Week In Pictures – A Family Visit and Shopping!

Hello everyone! Gosh, it is already 5-6 days into March! This past week has been a whirlwind as my husband went out of town for most of it for work and my mother came into town for a visit. We did quite a bit of shopping and just got to spend some time together. This was also my first full week in a new planner set up as well as adding some more to my journal. The week ended with some more shopping for the new baby as well as our little man.

I had a few things that I needed to pick up, some more spring/summer maternity clothes, some books and I had a few appointments throughout the week as well. This kept us plenty busy for the week and it seemed every day we had to do something!

I was able to get quite a bit of some new tops to gear up for the warmer weather (of course now that I have, it’s getting cold again) and I’m very much looking forward to spring and summer outfits that I can put together! Sweet Little Man and #2 also got some new clothes for summer as well. We’ve got everything saved from when Little Man was a baby, but with them being born at opposite ends of the year, there are some clothing items that we need to have. I also want to do a different theme for his nursery than we did for Little Man as they are different.

Little Man had a “woodland” animal/fox theme with Oranges and Browns in his nursery and I think #2 is going to have a mountain animal/bear theme with Blues for his nursery. I love what we have picked out so far and I think it is going to come together really well! We’ve still got to move quite a bit of furniture around and switch rooms around before I can decorate the new room, but I’m definitely in a nesting mode and think I will be for a long time still.

One other big thing that I did this week was to get my eyes re checked out. I’ve had glasses for a long time for when I’m reading/working at the computer/watching TV and when I was in school, but I’m one of those people that doesn’t typically wear them. I just strain through the situations and work through it. It has been steadily getting worse and I think it has some to do with the amount of migraines I deal with. I got a new prescription and some new glasses to go along with it. So far, it’s been such a difference! To be able to clearly see things has been so nice! No more straining to see for me.

How was your week?

MiaLeave a comment

Week In Pictures: Spring Weather Already?!

Good afternoon everyone! After all the craziness that I feel like February has been, this past week has been all about getting back to our routines.

I’m a planner and organized person by nature and love to have my routine. That’s not to say that I can’t be spontaneous at times, but I definitely like to have a general outline of things in order to feel sane. This past week was getting back into that bit of myself. I put my full cleaning routine back into effect (rather than the spot cleaning we were doing), decided to overhaul my planner and planning system, and started getting back into waking up early and having my “me” time in the mornings. These were all things that fell through the cracks when our month started getting busy and we were doing so much.

With that going on inside the house, some spring weather made a showing this week outside! We got a taste of 60-70 degree temperatures, which meant plenty of time spent outside for all of us. For a while little man didn’t like walking on the grass because it felt so uneven compared to cement or the flooring in the house, but after playing outside at the Cathedral, he has a whole new outlook when it comes to grass. He is now relatively unstoppable outside and both him and Copper had a good time running around! They wore each other out as well which was always nice for me as it led to a good nap and a little sleep in the next morning for little man.

We didn’t explore over the weekend as we had some errands to run and the weather wasn’t going to cooperate for long, but we still managed to get a little walk/hike in before the late afternoon storms started to hit! I absolutely love being in an area where we have nature all around us and so many different options to go walking and hiking. We like to be outdoors and get active so this area has been perfect for us so far!

It’s been relatively low key over here, which has been nice after what has felt like a constant movement/busyness of a month! February was full of so much and quite a few new, exciting adventures. I’m excited to see what March is going to bring to our humble home!

MiaLeave a comment

A Chatty Week!

Good afternoon everyone! It is a Monday and I feel ready to get down to business this week!

This past week and weekend has sure gone by fast! The week has been filled with the normal busyness of work and well life. We took a little “adventure” halfway through the week to just get out of the house and pick up some needed grocery items.

When we first started re switching (yes, re introducing and switching, that is a story I will tell) to milk, I didn’t realize how quick he would actually take to it due to previous situations. I also didn’t realize that his switch would literally be an overnight switch. Also, that switch would include the sippy cup that he just decided which one he loved and that he only wanted that. He literally woke up one morning and when we put him in his high chair, he refused to take his bottle first (which still had milk with a smidge of formula) and simply wanted table food. Once he had that he only wanted plain milk and took the sippy cup right away! Who woulda thunk 😉 Now our sweet little baby is turning more into our little man every day.

