embrace the camera: december 15th

i have been "single parenting" A LOT lately. and its been hard. and its been getting to me. so a night out with my girlfriends was just what the doctor ordered. we were all pretty darn excited to be out (in a restaurant), together, with no kids and husbands, with no one to to feed but ourselves.

luckily, my friend brought her camera. thanks friend! here are the pictures from our evening....


me and candy


nicole and nola


candy, me, nola, nicole


nicole, candy, me, nola (tallest to shortest!)

just to compare...here i am with BLONDE hair.




yes, it is a DRASTIC change. i remember when my friend dyed her hair from a blonder shade to a very dark brown shade. she (and everyone else it seemed) talked about her hair for a really long time. i didn't know why. now i do. its because it is SUCH a change...a huge change, to go from blonde to brown. and people have opinions about it. which i actually want because i don't really LOVE this brown hair. i do like it, but i can't say i LOVE it. and a girl WANTS (needs) to love her hair. so opinions (said kindly) are welcome, because i'm curious what others prefer on me - vanilla or chocolate. however, it is pretty obvious when a friend says "oh. you dyed your hair brown." and that is where it is left. :-0

my husband LOVES it. my kids LOVE it. my mum likes it but is used to the blonde. some have said they like it better than blonde, some have said they prefer blonde.

me....i just don't know! however, i will tell you, i'm thinking of doing this in january...

source
source
OMBRE people, ombre. i kind of love it.

hmmmm....

i just read my blog. i liked it. its funny because when i get busy (which is always)i don't even think about blogging and when i do, i think "nothing exciting is going on so there's nothing to blog about"....so i don't blog.

but i just read my blog and i thought, gee, i'm sure glad i wrote down that stuff. because it will be neat to read it in a year or more from now.

so i should really blog more. (i think i've said this before!) in fact i think i set a goal last january 1st to blog EVERY SINGLE DAY. hahahahahahahahaaa! i funny girl.

i would really like to blog more, but it is the last thing on my mind with all the other responsibilities of life.

and it stresses me out to have to post pictures too. because seriously, what good is a blog without photos? lame, that's what.

so here are some pictures of late and info to go along with it.

little toot dropped a 5 lb. weight on his face - OUCH!

a day or two later - giving us the thumbs up to let the grandparents know he's fine...

the girls have CRAZY HAIR DAY at school. so much fun!

christmas party outfit

christmas party outfit by stephaniec21 featuring lace handbags

This is kind of sort of what I'm wearing this coming Friday night to my hubbie's company christmas party. i wanted to put it all together on Polyvore to see what it would look like. The blouse is different, but it is a white wrap top and yes, the RED HEELS. I bought them in Idaho this summer and have not yet worn them. Can't wait! (actually the party is dreadfully boring but it will be fun to get dressed up for once.)

embrace the camera november 17, 2011

didn't have a current one this week either so had to pull out this oldie. looking back through pictures quickly i was struck by how few had me AND the kids. it really is so important to take pictures WITH them. what a treasure in years to come!

random facts for november 14, 2011november 17, 2011

i always miss doing "11 on the 11th" or whatever...but its my blog so i can do what i want when i want.

1. i am "fasting" from blogs and websites. unless they pertain to my renovation. why? because i am spending WAY too much time looking on websites like Pinterest, and her blog and her blog and her blog. then what happens? i am rushing out the door, getting mad at a certain 3 year old who isn't putting his shoes on fast enough because we are going to be late to pick up his sisters. not cool i say, not cool. so for this week, i am NOT going to look at peoples blogs or websites.

2. i am not enjoying motherhood right now. is that okay to say outloud? i mean, i love them dearly, but i'm not ENJOYING the day to day. i am pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that i'm single parenting these days while my hubs renovates. i realize this is NOTHING to complain about. we are blessed to be able to renovate and have him do it in order to save mucho donero. but getting three kids out the door every morning, making lunches, dealing with the after school crankiness and witching hour hunger pains, homework, bible study, my OWN bible study lesson and then the night time process...well, its just wearing on me right now. and it won't be ending any time soon. like in another 3, 4 or 5 months. yeesh! my hat off to all single mothers every where. i applaud and salute and bow down to you, yes i do.

3. i am TRYING to not eat gluten right now. i say "trying" because if i'm at a birthday party and someone hands me a delicious cupcake full of gluten-y goodness i'm going to say "bring it!" and it will disappear in a matter of seconds. i've had a few backslides, but on the whole, i have not consumed a great deal of gluten in the past month. it hasn't been too bad, just takes a lot of planning and re-thinking of old stand-by's.

