Some of my favorite things...

Do you ever wonder what people use in real-life that they just love!!? Well, I always enjoy seeing other bloggers telling about products that they use and love (that they aren't getting paid to tell you about!). So, today is our first (and maybe only installment, depending on how this goes! ha) of "My Favorite Things". Unlike Oprah, you aren't going to get to win any of these things... but maybe one of these days we'll introduce you to something you didn't know about and would want!
In no particular order...here's my list of current favs.

1. Streaming Netflix to my TV.

We love this in our house so much that we recently downgraded our satellite service to the basic package. We found that the kids shows are all on Netflix and we were not watching cable near as much as we should be...for what we were paying!! Our TV came loaded with Netflix ready capabilities and it has been so great! If you've not tried it...you should.

2. The Jesus Storybook Bible


I work in a preschool part-time at our church. One of the other teachers turned us on to this book and it's really so good! I bought it for every family "set" at our family Christmas. We've all seen other Children's Bibles and day-by-day readings but this is the first one that I've ever read that points to Jesus at the end of EVERY STORY!! How many times have we read or told stories about the Burning Bush, 10 plagues, Red Sea crossing and left it at that. The author brilliantly weaves our ultimate need for Jesus and our need of rescue in every story. If you have small kids, or grandkids, or nieces/nephews, etc this is a must have!

3. Have a New Kid by Friday



Okay, so my kids aren't totally changed...but this book has given me great insights into discipline that doesn't involve me yelling, threatening with consequences and bribes. If you have kids from birth-18 this book is for you!

4. Flipz


Oh dear! They had these (and the white chocolate ones) in the Dollar Spot at Target last week and I bought four bags... They are heavenly!

5. Babyliss hair straightener

I've tried the Chi, the cheapo versions of a straightener and this is by far the best I've used. The Chi broke on me 3 times... (I bought 3 of them before I finally wised up)! If you spend any amount of time using a straightener you know how long and tedious the process can be and if you have partially wavy hair like me then straightening is a must-do EVERY STINKING DAY! This one gets hot enough (some don't!), doesn't pull your hair (some do!) and hasn't broken yet after DAILY use and sometimes HOURS AND HOURS of "ON" time (oops!).


6. Turbie Twist

Okay, so this one seems silly to me. I got one for Christmas as what I think was a 'filler' present (am I right, Mom?). I thought I'd give it a try and I'm telling you this thing works!! It's an absorbent towel that keeps a low profile and stays on your head. How many times have you tried to get dressed with the huge bath towel wrapped around your head?! This one actually allows for that. I put it on out of the shower, get dressed, do my make-up and then dry my hair and it saves me a LOT of drying time.

So, how about you? Any of these your favorites too? Or what's your favorite thing right now?

Beauty & the Beast Birthday Party

Be our guest, be our guest!!

Welcome to Addison's 4th birthday party!

Our formal luncheon was inspired by the dinner party scene from Beauty and the Beast, my daughter's favorite movie. I decorated with tea cups and hung pearls from the chandelier. All of the girls came in their favorite princess dresses and I served pink lemonade and heart shaped pb&j's. I put fake flowers on the front porch topiaries and hung our spring wreaths with pink ribbon. I made princess tiaras for each girl and put them on the back of their chairs.

After lunch, the girls played dress up and made princess wands. I stocked this dresser full of my daughter's dress-up clothes, plastic necklaces and princess shoes and set out lip gloss and princess dust. The sparkle dust ended up making a mess, but they LOVED it! Note to self: next time, no lip gloss. :)

I set out jewel shaped stickers for the girls to decorate princess wands. We wrote their names on the back once they were done so that they could take them home as party gifts.

My friend Merideth (future event coordinator!) had a great idea of setting up Belle's library! So I laid out pillows and princess books for the girls to flip through. It was a soft landing spot for girls to plop down after all of the excitement and sugar rush.

It was a sweet party with precious attendees!

Thank you to all who helped make Addi's day so special!

Thank you to Lindsay for letting me borrow extra princess attire.

Thank you to Merideth for great ideas and inpiration.

Thank you to Cake Junkie (College Station) for the wonderful Belle cake.

Thank you to Katie for helping me pass juice & cake.

Thank you to Maleigh for helping me clean up juice, cake and princess dust!

And thank you to my husband Ben, for letting me put on silly parties that make me (and my daughter) happy. I truly LOVE doing it!

Links and inspiration:

Belle Breakfast Soiree by Melissa Darst Photography

a sweet friend and awesome photographer!

Princess wands by Lu Bird BABY

Story time by Hostess with the Mostess

Laundry Room Rug

I finally found a rug I liked for the laundry room! Whoo-hoo! Remember when I blogged about the laundry room before? Well I mentioned needing a rug, new light fixture and curtains. So, One down... two to go!!


