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Hey, there! Happy Wednesday…

How is everybody doing? How is your holiday stress level?

I am doing MUCH better today. Yesterday I was a bit overwhelmed.

I had 150 blank envelopes staring at me.

A {Famous American} report for Elliott that was hanging over my head.

NO idea of what was for dinner.

Wondering when {or more like IF} we’re going to get lights up on the front of the house. {kids begging}

Making an appointment for an oil change.

Calling for kennel reservations.

I kinda just wanted to surf Pinterest. Or bake. Or call friends over the miles.

But I cranked up the Christmas tunes on our Direct TV channel and got to addressing, folding, stuffing, sealing and printing return address labels.

It took me practically the whole 6 hours that the kiddos are in school to get these cards done. I am not complaining at all….my heart was so full when I was done. As I addressed each one, I thought about that person/couple/family ~ so great.

I also managed to throw a pork tenderloin {cut in half} into the crock pot with a can of kidney beans, some frozen corn, the tail end of a jar of salsa and half a package of taco seasoning and crossed my fingers. We had taco shells, flour tortillas, shredded cheese, light sour cream and a big bottle of Cholula so we were set for dinner. {the pork turned out AWESOME, btw}

Theeennnn, I picked up the kids from school and I got stressed about Elliott’s report. She is having a friend come over today and her speech is tomorrow so I had it in my head that we had to have it all done, rehearsed, rehearsed again and again last night because today was going to be a lost day with the friend here and catechism this afternoon. Plus I am gone this evening and wouldn’t be able to go over it with her. I was stressing. I just kept telling myself that she is in 2nd grade, not grad school. I went over the rubric and felt a little better about things.

We had worked on the poster over the weekend and had that almost wrapped up…

{glittered Olympic Rings}

We gathered all our info on Mary Lou Retton and she sat down and typed it into the right format ~ intro, topic sentence, body, summary, etc. all by herself. I sat and finished the Christmas card pile while she hunted and pecked for all the keys {so cute…”let’s see, where is the ‘k’? oh, here it is!”} Kind of a painful process, but I was not going to type it for her.

After dinner we went over the speech A. LOT. It has to be 2-3 minutes and they are supposed to memorize it for maximum points….this was the part that I was the most stressed about.

She clipped her finished poster onto the barstool, stood next to it and I timed and recorded her on my phone.

A. LOT.

Each time she slowed down, memorized more and became more comfortable. It was time for her to take a bath and she said she wanted to do it again without the cheat sheet….how could I say no to that?

SHE. NAILED. IT.

Exactly 2 minutes and the only thing she got wrong was Mary Lou’s year of birth making her 4 years older than she really is ~ sorry about that, Mrs. Retton!

I was SO proud of her {immediately tried to upload the video to Facebook!} and immediately a weight was lifted off my shoulders. It was like I was stressing for nothing.

Lesson learned? I think so.

It’s not that I underestimated her, I just felt pressured from all the other things that I needed to do. Everything got checked off: taking the car in tomorrow and the boys have a room at the inn for when we go away for a few days.

Anticipation is always much worse than the actual thing, isn’t it? I guess that was the point of this whole post.

We still have no lights on the front of the house, but we DO have some poinsettias at the front door.

This morning I dropped the kids off {and remembered it was jersey/sports day!!} and high tailed it to the post office to get some postage for our cards and get our overseas letters off. I grabbed a large fountain Coke Zero and sat in my car listening to KOST, stamped the cards and drove through and sent them off!

Now my stress level is back under control.

For a day or so any way.

I’ll take it.

How do you deal with the demands of the holiday season and juggle them with the daily stuff that needs to also get done? I am finding that no matter how much you plan ahead, life gets stressful and I deliberately try to keep it simple.

{I remembered jerseys, now I have to remember today is early release!}

*****

I hope you aren’t letting the season stress you out too much. If you feel overwhelmed, just sit down and make a list of the things that MUST get done that day. Take a deep breath, brew a cup of hot tea and check off one chore at a time.

That’s all you can do.

XOXO

One Good Thing After Another

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Ahhhhh, this weekend was one of those action packed weekends that you look forward to, have so much fun during and are exhausted after.

It started with Jay’s birthday on Friday…he took the day off and we {including my brother-in-law and his girlfriend who are visiting from NYC} had a quick lunch at The Habit before picking the kids up at school.

