i am thankful {2.}...

Last year I did a post in December...about Thanksgiving. In case you all are not aware, Thanksgiving is in November. I was a slacker. However, it is only three days after The Day of Thanks and I am blogging about it! Goooooo me! My turkey day post from last year, is one of my all time favorite posts. I am doing it the same way this year. Ready for a picture explosion? Enjoy...

I am thankful for being able to spend an enormous amount of time with two of my favorite ladies. My mama and Bug are the loves of my life...

I am thankful Bug is awesome. I have no idea where she learned all of her awesome ways...

Oh, wait...

I am thankful for my future sister-in-law, Bastina Balicious. She never fails to give me a stellar Thanksgiving photo op. Once again I refer to last years t-day post. Bastina's gangsta pic is priceless...

I am thankful for my grandpa. He is my one card carrying democrat family member. If it were not for him, I would be the lone voice of reason and sanity at the dinner table...

I am thankful Bug has her Grandpa the Great and Marylou to love on her and spoil her. That girl deserves all the love in the world...

Like I said, this girl deserves all the love in the world...

Remember what I said about stellar photo ops? Yep. Case and point...

I am thankful I have someone to save my favorite childhood clothing items for. Yep. I did rock a leather cowgirl jacket WITH fringe in my day. So epic...

I am thankful I have a mama who is a skilled seamstress. See that super cute hounds tooth cardi I am wearing? Yeah. That is a Mama Made couture creation. Love it with me folks...

I am thankful that I snapped this picture of sheer glory. I have zero clue what happened to cause these facial expressions on my family member's faces, but I thank the Gods of Awkwardness for it...

I am thankful that they are not mouth breathing while playing the Wii. It seems to be a habit of theirs...

I am thankful that Jordan is being schooled in the ways of knitting. By 'schooled' I mean driving Christina crazy by asking her what every single thing in that bag is. I am also thankful she put ALL of Bastina's knitting tools back where they belong. That could have been a nuclear meltdown had something gone missing...

I am thankful that Bastina snapped this gem. What can I say? My mom makes really good chocolate cream pie...

I am thankful for my loved ones. Plain and simple. What are YOU most thankful for?

psbtw, new creations are in the Mama Made Shoppe!

xoxo

must have monday {6.}...

One trend that I am all about right now is the ginormous chunky rings. They pretty much own my heart...even if they are intense and can sometimes get in the way. I am starting quite the collection and I am loving it! Basically this post is to woo all of you over to the dark side! So far my huge ring collection consists of these gems...

{part of ring wearing awesomeness is having fierce painted nails. love this polish. love this color.}

xoxo

happy friday...

It is Friday...which always rocks. It rocks even more when someone has a super awesome giveaway happening. Head on over to Busy Bee Lauren who was sweet enough to host a giveaway for my mom's new Etsy store!

The winner will get their pick of the Mama Made Infinity Scarves! The winner can even request a custom order! Go on ahead and enter here. The giveaway ends next Thursday so hurry up and enter!

I am so excited for my mom! I hope you all have lovely weekends!

xoxo

wise words wednesday {17.}...

This week is busy, but I just wanted to do a quick and dirty (twss) post!

{17.} Wise Words...

I think I will leave it at that, because who can say it better than Audrey? I hope you are all having a lovely week.

xoxo

must have monday {5.}...

It is time for me to start my week off with a whole lot of swooning. I have finally decided to own the fact that I am slightly tall. I am about 5'8", and while that isn't gigantic, it is still a bit above average for women. This fact has always kept me feeling uncomfortable in heels or any shoe with height. But, whatever. I am loving my height as of late, and have been rocking some super cute/super tall wedges. I looooove them so bad. Guess what the theme is for this Must Have Monday? Yep...shoes. Enjoy the shoe porn my friends.

{1.} 'Detective'-Naughty Monkey

Why hello super foxy wedge boots, would you like to come and live in my closet? I think you would. I am really feeling wedges this season, in a big way. I also am needing some boots in my life. These are too freaking cute. Wedge? Check! Boots? Check! Heather Gray? Check! Only $99.95 through Zappos? Check! These babies are true freaking love.

