My turn at 11 things

My friend Brittany who blogs over Life of a Bama Girl tagged me in a fun post!

I am supposed to tell you people 11 random things about myself and then answer the 11 questions Brittany asked. Yay! 

Here we go!

11 Random Things:

1. I just started Weight Watchers last week, and lost 2 pounds! Whoop! Dear high school and right before Ryder jeans, I am coming for you. 

  2. I traveled 45 min yesterday to get my hair done.  I love the girl who does my hair. The guy who is the receptionist? Not so much. Dear guy, I understand that you are fabulous, and we would probably be super great friends in life, but lose the sarcastic attitude please. Thanks. I only go to get my hair done maybe 2 or 3 times a year since it's $150 every time I go. Once I called receptionist dude to make an appointment and he said "Lord, it has been a HOT MINUTE since you've been in." See, he has an attitude.


3. Just moments ago my daughter, Lucy, got a hold of my cute measuring spoons from anthropologie. Then she dropped them on the floor and broke two! I almost cried. I know, over measuring spoons? I wouldn't be as upset if Ryder hadn't already broken my first set.

These are the first ones I had from Anthro that Ryder broke. See how cute? I only have the yellow one left. All the other giraffes have their necks amputated from their bodies :(

And these are the ones Lucy broke. She broke the big tablespoon and the 1/2 teaspoon. I'm really hoping that I can maybe super glue them back together. They might look like crap afterwards, but I think they are so beautiful. I guess I should learn my lesson and not buying measuring spoons from Anthro until I am done having kids under the age of 2 in my house. But since we want 2 more kids, I could be without cute measuring spoons for a long time. Oh well.

4. I used to work in a coffee shop, and that was my favorite job I have ever had. Sadly, it went out of business in 2007.

5. Speaking of coffee I can't really handle caffeine. I know most people out there can't function before they have their first cup. I love the way it tastes, and can usually handle it later in the day. But if I have it when I first wake up I crash so hard and it makes me sick. Its weird that it doesnt bother me later on. Maybe I do still crash, but just do it around the time I am headed to bed anyway so I don't really notice.

6. I am a list maker. Every morning I wake up and make a list of what I need to do. Very rarely do I get everything crossed off my list. I don't know if it's because I give myself unrealistic goals for the day or because I am super A.D.D. and just don't get around to them all. Probably a little of both. I am trying to work on that.

7.  Gift giving is my love language. I feel like it is the greediest love language to have sometimes. But it's not that I just love getting things, I love giving gifts too. I love the whole process. Deciding what to get the person, wrapping it up, and seeing their face when they open it. Which is why I kill it at getting my husband birthday gifts. 

8. I pretty much only watch comedy. In tv and movie form. I will throw a good rom-com in for good measure, but Im not in love with them like most other girls. Let me tell you something, Katherine Heigel can take a freaking hike. 27 dresses? ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME. worst movie ever. Let me tell you what I do like. Vince Vaughn. He is awesome. So is Will Farrell. Step Brothers used to be my number one favorite movie....until Kristen Wiig killed it in Bridesmaids. So, Step Brothers got bumped to number two.

9.  About four years ago we bought a black 4-Runner and we are paying it off Friday!! This feels so good. We paid George's jeep off last year with our tax return and we are doing the same this year with mine. Having two paid for vehicles has got to be one of the best feelings in life. Now, we just need to pay car payments to ourselves so that our next car will be payed for in cash. It will be hard, but I hope we can do it. We heart Dave Ramsey!

10. I prefer wearing skirts and dresses over pants and jeans in the summer. In fact, you will never catch me in anything other that that when its warm out. Now, when it's winter time I will bust out my AE jeans with my short boots from Zara. 

11. I love being outside and especially love the beach. To me, Kenny Chesney and the beach go hand in hand. I'm not really a huge country fan, and certainly don't love the hats or their style. But let me tell you, Kenny will make you feel like you are sitting in front of the ocean. That's all that guy sings about. If I am feeling stressed I can listen to him and I feel a million times better.

Ok, so since I wrote a book I will answer Brittany's questions tomorrow! Congrats if you read all of these! You made it to the finish line! 

Thanks for tagging me Britt, this is fun!

 

Etsy Love

So last night after the kids went to bed and George and I were catching up on our favorite shows, I was trolling around Etsy on the iPad.

Get ready for some pink, red, and hearts ya'll. I told you I loved Valentine's Day, get ready for lots of posts about it :)

The first thing I found are these cute little heart studs. I really haven't worn anything other than studs for a long while. I just can't get back into huge earrings....I want to, I've seen some pretty stellar ones out there. But until I can dip my toes back into the big earring waters, these will do just fine. $20. Go here to pick up a pair.

