Merry Merry!

No worries! We are, in fact, alive! We have just been busy, busy bubs during this Christmas holiday! Wish I had longer to blog but we are packing to fly to NYC to visit our good friends, the Gentry family, and celebrate New Years Eve. We are so stinkin' excited!! Who doesn't think four adults and four kids under the age of five in a NYC apartment will be awesome?!? 

I am going to blog from there at some point, but here are our holiday photos to sustain you all!! Hope you had as wonderful of a Christmas as we bubs did ;)

 

my personal fav:

Bubs Love...

Yep, it's that time again! another list! another favorites list! Just in the nick of time for you to go buy all this stuff for yourself someone you love this Christmas! (unless you are one of those people that actually doesn't wait until the week of xmas to buy your presents, but I don't see how that's any fun) 
So here's what I'm obsessing over lately:

♥ Well, first I have to tell you that ddp and I broke up again. I know, I know, but it's always been a volatile relationship....it could just never live up to my first love: the real full-caloried Dr. Pepper that I only try to splurge on once in awhile (a day).  Anyhoo, it's been over for a couple months now, but I just recently started to explore other beverages that will not slowly kill me with artificial sweeteners....and now I'm in love again!  These Santa Cruz organic drinks I found at Whole Foods are totally yum! My fav flavor is pomegranate limeade, and I don't feel bad about drinking them one bit!!! so....stocking stuffer?

♥ Freedom by Jonathan Franzen- Y'all might have already noticed this book on my sidebar, but I'm going to have to double-post it because DUDE, this is an awesome book. You can get it off amazon right now for cheap! And I'm talkin' about the nice, new-book-smelling hardback! I don't want to offend anyone, but I'm not into those electronic book reading do-hickies. I CHERISH opening a new book, being able to feel it and smell it, and then treasure it on my bookcase...maybe I'm a dork, but the bookworm in me cannot sacrifice all that for a book gadget. Back to Franzen though- this guy is amazingly talented. His novel The Corrections really hooked me. I read it when I was studying abroad in Italy, and it actually made me a bit homesick for the good old dysfunctional American life lol! But seriously, if you don't want to take it from me, BELIEVE OPRAH. She had him on her show just last week, and it's definitely in her book club. You trust OPRAH right!?! 

♥ Skin Organics....LOVE IT!! A couple months ago I got the most incredible facial of my life with Ann Webb, who started this line of products. My skin felt so refreshed afterwards that I immediately bought the moisturizer and eye cream that she was using. This was big for me because I have tried like a gazillion different moisturizers over the years, and never found anything that did not irritate my skin to some degree, so I had kind of given up on trying new ones. These products have done their job and never annoyed my skin once! Plus they go on very light and smell delightful :) also at Whole Foods!! and http://www.skinorganicsaw.com/

♥UGGS....gosh do I love my Uggs. I have pink ones that have been SO intensely worn that they are starting to look gray, but I don't care! They are so comfy and easy to pull on that I wear them with everything, everywhere...even when it's the week of Christmas and 70 degrees outside (blech). These glittered Uggs are pretty amazing though. I wish that it'd actually get cold again so I can convince myself I need a second pair ;).


♥ For the movie lover in your life, I fully recommend the RunPee app!! It's changed my movie going life! Bub the hub and I have been using it for a while now, and it's worked perfectly everytime. Not only does it give you the movie line cues when it's the best time to run to the bathroom and not miss anything good, it also gives you a summary of whatever you missed. Genius! And now I can drink all the cherry Coke I want! ha! http://runpee.com/

♥CAN NOT live without my HP PhotoSmart printer. Seriously. It's my best friend in all my scrapbooking adventures, also very handy for quick photos for the family (choose from 4 different sizes, including wallets!) and great for a last minute print to put in a frame and give as a gift! What more can I say, everyone needs one of these.




♥ TOP CHEF ALL-STARS...ok, you can't really give this as a gift, but I still love it, so it made the list. Really, it's the best idea ever. Already great a show, and I don't have to get to know anyone new, and the contestants are already the popular/ most talented (except maybe a few ...MICHAEL I'M TALKING TO YOU), but just didn't win on their original season...I'm already engrossed and drooling at every episode. Also, the judges make me giggle.

