Life Via The Camera Roll

I cleaned up my office area during an organizational fung shui move and put my DSLR inside a shelf drawer out of reach from grabby toddler hands. In a punishment move from fate, I keep forgetting to bring it with me. Or even take it out of the drawer. So, here are a few snapshots from our weekend, courtesy of the camera roll.

Waiting for breakfast inside her baby's stroller. The baby rolls safely on the visor. Hah!

Being 4'11 has it's advantages, like hanging with my best girl in her wagon on the way home from the park.  

She doesn't want to swing in the toddler swing, so I have to jump on with her. Sans makeup and sweatpants. It was a lazy Saturday :)

Post lunch (which she barely ate any of) she played in the sandbox while I hovered like the helicopter mom I am. I keep telling her, "I'm always watching you!" Always. Like a creeper.

We're making progress with these two. My tomcat is still trying to boss everyone around, and doesn't want anyone to forget he's the "man" of the house. Even with three other animals and a toddler fighting for attention. 

As soon as she woke up this morning, she yelled, "Elmo!" And brought the vday cards her grandparents bought her from her bed. She slept with them last night, because, you never know when you'll need to hand them out to your friends.

Happy Monday!

DIY Valentine's Day Felt Tote

I've been pumping Anabelle up for the past few weeks about giving and receiving "presents" on Valentine's Day. She's so excited. I mean, who wouldn't want presents usually in the form of candy? I wouldn't mind either.

Since I can't figure out what to gift toddlers for Valentine's, I figured I would start with step one. The bag. She needs a bag to hold the outrageous amount of sugar deliciousness and heart punny that will come her way.  

I saw something similar while we were browsing the Target dollar aisle and thought, "I can totally make that." Since Anabelle was super psyched to spend the entire day running errands with me and going to the storwe, we grabbed the supplies from the craft store for less that $4. Cheap crafts around these parts, folks. I don't discriminate. 

Speaking of storwes, she had a meltdown after I broke the news that we had finished all the errands we had to. She was completely heartbroken. You would have thought I told her she could never have another bite of ice cream ever again. That would be heartbreak city. Not finishing your errands for the day. She was like, "Nooooooooooo! Mo' storwes." Homegirl can spend hours browsing like her mama. And she's only 23 months. I can't even imagine what the years ahead will bring. Oh my. 

The whole tote project, as we'll call it, took about an hour because I couldn't decided if I wanted her bag to look like a bag or a tote. The tote idea won. 

Supplies:

- stiff red felt 

- stiff white felt 

- white thread

- adhesive glue

Instructions 

1. Cut into the red felt into two pieces measuring 5x9 (this is the front & back), two pieces meausuring 2x9 (side), one piece measuring 1 1/2x9 (handle) and one piece measuring 2x5 (bottom). 

2. Cut out the white felt into a heart shape.

3. Sew the back piece to the two side pieces, starting with the right side down to the bottom and around to the left side. 

4. Sew the front piece on to the side pieces. 

5. Sew the handle to the side pieces. 

6. Glue the white heart to the front of the tote using permanent adhesive glue. 

I haven't shown it to Anabelle yet, since I'm going to wait until Valentine's. I have a few other crafts I'm working on to give her throughout the month of February. I can't wait to share with you all!

Happy February! And go, Cowboys ;)

Heart Day Favs

I was reminiscing about last year's Valentine's Day and crying a little at the thought of my sweet boo-boo bear turning TWO YEARS OLD. How did that even happen? I remember last year getting ready for Anabelle's first birthday. I Pinterested my heart out for months. That is serious dedication. 

Anabelle is really getting so big though. I mean look at her. 

I'm more of a tomboy at heart, so raising this kiddo who is growing into a little girl is pretty damn awesome. I'm putting bows on her hair, letting her wear pink and sticking her in a dress every time the mood strikes me. And I love all of it. Her hair is finally gaining some length, and she likes the way bows look on her. Now, keeping them on? That's a different story.

Last year I made her heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and she giggled so hard! I was like, oh yeah, score for mommy. I wish I could look back on photos from February, but our puppy chewed the cord to the laptop and every single picture that is precious to me is on there. I really need to get a new power cord. And a back-up system.

Anyway, while diving face first in crafty V-Day gifts, I ran across a few sweet red-is-my-favorite color items that I wanted to share!  

PJs // DIY Knit Cards // Book // Candle // Tee // Dress

February will be here in a couple of days, so it's time to start planning that outfit! 

Low Key Weekend

The weekend is over, but we had such an amazing low-key weekend. And the weather was BEAUTIFUL. I loved every minute of it! On Saturday, we went to an indoor playground and ran into some old friends. I love seeing people I haven't seen in a while. It's kind of a wake-up call and reminder of how quickly life is passing by. 

Anabelle is infamous for taking about 5-10 minutes to warm up to any new place, so we spent the first few minutes walking around the playground until she decided to brave it up and play with the other kids. I love watching her interact with other children when she doesn't think I'm watching. She is certainly not a kid to push around. There is no hesitation in her voice when someone is getting a little too close to her bubble. And since she is talking about a storm, she's got plenty to say. I could never imagine how well she could communicate at 23 months. It's crazy!

I wish I could have captured a few photos at the playground, but she's always on the go, and it's nearly impossible not to get a blurry shot of her. At least I have memories. Memories of shoving myself in the "3 and under" bounce house to save her from the slide that she was afraid to go down. Memories of her sweet, relieved face when she saw mommy to the rescue! We bounced like there was no tomorrow. She reminds me to slow down to enjoy all the little things.

After the playground, we ran into another friend at our favorite joint and ate copious amounts of chips and queso. With margaritas. Oh yes. Margaritas for life. This kid loves Mexican food. Thank gosh, because I could seriously eat it every single day.

The best part? Anabelle is finally letting me put bows and headbands on her head! So I made her a knotted headband and she loved it. I even made a matching one for myself so we can be twinsies :)

Happy Monday!

January Beauty Favorites

Still Winter over here. I know, I can't stop thinking about it. That means I'll keep complaining about it. When it's summer, I'll start complaining it's too hot.

At least there's makeup. All day, errday. I'm one of those people that can't leave the house without it. I have to put on the basics, at least. My bare face has aged, even though I totally feel like I'm still in my twenties. I don't want to grow up!

Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream - I recently found this glorious skin enhancing beauty about a year ago. It's a sheer cream with just enough coverage to even out my face. It's so lightweight and doesn't wipe off all over Anabelle's clothes or face. That alone sold me. 

Smashbox Camera Ready BB Eye Cream - Hands down, this is THE BEST concealer I have ever came across. I've tried so many different kinds, and I could never find something that didn't cake and make me look haggard. If I was on a desert island, and could only have one makeup essential, I would pick this. I know, it's THAT good. I think it's why I keep getting carded.

Beneft POREfessional - This cream minimizes my pores. Slightly, but enough to be noticeable. You know how Charlotte confessed she use to examine her pores in the mirror for an hour each night? Guilty. Except, not for an hour. I have a child now. 

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette - These colors are all a simple neutral. Perfect for that everyday look. 

Benefit Mascara - I love this mascara! It makes my lashes a lot longer than anything else. It's pretty much THE BEST. I said that already, huh. Okay, it's SO FREAKING AWESOME. 

Nars Matte Lipstick - I'm loving this dark color in Volga. I feel like a lioness when I wear it. Yes, it's that powerful.

Are there any beauty essentials I need to know about? Tell me. I have a Sephora gift card burning a hole in my wallet. 

Salted Pumpkin Seed Chocolate Bark

Winter is a sheer soul sucker for me. Add the rain and no signs of the sunlight, and I'm a mess. After a solid plus week of that junk, I finally felt the sun on my face this weekend. And it was GLORIOUS! Insert angelic singing.

I made this Salted Pumpkin Seed Chocolate Bark yesterday while the sun was beautiful. This batch of deliciousness will hold me over during the few days since it's supposed to be rainy and dreary again. Those of you that live up north, I don't know how you do it!

This bark I'm about to share with you only has three simple ingredients. The balance between the slight bitterness of dark chocolate and tang of salt is heaven! You have to make this immediately. It makes the winter weather so much more bearable. 

Salted Pumpkin Seed Chocolate Bark

Ingredients:

14 oz dark chocolate (72% cacao)

Pumpkin seeds (raw or roasted)

Salt crystals

Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and melt in double broiler. If you don't have a double broiler, DIY it by melting the chocolate in a glass dish or a small pan onto of a pot of boiling water. Stir chocolate continuously until just melted.

Pour the melted chocolate on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds evenly over the melted chocolate. Crush the salt crystals and sprinkle on top.

Place the cookie sheet flat in the freezer for 30 minutes. After it's completely frozen, break into chunks.

Devour. 

Be kind and share a bite. 

Christmas + New Years 2014

December was a whirlwind of activity around our house, and I was completely overwhelmed with holiday shopping, hosting parties, attending parties, and just being in the moment, hence the radio silence around here and instagram. 

A couple of days before Christmas, we took a shot at gingerbread-housing. Basically, I put royal icing on the house with marshmallows, while Anabelle ate every Jelly Bean and chocolate covered caramel in sight. She thought it was the neatest idea ever.

On Christmas Eve, we hosted a small get together at our house with a cheese and grape appetizer plate, pot roast, scalloped potatoes and honey roasted potatoes. It was pretty damn delicious, and I'm kinda beating myself up for not taking pictures of the spread. 

After dinner, we made reindeer food for Santa's reindeer, since, let's be honest, he gets a lot of cookies during Christmas. It was a mixture of old fashioned oats, shredded coconut, raisins and grape nut flakes. The leftovers that Santa left made for fantastic cereal for mommy ;)

We woke up at our usual time on Christmas morning and opened our gifts together. It was the sweetest thing to watch Anabelle ever so slowly open each gift, one piece of wrapping paper at a time. She received more toys than I even imagined, and she's being running around the house taking care of the millions of babies she received. Let's just say, there's a lot of children to take care of. She's one busy momma.

The rest of the holidays were spent low key with our family, watching classic movies like A Christmas Story and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Oh, and Elf about sixteen times.

We spent New Years eating craft burgers and drinking craft beer while popping fireworks with Anabelle. She was a little petrified at first, but she slowly warmed up to light show her daddy put on. After each round of fireworks were over, she would shout. "yay!" We only popped a few, since it was freezing and she wanted to go inside.

Oh, and we got a puppy. Three cats, one puppy and one toddler makes a jungle house.