Erin Akin Carroll

I don’t know about you, but shopping for my husband never gets easier. There are some times when I am able to luckily stumble upon the most perfect gift I could imagine. It has meaning and I know he’ll love it.

And then there are years that I am just trying my hardest to get creative to do something meaningful that he’ll love. It’s obviously the thought that counts, and when it comes to Father’s Day, just getting quality time with the kiddos is all that dads want.

For Todd, I know that if I can send him out to play golf with his dad for the day, that’s the best gift he could receive on Father’s Day.

But it’s always fun to mark the occasion with something special that he can keep.

One of my favorite stationery and all around adorable goodies shops is Nella Designs. And she happens to be located right here in Columbia, South Carolina!

Buying local and supporting local businesses is super important to me, and I just love everything in the Nella Designs shop!

Elizabeth put together a great Father’s Day gift guide and you can shop it here. Isn’t everything just perfect?

*This is not a sponsored post. I just love Nella Designs and really wanted to share these fun finds with you! 

 

In typical fashion, I didn’t take any pictures this weekend. And it’s really a shame because we had a wonderful weekend with so many great friends!

Meghan’s wedding was beautiful, the reception was so much fun with some of the most entertaining dancers I’ve ever seen, and, as always, it was a blast to catch up with all of Todd’s law school friends and their spouses that we only see once a year or so.  Everyone has always been so friendly to me (Todd and I met after he finished law school) and they’re all just so funny and fun to be around.

We took Hudson and Hayes with us when we realized my mom couldn’t come to town to keep them. Meghan hooked us up with a fantastic babysitter for Saturday. She took the boys to the park, ordered room service, bathed them, and had them asleep by 8:30. I was very impressed! I wished she lived in Columbia! (Samma, I’m giving you her number!)

On Friday night, we went with Jen and Matt to Calhoun’s on the river when we got to town. It was a super late night for the boys, but the live music kept them in a trance and they were mostly pleasant about the experience. Hayes was hamming it up for the beautiful Jen!

On Saturday morning, Todd and I took the boys to the park and Samma and Dell Harper met us there to play. I hadn’t seen Samma since Hudson was only 6 months old, and it was so much fun to visit with her and finally meet the adorable Dell Harper. (Again, no pictures. I guess we were just too busy gabbing and having fun.)

I have a sweet sunburn to show for our fun time outside in Knoxville!

At the reception, I met two of Meghan’s bridesmaids, who also happen to read my blog. I wish I could move to Marietta and hang out with them all the time because I’m pretty sure they’d be my new best friends! (Girls! Email me so we can get together when I come to Atlanta later this summer.)

The bride was stunning and the wedding was so sweet and special. I’m so happy we made the trip.

Last night, we had something at church called “A Night of Community.” It was a really neat time of prayer and worship. And we had an ice cream social afterward. I’m so thankful for our church and the friends that Todd and I have made, and especially the friends our kids have made through our church.

We have a fun week coming up with swim lessons, a huge Erin Condren giveaway, and Hudson’s 4th birthday! (I can’t even talk about the birthday without starting to cry.)

I hope you all had a great weekend!

*I’ve kind of slacked off the blog this week. And, you know, sometimes that’s just the way it is. Family comes first. Fun comes first. Writing an actual blog post doesn’t take longer than 45 minutes for me, but keeping up with comments, emails, and everything else does take up a lot of time. And I just haven’t felt much like opening that door this week. It’s the ebb and flow of blogging, and the fun comes and goes. 

I’m linking up today with Darci and the other girls for Five on Friday to share some things I’m loving and just some other fun things I want to share on this Friday!

 

1. I am absolutely loving this T-Rex wedding party photo that went viral. Todd and I saw it on the Today Show yesterday morning and just laughed and laughed! (We’re big Jurassic Park fans.) I just love the looks on everyone’s faces! It must have been so much fun to do this.

(photos by Baton Rouge photographer, Quinn Miller)

 

2. We are Knoxville-bound today. We’re hitting the road for Tennessee later this morning and heading to the wedding of one of Todd’s good friends from law school. We’re bringing Hudson and Hayes with us, and I’m just so excited to have a little weekend out of town. And super excited to see some good friends and a beautiful wedding.

3. We went to the zoo twice this week with friends. We’re trying to make the most of the cooler (80-degree) mornings and get to the zoo before it gets too hot. We met Emily and Jack there on Tuesday, and then met John, Dolan, and Emma there on Wednesday. The big kids got ICEEs. A Coke ICEE was my favorite thing in the world when I was a kid.

We are so ready to be getting to the pool every afternoon. Next week, that’s our plan!

4. I’ve been such a Pure Barre slacker this summer. I used to go to a class that met at 9:30, right after I dropped the boys off at preschool for the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But the early morning class is at 6:00 a.m., and I’d have to wake up at 5:00. And I just don’t see that happening. But, goodness knows I need to tone, burn, and lift! It’s swimsuit season, friends! I’m trying to work out a couple of mornings and one evening that I can get back to Pure Barre.

5. The house has outside walls! And we chose our roof shingle color! Progress, people! Our expected move-in date is October 1. We moved into Nana’s house on November 18, so that’s pretty good progress.

We still don’t have stairs in the house, so I haven’t been up to the second floor to see the kids’ rooms and the kids’ den/playroom. But I’m so excited to get up there!

We have plenty of furniture and don’t plan to buy brand new everything. I like the things we have and we plan to use them in the new house. But we will have a screened-in porch with fireplace right off the kitchen, and I’ve been pinning away looking for outdoor furniture ideas.

I want it to be a super comfortable, relaxing space we can use year-round. Wish a swing, an outdoor sofa, an ottoman, a TV (for SEC football!), and gas lights! It make take a while to acquire all the furniture to make the space what I dream of.

 

 

The brand new, improved, always fabulous Erin Condren Life Planner is available for purchase on June 4!

There are quite a few new big and subtle ways that the planner has changed this year, but I’ve seen lots of photos of the new Life Planner and I am just so excited!

Take a minute to watch the video for the Life Planner overview. It’s just so cute!

And this video shows the new page layout, so you can take a peek at the inside of the Life Planner.

And… get even more excited because there’s a very big giveaway coming early in the morning on June 4!

Here’s my Life Planner from this past year. I only have all of June and July left and then it’s time for me to purchase my new Life Planner!

I also wanted to show you a little teaser of some of the new covers. So exciting!

So save the date. June 4 is new Life Planner day!