Monday Musings

Hey y’all! Hope you had a great weekend celebrating our nation’s freedom! I was blessed with a 4-day weekend {let’s be honest, I made that shit happen…no way was I going to work my 4am shift at the gym on Friday. I gave that away. Ain’t no one got time fo’ that.}

4th of July was great – we went to a pool party at a house a block from our spot at the beach, then when it came time, we walked down the boardwalk to get the boys some ice cream and then headed out to the sand to lay out a blanket and sit and watch the big fireworks show. The boys really enjoyed it. {Aside from the fact my husband had to go tell some obnoxious, cursing, crude drunk guys to watch their mouths because they were in mixed company – kids/families, etc. – thankfully it didn’t start any sort of fight, but I’m glad he had the guts to do the right thing for everyone else trying to enjoy the show with their little ones. I can’t believe some people sometimes – no class, no clue; just plain stupid.}

Anyway, I believe I spent Friday catching up on some chores around the house so I could concentrate on enjoying the rest of the weekend. But the boys and I made popsicles out of frozen berries and yogurt {will share that recipe on here with you soon} and they did a bit of running around in the sprinkler, despite the rainy weather. {If you’re already wet from a sprinkler, what’s a little rain?} I also finally managed to find some great pillows for my patio at Kohl’s! They are perfect. I can’t wait to finally reveal this patio makeover on here. Hubby and I sit out there at night a lot now and chat over wine. It’s a nice end to our sometimes crazy-hectic days.

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On Saturday, Hubby worked because he has a lot going on right now to keep up on, so I took the boys to Splash Zone at James Island County Park with my friends Bill & Suz and their kids. It was a great water park – first time I had been to it.

We started off Sunday with church and headed out the beach after that. Once we got home, Suz invited us over for pool and BBQ fun, so we did that too. Gotta love impromptu dates with friends.

And that brings us to Monday – back to the reality of five-day work weeks. And man, have I got to get back on track! I’m sipping a protein shake made out of nothing but a scoop of vanilla whey, Greek nonfat yogurt and frozen berries as I’m writing this. I had a major “fat” week last week…just felt pudgy…and it didn’t help that my bosses were in town treating me to lunch every day. So with that and then the holiday weekend eating and drinking, well, I’ve got to lock it up. And if you’re feeling the same way, I invite you to head over to The Gym Bunny, my fitness blog, and join in on the Pinterest Fitness Board Challenge I just launched today. I hope you’ll like it and join in on the challenge. Check it out!

Happy Monday!

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Independence.

 

I want to extend a huge "thank you" on this Independence Day to the servicemen and women that have made our freedom in our country possible and continue to fight for that freedom every day. Thank you to my husband, Jake, who proudly serves with the USCG, going on 10 years soon.  It is a huge sacrifice to be away from those you love, to risk your life for others and to do the right thing. May all of those that serve and have served know how very important and appreciated they are.

And as for the rest of you, have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

 

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Outfits of Note {Read: #iwantitinmycloset }

Ever have one of those days, weeks, months, even seasons where you just look in your closet and think "I seriously have NOTHING to wear"? Maybe it's that I grow bored easily...but I feel like I'm constantly cycling the same 10 or so articles of clothing into mix and match outfits until the next few happy purchases come along into the rotation and a few others get cycled out. Well, now I find myself on Pinterest pinning all sorts of outfits lately...inspiration I can use to maybe pull out a few of my old pieces and put together "new" outfits, or even inspiration to take to a cute little store like F21 and find like pieces.

OUTFIT #1

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OUTFIT #2 {This is just plain fun!}

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OUTFIT #3

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What outfit inspiration have you been pinning lately? Are you having one of those "nothing to wear" moments?

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Front Porch {Progress}

I'll be the first to admit that keeping plants alive is not my strong point. But nonetheless, with this new front porch area, I wanted to brighten the space up with some potted plants. I'm going to do my best to tend to them.