{Jay shares his birthday with Pearl Harbor Day}

Anuja and I stopped for our first Gingerbread Latte of the season before taking Elliott to dance class…

{polishing the routine for next weekend’s recital}

After dance, we clinked margarita glasses and toasted the birthday boy at our favorite Mexican restaurant here in town {for all my SD people, this place reminds me of Tio Leo’s}…

{nothing like a margarita on a Friday night}

On Saturday morning, Anuja and I treated ourselves to a spa pedicure, hit the mall for a bit and then grabbed Chick Fil-A and took it home to the hungry troops…

{had to go with this RED for my holiday toes}

The younger, single ones headed to Hollywood for the night while Jay and I went to his holiday party at The Ronald Reagan Library in Simi. Always a good time…

{fun, cheesy pics in front of the green screen ~ first stop, Paris}

I love that the attire is business casual…for me, it makes for a much more comfortable evening. I found this jumpsuit at Macy’s on Black Friday for around $17. It needed to be hemmed and instead of taking it to the tailor, I attempted to hem the pants myself with fusible bonding web…note to self: next time make the trip to the nearest tailor. My jimmy-rigged hem held up through dinner and dancing so all was well…

{we returned to the nation’s capitol and posed in front of The White House with Jay’s co-worker and his wife who we enjoy the party with each year}

{as the night progresses, the props come out in Times Square}

All that traveling worked up an appetite…we had appetizers, buffets and desserts from around the world, too.

My fave were the French desserts.

Of course.

{croquembouche & macarons ~ lemon, pistachio & coconut}

{Gangnam Style under Air Force One ~ oh goodness! So sorry, Honorable Mr. Reagan}

Then God’s grace took us from getting “Low” with FloRida late Saturday evening to our beautiful parish early Sunday morning…

{amazing homily from one of our deacons}

After church, we headed to Hollywood to spend some more time with Rodney & Anuja before they returned back to the East Coast today.

{from the SCV to the W}

We like to joke and say that my BIL has achieved Baller status…he travels a lot for his job and as a result accumulates a lot of points. When I have the opportunity to hang at the W for a bit, you better believe I do. And the house Bliss toiletries may or may not have jumped into my bag…

{no shame in this girl’s game}

The kids love to visit hotels….not that Hollywood loves when kids visit their hotels, but they were pretty well behaved. I may’ve had to give a couple of stern looks and warnings spoken through clenched teeth in the lobby, though…

Yes, this is over the lounge area in their suite…I said a few prayers that the sheer curtain was still intact after we left. White leather couches scream at the littles to jump and climb all over them…

Sitting still….

We then wanted Anuja to experience The Grove so we headed there for lunch and a stroll…

We had lunch at The Farmer’s Market then did some browsing.

{Dylan’s Candy Bar}

I spent some alone time in Anthro and wrote a letter to Santa, adding something to my list around every turn…

{just the tip of the wish list iceberg}

Reminding myself the whole time that it’s better to GIVE than receive….

*****

See, told you it was one good thing after another this weekend! Good thing we have five days to recover before next weekend hits. Elliott has a dress rehearsal on Friday night, her recital on Saturday afternoon and we’re seeing The Nutcracker with Gramma on Saturday evening.

Until then I have 150 cards to address and some baking to do….

Did I mention that I LOVE the holidays?

Happy Monday!

XO

The Goal

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Well, this weekend we finished off our first AYSO season….

It was bittersweet, of course.

I will not miss coaching, although it was not terrible at all. But I did my duty and stepped in so that 5 sweet little boys had a team to be on. A HUGE thank you to Coach Tim, who fortunately knows the game, for assisting me. And to Jay for filling in as the ref from time to time!

Elliott absolutely loved her team ~ again, the nicest group of girls….it absolutely broke my heart that she burst into tears and was SOBBING as she watched the little video she received from her coach at last night’s party. “I just want us all to be on the same team again”, she said through tears and catching her breath. I love that she is sentimental like her mama. I love that she enjoyed it so much that the thought of not having the same team again is heart-breaking to her. That means that she loved this season and that she has special memories attached to her first soccer experience. And that was the goal….to learn, to play your best and to have FUN.

The season seems like it started long ago in some aspects and in others it seems to have gone by in a flash. Just a mere 4 months ago we didn’t know we were going to be The Cotton Candy Girls or The Sharks. We didn’t know who would be on our teams. And we certainly didn’t know that we would enjoy it and be signing up again for Spring ’13. When Elliott and Holden both expressed a joyful “Yes!” when I asked them if they wanted to take a little break and play again in a few months, I without hesitation went to the first registration night and signed them up. Yes, two games dominate our Saturdays, but we are laying the athletic/fitness foundation for our kids and it is most definitely worth it.