♥ Last but not least, I've got to talk about my new go-to meal when I'm in no mood to cook, which is a lot lately!  I already loved the Amy's line, and then I found this magnificent frozen pizza. If you've ever been to Pronto Cucino in Houston (which I'm sure about 75% of those reading this have been with me at least once :), this tastes exactly like their fresh margherita pizza squares....which taste exactly like the pizza in Italy, WHICH is why I love it! It might not look like much in the photo, but it's a perfect portion size and I promise you will not be disappointed on tastiness. mmmmm good.

Hope you liked the list! Be sure and tell me if you try anything :). And go check out my SugarBee site  because I've been blogging a bit over there too!!

Baby Boom!

This morning I was thinking how a whole week has whizzed by since I last blogged, and why the heck does December go by so much faster than any other month? I guess that's kind of a silly question, but still, I swear yesterday was Thanksgiving and I still had some time to figure/plan/prepare for all this crazy holiday stuff. Not so! 

I don't want to alarm anyone, but there are SEVENTEEN SHORT DAYS and TWO PUNY WEEKENDS before Christmas arrives!! And I still have fall decorations and festive turkeys staring at me from around my house. I am happy to report, however, that Bub the hub has already hung the lights outside. So that's a start. 

We've also had lots of visitors lately, especially new baby visitors, and I would be remiss if I did not post their adorable faces here for you to coo at! I got a chance to snuggle with Mr. Jackson Rheman awhile back when his mommy came to pick up his baby announcements

look at those overalls!! such a cutie

And then we had a fun visit with Avery's bf, Ms. Leila, 

who enjoyed all of Avery's toys :)

AND the girls figured out how to tickle each other!!! 

(or maybe I showed them)

My sweet friend Tarryn had little Mr. Connor just last month, 
and boy is he a doll-baby :)

I'm working very hard on his announcement right now

(as soon as I finish blogging)

Then adorable Mr. Cooper made an appearance.
He is the new little brother of Avery's best school friend

 he's very stylish, as you can see

And then of course my precious little Leah bug is getting so big!!

she came over and showed off her scootin' skills,

almost too fast for my camera, but I caught her :)

I warned y'all they would be super cute didn't I? Well, you should have known. 

Word Fun!

I love words. I do. I love reading them and I love writing them. I especially love using obscure words in the correct context, and most especially when I can get an adequate you-are-making-that-word-up expression from Bub the hub! Whom I can then force to look up said word in the dictionary, proving him totally wrong and proving me totally genius.

So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that the people over at Oxford Dictionary announced an adopt-a-word program, right!?! Apparently there is some widespread concern about "hundreds of words dropped each year from the English language." Shocking, I know!  "Words that once led meaningful lives now lay unused, unloved, and unwanted." It's quite devastating.

In order to do my part, I have adopted the word "quaeritate." This new word of mine simply means, "to ask." I have pledged to use this word as much as possible in order to make sure it does NOT lay unused, unloved or unwanted! Now I must quaeritate that you go right this minute and visit the site in order to adopt your own word!! Think of all these poor, unappreciated words, quite literally begging to be used again. If you feel led, please go ahead and quaeritate your friends and family to adopt a word as well!

And on the subject of words, I have recently invented a new word, or more of an expression I guess. Lately I've been designing so many cards, that my poor right pointer finger is aching from all the work it's been doing on my laptop touchpad. I have officially dubbed this condition Photoshop finger. Anyone else out there experiencing the same thing? I'm thinking about writing Oxford to quaeritate whether this could be added to the dictionary. Long shot I guess....but it would look super sweet on my resume...

I also must quaeritate that you comment here if in fact you do make the decision to adopt. I'd love to hear what other words are being saved from obsoletion (yes Bub the hub, THAT IS a word :).

Today I am thankful for

lil'bub giggles on a very overwhelming turkey day................

family, friends, a warm home, baking pumpkin cheesecake................

online black friday shopping, all my new SugarBee clients!!, Photoshop, awesome old movies.....

a soft snuggly bed, a sweet thoughtful husband, MODERN MEDICINE..............

and awesome blog readers like YOU! Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

Normal

Normal is such a funny word. Ridiculous, actually. I mean, I know the word serves a purpose and everything, but no one has the same "normal." Which kind of defeats the meaning if you think about it. For a long time, this word did not ever really bother me. I'm sure there were times in junior high, when everything was totally awkward, that I was probably super concerned with being "normal." But it seems like the minute a little confidence arrived, there also arrived a point where I wanted to be unique...stand out from the crowd. So then being considered "normal" kind of turned into a negative thing.

