quick break!

a coat of fresh paint is on the living room walls {REALLY brightens our space, yay!}, a FULL fat dessert treat is baking in my oven for a fun evening girlfriend get together, and i'm just now sitting down! it's been a productive day!!  this is my last week of vacation and i'm trying to soak up every last second. i won't get anymore "vacation" until maternity leave so making sure i enjoy this time is even more important that usual.

a couple of cool things to share with you all. first, i started reading the book "The Veganist" by Kathy Freston. first, let me say that i am 1) NOT a vegan 2) not looking to BECOME a vegan but 3) DO think that the american food system is something that we need to pay more attention to and know more about. i watched the movie "Food Inc." with a friend months and months ago and was blown away.  we, as a society, are so removed from the way in which our food is grown, harvested, packaged, prepared, and marketed to us that it's really quite terrifying.  being in healthcare, i see every single day the consequences of poor food choices which is only one reason why i think it's so very important for us to be more aware about the way in which our food system works.  the book itself does discuss the benefits of being a vegan in particular but my interest and reason in reading it is the very same reason for watching "Food Inc.".  i want to be a conscious consumer and a conscious member of the environment. i want to understand where my food comes from and how i can choose food that has less of an environmental impact and is more humane.  again...NOT a vegan and not looking to become one {i could, personally, not live without ice cream thank you!} but i still highly recommend this book.

second, are you guys on Pinterest?? Oh. My. Goodness. i am in LOVE with this site.  it is, essentially, a virtual pinboard where you can "pin" pictures of things that you love to organized boards.  it is so visually and aesthetically stimulating that it's hard for me to describe. you have to be "invited" which just means you request an invite and you get one....suuuuper exclusive ;)  the only drawback is that you have to have a facebook or twitter account.  ryan and i got off facebook about 6 months ago so i broke down and created a twitter account....this is laughable! i don't and WON'T tweet, i just did it for the pinterest, i swear!. you can follow your friends and share your pins & boards. to get an idea of what it's all about check out my pinboard here.

emma is loving her books lately.  she is a very verbal little girl...our house is filled with chatter from the moment she wakes up.  the crazy thing is how she understands when you ask her certain questions and responds appropriately. we are reading to her more and more to help foster this part of her development. it's also an excuse to SNUGGLE!!!!!!!

the smell of baking is filling my kitchen which means....i've got to go! hope everyone has a wonderfully beautiful day!!!

on mom & friends

on saturday, we celebrated my mom's birthday {i won't tell which one because even though she has aged beautifully, i'm pretty sure she'll get mad....silly!}.  ours has not been a relationship without its struggles.  the tumultuous mood of a teenage me made for some pretty heated arguments. as i tried to exert my independence she tried to exert her expertise and it usually made for some pretty colorful conversations in the bauer house.  while we certainly express our emotions in different ways, i've always known that my mom loves me...and becoming a mother myself has only served to strengthen that which i've known deep down forever.  there is nothing like a mothers love.  now that i'm older and have a life and family all my own, my relationship with my mom has changed dramatically. while we still express emotion in different ways and are very different people.....we are able to meet in the middle and love and appreciate one another so much more.  i call her for advice and venting on a regular basis!! watching her be a grandmama to emma is one of the highlights of my life.  emma swells with joy when grandma is here and vice versa.  mom, happy birthday....i love you, have so much respect for you, and have you to thank for teaching me how to be a strong independent woman :) oh and pretty much the best grandma ever...

emma was pretty tickled over the paddle ball set :)  she spent the day playing with all her fun toys at grandma and grandpas, giving hugs, chasing bubbles, reading books and just generally tuckering herself out.

she even got a few special bites of birthday cake ~ how can i possibly deny that sweet face?
she played and played and played until she couldn't play anymore.....she started to say "bye bye" to everyone about 20 minutes before we were headed out the door....her way of telling us "i'm tired mom and dad, let's go!!!".  she lasted about 5 minutes in the car before she passed out.  she completely slept through her diaper change and i didn't have the heart to wake her to change her into pajamas.....she slept in style in her sweet sundress.  to me, this is a sign of a day done well :)

vacation has me reflecting, in a good way, on how blessed i feel in my life. working the crazy schedule i do, it's easy to not have time to think about all the wonderfulness around and it is sometimes easy to get overwhelmed with stress {thankfully, this hectic schedule will change soon!}.  don't get me wrong, wonderful does NOT equal perfect.  but in this downtime i've been given, i can't help but get all sentimental and feel good about where our life is and where our life is going.

