All I Want for Christmas is Some Therapy

We took Kaiya to see Santa today. We have been talking about Santa for a while, and Kaiya gets very excited whenever she sees any Santa decorations, she can even complete most of the lines from "The Night Before Christmas"* So when we got to Santa's workshop today to have our pictures taken Kaiya was excited, and pointed at him and said "Santa!" but then Daddy did a very mean thing! He put Kaiya on Santa's lap & WALKED 2 FEET AWAY!!!! Well that was just too much! So here is our official Christmas picture for 2008:


Good picture, isn't it? Well, I can't say she doesn't come by it honestly...
This is one of my mom's favorite pictures, that's me when I was 16 months old. So Kaiya should be okay, right? I mean I didn't need too much therapy...


*technically the title of the poem is "A Visit From Saint Nick"; there, are you happy now Jamie?

Kaiya's New Trick

So on Thursday I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to tie up loose ends for the Progressive Dinner at church. I was running things out to the car, you know, the regular stuff: food, napkins, oven racks, etc...

Well, I had a big box of stuff in my hands, walked out the front door, shut it behind me and put the stuff in the car. When I got back to the front door, and turned the handle...you guessed it, the door was locked. The luckiest thing that happened to me all day was that I had my keys in my pocket; but I am totally doubting my sanity as I unlock the door. Did I really lock the door behind me without realizing it? It's a deadbolt, so you can only lock it from the outside with a key, and I couldn't have done that with all that stuff in my hands...hmm...well, I unlock the door and walk inside and Kaiya is waiting right there and she says just as proud as she could be "Mommy! I lock the door!"

Needless to say I went out the next day and purchased some childproofing supplies for the front door...

Guilt Post

I know I should be blogging about our trip to Florida, but I am way too tired, so here are some pictures from right before we left that I didn't get a chance to post...

Kaiya lookin' fly in a fitted cap Buddy brought back for her from a trip (from Japan? I can't remember)

Kaiya eating her first ice cream cone all by herself (well, technically frozen yogurt)



Yumm!!!!

Please forgive me...I will post Florida as soon as I can!

A Little Rant & 18 Month Pictures

I don't consider myself a spelling Nazi. If you have a word misspelled in your blog, I probably didn't even notice, and if I did, I don't really care! I mean spell check misses stuff all the time, and I am a terrible speller myself. However, I expect a little more from businesses. I mean, if you want me to spend money at your establishment, please make sure your advertising and especially your name is spelled correctly.

I have a personal policy not to patronize businesses that spell their names wrong. For instance you generally won't find me in a "Kwik Kar", "Lidz" or "Kountry Kitchen". If at all possible, you will also rarely find me in any kind of "shoppe" or "centre" because we don't live in Ye Old England.

Before today, my only exceptions to the misspelling rule were 1) Toys "R" Us/Babies "R" Us, because they recognize the misspelling with the quotation marks, and 2)"Quik Trip" which I forgive because they go by QT and because they are sooooooooooo clean & have the best tasting Diet Coke & Caffeine Free Diet Coke on tap (I heart QT).

Well today I violated my no misspelling policy, by having Kaiya's pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids. I can hardly type it without cringing (or should I say kringing). But they came highly reccomended, and I didn't feel like hauling my cookies all the way to Picture People, where I usually go.

I admit, I was a little ashamed to go, and I had some serious concerns when they made me make an appointment, then made me wait when I got there too...another personal pet peeve of mine (seriously, pick one or the other, either drop in and wait or make an appointment and no waiting). But the lady who took the pictures was good, and the set-up was so much better than at Picture People, because the kids stand on an elevated platform, and the camera is on a moving pole; so the photographer has her hands free to pose Kaiya. At the other place the photographer has to lie on the floor so she can get the right angle and have me pose her.

So before I start sounding like an angry housewife, I will show the proof, the pictures, or should I say "pikturez"...

A Style Milestone

Well, Kaiya has reached another important milestone in every little girl's life. She can now have her hair styled into pigtails!


