Decisions, decisions

I have some Christmas money that is burning a hole in my pocket. You are probably thinking, look at the calendar crazy woman. It is only 12/22. Oh yes, but I "accidentally" opened a card and a check fell out. Opps.


Anyway, I am brainstorming on what I should purchase.
But, if I were to get a beautiful monogram necklace would I get gold or silver? My monogram or A's monogram? But, then what do I do when Baby #2 comes along? (FYI, I am NOT pregnant) Plus, A loves to pull my necklaces so this might break within a week anyway. There are probably too many factors here for me to make a decision.Or this would be nice. I know lots of people love them and I am a product junkie.


Oh... a chopper. I wonder if this really works.

Or maybe I should save it for this beauty.

Christmas Cards

Checking the mail is a blah activity.... but when it is Christmas card season it is anything but blah! I love to see the card designs... the pictures... what people are wearing... the fun vacation pics, etc.



I plan our card down to the very last detail. Obviously, our outfits all coordinate. I hand address the cards using an ink color that coordinate with the card. The stamps would even coordinate in an ideal world. And as far as the card goes... I don't like anything with too high of a cheese factor. No talking snowmen or singing Santa's will be coming from this house.



And, I love to display the cards so we can look at them throughout the Christmas season. I made these clips using clothes pins and scrapbook paper.


(Steve was cat was not posed... just an added bonus)



From year to year I save all of the photo cards, as well as a copy of our card from that year. They are in an album and it is fun to look at the cards from previous years.



(That was last year's card.... do you think I would send out a card without Miss A?!?!)

Wedding Weekend

Last weekend we attend the wedding of one of my very best friends. The wedding was beautiful and the bride was absolutely glowing. I was completely jealous of the FABULOUS hair pouf she was able to archive. I promise there was no bump it involved in creating that perfect wedding hair.

We were also able to get together with some college friends. It was great to catch up.

We stayed at The Peabody. Their lobby has a beautiful tree for Christmas... I said hello to the ducks each day in our way in and out of the hotel. They quacked back.

Other than that, we have been up to the normal December activities.

• Playgroups
• Wine dates
• Decorating for Christmas
• Christmas parties
• Seeing Santa!
• Baking Christmas treats
• Christmas cards

And regarding the fashion dilemma.... You can see that I wore black. I was not courageous enough to rock the navy tights/navy dress.

***New pictures over at Baby M***

Fashion HELP!!!

What color tights do you wear with a navy dress??

I have a wedding this weekend and NONE of those lovely LBD's below worked out. Too small. Too big. Too much bubbie. You get the picture. So, I am left to dive into my closet.

This dress fits (whew!) and is wedding appropriate. The only problem is that I have pasty, ghostly white legs and I need to cover them up with tights. But what color? I have lots of shoes, so that should not be a problem. Hopefully.

Oh yeah, the wedding is this weekend. Help!

Kiss me!

Holy moly... It has been a while since I last posted. We have had some crazy times in our household lately, but nothing a little baking can't cure.

We went down to S Texas for Thanksgiving and had a great time. While we were down there, my cousins and I made some delish cookies. The recipe was from a Hershey Kisses calender and we took the easy way out and used premade cookie dough. Maybe that is why ours do not look like the ones in the calendar. But they were still tasted wonderful!

Before we departed on the trek to S TX, A and I met up with some lovely bloggers and had a wonderful time! Ladies, thanks for a wonderful lunch.

**New pictures over at Baby M.**

Mommy Juice

Does it defeat the purpose of a walk if I am sipping on this the entire time?

I need to get something more discreet... The solo cup screams LOOK AT ME!! Perhaps something with a lid.

LBD and Sequins

Is there anything better than a great little black dress? Maybe a great pair of black sequin shoes!