{2.} 'Ruby, Do Ya Know Wedge'-ModCloth

These are too cute for words. Are they a little 'much'? Probably, but they scream fun to me. They are perfect to spice up a bland work look, or to go out and dance in, or to wear on a weekend outing. I adore these because, to me, they can dress up or dress down any outfit. These are a little wild for my taste, but I am working on branching out with my fashion. These are only $37.99 at ModCloth!

{3.} 'Classic TV Heels'-Anthropologie

I am not even sure I have the words to express how freaking adorable these heels are! I want them. Okay, I actually NEED them. It is not a want, it is more of a spiritual need to have these lovelies sitting in my closet. My oh my Anthro, you have done it again! These retail for $138.00, and yes I will be checking on them every single day so I can pounce on them the moment they go on sale.

{4.} 'Easy Rider Boots'-Anthropologie

While most of these shoes are all about the height, these obviously are not. I mean has anyone ever tried to wear heels every day of the week? Yeah, no. My poor feet would hate me. These boots are cute and badass all at the same time. They look so comfy! These bad boys are over at Anthropologie for $378.00, that means that they will not be mine now or probably ever.

{5.} 'Plum Wedge'-L.A.M.B

Once more we end up with gray! I am swooning over all things gray for some strange reason. These are to freaking die for. These are 4 1/2 inches tall...which is intense, but I still want them. These babies are over at Zappos for $275.00, which is far too rich for my blood. Someone go and buy them now.

Now that I have shared my must haves with you all, share yours with me! What shoe trend are you loving this season? Do you rock the wedges? Are you a strictly flats girl? Does anyone want to buy all these for me? If so I will be your very best friend. The end.

xoxo

one year ago...

One year ago today I said goodbye to my dad for the last time. I remember the night before he passed so vividly. My brothers sleeping on the floor in the living room, my uncle on the couch, my mom and I in my dads bed, right next to the hospital bed where my dad was unconscious. I remember how that night, when no one was looking I went and sat next to my dad. I like to think that he knew I was there and that he heard all that I said to him. I will not go into detail about what all I said, just some things that needed to be said, some apologies I needed to make. Then I let go of his hand, kissed him on the forehead and whispered, "It's okay Dad. We are all going to be okay. We are all here. I love you. It is time to go. Dad, I love you and it is okay for you to go. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay." I later found out that my brothers had similar conversations with my dad that same evening.

At 4:54 a.m. my mom woke me up and told me my dad had passed away. I sat up out of bed, looked to my right and I could have sworn he was just sleeping. My brother Jon-than came in and kissed him, while I sat on the bed crying. Jon-than sat down and held my hand while we waited for the coroner to come to declare the time of death.

It was hard. It was sad. It is still hard, and still sad. I miss my dad. As much as he used to drive me crazy, I miss him like crazy. The hardest thing was not having him there when I graduated from college. That was always SO important to him. But I did take a picture of us to graduation, so he was in my pocket as I walked on to that stage and received my diploma. So now I just have some words of advice. Be kind to the people you love. Tell them how you feel, don't ever wait to do so. Enjoy the time you have with loved ones, because it is always limited.

Dad, I love you and I miss you. A lot.

xoxo

thank you...

I love politics. Anyone who knows me is aware of that fact. I tend to be on the left side of things, most are aware of that as well. A lot of people think that if you are against a certain war, or policy, or conservative ideal, that you are not supporting the those who serve and have served in our armed forces. However, our troops have nothing to do with my politics. I honor them. I respect them. They have served our country and kept us safe and for that I say thank you. For that I am grateful. Thank you to all of the men and women (and their families) who have sacrificed so much to keep this country safe. Happy Veterans Day.

xoxo

this week...

I miss blogging. I guess when you grow up, get a job, and are a part of Big Girl World blogging goes by the wayside. I think I am going to try to start using Sunday afternoon to backlog some posts so that my blog will be alive throughout my busy days.

