Fun Friday!

To link up and share your fun plans for the weekend, click below and head to Jen's blog!

It seems like it took Friday forever to get here this week! I'm glad it finally did though because I've got lots of fun things planned for the weekend. 

First off, the husband and I will be heading to town to finally pick out and purchase new bathroom fixtures. Our current bathroom is embarrassing, with a blue tiny sink, and a horrendous blue toilet that looks like it corroded ten years ago. And let's not talk about the peeling paint and mold. It's a pretty touchy subject for me. Thank goodness we're finally starting repairs!

Then, after we get our errands finished up, I'll be preparing to head to DC on Sunday night with some of my best friends to enjoy the musical stylings of 

Britney Spears! We purchased tickets months ago, for my friend, Lindsey's, birthday. I'm so excited to finally go. Hopefully, I can meet up with a couple blogger pals while I'm in the area if my girlfriends don't mind. ;)

What do you have in store for this weekend??

Ch-ch-ch changessss

So, I'm afraid I have to come clean about something with you guys. I haven't been totally, completely honest with you lately. You know I tell you everything right? My blog is my outlet, where I vent, ramble and ask for advice. Well, if there was any a time to be doing all three of these, it'll most definitely be now.

The reason I've been so MIA lately is because my husband and I got a little shock a few weeks ago, turns out, I'm pregnant.

Nine weeks and six days pregnant to be exact. Which is why my little bean looks like, well, a bean. If you look closely though, where the letters CRL are on the right hand side, that's the head. He's kinda crunched up in a boxing pose and is still the size of a grape so I'm afraid that's all you can really see.

Unless you look at the 3D picture they took, then it just looks even more like a blob...

So there you have it, my future offspring. He's the reason I've been so moody, nauseous and crampy. And if it's half this much trouble when it's born, I'll be grateful.

The day we found out, I cried to the point that my doctor sincerely apologized thinking I didn't want my baby. I had to insist that, no, I really was happy, it was just a shock. Regardless of whether or not we planned this, it's sinking in that we're going to be parents and we couldn't be happier.

Every person we told thought we were joking, with the exception of my parents, who guessed I was pregnant when I thought I came down with a case of "food poisoning" at the beginning of the month. My mother in law looked at us and squealed "are you shitting me?!" and screamed, simultaneously with my sister in-law and nieces. My sister cried when I told her on the phone and my friend Lindsey jumped up and down saying she had been wishing for me to get pregnant since before I got married. (Does that mean I can blame her for this? She jinxed me.) My friend Katie punched me when I told her and my boss asked if she could spoil my kid. Which of course she can. She has none of her own so I told her to have at it!

Of course, as soon as I found out, I couldn't help but think "when can I blog this?" From that point forward, it's been like pulling teeth to try and keep this giant secret from you all and convince my family to keep it off of Facebook. Now that I've let the cat out of the bag, you can help me keep my sanity as I try and get through these next nine months. Or 18 years. Whichever. You have my back either way right? ;)

Well looky there

Happy blog-iversary to me!

One year ago today, I started this little blog and quite frankly, I started it because I was bored. Kevin and I had just gotten married and while I was settling into our cushy little routine, I needed a little something else to occupy my time, so, Heart on Homestead was born.

Since then, I've created friendships through the internet I never thought would have been possible and I have only my little blog to thank. Without it, I wouldn't have met all of you, wouldn't have discovered Twitter or Pinterest and wouldn't be who I am now. That may sound silly but you crazy kids really do influence me. Whether it's in home decor or what I'm making for dinner, you're my peers and I look to you for guidance.

So, thank you. For following my blog and listening to my ramblings day in and day out. I have no idea what direction my blog will take but hopefully you'll stick around and find out? :)

Do work son

Remember a while ago when I told you there were some changes going on in my office? Well, those changes have been put into effect and I'm now working my little tailfeathers off. Since my new position began in July, I've been alone in the office a lot, and that leaves little time to check in with you guys. You'd think that being alone would be an advantage but alas, I'm busier than ever. For that, I apologize. In return, I figured I'd give you a little sneak peek at where I do work and give you a tour of my office.

 But, please pardon the semi-blurry point and shoot photos. I was working with what I had during the five spare moments I was alone before leaving the office.

Here you can see a full view of my cube, in all it's purple glory. It was discussed last year that all the secretaries should get new wooden desks but as you can tell, that plan didn't get approved. We did get some fancy new cabinets along the back wall though, but I've had some trouble decorating the shelves because they are ginormous.

I tried to throw in a few trinkets I had to fill the void: a couple of cute signs I got from TJ Maxx, a picture frame and a centerpiece made up of sand and seashells. (Which was made by my sister for my bridal shower I might add!)

