Five on Friday!

I haven't been this extra excited for a Friday in a looooong time! Tomorrow Caroline turns TWO and we have the very best weekend ahead. This morning we off for our annual birthday breakfast with Caroline at her favorite place for pancakes - IHOP! And this afternoon I am surprising her with cupcakes for a little class party too. She totally understands it's her birthday weekend. All week she's been walking by the dining room table which is covered in party stuff and pointing and squealing "Caroline's birthday party!!!!" She's also telling everyone she is SIX. I have no idea where she got that from but we are working on "two."

Also exciting, Lindsey, Ryan and Jackson are surprising Caroline for her birthday and arrive this evening! I am even more excited that I get to spend Lindsey's first Mother's Day with her.

In non-birthday news (since I'll be flooding my blog with all things birthday next week), we had a really fun week, despite Thomas being down with a little bug and staying home from school one day with a  fever.

one. This past weekend we trekked out to Davidson with some of our best friends to have dinner at a restaurant that's been on our bucket list for quite some time - Kindred! We made our reservation six weeks in advance so the countdown had been going on for awhile.

Our double daters - John & Lisa!

two. I am pretty impressed with how long my spray tan I got for May's wedding has lasted. The pictures above are from day 10!! It's starting to fade pretty fast now but I've been able to touch it up with my favorite sunless tanner - Tanwise! If you're like me and have zero time to sunbathe (sigh, those were the days) I highly recommend trying this amazing product. The picture below is from my first application last year and you can see the huge difference. Also, for easier (and cleaner) application, I really love Tan Towels but I go through them too quickly and they can be pricey.

three. One of my very, very, very best friends came to town this weekend and I was able to snag TWO dates with her to catch up and see her little man, Wells! She always refreshes me in a way I can't describe, she's just so good for the soul and I've missed her every day since she moved from Charlotte.

four. I'm always the last one to the makeup party but thought I'd share my favorite new eye brow pencil discovery - Anastasia Brow Wiz! It comes in several colors and has been a good switch up from my old faithful - Benefit Brow Zings. Without the help of a pencil, my eye brows are pretty patchy and light so penciling them in is a must for me! I also grabbed an extra pencil for a small Mother's Day treat my sissy.

five. Last but not least, this week I had the opportunity to try out instacart, a really awesome same-day grocery delivery service! I was really impressed with the store options in my area. From Costco, BJs, Publix, Whole Foods, Food Lion and Harris Teeter, there are lots of grocery stores to shop from. The groceries are more expensive (in my opinion) than I would pay in store, but for a quick two hour turn around I will definitely use this on days I'm stuck home with the kiddos and am out of our staples.

I used instacart to pick up some hot dog bar party supplies and drinks for Caroline's party!

Wanna join April, Natasha and I on the Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have to do is...

1.) Write your post about five things you're lovin' this week (or any five things you want to share!).

2.) Share the logo on your blog and link back. 

3.) Link-up at the bottom of the post so some new readers can check out your five things and say hello!

Wells Fargo Championship {Thomas's 1st Golf Tournament}

Yesterday we attended the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament! The weather was gorgeous, the lemonade was delicious and we got 6+ miles of exercise!

 

Originally the date was planned for just the two of us, but at the very last minute we decided to pick Thomas up from daycare and bring him with us. He was sent home from school earlier this week with a fever and has been battling a cough. Although he was doing better yesterday, we decided to grab him on our way so he could get some fresh air and some rare time with just mommy and daddy. So  we stopped at daycare and I snuck past Caroline's classroom like a ninja to grab Thomas and off we went!

 Also, Caroline attended the golf tournament with us last year so we thought it was fun for Thomas to experience it this year too.

We also got to hang out with our friends at the tournament too.

Tournament success!   See our last year's Wells Fargo Championship post here.

Five on Friday!

Happiest Friday to you all! It's been a good week but I am so ready for the weekend! Caroline's Mickey Mouse birthday party is next weekend so you can find me gluing things, running errands and making grocery lists this weekend in between our scheduled events!

