Greener pastures

Today I ventured out of the house (technically this would be my first since I was diagnosed with my foot impairment, unless you count the last Chemistry Set show last Friday. Though, I wouldn't REALLY count it because I sat on a stool most of the night) to the mall and Target, of course.

I've been perusing the baby/kids section of The Gap
since before Christmas. FINALLY they have some stock in the store! Has anyone else noticed the lack of stock lately? The shelves have been completely bare for the last month and a half!

Anyway, they really have some great Spring stuff right now. Terrific, bright colors that make me get excited about Spring time (even if it is January and we technically don't have "Spring" in Texas). Here are a few things I love!











I really love the greens and blues and I'm very into bold colors in solid prints right now. I made a few purchases with some Christmas gc's/cash (including some of the above). Rylee has so many bathing suits, I think I'm obsessed!

At my Target trip today, I discovered (in the Global Bazaar section, yay! It's that time of year!) that Target is selling their version of the Whole Foods/Central Market re-usable shopping bag! It's a zipper pouch that turns into a bag! Only .99 and check out that print, too cute! I bought a few of these today - I figured that I would get a lot of use out of them considering I visit Target about 5 times a week on average.





Super cheap, super cute and very GREEN!

NYE Menu and other ramblings

It's taken me long enough to get around to posting our NYE menu, hasn't it?

Here it is, simple as can be.

Crab Rangoons
Florentine Quiche
Spanakopita
Vegetable tray (carrots, celery, bell pepper) with feta dip
Pasta salad with tri colored rotini
Caprese Bruschetta
Oven Roasted sweet potato fries
Cold spinach dip in bread bowl (served with sweet bread and wheat crackers)
Tortilla chips with salsa verde, hot salsa and medium salsa (something for everyone!)
Black and white cookies
Mint chocolate cupcakes
Raspberry vanilla cupcakes
Oreo truffles
Gourmet Chocolates
Chocolate covered peanut butter crackers

Drinks:
White Russian shot served in chocolate cups
Champagne (including a non alcoholic cranberry-blood orange)
Bottles of Beer
Mint and Mocha Cinnamon hot chocolate

That was it! And it was all very, very delicious!

*So I had to make a trip to the doctor today. I've been having this on going foot pain (in my left foot) for a few months now. And when I saw a few months, I mean 8.

Anyway, it's gotten progressively worse the last month or so. Sunday we went out to Southlake Town Square and after being on it for no more than 5 minutes, I was already in excruciating pain. It was brought to my attention later that evening that with our upcoming snowboarding trip, I should probably get it checked out.

So I made an appointment and went in this afternoon. My doctor took a look at my foot and pushed on the area that was tender and kind of gave me a look of shock. She ordered x-rays immediately. Good thing I had the portable dvd player with me, that thing came in handy today. Anyway, x-rays were taken and she came back in to talk to me. She told me that I have something called Plantar fasciitis. I'm not really sure what all of that means but basically I can never wear flip flops or go bare foot again. Or for the very least, until I am healed. I was instructed to get a pair of Crocs, some heel cups, arch supports, a referral to a podiatrist, a prescription for a steroid, some exercises to do -- and honestly, she wanted to tell me not to go snowboarding. She said several times that she was really nervous about me going - but she made me promise to be very diligent about keeping off my feet for the next two weeks, do the exercises, and not go barefoot. I also had to promise that if I start to hurt at all in any way while I am up there, to stop. She also mentioned me possibly having to do some physical therapy once I get back.

It's all a little too much for a foot pain that I thought would go away.

Hopefully I will be able to work it out on my own, without further treatment!

In other news, I truly, truly have learned the kindness of others this week. I really don't have the words to express what I want to say regarding it, but it's insanely amazing.

Also, Rylee has an imaginary friend named Alex. I think she's based this friend off the character Alex the Lion from the movieMadagascar. Barely two for two months and already has an imaginary friend. Sheesh

NYE 2008: Black and White Party

This is mostly a picture post. More to come later. I'm still a little tired and I'm very behind on my blogging as it is, so I decided it was better to post something rather than nothing. I still need to post some Christmas pictures too.

Anyway, we threw the black and white party. It was very successful. I know I had a great time and it seemed like everyone else did as well!


Pre-Party living room and seating area:





Dessert/Champagne Bar:





Food





Cupcakes:






Party time





Countdown is about to begin



Go crazy!



After midnight







With the Hoovers:



NYE favors (inside was a polaroid taken upon first arrival):



The hostesses and my bff's:



13 bottles of champagne, 4 cases of beer (plus 3 or 4 six packs), a pitcher of white russians, 72 pieces of spanakopita, 120 quiche, 48 cupcakes ... (the list goes on and on) later and it's done. The holiday season is officially over. It's weird not feel like I need to plan or arrange something. For now though, I'm tired and I have snowboarding to look forward to and to rest up for.

Official menu + Christmas stuff in the next post, promise!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Well, a belated Merry Christmas anyway.

We just rolled back into town about an hour and a half ago, from Austin. We had a pretty good trip and came back with much more than we left with, of course!

What did I get for Christmas this year?

An iPod touch (woo!)
A ton of clothes that I picked out with Rodney about a month ago
An electric stick/vac
A screen protector/case for my new iPod
The little glass trees I wanted from Target
The thermal carafe that I asked for
A large white platter
This wreath that I had been wanting for quite some time
This food chopper
Some solar lights for the walk-way up to the house
A gift card to The Gap
A very generous gift card to Target
Monies
A safe
An awesome Rolodex
A large glass pitcher
A wreath box

and many other things as well. I got so much stuff! And everything that I received were things that I wanted/asked for!