So, with all of that we ran over to get some lunch at Panera Bread and then a stop at Target for odds and ends and of course, some milk (we had only been getting 1/2 gallons until he made the full switch). Aside from that trip though, it was a pretty standard week of work and play (more play for Colton and work for me). Our little man is getting more and more curious at what we are doing at times.

We re arranged our lower level to give him more space to play. With that change, we also opened our desks and computers up and he is able to see what is going on on the screens at any time he would like. This is both good and bad as just about every day this week there has a come a time where he wants to be up in my lap banging away at the keys and playing “big and important” on the computer. My calculator seems to placate him (at least for now) and it is something that he can also carry around with him and I’m not worried about him damaging it!

Over the weekend, I had a singular goal of finding a dress for a special occasion that we have coming up in February. It requires a floor length “ball” gown type of dress and the search was not one that I was overly looking forward to. Being 19 weeks pregnant with Baby #2 can mean any number of things for your body and I honestly didn’t know what type of style or dress I was really going for. I am in that time where the baby bump is “cute” before starting to get big, so I wanted to lean towards something a little more form fitting than an A-Line or Empire waist style dress, but I wasn’t totally sold on that. Above all, I wanted to feel comfortable in whatever I chose and look good/appropriate.

I am not going to show pics just yet, as I want to show the entire look, but suffice to say, I found a dress that I absolutely love! I have never felt so good in a dress and I am so glad that I decided to go out on a whim and try it. It is form fitting, but gives me room to breathe (and grow if need be!).

My second goal of the weekend was to get my life and home back in order. I didn’t know when or how I was really going to approach this goal, but I knew that I needed to put in some time to do some writing, a little tidying of accumulated messes, and get my meals figured out again. I think I’ve also conquered this goal as well! I have cleared the last bit of mess from our moving furniture and tidying last weekend as well as cleared out quite a few of the accumulated messes. I’ve still got to sit down and sort some meals out and write a couple more posts, but on the whole, I feel quite accomplished!

How was your week and weekend?

MiaLeave a comment

What is Date Night?

Good afternoon everyone! We are at the start of yet another weekend even if this week may be shorter for some of you due to the holiday, it’s still another week and that can mean long hours or stressful work to be done. I want to touch on a little bit of a self care for your relationship amid the chaos that can be the week. I am going to do a self care post as well for taking care of yourself as an individual, but wanted to start with more of the “Date Night” first.

*Quick side note, because I can’t resist…I am currently in the office/den/guest quarters of our house to get some work done. My husband (who is off today) is upstairs playing with our son and I am just down here marveling at the excited, happy squeals and screeches coming out of my our sweet boy as he just runs around the house with daddy. It warms my heart in a way that I cannot explain. Now that I’ve gotten that little note of emotion out of the way…

When Rob and I were expecting we heard (and I knew) that continuing to take care of our marriage, separate of our son and future children, was going to be key. While I know that we have a strong, solid, loving, caring marriage, kids are hard work and it is so easy (so so so easy as I’ve learned this past year) to forgo that while in the throws of parenthood. I didn’t want us to lose any bit of our marriage and really wanted to develop some time in our week to devote to each other, as most nights we spend as a family.

Here’s a little tidbit about Rob and I, we are one of the biggest pair of homebodies ever. We don’t really like “going out” unless we are making a special trip out (like a day trip or a weekend away) and we just tend to feel more comfortable in our own home. We also aren’t really into crowds or a lot of social events. The social events that we do attend are work events and, while nice to have, are not really what I would consider “Date Night”.

The fact that we are homebodies is not a bad thing, but it can make what is considered a traditional “Date Night” (dinner and a movie or some variation of that), difficult. Combine that with having a young child and not a lot of family in our immediate vicinity, I knew that we needed to improvise.

For us, “Date Night”, looks like the following:

  • We order in food or get takeout from somewhere. Occasionally we might cook, but if we do it is super easy meals that don’t take a lot of prep work or cook time.
  • We put away cell phones, books, computers, tablets, whatever that might distract us. During our normal family times, we typically will multi task to an extent and so for our “Date Night” we make a point to put everything away after dinner and focus on what is happening. I also want to make a note that at a certain time during the week we stop multi tasking and focus on our family time.
  • We get a movie. We will either use RedBox or pull up a movie/tv show on Netflix and watch it. Each person gets a chance to pick every other week (one week it’s my pick, the next it is Rob’s). This allows both of us to be able to watch what we want and not always feel like we are having to watch what the other wants to.
  • Typically (not always, but most of the time), we end up sleeping in our living room. This means we don’t have to worry about getting up at the end of the night or having to do anything further other than enjoy the evening. We get to just relax and not worry, which is so nice.

