sleepover

Miss Lucy had a sleepover with Aunt Stephie the other night ...
She's stayed overnight with her Nana several times, but it's always been when Scott and I were gone for a night or two ... never when we were actually home!
Let me just say, it felt VERY strange. 
I had 24 FREE hours (minus 4 hours at work).

So ... what did I do (or not do) with all my spare time, you ask?

* I watched something other than Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Bubble Guppies, and Elmo on TV.
* I ate my dinner while it was still warm.
* I did not wipe down a 10 foot radius surrounding the dining table after every meal.
* I did not pick up toys and books (over and over).
* I did not clean up  any "accidents" (this darn potty training is going to be the death of me, I tell ya!)
* I stayed in bed until 8:30 (pretty sure this is close to a life-long record for me).
* I took a shower when I felt like it instead of when I had a chance to.
* I showered for longer than 3 minutes.
* I shaved both legs.
* I blow dried my hair all the way.
* I went grocery shopping alone and took my sweet time (and three store employees asked me where my helper was:-).
* And ....
I missed my little snuggle buddy like crazy!
I was SO happy when Aunt Stephie brought her home.

AND she just learned how to sit criss-cross-applesauce.  (Sorry, people ... I'm a kindergarten teacher - that's what we call it!)

Is it weird that I got emotional about this!?

Someone,
Please stop time now.
Sincerely,

What I'm Loving Wednesday - pink&purple style!

Happy Wednesday!

I'm back for a second round of What I'm Loving Wednesday ... it's so much fun, I just couldn't help myself. :-)

I'm loving these SWEET bags at Nordstrom...

The first one is by Michael Kors ($298)

...and the second, Kate Spade ($350).

A bit spendy ... but OH SO cute.

I'm drooling.

I'm loving Pineapple Orchid from Bath and Body Works ... LOVE these candles (Slatkin & Co.) to pieces (in all scents - but this is one of my latest favs ... if I close my eyes, I can pretend I'm someplace warm and sunny).

Yes, it's still raining in Oregon. :(

I'm loving this Etsy Shop ... Purple Lemon Designs

...where I ordered my cute monogram stamp that looks just like this (only with a 'K' and my address!) So cute!

I'm loving my yummy perfume: Pink Sugar

I've been wearing it for YEARS, and I never get tired of it.

Love wearing it every day.

I'm loving that my first real tutorial post was a success!

I've received so many sweet comments about my magnets, and that makes me happy! :-)

I'm loving that I now have 30+ followers on my blog!

(Hey, that's saying something for me! ... I think I had 7 last week!)

And most of all, I'm loving my Little Lucy Lu ...

and her ADORABLE pink tutu swimsuit, which I bought last week at Target (for $10!).

She picked it out all by herself, too! :-)

Doesn't get much cuter!

I hope you're loving a lot this Wednesday, too! Link up with Jamie at This Kind of Love if you'd like to share in the fun! :-)

Link Party #1 ... check!

Two things I need to say: PHEW! and THANK YOU!

My first link party is history. And now to go back in time for a moment...

A day or two after I announced my intentions of hosting a link party, I began blog hopping (aka: visiting other blogs) out there in the blogiverse, and I came to the shocking realization that 1) there are MILLIONS of blogs out there (which are INCREDIBLE) and 2) that THOUSANDS of them host link parties every week.

No joke.

Call me crazy and naive, but I was pretty sure I was going to be in the minority hosting a link party. Not the case. FAR from it.

(Yes, I feel like a goober.)

And then I realized I have no business hosting a link party at this (pathetic) stage of my blog life.

But alas, it was too late to turn back, so I went ahead with it, even though I kinda felt like throwing up because I was so nervous ... but, I was pleasantly surprised that I had a whopping 14 blogs link up!

You probably think I'm being sarcastic there ... but honestly, that's about ... um ... 13 more than I was expecting. (I knew I'd have ONE because I was gonna make Mick post something, whether she wanted to or not ... and she did a darn fine job, I might add! And she made me cry ... but that's beside the point.)

So ... I want to throw a huge THANK YOU out to you 14 awesome bloggy friends who linked up for my very first Inspire Me Monday.

Although it's been fun, I'm thinking Inspire Me Monday might need to wait a while to make a reappearance. I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do ... but please stick with me, and I promise you, it will be back - eventually. I'm on a mission to build this blog, and this just gives me one more good reason to do it! :-)

If any of you "real" bloggers out there (aka: those of you who have more than 30 followers) have tips for me, I'd love to hear 'em!

