Spotty at best

Hi All!

I'll be in and out this week...mostly out I'm thinking. I'm taking the week off work and I want to spend every.single.possible.second with my baby girl. I promise I'll be hopping around when I get a minute or two!

xoxo

Still Celebrating

We're still rocking the Christmas celebration over here...I'll have pics and recaps soon.

It has been amazing! And Pie's first Christmas was a white one...in Georgia...amazing!


If you get a second, I'm being featured over at The Red Dress Club today...check it out.


Pie is a little bit worried about whether or not you had a good weekend...


What's that? You had a good one? Fantastic!

TRDC - Charity

I had a whole, undoubtedly awesome, post written in my head, but this post from The Bloggess is just too good not to share.

It's a little long, but well worth it.

Hope you all have an amazingly happy holidays!

xoxox

Special Ornaments

{Click to enlarge}

My tree has evolved over the years to the point where all of the ornaments have been made or been given to us as gifts...sometimes both! Here are a few of my favorites:

1. This sweet little car was made by my nephew O when he was about a year and a half old. I think Middle Sister may have helped a little.
2. These starbursts were made by my nephews E and O. The blue one is for Husband and the purple one is mine. I love how simple they are and that the boys thought about the colors to use and where to put the crystals.
3. This one is a family legacy. When my siblings were little, before I was even born, there were Christmases that didn't come with much money. So my crafty mom had the kids help make ornaments. They were painted Dixie cups and egg cartons. I think there's only one each left of the originals, but they have been on the family tree ever since. Last year my mom made me this updated version.
4. Several years ago Middle Sister made me a set of cookie cutter ornaments. There's this one with Husband and I, one of her boys, one of my brother's kids, and several with cool paper. They're like double Christmas-y...ornaments and seasonal cookie cutters. Plus I love seeing how the babies when they were little.
5. These two are actually hanging on the coat rack by my front door instead of the tree. The Christmas angel was given to me by Big Sister in my stocking one year. She's very sparkly and happy making! I'm tempted to leave her up year round. And the Santa is a little handmade piece that I picked up last year on a trip to St. Augustine. We got home from that trip and less than a week later found out about Pie. He's my good luck Santa.
6. And finally, the newest addition to the tree. My sweet Pie's handprint. We just made this about a week ago, so it really is a snapshot of where she is on her first Christmas. I find myself staring at this ornament constantly. I still pinch myself like it's a dream. She is a dream. A wonderful, amazing, perfect dream.

Wordless Wednesday {Happy Holidays}

A Little Christmas Quiz

So here's a Christmas quiz I came across that I really liked...if anyone wants I'll set up a linky for it. Just let me know in the comments. Here we go....

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? If I had to drink it frequently, hot chocolate. But egg nog it tasty on occasion.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Oh the Santa presents have to be wrapped!!
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? When we manage to put the lights outside they are white. The tree is a different story. We have those awesome, 70s, huge, different color bulbs. They make me happy.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Whenever I can find it. Walmart used to sell it every year, but they haven't lately. I love having a random place to "have" to kiss Husband.
5. When do you put your decorations up? The goal is the first weekend of December. It's pretty infrequent that we're organized enough though.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Is all an option? Well I take that back, all of the side dishes since there's no meat for me.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Going to bed Christmas Eve snuggled in one bed with my sisters.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? You know, I'm not sure the exact age. I do know that the family was thinking I was coming to the end of believing, my siblings are all a good bit older and had long since known the truth. They wanted to make it special though so there may or may not have been some stomping on the roof, and my dad may or may not have fallen. And I may or may not have run screaming downstairs that Santa and Dad were having a fight. Good times.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Husband and I usually open our gifts for each other Christmas Eve since we're at my family's all day on Christmas. i like getting to draw it out. :)
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With the awesome lights, of course. And all the ornaments were either made for us, or given to us. I love having a tree with so many memories. Each piece hanging there is special. I can't wait for Pie to start bringing home her school made ornaments for us to add!
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! It almost never happens here, but snow on Christmas is magical!
12. Can you ice skate? Hell to the no!
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? There have been so many...my first big girl bike, a surprise trip to visit family in New England, my baby girl.
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family. You gotta say that!!
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? See's candy. Especially the Milk Bordeaux. YUM!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? As kids we read stories Christmas Eve in our new jammies. And then we'd snuggle in with a candle lit beside our bed. It was so Santa could peak in the window and see if we were actually sleeping. My parents had a million of them, and I love them all.
17. What tops your tree? A stuffed snowman named Snowy. We got him at Big Lots I think, a million years ago. He's an old friend now.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, without question. I always want to hand out my presents first, because I can't wait to have the person enjoy them (hopefully). That's certainly not to say I don't enjoy getting a few prizes too :)
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? “Baby It's Cold Outside”. It's not exactly Christmas, but it's seasonal.
20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Once every couple of years I enjoy one. But they aren't anything I seek out.
21. Favorite Christmas Show? We have several movies we watch every year: Christmas Vacation, Elf, Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street...
22. Saddest Christmas Song? "River". Pretty much any version of it. Don't know why, but it's a real downer for me. I love it though. OR "Winter Song" by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson.

