Cinsarah

Home Exterior Updates

2017-08-02T18:17:00.002-05:00

Wow I haven't blogged since last year. Almost a complete year! My last post was a day after my birthday which is in September. Well life has been busy. I took a break from blogging to focus on work and school. I'm not completely back but I do plan to post updates here and there hence my post today. If you follow me on instagram then you're pretty much caught up.

We've been working on our home exterior this year. It's not 100% done but our home looks so much better. Here is what we started with in case you forgot...

We love our fixer upper but the exterior needed some help. It all started with the windows...

Last October (2016) we replaced 10 out of 17 windows in our home. We plan to replace the rest but went with all of the front and four of the back ones first. As you can see from those pictures the siding was pretty bad! So we knew that we would need to replace it in order to paint. So we began the process of removing the siding and the old rotted wood beams...

Omar did all of this work himself! I am so proud of him as he had never done this before. We did end up hiring the rest of the siding out because he didn't have the time but he did all of the front and installed all of the beams.

As you can see he did an amazing job! After the siding was finished we decided to move on to the roof before painting. It's crazy how one project just leads to another! We weren't planning on a new roof but our insurance came through and approved a new one and we debated whether to go with a traditional roof vs a metal one for a bit and finally decided on the metal and we are SO glad we did! The metal roof made a HUGE difference!

Next up was paint...

We tested different shades of gray and decided on Urbane Bronze by Sherwin Williams. We wanted something dark that would make our stone and beams pop.

Remember how I mentioned one project leading to another? Well now that we had a new roof, new siding, and a couple new windows, the garage door was looking a little rough...

We knew it needed to be replaced! So we decided to go with something a little more modern...

We finished painting the font and still have some details left on the back so I'll leave that for another post but here are the most recent pictures of our home. Please excuse our super dry grass! This Texas heat is no joke! Can't wait for rainy days and green grass.

We do have landscaping plans but we are taking a break for now. Our fixer upper is looking so much better now though compared to this...

We still have LOTS of work left to do but I think we have come such a long way in just the two year we have lived here. Can't wait to keep sharing our adventures with you! If you don't already make sure to follow on instagram using #cinsarahhome where you can see all of our progress. I REALLY want to tackle one of our restrooms sometime next year but we will see.

My Birthday Weekend

2016-09-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

This post is sponsored by JORD wood watches.

I received a JORD wood watch for review purposes but my LOVE for this watch is 100% my own!

I turned 29 yesterday and since my birthday almost always falls on Labor Day weekend, we decided to celebrate all weekend long! We took off to Dallas/Ft.Worth/Arlington. We went to visit good friends, got to see a Rangers game, and ate at my favorite Arlington restaurant: Babes!

We had a blast! It was our first family baseball game and the kids loved it! We all got to run the bases after the game. The Rangers lost by one run but it was still a fun game. On our way back home, I fell asleep and woke up to Omar saying: "Cindy, wake up! We are here! The Silos!"

I've been wanting to go to Magnolia for the longest time and to get to go on my 29th Birthday was just the best thing ever! The perfect ending to a perfect weekend for sure!

It was an awesome weekend, I definitely got spoiled!

One of my "birthday gifts" was my new watch! I wore it all weekend long...

Let me tell you: I'm not a watch kinda person. I don't usually wear a lot of bling but when JORD contacted me to try out one of their unique wood watches I couldn't pass it up. It is a wood watch and I love wood so of course this would be my kind of watch!

I chose the Zebrawood watch and I was so excited to try it out. I seriously didn't expect to LOVE it as much as I do! This watch is super light compared to others its size. The color is just perfect because it goes with everything. I wore it all weekend long! I've been wearing it almost every single day since I got it. I LOVE this thing! The craftsmanship is just amazing. Every single detail is just perfect. They even size it, so it fits just right. The watch even comes in a cute wood box.

Guess what? Even though it is my Birthday (or was), you get a gift too! You can ENTER to win $75 in credit towards a watch of your own and every single person who enters gets $20 in credit.

ENTER TO WIN HERE

JORD watches make the perfect gift!

DETAILS: Giveaway ends 9/11 at 11:59pm.

Contest winner gets a $75 e-gift code to the shop.

All other entrants receive a $20 e-gift code.

Meet The Teacher Turtle Playdoh Gift

2016-08-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I shared with you all how I am going to be teaching preschool at a local church. Well I've been busy crafting up and getting all prepped with lesson plans and such. I knew being a teacher was a lot of work but just prepping for the school year is exhausting and it truly makes me appreciate teachers oh so much!

Here is something I came up with for my students. Our class theme is turtles so I thought it would be cute to do a little gift involving turtles. I bought a huge pack of mini playdohs at Costco recently and decided to use the brown ones as turtle shells. They came out better than I expected!

I decided to list this in my Etsy Shop for any other teachers out there who want to use these. I do plan on listing these on Teachers Pay Teachers as well but I haven't had a chance to figure all of that out yet so for now any other cute printables I come up with will be listed in my Etsy Shop.

Life Lately - Changes

2016-08-17T00:15:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy. It seems I always say that but it's been especially true this Summer. A couple things happened that are both exciting and a bit stressful but overall VERY good.
First off, the picture above is from our most recent trip to THE VALLEY which is basically the little border towns down in South Texas. We went to South Padre Island and visited family and friends. It was a good little trip but as always trips come to and end and leave you with piles and piles of laundry (and a few pounds heavier as well). Which is what I've been up to these past two days.
I've also been busy planning for and decorating my classroom. Yup I'm gonna be a teacher! I am so excited for this opportunity! I will be teaching preschool at a local church and Levi will be my student. This is something I prayed about. I wasn't planning on working/going to school until Levi turned FOUR and went off to public school but I prayed and the Lord answered. So in the next two weeks I will be a part time student at our local community college and a teacher at a church preschool.
I am excited and thankful for the opportunity! I have always wanted to go back to school but didn't want to do it until all three of my kids were in school. I want to be an example for my children so although it might take me a while I want to graduate from college someday.
So with school and work that means you won't see many posts from me around here. As if they weren't few already! I am kind of taking a break from the blog but of course I will still be on social media so you can keep up with me there. We have a couple home updates planned so when we begin on those I will be blogging about them. I will also be cutting down on design orders on Blessed Design Studio and only accepting orders from previous customers. I don't want to completely shut down because my previous customers have been SO GOOD to me and I am available if they need me. I might not be as available as I've been before but I will do my best.
It's gonna be a challenge juggling home, work, and school but I am certainly not the first to do it and I'm sure I won't be the last so although I anticipate some stressful days I'm committed and putting my trust in God that he will help me along the way!

