City Center

I mean....I.LOVE.CITY.CENTER! I love it everytime. Now L&O love it too!!!

Happy Birthday Sara Samet! We had a great time celebrating with you! It's not often we get the Samets outside of the 610-Hillcroft-Beechnut-Bellfort boundaries....ha! J/J....but not really! There were so many great moments on that big open fake/not fake grass. There was a guy playing the saxophone all night and the girls lived it up with Liam as their captain. I wish oh wish oh wish that I had the pics of Laine and Liam dancing and twirling...damn!

Milkweed

It's time for everyone to click on over to Milkweed!

Every now and then...

I don't normally like inspirational quotes, but my principal sends one each week and I am really into this one.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy LAST MONDAY of school!

Everyone is out of town and Daddy is working!

Not to worry...I have an agenda. Woke up at the usual hour, ate breakfast, and packed these puppies up to go to Target. Guess what?!?!? There are people that you know at Target at 8:45 on Saturday morning. Damn! My girls were covered in cookie crumbs and I was in my just rolled out of bed attire. Whatev....we got all that we needed and a bonus or 2. TARGET! Has anyone ever left there without a bonus item or 2????

MAGAZINES!!! 2 of my favorites came in the mail yesterday and super nanny had everyone around here asleep when I got home from school so I got to shower AND scan both of the mags. I found something I want in House Beautiful...duh! I mean I wanted everything and AS USUAL I want to re-do 10 things in this house, but there is also something else that I found and feel is a def attainable gift for myself. In the article it says you can get a set of 18 really ridic contemp/comfortable plates and bowls(dinner, salad, and soup x 6) no two pieces alike, but of course I can't find it on the website because it's in Italian. Can you????

Mag Number 2: Whole Living. There is a 10 day challenge...tempting. Each day has 3 parts. Like, do one thing for mind, one for body, and one for life. I'm debating the commitment. I don't want to let myself down. Maybe I'll do a tweaked version of the challenge. Instead of all three parts, just commit to one a day. I mean it's only 10 days. Here is the meal plan. It seems very detailed and a little over the top. The magazine article is much more general. If anyone is interested in 10 days of guided exercise(mostly 30-45 min walks), eating, and meditating(ha!)...let me know. I'll be the co-pilot and coach.

I did a little "popsicle part 2" today. I realized that I made the strawberry ones with expired yogurt! Oops! Nobody worry. I realized before we ate them. Sooooo...since I had a second chance, I decided to cook the strawberries first so they will hopefully be sweeter. I also just whisked in the yogurt instead of blending and left a few strawberry chunks. Even if the girls can't handle them, I'm excited to eat one!

Now what to do when everyone wakes up from their morning nap???? I would like to go to Anthro or Nordstrom to shop for a new purse, but I also want to go to High Fashion Fabrics. Can the girls handle these places???? I just.don't.know.

State of this House

Joshua=stomach virus. REallllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy??? Go away curse! GO AWAY! I'm sleeping in the guest room. Joshua is germing up our room. Girls are asleep. I did bathe, bottle, and put them to sleep by myself. I know this is something that I should have done already in my life, but seriously...first time. Neecole told me I could do this and I did. Easy.Easy.Easy. Diapers on the floor of the bathroom. 2 babies in my lap with 2 bottles at one time. Easy. It is, however, sooooooooooo much easier with a co-pilot.

7.5 more days!!!!!!!!! 7 point 5!

Popsicles!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday at my school's carnival the girls shared a pineapple popsicle and LOVED it. Like....lick, cry for more, lick, cry for more, lick, cry for more! Soooo today after school I used a couple of our old favorite baby food recipes and made us some popsicles. Easy! Breezy! Remember Green Monster? Avocado, Mango, Kiwi. Chop. Blend. Poor in pop molds. Done. Strawberry Yogurt...Same thing. We ended up eating at Gram's for dinner, so we'll try them tomorrow.

Dancing Queen!

Whoa....whoa....whoa...whoaa!!! Craziness in the house last week. Babysitters and helpers every night since Tuesday! CRAAAAZYY!! The craziness is now on pause....thank you jesus! Just in time to wind down the school year, which will be enough craziness in itself.

We went to Mama Mia tonight. I've never seen it! I know that everyone loves it! Now I know why... seriously....I LOVVVVED IT! I love happy singing! LOVE! Joshua even just did a Dancing Queen Reprise right before he hopped in bed...ha!

