Giving Away... Lots of Stuff!

It's my 9th Blogiversary!

HOORAY!

Yup, I've now been blogging for nine fun-filled years. And I'm giving stuff away! Hooray again! ;-)

So I thought I'd give away some of my favorite things this year. :-D

First up... I loved this bag from World Market SO much that I bought three of them. LOL. (Well, two for me to use and one to give away to you guys!) The outside is burlap, and the inside is a wipeable plastic. I use one for paper scraps in my scrap room and the other for non-paper trash. I hang them on hooks (well, technically a bookend hooked to my elfa hanging standards). It's about 18" long! Isn't it the cutest trash bag ever?!?!?

Next up is one of my favorite water bottles by Reduce. They're BPA free and only 20 oz, so small enough to stash in your purse! That's why I love it so. :-D Also, these SUPER-cute rhinestone magnets and a camera keychain that when you click the button, it flashes and makes a "click click" sound. Probably impractical for most sets of keys, but SOOO cute.

This next item may seem silly to you (in a giveaway, at least), but I don't care. I LOOOOOVE these (I even made a layout about them here)! And *because* I love them so, the wonderful people at Hearos sent me some to give away! You'll get a bunch of earplugs (with case) and the matching sleep mask too. :-)

(Images from Sleep Pretty in Pink website.)

Isn't this knit hat adorable?! It's made by Maggie of Assorted Musings. I bought it at the Austin Etsy Fair... just for YOU! :-D

What would a giveaway be without some Studio Calico? ;-) This is the More Patterned Paper Add-on from February's delicious kit! It has that exclusive Crate Paper that sold out in about ten seconds! ;-) So cute! :-)

And...

A $25 Studio Calico gift card!!!

Mmhmm... I love you *that* much! Thanks so much for reading my blog!

Just leave a comment to win! :-D

p.s. Last year, I closed the giveaway to international readers, but hey, if you wanna pay the difference in shipping, I'd be more than happy to open it to you too! ;-)

p.p.s. You have until this Friday, March 11, at 11:59pm EST to enter!

Happy 9th Blogiversary to Me!!

Well, nine years ago today, I started blogging. I should have WAY more blog posts by now than I do, but well... I just don't blog every day. I should change that. ;-)

Today got crazy, and I have to leave to go watch some cool, little girls. I'll have to post my giveaway tomorrow or Monday. Sorry to leave you hangin. Hope you'll come back then though! ;-)

Painting and Nesting!

So... many of my friends suggested we start on the baby's room, so I'm not painting and building and hanging stuff in my ninth month. Sounds good to me! ;-)

Perhaps halfway is a bit early, but we don't care. Since we're having a surprise, I'd love to still plan things out!

First... colors! I thought we'd really go with one of these two color schemes:

... but... I LOVE aqua and grey together. And especially if it's a girl, I would love, LOVE to have peach/aqua/grey. Just so cute. And *then* after I saw Vivi's beautiful nursery, I knew I had to do that color scheme.

Did Joni not do an AMAZING job on her daughter's room? It's gorgeous! (LOVE her website too! How fun is it that she makes nursery inspiration/style boards?)

Anywho... So my sister suggested we choose white/aqua/grey/beige... and then add peach/coral for a girl and charcoal for a boy. She's a genius, I tell you!

So... I needed to set out on a search for an inspiration piece or fabric with these colors. And wouldn't you know it? The 2nd day of my search (and after looking at HUNDREDS of swatches), I came across this gem of a baby line...

Seriously?! How cute is THAT?!?! SOOOO perfect! We had already decided on the paint color we wanted, so when I received the swatches from here, I was OVER THE MOON excited that they matched perfectly. Wahoo! Then I used the swatches to choose a grey and beige. So yummy. :-)

It's much more fun to see the progress of a room, don't ya think?! ;-) Here is what the room looked like when we moved in:

And here it is after we painted it Benjamin Moore's Antiguan Sky. (Please excuse the messy bookshelf in the center. That *will* be removed.) I really love how it turned out. It's so lovely. The closet will be grey, and that's what I'm doing today. :-)

What do you think? I'll keep you updated with the progress!

p.s. Tomorrow is my NINTH Blogiversary! Check back for a giveaway! :-D

Growing: 4 Weeks - 16 Weeks

Man... nearly 19 weeks pregnant and yet to share belly shots. I'm such a scrapbooking slacker. :-p Also, I always take these after I get out of the shower, so hair and makeup are not done. And now that I'm posting them and seeing them on here, that will change next time! LOL. :-p I look so tired! LOL. Ah well. :-p

Here is me at 4 weeks (the day after we found out, I think...):

Then at 12 weeks (the 8 weeks photo is MIA... it must have accidentally gotten deleted. Oops. :-p ):

And 16 weeks (my hair looks SOOOO silly. I should look in the mirror before taking these! LOL):

So that was 2.5 weeks ago now. I may or may not be bigger now. ;-) I'm going to say... yes, bigger. LOL.

Sharing the New (and Improved ;-) Version!