So, in honor of this decision I am sharing with you all what my week looks like, thus far.

{Monday}: I share an office with my favorite coworker, Susan. She is hilarious and I love her to pieces. She runs the women's day treatment program, that I also work in. The only conflict with this plan is that we both are counselors, so we both have individual appointments. So, we have to get together to schedule who gets the office when. Since she is in our out of town office on Monday's, this means I schedule all of my individuals on Monday. That way I have the office to myself. This Monday I have 6 new clients to meet with. That is 6 hours of people who are either in serious withdrawal, or who are totally still high and using. Awesome.

{Tuesday}: Tuesdays are DH days (DH is what we call the women's day treatment program). I love these days. I get to learn and co-facilitate group all day long. Watching Susan work with the women is SO amazing, I hope one day I am as skilled as she is. While I love these days, they are completely emotionally exhausting. I have bonded so much with these clients, I spend 18 hours a week with them, and they all have some seriously heavy stuff going on right now. Between helping run group, I also help the daycare worker with the women's kids. I love these kids, but sometimes they make me want to rip my hair out. Insanity.

{Wednesday}: This is THE big day. My supervisor is retiring in December, he is the only one who has ever ran the program that I work in. This means when he leaves I am in charge of the program, so I have been learning the logistics over the past five months. The second Wednesday of every month my clients have court, my supervisor and I have been going together every month. This month he is not going. I am doing the entire thing solo. This means I am responsible for meeting with the judge in chambers, I am responsible for speaking for the clients in court, basically my ass is on the line if anything does not go right. Am I intimidated? Yeah, pretty much.

{Thursday}: This day is pretty legit. Why? It is Veteran's Day. This means I get the day off. Why hello, sleeping in. I love you. Also, one of my coworkers made signs to hang on the door that our office is closed that day. I happened upon a stack of them last week, they said, "Our offices are closed on 11/11/10 in observance of Vetrens Day." Has anyone ever heard of spellcheck? C'mon people. Come-freaking-on.

{Friday}: This day is always my favorite day. Why? We get to kick back and have a relaxing fun day in DH. We hang on the couches and we just talk and process at a comfortable group level. We laugh, we talk about life, love, and loss. It is a great day. Then Susan and I grab lunch and talk crap in our office for the remainder of the day. I love it.

So, it is a pretty busy week. I adore my job though so it is all good. Plus, I get a day off, who doesn't love that? What is on your to-do list this week? Please share!

xoxo

that's my girl...

I am not a big fan of Halloween. I don't really like to get dressed up and go to a bunch of parties where everyone will get drunk and stupid; in costume form no less! Yeah...no thank you. I am a homebody, I love just being home, warm, reading, and catching up on my DVR. Basically I am lame.

However, every year since Bug was born we have a new Halloween tradition; I go trick-or-treating with my niece. It is always fun to watch her run around hopped up on sugar and acting all crazy-like. She is the best.

This year Bug was a girl after my own heart. Why yes, she IS the one and only Little Mermaid. Ariel is her favorite Disney Princess...she is mine as well. I was Ariel in 3rd grade. I love this kid. Her taste is impeccable.

Oh, I guess I did dress up this year...I went as 'Death Warmed Over'. Ick. I am looking pretty rough in this photo...just love me through it. Focus on the cuteness explosion next to me.

This is my favorite candid of the evening. She is so precious. I love this kid so freaking much I can't even stand it. Work it mini-diva!

My two favorite ladies: Bug and my Mama. They both hate having their pictures taken, so to get one that has both of them in it is a Halloween miracle. Seriously, if they would have smiled the heavens would have opened up serenading us with a version of 'Hallelujah'. No freaking lie.

This kid basically was planning on trick-or-treating all night long...her aunt (aka me) had other ideas. Those ideas included me being in bed by ten o' clock. So, I gave this adorable mermaid a kiss and a hug and headed on home.

Overall my Halloween was pretty down to earth, and I wouldn't have it any other way. So please share what were YOUR Halloween plans?

xoxo