Speaking of babysitters....cousin Sarah was one of our babysitters in this madness. She is such a good babysitter. I can't wait until we have O+L+M three way matching smocked clothing....dresses, bubbles....I'll take it all.

**In case anyone was wondering how I'm doing on Month 1 of the countdown to 30....I'm doing soooooooo great! Outside, outside, outside......EVERYDAY! Not just at recess! These girls breathing in that fresh air and they love it!

**sidenote number 2: We(we=Josh) started to clean out the garage this weekend. It started out as a partner project, but then I had a panic attack when I realized how big the job was, so I got sent inside to take care of babies. It's def a multi weekend project, but I've got big plans for that space, so it had to get started ahead of schedule. Stand by for amazingness to come out of the cleaned out garage!

9.5 days of school left...woooooooooohooooooooooooooo!

Inspired

Nicole and Sarah have inspired me to be inspired. So here's what I'm working with...

Ohhh Myyyyyy...I've found it!

We may have to ditch the music fest and hit this instead.

http://www.theurbanmarkethouston.com/home

Done!

Who wants to go outside????

It's not as easy as I thought it would be find Houston outdoor activities, BUT I did find a little something. This Sunday at Discovery Green is a Children's Music Foundation Festival.

Here's the blurb:

Our Founder's Day Festival is going to be a family-friendly, fun-filled community event celebrating our founder, Daren Hightower and our mission, 'Enriching the lives of children through music, music instruction and scholarship.' Live music & lawn activities for the children all day! Confirmed performers at this time are Pearl Murray, 'Houston's Queen of the Blues', The Rick Law Band, and popular Austin group EmCravens Band. Delicious food from popular Houston eateries such as Amy’s Icecreams, Mission Burritos and St. Arnold's Beer. *We will continue to update this list.

And here's the link.

Anybody with me?????

Birthday!!

Lots of goodness today on this birthday! I spent lots of time just thinking about how happy I am to be 29...just happy, happy, happy about life.

I'm very excited that today begins day one of 365 days of crossing things off of my list. This month is all about being outside. Today was a success! Me and the girls did our usual 5-6pm cruise up and down the sidewalks of Yarwell. We pushed little tykes grocery carts, ate leaves and dirt, and threw fits when I made them go inside. It was great. I'm going to research some special outdoor activities for the month...get back to ya'll on what I find.

Now I leave you with this little birthday gift I found in my inbox this evening after coming home from a glorious birthday dinner with glorious people and glorious food.

Happy Travel!

Up until now, road trips have been close to brutal and once we arrive to the destination, it's even worse, because nobody sleeps in those pack-n-plays! That was before, but this is NOW! We went to Austin this weekend for the bris of Baby Leo and I had one of those moments where you feel like such a great parent. Quiet car riding babies...thank you big girl car seats and The Wiggles on DVD! I mean seriously serious....THE WIGGLES ON DVD. I owe those boys money. Also...we all slept! The first night we were there, I didn't sleep because I figured they would be up any minute, but they weren't! The second night....SLEEEEEEEEEEEP. It was so nice. I feel like we can do anything.

We stayed with The Berins(Mark, Rachel, Miles, and Edie), because they conveniently live right next door to Talia and Michael and are the most relaxed people on the PLANET. I tried to let them rub off on me and contribute to my anti-neurotic efforts and while we were there it worked. Well...it worked until this morning when Miles woke up with a stomach virus. Ohhhhhhhhhhh my heart sank. Sad for him and selfishly sad for us as visions of our November virus played on repeat in my mind. I cried. My fingers are crossed that we are spared. Please oh please oh please oh please let us be spared!

The bris was today and of course it was perfectly perfect. I don't have any bris pics, but hopefully will soon, so I can show off how cute we were in our consignment shop attire. Here are some great ones from the other days!

P.S. tomorrow begins the 365 day countdown to 30. I can't wait!

Lucky!

We are the luckiest little family because we have such amzing, incredible, do anything for you grandparents around here. I just sent them the link to the blog, so I thought this would be a great chance to say how OUT OF CONTROL they are! I'm so sad I missed out on the real grandparent experience growing up, because it is so great. I'm so happy for my girls! LUCKY!!!

Chair Fantasy

Chair Inspiration Take 1:

Can you guess which ones come from Southwest Surplus and which ones are West Elm and Target??

Editing

We're getting closer to May 9th which is one official year before 30, so I'm revisiting the list. 30 before 30 seems a little excessive don't you think???
I'm thinking it may be more realistic to do "10 big ones before 30" instead. Maybe even one to grow on for the celebratory trip.

