A couple months ago I co-hosted a nail polish swap along with a couple of awesome blog ladies and it went amazing!  I exchanged with a wonderful partner, got a great polish and met some really great ladies!  Recently, we started talking about doing another one...so we bring you the Spring Nail Polish Swap & Giveaway!  This is perfect for this time of year, everyone is in the mood for sandal shopping and to do that you need some cute painted nails. Plus what gal doesn't love getting a little present in the mail?  In addition to hosting the polish swap there will also be a giveaway!  The prize is pretty awesome so stay tuned!

We're back!!! Welcome to the 3rd installment of #AskAwayFriday, we've returned to our original format after last week and will be asking AND receiving questions from our featured bloggers!


This week I've chose the lovely, talented and super sweet Karen from Karen's Soiree...she's a party planner, wife, mom with a love for mason jars and pom poms...love it!

Please check out Karen's page for her answers to the 10 questions I asked her (I put some goodies in there!) but for now here are my answers to the questions she sent me:

1.  What is your favorite time of the day?  I would probably have to say it's a tie for 1st thing in the morning or just after naps...the girls are so happy to see me, smiling and in a really good/refreshed mood! 

2.  Who do you admire? As a whole I'd have to say the women in my life who are mothers, my mom obviously because she raised me and put up with me for all these years but I've also found great admiration for my MIL, she took care of my husband's grandmother for years and put her life on hold for so long and now she's retired and living her life for her and I think that's so amazing.  Finally, my cousin through marriage Rani, she's raised 2 really amazing kids and has just celebrated 14 years of marriage to her husband, they really are my idols for a relationship.

3.  What is the best part about blogging?  I would have to say the lovely ladies I've met so far through blogging, the support for my posts and what I've been writing has been appreciated more than they probably know.  I love interacting and getting to know a little more about everyone!

4.  What is a typical day in your life?  Hmmm...well we normally are up around 9:30 AM, we go through diaper changes, bottles and breakfast, from then until nap time we play, read books, watch Elmo or Baby Genius, watch YouTube videos, etc.  Savannah naps from probably 11:30 AM to 2 PM, I'm lucky if Hannah naps at the same time but recently she's been up with me, somewhere in there I sneak in lunch and maybe a shower if I'm lucky.  Once Savannah is up it's diapers, bottles all over again with 2nd lunch for the kids then we have a repeat of the morning until David gets home.  Then it's dinner, bath, bottle, bed, we are lucky if they go down at the same time but usually Savannah is up an additional 30 minutes after Savannah.  Once both kids are in bed, I blog, check all my social media and relax before crawling into bed to start the day all over again!

5.  What is your idea of a great date night? To be honest it's dinner and a movie...I know it's lame but my hubby and I LOVE movies and recently a new theater near us offers this really cool "speakeasy" kind of place that's all VIP style where you pick your seats and it's only 21+ so no stupid teenagers to worry about.  We have a drink, eat some food then see a movie and enjoy a couple more drinks!

6.  What was the last movie you saw in the theater? Haha see question #5 but we actually just went this past weekend and saw "You're Next", we enjoy horror/thriller movies a lot.

7.  What are some things you are looking forward to? GREAT QUESTION! We are actually prepping to go on our cruise to Alaska in a couple weeks, we haven't been away together for more than a night since we got married so this is like the honeymoon we never got!  I'm looking forward to spending quality time with my husband, traveling, seeing Alaska, doing my hair and make up without worry of a child breaking something and just to relax and really just breathe and rejuvenate myself.

8.  How long did it take you to realize your husband was "the one"?  Honestly, I knew pretty quickly...we met off Craigslist and he was just a really great guy and after dating awhile when I found out I was pregnant I knew he was the one when I told him and he said "well then we need to focus on being Mr. & Mrs. Chevalley, not just boyfriend and girlfriend"...the way he stood up to the plate and took on the responsibility of a family so willingly made me fall in love that much faster.

9.  What do you think your daughters will be like as teenagers?  I have no idea! I joke right now that Hannah will be my sporty, get in the dirt girl and Savannah will be my prim and proper ballerina but the more I watch them grow I think it might be opposite.  When I do my make up Hannah wants so badly to help and Savannah is so tough and aggressive that sometimes I wonder.  Overall, I just want them to be healthy and happy, I'll support them through whatever activities or things they want to participate in as long as it's safe for them. 

10.  Where was your favorite vacation that you took?  Can I count my wedding as a vacation?  We got married in Vegas and were there for 4 days, it was a great trip surrounded by our closest family and friends so I couldn't have asked for more.  We constantly say we want to go back because we really did just enjoy ourselves.  We are talking about going back for my 30th but definitely going back for our 5 year anniversary to renew our vows!

Okay, how amazing were those questions! Great job Karen! I hope she likes mine just as much as I enjoyed hers, she even made my husband happy because he loves being mentioned in my blog and he got 5 or 6 mentions in this one!  Definitely check out Karen's blog to see her responses to my questions!

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by Mrs_AOK A Work in Progress if I wanted to join a few other bloggers in a nail polish and card swap, I was flattered and the idea sounded so cool!  I mean what gal doesn't love a new nail polish?

So the budget was $10 for the polish and card.  The wonderful partner I received was Karen from Karen's Soiree, her quote from Twitter is "Blogger, Party Planner and Styler, Momma and Wife. Obsessed with paper straws, mason jars and pom poms".  She's so sweet and we've gotten to know each other a little better so I knew I was in good hands!


Last week I received a package in the mail (yay, yay, YAY!) from Ms. Karen and I ripped it open!  There was a beautiful handwritten card and a GORGEOUS Merlot color from Cover Girl, definitely not a color I had in my collection but loved it!  This is going to be a great color for the fall which is perfect for me because I love being lighter and brighter in the summer and darker and more rich in the fall and winter!

I'm so thankful I was included in this and please check on Karen's site for her post about the polish I sent her (we were on the same wave length I think haha).



There is also a contest going on for Essie's Fall Collection (plus a goodie or two) from Mrs_AOK so be sure to check that out!

I'm really excited about this new venture, I'm working with Growing Up Madison, Pink Candy & Stilettos and Me and My Mini Me on a fun and interactive way to join mom bloggers and their kids together!

So my idea was a Mom & Tot Box Swap, this means that once every quarter (our first box will be in September) each mom and toddler will receive a box from another mom and toddler with all sorts of goodies in it for them.  For example in September Morgan and Hannah will be box swapping, so both mom and toddler will put together any items within our budget ($40) for just toddler or mom and toddler.  Items can range from educational items to books, arts and crafts to clothing/accessories, food can even be included if it's perishable and will ship well.  If each mom wants to include an item(s) for each other as long as it falls into the budget that's totally fine too.

Another twist on this to help fit into the budget is if you have anything laying around, a old baby shower gift or a birthday gift you never used or something along those lines you can include it and it won't go towards your budget (handy for moms like me who get products that sometimes I end up not liking/using). 

I thought this would be a fun way to each out to the moms that I know through blogging and Twitter, we can get to know each other through these boxes and our kids get presents at the same time...very cool! 

The only condition of the box swap is that we blog about what we received in our box...the good, the bad, the not wanted. 

I'm already prepping and getting things ready for our first box to Morgan! We're very excited and hope that he and mom enjoy what's inside...we especially look forward to their post on what they received and how they are liking it.

If you are interested in joining in on this definitely let me know...we do need equal amounts of moms to do this (2, 4, 6, 8...etc) so that everyone receives a box but I think this is going to be a fun project even if it only happens once!!! Stay tuned for our post on what we get and I will also be linking all the other ladies posts once they have them as well!