pretty flippin lucky

I have an incredible husband. He works super hard for the babs and I. Yesterday, i was done. I was tired, Kinsley had an ear infection. I was achy... just done. Know what my dear man did? Let me cuddle all over him for comfort while he rubbed my back.

Today Kinsley wasn't having a good morning at school because of the previously mention ear ache (shocking, i know)... know what hubs did? Picked her up from school for me and took her home to rest while i finish a very trying day at work.

Right now my world is all over the place. We risk going on a mandatory furlough (UNPAID PEOPLE) because congress can't get the stick out of their butts long enough to realize they might need to agree on SOMETHING so we can pay daycare, that will still send us the bill whether i have a job or not so that Kinsley won't loose her place there. But i have a husband that gives me sweet hugs, cleans my kitchen while i relax in the bath, and is genuinely happy to see ME at the end of the day.

Yep, i'm a lucky lady.

Dang he's sexy~

coming back soon, PROMISE!

in the mean time, take a break.

I'm going to take a life break.

So, how do i start this. It's going to be a tough one, kind of typing this through tears. But, I'm going to be taking a blog break. This blog and you have been like my own personal diary/therapy. Knowing that when I'm upset, sad, etc and i can turn to you for an open ear or advice has really helped me in a lot of ways, but i think now it's started to hurt me too.

I'm going to be blogging a lot less. I will post updates on Kinsley and pictures of her and her progress. I'll keep you informed if something awesome happens or if i all of a sudden find the miracle solution to dropping twenty pounds in a month without the help of being ON the biggest looser.

But i thought you deserved to know that you won't be hearing as much from me. I know i don't have a ton of readers, but i REALLY value the ones I do have. You are faithful, caring, and my friends. I am just going through a tough time right now and need to focus my energy elsewhere. With the help of my amazing husband and beautiful daughter I'll be okay, but just not around as much.

thank you for understanding and i love you all!

I'll admitt it, I'm addicted...

To hand smocking, embroidery, southern style. I mean why shouldn't i be? I DID grow up in the south, but oh these southern beauties are just too precious to pass up! I MIGHT have gone a little crazy on Ebay and my girlfriend's closet for Kinsley this summer...

Here's Kinsley's Egg picking outfit (oh i hope it'll be warm this year)

 THIS is going to be her Easter Sunday dress! Oh i just died!

 I don't know what this will be but i just thought it was so much fun! It's a cute silly dress for her this summer!

This is just the perfect summer dress!

 My girlfriend removed all but the "B" from this little romper and Kinsley will look TOO cute running around the beach in this one!

 Watermelon anyone?

How about we celebrate the 4th of July!

There's more, but i can't show you or you'll really think I've lost it... and i just MIGHT be asking our favorite bow designer, Princess Couture Designs, to be designing bows for one or all of these beauties! HEE HEE! Oh I'm sooooooo ready for spring!

interesting co-worker

So i have this interesting co-worker that we like to call Frog Feet. He earned this name when he came to our department softball game wearing the below shoes.

I don't know where you're from but where I'm from, those are just, well, weird. I mean yes we MIGHT have been from a scene out of Mean Girls but seriously? To a softball game that no one cares about, some people were even wearing jeans!

So he wears these shoes with this "I'm so cool" attitude, i think that's what gets us more... the attitude. I mean if he were a fun goofy guy it would fit. But no, HE walks around like he thinks he's a stud... he's not.

So now we are the Mean Girls because it has become the fun of the office to poke fun at this guy every chance we get... behind his back. Come now, before you hate me, he has a picture of HIMSELF on his door!

He wears much too dressy for this office clothes, EVERY.DAY., even casual Fridays. BUT the blazers he wears are WAY too big for him and have 80s size shoulder pads.

He always talks about Cali, etc BUT, He's from HERE! East Coast HERE... oh this poor soul.

Oh and the icing, he has mounted his computer onto the wall so he stands all day. Not for any medical reason, or because he needs to get into shape, etc... because he's weird. THERE, I SAID IT!

So do you have any "frog feet" in your office?

What did you do?

Valentine's day was very low key at my house. Kinsley was tired, Daddy got home late, the dogs were being, well dogs. So it wasn't all hearts, bows and rainbows. BUT it was nice. Kinsley and I got home (this wasn't her Valentine's day outfit, she was making cupcakes at school and got THAT outfit dirty) and she ate her chocolate valentine sucker from her neighbor friend while I took out what i needed to make dinner (before you call child services, my kitchen is SMALL, i scoot Kinsley around on the counter so she's closest to be but if she's got something in her mouth she's happy just where she is, plus she's away from the dogs chompers, it's win win).

 Then she helped me take the puppy's out to potty. I cooked dinner while she tried to lean on me but since i kept moving she kept falling so the toddler meltdown was about to ensue. LUCKILY i was pretty much done. Threw Chris and My dinner in the oven (since i knew she wouldn't be awake long enough to eat it once it was done), heated up her meal and fed her. Let her play with my pens so that I would have some scribbles to put on her Valentine's to her grandparents and then when i wouldn't let her eat the pen, toddler meltdown again.

So off to bed. We sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider a million times while changing to keep the third meltdown at bay, it worked. In goes the plug and off to dreamland goes my little Valentine.

Hubs got home, we had dinner, watched some Bachelor (I got to pick! Yea me!), and went to bed.

Low key, yet awesome. Oh and the hubs brought Kinsley AND i flowers and the dogs special bones! He's a Keeper!

This morning was starting to melt down fast, until i let Kinsley have some cheese.... boy she loves her cheese!

Hope y'all had a nice Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So i LOVE today. I know there are you haters out there that are all like "OMG, this is such a Hallmark Holiday" and while they DO play it up, it's NOT CREATED by Hallmark! Here's some history for ya, since i was a history major...
Saint Valentine's Day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

So see it's okay to celebrate this "Hallmark" holiday!

This past weekend was SO busy for Chris and I, I know, what's new! But I got my Valentine's day gift yesterday! WAINSCOTING!!!! We put up wainscoting in the dining room and I LOVE IT! There's still a lot of touching up, caulking, mudding, and painting to do... BUT it's up! YEA!

Kinsley also had a very big weekend, she got her First Haircut! OMG, I know!

Why this turned her picture sideways, i do not know. BUT she was sooo good for her haircut! She just sat there with her usual "what the heck are you doing to me this time mom" face on! God I love that girl!

So i asked the woman to just trim a little bit off the back and out of her eyes to even it out. Yeah, well the back is great. The front end result is very....

Oh well, i'm sure it'll grow quickly~

Happy Valentines day!

Burnt out....

Of this week that is. I'm actually feeling very productive for this coming weekend. I just want it to BE the weekend already, since i have so many AWESOME plans!

Plan one: Do the taxes tonight, along with a nice glass of red wine, a yummy pizza, and quality time with the hubs (you know since Kinsley will be in bed by 630, since yesterday she took a FOUR HOUR NAP and still slept through the night... molars are a bitch).

Plan two: Make over a room of my house rather then get over priced roses for Valentine's Day. I have the hubs three options (since i'm so thoughtful like that)

Option One: Kitchen

1.    Paint Yellow

2.    Put up wainscoting as back splash

3.    Distress cabinets

Option two: Dining Room

1.    Put up wainscoting and chair rail

2.    Paint top half with sandstone, paint dowels on railing white.

Option Three: Bedroom

1.    Paint the tan color

2.    Paint doors and trim white

3.    Buy/hang curtains

See?? So thoughtful... AND you know which one he's seriously considering for reals? The dining room! I know RIGHT?!?!? TOTALLY didn't see that one coming! SQUEEE! I'll keep you posted, with full pictures!

We are also going to have dinner with friends and I'll get to spend some quality time with a good friend while my baby plays with her baby. Throw in a little church, little gym, and an oil change and i think it sounds like a pretty good weekend! No?

So Won't this day END ALREADY!

PS my baby toddler is so beyond freaking cute i can't bear another second away from her, oh she makes my uterus hurt... here's some vintage for you...

Who called my overies?

And told them it was okay to have a period again? I have not REALLY had a period since Kinsley was conceived. I've had something here and there but not a regular occurrence. When it happened last month i figured it was a fluke... now it's here again. WTH! Between breastfeeding and my IUD I thought I was golden. Then I stopped breastfeeding in November and I was still sitting pretty. Now, all of a sudden... is bAAACK. This is not good for many reasons
1. it makes me want to eat
2. it makes me want to be lazier then I already am
3. I WASN'T PREPARED!

just so you know... this blows.

Skinny Bitch

Yeah i bought the book Skinny Bitch; thought this would be a GREAT, tell me like it is book to get me back in shape and eating better. Um no. It's a great book for someone who is a vegan to spout off at the mouth about how we're not supposed to be carnivores because we don't chase down our "kill" and tear them to shreds with our bare hands like lions. Hmmmm, does anyone see a problem with that?

Now, I get organic, I would like to have more in our lives be organic. I like the idea of free range chickens, and purely grass fed cows. I like the idea of pesticide free veggies and hormone free milk. But stay away from cheese because it's not "natural" to eat what other animals produce (yes i know we make the cheese, but we use animals byproducts to do it, point is...)? hmmm, I just couldn't groove with that train of thought.

I mean, HELLO, y'all were all around for THE pregnancy. THE meat killing, i probably would have ran down a cow and killed it with my bear hands teen wolf style if i wouldn't have been able to stop at my local store and get a decent burger, pregnancy. I really want to be more in control of what goes into my family's mouths, but no meat or animal byproducts? no. quite simply, no.

So I'm returning the book, because i strongly believe that if I don't read the whole thing because it's not helpful to me and it doesn't look read then I should be allowed to return it. So I will... also because my Northern Cowboy wanted to know where I got the money to buy the book since my $20 was already spent this week... hmm good point, eh no biggy, i didn't like the book anyway.