Love is All You Need Pencil 6 pack. $8.50

I have really grown to love writing in pencil lately. I hate making lists and scratching things off in pen. Pencils are the way to go, and these are so pretty!!

Go here to get them.

Pink and Red embroidered necklace. $35.00

This shop has way more to offer than just this beauty.....as in you can get one with your initial. LOVE IT! I actually pinned their initial necklaces on Pinterest a while back, but since I am a sucker for pink and red together I would love to have this one. Go here to snatch one up for yourself!

Personalized Hand Carved Heart Stamp. $10.

These would be a sweet little addition to a wedding gift.....or anytime really. I imagine I would just stamp this at the end of a note or card instead of writing our names. Go here to get one.

Golden Square Top Ring. $9.50

This one isn't pink or red, and there are no hearts to be found, but I just love delicate little rings. You can get several of these and stack them, but I honestly just love the one. It's small, but different enough that it would be noticed. Go here to get it for yourself! 

Ps: this shop has tons more incredibly cute rings, you really should take a peek :)

Pink Heart Stickers form Knot & Bow. $12

Stickers are so fun. Didn't you love them when you were little? I did. My kids do too. Although they wouldn't be sticking these all over their hands and shirts. When my brother was little he took like 35 stickers and put them all over his fave like a Santa Clause beard. I think they all peeled off in one try since they were all kind of stuck together....but man, that would have sucked if they were plastered to his face! Anyway, these would be cute to seal and envelope with or to decorate gift wrapping. Go here for heart stickers!

Hope you enjoyed my Etsy picks! Have a wonderful weekend! This is the first weekend we have no definite plans. We are going out to eat with some friends tonight, and I might sneak away to clean up at the church for a bit, but other than that we are stress free, and I like it!

A New Favorite

I can't believe I am about to say this, but I think Parks & Rec is no longer my favorite TV show.

I know, take a moment to let it soak in.

Actually, The Office is my all time favorite. Nothing can touch it. I don't care, like some people, that Steve has left. All of the characters hold their own for me and I will be watching this series over and over even when I am 80 years old.

But back to Parks and Rec. This current season is just not doing it for me. Sure, there are funny parts in the show still, but I have just about had it with Knope 2012 (Probably because I don't like any sort of real life politics). When is the freaking election going to be? I realize it will be the closer to the end of this season, I just wish it would hurry up already. This story line makes me super bored......and I sometimes have to force myself to watch it.

Although, there was a glimmer of hope in the last episode when Ron said "When I eat, it is the food that is scared". Love it. Enjoy this horrible clip of hi-ho-hilario Ron.

So what show is replacing P&R? Drum roll please...

for an actual drum roll, click on my husband below.

PS: those drums are for sale.....any drummers out there want some vintage Pearls?

OK, lets stay on task. The winning show is......

Up All Night.

This show has me laughing THE ENTIRE TIME.  This is just the trailer for the show, Youtube isn't rocking any clips of my favorite Mr. Bob episode. I will go ahead and tell you though, I love that episode because they go to this "gym" for babies where they sing songs and all that jazz. There is this one mom there who knows all about how to be an awesome mother and if she were real I imagine she would shove down your throat her parenting style and her birth method. Gag me. Let me give you some news, after you have your second kid, you are worried less and less about telling everyone your parenting style and more worried about making it actually work for you. Thank GOD I have never actually met any moms like this.

 Anyway, if you aren't already hooked this trailer will get you, I promise.

I don't feel too bad about switching shows, since I am still supporting the Arnett-Poehler family. 

And, If you don't watch Parks & Rec or know who Amy and Will are, I am sorry that this post made zero sense to you.

Have you seen Up All Night? What do you think?!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

*pic from here

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. I think because of all the pinks and reds. I have always hated saying I like pink though. It makes me feel like a girly girl when I admit my affection. I guess part of me is really girly, but not in a Im-so-neat and-hate-when-my-kids-get-dirt-on-them-and-I-wake-up-with-Snow-White woodland-creatures-in-my-bedroom sort of way.

I'm not gonna lie though, a little bit of the reason I heart V-day is because eleven days later is my birthday. I have a friend that was born on Valentine's Day. Man, is she lucky. I guess Christmas should be my fav, but it's just way too stressful. Actually, Christmas is my least favorite. There, I said it. Hate me all you want, I'll be celebrating a day of love.......with a much prettier holiday color pallet.

