up up and away

(Disneyland trip)

Well folks, the time has come to pack up our bags and move on out. But don't worry, we'll be back in a week with full suitcases and fun memories.

My week has been horrendously chaotic, to say the least. Being sick threw me back 2 days and overloaded both my work schedule and my home (chores) schedule. But wait, doesn't this always seem to happen? Never enough time in the day. Ever. Well, that's not true. If I was one of those stay up til 4 am moms (which I am NOT), then I would have more than enough time to get every single thing on my list crossed off. But since I value my family's life and my own sanity, I wouldn't dare do that. This mama & no sleep = GRRRRR! Just give me 5 or 6 hours and I'm good.

My mission for this evening is to get 2 loads washed, part of the house cleaned, the boys' suitcase packed, soccer stuff prepped for tomorrows games, and hopefully one more blog (to post before I leave). As long as everyone stays out of my way it should go smoothly.

**Crossing fingers and toes now**

Dirty socks & empty suitcases,

XoXo

Last remodel post

This will be the last remodel post.........for now.

I probably (99.9%) will not be posting from Las Vegas. So I thought I'd give you one last remodel gag before I leave.

Look who has a working, fully functional sink! Love love love!!

There was a very big (like presidential candidate big) debate going on between the bf and I and the sink. Ultimately, I wanted a huge single sink that would make it easier to wash big pots and cookie sheets and all the things I use on a daily basis because I am such an avid cooker/baker. Hahahahaha. Sorry, I had to laugh at myself for being so delusional. Let me correct my statement: In theory, a single sink would be better (and prettier) for when I do start to cook and bake on a more frequent basis. : )

The bf wanted a dbl sink because he felt it would be more efficient for cutting and prepping and whatever blah blah blah.

So we shopped. And shopped. And shopped. And this is the compromise.

We found an uber good deal @ Home Depot that would set us back around $200, but included everything (sink, faucet, soap dispenser, basket thingies, etc). If we were to buy everything separately it would've cost around $350-$400 for what we were looking at.

Anyway, he got the double sink and I got the pull out/sprayer faucet I wanted. What can I say? $200 could buy me a new KitchenAid mixer : )

Don't mind the mess in the background- it's still a construction zone.

And look who has all their pulls on!

It feels really nice to have a small sense of completion. All the little things get done and it's less that we have to worry about, less on our minds. **Deep yoga exhale**

My bf has seriously been working hard to make me less of a bitch happy. Luv you honey!

And we have our over the counter/under cabinet spot lighting in. Yay!!

Again, please pardon the mess.

You can't see the actual pucks when you're standing there. It looks more like this:

Please pardon my exposed wire. So rude!

So, as you can see, we are trudging right along. Soon we might have our whole project done and then what will we do??

On a side note: everyone is feeling a lot better and we are all super excited for our trip!!

We just need to get through the rest of the work/school week, win all of our games on soccer Saturday, cut all of the manes (which takes all day), wash clothes and pack. No sweat.

Coffee in hand,

XoXo

sick of it!

This has been my new bff since Sunday.

We leave for Vegas in 4 days, and 3 of us have gotten sick. WTF?!

Me, the bf and the middle kid (who was just sick with the same thing 3 weeks ago), are KO'd!

For some reason there is a super potent, kick your ass virus circulating throughout the community that won't die. And let's face it- kids are germ magnets AND germ spreaders. So our family of 5 doesn't stand a chance.

I'm just hoping the other 2 kiddos don't get it. I think we (3) will be recovered by the end of the week.

And then it will be back to more of the norm..........

Fevers & stomachaches,

XoXo

Christmas Wish List

Yes I know that it is September. And?

Why not? A girl can dream right?

And any good Christmas shopper knows that you are on constant, year round, deal look out. Especially if you're in the same boat as me and have a gazillion people to buy presents for.

Not that any of these things are on sale, but I thought it sounded good.

Anyway, back to me : ) 

I will probably end up "gifting" myself these fab things. So no, I don't feel like a spoiled bratty princess.

I don't ask the bf for anything for Xmas, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I like to keep it a surprise for both of us. He doesn't know what he's getting, and I don't know what I'm getting. Perfect!

So, in order to get what I want, I "gift" it to myself. What's the sense of working if you never treat yourself?

**Fun fact side note: The Kardashian sisters own 154 pairs of Christian Louboutins**

(Talk about treating yourself!)