I was looking through some old pictures for a project I'm working on, and I found some pictures of Haylee, when she was about Kaiya's age, maybe a little younger, and she was rocking the pigtail look, so I started playing with Kaiya's hair, and voila! Piggie Tails! Of course, I had to bribe her a little by letting her watch TV while I was putting her hair up, but it was worth it!

You may also notice the aftermath of the "Unfortunate Incident" I don't know if you will be able to see it in the low res pictures, but you can see her purple gums from biffing it on her bike. Poor sad baby...

A New Toy & The "Unfortunate Incident"

Well, we have a new favorite toy in the house... Kaiya has her first "tricycle". I am a little hesitant to call it a tricycle since it has 4 wheels and no petals, but it is definitely in the tricycle family. Kaiya just calls it the cycle. She LOVES this thing! She has been minorly obsessed with motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles for some time now, but on Halloween we realized how serious it was because she wanted to stay at the neighbors' house and ride their cycles that were to big for her, rather than eat halloween candy.

So I searched and searched for the right one for her, and finally found it...

She was so excited!

In fact, she was so excited, that most of the pictures we have of her on it, she is concentrating very hard, and won't even look at the camera...

Well, we had the cycle about a week or so when the "Unfortunate Incident" occured. Kaiya was riding the cycle in the play area, which is tile; and she stood up on what is essentially the front axel. It's the red cross piece, that has a wide plastic thing, that kinda looks like a foot rest? See it in the above picture? Well, Kaiya stood up on that thing and leaned forward. She consequently went face first into the tile; or I guess more specifically teeth first into the tile.

Kaiya was crying harder than I have ever seen her cry before, and bleeding like crazy. I couldn't tell, but it looked like the blood was coming from between her gums and front teeth. It was quite scary. She usually bounces back very quickly from falls, but not this one. She cried for almost an hour. Eventually the bleeding stopped, and I let her suck on an ice cube (which she loves to do) and we read her favorite book of the week "Curious George and the Puppies" so that kind of cheered her up. I think one of the craziest things was that she never even got a bump or red splotch on her nose or forhead, so she really did take the whole brunt of the fall on her teeth.

I called the dentist, and she was semi helpful. She said there was nothing they could do until the trauma went down, and if the tooth fell out, don't worry about it, it's just a baby tooth. Kind of comforting I guess.

The next day when she woke up, her poor little gums were black & purple and her front teeth were wiggly. VERY scary to me, so I called Tara's pediatric dentist, and they told me that the teeth will probably re-secure themselves into the gum, but that it is fairly likely that one or both of them will turn grey!!!! Contrary to popular belief, a grey tooth does not neccesarily mean that the tooth is dead, and in this situation it is more that the blood has gotten down in the tooth cavity and essentially made a permanent "bruise" inside her front teeth. I mean SERIOUSLY people, is this insane or what???

One thing I was proud of her about was that she did get back on the cycle, and she still likes it. We are just a little more strict on the Evel Kenievel action now.

So that was over a week ago, and her teeth are less wiggly and still white, but it could take a month until we know for sure what the status of them is...I just keep telling myself, "at least it's a baby tooth...at least it's a baby tooth"... anybody have any advice???

HA!!!

HA HA HA HA!!!! Jamie and I laughed the entire time we were looking at these T-shirts from mentalfloss.com. If you are interested in some things that will make you use your brain before you laugh, go check it out. I am seriously thinking about ordering this shirt; even though if I was on "What Not To Wear" Stacy and Clinton would make me throw it away... I guess it is kind of a sad statement on my Friday night activities when my shopping mantra is "WWSCD" (what would Stacy & Clinton do). Anyway, that is another post in and of itself...

