Girl Crushes

There are a group of girls that husbie calls my 'girl crushes.'  they are all girls I would like to emulate in one way or the other, and each has their own characteristics that I think are fantastic.  And the list is...

TV Personalities

Kelly Ripa

Kelly's probably my longest running girl crush.  I started liking her a lot when I was preggo with Haley - she was preggo at the same time with her daughter.  It also helped that I was a SAHM during this time, so I had plenty of time to watch R&K and All My Children.  She is so adorable - personality, hair, clothes, etc., etc., etc.  I DVR Regis & Kelly every day so that I can see what she is wearing.  I try to pick up workwear that look like a lot of things she wears on the show.  Favorite things about Kelly?  She is a super mom of 3, works out like a fiend and has the body to show it, and she is so funny!  She doesn't take herself too seriously, either, and I think that is my favorite thing about her. 

Melissa Rycroft

Pregnant and adorable.  One thing I was and one thing I wasn't!  :)  I loved her on Making the Squad, The Bachelor, and Dancing with the Starts.  I only watch Good Morning America when she is on (what can I say, I am a Today Show girl!).  She seems so down-to-earth and sweet.  Her and her hubs are adorable and I can only imagine how super cute and adorable their little one is going to be.  How many times can I say super cute and adorable in one paragraph?  Apparently, a lot.

Actresses

Anne Hathaway

If anyone would make me want to color my hair dark again, it's her.  She is gorgeous, classy, and I love her in every movie she has ever done.  Who knew she'd end up as lovely as she is now when she did The Princess Diaries?  I can't wait to see Love & Other Drugs - it looks so good!

 Rachel McAdams 

I think she is great for a lot of the same reasons as Anne Hathaway.  Smart - check.  Beautiful - check.  Classy - check check.  She's been in some of my favorite movies of all time - hello, Notebook & Time Travelers Wife.  She is so graceful and elegant.  Morning Glory is on my list to see, too!  (I don't know how I'm going to scam all of these movies out of husbie).

Sports Chicks

Carling Coffing

If anyone watched The Big Break - Sandals Resorts, you know Carling.  She's just snarky enough to be hilarious without being a B.  She ended up winning (yay, my favorites never seem to win) and quickly became my golf style icon.  I'm still not sure about nixing a collared shirt on the golf course, but I've come up with some pretty cute Carling-esque outfits.  Not to mention my golf side ponytail.  

Lindsey Vonn

Hands-down, my favorite athlete of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  She kicked total butt with an injury and wiped that smerky smile off of Julia Mancuso's face.  Another bonus point - the absolutely adorable moment she had with her husbie after winning the gold medal.   

Do you have any girl crushes or icons (fashion, professional, or whatever?  Who are they and why?

46ish things about me for my 64 followers!

I have gotten lots of new followers lately, yay!  Thanks for following my blog and welcome!!  One of my favorite things about blogging is the unique perspectives you get from so many different ladies.  I guess you could get dude perspectives, too, but my following is all Betty's!   

To catch you up on me, here are 46 facts about me.  I thought about doing 64, but that would take forever and I think everyone would stop reading about halfway through.  I know I would!

The only states I have not been to are Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Wisonsin and Maine  

I have recurring nightmares about being trapped in a crashing elevator

I danced competitively growing up - tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical
I spent almost as much time at the dance studio as I did at school

I quit because I wanted a life outside of dance in high school

I wish my mom wouldn't have let me quit

 I met my husband in a bar
I was intending on being with wing-woman for my friend, luckily for me he turned out to be to young for her!

A month-ish after we met

We met when Haley was 3, he loved her instantly - good thing she was in her cute & well-behaved phase!  ;)

She doesn't remember a time when he wasn't in our lives - I love this

Trip to the zoo - she was petrified that the lions were going to eat her - weird!