Thank you all for stopping by my piece of blogland when you do ... strange as it sounds, it's a good feeling to know you like reading about me and my not-so-thrilling life. :-) All 30 of you! (YAY!)

Inspire Me Monday

Welcome to "Inspire Me Monday" ... a place where (I hope!) you can be encouraged, uplifted, and inspired. I plan to post something inspirational each Monday ... it could be a quote, a picture, a verse, a video, a tutorial, a story, a project, or anything else I can come up with! I hope eventually this will be a place where other bloggers can link up to share their inspirational tips, too ... whether ideas to inspire others - or sharing what you are being inspired by.

The possibilities are endless!

For now, please enjoy MY contribution to "Inspire Me Monday" HERE (also in the post below!) - (a DIY project by yours truly - which means anyone can do it!), and please link yourself up at the bottom ... and link back here, if you don't mind! :-) The button/code are over on my sidebar!

Thanks for joining!

alphabet magnets ... the cute way

LOVE this project! :-)

I have seen several ideas for DIY magnetic letters lately ... and I was SO glad I saw them before buying those plastic letters you see everywhere.

You know ... the ones that look like this:

No offense, but they're just not that cute. Especially displayed in my kitchen!

And since last week was Spring Break and I had nothing else to do (haha!), I decided to embark on a new adventure and make MY OWN magnetic letters for my lil' Lucy girl.

First stop: Michael's craft store ... where I picked up several packages of these round wooden discs. (I think they were about $3.00 each.)

Next step: painting the wood discs. I chose celery green (Krylon spray paint) because it matches the colors in my kitchen, and I'm assuming that's where these little babies will be spending a lot of time.

Here they are, all painted purdy green...

Next step (the step my husband thinks is completely nuts): distress the paint. He just doesn't get it. But you will see in a second why it IS important (well if you're going for the distressed look, anyway!)

I used a sandpaper sponge to sand around the edges of the discs, then used a paper towel to rub Distress Ink (walnut stain) around the edges.

See..?

Below you can see the difference ... the discs on the left are all distressed, the ones on the right are not. HUGE difference, huh? :)~ (sorry, I'm just one of those people who notices these things...)
My perfectly distressed wood discs.

I just wanted to hug 'em and kiss 'em, I loved them so much.

But it gets better! (crazy, I know)

I found these awesome letters (they come in stacks, which I'd never seen before) at Michael's, too. I was THRILLED to discover they fit perfectly on my wood discs.

The soft colors and cute patterns are just perfect for the look I was going for, too ... they're cute but not too cute to also look adorable on the stainless steel in my kitchen.

So I mod podged them onto the tops of my distressed discs. (I told you it got better. I was right, wasn't I?) :)~

Last step: a dot of Gorilla Glue and a round magnet (also purchased at Michael's).

And voila! A.....dorable alphabet magnets. L-O-V-E.

I'm already preparing to make a second batch ...

Tips (that I learned the hard way):

* You can sand the edges of more than one disc at a time - grab two or three and do them together - it'll save you a lot of time!

* Be careful not to mod podge the sides of the discs (where you have already distressed/inked) - it will peel the ink right off.

* A tiny dot of gorilla glue goes a LONG way. Don't use very much!

This whole process was .... well, it was a process - not gonna lie. It took me about three days to get them all finished up. But it was SO worth it, and it's a really good feeling to know Lucy's alphabet magnets were made with a lot of TLC by her Mama. Highly recommend. :-)

P.S. If you're looking for a different (and more boy-friendly) version of these, Roo at NiceGirlNotes has some great ones to check out, too! :-)

~If you like what you see ... please feel free to follow me!

Look in my tabs to see where I (linky)party!

How neat-o is this!?

My post featuring Lucy's room made the Crazy Domestic Top 10 this week!!!

Click here if you want to check it out!

I am excited, thrilled, thankful, flattered, and a whole buncha other words!

Now let's keep that excitement going ...

Don't forget to get your INSPIRATION ready to link up Monday right here on this very blog! :-)

Finally Friday

1.) I'm on vacation, enjoying the beautiful Oregon coast. I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to share next week! Stay tuned.

2.) Remember all that hype last weekend about the "Super Moon"...? Well, here it is. I took pictures of it from right outside my bedroom window.

