Mommy Monday: Because ALL Mom's Need Wine

One of my best bloggy friends, Making Mrs. M, and I had been talking about doing a collaborative post for quite some time. We both love beer and wine, so clearly we wanted to include alcohol in our post in some capacity. When we finally rounded out our idea, it seemed to make perfect sense to have this as one of my "Mommy Monday" posts.

Why? Because ALL mama's need wine. I know the difference between needing and wanting, and yes; mom's need it.

But some women are intimidated by it! They find the one bottle they like, and get it time and again because "it's good" and they know it, and they can avoid sounding dumb to the sommelier at the liquor store.

Don't be intimidated, ladies! Making Mrs. M and I are here to help you expand your alcoholic horizons with some tips on how to develop and refine your palettes. So read up, jot some notes down, and next time you're at a fancy dinner with the boss, you can impress the table with your craft beer and wine knowledge.

How To Develop Your Wine Palette

Yes, you know how to drink wine... But how do you "taste" it? You know, like when people say, "I feel a leathery texture and sense a hint of cherry in this Merlot!"

As someone who has been to an official wine school, I'll be honest with you: most of that is descriptive poetry by someone who has had too much to drink, or has spent too much time in a wine cellar with other social elitists. Seriously.

However, there still are some great ways to taste wine to bring out all the different flavors in the grapes:

"Little bites" of food is a great way to bring out the flavors in a glass of wine

1) Pour yourself mini-glasses and enjoy several wines back to back to sense the difference in sweetness, texture and pungency of the grapes. For example, if you taste a Malbac after a Pinot Noir, you'll likely note how strong and earthy the Malbac is compared to the lightness of the Pinot. This is an easy (and fun!) way to note the differences across the wine spectrum.

2) If you're sticking to one wine, try it with a range of "little bites" of food. Dark chocolate, fruit, and salty crackers are all great ways to bring out the different flavor in the same glass of wine. Perhaps the wine seems bitter after the fruit, but sweet after the dark chocolate. Play around and have some fun!

3) I like to have a glass of water to "rinse my palette" if I'm tasting. Otherwise, either the flight of wine blurs together or the salty cracker is still on my tongue when I'm trying to taste the effects of chocolate on the wine. Sipping water throughout a tasting is a must so that you're able to experience all the different flavors.

4) Have fun and taste with friends! I wasn't joking when I said wine descriptions are much like poetry. Your girlfriend might taste a hint of smoke in her Cabernet while you taste fruit. Talk about it and laugh! Remember, there is no wrong way to describe the flavor of wine. So get silly with it.

Which Wines to Choose:

This list is a good start of the general categories for red/white/sweet/dry wines. Likely, you know if you prefer sweet or dry (as in, not sweet) wine. If not, pick out two bottles from both the lists above! I also encourage you to try both red and white, even if you tend to gravitate towards one over the other.


Now that you've checked out how to taste wine, go on over to Making Mrs. M's blog and check out some tips on how to best taste craft beer. You'll be ordering for your whole table the next time you hit up a fancy restaurant!

  

High Five for {Slacking} Friday!

Ok, y'all, so my sister flew into town from NYC on Wednesday night to meet Henry for the first time. Since then, we've been playing, walking with the stroller, eating and drinking, and generally doing anything but paying attention to the internet and blogging.

You know, outside of doing a little facelift on this little blog of mine.

So, I'm slacking this Friday. I got nothin'.

I'm simply posting to tell you to have a great weekend, that I'll be back Monday with some real posts, and that I hope you have as good of a time this weekend as I plan on having with my sis and Henry plans on having with his Auntie.


But hey, these beauties have some content for you on a slow workday Friday! So head on over to them to be entertained, mmmmk?

 

Tips and Tricks for Sleeping Soundly

I know I'm not the only one who suffers from poor sleep habits.

After a month of terribly restless nights and on my wits end, I decided I needed to take some steps to ensure that can actually get a decent amount of sleep. And I'm so happy to report that these tips have worked like a charm! I now only wake up to feed the baby once in the night. When we're done, I have no trouble falling right back to sleep.

Whether or not you have issues falling asleep, staying asleep, sleep quality, or perhaps you feel as though you have no issues at all - I'd suggest trying a few of these just to see if you feel better the next morning!