Rylee and Rodney also got quite a bit! Now we just have to find room for it all!

We took Clifford to the Ikea in Austin today, before we came home. He'd never been before - he ended up purchasing a new bed, a new duvet and comforter. We couldn't bring the bed back with us because we didn't have any room left in our car but my grandmother is bringing it with her when she comes to watch Rylee in a few weeks.

We're off to bed! I definitely need the rest so that I can get started on some party prep, it's going to be a long couple of days!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

xo.

Who Is It?

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while.

In my own defense, I was VERY sick last week. There's a terrible cold going around and I definitely had it. Might have been the worst cold I have ever had. Rylee was sick too but we're on the upswing currently. We both still have some congestion in our heads but things are looking up.

Saturday evening (thank goodness) I felt well enough to attend the Tango Christmas party with my husband. It was held at Fuse this year. Cocktail hour on the roof top (pool side during the winter, thankfully we were in a heated tent!) and then it was on to our room for dinner. We watched the Christmas video during dinner. Every year they make a Christmas video with a bunch of different skits and funny little "episodes." Rylee was asked to be in it this year. I had to take her up there last week (whilst sick) and coax her into saying different thing with M&M's. She did really well and her part was HILARIOUS. As soon as I figure out how to make this dvd into a quicktime, I'll post it here.

Rod & Steph just before dinner



Our table.



Deed & 8 months preggo Marissa



I choose the salmon for dinner and honestly, I wasn't that impressed. It seemed to be lacking something, there were no sides accompanying it and mine seemed to be a bit cold. I did enjoy my dessert choice though. I had french toast with sugar roasted pecans and tahitian vanilla ice cream. It was pretty delicious. I also enjoyed the plethora of alcohol we were served. That's always an extra special treat at the Tango Christmas parties.

Sunday we got up and headed out to Ikea to return an easel and pick up a few other things. I got some black and white napkins for the party, a serving dish, some dark brown cones (decorative) and we also bought a new chandelier for the entry way and a new fixture for the hall.

Entry:



Super glad we got around to replacing that, the old one was awful.

We also did a little party decorating as well. I'm trying to get as much as I can get done in advance in possible. We hung pretty snowflakes from our ceiling and cleaned up the garage. We've turned it into a "lounge" area.

I purchased a few really great items from some Etsy shops recently that I'm dying to share with everyone. Can't do it just yet though, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprises!

I'm ALMOST done with my wrapping. I just have one gift to wrap for Rylee (the biggest one) and a few of Rodney's! I love wrapping presents though so I'll be sad when I am finished!

Hope to be back with the quicktime soon!

Party all the time

Man.

I have never been to so many parties in one weekend. And I used to hang around a lot of bands too, which is saying quite a bit.

I can hardly believe I am sitting here and that I made it through this week. I had a ton of cake orders this week, pretty hard orders in fact. They were all really fun to make but I have to say that I was a little bit stressed on Friday when I was trying to get it all done.

All of the parties we attended on Saturday were lovely. My compliments to all of the hosts.

My head is going crazy with my own party prep right now. Feels like I just finished throwing a party. Oh yeah, I did! I really can't wait to delve into this particular party though. My co-hosts and I have some pretty nifty and cool ideas, ideas which I will definitely post about once we get going.

Jess came over today and after I finished my fifth order for the week, we headed off to go shopping. That Jessica's a good egg. We had lots of fun. Sort of reminded me of the days when there was less responsibility, less bills and less kid. We literally used to go shopping once a week, if not more back in the day. Today we went to Grapevine Mills to hit up Forever 21, The Gap, Banana Republic and Steve & Barry's. Afterwards we enjoyed some delicious Chili's (thanks Jess!) then it was off to Old Navy and lastly Target. I did a little Christmas shopping for the boy and picked up a pair of cute tights (for our NYE party) at Banana Republic for myself.

We got our family photos back this week and they came out pretty great! We should be finishing them up tomorrow night hopefully.

I also received my "big" Christmas gift from Rodney on Friday. He just couldn't wait anymore.

Speaking of him, he has tried for hours to beat my score on "When You Were Young" and "Ruby" on guitar hero and it's just not happening. It really makes him mad and it's incredibly funny.

More tomorrow!

Busy Bees

This week begins a month of a whole lotta busy for us.

I've got an order due Thursday and two due on Saturday. The same Saturday that has us going to three different parties.

Have you guys checked out Dropps? I'd heard of them before but recently decided to give them a shot after seeing Design Mom's post about them last week.

I've done a load or two and I have to say, these are great! No dripping detergent, no huge boxes taking up space in the laundry room... just easy to use packets that you just toss in the washing machine! They're offering a free trial rebate right now so it's the perfect time to give them a try!

I was able to get the tree up this week, I'm very happy with the way it came out. I thought about changing my color theme this year but changed my mind when I saw these:







at Crate and Barrel and I decided to keep my silver/red ornaments for another year or two. We have a much bigger tree this year, I needed some more ornaments anyway!

We're doing the artificial tree thing around here. We talked about doing a real tree but with a toddler running around the amount of orders I'm getting for Christmas, I don't really have the time for the upkeep. Plus, artificial trees are better for the environment anyway. Leaving the real trees where they are. Just tryin' do my part.

We went to Celebrate Colleyville this weekend and it was a blast. It's a little get together that the city has that's free for everyone with tons of stuff to do. They had 4 bounce houses, an enormous inflatable slide, pony rides, bungee jumping, dog shows, you name it. We left no stone unturned.











She might be the youngest bungee jumper (okay, so it was bungee trampolining but still) ever. She didn't want the girl to hold the rope, she wanted to do it on her own.



What a fun afternoon!