Ignore my calendar, I'm fully aware that it says April. That's probably because I took these pictures in April. They've just been waiting for me to use them. Procrastination at it's best!

Continuing our tour, here's a close up of my workspace. I even cropped all my clutter out of the picture - just for you.

If you look close, you can see a few of (1) my wedding photos and a few of Bodie (3) - whose smiling puppy face is sometimes what gets me through the day. Then you've got my pen stash (2) which is hidden so that the woman I used to share my desk with wouldn't steal them. She came in after my shift was over so who knows what she was doing with all my favorite pens. All I know is that they were disappearing.

Moving on, we've got the secret jar of jellybeans (4) which has since been devoured. They were Starburst brand, you can't blame me for eating them in a matter of days. Now, I can't give you a tour of my desk without pointing out my trusty fan (5) since it's on even in the dead of winter. My office thermostat is set to 80 degrees on most days and I die. Literally, I feel myself sweltering to death. Okay, that may be a little extreme but the way I see it, if it's 75 degrees and cool outside, the heat does NOT need to be on. Mmkay?

Oh, and I guess I should tell you that there really is a stack of work to be done (6) - and that stack has grown since April so I better get back to it. ;-)

What type of things do you have in your workspace to make it your own? Do you work with a pen thief?

Fun Fridays!

To link up and share your fun plans for the weekend, click below and head to Jen's blog!

TGIF my friends. Another busy week is under my belt at work and I'm so ready to relax this weekend. Tonight, I'll be joining my friend Kristin, her hubby Patrick, and my sister Heather to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2! 

{source of goodness}

I'm probably more excited than any grown ass person should be. I read all seven books when I was in high school and have re-read them all several times since then. If you think about it, we've known these characters for over ten years, and now it's over. The final book was written and now the final movie has been released. It really is the end of an era. Any other Potter fans out there? 

Which reminds me, who knew that the geeky Neville Longbottom would turn out like this:

{Hubba hubba}

Okay, enough about Harry Potter! Moving on.

Saturday afternoon, the hubs and I have an appointment with our real estate agent to look at several homes in our area. We've been house hunting for over a year but put things on hold when we began repairs on our current place. Now that we have a definite end date to those repairs, we figured it was time to get our rears in gear and actually find our forever home. 

To give you a sneak peek, out of the handful we'll be looking at, my current top three are:

House number 1 has 2136 square feet with an unfinished basement, 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms and a two car garage. It's an ideal location for where I work and it would only add 10 minutes to my husbands commute.

House number 2 has 2496 square feet with a large finished basement and a two car garage. With 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and 2 half baths, there's plenty of room for the two of us and (maybe? someday?) future children.  Also within 15 minutes of my work, this home is located in a serene location with a roomy backyard for Bodie to run in. 

House number 3 has to be my favorite so far. It's lawn has been well kept and with the largest finished basement of all the homes we're looking at, it would give my husband the man cave he's always wanted. It has 4 bedrooms and 2 and a half baths with 2780 square feet.

All of the homes we're looking at tomorrow are within 15 miles of each other and are all 3-4 bedrooms and range from 2500-3000 square feet. Some of the things that are important to us while house hunting? A garage and a basement, a large yard, well equipped kitchen and more than one bathroom. Other than that, we're pretty flexible. I can't wait to see what our realtor has in store for us, keep your fingers crossed for me you guys! 

What are your weekend plans??

Weekend Recap!

This weekend flew by and for a good reason! Early Saturday morning, my sister, my husband and I left for Pennsylvania, ready to hit up our family reunion on Sunday. However, in an exciting twist of events, we didn't end up going because my cousin, Nicole, had her baby!

Broderick Anthony was born Sunday evening at 4:58 pm. He is the most handsome little guy I've ever seen and I'm so glad we happened to be in town so we could meet him.

We didn't expect Brody to make an appearance so soon since he wasn't due for another two weeks but he's healthy and his momma is healthy so that's all that matters! I'll spare you all the juicy details since I'm sure my cousin will be blogging all about it soon enough.

In other news, and not so good news, your continued thoughts and prayers are appreciated for my uncle, Nicole's dad. He was moved to the ICU on Saturday morning and as of yesterday, had to be put on a ventilator. Thankfully, on Sunday, he was awake enough to hear the news of his new grandson being born and see the pictures of the little guy. Fingers crossed my uncle gets better so we can get him out of that hospital soon.

How was your weekend??

Fun Fridays!

To link up and share your fun for the weekend, click below and head over to Jen's blog!

