Merry Christmas

Wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas.

Even if things don't go quite as you have planned, those are the moments that memories are made out of.

Wishing you all the best.

A bit of bling...

I am a hair accessory kind of a girl. Typically I'll add a flower to my hair...

But with the holidays, it seemed like adding some bling to my hair might have a more festive feel.

So, I grabbed a bobby pin and raided my button jar.

I found a beautiful sparkly bead hidden among my buttons. With some grey thread, I attached it to a bobby pin.

Simple enough.

Better in the button jar, I think not. Even with this sub par self portrait, the beauty of this shimmery sparkly bit of bling is much better as a hair accessory.

And the wrapping continues...

Like most parents {I hope}, we have been reminding Grace that Santa is watching in hopes that any bad behavior will be quickly corrected.

So, when I started wrapping her gifts, I loved the idea of incorporating that in her gift tags.

Just another reminder that he knows if you've been good or bad...so be good for goodness sake.

And you better not cry.

I just found some pictures I wanted to use, pulled them into Picnik {a free photo editing website}, added the text and then printed them out on card stock.

And, we can't forget, the most famous reindeer of all.

I wish I were done but...

The wrapping continues.

Self Fulfilling Prophecies & New Year's Resolution

I have always believed some people are runners and others are not. My dad, for example is a runner.

Me, well, I fell into the 'not a runner' category. I struggled to run a mile, panting the entire time, barely finishing in under 13 minutes.

Last year, for Christmas, I made a new year's resolution to become more fit so I asked for a Nike Plus Sensor.

It's a sensor that goes into the sole of your shoe that tracks your runs {distance and time} and calories burned. It tracks your runs by day and also gives you a cumulative total since you began. It basically provides you with the motivation to run, when otherwise you might find an excuse not to.

Today, I entered the blue level which means since January 3rd {of this year} I have run 622 miles to date. When I look back on my runs from the beginning of the year, I see an average of 13 minutes per mile. My run from today, I averaged an 8 minute 45 second mile. I may not love to run but I now feel an accountability since my runs are tracked to make the time to run.

So in the end, I realized that I do fall into the runner category. It's amazing the things we can accomplish if only we try. So, when you are thinking of your New Year's Resolutions, don't underestimate yourself, you might even surprise yourself...I certainly did.

More Homemade Ornaments

With less than a week before Christmas {seriously where has the time gone}, this weekend was all about making ornaments.

Top on Grace's Christmas list is a kitten. I don't think that Riley would appreciate the addition of a cat SO I made Grace this ornament, which is as close to a kitty as she is going to get this year.

As I have mentioned, I prefer adding a homemade gift tag to the top of gifts. Loving all things vintage and kitschy I decided to make a Volkswagen van and personalize the license plate.

I received the highest compliment from my husband, when after he saw it, he suggested we need one as well.

I also made a Polaroid tag but since this is going to someone that is 11 I am not even sure she'll know what it is.

Of course, after I finished the Polaroid, I saw the coolest tutorial from Katie Cupcake on making a felt Polaroid ornament incorporating a real picture.

One of my favorite ornaments, that each year gets hung on my tree, is a salt dough ornament I made in kindergarten {a long time ago}.

This year, as a family, we made our own salt dough ornaments. The Christmas trees have one of each of our fingerprints {hopefully, once painted, the fingerprints might look like ornaments or lights on the tree}. The circles have thumb print hearts. My favorite, Grace's partial hand print.

I found the recipe over at Busy Bee Kids Crafts. It does take about 4 hours in the oven to completely dry out your ornaments out SO we ran out of time to paint them...can you guess what we have planned to do today?

The Great Christmas Card Reveal

Our Christmas cards are done. They are in the mail and being received by family and friends SO I can finally reveal our theme this year.

We had several pictures that we considered using but...

in the end, we decided not to disappoint our public so Riley made the final cut.

On the back of the Christmas card that we kept, I like to write down the things that Grace is asking for that year. This year's list is simple.

I love the idea of not only keeping a card for myself but also writing out something that will bring my memories back to that particular Christmas.

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Another year older

What has this blogger been up to? Maybe vacationing in some tropical location?

Nope. Celebrating another birthday with my thoughtful husband at home.

Though, I almost felt like I should have been on an episode of Gilligan's Island, while drinking juice out of a coconut.

The best part, it was all lovingly prepared by my husband...

You know, the one that reminds me not to take life too seriously.

Out of sight but hopefully not out of mind

In efforts to get more organized, I am trying to pare down on some of my current things.

Some things were easy to part with BUT there were other things that I wanted to keep just not necessarily out anymore.

So, I lined up some items that were going to be stored away and took their pictures.

Then, in a word document I created some text boxes and pulled in the pictures of those items that were going to be stored away. Once printed...

I taped it to the box, storing my things.

So, now when I look into my closet, I can still appreciate my 'things'.

They may be out of sight but they are certainly not out of mind.

Linked up and a BIG thanks to: