spring break fakin'

spring is in the air y'all, and by spring, i mean summer. because let's be real. spring doesn't exist in dfw. well that's a little bit of a lie. it exists for 27 minutes. 

EG and i had a lot of fun parading around town during spring break.  i mean, our lives are pretty busy, so we needed to get away from the daily grind.  #gimmiethebbq

we took a trip to the farmers market, ate a ginormous sandwich at pecan lodge, threw a fun gender reveal party for our bestie, played in the backyard, and ordered chocolate chip pancakes at the local diner.   #allonatuesday 

we also hit some pretty major milestones this week. EG posed for her first passport photo #cheeseplease and fed herself puffs.  she's gotten pretty good at swatting them off the highchair, but now we've moved on to bigger and better things. aka: stuffing her whole fist in her mouth, sometimes resulting in puff-eating success.  raider is pretty bummed about it. he's not blinded by her sweet baby girl grin. #gimmiethepuffs
we also got to hang out with uncle grayson this week!

yay for spring break. it's pretty much awesome all around. even if you're fakin' it.

a little life update

this week, we enjoyed warm sunny days in our jorts, and cold rainy days in our jammies. i'm really not complaining about this roller coaster though.  i'm getting extra wears out of her baby jorts and her reindeer christmas footie pajamas.   

each day is becoming more fun than the day before.  baby girl's personality is definitely starting to shine and it's quite entertaining.  

this week, eg helped her daddy win a few rounds of bananagrams, entertained us on her piano, and helped her juju sew up some new pillows for our couch.  #busybee

oh, and we're seven months old now. is this real life??

 

baby bump and baby beats

emma grace and i are officially in the home stretch. don't get me wrong, i love having a little buddy with me all day every day, dancing and wiggling around like a fool. pretty positive she's got some baby beats on and is practicing for her audition for step up 6...

i'm just ready to see her little face!

now that the end is in sight, everything is becoming so much more real. for the longest time, her arrival felt forever away. but now that we've crossed into the less than one month mark, we feel a definite sense of expectation and excitement. it's been so much fun getting her room ready, putting together her furniture (well fun for me to watch bub-hub at least...) and hanging up all of her tiny little clothes.

i've really been loving our family time and have been enjoying this season of stillness and calm. i'm so guilty of being a busy-bee and a multi-tasker, but lately, i've been trying so hard to sit still and soak in every minute we have left as a family of two.  i really think my level of exhaustion is a real blessing from the Lord to teach me to step back and let go.  i'm just tired enough to need to sit and do nothing, but not too tired to spend time hanging out with bub-hub and raider.

now the real test will be to see if i'm still feeling calm and relaxed a week from now. :)

two years down, forever and ever to go.

our second year of marriage was full of new things and big grown up decisions. 

we moved to a new city, into a new apartment,

and then into a our first real home.

we found out our sweet baby girl would be joining our family.

we started new jobs and took on new responsibilities,

joined a new church and met new friends.

two years ago, i said "i do" to a beautiful life with my best friend.

i can barely wait to see what this next year will bring.

happy anniversary bub-hub.

you're the bomb[dot]com.

life lately

lately

bub hub
has been inching his way closer and closer to the tax deadline.
is love march madness.
is an expert curtain rod and picture frame hanger-upper.

raider
has spring fever.
is glad all his toys made it to the new apartment safely during the move.
loves his recently rediscovered rope toy.

sarah grace
is obsessed with her pre-natal barre workout dvds.
loves getting to wear comfy cozy clothes all the time, even to work.
has been rocking her grocery budget goals, but not so much her fun, shopping ones.

baby emma
is already 25 weeks old.
is swimming around and kicking up a storm, especially when we were at the mavs game!
can't get enough frozen yogurt, topped with almonds and m&ms and blueberries.

twenty five and i'm feeling good!

last week, i turned twenty-five. ahhhhhhhh!
i spent the day being spoiled by my sweet bub-hub, and the rest of the week/weekend being spoiled by friends and family.
twenty-five is a pretty big life stage.

bub-hub's family has this fantastic birthday tradition that involves the birthday-ee choosing all of the meals for the day. when we got married, i made sure to inherit this tradition.

we splurged on donuts for breakfast, chick fil a for lunch, and chipotle for dinner with fro-yo for dessert. the next day, we had a yummy family birthday dinner at sfuzzi's! and of course, lots and lots of red velvet birthday cake!

i think twenty-five is definitely my favorite age so far, and i have a feeling it's going to be my best year yet!

what birthday is your favorite?

instagram // etsy // pinterest // twitter

life lately

lately
bub-hub
is studying for his next certification test.
is hooked on chuck and (i think) secretly training to become a spy for the CIA.
handles tax returns like a champ.