My co-worker (after hearing my meat loving woes) has allowed me to borrow the book The Skinny: How to fit into your little black dress forever. I'll let you know how this one goes... as long as it leaves my delicious Bambi's momma alone (meaning, alone for me to eat, wha ha ha!) then i think we'll be okay.

I'm going to go and gnaw on some jerky now... kidding, it's 9am, i'm going to eat oatmeal... jerky is OBVIOUSLY lunch stuff!

I'm really here!

Promise, it's just been a bit crazy since I had training at work, then lots of Thirty-One things at home so no time to blog at lunch or in the evening... not to mention i was IN bed by 730pm on Monday night because I was so tired from Super Bowl Sunday! WOW. We also had a very busy weekend. Saturday we went to Little Gym, then straight to Baltimore to do Port Discovery Children's Museum with our neighbors.

After the museum we went to Hard Rock for lunch, some how kept the kids awake for the ride home and then took a nap while Kinsley napped. Woke up, picked up some, then just relaxed.

Sunday i woke up and made many batches of pizza dough before i finally figured out what i was doing wrong. We cleaned, grocery shopped, etc. Then went to our friend's house for the big game.

It was such a fun weekend!

But you know what fun equals in my book.... FAT. uh, that's a whole other blog post... coming soon!

Life pause

Do you ever want to take a break from life?

Do you know how men have this "fantasies"? Well i have them too... it involves me, wine, a hotel room, a spa, some movies, room service, and NO.ONE.ELSE! ahhhh

I have naughty little dreams where I take off on a Friday, check in to a luxurious hotel/spa. I put on a BIG puffy robe, order some room service and watch awesome girly movies until i fall asleep. Then I wake up, go to the spa ALL.DAY.LONG. After my multitude of relaxing treatments I get my hair and make-up done, meet my besties for dinner and drinks, laugh, tell stories, THEN fall into an enormous soft fluffy hotel bed, alone, and sleep until I wake up, at which point i would love to be cuddled by my husband and daughter and order French Toast for breakfast. That is my naughty dream. I mean what that's only going to set the hubs back a grand?

BUT the sheer bliss and state of awesomeness I'll be in afterwards? Priceless

Do you have a similar naughty dream?

Oh talk dirty to me Minivan!

You see that? THAT is a 2011 Honda Odyssey. THAT is something that I am CONSTANTLY drooling over. I know what you're thinking "But Erin, you haven't even had your Pilot for TWO years, how can you possibly want another car?!?!". Three words, Dog, Big Dog, Baby... okay so that's 4 words, i was going to go with dog, dog but thought that mentioning that the second dog is big was important, she's a lab, whose almost five, who thinks she's a puppy that is lap size, yea... that's like two kids right?

So add to the dogs and child all of the STUFF. I always have a stroller, travel highchair, and grocery bags in my car. I have a CD case full of kids movies. I have a center console full of toddler cereal bars and mini juice boxes. AND i have the sanity saving toys such as her wubanub, babydoll, blanket for naps, and misc other items that often come in helpful. Yeah, my car is often full. I have a third row of seats that rarely gets used because i need it for storage, but i often NEED that third row AND can you imagine when we add a second carseat, a double stroller, and baby stuff to the mix??? I mean we got our Pilot to be the family car. We got it because we didn't want to pay 40k for a Tahoe and didn't want to go the minivan route, because we were still young and cool...so what does this post mean (besides the fact that we're no longer cool)?

NOTHING, just a way for me to complain so that Northern Cowboy doesn't lose his lid thinking that i want a new car or really lose it when he finds out i want a minivan. OOOH Whoa is me.

But you know it's a lot easier to get the baby into the car when your hands are full of carseats and wine when you can just push a button. KIDDING people, i would NEVER drink and drive, now drink and ride? We're going to have to take into account what kind of day I'm having.

is it friday yet?

When did my baby become a toddler?

I mean you see it too right!?!?!

Wow, she's just taking my heart. I'm so proud of my little bit but i miss my baby. It's nice though that she's happy with Daddy now, until she sees me! WHA HA HA! She still makes the death dive out of Chris's arms to get into my arms! I need to find a new hobby because OH how i want another baby!

I've been doing REALLY good this week with my eating, so proud of myself. I didn't work out yesterday and today is starting to look like it might be the same... terrible i know. Maybe i can sneak out early, grab Kinsley and then we can go for a jog together.

Oh and PS, have I mentioned the new Thirty-One catalog is out??? Because it is... and it's AWESOME!

New Spring Catalog!

Wow y'all, I'm soooo excited about Thirty-one's new Spring Catalog! It's flippin awesome! Here's the specials, etc for February!

i mean do you see some of the super awesome new prints? LOVE! So if you want to order or have a party, contact me! My bestie had a catalog party (where her friends/co-workers just ordered online or from the catalog and she got $87 of FREE products, 3 products half price, and one hostess option gift ($45 Garment bag!) So PLEASE let me know ifyou're interested!