Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Hello Gorgeous Glow....

Or, let's hope so anyways. I am super pumped because I finally broke down and ordered the fabulous Clarisonic skincare brush from Sephora last week and it should be any day now! I am SO excited as I have been wanting one of these ever since Oprah featured it on her favorite things episode in 2007....I remember sitting there watching the episode thinking, my skin SO needs this thing, I will have to splurge and get one eventually. Well, I finally did and I cannot wait to use it and see if it helps clear up my yucky yuck-yuck skin and give me that gorgeous glow that I have been dreaming of. I will definitely post a review later and hopefully, it will be a two-thumbs up review at that!

And yes, I did in fact order it in pink....I couldn't resist besides it was the only model available when I ordered AND a portion of the purchase amount benefits the fight against breast cancer, so I figure it's a win-win.


Monday, April 27, 2009

MetroMoms Event - The Bestest & Hottest

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend an event designed for local mom's and expecting mothers to get together and learn about some of the hottest products on the market. The MetroMoms Bestest & Hottest event is hosted by Metroplex Baby & Kids and is designed to not only unite expecting mom's and mom's alike to take a break from their daily grind, but to also showcase a large array of the hottest products designed to be used in their words from "Pregnancy to Preschool" and not only did we get to see all of these fab products, everyone attending the event got to draw a number in a raffle of sorts to be able to select one of these items to take home with them! Score, right?!?! Dinner and dessert was also included in the price of admission which was an absolute plus. I had never attended a MetroMom event before, but had been pumped about it from the moment I purchased my VIP ticket. Heck, that was an eventful experience in iteself as I waited several weeks anxiously for the tickets to go on sale just to find out that they would be going on pre-sale @ midnight on one specific night and unfortunately for me, I was very tired that day and thought that I was just not going to make it staying up till midnight and feared that the event would be sold out and I would miss on my chance of going. Well, the big pre-sale day finally came and I once again, anxiously waited for them to go on sale at the wretched hour of midnight, fighting back yawns and seriously considering going to bed and setting my alarm to wake me up a few minutes before and I finally received the email I had been waiting for, the coveted tickets were finally available and even a bit early at that! Of course, I quickly logged into the site, snagged up a VIP ticket online and headed to bed early that night!

I was really excited about the Bestest & Hottest leading all the way up to the day of the event and truly, had a really good time at the event itself. It was a LARGE group of women, over 100 mom's and expecting mom's, but it seemed that for the most part, fun was had by all and oddly enough, I was lucky enough to draw #23 out of over 100, so that was exciting too! Well, as you can imagine, even though I had a fairly good number considering the total guest count, all of the fabulous larger items were already picked by the time it came my turn, things like $600 strollers, highchairs, Step 2 playhouse, baby crib, etc. all of those things along with many other items had already been claimed. So, once it was my turn, honestly, there was very little I personally had a ton of interest in, but I decided to make the best of it and selected something that although it didn't make *me* super excited, I *knew* it would make my little Hudson beam with absolute joy. What product was it, you ask? Well, I know you're going to be completely jealous, but I was lucky enough to pick out a Little Men Working Training Potty for our little man! Glamourous? No, not so much, actually far from it, but Hudson seriously LOVES this thing and was all over me trying to take it off of my hands from the moment I walked in the back door. The power of a potty with wheels - purely amazing I tell ya! Although, he hasn't actually gone to "potty" on the potty yet, mostly just sits on it naked, wants to hear the engine sounds it makes (yes, this thing means serious business, lol!) and then just giggles and wiggles on his little potty, ha! That in itself my friends, is PRICELESS! In any case, I had a great time at the event and look forward to attending the next one this upcoming June.

Oh, and lest not forget, for your viewing pleasure....a lovely snapshot of myself with the magical potty on wheels as I lovingly call it, ha, ha!!!!
(and yes, I was laughing hysterically in the picture as you can tell)


Sunday, April 26, 2009

Backyard Blossoms

We *finally* started working on our back yard landscaping (or total lack thereof) a few weeks ago and were able to start the foundation for one of the flower bed areas including some plants and ground cover as well as creating a new garden box filled with some vegetable plants also. We've planted stuff in this flower bed for the past couple of years, but everything has failed us and has died before the summer season even ended, so here's to hoping that we can get some of this stuff to live. I will also be adding some more annual florals in this flower bed as well for more color, but just wanted to get a few things in there first. 



One of the two main flower beds in our back yard. Flanked by two huge trumpet vines!

Plants waiting to be planted --- I personally planted ALL of these myself.


David cutting wood to frame his vegetable garden area.


