a little perspective

The holidays are here and we're all scrambling to get things done, finish wrapping, baking, and decorating. I know I'm truly blessed to have all that I have, a home, health, family, food, job, the list goes on. Feeling a little melancholy these days because sometimes live throws us curve balls and it depends on if you choose to catch them or let them fall. But really, whats important to me right now is my family and the time we get to spend with each other. Happily that is. Everything thing else is just a bonus. A friend of mine posted this video on her blog and it kind of lifted my spirits and made me remember all that's been given for us, plus I like how its broken down. A little perspective that is. Now I'm off to tackle the shopping, wrapping, baking hoola but with a little more pep in my step because I can.

G's in the house

That would be Granny and Gingerbread. What a combination. Granny came down to visit and not without gifts, she brought a honeybaked ham. What is up with all the hype? I mean it was good but so not worth my Granny spending her hard earned money and then you can't heat it up, whats up with that? Anyways, it was demolished quickly while we watched my 49ers kick butt on MNF. Love it.

Since I had been promising my favorite niece Alyssa we would do something Christmassy/Crafty, I brought home a Gingerbread House. Now, I loathe Gingerbread House kits. We have many past Gingerbread House fails. They make it seem so easy and mess free, ummm NOT. Its so messy and its not easy keeping those stale gingerbread walls up. But I thought I would give it one more try.

Since my child wasn't into it, she's a little bah hummbugg these days and I have no idea why. Is the Christmas Cheer not rubbing off me to her, I guess not. Luckily Alyssa is always up for something fun plus she's a great little helper. Needless to say the process was still messy this time around, I was completely covered in sugary mess. I just decided to forgo using the icing bag and used a spoon to help smear it on with my hand. I let Alyssa place all the candy. It worked out probably because I used gobs of icing to hold up the walls and pretty much had nothing left for the candy so we just laid the candy out and called it candy cane lane, hehe. What a waste of money that kit is but she loved it. She's like "Auntie J, now we have a tradition just me and you". Aww man, how can I say no to that sweetness. I guess we have a tradition on our hands. Maybe next year I can convince her to make a gingerbread house with legos, I'm pretty sure I can manage that since she's all about fun.

All in all it was a fun night. We had some tasty ham, a new tradition for next year and we even sang off key to our favorite Christmas Carols (with the 49er game on in the background of course). I love my peeps.

Santa's best elf proud of her G House

Loving this kid, she's kind of rubbing off on me. I love that she comes over and is like "Auntie J, what are we going to make today". A kid after my own heart.

Granny and her greats.

Granny and her favorite Grand Daughter Pumpkin (she knows this). We're so lucky to have the old bird visit us.

look whats under the tree

So far, I haven't taken any pictures of my crafty adventures - top secret people. But of course I have all the time in the world to take snaps of Double Jump, my beautiful furbaby. Lately she's been up to no good. She might get evicted soon if she doesn't start thinking more like a cat living the life of luxury and less like spideycat climbing the flat screen, ummmhmmmm. But doesn't she look darling in the picture below. All she's thinking is "enough, where's the catnip I was promised." She cracks me up because before we had any presents under the tree (even though its still pretty sparse because at this house we wrap pretty much  last minute) she swore she was like Tom Cruise in Risky Business sliding on the tree skirt across the room. I never knew where I was going to find it the next morning since its been found all the way in the kitchen. Although ever since the tree skirt's been nailed down by presents thats when this whole SpideyCat started. Hmm, maybe I should let her have the tree skirt and we can keep the flat screen scratch free. It is quite entertaining though, perhaps a video should follow....soon my peeps. Now I'm off to Michaels to gather more supplies for the secret project and well just because I like to go and buy sparkly stuff.

She's not really innocent, she just looks it. But I can't resist her cuteness so she gets away with murder.

a little m.i.a.

