Sherry's Fall Vignette

I know we spoke about the mess that was my kitchen Friday. By way of update, the man cleaned it before that post went live but I didn't cancel it.  Posts like that keep me grounded.  Constantly reading blogs where everything is photo shoot ready, I get caught up in the idea that people really live like the photos I see in magazines. Don't get me wrong, I keep a decent home... I have a healthy case of OCD when it comes to my cleaning BUT Hubbs and Munch have helped ground my desire to live in a perfect home...

They remind me to enjoy life more than I enjoy pretty vacuum streaks in my carpet.  I get it, home is meant for living... I would (and do) argue slob-like tendencies, however, are unacceptable.  I had a busy weekend and I'll share more tomorrow and into the week.  A cake design for a client, floral design consultation, a meeting for future opportunities... BIG THANGS on the horizon!

Before I go, I just wanted to show you Sherry's awesome fall vignette.

She's not done but how awesome is it so far?

Maya Mondays - Daring to Dare.

Mom Strike.

After our fun with the littles, I went on strike.

That's right. I quit.  It was Sunday. I cooked some yummy food, I hollered in the basement for the man to clean the kitchen, I made the kid's lunch, I reminded Hubbs the trash needed to go out the next day, I found Munch's clothes for the week, I cleaned our bathrooms and picked up the areas from our fun weekend with the littles.  Then, I headed to bed (shower, phone scrolling, then bed).  Hubbs came up shortly thereafter and we chatted about life... I dozed off and awoke for our typical morning routine where I, like a skilled equestrian, ride Munch to complete each morning task.

"Brush your teeth."

5 minutes later...

 I realize there hasn't been any water running.  "Z, BRUSH your teeth."

5 minutes later...

 "Why haven't I heard any water running?  Brush your teeth!"

She casually responds, "Mommy, I'm pooping."

5 minutes later...

"Are you done yet?  Brush your teeth."

5 minutes later, I enter the bathroom to see her standing at the sink with her toothbrush in hand and her head on the counter NOT brushing her teeth.

Rather than getting ready, I wind up pushing her through the morning routine and leaving in enough to time to take her to school... still wearing my pajamas.  I have to return home to throw my clothes on and, on this particular day, I entered the house to the smell of dirty dishes.  The man didn't wash them??  NOPE.  There they sit.

I was so annoyed.  Dishes in the sink meant I would have to come home from work, CLEAN the kitchen to cook, only to have to clean it all over - you know what?  I ain't.  I won't. I didn't.

I came home that evening.  I cooked our dinner.  I piled MORE dishes in the sink.  Tuesday, I sprang from my bed to see if he - nope.  He didn't wash them.  The dish pile was higher.  "I'll show him," I thought.  I cooked Tuesday, piled the dishes in the sink and went about my nightly routine.  I woke Wednesday to see if maybe, just maybe, he - NO?!

That's it.  I'm disgusted.  How long will these dishes remain piled up before someone does something about it?  You will note that half of our sink is clear in case I need to wash something off to use it.  I could probably fit everything in the other side but, really?! Who has time for that?  #aintnobodygottimeforthat

Anyhoo, pray for me. I made a formal announcement that I was on strike to Hubbs.  He said he'll do the dishes... when he feels like it.

O. OK. I'll wait.

Islanders, this is a no judgement zone, remember?  I'm a keep-it-all-the-way-real kind of gal, remember?

Please keep that in mind as you view the next few pics as this is what I came home to last night.  I enter our home from the garage.  The door made a thud sound because it hit THIS box of workout junk (in the bottom right corner):

Time with My Littles

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesdays post was a sneak peek into the double dose of cuteness we received this past weekend.

Sheena and Dom were attending a multi-day seminar and I requested to have Liv while they were away.  OMG! We were so excited to have DatMyHoney coming over that we made some major plans!  I picked her up from school and she gave me the greatest welcome when I arrived - both arms up and a big smile.  We were off but first, let me take a selfie (or usie):

WW - Guess Who Came to Visit?

Wordless Wednesdays

A Farewell to Summer

This time of year is always bittersweet for me.

I just love Munch's summer tan :) It seemed like the perfect cover image for our sun-kissed summer farewell.

Islanders, today is the first day of Autumn!

Fall is my favorite season but I do have an unhealthy affinity for the hot summer months.  There's just something about uncontrollable sweat behind the knees that makes me happy, lol.  I almost long for it in December.

The winter of 2013-2014 was rough for our area!  It made me vow to appreciate the summer heatwave... to promise that, no matter how hot it got, I would never complain.  Maybe because it wasn't hellishly hot this year, maybe because I hid in the arms of my air conditioning unit... whatever the case, I enjoyed the hot months of the summer.  Before I bid a formal farewell to grill-burned hot dogs and potato salad, I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of our summertime lost files.  Enjoy!