Here's a sneak peek of some progress I've made with my front porch so far:

I've got some more flowers waiting to be potted, but I think those are going into my garden just in front of the porch. I have two large barrel pots that have been dying for some flowers for a while now. The last batch died, so I need to start over.

Doormat - Target - $12.99 {I absolutely fell in love when I saw this, it's so "me".}
Yellow Container - TJ Maxx - $16.99 {This is actually a pretty lightweight pot, and I love the pattern.}
"S" on Door - TJ Maxx - $6.99 {I plan on spray painting this a bold color, maybe teal, but haven't yet decided. Waiting for the other things to come together first.}
Hibiscus Plant - Abide-A-While {local garden center} - $14.99 {These are my favorite flowers ever.}

I'd love to paint the front door a bright color, and even the red brick {white?} - but I need to convince Hubby of that first.

Hope you like it, always love to hear your thoughts!

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What Is Old Can Be New Again {Front Porch Bistro}

I let y'all know yesterday that I have begun working on redecorating our front porch. Let me show you the first piece that kicked off the redo.

I got this bistro table off of a Facebook group of local mommies looking to sell their stuff. A Craigslist of sorts, but much less creepy.

Yep, obviously a little used and rusty. But for $10, I thought it was worth it. It came with a round glass top that I took off before taking the pics.

First step was to take a damp washcloth and clean off all the dirt and grime. Then, I added coat of spray primer. I used Krylon's spray paint primer. I let that dry and then added another coat. I let that dry and harden overnight. The next day, I spray-painted it yellow. Again, Krylon brand. I believe it was called Sunshine or something like that. I don't have my cans anymore since I used up the rest that I had. I let that cure overnight again and then I was able to put her in her new spot on the front porch.

This is the final piece:

Not too shabby, huh? I am still in work on decorating the rest of the porch and can't wait to reveal it to you soon!

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Monday Musings

Hey y'all! I've again let this blog go on the wayside for the past week. Having a hard time getting back into it - but I've actually been spending some time getting some things organized around the house, redecorating the front porch {post to come!} and well, playing with my boys - it is summer, after all! {And if I don't live a little or get projects done, well, I'll have nothing to write about here!}

Friday evening, I went to Party at the Point at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant. It's been years since I've been. It was a great atmosphere, a perfect night weather-wise and just nice to get out. I was with my friend, Suz, her husband, Bill and her mom, Sue, who was visiting from England:

Saturday I went and picked up these lovely things I found on Craigslist:

{pic from ad, not my porch}

As I mentioned above, I'm redecorating the front porch - it was a little too crowded with the large wicker furniture I had up there and we never sat out there and enjoyed it, so I moved those to the back for extra seating. I've so far gotten these chairs, a bistro table in need of TLC {I painted it, will post on that!} and a few cute flower pots and decor, etc. I have more ideas for the space - definitely looking for a cute runner rug and the perfect pillows for the chairs. I may paint the chairs, haven't decided yet, so they are staying as-is for right now. My inspiration is Jen's recent front porch re-do:

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Although the front porch is not complete, I was able to sit outside, enjoy a beverage and watch my boys run through their new sprinkler:

That was the whole plan for redoing the space in the first place...we never enjoy the front yard, and I love that the porch is covered, unlike the back deck, so even if it's raining, we can sit outside and enjoy the warm weather.

Yesterday, we went to church and then the beach. I didn't actually get many "beach" pictures this time, but the boys had fun with their boogie boards and it was a gorgeous Sunday. Here's a pic I did get of my crazy guys:

Oh, and in other news, I chopped my hair last week - a whole 6-7 inches!

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And Two Weeks Later...

