Life. Love. Lipstick.

To the left side of the screen? I have two new sponsors! These “sponsors” happen to be hand-picked by me and I couldn’t be prouder to tell you about them! I love them so much, I’ve provided ads to them at no cost.

Pretty Fun is an Etsy shop by cool-gal Sara. She creates jewelry and purses that are to die for and there truly is something for everyone! Check her out here and here.

The Gifting Spot features personalized gifts for everyone in the family and should certainly be your first stop for any monogramming. The prices are good and the prints available on the products are right on trend. Check it out here.

Be sure to stay tuned and add us to your Google Reader. Mid-August is bringing a week of fabulous giveaways, including The Gifting Spot and Pretty Fun!

There are so many choices out there for bridesmaids gifts and it can be hard to narrow it down.  The best gifts are personal, but it can be hard to find something that doesn’t blow the bank.  Enter The Gifting Spot.  Owner Shana offers personalized gifts that are just too cute!  They feature the hottest patterns like seersucker, houndstooth, and damask, while giving you a bevy of options for thread color and monogram font.  Here are a few of my favorite gifts.

Spa wraps, waffle cosmetic bags, koozies, beach towels, seersucker totes

Any of these would be absolutely perfect for wedding party or bridal shower gifts.  However, the market tote is absolutely amazing.

This collapsible tote is only $28 and has so many uses!  I really want one.  Imagine the possibilities.  Take it to the farmer’s market, grocery store, on a picnic, or use it in your home to corral all those items that linger around the living room and kitchen counter.  When you’re done, collapse it and slide it under the bed or anywhere else.  For bridesmaids gifts, you could absolutely use this as a gift basket and fill with any of The Gifting Spot items I chose above.  Throw in a bottle of champagne, some chocolates, and a personal card, and you have such a fabulous gift!

While you’re checking out TGS, be sure to add the blog to your Google Reader and “Like” it on Facebook so you can stay in the loop with promotions and other news.

There’s more!  Through July 31, The Gifting Spot is offering FREE SHIPPING!  Love that!

Image credits: Row 1 – Wedding Paper Divas, Martha Stewart Weddings; Row 2 – Etsy seller urbandesign, Etsy seller vivianskitchen, Style Me Pretty; Row 3 – Country Living, Martha Stewart Weddings

I don’t love the way I put this together (in a hurry), but I had a beautiful collection of sweet, daisy-themed yellow and white images and wanted to group them together.  A wedding styled this way would be perfect with checkered tablecloths, fairy lights, and daisies in mason jars.  I would have loved a wedding like this in late summer.

One of my favorite celebrity couples is Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott.  They are so beautiful and so real and I’m absolutely addicted to their reality show.  They recently renewed their vows and the event was beautifully captured by their family photographer, the famed Elizabeth Messina.  You must go to Messina’s blog to check out images from the chic yellow and grey renewal.

My family has never had pics and I would love to rectify that!  Please log onto Facebook and become a fan of Clarity Photography. Find this post and comment on it that Rhonda Christian sent you. PLEASE! …

“Who wants a free custom session? This contest is for all the new fans or not-so-new fans that have never been photographed by Clarity Photography. Invite your friends to become a fan and comment on THIS post telling who invited them to join. The person with the most responses will win a custom session AND 3 mini brag b…ooks (these are the cutest little things you’ve ever seen!). Contest ends April 4th at noon. ready. set. go!”

Thanks so much!  If I win, I’ll do a giveaway of some sort!

(by the way, this picture is my friend Alicia and her family)

I love grey with nearly any color you can think of.  Grey IS the new black, at least for me!  It has all but replaced black in my wardrobe.  I envision a grey and white wedding with all shades of orange for a little color.  I really like the modern feel of this board, inspired by the sunset image by Susan Stripling.  I could see this wedding taking place in a seaside tent in the summer.

Image Credits (clockwise from left):

• Etsy seller jessgonacha
• Bella Figura
• Susan Stripling
• Elizabeth Anne Designs
• InStyle via Perfect Bound
• Erin Hearts Court via The Knot
• Aaron Lockwood via The Knot

While looking images for a post about my wedding that I wrote for my other blog, I came across these super cute shoes!  Designed by Lela Rose especially for Payless, the Unforgettable Moments collection is really cute and super-affordable!   There is a wide range of choices for color if you want to dye them, too!  My favorite ones are the Nathalie, only $45 (Edit: sold in an undyeable variation on payless.com for $24.99).

Which pair is your favorite?

Five years ago, I was living the typical life of a single woman in her mid-twenties.  I worked a lot waiting tables, and just as quickly as I could make the money, I spent it.  I bought clothes when I wanted, got my hair cut every six weeks, and drank half my tips before I could even leave the restaurant.  When I was wasn’t working, I lived a pretty leisurely life.  I slept when I wanted, laid by the pool when I wasn’t sleeping, and went out with friends at least once a week.  My dating life wasn’t very fulfilling, but at 24, I didn’t expect it to be.  I just wanted to have fun and I was definitely doing that.

