Lazy Sunday Reads

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 15, 2014 // No Comments

Hope you’re enjoying your weekend!

In case you are just now making it over here today, here’s what was happening this week on the Cup of Tea blog:
Menu Monday!
May Favorites | A Little Summer + Beauty + TV
Elizabeth’s 8 Month Update
Style Challenge | 30 Outfits in 30 Days
Hey Hey! It’s Friday!

And here’s what I’ve been reading/watching/cooking:
The Best Beauty Dupe Sources to Save You Big Money – The Butterfly Mom
Blogging: Keeping Organised & Motivated – lilypebbles.co.uk
Convos with My 2-Year-Old – hilarious YouTube channel!
50 Thing to Do This Summer – thedumbbelle.com
How to Wear a Scarf in Summer – whowhatwear.com
The Most Important Style Skills You Should Master by Age 30 – whowhatwear.com (shoot… I have about 1 month left)

Also cooking this – Spicy Basil Tofu from Cooking Light. Seriously delicious. Made it earlier in the week, and it was so good, that my husband requested it AGAIN for Father’s Day.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! And have a Happy Father’s Day!

Hey Hey! It’s Friday!

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 13, 2014 // 8 Comments

Friday! Can’t believe it. And a Friday the 13th to boot! It’s going to be a great day!

Here’s what I was up to this week:

1. The Little Girl and I went to the Durham Life & Sciences Museum with some friends on Tuesday. It was fun, but man… I hate southern summers. It was only 10:00 am and I was sweating up a storm!

2. We’ve had a few thunderstorms this week, which, next to fireflies, are a summer staple for me. Pop up storms make summer delightful (since hot temps don’t do it for me).

3. Miss Elizabeth turned 8 months this Wednesday! And since then, she’s taken to sitting up in her crib (need to lower that mattress!), saying “baa baa baa baa”, crawling a little, and pulling up to stand at our coffee table! Phew! She decided 8 months is the time to check things off her to-do list!

4. Speaking of checking things off, I got super excited to check off two BIG posts that have been cooking for a while! If you didn’t see my May Favorites post OR my kick off to my Style Challenge – 30 Outfits in 30 Days, check it out! I’m pleased.

5. Oh! Almost forgot! Found my favorite Panera Bread Hazelnut Creme coffee in my local grocery store! I’ve been running around like an Energizer Bunny all week!

Hope you have exciting plans in store for Father’s Day! We have a Food Truck Rodeo in Durham this Sunday, so if the hubby gets off of work early enough, we’ll be there, stuffing our faces!

Let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments below! Have a great weekend!

Linking up with:

Style Challenge | 30 Outfits in 30 Days

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 12, 2014 // 16 Comments

I have been so excited for this series! I’ve had it in the works, in the back of my mind, for weeks. A few years ago, I stumbled on this challenge on other blogs. Let me share it with you!

Pick 30 items from your current wardrobe (this includes shoes, jewelry and handbags!)
Create 30 outfits from those items
Commit to 30 days
Post each as an #OOTD (outfit of the day)

So, when you’re done, you’ve styled 30 separate outfits from your own closet! Imagine the freedom – no longer looking at your clothes and thinking “I’ve got nothing to wear!”. You’ll be able to look at everything with fresh eyes! Challenge accepted! In all honesty, this is the perfect time to do this. I hate summer. I hate typical summer clothes (shorts, tank tops, etc) and would prefer to be in my fall/winter clothes year-round (I should move to Iceland). So this challenge will really stretch me. Now, I’m a stay-at-home mom, so my outfits need to be, for the most part, casual. In other words, washable. Spit up and poop don’t do well with “dry clean only”. But I’m the kind of girl that HAS to get dressed and do my make up every day, so these need to be outfits I’d go out and run errands in, no problem. Mom Style…. that’s styled! So, here’s the schedule for the next 30 days:

Each Thursday there will be a post on the last 7 days’ outfits, including what items I wore, and what I thought about each outfit (comfy, wrinkly… you get the picture)
Each day I’ll post the day’s outfit on both my Instagram and Twitter! So follow!

Got it? Good! So, here are the 30 items I pulled from my closet. It looks so pretty all piled up like that! At least there is color! (I’m surprised it didn’t end up as all navy stripes…) I’ll try my best to link to what is CURRENTLY available. So many of these items are old as the hills.