It's been two weeks since I let y'all know I was packing for our family to Florida. It's definitely the longest I've stayed away from this blog...not that it was my intention. We had a crazy-busy-wonderful time in Florida. Disney World and Sea World were awesome and it was so nice to spend time together just us as a family. It was actually our first family vacation where it was just the 4 of us. No grandparents, no visiting anyone...just us. I really enjoyed that. {Not that the grand 'rents aren't great!}

I meant to get back into blogging mode a little sooner since we did get back last Friday...thinking I would work on some posts while on vacation...or catch up over the weekend. Well, neither of those things happened. Sorry, loves. Though I'm assuming your life went on without a hitch. I did manage to get a couple of posts up at my sister blog, The Gym Bunny...hope you'll check those out {and don't forget to follow officially!}

I've got so many pictures I want to share from our vacation, but I don't want to clog this space up with them, as I know some of you don't read the blog to see my boys' faces plastered all over your computer screen. I'll probably post a few faves later this week, with the remainder being posted at my family blog, Love, Laughter & Happy Ever After. {Do I have too many blogs? Maybe, but I chalk it up to my OCD and need to separate the topics/niches in an organized fashion.}

So anyway...enough about all of that.

What did y'all think about the Miss USA pageant? I thought they picked a good winner. Erin Brady is gorgeous and I like that she looked a little muscular, meaning she was fit and not scary skinny.

Speaking of scary skinny - I thought the 1st Runner Up, Miss Alabama, was just a tad too bony.

I don't like seeing rib cages...it's just not sexy. Even my husband thought she was too skinny. She'd do well with an extra 5-10 lbs. Not trying to be snarky, I mean the girl is beautiful, but I just hope she eats.

I was proud that Miss South Carolina was a Top 6 contestant...I've noticed SC tends to do quite well in these pageants...until it comes to the interview question...



But anyway...

Enjoy your week!

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Happy Blogiversary To Me

It's my...

One year ago today, I revamped my blog into what it is today - Style Oyster. I am very much enjoying this blog and the wonderful readers I have. Y'all mean so much to me...and I am so grateful to have your support.

 

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Packing...

I'm going to be real with y'all...I might be scarce, or at least without world-changing content on the blog this week. I am in stealth mode trying to get everything ready to leave on Friday for our week-long Florida/Disney/Sea World trip.

Yesterday, I had to go sign Tanner up for his Karate summer camp so he'd be all good to go when we get back, then headed straight to his doc for an Rx refill, ran home from there to let the dog out for about half an hour and get changed for the gym, then dropped Rx off at CVS, hit the gym for an hour, picked the boys up from daycare, headed to Firestone for an oil change and to get a plug put in my tire, meanwhile entertaining the boys at Chic-fil-a and Kohl's while we waited, then picked up the Rx at CVS on the way home...oh and also stopped at a gas station to pick up a much-needed bottle of wine after all that hectic craziness. Oh yeah, I worked all day too. Sheesh...I would say it was a super mommy day. I have one of those every now and then I suppose. Just glad to get all of that knocked out in one day so I can spend the next couple of days packing everyone's suitcases, doing laundry and getting my house in order {I hate coming home to a dirty house after vacation}.

But anyway, sorry to keep this short but sweet...can't wait to share pics throughout our vacay next week - we are so excited! 

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Introducing: The Gym Bunny

I am so excited to announce that over the weekend, I launched my new fitness blog, The Gym Bunny. I am so excited about it and taking a different approach than I had with i-Heart Fitness. Bottom line is that I feel so passionate about fitness, it started bothering me not to be consistently blogging about it anymore after shutting down i-Heart Fitness earlier this year. I am excited for what's to come with this new blog venture and I really hope y'all will support me and follow along. As I like to say, it takes a village to raise a blog. Click any of the below icons to follow via your choice of social media {also on Bloglovin' for those of you that use that reader} - the more the merrier. You need not be fitness-crazed {but if you are, AWESOME!}...I encourage the fitness newbie, the fitness guru, the fitness fanatic...I encourage anyone who cares at all about a healthier lifestyle. Thanks in advance and I really hope y'all enjoy. xoxo {Bear with me as some of the design elements and pages are still in work!}



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