- one - SASSY WATER! I was reminded last weekend how much I love Sassy Water! The weeks leading up to my wedding I diligently drank Sassy Water to shed some last minute water weight. I had kind of forgotten about this tasty beverage until my friend May brought out a pitcher for us to drink while we were getting ready and told me she'd been drinking it all week too in preparation for the big day.

Why it works: Cucumber is natural diuretic, contains anti-inflammatory properties and helps the body release stored excess water. Ginger boosts metabolism, helps cleanse out your system and soothes your GI tract. Lemon juice also helps to cleanse and alkalize the body. Mint helps settle your stomach and aids in digestion.

This recipe also happens to be one of my top 5 most popular pins on Pinterest!

Sassy Water Recipe
original Carolina Charm post

Step 1. In a large pitcher combine:
8.5 cups water
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 medium cucumber, sliced thin
1 large lemon, sliced thin
12 mint leaves

Step 2. Refrigerate overnight.

Step 3. In the morning strain and drink entire pitcher throughout the day.

Step 4: Repeat for 4 days in a row, trying your best to avoid other beverages!

Note: If you want to skip the hassle of straining your ingredients, try using an infusion pitcher instead! Also, I re-use my ingredients twice before I refresh them. 

Print recipe for Sassy Water.

- two - We celebrated Supper Club at Cristina's house this month. For dinner she created the most incredible salad bar of all time...

Overachiever!

 

 24 toppings. Unreal. And if that wasn't impressive enough, Cristina provided cute to-go containers for each girl to take a salad home too!

She knocked dessert out of the park too. A whole buffet dedicated to dessert. I'm so glad I've already hosted Supper Club this year so I don't have to follow hers! You can find her 2015 Supper Club set up (here)!

 - three - Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week and I am ahead of the game for the first time in my life! In fact, I think I'm still feeling guilty from forgetting about Teacher Goody Day a few weeks ago so now I have an insane amount of calendar reminders set to prevent that from happening again. 

Each day next week requires some kind of gift - flower day, treat day, card day, etc. and with SEVEN teachers to surprise it can get expensive pretty quick. So I usually resort to thoughtful or clever ideas. This one goes down (in my opinion) as the most clever idea I could find on Pinterest that didn't cost a fortune. The original idea I stole had a tag that said "I won the LOTTO" but I changed it to "jackpot" since it seemed more appropriate with a scratch off instead of a lotto ticket!

So "treat day" rounded out to about $15 total which is a real win (pun intended) in my book -- 7 one dollar scratch offs ($7) + 2 packs of fun size 100 Grand candy bars ($4) + 2 packs of fun size PayDay candy bars ($4). Lucky me (again with the puns!), I already had the bags, twine and made the tags on PicMonkey. Although this gift only cost me a little more than two bucks a pop, ya never know, one lucky teacher could walk away with $7K! Ha!

- four - On Wednesday Thomas and Caroline's school hosted "Muffins with Mom," one of my favorite mornings of the year! We started in Caroline's class, split a muffin, split another muffin, made a huge mess and then visited Thomas's class for round two. 

Thomas actually out ate us both in muffins. He is such a machine these days which is a stark contrast to his picky sister.

We usually drop Caroline off to her class first but on occasion we let her come with us to drop Thomas off first so she can hug her old teachers and visit with the babies. This of course adds at least 20 minutes to drop off. Also, you can't wear shoes in his class so she always knows to stop and put on her blue shoe covers first. So funny.

- five - For anyone looking to purchase the best gift ever for a two year old girl, look no further! Caroline is absolutely obsessed with her Little Cosmetics Makeup Set that Grandma and Grandpa gave her last weekend for her birthday. The makeup looks so real so she totally loves it. I keep it in my makeup drawer so we can "get ready" together in the mornings.

Thank you mom and dad for saving me from any more cracked bronzers and chewed up lipsticks!

Wanna join April, Natasha and I on the Friday fun? You can link-up on any of our four blogs every Friday! All you have to do is...

1.) Write your post about five things you're lovin' this week (or any five things you want to share!).

2.) Share the logo on your blog and link back. 

3.) Link-up at the bottom of the post so some new readers can check out your five things and say hello!