Maya Mondays

Some People Suck - But Not Sherry.

So... Did you get my blog post notification and about lose your mind?

Yes.  I did too!

Seriously, can you believe Tabitha typed some people suck?!  OMG!  What's gotten into her?!

Islanders, it's true. You do know that some people suck.  I could give a list of people who suck or describe some signs of people who suck but... who am I kidding?

It was a STUPID auto-correct mistake.  I started THIS post with the title, "Some People ROCK!"

I got distracted.

I needed to get photos so I closed it.

...

Columbus Trip Thrifty Finds

Islanders, I've got so much to share that I'm skippin' the typical Wordless Wednesday Post in an effort to get to it already!

On my way out of the door for a dear friend's birthday dinner this past weekend, I realized I was still carrying my mom purse.  It wasn't going to work with my outfit so I hurried to my storage bin of purses to dig out a clutch and THAT'S when I reunited with that little pretty up there.  Woven leather?  Universal chain that offers many options for wear?  That color?  I LIVE (or die... or whatever is the COOL way to say it these days, lol).  It's photos like this one that have brought on a lot of questions about thrift shopping... I'm planning some posts with tips but, for now, that little moment of frugal fabulosity serves as the perfect segue for today's conversation.

Can we talk about the fabulous frugal finds from our family fun in GA?  You like that homemade tongue-twister?  I knew you would.

Easy Honey Rosemary Chicken

I'm sharing a super easy recipe inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest.  It was a recipe for this pretty chicken:

Image Source

I have a thing with Pinterest.  I love it. I really do.  I just feel there is an intimidation factor with it. For awhile, I was worried my projects wouldn't look like the finished products professional bloggers take with their professional cameras... it's as if the site's users have forgotten the purpose of Pinterst is to get inspired to try something on your own!  Well, that picture inspired me to make some chicken...  good chicken.  I didn't follow their recipe exactly and I certainly didn't take my weeknight minutes to "skewer" the chicken... I added a little more of this than that and it helped to make this chicken APPROVED for weeknight (real) moms :)

Here's how I made MY version:

Maya Mondays

Cheers to finding the perfect rhythm to move you through the week :)

Life After Party - A Family Trip.

Life post-party was hard.

I've always had a major clean-up after every event but, with the crazy late night, the impromptu sleepover, the mom-in-law staying the week following and life in general, I couldn't seem to catch-up.

I've cleaned the family room but, in the spirit of keeping it real, I still haven't picked up all of the party decor items in the basement.  Goodness, maybe this weekend we'll take care of it but... eh, whatevs.

I was still playing catch-up when Mommy reminded me of the trip to Georgia in celebration of PawPaw's 80th birthday.  We planned to leave Thursday night, arrive Friday morning and leave Sunday [early]afternoon to return Sunday night.  We have a very ritualistic approach to our visit to Columbus, GA. It typically consists of sitting in each family member's home sharing a meal with some ladies-only shopping sprinkled between house visits.  I wanted to shake it up by researching and trying some activities.

Life Before Birthday Party

We've spent a lot of time covering the Rock Star Festivities and Back-to-School fun.  Today and tomorrow, however, I just want to talk about how summer life was before and after the rockin' birthday party :)

The blog focused on so many other things during that time I didn't have the opportunity to post about celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

August 14, 2014

Our anniversary started with an exercise in compromise.  Hubbs received a text that he was needed at a basketball game that evening (he plays in the work league).  Sure, he told them he couldn't make it that day but the coach insisted they wouldn't have enough players and he needed to be there.

What the-?! On our anniversary?

He asked me.

I said yes.  Then, between kisses and showering me with the whole "you're the best wife ever" compliments, he told me the game started at 5:00 p.m. and we needed to leave by 3:30 p.m. and I would have to dress for dinner and... can you hear how my timeline for the day was completely JACKED up?

We spent the day together just mousing around the house... breakfast together, some minor yard work together, ya know... just old married couple stuff.

After a stressful journey to his office located deep in DC, I made it:

... in my fancy shoes and booty dress (as Hubbs called it).  Can you imagine how awkward it felt for everyone to be in work-appropriate clothes and I had on this... well, BOOTY dress?

Third Grade - The Beginning.

We're done with the rock star party updates... finally. For now.  I have some crafts and recipes I'll share further down the line but I'm actually excited to share some new life updates...

As you saw last week, school has started and, man, was my kid ready!

I love her first day outfit and, although it broke our tradition of wearing navy and pink (remember I talked about it last year here), it was still a very cute mix of classic black-and-white with a pop of electric blue.

