Hey all!  I’m so excited to finally be able to share some of my Michigan baby shower pictures with you all!  A couple Saturdays ago, my good friends from grade school and college threw me an amazing party.  There was a ton of food, a ton of friends, a ton of little baby presents, and it was a ton of fun. 

Super cute invitations designed by my sister-in-law, she even sewed a fabric pouch for them too, so cool!

Here’s a little family portrait to get us started.  Mommy, Daddy, Baby in my belly, and Baby’s new big lion toy!  Oh and in case you’re wondering, the maxi dress is from Anthropologie and I love it. 

Showing off the baby bump… errrr rather showing baby all the yummy food he’s about to eat.

Such a cute setup and such delicious food!

Close ups of food and decor, so lovely!

It was so great to hang out with my buddies from high school and college.  It’s pretty rare that I get to see them since we all live all over the country.  We played 3 games during the shower.

1) First one was everyone got 2 baby clothespins and for the duration of the shower you couldn’t say the word “baby”, if you did, then whoever called you out on it got the pins and the person with the most pins at the end of shower, wins!

2) The second game was filling out a piece of paper with the baby name of various animals.  As in a baby monkey is an infant or a baby swan is a signet, did you know those?

3) And the last game was the guess how big my belly game where everyone had to cut a piece of string the size that they thought my belly was around, of course most people’s strings were a lot longer than my actual belly!

Then it was present time! 

As you can see we got a ton of gifts such as gift cards, things off our registry, clothes, toys, books, bags, and more.  We are so THANKFUL to everyone for all the gifts!

Here we are with Marvin’s mom and sister-in-laws, they had driven all the way up from Ohio just for the shower, so sweet!

A picture with the AWESOME AMAZING hosts!  Sophie and Jenny were there in spirit. 

My mom couldn’t make it because she was in Taiwan but so many of her friend’s did!  These ladies have always been such a huge part of my life growing up!

Thanks everyone for coming!

Oh and of course, the deliciously cute Turkey and Owl cupcake favors, nom nom.

I am happy to say, as of this weekend, I am all caught up on Thank You cards!  Here’s a look at a few I got from the adorable Thank You Cards Shop!  They had me at chevron. 

Hi friends (old and new)!  Today, I am joining in on the October Followers Fest hosted by the lovelies:

With the Fall season in full force right now, there’s a bunch of things that get me super excited about it… such as pumpkin desserts, apple cider, wearing scarves and boots, leaves, and more!  It’s also a nice break from the hot, humid Summers we face here in Kansas City (although not really looking forward to Winter just yet, let’s not talk about that).  Here’s a little collage I put together to show off some of my Fall Favorites. 

1 This photo just screams beauty and fall.
2 Loving the colors in this Aisle To Aloha Fallen Leaves canvas painting.
3 A scrumptious looking pumpkin dessert, need I say more?
4 What a fun little craft idea, don’t you think?
5 A girl can never own enough bags, like this Nine West one!
6 What a fun and cozy little dining room setup for fall~!
7 Kind of just love everything about this outfit, especially the leg warmers.
8 I would love to end each fall day with this refreshing apple cider cup.

Hope you all enjoy this upcoming beautiful fall weekend!  It’ll be a much needed relaxing one for me as I need to soak up the last bits of this year before I turn another year older on Tuesday.    But wait, before you go…

P.S. Have you entered the Yellow Heart Art GIVEAWAY for an 8″x10″ print yet?

P.P.S. And how about the ISOTONER smarTouch gloves GIVEAWAY to kick off the Cold Hands, Warm Hearts Swap?

Entries for this giveaway and the swap have been closed, thanks!

Guess what all?!  It’s that time again for the Cold Hands, Warm Hearts swap!  Last year, it was a success (thanks to you all), so we decided to bring it back!  Basically, you sign up for the swap, we assign you a partner, and you send your partner a package with a pair of gloves + some other goodies, and then you write a blog post about your lovely package!  Sound easy enough, yea?  If you want to be in the cool kids club, then hop on over to Much Love, Illy’s blog for more details on how to participate!

But before you hop on over there, we have a little giveaway over here to kick off the swap!  (You don’t have to participate in the swap to enter but it is an additional entry option if you do, see below.)

{GIVEAWAY}

 Win your very own pair of ISOTONER smarTouch gloves! 

These babies are great for texting, tweeting, checking email as your  index finger and thumb as a conductive thread that conveys electrical impulse to touchscreen – super fancy!  And trust me, they really work!

gloves: ISOTONER smarTouch | blazer: a pea in the pod | striped sweater: ann taylor loft | yellow scarf: from much love, illy in last year’s CHWH swap | jeans: a pea in the pod | shoes: target

To enter:

1. What is one activity you still have on your to-do list for this fall? (mandatory entry)

For additional entries, leave a separate comment for each action.
2. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc. phone app is?
3. Enter the Cold Hands, Warm Hearts swap at Much Love, Illy’s blog
4. Follow this blog and Much Love, Illy with GFC
5. Follow sandyalamode and @muchloveilly on Twitter
6. Blog, facebook, or tweet about this giveaway (make sure to include @sandyalamode and @muchloveilly in your tweet) and include the link (one entry each). 

Feel free to use this tweet:

The Cold Hands, Warm Hearts Swap by @muchloveilly & @sandyalamode launches w/ an ISOTONER smarTouch gloves #GIVEAWAY! http://bit.ly/soJ7ns

This giveaway is open to US only and closes on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 12PM CST. Good luck!