Caught on Tape

So crazy little Pie took her first steps on 12/12 and this was shot on 12/18. Apparently when she decided to walk, it was on!

Mostly she excited because it was Rauri's (baby girl of Chelsey The Paper Mama) 1st birthday! She thought she'd celebrate with a little run around in her jammies.

Holiday Traditions

This week, we have one word and one photo for you. Pick one (or both), write a piece of fiction or non-fiction, and then come back on Friday to link up.
Your word is tradition.
And here is your photo:

Photo courtesy of Lori, of In Pursuit of Martha Points.
For more beautiful shots and the story behind this ornament,
see her wonderful post from yesterday, Generations.

Result:
Nicole had discovered the ornament in the bottom of a box of used Christmas cards she scored at a yard sale. Why someone was selling used Christmas cards she had no idea. But she was a mad crafter and felt certain she could make a wreath or a photo album or a pterodactyl out of them.

She loved the ornament. It was festive and elegant and completely unique. Nicole decided to put it front and center on her tree. A real place of pride. And to make certain that no one missed it she decided to only use smaller, gold bulbs on the rest of the tree. It was clearly the focal point.

As a result, everyone who saw her tree immediately asked about her special new ornament. And every time she had a different story for it. One time it was a replica of an ornament on the Queen's tree. Another time it was an actual ornament from Prince's tree. He had gotten rid of it because it wasn't sparkly enough, of course.

Eventually her friends and family started to talk to each other about Nicole's ornament. Wasn't it amazing that the Pope had blessed it? Can you believe that it was on the tree in the movie Christmas Story? Did you know that Andy Warhol designed ornaments, and how had Nicole gotten her hands on one of them!?

Once the secret was out, everyone who visited the house wrote down their version of the ornament story. And the day after Christmas they would all get together and read the stories aloud. The person with the winning story got to take the ornament for their tree the following year. It was Nicole's favorite tradition ever.

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Throw a quick vote my way?

Great...The Blog Guidebook Made Me Cry...

...but in a really good way.

Check out the unbelievably sweet write (here) up they did about me today.

My Little Anteater

Last week I was interviewed over at the Red Dress Club and was asked what animal Husband looked like. It made me think of a sweet story I hadn't shared before. It also made me think about the gay friends who told me he's a total bear...and then a comment from a million years ago where someone said he looked like Zach Galifianakis.

Anytrainofthought, a few years ago for my birthday Husband gave me this charm necklace.
The first its charms is a ladybug for good luck. I like ladybugs. They are one of the few bugs I don't freak out about like a little girl.

Here's another ladybug I quite like. The next charm is a pear. Because I'm pear shaped. Heh. I'm kidding. Well, not about being pear shaped, that part is true.

But the charm is on the necklace because we gave these candles away as the favor at our wedding. They were in a little box with a tag that said, "Husband and Sara, the perfect pair"

And the final charm is an anteater. Weird? Yes. But wait until you hear the story...

When Husband and I first started dating I was really struggling with how different we were, how differently we had grown up. Finally he said to me one day, “It doesn’t matter how different we are, we’re supposed to be together. If I was an anteater and you were an ant, I’d just carry you around on my nose all day.” Oh how I love that man.

And this is just a super cute baby anteater...I sort of want one...he looks so snuggly.What about you? Any strange or unusual jewelry pieces that come with a back story?

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Help a sister out?

Wordless Wednesday {Flashback}

My little Pie at 10 days old. She was so tiny.

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I made it to the Top 10...Hooray!! I know I won't go too much further...most of the other fantastic blogs have HUGE followings and voters! Go other blogs!! But if you have a sec and want to throw a vote my way...

Crafty Goodness

I've seen so many great wreaths around lately (Chelsey, I'm looking at you and your gumdrop wreath) that I decided I should get my craft on. So I did...

First you need supplies: a straw wreath ($1.99 instead of $9.99 for the same size in Styrofoam), raffia, felt in a couple of colors, scissors and a glue gun with glue.
Next you need beautiful Ray to stare down at you encouragingly...supportively...lovingly. I know you'll appreciate this one Grace.

Then wrap the wreath with the raffia and glue the holy begeesus out of it. It should look like this...sort of...probably better.

Then you make a gazillion flowers out of the felt. I did some with an eight inch circle and some with a six inch circle so that I ended up with different sizes. Then glue said flowers to the raffia-wrapped wreath.

And after you follow those completely vague and worthless instructions you should end up with something like this. And yes...it's hanging on a hinge inside because it was freezing outside! Also we're being super slack and still haven't gotten most of our decorations out.

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And if that wasn't enough craft. Check this out.

What are those, you ask? Well those GORGEOUS bobbies in my frizzy, rat's nest would be from my bloggy buddy Leah. Just saying...Pie helped with the styling which explains some of the nest-y-ness.