This is our Date Night tradition and it fits perfectly for us! We also don’t have to worry about the expense of having to get a babysitter as we are at home still and our transition into “Date Night” flows really seamlessly. Our son is old enough to where he can play independently (although still supervised) in the same room as us and goes to bed at a reasonable time so that we are not falling asleep right as we get into the movie.

I would love to hear if you have a specific tradition for Date Night or how you handle getting in time with your spouse that is somewhat or all kid free!

MiaLeave a comment

A Short Post about a New Feature

Hello everyone! I hope that you had a good week and hey, if nothing else, it’s Fri-Yay! Today is going to be a quick post as it is a busy day for us!

I am going to start doing a weekly or semi weekly post (depending on how the week and scheduling goes) of “A Week in The Life”. This post would be going up on Mondays and it would feature pictures and descriptions from the previous week. This would include travels and adventures that we go on as well as “humdrum” everyday things.

I have always loved to document our life in pictures and videos and have long been trying to figure out what the best way to do that would be. I want to share the adventures and travel we get to do, but I also am a slightly private person and didn’t want to expose my young child to the internet and my husband and his job. I am going to give this a shot and see where it goes and what happens!

I am hoping that I can find that perfect balance between sharing enough without feeling like I’m overstepping or exposing my family to too much. We shall see how it goes and what happens.

This first post will be up on Monday and will be a very exciting one as there are quite a few pictures that we will have! I am very excited to share!!

MiaLeave a comment

What Am I Doing? A Little Chat.

When I was thinking of some ideas for posts that I could be writing for this blog I hit a wall. Not an actual wall or even close to a writing wall, but more of a “Mia, what the heck are you doing?!” I had to have a good little moment to think if I could really keep up with the schedule and with everything else that I am trying to do and accomplish. As well as think about what I wanted to share and where I wanted this blog to go.

I am a wife, mum, part time employee, full time business owner, all while still trying to keep not only my sanity, but my home clean and my friendships intact. It is a lot to balance and I feel like I have finally been coming into my own rhythm. Do I really want to add one more thing to the mix?

One may think that blogging is a piece of cake all you do is simply sit down and write a post. Folks, I wish that were the case. There is so much thought and planning that goes into a single blog post and for me, it will sometimes take more than an hour to do depending on the specific post that I am writing. It can be easy and quick, or it can take quite a while to come up with a post that I am happy to put out there and proud of. With that little bit of business out of the way, back o my rhythm…

I have finally found my happy place in my schedule. It may seem weird to anyone that I have to have a schedule even though, I work from home and rarely actually get out of the house (getting better about that though!), but for me it is a necessity. It allows me to feel organized and like I’ve got my head on straight. Each day is roughly planned out in groupings of about 2 hours. I based that off of my little human and what has, so far, worked best for him. Within those blocks, I designate my time, work, blog, play with little human, etc. This has allowed me to be able to have my “me” time (which I talk about HERE with my weekday morning routine) as well as just make sure our home is clean, food is on the table, and things are running smoothly.

My dilemma was wondering if I had the space to put one or two more things into what I found worked well for me. I was able to have some reading time, cleaning time, cooking time, all of these other items that needed to come first, without sacrificing anything else that was important to me. BUT you know the saying, “You always find time for the things that you love” and having my own spaces to share with anyone who wants to join has been very important to me.

