04/04 - Best Foot Forward

I am celebrating a birthday this week -- of which I have very mixed feelings.  I was able to meet up with a couple of friends for dinner in honor of my birthday though, so I guess it's not ALL bad getting another year older.  Now that I work full-time out of the house I don't get to spend as much time with some of my mommy friends since the busy-ness in our lives takes us in different directions.  It was nice to try and connect for a brief couple of hours.

04/03 - Best Foot Forward

Tonight my feet lead the way to a soccer game.  USF vs The Tampa Bay Rowdies.  We are a soccer loving family these days and taking the kids to see the local college soccer games has proven to be a lot of fun...and an in expensive family outing as well.

ºoº ~ Magical Monday ~ ºoº

Most people don't really look forward to Mondays...and I am definitely one of those people -- unless I happen to have the day off of work ;) 

I decided to start something new and make each of my Mondays a
                 ºoº ~ Magical Monday ~ ºoº

Today actually IS a Magical Monday for me though.  I was able to do online check-in for my arrival to The House of Mouse this Friday!  This week is my birthday and the only thing I asked for from the Hunky Hubby and our babes is a weekend at Walt Disney World...and no whining, crying, picking, fighting, annoying or complaining ;)

One of the things I love most about living in Florida is being so close to The House of Mouse. 

Walt Disney World is My Happy Place.

I am like a kid in a candy store and I never get tired of being there. This year they came out with the monthly payment plan for Florida Residents Annual Passes and we have been able to take advantage of that....SO much easier on the wallet for sure! 

So in just 4 short days, I will be picking the kiddos up from school and making our way to My Happy Place for my birthday -- complete with dinner in Italy ;)  La Dolcie Vita!

04/02 - Best Foot Forward

Tonight we were at the baseball field for Stevie's game.  You see that 3rd baseman, kind of blurry there between my shoes...yep, he's mine ;)

Never really been a big baseball fan -- more of a soccer and a football fan really...but I do so enjoy watching when it is one of my kiddos out there.  How can I not be a fan then, right? ;)



Couldn't resist sharing a couple more pics...he looks good out there, don't he? ;)

04/01 - Best Foot Forward

Day 1 of my Best Foot Forward project and ALREADY I am having trouble!

I am torn as to which photo to use.  I got together with 2 of my girlfriends to watch a movie based on a book we had all read (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil...just in case you were wondering).  We met at my BFF's home and coincidentally, her precious babes just happen to be my god babies as well ;)

I snapped this pic of Little G while he was sitting under my chair...


precious, right?

 Later, I snapped a pic of the 3 of us hanging in the kitchen...

But now I can't decide which one to use?  What do YOU think?

Are you ready?

Today is April 1st! 
That means it is time to put your

BEST FOOT FORWARD

No, those aren't my shoes, but aren't they HOT?  Wonder how far I could walk in them before I fell on my face?!  Not my legs either...DAMN IT!  Oh well...

Looking forward to seeing what you gals come up with.  If you post your pics on your blog please be sure and link it back in the comments section, or you can email me your favorite pics from the week.  Thinking it will be fun to do a wrap up at the end of the week!

And remember, it's not really about the shoes...but where they take you this month :)

My World - Made By Hand: 400 Followers { YIPPEE } GIVEAWAY...

Are you a lover of PEEPS?
I mean really, are they NOT just the cutest?
Then be sure and check out Jessica's super cute giveaway on her blog: 
My World - Made By Hand: 400 Followers { YIPPEE } GIVEAWAY...

GOOD LUCK! :)

A little spring time

Man oh MAN, the weather is cRaZy here today.  Severe storms and tornados.  I woke up to a tornado warning this morning and it got so loud outside we actually woke up the kids and headed to the closet...a definite first for us!  We don't usually get too many tornado warnings in these parts and we have already had two.  At least one of them touched down near us.  I decided I don't really get paid near enough to make it worth my while to drive in this weather  so I called into work and I kept both kiddos home from school.  Alyson has set up a little camp in my husand's closet ;)

Since I have a little free time I thought I would share one of my recent projects. 

I was inspired by Madigan Made's Painted Milk Glass Apothecary Jars  as well as her Milk Glass Christmas Trees.  She has a love of painting things white and I think she ROCKS it!

Are these not gorgeous or what?

I decided to start out small and found a vase that I wanted to use with some cute ceramic white birds I found on clearance at Michael's.  


cute, right?



My vase was just one of those clear glass vases that at one time had some very pretty flowers in them from my hubby.  I had some white spray paint already (although just as I started spray painting I realized it was actually primer...but it worked out just fine - not really sure it made a difference.) 

I taped up my vase and got ready to paint...