So, in honor of my favorite day, I thought I would share my favorite V-day finds. Yay! Here we go.

There isn't a tutorial for these, but just get some glitter paper, cut out a heart, and hot glue to a toothpick! These would be so cute stuck in cupcakes or mason jars of a delicious drink.

 

 *image from here

This beautiful wreath screams Valentine's Day to me. I just love pink and red together. I think I need to make a trip to Michael's later for some supplies. 

*pic from here

Free printable valentines cards. These would be so cute to leave your husband everyday before work until V-day. These are from cake. blog. I like this blog a lot. It's simple and pretty. 

These would be so cute to package up in a cello bag for friends. I love chocolate and pretzels together. One of my favorite candies is Pretzel M&M's. Sometimes I think I am the only one who likes them though, because every time I declare my love to people they always say "ugh!" I know I have some fellow Pretzel M&M lovers out there, where are you?!

 

 *image from here 

Do you do anything fun on Valentine's Day? Even if you don't have a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife, I still think it's a great day to let your friends and family know how much you love them! 

I'm so excited V-day is on a Tuesday this year since that is George's off day. We will have a big heart filled breakfast with the kids and then maybe have a date that night. 

PS: Valentine's day is also a great day to think about Christ's love for us. I think it's an awesome day to talk to your kids about how much Jesus loves them. We will be........because Ryder has been known to say "Jesus don't give us Inner Peace(we were watching Kung Fu Panda and he asked what inner peace was), Jesus might put me in the oven and eat me." Hmmm, seems as though we haven't made very clear distinctions between the Lord and the old woman in Hansel & Gretle. 

Hi-Ya! It's a Ninja Birthday Party!

Friday night was Ryder's Ninja Birthday Party! IT. WAS. AWESOME.

We had his party in the children's area at my church and it was perfect. The floors of the children's area need some major TLC, but we are working on it. And there is a random map of Canada rug hanging out in there......not really sure where that came from.

Anyway, here we go!

Ryder was so happy! You know how sometimes you think they don't really notice little details, but then later they recall specific things and tell you thank you? Well, this happened a lot over the weekend :) Man this kid needs a hair cut. Oh Heather! Where are you!!!

We hung balloons from the ceiling with bad guy faces drawn on them. The kids loved hitting them. The plan was that they were going to have "Ninja Training". First they would break boards, then hit then pinata, then finally they could attack the bad guys. Real World: those kids ran right in, picked up a sword, and started swatting. We had to make them come over and break boards and hit the pinata. Seriously, if you are looking for a rainy day activity, hang balloons all over your house.

 

Willow was a pro at breaking boards. She is one of the cutest kids on this planet. I mean, HELLO, blonde curls, gorgeous. We bought a huge sheet of insulating Styrofoam at Home Depot, cut it down to the size of boards, and spray painted them to look like wood. George scored them with a knife so when the kids punched them it broke in half. They loved it.

 George kept asking them to head butt the boards. Umm, do ninjas head butt things? This isn't soccer George.......Willow knows what Im talking about. He's crazy.

Either way, Ryder gave it a try :)

 I looked and looked and looked everywhere online for a Ninja pinata. I couldn't find one, so I decided to just make one myself. One of my fav blogs did a tutorial a while back on how to make a number pinata. I figured the idea could be applied to any shape, so I set to work. I got a huge Amazon box out of storage and stacked two pieces of cardboard together. Then I drew out my ninja, cut him out, and cut four 4" wide strips of cardboard. Then I got out my tape and started taping the two pieces together, with the strips of cardboard as the border, if that makes sense. After I had what looked like a 3' tall gingerbread man I got out tissue paper and started fringing it, then hot glued it on in layers. It took me a solid five hours to make him from start to finish, but it only cost $1.50 to make. So I say it was a win. If you want the actual tutorial with way better explanation, go here. Really, you can do it! It took a long time, but it was worth it I think!

Miss Lucy decided to dive face first into a cupcake. Even though it's super cute it had to get wiped off.....

She wasn't a fan.

Finally Ryder got to open his presents, YAY!

We are all super excited about some bowling pins.

Now for the food details, YUM!

I downloaded the "karate" font from Dafont.com to make the birthday banner, and printed it on matte photo paper. The black looks so much better on photo paper.

Cupcakes!

I ordered the printable cupcake toppers and labels from this Etsy shop.

 

We had "sushi" that was made out of rice krispie treats, a swedish fish, and a strip of fruit roll up. Thanks Pinterest!

