the monday update

it's a new week. hope your weekend was good.
i love having this blog. but sometimes i simply don't know what to post. i know it's really like an online diary (and obviously i live a rather boring life. heehee!) but i often go several days without posting anything and i just hate that. i also HATE coming up with a title for my post. isn't that so stupid? so...i have come up with a "blog schedule," if you will. it has taken care of my indecision about what to post and the title. it will be as follows:

monday--the monday update
tuesday--thoughtful tuesday
wednesday--wordless wednesday
thursday--thankful thursday
friday--fabulous friday finds

(i know these are miniscule problems in the grand scheme of things, but i'm trying to be as organized as i can lately. :)

so~on with the monday update (which, as the name implies, will update you on the exciting, or lack thereof, days that have passed since friday.)

friday started off with mckinlee walking to school for the first time by herself. she's decided she wants to do that on mornings that are not her safety patrol mornings and not raining. she was so excited and there are so many kids that walk to and from school that i felt ok letting her do that.

that afternoon, after school, i waited for her down the street. she was very upset. she wanted to walk home completely by herself, but i just had to get a picture of the first walk home. so this is my darling child as she stormed past me. heehee!

friday morning also included my first mri to check on my crazy neck. unfortunately, i didn't get a picture of me in the tube. i should have taken my camera in because the girl was so sweet. it wasn't near as bad as i had thought. the hardest part was not being able to clear my throat for so long! as it turned out, the mri ended up showing nothing! i am glad there's not something terribly wrong with my neck. but i sure wished it would have shown something definite that the chiropractor could correct.
friday night was michele's big winter jewelry show. and i must say, it was the prettiest one ever! so many beautiful vintage looking pieces. it looked like you stepped into anthropologie. there's a ton of pictures since mom and danielle didn't get to come. (i wanted to be sure you got to see everything!)
these are precious little gift bags.
she had also made gorgeous picture frames.




a close up of the amazing garlands that were strung everywhere.



these pins are all the rage right now. aren't they beautiful?
this necklace was one of my favorites.
look at these darling bottles.
there were also cards she had made displayed everywhere that you could buy.
isn't that the cutest way to dress up a pair of gloves?
i was very good and only bought an eternity scarf with a pin and a bracelet. and some earrings for mckinlee. i could have spent a month's budget there. everything i saw was beautiful!

saturday night we went to dinner at these guy's house. sammy, maria and bianca. they are so sweet and we had the best food and wine!
mckinlee and bianca. mck had such a fun time with this sweet girl!
chris and i.
this couple is from our congregation too. rachel and alton
we were watching sammy and maria's pictures from colorado. when bianca would hear the music from the slide show and see herself, she would get so excited and start dancing around. too cute!
look at these precious legs. i wanted to eat them with a spoon!
and finally, this is how i spent my day sunday. with my heating pad for cramps, ice pack for my head, heat pack for my face and mckinlee's snuggie to keep me warm. i felt horrible all. day.long. finally when it started storming, my head and face stopped hurting and now the cramps are better too. (sorry if that's more than you wanted to know about me this monday morning.)
have a good monday and come back tomorrow for my first installment of "thoughtful tuesdays." (guess i better start "thinking" of something!)

catching up...