Not sure if you saw my Pottery Barn Inspired post but I had the first project I shared in mind as I was painting this vase and when I saw those ceramic birds on clearance at M's.


Adorable, right?

 Since I don't have any cute bunnies and such, I opted to just work with what I have on hand {which really isn't much} and kept my little display more spring themed rather than for Easter.  It is not as fancy as my inspiration but this is what I came up with...

Really happy with how my "milk glass" vase turned out and I just love it with my little birds...I just think they are so sweet.

SO sweet in fact that I ended snagging FOUR...but they WERE on clearance ;)

Like I said, not as fancy...but I am happy with it for now. I am not much of a floral arranger either so please don't judge me too harshly.   Maybe I will get lucky and find some cheap white plates at the thrift store or Ross next time I get a chance to go.

A big thank you to Madigan Made and Roeschel from The DIY Show Off for all the inspiration.  And speaking of Madigan Made inspiration...will be sharing my mirror turned chalkboard inspired by her as well very soon :)

Time for a pedicure?

Just a couple more days and I start my little photo project... BEST FOOT FORWARD

 
Thrilled to know that I have a few friends who plan to put THEIR Best Foot Forward with me :)  Thinking a pedicure is in order just in case ;)  Just in case I am not wearing cute shoes, I want my toes to at least look their best!

You can read about my original inspiration for this in my first post.  I love having fun little photo projects to do and since I will have an excuse for taking pictures of my shoes...well, how can it NOT be fun?!  LOL!  Seriously, though, it isn't about the shoes but more about just documenting where my feet take me over the month of April.  April is my birthday month as well as my anniversary month so maybe my feet will take me to some fun places ;)

Like browsing around Ross on my lunch hour...


CHEERS to my FlaminGals!

 If you are playing along I would love it if you would share your pics with me...maybe I could spotlight them over the week :)

Self Portraits in My Kitchen

So, do you remember the post I shared from Family Ever After?  Things have been so busy and crazy lately that I kept putting off taking my self portraits.  I really wanted my kitchen to be all cleaned up, wanted to have a cute little outfit on, makeup done, hair did....but alas, the stars just were not going to align in order for that to happen. 

So, the other day I was scrapbooking on the bar in my kitchen (because despite the fact that I have a great little corner of our home office to scrap in, it is currently in CHAOS and so I moved my creativity elsewhere for now) I was remembering that I still had not taken the self portraits.  My hair was twisted up in a clip, I have no makeup on, and *gasp* my kitchen was slightly messy BUT, I just decided to go for it.  I did grab my favorite kitchen apron though. 

Here ya go...for your viewing pleasure...please be kind ;)


I am only as strong as the coffee I drink and the hairspray I use :)

Thinking about what I should make for dinner?



See...I really was scrapbooking :)



Just don't tell anyone about the dirty dishes on the counter ;)



WHEW!  I am exhausted now!  LOL!

 

Feeling Lucky?

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I confess, I am not irish so I don't celebrate and it really is not a big deal in my house, BUT,  with that being said, the kids and I are all wearing our green to show our support to all our irish friends and I have no problems having a beer (or two) and saying CHEERS to all those who do celebrate! :)

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, LUCK was the theme of the week at the House of Paper.  I wanted to do a couple of layouts that were a little less "traditional" when it came to thoughts of luck -- here's what I came up with...



click to enlarge image

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these pics of my Sports Star playing goal keeper and I thought the quote was PERFECT!  Have to give props to My Hunk for that one.  I was telling him about the layouts I was working on and that I wanted to use some of Stevie's soccer pics and he quoted me "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity".  Couldn't have said it better myself!

(I used the new Teresa Collins Sports Edition as well as a little Echo Park)




click to enlarge image

 

Love the Jason Mraz song Lucky -- especially the Glee version ;) and so I thought it was another fun twist to doing a Lucky Layout ;)  (I used Lily Bee Lovely on this one)

What do you think?

Are you celebrating today?

P.S.

SEEEEEEEE, I am wearing my green at the office today! :)




Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Pottery Barn Inspiration

I just love all the fantastic ideas out there in Blogland (is that an actual word or just something we all made up?  LOL!)  I also love Pottery Barn -- BUT, like most, am NOT really a fan of their high price tags. 

I came across a couple of ideas that have really inspired though for doing some Pottery Barn inspired decorating at home for a LOT less and I wanted to share them.  Both of these ideas seem TOTALLY doable for the thrify crafter -- even for someone like me who works full time and still has to be a full time mommy and wife, which of course means my creative time tends to be very limited.

Roeshel from The DIY Show Off  really blew me away with her PB inspired Easter Decor

THIS was her inspiration from Pottery Barn

Go check out her blog to see exactly how she put hers together...all for under $20!  And I don't know about you, but I actually like HER version better than the original!