{Friday night clinic before practices even started}

{Her first practice}

{His first practice}

{Picture Day}

{Oodles of snacks}

{Getting instructions from Coach}

{A muddy end to the season}

{Easiest most stress-free party ever}

{Receiving her trophy after pizza and video games}

*****

I didn’t want to have a banner sitting around in my garage so I cut out the boys’ names and made little plaques for them.

I used some 8X10 artist canvas panels that I found at Ross. I taped them off with 2″ painter’s tape and brushed on some acrylic paint in the team color and removed the tape to reveal almost perfect stripes. I just hot glued the soccer ball on and picked up some ABC’s & 123’s stencils, traced their numbers onto the canvas and colored them in with a thick black Sharpie. I found some little shark stickers, added those and then covered with a light coat of Mod Podge to help keep in place. Then I just got a thin Sharpie and added our team name and the year.

{Tape off and paint your canvases}

{Add the finishing touches}

{Shark bite gift tags}

{Wrap some twine and add a blue candy cane and you’re done}

And the Cotton Candy Girls certainly couldn’t go away empty handed. Found some Bonne Bell cotton candy lip smackers at Target and added some sweet treats to a little cello bag and voila!

*****

Yes, I’m glad the the season is over just in time to enjoy the holidays, but I will miss the friends we made and cheering {loudly} at the games.

Again, THE GOAL was to have fun and I can certainly say we achieved that.

Until the spring……

Tiny Tokens Wrapped Up Big

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One of my fondest Christmas memories was when our family would get together with another family at the holidays, have dinner and exchange gifts.

I remember my mom’s friend, Judy, arriving with a big basket filled with beautifully wrapped packages. We’d all sit around the fire after dinner in our living room calling out names and swapping these little packages.

What I recall most wasn’t what was under the festive wrapping paper, but just the gorgeous wrapping itself. Between my mom and Judy, I was destined to carry the {take the gift wrapping to the next level} gene.

Over the years the gift bag has gained popularity and, don’t get me wrong, I use those babies like they’re going out of style. I recycle them and often times eye some super cute ones at the dollar store and throw a few in the cart. But, I love wrapping gifts the old-fashioned way with a nice roll of wrapping paper, some Scotch tape and some twine or ribbon of some sort ~ getting the corners all tucked in just so before adding a little piece of tape to secure it.

Secret: if the gift is a weird shape, I’ll throw it in a gift bag with some tissue and call it a day!

At Christmas, I like to acknowledge the special people and friends in our life with a little token to show them that we’re thinking about them at this special time of year. It doesn’t have to be much…in fact I pick up little things that I come across in my travels and tuck them away in my secret compartment in the months leading up to Christmas. Then, I wrap them up with lots of love and deliver to sweet recipients. I also like to have little tokens and goodies on-hand that I can grab at the last minute for hostess gifts and such. I most certainly like to shop and choose gifts for specific people, but it is nice to have a few neutral things waiting in the wings for last minute situations.

1. Lilly Pulitzer message board

2. Small blank journal

3. Simple pair of earrings

4. Mrs. Meyer’s soy candles {Target clearance}

5. Blank notecards

6. Wine charms

7. Scarf

These are all little things that I picked up at Target, Marshall’s, TJ Maxx or Ross for next to nothing. Always check the clearance sections first!

Other little things you can keep on hand for little gifts are…

Wine {Trader Joe’s has bottles of good wine for as low as $3.99}

Pound of holiday blend coffee

Box of holiday tea {I love TJ’s candy cane green tea & cinnamon vanilla black tea}

Statement rings for the girly girls in your life {they have cute ones at Target and Kohl’s}

Little bottle of hand soap in holiday scent for the kitchen or bathroom

Dish towels

*****

I like to use blank manila shipping labels for gift tags and doctor them up with stamps, the kids’ little drawings or washi tape. Add a “to” and a “from” and you’re done! I found mine at Office Max, but they came with a string instead of the wire which makes it a breeze to tie on packages.

{via}

*****

I have most of my fun finds ready to wrap up and give this Christmas…trying to get a head start with the gifts so I can focus on baking in a couple weeks. Plus, we never have very many wrapped gifts under our tree until Christmas Eve!

Just for old time’s sake, I may just have to find a big basket to hold all my little packages until they are ready for delivery.

Happy shopping & wrapping!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

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Turkey Day came and went and this morning I packed up the last of the dark meat and mashed potatoes & gravy for Jay’s lunch.

We hosted this year and were grateful that everyone came to us. Our long holiday weekend was filled with adventures and now we’re back to our normally scheduled routine with soccer practices, homework, religious ed classes and dance this week.