Here's what worked wonders for me:

1) Lavender linen spray: I bought a small spray bottle at Target, and filled it with water. Then I add about ten drops of lavender essential oil. Fifteen minutes prior to bedtime, I give a few sprays to my pillow. This way it will dry before I climb into bed, and I'll have a fresh burst of calming lavender to sooth me off to la-la land.

2) Shut down electronics at least 30 minutes before bed time: This is hard. Formerly, I put myself to sleep checking out Pinterest from my phone. But the light of the phone/laptop/TV has been proven, time and again, to awaken and rouse the brain. Have trouble "shutting your mind off" at night? Turn off your electronics. I now enjoy about 30 minutes of reading (remember books?!) before I turn off the light, and have had no problems falling asleep within ten minutes of lights-out.

Make your bedroom a no cell phone zone at night! Also, check out this flip-phone. Takin' it back to 2002!

3) Develop a consistent routine: If you go to bed at different times each night, you're body can't get into a pattern. If some nights you stay up later depending who is on Jimmy Falon, cut it out and program your DVR. Whether it's 9pm or 11:30pm, try to always go to bed at a consistent time to right-set your sleeping clock, and get yourself on a solid routine.

4) White noise: Some people love it, others hate it. But they sell baby noisemakers for a reason - it's the way things were in the womb! I personally HAVE to have a fan running at night for that constant hmmmmmmmmm sound. My son prefers the heartbeat sound on his sound maker. That's a little "horror film-esque" for me, but to each their own! If you haven't tried it before, get a fan and try it for a week. The circulating air helps, too.

Nothing like the constant white noise of a fan. Zzzzz...

I hope you find these tips as helpful as I have in developing a better night's rest! Do you have any other tips or tricks to share? What helps you fall and stay asleep at night?

Mommy Monday: An Open Letter to Anti-Vaccine Parents

This is a little bit of a "political" topic for An Uncomplicated Life Blog, but I've seen a number of articles floating around facebook, the internet, and some idiots on reality TV talking about how they "don't want to vaccinate their kids because there's "stuff" in those shots." And I just had to weigh in on this. Because I now have a baby, and this directly effects me.

Allllllright, anti-vaxers. Let's just take a quick look at science, and history, and real facts here, shall we?

You "choosing" not to vaccinate your child is indeed not a choice for you. You're putting your child at risk for death, becoming disabled, becoming disfigured, paralyzed, and speech deprived. It's not a choice you're making for you; it's one you're electing to put your own child at risk for. Also, you're putting other children and adults at risk, too:

Likely, you've not seen what the measles have done to the people who survive the disease. Do you know that polio causes paralysis? Do you know that whopping cough KILLS? What you're telling me by not immunizing your child is that you'd rather your child suffer or become disfigured than give him/her a shot to prevent it, based on science-less propaganda. You're telling me you'd rather your child die than become exposed to "some bad stuff." You'd elect death over the what you fear is in immunizations. (There's nothing to fear; The CDC fully discloses what in immunizations. Go to the CDC's website for more info.)

What measles looks like on a baby

Here are some questions for you, anti-vaxer parent: Do you have a microwave in your house you use to warm food? Do you use cell phones? Do you feed your kid from plastic bottles, plates, utensils? Do you sometimes get fast food because the kids are begging for it and you're tired? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you've just exposed your kid to far more harmful "stuff" than is in any vaccine.

Now, I'm all about holistic health! I love and use essential oils. I eat local and organic food, don't even think about fast food drive thru's, and feed my son with glass bottles. We don't have plastic storage containers (think GladWare or similar) in my house. We spend twice what we should on diapers because I refuse to put the chemicals that are in Pampers/Huggies/Luvs on my son's skin, the biggest absorbing organ in the human body. I'm totally on board with that line of thinking! But guess what? You still need to vaccinate your kids. Living a healthy lifestyle isn't enough to protect them (or other children, or other adults) from creating and spreading an epidemic.

There has been scientific study after scientific study that disproves immunizations cause Autism. Here's one for reference. Also there's more mercury in breast milk than what is found in vaccines. Vaccines have been tested extensively since the 1930's for their effectiveness and safety, which is longer than nearly any drug currently on the market. It just doesn't make sense to me if you're taking birth control or blood pressure medicine but electing to not vaccinate your children!