Anysidenote, back to the good stuff. My friend Leah has an Etsy shop and sells these lovelies. And headbands, and pins, and kids clips (Pie has a set and they are adorable!!) So much good stuff and all at really good prices. Stockings stuffers anyone?

11 months old and she better slow down!

Oh my darling girl...

Yesterday you were 11 months old. Just one more month, that will go by in the blink of an eye no doubt, and you will be one year old. It has gone by so quickly...too quickly if you ask me. It feels like yesterday that you were born, and at the same time it feels like you have been with us forever.

This past month has been full of fun and discovery...so many new things for you my love. You found out that while it makes you laugh when it pokes your feet, grass does not taste very good. That doesn't stop you from trying to eat it though.
You discovered that if you stand at Grammy and Poppy's door you can watch the leaves blow and the squirrels run. You love that. You will stand there forever...completely content.

You got your first Christmas present. You would have been completely happy with the wrapping alone. But once you discovered your Little People school bus the paper was forgotten. You love pressing the buttons and playing the music. And man do you haul behind that thing!! And you're even figuring out how to turn it.

You have discovered that the tub is a blast. The cups, the boats, the squishy letters and numbers...it's all such a good time. Other than the few seconds when I'm rinsing the shampoo out of your hair, you look like this. If the water didn't get cold, I'd keep you in there all day just so I could see that face.

It seems like you've grown up so much this month. You've added all kinds of grown up food to your likes. You've added several words, now you have dada, mama, okay, what's that and yeah. But this weekend you decided it was time to really get going.

In the last two days you have started saying your own name, you had two more teeth come in, and...and...AND...you took your first steps! We all know I'm a bit weepy, but it was just me this time! Nope, me and Dada were both crying. Then we clapped and yelled and jumped around. And then you did it again!

I am so madly, insanely, wildly in love you with you my sweet baby. I cannot believe the breadth and depth of it.

You (and your dad) are my favorite.

xoxoxo

Mama

It's come down to begging

UPDATE: I'm in a tie for 10th place. Ahhhh. Vote like the wind my pretties!
Red Dress Clubbers, scroll down...my story is hiding beneath my sad voting plea :)

Well, why not round out my week of embarrassment with a little begging. Please vote? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Today is the last day of voting to get in the top 10, and let's face it, I haven't a chance in hell of getting further than that. But I will get a feature if I get into the top 10 and that would be rad. Yeah, I said rad...what of it?! So anyway...be a dear and vote?

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Ah, love. Lots has been written about our favorite emotion. It IS our favorite, right? Unless it's gone bad. But that's a different prompt. Or is it. You tell us!

This week's prompt: Write a short first-person story about your first love, or write a short fiction piece about a character's first love.

RESULT: (I struggled with the first person. I'm sure you'll see how disjointed it is.)

I am done with love, Caroline thought. My days thinking that true love is possible are over. Everywhere I look happy couples are holding hands and kissing. They are flaunting their love. It is disgusting. True love, shmoo love.

I grew up thinking that true love was possible, but He changed all that. He who will not be discussed. Well, He who will not be discussed too much anyway. He who deserves a solid and vicious junk punching by passing street thugs. He who...I am still madly in love with...dammit.

I fell for Brady hard. He was so charming and handsome. I had all the fireworks, butterflies and dreams of a big rock on my finger. Turns out Brady was the big rock. And he was dragging me down. He was the laziest moocher I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. Little did I know, he was so much worse than your average moocher.

After wooing me for all he was worth, he took me for all I was worth. And then he disappeared. My bank account was empty and so was my utensil drawer. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he took my good forks. But 3 months later when I saw a familiar, handsome face on America's Most Wanted being called the Sterling Stud it started to make a little more sense.

Let the embarrassment continue

So earlier this week I started the embarrassment train...I figured I might as well continue it.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about what I would wish for if I found a genie. I mean a ton of time. You have to craft each wish just right so that it's flexible and you don't end up with like a tread and needle for hands because you wished to be crafty. It's an art form people.

{source}

Barring, of course, the wish for more wishes these are my current top three. In ascending order of want-y-ness.

3) Perfect skin. I have more issues with my skin now than I did during puberty. It gets old really quickly to be in the anti-acne section as someone in their 30s and be reaching over the 13 year old for the Clean and Clear.

{source}

2) A body like this one, that I neither have to work for, nor work at keeping. One where no exercise or dieting is required and it always looks kick ass.

1) The ability to do/have this...

{source}

I feel certain that I'm not the only one who thinks about this...right? RIGHT?!

So I'm thinking you all need to make me feel better about how much I think about this. So link up and tell us your top three wishes this week! (If we're all entertained, I may start doing this weekly)

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UPDATE: I've fallen out of the top 10...eeeeeeekkkk...Help!!

Two more days of voting for the top 10. I'm #10 right now...so help me stay there (or higher). Thanks you, thank you!!!