With all of that being said, my biggest dilemma is how I want to share. I have a love for blogging. I have always loved to write (mostly fiction, this whole write about yourself thing is no picnic for me!) and I know that blogging is a great way to get that passion out. I also love to talk and share pictures and share my day to day life. So that is where I am at…I know that I can’t commit to posting every day or having a million and one pictures to share, but I know that I can post at least one to two times per week, but I am not sure if I am going to add another medium and do some videos, or if I will just stick with blogging. Decisions, decisions…

Ultimately the direction this blog is going to take is me; my life, the struggles that are day to day life, my families travel, just our lives. Whether I stick only with blogging, or if I incorporate another medium, the content that I will be doing, will remain the same. Until I make that decision of another medium in addition to blogging, you can find me here, or on Instagram/Twitter at acuppabooks. Until next time…

Curl Up with

A Cuppa Books

MiaLeave a comment

Healthier Living

Hello my lovely readers! I wanted to take a minute and chat with you about a transition that we had at our home earlier this year. It took a little time, a lot of dedication, and something that has really changed our household. I wanted to share a little bit of the journey that we went through and how everything came about.

I’ve always loved cooking (and baking). I always loved creating meals from scratch and experimenting with foods. When my husband and I first started dating, we somewhat shared the cooking duties, but my husband kind of did it a little bit more than I did due to our schedules. At the very very beginning, we had kind opposite schedules, so he would cook and then I would eat when I got home. Then once our schedules balanced out and matched we split the kitchen duties. We cooked from scratch some, and used frozen dinners or box dinners for quite a bit as well.

Then we moved to South Carolina and my husband became a Drill Seargent. Honestly, nothing could have prepared us for what that was going to be like. The long hours and the constant “tiredness” for my husband changed a lot. We started to rely on the box or frozen meals as they were quick to prepare, kept relatively well on the cooktop, and they allowed for quick eating late at night. Honestly, I kind of despised what I was making for dinner and felt very stuck in a rut of unhealthy but quick meals. This was a little over two years and that habit (even though I didn’t like it) became very easy to fall into. I made a promise to myself that once we moved and left that lifestyle I would make more of an effort to make full meals from scratch, no more boxes.

Fast forward to a few months after our little human was born, I finally felt like I was in a place where I could make good on that promise I made myself. Typically in our household it takes about 2-3 weeks to make a habit “stick” and one weekend I just decided that we were not having anymore box dinners. That’s exactly what happened. I looked up a couple of recipes to try out and made a meal plan that had Rigatoni, Casseroles, etc that I knew would be a good entry into this new lifestyle of dinners.

Honestly the only thing I kept thinking to myself was “Stick to it. 2 weeks, just get through 2 weeks”. I knew deep down that at the end of those 2 weeks I would be so hooked and it would feel like the new routine. And those first 2 weeks weren’t easy. They weren’t hard, per se, but they weren’t a breeze. Our little human was just starting to become more of a handful and it was difficult to set aside the time, but I made myself. I knew that it would be better for our family once I got into the routine and got away from the unhealthy things that we were eating.

I got through those 2 weeks and sure enough, the habit stuck and I started loving being back in the kitchen. I started venturing into new recipes and started making more complex recipes again. Along with this change, I tried to implement a couple of other changes, I cut most of my soft drink intake (only one a week, except on vacation) and started trying to eat better lunch and breakfast meals. I am also trying to start adding more salads and vegetables into our dinners.

Here is the biggest part of our transformation. Although this wasn’t a sudden change, when I decided to do it was and so therefore, we still had one Hamburger Helper meal left in our cabinet. My husband didn’t want to simply waste the box and I wanted to test and see how much we had really left the box dinners behind. About 2 months after making the homemade meals every night, we made the Hamburger Helper. It just so happened that it was one of my husbands favorite ones. After finishing, he found that he didn’t want a second helping (unheard of) and that he didn’t really like the meal! I knew at that moment that we weren’t going back and that we were back on track.

We’ve been eating homemade meals for ~4 months now and are happier and much healthier with the rest of our choices in food as well! My biggest takeaway was to just stick with the change, even if I had a night that I didn’t really want to cook I knew that I had to and that it would be worthwhile. It was and still is! Now, I’m off to eat my Chicken, Rice and Salad dinner. Until next time…

Curl Up with

A Cuppa Books

MiaLeave a comment

Can I get a Restart Button?

Good evening everyone! It’s Monday and the great thing about this blog is it’s my personal blog, so as much as I try to “schedule” content, I don’t have to! When something feels like it should be talked about, I can talk about it! I was originally going to talk about how we got back to eating and being healthier, but I had something start to happen on Friday and decided to talk about that instead of being healthier (although it could be argued that it is health related as well). I will still talk about being healthy, but on a different day.