I've been a little M.I.A. Feeling overwhelmed by the holidays, can't wait for my vacation. Just 6 more work days left. I have so much left to do. I'm such a procrastinator its not even funny. Mark my words, I will be running around like a chicken with her head cut off next friday (pay day) to finish my shopping and projects. Speaking of projects - project life fail, no christmas song garland (although we do have snowflakes as of yesterday) and a very sad crooked christmas tree, haha. Anyways, I'm just going with the flow. If I don't finish my projects then I don't, I'm stressing myself out here. Maybe I will now consider them New Years gifts. We shall see. One thing I did do that I'm happy about. Took a picture of Santa with my baby. I've never taken Christmas pictures with her and although we are just wearing grubby clothes, I love it. Plus whats cooler than a Santa with a sombrero, ugh nothing. I also got the last of my Christmas cards out today, yay me.

my baby's smile is so beautiful - love that kid more than a fat kid loves cake, in my case more than i love peppermint candy ice cream - yum

It was a Wicked day

If I had an English accent, I would totally say Wicked all the time but I don't so I say Dude, or Rad. Anyways, I went to see Wicked  last night with some friends. Since it was my second time seeing it, I was really looking forward to really hearing more of the music and singing. Last time I was just entranced by all the dancing and sometimes I lose myself in the story so I always appreciate a second chance to do something. Plus it was a different cast.

Wowzers to the singing. Glinda was my favorite. Probably because she has a more frilly type voice (kind of reminded me of the movie Enchanted). Elphaba was great too, she had more range and I give that girl props for being green for the next few weeks, haha.

I had no idea we would be there on Opening Night, so here are a few pics of the celebrities that stopped by. I never remember names, I only know them by their tv characters, haha. The two guys in front of me were cracking up because I kept saying the wrong name and we were so close to the red carpet, I know the celebrities had to hear me. Ooops.

Penny from the Big Bang Theory - love her

Kim Johnson from DWTS  and Christian? from DWTS?

Manny from Modern Family and the girl (i don't know, but she looks familiar)

Dr. Marlena Evans from Days of our Lives, total blast from the past. I love that soap but not as much as GH

Hello, Molly Ringwald! Of course I know her name and have most of her movies. #1 being Sixteen Candles with Pretty in Pink a close second. It was totally awesome seeing her. Only thing that would have made it better was if Jake Ryan showed up.

A few other celebrities were there like Bruce Vilanch (Hollywood Squares), some guy from Seinfeld?, some Disney show Victorious girl, and Hercules (Kevin Sorbo). I obviously wasn't prepared for all the stars and had to use my camera phone but it was still fun. I had a really nice pic of me taken too for my scrapbook but it was deleted (that's what I get for having a 12 year old take it). Let me just say that I would not want to be a celebrity and have all those flashes in my face. I kind of know why the paparazzi's take like 100 pictures though because all the flashes from the other camera's mess up the shot you're trying to take.

Overall fun night, except I was so tired from the lack of sleep due to the high winds from the night before ( probably slept like 2 hours because I was terrified something was going to land on my roof and crush me to my death - i know the drama but I'm serious - super scary) that honestly I was dozing off halfway through Act One. Its OK though, I had a fun night with my friend Jeanette. But note to self....next time plan a night out on the weekend so you can sleep in the next day and not have to brave the roads on the way to work because seriously it took me twice as long to get to work with all the power lines down and roads blocked. All I gotta say is "Hello Weekend, I've been waiting for you."

Day 8 of 25 ways to wear a scarf " the celebrity"

Day 7 of 25 ways to wear a scarf " The braid"

weekend in pictures

Nothing like a little turkey and football

Me and my bro - a little blurry (dumb camera phone, ok user: me) but I never get any pics of us together

Me and Rab "enough already Mom" haha

Black Friday shopping, i restrained myself

they didn't have my size but my sweetheart picked me up one the next day - awesome

76 Classic " Thanksgiving Tradition" 6 games watched over 3 day period- prizes won = family happy

Rab won (Mike won) an autographed ball  - Nice!

