, and every trace of milk snot ended up in that little tube. It's not good for boogers, but snot doesn't stand a chance! I think this will be a life saver when Isla has her first runny nose...or we make her laugh so hard she nose vomits again :)

Valentine's Day: Mini & Me

Here it is! My Valentine's Day gift guide for mini and me. Now, I'm not delusional; I know my love. My love is NOT a Valentine's Day gifter, or a Christmas gifter for that matter. Last year was the first year I received a Valentine from him. He left work, drove to Costco at lunch, and brought home two dozen roses for Isla and I. This means I had to spend the next hour cutting and arranging said roses. Ummm, thanks? We then made a lovely dinner of Chicken Helper and watched a movie with a then two month old Isla. I will say that he has rocked out the birthday presents for the past few years, so the man is forgiven.

This gift guide is more of a what-Isla-will-be-getting-and-what-I-will-be-buying-myself-guide.

 

1. Be Loved Tee: 15% off today!

2. Heart Skinny Jeans: 15% off today!

3. Olivia and the Perfect Valentine

4. Sleeping Bag: Isla is a little young for this, but I can't pass it up. It is SO cute and 

can be personalized as well.

5. Headband - This is the same style that lots of people have asked about in Isla's Christmas 

photo shoot and her FSU game day photo shoot. I love these leather bows!

6. Bee Mine Jammies

7. Bee Mine Cookie Gram: I sent these at Christmas to the little loves of my life 

and will send them again for V Day. Daddy might get one too :)

8. Gold Pearl Earrings

9. Hello Heart Baseball Tee: I ordered one for me and one for my mini.

12 Month Favorites

1. Baby Bjorn - My baby daddy wears her in this EVERY day! He uses it when walking the dog, at the grocery, vacuuming the floors (true story)...

2. Babylit - These book are great! They are one word to a page, but if you remember the story (or don't) you just fill in the story line. Thanks to my bestie, her collection was started in December.

3. Yogurt Melts - These are our shut-the-eff-up treat! Put some of these in the munchkin snap cup, sit her in front of the Today Show and pure silence follows :)

4. Aden + Anais Stroller Blankets -  Now that it is getting cold in Florida (hehe), we need a little extra something at bed time. These blankets are soft and amazing...just like everything from aden + anais

5. Boon Flair High Chair - This high chair is fantastic! No crevices for food to hide and mold, easy clean up, and adjusts to bar and table height. Ah-may-zing!

6. Munchkin Snack Cups - Put those shut-the -eff-up treats in here :)

7. Boon Bath Toys - My mom got these for her for Christmas and she loves them! She tries to gather them ALL up. She fills one hand, fills the other and then realizes she needs more hands...so she sticks one in her mouth and then fills up the hands again. I die.

8. Light up rubber ducky - I picked this up at CVS as an impulse buy and it was the best $1.99 I spent in January. Turn off the lights and instant love :)

Valentine's Day Garland DIY

I am on a mission. I'm on a mission to make almost every holiday a special one for Isla. I love decorating and I love DIY. I'm not the best, obviously, and I don't have a TON of time. What I have is a desire for Isla to grow up in a home where the seasons are celebrated and her food is color coordinated :)

I wanted to do something simple and easy to transition her nursery from Christmas to Valentine's Day. I used washi tape to write LOVE and XOXO on her walls and added this simple felt garland to her crib. Don't worry...I remove it before nap and bed time. Here's what you need:

1. Felt balls - mine came from the $1 section at Target

2. Needle

3. Scissors

4. Thread - pictured is baker's twine, but it was too thick to fit through my needle. I improvised by using thread, but doubled.

5. 10 Minutes

All you do is double up your thread and tie a knot at one end. I measured her crib and knew the length I needed. I then laid out my balls and organized them in the color pattern I wanted. I then threaded the balls  on the string and continued until finished. Don't worry about spacing now, as the balls will move around as you thread. When you're finished tie a knot and voila!

Now, I may be a mediocre mom, but I do know enough to know that I need to remove this garland at nap and bed time. So here is how I hung it:

I used two 3M Command Hooks and tied loops at each end of the garland. I can now easily hang and remove when she's in her crib. Genius? I think so :)

Now, go make some Valentine's Day Garland for your little babe...or yourself <3

Mediocre at best

So I did it, or rather am doing it. I'm starting a blog. I have been thinking about it for some time and am just now getting around to it. I realized that I'm not doing a great job of keeping track of my sweet baby Isla's milestones and daily awesomeness. I refer to myself as The World's Best Mediocre Mom. Mediocre because although I make her delicious food from scratch for every meal, plan every outfit as if I would wear it myself...I can't remember when she first said "mama" because I didn't write it down in some hideous, plastic covered baby book with an old school safety pin on the front. This is where M is for Mediocre comes to the rescue. I will chronicle our daily lives so when I forget her birth length when filling out forms at the doctor's office, I can just pull it up here :) (That happened yesterday - Oops)

In addition, I love cooking, DIY projects, scoring amazing deals, and learning photography. So there will be lots of uninteresting posts about those topics as well. 

We will start here. This is me and my baby daddy just a few shorts weeks before Isla Mae blessed us with her presence. I love this picture. I love the candid smiles and the pure happiness we felt during this month before our sweet girl entered the world. We were just so happy that is was FINALLY happening...