The long weekend has thrown me off and I've really gotten my days mixed up but I'm so glad that Friday is finally here. This weekend is sure to be a fun one since I'll be headed to Pennsylvania tomorrow for my family reunion! It's been a few years since I've been able to go since it's usually held on the Sunday after the fourth of July, making it difficult to get off of work. However, I pulled some strings this year and am finally able to go.

I'm especially glad to be going this year because it's probably the last time I'll see my beautiful cousin, Nicole, pregnant! She's due this month and I know she's ready to meet her new baby boy. 

Not only that, but I really want to visit her dad since he hasn't been well. If you read her blog, you'll know that he's actually been in the hospital recently and could definitely use your prayers, thoughts or good juju. Hopefully we can cheer him up a little while we're there to visit!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Summer Fun!

This post has been in my saved folder for a while and I figured it was about time to publish it! A few weeks ago, my wonderful husband took the time out of his busy weekend to do some planting around the house. First up, some tomato plants.

When we purchased the plants, we were lucky enough to already have a few golf-ball sized ones on the vine! Since then, we've had a handful of giant ripe tomatoes to enjoy since it's been raining so much here.

Not only did he plant tomatoes for me but he also got a few pepper plants as well. We haven't gotten to enjoy any of these quite yet and I seriously hope these little buggers show up soon. Maybe a shot of Miracle Grow will help them out.

After he slaved over the garden, he thought he'd make a few changes to our side yard and decided to plant a few new trees.

With a little help from Bodie of course! He's always willing to lend a hand.

Or, ya know, try and catch moths.

If you noticed the garden behind Kevin in those first few pictures of him planting our new cherry trees, it's not ours. Mine may be teeny tiny compared to my neighbors but come on, they're retired! They have the time to tend it. I can't complain though because I definitely benefit from their laborious efforts.

I'm not kidding when I tell you that their garden is almost twice as big as their house. It's overflowing with corn, squash, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, snap beans and peppers! They've already been kind enough to leave two bags full of veggies on my doorstep.

Did you plant a garden this year??

My fourth of July and a weekend recap.

Am I still an American if I've been sitting on my couch all fourth of July just watching TV? Kevin has been out and about having a boys day and the fact that I've had zero contact with the outside world doesn't make me sound like any less of a hermit either. After I got over my little stint of food poisoning, which was not fun, Kevin and I went out with friends on Friday night for dinner. Even though I wasn't feeling 100% and only ate half a baked potato, I went and ended up having a pretty good time.

Then on Saturday, we spent the afternoon at my parents for a family cook out which I'm glad to say included my uncle, who I haven't seen since my wedding, and my aunt, who I haven't seen since my sisters wedding. It's amazing how time flies! I'm so glad we were able to spend some much needed time with them while they were here.

It's turned out to be a busy weekend so I decided today I'd cuddle up on the couch with Bodie and finish season two of Dexter.

It's my new addiction. Now, if I can convince my brother to loan me season three, I might have to spend the next few weekends glued to my couch too. I swear I really do have a life... 

Welp, it's time for dinner, guess I'll microwave a hot dog.

Happy fourth of July everyone! :)

Fun Fridays & Vlog Fridays!

Happy Friday all! I'm finally back with Fun Friday and Vlog Friday and to kick it off, let's start by telling you my fun plans for the weekend. To join in on the fun, click below and head over to Jen's blog!

I can't believe it's already fourth of July weekend! Saturday afternoon, we'll be having a cookout with my family to celebrate the fourth as well as my dad's birthday. He turned the big 5-0 on the 30th but he worked all day so we weren't able to get together. I'm so glad he'll be home so I can harass him properly for getting so old. ;)

My uncle Georgie will be in town this weekend from Massachusetts as well, so I'm super excited he'll be able to celebrate with us too. 

Now, before I get too excited about the weekends festivities, I'll have to get better first. After I kicked my nasty cold, now I'm sick in bed and have been since yesterday afternoon and can't even keep down crackers and water. I'm so hungry. Someone bring me soup.

On that track, I bring you Vlog Friday for this week! It's been a while but the topic goes hand in hand with how I've been feeling these last two days, sick. Today we're talking about our favorite sick movies. Ignore my sickly appearance, enjoy. 

I know it was short and sweet but I really wanted to catch up with you guys this week! Hope you all have a wonderful fourth of July weekend! 

DO YOU VLOG FRIDAYS? BECAUSE THESE AWESOME CHICKS DO:

Kate at Marshmellow Goodness

Steph at forget me {not}

Cole at Adventures in Love and Happiness 

Erica at Of Food and Friends 
Folly Life
Amy at Life's Journey With A Smile
Ann at The Little Things
Julia at Dr. Princess