Finishing high school and college and then going on to grad school, I guess I felt like I was following a path considered somewhat "typical" of my peers, which is a word I much prefer to use for some reason. And when I got married, I remember feeling so excited to start a life with my best friend. I couldn't wait to settle into what I considered the seemingly "normal" existence that I had hoped for. This included my husband, a job I enjoyed, and a home where I felt secure. And expanding our family.

Then when lil'bub tumbled into my universe, everything about this word changed for me. Everything. Suddenly, nothing seemed "normal" anymore...and when it's lost is exactly when you began yearning for it: when you are thinking about it all the time, wondering why you do not get to have the normality that seemingly surrounds you. You regret taking it for granted. You regret not thanking your lucky stars every single minute that YOU had this normality before. So you mourn for it, and you get pretty damn angry about it, and you throw up your hands in complete frustration. And then you embark on a new normal.

This adjustment absolutely sucks, but it has to be done. Literally, in order to rescue a shred of your sanity and be able to walk around without constantly wondering why her and why us and WHY THIS, my little family had to come to terms with the fact that the "normal" existence of all the families around us would not be ours to have. And part of the way to do that is give up on the entire word. Useless!! to us at least. 

I apologize that this has been a much longer prologue than I had planned to explain a quick story. That on Monday of this week past, I had a nightmare of a day that included two intense specialty doctor appointments for lil'bub. One in the morning that involved rush hour traffic, waiting around for an hour and forty five minutes for the doctor to show up, and then listening to things that I don't really want to hear. And another that I asked Bub the hub to take off work and accompany me, because I wasn't really up to the challenge either physically or emotionally. Thankfully, he did, and ALL was fate because after examining Avery's eyes, then dilating her eyes, then waiting thirty long minutes, then returning for prying said screaming child's eyes open to deeply examine everything...whew...this doctor turned to me and said, "Avery's vision is NORMAL for her age range." I almost fell out of my chair. Bub the hub and I looked at each other and I asked meekly, "are you sure????" When I heard affirmation, I then seriously turned into a blubbering mess. I explained to the doctor that this word is not one we ever get to hear in regards to sweet lil'bub...that one particularly ignorant resident at the hospital told me that lil'bub was completely blind after her last surgery...that even though her vision has steadily improved, we never ever in a million jillion years thought those words would come out of her mouth. Like, ever. 

We walked out of that office with so much joy in our hearts and re-belief in miracles and in our little miracle. And we thank our lucky stars every single minute for our new normal.

Drum Roll Please....

I am so pleased to announce FINALLY that my new design site is open for business!!! It was a huge undertaking for me, and has taken a lot of my blogging time lately...SO, here it is:

http://www.sugarbeedesigns.com/

(you can also click on the Sugar Bee Designs button at the top of my sidebar :)

On behalf of my site opening, I'd like to offer 10% off my custom cards this week only if you respond here with a comment about what you think of the new site! That includes those of you who are already on my project list too :)

Thanks for all the wonderful encouragement and early card orders! Now go look! GO!! 

Guest Blog

When Bub the hub saw my recent post about movies, he was like...I don't think so.

Lol---actually, he agreed with my first pick, but has no desire whatsover to see the others. That's totally fine though. He will just miss out on some super cool movies while I go have fun with my friends! But I am all about freedom of opinion, so I agreed to let him post his own picks here. He thinks maybe some of my readers will agree with him more. Whatever! Take a look:

Bub and I try to see a movie whenever we get the chance. As you can see from her Top 5, we enjoy all kinds of genres, from silly comedies to serious dramas, and even a foreign film every now and again. It's just the perfect thing for both of us to "get away" for a little while. People probably hate us because we're always talking during the movie, guessing what's going to happen next, making fun of terrible actors. We can't help it. Usually we share the same opinions on movies...usually.

Without further ado, here are Bub the hub's top 5...

DUE DATE- Zach G is hilarious. That's all you need to know. He could just be sitting there staring at the screen back at me and I would laugh. Throw in Robert Downey Jr. and a crazy looking dog and I'm in.


SKYLINE- The movie looks so great mainly because it looks so ridiculous. I honestly don't even know what it's about. I just know there are aliens with outrageous tentacles grabbing everything in sight...awesome. Can the humans survive?