Our wonderful friend, Traci, brought this to life for us. So excited. I'll probably have it made into a Shutterfly book too. You know... sans wonderful music. ;-)

Quoting my Pregnancy Brain... and Oh, These Crazy Hormones.

Pregnancy Brain Quotes of the Day:

(when I noticed that my alphabets had fallen off my layout) "Oh no! My vegetables fell off my layout!"

"Hey! Let's go lawn the mow!"

Pregnancy Story of the Day:

Night before last, we were watching a movie, and I was eating dinner. I had three biscuits on my plate. Just as I was eating the last bite, I thought in my head, "Ahhh, bummer! I'm all done."

And then... without ANY warning, I just burst into tears. It was so sudden that I actually had NO idea why I was crying. LOL. Hubby looked at me and was like, "Ohmigosh! Are you okay?! What happened?"

I then realized that I was crying because I finished my biscuits! LOL. And though I was hysterical by that point, I burst out laughing... uncontrollably, mind you... at the thought of crying over finishing BISCUITS when I had five more in the kitchen! So here I am... empty plate, crying and laughing, not having any idea what is going on in my head. LOL.

I looked up at Jeremy and said through tears, "Umm... I think I need more biscuits." These hormones are CRAZY! :-p And yes, I went to the kitchen and got four more biscuits.

Mmhmm. This is fun. :-)

*Photo by Cooking Light.

Missing Bailey.

Just realized I never did a post about Bailey, my dad's dog.

My sister got her for Christmas in 1998. But she really latched on to my dad. She was *his*, and they did EVERYTHING together.

She died suddenly on July 31st, and we still aren't sure what caused it. She was only 11... she had a good few years left! The doctor thinks it could have been something inside her that burst. Or she could have eaten something poisonous. We all miss her, but especially Dad. :-(

Here is an adorable photo of Bailey (center) with my pups, Amber (left) and Ruby (right). Bailey liked to keep to herself, but she would share my dad occasionally. ;-)

And this was the when she was here visiting in May. I think they had a fun time. :-)

And the last photo of her with my parents. She was a good dog. I'm hoping to make a mini album for my Dad... full of wonderful photos (read: most are blurry because they were taken before digi cameras... LOL.) But... I know he'll love it. :-)

We love you, Bailey! And you are missed. Dad *still* cries over you and thinks about you every single day. :-)

Amusing.

I've pretty much always been easily amused. But am I overly-so in recent days? I wonder.

I received an email from a church we attended in Rhode Island... three years ago. I decided I should just remove my email from their list. When I visited their site, I saw this (you can click on it to make it larger):

And it made me laugh till I cried. Easily amused? Maybe.

Does anyone else find it funny that they have the words "Recommended" and "NOT Recommended" next to their email preferences?! LOL. I mean, of COURSE they wouldn't recommend you canceling their email updates. But to to have it there in bold... to me, that's just too funny.

*sigh*

It's okay to be easily amused, I'm thinkin...

What has easily amused you lately?

Getting Desperate.

We have NO food in the house. Okay, maybe a little bit, but not really enough to make something substantial (no milk, eggs, butter, cheese, tortillas, meat, etc). I so don't feel well enough to go shopping, and poor Jeremy worked an overnight, so he is sleeping. He said he'll shop when he wakes up. :-)

But that still left me with... what do I eat today besides peanut butter toast?! This is where I get creative. I made a stew! It took me like 5-10 minutes, and it's SOOO yummy. I thought I'd share the recipe, just in case you want to make it too. :-)

I'm calling it...

"Leftovers" Stew

1 can stewed tomatoes (Italian recipe) *This was found in pantry.

1 can tomato paste *Also found in pantry! (I'm so glad I decided to buy these two to save for a rainy day!)

1/2 can leftover black beans in fridge

1/2 can leftover refried beans in fridge

Rotisserie chicken pieces (okay, I literally, scraped the bones for all the meat I could find!)

Almost-empty bag of frozen corn

2 cups water

2 tsp chicken base

I threw all this (at the same time) into a pot and simmered on medium until hot. That was it. LOL. I didn't even have to add seasoning or salt because of the stewed tomatoes and chicken base! It is super delicious. :-D

I'm sure it would be much better with full cans of beans and more corn and chicken, so feel free to do that if you make your own. But if you have this stuff on hand, and you're at a loss... you won't go hungry. ;-)

*Photo by user, "Parsley" at Food.com. It kinda looks like this... without the tasty cilantro. ;-)

p.s. I started an organization blog! :-) I'll give it a facelift soon, but it's the content that counts, right?! ;-)

Celebrating Eight Years.

So Jeremy and I celebrated eight years of marriage on Christmas Day! Yay! Laura went through a little list of things they've done, so I thought I'd try it too. :-)

In eight years of marriage...

One house.

Two pups.

Three cats. (only have one now)

Six cities.

Six cars.

Seven apartments.

Ten years as a couple.

Eleven jobs.

Fun! That's a lot of stuff! LOL. :-p (And by the way, those jobs are between the two of us. I used to like to have two or three at one time, and we lived in six different cities... so... yeah, that's why the number is so big. LOL.)