Short Sleeved Tops and Tanks

From L to R: Teal Polo, Liz Clairborne at Costco (Similar or This One)| Sleeveless White Tank, J Crew (Old, Similar) | Stripped Tee, J Crew (Old, Similar)| White Tee, Target | Hot Pink (Similar) and Brown Polka Dot (Similar) Tees, Ann Taylor LOFT Factory Store

Long Sleeved Shirts

Clockwise: Chambray and Blue Plaid Collared Camp Shirts, Tommy Hilfiger from Costco (Similar)| Lace Top, Old (Similar) | Navy Striped Shirt, Ann Taylor LOFT (Similar) | Light Blue Top, Francesca’s (This one is cute!)

Dresses & Skirts

L to R: Sleeveless Blue Tank Dress, Banana Republic FACTORY (Old, Similar)| Striped Fit and Flare Dress, Old Navy (Different Color) | Melon Pencil Skirt, J Crew Factory (Different Colors) | Chambray Mini Skirt, Banana Republic FACTORY (Similar)

Jackets & Sweaters

Clockwise: Denim Jacket, Levi’s from Costco (Similar) | White Sweater with Floral Collar, Anthropologie (Old)| Navy Blazer, Target | Melon Sweater, Land’s End (Similar)

Pants & Shorts

L to R: Bootcut Jeans, Ann Taylor LOFT | Pink Shorts, Old Navy | Skinny Jeans, Motherhood Maternity (yep, can’t find better-fitting skinny jeans…)

Accessories

Clockwise: Navy Striped Wedges, Target | Pink Leather Purse, Kate Spade FACTORY (Similar or Love This)| Black Wedges, Target (Old, Similar) | Flower Necklace (Similar) and Pearl Bow Necklace (Similar), Forever 21 | Blue Dot Flats, Forever 21 | Pink Sandals, Target (Similar)

My 30th item is my Skip Hop French Stripe diaper bag, that I use on a daily basis. That’s how I knew I entered Mommyhood – when my regular handbags just weren’t cutting it in the “schleping baby stuff around” department.

I am so looking forward to this challenge! Putting the outfits together will be a challenge! Taking the pictures will be a challenge! Keeping up with it will be a challenge! Can’t wait! If you’d like to see other 30 day style challenges, here are my favorites:

http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/2012/06/30×30-challenge/
http://www.kendieveryday.com/p/30×30-remix.html
http://www.thegritsblog.com/2013/09/30×30-outfit-challenge.html
http://moderncamelot.com/fashion/30×30-challenge/

Elizabeth’s 8 Month Update!

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 11, 2014 // 1 Comment

Elizabeth is 8 months! Another month down… can’t believe it. Here’s what she’s been up to for the last month!

Height/Weight | As of her last doctor’s appointment a few weeks ago, she’s cruised over the 15 lb mark (19%). She also apparently has shrunk, now at 25.4″ (8.5%). I think the height thing is the HARDEST thing to measure on a wiggly baby.

Routine | Elizabeth is starting to SLIGHTLY change her routine.

6:30-7:00am – Wake up, diaper change and bottle.
7:30am – Play time! Right now she loves her farm animals and a dolly. We’ll also head out on a walk.
8:30am – If it’s Monday, Wednesday or Friday, we do a bath. She’s enjoying baths a little more, but leaning back to rinse her head is still “scary”.
9:00am – Down for first nap of the day, and usually finishes off whatever was left in her bottle.
10:30am – Wake up, diaper change and into her clothes for the day, and then bottle.
11:00am – If we’re running errands, we go now.
1:30pm – Down for the afternoon nap, and finishes whatever was left in her bottle.
3:00pm – Wake up, diaper change, and bottle.
4:00pm – She plays while I start dinner. Right now she loves sitting on the floor playing.
5:00pm – Husband’s usually home by now, and we all three sit down for dinner.
6:00pm – Get ready for bed! She changes into jammies, and gets her final bottle.
6:30pm – Lights out and asleep!

Sleeping | Still sleeping amazing *knock on wood* with a full 12 hours at night, plus two naps. She’s in a phase right now where she’ll wake up in the middle of her nap and play. Then back to sleep again. It’s so cute listening to her on the monitor.

Eating | She’s still eating 6-8oz of formula each bottle session (there are 4). All’s fine there. Baby Led Weaning is still going on. Elizabeth has a protest of bottles a few weeks back, and we had to do three meals of real food for a week. That tapered off, and now we’re back to 1-2 meals a day. Her favorite foods are avocados (still), corn on the cob, and rice and beans.

Sizes | Elizabeth is still between sizes. She wears 9 month PJs and pants because her legs are long, but they are still big in the body. She rocks 6 & 9 month dresses. She has now moved up to Size 3 diapers (as of Sunday). Too many blow outs (that’s the sign)!

Milestones | There are quite a few to report!