I have 2 weddings to attend this December so I am beginning to plan my attire for them. I plan on wearing the same thing since they are two completely different crowds. (Best friend from college AND my grandpa... yes, my grandpa)


I am going to mix Kate Spade with Target. Who cares is the dress cost 1/10th of what the shoes cost? And, since I am still getting rid of the baby lbs, I have no idea what fits me so I had to order a variety of dresses.

Here are the shoes:

And here are the dresses..

Add a pair of black tights and some glitzy earrings and ta-da!

Which one is your favorite?

**New pictures over at Baby M ***

What a great idea!

A couple weeks I went back to my college town to attend a bridal shower for one of my best friends. Not only was the weekend perfect, the shower was lovely and I now have a great idea for our house!

A TV area under the stairs! I used to joke around and say that A would be put in the closet under the stairs if she got too loud... ha ha ha

(above) outside looking in..... (below) inside looking out

Here we are at the shower.....


And check out the beautiful table! I love the bright green wrapping paper.

Vampires? Really?

So, I know I am going to go against the grain with this next statement, but here it goes.

I have not read any of the Twilight books (or seen the movie) and I have no desire to do so in the future.

I don’t get what the big deal is? Forbidden love? Teenage, vampire sex?

Please enlighten me if you are a Twilight lover….I would be open to possibly renting the movie.

Casserole time!

Are you beginning to get in the holiday spirit? I am going to be totally honest and say that I have not caught the festive, holiday spirit yet. But thinking about food always puts you in the holiday spirit – right? Our family Thanksgiving meals are quite the spread. Everyone has their favorite side dish, and these ‘favorites’ seem to multiply each year.

The casserole baking dish gets quite the workout on Thanksgiving. And I LOVE it. I would much rather have my green beans covered in cream of mushroom soup and topped with fried onions…and I want the sweet potatoes baked into a creamy casserole that is covered in a delicious topping of crushed cornflakes, brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. I have experienced a boring food spread and I have experienced the casserole spread.... Give me the casseroles!

Here is our family thanksgiving menu:

Cranberry fluff
Sweet potato soufflé
Mashed potatoes
Broccoli and rice casserole
Company casserole
Onion pudding
Corn soufflé
Green bean casserole
Stuffing

Ham
Turkey & gravy

Cheese rolls
Pumpkin bread

Apple pie
Pumpkin pie
Chess pie
Tollhouse pie
Pecan pie
Pumpkn toffee roll
Assorted cookies

Hungry yet? I feel like I have left something off....

I mainly eat the sides – who needs protein when you have a casserole?!?!

What is your favorite Thanksgiving side?

Image from Crate & Barrel

We need a bigger bed

Have you ever been to that point … right before you fall asleep… right before you nod off… only to have your entire body make a sudden jerky movement and BAM! You are wide awake. You maybe have that sensation of falling… or that you are being hit and you and trying to get away. It is annoying – right?

Think about how annoying it would be if someone else thought you were falling. That’s right. Someone else thinks YOU are falling. For the past couple weeks Mr. will grab me in the middle of the night “because he thinks I am falling off the bed.” At first I thought it was a one time occurrence – he was having a crazy dream or something and in that dream I was falling off the bed so he was trying to save me. But no... it happens almost every other night.

But when that same “dream” occurs almost every night it gets pretty annoying. And when this “dream” also involves him rolling over and smacking me with both arms in the middle of the night? Equally annoying.

I have started to smack him back and he always mumbles something in his sleep… most of the time it is about me falling off the bed. He never remembers any of this the next morning and he thinks I am making all of it up.

**Let me just say, I have never fallen off the bed. Well, except that one time in college… but that was due to one too many lemon drop shots and having my bed perched on top of my dresser and desk. 8 feet off the ground. With no railings. The person that thought it would be a good idea to give college students lofted beds had obviously also had one too many lemon drop shots.***

Maybe this is his way of taking some aggression out on me? Maybe he is trying to save me from falling?

Any dream analysts out there?