Ho Ho Ho,

XoXo

More of the remodel

I know, I know. Barf & gag- you're so sick of hearing about the remodel. Sorry! But to be on the realistic side of things, we've I've probably created a monster with this the first project and I the bf will probably never stop being forced to "improve" my our house. I'm a slave driver, what can I say? So, if it's not this project, it's gonna be another one. **Cheers**

Moving on.

Yesterday was the last day for our contractor. Yay! Sigh : (

It's a bittersweet moment where we rejoice because it's the last check we'll have to cut for that expense, but there's still so much to do that I wish he could stay (forever and ever amen). *Kleenex break*

Anyway, back to the remodel. So basically they came to finish up a bunch of finish work, as pictured above. The crown mouldings, toe kicks, & finished panels, were put on.

While they were plugging away with all of that, the bf got the first coat of paint on ALL the walls.

No more white!

This is a better pic of the actual wall color. It's a light grey that I'm pretty sure will end up medium grey by the time the second coat goes on. Which I'm totally cool with. But, because I don't want the room to "look small", as quoted by numerous fancy schmancy interior designers in regards to small rooms and dark paint, we are going to paint all the trim white (baseboards, door trim, crown moulding, etc).

This is a perfect example of a *Kleenex moment*. We only have about half of our cabinet hardware on. Oh well. Slow and steady = $$$ in the pocket. Fast and done (i.e contractor) = empty pockets.

Ooooh, and they also installed our "modern" lazy susan. Wood shelves, metal rod/anchor system thingy, and NO PLASTIC. You won't find your grandma's lazy susan in this house. *High fives*

The turtle did end up winning right?

XoXo

*Lovelies*

Hello Lovelies!

Totally slacked on the posting yesterday. It was one of those "everything is blah" days.

So, to make up for it, I will be doing a double post today- Yay!

Since my phone, my pics, and IG are all working together and being total a-holes right now, I don't have any pics to show you. But, I do have some totally awesome links for you guys to check out.

These are some of the blogs/sites I visit on the regular:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

http://www.younghouselove.com/

http://cafebellini.blogspot.com/

http://becauseimaddicted.net/

http://madebygirl.blogspot.com/

http://www.dulcecandy.com/

Happy reading,

XoXo

12 more days and we'll be in Vegas

You're probably wondering what a pic like this has to do with Vegas..........

NOTHING

Lol. Actually, in my weird humor, I crack up at myself constantly, kind of way.......it makes sense.

Let me put my drink down and explain. This is a pic of my make up bag AND of the things I love to do while on vaca............SHOP!! I love hitting up Sephora, Coach, Forever21, Nordstrom, blah blah blah, you get the point. Anyway, since I am running low on a lot of my Sephora essentials, I am extremely anxious about getting there before I run out. I know, I know, I could shop online and they have free shipping for orders over $50. But I proudly admit that I am a Sephora junkie. I love going into the store and walking around aimlessly and touching lots of things and balking at the ridiculous prices and filling up my bag nontheless. So, I will torture myself for the next 12 days and demand that that be our first stop as soon as we get our bags off the plane. (I'll let you know later how that fight turned out)

I am also hoping to score lots of "Super Deals" @ Coach so that all of my wonderful besties will get glam surprises in their Xmas bags. *Side note to the besties: If it's not there come Xmas, you know it was a failed mission*

And, thanks to a super duper hook up from the preggers, I also get to sport a brand new carry all tote on the plane (pics coming soon). Thanks Luv!!

I might even get a little gambling in. But I doubt it. I can't stand to play if I don't start winning immediately. So hopefully the bf will take care of that department and get me a little more $pending money :)

Looking like a hott mess for the next 12 days,

XoXo

We do not sip tea @ baby showers

This picture is how I spent my Saturday (in a nutshell).

The preggo on the left had her super decked out, uberly cute, nautical themed baby shower. And the preggo on the right of her, and all of us crazies with our mouths open, were the attendees. And as you can see, we all had a blast!!

The decorations were awesome, the attention to detail was over the top, and the food was delish!

I arrived a little late (sorry!), but as we sat there enjoying the festivities, it became apparent to me that there was a process of natural selection going on. The basic definition of natural selection is that only the strongest survive and the weakest die. Hmmmmm.....natural selection at a baby shower?? Odd??

Hello! Have you ever seen how competitive women can get?

Take Group A (pictured above), for example. These are your "Game Whores". They are out to win no matter who they have to take down. The sexy vixen on the left sniffing the dirty diaper "came to play". And as you can see below, it payed off well.