It's Official

Well, I finally had to take the list of words off the blog, because basically, now Kaiya says anything she wants to; which in 99.9% good. Unfortunately she is also a very very very good mimic, and will repeat any interesting word she hears you say in a sentence. Most of the time this is hillarious because she says things like "catapault" or "ambiance". I am pretty sure she has no idea what they mean, but she says them just the same. Unfortunately this little skill also extends to words you would rather not hear come out of her sweet little mouth. Jamie said the word c-r-a-p (that was me spelling it, instead of saying it, by the way) and out it popped from Kaiya in the back seat. Luckily it hasn't popped out again, but I am just waiting for her to bust it out...maybe it just hasn't been quiet enough in Sacrament Meeting yet.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Boo at the Zoo

Well, all the fliers in the mail finally worked; we decided to go to "Boo at the Zoo". Jamie, Kaiya & I went with Jen, Hannah & Haylee and it was pretty fun. It was soooo cold, (that was my favorite part) and the girls all wore their costumes. Haylee was Tinkerbell, Kaiya was a 50's girl & Hannah was a cheerleader.

We didn't really know what to expect, so I think we would do it differently next time, but there are shows (some with animals, some with people), some carnival games, and "treat stations" where you can trade in your tickets for yummy goodies (they give everyone 6 tickets when you come in). There are also little vignettes set up around the zoo, so of course we had to pop a pose every time we passed one.

Kaiya got to have some bonding time with Daddy.

But my favorite moment of the night was this one.

I am working on a scrapbook page that I got the idea for out of my "Creating Keepsakes" Magazine. They suggested taking a picture of something you are grateful for, every day for a month before Thanksgiving. So I decided to give it a try. Monday was the first day, and that is what I am thankful for... sweet sisterfriends. I am so grateful that even though Kaiya is our first baby, she has two sisters that look out for her. I love you girls!

Squirrel Crazy!

Our dog pepper thinks that she is a mighty tracker. When she goes outside her nose goes directly into the grass and she follows invisible trails all over our backyard. She can sit as still as a statue on our bed looking out the window for hours, waiting for some hapless creature to wander into her domain; just so she can bark menacingly at it.

One summer we had a few doves visit our yard on a regular basis. Now, I personally think doves are some of the most stupid animals on earth and here is why. These doves would come and land on the grass in our yard and just kind of stand around. Pepper would see them out the window and whine and cry like a puppy possessed until we let her outside. Then Pepper would run at top speed, barking at the top of her lungs aaaaaall the way around 2 sides of the house until she got to the side of the yard where the dove was. All this time the dove is just standing in the grass kind of looking around thinking little dovey thoughts like maybe "hey, I wonder where all that barking is coming from, oh, look a dog coming straight at me...hmmm..." So Pepper is coming at top speed at this dove which is just chillin in the grass and she gets all the way up to it barking like a ferocious beast and the dove doesn't fly off, it just stands there! Well Pepper has never caught anything in her life, so she gets about 6 inches away from it and stops, and looks at the dove like "uhh...psst...Mr. Dove, now is the part where you fly away..." So Pepper and the dove stand there looking at each other for a full 10 or 15 seconds before the dove finally realizes, "OH NO! It's a dog" and flies away.

So keep that in mind while I tell you about the squirrels. This time of year the squirrels are going crazy collecting food for the winter, and they run accross our back fence all the time, so when Pepper sees one, she runs crazy back and forth in front of the window crying and barking to be let out, if we dont let her out she hops up on her back legs and stares out the window. Well as you can imagne all this is absolutely facinating for Kaiya, who now loves to look for squirrels too! We keep the curtains in her room open alot and she will look out there and if she sees one she shouts "Squirrel!!!" (Which actually sounds more like "skirls"). Well now she and Pepper have joined together in the great squirrel hunt and now when Kaiya yells squirrel, Pepper comes running!


By the way, this is the closest Pepper ever gets to Kaiya of her own volition.

YAY! VACATION!

We had sooooooo much fun on our Cruise! It was the first time Jamie & I have ever had a weeks vacation together and it was worth every penny! We went to Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, and left Kaiya with my parents. I wasn't sure how we would do without our sweet baby for a week, but we did fine, until I heard her voice in the background of the phone when we got into port at the end of our trip. Then all I wanted to do was go home. But I am getting ahead of myself! Here is our basic itinerary.