Part of the winnings included $100 game vouchers to the ESPN zone, plus $50 in vouchers and $50 in gas - we cleaned up

USC! USC! USC! plus trivia,  chicken wings, family fun  = priceless

Drawing pictures and writing love letters on Starbucks napkins = just being us

Christmas photo shoot "Really, another picture?"

bloggy love: style addition

I'm not feeling very crafty at the moment, mostly overwhelmed. Last night I did go to Walmart with the intention of finding a nativity for Samantha as her advent gift - major fail. Boo Walmart and your limited selection. Lately it seems like I'm uninspired or Ok just plain lazy so when I get home I just want to catch up on my recorded programs or spend time daydreaming about perusing the nail polish aisles at Target. I'm totally addicted to nail polish now! Everyone laughs at me and my gold nailpolish but I love it. I would totally bypass Starbucks hot chocolate and lemon loaf for an $8 polish by Essie. My favorite colors are the brightest and the darkest if that makes any sense. I use to be a pale nail type of girl. Now I'm like have at it. So today as I was stalking nail art, I found a bunch of fabulous blogs I'm going to add to my stalking list:

That is all: Great makeup tutorials and fun nail polish posts of course


Hello Suburbia: Fun pics and day in the life:)

The Style Projects: OMG, I love Sharde, she's so cute and has such a cute style plus she DIYs alot

Good Night Little Spoon: I love this site, very vintage and crafty goodness


MaieDae: Lots of handmade and inspiration

oh and i like this quote "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken" Oscar Wilde

Day 7 of 25 way  to wear a scarf

"the European loop"

a little christmas survey

Since I still feel like I'm recouping from my whirlwind of a weekend, a little Christmas quiz is in order. Lets cross our fingers that tonight I finish an advent I've been making for Samantha and narrow down my December Daily choices which is probably going to be super simple not what I dreamed of but oh well thats life.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Eggnog wins hands down during the holidays especially freshly made egg nog but any other day I'm a hot chocolate girl all the way

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them and tries to make them look pretty but he's pretty busy and very last minute so sometimes its a quick job but always with an ounce of love.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I love colored lights but I think I want blinking white lights this year, giving that white Christmas feel.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I do remember having it as a kid but I don't for some reason.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Whenever I find the time. If I could have, they would have been up right after Halloween, so hopefully the majority are going up this weekend when I find a tree.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I honestly don't have a favorite. I just love to eat. Probably pies, tamales, ham, cranberries, and granny's ambrosia are my favorite.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? One year my brother and I decided to unwrap some of the presents under the tree. I remember carefully opening them and then wrapping them back up but then on Christmas I guess I was a little sad because the excitement was lost.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I heard one of my parents talking about my Santa gift and I just realized there must be no Santa:( Well there is a Santa, it just not be the Santa wearing the red suit with reindeers. This Santa wears Christmas pj's and has cats as elves.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, we always open at least one.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I don't really have a theme. If I had more than one I probably would but since the house is small I usually just decorate with Samantha's ornaments from gramps, my ornaments that granny painted and whatever whimsy ornaments I like throughout the year. I do believe I had a little fake tree in the porch area with all these cute little sparkly birds, might do that again.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Probably dread it if I had it all the time but a white Christmas might be a welcome surprise here in SoCal.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but not very well. Might need to wear extra padding in case I fall.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Most every year we got what we wanted from Cabbage Patch dolls, OG Nintendos, Hello Kitty stuff - we were pretty lucky that Mom made it work.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Spending time with family and having the extra time off to do some fun stuff with Samantha.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? No favorites, but I seriously love extra whip cream:)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating the Rose Parade floats with Samantha, checking out the light displays, the boat parade, watching Christmas movies, and putting up the decorations.

17. What tops your tree? A star, sometimes a Joker.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Definately giving, but I love to receive too:)

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yum but I like different flavored candy canes, not just traditional.

20. Favorite Christmas movie? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation or The Christmas Story.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? The Christmas Shoes song, it's so sad :(

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Alvin and the Chipmunks - Don't be late

and so it begins

The crazy wacky holiday season. I'm exhausted from my 4 days off. That always happens, I never stop and rest. I had a really nice weekend but its all a blur at the moment. Although now I can play Christmas music and put up the decorations and not get anyone telling me, what about Thanksgiving. Really? Who made up the rule you had to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to do anything Christmassy? Not that I listened anyways, I've been streaming holiday music since Halloween :) Anyways, the selections of the annual Christmas CD is in the making. I really like this Colbie Cailant song my sweetheart found. Its kind of just right for today, happy but not too upbeat in that soft soothing tempo.

