April 14th marked BB's 1 year birthday! We had a celebration fit for a 'little man', complete with mustaches, bow ties, and some cake smashing.




April 18th a dear friend, Daniel, passed away. He had a long, courageous battle with cancer. He is the husband of my best friend, Erin - who is no doubt, hands down, one of the STRONGEST women I know.

We celebrated his life April 23rd.

Watch this video, he left quite the legacy.

Daniel's parents, George & Nancy, are another example to me of strength, but more so faith. They have their only 2 children in Heaven, Daniel & his younger brother Matthew. Matthew passed in a car wreck when he was 15.

Faith is what they exude.



As a Christian, I know that faith is a necessity. To have faith that there is a reason for everything - and that it's God's reason. It's hard though to fathom the "why".

One day though, all questions will be answered....

The month of April brought so much laughter & great memories, but it also brought so many tears. Causes me to want to hug my loved ones a little tighter, and make sure that they all know how much they mean.

Do you have an example of faith in your life?

Do you have a courageous woman in your life?

I gave Erin this bracelet....leave it to me, when I can not find the words to say I use fashion!



This bracelet is called COURAGE. It is one of our 'friendship ties'.
The card it comes on reads: From caring comes strength


How has your April been?

I'll be the first to admit, I'm a total snob about handbags. It's not my intention to be - for some reason, somewhere along the way (ahem, totally my dad's fault), I developed an affinity for designer bags.

I do read the Bag Snob regularly.

However, BB has put quite the whammy on my love of handbags. When it's just he & I on the town, it's A MILLION TIMES easier to just tote my wristlet in his diaper bag.

At the moment, this is his diaper bag:

Boxy Backpack by Petunia Pickle Bottom in Black Current

Go read up on it HERE but it's such a no hassle bag! I can wear it as a backpack, messenger, or over the shoulder. It has a built in changing pad, lots of pockets....just super easy to use. I took it on our trip to Vegas & it worked well.

(The changing mat REALLY comes in handy for those public restrooms that have NO DIAPER CHANGING station. Ugh so frustrating.)

So back to where I was headed originally....I've had to abandon my bags & now revert to just the diaper bag with my wristlet. Unless MattyB is also in tow, and then I can totally do up the handbag holding.

Stella & Dot recently launched some new totes....I'm not going to lie, I was totally skeptical of this new endeavor. Mainly because I have to order samples and I was totally cringing with having to purchase a tote that I despised only to promote it as something to buy to all my clients!

Alas, oh ye of little faith. Our design team made a believer out of me! Now I'm toying with the idea of changing BB's diaper bag to one of these! The prints are perfection for summer & they all have a "wipe clean" fabric. 

Here is the How Does She Do It tote...

The Getaway Weekender

Did you catch that!?! It unzips to EXPAND to a taller tote!!!

La Totale

More organization! I'm just apparently a sucker for this water bottle pocket!

Water bottle pockets - - the perfect idea for any bag! This means that virtually any tote can be used as a diaper bag, gym bag, marathon shopping day bag, etc!

Go check out all the prints!

What is your "go to" diaper bag/gym bag/tote bag!?

What do you think of the new Stella & Dot totes?

Instagram is so much easier to do on a regular basis than blogging! Life has me crazy busy!

Half marathon training is done bi-weekly. Ha :) I was able to run 2 miles the other day with B in the jogger...until he got all fussy & had his fill.

My treadmill and I have not rekindled our love yet.

In more important news: Beau is turning 1 in 2 weeks.
Speaking of, Beau is pronounced "Bo".....not "Bew".

Little man & I have become more adjusted & settled into my work schedule. Working from home is not easy. I don't know who ever said it was, but they need to be punched.

I think that there is this misconception that moms working from home have all this extra time for grocery shopping, cleaning, social life, working out, etc. It's rather frustrating. I don't have the time during the day to put on deodorant, needless to say socialize! (Ha, good thing the half marathon training isn't in high gear with me not sporting deodorant!)

Regardless, consider this a public service announcement. If you're one to presume that a gal working from home, should have all the time in the world to have her home looking like a Pottery Barn ad, her kid looking like a Gymboree model, and herself looking like she walked straight off the runway.....please come back down to earth.