Halloween 2008 - Cuter Than I Remembered

I didn't do a Halloween post, with pictures of the girls in their costumes, last year. I remember being so annoyed with the fact that I couldn't get even one good picture of the two of them. All I wanted was one picture. One teeny, tiny, measly little adorable picture of two smiling happy children in their costumes. One. Is that too much to ask for?

Yes.

But about an hour ago, when I was glaring at the photos I took this year - blurry photos because they were wiggling, funky photos because they were smiling weird, photos with eyes closed, photos with tongues sticking out... - it made me want to go back and see just how awful last year's photos were.

And you know what? Last years pictures were pretty darned cute.

"Heeeeey. Your tutu is foofier than mine."

Gracie: As sassy as always.

"Smile, Annelie. Smile. Laugh. Come on. Smile. Say cheese."

Annelie always looked so serious as a baby. Now she'll smile on command, but it is a very forced smile.

"Mmmmm... candy."

"Gimme yours."

"No!"

They might have annoyed me last year, but they sum up my kids perfectly. I wonder how I'll view this year's photos when I look back at them next year. Right now, this is pretty much the only one I sort of like:
I just can't get them to smile at the camera together... Oh well, there's always next year!

xoxo,

Happy Haunting

You just can't have Halloween without carved pumpkins.

This year, my kids conned me into carving fancy pumpkins. Forget about Jack and his grinning pumpkin face... Annelie wanted a silly, spooky monster and Gracie wanted a haunted house.

Gracie thought the pumpkin guts were absolutely revolting and couldn't wait to wash her hands.

Annelie thought the pumpkin guts were fantastic and couldn't slime her hands enough.

A carved pumpkin on a step isn't anything special on its own. But add in the darkness and a candle...

ooooooh.... spooky!

And of course, the best part of a pumpkin...

Roasted, salted pumpkin seeds!

Happy Halloween, folks!

xoxo,

Friday Flashback: Halloween 1990

Of all the Halloween costumes I had in my childhood, this one was by far my favorite. I'm that ten year old colonial girl there, contemplating the best way to pull a powder frosted donut off a string.

Yep. A colonial girl.

Did I forget to mention that I was the world's dorkiest 4th grader? I even remember a boy from my class making fun of my costume that year and I was like, "Are you kidding me? This is the best costume EVER." (Daniel, I'm still offended that you'd make fun of my totally awesome costume. Just sayin')

This picture was taken at a Girl Scout Halloween party. My troop was as Troop Beverly Hills as you could get - we didn't want to wear uniforms (actually, I secretly did), we didn't want to earn patches for building campfires or learning strong leadership skills (secretly wanted some of those, too)... all our troop did was have parties, go on a couple of field trips, and sell cookies. We completely skipped anything valuable about being in a GS troop (minus the cookie selling... VERY valuable. Caramel Delights are the best) and didn't learn one single thing about team building, strong values, social conscience, and conviction about our own potential and self-worth - kinda the whole point of Girl Scouts, ya know?

Anyway, let me just say, I'm totally digging the mullet behind me. And also, how historically accurate would it be for a colonial girl and a Native American Indian princess to eat donuts together, do you think?

Have a flashback of your own? Head on over to Christopher and Tia's blog for the best meme in town!


xoxo,

Small Surprises are the BEST

There are very few things in this world that are cuter than a scrappy little shaggy-haired two year old running in from a walk with Nana, fists clenched around the surprise she picked just for her mom.
Crumpled leaves. A whole handful of them.

I'm the luckiest mom in the world!

xoxo,

Elegant Snobbery is Back!

The last of the boxes are still piled all around, but things are definitely settling for us, in our new house. I'm still up to my ears in things-to-do... but I just really hate not having my shop open so the doors are now open!

Next week starts an insanely busy month for me, as I attempt NaNoWriMo again this year. I'm optimistic about hitting my writing goal, but now I have a beta-reader (a person who is reading my work and giving me editing feedback and challenging my thought-process as I write), so I may not be able to get all of my words done (with NaNo, you pretty much have to type type type without editing or else it is hard to finish).

In any event, I've suckered 3 of my lovely blog friends into signing up and attempting the 50,000-word-novella-in-one-month goal. I'm more than happy to sucker more, so if you haven't signed up, DO IT! and also, be my NaNoBFF! You can find me under Elegant Snobbery!

xoxo,

Flashback Friday - Halloween Party 1985

I'm the four-year-old princess with the glittery crown on the end.

I've been to one Halloween Party in my life. I'm not taking college Halloween parties, where we hung around the keg in our slutty nurse outfits - those don't really count... I'm talking proper Halloween party with bobbing for apples and kids running around with skeleton cupcakes and candied apples. Paper ghosts scotch-taped to the glass window - a must!

mmmm.... nice and hygienic.

I was in preschool when my mom threw this Halloween party for my brother and me, and all of our school friends and families. Even now, 24 years later, when someone mentions a Halloween party, this night is what I think of.