Disney's First Latina Princess - Elena of Avalor

2016-07-20T12:41:00.002-05:00

This is a sponsored campaign in collaboration with Disney Channel and Latina Bloggers Connect, however our love and excitement for #ElenaOfAvalor is completely ours!

Sarah and I are super excited for Disney's very first Latina princess: Elena of Avalor! Have you heard? The new series begins this FRIDAY July 22 at 7pm 6pm CT on Disney Channel and Disney Junior. Sarah and I have been watching all of the trailers and videos on the Elena of Avalor YouTube Channel. Princess Elena along with her sister Princess Isabel and her grandparents Francisco and Luisa learn to boldly lead the kingdom of Avalor with bravery, courage, and compassion.

Growing up I always loved watching Disney Channel and loved playing and pretending to be a Disney princess, but I noticed none of them actually looked like me. Except maybe Pocahontas, but she isn't Latina, so I am SUPER excited to have a princess my daughter can identify with! Sarah is not very fluent in Spanish, which is partly my fault, but that doesn't mean I don't encourage her to learn more about our culture. She might not properly enunciate her R's like a Latina, but she's definitely got the Latina spunk in her! She's a mix of sassy and sweet, which I can tell Elena is as well just by watching the trailer.

Sarah loves dressing up and just last week I found this adorable Mexican outfit that my grandmother gave her a couple years ago. It fit her big at the time but it definitely fits now. Our church had a Mexican fiesta picnic this past Sunday and she dressed up in this. I want Sarah to grow up being proud of her heritage, of who she is. Series like Elena of Avalor make it easier. To see diversity in the shows they watch makes them see that there are many different cultures and that although we are different in many ways, we all are human and experience the same emotions.

I can't wait for Friday! Will you be watching? Don't forget to tune into Disney Channel or Disney Junior at 7pm / 6pmCT this FRIDAY July 22. Also, if you haven't already, you can view all of the Elena of Avalor videos and to follow Elena on Facebook before the premier this Friday, so you are all updated and ready to go.

Be sure to also join the “Elena of Avalor” Twitter Party, hosted by Latina Bloggers Connect, on Thursday, July 21, 2016, 5pm PST / 8pm EST with the hashtag #ElenaofAvalorTwitterParty.

My Globe Obsession - Full Quiver Designs

2016-06-21T16:31:00.000-05:00

If you've been following me for a while then you know I'm obsessed with globes. Why? Idk but I love them and I started collecting them a couple years ago. I've got NINE so far. Most of them live in my bedroom on the shelves my husband built and then I also have a globe in each of the kids' rooms.

A while back I found Full Quiver Designs. Becky is AMAZING at hand lettering and she hand letters globes! How perfect is that? A couple months ago Becky posted on IG that she was looking for a rep for her business and of course being the globe lover that I am, I entered and I WON! I sent Becky a globe to hand letter for me.

It took a while to decide which globe I wanted lettered and what I wanted. I ended up choosing the globe in Sarah's room. I wanted something meaningful on it so I chose:

"For God so loved the world." I absolutely LOVE the globe and how it turned out.

If you are a globe lover like myself then I highly recommend FULL QUIVER DESIGNS and guess what you can use code: CINSARAH to receive 10% off your order! Lettered globes are not only great for home decor but they are perfect as gifts or weddings too!

The As Is Home Tour - Features

2016-06-15T10:31:00.002-05:00

Thank you all again so much for joining us for The As Is Home Tour on Instagram and a BIG thank you to my awesome Co-Hosts! It was a lot of fun and I loved going through your posts/homes. Today I am featuring a couple of you. I wish I could feature you all! I will be featuring some of you on Instagram as well. If you haven't had a chance please go through #TheAsIsHomeTour and spread some love. You will find a lot of awesome accounts to follow. I sure did! Alright let's begin witht he features. I won't go into details of each one because there is a ton but these are some of my favorites from each category. I took a screenshot so you can find the account on instagram easier this way.

E X T E R I O R

B E D R O O M S

B A T H R O O M S

L I V I N G

D I N I N G

K I T C H E N S

O T H E R

Thank you all again for participating! I am planning to do this again next year and keep it a yearly series so make sure to follow me and I will keep you updated of when we will host our next As Is Home Tour.

My Home Tour - AS IS

2016-06-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

So you've seen photos here and there of my home on instagram and I've shared all of the photos of when we first purchased our home. Well today I am giving you the FULL tour AS IS. Today's post contains picture overload and minimal words because I'm sure you would much rather peek at my home than read about it. Warning: some of these pictures are NOT pretty but they are REAL LIFE which is what this home tour is all about. This is our home, it's a work in progress. We've done so much already and still have TONS to do. So, lets begin the tour with the exterior...

Omar (my hubby) has worked on our yard, removing stumps and trimming all of the bushes but we still have a lot of work to do out here. We would like to eventually replace all of the windows, install new siding, and paint but well all of those things require money so we are tackling it little by little. Omar also built us a new mailbox because our old one was all kinds of busted. It was ugly and it needed to go. You can see our old mailbox in this post. He also built a house numbers sign for us.

Our home sits on two acres and we've got a ton of tress which is a HUGE difference from our first home where we had one skinny little tree. We love it here and the kids have a blast running around the yard. We see tons of deer walk through our yard and I love it!

