{instagram friday}

Happy Friday friends! I'm on vacation from work today, but I also have a cold. Boo. Taking it easy and relaxing with my boys today. Here is a peek into my past week through my instagram photos.

Linking up with...

1. seeing stars
2. making my purse happy
3. after dinner treat
4. in disguise
5. movie night...Charlotte's Web
6. Sunday waves
7. new green dress
8. driving back to work

1. hello there love
2. splish splash
3. wrinkled toes
4. feather + lace
5. reading material for the next parenting challenge
6. dinner time
7. yucky morning rememdy
8. lazy friday morning

My instagram name is mandy_ford if you want to follow along!

{in the dressing room}

Yesterday my Mom and I had a fun girls' day out. Lots of good food, giggles, coffee and shopping! Our most exciting stop of the day was our new TJ Maxx, which just opened up this past weekend.

To say I was excited about this momentous occassion is a tad bit of an understatement. The shopping in our small town is less than stellar so getting a TJ Maxx is huge people.  HUGE. :)

Wanna see what I tried on? I bought all but one of these pieces...let's see if you can guess which one. {and I know you'll be disappointed because it was one of my faves, but just not practical for my life right now}

First up was this cute green dress...

I wanted to find a dress to wear to an upcoming baby shower and I love this one. It is very comfortable and flattering and of course I love the pockets. It is work appropriate too which makes it even better.

Then I tried on this adorable pink/coral dress...



I looove the cutouts around the neckline and the hem.

Next I tried on this casual top...



It looks like denim in the pic but it is really a light aqua fabric with a bit of a sheen. I love the flouncy hem...so fun!

And last was this top and skirt combo...

The top has little stars on it and the skirt is a really great trouser style with a cuff and wrap tie around the waist.

So which item did I not purchase???

The pink/coral dress.

I know...bummer. I really, really liked it. BUT it was too short to wear alone and I was already going over my spending budget for the day, so back to the rack it went.

I'm actually wearing the star top and trouser skirt outfit today and I love it...it is a lot more flattering than I thought it would be and super comfortable. Here's a close-up pic of the top from my instagram this morning...

I also bought a turquoise {my new favorite color} Nine West wallet for $12 {!!!} and some superhero figures for the boys' upcoming birthday. So many great deals in that place. And SO dangerous that it is literally 2 minutes from my house.

Yikes.

{instagram friday}

Well, hello there Friday! I'm so happy to see you. :)

Sharing my instagram pics from this past week and linking up with Insta-Friday over at Life Rearranged...



So here is a little peek into this past week...

1. candle-lit dinner for one
2. in a superman trance
3. boxes are still fun
4. an early Sunday morning
5. love that sweet profile
6. heaven...is that you?
7. bags, bags and more bags
8. heading home to my boys

1. new IKEA patio furniture
2. favorite sweater
3. shopping with Thor
4. hey there handsome
5. fingers + toes
6. pretty candy
7. girls' day out
8. new TJ Maxx top

You can follow me on Instagram @ mandy_ford! 

{today}

Source: instagr.am via Mandy on Pinterest

 Today I'm choosing:

Source: peo-ny.tumblr.com via Barb Carr Rusciano on Pinterest

I promise tomorrow will be better. :)

{weekly lovelies}

Happy Saturday friends!

I took a bit of time today to do another video blog about things I'm loving right now...enjoy!

Here's the rundown...

1. fun nailpolish
2. knitting
3. salty + sweet
4. consignment sales and new friends
5. superhero party
6. motherhood...pass the kleenex!

What are you loving this week? Link up to your blog in the comments!

{just between friends consignment sale}

I was lucky enough to get to attend the preview night of the Just Between Friends consignment sale here in Richmond tonight. If you haven't heard of JBF before, it is basically a huge consignment sale with loads of toys, clothing, books, and other miscellaneous items. I didn't expect to come away with much but I ended up finding some great deals for the boys.

This cute little play kitchen was one of the first things I spotted when we walked in...

It was priced at only $10! I almost snagged it up, but we have so many large toys so I left it for another lucky shopper.