Here's the deal, anti-vaxer parent: Public schools are starting to ban your kids. More schools will follow, as your kids cause more localized epidemics. The truth is, your children are a danger to society. Please, please go vaccinate your children. Not just for the health of your own baby, but for the better health of everyone's babies.

                                                                                     Xoxo Stay the heck away from me and my family

High Five for {Mixin' It Up} Friday!

I decided to mix things up this week, and instead of posting about the top moments of my week, I'm going to list some quirky things I love about living in Texas.

(Quick side note, for some reason I was unable to embed my link-up buttons at the end of this post because of my YouTube HTML coding... Whatevs, I'm still linking up with Meet At The Barre, The Lauren Elizabeth, and September F A R M)

So gals (and like, three guys), here are some of the Top 5 strange/quirky/bizarre things I find awesome about living in this strange/quirky/bizarre state of Tejas:


1) If you follow me on Twitter, you know I loved this zoning configuration. It just really doesn't get more convenient than this, folks! And so, so necessary.

All baby/children's stores need a wine shop in the same parking lot. It's only humane.

2) Remember driver's ed? You likely took it in high school at some point? Yeah, nobody took it here in Dallas. There are no driving rules except this: Yield to the largest vehicle. Don't pay attention to posted speed limits (go the speed of traffic, usually 85mph) don't think that people will stay in their lanes (they won't, especially if that's a truck next to you) and don't assume anyone is actually stopping for that red light. At first, this drove me nuts! But now... I like your crazy style, Dallas.

3) While I watch all my MN friends on Facebook post pics of them bundled up and leaves changing, dreading the coming winter, I enjoy this reality. Remember Monday's post where I was in riding boots and a cardigan? It was 86 degrees.

 

4) Simply put: TACO JOINT. How it produces the greatest tacos on earth without being a dive/shack, I'll never know.

5) We get to watch commercials like this. This man is serious. Amazing. Don't get me started on the insane political ads, either... Because they're just as great as this little gem:

eShakti Styled Three Ways

I had never heard of eShakti until my girl Making Mrs. M did a review of them a few weeks back. The very next day, they reached out to me and asked if I would like to receive a custom made dress and write up a review on the blog. Ummm, why yes, yes I would!

They have hundreds of dresses to choose from. There is something for everyone's personal style and budget. If you see something you like, but would prefer a different hemline or sleeve length, you can customize it to fit what you're looking for. Speaking of customization, eShakti means business! If you're not a standard size 4, 6, 8 etc (and who is?!), you can enter your measurements, and they'll make the dress specifically for you. I'm not just talking about a bust/waist/hip measurement either, they want to know how broad your shoulders are, low long your arms are, the size of your wrist - I mean, I think they wanted as many measurements as my custom-made wedding gown!

I went with a 1940's inspired chambray dress, as I planned to transition it to something I could still wear in the fall and throughout our mild winters. Because this dress is so versitle, I decided to style if a few different ways so y'all could see how a piece like this can work.

Office Chic Chambray

Office Chic Chambray from eShakti

This dress is conservative enough to wear to the office, as the scoop neckline isn't too low, and the hemline isn't too high. I paired it with a nude wedge (from BCBG) and a cardigan (J Crew) then added simple jewelry (Mark & Graham). Boom! Business casual appropriate.

Office Chic Chambray from eShakti

 Date Night Chambray

Date Night Chambray from eShakti

Who doesn't love to look good on date night?! Whether you're headed to dinner and a movie or an art gallery, this is a good look! I paired the dress with a dressier pointed heel (BCBG), a gold and black clutch (Cynthia Rowly) and chunky jewels around my neck (J Crew).  Add a bright lip, and you're gonna be smokin' hot for your date.

Date Night Chambray from eShakti

Cozy Chambray

Cozy Chambray from eShakti

As we get deeper into fall and start to head into winter, this dress is easily adaptable. For cooler weather (I can't really say "cold" because, errrr, it doesn't get too cold here) I tied a plaid flannel (J Crew) which really showed off the full skirt, threw on some brown suede boots (totally don't know where these are from, and I've worn the label out of the inside of the boot!). To keep the look girly, I added a few strands of pearls (J Crew). Tights would also be cute with this! But y'all. I was s-w-e-a-t-i-n-g.