one thing in particular that i've been really touched by lately is my girlfriends. my AMAZING girlfriends.  my two best friends have been my friends for longer than i can remember.....one of them literally since i was born.  they are the kinds of girlfriends that we all deserve and that we should all be to those we care for deeply.  they let me be me in the truest of forms which isn't always pretty and i always feel like i can be completely honest with them no matter what. i laugh with them, i cry with them, i share life moments with them.  they remind me where i've been and help me be the best version of myself.  they teach me, daily, about being a good friend and i hope i'm half as good to them as they are to me. and i hope they know how much i love them.

one of the hardest things to learn as a young woman has been that some friendships aren't forever. even ones you thought would be. friendships do devolve as life changes and this is OK.  this doesn't mean that those friendships weren't real or valuable in their moment just that they weren't meant to see you through. this has been a bittersweet lesson for me to learn.  

the bright spot is that while friendships devolve.....others EVOLVE.  over the past year, i've been blessed to make some dear new friends who just make me smile from the inside out.  these women are strong and know who they are.  they love their lives, their work, and their friends just like me. we laugh, we cry, we learn from each other, but most importantly we have FUN.  they've helped me with my journey of realization that when you close out any negativity around you, you make room for SO MUCH GOOD to come your way and i love them for that :)

ok....enough philosophizing {yea i made it up} for today. it's a beautiful sunday!!!!!!!!! major changes are abound at the murphy house and i can't wait to share pictures!!! {i promised ryan i'd wait til its all done though}.  emma and i are headed to play with friends a little later at a party for the company Thirty One hosted by our friend Heidi.  hope you all have a fabulous day!!!

life was made for vacation :)

pretty much sums up how i feel about vacation ;) i snapped this on my phone the other day as emma flirted with the workmen across the street. in case you can't tell she's standing on one of the front porch chairs....climbing is {unfortunately} her new favorite activity! ;)

vacation is in full swing and i am seriously in love. the best part is that there is still a week and half left!!! :)  the painting project is going great. i finally feel like i chose exactly the right colors for our taste and our house! i'm hesitant to share photos until all is done and decorated.....mostly because i have a hard time envisioning things until they are complete.  there is still tons to do.....but i'll share a very unfinished sneak peak.  

the lighting hasn't been perfected yet so the rooms look much darker than they really are. the dining room {and soon the rest of the house!} is a very light cream color {capuccino white} and the kitchen is a brownish-grey color {ashley grey} which provides a beautiful contrast.

yesterday was a wonderfully simple day. its amazing how joyful life feels when you have no agenda, no plan, and no preconcieved notion of "what i need to get done" today. LOVE. after getting beanie off to school, i spent the morning painting the kitchen with the windows down to the sounds of adele's new album.  lunchtime was spent at the gym with my good friend sara.  we shared stories about the two firecrackers we're raising.....these two girls are peas in a pod and taking the world by storm, let me tell you.  it felt good to move and i felt totally refreshed after....thank you sara!

the afternoon looked little like this.... {pardon the quality, these are from my phone too!}

if i had shot a little lower, you would be able to see a little bump that has mysteriously grown where my flat tummy used to be ;) if you didn't know you would be able to tell.....you'd just think i overdid it on the ice cream {which i may have over the past couple of days!}....but it's there!

today's agenda includes more extreme laziness, some home decor shopping, napping, possibly finishing up the kitchen although i may take a painting break today, and LOTS of emma snuggles.  speaking of....i'll leave you with a few photos.  mornings are one of my favorite times with her. she's snuggly, absolutely joyful, and ready to play like crazy.  she has her milk and her breakfast and then proceeds to run around the house like crazy....it's like she's taking inventory to make sure all of her toys are STILL there after a good nights sleep.  this morning she woke up saying "night night!", her latest phrase. she loves it so much she says it even when it's not time to go to sleep ;)  after breakfast we head to the bathroom to wash our hands {she is OBSESSED with washing her hands and feet....every time she sees a sink she rubs her hands together indicating that she's ready for some good handwashing!}, brush our teeth.....and this morning, get a full body wipe down after she felt like it would be super funny to shove part of her waffle with butter and jelly down her shirt. ooooooh emma, you keep mommy & daddy so busy but we love you SO much :)

and last but not least....i can't help but share her most recent school picture.  it just makes me giggle. she is the spitting image of her daddy!!!

hope you all have an absolutely fabulous day. i've got lots of laziness to sink into so i'd better get started!!

long live vacation!!

i am officially on vacation and just one day in, i'm totally relaxed. this is a major accomplishment seeing as how it typically takes me about a week to unwind from work and actually settle into my breaks. i think this time, i was just SO ready, i jumped right in.

we took it easy this weekend...i had sleep and LOTS of snuggles from both my honeys to catch up on after spending every fourth night in the hospital. i purposely made no major plans for vacation because i want to be wide open for any spontaneous get togethers or ideas that come up.

the one project i did organize for myself involves repainting the interior of our house, including the kitchen, and redecorating for spring.  about 2 years ago, we painted the house very bold golden brown color. i remember at the time having found a room in a magazine that i loved and basically recreated in our home.  not a horrible idea....lots of home decorating comes from this sort of inspiration.  the problem, as i see it, is that instead of creating a space that really represents who we are and is filled with what we LOVE....we created a space that we thought looked good in a magazine.  first of all, the color is horrendous and does nothing for the house....it may have looked good in the magazine but it does NOT look good in our house.

as i've gotten older and maybe just a little bit wiser {maybe ;)}, i've learned that creating your space doesn't mean RE-creating a space you like from a magazine no matter how good you think it looks. don't get me wrong, i get lots of wonderful inspiration from magazines and websites.  the point is that creating your space.....creating OUR space....is now about filling our space with things that we love and things that represent who we are.  cute baubles and coordinated accessories mean nothing if they don't capture something about the people who inhabit the space.  i want to walk into my home every day and feel at peace, feel as if i'm on vacation in my everyday live....i want my home to be a sanctuary.  and as our master bedroom/bathroom becomes that space for ryan and i....my vacation has suddenly turned into making the rest of our home that space for our family. SO much fun!!!

a post wouldn't be a post without a few pictures of emma. she is SUCH a goofball. her latest trick doesn't not make us happy....she has learned how to crawl on top of the coffee table.  i have no idea how she got this idea and unfortunately she's pretty good at it. we're in the process of trying to teach her that this is not allowed....but not before i snapped a couple pics {parenting at its finest!}.

 she's also re-discovered her Bumbo chair.  she found it in the garage the other day and proudly brought it back in. she likes to sit and have her juice in the morning while ryan and i drink our coffee.

i hope everyone has wonderful day. its a stormy rainy day here.....the kind thats perfect for naps and snuggling.  and seeing as how i'm on vacation, those may be as lofty as my goals get today ;)

c'mon get happy!

{image courtesy of ashlemieux.blogspot.com}

whadya say? let's be happy :)

my daily scroll through by blog feeder will have me stopping someplace new after i stumbled across The Shine Project.  created by ashley lemieux, the idea behind Shine is to find the light within yourself and then spread that light to others by way of random acts of kindness.  LOVE!  in a world filled with negativity, this positive project just makes my heart warm.  ashley comes up with weekly challenges for you to facilitate this kind of positive mentality....up this week "Give a Compliment a Day!".  check it out, it will make you smile i promise!

yet another blog i follow {The Pleated Poppy} has a regular post called "What I Wore" {WIW}.  the point is to inspire you to get out of your PJs and actually put on something pretty....and to get creative about it.  alot of my wardrobe consists of scrubs {yawn!} but i thought this particular post would be a funny thing to try ESPECIALLY being pregnant.  it's insanely easy to get perpetually stuck in yoga pants when you're baking a little bun....just ask ryan....i basically refused to change out of mine when I was pregnant with emma.  i have no ambitions of being the most stylish girl on the block OR the most put together pregnant chick....but i thought it would serve as a little inspiration to put some more effort into my daily look {if for no other reason, for my dear husband!} AND would be somewhat comical to see my attempts to dress my pregnant body! stay tuned.....it's a rainy day off today so i'm sorry, but PJs reign supreme today ;)

emma's latest obsession is all girly.  she is infatuated with putting on shoes, necklaces, bracelets, and ESPECIALLY sunglasses.  she'll bring a pair to you and when we put them on her we say "who's the coolest baby???" and she goes wild. it's the cutest thing! i cannot get enough of this child.

she is a baby on. the. MOVE. folks. all she wants to do is GOOOOOOO! there is no sitting still these days. it's explore explore explore. who needs the gym when you have a curious toddler ;)

and finally....a pregnancy update :)

How Far Along: 10 weeks!

