halloween + birthday favs

ahhhhh my beautiful friends!

This week was nutso and completely got away from me! Bummed I only got to visit with y'all a few times and desiring a schedule but I am just gonna give that up for this month [yay for only 1 more day!] because it was so inconsistent...we are smack dab in the middle of sports, so Tripp's schedule is changing from football coach to wrestling coach which surprisingly means quite the schedule change at the McOtis {we say this would be our couple name if we were celebs [McKeever + Otis] becaue Lipp sounds weird [Lindsay+Tripp]}household. Back on subject, Lindsay! Right, right. So today is my weekly favorites and I'm sharing my birthday with y'all!

So I woke up Tuesday morning to the #25 being posted all over my house which is a definite perk to my mom staying with us during my birthday! I've gotten some crap since being older that I make too much of my birthday but getting older is a gift and I feel lucky for each year and having that one day {or week} out of the year is just a fun time to celebrate yourself. It's okay to celebrate you for that short time, YOU ARE WORTH IT!

Of course, I had to stop by sephora with some birthday money courtesy of Tripp Otis {do you know that they like ring a bell and make a to-do about it being your birthday?! so fun!}. I got a 6 pack of the Sephora Sleeping Masks {haven't tried yet} and Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Oil which I'm LOVING! It literally melts your make up off!

Also, I have always been quite the sports fan and recently a new Golden State Warriors fan {more for Riley Curry than anything else} and got For The Love by Jen Hatmaker which has been on my must read list for a while now {review to come}!

So my mom absolutely kills it on birthdays, she is most definitely the queen of gift giving! She got me the gold and black bag and filled it with all my favs...
1} Falsies Mascara 2} Hair Ties 3} Bobbie Pins 4} Pure Country [my favorite movie as a child] 5} comfy socks 6} a gold tape measure [I mean it's gold y'all] 7}tooth brush and paste [I'm a fanatic about my teeth] 8} gold jewelry [studs are my fav] 9} orbit WHITE gum 10} a monogram coffee cup 11} razors [I freakishly hate body hair and always have] 12} sunglasses 13}notebooks [I'm a listmaker] 14} straws 15} my favorite dry shampoo 16} my favorite hair product, John Frieda Leave In Conditioner 17] Amped Up texturizer 18} Betsey Johnson perfume

Mom also got me this Nicole Miller crossbody that may be my favorite thing ever {henry wanted in on the picture} &&&&

SO many work out clothes! yay! be prepared for more pictures when I get these babies on! Okay so my birthday rocked and I have a great husband that took off for the day and a killer mom that destroyed it in the making me feel special department! Also, special thanks to my two photographer assitants..

Tobes and my mom's dog Gabby :)

Okay on tooooooo.......

{HALLOWEEN EDITION}

FAVORITE LAUGH
Ellen does this every year on her show and Andy never fails to make me laugh out loud! Watch & laugh!

FAVORITE WANT

via asos

These are just creepy and comfy enough to be totally something I would love!

FAVORITE SONG
I mean I refuse to be cliche but I will say that I have been playing the new Adele NON STOP but I know that everyone else is posting about it and listening to it so I will give y'all another tune that is Halloween related.

FAVORITE QUOTE

FAVORITE CANDY
I mean it can't be halloween edition without my favvvvvvorite candy! If I'm trick or treatin' this is what I want in my bag:

Hope my lovely friends have a safe and happy Halloween! 

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a little bit of everything
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momfessionals

they say it's your birthdayyyyyyyy

hi lovelies!
SO excited to be with y'all today, sorry I missed yesterday but our Sunday was CRAZYYY busy like 10am-8pm busy.
Butttt I am here today and it's a big day, it is birthday week and today is BIRTHDAY! I don't know what all I'm doing today but I know I'm gonna eat some good food {excited to share with y'all tomorrow}. This week is pretty self-centered on the blog {it's my bday week though, y'all} but also I have big plans so stay tuned!!
{side note: my mom is staying with us right now and I woke up to birthday decorations in our kitchen! then as if I needed a reminder that I am not beyonce...toby left me some birthday presents that I almost stepped in as well.}
Today, I am going to check back on my 25 before 25 list....still can't believe I'm a quarter of a century #whaaaaa?!

1. read 2 books a month 
Totally missed this one, I have a nook and I thought that may be the reason....maybe I need them actually in my hand so I'm gonna try that. I still want to make reading a habit!

 

2. run a 5k [8.8.15]
If you can call it that, more like walked but we did it! 

3. spend more time with family
I really tried to do this one more ever since Micah passed. Anyone that I was not so close with, I really gave that relationship an effort. Here lately that has burned me a little but I'm just happy to have given all relationships with family an effort. 
 

4. go to the beach[7.18.15]
Had the BEST time at Gulf Shores, AL with our mommas...wrote it about here!
 

