Honesty Hour

do you ever find yourself judging other people? don't worry, i'll answer that for you: of course you do. we all do, right? i know before i became a parent there were all sorts of things "i would never do" that i totally do now. the moral of this story: the grass is always greener? um.... no that's wrong.

....... here is a confession, i used to judge other peoples' houses. not in a mean, critical way; but like "oh man that would drive me crazy" kinda way. ya know, those easy fixes that are bothersome, bad caulking (which i live with), holes in the walls that need to be patched (i got those too). well i have vowed, oh yes vowed, to never think that again. i would like to show you this. this, friends, is something that "would drive me crazy." let's be honest, it does drive me crazy. every. single. time. i look. at. it. and yet there it sits hangy and lopsided. i'm looking at it right now, actually and it's driving me crazy.

a christmas trolley ride

one of our advent activities was riding the trolley in downtown yakima. this trolley is old, like really really old.   and by really really old i mean 1910. we rode only a couple blocks but it was a really cool experience. they are hoping to fix the rails all the way to selah. wouldnt that be awesome?

here are some pictures i took of the trolley and station. i will do a post later with kiddos, but my blog is kinda being filled with them lately (because it's hard not to, of course, they are adorable).

isn't that soap dispenser cool? i was really glad i used the bathroom so i could see it. lol

copper leaf, oh how i love you

i read this blog post from Emily Henderson recently and loved the idea. i have never done gold leafing before but since, ya know, everyone is into metallics right now i thought i'd try my hand at this. i used copper leaf on recycled jars as christmas presents this year.
here are some that i kept for myself, because.... well i couldn't part with them :)

i won't redo a diy since you can just check out Emily's. i didnt buy the starter kit and used double sided tape on my candles. it worked really well and i felt like a got a more defined line that way. enjoy.

Merry Christmas

we hope this finds you all well today. enjoy your loved ones, eat good food and take a nap :)

a little pink

you wanna know a secret? i've always dreamed of having a pink christmas. have you seen Rachel Denbow's pink christmas? oh man! i'm so jealous. i do have a small collection of pink that in my deepest heart i hope will grow and just happen to take over christmas one year. but for now i just have a little baby pink spot.

guess what?!?!

i'm a little excited, ecstatic even; jumping up and down in my fuzzy pink robe (too much information? sorry). i'm excited!!!!

i entered my christmas mantel in two contests recently. you know the one i did a fun step by step for you on monday? that one. you didnt see it? oh, you should go look. (i know you didnt see it, cuz it had only one page view ha!)

anyway....... my mantel was featured on Emily Henderson's blog. no big deal. i would like to publicly state that i kind of love her. i watched and rooted for her on design star. i've seen all of her Secrets from a Stylist episodes, and the bestie spotted her in LA at Ikea. so we're kinda already friends. so entering that contest wasnt really fair to everyone else. oh jeeze, i've said too much (five sentences actually, yes i counted).
she is having a mantel contest and the winner gets something vintage from her collection! um, yes please.

but wait! that's not all. oh, no that is not all! (can you tell i read dr. seuss books all day?)
i also entered my mantel in design sponge's contest and I'M A FINALIST. oh man, this may be the best christmas ever. for this contest  you win money. cold hard cash. that  would be nice, i think.

will you, yes you, do me a favor? i know you are busy browsing facebook, chasing kiddos, drinking coffee, working, commuting, yelling at kids, dreaming, planning, christmas shopping, baking, stressing, ect. ect. but will you vote for me?  Here and Here. Pretty please. i would really appreciate it and i promise to remember you when i'm suPER famous.

mantel

here are some progressive pictures of how i did my mantel this year.

christmas tree, oh christmas tree

this is the first year z has really helped decorate. they were very excited about getting into all the boxes and decorations. and we've only broken 5 ornaments this year (two done by me ha).

isn't it funny how kids like to put all the ornaments in one spot. she put the mommy and baby ones together. so they wouldnt be lonely. how thoughtful of her. and yes i did leave them like that.

a little photographer

when zula saw me grab my camera to take pictures of christmas decor she found her own "hamera" and joined me. i think i may have a photographer on my hands. she corrected my stance when i was kneeling to get a good angle, i was sitting on the wrong knee, oops.

i know right?

everywhere you go....

i love love love christmas. it's one of my favorite times of the year. we usually are listening to christmas music by october and i decorate as soon as i can, well as soon as the husby lets me :)
just one month of christmas is not enough. i like to start early and drag it late. here are my christmas decorations this year, since i have two little ones they are mostly high and pared down (slightly).

i have more christmas stuff coming your way......

ps here is my inspiration board for this year, if your interested.

honesty hour, again.

hello. we are alive and well. finally. we have all passed through the sickness and made it out alive, barely. ha!
we had almost a full week of this dang bug getting passed around. but we are better, we are happy, i am back, and..... its ALMOST christmas! i have some christmas-y posts for you guys this week, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled, literally please, for that.

i just need to get this off my chest, my table has looked like this:

 

since THANKSGIVING!!!


how do i handle it, you may ask? a blind eye, folks, a blind eye.

well we had some very special friends over for dinner and that really got me motivated. lookie now:

lovely? yes. i think so. (please ignore my every-other curtained windows. there is a method behind that madness, i swear)


here's to two more weeks until christmas!!

honesty hour

this has been the worst. week. ever. i try not to be too negative here but, let's face it, sometimes really negative stuff happens in life. so in an effort to be real, vent and maybe laugh at my circumstances a little i will share this week with you.

it all started out like it was gonna be awesome. monday the husby had a surprise half day! we celebrated; jumped up and down for joy and high-fived each other (well we didnt actually high-five, but we felt like it). tuesday i went to bible study, had the time of my life, as usual. then it hit. like a ton of bricks, an "emotional roller coaster." you may know what i'm eluding too, i'm not gonna spell it out for you cuz this is kinda public. anyway. i was not feeling myself and had a crap day. a real crap day. the kinda day that before i had kids i would have just slept in, ignored everyone and kept my mouth shut. these things are impossible when you are a parent, especially the ignoring everyone part. all day i was trying not to lose my patience, which of course i did, which of course led to shame, like i'm a bad mom or something (stupid shame). i'm not a bad mom. i know this. i digress......
we survived. the husby got home we ate, the kids went to bed and ooh! adult time. a real conversation!

well the rest of the week just got worse. our dog got stolen. yes stolen. i'm pretty sure at least. he's gone and we're all just a LITTLE sad. then aaron's check was like a quarter of the size it normally is. that's when i cried, stressed out about money. stupid money. (actually i may have cried more than that.....)
then we GOT THE FLU. (in the middle of the night so we are still lacking in sleep) ack!!!

so i think you will agree with me, this week sucked. we're all on the mend, though. healthy again. i also have a nice warm house. we found a cheap heater on craigslist and we are even toastier than before. i also have a wonderful husband who took care of me and two kids, cleaned up vomit and kept the house clean all weekend. he really is amazing.  oh also.... i met some new neighbors, so that's always good.

i just wanted to keep things real here. we are on the mend, i'm still grumpy, we are alive and will survive. also i realize that these are very small problems in the big scheme of things but i dont want any of you to think things are perfect over here or anything.

and.... i dont even have any pretty pictures to share with you...... oh wait! i can come up with something:

so i found alot of pretty pictures :) dont you feel better? i do. these are from the Meege's baby shower this summer. didnt she do a good job decorating?

ps i'm also VERY thankful for PBS.