I am OCD about lists - I love them
I like them to look neat, so if I make a mistake, I start all over

I think this is a problem

I was voted Best Dressed & Most Attractive in High School 

I was on every Court my Senior Year and was 'Activity Week Queen'

I went to a very small high school!  ;)

I once sat behind Snoop Dogg on a flight and was mortified when my dad poked him through the seats to introduce us by calling him 'Mr. Dogg'
We were on our way to a Steelers game, Snoop was too
We're all big Steelers fans, so that makes Snoop my homeboy

I gained 60 lbs when I was pregnant with Haley and swore I wouldn't do that again.

I gained 80 lbs when I was pregnant with Ava

I had a stressful pregnancy - I stress ate - Taco Bueno was my friend

I have lost it all, thankfully

I've lived in three states:  Texas, Tennessee, Missouri
We almost moved back to Nashville in high school
I would love to move back to Nashville - Tennessee is so beautiful

I wish I could find my best friend from Brentwood (Nashville) on Facebook

I have tried several times (Lindsey McCauley, if you're out there, here I am!)

I started college as a Radio/TV/Film major

I wanted to be a news anchor

I decided against it because they make crap $ and have crap hours

And I didn't want to be the chick chained to a tree reporting hurricane wind speeds

I don't like putting red and green together when it doesn't pertain to Christmas
I really want to change the colors above, but I'm going to leave it.  Take that, OCD!

My best friend is my roomate from freshman year

The orientation chick said Good Luck! when I signed up for a 'pot luck' rooming assignment - it couldn't have worked out better!

Erin & Me - August 2009

My natural hair color is dark dark dark brown

I haven't seen it in 11 years

Me & My Dad at graduation - BROWN hair!

I caddy for my dad when he plays in the Byron Nelson Pro-Am every year

My favorite pros he has played with are Luke Donald, Vijay Singh, and Mark Wilson
The Byron Nelson is my favorite thing about May

My very first car was a 2007 Honda Civic

My dad and I made a deal that if I got straight A's my sophomore year, he would buy me a Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible

Needless to say, I didn't get straight A's (damn Geometry!)

My family is my favorite thing in the world!

Now that I have bored you :) with all of these facts about me, it's your turn!  Leave me a factoid about you in the comments section of this post.  The most creative/surprising will win a fun prize!  Get your comments in by 5 PM next Tuesday (11/9) and I'll announce the winner and the prize on Wednesday.

Friday Fancies - Angelcare Movement Sensor

When Haley was a baby, I was freakishly scared about her stopping breathing during the night (as I think most new moms are).  The result of this was her in the bed with me, instead of in her own.  I know this was not the best idea but I was young and inexperienced, so cut me some slack.  :)

When I was preggo with Ava, I was looking for a new monitor and found the Angelcare Movement Sensor with Sound Monitor.  This thing was my #1 favorite baby gadget, hands down.

Basically, it is a sensor that goes under baby's mattress.  If the sensor goes 20 seconds without feeling movement, an alert sounds in baby's room, and on the parent unit.  There are tons of reviews on the Babies 'R' Us website, with an average rating of 4 stars.  Our experience with it was great!  I think it went off 3-4 times in the almost two years we used it.  Each time, Ava was fine.  From what I have read, a lot of times the alarm will jar the baby and he/she will start breathing again.  Not sure if this is what happened with her, or if it was a false alarm, but either way, we were glad it went off!  We tested it every couple of weeks - we would put her in bed and turn it on, then take her out.  The alarm sounded 100% of the time.

The basic monitor is $99, and there is a more deluxe version that is $150.  It looks like the deluxe version has a longer range and an additional receiver. 

I would absolutely, 100%, recommend this monitor to every new mommy!  If you have any questions about the monitor, feel free to leave them in comments or email me at applesfalling (at) gmail (dot) com.

Bestie's Baby Shower!

