Design Inspiration Monday

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Homemade Sunflower Seed Butter {Sunbutter}

A month ago I showed you guys the incredibly easy way to make Homemade Almond Butter. I love that stuff but was wanting to mix it up a little, so I made my first batch of homemade Sunflower seed butter. Let me tell you, this stuff was so good. It tastes more like peanut butter than almond butter does {for those who don't enjoy the taste of almonds}, yet has double the fiber of peanut butter- score! 

Ingredients:2 cups roasted sunflower seeds {either bought roasted, or bake at 325 for 15 min. or until brown}2 tbl. organic coconut oil {or grapeseed oil}1 tbl. agave {or other natural sweetener}1 tsp. salt
Add the seeds to your food processor {or blender- in my case, Vitamix} and mix until it starts to form almost a paste.
Once its clumping together like the paste add in the oil, mix for until smooth and then add in the agave and salt. 
I keep one jar on the counter and one jar in the refrigerator {to last longer}. I love this stuff! Hope you enjoy it too if you make it! Happy weekend friends...

36 Weeks Pregnant!

How far along: 36 weeks! Total weight gain: gained 24 lbs total. Maternity clothes: Still able to wear some tops, but pants these days are either workout pants, leggings, or maternity. Can't wait to wear all of my jeans again some day!Stretch marks: Just the ones from Christmas Eve on my chest, but still using the amazing tummy stretch mark oil {here} and the chest cream {here}. I swear, that oil especially, is the best stuff EVER!Sleep: Getting harder and harder to get comfy..and the roll that I have to do to get out of bed is quite humorous-let me tell you!Best moment of this week: In the midst of doing anything and everything baby I managed to squeeze in a little me time for a massage and a hair apt. Both were blissful!Miss anything:A full nights sleep {which I know I am going to be missing for a LONG time coming!}Movement: all.the.time. Food cravings: Been wanting a lot of pineapple, cantaloupe, and just cold fresh fruit in general. Might have something to do with the fact that it was 100+ here for three days last week!Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!Have you started to show yet: Yes, and I can't believe I still have 4 more weeks of growth to go!Gender: Boy!!Labor signs: Made more progress at my appointment this week. I am now a full 2cm dilated, 70% effaced, and a -1 station! How incredible would it be to go in to labor already dilated to a 3 or 4?! Yes please! Loving my Hypnobabies homestudy still! Listening to the positive pregnancy affirmations track all through out my days now- love the mindset it puts me in!Belly button in or out: The whole thing is out now..and I find it hilariousWedding rings on or off: They are so done..:(Happy or moody most of the time: Insanely happy! Looking forward to: Meeting our baby, but also just soaking this time in. 

Baby Brain

Ever since my doctor told me last week that she expects me to go 2-3 weeks early all I have been able to think about is baby. Cleaning for the baby, getting stuff assembled for the baby, freaking out about the baby, etc. Life as I know it has kind of stopped until I feel like we are 'ready enough' for him to come tomorrow. Friends and family have been amazing with helping us get ready. As of two days ago I was freaking out because I had approximately 6 newborn outfits {onesies and Pjs total} and now today, I have about 50. Seriously, some are borrowed and some were given..but either way we are overflowing with NB and 0-3 month clothes! How amazing to be blessed like that! 

One inconvenient {but yet I find funny} thing that is happening is this:

You see, when your nursery closet looks like the photo below, but yet you need to get the laundry started in-case he decides to come early, your dining room table becomes your closet:

Side note: I cannot wait to write up the tutorial for the bench/trunk. This thing is so rad!!! And once it gets painted and stained it is going to be even better.

But really, I feel like all I have done {other than work and some social life} this past week is prepare for baby boy. I have been a clothes washing, bottle sterilizing, mind preparing, book reading machine. Cooking real meals? Nah- I just use the stove for this lately:

Heres to hoping that my appointment later this morning goes well, and that we are making progress..but not too much progress- J isn't finished with this round of classes till Tuesday, and my MIL doesn't come back in to town until Wednesday!