Lets eat!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so grateful for my family, my friends, my abilities to do, see, and go, my freedom, my health, my cats (they're so cute). I'm so grateful for some turkey, now lets eat. Ok, really I'm just excited about the pies - extra whipcream please!

its a tradition

So I wasn't even thinking about going Black Friday shopping. There isn't anything I really need or want that is going to be on sale and its been so cold, I just want to stay under the blankets for my next 4 days off. Just kidding. But its a tradition. I have been black friday shopping before there were commercials. Braving the cold in Victorville, yes Victorville when there was nothing there. My Nina showed me the ropes and I've forever been hooked on finding a good bargain. I want to say I've been doing this for a good 15 years, way before Samantha. It wasn't so crazy back then, I mean it was but not like now. Most times people were just trying to get a jump start on Christmas decorations and some toys. Now its like everything's on sale and this whole madness of starting at midnight, I don't know if I like that. At least this year I don't have the itch to sleep overnight (yes, i've done that too). But like the crazy Target lady says "its here!!!!". Most likely I'm going to hit up Target, Walmart, Michaels and Joann's of course and maybe Walmart and Best Buy later on saturday. Here are a few random things I want, not that I'm going to get them but you never know.

$199.99 42 inch plasma at Best Buy (but i would have to be in line already)

$299.99 at Best Buy ( i need a laptop, if not than an IPAD2)

$59.99 Epson stylus at Best Buy ( we need a home printer but we have such bad luck - they're always breaking)

$89.99 Canon Selphy on Amazon ( I want a portable printer so bad)

Fiskers paper trimmer (my old cricut one is just not cutting it, hahaha get it)

Roxy knee high boots on Amazon - I love these boots

Bluetooth - so I can stop getting tickets (i'm sure its on sale somewhere)

Breaking Bad Season One - it just looks so funny

Obviously I don't need any of this well except we really need a printer for the house. I just love going out and finding deals. Most times i come home with way more stuff than I should but 'oh well'. So I'm making plans to see who is going to be my partner for this mad adventure. Every year it seems to be different. I've gone with my friends, my Dad, my honey, my Nina....maybe its Samantha's turn, hehehehe. We shall see.

Day 6 of 25 ways to wear a scarf

" the europeon loop"

obsessively cute

I kinda have an obsession with these little guys. In my past life I was a zoo keeper because I'm always mesmorized when we go by the owls. I could just visit with them forever. Although I must admit, it is a little creepy the way they move their necks. Check out these little lovelies.

Weekending

This weekend I didn't do a thing I had set out to do, typical me. But we did keep busy and have some fun. One of the coolest things we did was attend the Boys and Girls Club Thanksgiving Dinner. Well I think it was cool because I really hope Samantha grows to love the club as much as I did. I think she will as she gets more involved with all they do. Since she was one of the first kids that offered to help, they decided to give her one of the leftover turkeys. Yay, free turkey - thanks kid.

a quick pic after dinner, I'm so glad my sweetheart was able to join us

Then because my child is on the clubs radar and everyone knows I love football, the club offered me some free UCLA tickets. Of course I am a USC fan but I would never turn down anything free. So we were like "go Colorado". Although we were stuck deep in UCLA territory, so my Colorado spirit wasn't as loud as it could have been. Since UCLA plays USC next week, they had a rendition of the 'downfall of Troy', ya right.

I had my "jamaican hat " on as Mike likes to say because 'it was cold mon"

I have to give it to the band though, most of them had no shoes on and were wearing togas and it was really cold out, like brrr status

Since it rained cats and dogs this weekend, I had to drag myself out of bed on Sunday. Samantha and I finally put together a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, yay us. I'm a little disappointed with our girl scout troop though because only one other girl  participated but needless to say, Samantha had a fun time picking items for the box and is looking forward to seeing which country our box arrives at. The girls also painted one of the panels for the Girl Scout Float, hopefully we'll see it in the parade. Bring on the parade, I think I'm more excited than Samantha but then that is pretty much the norm.

