Weekend Recap + Holy Grail

Photos by: Tess Ware

{Outfit details below}

Plaid Shirt Dress: Old Navy {under $40} | Burgundy Booties: Similar here, here | Tory Burch Bag: Nordstrom {on sale}! | Necklace: Baublebar, similar here {on sale} | Sunnies: Karen Walker | Lip: Mac {Sin} Perfect for fall! 

Before I go into a weekend recap-sorry for the novel! I wanted to share how effortless this Old Navy Plaid Shirt Dress here looks paired with a simply bootie and a cute fall lip. I believe it comes in 3 different colors, which is always a plus! Also, under $40! Dresses have been a holy grail of mine lately and I’m currently on the lookout for more. Where do you guys have the best luck finding the perfect dress?

Y’all I feel like my mind is working in overtime! Between the recent flooding {more on this below}, planning for little Miss and not being able to decide on the perfect diaper bag…I feel like-what was life when the only real dilemma was picking what juice box flavor you wanted?! Now it’s all about what item has the best review and choosing a product that’s edgy, yet efficient. I realize these choices aren’t the end all, but there’s just something different when it comes to purchasing for a little human. You want everything to fit well into their little world. 

We are over halfway through our pregnancy! Where has the time gone?! I may or may not have started a count down and with us being 110 days out from our due date, what feels like plenty of time to plan is actually less than accounted for. We most certainly have to factor in what has already been a busy summer, with the upcoming holidays and crunch time to clean up the aftermath of the flooding. Side note: I would like to comment on how beyond blessed we feel to be planning baby girl’s arrival all while maintaining an amazing pregnancy. Heads up: You may see references to her. Baby girl. And little Miss throughout these posts because Dustin and I have chosen to keep her name a surprise. Why? Well, why not?! ;)

I recently shared the flooding in and around our area on snapchat and other platforms. Dustin and I moved to the Cottage Row area back in 2014. In 2008 we heard about the terrible flooding that took many people’s homes and or forced residence of Cedar Falls, local communities and Cottage Row to completely rebuild.  While this was a reservation, more so of mine, we decided to purchase our home knowing there WOULD be potential for future flooding. We just didn’t expect it to be so soon. It’s honestly crazy just how fast the water progressed. We weren’t so much concerned of the floodwaters reaching our main level, but we did plan for our crawl space and garage to take some in. In these types of situations you learn to remain calm. Plan ahead. And to help one-another out in times when disaster hits. Great news- we were able to save MOST of what came from our crawl space {aka storage} and garage. We were also very fortunate to maintain running water {we are sticking to bottled water}, air and power. For some of our neighbors and other residence on Cottage Row, our thoughts and prayers got out to those of you who went without. 

Now comes the aftermath of sorting, cleaning and organizing what was disrupted by the floods. We want to thank each and every one of you who expressed your concerns, thoughts and help! There’s nothing quite like boating to and from town. Whether it be to grab further essentials or to head into work for the day, we always remain safe, life jackets on with our main goal of getting from point A to point B. For those curious-we anticipate being able to drive out via car by Thursday {yassssss}! I must say the amount of looks you get from other Cedar Falls residence is quite interesting. You would think we were the Alaskan Bush People!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO | Mandy Nicole