Pictured above is our wedding thank you card that I created on the Wedding Paper Diva's website. Today we finally finished preparing them and mailed about 55 cards to family and friends who attended or participated in our wedding. This was such a time consuming project. It felt like I was never going to get them sent out! With a little help from my hubby at the end, we were able to make it to the post office before they closed today. By adding a sweet holiday greeting inside, we were able to use them as our Christmas card this year too. Recently, we received the CD of all the images the photographer took of our wedding. Earlier this week I was finally able to go through all the pictures and decide on my favorites to print for us, our families, and the wedding party. This was a project in itself too, and I'm happy to have gotten this out of the way. Now with the cards and Christmas gifts for the family mailed, I'm hoping for a little relaxation time.

A Special Birthday

For my birthday this year my hunny and I indulged in some yummy truffles from Sweet Jenny's (adorable name for a shop!). I noticed this place when we moved to the area a few months ago and have wanted to go there. My wonderful husband also surprised me with an adorable Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag! Mine is the gray and yellow one pictured below. So cute and trendy!

My sister gave me the book L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad. I already now it is going to be a cheesy read, but we both love her regardless! And she gave the baby a set of cute green flannel receiving blankets that have monkeys all over it. My brother-in-law and his family gave me the greatest birthday card and a gift card to Starbucks. I loved this coffee shop so much before I was pregnant. Somehow I managed to quit my love for coffee and switch to tea for the baby. I know caffeine is alright for the baby in small moderation, but I would rather not risk it. The gift card will still be put to use tho! I love their sweets selection! For the Fall season, their pumpkin bread was my favorite mmm! My mother-in-law and momma sent me some birthday money to spend on myself but shopping for the baby has been more exciting than shopping for myself these days. I couldn't really think of anything I needed that I already had. My mother gave me so much new clothing a few weeks ago that I felt set in that department. So, I shopped for the baby, and I had a blast doing it! Here's what I got...

Sophie Giraffe because this all natural teether is too cute!

Okay, I lied! This one is for me but I'm sure the baby will be entertained with the music I make from it. I have wanted to learn how to play the harmonica for awhile now. I was excited when I found this nifty kit at Barnes & Nobles.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle because I don't have enough books already! A few months ago, I found a list of the top 100 children's novels and decided to start collecting them for my child. I hope to pass my love for reading on to my children.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein because this book is a classic and I can't wait to read it to my baby. At this rate baby Lindstrom's book collection is bigger than it's wardrobe.

23 weeks

This post is a little late, but here I am at my mother's house on Thanksgiving. The pink background really made my face glow in this picture or it could also be my excitement to eat lots of food for Thanksgiving. Even though this was only taken 2 weeks ago, I feel my belly bump has grown tremendously since then. There's definitely been a lot of movement going on in there, and the baby kicks have gotten much stronger.

This semester I enrolled in five classes and somehow managed to keep it together while being pregnant. Last week I had finals and was extremely busy writing papers and studying. It was beyond stressful for me, and I am now very happy it is finally over with. Since my due date is in March, it would not work to return for spring semester. I'm planning to take a leave of absence from the university and return in the Fall once I have daycare for the new little one. And those first few months after the baby is born are such a special time, I don't want to miss out on them either.

In the meantime, I get to relax and prepare for the baby's arrival. This is something I have been looking forward to the entire semester. Every time the semester comes to an end I get super excited to start leisure reading again. Before the baby arrives, I would like to finish one book a week. This is the last time in my life when I will ever have alone time like this, so I might as well enjoy it! When Matt and I went home over Thanksgiving break, my sister and I shopped at our hometown's used bookstore. I get carried away and can never control myself when the prices on books are marked so cheap. But, I think splurging on books is an okay thing and I even found the book Bambi to add to our baby's shelf. Pictured below are the new novels I discovered.

Also, the last couple of weeks I have wanted to clean and organize our loft but have been too busy with school to go into nesting mode. Besides preparing our place for the baby, I would like to update my scrapbook of Matt and I during our early years. This project seems to never get completed and if I don't finish it before the baby arrives, I know it will never get done. Here's to be being productive!

