What’s Up

Oh, my poor neglected blog and readers!  This is what happens when my husband finally takes vacation and I spend two weeks doing every activity under the sun with my kids. 

Also this:



And this:

So forgive me for abandoning you all but I had memories to make and now I have that “need a vacation from vacation” exhaustion.  Today the boy is back at school, the husband is back at work, and it’s just me and my little lady hanging out at home.  Whew. 

In the mean time you have to check out one of my newest favorites, featuring chipboard and flair from UmWowStudio and an old school Pink Paislee collection, Queen Bee. 

I “forced” DeeDee to make me that bee flair.  I knew I wanted it for this photo and I just love all things bee related, including the hex chipboard background that looks like honeycomb.  So cute!



Now back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Where have I been??

You may have noticed a bit of a recent absence here on my blog.  I have good reason, I promise!

I am thrilled to announce the arrival of Little Miss Lily Sophia, weighing in at 8 lbs., 4 ozs and measuring 20.25 inches with a full head of dark hair.  She made her debut on July 19th at 10:15pm. 

So far ::knock on wood:: she is about, ohhh… a million times easier than her brother was as an infant.  Compared to Owen’s alertness and reflux she is the easiest baby ever.  It’s early yet and we are waiting for the other shoe to drop but we’ll take it while we can get it!! 

So projects will be slower to appear for a while but I am amassing photos in the mean time!

Ahhh, the weekend!

Happy weekend!  I am feeling satiated today for two reasons.  One, I am really digging the project I am currently working on.  What a tease I am.  But it is almost done! And two, I made cinnamon rolls this morning and I honestly have no idea how anyone could be down on a day that starts with warm, gooey, homemade deliciousness like this:

I am planning on completing said secret project today and then working on some Operation Write Home cards for May Arts.  What are y’all up to this fine weekend??

A Really Big Project

I’ve been busy working on something BIG lately! The past eighteen weeks, in fact. 

No, I just couldn’t be satisfied with a million and one papercrafting projects.  I needed one more thing to add to my chaotic life.  And since my son is pretty much the most adorable child on the planet (no bias here at all!) we thought… hey, how about we make another one?!

Baby Girl is due July 20th and we could not be more stoked for her arrival!  I really thought I was going to be having another boy so when we found out today that there is a little miss in there I was pleasantly stunned and I STILL can’t wrap my brain around it. 

And I can’t believe I am about to confess this but I am stupid excited about *finally* getting to use girly, pink papers!!!  Only a scrapbooker…

So you guys have been warned.  There is going to be a whole lot of GIRL happening around here soon!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’m a sucker for pretty much any holiday that allows me to do “extra fun stuff” and get crafty and Valentine’s Day is no exception.  Mr. O got some special treats, a few new books, and a stuffed Apu Apu.  Apu Apu is what he calls “Brown Bear, Brown Bear (What Do You See?)” from the Eric Carle book.  Don’t ask me why!

My husband got a few little gifties too but mostly he looks forward to a special card or two from me and Owen (with Mama’s help). 

This first one makes use (the only use??) of an ATC.  I kept the background simple so the ATC wouldn’t get lost with all its embellishment:

And this one was from Owen to Daddy.  We painted and stamped his handprints onto paper and I created the card around that:

I hope you all had a fantastic, love filled day!  We had a special Valentine dinner and capped it off with chocolate covered strawberries… can’t really complain about that!

And finally I will leave you with a few shots of my love monster in his mama-made Valentine shirt.  I got the template from Make it and Love it.  Boys need awesome holiday shirts too!

  

Owen Turns Two!… a month ago…

Err… yeah.  Owen’s birthday is smack in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, making an already hectic time even more nuts.  I barely have time to breath during the holidays… so add us all getting The Plague and my camera deciding to not work correctly to the mix and it was the perfect storm.  Thus, birthday party photos nearly a month late.  Oops!
Mr. O had a sock monkey theme this time.  He loves monkeys in all forms and when I found a four foot tall sock monkey I HAD to get it… and the theme took on a life of its own!

My DIGI invites, thankyouverymuch:

Owen was decked out in full sock monkey regalia, courtesy of yours truly.  The hat (and socks!) were from Old Navy and I made his shirt. 

Four foot sock monkey standing guard over the vittles:

  

O and his monkey cake:

 

The banner, retro Cokes, and goody bags:

 

A good time was had by all, especially my big birthday boy.  I can’t even believe he is already two!

This party has been linked up at Bird's Party

Happy 4th!

We’ve been out of town for the long weekend… visiting family and celebrating the 4th with friends.  I hope everyone out there in blogland has been having a fun holiday (for the Americans!) or restful weekend.  Ours was definitely fun, but not restful!  I feel like I need another weekend just for cleaning up the mess and catching up on sleep.

I have about a zillion parade and fireworks photos on my camera right now but I am going to leave you with crazycakes watching the parade:

And my delicious berry trifle for dessert tonight (banner is made of mostly October Afternoon Rocket Age):

Cheers, everyone!!