Our living room is a work in progress. One of our couches is almost eleven years old and the other one was my sister's. If you look closely you can see the spilled juice stains on it. I promise it's juice! I created the gallery wall using mostly thrifted frames. It took me almost a year to collect them all but it was worth it. I love the way it makes this room feel. I would eventually love a West Elm sectional here with some colorful mid century accent chairs but realistically the old couches work best when you have young kids. I would hate to have juice stains on a new couch!

I would love to do something with this stone fireplace wall but for now it is Levi's toy central. I haven't really figured out how to style around it yet. If you have any ideas please leave me a comment below.

This room is an addition to the house. It was originally the patio but it is now a long and narrow room and we haven't done anything with it yet. I have thought about two options. One would be to open up this wall with a door. This goes right into the office nook into our master bedroom so if we closed that off on the other side this could be a small fourth bedroom if we need it. Another option would be a large chalkboard like the one Omar built in our first home. This would be super useful because I plan to turn the other side into the kids homework/craft space with a long desk.

On this side of the room we've got keyboards where Josh and I practice. The doors lead to the laundry room. where the keyboards are now is where I would like to have a long desk for the kids and build some shelves to store all of their craft supplies. We still have to finish the doors and the baseboards in this room.

The large laundry room has tons of potential but it is a complete mess right now. It's basically our storage room. I'm pretty sure this is the last room we will complete in our home.

Our dining room is pretty much complete. I would like a new light fixture, add a rug, and maybe some board and batten some day but for now it works.

Our dining set was a craigslist find. It is not in the most perfect condition but I LOVE it! I love mid century furniture and with this being a 70s home I think it just fits.

Our kitchen remodel took a while to complete but it is finished! You can find the post to that here. We went with white cabinets because this space seemed so dark with all of the dark cabinets it had before. I've always wanted a white kitchen and I finally have it!

The breakfast nook is right in front of the kitchen and very close to the dining room. There was a tiny wall separating the two but we took that down to create a more open space.

Our master bedroom is spacious, it's got vaulted ceilings which make it feel even bigger. It is one of the first rooms we finished in our home.

It's got a small nook that we turned into an office. The office is a big mess. It's become my dumping ground and seeing this picture makes me want to organize it.

Our bathrooms are on our remodeling list but not this year and maybe not the next because remodels are expensive and we plan to work on the exterior a bit before continuing on the inside. There is a separate dressing area to our master bathroom.

Our bathroom has tons of storage but it does need a lot of work!

The hallway bathroom has come a long way. You have to see the before to appreciate this photo. I posted a video on instagram if you haven't seen it.

This is Joshua's room and eventually it will be Levi's room too. It is much bigger than his first room. My husband built his bunk beds just before we moved. We went with a CAMPING theme for this room.

Of course no camp is complete without a TV! lol

Sarah's room was so fun to put together. I would have LOVED to have a room like this when I was her age! She recently got the rug and unicorn for her birthday. Yes she actually wanted these things for her birthday... that and shopkins of course!

I'd like to paint her doors one day because the pukey green just doesn't go with this room. That green was the color of this entire room before we moved in.

...and that is it! That is my home tour AS IS. I hope you enjoyed this series. THANK YOU ALL so much to those of you who joined us on instagram. I LOVED seeing each of your homes. I will be featuring a couple of your rooms on my blog this week as well as on instagram.

Make sure to visit each of my co-hosts' blogs to view their home tours:

Our Trip to Fredericksburg,TX

2016-06-08T11:33:00.000-05:00

We went on a little road trip to Fredericksburg, TX over Memorial day weekend. It was A LOT of fun! We've been wanting to take the kids to pick peaches for a while and we finally got to do it. If you've never visited the Texas Hill Country, I highly recommend a road trip! We loved our little trip! The views were amazing and the kids had a lot of fun. We started our day off picking peaches at Jenschke Orchards.

They took us on a hay ride to where we could pick peaches. The rain in Texas has been crazy so of course it was muddy everywhere. Thankfully we came prepared with rain boots and old tennis shoes. They let us eat as many peaches as we wanted while picking and of course little man took advantage...

We ended up filling up TWO boxes of peaches. We gave some away to family and friends and lots of them we kept. I made two peach pies with the peaches and they were DELICIOUS!

After picking our peaches we went to Enchanted Rock. The drive is almost as beautiful as the park itself.

I still can't believe all FIVE of us climbed this...

It was exhausting but the views were totally worth it!

We took a couple breaks on the way up and some on the way down. I want to say it was because of the kids but I would be lying. Climbing a mountain is tough when you're out of shape but you feel so good afterwards. I didn't even feel guilty about eating a Whataburger afterwards.

I loved our little road trip so much I've been thinking about making it a yearly thing!

The AS IS Home Tour

2016-05-31T09:13:00.000-05:00

A couple years ago (2013 to be exact) I began The AS IS Home Tour. I gave you all a tour of my home, room by room, AS IS. My original plan was to make this into a yearly thing but life got busy and I completely forgot about it. This year I am bringing it back!
So what is The AS IS Home tour you ask? It's kinda like a regular home tour except it's not. I love looking at home tours, don't you? I love seeing how others live and style their homes and as much as I wanted to show you all my home it felt like I couldn't because it wasn't nice enough or finished. So I created this series as a way to encourage others and myself that decorating/remodeling a home is a never ending process and your home doesn't have to look perfect in order for you to show it. I want to see the befores, the durings, and of course the afters!
This year I asked six wonderful bloggers to join in and together we will share our homes AS IS room by room. So, I want to encourage you to join us and share your home AS IS. Whether it is finished, styled, half way done, a complete mess, or a blank slate. We want to see it all and we are sharing it all! We will begin sharing our homes on instagram starting Sunday, June 6th. You can find the schedule above. This will be a week long series with a room(theme) daily. That following Monday the 13th you can find our FULL home tours on each of our blogs. We will have links to each of our homes under our posts so you can view all SEVEN homes. You can join us on Instagram by sharing a photo each day using the #TheAsIsHomeTour hashtag and we will be sharing some of our favorites that following week both on Instagram and on our blogs.
Are you excited? I AM! I can't wait for you to join us! If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below. Otherwise you can prepare by following each of us on instagram so you don't miss out on all of the fun.
You can find my fellow participants on their blogs and instagram below:
Christina - Christina's Adventures BLOG | INSTAGRAMEmily - Everything Emily BLOG | INSTAGRAMBrandi - Dont Disturb This Groove BLOG | INSTAGRAMCourtney - A Plus Life BLOG | INSTAGRAMAmanda - Our Humble AbodeBLOG | INSTAGRAMAnn Marie - White House Black Shutters BLOG | INSTAGRAM