THE NEXT THREE DAYS- Looks intriguing and intense. Russell Crowe always seems to make entertaining movies and Liam Neesen is smarter than everyone in life.


THE TOURIST- Johnny Depp and Angelina...Quite possibly the two biggest male and female stars...in the same movie.


TRUE GRIT- Coen Bro. movies are either really good or really dumb in my opinion. This one looks pretty sweet. Jeff Bridges seems to have perfected his western accent and Matt Damon as a kooky sidekick will be fun.


Honorable Mention- SAW 3D (It's kind of an inside joke but I've seen all the others. Might as well keep the tradition right?)

Quite Possibly the Worst Movie Ever Made: BURLESQUE- that trailer is brutal, just brutal. I think they would be better off not showing the preview if they want to actually make money on this movie.

Your welcome.
-Bub the hub

Sick Bubs

Hey y'all, we have one sick lil'bub in this house...Bub the hub and I were up all night with a very snotty, coughy munchkin. Poor thing can't stay asleep for more than an hour or so. Today hasn't been much better, and now I can feel a tickle in my throat. Blah!

I think that having sick kids has to be the hardest part of parenting. That's not to say that I don't count my blessings that we are cozy at home instead of in a hospital somewhere! THOSE experiences waere definitely more miserable. But still. I hate seeing her feeling so badly :(

Current diagnosis: a bad cold...pretty please don't let it be anything more serious!!
Prescription: chocolate ice cream and fluids
Getting to sleep in mommy & daddy's bed: priceless

Halloween Wrap-up

Sorry to leave y'all hangin, I really did mean to post more bumblebee photos sooner, but you know...life got in the way! So here it is already November, I can't believe it. Anyhoo, I took a bunch of photos on the morning of Avery's school Halloween party. I was pretty thrilled that she didn't mind getting into her costume. 'Cause you never know, she might throw a fit. Thankfully, she got excited about it, and even let me put on the cute antennae headband too.

But that didn't last long! After about five photos, she couldn't help herself anymore.....

and those little antennae balls looked cute enough to eat! 
which lil'bub certainly attempted to do!

I think the bumblebee costume was perfect for her, so thanks again for voting in the poll. I think I should make that an annual Bub's Life poll since it was so very helpful (good thing that my vote was bumblebee too ;).

Not only is Halloween my favorite holiday, but it's also my favorite time to throw dinner parties. For the past five years, I've had a lot of fun coming up with spooky meals and ghoulish desserts to serve to our friends. Unfortunately, this year got wayyyy too busy for me to plan anything. Sad-I know-but it did help a little that I got to be the Halloween party mom at lil'bub's school. I wasn't quite sure how I could top the spider cupcakes from last year, so I kept it more low-key and whipped up pumpkin spice cupcakes with chocolate icing (delish) and used some fun cupcake toppers that I bought at Michael's. Much more simple than the spiders!

Of course, I had to throw in a couple pumpkin decorated cupcakes from Parents magazine too! The kids really loved them-- especially my kid:

We've eaten enough cupcakes now that I totally come prepared -- Avery is wearing this awesome full coverage bib that I found at IKEA recently. It makes cupcake-eating AND finger-painting a tremendously more pleasing experience. I don't have to stand next to her cringing! haha yes, I AM a little o.c.d. with messes.

I also got to make her friends little Halloween goody bags, which is almost as fun as making the cupcakes.

I found these really cute wands at Michael's too. It's my store! Threw in some Halloween Peeps, wind-up chatter teeth, ghost bubbles and cute little pumpkin bears. I'd also like to mention that I bought all these goodies in August, because I totally got burned last year when I went to Michael's for Halloween stuff on OCTOBER 1ST...and there was NOTHING LEFT! It had all been cleared out for Christmas stuff. I was annoyed to say the least, but totally learned my lesson.

Somehow I had a little creative energy leftover so I made a treat for Bub the hub that I knew he would love...DIPPED OREO MUMMY POPS! so fun and delicious.

When Sunday night rolled around, Avery had a little cough and congestion, so we kept it pretty low key. We took her to a few houses in her pink car. She was bumble bee on wheels! BUZZZZZZZZZZZ

 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

She enjoyed seeing the other kids all dressed up, and smiled shyly when people opened their doors :)

We got to visit with a few nice neighbors and then headed home for some scary spaghetti and meatballs!! But not before Bub the hub tried to steal Avery's antennae...

