Giveaway Time!

It's time for a fun giveaway! Would you like to win a pack of my new thank you banner cards? :)

You'll get one entry for each:

-Leave a comment telling me something happy. ♥
-Like Mommy Holly on Facebook
-Follow me on Instagram (mommyholly13)
-Follow me on Twitter
-Follow me on Pinterest

Leave me a comment letting me know about each entry. GOOD LUCK! Winner will be announced on Friday! :) xo!

{Links to the left in the sidebar.}

New Directions

For the past two months, my main job has been to be a mom. Well, that is always my main job, but I haven't had any other work to worry about on top of that. My shop has been put on a temporary pause, aside from a few little things here and there, and it has afforded me to figure out where I want to go with Mommy Holly. I have been brainstorming new ideas and new directions to go in, and it making me so excited.

I want my shop to flourish, to grow, and to be a success, so having a little downtime proved to be easential to how I think about myself as a business owner. Not only do I want to do this job for myself, but I want to contribute to my family, yet still be able to be the mom who shows up to school each afternoon to walk my son home. I want to be a presence in my boys' daily lives and running a successful online shop allows me to do that.

Success is key. I have realized that in order to achieve that success, I have to be organized, prepare ahead of time, make lists, keep my space tidy, and ultimately, keep it all together. Can I do that? Time will tell. I am so motivated to make it work. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this momma can make big things happen. :)

SO... Here's to the re-opening of Mommy Holly, which will be happening very soon. I've got some fun blog posts planned and some new items that will hopefully make you want to shop, shop, shop. :)

In the meantime, be sure to follow me on facebook, instagram, twitter and pinterest. Links are to the left. :) Lots of updates in the near future, and there will be a giveaway tomorrow!! Stay tuned. :) xo!

Fashion Recap- Academy Awards 2013

Happy Monday, and happy day-after-the-Oscars!  That means it's time to recap the fashion that happened on last night's red carpet.  Might I say that nothing blew me away like years past.  There were some beautiful dresses and hair, but nothing jaw-dropping in my opinion.  Do you agree?? 

 

That being said,

here were my picks for best dressed!

 

The Good...

1. Reese Witherspoon is always one of my favorite people- she is always so beautiful and classic, plus she seems like such a sweet girl. {I have Legally Blonde love forever, might I add!}  She looked gorgeous in this blue color, and her hair was to die for.  Seriously.  How do I get shine like that? :)

2.  Zoe Saldana had on an incredible dress, in my opinion.  The top was so detailed and feminine, and her hair and makeup were kept simple to offset the drama of the dress. Love, love. {And loved you in Center Stage way back when, Zoe. :) }

 

1.  Naomi Watts looked incredible!  Her hair and makeup were flawless and that assymetrical sequin gown was GORGEOUS.  Way to go! :)

2.  I have to say, she is never one of my top faves, by Nicole Kidman looked radiant last night.  {Or maybe it was the cute hubby at her side as well?}  The dress was beautiful and shiny.  Love!

 

 

My pick for best dressed couple?!  Obvious choice here.  Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck.  Two of my favorite people in Hollywood because they seem like such wonderful people and such wonderful parents to those three adorable kiddos.  I love Jennifer's dress and Ben looked classicly handsome.  Plus, she was so darn proud of her husband, which makes me smile. :)

 

And now for the WORST dressed.

 

The Bad...

1.  Oh, Anne Hathaway.  Where do I start?  Your dress looked straight from a 90's prom, in a very bad way.  Not a flattering look across the chest either.  Horrible color on you, and the hair is still not working for me.  Wrong choice, ick

2. Salma Hayek, I have one piece of advice for you.  If you have amazing curves and gorgeous cleavage, maybe you should show that off instead of covering it up with that awful velvet and gold halter.  Not a good look.  Again, it looks so very dated!  And the hair looked pretty awful too.  Who told her the tiara was a good idea??

 

OK, that's it for my recap!  Who were your favorites?  Who were your least faves?  I'd love to hear your opinions as well! :)

xo!

one month old.

  Happy one month, Declan! Declan is the best little baby.  He rarely cries unless something is wrong.  He is starting to make the cutest little coos and sounds.  He is focusing on us like crazy!  He watches me walk through the room and i sstarted to smile a little more.  Not sure if that should still be blamed on gas, but it sure is cute. :)  He went in for his one month appointment and is packing on the pounds!  He gained three pounds in the past three weeks and is now a whopping 9 pounds 8 ounces!  Hungry, growing boy! :)  He is sleeping in longer stretches and we sometimes get five or six hours of sleep straight, which is wonderful.  We just love having him here, part of our daily lives, and we feel blessed to have such a content and happy baby so far!!   Technically, I should have posted this photo on February 1st. It just took me six days to actually get this photo edited and blogged. Life of a mother with a newborn, right? But I really want to take these monthly photos- they are so important! OK, baby needs a bottle and momma needs a nap. xo!   PS. New things are being planned for this little blog. I am desperately wanting to be back here with lots of new ideas and exciting updates, so please stay tuned. Liking the new look to the blog?? Did you notice?! :)    

Welcome to the world, baby!