4. THIS cookbook has helped tremendously.

she (Silvana Nardone) is an "editor in chief" at the magazine Every Day with Rachael Ray and her recipes have been outstanding. i've tried mostly the dinner menus and also her waffle recipe yesterday morning. the waffles were more dense that when i use normal flour, but they were very tasty and the kids loved them. i have a whole bunch more recipes tagged in her book and once i have to take it back to the library i think i'll order it. dinner was so good last night, Greg and I nearly fought over who got the leftovers today!

5. the reason for giving up gluten? health issues that have sidelined me from my running and also have left me feeling like complete crap. i was at the point where i was ready to say "maybe i need to look at dietary changes?" in order to improve my health. that takes a lot for me. i am pretty stubborn when it comes to my diet - i do not want to have to give up or sacrifice ANYTHING. So when i started researching dietary issues that could be contributing to my health, gluten was the first thing that popped up. thankfully i'm doing this at a time when it is very, very common for people to have gluten issues.

6. the other thing it said to eliminate was dairy and sugar. HA! now that is a whole different ball game. i have drastically reduced dairy but sugar is another story. i have switched to soy in my Starbucks lattes (seriously, have you tried the caramel brulle latte? to.die.for.) i am trying to mostly avoid dairy products.

today i bought some "Silk" soy. i made a latte with my mum's fancy machine. i heated up the Silk and frothed it. i added vanilla syrup.

i think i threw up in my mouth.

it was ISS-gusting. i poured it down the sink. luckily i also bought some "Rice Dream" - it made a pretty good latte. i am trying not to go to Starbucks to buy caramel brulle lattes w/ soy because last week i had one every single day. do you know how much money that adds up to? $39.90 per week. that's $159.60 per month. which is $1915.20 per year. that is craziness if you ask me. and silly Starbucks won't sell their soy. it is made special for them. i have asked several Starbucks barristas if they will sell me their soy. they won't. i'm like an addict - i gotta find myself a dealer who will sell me the soy!



And FYI - starting tomorrow until November 20th, if you buy a holiday beverage you get a second one free!! free! you hear me! FREE! but only between 2-5 pm. and of course my coffee buddy isn't home right now so its not likely i'll take advantage of this offer. come back mum! come back!

7. did i mention i'm not ENJOYING being a mum right now? yah. its because of him.

cute isn't he? yes. i know.

but he's being such a stinker right now. like majorly. like dr. jekyll and mr. hide. one second he's telling me he loves me. the next he's telling me he's mad at me and he's kicking the wall or throwing something. he's pushing every boundary and i'm not dealing well with it. i love him SO very much. but he's driving me crazy. i need a night out weekend away from children and it isn't going to happen anytime soon. which means i'm probably not going to snap out of my funk any time soon. heaven help me!

8. i'm getting excited about our finished renovation. which is not going to be over any time soon but i haven't REALLY let myself get excited. because it seems surreal i guess. when you talk (and talk and talk and talk...etc., etc., etc.) about something for this long (EIGHT LONG YEARS PEOPLE!) and then it finally happens, it doesn't seem real. so i have been scared to be excited. weird. i know i am. but whatevs. deal with it.

but when i think of moving back in and how different it is going to be, i get excited. like giddy excited. can't wait to show it off!

9. can you believe how quickly Christmas is coming? every year i say i'm going to finish shopping by end of november. every year i fail. however, this year i am going to do something i say i will do every single year. that is not spend as much. it is ridiculous how much stuff my kids get from every one and they really don't need all that stuff and they don't know how much that stuff costs. so i say spend less, but make it look like a lot. i'm not going to go overboard. i'm going to focus more on meaningful things and the REAL reason of Christmas. (its about JESUS in case you were wondering ;-)

Mobile post?

Testing this post from my iPhone...

have you tried Polyvore?

Uh oh. I could spend hours here. You can create your own dream outfits. Kind of fun.
I created this one for a "going out" outfit. If I ever went out that is. And had this budget for my wardrobe.

going out outfit by stephaniec21 featuring embroidered pants

Stella McCartney button shirt
£655 - brownsfashion.com

True Religion embroidered pants
€229 - jades24.com

Jimmy Choo high heel pumps
$695 - footcandyshoes.com

Dorothy Perkins black clutch
£18 - dorothyperkins.com

Michael Kors bangles jewelry
$150 - michaelkors.com

Amrita singh jewelry
$80 - amritasingh.com

GIVEAWAY!

Go to Rebecca Cooper's blog...she is having a fab giveaway from Night and Day studios. But I hope I win - not you! ;-)

embrace the camera

going out with my mum and the 2 littles. probably for coffee! I think we went to the mall starbucks this day.