I am finally getting around to posting bestie's shower pics.  The shower was really cute and Erin got so many of the big basics - car seat, video monitor, etc.  It was a big success!  It was also the most non-stressful party planning experiences.  I did all of the decor while the other hostesses did the food and invitations.  We were going for the divide and conquer method, which worked perfectly.  We also kept track of everything on a spreadsheet (call us dorky, but nothing fell through the cracks) and all paid equal share at the end.  I've heard horror stories where one hostess ends up pitching in $10 and others are doing $100 or more.  We established from the beginning that everyone would pay the same, no matter who was buying what.  I think it worked really well, and kept one person from feeling like they were buying everything.   

 Invitations from tinyprints.com

The hostesses - me, Randi (Erin's sister), and Cerissa.  We were also Erin's bridesmaids 7 years ago!

The food - we had a mid-afternoon shower, so we did heavy hors d'oeuvres, punch and champagne.  The cupcake & cookie stand was a 3-tier cake stand with edges wrapped in ribbon.  I used masking tape to hot glue the ribbon to so that the hot glue would pop off easily. 

  The flowers - daisies and spider mum's.  Clearly my glue gun became my best friend when creating the shower decor!  The vases were wrapped with ribbon.  Wooden craft stars were painted (and glittered) to match.  For the stars in the flowers, I attached them to floral wire.

The onesie & bib decorating station & diaper cake.

Decorating onesies & bibs

Some of the finished products!  We gave everyone a guideline of trying to create a onesie or bib that tied in with their relationship with Erin and/or Trip.  Mine was the frog prince since Erin was my roomate at TCU.  

The candy station - Erin has been craving all things sour, so we picked different candies and had bags and ribbons for guests to make candy bags as favors.

Erin opening a gianormous box of diapers - always handy!  :)  For the gifts, we asked that people bring them unwrapped and we made placecards for each guest.  We displayed them around the house as decorations and it was fun to not have to sit there and do the obligatory 'Aww, that's SO cute' for each gift, plus it was environmentally-friendly to save all the wasted bags and paper.  I still have shower gift bags from Ava's!  The verse we used was cute, "Save the wrapping this time around, bring your gift as it was found."  Some of the guests wrapped anyway, which we had planned for.

Guests - there were SO many babies and little people.  Ava was happy as a little clam - she is slightly obsessed with babies.

Hostesses with Erin (and Trip)

Ava & 'Ebie'

The gorgeous family tree painting that Erin did.  She totally needs to open an Etsy store.  So pretty!  She already had several requests from girls at the shower.

Jay & Erin

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I'll be posting a weekend wrap-up later today.  I'm also going to be on a commenting rampage, as I haven't read anyone's blogs since the middle of last week.  Be prepared!  ;)

Embracing the Tankini

I love my girls and I wouldn't trade them for the world, but I do not like what they have done to my body, namely my skin.  I have horrible stretch marks on my tummy and my hips.  It sucks.  Really sucks.  The most sucky of all is that I gained a ton of weight with both of them (cue where husbie says it wasn't them that made me have the stretch marks, it was Taco Bueno and Sonic) - 60lbs with Haley, 80lbs with Haley.  Yes, it was not healthy.  I get that.  I have always been soooo strict on a diet (since the age of 12 - I was a dancer) that I kind of took being pregnant as a 'get out of jail free' card.  With Haley I learned to LOVE food, I mean really love it.  Something I had never done before.  I was a size 0 weighing in at a whopping 110 lbs.  I still remember waking up with the first stretch mark.  I cried for hours.  Then the next day I had six.  The day after that I probably had 30.  After I had her, I lost most all of the weight and got down to a much healthier 2/4 at 120 lbs.  

Then came Ava.  I had a pretty stressful pregnancy with her - which I'll save for another post - and I ate my feelings through my entire preganacy.  Mashed potatoes - check!  Sonic Brownie Blast - check!  Chips/Salsa/Queso/Guacamole - check check check check!  I had a great arrangement worked out with my OB's medical assistant involving her not telling me my weight, unless it became a problem.  Damn digital scale!  If only I could have heard the clunk as it moved to 200lbs.  I think my OB stayed off my back about it because she didn't want me stressed about anything else.  Once again, after I had her I worked my butt off and got all the weight off.  So now, the weight is gone, but the stretch marks remain.