Some of my beautiful roses in our backyard.......I have 4 rose bushes in the backyard, but several need to be cut back or pulled out and transplanted because they are planted too close together and have completely overgrown.



Aren't these roses gorgeous?!?!?!?!



The finished product. Well, finished until I add lots more flowers. We were trying to see if some of this would spread out some first, but it seems to be somewhat slow-growing.

Now some pics of what I planted and how it *should* look once it spreads and grows so more.



Coral reef sedum --- a spreading ground cover that blooms with white and pink flowers mid summer. 



Veronica -- another ground cover with pale blue / lilac toned flowers.



Pincushion flowers -- these are called Butterfly Blue and of course, attract butterflies.



Genista - I planted three of these shrubs in the back of the flower bed and unfortunately, the center one has already died. :( Not sure if these will live or not.



Ice Plant - another succulent type plant that blooms with fuchsia toned flowers in the early to mid-summer.



And this, is how Hudson entertained himself while we gardened. :) Actually, we bought him his own little (plastic) garden tools and he helped us too! It was too cute!

Here are a few pics of David's vegetable garden....I didn't get to take any on the day he planted everything, so these are actually from today.



The vegetable garden


3 tomato plants


2 squash plants



1 jalapeno plant

There was also a cucumber plant, but I think it was the first vegetable casualty. :(

Oh, and here are a couple of pics of my gorgeous red roses.....I don't remember the exact variety because I planted them YEARS ago, but they look similar to a Fire and Ice rose.



L-O-V-E!



SO pretty! I think I am going to start gathering rose petals for a little something extra for my baths! :) There are a ton of roses between my 4 rosebushes in the back yard and the one large bush in the front flower bed, so I might as well do something with the ones that can't be cut and displayed.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Canopy of blossoms

A gorgeous cherry blossom tree in full-bloom....this is just a random pic I found online looking for something else and it was just too beautiful not to share. Could you imagine having gorgeous trees like this say, in your backyard?!?! That would be heavenly!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Soooooo behind on blogging.....

I know, I know, it's been almost a week since my last post and I have yet to even post Easter pics. I promise updates are coming soon although they might still be few and far between sometimes. We've been really busy in general between the Easter holiday, starting to attend church on Sundays, working during the week, working on my design projects in the evenings and weekends, running errands and everything else between has just kept us beyond preoccupied lately. In any case, I am going to *try* to get back on it and post regularly without one week breaks in-between, ha!

On a related note....I haven't downloaded any pics from my camera in a couple / few weeks and I just went to download what is on there now and get this, there are (drumroll) 693 photos on my camera right now, ha! I guess I will be having some pics to post soon, even if it's just a few. ;)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Worst part of the weekend: Worrying about whether or not David would have a job come Monday.

Best part of the weekend: Got to relax and be somewhat lazy Friday, amazing church service followed by a restful nap on Sunday, great news Monday morning - David still has a job (this was a HUGE relief) and a fabulous trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo Monday afternoon. (I had a 4 day weekend, wheee!!!)

Most random part of the weekend: Probably my on-the-spot spontaneous purchase of a new laptop and printer yesterday afternoon after our zoo trip.

People I saw this weekend: David, Hudson, Marcia and lots of new faces at church (although, we are probably new faces to THEM).

Something I wished I did this weekend that I didn't get around to doing: Doing ANY cleaning or laundry or organizing in the house....just never made it that far and we DESPERATELY need to do a hardcore Spring-cleaning session around here!

Things that I am looking forward to this week:  Short work week, lots of fun design projects I am working on, birthday celebration at work (not for me since my b-day was in January), hopefully getting to go to bed at a decent time at least one night this week and getting lots of kisses and cuddles from my Hudson. 

Things that I am not looking forward to this week: Being behind on work due to countless detours and having really long days since David works Wednesday through Friday and I have to tote Hudson back and forth and all over the universe before and after work. ;) (that's an exaggeration, BUT it definitely does make for a long day to say the least!)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Hope Now....

LOVE this song and totally relate to it right now....
Hope Now - Addison Road
If everything comes down to love 
Then just what am I afraid of 
When I call out Your name 
Something inside awakes in my soul 
How quickly I forget I'm Yours 
(PRE-CHORUS) 
I'm not my own 
I've been carried by You 
All my life 
(CHORUS) 
Everything rides on hope now 
Everything rides faith somehow 
When the world has broken me down 
Your love sets me free 
When my life is like a storm 
Rising waters all I want is the shore 
You say I'll be ok and 
Make it through the rain 
You are my shelter from the storm 
(PRE-CHORUS) 
I'm not my own 
I've been carried by You 
All my life 
(CHORUS) 
Everything rides on hope now 
Everything rides faith somehow 
When the world has broken me down 
Your love sets me free 
(CHORUS 2) 
Everything rides on hope now 
Everything rides faith somehow 
When the world has broken me down 
Your love sets me free 
You've become my hearts desire 
I will sing Your praises higher 
Cause Your love sets me free 
Your love sets me free 
Your love sets me fre

