Have a happy weekend.

We made it to June.

Do you know what that means? Less than two weeks until this little guys' due date, so truly, he could be coming out to join us any minute now! Let's hope sooner rather than later.

I was never planning on taking any 'maternity photos' throughout my pregnancy. Truly, I am not one of those women who loves being pregnant or loves the changes it has made to my body. I know it will all go back and the changes are for the sake of a greater good :) I just have met women who absolutely love being pregnant, and I am not one. So, the thought of taking photos of my 9 month pregnant self sounded pretty awful. But then we got down to this last little bit and I thought how it would kind of be sad not to have a couple of photos to show our son of what his mom (saying 'mom' still is totally crazy to me) looked like when she was carrying him. And, of course, having a husband who is a photographer makes it kind of impossible to escape the camera at times.

All of this to say, here are a couple of shots we took today and if you want to see more of the shoot you can go here.

On another note... any plans for the weekend? Husband and I were thinking we may go on a hot date (which means dinner and a movie) unless (please Lord) we are in the hospital meeting our son. I have been wanting to see What to Expect When You're Expecting... it sounds funny and seems quite fitting for our stage in life right now :) See you Monday. xo.

Food to Love : Summer recipes from my favorite blogs!

Summer is my favorite time to try new recipes. There is just a never ending supply of fresh veggies and fruits  at the market and at a good price, so it is a good time to pick up something that maybe you have never had before and find a recipe that uses it! I have a handful of favorite food blogs that I constantly check in on to be inspired. 

Sprouted Kitchen has been one of my favorite food blogs for quite some time, her recipes are a bit involved so maybe when you are feeling super confident with your skills pull up her site and recreate one of her incredible dishes!

Spoon Fork Bacon has practical recipes for busy people AND there is not anything on this site that my husband would turn his nose up to. Not that he is picky, he just loves... a hearty meal. So making just a salad for din would not fly in our house :)

Roost is great for those of you with specific diets because she cooks for her husband who has Crohn's disease and the ingredients are a little different, but healthier, and who would not want that? Plus, the photography on this site is incredible, it is worth it to visit just to look through her beautiful images!

Smitten Kitchen is my 'go to' spot for recipes. It even has an Ingredient Index where you can look up what recipes include a specific ingredient. Lately, husband and I have been loving brussels sprouts, so I can look up all the recipes she has that include that ingredient... how convenient is that?

Hope you are feeling inspired to cook! xo.

Shower for the babe.

These past nine(ish) months have been a whirl wind! We have purchased our first house, moved, traveled all over for weddings and fun, all while growing a little being who now should be coming any day! Our family and friends have been so helpful in preparing for our little guy and I just know we would not be nearly as prepared without them. They have showered us in 3 different states with both gifts and wisdom for raising a babe and we could not be more thankful or feel more blessed by them. Seriously, it is totally overwhelming.

Below are photos from our couples shower in Colorado complete with yummy BBQ, homemade sweets, and a 'make your own onesie' station (they turned out pretty funny!).  So fun!

Below is the entire Crandall fam, I feel so lucky to have married in :)

xo.

Insta-love.

Okay, I am late in the game, I know.

But, I just joined Instagram the other day and am hooked! I used to give husband the hardest time about constantly checking his phone for the latest feed of photos, but it really is so fun. You don't have to think of anything clever to say, just take a photo, that's it. Truly I like following fellow photographers because it is fun to see what they take photos of when they are not working. Stone is the best, really, my unbiased opinion! He just sees things with a different eye than most people and I feel like most of his iPhone photos could be printed and hung on a wall :) 

Are you using Instagram? I cannot promise that my photos are going to be that incredible, but I will try and post daily, so if you want to follow my feed you can @shelcrandall.

See you there! xo.

5 things for the hospital...

We have less than three weeks to go and I still have not packed my hospital bag! Whoops. This is part because I have not grasped the fact that he really, truly is going to make his appearance any day now and also part because I don't really know what to pack. I know I won't be there that long, but any time I stay somewhere foreign I want to have my creature comforts with me, is that lame? Probably. Oh well. Either way I have the standard things down... pillow, robe, slippers, pj's, going home outfit, and all of the special ointments and pads needed to get me through those first 48 hours! Ha. 

But, I have a few thoughts of some things to pack that just may make the stay a bit more comfy, or at least keep my spirits up while in labor...

First thing is first, if I don't make it to the nail salon (do people still say 'salon'?) before he gets here then I need to be equipped with a neutral color that will last me a while, because we all know after the babe comes my nails become last on the priority list! Next, I am eyeing this cardigan to throw over my nursing tanks AND it is on sale! Of course I am going to bring along a couple of my favorite movies just in case this labor takes a while... how fitting is Father of the Bride II? It is the best. Also, I hear hospitals can sometimes be a bit chilly, what better thing to keep my toes warm than these Happy Socks! Last, I know the hospital gives you a water bottle, but I worked at a hospital for a summer in high school as a candy striper and now the hospital bottles just remind me of being sick so I will probably pack one of my own, hopefully a swanky one like these from Lifefactory!

