Thirsty Thursday POP

The weekend jam...

Rock it ladies,

XoXo

Back to remodeling

Who's been missing the remodel posts??

I know......it's like a sick addiction. I am currently seeking help on the matter.

And it's not like we've gotten sooo much accomplished that I just have to tell you about it. But right now it's all about the baby steps. Eventually we'll be off and running again........(I hope).

So I finally went and got glass put in our upper cabinet door. It has been naked this whole time. I was aiming for something a little more decorative and WOW, but I realized that since the actual glass opening was so small, it just wouldn't do any patterned glass justice. But, I think it looks great anyway.

We the bf got all the walls painted with their second coat. Yay!!

Hopefully this weekend will be primering and painting the baseboards and door trims. We the bf still has to add the crown moulding to the top of the walls so it doesn't look so plain.

Now some of you may be thinking.......hmmmm......the bf does like everything. What is this lazy ass diva doing while she makes her boyfriend slave day and night??!!

Shopping of course!! (Joke).

I mean, it is my responsibility to decorate this newly renovated, lovely house. But, I also have to work, do the mommy/kid soccer, football, judo practice thing, make sure the bills are still being paid on time, laundry, house cleaning, blah blah........you get it. It's a team effort people.

Anyway, back to the shopping.

So the bf really wants me to put shelf liners in all of the cabinets and drawers. And I (naturally) hate shelf liners. But, I do agree with him that I have to put some on the shelves that hold our pots and pans and the like. We wanna protect these beautiful cabinet$ that co$t u$ $o much $. And I did see some awesomely cute/modern shelf liners @ Target, so I'm planning on using those. But, in some of the other areas, like the utensil drawers, I really wanted to avoid using shelf liners (if at all possible).

Well.......I found these super cute trays @ Ross the other weekend and I thought (hoped) they would fit perfectly. They were only $3.99/each, so I picked up 4, which was all they had. Don't you love it?? I do! I just like that it serves the same purpose, but with a non-shelf liner kinda twist : )

I also found 2 of these super cute branch/twig bowl thingies. They were only $6.99/each. I'm not really sure what I'm gonna use them for yet. I've been using one as our fruit bowl in the kitchen and I'm thinking of using the other one in the bathroom with rolled up washcloths (or something) in it.

And just in time for Halloween........BAM!!

They also had the cutest sparkly lil foam pumpkins. I think these were like $4. The platter was $14.

Since all of my Halloween decorations are still packed away, and our house is still in a state of chaos, I thought, why not? A platter full of lil pumpkins is sure to set the festive mood. My boys and the bf totally appreciated the effort (sarcasm @ its finest).

Painted walls & glittery pumpkins,

XoXo

Abracadabra....presto, chango!

So........waddaya think?

I've been wanting to do this for a long long time, but it just takes so much effort to make such small changes. Plus, I was afraid that I would majorly f*ck up and completely destroy what minor blog tweaks I did have going on. But, I put on my big girl panties today (VS) and braved the unknown.

So I hope you like it. Cause odds are it'll be like this for a while.

I'd love to hear what ya think........

Please be nice to me,

XoXo

More (and last) of Vegas

Love.

Photo prepping.

1, 2, 3.......Cheese!

Serious cutie pie!!

(I would've bought the hat because I love it so much.....but it was $30-GASP!, and I know he would only wear it like once)

Lunch stop.

Pizza for the boos, and wine for the parents.

Stratosphere shot.

Action shot.

(It only took about 20 trys, lol)

Sorry for the lack of fun, humor, and sarcastic comments. Got a case of the Grumpies today. And yes, I capitalized the G because it's that bad.

Thinking about drinking my lunch,

XoXo

Happy Halloween & Free Shipping!!

Happy Halloween!!

Well, almost. It's right around the corner and we haven't even put our decorations out yet. Boo me!

I smell a weekend project : )

But since I'm stuck @ work, here's my e-Halloween fix.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82265360/halloween-wreath?ref=sr_gallery_8&ga_search_query=halloween&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_page=5&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=

I love the simplistic statement this wreath makes. Plus, it looks like it would store easy. I think I'm already up to like 6 or 7 Halloween decoration bins....Eeeek!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/57381040/filigree-flame-leather-mask-in-shades-of

Is this not the coolest thing?! I absolutely adore this mask. Super unique! I can guarantee that no one else you see on Halloween will have a mask like this.

With that said, I am giving you all a fair WARNING: I am desparately waiting for the next Halloween that falls on a weekend. I am going all out!! ALL-OUT!! The house decorations will be off the hook, my costume will be to-die-for, and grandma better be ready to babysit : )

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83858410/steampunk-bat-bat-pendant-clay-bat-clay?ref=af_you_favitem

This necklace is a perfect example of Halloween jewelry that can be worn all year long. Actually, it's more like a great piece of jewelry that can also be worn on Halloween.