The Kitchen Reveal

2016-05-23T19:44:00.000-05:00

The day has come! Our kitchen is finally complete after months and months. I shared our progress over on Instagram and on a blog post here. Remodeling is a crazy process but it is very worth it in the end! That is something we've learned with our first home. This home is a work in progress, we've done so much since we moved in yet it feels like we still have TONS to do. The kitchen was one of our biggest projects though so I'm glad that one is checked off of our list. This is what we started with...

and this is what it looks like now...

Here is another before from another angle...

and here is the after...

Basically everything in this kitchen is new except for the stone wall. That is the one thing that stayed the same and I love it! The very last piece to this kitchen puzzle was the island vent hood.

We had this thing since we moved in a year ago but it took a while to get the remodel started so it sat in our garage for a while and then when we finally took it out, we realized it was TOO LONG. So my husband had to figure it all out and thankfully we were able to get it up there. I snapchated the whole ordeal.

I LOVE the way our kitchen turned out. It turned out way better than I imagined it. I've always wanted a white kitchen and I feel truly blessed to have it now.

SOURCES

Flooring: Mamarazzi Tile in Montagna Saddle

Backsplash: White Subway Tile with Delorean Gray Grout

Countertops: Silestone Lyra

Shelves: Stained with Special Walnut

Cabinets: Custom Made Shaker Style Cabinets

Island Color: Sherwin Williams Peppercorn

Island Range Hood: KitchenAid

Apron Front Sink: KRAUS

Faucet: KRAUS Mateo

Hardware: IKEA Lansa

Refrigerator: Kitchenaid

Oven: Kitchenaid

Stovetop: Kitchenaid

Kitchen Sneak Peek

2016-05-18T12:40:00.000-05:00

Our kitchen remodel is ALMOST complete! It's basically finished except for a couple finishing touches which we hope to finish this weekend. The last BIG thing left was the island vent hood and my husband was able to install that during the two weeks off he took to help me with my recovery.
Our kitchen has come a long way from this...

I can't wait to show you the afters! I'm hoping to take pictures and post them sometime next week. I'll also be announcing something you can join in on next week! Things have been quiet around here long enough. Stay tuned, you're gonna be seeing a lot more of me around here...

My Umbilical Hernia Repair Experience

2016-05-09T13:38:00.000-05:00

WARNING: this post may contain graphic photos (photos of my hernia and my recovery).

I did what almost everyone does when you want more info on something especially when it's something medical: I googled hernia repair experiences. I found one or two posts out there which were helpful but I wanted more so I decided to document and share my experience as well for those like myself searching for more info. If you are in the process of or thinking about getting your hernia repaired then I hope you find this post helpful. This is my own experience and everyone is different so your experience might be completely different from mine. For all of my regular readers I apologize in advance I realize this is not my usual type of post. So let me start off by giving you my background. I am a twenty-eight year old mom of three. I developed an umbilical hernia after the birth of my second child (Sarah) but didn't realize it until I got pregnant with my third child (Levi). As my belly grew I noticed a small lump on top of my belly button. My OB determined it was a hernia and referred me to a surgeon after I gave birth. I saw the surgeon but decided to wait to get the surgery until Levi got older because of the recovery. Three years later I was having complications and decided that enough was enough and I scheduled my surgery. I scheduled my hernia repair with mesh for April 25th.
Pre-Surgery:My surgery was scheduled for Monday, April 25th so I was asked to go into the Hospital to do labs and leave a urine sample the Friday before surgery. They also gave me instructions for surgery day and gave me an antibacterial wash for me to use that morning. The nurse was super helpful and answered all of my questions. I was worried about being nauseous after surgery and having my glasses close by because I'm pretty blind.
Surgery Day:I was asked to go in at 7:00am with a 9:00am surgery. I didn't sleep well the night before because I was pretty nervous so I kept waking up almost every hour until my alarm went off at 5:30am. I was asked to shower with the antibacterial wash before going to the hospital so I did that and got my stuff ready to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital, I signed some papers, changed into a hospital gown, and then got an IV. I mentioned to the nurse that I didn't want to get nauseous after surgery and she put a motion sickness patch behind my ear and I was also given an anti-acid in my IV. The anesthesiologist came next and explained how they would put me to sleep. My surgeon came next and once again explained the surgery he would be performing which was a hernia repair with mesh. The anesthesiologist came back and gave me something they said would "erase my memory" into my IV. Last thing I remember is them injecting that into the IV, getting a hug from my husband and BAM everything else I can't remember. My husband said I was awake when they took me back for surgery but I honestly don't remember anything! The surgeon estimated my surgery would be 45mins long. My husband said that the surgeon took longer than usual because it turned out I had TWO hernias rather than one. So he said I was in there for about an hour and a half. They had to use two mesh strips to repair both hernias. One was in my bellybutton (the larger one) and the other was a smaller one just above the bellybutton. I always thought it was just one large one!
Post Surgery:I heard a nurse call me by my name and I woke up to see her and fell back asleep. Next thing I remember is waking up to see my husband and parents next to me. I was groggy but felt fine. I remember feeling shoulder pain and dry mouth. I was very sleepy and would wake up for a minute or two and go back to sleep. I got something to drink and later felt the urge to pee but couldn't completely empty my bladder. I was sent home this way. I struggled to pee at home and finally called my surgeon who told me to go to the ER where they would have to put a catheter on me. This was the most painful thing! Not the catheter itself because I've had them before after each kiddo. I've had difficulty emptying my bladder after an epidural but never thought it would be a side effect for general anesthesia or maybe I just forgot. The painful thing was having a super full bladder and not being able to pee and being in constant pain because of it. It took forever to get a room because the ER was full that night but finally I was given a catheter and I felt such relief. I was sent home hours later with the catheter. That night I began to feel pain in my incision as my anesthesia was finally wearing off.
Day one (after surgery):I have been taking my pain meds. My stomach feels super sore and I need help getting in and out of bed. The nice thing about having a catheter is not having to get up to pee at night or at all. I haven't gone #2 but I don't feel constipated. I was able to walk a bit today.
Day two:I woke up with abdominal cramps and knew I had to go number two. I tried for 30 mins but was too scared to push. I had taken stool softener and laxatives and those didn't really help. I asked my husband for coffee because coffee usually cleans me out. I drank coffee and 10 mins later I had my first bowel movement. I was able to then shower with my catheter on. I had an appointment at 3pm to get the catheter removed and felt so much better after it was removed. I was able to use the restroom fine after that. I was still bloated and felt pain so I took my pain meds every 4-6hrs. After about day four I stopped taking my prescribed pain meds (Norco) and decided Advil was good enough. The pain meds made me sleepy and feel lightheaded so once I stopped things got better from there as well. I have been walking more but when I over do-it I can feel the effects at night. I get bloated more at night. After the first week I was able to finally sleep on my side without pain. I still use the little pillow they gave me at the hospital to sleep and sometimes when I walk.
My Tips & Notes:

Make sure you clean your system out before surgery. Meaning, empty your bowels so there is less chance of you getting constipated after surgery. I went that morning of surgery and I feel it helped things go so much smoother afterwards.

Make sure you are able to empty your bladder after surgery and before you are discharged. DO NOT let the nurses discharge you if you don't feel you can pee. I went a little and the nurse heard so she thought I was fine to go but I still felt like I had to pee and I felt like my bladder was full. I told her this but she thought it was because of the patch they placed behind my ear which she said would go away once it was removed. WRONG! I was in pain and I should have listened to my instincts and not gone home right away until I felt I had emptied my bladder.

If you are worried about nausea, ask for meds before surgery to help. The motion sickness patch helped A LOT. I felt NO nausea at all and I am very prone to nausea.

You will get a small pillow at the hospital. This pillow acts like a shield and helps when you have to get up and use the restroom. If you don't get one, I would ask for one. My little pillow was my BFF. It's not the prettiest little thing but it got me through my first couple of weeks.

I noticed a small lump, not quite like a hernia but still noticeable the day of surgery and since then. I went to my surgeon and he told me this was normal as everything is still swollen. We will see!

Wear comfortable, loose clothing. I wore dresses an skirts the first couple of days. Your belly will be swollen and you will look pregnant. I have never had a flat tummy so I don't expect to have one after I am fully recovered but I have noticed my swelling going down.

You will need someone to drive you because you will be loopy after surgery, even if it is an outpatient surgery.

I had pretty bad shoulder pain for a week and half. The shoulder pain was pretty bad that I took my pain meds mostly for the shoulder pain because the actual incision I could pretty much tolerate.

Photos:You can see the hernia made me look like I had an outie. That is where my main hernia was but they found a smaller one just above which I thought was art of the umbilical hernia but it was separate. The photo on the right is after surgery.

I am currently two weeks post op and feel mostly like myself again. I am still not 100% because I still feel some swelling and some pain on occasion but I can walk and do almost everything I was able to do before surgery. I will try to update this post once I am six weeks post-op with updates and maybe a photo. I hope you found this post helpful and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Exterior Changes

2016-05-03T14:52:00.001-05:00

We haven't quite finished our kitchen yet. In fact my husband is working on that vent hood this week. He took two weeks off to help me with my surgery and recovery. I am feeling better this week but I still can't drive or carry Levi so he's here and he's been taking advantage of his time off to figure out our vent hood dilemma. I'm hoping we can have the vent hood up and installed by the end of the week. While we finish that, we are beginning another project. One we've planned to start on this year and hopefully finish by next year.
We want to replace all of our windows eventually but windows are expensive and our budget is super tight after our kitchen remodel so we are taking things slow and starting off with the six front windows and working our way to the back. We are planning on getting new siding as well since ours is pretty old and rotting away in some places. Here is a little photoshop mock up I worked up on what we would like our home to look like...

We'd love for our home to look a little more modern. We are looking to paint all of the new siding a medium/dark gray. This color is Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams. We are replacing our windows with new windows without the little squares which I'm thinking is going to make a big difference in how our home looks. I would also love to eventually get a new front door. Something modern like the one shown. If you know any door companies that offer modern style doors at a reasonable price then please let me know. I love the look of wood with gray and stone so I think adding some wood beams to our windows will add some character as well. We are hoping to order our windows tomorrow so I will share our progress on both instagram and snapchat. I just got snapchat so I'm fairly new but I already love it. You can find me under: cinsarahblog.

My next post will either be my surgery experience or our kitchen reveal! Stay Tuned!

Five Ways to Celebrate Mother's Day

2016-04-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

Mother's day is coming up and you might or might not already have that weekend planned out. If you don't have plans or you want to try something different this year, let me help ya out a little with some ideas. Here are five different ways you can celebrate Mother's Day this year:

1. PICNIC IN THE BACKYARD

All you outdoor lovers, this is for you. We all know parks get super packed on holidays so why not set up the backyard for a day of fun? For food you can either pack sandwiches and snacks or order pizza and eat it outside. The best part is the clean up is easier because you don't have to wash any dishes if you use disposables! Set up a tent and read together, sing, play board games, look through old baby pictures, or simply talk! You can plan fun outdoor games, maybe have a nerf gun war, or plan a scavenger hunt. You can also plant some flowers together, start that garden you've been wanting to do, and maybe even have a water balloon fight afterwards. There really is no limit to what you can do outdoors.