Day One: At Sea
Having a day at sea is the perfect way to start a cruise, we just laid by the pool and did nothing. Then that night we met the people we would be sharing our dinner table with, and they were fabulous. We all got along very well, and got to know each other over the course of the week. There were Nick & Justine from Indiana, who were our resident cruise & wine experts (on the right in the picture). Kai and John are from San Diego (on the left), Kai is so nice, and has a talent for drawing people out of their shells, and John who will soon be a police officer is a "magician" with the goofiest tricks ever. Everyone was so much fun to get to know!

Day Two: Labadee, Haiti
Haiti is probably the most beautiful place we visited. It was so lush, and the water was as clear as bathwater. There we went snorkeling out at a reef, and saw phenomenal coral & tropical fish, as well as squid, giant crab, jellyfish and sea urchins. We saw the remnants of an 80 foot boat that was destroyed by hurricane Hannah, and then dragged around the bay by hurricane Ike. You could see the exact path the boat took when it was moved around by hurricane Ike, because it destroyed all the vegetation it was dragged over.

Day Three: Ocho Rios, Jamaica
In Jamaica we went inner tubing down the white river. The river went mostly through a beautiful rain forest, although we did go through a few areas where the road came near the river and we could see people selling fish and things. It was wonderful. The crazy part was walking around the tourist areas, where about every 10 feet someone would stop you and ask if you what you were smokin' or if you wanted any "mountain herb". One guy even asked us if we had everything we needed for our party...I have never heard so many euphemisms for marijuana, and I never hope to again!

Day Four: Grand Cayman, British West Indies
Here we went snorkeling again at a beautiful barrier reef and saw a TON of fish, including a moray eel. Then we went swimming with sting rays. I think that was my favorite part of the trip. The boat took us out to a natural sand bar a few miles out from shore, where the water was about up to my rib cage. The water was again, as clear as bathwater, and before we even jumped off the boat, we could see these ENORMOUS rays swimming all over. They ranged in size from 18 inches all the way to 5 feet across. And MAN were these things FRIENDLY. At first they were a little too friendly for me, and I freaked out a little at first. I mean these are the animals that killed the Crocodile Hunter after all! Jamie just jumped right in and started petting them and feeding them, but it took me a little while to get used to them just swimming up on you. A few would swarm you at a time, and they were so big and strong they would push you right over! Jamie fed them squid and the custom is that if you kiss a sting ray on the nose, you will have 7 years of good luck; so Jamie just leaned right over and kissed one. I waited for our guide to hold one steady for me before I kissed one. But I did it and that is the important part, right???

Day Five: Cozumel, Mexico
Here we forwent the beach for something a little more meaningful. We went to the Mayan Ruins at Tulum. It was an amazing experience, and a total testimony builder. We had a tour guide, who showed us around, but eventually we met a tour guide with a BYU hat on, who gave us more LDS related information. I wish we had been able to stay with him the whole time, because when we walked through the gate and looked down over the beautiful structures, I felt like I was transported back to the Book of Mormon times. I guess that there really has never been an official church stance about the relationship between Mezzo-American ruins and the Book of Mormon, so you can't say for sure that the people who built them were Lamanites or Jaredites, etc... but just being there I felt like I could see wicked King Noah and Abinadi testifying to him. It was really pheonomenal.

Day Six: At Sea
Again, a perfect way to wind up a cruise is with another day at sea. We slept in, lounged by the pool and just enjoyed our last day.

Day Seven: Port Canaveral & the Kennedy Space Center
We had such a late flight on Sunday, that we decided to take a tour of the Kennedy Space Center before we went home. Our tourguide was officially a grumpy old man, who was like a great Uncle who you dreaded going to see. He hustled our group from place to place, and regurgitated facts from the posted signs. It got to the point that it was hilarous, and our group was just kind of laughing. He would wave his little clip board and run around gathering up the group like a crazed mother hen. But we did get to see exactly how astronauts go to the bathroom in the orbiter (not shuttle as we learned from Uncle Ralph) and that alone was worth the price of admission.