Everything changed when I met a man we’ll call Jed.  I fell for him in a haze of long shifts, late nights, Goldschlager shots, and self-worth issues.  Within a few weeks of dating, I found out I was pregnant.  It was scary and I didn’t know how to deal.  With Jed’s encouragement, I decided it was a blessing and threw myself into changing my life to suit a child.  Martinis were replaced by water, I took shorter shifts at work, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 11 p.m.  In a tight spot financially, Jed and I made the decision to move out of state to live with his parents for awhile.  I was reluctant to leave when I was pregnant, because I wanted to be near my mom.  However, Jed had a plan, and with our given situation, I was up for it.  I won’t get into the details of his plan, nor the details of the events that led to our split.

It turned out that his “plan” was based on a lie, and somewhere along the 9 months of pregnancy, he decided that he didn’t want to be with me.  Rather than tell me his feelings had changed, he made some really bad decisions.  In the end, we made the mutual decision to part ways.  He said he would be there for everything, for all of our son’s life.

The night Nicholas Grant came into this world, I was at peace.  I knew God had a plan and a reason for this precious child to enter the world at the a “wrong” time.  I didn’t know why, but I now have my theories.  That’s a story for another day.

I took Nick home and threw myself into being a Mama.  Jed was there for the birth, though only physically.  His mind and heart were somewhere else entirely.  He conveniently got stranded out of town the day he was to sign the birth certificate.  We’ve seen him only once since.

Nick and I became each other’s everything.  I went out with my friends occasionally, but after several mornings of having to care for him while nursing a hangover, those times became few and far between.  I lost a lot of friends when my life became so different from the lives of my friends.  I didn’t feel a loss though, because my baby became my best friend.

Fast forward four years to today.  I am with a man whose love knows no bounds.  I can’t imagine where I’d be without him.  Dustin is Daddy to Nick, Harper, and Jude.  To me, he is everything.

Motherhood has made me a better person with my priorities in the right places.  I have reignited my relationship with God, set goals for my future, and have become a kinder, gentler, more patient person.  With all the steps forward I have taken, I have also taken a few back.

I used to really take care of myself.  I ate the right things, exercised, and kept up my appearance.  Now, I am lucky if I get my hair dry before leaving the house and I only wear makeup a couple of times a week.  I exercise when I get the time.  It has been a couple of months!  Before I was a parent, I had a lot of friends and I loved to interact.  It was a huge part of me.  I took a lot of time to myself, reading, sunning, napping, baking, walking.  Now, with kids clinging to my pant legs, I read a couple of pages at a time.  During the summer, I am in the pool playing games, rather than sipping a cocktail at the side.  Napping happens in 20 minute spurts and I bake simple kid-friendly cookies rather than experiment with truffles.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the changes in my life, but somewhere along the way, I lost part of myself.  Yes, I lost the bad parts and I don’t want them back.  However, I lost my individuality, which I think is really important.  We can be better parents if we take time for ourselves and maintain the parts of us that we love.

When I made my 30 Things To Do Before 30 list, I realized that most of the things I want to do serve to reclaim ME…. the woman inside the mom.  I am so excited about this journey and I think that I will be a better mom and partner for it.  I want to look put-together, with a house that looks the same.  I want to enjoy my own company, and use some of my quiet time to connect with God.  I want to create and foster friendships.  I don’t want to be seen just as Mommy, but also as Rhonda.

[This realization that I have lost myself has led me to create a personal blog.  See it here!]

I made these videos just after turning 29.  Just realized I didn’t post them on here!

For my birthday this morning, I was greeted with a Publix cake (my favorite!) and YellowTail chardonnay (my favorite!).  I have a date night planned with Dustin tonight – dinner and a movie.  So excited and blessed!  I have a great life for a mother of three who is struggling with finances.  Our apartment is sooo full of love!

But it’s fun to dream.  Here are the top 5 birthday gifts I would like to have RIGHT NOW:

1. KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer. I feel like baking up a storm.  Just need this gem.

2.  Dyson DC24 Ball Vacuum. Or really, any vacuum at this point.  Ours has slowly died and my carpet really needs a good vac’ing!

3.  MacBook Pro. As much as I love our iMac, sometimes I just want to lie in the bed or sit on the deck and surf the web.

4.  MAC Cosmetics Gift Card. I just really need new makeup.  Hot date with Dustin tonight, and I’d love to have some pretty new color for my face.

5.  Laser eye surgery. I am just beyond ready to shed the glasses.  When I get dressed nicely to go somewhere (like on my date), I feel like my glasses ruin the whole look.

I imagine I’ll have all these things someday, but in the meantime, I’m going to get dolled up in my old makeup, put my glasses on, walk across my dirty carpet, and go out with the love of my life!