2. FANCY DINNER AT HOME

Again restaurants are FULL this time of year so you can eat a fancy dinner at home without cooking. How? You can get a dinner catered and delivered to your home. Have everyone dress up, set a beautiful table, and then dance with each of your kiddos.

3. PHOTOSHOOT

This one could either be fun or torture depending on if your kids cooperate or not. You can schedule a photoshoot on Mother's Day. Again you can get everyone dressed up and have a family session. Photoshoots with the family can be exhausting, trying to get everyone to smile, but they are very worth it when you see those beautiful photos of your family.

4. STAY HOME AND RELAX

Maybe you work all week long and all you want is a day at home to relax and do nothing. Have a lazy day. Let the husband and kids pamper you by cooking all the meals and cleaning up afterwards. You can set up the living room to eat and watch a movie together. Take a nap! I know all mamas want that. Have your husband take the kids outside to play while you nap.

5. SIGHT SEEING

Just the other day we were in Austin and we had so much fun going through the city sightseeing and taking pictures in Austin landmarks. Plan a day to visit a nearby town or city and play tourist all day!

I am still not sure what we will end up doing for Mother's Day but I'm sure it will be a little bit of #1 and #4 since I will still be recovering from surgery. One thing is for sure, I love having my kids all dressed up and matching. Gymboree has got the cutest clothes! I am able to have my big boy match with my little man. They get so many compliments walking around matching. So no matter what you decide to do, check out Gymboree for your kiddos! Also make sure to follow me on instagram as I will be giving away a $50 Giftcard to Gymboree! This is a sponsored post in partnership with Gymboree. All ideas and opinions are my own.

Life Lately

2016-04-18T21:08:00.001-05:00

Things have been quiet around the blog for months now. Home projects have come to a halt for a number of reasons but the main one being I'm about to get my umbilical hernia repaired and so projects are not on our priority list right now. I will be in recovery between 4-6wks and I want to write a post on my experience because I did research and found very few posts on people's experiences so I want to share mine. I am not sure I will share photos but I will be coming back to a post and documenting my experience and hitting that publish button once it's complete.
Once I recover I've got a few projects in mind but mostly just finishing up our kitchen remodel. We are about 90% finished. We just need our island vent hood installed. It is too long and so we have to find a way to install it so we are looking for someone who can help us with that. Other than that we just need a few paint touch ups and we are DONE! Can't wait to show you what it looks like now.
I also want to get a regular blog schedule going as I used to. I at least want to post once or twice a week. I do miss blogging but ever since we moved it's just been hard getting back to it! There's just always something to do around here!

Our Dining Room - Currently

2016-04-07T15:00:00.001-05:00

Here is a room in our home that I haven't shared completely. It isn't 100% finished but it's come a long way from where we started. Here's what our dining room currently looks like...

and to refresh your memory here is a photo I shared the day we purchased our fixer upper...

and the glorious listing photo...

Our dining room has come a long way but it's still not where I want it to be. For starters I am not in love with the lighting. It's not ugly but I feel it is too small for this space. I chose it at Ikea kind of as a meanwhile fixture. I would love something like THIS from West Elm.

I'd also love a rug and some colorful curtains to take away from all of the brown in this room. I also plan to do a small gallery wall on the wall where I've got two frames right now.

Our mid century dining set was a craigslist find. I had been searching for one like this for weeks and then this beauty and the perfect price appeared and my husband brought it home after work. The previous owner re-covered the chairs. Love our dining set!

The centerpiece is one my husband built for our Thanksgiving table and I added some candles and Ikea pots and it is now our dining room centerpiece. Even though this room is not yet where I want it to be, I am thankful and proud of where it is now. We have done a lot in just the first year we've lived here. I plan to share more photos soon as our home evolves because it's an ever changing process.

Spring Home & Fashion Tips with Kohls

2016-03-25T09:21:00.001-05:00

Spring is here! It might or might not feel like it depending on where you live but it is here. In fact just last week we were having perfect weather, it actually felt a little more like summer to me and then we were hit with a cold front this past weekend. That's Texas for ya! Today I want to share a couple of ways you can bring some Spring into your home and share some Spring fashion tips for all your Spring events such as Graduations which are quickly approaching.

Let's start off in the kitchen. Sure flowers are an easy way to bring in some color and cheerfulness into any room but in your kitchen you can use the natural color and beauty found in fruits and veggies. I used this bread bowl from Kohls in my kitchen and purchased some artichokes to brighten things up. Even my husband noticed when we walked into the kitchen after work.

Another way to bring in some color into your kitchen is with a fun rug! I found this chindi rug in the clearance section at my local Kohls and it knew it would go perfect in the kitchen. I love the way the peach color just pops. I'm giving away two of these on instagram so make sure to enter to win one for yourself!

Moving on to the living room. The best way to add some spring is with foliage and pillows. You can bring in color by adding some floral pillows to your couch. I actually just grabbed these from my bedroom to see how they would look in the living room and they worked perfectly! I also used this square serving tray from Kohls for our coffee table and decorated it with a thrifted vase, a faux succulent, some books, and a starburst I had lying around. The best way to decorate is to shop your home, you can move things around and often find things look good and work in almost every room in your home. You can find tons of spring decor items such as the ones I used at Kohls.

Spring is definitely busier than winter when it comes to social events. There are Holidays such as Easter, Weddings, Graduations, and many more. So shopping for Spring clothing is a must but it doesn't have to be expensive or you don't have to buy a dress for every occasion.I actually have my sister and brother in law's graduations & graduation party to attend this Spring. So here is a way you can save a bit by using the same dress for two different events. I went to my local Kohls and found a Lauren Conrad dress that is perfect to dress up or down. I plan to wear this to one of the graduations dressed down and then dress it up a bit for the party that night.

The casual/dressed down outfit includes the dress, a simple necklace, cute flats, and a cute cross-body bag. There tends to be a lot of walking and stairs in graduations so flats are a must.

