a few shout outs

My number one shout goes to my niece Nicole. If I never have a little girl of my own, at least I have a god daughter. Today she is 13!! I still remember her as a happy, chubby baby and I wished she was mine. She has so much life ahead of her and I can't wait to see the amazing things that will be accomplished. Happy Birthday!! Looking forward to spending the whole day with her tomorrow, and spoiling her... I mean, 13 is huge right!?

Today I also wanted to give a shout to a few fellow bloggers who are just some really amazing girl's. I do not know them personally, nor do I have any type of sponsor relationship with them.

Kristen at KV's Confessions. She is such a sweet and honest girl with some amazing design skills. Kristen's blogs was one of the first blogs I was really into (way before I even started blogging). She really is an inspiration and I always look forward to what she has to say.

TJ from His Little Lady. I came across her blog a few months ago and so glad I did. I love reading her post's about her love for her husband or her fun adventure's like going to Sundance and Germany (in a few weeks). She JUST turned 25 and right now she is hosting a whooptee giveaway... she is giving away 3 tee's that she designed.

Brenna from Life after Laundry. I only recently came across her blog and so far I love her sewing projects (I definitely want to try these reusable swiffer duster cloth). She recently nominated me for the Liebster Award, super sweet! BUT I actually wrote a Liebster post here. I wanted to say thanks Brenna and I look forward to future DIYs and sewing projects from you.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

lace collar

I have been loving those pretty collar necklaces that are everywhere but haven't found one I love for myself. They are either too plain, and I think to myself "I can just make that" or too "much" or too expensive. The other day, while I was suppose to be looking for a dress, I spotted this adorable heart printed top with a pretty lace collar.

I can't wait to wear this top with shorts and wedges, on a warm sunny day.

The cute little bow necklace is from forever 21 and it was only $1.80, they also have black and pink.

linking up with linking up with the pleated poppy and style elixir

breakfast and a dessert

Breakfast: For my next Pinterest Challenge I wanted to make Baked Egg Cups. If you have not seen these, or tried these, you absolutely MUST make them. They are so simple, easy and fast to make. The recipe calls for scallions but I don't usually have scallions so I used mini sweet peppers and tomato's as my topping's instead. I seriously want to make these every weekend.

Dessert:This was not part of my Pinterest Challenge but this is a food post, so here we go. If you know me, you might know I'm not a fan of cheesecake. But on Valentine's Day I tried the BEST cheesecake ever from Pure Cheesecakes. If you live in Los Angeles and love a good cheesecake, you have to try these ones. So since then I have been wanting to make one myself. I found a No Bake Cheesecake recipe through Pinterest and knew it had to be my first attempt. My husband warned though that homemade cheesecakes are never as good. I have to say... I LOVED it. But my husband said the texture was not as dense (it was very fluffy, which might be why I loved it so much). The only thing I did different from this recipe was reduce the lemon zest to 1 whole lemon, instead of 2.

What recipe's have you found, and tried, through Pinterest?

Random

1. I have been a really bad blogger this weekend, seriously forgot that I had a blog. I was way too busy doing the following: creating/assembling invitations for an upcoming double birthday party, attending a birthday party, cleaning my house like crazy... because my worst nightmare literally came true this past Friday. Yeah, I'll post about it once I get over that it actually happened. Then again, once I get over it I just might realize it's not as bad as think it is in my head.

2. This past weekend we went to another 1 year old party. Babe is on candy overload right now, asking for candy everyday, I don't know who he thinks he is.
He even participated in a donut eating contest... which was actually very cute to watch.

 

3. I bought the CUTEST shirt with a lace collar this weekend and can't wait to share it in an outfit post

(sorry for the tease, I know you are dying to see it)

 

4. Recently I was at Staples and noticed Martha Stewart has a line of office supplies... Sometimes I wish I was her.

linking up with miscellany monday

babe lately

While babe was playing in the bubbles I walked in to check on him with a Twix in my hand.
He said "hey, can I have some?"
me: no
babe: why not?
me: because your taking a bath, you can't eat while taking a bath
babe: why not?
me: because!
babe: did you say beeecuuuuz?

Babe and I were sitting at the kitchen table and he started getting too excited, jumping around (we were pretending to be characters on Blue's Clue's). he reached for an envelope and totally slipped off the chair (which is one of those bar height chairs) and lands directly on his feet as I reach and slam his hand against the table.
me: oh my gosh! are you ok
babe: don't do that. I'm fine, I'm fine. I just stand up.
me: ok, I see that you landed on your feet, but I'm more worried about your hand because I tried to catch you
babe: But you DIDN'T catch me mom!
we all started laughing.