sarah grace
is enjoying her new job, especially all of the office birthday cakes & treats.
feels optimistic about the forecast this coming week. bring it on 70*!
can't get the songs from frozen out of her head and doesn't hate it.

raider
loves the outside but is hating the cold.
can't get enough greenies.
has perfected his "please give me crumbs" look.

baby chastain
is twenty weeks old.
is the size of an heirloom tomato and growing more and more every day.
has a fantastic love for chipotle and girl scout cookies.

lately, life has been really busy, but so full of fun and celebration. we are so very blessed and are just soaking in every minute we have together in this season of life.

what have you been up to lately?

budgeting isn't a dirty word.

i have a strange relationship with money. i feel uncomfortable talking about it. i try not to think about it. and i really don't like when people tell me what to do with it. but i love target. as long as i have a basic understanding about what's going on in my accounts, i'm happy.

doesn't this make me a perfect fit for my financial planner husband? just like gourmet peanut butter and 99cent store jelly.

with all of our grown up decisions coming up in the next year, i have definitely been trying to get over my awkwardness. babies are expensive, buying a house is expensive, buying a new car to keep baby safe is expensive. so we're starting to stick to our budget. for real this time...

we started taking the dave ramsey "financial peace university" course, and so far, i've been learning a lot. one of the main themes that has been sticking with me is that it all comes down to my attitude and my motives. what do i truly value and why do i value it?

i've been trying to get over my little issue, not only to work on my personal contentment and lower my need for more stuff, but to support bub-hub as he tries to lead our family. being the road block speed bump in his plans gets a little old after a while. if only i could learn to love and appreciate the word budget as much as he does.

here are a few things i've been trying lately:
*click unsubscribe on all of my daily shopping emails // in my current pregnant state, i may not be able to wear the cute spring clothes, but that doesn't mean i can't indulge in accessories and shoes! cutting out that daily temptation definitely helps decrease the number of "but it's so cute!" thoughts i have each day.

*subscribe to budget-focused lifestyle blogs for tips and encouragement // i really enjoy reading about individuals and families who work hard and succeed. it's so inspiring to me and i feel encouraged knowing that if they can do it, so can i.

*apply the 24 hour rule // if you love something in the store, or think you really need something, give it 24 hours and see if you still love it as much as you did before. my mom taught me this in high school, and usually, i completely forget about it, so it seems to be a pretty good trick!

*shop on the weekends and with a budget-buddy // my budget buddy is bub-hub. and i'm not gonna lie, i thoroughly dislike shopping with him. this is really hard for me, but i definitely make better choices when he's with me.

am i the only one who's awkward about money?

any tips for staying on a budget?

fifteen weeks

baby chastain is 15 weeks old and growing strong!

each tuesday, the little baby center update pops up on my phone, and get to read how baby is growing, what it's doing, and baby becomes a little more real.

this week, baby is the size of an apple!
since honey crisp apples are my favorite, and this is my favorite baby, i'm choosing to believe baby is the size of a honey crisp apple.
i can see bub-hub rolling his eyes at my logic as i type…

new year, new blog

happy new year! welcome to the first post on the new blog!

after several years of blogging at gracefully made designs, i've decided to split the blog and start a new family focused blog, the chastain family!

here, i plan on sharing our family adventures and life's ups and downs, while gracefully made designs will continue to focus on designs, event planning and other business endeavors.

i'm not making any promises, but i can almost guarantee that i will post way too many photos of bub-hub and raider [as if there could ever be too many…], and i will probably forget to post for weeks at a time. but this is our family's blog and i can't wait to share our adventures with you all.

a houston family photo

saturday night, we had one last get together before we started packing.

the last few years have brought us such sweet friends and fun memories,

and we wanted to have everyone over one last time.

of course we had to take a family photo.

#teammomforthewin

when i first came to houston, i remember wondering how i would ever have the type friendships i had in college.  the Lord provided friends so much sweeter than i could have ever imagined.

i'm so blessed to call these people forever friends.

and i can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in our new city. 

see ya later houston!

if you've followed this blog for any amount of time, you should know by now there is never a dull moment in the chastain household.  bub-hub, raider and i are leaving the beautiful city of Houston and making our new home in Grapevine. 

we are excited to be close to our family and sweet friends,

but we are sad to say "see ya later" to the fantastic life and memories we've made here.

here's to new adventures! 

puppy party in the pool

ever since raider joined our family, i've wondered if he could swim.

i grew up with a yellow lab that loved the water more than land and couldn't walk past a puddle without jumping in it.

raider could not be more opposite.

last weekend when we were visiting our family back home,

we threw raider in the pool to see how he would react.

pretty sure we scarred him for life.