The dressed up version includes a light blazer, heels, and a more fancier necklace. You can do this with almost any spring dress. I chose to use a neutral color because I can wear this year round by adding a cardigan and some tights later in the Fall. When shopping for clothes, try to think of more than one way you can use a particular clothing item. I have bought dresses for special occasions only to find them hanging in my closet unworn because they just didn't work with anything else. I've learned my lesson and now I try to find items I can wear over and over and mix and match with other pieces I already own. Kohls is a great place to find closet staples such as this dress.How do you decorate your home for Spring?
Do you have any Spring events scheduled? Share some of your tips below...

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kohl's and Latina Bloggers Connect. The opinions and text are all mine.

Kitchen Progress

2016-03-11T09:29:00.000-06:00

I realize I haven't really blogged about our kitchen progress. I shared our kitchen plans/picks which actually changed a bit and all of the before photos but I never actually shared the progress on the blog. I have been updating you all on instagram but I figured I would just share ALL of the photos on here as well to keep them on record. I apologize in adavance for the picture quality, I used my iphone for all of these.
Here is what the kitchen looked like all gutted...

Omar's cousins built our custom cabinets, they came on a Friday and installed them all...

Then we had our cabinets painted. If you are in the Austin, TX area and need a cabinet painter let us know! We highly recommend the people who painted our cabinets!

Here is a photo I shared a couple weeks ago and this will be the last one I share until the reveal...

We are pretty much done except for the island hood vent which gave us some issues because it is too long but I'm hoping we can find a solution. Once that is installed we just have to do some paint touch ups and some caulking and we are finished! I'd love to have it done by the end of the month so I can share the reveal sometime in April. We shall see!

Our Living Room Gallery Wall

2016-03-02T11:16:00.000-06:00

I've always wanted a gallery wall in our living room. I never got to hang on in our first home but I knew I wanted to in our new home so I began collecting Goodwill frames. Every frame (with the exception of the pocket frames) were purchased from my local Goodwill. It took me almost a year to collect them all but it was very worth it! The deer antlers were also from Goodwill but from an auction. Frames can be expensive so if you want to create a gallery wall but are on a budget, I recommend shopping your local Goodwills. My frames were all less than $3.99 each. If it has matting even better! Those are the ones I looked for as I know matting can be expensive too.

The frames I had the most fun with were these beautiful pocket frames from Details 2 Enjoy. These frames are so fun and easy to customize to your style. My style is a minimalistic style so I stained the frame, painted the Texas insert and added a Texas map to the back. I LOVE how it came out! It is my favorite frame on the gallery wall. You can pick from a variety of cut-out inserts and back slots to mix and match. To find out more about pocket frames visit their website here.

The little heart frame is also a pocket frame. I went with a gold foil on the back but my plan was to print out a photo of our first home and use it in the heart but I didn't get a chance to. I love how our gallery wall came out! I sometimes go to the living room just to stare at it.... I know I'm weird!

You can purchase my "HOME SWEET HOME" print and other prints I've used in my home at my etsy shop here. I am working on new prints and also a couple other fun printables for your home! Stay tuned...

Our Kitchen Plans

2016-02-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

Whoa I haven't blogged in a while. I have been meaning to share our kitchen plans because they've changed a bit since I last blogged about it here. Ok so let's catch up shall we? If you don't already follow me on instagram then you probably don't know that our cabinets were installed this past Friday, FINALLY! I felt like the day was never going to come, I kept talking and talking so much about it that I'm sure some of you thought I was pretty much lying since we never got started. Well the day came and the remodel has begun, Hooray! The cabinets are getting painted today and should be finished by Friday. I am sharing progress photos on instagram because it's just so much easier than blogging nowadays but of course the FULL reveal will come and I will blog it all out for ya'll.
So back to our kitchen plans. I've been meaning to make a design board for our kitchen but I've been having issues with my macbook charger so everytime I would begin a board, the computer would die or crash me out and so I JUST finally finished it.

SOURCES: ISLAND RANGE HOOD | HARDWARE | SHELVES STAIN | APRON FRONT SINK | FAUCET

Our kitchen cabinets will be painted white with the exception of our island which will be the beautiful gray color you see up there. I REALLY wanted Carrera Marble for our counters but they're both pricey and a pain to maintain I hear so I think we are going with a similar pattern but a much more family friendly counter which is Silestone. I've always loved white subway tile so of course we will be doing that with a gray grout to make it all stand out even more. We have some open shelving in our new kitchen, I plan to have those stained a not too dark color. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of GOLD hardware SO MUCH, but I'm afraid it won't look good with all of our stainless appliances and sink so I'm sticking to stainless hardware. It's also WAY less expensive!
I can't wait for our kitchen to be finished!

Levi's Super Mario Birthday Party

2016-01-21T22:31:00.000-06:00

My blog has been pretty quiet for a while now. I apologize for that. I want to strive to blog a lot more frequently this year as I have done in the past. Especially since we are going to be working on our kitchen soon and I want to be sure to document every detail. But today I want to share some of the details from Levi's Super Mario Birthday Party which was a couple weeks ago. Please excuse some of the grainy photos, some are from my camera but many are from my iphone.

Levi turned three on the seventh of January and he actually chose the theme for his birthday party. He likes to watch his big brother play Mario, so that is how the theme came about. My sisters and I had a lot of fun working on his party. This is the first BIG party we throw and maybe even the last haha. Parties are a lot of work and if I didn't have my sisters helping me I wouldn't have done it. Let's begin with some of the details I shared on instagram...

The invitations where something I pinned. I got my inspiration from this pin. Actually most of our decor and ideas all came from pins on Pinterest. My sisters and I created a board months before the party and began pinning ideas left and right. These invitations took a while to make but they turned out super cute!

I designed and printed these coloring books as party favors for all of the kids at the party. I just opened up an etsy shop so I'm thinking I will post these printables for sale for those who are interested. I will post a link on here once I do.

These bubbles are from the dollar store, the tray is from Target's dollar spot and the labels are just avery labels. I was planning on printing them but I ran out of ink so I took a red marker and hand drew the Mario logo on them.

Good ole poster board is what I used for this.