good morning. it's a cool and kind of gray day here--perfectly fine with me! mckinlee and i walked to school today and neither of us knew it would be so cool. we both had on capri yoga type pants and mckinlee said she sure wished she had on jeans. i told her i was sorry i didn't realize it was so cool and she said, "yeah--sticking your hand outside is not real accurate." (that just cracked me up, because everyday i open the back door and kind of stick my arm out to see what the weather's like!)
anyway, i started walking home and thought since i was already dressed and all, i should just keep walking. so i walked for about 30 minutes. it's my goal to do this at least 3 times a week. then i went to the cleaners to drop off chris' shirts and headed to chick-fil-a. during the month of november, every wednesday morning from 6-9 you can get a free chicken burrito. so i got a burrito and a cup of coffee. now, i've got to get busy cleaning and putting up all the laundry i've been doing.
i meant to post this picture of mckinlee the other day. it was the 50th day of school last week, so they dressed up in 50's clothes. she looked so cute, but by the time i picked her up she looked nothing like that picture!
last weekend was so fun (except for chris' mom being in the e.r. due to her blood pressure--hopefully her new medication will correct that :(
we first went to kali and tim's housewarming party (it's wednesday, so i know you're reading this, kali. hi!) where i did not get a single picture. i was so upset, but if you read danielle's blog, you've seen the pictures. their house is SO cute! i just wanted to curl up on the couch and not leave. some houses just have such a wonderful, homey feeling~~and theirs' is definitely one of them!
then on to danielle and mike's anniversary dinner. after our wonderful meal, we went back to mom's house and had cake. danielle and mike surprised mckinlee with a snuggie! she was beyond excited. you would have to know that mckinlee is the infomercial queen. she is constantly calling me into the living room and announcing that we need one of the "fabulous" products being advertised. she has been wanting a snuggie for so long and now she finally has one.
here are some of danielle and mike's presents:
and here's the happy couple:
mom had the table set so pretty and that chocolate cake was yum-mo!
my mom and aunts. isn't that a beautiful picture of all of them?
mckinlee posing while danielle slices cake in the background
now, danielle's turn
after the yummy refreshments, we went over to danielle's to see sadie belle's room. i won't post any pictures until she does, but mckinlee got some good ones, including this cool shot of the chandelier from below.
and then, before we knew it, we were driving home. no matter how many times i see it, i always get a little thrill when i catch a glimpse of the skyline driving into downtown.
as soon as we got home, we finished mckinlee's invent america project that was due the next day. i really can't stand projects. even though they say parents are only supposed to provide encouragement, there is no way kids can do these things completely on their own. (although i did very little, except constantly harping on her to get it done!) so basically it means homework for parents and i just think people have enough going on in their lives, that they don't need countless projects to supervise. (getting off my soapbox now...)
these are the beautiful flowers my mom brought me when i had pink eye and the sinus infection. she stayed with me a couple of days after the retreat and went to the store for me, got me flowers and made me homemade chicken soup. it was so wonderful--and every once in a while, it's nice to have your mom take care of you no matter how old you are! (thanks mom!)
finally, evidence of how cosmo amuses himself when we are out of town.
not only do we have to make sure he's not locked in a room before we leave to go somewhere, now we also have to closed all the bathroom doors so he doesn't have a party with the toilet paper!
better get to work--have a good day!

i'm back

my sinus infection and pinky eyes are better~~yay! i've been such a bad blogger, but i finally feel like posting pictures of our retreat weekend. so here goes...
13 of us stayed at the creative cottage in mckinney scrapbooking and eating all weekend--what could be better?
this is the cute little house. inside it is much bigger than it looks!
here is our section of the craft room. this is where mom, danielle, jennifer and i created our masterpieces!
this is the other part of the room where you could use all sorts of machines, computer, etc.
this is the living room, dining and kitchen. i thought they decorated it really cute!
our room was upstairs and slept 7. it was so dark, cool and very comfy!
a few of us made little treats for everyone. mindy made the cutest mini calendars and michele made these beautiful gold and pearl earrings for everyone. valarie also made a darling bracelet that i didn't get a picture of and i made cute little candy pouches that i also didn't get a picture of!
this is what my desk looked like all weekend. i was working on my first art journal documenting our anniversary trip to mexico. it turned out really cute!
danielle taking a picture of me.
we had some wonderul meals. this was dinner friday night and it was delish. our chef was a girl named afton (isn't that wonderful?) who looked like neve campbell and ashley de la grossa (from the early dancing with the stars).
after dinner afton took our group picture. would you say purple is "the" color this season?
a cute one of mom, danielle, jennifer and me~~wearing our earrings michele made us.
our lunch saturday was the best tomato bisque, apple-walnut salad and smoked turkey-gouda panini. yum! my mouth is watering just looking at this :)
jennifer cracked me up--she brought her own bottle of ranch which she diligently carried around with her for each meal. she was so adventurous in the cuisine department and ate stuff she never would normally. (so proud of you jen!)
saturday mom, danielle and i went to downtown mckinney--possibly the cutest place i've ever been! how have i lived here 2.5 years and never knew about this place?
look how much mom and i look alike!
a cute one of mom and danielle. the store behind them~~smitten~~was the coolest, vintage-y store!
isn't danielle the cutest pregnant girl ever?
beautiful fall displays and plants everywhere you looked!
120~~the cutest store ever. i wanted to sit down and just stay there all day! cute vintage items, baby stuff, books, etc. i kept thinking, "this is what i love--why doesn't my house reflect that at all?" i think it scares me because i don't know quite how to achieve what i want. that's where danielle comes in. maybe she can help me "vintage" out at least one room in my house!
a darling globe hanging outside 120.
and here's the inside of that fabulous place!
i love this old gas pump. isn't that red and white crackling paint wonderful?
here's mom and i with my newly pink eyes on sunday morning just before we left.
i'm so glad no one else got it from me--i felt so bad thinking i might have infected someone else.
we had a fabulous time~~it's so nice to get away and not think about cooking, cleaning, etc. just for a couple days!
i have a busy day today getting everything done and ready to leave for waco tomorrow. can't wait to see tim and kali's new house and have danielle and mike's anniversary dinner. will have lots of pictures next week...

bummer...

will be back sometime to post pictures of our fabulous girls scrapbooking retreat weekend...
for now i've got a sinus infection and pink eye in both eyes :(
what a bummer of a monday.