Overall it was a fabulous vacation, however I am so glad to be home with my sweet baby & be back to my full time job of Mom.

Why we keep the bathroom door closed.

This is why we always keep the door to the bathroom closed...

"Am I in trouble?"

Seriously...Kaiya loves taking baths. So I left the door to the guest bathroom open & Kaiya walked in and immediately got into the bathtub. I could hear her in there, and when I walked in with the camera, she wasn't sure if she was going to be in trouble or not, so that is her, playing it cool...

"Inquiring minds want to know!"

I don't even know what was going through her mind for this one. I like to think it is an experiment of some sort, involving the scientific method and other smart things, but really, she was probably just licking stuff.

Hair Clip Madness!

I should totally be asleep. I have to be up at a very unfriendly hour tomorrow morning, but yet here I am, bitten by the crafty bug. I saw these totally cute hair clips on etsy, and decided to steal their ideas; and I am so pleased with the way they turned out! Jamie isn't here for me to show, so I am going to show them to you!

I wanted to do something Halloween-ish, so in honor of my friend Jen I made a candy corn (don't judge my blanket stitching, I just printed the instructions of the internet, it's the first time I've tried it).

Then I thought maybe something fall inspired, so here's a leaf:

Then Kaiya needed something blue, so...a flower

And finally, I love personalized things, so a pink K-

Ta Da!!! There is my crafty-ness, and I didn't even have to go out and buy any supplies! They are all made out of things I pulled out of the back of the craft cabinet! I love it when that happens!

The Problem with Country Music

So as you may know, I have recently switched over to country music. It was a difficult decision, but as I have said before, country music is more about my life than Green Day or The Cure. When I made the switch, one thing I liked about it was that country music seemed more appropriate for little ears than rock.

Unfortunately, we have run into our first problem with country. We were in the kitchen, and I was fixing breakfast. Kaiya was toddling around in her P.J.'s with her favorite stuffed animal and we had the radio on. I wasn't even really paying attention, until Kaiya learned a new word from the song on the radio; all of a sudden, as clear as day Kaiya said the word "Whiskey".

Participate in History

At Jamie's request I offer the following public service announcement in regards to voting in the presidential election: (this is cut and copied from a website that is apparently so liberal that Jamie didn't want me to link to it and give it more hits than it already has.) Both Texas and Tennessee are included.

Texas

Deadline for registering to vote is Monday, October 6, 2008.

Texas On-Line voter registration form, here. Sign, print out the form and mail it to the county voter registrar. The County Voter Registrar's address can be found at the top of the online outputted voter registration application once you have submitted your information from the fill-in-the blanks screen.

Check to see if you are already registered to vote in Texas, here.

List of county voter registration offices, here.

Early voting in Texas

Early voting in person may be easier than you think. You don't have to stand in long lines on Election Day. Registered voters may vote early at a location convenient to them within their political subdivision. Early voting in person generally starts 17 days before each election and ends 4 days before each election. Early voting for the May uniform election date begins 12 days before the election and ends on the 4th day before the election. If you can drive or if you have a friend or relative who can drive you, you don't even have to get out of the car. Call ahead to notify the early voting clerk that you want to vote from your car. This procedure is called "curbside voting" and is available to any voter who has difficulty walking or standing for long periods. The election official will bring your ballot to your car outside the polling place. Curbside voting is available during early voting and on Election Day. State and Federal law requires all early and Election Day polling locations to be physically accessible to voters with disabilities. Call your election official for information on your particular voting sites.

Vote early in person (you don't need to vote in your precinct, you can cast your ballot at any early voting site in your county which is convenient to YOU) or vote early by mail (this is done by requesting an application for a ballot to be mailed to you or downloading an application form). Voting early in person is convenient and, unlike early voting by mail, you don't need an excuse.

Early Voting dates are October 20-October 31, 2008. Contact your county registrar for voting locations.

To request an application ballot to be mailed to you (ABSENTEE), click here. Or request an application for a ballot (absentee) by mail, here.

