Hi Friends! I’m Natalie Mason. I live in Charleston, SC and I am mom to Sterling 12 , Frances Moon 8 and our mini golden doodle Dolly.

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Thoughts For Thursday

Feb 18, 2016

Happy almost weekend! My parents get in town today and I could not be more excited.  They have not been down here since before Christmas!  My mom and I are off to walk around downtown today. 

We are making some slow progress in our den.  I just ordered these awesome pillows for my wing back chairs.  Check out Talia’s etsy shop, she makes some really cool custom boho pillows.

I love the idea of this pink one in a little girl’s bedroom.

We celebrated Sterling’s birthday on Monday at Camp Perri.  Perri offers many after school activities and does birthday parties too.  Perri is awesome with kids and she came up with the funnest games and crafts for the kids to do at the party.  Sterling is shark obsessed these days so we went with a shark theme.  Perri took care of everything all I had to do was show up with a cake, super easy:)  Sterling is still talking about how much fun he had!

 How adorable are the decorations?  Sterling was so excited.

Ashley’s daughters are his favorites.  We joke one day it will be hard when he has to choose between the two.

The entire crew.

My loves.

His favorite part the shark cake.  I used Luckhaus and Brubaker in West Ashley for the cake.

Still can’t believe this sweet boy is 6!

Can we discuss the fact that I am so excited Chrissy Teigan is coming out with a cookbook.  I of course already pre-ordered mine.  I have such a girl crush on her.  I love a girl that loves to eat and who doesn’t love John Legend.

A recent outfit this week.

Butterfly Blouse | Sweater is sold out similar | Jeans | Flats | Holst and Lee Necklace

I am not sure why but this new Mara Hoffman Dress is on sale.  Some sizes are 50% and some are 20%.  I have it in a different color option and love it. It runs on the large side I have an XS. It is perfect year round, I wear mine now with a cardigan and then solo when it warms up.

If you need nude pumps these Loeffler Randall ones are 60% off, its says the total savings is $227!  The pumps come to under $100.  I love the embossed detail.   I swear Amazon has the best deals.  I didn’t think to look for clothes on Amazon until recently and now I always check there before I purchase something because it is frequently cheaper.

Several of you asked for my green juice recipe after I shared this picture on instagram.

This makes two glasses.  I have recently gotten Matt on the green juice train so we both enjoy it.

GREEN JUICE

2 granny smith apples, 1 bunch kale, 1 lemon peeled, 1 inch piece ginger peeled, 3 celery stalks, large handful spinach, 1 jalapeño seeded, and 1 baby cucumber.

I am completely addicted the new app Face Swap Live.  Do yourself a favor and download it.  It is hilarious.  The kids and I have so much fun with it- although sometimes the pictures are creepy!

This is me and Sterling with our faces swapped.

Matt and I.  Seriously your stomach will hurt from laughing so much after you play around on this app.

Local Friends stop by Finicky Filly tonight if you are out and about for a fun event! I will be probably get there a little after 5 to hang out!

Stay tuned because this weekend I will be reviewing our new mattress and giving one away!  All I can say is this mattress has been truly amazing.The kids love it too!

Enjoy your day! It’s all about balance!

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Thoughts For Thursday

Apr 18, 2013

Hello Loves.  How is it Thursday already?  This week seems to be flying by.  First off I am so flattered to be a part of the To & From Gift Guide Issue that was just released yesterday.  There are some great gift guides- trust me you will want to have your wallet handy while reading this guide.  My picks for baby shower gifts are on pages 102-103,  click HERE to read the rest its good stuff.

 

Lets chat about JCrew.  They have had some seriously cute stuff lately.  Case and point this dress and Ikat Tee.  Both new obsessions of mine

{Stripped Shirttail Dress, Ikat Tee Shirt

I am hooked on the book Mrs Kennedy and Me.  I look forward to reading it everynight.  It is such an interesting look at Jackie’s life behind the scenes.

 

If you are a parent please read this amazing article by Steve Banner.  It is so True.  You can read it HERE

I am totally smitten with this simple classic outfit for Summer.  I will be recreating- although maybe it is just me but I feel silly in hats.  It looks so chic on others but I would just look stupid.  Miranda Kerr always looks so good.