I am falling behind on getting some pics with me in it. life seems to be going at mach speed! i'm also having a hard time NOT being critical of my own photo. Yeesh. all i see is wrinkles and an aging face and some weirdness going on with my hair. not fun! but it is so true that the kids will LOVE to have photos of us together when they are older. so often i'm behind the camera taking pictures of them and so often i have to ASK my husband to take a picture of me when we're on a holiday so people know i was actually there too!

So thanks Mrs. Emily Anderson for encouraging us to embrace the camera! It is such a good thing to do.

embrace the camera

playin' around with my new iPhone...don't you take pics of yourself at the grocery store gas station?!!! ...all i see in this picture is those frown lines! Yeesh.



linking up here...LOVE HER.

the "i heart list"

i thought it would be fun to start a monthly list of things that i am loving right now. Okay, maybe it will be a post i do every OTHER month! but i think it will be fun regardless. (I started this post about OVER a month ago so clearly this is NOT going to be a monthly thing...more like a whenever thing!)

it might be things you can buy or things that i just want to document so i remember them years from now. here goes...

i heart (september OCTOBER 2011)...

1. THESE boots. Sigh. They are so cute. I.must.have.them!!! How to decide between red and violet hi-gloss? Adorable!


2. my kids.
of course they will ALWAYS be on this list but a funny thing Max said the other day must go on here. We went to our small group dinner on Saturday and he walked between 2 of the women there and said "Excuse me Ladies!" in a total Rico Suave kind of way. What the? I have NEVER heard him say that before so it was pretty surprising! And of course, they found it hysterical too! Little charmer he is.


3. Pinterest
Oh My Goodness! I could spend WAY too much time on there.So many cute ideas, clothes, house stuff...ETC.! I need a day that I'm not working or parenting to just sit and look at Pinterest all day - GUILT FREE!

4. hearing my kids say to the others "i love you". I hear this alot. Max tells both the girls he loves them at random times. Lily often tells Gabrielle and Max as well. The only one it doesn't come from is Gabrielle. She always reciprocates with an "i love you too" but isn't the instigator. That's okay, I know she adores them both.

5. date night. haven't had one in way too long as they've taken a back seat to renovating but soon, i hope, soon! missing them makes me appreciate them all the more.

6. POLYVORE. oh my. you can create dream outfits by clicking and dragging them onto a template. seriously! another website i need to spend some guilt-free time on.

7. yellow. love it.



(sources unknown)

8. Zara. i hadn't really shopped here until my cousin came for a visit in september. it has some CUTE stuff for great prices! Like this yummy blazer...i must have it.


9. this hair. i'm trying to grow mine long, long, long. i know it (and I) won't look like this but i want to try. a lot of work i bet though huh?

source: pinterest

tune in next month for another "i heart list". oh i'm going to be very popular i just know it.

embrace the camera - 09/22/11

date night on our 11th anniversay (sept.2) - we went to Lounge Burger. YUM! (terrible pictures w/ the iPhone - crappy lighting in the restaurant)


i love date night. we are lucky/blessed/fortunate enough to get one EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. Thank you mother in law! i'm sure i've mentioned how it helps our relationship greatly to get this time together.

next i told him to do "blue steel" (from Zoolander) and he really had no idea what that was...but good try none the less!

embrace the camera

i haven't posted an "embrace the camera picture" in so very long and i really do love it - what a treasure all these pictures are.


i love this picture of me and lily. max took it with my iPhone! we went out for coffee, after dropping Miss G. off at school. we do this alot and they love going for coffee! i love just hanging out with them. i'm realizing how precious these moments are with them now that little miss sunshine is at kindergarten every day now.

some days i just want to be out of the house, hanging out with my friends, getting a break. but lately i want more time with my kids - life is going by too fast and soon enough they won't want to hang out with their mum.

Get organized...

It is a goal I have this new school year...MUST. GET. ORGANIZED. We will be starting a renovation soon and if I'm not organized well, there might be a divorce or a felony committed. Or, more likely, I will be committed to an insane asylum.

If you want to be organized, like I'm going to be... go to Rebecca Cooper's blog for your chance to win a class on how to get organized.

But I'm going to win...so don't bother.

hello? (hello, hello, hello.... say that in an echo sound)

Yeah. Blogging. It ain't happening. I have no time, energy or desire right now. If i could blog by transmitting my thoughts via brain waves, then I'd be an every day blogger. But that hasn't been invented yet, so until then...no blogging for me.

