Challenge #4 - 20 of my favorite things

1. Handmade stuff from Etsy
2. Scrap Girls digital scrapbooking supplies
3. Conan O'Brien (although since we don't have TV anymore, I don't get to watch him. :( But I do catch his opening monologues sometimes when I find them!)
4. Pride & Prejudice (both version 1 with my crush and version 2)

5. Dana's blog MADE. I love using her tutorials and seeing her photography inspiration. She's great!
6. Moleskine notebooks
7. Australia
8. This amazing piece of advertising


9.

 

10. The Twilight series  (I know, I know)

11. Getting all dolled up for no reason except to just look good

12. When my Droid phone automatically corrects my spelling and it's just WAY off

13. Sitting in Barnes & Noble, sans kids, and looking through photography books

14. Taking a good, hot bubble bath

15. Blogging

16. Reading other peoples' blogs

17. Antique books with illustrations

18. Horseback riding

19. Simple, silver jewelry

20. The smell of Pineapple Orchid

Challenge #3 - My favorite photo of my best friends

Okay, so this post is going to be a little split because I have TWO best friends and I didn't want to leave out either one. 

This is my oldest best friend, Summer. I have had the privilege of taking some smokin' pictures of her, and this is my favorite one.

She's got the most beautiful hair! I used to be jealous of it when we were growing up, but then if I just hung out while she actually had to do everything to it to get it to look amazing, then the jealousy factor went down a little. :) But seriously, I'm still a little jealous.

Summer and I have known each other since right before freshman year. So we've been through lots of stuff -- good stuff, bad stuff, life-changing stuff, hard stuff, and really really amazing stuff. Like, she just had the CUTEST little baby in the world kind of amazing stuff.

We used to dream that we'd marry brothers and live next door to each other and raise our kids together. And while we didn't do quite that, I'd say living an hour and a half away from each other is reason to celebrate! We get together as much as we can (which isn't nearly enough!) and I'm so grateful that we're friends.

And that brings me to my newest best friend, Tracy.

Tracy and I met a few years ago now, and it was just one of those things where we instantly and effortlessly meshed. It was like we had been best friends for years but just hadn't met yet. I can't describe it any better than that.

I know that when we get together, we can talk about anything and we understand each other really well. And even though we live far away now, whenever we get together we can just pick up right where we left off as if no time has passed. I miss her a lot. 

Tracy is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. There are so many ways in which I look up to her and want to be more like her. She's an amazing mom, she is so doemstic, which I love, and she is firmly rooted in the Gospel. All things that I'd like to be some day. :)

I just love Tracy. 

Where's Gepetto when I need him?

Okay, I have to admit, I am not a very good puppet maker.

Nevertheless, the kids wanted to make some. So I indulged. And was not surprised to find out that E's little puppet totally blew mine away. :)

See what I mean?

 

(His puppet)

 

 (My puppet)

We sure had a fun evening putting them together! E was adamant that his have a shirt, pants, shoes, socks, hair and hands. W's one (that you'd think he made, but it was actually me) has his hands traced and cut out for the puppet hands. I love that. :)

 

E was really excited about the finished product. 

 

And subsequently started making the puppet do all sorts of naughty things like kicking and spitting and such, and then say, "But it was him, not me, mom!"

 

And of course, he needed a good spot to sit that was just his size. So we brought in the kids' folding chair from outside. Fit just right. 

Definitely a fun day!

Challenge #2 - A photo of myself and a description of my day

That's me. Sad, but I couldn't find much in the way of me in front of the camera, I'm usually behind it...

A typical day for me includes getting woken up by some overzealous children around 6:30 or 7am, then on MWF, getting housework, Scrap Girls work, and photography work done, and on T/TH, taking Eli to preschool. I'm such a homebody that we spend a lot of our time here at home, either trying to make something pretty like chair covers, pillows, or fun projects, playing hide-and-seek with the kids, watching stuff on our Wii via Netflix, making crafts and the like. If we're adventurous, we'll go to the library or the park, or sometimes even to the fabric store! :)

Then if I'm really lucky and it's a day when Nathan is coming home, we get ready for him to get here and then eat dinner, hang out a little more, then go to bed. If I'm unlucky, and it's a day when Nathan's out of town or working late, then we'll just all hang out in my room watching a movie and having fun.

