Author: Allie Zottola

Mavis’ Surgery and Books

Our little Mavis girl was spayed on Monday and it was a tough day. I cried leaving her at the vet that morning, and I cried when I took her home. She did great throughout the surgery, but was super scared and shaky when we brought her home.

Cocker spaniel puppy after spaying surgery

She’s doing a lot better now, and I think the hardest thing for her is just resting instead of playing all the time like she’s used to. The vet told us to keep her activity level to a minimum and have a cone on her for 14 days. Eek! I bought her an elk antler to chew and play with to keep her busy, but I know I’m going to have to get creative with things for her to do to keep her from running around the house!

We also put a smaller cone on her since she wasn’t able to eat or drink without someone holding the dish for her. It’s a lot to handle with checking her stitches each day, giving her medication, and keeping an eye on her, but we’re glad the surgery is done and over with now!

Cocker spaniel puppy with cone and elk antler

Doesn’t she look like a little walrus with her elk antler? Also, that’s her “mommmmm, play with me!!” face.

Okay, onto books! I have kind of been in a reading rut lately, and I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve been busy, or just haven’t found any good books since I finished The Magnolia Story and What Falls from the Sky.

I’m currently reading Present Over Perfect and enjoying it (though I don’t agree with the author’s view on baptism, salvation, and a few other faith-related things). It’s definitely inspiring me to take more time to just “be” instead of do, if that makes sense.

Present Over Perfect book

I also just picked up Grace, Not Perfection and Fitness Junkie, which are totally different but sound equally interesting!

I received a surprise package in the mail from Rach recently, too. She sent baby books for our daughter! I totally cried while reading them (I guess crying is just my thing lately!) and was thanking God for such a sweet friend.

Christian baby books Mama Love You So, Found Psalm 23 and I Prayed For You

One last thing in the category of books. I found a sermon notes journal on Amazon for a great price and I am loving it!

I’m definitely one to take notes during church sermons and really enjoy going back and reading them throughout the week. I usually just use a plain notebook, but this journal has really upped my note taking game!

Sermon Notes Journal

I think that’s everything for today. I was looking through my pictures for this post and came across this one below and it totally has me wanting Starbucks.

It was a decaf vanilla latte. Something about their foam, with the smooth espresso and vanilla flavor just gets me. Yum. No other coffee shop makes lattes like Starbucks! They’re always spot-on, every. single. time. but also come with the price tag for that type of quality, haha. Definitely a great treat from time to time 🙂

Starbucks vanilla latte

Do you have a go-to order or favorite drink at Starbucks?

Have you read any good books lately?

Baby Zottola’s Nursery So Far

I am finally sharing about the progress we’ve made on baby girl’s nursery! It has been a lot of fun to dream up what her room will look like and imagine snuggling and caring for her in there. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives already and can’t wait to meet her 🙂

Here’s an little inspiration collage I put together.

Baby girl nursery inspiration coral blue aqua and gray

Basically, we want her room to feel cozy and happy. We painted the walls a very light gray, the ceiling is coral, and we might be painting the doors an aqua color.

To get the warm feeling in the room, we’re hoping to have a lot of wood in the furniture, flooring, and decor, and will likely add in some greenery via succulents or plants.

So, here’s what the room looked like before. It was previously our home office. Before we were expecting, I had wanted to paint the room a peachy coral color but never got around to it. When we found out we were having a girl, we decided to stick with the peachy-coral color scheme.

Baby girl nursery before pictures

Nursery before picture

We cleared almost everything out of the room and removed the baseboards, then Jimmy got to work painting. We started out with painting the ceiling the peach color you see in the one photo above, but thought it was too bubblegum pink-ish, so we ended up repainting it a darker, more coral shade that Jimmy picked out.

Jimmy also installed new flooring! We have hardwood floors in our home, but they’re pretty beat and we didn’t feel like resurfacing and staining them (been there, done that), so we bought interlocking vinyl flooring to put on top of the hardwood.

Here’s what the room looks like now!

Baby girl nursery with coral pink and gray Baby girl nursery with coral pink and gray Vinyl core flooring that looks like wood in hickory

So, that’s where we’re at with baby girl’s nursery. Next we need to install new baseboards, paint the doors, pick out a light fixture, and purchase blinds or curtains for the windows. After that we can set up her crib and any other furniture and begin adding in decor and such!