Vintage Map Restored

We love vintage everything, and usually that also means that we have to love the imperfections in the vintage items..or figure out how to fix the issue. A few weeks back we scored this beautiful vintage wall map:

We got it on eBay for $100, and oddly enough still don't know where exactly it is going in the house..but we do know we love it. We were so excited once it arrived and then went to unroll it a little excitedly, and tore it. When you pull down the map you are supposed to pull from the center, and J and his eager hands pulled from one side, ripping the map from the wood:/ In the photo below- the map is supposed to be connected to the wood the whole way, not just the last 1/3:(

We simply took a screwdriver and separated the wood holding the map in place, and removed the tiny baby nails:

Once separated, we pulled the map down about 1in. farther to make up for the torn part and began super glueing it to one side of the wood:

Once glued, we used clamps in a few spots to hold it together tightly, and then we lightly {and I mean lightly} hammered the nails back in to the map. This babies were so tiny, you had to be super gentle. Just check out how tiny and adorable they were:

 In the end, you would never know that we tore it up and then fixed it. Now the only issue we have is figuring out where it will go. We initially thought the brick wall, but then realized it just wasn't right:

 I swear, one day we will figure out what to put up on that stupid wall. I think its our fault considering we are too cautious to put any holes in the precious brick, but man its been a year and we still haven't found anything worthy of it. Soon...maybe before the baby makes his debut..but probably not;)

Design Inspiration Monday

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How To Get Rid Of Armpit Stains..This Is Not A Joke!

I have a very bad habit of pinning things on Pinterest and then never doing anything with them. How many of us are guilty of that? I would say probably most of us. Well, finally the other night I put one of my Pins to the test.. a DIY version of pit stain removal:)
Apparently the stains don't bother J at all, but I do the laundry and it drives me nuts! {HAHA oops- he just called while I was writing this post and was quite surprised I was going to be showcasing to the world his pit stains..apparently they don't bother him only because no one sees them..whoops!} I was tempted to buy him new undershirts the other day they were grossing me out so much. But..were having a baby...so spending unnecessary money isn't on the top of my list! So I got to looking through my Pinterest Cleaning Tips board and found a great tip for that exact problem...and I already had all of the ingredients-perfect!via www.Picklee.com
I followed the directions to a T:

I used 1/4 cup dawn dish soap and 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide for the mixture to do about 15 shirts. Also, I knew that I was working with some serious stains so I automatically went ahead and scrubbed with a little baking soda as well. Here is what grossness I started with {you can also clearly see it in the above photo}:

I simply made the solution, and poured it on to the stains one by one in a large pyrex dish {to prevent any spills}. Once the solution was on I took a toothbrush and scrubbed on the baking soda. Side note: please tell me I am not the only one who has a toothbrush in their house specifically for cleaning?! Once that was all done I let all the shirts soak for a solid hour before washing them:

Now, i'm not going to lie..the end result wasn't quite as magical as I had hoped it could be. I think I might do this one more time to the shirts and see if that takes aways all discoloration. OR better yet- if y'all have your own fool proof method, please share! Here is what most of the shirts looked like in the end:

See? Pretty dang good, but not quite great! I am glad I tried this though, because now I have just one more Pinned item that I have actually followed through on.

Tell me, do you guys have any home remedies that you know and love for cleaning? I have tried a lot, but haven't quite found ones that I know I will continue to use time and time again. Hope everyone has a great weekend, we are going to be busy over here trying to get everything finished before this little man arrives! Yikes!