Here are a few bits and pieces of the last several days…

{simple decorations ~ a clearance vase from Target and a branch & pinecones from my morning hikes}

{kosher, Pioneer Woman brined bird on the grill}

{centerpiece from our backyard}

{our feast ~ 1. turkey {before cranberry orange relish!} 2. candied yams 3. cornbread stuffing 4. Ina’s parmesan mashed potatoes {before gravy!} 5. green bean casserole 6. maple glazed carrots ~ yum! desserts not pictured ~ sweet potato pie and Grunc’s pear ginger upside down cake}

{Black Friday CB&TL date}

{Saturday lunch at Irv’s}

{gingerbread house at The Grove}

{Sunday tree shopping}

{…and trimming}

{Sunday supper ~ crock pot beef stew}

*****

It was a treat to have my dad {Popsi} here from Seattle, my mom {Gramma} here from San Diego and Grunc {great uncle Larry} and Auntie Jill here from Yosemite/Marin County. We all joined together to get the food on the table and consequently ate too much! Now all that’s leftover are happy memories of Thanksgiving 2012…

…and I’ll take those leftovers over a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce any day!

Front Of The Line

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This past Sunday we went to the early mass and then decided it was a good day to go and see Santa.

Yes, we are that family that visits Mr. Claus before Thanksgiving.

But, please hear me out, I don’t put up any Christmas decorations and we don’t get our tree until the weekend after Thanksgiving. I just like to visit Santa at the mall before the crazy crowds hit and for lack of a better term, “get it out of the way”. I am also a creature of tradition when it comes to our pictures with Santa. We have been going to a Westfield mall to sit on his lap for the past 8 years. I cannot and will not break that cycle. I like to display the timeline of pictures every year during the holidays and I love that they are all from generally the same place {if you’ve seen one Westfield mall, you’ve seen ’em all} ~ obsessive compulsive, I know.

There was a mix up with the mall website and Santa and his elves….website said 11:00am and Santa had noon on his schedule. We were in line minutes before 11:00 and when it hit quarter after, I called the concierge and complained. She sounded surprised and got someone on it. At 11:30, Santa’s helpers casually strolled in and by this time several kids and their parents had lined up anxiously awaiting the man in red. They explained to us that they weren’t supposed to open until noon. UGH! We were not going to lose our front of the line privileges, so we waited.

I present to you this year’s adorable photo…

I went through their closets a week before and plucked these out instead of buying anything new this year.

Red and black plaid in her closet.

Red and black plaid in his closet.

Done.

*****

We also have a tradition where we get an annual family ornament and the kids choose one and have it personalized with their name and the year. This way, when they are grown up and out on their own {don’t want to think about it} they will have a collection of ornaments from throughout the years to hang on their trees and be a reminder of childhood Christmases.

This year I {made} them both get soccer related ones since I like to try to have them pick something reminiscent of the past 12 months. Sometimes I cave and let them choose, but this time I put my foot down and they didn’t seem to mind since they both loved their first season of AYSO.

{photos of their ornaments to come}

Here is 2012’s glitterrific choice…

*****

Even though we were eagerly in front of the line six weeks early, we still haven’t forgotten about Thanksgiving!

The turkey is in the brine, the pantry and ‘fridge are filled with side dish ingredients, the table is NOT set, but it will get there and the wine is chilling.

A very Blessed Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

XO

One Day & One Winner!

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Earlier this week, I decided to try to document bits and pieces of my day and follow along with Laura over at Hollywood Housewife and her One Day 2012 Project.

I stumbled across her blog awhile back while searching birthday party ideas and have been following ever since. She has amazing style and the cutest littles. When you have a moment, go over and say “Hello!”.

No one day is ever alike around here…some days I get out and exercise, some days I don’t. Some days I volunteer at the school, some days I don’t. Some days I’m productive, some days I’m not. Just depends.

On this particular day I was home all morning doing this and that around the house and running an errand before picking them up and heading to a play date. Elliott also had CCD and I had my weekly Wednesday RCIA meeting that evening.

Here are eight moments of my Wednesday…

Practicing his share for “N” day….a napkin. Exciting stuff.

Little lunches.

Future Thanksgiving place cards.

Appointment makin’.

Polka dotted lunch ~ tuna melt & cantaloupe.

The money’s going in, not coming out.

Cleaning up after our playdate.

Moo shu pork burgers for din din.

It was fun to snap pictures here and there, upload them to Instagram and follow along with others as they documented their days.

*****

And now for the winner of my blogiversary giveaway…

Congrats, Amy!

Amy has entered every. single. one. of my giveaways and I am happy to report that it’s finally her turn! Thanks, Amy for being a faithful follower and for your sweet comments over the years! Your goodies are in the mail.