On to TV.   So, Matt and I cut our cable down to basic, gasp right?  But we are trying to save money and honestly now that we have Apple TV we watch that way more than cable anyways.  We are almost done with the final season of Breaking Bad.  Freaking love it, please watch it if you have not.  But I need recommendations of what show to start next.  I need one that both Matt and I will enjoy and sometimes that is hard to find.  Two I am considering are Mad Men and House of Cards.  Any other recs?

I know you all are probably sick of me writing about necklaces.  But the truth is they are the main jewelry I wear.  I don’t really wear bracelets and if I wear earrings I wear my gold hoops my parents gave me.  I love to jazz up an outfit with a fun necklace.  This is my latest find.  $34 and tell me it does not look just like JCrew?

{Onyx Phoenix Necklace}

Parents if you have an IPad you must download this coloring app called DooDoo Lite. It keeps Sterling occupied for awhile.  Plus I feel like it gets his creative juices going.

Happy Thursday I am off for a lunch date and playgroup.  Fun day:)

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Leave a Reply

  1. caycee says:

    Loved your baby shower picks!! Our minds were thinking alike this morning with our JCrew purchases 😉 They both look great on you girl!

  2. B says:

    House of Cards is good (definitely gets unbelievable, but still good). I finished it pretty quickly only to discover it would be a little while before season 2…It is finally supposed to start filming in a couple of weeks.

    And haven't watched Mad Men, but my mother-in-law lives it. Another series I like is White Collar and lots of people like Sons of Anarchy, but I couldn't get into first episode.

  3. Liz says:

    As far as shows – Tripp and I are both smitten with Justified on FX (season 3 just wrapped). It's SO good! There's plenty of eye candy with the main character 🙂

  4. Rebecca says:

    We like Mad Men but loooove Revenge!

  5. so excited to see you in To & From friend. So we pretty much only watch netflix through apple tv even though we still have the good cable. I just started house of cards last night and it's awesome!

  6. Mad Men. Hands down. You need it. Trust me. Love your little outfits!

  7. Mad Men is so good. I've heard Justified is great, too.

  8. House of Cards was awesome. So was The Killing.

  9. Janet Dubac says:

    Hi Natalie! Your photos are really nice! I also like your blog post and I really enjoyed reading it. The baby shower pics are awesome and I learned a lot from the article "To parents of small children: Let me be the one who says it out loud." It was a very good read. Thank you for sharing!

  10. Natalie,

    Love you blog!

    Newsroom
    Downton Abbey
    Scandal

    In my opinion the best shows on TV

  11. Love Miranda. She always looks amazing. I love hats! I have a huge head so I think they make it look smaller? lol

    That last quote is so true. Love it!!

    Have you seen the "Duck Duck Moose" apps? They are 99 cents but worth every penny. My kids love them.

  12. I love the to and from guide! can't wait to read!!!!!

  13. Not sure if you are a Homeland fan, but if you are, watch The Americans. Its amazing!

  14. Anne says:

    My hubby did the same thing – downgrading cable – and have been streaming through Netflix. We finished House of Cards in record time and LOVED IT! Newsroom is fantastic too. We're on season 4 of Mad Men now and are completely hooked. You will love it! We started talking about what show to pick up next and I think Breaking Bad is most likely going to be it. Although, after watching Mad Men I always want an Old Fashioned and a cigarette (and we don't even smoke!), so hopefully Breaking Bad won't make me go searching for meth recipes… HA!

  15. Paige Bobick says:

    Check out The Americans on FX!! Shawn and I never like the same shows and we love it. We have watched almost the whole season on demand in the last week. Ps – we cut back to basic cable too 😉

  16. Paige Bobick says:

    Check out The Americans on FX!! Shawn and I never like the same shows and we love it. We have watched almost the whole season on demand in the last week. Ps – we cut back to basic cable too 😉

  17. B says:

    And Scandal is my favorite current show! Discovered it during this season and then watched last season on Netflix.

  18. Loved the Steve Banner article. So, so true!

  19. Just started watching Mad Men on netflix & I am obsessed! It is so good. Also, your little boy is the cutest thing I think I have ever seen.