Soooo....for the editing:

1.) Spend time outside each day. - May 9 - June 9

2.)Take the girls to Mobile and the beach. - June
3.) Make a HUGE effort towards overall health. Food-Fitness-Mental Health - July
4.)Blog everyday and make it public via facebook. - August
5.)Make time to read a book each season. - September
6.) Learn to sew. - October
7.) Clean out the blue room and turn it into a real room. - November
8.)Go on a trip with friends that isn't about anyone, but about EVERYONE. - December
9.)Clean out the garage so my car can fit in easily and safely. - January
10.)Send a card to someone once a week, even if it's just to let them know I am thinking of them. - February
11.)Spend more time listening to Josh and less time talking. - March
12.)Celebrate my list being accomplished on a 30th Birthday trip with Joshy...somewhere...just us. - April

Ohhhh!! Woohoo!! This worked out even better. A list of 12. One for each month. Just like in The Happiness Project. Have you read that yet? You should! If I can scratch something off before that month gets here, great! If not, that's why each number on the list is assigned a specific month. I should probably print this list out and read it often, so I don't forget these goals.

Contemporary Comfort

OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK.....this is my style...done and done! I need all of this now! Should I spray paint my picture wall white just as a start??? Like, how do you go about revamping your house? Start with a wish list?? A room by room wish list?? I'm so mad at myself for not really knowing what I liked when I originally picked all of this stuff out. I think I would feel a lot better with white frames on the photo wall, a new rug to replace the persian or oriental or whatever that rug is in my living room that gives me the willies, and new pillows. That is a start! Oh....I'll also take some of those metal chairs in the kitchen. Oh....AND...our brown leather couches that I really did like when I first got them are starting to peel...ha! Leather=faux leather. Soon enough I'll be able to trade those puppies in for some lighter colored ones. OK??????

I came across these Contemporary Comfort pics while I was searching for the Nine By Design FAMILY letters. I found them on a pretty good blog called Black Eiffel. The image that I remembered wasn't what the letters were in reality. I remembered rustic, mixed letters and what it actually was=mixed letters from old signs somehow converted into light boxes. So, the photo is below, but I'll be going more mildly beat up, mix matched, outdoorsy letters when I finally do this in my backyard. Depending on the size of the letters, I may even put like a floating old wooden frame around each letter. Yes??

Sidenote...first day of live a healthy lifestyle tag team style with me and Joshy. It was good, but I'm hungry. I also had my annual checkup where we discussed things like: Am I going to have twins again? When is the best time to have the next baby? What is up with me knowing so many people who have had second pregnancy miscarriages? Do I have time to commit to real exercise in my day? Which multivitamin should I be taking? The best part was realizing how much healthier I am than before I was pregnant. So thank you little girls for that!

oops!

Oops....as in "Oops I didn't mean to have a panic attack last night about my child's sleeping habits." We ended up letting her cry until about 10 til 10 and she fell asleep while sitting up. It was actually cute to watch on the monitor as she fell asleep and I don't even think that Josh held my drama against me.

This weekend sure turned out to be great. I CAN'T WAIT for May 27th!!! CAN'T WAITTTTT!!!

Yesterday we skipped on over to the heights and the girls had their very first snoball. Then we kept skipping around the corner from the snoball stand to 19th street and bought really really really cute things at a really really really cute little children's consignment shop. While we were walking, Liv ran into a huge Great Dane that she still called pi-pa which equals Piper/puppy. We even spent some time in a "junk yard" looking for some mix matched letters so I can spell out SAMET on one of my backyard patio walls. Did anybody watch that show Nine by Design this time last year???? Well, on a wall in their house, they spelled out FAMILY with letters from old signs and I was IN LOVE with it, so that's what I'm copying! Well, that's what I plan to copy, but until that old smelly man comes down on his $100/5 letter price, I'll keep looking.

So that was yesterday. Today, me and the girls worked on a Mother's Day project. It was finger painting part II. They were sooooooooooo much better at it than last time. Like they remembered what to do. I didn't even have to cheat and paint it myself. There was also barely any paint eating. After they painted and it dryed, I cut out lots of hearts and then put the hearts in frames. Cute....real cute. My only regret was black frames instead of white, but that was all they had at Target this AM.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh PS...I went to the grocery this morning like Sari told me to. I'm going to try not to go back all week and make lots of good things!