Cozy Chambray from eShakti

I just have to tell you - this dress is SO comfortable! The soft chambray fabric combined with the perfect fit of the customized dress makes me not want to take it off. Ever.

I will say that it did take about four weeks from ordering the dress to delivery, which I thought was a bit of a wait. But then again, they made this dress specific to all my bizarre measurements, and it fits like a dream! Just be sure to plan ahead with the ordering time if you want/need the dress for a special or specific event.

Finally, if you're looking for a deal, the nice folks at eShakti are offering you 10% off! Enter "anuncomplicatedlife" in the promo code section to get this special offer for An Uncomplicated Life Blog readers! It's good through Oct. 16, which juuuuuuust so happens to be my birthday. Make sure to get yourself something pretty for my 30th, okay? Yay!

*I was given this dress from eShakti at no cost to me. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated to write this post.

Mommy Monday: Weekending

I mentioned in my last post that the weather was cooling down here and that meant we'd be able to get out with Lil' H. Welp, the weather did get cooler and we did make it out! We spent the afternoon on Saturday taking advantage of our membership to the Dallas Arboretum.

And thus, dear readers, begins our weekend recap in pics:

Just getting into the Arboretum. Little bit bright for our boy.

Checking out some fishies. Yes, those are martians on Henry's socks.

I laugh when I see this sculpture now, because all I can think of is it being a little bit... "Orange Is The New Black" if you catch my drift ;)

Henry didn't want to participate in our family selfie

All the babies loved the fishies!

They were prepping their annual fall pumpkin display. You better believe we'll be back for that!

Henry wasn't sure about the frog fountains. I think he was scared daddy would get him wet.

My tall husband ducking to not get wet at the frog fountains

After we were done at the Arboretum, we headed over to Good Friend for some craft brews, fried pickles and burgers.

Baby at a bar

Dancing baby at a bar... Because FRIED PICKLES

I can't tell you how nice it was to spend some time outside with Henry! What did you all do over the weekend?

I'm linking up with the lovely B Loved Boston for her Monday Weekending party, and also with Leslyn's Lovely Life for Mama Monday! Make sure to check them out.

High Five for {you guessed it} Friday!

Hey readers and friends, it's the weekend. Not only that, it's a cool weekend (cool defined as mid-80's here in Tejas) and that means we'll be able to do some fun things outside this weekend. Whoop! Patio dinners, maybe a trip to the Dallas Arboretum or the zoo... The possibilities are endless when you're not confined to a 2,000 square foot space.

Not only am I jumping for joy over the cool-down, this week was a pretty darn good one to boot. Here are the highlights:

1) I took a step back from excessive blogging to get out and enjoy some real-world activities. I love the blogging community, and it's been a sanity-saver for this SAHM, but it was starting to become a bit too consuming and I needed to get out and see some real life people and do real life things, ya know? So I got together with some lovelies and we spent the afternoon creating a fall garland.

Fall garland: we dipped leaves in wax, then gave them a solid coat of glitter. In fact, Henry is still covered in it!. So. Much. Glitter.

2) In yet another episode of Target Style fail, they don't carry size 32 bras! I was hoping to pick up a few cheap "transitional" braziers (still really, really hoping the girls go back to their original size!) but dang Target doesn't carry one single 32 inch bra. So I went to Victoria's Secret because I know they have my size... And I was for sure the oldest person in that store. I felt like a creeper. With a baby. Then I just thought it was hilarious because Henry randomly started laughing at all the lip gloss they have at the register. Like, all out hysterical baby laughing. It was amazing.

3) Ever heard of eShakti? Yeah, I hadn't either until they reached out to me to review a custom made dress they so kindly offered to make me. I got to pick it out and customize it, and just got it in the mail. Special post next week coming on how to style the dress as we transition to fall along with some deets and special offers from the company!

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw this sneak peek of my chambray, 1940's inspired dress

4) My husband did my ironing. No further explanation needed here.

