Let's Do a Giveaway!

So I got a new phone. Actually it's the first cell phone that I've ever owned that's just been mine. I'm 30 years old & I finally have my own cell phone. I know it's not the fanciest phone in the world, but I think it's pretty amazing & I'm super stoked on it. I'm love that it has a keyboard because I can be a texting machine now. Awesome.

It's a sad thing when junior high kids have cell phone but you don't. When the kids that babysit your kids have their own phone, but you don't. So I'm feeling like pretty hot stuff now. Just thought I'd share.

Also, got me thinking about some other things that I have never done in the 30 years that I've lived. Let me share a few with you.

I've never been tanning.
I've never left the country.
I've never done karaoke.
I've never sewn a zipper. (About time I figured that one out.)


In the comments section, share with me something that you've never done. I'll choose one winner on Monday & send them out a La La Love You Poster in the color of their choice. Thanks & have fun!!

Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup

Carli pointed me in the direction of this yummy tomato soup. I tried it that same day & it went over really well with the family. I served it with some ciabatta bread sliced in half & topped with melted cheese. We're having it again this week. :)

Changes

Dylan started his new job today. It's got me thinking about how we ended up here. So I compiled these photos from our trip across the country last fall. It was a rough trip, but these photos make smile.

Over the last few months we've gone through a lot of unexpected feelings. Anger & depression over the loss of Dylan's job. Uncertainty about where the future would take us & where we would be living. Figuring out how to best share the responsibility at home. Just as soon as we worked though all of that & figured everything out, it all changed.

Now we have to work towards settling into a new routine & I'm already missing Dylan & his helping hands at home. We're happy to have him working again, though. :)

Thanks to all of you lovely readers that have offered support & prayers for us. We appreciate it, for sure!!

I've Got a Few Questions For You

Sandra sent me this package of beautiful vintage sheeting pieces all the way from Switzerland! I can't think of mail that is much better than this. Thanks, Sandra. You are a dear & you made my day for sure.

So, on the topic of vintage sheets. I am having the hardest time finding a thrift store here in Vegas that has a good linens selection. I even had a reader e-mail me this week asking for suggestions for good thrift shops here in town. I have been to half a dozen or so shops looking for the goods & have not found one I love. Okay locals, where are the thrifting hot spots?

Now, I think spring has hit the desert already. Which means that summer is coming soon. I've started thinking about warmer clothes for the girls. I plan to make lots of skirts & dresses for them & I'm trying to find some capri length leggings to go under. What are your favorite brand leggings for girls?

Also, I'm considering finally purchasing a much needed new vacuum cleaner. I am using my mom's dyson while we live here. I love it, but hate that it's so tricky to take the hose off to vacuum around the edges. I like to do that as I go along & it's really quite a pain w/ the dyson. What vacuum cleaners should I be considering? Know of any good deals?

Thanks so much! You are a big collective group of girlfriends & I love to hear your advice & opinions. Have a great weekend all!!

P.S. What to see something cute? Go here.

Pretty Hair Stuff

I've put my younger sister, Kimberly, to work making headbands & hair clips for the shop. She's been making some really adorable & stylish stuff. I've started adding them to the shop & will continue to over the next few days. They're pretty affordable, in my opinion. Priced at $6.50 each. Even better yet it's only $15 when you buy three! Go check then out & let me know what you think. :)

BFF

So, I never posted about Valentine's Day. Maybe that's because I kinda hate Valentine's Day. But I've been thinking lately about what I've got. And what I've got is an awesome man.

When I was a teenager I decided that my future husband would wear khakis & leather sandals, just like the models in the J. Crew catalog. And I decided that my underwear of choice for him would be boxer-briefs. Oh, teenage girls... Now the thought of khakis & leather sandals makes me shake my head & stick my finger in my mouth while making a gagging noise. It's silly to think about.

Honestly, I think my teenage self knew what she wanted in a man. I just didn't think that I'd really ever end up with that guy. Then in the blink of an eye, I met him & now here we've been enjoying marriage for almost 10 years.

When it gets down to it, the clothes didn't matter. What did matter was finding the guy that loved me like crazy, that would be my partner in all things, my best friend, liked rock and roll music & that made me laugh & have fun. When each day is over, all the work of running a household is totally worth it as long as I have his company. And I am thankful indeed.