I love the big blue eyes. And I like how it has so many different things going on that give it character.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71477701/red-white-stripe-ribbon-bow

Okay folks, now how uberly cute is this bow?? If I had a daughter I would totally let her rock this all year long. The bows come in a variety of different sizes, colors and patterns. And the prices are totally reasonable. Yay!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83421470/halloween-feather-wreath-pumpkin-patch?ref=sr_gallery_7&ga_search_query=halloween&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_page=7&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=

Now this is something I would LOVE to have hanging on my front door. This wreath is fabulously glam, no doubt! In fact, I just might wear this as my costume. Ms. Halloween 2011??!!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79403465/orange-chrissy-flower-ring

You know I had to throw in something from my shop too. Especially since I have a free shipping promo going on right now:

**Free priority shipping on all domestic orders. Use "FREE4ME" coupon code @ checkout.

Feel free to shop your little hearts out.

Halloween wishes,

XoXo



Candy, Pizza, and Drinks

Vegas is probably the junk food/alcohol capital of the world.

Everywhere you go there are candy stores, fast (fried) food vendors, and alcohol stops. Not that I am complaining about any of this.........I'm just stating the facts.

One of the most important stops for the kids was M & M world. It is $13/lb. Gah! But, I guess it's all about the experience. With a wall full of colorful, deliciously inviting M & M's, who can resist??

So they each got a 1 lb allowance.

And.......5 minutes later.......they are happy : )

Geez. Looking @ this picture makes me realize how big they are getting. And, how OLD I am getting (wahhh moment).

So, after wasting nearly $50 on candy, we were slumming around the strip a little more, when all of a sudden.........we were overcome by thunder, lightning, and a torrential downpour. Literally sun one minute, rain the next. I wish I had taken a video of how quickly all the people cleared the strip. But, alas, I was too busy trying to save my hair and duck and cover with all my lil baby ducklings in tow.

After standing under a Walgreens overhang for 5 minutes, the rain lightened a little and we decided to "overhang hop" to Sephora. 3 hops later......we were still soaked from the off and on rain (so much for the save the hair effort), and poor lil man actually got sprayed by a passing car while we were shuffling along the sidewalk. *When I said downpour I was NOT exaggerating*

But the shopping gods were looking down on us and we ended up running into an indoor mall. I forget what the name of it is, but it has Sephora, Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body, Sugar Factory, and about a gazillion other shops and restaurants. YAY!!

So we shopped and shopped and shopped, dried off, and met up with one of my parentals (and his Housewives crew- private joke) for dinner.

We decided to hit up an uber popular, tv's everywhere, always crowded sports bar that's located right @ the entrance of the mall. Mama needed a drink and the boys were hungry.

They actually got to make their own pizzas, which they loved. And, the price was right too. Kiddie menu holla!

My poor lil man was so tired from all the shuffling and shopping that he took a little nap right on the table. We did wake him up once his food arrived and after he shook off his grogginess he had a second wind. Yay for quickie lil cat naps (and no whining)!

So we finished up dinner, left the adults to drink some more, and headed back to our hotel.

Zzzzzzzz time.

M & M's, pizzas, and margaritas,

XoXo

Mandalay Bay

Fresh off the plane, a few hours of sleep, and a wardrobe change later......*poof*, we're @ Mandalay Bay hotel.

Since this was a "kiddo included" trip, we wanted to do as many interesting and fun things as possible. So our first stop was the shark reef.

Thank you lil boo for taking this pic of the rest of the fam bam. I decided to take our big whopper camera (that the bf likes to carry around his neck like a tourist), and our little kodak point and shoot camera for the kiddos to use. I thought it would be fun to compare the photo perspectives at the end of the trip.

This was the one and only hot day. Every day after this was about 20 degrees colder. Hence, this is the only "shorts" day we had.

The only sh*tty thing about family trip pics is that someone is always missing. But I have to say that this is probably my biggest feature of all our vacays. Usually I'm in like 1 or 2 pictures, but the bf was having so much fun being the photographer, that I had no other choice but to pose : )

They had a touchy/feely tank full of different kinds of rays. I think the ones featured in this little train are called hermit rays (or something like that), but they basically just go around and around the tank lined up like this. Super cute right?! Well, I found out that the front one is the male and the other two are females......go figure. The bf liked that.

And they have this super huge, dark tank filled with neon pink, glow in the dark jelly fish.

They also have huge tanks full of fish, sharks, turtles, and a walk through tunnel where everything swims all over and around you.

I think it was a successful first stop for our travelling caravan.

Next stop M & M world, MGM, and shopping!!

Shark teeth smiles,

XoXo