I love the Holidays!!

YEAH!! I've been waiting to say that since the beginning of November. Don't get me wrong-I love Thanksgiving. The gathering of the fam bam, the food, the extra days off from work :0)

But to me, once Black Friday hits, that officially marks the beginning of Christmas.

Speaking of Black Friday, I dragged my sleepy lil butt (and my brother's and his gf's) all around town from 10pm to 8am the next morning, all in a futile attempt @ getting the best deals.
I did manage to get some super duper deals, but I also missed out on a lot too. Oh well, you can't get it all. Plus, I would've ran out of $$$$$ if I did manage to get everything on my list, haha.

Other than that, we've still been working on the bathroom.

I never realized how long it actually takes when you do it yourself. I mean, you see the shows on HGTV, and the magic of television allows you to be fooled to believe it is possible to get it all done in a weeks time.
Life lesson learned, lol.
But, the patience is paying off. This is what the bathroom looks like now, and I have to say that I am so proud and thankful for my bf and father in law. They both tackled this project with 110% and the enthusiasm hasn't faded yet.

It just needs some finishing touches and we'll be back in business.

Did I mention I love it? Well, I do!!! Love, Love, Love it! It is a huge improvement from the "bathroom before" and I can't wait to be able to use it!

Work has been busy, busy, busy. And, as you can see, I've got the Etsy site up and running. Let me tell you, it is not at all as easy as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it is the total opposite!
So, I am constantly struggling with balancing time between the kids, work, Etsy, designing, and just life in general.

I appreciate the patience as I took weeks to update my blog, and I hope I can be disciplined enough not to let the time lag like that again.
My early New Year resolution starting December 1st, is to write down and accomplish one Zaia related goal everyday. Hmmmm........maybe I can keep track of that here, like the Julia Childs movie.............

Here's to trying!

XoXo

This is for my sister

Here are my little angels:

Can't you just tell from their smiles that they're already plotting something?

Here is the reason why this post is dedicated to my sister:

My sister is currently battling the trials and tribulations of being a new mother to a 3 month old beautiful baby boy, and a 2 year old diva of a daughter.

I can remember these days, and I think to myself: WHAT WAS I THINKING??!!

(Which I'm sure has run through my sis's head a few times)

So, to cheer her up, I am showing her what I go through with 3 children all 2 years apart..........and what she has to look forward to :)

Luv u sis!

Here's our dinner on the stormy, windy cold thursday nite.

Of course everyone wanted different soups.

I omitted the pic of all the dishes piled in the sink, because I thought it was overkill, lol.

Then, after dinner, they settle down with a nice book, and quietly entertain themselves...........NOT!!!

Out come the guns.

And more guns. Or would these be considered missile launchers??

Oh, did I mention the trucks?

(sidenote: don't mind the pics of the messy house. It's usually always in some state of messy, so why fight it?)

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is a life-size CAT bulldozer sitting in my living room. And by life-size I mean 2 year old sized. Not only does he have hundreds of other CAT trucks that you buy from the store, but he has a CAT bulldozer costume that the bf and papa made for him for Halloween.

So, dear sister, I hope this helps to @ least give you a chuckle, and lighten the load for a second. We miss you and would love for you to come home soon!

Headed into the danger zone,

XoXo

Update status

Bathroom remodel status:

NOT FINISHED!!

This is currently the state of our bathroom:walls primed, floor and walls ready to be tiled and painted, bathtub in.

Everything demo'd and ready to be glamorized!

Naked and bare

Original bathroom

We have overshot our finished eta by a week so far. **Crossing my fingers that by the end of next week I will be soaking in my tub in my newly finished abode with a nice glass of wine by my side!

ETSY STATUS: COMPLETE!!

Yes, ladies and gents, we are up and running. Well, up and crawling. It is a lot of work to make jewelry, take pics, edit, upload, blah blah blah. So, I only have a handful of items up for sale right now but working on it everyday. Slowly adding more and more and hoping I will get some sales under my belt soon :)

Here I go, off and running into crazyland again.

With a quick note to the lovelies............

XoXo

Blogging.......or the lack thereof......

I know that Halloween is over. But yet, this is what my face looks like.

Or, like this. It tends to constantly switch back and forth between the two, somehow conveniently passing over the "normal" face that USED to belong to me.

Why, you ask????

Well, grab your super size glass of wine (don't forget mine), and prop your feet up. Because for the next 5 minutes, you will be entertained with a non-stop rant about the goings on that currently dominate my crazy life. And if nothing else, you should get a really good buzz from drinking all that wine in that short amount of time :)


First off: DEMOLITION
We have begun the remodeling of our main bathroom-WOOHOOO!!
And by "we", I mean my bf and the in-laws do all the hard labor while I'm @ work, and I have the tedious job of color coordinating/bathroom accessorizing/and constantly running to lowes and home depot for more supplies.

*Did I mention the kids are still in soccer and judo?*
Lol. I will have pics posted soon with the current naked/demo'd bathroom.
*Did I mention we're trying to do it all in a week?*
I'm starting to think that we self-inflict a lot of the craziness, haha. But, there really is never a "good time" for these kinds of things, so we figured the faster the better.
We are currently making do with the laundry/utility room bath and half bath we have in our bedroom. Trust me, 5 people trying to brush their teeth over 1 sink is a bit tricky. But it's definetely always an adventure!!
Needless to say, I am so excited for it to be finished! And I can't wait to see everything come together.

Also on the to-do list..........ETSY site coming soon!!
(Well, I hope)
I am working on getting an Etsy site up and running, but oh the leg work. Pictures to be taken. New products to be made. Packaging. A never ending list. But I'm hoping it will totally be worth it.
*If any of you have experience with Etsy, I would love to hear your feedback, pointers, don't dos, etc*

From crazyland,
XoXo