Now you might be thinking, how is this at all related to natural selection??

Well, as a result of the Game Whores "out to play" motto, we (the Wine Whores) threw up our white flag, decided not to participate at all (since we knew we weren't gonna win anyway), and instead.........

POP!

We drank. And drank.

So in the end, everyone was happy. The Game Whores had their trophies of triumph, the Wine Whores had empty bottles and a good buzz going on, and the mama to be had good times with good people and a shit load of cute presents.

Til the next time.......

Wine Whore for life,

XoXo

Moisturize me

Do you remember me?

This baby is awesome. I bought this moisturizer back in October (from Sephora) and blogged about it here.

And since I am currently scraping the sides, I thought I'd do an updated review.

Recap:

So I originally got this as a free sample with another Sephora order I received, and it came in a super cute, teeny tiny mini version of that bad boy pictured above. After using it for about a week, I knew it needed to be mine.

A whole lotta money (and tears) later, I got a box in the mail. YIPPEEE!

Well, this baby has lasted me almost one whole year. And that is with an everyday application. So it actually ended up costing me something like $.25/day. Holla for a good deal!

I am trying to stretch what I have left until we go to Vegas on October 2nd. First stop.........SEPHORA! Actually, I have such a long Sephora list that it might be the one and only stop for me, lol.

 I also ended up keeping the sample bottle and used bad boy to fill it up. Perfect for travelling.

Cheers to yummy goodness for your skin,

XoXo

Counter Attack!

Someone give me a cigarette.

Okay, not really, since I don't smoke. But you know that super satisfied "after" feeling that's usually portrayed with someone having a cigarette? Well, that's me right now :)

We finally got some countertops- YIPPEEEE!

We decided to go with laminate, since we're pretty sure our 3 boys will somehow manage to ruin it.

It's called Bella Noche~

And I absolutely love it!!

I was really worried about it looking cheap and lame, but it looks super fab! Now I'm not gonna exaggerate and say, "oh you'd never know it was laminate. It looks just like granite". Okay, no. But, it definitely does not look cheap and plastic, like the "old" laminate used to.

Like the walls?

The walls are a lighter greyish color. You know me and my aversion to white.

And how do you like our custom flooring? It's something we invented, and for a pretty penny, you can have the same unique look in your home. Lol.

But now that all the messy parts of the remodel are done, we can actually rip out our cardboard and blue tape flooring and start on the tile.

We opted to do an island/bar top, rather than a huge one level island. We felt like it would separate the kitchen and living room better. Final measurement is about 10.5 ft long.

We haven't hooked up the sink yet, but hopefully by the end of the weekend!

On another note.........football season has started. And my lil stud just makes my heart melt. Here he is all suited up in his pads.



The big guy is cute too :)

**Sigh**

They get big so fast.

Hugs all around,

XoXo

Sweet smells and frilly things

The Morning Spot.

This is my fav lil corner of my bathroom. I always save this for last, right before I walk out the door. I like to get my make up on and my clothes donned before I decide how I want to smell for the day :)

My ultimate fav is the Dior (as you can tell by the nearly empty bottle). The Dior and VS (black bottle in the back) are very floral and girlie smelling. The Marc Jacobs is similar to this, but also with a hint of citrusy zest. I don't know how else to explain it, other than I feel like it embodies the feel and smell of Summer. The Gucci is very musty and sexy. It makes me feel like a mysterious, intriguing woman that maybe doubles as a secret agent, always dressed in form fitting, drop your jaw, dresses and stilettos.

Ok, back to reality......

So I had a kind of boring weekend, since one of the kiddos was still not feeling good. So, I got a lot of house cleaning done. (Be prepared for sarcasm) Woohoooo : /

But, I also did get a chance to work on some new stuff for Zaia. And since it's been like forever (the start of the home remodel mission) since I've had a chance to do this, I was pretty excited.

I also took yesterday off to be home while the contractor and his guys came over.........

Stay tuned (pics tomorrow),

XoXo

Sick kiddos and blah coffee

Morning blah report:

2 of the 3 kiddos are now sick. The little one had been sick from the weekend, but yesterday the middle one went down in flames too. They are dropping like flies.

Apparently there is an uber-contagious, coming out of both ends, virus going around, and it has decided to set up camp in my house. Oh wait, it has also invaded my mom's house and the in-laws too. It is a vicious little thing.