Contact Information:

Texas Secretary of State
1.800.252.VOTE (8683)

Tennessee

Deadline for registering to vote is Monday, October 6, 2008.

Voter registration application is here. Mail the completed application or take in person to your county election office, here.

Persons can also register to vote at the following locations:

County Clerk’s Offices
County Election Commission Office
Department of Health (WIC program),
Department of Human Services,
Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation,
Department of Safety (motor vehicles division)
Department of Veteran’s Affairs
Public Libraries
Register of Deeds Offices

Voting by Mail or Absentee Voting, to qualify read here. If you qualify, request by writing to the voter's local county election commission office. The request can be mailed or faxed to the county election commission office. For further information, contact your county election commission office.

Early voting is allowed in Tennessee. Any registered voter can early vote. Early voting begins 20 days before the election and ends 5 days before the election. A voter may vote on any Saturday during this time frame. Persons may vote at the county election commission office or any designated satellite voting location. Contact your county election commission office for locations and times.

Contact Information:

Tennessee Department of State
(615) 741-7956

Grapefest

We just got back from Grapefest, which is like a street fair they have here in Grapevine, and boy did we have fun! We went with Jen & Haylee, and met up with Tara, Jennica & their kiddos. It was HOT when we got there, but thanks to Ike, the temperature was falling as the day went on.

Haylee wanted to go on a ride, and so she went around and debated about all of the kids rides, the tea cups, the helicopter, the spinning bears, etc... In the end she and Jen ended up on the real live rollercoaster, which Haylee DID NOT like once it started going, and I can understand why, it was fast and a little jerky too...

After being traumatized by the roller coaster we went over to the petting zoo, and Kaiya was in her element! She LOVED it! At first when we went in there, she got right down face to face with the goat and was trying to figure out if they were going to run away from her like Pepper & RaRa do...

Then when she figured out that the goats weren't going anywhere, she really got excited. She patted the goats...


She hugged the goats...

She even got kisses from a goat...

There were also chickens and bunnies.

This poor guy was laying right in front of the fan and just panting. I think the other bunnies call him Sarge, and when he gets back to the bunny hutch after a weekend at a petting zoo, I bet all the other little bunnies gather around him, and he says in his deep, raspy bunny voice... "It was heck out there men; pure heck..."

There were also llamas and miniature donkeys, but they were in their own little pen, so I had to hold Kaiya to pet them and didn't get a picture. But we decided it was time to go when Kaiya started identifying body parts on a rather disgruntled looking llama and when she got to eye, she tried to poke her little finger right in there.

So a good time was had by all, except for maybe the petting zoo animals. I can't wait to take her to the State Fair of Texas petting zoo!!! They have a giraffe, good luck trying to poke his eye!

Sassy Britches

So, I went shopping with Hattie while she was still on maternity leave at a shi shi little kids store. And I don't know what it is, but somehow Hattie always gets me to look at things that I would normally never give a second glance to, but when I try them on, I LOVE them. So I guess it is no surprise that she has the same gift with Kaiya's clothes too...


Yes, that is leopard print ruffle trim on the ankles & waist; the perfect addition to the pink paisley and pucci inspired print on the left, and don't for get the sequins on her right leg...
I didn't even put the bracelet on her, Kaiya did that herself!!! Are we in trouble or what?

A Vision of the Future...

I am a little bit scared of how much Kaiya liked this car at Toys R Us...I'm having scary visions of Kaiya's teenage years! No more growing up, okay????

An Evening at the Botanical Gardens

I love Grapevine; it is such a beautiful place to live. A few days ago the three of us went to the botanical gardens here in Grapevine, and had such a good time.

Of course the highlight of the trip was the fountain.

It is a great design for kids, because they can lean over, get wet and splash without actually getting into the fountain. Kaiya pulled rocks out of the fountain & Jamie lined them up in a tidy little row...