Sharing–A Memorable Date

Tam over at Sew Dang Cute (you DO know about this amazing craft blog, right?!) is doing a little getting to know you series.  Today she blogged about one of her most memorable dates.  Everyone has one… or a dozen.  I know I do!  But there is one date that gets brought up in our house regularly. 

My husband and I were just friends for over a year before I “came to my senses” (his words) and figured out there was more between us.  But that doesn’t mean he didn’t TRY earlier than that! We would regularly grab lunch together and at one point he weaseled his way into a “real” date with me.  I put real in quotes only because it didn’t start out as an official date… somehow it went from grabbing dinner together (instead of lunch) to him picking me up… and a movie… and dropping me off at my door.  Hmmm. Sounds suspiciously like a date!

So we go out to dinner.  For anyone familiar with Boston you’ll know about the iconic John Harvard’s Brew House and restaurant in Cambridge. 

Image credit: travellingmedinas.com

I don’t really remember what we had but I would bet an arm that Ryan ordered a burger and I am pretty sure I had a yummy salad.  The vibe was weird.  I knew he was viewing this as a date and I was not.  The food was good, though! 

Then we went to the historic Brattle Theatre and saw Frida. 


Image credit: impawards.com

To this day we can’t see Frida on tv and not discuss this “date”!  It was a great movie but you could pretty much cut the tension between us with a knife.  I kept wondering if he was going to make a move!

And if that wasn’t enough to make it a date then how about getting coffee/hot chocolate after??  I was too polite to say no (after all, we WERE friends!) but it was obvious that the poor guy just wanted to make the night last longer! 

So then comes that uncomfortable moment when he walks me to my door.  Uh oh.  I knew it was coming.  Women know when a guy is about to move in for the kiss!  However, much to my future husband’s chagrin, I quickly pulled out my keys and commented on how late it was!  Ohhhh…. bummer, dude! 

Once we finally started dating (and our first kiss was the best of my life… I knew in that very moment I would marry him) I never lived that date night down.  I can’t tell you how often I had to listen to him “complain” about how I dissed him on my stoop. 

However, he got the last laugh.  A few years later he brought me back to that old apartment and proposed to me in the very spot I once rejected him.  And the rest, as they say, is history. 

Date stories just make me smile so I would love to hear some of yours!!

It’s Finally Spring

I really wasn’t sure it would get here this year after the record snow fall.  This weekend left me with no doubt! I know it is Spring when the tree outside our bedroom balcony blooms.

I hope you all are seeing the signs of Spring in you neck of the woods too!

Carrot Cake Should NOT Have Nuts!

I DO understand that my title is a statement of controversy. However, in my humble opinion carrot cake is NO place for nuts, coconut, pineapple, or any other WEIRD stuff.  Carrots.  And Cream Cheese Frosting.  Period. 

So if you add any of those things to my favorite basic carrot cake recipe just don’t tell me, ok? (and I won’t tell you about how I used to eat bologna and BBQ sauce sandwiches in elementary school)

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups shredded carrots (the finer the better!)
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1/2  Tablespoon vanilla

- Combine dry ingredients in a mixer bowl.
- Add carrots, oil, eggs, and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Pour into paper lined cupcake pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees until a cake pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  I don’t have the exact minutes written down but a safe bet is to check them after 10-12 minutes and go from there!

This makes 24-30 cupcakes but the recipe can easily be halved. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

- Beat together: 6 ozs. of softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup softened butter, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla until light and fluffy.
- Gradually add about 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  Add slightly more sugar for a stiffer frosting or a few drops of milk/cream to make it softer. 

Disappointing People

Almost everything I have posted on this blog so far has been positive and happy.  I am generally a positive and happy person.  But sometimes a little thought worms its way into my head and stays there until I just get it out so that is what this post is going to be!  Maybe I’ll scare some of you off by not being all sunshine and sweetness today but I hope that more of you will identify with what I am writing.

I have decided I have reached the point in my life where I just don’t need any more disappointing people around me.  I’m cutting them out.  They are of no use except to make me feel crappy. 

There’s one particular person… maybe you have one in your life too… who has a tendency to think it’s ok to pop in and out of my life.  This person uses the word “friend” but all my other friends don’t pull those sort of punches. 

Here’s what I consider a friend (in relation to this particular offender):

- A real friend stays in my life.  You experience the fun AND the hardships that go along with daily living and you don’t just take off and disappear for years at a time and then expect me to welcome you back to my life like no time has passed.

- A real friend is OPEN about their life.  Don’t call yourself a friend and then make it completely one-sided.  So what you want from me is all the info about MY life, but you are completely unwilling to share yours?  Um, no.

- A real friend owns up to their faults and the wrongs they’ve done.  Don’t gloss over major issues.  Don’t feed me a lame “sorry about that” and think that’s going to cover it. 

- A real friend is honest.  Please don’t lie to me about how you just happened to stumble upon me and decided to contact me.  I’m not stupid.  The only thing lies do is draw lines in the sand… lines that divide “friend” and “not a friend”. 