Babe had a physical this week (getting ready for Pre-K... BUT we have to go back for shots since he isn't officially 4 yet! ... whole other story behind that but don't even get me started). He did SO good, he is such a big boy now, it makes me so sad (and excited... because he's excited) that he will be starting school.
He is growing up so fast.

And speaking of him growing up... yesterday was the first time he was able to cross the balance beam at the park all by himself! He was never tall enough to reach the bars on on the sides to help him across.

I love my Babe!

free as a bird

 

Sometimes I feel like I need to get away, from everything and everyone in life.

 

  If I were a bird, I could fly as high in the sky as I like, and as far away as my wings would take me.

 

Sometimes I feel so trapped, and other times I feel like I am that carefree bird.

 

 

 

 

the bird on my shoulder is a reminder of that

 

 

linking up with the pleated poppy and style elixir

 

weekend goodness

A 1 year old birthday and warm weather, that's what the weekend brought for us.

 

On Saturday my cousin had a "Dr Seuss" themed birthday party for his son and the second we drove up I told my husband "I can't wait to take pictures", lucky for me they asked if I would be their photographer for the day (I took their wedding pictures a few years ago).

 

Sunday was the perfect day for eating out, going to the park and grocery shopping.

Babe had so much fun that the second we put him in the cart he passed out.

 

We ended the weekend perfectly with my 3rd Pinterest Challenge, Strawberry Champagne. It's such a simple process and I can't believe I didn't try it sooner.

For 2 flutes:

Puree approximately 8 to 10 strawberries (remove the leaves, duh) and 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar (I used 1, and wish I would have used 2) .

Fill half of each glass with puree and the other half with Champagne. BTW my husband informed me I cannot call it Champagne if it's not officially from Champagne, France. Is that true.
Garnish rim of glass with a Strawberry and enjoy!

 You can see my other Pinterest Challenge's here (Doily Dream Catcher) and here ( a dress to a top)

Hope you all had an amazing weekend!

 

p.s. this is officially my first post on my FB page

linking up with lowercase letters and Sami's Shenanigans

 

have you chosen a reader:  Bloglovin // Facebook // G+ // HelloCotton // RSS or GFC



dear readers

By now you all have heard that google reader is dying. Are you ok with this? (not that there is anything I can do to fix it) I have to admit that I was never really a huge google reader fan to begin with, I'm a huge Bloglovin lover. But since I have become a blogger myself I have really gotten sucked into the whole GFC, google reader thing. Luckily, I'm still growing and so I kind of see this as a great opportunity for me to embrace other reader options and "offer" other reader options... including...a FB page! Woo hoo! I have been debating a FB page because it can be a little intimidating. I'm excited about it though because now I can post randomness all the time (ok, not ALL the time) without having to wait till my next full blog post.  I also signed up for HelloCotton, like I mentioned above, I love bloglovin, but I have heard good things about HelloCotton and can't wait to try it out. If you are a HelloCotton user, I'd love to hear your opinion about it.

So this weekend I will be busy figuring out which blogs I will transfer where
(If I am one of your readers I would love feedback as to which reader you prefer people choose to follow you)

and I hope all my current readers will continue to follow me via one of the following:

Bloglovin // Facebook // G+ // RSS

PLEASE let me know if you have any trouble with these links and have a great weekend!!

screaming kids

I was standing in a long line at Target and this girl in front of me had a cart full of stuff, including 2 small children, and a small stroller with a baby. The oldest child, maybe about 6, was crying and yelling at the mom saying "you are mean, and you don't love me" and "why can't I have this?! I WANT it!". I was minding my own business, but at some point my eyes locked with that mom's eyes and you know what she did...she smiled at me. And I felt SO bad for her. She never once said anything to her screaming child and she just kept smiling.
Before I had my son, I would have been SO annoyed and thought to myself "why on earth would you bring, not one, but 3 kids to a busy store on a busy day", and "why on earth are you not telling your kid to SHUT up".  (harsh, I know. but you know you have asked yourself the same question at least once). The truth is, I bet she had no other choice but to take all 3 of her kids with her to the store and I bet she did tell her kid to PLEASE be quiet at least 10 times. Until you are in that particular situation, you will not understand "why".

And now that I have a kid, I understand, and that's why I felt bad for her. I wanted to tell her that I was amazed at how calm she was, because my heart would have been racing out of frustration. I wanted to offer to help carry her stuff to her car, because I would have abandoned my cart way before even getting to the line. But I didn't, I just smiled back as nicely as I could, trying not to make it look like a sympathy smile.

Have you been in her situation or do you "not" have kids and wonder "why" when you hear screaming kids?

a dress... to a top

I mentioned in my previous post how I was sick all weekend and I haven't really gotten better, but even though I have had a cold I have still been getting ready everyday as if I were going out in public. So this is me on a Monday, sick and trying to look half decent.

