a pretty good weekend

Good morning and happy Monday, all! I love a fresh start to a new week AND a new month, looking forward to March tomorrow! I took some pics this weekend but haven't uploaded any so, sorry but this post will be picture-less so if you tune in just to see pretty photos, I'll spare you and tell you you might want to stop reading now. :)

Friday night we got a babysitter and went to our friends Scottish-themed party to pay homage to Robbie Burns. This event was hysterical and super fun, I had my first experience with haggis (which is funny b/c I had the chance to try haggis while I was actually in Scotland but passed b/c frankly, sheep heart, stomach, liver parts just sound plain nasty to me), but it was haggis made the American way so I could give it a whirl. Needless to say it was an awesome way to spend a Friday night and I was so glad to be invited.

Saturday was pretty chill, I had a garage sale in the morning and then tried this new lasagna recipe, it was good! I've been trying to add some vegetarian meals to my repertoire and I think this is a repeater. I added mushrooms and onions to give it some more substance. I'd definitely say its worth making if any one needs an easy dish to try.

Sunday was our children's service at church, it was super cute. The "theme" for the service was Jonah and the Whale, the kids sang several songs, and they put together a video of the kids answering questions about Jonah. They asked Brennan what it would be like to be swallowed by a big fish and she said "it would be like a unicorn being swallowed by a dog" -she's getting a lot of facebook love from others a church because of this! My funny girl! I still can't believe I'm old enough to be the parent with the kid in the program at church, crazy!!

At the last minute we had some friends over for lunch on Sunday and then Adam and I watched the Oscars (I only guessed 13 out of 25 of the winners, not a great percentage). All in all, a pretty good, chill weekend. How was yours? xo

For Sale!

A few friends of mine and I are hosting a garage sale this weekend. I figured I'd try to sell some things here first so if you would like an item, shoot me an email to: mollywinn2@yahoo.com

*(all prices include shipping)

White sweater from Anthropologie, size L, $28


Black silk/cashmere sweater from Banana Republic, size L, $20


Green sweater from Nordstrom (Ralph Lauren), size L, $30


Brown sweater from Ireland, practically brand new, European size 14, US size L, price $30


Brown sweater from Nordstrom, size L, $20


Red vest, size 2T-3T, brand new from Gymboree, tags still on, $15


Baby girl crib bedding. I had this custom made, its pink toile, it includes:blanket, crib bumpers, crib skirt, and nightlight. (orig price: $400+), asking $125.00


Petunia Pickle Bottom Diaper Bag, in excellent condition, very gently used, $40




Girls shoes, size 10, (worn once if at all), circo brand, $7

wednesday randomness

*We had mi casa last night and I made those garlic bacon chicken wraps I referenced a while back. My house STILL smells like bacon.

*I think B and I will try reading time at the library for the first time today, we'll see.

*I have impetigo on my arms (gross) and it itches and the medicine the dr gave me cost a lot of money and its sticky and I don't like it.

*We got our energy bill yesterday and I'm trying to decide which organ to sell to pay for it.

*Spring break is coming, I would love to take a little jaunt somewhere with Adam and B, but really shouldn't spend money on such things (esp in light of above mentioned energy bill)...what to do? sigh.
*Being self-employed/un-employed has MANY perks and a few drawbacks, today the drawbacks are winning (hoping tomorrow it will be the other way around).

*I haven't taken any pictures in a few days so this post will be picture-less, sorry about that!

*The weather has been awesome this week, haven't used the heat or a/c, love that in February!