35 Weeks Pregnant!

How far along: 35 weeks! Total weight gain: gained 22 lbs total. Maternity clothes: Still able to wear some tops, but pants these days are either workout pants, leggings, or maternity. Can't wait to wear all of my jeans again some day!Stretch marks: Just the ones from Christmas Eve on my chest, but still using the amazing tummy stretch mark oil {here} and the chest cream {here}. I swear, that oil especially, is the best stuff EVER!Sleep: When I am actually asleep, great. Waking up 4 times to go pee..not fun. Best moment of this week: My brothers wedding this past Saturday! Such an incredible time and seeing him so in love!Miss anything:A full nights sleep {which I know I am going to be missing for a LONG time coming!}Movement: all.the.time. Food cravings: Been wanting a lot of pineapple, cantaloupe, and still olives.Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!Have you started to show yet: Yes, and I can't believe I still have 5 more weeks of growth to go!Gender: Boy!!Labor signs: Contractions are continuing and just found out yesterday that they have actually been doing something. I am 1-2cm dilated and 50% effaced. CRAZY! My doctor said she thinks I will have him somewhere in between 37-38 weeks {but obviously could go to 41 weeks as well!} Loving my Hypnobabies homestudy still!Belly button in or out: The whole thing is out now..and I find it hilariousWedding rings on or off: They are so done..:(Happy or moody most of the time: Insanely happy! Looking forward to: Meeting our baby boy..can't believe its so soon! Heres to hoping we have an incredibly productive week- so much still to do! But also, I just want to relish in these last few weeks of being pregnant.

Nursery Update

My handsome hubby has been hard at work over here between school,work, and nursery projects. In the last couple of weeks he has put up almost all of the board and batten, added trim to the door, painted {with our paint sprayer, i'll go in to more detail on that later} the board and batten, and just recently finished framing out the bench/toy chest! Here are some progress shots:

Prepping the windows for the paint. Cant tell you how many people have thought that the walls {with plaster} are what we want, possibly going for a cloud look! Cracks us up! No people, we are definitely painting the top of the walls.

Painted all beautiful!

The framing not quite finished, although now it is. I am so excited to be able to use this bench for not only mass amounts of storage, but also a reading nook.

Today we have an electrician coming and adding another outlet {the room currently has one}, adding a junction box in the closet ceiling so we can put some sort of pendant light in there, and making our current single light switch in to three. We will now be able to control the fan, the fans light, and the closet light all from the switch! Hooray for some serious modern conveniences. 
Also, last night I tested one of my latest Pins trying to remove pit stains from Js undershirts..i'll report back on Friday if it was successful or not!

Vintage Nautical Baby Shower

I am so excited I finally get to share these photos {by Melissa Young} with y'all. A few weeks back my sister and two best girlfriends threw me a seriously amazing baby shower. I knew with their combined talents that it was going to be great, but they really blew me away! {My family shower was incredible too, but I don't have photos from that yet.}
I'll let the photos do most of the talking here:

 All the guests received organic bars of soap:

 Can't believe my girlfriends even thought of the adorable details like these:

 Kylie found this adorable vintage toy at a local shop

 The table centerpieces were perfection:

 My moms rice krispy treats are literally heaven..craving some more now:

 Sangria for the non-preggo people, yummy lemonade and water for the rest:)

 My mom and mother-in-law are not excited to become grandmas at all;)

 My beautiful mother-in-law

My amazing {and also pregnant!!!!} sister

 The ever so fabulous Melissa Young

 This sweet girl came all the way from CO!

 Our baby boys are due two weeks apart! Can't wait for future play dates

 Mama and sis:)

 Now here was one of my favorite parts of the shower..Kylie {owner of Modern Manor}brought a ton of incredible vintage iron-ons and her press and everyone made bibs, onesies, shirts,etc. They turned out so great!

 By far the best part though...everyone laying hands on me and the baby for a time of prayer.

 So grateful for all of the gifts

Me and the beautiful hosts of the shower:

It was such a perfect afternoon celebrating baby boy. They put so much thought in to every little detail, and it totally paid off. Thank you to everyone who came, we love you all.
What do you all think? Wasn't this such a cute shower?! 
Also, I talked a little bit about The Savvy Sale over at Scottsdale Moms Blog this morning {at 7am}. Go check it out if you are interested in seeing the steals you can get at baby consignment sales.