5) I also finished my fall wreath in my mini-vacay from my blog. I'm going to add a few more leaves to it to make it a bit fuller, but here's the gist of how she turned out:

Fall wreath: 90% completed

  
In extra special news, check out my ad that just went live over at The Lauren Elizabeth! Click her  button (first one posted) to take you directly there:

 

What Capsule Wardrobe?

The other day, a friend texted me and asked me if I'd do a capsule wardrobe, as she had seen this thing all over the blogsphere and wanted to know if I was going to get in on that action.

I'll admit: I had to google it. And when I read through the concept, I had a good, long, hard laugh.

The cliff notes version of a capsule wardrobe is to get 33 items (shirts, pants, shoes, etc) and mix and match them to create outfits. You supposedly do this for every season, and it helps to prevent you from over-shopping.

See why I laughed? I got 99 problems but over-shopping aint one.

Anyway, I got to thinking: Do I even have 33 items (non-maternity, non-workout wear) in my closet?! Not for every season, I mean AT ALL? The answer was a big fat N-O. Isn't that crazy? And a lot of the stuff I did have was from my undergrad (ten years ago) to grad school (five years ago) days.

"Babe, can I have a budget to get some new clothes?!" I asked my husband desperately. "Sure, get whatever you want. As long as you look cute :)" Was my hubs text reply. Can we all just give this man a round of applause right now?

I started to shop online, but thought it was time to head out and actually try things on for once. So I packed up my little man and rolled out to my own personal hell on earth - a shopping mall. I parked by Nordstom, so logically my excursion began there. Except... Their stuff was not my style, although I know it's super stylish. I saw some Calvin Klein dresses that were fantastic, but let's get serious, I'm not going anywhere that would require me to be that fancy. "Welp, I tried to veer from the norm and it was a big ol FAIL!" I thought as I headed right on over to my main squeeze, J Crew.

Cardigan and jeans: J Crew; shoes: Vera Wang; watch: Michael Kors; necklace: Mark & Graham

You know what's lovely about my Crew? They have a stylist in-store to work with you. I told her I wanted some new jeans for what will hopefully, eventually be fall here in the hottest state on earth Texas. Boyfriend jeans were everywhere, so she grabbed me no fewer than 20 pairs to try on. Now, I'm a tall, slender person. But I particularly have NO thighs. So these curvy cut pants just looked absolutely d-u-m-b on me. Until I tried these (couldn't find online, similar here). I spent a small fortune on them, but ohmygosh are they broken in and comfy!

Jeans: J Crew Point Sur denim; shirt: J Crew; shoes: BCBG; necklace: street vendor in New Orleans. Yup.

They're still a boyfriend shape, but a more slender cut so I don't look completely homeless. I picked up a few tissue t-shirts, since they're my fav and so wearable for a SAHM. I also found a cardigan for the three months a year it is sweater weather here. Then I decided to get some pants that were more my typical style, and was pleased as punch when these had a decent inseam length for the beanpoles I call legs.

Jeans: J Crew Point Sur denim; shirt: J Crew; heels: Guess; scarf: another drunk purchase off a street vendor in NOLA. I mean, you can walk around with cocktails in that city, how am I supposed to remember where I made purchases?!

I'm still trying to figure out how to best style the boyfriend jeans. Since they're baggier, I think they need a fitted top and girly accessories. I have styling the dark matchstick jeans down, since most of my clothes are longer cardigans that will go great with it. With these new additions to my wardrobe, I don't feel as dated or frumpy and you'll be happy to hear (you know, if you care at all, and it's totally cool if you don't) that I now indeed own 33 items in my closet. The best part for me though? The part that made this whole mall experience well worth it? I was buying my pre-pregnancy size. Hell. Yes.

Do you wear boyfriend jeans? If so, how do you style them? What about this capsule wardrobe concept - will you be participating in it for the upcoming fall/winter seasons? Tell me all about it!

Mommy Monday: Ahhhh, Teething

Right when you think you've exited the "bad newborn baby" stage and entered brighter pastures, something happens: your young'un starts to grow some teeth.

I was able to snap this selfie before Henry drooled all over himself on football Saturday. Bibs are our new friend.

We're in the early phase, where the tooth is starting to come up through the bone. But poor Lil' H is suffering from the tell-tale signs. Some are quite miserable for him; some are quite a bummer for mama.

