CLOSED City n Move Stroller Giveaway! from Dailymom.com

April 30, 2013

UPDATE: The winner is #332 Ashlie B.! Congratulations and thanks to all who entered!

I am squeezing in an extra giveaway this month because I think mothers deserve some extra spoiling. I am looking forward to being a part of this giveaway series to help out soon to be and current mamas who are looking for some fantastic gear to make the every day a little easier.

Some of you might have already heard of the new online magazine, Daily Mom, that just launched last month. It’s a pretty cool resource of posts and articles for the modern mom that covers every range of topics from parenting to beauty, fashion, pregnancy, health, fitness, and more. I was just reading up on pregnancy fitness (because reading about it makes you feel like you are actually doing it;)) and an eye opener about baby snack foods.

Well friends, today I have partnered with Daily Mom to host one of their giveaways as a part of an extensive 50 Days of Giveaways campaign to celebrate their launch (site launches happening everywhere!). For 50 days, they will be giving away one awesome prize a day to thank their new readers. We’re giving an opportunity for one lucky reader to win a City ‘n Move Stroller from Kiddy USA. And you will get to choose ANY COLOR!

Kiddy is a family-owned company located in Germany, specializing in car seats and strollers. Their products provide you with quality engineering and German design. Be sure to check out their products on their website. Keep in the loop by following them on Facebook and Twitter. And of course, enter for a chance to win.

The giveaway will run for a week, and there are only two mandatory entries with many optional ones. This giveaway is open to United States residents who are 18 or older. You can visit Daily Mom tomorrow to see what new item they are giving away and to enter previous drawings! The prizes range from strollers to high chairs, monitors, diaper bags, fashion items, baby clothing and photography products. Something for everyone:) So get to it!

Need Help? Don’t have a Facebook account to enter with? Email Daily Mom staff!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post is for notification purposes only. To see a full list of prizes and current giveaways, please visit our Giveaway page.

Bump Styled: Easy Dresses + Easy Dinners

April 29, 2013

Dress: Hatch Collection,
Shoes: c/o Windsore Store,
Bracelets: c/o Angel Wing Accessories

We are recovering from a party hard birthday weekend for Gabriel and Veronica:)

Here’s the baby at 30 weeks (a few weeks ago). There are not many things that are comfortable right now and I like to avoid elastic and tight circulation cutters, so comfortable easy dresses are the best solution.

Gabe is growing all kinds of good produce in our little backyard garden. The lettuce was the first thing to come in abundance. We eat salads almost every night and what a difference the taste makes when its home grown! Other favorite cobb salad toppings: Sugar snap peas, baby tomatoes (we are working on growing our own!), grilled chicken, hard bolied eggs, shredded kerrygold cheese, and avocado. Veronica wanted to help, but don’t worry, large knife was promptly removed from the scene;)

Hope you all had a fun weekend!

*Last chance to enter the Waiting on Martha giveaway! And one last site launch giveaway from Loren Hope happening on instagram!

Through the Lens // April

April 27, 2013

This is actually a round up from the last few weeks:)
Colorful mail//Barb Blair from Knack Studios came out with a book, Furniture Makeovers (hooray!), which of course was right up my alley. Summer projects are already brewing. Its filled with tips on how to upcycle furniture. The lovely yellow coral necklace is from Kluster Shop.

Sailboat spotting & boat rides

Golf Cart meets Little Miss Sunshine

Chalk in a row// courtesy of my 4 year old

Chalk artistry// courtesy of Gabriel and Veronica Liesemeyer

Frisbee in Piedmont Park

Apples on the curb//Dogwood Festival

Food Trucks // Dogwood Festival

Post Bathtime snuggle time with Veronica // favorite moments for me as a mother:)

My second and third trimester savior // Blanqi Bodystylers in fun spring colors.

All photos taken by Gabe or I, some from our instagram.

___________

A few notes about the new site:

If you are an email subscriber, I sure hope you are getting the updated posts. Not sure if they switched over or not!

You can now subscribe via feedly or bloglovin. (Sorry I didn’t have the right links set up previously!) Which is your preferred way to read blogs? Would love to know!

There are new gallery pages thanks to Danica LC Design, which make it easy for you to browse lookbook and DIY posts. I will be adding more soon!

Have a wonderful weekend friend and thanks for making launch week so fun!

Pack Your Picnic: Southern Belle Chicken Salad

April 26, 2013

*Post by my sister Maria! View the rest of her yummy recipes here.

Spring has been a bit stubborn this year, but when warm weather does hit, we find any excuse to eat out side and picnic. We thought it would be fun to start a short series called Pack Your Picnic, to give you some fun ideas to make and bring on the go with you for when that perfect weekend arrives.