Of course that means our already crazy schedule has been thrown all out of whack. I haven't been able to exercise this whole week so I feel like sh**, I can't sleep, and my will power to stick to a healthy diet is nonexistent.

So I decided, what the hell- my ass is dragging from lack of sleep and exercise, I didn't have the energy to wash dishes, so I'm gonna treat myself to a super exciting iced coffee from Starbucks. Well, I pull up to the drive thru and the fat demons have a huge billboard waiting for me, screaming "Have a super yummy Pumpkin Spice Latte", or something to that effect. Immediately I think of the uberly delicious (super fattening) pumpkin scones that I absolutely love and decide that I will stick to the sh**ty theme of the week and indulge my muffin top with a 300 calorie drink :)

 Mmmmm, pumpkin scone in liquid form........NOT!!!

This is why I never try anything new. I am seriously notorious for always ordering the same thing from the same places whenever we go anywhere. AND THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY!!

It's not that the drink itself is super sh**ty, it's just not what I had in mind. So now I am drinking a cup of coffee that I hardly like, that I can't stop drinking because I paid the insane amount of $4 for it.

I hate when the day starts like this.

On a brighter note, I am rocking some uberly cute toes, thanks to my besties daughter Kayla.

She is super talented and creative and treated her dear old aunt to a polish this past weekend. Gggrrrr (or whatever sound these animals make).

Don't you just love it?! I do.

I see great things for her in the future. (And for my toes)

 Bad coffee and cute toes,

XoXo



Back in Action

Whew! Yesterday was a rough one for me. But, I'm back in action today, ready to get back into the swing of things.

Recap of our amazing weekend:

First morning: 6 am run with the bro

(Here are my super old, fugly shoes that I'm hoping to replace soon, once I reach my exercise goals)

The lil (big) bro. He is like 10 ft taller than me and all buffed out and manly.

And his stride is equal to like 3 of mine, so needless to say, he was waiting for me @ the end.

Then we went back to the condo, woke everyone up, and cooked enough eggs & turkey bacon to feed an army.

Then, off to the pool we went.

There's the bro being all manly again. And his super sweet, adorable gf.

(She's also like 10 ft taller than me)

The weather was beautiful and we all had a blast soaking up the rays.

I would like to take this moment to say that I did wait until 10am to have my first Margie. It was so hottt, that I couldn't wait any longer. Plus, you're allowed to drink @ the crack of dawn when you're on vacay :)

Wishing I was still @ the pool,

XoXo

Labor day recovery

Hi all!

We had such a blast this weekend!! But, unfortunately, I am feeling it today. I am so tired that even my fingers are reluctant to move across the keyboard.

So, here are a few pics for your enjoyment while I continue praying for the day to go by quickly.

Tropical flowers

Mango margaritas......YUM!

(Thank you Sherry)



First day poolside.

That floaty is the most comfortable thing in existence!

That lil hottie is my uber-talented niece.

Be back tomorrow,

XoXo

Labor Day Madness

Here we go!!

One car packed and ready to go. Woohooo!

Well, almost ready to go. I still have to make it through the workday, stop @ a couple stores, & make sure I don't forget the kids.

We are all so so so excited!!

On a side note: This will probably be the last post until we return from staycay.

Also, **DON'T FORGET**, 25% off sale on all Zaia Jewelry (http://www.rockzaia.etsy.com/) ends Monday, 9/5. Use coupon code "summer25" @ checkout.

Wishing everyone a safe and fun weekend!!

Peace out,

XoXo

Hello Hawaii

This is an old pic, but this has pretty much been the weather for the last couple of days. And I am so hoping it continues through this weekend.

I expect to come back to work on Tuesday with a nice, toasty, caramel brown tan that makes my body glisten with radiance. (In reality I'll probably come back super bright cooked lobster red, since I tend to burn, rather than slow cook).

Anyway, HOLY MONKEYS- IT'S THURSDAY!!!

Now the excitement is really starting to bubble. I hope the day goes by quickly tomorrow. I will have a fully packed car, loaded with all the essentials, two of my kids, and two of the besties kids. At least it'll be more hands to help me unload once I get there :)

 I love family staycations. The atmosphere and memories are like no other. Good times around the pool and bbq, great food, laughs, and lots of "liquids" to keep us hydrated.

Ugh, I'll probably be salivating all day, just thinking about the nice frosty beverage that is waiting for me.

It's gonna be a long nite of packing,

XoXo