I am sooooo busy. Work comes first. SEVEN clients right now. Count 'em. SEVEN. They are all of varying degrees, and it won't be like this for long, but it sure is a lot to handle right now. My job is always feast or famine it seems. Right now it is feast. Very tight deadlines and quick turn arounds for a few of the projects. Which means its kind of stressful and that means my house suffers for it. Like it is a pig-sty. In every room. And even if I had energy to tidy, there would be none left over for the actual cleaning part. I think I need to get someone in here to clean otherwise I have no clue when that is going to occur.

I leave you with this...



You might see something similar around my house some day. Soon.

mmmmm....yummmy!

I'm seriously going to get into this blogging thing like crazy some day soon I swear.

But right now? I'm going to eat a DQ Blizzard..blogging can wait. (turtle pecan cluster...jealous mum? its for a good cause...proceeds go to the children's miracle network today so I TOTALLY had to do it). Bye.

We are going on a summer holiday....

Edit* This was written WHILE i was on summer holiday (forever ago it seems) but blogger wouldn't let me post it... so its a bit outdate but whatevs.


Well, we already are on a summer holiday and so far so good. It is lovely here and smoking hot. We had 9 days without our kids before meeting up with them in Sandpoint, Idaho. It was a treat and a break, but not relaxing like you might think.

That is because we tackled their playroom. As in purging, painting, organizing, re-decorating (pictures to be posted later). It looks fantastic - we both love it. It was a big job, but one that had to be done without children around, because they of course cannot let anything go and it was in dire need to some serious sorthing and tossing. I cannot wait to show them - I'm very pleased with it.

Nine days was a treat for sure but after about 3 or 4 days we both missed them terribly. The one who we thought would miss us the most, couldn't have cared less about his parents. The one who we thought couldn't have cared less, phoned on day 2 sobbing because she missed us (Miss G.). It was awesome to see them again and have them run up to us and hug us tighter than they ever have before. Max on the other hand barely glanced our way and was more interested in getting out of the truck and his shoes off. Then he wanted to check out the house we rented, and finally after 5 minutes when I forced him to hug me did he decided to not let go for the next 2 hours. He must have told me every 10 seconds after that that he loved me and missed me. Stinker!

Now, 2 days in, its is life as normal with tantrums and arguements and bedtime snacks and early wake ups.

Today we will do what we did yesterday - beach all day. Then through the week, we'll check out Silverwood Amusement Park and for sure my mom and I are going to have a shopping day (Target! Whoo hoo!)....and of course more of the beach. Love it.

Embrace the Camera

Me and my boys...

Max being carried of course...some days this drives me bananas but other days I fully embrace it because I know it won't last forever. And I'll actually miss carrying him. He is such a doll...and a monkey!



the mister and me...Gabrielle was taking this photo and saying "Daddy! You're not smiling!" (I had just said to him SMILE!!! Which he hates FYI!!)

linkin' up here y'all...

photos

i had a fun time playing around with some photoshop actions...this was last weekend when we took the kids to Elbow Falls. They loved it. We loved it. We'll do it again...for reals.
Packed a camping type lunch (hot dogs, chips and s'mores) and spent a better part of the day out there. Walked to the falls. Tried to skip stones on the very fast moving river (yikes). Even got to read my book a bit. Good times. Good times.

Here you go...a feast for your eyes.
oKAY...no feast of photos. Why? Be/c Blogger isn't allowing me to upload picture! Boo! Hiss! That is so lame. Yay! Blogger is letting me post pics today...





How about some cute things they kids have said? Alrighty then.

The other day Max said to us.."I want Jesus. I want Jesus come to our house!" Seriously cute!

I always tell Gabrielle to not get upset when we are looking for something (like a lost something) - I always tell her to pray about it be/c God knows where it is. So the other day she and Lily are playing and I see them walking around searching for something...Gabrielle says to Lily "You don't need to get upset about it Lily, you just need to pray about it. Jesus knows where it is." Sigh! Love that I witnessed her faith in that moment...and that SOME of the things I try to teach her actually get through.

A week or two ago, after leaving Safeway with Lily and Max, I thought I left my purse at Safeway and had a moment of panic. I found it quickly (in the car) and said "Phew!" and of course they asked what I was talking about so I told them I thought I left my purse at Safeway and that would have really scared me." Of course Max asks "Why?" (Because he asks why about a million times a day) and Lily says "Mommy, if you left it at Safeway you would have said Oh Shit!" My mouth dropped open and she started howling laughing! She thought this was hysterical! She laughed to the point of crying and then said "you gave me happy tears!" It was pretty dang funny.