A Bit of Reading

One of my favorite things to do is sit down with a good book and read. While i'm home with my little one there is not much spare time to do such a thing but, thanks to my long hours at work i've been able to find a couple of minutes here and there to read a few good books ;0). And these two were worth fitting in the time to read.

War Horse & The Hunger Games

Both have been made into movies and I can definitely see why.  With War Horse, your inner love for horses is brought to life. Through the trials and tribulations of the main characters your heart strings are pulled so strongly you will find yourself holding back the tears more than once. I know I had to. But, in the end you're happy everyone you care for has made it through. It's a short but easy read that young and old alike will love. Thanks Mom for the recommendation!!

The Hunger Games is another one of those you definitely won't regret reading. The author does an amazing job of making you feel like you're battling for your life right along side Katniss, the main character. It's unlike anything i've ever imagined in my life but the concept is all the more riveting as you go along. I really CANNOT wait to read the next two in the series. And especially can't wait to see the movie. I wouldn't let myself watch the trailer until I finished the book, so as not to give anything away, but now that I have I cannot wait to see it. 

Oh, and in between reads, Jay and I began drinking a new drink that I don't want all of you to miss out on. I recently read about all the amazing reasons drinking lemon water is good for you. So, at the recommendation from someone on Pinterest, Jay and I are now cutting out all sodas to drink this instead.. 

Sparkling water and lemon.

It's Delish!

Just squeeze half a lemon into a small glass, fill with sparkling water and tadahh!!! 

My craving for carbonated soda is quenched by merely saturating my taste buds with lots and lots of tart tart lemon. It really is the most refreshing and healthy thing I've ever drank. 

It's now a regular at our Turri house, and Vincent likes it too ;0) 

Just don't forget to drink it with a straw. Lemon juice is extremely acidic and bad for your teeth. 

  Enjoy!

Our Trip to Mark Pardo

A friend of mine is a stylist at one of the Mark Pardo salons in town. So, since I was in serious need of a trim I made myself an appointment. She's great, so after the cut my hair felt alive and well again. I even decided to change it up and go for some wispy bangs! But that definitely wasn't the highlight of our trip there. In fact, it didn't even come close to being as eventful as Vincent's first haircut!!!!

Jay and I were both in agreement that he was more than overdue for a cut. His hair was pretty much a disaster on a daily basis unless we took the time to constantly tame it down in the back. Now I know some people loved the look, and we did too if it was tamed down. But, we decided to go ahead with it anyway. Here's how it went..

A little leery of it at first but not upset, yet.

She used the clippers to trim everything up in the back. 

And then came the tears. 

And more tears :'(

It got tricky at times. Lucky Shelly is a pro. She has a little man herself who's hair she cuts all the time :0)

It definitely wasn't Vincent's favorite experience.

  And it took him awhile to calm down afterwards. 

But we absolutely LOVE how it turned out. 

And today, he's all smiles :0). 

So damn cute. 

Crafting with Burlap

Now that the holidays are over I could not be happier to finally be able to start some crafting for the purpose of decorating my house. Giving homemade creations as gifts is always fun, but to be able to enjoy the hard work you put into something yourself, is nice sometimes too :0).

My latest creation is one I found the idea for on Pinterest. I know, you're surprised right..? ;0) but really, it's THE best place to find some of the most creative ideas ever and this one I just loved, a burlap wreath!

Wreaths are definitely "in" right now. From yarn covered wreaths to wreaths made out of ties, (both of which I have made) they are quite the trend, I'd say. So, when I found one on Pinterest that was made using burlap I was so excited! I loved the idea of having a cute and everyday kind of wreath that can stay up year around.

The link to the tutorial I followed is here. But, for the sake of showing you all how I did it, here's my own tutorial.

Things you'll need:
- a straw wreath form from your local craft store (I bought the largest one they had so as to try and fit my wall)
- burlap fabric (I purchased 2 yards and used every single inch of it)
- glue gun and glue (I used about ten sticks)
- scissors and or rotary cutter
- string or ribbon in order to hang it once your done
- optional: flower accessories.

The first step is to cut the burlap into six inch wide strips. Then glue gun one end of a burlap strip to the wreath and wrap continuously around and around until it's completely covered. If needed, add more glue as you go around. It should look something like this when your done. 

Next, take another six inch wide strip of burlap, glue one end to the wreath and begin twisting. The key to this step is to twist the strip of burlap as you wrap it continuously around the wreath. 

It took me a couple of tries before I really got the hang of how tight I needed to twist it all up, but really this step comes down to personal preference so just play with it until its to your liking. I used three strips of burlap to complete this step. And, because I wanted a fuller look, I went around it again with another two strips. This is what it looked like when I was done.