5. learn a new hobby [hot yoga!]
Started this in February and never thought I'd be a yogi but it is such a fun hobby and I'm excited this year to dive into it even more!
 
6. work on my business
I made very SMALL moves in it. I live in fear honestly of failing and I hope in year 25 I can just do things, literally DIVE into them and worry less. 
 
7. start a morning bible study ritual
 FAIL. I need to schedule my morning betters, I get most of my blogging done and I need to figure out how to add more to my mornings. 

8. spend more time outdoors 
We absolutely killed this one during the summer. Trail walks, bike rides, taking the pups to the park. 

9. cut sugar out of my diet 
The past two weeks I have actually done a lot better on this one than expected. Tripp and I were really killin' the whole eating better game and then birthday hit and this weekend we started eating like poop again...oh well! Lindsaypalooza!

10. stop picking my face [bad habit]
I quit this one 100%! Of course, getting my face treated at the derm really helped me stopped this habit but it's nice to know I'm not making anymore scars.

11. take my vitamins  
YES! Gummy vitamins, y'all! 
 
12. drink more water 
I still only drink like 16oz {1 bottle} a day but it's more than usual. Maybe I'll add another bottle this year, it's so hard to add water to your routine when you aren't thrilled with the taste! 
 
13. do yoga 3 times a week
UGH! FAIL. 

14. do one thing I'm scared of
I'm not great with water so doing paddle board yoga was pretty nerve racking for me considering I am a new yogi and not experienced in water, plus I had never paddle boarded {so hard!}. I was proud that I even got on one! 

15. get a new tattoo 
I forget how expensive these things are and there is a reason I got them in college when I had money to blow.

16. go to the lake
check!

17. think before speaking 
Some progress was made here. I definitely slip up from time to time because impulsiveness is in my nature! 
 

18. eat out less
I don't know if y'all can relate but it's like we will go 2-3 weeks of really cooking at home and making things here and then we have a bad week of eating out almost every night because it's so easy. Are we the only ones?! 

19. whiten my teeth
Y'all I seriously hate the dentist but the whitening strips kill my teeth. Any suggestions?!

20. go to bed earlier
MAJOR FAIL. 11pm is my usual bed time. 

21. stop spending impulsively 
I think this one was a win compared to the year before, Tripp really has us on a budget and I've learned a lot from following it. 

22. make a habit of keeping my car clean
NEGATIVE. But as my granddaddy says, the pretty the girl, the messier the car. :)

23. make the 1 minute rule a habit [happier podcast]  
During the week, I fail pretty hard and getting house stuff done because we are so in and out. I usually just get everything done on the weekend but I really want to incorporate house work during the week so I don't have to play catch up on Sunday. 

24. clean up my language [being transparent that sometimes I have the mouth of a sailor]
Depends on the day. Sometimes I just have no desire to clean up my mouth, it really is my guilty pleasure, I think the day I actually want to stop is the day I'll stop.

25. learn to love the mornings
I'm learning more! When I have you guys to look forward to, it makes things easier. I wish I could keep that momentum going through the whole day. 

I'll be posting my new list this week for 26. What are some things you guys want to accomplish this year?! I need some new ideas! Thanks for letting me spend my birthday with y'all and come back tomorrow because we got a lot going on at Not A Mom this week! 

 This picture was at Micah's 25th birthday and it's the last picture we have of just us. I love it, it's weird to think that soon I'll be older than he was #forever26

 

 

Lindsaypalooza, y'all!

hi lovelies!

Well here we are y'all, October 1st! It's my birthday month and boy do I love to celebrate! I am a true believer that every birthday should be celebrated and every birthday is a big deal. I think it's sad when people don't care about birthdays because it is really the only day out of the year that can be about you and pampering yourself which we all need to do more than 1 day out of the year.

So you'll hear a lot of my favorites this month, like what's on my wish list! Let me know what you guys love to do for your birthday, any traditions?! I want this month to be where we share a lot, not just me telling my favorites, my stories but you guys sharing what you love to do and what your best birthday was some of the things that are on your wish list {I need some ideas!|.


I am working on my 26 before 26 list to post and trying to complete the 25 before 25 so if y'all haven't checked it out please do and share some ideas to add to the 26 list!
 

Really no one is better than Ellen at explaining how great birthdays are and how they should be celebrated!

That being said, since I was 3 October 1st meant it was my little cousin's birthday! We grew up literally 3 houses down for a lot of my childhood and the majority of my childhood memories involve this gal and now as we get older, we are becoming closer again and I couldn't be happier! Once you lose your only sibling, cousins really are the closest thing you have so I am learning to be extra thankful for mine! Happy Birthday Jordyn! 

Me, Jordyn and My Bub<3 font="" size="5">

Us all grown with our hubbys!