Other than that, do you have any suggestions? My homework tomorrow is to get this all together!

xo.

It has been a while...

I am still here. I feel bad that I have not been around lately, our lives have just been chaos... good chaos, but chaos nonetheless.

I guess, especially lately, it has become very real that our little family of 2 will be no longer soon. Don't get me wrong, we are absolutely thrilled to meet our little guy. But, I already feel selfish of my husband's time... does that seem crazy? Like I just want to soak up these last few moments of peace with Stone. I use the word 'peace' loosely, as we have traveled to Colorado, Mexico, and up north in California in these last few weeks shooting weddings. Projects around our new home have almost been another full time job on top of our real jobs. Husband has been pretty incredible though, in the short time we have lived in our home he has changed faucets, lighting, painted all of the kitchen cabinets, hung curtains, created storage by adding shelves in our garage and closets, and so many other things. Truly he has been a hero in getting our house ready for the babe. Oh ya, and the babe, we have been super busy preparing for this little guy to come along. Who knew something so tiny would take so much preparation. Along with our childbirth classes, which were great but perhaps scared me more than prepared me (I also am a secret hypochondriac, so if you tell me something bad could happen during labor I am convinced that it will happen to me), we have made tons of trips to BuyBuyBaby to stock up on the essentials, and have been reading up a storm so we are prepared to get this guy sleeping and eating on a schedule (fingers crossed). I need my sleep, lots of sleep. 

So, as you can see blogging has been put on the back burner, but now that things have settled I am excited to be back at it, especially before the arrival of our little one (3 weeks and counting until his due date)! I cannot wait to share with you all when he arrives. These days my only prayer is that he comes to us healthy and happy. I now understand more than ever how easily worry can consume a parent... parent, ahhh, it still does not feel totally real that we are going to have a child! I don't know that it will totally sink in until the day he is born, and maybe not even then.

Oofta, sorry for the droning on and on. See you tomorrow! xo.

Tuesday tunes : Fleeting heart.

Weekend Wrap Up : A party for baby boy.

This weekend was all about celebrating our baby boy! His arrival is coming up so fast and we just cannot even wait to meet him. Stone and I have been so incredibly overwhelmed by our dear friends and family's support. Truly, we feel so comforted knowing how much people love him already too. Not to even mention all of the gifts and help in preparing for our babe, it is all coming together and we could not say more THANKS to those of you who have sent along treats, advice, and offered your help! Thank you, thank you.

A handful of my closest girlfriends got together on Sunday for a little shower and even though the sun never came out it was perfect!

The decoration was beautiful and SO creative. The hostesses, Lacey and Laura, seriously went all out... hand stamped tags, dip-painted vases, and gorgeous flowers...  I loved it all!

My friend Alexis made the cupcakes with Nutella (yup, Nutella) frosting... I think I ate three!

One hilarious thing that my friend Jenni did for the shower was to make ice cubes with plastic babies inside for our drinks... the first one whose cube had totally melted or as she put it, the first one whose water broke, wins a prize :)

There were lots of mamas and mamas-to-be at the party so I soaked up as much advice and wisdom as I could... although, let's be honest, nothing can prepare me for what is going to be happening in only 7 weeks time!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. xo.

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Happy Friday. Go make some memories :)

LOVE

shel + stone

SHE + HE : Hookie.

We may or may not have taken the morning off today to escape to the beach... okay, we actually did do that. Sometimes working from home when there is 70 degree sunny weather and beautiful waves is pretty difficult, and sometimes we have to give in. Like today. It was perfect, Stone got to surf for a bit, I soaked up some vitamin D, and baby boy got to hear the sound of waves for an hour or so. We ended our morning of playing hookie with lunch at Raul's and froyo at Berry Happy, a double whammy for sure. Needless to say I detoxed with pure greens for din to make up for it :)

PS. Baby boy is now 32 weeks and the bump is looking quite big! Woah.

Tuesday tunes : Fun.

Weekend wrap up : Some times call for special socks...

Happy Monday!

Stone and I had a pretty great weekend starting with a rainy Saturday morning... but, who does not love a good rainy morning on a weekend? The weather turned around quickly and we headed to Olivenhain to shoot engagement photos, which are always my fav! After that we hosted our very first gathering at our house. Yup, even though there are still unopened boxes, walls that have not been painted, and shelves that have yet to be decorated, we still did it. I'm surprised too because Stone and I are both kind of crazy about having things perfect in our home when we have guests over, so this was truly a stretch for the both of us. But, I think we got enough wine in everyone to forget about the piles of random crap that needs to be put away :) and we spent the night playing games and laughing, which is always the best. Stone even whipped out his part socks for the christening of our home with good friends.

Now it is Monday and I need to focus on putting away those boxes... Ooofta.