Our Weekend Recap!

Hey! Hope you had a great weekend! Man, it has been H.O.T. here in Atlanta!! It's definitely July! I wish I could push a "change of season" button and move right along to fall. I don't exactly embrace the humidity and the scorching temperatures here all too well. Summer in California {where I am originally from} is a lot different than the summers here in the south. I'm still adjusting. And I've been here for five years now! Ha! But I guess it allows Ilah to enjoy her fun pool days and park outings....

I lagged a little bit in putting away all of my 4th of July decor. These few items sat right here for a few days after our party was over. They have now found their home back in storage.

Friday night Momma got a night off from cooking and we ordered PF Changs to go. This time we wanted to eat in the comfort of our own home, rather than sitting in a restaurant. We sat in front of the tv in our "comfies" {that what I call comfortable clothes!} and watched one of our favorite shows while eating yummy food!

Saturday morning while Ilah was napping, I tended to our budget and noted the bills that have been paid, and tracked the money that has been spent so far this month. I use this monthly household budget worksheet, which I love {and go to it twice per month to make sure we are on track with our budget}, but my husband is now trying to convince me to use mint.com, as our money manager. We'll see if I make the switch ; )

After Ilah's nap on Saturday, we headed out to look for new couches! I've been wanting new couches for a couple of years now. The couch that we currently have is one that I purchased when I first moved to Atlanta and it's a sleeper sofa. It was nice to have in my 1 bedroom apartment so that if I had family or friends over, they would have a space to sleep if they wanted to/needed to spend the night. But now we live in a home where space isn't an issue, but that uncomfortable couch is, because there are no springs directly under the seat cushions [because of the built-in pull out]. Anyways....enough of my ramble. We set out on Saturday to hopefully find new couches; Ilah browsed through the furniture ad's to see if she could find anything that suited her taste ; ) ..... {more to come on what we purchased!}

We went through the drive through to get a cold drink before going to the next furniture store....

On our drive home, we passed Chick-fil-A and I felt terrible for whoever was stuck under that cow suit in 100 degree weather!!.....

When we got home, Ilah went down for a nap and I made a quick drive up to the outlet mall...

To go to.....

I bought some cookie cutters and these adorable mini cupcake wrappers for Ilah's cupcake themed 2nd birthday {just $6.99}....
When I got home, Ilah was still asleep {love those long afternoon naps!}. About an hour later, she woke up and daddy hit the grill!....

Sunday morning we went to church and just like last Sunday, Ilah stayed with us in service. She has been an early riser the past two Sundays and is exhausted by the time 11 am rolls around {our church's start time} and does not want to be left in the nursery. So instead my mom holds her in service and she falls asleep during worship and stays asleep literally until the end of the service. So in essence she takes her morning nap in church, sleeping on my mom, so by the time we get home, this girl is full of energy and wanting to jump on beds!....

"They'll never find me behind here".

Sunday evening I hit up Aldi and got some groceries....

And grabbed a Sunday paper {for coupons} on my way home....

I couldn't wait for the new episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey to air last night! I hated that there wasn't one last Sunday because of the 4th of July holiday. Bravo should have aired one anyways! They were so wrong for holding out like that! Ha ha!
This season is definitely proving to be one that is primarily focused on Teresa's family drama {does Caroline and Jacqueline even have a story line?}. As the season continues to evolve, I see where Teresa is coming from about the strife that her sister-in-law brings. I know that it takes two {and I know that we don't get to see every banter that these two have with one another}, but I don't really see Melissa trying too much to forgive and start fresh. She likes to hold on to that handle and stir the pot {I do agree with Teresa's brother about where their initial tension stemmed from...a bit of competition}. Melissa got on this show for self-promotion purposes and to use it as a means to berate Teresa, which is extremely childish - and Kathy probably had nothing better to do so she signed on the dotted line...network checks never hurt anybody...or have they? {I can stomach Kathy, so nothing against her - the woman can get her bake on in the kitchen and make some awesome pastries!}. Enough said. I could really go on and on ; ) I get my additional RHONJ fix by reading their Bravo blogs and reading the juice that Reality Tea puts out. I know, I know. I'm addicted. It's my guilty pleasure.