Sunday after church, I grabbed the blankets and baskets and headed to our back yard. I first had this chicken salad at Anna’s bridal shower! It is adapted from our good family friend and is a southern style version that will soon be your favorite.

Southern Belle Chicken Salad:

4 C. Chopped Cooked Chicken
2. C. Grapes, Halved
1/2. C. Toasted or Roasted Sliced Almonds
3/4 C. Sour Cream
1/2 C. Mayonaise
1/4 C. Major Grey’s Chutney (This is the special ingredient that gives it amazing flavor! Found near the mustard and condiments in whole foods and other stores)
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Curry Powder
1/3 tsp. Pepper
Combine sour cream, mayo, and chutney with seasons and stir together with a spatula. Toss in chicken, grapes, and almonds and coat evenly.

For a picnic: stuff into pita with lettuce. For a more elegant variation, serve atop a big leaf of romaine or even just dip with tortilla chips.
Other Options: For a healthier version you can use plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream, pecans in place of almonds, or add some chopped celery.

Happy Picnicking!

*Don’t miss the launch week $100 Waiting on Martha giveaway and this current instagram giveaway!

Shop Scoop: The Home T

April 25, 2013

You can get a feel for what Gabe’s intimidation face looked like when he coached Rugby, huh? I successfully bribed him with getting behind the camera. How you might ask? By showing him his this beloved Wisconsin state shirt from The Home T. Milwaukee born and raised, this boy has a long standing loyalty to Brewers baseball, blue collar work ethic, Green Bay Packers, and the good food…cheese.

As soon as I am no longer basketballing it up (aka birth this baby), I am going to get another one of these tees for me. They are softer than the softest tee I own. Not exaggerating. Just not sure what state I would choose…. born in KY, raised in OH, and settling in GA. What about you friends? What state do you call home?

This shop has every state available for both men and women, and what is really cool is that they donate a portion of all profits to multiple sclerosis research. Worthy of note and a worthy cause.

P.S. So thankful to each and every one of you who have helped us celebrate the new site! Your messages, tweets, emails, etc. do not go unnoticed. Much love!

Welcome to the new IHOD!

April 23, 2013

{image via Viva la Violette}

Still can’t believe I made the jump.

A new look, a new site, and a new domain name.

Heather of Viva La Violette is the brains behind the switch from blogger to wordpress. I needed someone to hold my hand, and maybe a killer blog layout to convince me. She was able to offer both;) Her new Runway theme is launching tomorrow, and she was able to customize it to make it feel like me. Flywheel was also amazing in making the transition smooth. (They specialize in wordpress hosting.)

Reasons I switched from blogger to wordpress: I actually love blogger, and it was a great home for IHOD these past few years, but as the blog has evolved and changed, I needed to stretch my legs a little more and have a few more capabilities that wordpress could offer. (Gallery pages coming soon!)

I also was excited about faster loading time and drop down menus. So organized and easy to navigate don’t you think?

Why I changed the IHOD logo: Just like I outgrew blogger, I kind of outgrew the old logo as well. I debated whether to keep the new logo somewhat similar to the old, but it was fun to have a fresh new start and design without trying to fit a mold. I needed a design that would have some versatile options for some upcoming project sites as well. You can view the logo process designs in this post.

Have a look around! You can check out the new drop down menus with categories, meet the crew, check out some of the new posts, and even a really cool launch giveaway! I switched over the blog feed to re-direct here, but if you do not get any updates, feel free to subscribe via email, bloglovin, or RSS! (linked in the sidebar)

THANK YOU for sticking with me on the switch and for being a great community of friends to encourage and inspire me along the way. I so appreciate you!
Cheers to the next year!
Love, Anna

Launch week giveaway: $100 to Waiting on Martha!

April 23, 2013

UPDATE: The lucky winner of this giveaway via Random.org is #35 – Heather (username @oliveanda)! Thanks to all who entered!
I wanted this launch week to be fun for you all as well, so there are going to be a few giveaways to crazy for! (Be checking instagram as well!)

I had the pleasure of meeting Mandy last week over coffee (isn’t she a beauty?). She is a load of fun with an amazing work ethic. I love supporting local, so we decided to team up and give away $100 shop credit to a reader to spend how ever you choose! You all will die over the amount of goodies in her shop. I am showcasing a few favorites above (I have the @ symbol in my entry and the Tote bag for the beach!).

Here’s the way to win:

Pin 3-5 favorite items from Waiting on Martha shop to pinterest and leave a comment with your pinterest username. Pretty simple! (You can pin the giveaway image to count as one image.)

We will draw a winner next Tuesday! (Open to international readers!) Thanks for celebrating with us!

P.S. Mandy is offering a 15% off code to IHOD readers with code IHOD15!