Finally! Baby boy's nursery is complete! It only took about a billion days, but it's finally finished. 

Everyone asked what "theme" the nursery was going to be, or what "color scheme" I was going to go with. Honestly, I've never been a fan of decorating a room in my house based on a theme, so I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a pretty neutral nursery. 

I should first say that I love gold. LOVE gold. I have to sometimes stop myself from overdoing it in our home. (I mean, I feel like I was born Persian in another life.)

When we spotted this crib at Pottery Barn Kids, I'm fairly certain I drooled right there on the floor. I'm a fan of the details, and the end pieces on this crib are just so beautiful. (NOTE: When shopping at Pottery Barn--or anywhere for that matter--be sure to ask if the item you're about to purchase is being discontinued in the near future. Our crib arrived with some small stains on one of the end pieces, and when we called PB, they told us they couldn't replace it because the crib had just been discontinued. No bueno.)

One thing we especially love about the nursery is that it's a mix of new pieces and old, refurbished pieces painted with love by Chris' crafty mom, Judy.  The changing table, for example, was gifted to us from Judy after she painted it to match our nursery and replaced the hardware with gorgeous little glass knobs. (Once again! The details!).

This pillow caused great debate between my mother, Gina, and I. She says whale, I say shark. Because this was such an important debate, we went to the website to confirm the species of this plush accessory. Indeed, it's a shark! I know you're glad I cleared that up for you. 

For a personal touch, we wanted to add stuffed animals from Chris' childhood and mine to our little man's room. (The bear in the top photo Chris apparently dragged everywhere with him...cute, right :) )

On a separate note, Chris grew up reading The Giving Tree, while I had never heard of it until we were at the baby store registering for gifts. If you want people to look at you like you have 3 heads, tell them you've never read The Giving Tree. 

My craftsman of a husband built all of the shelves in the nursery based on what I wanted to use them for: stacking books, holding plushy friends, and hanging cute little clothes. (The baby Timberlands are my personal favorite. Thank you, Grandma Iris!!)

It doesn't get much cuter than nursery prints, but my extra-special favorite is the giraffe with a turtleneck sweater on (the print on the far left, above). Because who wouldn't love a giraffe wearing a turtleneck?!? NO ONE.

Ok. So, I have a confession: The stuffed animal heads I actually bought before Chris and I were even pregnant....or married...

I found them at this awesome little place in St. Louis called The White Rabbit and decided that I had to have them. Fast forward a few months later, we got pregnant with a boy, so up they went!

Even though we gave up our master suite to turn it into our little burrito's bedroom, we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. There's a bathroom down the hall where we'll give him his first bath, there's a mini fridge where we'll store adult beverages for mommy and daddy (kidding...sort of), and a chaise lounge for Dad to relax on while Mom feeds baby boy in the rocker. 

Needless to say, we're well prepared to spend countless hours in this sweet space watching our little bundle grow and learn, all while bonding together as a new family of 3. 

You're not here yet, but we love you so much and can't wait for your arrival, baby boy. 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

Scones are so freaking delicious. 

My only prior experience with scones was picking one up at a local coffee shop chain, which I must admit wasn't that impressive because it was incredibly dry and lacked any real fruit flavor. 

My feelings towards scones have now completely changed--grown and evolved. We've moved past that awkward dating phase where we weren't sure about one another, past the "Is it too soon to text?" phase, and straight into the "I can't take it anymore I have to tell you I LOVE YOU" phase. 

These are DELICIOUS. Also, they're incredibly easy to make and makes you look like a baking rockstar.

Here is the path to eternal scone happiness. 

P.S. Instead of pomegranate seeds I use blueberries. Blueberries and I were just a better match. Sorry, pom. 

At this point, I'm sure everyone has heard of Louisa Wendorff since she released that amazing mashup of Taylor Swift's hits Blank Space & Style. 

After watching many more of her videos, it seems that she is nothing short of the queen of mashups. 

I've been listening to this one on repeat for the last few weeks, so I thought I'd share and spread the Louisa love. 

I love the combined message.... "You don't have to try so hard." 

Enjoy :)

I have realized why cupcake shops are popping up everywhere: it's because the markup is ridiculous. They're practically stealing from you, people. 

How did I come to this realization? I ordered 42 cupcakes for my sister's baby shower from a popular cupcake maker here in STL. The cost? $112. ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE DOLLARS.

That equals....
-1 pair of chic ankle boots
-1.5 tanks of gas (I drive a gas-guzzling monster)
-30 days of health insurance

My point has been made. So I decided I'd give cupcake baking a try and see what all the hype is about. Everyone seems to love funfetti. It's a safe flavor and sprinkles make anything more fun, right?

I baked these beauties from scratch, placed them in our cake dome, and watched in awe as all 10 were consumed by husband in the following 5 days (no surprise there). So, I assume they're good. 

Here's the easy-peasy recipe. 

Glasses are so interesting to me. I mean, they can completely change the way a person looks. 

There is a girl I used to work with who wears her glasses every single day to every single occasion--whether casual or formal. In fact, I've never seen her without her glasses. (I'm convinced I wouldn't recognize her.) 

My vision began to decline a number of years ago, and it declined FAST. At that time, I was deathly afraid of putting contact lenses on my eyes for fear of them disappearing into the back of my eye balls (which by the way turns out is impossible--who knew!), so I bit the bullet and said, "Courtney, no matter how large your head is, you need to swallow your pride and risk drawing more attention to it by getting glasses."

I figured if I had to get eye glasses, I might as well give back at the same time. I heard of a company, Warby Parker, that donates a pair of glasses for every pair purchased and decided to check them out. 

After using their virtual try-on feature on their website (you upload a pic of yourself and can try different pairs of glasses on--it's quite accurate, actually), I decided to go with the Marshall. 

Not only is every pair under $100, they have a Twitter account dedicated to asking questions and getting feedback on what pair looks best for your face--and they're honest. 

If I wasn't already happily married to my company, I'd rendezvous with you, Warby Parker.  

Lipstick and I used to be enemies.

When I was a little girl I remember hating the smell of it, so when my mother would bend down to kiss my cheek I promptly followed it with a bratty "yuck!". 

I quickly swore I would never be a lipstick-wearer. Oh how I was wrong...

While my everyday lip color is usually the nude shade Retsina by Bite Beauty, I decided I needed to take my lip style up a notch for my rehearsal dinner last month and go bold. Fast forward less than a month later and I'm obsessed and can't stop wearing it. 

The color? RED. The awesome thing is, this exact shade of red looks good on anyone. Allow me to introduce you to Ruby Woo by MAC. 

You're a smart girl, Taylor Swift. 

This may seem like an odd choice for a first post. 

I love cilantro and I feel like cilantro doesn't get enough credit.

For the longest time I would eat guacamole at various mexican restaurants, my favorite being Pueblo Solis, and always wondered what made it taste so fresh. The answer? My good friend, cilantro.

Cilantro is also a wonderful garnish. It adds a little color to my go-to dish, black bean and chicken enchiladas, while also providing a great aroma. 

Sometimes I'll linger in the fresh greens section of the produce department at Schnucks just so I can catch a whiff of this dainty little coriander plant. (I had to look that up. Until now, I didn't realize cilantro came from the coriander plant, which I also didn't realize was a plant at all.) 

So, in case you're asking yourself "what in the world did I get out of reading this post?", the answer is two-fold: one, a deep and meaningful appreciation for cilantro, and two, a delicious enchilada recipe.