I was excited to get this dress for, as you can see above, $14.95!  I also got her heart sneakers from H & M for $12.95.  They aren't available on the site but they're still in the store.

I love H & M for their fashion-forward affordability!  So many moms are stuck in the Target, Children's Place, Walmart rush that they miss the originality found in H & M!  I had this vision of a long blazer for her to wear and I searched for the perfect pop of color for the blazer to be...  I never found it and I was bummed.  Man, was I bummed.

We finished school shopping weeks before the first day of school.  Then, for Munch's birthday, several people read my post about her desire to wear sweat pants to school and got her gift cards to Justice, the store that sells their version of the 'Britney Spears' sweat pants.

The day before school started, the kid and I went.  She was excited to find the perfect pair of sweats:

That's what compromise looks like, people.  After seeing how excited she was to wear the pair of sweats from Grandma Lisa and Pop-Pop on the road trip to GA:

... Hubbs and I decided to let her wear whatever she'd like on Fridays.  We're sure as it gets cooler SWEATS will be her outfit of choice.  No doubts about it.

Anyhoo, while in Justice, we found the perfect pair of electric blue tights and a matching headband... on MAJOR sale (that place is VERY expensive for my budget).  Munch used her gift cards for the sweatsuit and I got the blue stuff :)

She wanted the piggy buns (as she calls her hair style).  I met the request but also added a little rock star element with the front piece:

That's just three rubber bands that I criss-crossed down the small ponytail.  I pulled at the hair between each 'criss-cross' to create a zig-zag look.

For our trip to Georgia, Munch picked out my nail design (she even suggested purple instead of pink in the inspiration photo):

I watched how the nail tech did the accent nail - it's gold polish on the base and she started with a thin white polish and made an X then filled the four 'triangle' areas with the letter -V to create a really cool look.  I knew the kid would be really excited to have her nails the same way so I tried my best to duplicate on her tiny hands:

It's a V instead of an X but her hands are still really tiny, lol.

If you've been on the island for awhile, you know we have a family tradition that Munch does something for Hubbs and I every year.  This year, we woke to a thank you poster she made us:

It never ceases to amaze me how these little traditions have stuck with my kid.  Speaking of traditions, since Kindergarten, we've had a first day sign:

Well, I mentioned the recent trip to GA, right?  Did I also mention it was the weekend before school started?  How about the fact that we left on a Thursday... as in, I had to wrap-up projects at work and pack.  Yea, pack.  That's it. I had to PACK. So, well... I didn't have a sign.

I was devastated but I promised myself that I was the only one who even noticed we do that every year. I could just add the text when I edit the image and the kid wouldn't know.

Yea, right.

Before we headed out to our porch to take the annual back-to-school photo, the kid hollered, "Mommy, I'm ready!  O, wait. Where's my first day sign?"

I reached for the garage door and replied, "I don't have it."

"WHAT?!" the kid and man yelled in unison.

"I said. I. Don't. Have. It.  Now, come on.  Let's take this pic."

Both of them were silent... almost as if they were as devastated as I was about the stupid little piece of paper.  Part of me was SO mad at myself for not having it... the other part was kinda happy.

I mean, I am normally that person who DOES the most for no reason.  The one who researches for the best quality book bags and over thinks the first day outfit... the one who writes notes on napkins for her kid's lunches:

Hubbs wrote this note and I just HAD to add that comma.  Doin' the most. Told ya.

Some days - as a real mom and wife and friend and, well, person - I feel like nobody even cares about the labor of love I put into this so-called life of mine.  The missing sign, and my family's reaction to it, was a subtle reminder for me the selfish people I live with DO appreciate me.

Anyhoo, to compensate for the missing sign, we had a mini interview and I used that as our 'sign' on the back-to-school photo this year:

Yep.  So, maybe I'll do both - a sign and interview - every year from now on... or maybe not.  Would that be doing the most?

Ahh well.

Rockin' Out - The Fun.

I'm back!  We went to Georgia to visit family and celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday last weekend and then school started and… well, the birthday party wrap-up was put on pause... but, guess what?! I'm baaaa-aaack!

Anyhoo, let's get to the fun of the party!

While this birthday party had most of my signature party elements, it was different because the best parts were moments we shared in a space that had NO decor - the dance room.

We'll get to that shortly, it's probably best to break down the order of events first.

As guests arrived, they received a VIP pass to the basement where all of the fun took place.  Sheena designed them on the PicMonkey site, then took them to Staples for printing and laminating.  We hole-punched the passes and attached them to glow bead necklaces using badge clips.

They were SO awesome!  The presentation was more than I ever expected and I owe it all to my Sheena-boo!

Maya Mondays

WW: Back to School