Declan Eugene is here!
Born on New Year's Day morning, we welcomed our beautiful baby boy!!!! He weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces and surprised us by coming a week early :) He is perfect and is such an amazing baby so far!

At two weeks old, he is a good sleeper for a few solid hours at a time and rarely cries! He makes the sweetest baby sounds and loves to snuggle!  Andrew is such a proud big brother and helps hold and feed Declan as much as he can. I can't believe that I am now a mother of TWO beautiful boys!! I am so very blessed. :)

More photos to come... this momma is trying to find the energy to get back into blogging. Bear with me, I will return!! :) xo!

9 weeks to go!

...until baby boy is here!!!    I cannot believe how quickly this is sneaking up on us. We've got to get cracking on the boys' room!!! :) xo!

good thoughts: no. 2

I think weekends are a time to share good thoughts through quotes and photos. :)   via   Today we will celebrate my new baby-to-be at my shower! Thank you to all the loving aunties who are helping to create such a special day for me and my new son!!! :) I am thrilled! I will share photos on Monday- can't wait!   Happy weekend! xo!  

good thoughts: no.1

I think weekends are the perfect time to share good thoughts through quotes and photos.    Birthdays are always happy. Celebrate regular old days like that too. Good attitudes all around! :)   We are off to John's cousin's daughter's {whew!} first birthday party today. {is there an easier way to say that???!} Happy birthday to little Sami! And a happy Saturday to you all! xo!  

a fantastic {double} giveaway!

  There is a GREAT double giveaway going on over at one of my favorite blogs, The Hollie Rouge. I am giving away $10 shop credit to my Etsy store and The Mom Diggity is giving away a small ad space on her blog!!!  YAY!!!  Plus, you get to read a great blog, written by one of the nicest bloggers ever.  Andi is wonderful!  Go say hello! :)   And good luck winning this giveaway! ;) Happy Thursday, xo!  

halloween printables! :)

Halloween is fast approaching!  One week away!!! :)  Do you have your decorating done?  We are fairly set for the holiday already.  Our decorations are up, except for some cobwebs I'd like to add last minute. We need to buy some Halloween candy for the trick-or-treaters as well.  And of course, this sign will greet them as they walk up to our door.....      E.M. Papers is offering up this spooky printable for your trick-or-treaters to read on Halloween.  SO cute to put on the front door next week!!  I've already "purchased" mine and am printing it out ASAP. 
Get the free printable here. 
{And the text is editable as well!}   I adore eye charts- something about them has always intrigued me. {Even though I can't read them for the life of me without glasses/contacts haha!} So for Halloween, my 8-year old will get a kick out of this one with me. Find the printable here. :)   I need something to hang on my mantle to complete the room.  This might be the ticket... Printable garland can be found here.   Or maybe these.  These ghosties are seriously adorable. Mustaches, bows, eyeglasses?  Love love love.  Find the printables here.   And last, but certainly not least, here is a great printable if you want to add some pizazz to cupcake toppers and the goodie bag toppers for your party or even for your kids class.  I think I'll use these to top bags of candy corn for Andrew and his classmates next week! :) Loving the chevron stripe background, too.  Find them here!   What is your favorite part of Halloween?? And don't forget to pop back in tomorrow for a giveaway! You will not want to miss this! :) xo!  

mani monday + i love fall!

Fall has finally hit around Southern California.  Andrew's baseball game was cancelled yesterday because of rain.  He was so bummed, because he was going to pitch!  BUT, we enjoyed a cozy day at home watching movies and playing games.  And I was inspired by the autumn season and all of my fall decorating, so my nails this week are reflecting that!    Here's the scoop on the polish:   Forever 21 Love & Beauty Nail Polish in Light Orange + Forever 21 Love & Beauty Glitter Polish in Gold/Clear + Top Coat of Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as Nails Strengthening TopCoat = Mani Monday!!   Go check out the other nails.  Seriously, you will be so inspired to paint away!  I am just loving doing my own nails lately, and it really is fun. Espeially going to pick out a bazillion new colors for fall here.  I love cheap nail polish with awesome topcoat- works like a charm!! :)  My nails don't chip for days!   PS.  Notice the sneak peek of my bedroom behind my nails?  I need to do a house tour soon, I am dying to share what John & I have done with our tiny little home.  I just love it. :) {H+J pillow on our bed is from my fab mom!  Her shop is here!}   Off to enjoy the cloudy weather and get some orders done before I pick up Andrew from school.  Then we are headed down to meet up with our fantastic friends for a long-overdue playdate for mommies and boys. :)   Happy Monday! xo!