The good thing about staying home sick on Monday was that I had the opportunity to finish my 2nd Pinterest Challenge. (my 1st was a DIY Doily Dreamcatcher that you can see here). For this challenge I wanted to change the back of one of my tops to look like this, but when it came down to it, I didn't have a shirt that I was willing to refashion.  So I remembered I had this dress that I haven't worn in like 2 years and decided it would be perfect because I could use the bottom of the dress as the ties.

I'm pretty happy with the end result and really want to try it again with more of a flowy fabric.

linking up with the pleated poppy

Random

1. Last Friday I went to work feeling a little sick, sniffling and sneezing... and was sent home at noon. Definitely not complaining about starting my weekend a little early even if I wasn't 100%. Babe was also a little sick but seemed much better than me on Saturday morning.

2. Babe and I spent so much time together this weekend because my husband was busy digging a 5 foot hole in our front yard. Joys of being a homeowner: replacing a portion of water line because of root blockage. He had some family help, and I'm so thankful it saved us a few hundred dollars.

3. I'm usually not too excited about losing an hour of sleep for daylight savings BUT I actually get to enjoy some daylight after work once I get home. Yay for daylight.

4. Have you heard "sweater weather"? I have had this song on repeat everyday for like 3 weeks now. I seriously love everything about it, his voice, the words, the melody. I think it's such a fun, sexy, love song... at least that's my opinion.

linking up with lowercase letters

coffee date

Today for coffee date we are sharing our 5 favorite beauty products. I love beauty products but I'm going to be super honest... Monday through Friday, it sure looks like I don't own any. I'm not a morning person, I pretty much throw on clothes, put my hair in a bun or braid and my make-up goes on in the 3 minutes right before I walk into the office. These are my go-to, must-haves Monday through Friday.

1. L'oreal True Match super blend able powder in natural buff N3 ... brief description from them Micro-fine powder provides versatile coverage: you can blot shine, blend for a natural finish, or build for more coverage. True Match™ Powder’s formula contains a hint of pearl pigments that enhance your skin’s tone.
me I have been using this powder since it came out. I love the light, almost sheer coverage.

2. Sonia Kashuk beautifying blush in Lily ... brief description from them This powder blush will give you a natural, luminous flush and radiant appearance.
me this is such a pretty shade of pink with the tiniest hint of shimmer.

3. Fresh Sugar Rose Lip Treatment with SPF 15 ... brief description from them nourishes and protects the lips while delivering a hint of sheer rosy color to enhance the lips' natural tone.
me LOVE this! SPF 15, sheer rosy color and it smells nice too.

4. Benefit They're Real mascara ... me I have to tell you my favorite mascara is actually Benefit Bad Gal Lash BUT I have gotten at least 3 mascara's in the past 9 months through birchbox and I got this one last month for my birthday. So I haven't bought a new Bad Gal Lash in a while. I don't know that I love it more than the Bad Gal Lash yet but I do love the dome shaped tip that gets closer to the roots of the lashes.

5. Boscia green tea blotting linens ... me These are the BEST blotting sheets I have ever used. They are a little pricey but definitely worth it. And since I'm such a lazy butt and never re-touch my make-up (except for my lips) these are perfect for taking away the day shine.

I almost always throw on a taupe/ light brown eye shadow also but I don't have a "favorite" go to brand or color, any shade of taupe/ light brown is fine.

 

What are some your everyday beauty favorites?

d.i.y. masquerade party decor

I thought it would be fun to share a few simple DIYs I did for my Masquerade themed party last month. I love planning parties, my favorite part (and usually the most stressful) is all the stuff that happens "before" the party.
The pictures are pretty self explanatory but of course I included a step-by-step for each.

Ribbon Backdrop (this is my favorite)
Supplies: a wooden dowel (mine was 45" long), Ribbon (I had 4 colors, 12 meters of each color), Gold curling ribbon and scotch tape.

1. I calculated how long I should make each strand of ribbon in order to get the most out of the ribbon spool, making lengths of 24" and 30". 

2. start in the center of your dowel with the longer strips of ribbon, taping the ribbon to the dowel (I tried glue first but I am super impatient and it wasn't drying fast enough for me). Work your way outwards alternating colors and sizes as you see fit.

3. make random knots, on random strips of ribbon. Drape a few random pieces of curling ribbon over the dowel and your finished!

I just hung it with a piece of ribbon, at both ends, to my curtain rod. I had so much fun taking pictures in front of my Ribbon backdrop (you can see a couple here)

Flag Signs
Supplies: cardstock, hole punch, pattern edged scissors, glue and glitter.