RHOC Home for Sale

I am loving the return of the Real Housewives of Orange County! Granted, this season the ladies all seem a taco short of a combination plate, but having the first franchise back is way better than enduring one episode of Real Housewives of Miami. Nothing against those ladies,because I obviously don't "know" any of them, but that show was a wreck and a half and it was oddly pieced together as a filler until Bravo could edit all the footage they got for the now running the RHONYC.

Anyways.

Moving along.

I saw online today that OC Housewife Vicki Gunvalson has put her 5 bedroom, 6 bathroom house on the Coto de Caza real estate market for $2,695,000. The property is located on a full acre and is 5,400 sq feet. In the first or second episode of this new season, Vicki is filmed doing some renovations to the downstairs level of her home and she openly expressed that she was prepping to sell her home. I always thought that Vicki had the nicest home out of the bunch. It wasn't/isn't gargantuan {cough, cough, Adrienne Maloof} but it's a wonderful family home that is sizeable but also has a warm feel to it. I guess downsizing was in the cards for Vicki as we all know that she is in the middle of a divorce with Donn and her children no longer live at home.

Here are some photos of Vicki's home that is currently on the market:

That backyard is quite the entertainment space! Who wants to move in? ; )

Our Weekend Recap {with Cellphone Pics}

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was pretty low key - spent between our parents homes. Ilah started her Friday morning at my mom's house, with her pink doggy Rufea by her side {as usual!}....

There's nothing like seeing your baby first thing in the morning with their puffy eyes and messy hair, accompanied with a big smile because they are so happy to see you! But it isn't too long before they are running off to get into something! Ilah has had an obsession lately with pushing the buttons on my mom's dishwasher {I'll save how she's been pushing MY buttons for another post! Ha!}.....

Ilah is so tall now that if we leave something near the edge of the counter, she can reach up and either get it, or knock it over so that it falls on the floor so that she can get her hands on it! Case in point...this Cheerio box....


"Wait. Before I eat these, how many calories are there in one serving?" Ha!

Ilah was on a roll Friday morning, cracking me up at every turn! Here she got ahold of my sunglasses that I had on the table....

And then she wanted to play with her puzzle pieces. But this time she didn't want to match the color to the matching object. She wanted to....eat them. And she wanted me to do it too. Whatever. Momma rolled with it!....


And then she was over it. She was ready to hit the road, with Rufea in tow, and make some phone calls.....

Time to feed the machine!.....

Friday night Mr. Wonderful and I headed out for ice-cream! This particular Coldstone was next to a movie theatre and me-oh-my, the teenagers were out in droves!! It made us fast forward in time and think of Ilah being "one of them" {I say that as if teenagers are aliens, ha!}.

Dele's dad is in town from Nigeria so we headed over Saturday afternoon to visit. Ilah was all over the place, running around non-stop. We were exhausted at the end of the day!! One of her new favorite things to do is look out of the windows. Here she was pointing to the blinds as if to say, "Can you open these for me please?". And we did : )

But then it wasn't long before she ran on over to another room....


And then another....

I think this was the first time that she sat down the entire time we were there!

Ilah trying to turn on the lamp, and checking it out!....

Only a grandparent would let their grandchild stand on their lightly colored cream sofa....with shoes on!

At the end of the afternoon, Ilah was pooped! And so were we! Ha ha!...

For dinner Saturday night, I made baked ziti!....

Sunday we went out to the movies! We saw The Adjustment Bureau. Although I liked the first 3/4 of the movie better then the last 1/4, it was still a good movie.

I've been on a coupon mission this month and have saved abundantly!!! On groceries, on toiletries, household supplies, eating out, and fun activities too! I scored our movie tickets for $9 {for 2 tickets} when Fandango had their sale on LivingSocial a few weeks ago.

And then I scored on FREE popcorn too, when I found this online coupon! I had printed 2, one free popcorn for each of us, but my husband decided he didn't want any. There was a woman in line behind us, at the consession stand with her daughter, and I overheard her daughter telling her mom that she wanted a small popcorn so I turned around and gave her with the extra coupon I had : )

Before we went to the movies, we stopped at a sub shop to grab a bite to eat. Dele got the Philly Cheese sub....

We got home late in the day and did our usual routine of playing with Ilah, having dinner, and then it was onto me sorting through coupons!....

The weather was nice over the weekend {84 degrees on Saturday} and it was great to be out, but I still don't love temperatures that reach above the mid-70's! Ha ha! I'm glad that the shift to slightly cooler weather has come back our way!