The other one that caught my eye is from A Soft Place to Land.  The fact that she calls it a Pottery Barn Hack absolutely cracks me up!  LOL!

Her inspiration from Pottery Barn:

HER Pottery Barn Hack:

Super cute with a LOT better price tag!  You can go to her blog for the full & super easy tutorial on how she made hers as well.



SO?  What do you think?

Blog Crushing and Guest Posting!

I am so super excited today...

I was asked to do a GUEST POST by Andrea at Project Envy!

I am SO thrilled  and just GIDDY that she would ask me!

So PLEASE head over to her blog and check it out. 

You can see the Top Ten Blogs I am crushing on right now!

Self Portraits in My Kitchen

Stumbled across a new blog today: Family Ever After

And on her blog she is hosting a fun little party...so fun in fact, that I think I am going to play along.  It is called Self Portraits in My Kitchen -- HA!  How fun does that sound?  Besides which, anything I can do that will make my kids look at me in absolute wonderment as to the actual validity of my sanity is always a plus! ;)

And is she not just the cutest?

Since it is not quite time for my April Best Foot Forward project this will something fun to do in the mean time :)  Be sure and check out her blog and see some of the other super cute and creative pics she took of herself.

Put your best foot forward...

Remember my post where I showed you the cutest shoes ever...and confessed that I have a thing for shoes?  Well, I also have this friend, Amanda and she has a thing for taking pictures of her feet.  So for the last couple of weeks, we have been exchanging pictures of our feet!  LOL!  Yes, I suppose some would say we have issues...but at least we are having fun! 

I actually sent her this one today...

I love my little bag there too...picked that up some time ago from Michaels...couldn't resist the apron that matched  -- so that's in my kitchen ;)

A couple of other recent feet pics...

So WHY am I sharing my feet with you? 

Well, in my blog hopping, I came across this post from Lisa at My Life - Perfectly Imperfect and knowing Amanda like I do, I knew I had to share it with her.

Amanda and I are both scrapbookers...she is one of my FlaminGals (that's a story for another day...) and we met through The House of Paper.  Anyway, it was after I shared the mini album with her that we began exchanging pics...then we both thought doing a mini album like Lisa's would be fun...AND having someone else playing along at the same time would make it even more fun...SO for the whole month of April, we are both planning to take daily pictures of our feet...yep, I warned you we have issues.

Anyone else have similar issues? We would love to have you join us and play along!

Let's get this week started off with a BANG!

Better late than never!

This week was Dr. Seuss's birthday.  March 2nd to be exact.
Now that my kids are getting older, it's not really that "cool" to celebrate it but they have always been fans of his work.  I still love Dr. Seuss -- how can you not?!

SO in honor of his birthday this week I thought I would share a few Seuss inspired layouts I have done over the years.  Man how these pictures take me back...miss my babes being so little.  (feel free to click on the images to get a closer look)
 
I used one of my favorite Seuss quotes for this layout of The Boy.  He was just about 5 years old in that picture -- hard to believe he was that little.  Still gets that same look on his face these days though ;)

We moved back to Florida in the summer of 2004 and so my kids loved spending time at Seuss Landing at  Islands of Adventure - Universal Studios.  It was like stepping into one of his books and they were just in awe. 

They had so much fun playing and exploring in the gift shops...



My son The Grinch!



My sweet little Cat in the Hat

Then when the characters came out....they were in heaven!

Sam I am!  Yes we like green eggs & ham!

My little Diva was a little afraid of getting too close to The Grinch at the time ;)

Nothing like meeting The Cat in the Hat in PERSON!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS <3



Somedays it really is all about the shoes

I have a thing for shoes.  I can admit it freely.

Don't worry, I don't go overboard or anything but I could seriously shoe shop for hours and never get tired of just trying them on...and some days I do just that.  When I have no errands to run on my lunch hour I will head over to DSW not too far from my office.  (Really helps that Target, Ross and The Dollar Store are right there too!)  I love to just walk through and look at all the shoes and sometimes I will even try them on.  Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of buying anything I want whenever I feel like it, so more times than not I leave empty handed.

But then I saw these beauties...

OMG.  I was utterly and completely in love!  And do you know what...they were on clearance!  AND I remembered I had a $10 gift certificate in my purse!!  OH the JOY!  They were the only ones left in the store and I couldn't believe it when they fit!  I mean seriously, was this meant to be or what?!

Now I realize not everyone would be as enthralled as I am with these lovelies but I have a passion for roses...I actually wanted to name our daughter Rose, but Hunky Hubby shot down every middle name I came up with so I eventually gave up.  SO I guess I will just have to appease myself with these shoes...

Yes, I took these photos at work...with my cell phone...just couldn't help myself...had to share -- because some days it really is all about the shoes!