My sister's friend made the SUPER AWESOME cake! It turned out beautifully and it tasted just as good as it looks! The Mario Juice is just Hawaiian Punch and the Luigi Juice is a Green Watermelon Juice I found, I think it was Snapple Brand.

These little goomba cups were made with white out and sharpies. Loved how these looked! We just spooned some chocolate pudding into the cups.

The Super Star Krispies were supposed to be pops but I actually liked them this way better. They're topped with white chocolate with yellow food coloring. The eyes are just black icing.

Levi LOVED his party! He had so much fun! My sister had the Mario theme song on and he did a little dance for all of our guests. The party was a lot of work but VERY WORTH IT when we saw how happy Levi was throughout the party.

Our New DIY Mailbox

2015-12-02T20:40:00.000-06:00

We kind of took a little break from fixing up our home for a variety of reasons. We have SO MANY projects still left to do but no time and let's be honest no money left to do them. We are STILL currently waiting for our kitchen remodel to begin. We are waiting on my husband's cousins to start building our kitchen but they've been busy busy recently and so all we can do is wait.
Well a couple weeks ago we decided to tackle on a project to get our DIY juices flowing and to distract us from the kitchen remodel or lack of. By WE I mean my husband cause he's the builder around here and I'm just the decorator. He builds, I make stuff pretty looking. We make a good team I think.
The mailbox was one of those things on our list and one of the least expensive ones so a new mailbox was built. Here is what our mailbox looked before...

We went on pinterest and found these two as our inspiration. The left one is from this etsy shop and the right one I couldn't find a source for. We loved this style because it matches our house number sign that my husband recently made.

I'm not writing a tutorial from this DIY because we don't have any actual plans. My husband just looked at these inspiration photos and built it on his own. I am however sharing progress photos for those of you who want to give it a shot. I hope they will help somehow. My husband worked on this thing almost every afternoon after work. It took about two weeks because it was raining and it gets dark our early now so we raced against the sun set.

and here is what it looked like for a few days before staining and installing the house numbers...

We stained it the same color as our house numbers sign and used the same modern numbers. I love how it came out and it matches perfectly with our house numbers.

Our Annual Thanksgiving Photos

2015-12-01T06:30:00.000-06:00

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Little Skye Boutique, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #embracechildhood http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

Every year for Thanksgiving we get together as a family and take family pictures before eating our Thanksgiving dinner. This is our third time having them professionally done since my sister is a photographer. We used to just take iphone pics but then a couple of years ago my sister decided to go all out and shoot our family pictures with a tripod. I love looking back at our photos! This is a tradition I would love to keep going.

I am the oldest of my sisters and the only one with kids. Hopefully that will change in the next couple of years! ;) My youngest sister (Wendy) is married and lives in Houston so it is nice to have her and her husband over during this time of year. My sister Kendy is the middle child and an awesome photographer! She takes all of our family photos like the most recent fall photos I shared on instagram of my three kiddos.

It's usually just our side of the family that gets together for Thanksgiving but this year we had my in-laws visiting and join us for Thanksgiving. It was perfect because my kids got to spend time with both my parents and my husband's as well.

I am such a planner that I plan our outfits weeks before Thansgiving! I always start with my kids outfits because kids clothes are the cutest! This year Sarah got to wear a beautiful Paper Wings Clothing top from Little Skye Kids’ Boutique Clothing and she absolutely loved it! She got compliments from everyone on her super cute top. It made for the perfect Thanksgiving outfit and she was comfortable in it all afternoon. You can see the beautiful detail in her top in this photo with her Tia Wendy. She loves my little sister! :)

Little Skye Kids’ Boutique Clothing is a Kids’ boutique that sells beautiful clothing for kids of all ages. If you've got a family photo shoot coming up and have no idea what to choose for your kiddos, make sure to check them out! All Paper Wings for Little Skye and Blu Pony Vintage for Little Skye purchases through 12/15/2015 receive Free Shipping & a $25 gift card valid on future purchases for every $100 spent when you use code BLGLS2015. Now that's a good deal!
Are you having a family photoshoot this Holiday season? Do you plan your outfits ahead of time like me or are you a last minute person?

Curly Hair Don't Care - Celebrating You!

2015-11-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Dove Hair, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #LoveYourCurls #pmgdove http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV
"We all want what we don't have." There's so much truth in this saying and almost always it is applied to material things but when it comes to women it's also a beauty issue. Straight haired girls want luscious curls and curly haired ladies want sleek and straight dos.

That saying definitely applies to me and my curly hair. I didn't always have curly hair. In fact my hair was pretty straight as a child but throughout the years my hair has gone from straight, to wavy to funky curls. I don't hate them but I definitely don't love them or feel comfortable enough to wear them out of the house. So most days I tuck my curls into a "mom bun" and on days I have time I straighten it and wear my hair down. Many are actually surprised to find my hair is not in fact straight but curly.
Straight hair seems the be the "one size fits all" hair type for women so when it comes to emojis, straight haired emojis are what we tend to use. I was so excited when Dove Hair introduced the Dove #LoveYourCurls Emojis for us curly haired girls. They've made a way for us to accurately express ourselves when texting family and friends. I don't know about you but I love using emojis and memes when texting so to be able to use emojis you can identify with is just great! I've always admired Dove Hair and their support of women being who they are. They encouraged me to not only embrace my curls but also celebrate them!

So last week I decided to wear my curls out to lunch with my sister and she shot some photos of me and my curly locks. It felt so good to not have to "fix" my hair to go out. I let my hair air dry and at first I felt kind of weird because I'm not used to wearing my hair down without it being straight but as the day went on my curly hair grew on me. I loved the whole experience so much, I plan to wear my curls out more often. I feel that the more often I do, the more I will learn to love my curls.

So many times we get caught up in what we wish we had and don't really embrace who we are and how God made us. I still like my hair straight but I don't completely hate my curls anymore. This mini shoot was a great reminder for me to be thankful for who I am and how God made me.

Do you have curly hair? Download the Dove Love Your Curls Emojis in the App Store and Google Play Store to show you #LoveYourCurls!