*I got nothing else today. Hope you all are enjoying your hump day wherever you are. Peacing out from Waco. xo

a giving opportunity

Please head on over here today to see photos of this lovely mama and to read about how you can give to help save a little girl's life! Thank you!! xo

candy heart lips

Oh man I love this little girl. And this post will serve as the last of the Valentine's Day love for 2011. Have a great weekend, all. xo

besties, babies, and favorites

Four of my oldest and bestest friends in the world are pregnant with their first child! It was so crazy, they all (well all but one, she is a little farther behind in her pregnancy than the others) contacted me within about a week and a half to tell me the exciting news! I realized at that point I better stop drinking the water. :) It's so fun watching people that I love so much experience this special time in their lives that will never be the same. I wish I had known when I was pregnant that my pregnancy would have been my only one, I don't think I would have done anything differently per se, just wish I would have known. I'm forever indebted to Shannon for my maternity photos that she took the day I went into the hospital! Whew! I had no idea when I scheduled my session with her what that day would end up entailing but I'm so thankful how it all worked out. (For any of you out there who are pregnant and debating doing a maternity session, do it!! This time is precious and you don't get it back!). Since one of my besties is newly preggers we don't know the gender of her munchkin just yet but the other 3 besties are all having BOYS! I think its so funny how babies seem to come in gender waves, its a boy season! Okay, I'm rambling, the point to my post is first off to say how excited I am for my precious friends -CONGRATULATIONS!! but also to share some of my favorite baby products. I love how eager first time parents are to hear about your favorite things, mistakes you made, things that aren't worth buying, etc. The thing about babies/child rearing, etc. everyone and their dog has an opinion and they can all be as different as night and day. Again, I'm no expert (on anything) but there are a handful of baby products that I would've died without so consider this my public service announcement. :)

If you could care less about baby products, no need to read any further, I get it.

First up: hotsling baby sling


I realize there are a MILLION different baby slings out there, but the hotsling in particular was hands down the best thing I bought. This was the only way Brennan would sleep if we weren't at home, I could stuff her in this thing and go anywhere! I would have my hands free and my sleeping baby snug as a bug right next to me. She loved it, I loved it, and it was a lifesaver on MANY occasions.

Secondly: especially for baby disposable diaper bags


OH.MY.WORD. these things were the best. Seriously, if you are a mom of a baby, run, don't walk and spend the $13 on this box of bags, it will change your life. (okay, maybe not change it but make it so.much.more.convenient.) How many times are you out and about with your baby, whether at the mall, the grocery store, a friends house, church, the park, your car on the freeway in traffic, etc. when you have dirty diapers, wipes, etc. and essentially nowhere to put them?! You toss ALL your yucky garbage in this little scented bags, tie the handles in a knot and toss in the trash. You don't have to smell up your friend's house, or worry about leaving something gross in a restaurant bathroom, etc.. There are so many of these bags in 1 box that I only had to buy 2 boxes the whole time B was in diapers! I would swear by these things and never left my home without them.

Lastly: baby swing


Most parents get one of these, this isn't earth shattering information but I tell you what -Brennan loved her swing and it was the only way we could get chunks of sleep as she rocked away! She slept in this sling from the moment she got out of the NICU until she was 4 months old! Sure, we burned through batteries like there was no tomorrow, and eventually the motor in the swing gave out but it was worth every minute of uninterrupted sleep we got. :)


As far as my opinion on name brands:

* Pampers Swaddlers were the only way to go

* Huggies wipes are hands.down. the best wipes, most durable, cheap, etc.

Again, this is all just my meager opinion and probably every parent out there will have a different one...but its fun to share favorite things. To all you parents out there of littles, what are your favorite things? Leave a comment and help out my friends! xo

P.S. Since this is a baby post and all, head on over to my photo blog and check out a sneak peek of a beautiful mama here.

B gets her valentine craft on

I realize Valentine's Day is over but its still Valentine's week so I'm going to share a couple more v-day posts. (Its my blog and I can if I want to. :)) Here is B working on a little craft, I'll show you what we did with these cute hearts soon...maybe tomorrow if I can get my act together.