Samantha wrapped the box herself. Our box is for a girl between the ages of 6-10 yrs old. We put a little bit of hair bows, a scarf, mittens, crayons and coloring book, some candy, pencils, erasers, fun socks, wash cloths, a hair brush, some toothpaste and a handwritten note from Samantha

Samantha and Sabrina painted the Girl Scout Wild Life patch, now the float volunteers just need to cover it with seeds. Yes that's my child with the cross eyes (she's weird).

I met the nicest lady while delivering our boxes (unfortunately my pic didn't come out:( and of course I had to take this cheesy pic because I wouldn't be me without cheesy pic taking

Although I really didn't get any crafty projects done this weekend, except the start of my secret project (tba) - it was the start of a really nice holiday season. Bring on the whip cream, I mean pie:)

Day 5 of 25 ways to wear a scarf

Day 5 is called "the toss". I thought it was fitting to dub myself the graduate being here at Caltech and all

Scarf it up

I just totally scarfed up my lunch. I haven't eaten a McDonald's burger in years. I admit I am a fry-aholic and succumb to the pressure of the deep fried goodness but I just get grossed out with burgers from McDs. But since I was on a mission today to get things done on my lunch period, I had no choice. I probably ate it as fast as it took me to order it and it actually tasted good. Ok, enough of the Public Service Announcement. Weekend meanderings to come. Today is Day 4 of the scarf adventures. Unfortunately this weekend I did not add to my scarf collection (i know sad for me). Hopefully Santa will surprise me with this USC scarf and maybe he'll even through in the matching beanie:) I've been a good girl, yes I have.

Day 4 " the turtleneck"

she's my fave.

Another cat post. Yes sum. Absolutely because I love my fur babies. I have to post a layout with my double. She's the one that keeps me up, scratches and throws herself on my door to wake me up before my alarm clock. She's the one that jumps on me and makes me scratch her neck while she walks back and forth between my head and my feet. She's the one that sometimes paws at my hair and makes bread as we like to say (while she drools in happiness). She's the one that always tries to make a break for it to find herself a boy(cat)friend. She's the one that captured my heart whenever I look into her eyes. She's the one I will forever call my favorite.

Day 3 of 25 ways to wear a scarf adventures.

Day 3 is called "the bunny ear". You need a slightly longer scarf because its double around your neck.

This weekend we are going to decorate the porch for the holidays, send out our Christmas in a box and perhaps go to an awesome shoe sale. Let the weekend adventures begin!

The camera adventures

Samantha and the Girl Scouts have been taking photo workshops with this awesome group in Los Angeles, The  Las Fotas Project. Her pictures are featured this week for a book they are putting together to try and raise funds to include other girl groups in their workshops. Its kind of cool to have your pictures in print right?

Here are a few layouts with some pictures Samantha took at the Getty. It was such a beautiful day to be outside and the girls really took advantage of the beautiful architecture and flowing gardens. I love the softness of the pictures, she was using a color-splash camera that provided a tint to the pictures. I'm so happy my child has the opportunity to explore new ways to see the world. She really got into the project, was on the floor, spoke to people and just had fun. Isn't that what lifes all about?

She took this pic of me, i love it. I also loved using the Balzer cloud mask on the page.

She actually has a geniune smile here, no forcing or finger pulling

Day 2 of my 25 ways to wear a scarf adventure. I feel like the only thing missing is a starbucks drink and some ear warmers, lol.

Day 2 is "the classic drape"

Brrr its cold outside

I know this weather is getting too cold for this SoCal girl. Although I can't complain, its not snow or anything plus there are a few choice things I love about winter like hot chocolate, and well at the moment I can only think about hot chocolate, haha. Actually, I love to wear scarves in this chilly season. I found this fun video on how to wear the scarf 25 different ways.

I'm currently wearing " the modern one loop" which is how I usually wear a scarf. I'm going to try all 25 and post pics. Just another reason to go out and buy some more scarves, Git Sum (hahaha, crafty Cleetus).

Forgive my ooompa loompa-ness, I used a lomo filter and took a quick snap on my break:)