  20. Meredith says:

    How much do you LOVE Apple TV?!?! It's the best, total game changer. For co-ed watching I highly recommend Mad Men and BBC's Sherlock (obsessssed). I also love Scandal, but my bf isn't so much into it. Happy watching 🙂

  21. I love that J.Crew esque necklace for a fraction of the price — what's not to love?! xo

    http://allthingsprettyandlittle.blogspot.com/

  22. Fancy Mims says:

    Both Mad Men and House of Cards are awesome. We've always watched Mad Men so we still just watch every Sunday night, but we went through House of Cards in a week!

  23. Mad Men is the best show on tv hands down!!! My hubs and I both love it. Also, we watched all of Breaking Bad in about 3 days. HAHA. Addicting.

  24. Mad Men is a fantastic show! I think you'd really really like it!

  25. Katie says:

    Mad Men and House of Cards are both so so good! I recommend watching House of Cards first, since there are only 13 episodes, which I'll admit I watched in one sitting during a snowed-in weekend this winter.

  26. Lili says:

    i am such a boymom, when you wrote Steve Banner – immedicately came to mind is Incredible Hulk – LOL!

  27. Melissa says:

    My husband and I love Sons of Anarchy!!

  28. Michelle says:

    Where can I get those sandals Miranda is wearing? I seriously love them. Also loving the Joie La Plage sandals you blogged about awhile back. I'm thinking of getting them at Shopbop's sale.

  29. Taylor says:

    so jealous of you in shorts! love the JCrew pics – I really want to start Breaking Bad!

    http://itsthelittlethingsblog.blogspot.com

  30. Hey Natalie – can you tell me how the Jcrew ikat tee fits? Is if pretty true to size? I want a looser, drapy fit and am thinking of ordering today (it's an additional 30% off right now!)

  31. Brooke says:

    love that tee – definitely going to have to snag that one! I've been looking for a new book as well, so thank you 😉
    xo

  32. Leslie says:

    I love Mad Men and House of Cards is okay too.

  33. Layne says:

    Downton Abbey for sure, Damages, and Jericho. We have Netflix and Hulu Plus, but neither have Americans which I hear good things about. But I can not stress enough how wonderful Downton is. Even for the hubby's! It was our show after we watched Breaking Bad (all the seasons obsessively like crazy people!) We tried Mad Men but it was too soap opera-y for the hubs. I love Brothers and Sisters for my own show when he watches the ball game. 🙂

  34. Michaela says:

    Show recommendation- Smash. I'm recently obsessed with it, but I love singing and musicals, so it's right up my alley. Your JCrew purchases are SO cute. Want that shirt!! (Already have a dress similar!)

  35. Dina says:

    Tv series you will both enjoy? "Damages", hands down, it is so awesome, I promise you will both be so hooked! It's even better than Homeland in a way…Jericho was really good too! We tried House of Cards and I thought it was just really weird and annoying. Could not get into Mad Men either. We never watch anything but our Apple TV, great lil investment, I love just being able to watch episode after episode. And they have a ton for kids my almost 3 year old loves!

  36. Dina says:

    Oh yes, I forgot about The Killing and The Americans-both really really good too! The Killing has a new series coming up this summer. And if you every watch alone, I liked Call the Midwife, girly and set in London, in the 50's I think.

  37. Elizabeth says:

    thinking about doing the same… ditching cable. we watched friday night lights and finishing up lost. so good. house of cards is great and so is downton!! we are starting breaking bad next!!

  38. Loving your j.crew looks. and you should totally try hats, you would look fab in them! That miranda photo is amazing! xo

  39. My new favourite show is The Americans on FX. I love it more than Mad Men. It's by far my favourite show on tv right now.

  40. Angie says:

    LOVED Breaking Bad, too. Can't wait for another season. And please watch Mad Men. You will love it. And don't think I'm crazy, but you need to watch Walking Dead (AMC). It starts out a little cheesy, but stick with it. It is addictive- even more so than Breaking Bad. We just finished it this weekend.

  41. Valentine says:

    Hi Natalie- I found jeans just like Miranda's at H&M. They are on sale for $15! Love your blog — it's the only one I read every day. 🙂

  42. We do the same here, no cable as we pretty much just watch wha's on apple tv. We watched House of Cards and it is The BEST! We just couldn't stop! And just recently I started watching Mad Men (my second try) and I'm obsessed!

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