just some stuff

Disclaimer: this post is a bunch of run-on sentences of random things that are going on in Winn land. Commence post: There hasn't been too much going on around here lately but I feel like what has gone on has been fun. This past weekend we had a love love feast (yes, love 2x) at church for v-day, that was fun. I tried a new macaroni and cheese recipe that I found in a magazine, it.was.so.bland. So that was a bummer (esp since it was the first time I'd gone to the trouble to make home made mac and cheese!). One of my best friends from college came for a visit, an unexpected but awesome surprise. For v-day Adam and I didn't have much on the agenda, it was a pretty typical Monday, Brennan and I went to our play group (and for the record, out of 10+ women who were there, I was the only one who wasn't pregnant and/or lactating! I clearly need to stay away from the water in this town!), and then later in the day I made B her favorite dinner, we put her to bed a little early, and then Adam and I got Thai take-out and watched Lost (thankfully only 1 episode to go, I cannot wait to get my life back and not be so tied to that dumb show!!). All in all, it was a nice day, pretty low key but nice. Today while B is in school Adam and I talked about going on a little date to get some lunch and run some errands, that'll be fun. Cousin Mike is coming to visit! I love having company, and now that we have a legit guest room it makes it all the more enjoyable. It will be so fun to have him here for a couple days! Mi casa is tonight, we're having breakfast for dinner so no new recipes to share, BUT for my "new recipe of the week" last week I made these carnitas. They were good, but I do think shredding meat is so time consuming and not my favorite thing to do in the kitchen so not sure I'll be repeating this recipe any time soon. Well, there you have it, my rambles for this fine Tuesday morning. Happy day to you! xo

(Kind of a random pic but Daniel had to leave super early in the AM so when I walked into his room the next day, I found this note on the bed, made me smile). :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

May you be surrounded by lots of love today. (To see some cute love birds head on over to my other blog here). xo

the master bedroom

I often get requests to see more of the house (thanks for caring!), so yesterday I finally got around to taking some photos of our bedroom. Since I'm so anal (what can I say, its true!) and have so many things left "undone" its hard for me to take pictures and share because in my head I want it "done" first. Sigh. I realize to get things "done" is going to take a long, long time, so, just know its a work in progress! I'm one of those people who doesn't make the bed, I personally think its an exercise in futility (to those of you who do make the bed, I truly do wish I could be more like you b/c I can appreciate how pretty a made bed is, I just don't have it in me). :) I mainly make my bed when I'm hosting a party, when folks are coming over to my home for the first time, or when company is in town. One of my bestest friends from college came into town yesterday for a visit (thus the bed making, thus the photos), so to all of you who have wanted to see pics, you have Daniel to thank! :) Since I'm a non-bed maker I have made it a general rule that I only use linen duvet covers. My reasoning behind this is that I think linen is so cozy looking and lovely even when its just tossed about, which my bedding always is! Linen obviously wrinkles very easily (as evidenced by my photos), but it doesn't bother me at all. My style is very relaxed and casual so linen fits the bill. My room actually looks a lot more formal that I would like, I think this is due to all of the dark wood in my room and the formality of my grandmother's chair in the corner (which I treasure). I really do like my bedroom but in my head, I imagine it a bit differently one day. Okay, enough talking, onto the photos!







The stairs in the master bedroom lead up to the master bathroom/sitting room. When we first walked into this house we had no idea it had a third floor! Access to this part of the house is only thru the master so Adam and I feel pretty spoiled to have it. B started calling it the "tippy top" so now that is what we all refer to it as. The tippy top looks pretty blah right now so pics to come once it gets some more attention up there.



This little nook under the stairs is so endearing to me, I really love nooks and crannies in old homes. I've thought a lot about what I want to do with it and I'm pretty set on having a custom mattress made (vintage looking with ticking stripes and tufted throughout) with a bunch of cozy pillows tossed about. B loves to lay in here and I think it would be a neat reading area/cozy snuggle place. I recently got a bid for the custom mattress, not too too bad, but definitely on the "to do" list (among a million other things!).



This pine armoire clearly does not "go" in here, its very practical and we need it but it seriously needs a makeover! I've debated painting it, just not sure which color yet. Any suggestions? (or selling it and getting something that would be a better fit in this room)


I'm standing in the closet, just a different perspective of the space.

Hope you lovelies have a great weekend! xo