So here’s a shout out…. because I know you will read this and not admit it: It’s my turn.  I’m done.  I miss you.  I will always love you.  But I can’t play your games anymore.  If there ever comes a time when you feel like you can be my friend (see rules above) then you know how to find me.  But don’t bother until then.  I’m just not interested in that kind of friendship.  You’ve simply disappointed me one too many times. 

And that’s my deal today. 

Ahhhhh, that feels better!!!

Now back to our regularly scheduled puppies and rainbows. 

Happy (late) Valentine’s Day!

We had a very busy Valentine’s Day here!  Pretty much ALL of my scrap assignments were due on the 15th and there has been one (or twelve) too many things on the plate, as they say.  Although it is late I wanted to wish you all out there in blog land a happy love day!

I made Owen’s robot shirt there from the template on The Boy Trifecta.  Nothing says “I love you” like a robot with a felt heart!  He pretty much looked ridiculously adorable in it.

I gave Ryan a few little gifties and this card and candy bar with a wrapper downloaded from Jeanne Winters.  It’s a “Udaman” chocolate bar… teehee! The card heart collage was also an internet printable that I dressed up. 

Tonight we went out for an AMAZING dinner at our favorite Tapas restaurant, Solea.  We “double dated” with our best friends and left the babies at their house in good hands.  Tapas, a LOT of sangria, champagne flights… then why not follow it up with a dessert sampler and wine at the best Italian place in town?  Don’t mind if I do!  It is so rare that we make it out sans little one… this was so worth the wait!

Ryan and Owen wrote me some super sweet cards and got me a perfectly purple orchid! 

I hope all you lovebirds had a wonderful day and evening! 

I wanna be a part of it…

… New York, New York!

I don’t know about overly large apples, but I do know the  “city that never sleeps” did a great job keeping me awake for almost all of my birthday weekend. So much for getting some much-needed rest!

We dropped the little man off at my mom’s house in Maine for “Gram Camp”, flew out of Portland (Oh, how wonderfully different from flying out of Logan!) and arrived in NYC on Friday morning after battling a hideous trek from JFK to our Times Square hotel.

We were pretty exhausted after only getting three hours of sleep but managed to go out to shop the Upper West Side and the garment district before grabbing a slice of pizza and making it to Avenue Q.  Avenue Q (for those of you who aren’t theatre junkies like I am!) is a ridiculously clever musical performed with puppets (think Jim Henson) and a lot of adult themes.  Some of the song titles include “The Internet is for Porn”, “If You Were Gay”, and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”.  I’ve been wanting to see this show for years and it was worth the wait!

After the show we wandered… a lot… before settling on some excellent Chinese and Thai food at 11:30pm.

The next day we got up and hit the TKTS booth to see what we could score for a matinee and then headed to SoHo for a delicious brunch in a tiny restaurant.  I had the best bacon I’ve had in years… it literally melted in my mouth!  I am going to be seeing that bacon in my dreams… little strips floating around in my head…

We then hiked over to Purl SoHo, a *gorgeous* fabric and fiber arts shop.  I spoiled myself and bought some new pretties to sew with. 

We barely made it back in time to see American Idiot, the rock musical from the band Green Day.  We were lucky enough to catch one of the last special shows that featured the lead singer of Green Day, Billy Joe Armstrong, starring in one of the supporting roles.  This too was a great show, although obviously very different from Avenue Q.  The music was awesome… Billy Joe was surprisingly great as well.  Money well spent!

We recovered from the day back at the hotel for a while, then headed to Little Italy for dinner.  We wandered for what seemed like forever (this seems to be a “thing” with us…) before settling on a corner place on the main street. 

At this point I have to confess that we had some wine.  A lot of wine. 

See… this is what happens when you take pictures after drinking.  Friends don’t let friends photograph drunk!!

I swear I thought this looked just GREAT when I took it ::eyeroll::

Then a little Caprese salad…

And…uhh… remember that wine?  At this point it was in full effect and I completely forgot to take photos of the rest of the meal.  Ryan ordered some insane tortelloni in pancetta cream sauce and I had a steak with risotto and we split the dishes. 

The only thing that sucks about New York is that by the time you get “home” the wine has worn off. 

We had grabbed some cupcakes from the world famous Magnolia Bakery for dessert later that night.  They were good but frankly I like my OWN more! I found them dry and the frosting was too sweet. 

We left in the morning with too little rest, aching muscles from walking, and great memories in our back pockets.  The trip back to Maine was uneventful, we picked up The Boy, drove back to MA and pretty much collapsed. 

I give this birthday weekend two thumbs up!

Now if only I had another weekend to do nothing but sleep…

Teehee… I’ll be in trouble in his teenage years!

As I previously mentioned, Owen’s lady friend Laila had her tea party birthday last Saturday.  Naturally he needed to be dressed like a little gentleman for the occasion!

I know I am setting myself up for a lifetime of hearing about how I traumatized my kid by dressing him up in adorable outfits.  But I just *neeeeeeded* to make him a sweet little pink linen bow tie for the party!  He was a good sport, though, and didn’t even try to yank off his tie or hat.  I’ll get him trained yet! 

Just wait ‘till I show these to his first girlfriend.  Bwa ha ha!!!