Whenever Matt and I drive back home, my mother constantly showers us with gifts throughout our visit. She does this because we have the room in our vehicle to bring it back with us and unlike when we fly, we're limited to what we can fit in our suitcase. We sometimes have to be stern with her and say "no" because she seriously doesn't know when to stop. Bless her heart, she is sweet and means well. Pictured above are the 4 tops, 2 sweaters, cardigan, jacket, skirt, dress, and clutch my mother gave me!! Usually she doesn't give me the right sizes. For some reason she thinks or expects me to be larger than I really am. Matt thinks she is still stuck in my childhood and thinks I'll out grow it. But, this time around it's worked to my advantage, because most of the tops above will make excellent maternity shirts. Yay! Oh, and besides the clothes, my mother gave us a new food processor, a neat mini travel game set, a quilted comforter, a bottle of Chardonnay, and some type of fish kit for Matt.

Black Friday

Everyone in Matt's family may think we're crazy that we join in on the Black Friday madness, but we enjoy getting out of bed in the wee of hours of the morning to shop on this particular day. And yes, Matt loves to shop as much as I do! For the past 5 years we have participated in this tradition and will probably continue to do so in the years to come. Even though we didn't do as much Christmas shopping as I would of liked, we found some great deals and saved too! We spent a total of $182.15 and saved $183.80!!!! Wow, that's pretty darn good! Here's what we found!I was really excited to find out the Baby Bjorn baby carrier was going to be a door buster at Babies R Us. It's on my list of baby items to get, so this purchase was my main mission for the day. There was only 2 left when we arrived at the store. Sale Price: $47.99 Regular Price: $79.99

Anthropologie is my favorite store, but the prices on most of their items are out of my budget. Instead I just gosh over the merchandise that I wish to have someday. Most of the time when I do make a purchase, it's from the sales rack. And today happen to be one of those days. Pictured above is the natural soy and beeswax candle made with Italian bergamot, pink peppercorn, lemon zest and cedar leaf essential oils. Without a doubt this store sells the best smelling candles. Sale Price: $3.95 Regular Price: $26.00

Matt's been eyeing a TomTom for awhile now. I'm surprised we have gone this long without one. We go on so many road trips, and they're even convenient to have around the city. It was advertised on the front page of Target's ad and was our steal of the day. Sale Price: $79.00 Regular Price: $189.99

Every year on Black Friday there are numerous deals on a wide variety of DVDs. We always add a few new movies to our collection because of it. The Wizard of Oz is a timeless classic every child loves. Sale Price: $5.00 Regular Price: $9.00

Matt and I haven't seen Happy Feet yet, but I've heard it's adorable. Just looking at the cover makes me smile. I already know this one is going to be a hit in our home. Sale Price: $3.99 Regular Price: $13.00

I found this beautiful yellow flower and glass vase at Ikea. It wasn't on sale, but their prices are always affordable. It's a very simple and sweet decor piece. Regular Price (flower): $1.49 Regular Price (vase): $.79


I found this adorable outfit at H&M. It wasn't on sale either but like Ikea, everything is super cheap there. Regular Price: $9.95

For me, I found this pink with flowers top at H&M. Sometimes I get lucky at these type of stores and find items that can pass for maternity. It's a little short in length but should work for this month at least. Also, the price made it hard to pass up. Sale Price: $5.00 Regular Price: $17.99

Lastly, I found these brown corduroy pants at Motherhood Maternity. I don't want to spend too much money on maternity clothes, because they're no fun to buy. I'm still trying to wear my normal clothes. However, none of my normal bottoms fit me anymore. I'm hoping my sweatpants and 2 maternity pants will do for the remaining time of my pregnancy. Sale Price: $24.99 Regular Price: $29.98

Thanksgiving

This year Matt and I were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families in Minnesota. Besides being an extremely cold day, it was relaxing and fun. We had lunch with the Lindstrom side and dinner with Matt's mother and her friends. There was lots of yummy food to go around and even my momma tagged along since my sister had to work and lives out of town. It was nice to celebrate Thanksgiving with family for once. Normally it's only Matt and I. Pictured above is Matt's lemon meringue pie he mastered from scratch for the occasion. It was beyond delicious! I got really lucky with him. He can cook and bake just about anything.