Today I want to talk about having a “restart” button. Have you ever had one of those mornings where you feel like you just can’t catch a break? Where your whole day gets thrown off and you feel like you are just sitting and spinning your wheels, getting nowhere fast? Boy, did my Friday start like that! After not sleeping well Thursday, I actually overslept Friday morning and did not get my “jump” on the day. I usually get out of bed about 30-40 minutes before I get Colton up for the day so I have a little time to shower, get dressed, and possibly make a cuppa or some breakfast before I have to take care of him. When I miss out on this time, I feel like the rest of my day just gets thrown off. I am a highly organized individual and thrive being on somewhat of a schedule. I know when I have to get up to have a little bit of time before our son gets up, and how the hours of the day go in order to get the maximum out of each weekday.

So, Friday morning after oversleeping, getting myself barely out of bed before Colton started stirring, and generally feeling out of sorts, I desperately needed a restart button. I wanted to go back to bed and just start over. I have days like these, sometimes multiple in a row and they are typically some of my most frustrating days. I do have a way of “restarting” though that typically works for me if I can take a moment to do it. For me, it consists of putting on some music (the Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack is typically what is playing), making up a fresh cup of tea, putting my phone away, and either reading or just simply sitting for a few minutes. I do an abbreviated version of this in the mornings and I feel like it really helps set the mood for my day. It gives me a calming start to my normally busy weekdays and a chance to ease into my mornings.

I call these moments my moments to “Feed My Soul”. Everybody needs to set time aside to be able to take care of themselves and do what they need to to do to restart or re set there day/week/etc. It is essential to continue to be healthy both physical and emotionally. It can be whatever that really centers you or brings you back down to earth. For me, it is tea, soft music, and a book, but for you it can be anything!

How do you restart your day? Have you run into this problem recently? What do you do to feed your soul?

MiaLeave a comment

The Obligatory Introduction Post

Hello everyone in internet world, how lovely to meet you! My name is Mia and I am the owner/proprietor of The Cosy Book Shoppe (you can check it out HERE). With that, my shameless self promotion is done! That was easy. So now, while I was writing for my blog over there, I was thinking about how I really wanted to have a second outlet to share some of my other thoughts and ideas. Thus Curl Up with a Cuppa Books was born.

DCP (54 of 130)I am not really good at these posts, most of the below will actually be copied from a previous introductory post (I really liked it and I’m really not good at introductions), but I wanted to share a couple of random quirky new things that haven’t been shared…

1.) Some people do things when they get really excited like jump up and down, wiggle there fingers together, dance, etc….I clap my hands together in a golf clap. It doesn’t matter what it is that excites me, it could be a TV show, Book, a Person, everything gets equal treatment with the golf clap.

2.) I am an introvert who can do reasonably well in a social/extrovert situation. I do alright in social situation, I will hold a conversation (although not really start one) and I will meet new people quite a bit. That being said, I highly prefer and love being in my own home with the quiet peace that I have cultivated. I get overwhelmed being in the social situation the longer I am and I will typically start to slowly back away from the conversations and the people. In the worst scenarios (or if it is at my home or a more private location) I will retreat to our bedroom, or a bathroom to get a little break. No matter how it may seem (trust me) I am an introvert and homebody.

With those out there (you’ll find out more as this blog continues and goes along), I am going to put in some just typical information about me now:

I am a mom to a sweet ever growing ever changing infant boy, a wife to an amazing supportive man, play pal and sometimes parent of a 3 year old dog, and a homemaker. I also am still working part time for an insurance company. It’s a lot going on and a lot of juggling! It may seem like I don’t have much free time, but I always make time to do the things that I love.

So what do I love (aside from the obvious my husband, son and dog)? I love books, tea, candles and being outdoors. I’m a county girl from the south at heart who has a slight obsession with the United Kingdom (and well Europe itself). When I’m not reading, I am outside doing all sorts of activities (fishing, hunting, riding atv’s,hiking, etc.) I love exploring and discovering new places and I hate/am terrified of spiders. Seriously though, I am arachnophobic. I do not do well with spiders…at all (event the thought or pictures of spiders, no thank you). I do like to cook and bake as well. I’m a big homebody (as is my family) and outside of our outdoor activities, we are much more into staying home/in than going out.

MiaLeave a comment