Oh, by the way...Dylan got a job! Looks like we're staying in Vegas for the time being. We are relieved & I'm so proud of him. :)

Red Red

Daddy was working on an art project (careful. there is an illustration with some bare floppy boobies at the top of the page) that involved some red lipstick. Of course little miss wanted some on. I kinda love that she has a dirty mug. And don't get me started on those dark eyes...

Posters Are Back & A Giveaway!

Yippee! The posters are back up in the shop. Prints will follow shortly. We freshened the colors & are introducing a few new colors, like orange & light blue. If you've been waiting, you can finally get your hands on one!


Also, remember that we have a giveaway running. To be entered, upload a photo of your Sparkle Power goods to our Sparkle Power Pals Flickr Group. We'll be randomly choosing one person to win a $25 gift certificate to the shop. You have until March 31st to enter. Good luck!

Celebrating

We are celebrating Dylan's birthday today! The girls hooked him up in the licorice department, and he & Sadie are off at the comic book store as I type. So I'd say he's having a pretty good day. We will have a yummy boca burger dinner tonight & sing him happy birthday over some Krispy Kreme donuts. Then this weekend, we'll keep the celebrating going at a dinner with family. He's requested wings. Should be fun.

Thinking about my man today, I can't help but think about how thankful I am for him. Which then makes me think about how much I love him & then I start feeling all mushy, lovey. I've been listening to Jens Lekman in the van & this song makes me think of Dylan & I. It's silly but so sweet. Thought I'd share it on this special day. Love you Dyl. :)


We're also celebrating our new computer!!! It's such an upgrade from our old machine. I feel so spoiled. It's wonderful. :) With the new computer, I'm able to use my camera again too. I wasn't able to get photos from it onto the laptop we were borrowing, so that's exciting as well.


Dylan & I have a date planned this weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day & his birthday. Looking forward to that. Oh, and there's one more thing that gives us reason to celebrate. I'll fill you in on it soon! :)

Googly Eyes = Awesome

I know that I'm a handmade mama & will jump right up on my soapbox & sing the praises of handmade at any given moment...but I just never feel it when it comes to valentines. And guess what, I don't feel guilty about it. The Princess & The Frog store bought valentines that Sadie excitedly picked out make her super happy. Also, it makes me happy that I don't have to put a lot of time & thought into making 30 handmade somethings that may not be appreciated much by the 5 & 6 year old crowd. Anyway, that's my excuse.

Well, while at Target, I asked Sadie if she'd like candy bracelets, suckers or heart shaped notebooks with googly eyes to give to her classmates along with her cards. I thought for sure she'd choose the candy bracelets, but as she stood there thinking over her decision, I could hear myself repeating in my mind "super cute googly eyed heart shaped notebooks please!". And then, what do you know!? She opted for the notebooks. She understands the awesomeness of googly eyes, I guess. And as corny as it sounds, at that moment, I felt like such a proud mama.

Sadie is an awesome girl.

Introvert...That'd Be Me!

Yes. I'm an introvert. This isn't news to me. I've been aware of this for quite some time. Recently I've become very tuned into the characteristics of introverts & the way that I behave when I don't get what I need as an introverted person.

The reason for my self examination as of late, is that I've come to see that my 2 year old daughter Claire is also an introvert. I can see that she is already being misunderstood because of her tendencies & as her mother (understanding completely what it feels like) I feel very protective of her & I want to make sure that I care for her properly in a world that will tell her there's something wrong with her.

Introverts are not shy. They simply process everything internally. Studies have shown that their brains actually operate differently than extroverts. Extroverts think things out by talking. Introverts gain energy from being alone. Extroverts gain energy from being with people. I enjoy social get togethers, but I can only take so much. After a certain amount of time, I'm done. It drains me & in order to get my energy back, I need some time alone. When we've scheduled too much time with friends & family and I haven't allowed for down time, I get super grouchy. When I haven't had time to recharge, I don't really want to be touched & I don't want my kids climbing all over me. Sometimes I feel like a mean, horrible person, but I can't help it. I need just a little bit of time to myself & I feel much more sane, much more energized & I'm ready to love & care for my family again.

I'm learning that being aware & attending to this aspect of my personality is really important. I don't have to be at every party or social outing. Even with family members, I don't have to go on every shopping trip or every vacation. Sometimes they just make me feel crazy & it has nothing to do with the company.