Then I do it all again the next day.

Pretty exciting stuff, I know!

Challenge #1 - 15 things about me

1. I like to listen to the Stuff You Should Know podcasts with my hubby while driving together. They're funny guys and I enjoy learning about stuff. I can't retain the information for my life, but I do like to learn about it.


2. I love Legos more than I can say. Specifically Harry Potter ones. I used to play with them when I was younger. My mom and dad bought me the "girly" set with the pink and yellow box that had flowers and such in the set. I didn't care, I just loved building with them. Luckily for me, I married a man who loves them just as much as I do.

Don't believe me?

On our second day of marriage, we hung out in our hotel room building the Harry Potter Lego Hogwarts castle (and doing other things...) and we had the best time! We still have all of our Harry Potter sets and now our kids love putting them together too.

3. I use smiley face emoticons waaaaaay too much when I type. I just feel like regular words can't describe my feelings the way a smiley face can. Am I right? :)

4. I also like to listen to Dr. Laura and have even called her on the air before. She gives great advice and although I don't think she's right 100% of the time, I like to listen to how she responds to people. (And to protect the innocent, I will not reveal my issue, or her advice for me, sorry!) I'm sad that she's on Sirius now which means I can't listen anymore, but I still have some downloaded past episodes, just in case.

5. I can play Bejeweled Blitz better than anyone I know. Now, granted, that's a small circle of people, but I like to think I'm the best at ONE thing. With that, I'm happy.

6. I used to have a huge crush on Lance Bass from 'NSync. Then I found out he was gay. :( There goes my shot.

7. I love to create art in the form of digital scrapbooking pages. There's nothing more fun than creating beautiful pages that also tell our life stories in them. And I love feeling like I'm an artist because I always wanted to be one, but I can't really draw or paint or sculpt. So this is my art and this is what makes me an artist.

8. I secretly love watching Hoarders because it makes me feel better about myself.

9. I am legally blind in my right eye due to a freak accident with an exploding glass soda bottle when I was 11.

10. I still cry when I watch Dumbo and he visits his mom in the jail car. Still. Tearing up right now thinking about it.

11. I have read or listened to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows about 9 times now, and I could still pick up a book or listen to Jim Dale on audiobook over and over and over again. LOVE.

12. My calling (RS 2nd counselor) in church (or, my volunteer position, for those of you who don't speak Mormon) is really kicking my butt lately. I'm not very good at delegating and I have more workload than I ever anticipated and it's making me stressed out and tired. But I'm working on it.

13. Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. Seriously, if it lasted 6 months, I'd be perfectly fine with that. It's not that we give and receive presents or that I get to decorate with lots of fun stuff, it's just the feeling of the season that comes with the holiday. It's how all the commercials are about snowy wonderlands and family togetherness and magic. It's how my kids are SO excited that Santa's coming with his reindeer and "Will they really come on our ROOF, mom?" comes from my little kiddo. I just love the idea of magic and Christmas brings that to the forefront.

14. I love taking photos of lots of different things. I love the connections you can sometimes see in a picture. I have a lot to still learn, but I'm happy with where I am in regards to my photography and I love learning new things about it every time I do it.

15. I'm in love with the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack. So much so, that I've given it to multiple family members now just because they had to listen to it! And love it as much as I do! Not really, but I'd be shocked if you can listen to Romantic Flight and not just feel uplifted. I'm a sucker for a good instrumental arrangement. It's got just the right mix of Celtic influences with great brass and beautiful strings. And if you've seen the movie, then you'll love it even more.

That's it for this challenge. See you tomorrow! :)

Blog Challenge!

Since I'm basically a big copycat, I decided to do this fun 30-day blog post challenge that my friend Shayne has started doing on her blog. I thought it would be fun to do, and also maybe a little motivation to post more? Who knows if it will work, but I'm game!