I have tried numerous different stretch mark creams, like Strivectin-sd Stretch Mark Cream 6 Oz (worked pretty well, but SUPER expensive) and Avon ANEW CLINICAL Professional Stretch Mark Smoother (actually seemed to make some level of difference).  

Up until this summer, I have still worn a bikini and felt awful in it.  Husbie says I look fine and that they aren't that noticeable.  I don't believe him.  So, to combat this, I have decided to embrace the tankini.

I never thought this would happen, but it did.  I have found a few really cute tankinis and one-pieces and have picked up a handful.  It is nice because I feel so much better in them.  I won't lie, there are still times when I feel a bit to mom-ish, but I am a mom, so I need to get over that.  Here are a few I have found:

Cute one piece from Target.  Here's a link to it on the website.  Funny enough, it looks just like this one from Victoria Secret which is 3x more expensive:

Just give the Target model a spray tan and a boob job and presto!  Same swimsuit.  Face it, most of us aren't going to look like the Victoria Secret model anyway.  If you do, I hate you.  Speaking of Victoria Secret swimsuits, I did order this one from them and you got it, I do NOT look like the chick in the picture, but it is pretty cute:

Here's a link to the product page on the VS website.  The thing I love the most about VS swimsuits is that they always come in tons of different colors.  The combination above is what I went with.  Warning - the bottom runs SMALL but the top runs normal.  I will be shipping my bottoms back so that I can eliminate the muffin that is popping up over the top.  Not cute.  

Lastly, I got a cute Converse tankini at Target.  They don't have the exact one I got on the website, so I'll have to take a picture of me in it (after I get my spray tan on) and post it.  Here's the style, but the one I got is solid army green with ties that are a small floral pattern.  I like it because of the ruching on the sides, you can customize how long you want the top to be.  It also has a belt in the same floral pattern as the ties.

Does anyone have any other cute tankini or one piece suggestions?  I see so many cute ones on the mommies at the pool, I think I just need to start asking them where they shop!  I am a bit el cheapo when it comes to swimsuits & I really don't like spending more than $60ish - hence all of the Target shopping.  :)

Hot Mom to Be?

So, my best friend is preggers.  I am so super excited for her, and I'm excited for me because now I can get my baby fix without, well, every actually having to have another baby!  Don't get me wrong, I would love to have another one.  If it would be without all of the extra expenses.  And extra pounds.  And night feedings.  Yeah, except for those.

So, BF is adorable - she and her husbie have been married for 6 years and by this point, I had put them in my never-going-to-have-a-baby file.  I've known Erin for almost ten years (hard to believe); we met as roomates our freshman year of college at TCU.  Since then babies for Tiff = 2, babies for Erin = 0.  Not for long!  She's due this fall. 

I must admit, part of my excitement is that now she and husbie will have a baby, too, so I won't feel like I'm dragging them into my boring, child-full life.

I was reading through my Tweets (Twitter is officially where I get all of my news now), and Trista Sutter (otherwise known as the Bachelorette who actually has a successful marriage as the result of the show) tweeted about this new book.  It is perfect for you, if you're a mom to be, or your friends, if they are moms to be.  There are chapters covering the moment you find out you are pregnant to one called 'Keeping it Hot When You're About to Pop' and everything in between.  Part of the reason I thought it was perfect for BF is because 1. I think she will be an adorably hot mom and 2. There's a section on the EcoMom, which I am most certain she'll be.

I ordered it for her today and am excited for her to get it and give me her run-down.  

In the meantime, it's available for sale via the link to the left.  There's also a 'view inside' option so you can get a sneak peek before you buy.

Has anyone read or ordered the book?  What are your thoughts?  Know of any other fun pregnancy books?  I'd love to hear them!