HI-Ya! Punch! I got those glass beverage dispensers on sale at Target last summer for $10, whoop!

Who doesn't love a fortune cookie?! I ordered a box of 60 off Amazon. They were awesome.

I love paper straws. I know they are probably overdone but I will have them at every party. I always ordered way too many, so now I have quite the color collection going on. I get them from the same amazing Etsy shop every time. Go here for the best selection!

When the kids got there I had this sign and a bucket of black belts waiting on them.

Ryder thought it was an awesome party, and I had so much fun planning it for him. It's funny, right during crunch time, like 2 days before I am cussing myself for stressing out. But then the day after I am already thinking about what we will do for Lucy's in September. 

Birthdays are fun :)

Mine's next!

Busy

*pic from here

We are getting ready to party tomorrow night! Ryder's Ninja themed birthday party is finally here. I feel like I have been planning and preparing for this thing for a year now..... probably because Ryder asks "is it my birthday party yet?" every. single. day.

I have been good and ordered most of the things early on, but I still have a little ways to go. Which means I probably shouldn't be here blogging it up, but I have been running around crazy for the past few days. Can I just take a 30 min rainy day breather? Yea, I think I will. 

So in honor of my break I will list some of the FUN things I have been doing this week. Here ya go:

• Tuesday (George's off day. He works four days a week 10 hours instead of 5 days) I met my friend Heather at Coaling Park and we walked about a mile and then did 15 min of ab workouts with the Nike Training Club app.  I have blogged about it before, and I will probably talk about it again. It really is that awesome. Two days later my abs are still killing me. Seriously, its FREE, go download it. You will love it.
• Also on Tuesday George and I re-painted our porch, front door, and shutters. The porch was looking pretty craptastic, so it needed a fresh coat of paint. Our house is light gray and when we bought it the porch, shutters, and door were painted this kind of burnt southwestern red. I mean, it was alright I guess, but I have always wanted to paint them a brighter red. Now almost five years later we did! The shutters and door are Behr California Poppy. I really love that color red so much. It's the same color I used to paint the apple stand I built. The porch is a dark gray. So yea, our house is an Alabama fan's dream home.
• This week in the mail I was excited to see the Publix Family Style Magazine in my mailbox. They only send it our four times a year, but I am always so pumped to flip through it. There are recipes, fun things to do with your kids, and coupons. Go here to sign up for it :)
• Oh, and lastly, I went to Wal-Mart yesterday for the first time in about 5 months. I am a Target girl through and through, but since I went to wally world at 10 am there weren't that many skankateers trolling around. I guess they were all still snoozing. And I actually had a pleasant experience! I told George I might go there more often in the mornings. I just don't like crowds and pushing through a sea of people to shop. *Not to say that ALL Wal-Marts are gross, Ive been to some awesome ones in other cities. But you haven't lived until you have been to the one in my city. 

Now, off to work on a pinata.

It's Friday!

I think I have Migraines. Yesterday all day and into the night I had the worst headache of my life. The pain is always on one side of my forehead and light and noise make it even worse. Thank God both kids take naps at the same time and always for at least 2 hours....although Ryder will go for a solid 3.5 if you let him. 

George got home from work before they woke up so I could lay in the bed in the dark for the rest of the night. It was heaven. I feel pretty much all the way better today except for a cough. I sound like I'm dying. It's super attractive.

In other exciting news my BFF, Randi, from New York is coming home this weekend!

Here we are at Sea-N-Suds about five or six years ago. It's one of my favs. I like to remember times like this :)

 Randi and her husband, Jamey, moved up to Brooklyn almost five years ago because they think the south is lame..............Just Kidding........or am I? ;)-(I winked Ran, so you can't get mad. Its the internet rule.)

When they moved up to Brooklyn they opened up Roots Cafe
and Randi is working at Anthropologie. Best job ever.

Tomorrow we will have breakfast with them and a few others at Panera, should be awesome.

Other things I hope to accomplish this weekend:

• Get to work on making decorations for my cousin's baby shower
• Finish up making/buying everything I will need for Ryder's party next Friday
• Clean up the kids room. It is a HOT MESS.
• Find some sort of plant or flower that I can put in my hanging baskets on the porch. I'm always glad to pull up to the house in the summer when there are beautiful flowers greeting me. There's gotta be something I can plant in January.
• Work on Valentine's decorations for the nursery at church 
• Make up these buckets to give as birthday presents for kids at church.
• Sit on the couch wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt, while folding clothes, while watching TV

What are your plans for this weekend? Are you busy busy or are you just going to relax? 

Have a great one friends!