Here are the challenges:

1. 15 Facts about me
2. A photo of myself and a description of how my day was
3. My favorite photograph of my best friend
4. 20 of my favorite things
5. A photo of myself two years ago
6. A photo of an animal I'd love to keep as a pet
7. A song to match my mood, and why
8. A recipe
9. A photo of the item I last purchased
10. A photo and description of what's in my makeup bag
11. A photograph of the town I live in
12. A TV show I'm currently addicted to
13. Something I don't leave the house without
14. A photo of something that makes me happy
15. Something I crave a lot
16. What's in my purse
17. A photo of something that means a lot to me
18. A photo of somewhere I've visited
19. A picture of me last year and now and how have I changed since then
20. My worst habit
21. 5 of my biggest pet peeves
22. My celebrity crush
23. Something I could never get tired of doing
24. My favorite book
25. A photo that makes me happy
26. A photo that makes me angry/sad
27. My dream house
28. An art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc.) that means something to me
29. A song that makes me cry (or nearly)
30. A photograph of myself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

So hang tight, it's going to be a fun run!

Smashed Potatoes!

Sometimes I just love our lazy days. On one of the more fun recent ones, we pulled out this great game that the hubby's parents gave our boys. It's called Smashed Potatoes and it involves two of my boys' favorite things:

(1. Playdough)

(2. Smashing things like Playdough)

The boys both love the game!

 

Especially W. He could have played all day long if we didn't have other things going on. 

The object of the game is to make your own little dudes, then get them through this obstacle course of death without getting smashed, chopped, deep fried or snipped in half. Trust me, it was a harrowing experience for those little Playdough guys! 

And they had reason to be scared. It was a lot of fun, mangling a few along the way and then making new ones. 

Overall, a great game and a fun afternoon with the boys!

You'll want to pay attention if your name is

Shalae

Becky

Shayne

Renee

or

Susie!

You are the lucky five gals for whom I am making a handmade item! Please do me a favor and email me your address so that I can package up and send out your pretties when I'm finished.

Don't start holding your collective breath just yet, they're nowhere near done, but I'm working on them! I just want to make sure I know where to send them all.

And sorry, no sneak-peek photo or anything. Just use your imagination....

Lemme tell you a secret...

...and it will probably come as a big surprise.

I love Texas.

I know, it's a shocker. Try to focus. :)

My little family went to visit my big family in Ohio this past Christmas, and while we were there, we put together our keepsake "Texas" puzzle with Aunt Ali, me and the hubby. It was a lot of fun and brought back memories from when we bought it in Fredricksburg on our last visit home before my parents moved a couple of years ago.

Sad, sad memories.

Anyways, when we got home after the holidays, I went looking for my own puzzle to put together. I decided I wanted to hang it up somewhere to stare at when I'm sad and lonely, ha. So I went to town while Nathan was out of ours, and put it together with help from the boys.

Okay, not that much help from them, but they were very excited about it getting finished and glued together!

Now I just need to figure out where I want to hang it and find a suitable frame. Or maybe make one. Perhaps a trip to Home Depot is in order...

Lamp Remix

I have a love for all things crafty. For about two years now, I've been following some great DIY/Craft blogs that have been so inspiring! I've even tried my hand at some of the projects and have really loved the way they turned out.

On a recent trip to Goodwill, I snagged this beauty.

It was a pretty good deal at $10, lampshade and all. And I know, it's pretty fugly. While you can't really see them in the picture, there are scratches all over the base and that shade is spray painted hunter green. Yeah, classy.

My plan is to rehab it into something I won't mind people seeing when they come to my house. I think it's doable, but we'll just have to see.

The "after" photo will be coming soon...

And in the meantime, I thought I'd share some of the newer blogs that I follow:

MADE (my best friend Summer lived in this gal's ward -- she even moved into her house when they moved)

Cluck. Cluck. Sew.

Make It and Love It

Diary of a Quilter

Those are some great links for inspiration, tutorials, and just all-around crafty goodness.