I think I am going to be okay with the fact that it isn't a "back door" mat... and is slightly longer than the washer/dryer. I have plans for this space here anyway so eventually I'd love to build something like this...

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That would help fill the void and make more sense to have a rug in front of it too. But for now I'm happy that one out of the 5 needed spaces in my home has a rug!

I do have one tiny complaint though...
If you've read our blog for too long you'll notice that we are big fans of Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, etc. But isn't it just plain annoying when you find something you love there - and they only have ONE but you need TWO, or three, or four?! Also, I'd love to be able to get a matching rug in a different size, but since it was found at TJ Maxx... they only have the one and only, solo runner in that pattern. Oh my! I have scoured the internet looking for the maker of the rug but have come up empty in my search! Woe is me...

For all of you fellow TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Home Goods fans... happy hunting! :)

Dining Room Progress

Step one of my dining room makeover has been completed!!! Wondering what step one was?

Convicing my husband that we really do need to do board and batten all around the room...and that yes, we really can do it ourselves. Honestly, it didn't take that much convincing. I've got a handy man and one who is willing to put up with my decorating whims.

I've been searching the internet for what I want the room to look like and I've put together a few inspiration photos.... Thank you Pinterest!

Rug... I just ordered a jute rug like this one today from Overstock.com. I debated about going with a floral pattern, but was afraid I'd get tired of the pattern before the rug wore out. This way I can change color schemes without having to change the rug. {I also love the color of the walls}


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I love the tablescape on this table. So, I'll be looking for candlesticks here pretty soon.


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Curtains! I really want to have buffalo check curtains somewhere in my house... and the dining room is great place to start I guess. Not sure of the color I'd go with yet...and these are actually striped (but I think they look buffalo check-ish).
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I am loving the color in these two rooms.


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I want the board and batten to end up looking like this...



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I'm really hoping to get productive this week. But it's the first week back to school for our kids... and me to my part-time job. Soooo.... maybe this is just a good project for January. Oh, let's just be honest... it's a good project for February too!

How I "Envision" Things

We've lived in our current house for about 6 months now. I have a list a mile long of things to get around to doing. For some reason I have had a fear of commitment in hanging anything on the walls and a case of wishy-washyness...yes I'm declaring that a word...on colors, styles, etc.

So, today I decided that I am going to start making decisions. And how do I do that since I have a fear of commitment and wishy-washyness? BLUE tape!

Yep, that's right...that's my markings of where a 5x8 rug would go. I needed to see if it would work, or if I needed to go bigger. {Decision: BIGGER}

I also really want to add some board and batten to this room. The house is too "traditional" for me so I need to add some cottage-y casualness. So I marked a line on the wall 5' up so I could visualize how it may look. {Decision: I LIKE IT}

Then I found some artwork online today that I liked so I wanted to see how it may look up on top of the board and batten. {Decision: UNDECIDED about the art but I think I like the concept, ha!}


My husband comes home tomorrow from a two-week trip to East Asia. I have two questions: How long will it take him to notice? And, How long will it take him to figure out he's got some work to do?! :) Gotta love a good Mr. Handyman!

Am I the only odd ball? Do any of you do stuff like this to help make your decisions and visualize changes?

Update your contacts

Use your cute Christmas cards to update your contact list!

Just take a picture of the card and save it to that contact. This is perfect for my friends who I don't already have a picture for or who aren't on facebook.

Love it!

new New Year's tradition

I've started a new tradition this year~ video interviews of each of my kids on New Year's Day. I ask them what their name is, who their friends are, what their favorite food is, etc. They loved it, and I love that I'll have videos from every year that capture who they were and what they were like. I'm sure as they get older, my questions will change to suit their age. After the first round of this year's basic questions, I kind of just let it go from there. At one point my daughter sang the ABC's and demonstrated her favorite dance moves. And I couldn't help but laugh at some responses I got. Apparently my 4 year old's favorite thing to do is to share her toys with her sister. Ha! What a ham!

I got the idea (and this picture) from How Does She.

She had some great questions to start with.

1. What is your name?
2. How old are you?
3. What is your mom’s name?
4. What does your mom do during the day?
5. What is your dad’s name?
6. What does your dad do during the day?
7. What is your favorite color?
8. What is your favorite thing to eat? (what don’t you like to eat?)
9. Who are your friends?
10. What is your favorite song? Can you sing it for me?
11. What is your sister’s name?
12. What is your favorite place to go?
13. What is your favorite thing to do?
14. What do you like about your Mommy? (Daddy, sister, etc.)
15. What do you want to be when you grow up?
16. What is your favorite book?
17. What does (sister/brother) like to do?

Go ahead, grab your video camera (mine was in the back of the closet) and get rolling! It takes 10 minutes and you'll be glad years from now that you have more videos of your kids.