Check out the modern white crib on the right...it looked brand new and was only $100!

They had lots of great children's books...

And a glimpse of the looong rack of boys' clothes...

So wanna see what I did pick up? I grabbed four pair of shorts...

A cute Children's Place polo...

A J Crew hoodie and a pair of Cons {these are my favorite purchases}...

And some Dr. Seuss books...

I also picked up a cute khaki Target jacket and The Cat in the Hat on DVD. 

Oh and I did sneak in a candle for myself {these locally made candles are usually $20 and it was only $8!}...

And I only spent about $40 on everything! I can definitely see myself going again next year...and maybe consigning some of the boys' clothes too!

{instagram friday}

Happy Friday! I'm so ready for the weekend...how about you? To celebrate, I'm participating in my first ever Instagram Friday. I never really got the hype over Instagram until they made it available on Android, I downloaded it...and....well...now I'm addicted. :)

Here is a little peek into the past week...

1. all aboard the Kohl's train!
2. was it Easter or Halloween?
3. an Easter game of golf
4. spring entryway

1. newborn hat for a dear friend
2. sloppy joe's...its what's for dinner
3. super why time
4. my hair is getting so long!
5. Landon's "baby"
6. happy that it is almost 5:00

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Linking up with...

{finished painting project}

I'm a bit late with this post...as I promised it right after the entryway reveal. Forgive me? :)

So I'm not sure what to call this space in our house because it is part stairwell, part hallway, part family room. When we bought the house, it looked like this...

And this...

Crazy color scheme? Check.
Rickety railing? Check.
Oddly placed 80's light fixture? Check.

Before we even moved in, we had that scary railing replaced with a half wall. Here it was in progress...

And here is that same space after we my lovely mother-in-law painted the room a lighter shade of gray and we moved our family room into the space...

Here is the hallway before...

And after...

And I am happy to report that we finally have a matching stairwell! First time we've ever hired a painter and it was well worth it. (and the $50 (!!) he charged us)..no way was I going to get on a ladder on stairs. Here is how it looks now...

It feels so good to finally have this space one cohesive and calming color. Now we just need to replace that unfortunate light fixture and the transformation will be complete!

{Christopher Straub spring line @ maurices}

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that I"m a big fan of maurices, and especially of their collaboration with Project Runway's Christopher Straub.

When I interviewed him last fall about his holiday line, he told me that he would be debuting a new spring line as well, so I took a peek at their website today to see if it was up.

And I was greeted by lots and lots of lovely coral. And this adorable dress...

Oh goodness I absolutely love it! And look at these sweet accessories...

 Christopher, you have done it again! Perfectly spring and totally wearable.

{entryway reveal}

I can't tell you how much fun I had decorating our entryway this time around. The gray walls are a perfect backdrop for the color pallette I chose of turquoise, mustard and cream. I had a really specific lamp in mind for the table, and I about squeeed out loud when I found exactly what I wanted last week at Meijer of all places {it is sort of an upscale Walmart for those of you that don't have it.} Isn't she a beauty?

And the lamp base was on clearance...score! :)

The rest of the items in the entryway I shopped from the house, so the total cost was zero...gotta love that! Here's the finished vignette...

The chalkboard you'll remember from this post, the "LIVE" sign is a purchase I made at Gordman's the last time we were in Chicago. and I filled the milkglass vase with some lilac from our yard...

The two frames stacked together were in the entryway before, but separately. I like the way the smaller frame looks inside the larger one. The photo is of my Mom's first childhood home.

For an extra dose of color, I filled an embroidery hoop that I already owned with some fabric from my Etsy shop stash...

Finally, I added a mustard yellow vintage bowl to hold our keys.

I really wish I could spend more time in the space...it makes me so happy...

And do you see my little hello sign?

It is amazing to me how changing the wall color of a space opens up so much opportunity for decorating. So, so glad that we painted the walls gray! And speaking of gray walls...I'll be sharing our finished stairwell/hallway painting project in the next post. :)

Linking up with...