I wasn't that impressed, to be honest. But that's OK - they're kinda cool pictures. :-)

3.) Baby girl has been sick this week ... can you tell by lookin at those (droopy) eyes? :(

4.) Spring Break is more-or-less over. Kinda sad. But at least I have these little cuties to look forward to seeing on Monday afternoon! :-)

5.) I just helped my sister start her very own blog! She and her husband are ... hilarious, interesting, fun, different, random, and adventurous. Check out their Adventures in LovieLand! (well, check it out eventually ...) Welcome to blogland, Bef! :-)

6.) I'm super excited (and kinda nervous!) to try out my very first linky party on Monday ... "Inspire Me Monday" ... I'm hoping lots of you fellow bloggers will come link up and share your posts that might inspire others in some way! (please, pleASE, PLEASE!)

Happy weekend to you all!

Hawaiian Delight Paninis

Paninis! Love 'em!

For some reason, they make a boring ol' sandwich seem SO much more exciting, dontcha think?

*sidenote: I couldn't believe it when one of my favorite people (who I've never met) posted a panini recipe on her website this week, too! I swear to you, I had this recipe all planned to post before that happened - I even had the pictures taken and everything!)

Maybe my obsession is causing me to channel her subconsciously ...?

Getting back to reality...

Here, I have taken one of my mom's favorite recipes from when I was a kid (Hawaiian Delights - which were open-faced sandwiches on french bread) - and put it into a panini!

It's a lot like the last recipe I posted ... ridiculously simple.

So easy your husband could do it. Or should I say MY husband could do it..!?

Yep, better stick with MY husband could do it, cause I know there are lots of you out there lucky enough to have husbands who cook (lucky girls!).

And here we go again ... list of ingredients ... pen & paper ready? :)~ (just kidding!)

Ta-da!

*deli ham (I used black forest)

*sliced swiss cheese

*pineapple rings (or tidbits would do just fine!)

*cream cheese

*focaccia (or something similar)

I just realized why I love this so much ... the ingredients are YUMMY! (that does help.)

Directions: (as if you need them)

1. slice the bread in half

2. spread on plenty of cream cheese deliciousness

3. layer ham, then pineapple, then cheese

4. put sandwich on your warmed up panini press and close the lid!

(or you can do this in a grill pan on the stovetop - just put a heavy skillet or something on top)

5. grill for approximately 5 minutes

The one bummer about making paninis (at least with my panini press) is that the bread gets toasty and crunchy faster than the inside gets warm and the cheese has time to melt ... so I often just zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so afterward!

Yum, yum, and another yum!

Eat ... and be merry!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Good morning!

I'm linking up (for the first time!) over here for...

So ... here's what I'M loving this Wednesday:

First things first: it's SPRING BREAK!

And I would really like to be loving the sun, but I live in Oregon, so ...

this cute lil' guy will have to suffice.

I love that it's time for Spring flowers! My favorites...

and especially

I love that it's time for Spring clothes

(if the aforementioned sun would cooperate!)

I WANT this dress from Nordstrom. (no surprise there:)~

I love that it's time for Easter candy!

Cadbury mini eggs are THE BEST.

Except that I eat them by the dozens ... so I hate them AND I love them. :-)

I love my sweet new camera strap cover from Polka Dot Bungalow on Etsy.

I get comments and compliments on it everywhere I go. :-)

I'm loving the vacation club that we belong to ...

...because it allows me to stay at places like this for two nights for $100.

(Seaside, here we come!)

I'm loving my baby's cute 'n crazy hair. :-)

And I would REALLY love if you would join me next Monday for my first ever...

(cue: drumroll)

Link up your posts that might INSPIRE ME (and anyone else who reads them) to:

* be a better mom/person/teacher/friend/etc.

* get organized

* set new goals

* try new recipes

* get crafty

* think about things in a new way

* ?????? ...the possibilities are endless!

I hope you will join me... and be inspired!

Uh-oh hair

This, my friends, is "UH-OH HAIR"

... just ask Lucy.

It all started when, 1) Lucy started talking and 2) she grew hair long enough to make this craziness on her head!

She would wake up with hair everywhere, and frantically (and usually unsuccessfully) try pushing said wild-n-crazy hair out of her eyes, hollering "UH-OH HAIR! UH-OH HAIR!" over and over until I came to her rescue and tamed it ... which is no small task!:)~

So now, we just call it "uh-oh hair" all the time ...

but I love it. :-)

What's not to love, really?