Monday, April 13, 2009

Weekend Wrap-Up

Worst part of the weekend? Hmmm...which one??? Well, our kitchen faucet broke Friday night so we had to buy a new one, but that wasn't SO bad since the old one was kind of ugly and now we have a really pretty goose-necked one with a drop-down sprayer, LOVE! It just wasn't a *planned* expense right now. Then, our laptop also crashed Friday night too and we haven't been able to find the culprit yet to see if it can be salvaged or not....hopefully, we don't have any other mishaps anytime soon!

Best part of the weekend? Church service and spending Easter with my family.

Most random part of the weekend? Probably Friday evening's mishaps! Everything else was mostly planned.

People I saw this weekend? David, Hudson, Marcia, my mom and dad, Karen, Joe, Chris, Matt, Cassidy, Debbie, Mark, Lindsay, Travis, Shelby, Tabitha, Michelle, Kayla, Danielle, Nicholas, D.J., LaWanda, LaTisha and Seth. Ha! That was a mouthful! All of my family that was at my parents house for Easter lunch. :)

Something I wished I did this weekend that I didn't get around to? A few different things, including not having time to get caught up on design work....just so busy!

Things that I am looking forward to this week? David only working two days this week, the MetroMoms event Thursday night and of course, I am looking forward to the weekend, ha!

Things that I am not looking forward to this week? Getting up early and probably not getting enough sleep all week, ugh....

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Saturday Shakedown


Today was a long day for sure with some highs and lows, but overall, things could be far worse and I have to remember that we are so very blessed despite these small challenges that have been put on our plate. Here is my Cliffs Notes version of our semi-action-packed Saturday >>>

  1. Slept in until around 10 am
  2. Had fun playing with Hudson in the bed watching cartoons
  3. Got up and got ready for our day
  4. Boo - our laptop crashed last night and we can't get it to work so another thing added to our list of errands.
  5. Went to Home Depot for a part for our kitchen faucet (our faucet went kapoot Friday night and we had to purchase and install an emergency replacement, I'll post pics later of our new super pretty faucet. :D)
  6. Had a yummy lunch at Chili's - seriously, I ate like there was no tomorrow and it was SO.FREAKING.GOOD!
  7. Went to Kohl's and got Hudson shoes to wear with his Easter outfit
  8. Stopped by Best Buy to get a battery for the laptop (not the large battery, but some smaller one that David thought might be the culprit for our problems, I am no expert, so I couldn't tell ya what this was for my life!)
  9. Came home - David finished working on our kitchen faucet
  10. Popped in Kung Fu Panda in Hudson's room and cuddled with my little man in his comfy big-boy bed
  11. Proceeded to fall asleep and nap in Hudson's bed for 2 + hours (this was much needed and completely heavenly)
  12. Hudson trashed his room while I took said nap
  13. I went to CVS to get some more goodies for Hudson's Easter basket
  14. Got a pedicure and manicure
  15. David fixed the laptop while I was out, but it crashed again before I made it home.
  16. Drove home from getting nails done in the pouring rain - this was no bueno, but at least I made it to my car before the sky fell out.
  17. Said hello to the Easter bunny as I arrived home (we have a bunny that frolicks in between our house and our neighbors)
  18. David cooked the corn casserole and green bean casserole for tomorrow's lunch at my parents
  19. Dinner - leftover fajitas...super yummy!
  20. I gave Hudson a much-needed haircut and David assisted ;)
  21. Tried on countless things in my closet looking for something to wear to church service in the morning, finally found a few options that fit and look semi-cute, so I am happy for now.
  22. Filled eggs with candy for egg hunt tomorrow.
  23. Put together Hudson's Easter basket and set it up with his other goodies on what we call the Easter chair, lol!
  24. Baked lemon cheesecake bars.
  25. David relaxing a bit and playing some good-ole PS3.
  26. Checking emails and updating the blog ;)
  27. Time for bed - we have to get up early and have a long day tomorrow!
  28. Hope everyone has a very happy and incredibly blessed Easter.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Friday Fill-Ins

1. Anonymous...has no backbone.

2. My family is a blessing to me!

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for you make me strive for a better life for myself and my loved ones.

4. Rays of sunshine dancing on my skin, cool crisp breezes, the smell of a rain shower and gorgeous blossoms are what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when they've got a supportive family and friends and their faith to guide the way.

6. Candy and eggs and toys, oh my!, MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending time with David and Hudson having a nice family dinner together, tomorrow my plans include mailing my late franchise tax return, finding Hudson some shoes for Easter, getting myself a pampering little pedicure and not sure what else and Sunday, I want to celebrate the Easter holiday with my family.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Moooo.....

Random thoughts for the day.....

Seriously, I feel like I look like this lately.....like a fat-ole-tired-ass cow.



I know I don't look *that* bad, but I sure do feel like it with my lovehandles creeping up around the top of my jeans. I think it's time for a work out plan of some variety....possibly I should start using the treadmill that is currently covered in a thick bed of dust and cobwebs and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to not feel like such a freaking blimp anymore. Eh', I just need to find the time to do it I guess and make that commitment....not sounding too easy or fun to me though.

Ugh....between the fact that I feel like I look huge, I am completely and totally sick of my allergies and the fact that they have invaded my body. I can't stop sneezing, my eyes are itchy and watery and my poor nose is now literally raw from rubbing, wiping and blowing it countless times over the past week or so. Seriously, I am feeling like a hot mess right now, lol. Hopefully, the weather starts getting a little bit more consistent (instead of warm then cold then warm then cold) and I will be able to get my allergies a bit more under control. They really aren't this bad usually, so I am hoping it's just a fluke thing for me.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Arrgh....Our Little Pirate....

Birdwatching.....

Monday, April 6, 2009

Weekend Wrap-Up

Worst part of the weekend: Nothing *too* bad happened, but if I had to pick the worst I would actually have two less than desirable happenings - 1) One of David's tires blew out on Saturday, so that sucked. 2) David worked on our taxes last night and it *looks* like we are going to owe the government a huge-ole' chunk of moolah. NOT a good thing!

Best part of the weekend: Spending a ton of time together as a family...probably the best part was working together on the backyard all afternoon / evening on Saturday.

Most random part of the weekend: Um, maybe Hudson sharing his dinner with his Diego toy figure last night, lol! It was seriously one of the cutest and funniest things ever!

People I saw this weekend: Just David and Hudson....we stayed home all weekend with the exception of going to Home Depot for plants and Target for some household items.

Something I wished I did this weekend that I didn't get around to doing: I didn't get to give Hudson a haircut like I had planned.

Things that I am looking forward to this week: *Possibly* going to a MNO on Thursday evening, possibly working a half-day on Friday and then of course, the Easter weekend. Cannot wait to spend time with the family.

Things that I am not looking forward to this week: Dealing with Hudson alone for several nights....virually always a challenge.

Now, tell me about your weekend!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

I think I *need* these....

(need being the completely subjective word in this phrase, ha!)

In all seriousness though, I am totally debating ordering me a pair of these....LOVE the pocket embellishments! Of course, I may have to get a pair or two with a different pocket design as well because I just love them that much and would likely want to wear the heck out of them.




My New Favorite Dessert....

I think I have fallen in love or at least found my new favorite dessert....the Lemoncello Cream Torte from Cheesecake Factory, OMG, this is the freaking best thing ever! I've had it before, but it was the frozen version that you buy at like Costco or something and even still, I thought that it was the bomb-diggity. So, you can only imagine, when I saw the real-deal version at Cheesecake Factory last night I could NOT resist trying it out and goodness gracious, I am SO glad that I did because this lemony treat is beyond perfection! The cake is moist and fluffy, the lemon mascarpone cream is absolutely heavenly and just melts in your mouth while the fresh whipped cream and sweet strawberries are simply divine making this dessert nothing short of delectable! Seriously, if you like lemon, you must try this because it is truly, so, so very delicious!



Friday, April 3, 2009

My Little American Idol

Want to know what's the cutest thing ever??? Hudson singing "Hey There Delilah", lol! The other night when we were driving home from my mom's it was on the radio and he was singing along, SO cute!

Okay, so here's how it goes, first the real lyrics...

"Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me. Oh, it's what you do to me..what you do to me."

Hudson's version...

"O-o-o-o-h, me-e-e-e-e....o-o-o-o-h, me-e-e-e-e....o-o-o-o-h, do-o-o me-e-e-e-e.....o-o-o-o-h, me-e-e-e-e!!!!"

LOL! Or something to that effect, but it was seriously SO cute! Just wish I had been able to catch it on video....that would have been perfect! He loves to sing lately, so we just might have a little American Idol in the making, ha! ;)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Somebody LOVES Him Some Strawberries.....


A New Month = A New Look


Yes, I was not feeling the St. Patrick's day them anymore, so I updated our blog with a fresh new look. Check it out! :)