Thank you to all who entered! I will be having another one soon….please stay tuned!

Have a happy, happy weekend.

XOXO

Rainbows & Washi Galore ~ The Happy Day Project Recap

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This year’s Happy Day Project was on my radar and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to hear of it’s arrival.

I was up at the crack of dawn last Monday and had my Pen & Paint {Oh Happy Day} notes printed and perfectly sliced on the school paper cutter by 8:15am. I came home, sat and wrote quick little heartfelt notes to a few people and popped them in the mail. I have yet to hand deliver one of them, but just sitting down and writing it brought a smile to my face.

*****

On Tuesday morning I drove through Mickey D’s and grabbed a $5 gift card to affix to one of these….

I didn’t do much running around that day, so I still have the gift card ready and waiting for the first person I spot that could use nourishment of the body and soul.

I’m saving the rest of these darling notes from Hope Ink to attach to more gift cards throughout the season.

*****

Wednesday we were able to treat our teachers to some caffeine and sugar first thing in the morning.

Elliott’s teacher is more of a Big Gulp girl rather than a Starbucks girl, so I planned ahead and grabbed a bottle of Coke and attached a little handwritten note to it…

We snuck into her room as she was grading papers and surprised her. She loved it…

We left the house early and went through the Starbucks drive-thru for Holden’s teacher and delivered her an extra hot Pumpkin Spice Latte.

She also loves Skittles so Holden sifted through his Halloween candy and put aside a bag for her…

30 Handmade Days provided this fun pillow box to house your {treat} of choice, too!

{Click here to print}

*****

Thursday brought us to blessing bags and these sweet notes from Julie over at Joy’s Hope….

A friend and I are going in on the blessing bags together like we did last year and have just a few more things to purchase before we can get them stuffed and ready to go. I did, however, start to find some quotes to write on these notes that I will tuck in their bags.

{Click here to print}

*****

For Friday, I printed out Blossom & Vine’s super cute tags and will bake cookies/treats on Monday when the kids are home from school for Veteran’s Day and we will deliver to deserving servicemen and women that afternoon before soccer practice. Also, my local Starbucks sells pounds of coffee to send to the troops at Thanksgiving so I plan to purchase a bag and ask them to tape a little hand written note from our family onto it.

{Click here to print}

*****

It was five days full of rainbows, glitter pens, washi tape and opened hearts.

And that, my friends, is a lot of happy.

Stop by Life Rearranged to see how others spread sunshine last week!

P.S. I have included links to all these sweet printables…consider printing and keeping them close to your heart for use during the upcoming holidays and throughout the year. XO

Handwritten Sentiments

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Get out your glittery gel pens and postage stamps, print out this cheery graphic from and write some notes to a few lucky recipients.

I’ve already printed mine out and have my list of rainbow happiness receiving peeps ready to go.

Go here to print or visit Life Rearranged to read Jeannett’s lovely description of The Happy Day Project 2012’s first task.

{hint: print “borderless”}

Thank you, Lindsay from Pen & Paint for sharing your talents with this rainbow goodness. Be sure and check out her shop full of whimsical prints to brighten up your walls!

Happy Snail Mailing!

life rearranged

Spread Some Sunshine

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In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I like to sit back, count our blessings and acknowledge what we’re grateful for. It’s also nice to conduct random acts of kindness and spread a little sunshine.

Here’s a fun way to do that…

Starting this coming Monday, November 5th, you have the chance to participate in {The Happy Day Project} and touch the life of someone you know, someone in need or even a complete stranger. As seen below, each day has a fun task, an adorable printable graphic to adorn your treat with or pop in the mail to that unsuspecting someone and a charity that you can donate to on-line if that is more convenient.

Please go to Life Rearranged each day to download the printables and to see how Jeannett and her sweet family are spreading sunshine.

Last year I was a little tardy to the Happy Day party and participated a week or so later…doesn’t matter as long as you do it and do so with a kind & happy heart. You can read about the giftcard to someone in need here and the blessing bag assembly here.

Click here to see recaps of all the wonderfulness that was spread last year. So great. So so great.

But, I am on it this year and will be taking part with the masses. This weekend I’m going to make a list of who the handwritten notes and snail mail will go to for Monday, grab a few gift cards at local fast food restaurants for Tuesday and be on the hunt for a baked treat to deliver to deserving bodies on Wednesday. You could also {treat} someone to a morning coffee or take a friend or co-worker to lunch. It’s so much fun to see how everyone serves and carries out these heartfelt acts.

Won’t you join me for five days of spreading sunshine…..let’s have a HAPPY week together, K?

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