She is officially able to sit on her own, without supervision (meaning, she doesn’t topple over immediately)! HUGE and makes play time a lot more fun.
I swear Elizabeth knows how to crawl, but she just refuses to do it. She leans forward, almost on to her knees, then sits back up. She’s so stinking close!
She did, technically, crawl a few steps, but won’t replicate it.
She also took a few steps while holding onto my fingers!
Elizabeth does love to roll around though. That’s her current way of getting around.
She had her first trip to the zoo!
Elizabeth can wave… when she’s in the mood for it 🙂
In the food category, she mastered using a straw sippy cup, and has enjoyed a few baby snacks (we’re testing a few to see which ones we should take with us on our plane trip in a month).
Her favorite toys right now are her farm animals and her dolly from Target. She also loves her two blankies my friend’s mom made for her.
Elizabeth starting smacking her lips. Not sure what it means…
One of her favorite games is sitting on the back of the sofa and having mommy hop her up and down, so she can see herself in the mirror.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from over the last month!

May Favorites | A Little Summer + Beauty + TV

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 10, 2014 // 11 Comments

Yes – I’m not afraid of weird pictures of me on the internets.

I cannot believe another month has come and gone. Holy moly. But that means it’s favorites time 🙂 This is a collection of things that I have been obsessed with this month. Some beauty items, some entertainment.

If you missed last month’s favorites, you can check it out here!

Here’s what I’m loving! You can read (boring) or watch (fun!) below!

Fireflies – This is what Summer means to me. I love those little twinkling bugs. It’s a rare thing these days that I’m actually awake when it’s dark outside to see them (I’m lame), but they just make my heart sing. Some of my favorite Summer memories as a kid are my sister and I running around, catching fireflies, and putting them in jars. We also used to shake them up (lightly!), and put them down in our “Firefly Hospital” and try to help them fly away. Man, I’m itching to open up an NC branch of the Firefly Hospital.

Favorite Nail Polish – NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in Lexington Lilac – I’ve talked about finding a lilac or lavender nail polish for months now. I have been searching forever. I finally bought this one at Target (for $0.89!!!!) and the color is perfect! It’s not too light, not too neon. I feel like, as a lady approaching the big 3-0, I can wear this color and get away with it. In fact, it’s been on my nails almost every day for the last month. As you know, I bite my finger nails, so you don’t want a close up. This blog has some good snaps!

Favorite Make Up – L’Oreal Visible Lift CC Eye Concealor – I am a loyal user of both the Bobbi Brown Corrector and the Creamy Concealor. I’ve been using them for 10 years. But I’ve had an itch to try a new concealor. The L’Oreal concealor is great! It blends and builds really easily. It also blends into a powder finish. But my favorite part is that it has a metal rollerball application. Love that. Why can’t beauty manufacturers make a metal rollerball tool without product? Rolling that little guy under my eyes is simply delightful.

Favorite Hair Product – L’Oreal Volume Filler Thickening Shampoo/Conditioner – I love any shampoo or conditioner that claims to thicken, volumize, plump… you get the picture. I enjoy swapping out my shampoo and conditioner a lot, and I decided to try this set. My hair feels so soft AND volumized! I normally have a hard time with conditioners. They weigh my hair down, so I tend to just put conditioner on my ends. With this set, I can condition my whole head and still have bounce! I’ll definitely be repurchasing these!

Favorite Styling Tool – Curling Wand – I’m still getting the hang of it, but I’m loving my new curling wand. I got a 1″ non-tapered curling wand, but there is also a 1.5″ version. My hair doesn’t hold a curl well, so I opted for the smaller barrel to get a tighter curl. My hair stays curly all day! Not super spiral curls (that’s not the look I’m going for), but even when I finger comb all the curls right after curling, I still have waves all day. Quite lovely.

Favorite TV Show – Breaking Bad – I know, I know…. I’m late to the game. My hubby and I started the series on Netflix, and we quickly got hooked! We’ve only been watching for a few weeks and we’re on Season 3 already! I’ll admit, at first I felt like I shouldn’t like it. I mean… it’s about drugs! I shouldn’t find it entertaining. I shouldn’t be rooting for the drug guys. But, I’m addicted! (Ugh… wrong word choice) The show is obviously drama-filled, but it’s also hilarious!!! Check it out if you’re behind the times like me.

Favorite YouTube Channel – Grav3yardgirl – I’ve been doing some serious YouTube channel cruising. There’s some good stuff out there! My newest obsession is Grav3yardgirl. She. Is. Hilarious. I can’t stop laughing when I watch her videos. First of all, she’s quirky. Her mannerisms are awesome. And she does this video series of reviews for As Seen on TV products. I seriously bing watched them all one morning. If you haven’t seen her before, check it out!

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