third trimester! {yay!!}

Oh BOY! We have made it to the third trimester! Baby boy will be here in around 12 weeks! Seriously, these last three months are going to FLY. Baby has grown from the size of a poppyseed {what we affectionately called him after we found out we were expecting!} to the size of a head of iceberg lettuce.  Wow!   We are sooo thrilled to welcome this little bundle into our lives, and I cannot wait to be the mom to TWO adorable little boys.  I am blessed beyond belief!!!!!   OH yeah. And I'm turning 30 this week. That thought is scaring me, but I'll concentrate on something else until the day {thursday!} arrives.  Eek.  

wedding wednesday: setting up the bar.

At our wedding this past March, we had to think long and hard about how we were setting up the bar.  We knew we had to hire a bartender or two, as per our venue's rules.  So that meant setting up a specific place for our guests to get their drinks.  However, there are so many choices when it comes to alcohol at a wedding- do you need it?  Do you go wild and have an open bar?  Just beer and wine?  The options are limitless.    What we decided to go with was a specified menu for drinks.  We offered beer {from a keg behing the bar}, red and white wine, and three mixed drinks that we thought everyone would be happy with: margaritas, a vodka drink, and a whiskey drink.    I made up the menus {one on each side of the L-shaped bar} and the bartender stuck with our "rules" for the drinks.  It worked flawlessly! :)   We did add some cute cocktail napkins that I ordered from this website.  They were the perfect addition to grabbing a cocktail- cute, bright, and added a little color to the bar.  Plus, they were personalized, which is always fun. :)  Add votives and a jar of flowers {faux! I'll get to those in the coming weeks!} and it was the perfect bar.   But then, what about the non-drinkers?  What about the kids?  Do you want everyone having to run up to the bar, even to grab a water??  Nope.    We set up a separate table, next to the bar, where guests could "self serve" their water, lemonade, and iced tea. Cups were available and we used big glass jars to dispense the drinks. The jars without the spouts had big ladles in front of them, resting on fauz "grass" mats, made of plastic- to soak up the drips from the drink jars! It was perfect. Then we knew there were two places that our guests were able to quench their thirst. :)     Everything had labels on it, that I made from Martha Stewart stickers and label sheets from Michael's.  It couldn't have been easier! :)   I think our bar and drink station were the perfect set-up. :) {Except we had a looooot of extras.  Better to be safe than sorry.}  

yellow wedding dress? love!

I loved the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies. Like, loved them. :) So imagine my happiness when I saw that Amber Tamblyn got married over the weekend in a beautiful & rustic outdoor setting.  And she hopped out of a red canoe to walk down the aisle barefoot with her dad in a..... YELLOW dress. Um, so darn cute. Could it be any more romantic????! I am a sucker for cute weddings and this one tops the charts. Plus, all her Sisterhood gals were there looking adorable as well! Love, love, love. Happy Tuesday! xo!

things that are exciting me lately + mani monday!

OK, I am seriously excited today. For quite a few reasons!   Number one?! I am officially in my THIRD TRIMESTER! Baby boy is the size of a cauliflower, weighing in at 2 pounds. He can blink, hiccup, and listen to me ramble on each day. yay! Only 13 more weeks until we get to meet our little man. Names have been the topic of discussion between my husband and me lately.  We've got a top two that we like, so let's keep our fingers crossed that we have something to call this baby soon. :)   Speaking of fingers... it's Mani Monday over at Just Lovely!   I usually have my fingernails done at a local salon, but got sick of having to go in there every couple of weeks.  SO, I decided to grab some fun new polish and give myself a manicure!  I am SO happy with the way it turned out, and am loving these greens. {The dark one is actually a slightly glittery black-green.}   Polishes I Used: Spoiled "The Parking Meteor Expired" + Sally Hansen Hard as Nails "Mint Sorbet" on my pinkies + a topping of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Topcoat = happy & cute fingers!   {PS.  I love the names of nail polishes.  So funny!}   Another exciting thing?? FALL television is back! New Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, Modern Family, Private Practice, Once Upon a Time, Gossip Girl, and my personal FAVE..... EEEEEEK!  I've been waiting all summer for this one!  Can't wait!!!! Only three more days!!! :) I'm a total TV junkie, by the way. :) What are you watching?? Any new shows caught your attention? My husband and I are liking Revolution and Last Resort so far. :)   And always an exciting thing... I was so happy to make these darling birthday party invitations for a new customer- her son is having a Hallowen themed party and the invites sure turned out amazingly cute.  Yay!  Need some custom invites?  Pop over to the shop and I would love to help out :)   So, what is exciting YOU lately?! Happy Monday, xo!