Size of baby:  Baby is the size of a prune! {1.5 inches long}

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 0 lbs....this will change, oooooh how this will change ;)

Maternity Clothes: still wearing all my old clothes although things are starting to feel a little more snug in the belly....

Gender: not sure yet! i have my sneaking suspicions....but we'll have to wait until May. we have an ongoing poll on our fridge, come on by and leave your vote!

What I miss: nothing yet.

Cravings: FRUIT, shredded wheat, chocolate chip cookies....just like last time ;)

Symptoms: soooooo sleepy but otherwise i'm feeling great!

Best Moment this week: hearing the heartbeat on the handheld doppler machine :) :) :)

hope everyone has a great start to their weekend. the only thing standing between me and vacation is one more overnight call in the ICU. saturday can't come fast enough!!!!

let the love grow

it's been a hectic couple of weeks. i say that a lot don't i?  i'm rotating through the ICU right now taking care of some of the sickest patients in the hospital.  i've been spending every fourth night in the hospital....no fun!  thankfully i only have one more week to go and then it's time for vacation!!!!! 2 whole WEEKS of vacation!!! :)

ryan is working hard and making major strides at work.  he's loving his job and it has been such a blessing to see him thrive in his new role as what i like to call "renaissance man!".  he's also working hard to complete our master bed/bath renovation and i'm getting more and more excited by the day. i can't wait to share pictures!!!  we are trying to finish up the major projects we have at the house in the next couple months so we can just take a breather from home projects and enjoy life in general....

....and by that i mean, another development in the life of our murphy family.  Emma is very pleased to announce that she will become a big sister in October!!!!

we broke the big news to the grandparents at a "happy hour" the week of st. patrick's day.  we had everyone over to celebrate the popular irish holiday.  i kept telling everyone that emma had a special "leprechaun outfit" she couldn't wait to share. once everyone was there i got her changed into her "big sister" shirt and she made a grand entrance. it was so funny watching everyone's reaction. at first, no one could figure out what her outfit had to do with leprechauns....it was hot pink and not really green at all.  slowly, they read her shirt and it sunk in. the living room exploded with cheers. emma was VERY proud of herself :) :) :)

we are SO excited that our baby girl is going to be a big sister. i'm also filled with this strange sense of guilt...and my protectiveness of her is on overdrive. i know we'll find the space in our hearts to love another child without taking away from our love for emma....but i don't ever want her to feel replaced. i know how silly this sounds....but it's the truth. i'm still wrapping my brain around it all!!!

it's virtually impossible to imagine being parents to 2. 2 under 2!! i keep joking with friends that there's "never a dull moment in the murphy house!".  it's so amazing to me that 2 years ago weekends were filled with sleeping in, laying by the pool, and spontaneous get togethers.  my life has magically and beautifully transformed into weekends filled with cartoons, dr suess, a house strewn with toys, giggles, and SO. MUCH. LOVE.  i've never been happier. we've never been happier.

...and we look forward to sharing our ride here with you. stay tuned ;)

what a life...

On Saturday morning....I woke up to this....

and this...

and this...

heaven!

my parents blessed us with a weekend away while they spoiled their first born grandchild rotten.  it was the treat of all treats.  we missed our munchkin dearly, of course.  but, we got some very special time for just US...something that is as valuable as gold these days.  the resort where we stayed was gorgeous and had all sorts of fun activities to partake in.  we opted for extreme laziness.  we took a long....LONG....walk on the beach and talked life. we explored the scrub oak populated resort and took afternoon naps. we slept in. we ate yummy ben & jerry's and soaked up a few precious hours of ryan and martina time.

i love him. without him, nothing in my life would mean nearly as much. and i love reminders that before 3 there were 2....and that WE are where it all began.  i'm pretty much the luckiest girl alive.

and then we came home to this......

i can't stop pinching myself. what a life :) even when things are hectic and stressful and all crazy like....what. a. wonderful. life.