Carrot Puree

I was flipping through my newest Martha Stewart Living and came across these menu cards:

They all look pretty good and would make for a great meal… except one. Carrot puree? Really?

There is only one person in my house that eats foods like this and she is 8 months old.

I tend to think that I have a pretty broad palate, but I will have to pass on baby food look alike dishes.

Images courtesy of Annie's Eats and MSL.

Heidi and Ann

Ah...... my girl crush and one of my favorite stores have teamed up!

HEIDI AND ANN

I love Heidi Klum. She is number 1 on my list of celebs I would like to be friends with. She has super adorable kiddos, is funny, has a killer accent, a rockin' body and seems like a really fun person. This may seem like an unlikely pairing, but Ann Taylor has really stepped up their game lately. No longer are they the store for boring twinsets, but they are rocking some pretty great stuff. Mainly, I am in love with the shoes. I love all of them.

Do you have a girl crush?

Christmas Card Pictures

Yesterday we had attempt #1 at our Christmas card pictures.

I say #1 because there will be a #2 in a couple of weeks. The outfits were picked out. The location was chosen and the girl WOULD NOT SMILE!

I really wanted to take some fun pictures downtown, hopefully getting one great family shot for our Christmas cards, but out of the 235 pictures that were taken we had ZERO with the little girl smiling. This is extremely rare for her, since she is always happy and smiling.

Looking back on yesterday - what in the world was I thinking??? Her 5th tooth is coming in. She had a runny nose. We were taking the pictures late in the afternoon. It was HOT and she was in a sweater. Any one of those factors would have made for a blah photo session, much less all of them.

At least we found some great locations. And I know that our outfits look good together.

Such is life

Yesterday was one of those perfect fall days that you just want to bottle up and save for a dreary January. Not a single cloud in the sky, not too cool, not too warm and perfect for feeding the neighborhood ducks. So, when I got home from work A and I walked over to the neighborhood pond to get rid of some stale bread as well as suck up this perfect weather.

I took some pictures of a mama duck and her 12 baby ducks….

Took some pictures of the changing leaves…

Took some pictures of A…

And then I tried to take some pictures of A and me. My myself. With a big camera. Not an easy task, but luckily another mom appeared just in time and offered to take our picture. She and I started chatting and we really hit it off. *****

She was a young, fun mom – check!
And she has a little girl - check!
And she likes to feed the ducks – check!
And she is moving to Denver on Thursday – fail!

Such if life that on top of a pretty crappy Monday I would meet another fun mom that lives in my ‘hood only to find out that she is moving… this week.

Now, if I find out that my other new mom friend is moving away this week, I might never again venture out to the mall or pond.


*** I think that meeting other moms is like dating. Do they like me? Will they call me? Should I email them? How long should I wait to call or email? What should I wear? Ahhhhhh……..

****New pictures over a Baby M. ****

Pumpkins

Oh Martha… you never cease to amaze me. Yes, I know you probably don’t come up with all of these ideas yourself… and you might be a slave driver, but I still love you. Your monogram pumpkin was the inspiration for MY monogram pumpkin.

Yes, yours has pretty scrolls and even lines, but mine is real. And was carved after one too many glasses of wine. (The pumpkin looks like it is radioactive and about to blow up here… do not look directly into the light…)


And it proceeded to rot after only a couple of days. I heard that if you spray Lysol inside the pumpkin it does not rot as quickly. We did not have Lysol, so I used some organic counter cleaner…And it did not work.

Next year I need to do a pumpkin like this:

*Images from Martha Stewart or Better Homes and Gardens or MrsPreppy

The gift of cotton

Happy Anniversary Mr. M!

It sure has been a fun filled 2 years.

On this day 2 years ago I would have never predicted everything we would go through in 2 years, but I would not change it for anything. It has been a fun ride.

The traditional gift for the 2nd anniversary is cotton. Will my gift to Mr. M be something cotton??? He will find out tonight!

NEW pictures of Baby M.