Finally, I decided to use some little fabric flowers that were from an old shirt to add some embellishment to the wreath. That, and I added a white ribbon around the top in order to hang it.

And here is the final product!

I really like the way it turned out and the simplicity of the whole thing was even better. 

Thanks Pinterest for the inspiration! 

London's 2nd Birthday

I feel like it was just yesterday that some of our best friends came over to tell us they were expecting... And last week, their baby girl turned 2! How does this happen..?

In true London fashion (that's her name, London) she had one girlie girl of a party and she was the star!

I decided instead of buying her something, I would make her gift. And this is what I came up with!

I found the cutest ruby slipper pattern in a crochet magazine but once I started making them I realized they were adult size. So, I improvised as best I could to make them London's size and I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

They don't fit her quite yet but maybe next winter...? At least they weren't too small!

The best part about London's party though wasn't the gift opening. It was the cupcakes! At least that was the best part for Vincent. Let's see If you get the same idea from these pics..

We were supposed to share that cupcake too, guess maybe next time. :0)

Happy Birthday London!!

Monday Funday

It's a New Year.

And with it has come a new work schedule,

a new love for Mondays & Tuesdays,

and new blog updates! 

The new title and background seems to suit me better, I think. That, and I like to change things up every once and awhile :0). 

Also, with the help of my computer savvy bro-in-law, I have a much more workable comments section. Since comments are one of the best parts about blogging I thought i should tell you, that in order to do so, you need to go to the actual website. Once there, you'll see a comment section below each post. Feel free to leave me your thoughts. I'd love to hear them! 

In the meantime, here's how Jay and I spent our first Monday off together. 

Why, what could me more fun than a random photo shoot featuring

none other than our photogenic little guy?!.. 

I absolutely LOVE this one of Jay and Vincent. It's a framer for sure ;0)

Love me some Vincent kisses :0)

Now that I look at the photos all blown up, I can tell that the quality is definitely not up to par. I guess that's what I get for using my phone.. On that note, my second New Year's Resolution is to start using our real camera more often. Especially now that I think I have it figured out. Yay! 

New Year's Resolution

Christmas and New Year's were particularly nice this year... Or rather last year.. It was so much fun getting to celebrate with out little one year old and be able to share him with all of our family.

There was a lot of reading time with Big Grandpa & Grandma Bonnie.

And plenty of christmas tree lovin

And best of all, there were two families combined to make one amazing Christmas dinner. It was wonderful :0)

Oh and after all of the Christmas festivities were over, this was pretty much how our New Year's went..

But now that the holidays are over and the Christmas decorations are put away, that means its time to relax, right?!.. Wrong! That means it's time for me to get busy working on my New Years Resolution!! And what is my New Years resolution you ask?? Well it's to get my house in tip top organized shape. And I already feel overwhelmed just thinking about the task..

Somehow, in just two and a half short years, our house has filled up with so much stuff!! When Jay and I first moved in together we lived in a one bedroom, one bath apartment and both of our stuff, COMBINED, fit just perfectly. Now, we would be lucky to downsize our stuff into two bedrooms. Although we did add another human being to our household along the way, which is a damn good excuse if you ask me ;0).

Still, my goal for the year is to get rid of stuff we don't use, and to organize our office/guest bedroom/sewing & craft room which sadly includes my mess of a filing cabinet and closet. Just looking at that stupid thing makes me want to give up already and throw it all away. I don't even know where to start with any of it.

But, because nothing but perfectly organized will satisfy me at this point, I've begun the process of getting it all done. And what easier task to start with than organizing yarn?!

This is what it looked like before...

And here it is now!

I went from TWO full drawers of messy or barely used yarn, to ONE perfectly organized drawer that I can easily close. So much better :0).

Eventually, after I've cleaned out the closet in the office, I plan on putting everything into easy access baskets. Ones that match, with pretty little matching labels that all sit perfectly on a clean and organized shelf.. In the meantime though, I at least feel a little satisfaction in completing one task towards organizing the room. After all, rolling yarn into balls was definitely more time consuming and tiresome than I thought. You can even ask Jay, he got to help ;0).

Hopefully, by showing you all of the before pictures of my office I'll be proactive at getting it all organized. I'd love to be able to show finished product pictures before we put our house on the market in May. So stay tuned!!

Oh, and you can pretty much count on one very large garage sale at our house as soon as it gets warm. So much stuff has GOT to go!

Until then, any and all organizing tips would be greatly appreciated :0)