She said I don't think so!

we had a tired, cranky baby bee at the end!

(at least mommy and daddy enjoyed eating her candy later that night)

Excuse me while I start brainstorming next years' costume choices.

Prepare Yourself...

for Lil'BUB-mblebee!!!!!!!

Good choice, my friends, good choice.

More to come...

Movie Forecast

I totally need to unwind from a previously super stressful weekend. I am attempting to do so by sharing with y'all the top five upcoming movies that I am very much looking forward to seeing...because movies relax me. It's escapism at its best, right?

I've been waiting for these films for a long time actually. I mean, let's face it--2010 has not been a stellar year for the film industry thus far, and I'm not talking about box office sales. I'm talking about great movies. The kind that you leave the theater NOT regretting the twenty dollars you just forked over for a ticket and one drink!

So far, the only two movies I've really liked this year were The Town and The Social Network. I give them both very solid B+'s. But I'm looking for some A's, and really hoping a few of the following are going to break the slump:

5)DUE DATE

I need a good laugh, and I know Zach Galifianakis can deliver. That guy is wacked. Also, I've really grown to like post-rehab-and-turned-his-life-around-Robert-Downey-Jr. as an actor. He's a perfect contrast. Plus I've got a thing for dogs with cones.

4)FAIR GAME

This one is IN-tense y'all. And I am a sucker for true life stories. For real though, I still can't believe that woman's identity got leaked. Politics suck. Especially right now---I swear I'm going to scream if I see one more political bashing candidate commercial on t.v.---I digress though. It's two immensely talented actors and DRAMA!! gets me excited :)

3)MORNING GLORY

I have been waiting for this one forever. I love me some Rachel McAdams! She's so cute and talented, and I totally hold no feelings against her for formerly dating Ryan...MY MAN (see sidebar). Just by having a great supporting cast, funny soundbites, and using Natasha Bedingfields "Strip Me" (which is, like, a really good song), I already give the preview an A!

2)BLACK SWAN
This one looks freaky! They're calling it a psychological thriller, which is awesome, and I gotta see why it appears Portman is LIT-terally turning into a swan. I'm also super interested in this attempt to portray Portman and Kunis as professional grade dancers. I bet they killed themselves preparing for these roles. I like that french actor dude from Oceans Twelve who is playing the artistic director too. Not to even mention it's like the more respected, better acted version of Center Stage!!!

1)COUNTRY STRONG

Gwynieeeee!! She's back! I half love/half totally jealously hate Gwyneth Paltrow, but I see every movie she makes. Her country accent sounds a little ridiculous in the preview, but I'm going to go ahead and give her the benefit of the doubt since she has hands down the best fake british accent in the biz. I've also read a lot of press on her role and she keeps talking about how difficult it was....not to mention how she's really singing in the movie. AND apparently debuting a country song at the CMA's in November. I gotta see this.

Do you like my pics or think them ridiculous? What movies do Y'ALL wanna see???


p.s. No, Harry Potter is not on my radar. sorry peeps!

Sleepy Baby

It is a very rare occasion that I have to wake lil'bub up. Like, maybe two or three times a year. RARE. Anyway, we have to be at school by 9-9:15am, so it's best if she wakes by around 7:30am, because that gives us plenty of time to get ready. And usually this is no problem at all. Usually, she is monkey-ing around her crib, talking up a storm, totally ready for me to get my butt out of bed and come play.

Not this morning. No ma'am.

This morning, I woke up at 8am and looked over at the monitor and lil'bub was still snorin' zzzzz's. I went in to make sure she was, in fact, breathing (yes, I still occasionally do that) and it was so strange not to see her bouncing, smiling face staring up at me. So I had to take a picture of course.

So precious. Blankets kicked off (per usual). Dolly and puppy tossed to the side. And curled up in the cute little ball she makes every night.

It took thirty minutes to get this girl up! I tried kisses and tickles, photo flash (ha!) and, chanting "AVEEEEERYYYYYY, it's time to get up sugarbeeeeeeee." She was so content to stay in her ball. Reminded me a little too much of myself! Thankfully, she did eventually stir awake. The sleeping late and cuteness were almost worth the tornado I had to become to get her ready for school on time. Almost.