after a bit of doggy paddling, raider swam back to us on the side of the pool and bub-hub put him on the floatie for safety.
raider loves to soak in the sunshine!

lesson learned from our weekend of fun:

all puppies can swim,

but that doesn't mean they enjoy it.

training update: week 3!

this week, our training schedule was pretty similar to last week,

we just moved a few things around for the holiday.

the miles are getting easier!

i just can't wait for this heat and humidity to settle down so we can do more of our runs outside.

last weekend, bub-hub and i took a trip to luke's locker and invested in some new gear!

i ended up with a pair of ghosts by brooks.

so comfy.

i can definitely feel the difference already. 

one week closer! but we still have a long way to go.

beep beep!

i am excited to introduce my new toy!

last weekend, bub-hub and i traded in my SUV for a fiat! :)

it's tiny and cute and it makes me feel like i'm racing around in mario kart.

i absolutely loved my suv, but this car was just too fun to pass up.

new cars are so fun. i am one lucky girl!

and in case anyone was worried, raider loves his new ride. :)

am i the only one who picks out cars based solely on their appearance?

training update: week 2

we have officially survived our second week:instead of a plain jane long run on saturday,

we participated in the electric run!

guys, houston is hot.

it was 9 at night, completely dark and 107degrees.

i was sweating buckets.

#notevenabitcute

but it was so fun! and all the hot, sweaty running was worth it because at the end, 

there fully air conditioned dance party!

how was your weekend?

any fun 5k races to recommend??

wilderness weekend

hello monday, here so soon??

this was such a great weekend. 

so much fun, adventure, and relaxing.

and just like that, it's monday again.

friday afternoon, bub-hub and i played hooky and snuck away from responsibility to go see monsters u! we might have been the only ones in the theater over the age of 8 without kids. #noshame

too cute to handle. 

saturday morning, we headed out to woodlands lake for some kayaking.

bub-hub and i are adventurous and we love sunshine! but we not outdoors-men by any means.

this little 1 1/2 hour trip down the waterway was the perfect amount of exploration for us.

about 15 minutes in i was already looking forward to lunch and a margarita. 

#mexicanfoodmotivation

how was your weekend?

any fun adventures to share?

forever honeymooners

bub-hub and i were fortunate enough to celebrate our anniversary in beautiful(ish) cancun!

i only say "ish" because our visit occured in the middle of tropical storm.
we didn't even bother to check the forecast before we left.

mexico always has perfect beach weather right??

so needless to say, we were surprised to be greeted with dark stormy rain clouds instead of clear blue skies.

despite the rain, we were so spoiled all week.

when we arrived at our room, we were welcomed with a fun anniversary banner on our door!

each evening, we came back from dinner to find our room was decorated with towel animals and rose petals and they even gave us a special "romantic" dinner. #awwwshucks

we spent our rainy days drinking lots of coca-cola light,

eating yummy yummy food,

playing mexican animal bingo,

trying new drinks at the martini bar,

getting fantastic massages,

and learning how to play chess.

#youknowyourejealous

 our last full day in mexico, we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine.

more sunshine than our sunscreen could block,

but we soaked up every minute we could!

i can't wait to go back again.

i loved getting to spend the week being lazy with my bub-hub.

 

The Boat Song

you may or may not know, but the traditional first anniversary gift is paper.

bub-hub and i are not typically traditional gift givers,

but for our first wedding anniverary we both stuck with tradition.

i was formally invited, via movie tickets created by bub-hub, to watch our wedding slideshow and videos, with a yummy bottle of wine.

and i created this print for us to hang in our bedroom.

 

although it's not our official song,

it is the song that makes me tear up everytime i really listen to it.

#mushygushy

watch the music video and try not to fall in love.

i dare you.

 

this print is now available in my etsy shop!

check me out! :)

 

 

some pictures, a park & a puppy

i love my family.

maybe i'm a little biased,

but i'm pretty sure i'm the luckiest girl on the planet.

raider was loving life that morning.

he was running around the park like a mad man and just having the time of his life. he'd come back and pose for a few photos, and then run back into the trees.

#naturedog #wildman

please tell me i'm not the only one who thinks having pets in your family photos is a fabulous idea.

these photos were snapped by the lovely sarah carpenter at sarah ashley events.

sarah and her hubby/assistant ben did a fantastic job.

i was blown away with the photos and can't stop scrolling through them.

i love the way they were able to capture our personalities.

bub-hub and i don't take ourselves too seriously, 

so it was great to have a photographer to laugh with us through our awkwardness.

it's amazing what a fabulous photographer can do with a camera.

fun fact:

these were taken at the same park we took our wedding party photos!

i know, we are the cheesiest of them all.

to see more photos, check out sarah's blog post on our shoot:

sarah ashley events

for real. she's the bomb[dot]com.