1. cut your cardstock into 6 equal rectangular pieces. Punch hole's at 2 of your corner's and trim the opposite bottom with your scissors.

3. use your glue to create a letter and sprinkle generously with glitter. let dry. repeat until you have a word.

4. string all letters through your curling ribbon and hang.

A Simple Centerpiece and Mask Invitation's

Supplies (for 1 centerpiece. I made 4): a drinking glass, 3 bead necklaces, black cardstock, metallic sharpie's, small scrape feathers, a peacock feather, glue, sparkle embellishment, floral foam and a chopstick (I used a chopstick because it was more sturdy and my scrape feather had little bells on it that made it heavy)

 

1. paint your chopstick a metallic gold color. set aside to dry.

2. I googled free mask template and found this to be perfect for what I wanted. I printed it on regular paper and was able to get 4 traced on my black cardstock.

3. I took all 3 metallic sharpies and just started drawing random designs, starting with the outline of the eyes. I'm not super creative but I think I did a pretty good job. (you can also use glitter glue as another option)

4. use your sparkle embellishment for 1 (or both) corner's of the mask. and glue your small feathers to the back of one of the corners.

5. glue your chopstick to the back on the same side with the feather.

6. cut a small square of floral foam and strategically (yes, that's how I did it) place the peacock feather and mask (on stick) into the foam.

7. place the foam into your glass, and drop in the bead necklaces.

For my invitation's, I basically did steps 2 through 4 and printed all the details on a plain piece of paper that I glued to the back of the mask.

I LOVE doing things like this for parties! Super simple details make such a huge difference.

 

animal print

I don't think I have ever worn this dress to work before. I have only worn it during the summer with sandals. I have to admit that I'm a little scared to wear animal print, I literally own 3 item's that have animal print... this dress, a top that you can see here and a scarf. But when I saw this dress I fell in love with the flowy top part and it had to be mine.

 

Of course I can't take a picture without Babe wanting to take a picture too,

and how can I resist that cuteness?!

 

Linking up with the pleated poppy and kiwi womens style

Random

1.This is how I remove my nail polish, and this was a conversation between Babe and I.
me: argh... I'm a monster
babe: who showed you that
me: um... Pinterest
babe: she told you to buy that
me: Pinterest isn't a person. it's a website. like on the computer.
babe: oh... wow!

2. I grew up in the desert and have to say... I don't miss it... ever. But there really are the most amazing sunsets out in the middle of nowhere. I remember growing up, one of my favorite things to do was lay in front of our sliding door watching all the colors in the sky and then counting all the stars afterwards.

3.Last night we had a movie night complete with popcorn, red vines and pepsi (for me... one of my weakness's). I was so excited to watch one of my favorite movies with Babe.. Labyrinth! He actually watched the whole thing and there were moments when he was so into what was happening that we didn't know if he was scared or really enjoying it. I was 6 when that movie came out and only realized last night that, to an almost 4 year old, there might be parts that seem scary.

4. I am dreading the fact that today is Monday.

linking up with lowercase letters

the night i met my husband

Two weeks ago on our coffee date I mentioned how I met my husband the night I went on my first and only blind date. So here is the beginning of us.

the night I met my husband

Sometime in the summer of 2001, I was set up on a blind date with my Brother's friend/ co-worker. We decided to meet at my parents house since my brother would be there to "introduce" us for the first time. When he showed up, he joked that he was worried I would look like my brother with long hair. We went to City Walk which was a little awkward because it was an hour long drive and I wasn't sure what to say. I had been in a previous 2 year relationship and was really new to "dating" considering I had never really "dated" in high school (that's a whole other story). The day was ok. We had lunch, a few drinks and headed back on another hour long drive back home. He wanted to take me to a movie but I had plans to hang out with my cousin's and some of their friend's, so I told him I would see what we had planned for the night and if there were no real plans I would call him so we could meet for a movie.

After my date, I drove to my cousin's house where they were with some friends, playing ping pong. They wanted to know all about my blind date and joked about how the guy gave me a rose and thought that was so old fashioned and that guys should give girl's a bag of chips instead. Because whether the date goes good or bad, at least you can enjoy the bag of chips afterwards, but the rose will just die. What can I say... we were young!

I was having fun with my  cousin's and friends and decided I would stay with them for the night. Plus there was a cute boy there that I hadn't seen before. He was adorable, 2 years younger than me and kind of shy... ok REALLY shy... but he laughed when he accidentally hit me with a ping pong...

Yup, that was my future husband

(no, we were NOT this cozy the night we met)

 

Ok, so only that last tiny paragraph was about "us" but that's really how that night went.

I look forward to sharing more of our story in the future.

linking up with Rags to Stitches