Then when she got thirsty, Kaiya helped herself...
(amazingly enough, she didn't get sick, but the fountain did smell like it had a little chlorine in it, so maybe that is why)

Jamie was even kind enough to carry our soaking wet child back to the car when it was time to go. Kaiya apparently had some things to discuss with him on the way.

This is one of those things that I was so excited to do before we had Kaiya, and sometimes I just can't believe how blessed we are. What a miracle.

Sometimes Two Rights Make a Wrong

So, I know I generally don't do shopping blogs, but I was doing one of my favorite online pastimes, pouncing on Etsy* and it was quite funny, because Twilight** related items randomly kept coming up so I was curious, and as of Sunday evening, there were 1271 Twilight items for sale!!! Can you believe it? So I couldn't resist coming up with my own review, and without further ado, here is the good, the bad and the freaky of fan created Twilight paraphernalia...

The Good:

Here is my favorite item:
It actually made me laugh out loud. If you can't live without it, here is the link
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14450341

And because I tended to like the stuff that you would have to know the series to understand, here are some of my runners up:

Get it? The earrings, they are forks, like Forks, WA, where the books take place. Ha Ha
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_18&listing_id=14442086

and rounding out my top 3 is:
because once again, you have to know the books, to understand its meaning, and the crystal heart is just icing. Here is the link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_8&listing_id=14297146


The Bad:

Here there are just too many in this category to even make a fair representation, I would have to say that the excessive numbers of "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" items would have to top the list. However, this little item I thought was just a teeny bit over the top:


Yes my friends, that is actual sand from First Beach on the reservation. Just what you need to carry around on your wrist...dirt... I am even a Jacob fan and I think this is too much.

The Freaky:

Once again, I had trouble narrowing this category down, but here are my top 3 items that made me go, "Huh???"

First, the I heart Edward Cullen Coffee Cozy,

because sometimes, you just need to proclaim your love for Edward before you finish that first cup of joe... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_5&listing_id=12389490

Also, in this category are Twilight themed coasters


Because once again, you might need to remind yourself not to make a ring on the coffee table by putting your beverage on a character from Twilight. I am guessing here that the Edward coaster is either a mountain lion, or just a regular lion (as in, so the lion fell in love with the lamb). http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_20&listing_id=12644101

And finally:


Yes ladies, now you too can proclaim your loyalty to either Jacob or Edward all night long with these eye masks! They can be yours for the low low price of $13.00 each!

Still hungry for more??? Here are links to some of my other favorite items. But beware, they tend to more Jacob related, but it is my blog, so I can put whatever I want on it!

These links will expire when the listing is over, so don't delay, look today!!!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_19&listing_id=14156844
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_3&listing_id=14112990
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_16&listing_id=14337385
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_21&listing_id=14492925
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_20&listing_id=13535426
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_18&listing_id=13643554
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_14&listing_id=14042732
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_6&listing_id=14415739
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_12&listing_id=14511509

*www.etsy.com is like ebay for handmade/crafty things, and pouncing is a feature that randomly brings up items that have just been sold. It is essentially a way to window shop.

**Twilight is a embarassingly addictive book series, see my previous post "Done!!!"

My Birthday Girls Day Out

Jen & I have tradition, we treat each other to lunch and pedicures for our birthdays, and it is quite a lovely ladies day out (sans kiddos of course). So for my birthday we took a jaunt over to Sam Moon's (la la la...those are the angels singing) and got some lovely new items. I got a new wallet and some earrings and almost got in a fist fight with a woman who got the last one of an adorable wooden beaded necklace (I totally could have taken her). Jen didn't want to take the picture inside, because she thought we might get taken down by the either the security guard or the Chinese mafia. I thought it would be fun to try something new on my birthday, and I have never been tackled by a security guard OR had a hit put out on me, but Jen put her foot down and said no, we must take the picture outside. Party pooper... Anyway, after that we went to lunch, and I had a hankering for some grits & gravy, so we headed over to the Cracker Barrel, where we not only had lunch but also an intense game of checkers. Then finally over to the nail place to get our toes done, aren't we sassy???
What a FABULOUS birthday!!!