Likewise, I'm learning to understand extroverts better as well. They're not repeating themselves a million times just to annoy me. They're actually thinking out loud.

With Claire, I notice that some get upset that she doesn't want to give hugs or whenever an adult talks to her she withdraws a bit & hides behind my leg or climbs on my lap & puts her face in my shoulder. I feel strongly about not forcing her to do anything she doesn't want to. I'm sure that in the right situation & when pressure isn't placed on her, she'd more than happily engage in this type of socializing.

I remember reading about introvert & extrovert children in the book Raising Your Spirited Child, which I really need to own. Why do I not own that book? I think that scheduling either social time or alone time for your child on a daily basis is just as important as getting them fed & to bed on time. Also, I found these online articles interesting. Anyway, I love my family & I love my job as a mother & I want to do all I can to make sure our lives run smoothly & every person & personality trait is being cared for.

This post feels like it's all over the place. But I've been thinking so very much about this lately & I want to share & connect with any of you out there that go through the same things. I find that sewing really helps me to stay balanced in my life. I always thought that it was the creative process or working with my hands that was therapeutic. Perhaps it's the time that it allows me to be alone with my thoughts. Maybe it's a bit of both.

Any thoughts on this subject?

2010 Calendar Sale

I just marked down all 2010 calendars in the shop. Desk Calendars are only $6.00 & Printables are $3.00. A steal if you still need a little calendar somewhere around your office or home. :)

Pyrex Pretties

I have decided to start keeping the lovely pyrex dishes that I find while thrift shopping for myself. I had been listing them for sale in my etsy shop. I would get so excited to find them & then I'd let them go. Every time I'd think about how much I'd love to have an awesome vintage pyrex collection of my own. Well, the time is now. My collection is in the works.

I think about this one all the time. (See it there in the top left corner?) I was so close to keeping that one. The color! Oh my. In the end I let it go, but honestly I regret that decision. I was so happy to see a photo of it pop up in the Sparkle Power Pals flickr group. I can rest easy knowing that it has landed in a lovely spot. Doesn't it fit perfectly there?

February Focus: Exercise & Water

So it's February & I have some new goals to focus on. I will continue to eat very little meat like I did in January & hopefully that will continue on for a very long time. I hope to add some new goals each month, building on what I've previously been working on & hopefully I'll be a more awesome person in the end.

Because really, I just want to be awesome.

Well, this month I am going to exercise. Every week day. Weekends I can take off if I choose. I started yesterday with the 30 Day Shred & plan to workout to that dvd all month long. I got that dvd for free through swagbucks, which I posted about here. We've gotten a lot more free stuff through swagbucks....a computer mouse, this book & this book that I just ordered & a whole bunch of xbox stuff for Dylan. It's awesome. Sign up for Swagbucks here. Start searching , then get your friends to sign up under you & watch your points grow fast & cash them in for some awesome stuff.

Anyway....here's to sweaty mornings & a stronger body. Want to join in with me?

Also, I need to up my water intake. I'm really bad at drinking water. So, I'm going to pay more attention to that as well.

Happy February!

Going Meatless - Pizza

So we made our own pizza a lot this month. One time we even had friends over & we all put our own toppings on our own section of the pizza & it was fun & delicious. I have been using the pizza dough from fresh & easy & their refrigerated pizza sauce as well. We think that both are quite tasty. We love to add lots of toppings to our pizza. Green peppers, mushrooms, olives, pineapple, tomato slices & red onions.

The first time that we made the pizza minus pepperoni, Dylan wasn't all that in love with it. He missed the spiciness of the pepperoni. Next go around we added a little red onion & that seemed to make up for it. Pizza is definitely a favorite around here.

Here is a previously posted recipe for pizza dough.

So we made it through January without consuming much meat I think that I ate my first little bit of meat two weeks into the month & I didn't purchase any meat when shopping. We are happy with this arrangement. Meat no more than once or twice a week & even then only in very small amounts. We have found some recipes that we really like & will continue to search for more that our family loves. I think that we've found a setup that works really well for our family & we are all happy about it.

I will continue to share great recipes that we find & hope that you'll continue to share yours with me as well. I love finding them in my inbox, so keep 'em coming!

February brings a new month & new goals in addition to the ones I've been previously working on. I'll share more info on those soon.