Entries for this giveaway and the swap have been closed, thanks!

tunic: forever 21 | jeans: motherhood maternity | necklace: oh, hello friend | headband: whippycake | shoes: nordstrom rack

We’re baaaack!  That’s right friends, it’s time for the 4th installment of the Adventures of the Wandering Whippy Cakes.  This time, I’m modeling the Twiggy, a super pretty neutral and earth tone headband that is just so perfect for fall.  I am seriously loving all brown, tan, pink colors right now, especially when mixed together.  These pictures were taken on the entrance/exit street of our neighborhood, the row of color changing leaves on the trees is always so wonderful to look at as I leave for work in the morning and come home in the afternoon.  So glad bump got to see it too.

My feet are happy to show off these new shoes I just got.  They are a little vintage and a lot of goes with everything neutral.  Only problem is that my feet started swelling pretty much the day after this photoshoot.  Please tell me my feet will go back to normal after I have my baby.  It would be a tragedy to not be able to wear any of my previous shoes anymore, although that might be good for all you size 7-7.5ers as I might have to have a blog sale to get rid of them (*tear*).  OK, let’s not think about that.

Bump update: 31.5 weeks

- Increased pelvic pain on the side I sleep on

- Hips getting increasingly bigger… yikes!

- Maternity photos taken by Ria Photography and so excited to see them!

- Had a surprise work baby shower, so fun!

- Baby is still super active with its punches, kicks and somersaults

Now don’t forget to head on over to these blogs to check out how the other ladies styled their Whippy Cakes from their end of the country!

Lindsay of Aisle To Aloha
Ilene of Much Love, Illy
Moriah of Moriah Makes
Kim of Oh, Sweet Joy

P.S. The winner of the Sparkle Thots $30 credit giveaway is…. Rhian from Something Blogged!  Congrats!  Rhian – please send me an email at sandyalamode(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize! 

And don’t forget to enter the Yellow Heart Art 8″x10″ print giveaway too!

Entries for this giveaway have been closed! Thanks!

{shop} {blog} {twitter} {facebook}

Hey friends!  I have another awesome sponsor + giveaway to share with you all today!  Actually, every day you come to my blog, you see some of her amazing work right in my blog banner!  Leonora at Yellow Heart Art is a super fun, super sweet, super talented designer who makes prints, pillows, pendants and does custom work too with the COOLEST designs ever.

{MEET LEONORA}

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your shop.
Waddup A-La-Mode-Ers its Leonora from Yellow Heart Art! (I figured Sandy’s fan base needed a cool nick name, I hope you all like being called A-La-Mode-Ers) I work full time as a graphic designer doing lame-o corporate graphics (let me tell ya something, if I have to design one more advertisement that contains a photo of men in business suits holding hands down a running track representing “Team Spirit” I’m going to jab something blunt and long into my eyeball) so to prevent said blunt object from going into my eye I opened up Yellow Heart Art as a way for me to be creative & me. I try to keep things light and fun. My shop has graphic art prints for your home with sayings that are unique and quirky. I also branched out and started to design necklaces & pillows! (these aren’t your grandma’s couch pillows…) when I’m not designing you can find me scarfing down Swedish fish before dinner, jumping off of swing sets & busting out into the sprinkler at weddings. I also bite off all the legs on my boyfriend’s teddy grahams when I’m mad at him…

2) What are some of your favorite color combinations?
oOOOOoOo A girl after my own heart! (Is it sad that I get mega stoked to talk about color?) my picks are: yellow & gray (duh), coral & mint, mustard & teal and deep purple & gray.

3) What fonts can you not live without?
I have a soft spot for handwritten fonts that have a “sketch” look to ‘em. I also heart vintage fonts like Rosewood.

4) If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Wow, that is a tough one because I HARDLY ever travel due to the fact that I am deathly afraid of flying (do you see the irony with the fact that I am dating an airforce boy? no? you don’t? Needless to say I don’t get sympathy from him) But I think I’m going to have to go with Italy. I have a ton of family over there–and plus my name is Leonora which is kinda like Leonardo so its only right that I see the Mona Lisa in the flesh.

5) What’s your favorite holiday dessert?
Dude, wanna hear something sad? I get mega stoked to eat the pumpkin pie ice cream from baskin robbins this time of year haha! Ok, but in all seriousness I do love me some pie (wait for it) a la mode! (see? see how I used a la mode right there?)

{GIVEAWAY}

Win your choice of an 8×10 print from Yellow Heart Art!

1. Visit Yellow Heart Art and leave a comment with your favorite item!

For additional entries, leave a separate comment for each action.
2. Be a Google Friend Connect follower of this blog
3. Be a Google Friend Connect follower of Leonora’s blog
4. Like Yellow Heart Art on Facebook and write on the wall saying I sent ya
5. Follow @sandyalamode and @yellowheartart on Twitter
6. Blog, facebook, or tweet about this giveaway (make sure to include @sandyalamode and @yellowheartart in your tweet) and include the link (one entry each). 

Feel free to use this tweet:

Waddup y’all!? Go enter the @yellowheartart #GIVEAWAY for your choice to win an 8×10 print on @sandyalamode! http://bit.ly/mQQdS2

This giveaway is open to US only and closes on Tuesday November 1, 2011 at 12PM CST. Good luck!

Don’t want to wait? Enter code “ALAMODE10″ at checkout for 10% off your Yellow Heart Art order NOW!

Entries for this giveaway have been closed! Thanks!