The poor boy is chewing on his hands nonstop (he only wants his hands - wont take teethers, chew toys, anything), drooling like a champ, developed extreme diaper rash and has several, massive, runny diaper blowouts per day (which make the diaper rash worse). Poor baby!

Burt's Bees diaper ointment has been a lifesaver for Henry's poor bottom during this unfortunate time. It was also recommended to us to put a blanket down outside and let him hang out for a while to let everything "air out." Outside of that, offering teething toys and wearing an amber necklace is about all we have on our offensive line for teething.

 

What have you done to help your poor mini-me during the teething stage? How long can we expect this to last? Any tips, tricks or helpful information is much appreciated! We head to his four month appointment next week, where I'm sure I'll learn everything I've been doing is "all wrong" but in the interim, I'll do whatever works and take any and all advice from my fellow mama's or ladies who care for little ones!

High Five for Friday!

A nice short week and my hubs is coming home from a work trip to NYC? This Friday is dabombdotcom! Henry and I had a fun week together, just the two of us, but we're both pretty ready for daddy to be back so that he can help mommy with diaper duty.

So many diapers, y'all.

Enough of that, let's jump right on in to the best and brightest five moments of the week, shall we?

1) If you read this post about my love for all things fall and Halloween (ummm, k, mostly just Halloween) then you know that I'm working on some fall-inspired crafts. I picked up a few items for a wreath this week, and plan to get the rest this weekend/early next week. I had to fight my inner demons to stay away from the Halloween stuff and stick to fall... Pun intended.

Clearly, nothing pictured here looks anything like my "inspiration" post. Oh well, that's the fun of crafting!

2) Since Henry can now hold his own head up, I got a Bumbo floor seat. He's still a little shaky in it, but soon I'll be able to have him sit in the kitchen with me while I cook! Yes, I plan on teaching my son how to cook. To all his future girlfriends, you're welcome.

3) I was en route to a yoga class on Labor Day, then realized that my nail salon was actually open. With daddy watching Henry, you bet I side-lined the workout and bee-lined to the salon to get my nails fixed! (You know what it's like when your feet are so rough, they catch on the sheets? Yeah. That was me...)

This may be the first time that my yoga pants are brighter than my manicure!

4) I've started back up with circuit training and weight lifting classes. Holymoly, how quickly do muscles disappear?! You know the kind of sore where it's hard to get down to the toilet seat?! Yeah. It hurts so good. #ouchies

5) Good news: I've lost more baby bulge! YAY. Bad news: this dress, that I JUST bought and only wore to take this pic (I didn't end up flying in it) is now too big. Soooo bummed! I'm thinking of selling it - $25 shipped (retailed for $150, I bought it for $50). Any takers? J Crew size 4. Holler in the comments or send me an email if you're interested!

I hope everyone had rockin' weeks and will have an even better weekend! Make sure to kill more of your workday checking out these lovely ladies' blogs I link up with every Friday:

Fall Preparations: Favorite Craft Ideas

I'm a Halloween fanatic. I've stated that before. Normally, I skip right over more traditional "fall" stuff and jump right into decorating for Halloween. I mean, skulls are just way more interesting than leaves for a conversation piece, amiritetho?!

This year, I've decided to focus a bit more on the "fall" and less on the guts and gore-awesomeness that is Halloween. At least, until the end of September. Then I make no promises.

Anyway, I was trolling Pinterest over the past week for some fun fall craft ideas. I've always been crafty, and since I now stay at home, I plan on busting out some DIY magic to get our home ready for the season change (I'm just going to ignore that it's currently 104 outside...)

Here are some of my favorite fall-themed craft ideas I want to implement this year:
 

I like how the leaves make this fall wreath slightly less formal

This would work with gourds or pumpkins, and I love how the nuts adds texture

I love the idea of working with berries... But I also know that mold is a legit concern!

I like the mix of glass and wood, and the variety of colors used here.

Of course, these are just starting points! My crafts rarely look like the original idea/inspiration. We have a cute front porch that I want to do something with, too, so I'm keeping an eye out for outdoor decoration ideas. Do you have any fall craftiness planned?

*All images are from Pinterest, and sources/websites can be found on my page