Us in 2000:

Christmas Day 2002 (our wedding):

Now:

I thought we hadn't changed *that* much, but I guess we do look a bit older now. LOL. :-p

I am so blessed to be with this guy! He's just so awesome! I'm so happy we finally get to welcome a baby during our 9th year of marriage! YAY!

Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you tons! :-D

Jumping Ahead.

Okay, so it's still super early, but I can't help it. I found Polyvore, and it's just way too much fun! These are the two color schemes I'm thinking. The second one is my first inclination, but I just don't know. At least I have a few months to decide! ;-)

I think I could use either of these for a boy or a girl. This first one, though... as long as that flower fabric stays in small quantities. :-) The red and yellow would also stay in small quantities (especially red), since they are known to cause over-stimulation in infants, resulting in restlessness and prolonged crying. Isn't color science fascinating?! :-D

Blue-Yellow-Red Nursery by reyasunshine on Polyvore.com

Blue-Green-Tan Nursery by reyasunshine on Polyvore.com

This second one is pretty much the color palette of our living room and bedroom. I just feel so cozy and serene in these colors!

Which one do you like best?

Comparing.

Last time, it looked like this:

And this time around, it looks like this:

There's a BABY in there!!! With a totally strong heartbeat, and everything looks perfect!

*sigh*

It really is so surreal. I was so happy I was laughing. Not crying. Laughing hysterically. LOL. Jeremy shouted, "WHOA! You can actually SEE its little heart beating!!! That is SOOO cool! It's our BABY!" Tee hee. He was practically jumping up and down, could barely control his excitement in the chair next to me. He's so cute. :-p

One more thing...

My due date? Yeah, it's July 30, 2011. You know what that date is?

Why, it's our 30th birthday! You read that correctly. *Our.* Jeremy and I will both be 30 on July 30, 2011. (Just noticed it's our golden birthday too... tee hee.)

*sigh*

Mmhmm. This baby is meant to be part of our little family. :-)

Merry Christmas to us! And you guys too! ;-)

Loving Austinites. :-)

I was out walking the dogs today and a woman stopped me and said, "You can just leave your dog poop bag on our lawn! I'll pick it up when I get home tonight!" LOL.

People in Texas are WAAAAY too nice... or at least, these people are! ;-) I politely declined... thought I may need it again before I reached home. :-)

Love that these people are my neighbors. :-D

Wishing for Christmas.

I don't have a big wishlist this year. I never really have a big wishlist. But these are things I think would be neat. :-) We don't really have a lot of money this year, due to several misfortunes in a row. *sigh* Ah well. Such is life, yes? We have each other and we're both happy and healthy now! :-D

1. I got this for myself for Christmas. (I needed a new coat, and I had a gift card. :-p ) It came in the mail today, and it's SO cozy (hood is removable!). I'm wearing it right now. LOL. :-p (Oh! And you know what's cool? See those front pockets? Behind them are pockets you can actually slip your hands into! How cool is that??!?!)

2. Mint Eco-Lips is my favorite chap-stick and the only stuff I use (other than this that I keep in my purse at all times). I would LOVE to try this coconut flavor! Yummy!

3. Jeremy and I really would love to take up Scrabble. We just want a "go to" game to have in the house to play together. :-)

4. Okay, I JUST saw this today. LOL. Not only is this the coolest bag ever, but it has my name on it! :-D
5. And I know it sounds crazy, but this boy? He's up for adoption, and I'm in love with his sweet, little face. *sigh* I actually thinks he looks just like our baby would. He SO reminds me of this little boy with Down Syndrome that I used to babysit. I was so in love with that boy too. :-p This is a pretty hefty gift, I know. ;-) But I'd love him in my home. :-)

I found him at this awesome website, where you can put money into each child's grant fund for his/her adoptive parents! I think it's such a great idea! So if you're looking for a great charity this holiday season, this one is awesome! I've also read about two families who adopted from there, and the whole process sounds wonderful! Oh, how I wish I could go get him tomorrow. :-)

What's on your wishlist? Happy Chanukah! Merry Christmas!

Missing Disneyland.

Sorry I haven't updated. I can't really say why I haven't. I guess I just didn't feel like taking photos, and I feel like a post without a photo is incomplete. *sigh* Ah well. I'm hoping to update more frequently.

I made this today, though, and I've watched it like ten times. I'm missing Disney so much lately, and this really is helping me through this tough time. ;-)

It's weird. I think this video only lasts for a few days, so if it disappears... "Thanks, Disney! This is the thanks I get for working all those crazy hours for you? For only getting four days off to get married, two of which were flying there and back... with NO honeymoon?! Pfft. I still love you, though, Disney. This just isn't cool." :-p LOL. So if you see this video and it says, "Dynamic" instead of "Reyanna," it's *not* the one I made! ;-)

p.s. If they had mechanical pet dolls, I would have added Ruby, Amber, and Kissa to the mix. Alas, you'll just have to take my word for it that they want you to have a good holiday season as well! ;-)