My mom sewed our costumes that year. I wanted to be a pink princess. My big brother was a bat. You just gotta love those streamers dangling from the ceiling. Nothing says party like streamers taped to the ceiling.

While we're flashing back, lets all stop and marvel at the flowered wall paper for a moment.

Fantastic, isn't it?

Its funny seeing photos of me from when I was the age that Gracie is now. I remember this party so clearly, even things that didn't make it into the four remaining photos I have left of that night. I often wonder what Gracie will remember about being four. Hopefully her memories will be happy ones!

Do you have a flashback to share? Hop on the bandwagon and head over to Tia's blog at www.ChristopherandTia.blogspot.com for some Friday Flashback fun.

Enjoy!

xoxo,

hello, sweetling!

Since moving into our new house, my kids have been exceptionally adorable. No climbing up the walls, minimal tantrums (Gracie did flip out when I put bananas on her cinnamon waffles yesterday, but that is the only tantrum we've seen so far), and when I figured I'd be going crazy the most, as I try to unpack and get our house set up, I'm finding that I'm more sane than ever because my kids are being so darned good.

Even Annelie has been nothing but love and cuddles. Annelie! The queen of destruction!

And bedtime... it's been a breeze. I bundle them in their jammies, brush their teeth, tuck them in with a baby doll of choice and then zzzzzzzzzz.... I don't hear a peep from them until morning.

I'm thinking that moving from a 950 sq. ft. second floor apartment with no yard, to a 1500 sq. ft house with a great backyard and a room for each kid might have been just what we needed. The girls wake up, quickly eat breakfast, go out and play and I don't see them again until lunchtime. Then they eat lunch and go out and play, and I don't see them again until dinner. By the time dinner is over, they are too exhausted to dangle from the bookshelves, or take turns jumping off the TV. They just go straight to bed.

It's great, it really is... but what the heck am I going to blog about now???

Kidding. I'm loving my sweet little girls. I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the excitement of having a backyard, after being stuck in tiny, yardless apartments all their lives, wont wear off, and that they will always want to go out and play.

You better believe I'm buying these girls some rain coats and wellies so that they can play outside all winter long!

xoxo,

So I Have a New Blog...

I know... crazy, right? As if I don't already have enough on my plate...

But I decided to start a new blog (yes, I'll still keep this one!),which will a place to share my new home as I begin to settle in, decorate, garden, and share all of my creative house decorating projects, favorites and ideas.

So come on by my new sweet little homey blog: A House Where Love Abides

At the moment, it is on the bare side... but as my house fills with love and cuteness, home decor and house paint, so will my blog.

xoxo,

Painting, Painting and Painting Some More

Where have I been lately? I've been in my new house, painting! Let me tell you a little something about me... I don't like painting rooms. In fact, I don't like painting at all. I'm a colored pencil lover for a reason: Anything that takes longer than .5 seconds to dry is not my friend.

But my new house needed a major paint job, so for the last few days, we've been painting, painting, painting. I was lucky that my mom came up from Austin to help me out (thanks, Mom!). She is my complete opposite when it comes to painting. She loves to slap new color on a wall; I am happy taping a room off so I don't have to touch the paint. In the case of my new house... I had to touch the paint. For four days straight. My poor arms... so tired!

We did a pretty good job, considering that the power and the water was turned off in the house. That didn't make things easy, but the companies couldn't get them on any sooner for us and I wanted to get the walls done before our truck load of furniture and boxes came in.

You're going to have to wait to see how it is decorated. A long time. The exciting thing about moving into a house double the size of your tiny apartment is having double the space to decorate and buy new furniture. The sad thing: spending all your money on the down payment, moving expenses and apartment lease-breaking, and not being able to decorate or buy new furniture right away. Oh well, I've got time.

Wanna see what has been done so far?

My Studio:

Priming and painting bead board walls is probably one of the most annoying things EVER. But worth it in the end! Look how cute:

My Living Room:

A cold (and dull) light grey.

I really, really, really wanted green walls... but I couldn't find a green I liked.

A bright and buttery yellow.

I like how cheerful it is with the yellow, but I'm a little unsure of the color as my furniture for this room is in Austin at my mom's, so I can't see how it looks. We haven't had a space big enough for the furniture since we moved from California and I'm so excited to finally have space for it again! Once I see how my furniture looks in here, I'll decide whether to try a different color or not. In the meantime... it is cheerful!

My Family Room:

Here is my green room!

It is actually much lovelier than this picture shows. And all molding and trim will be a bright white (they are mostly light yellow in this picture). And look: no Texas stars going around the ceiling! Man, those things were terrible to remove. I have slices in all of my fingers. Boo.

Annelie didn't even get into the paint. Or touch a wet wall. My little girl is growing up!

There is a lot more to do. Tons. But I'm going to take a nice break for a few days. My mother-in-law comes into town next week... she doesn't yet know that I'm putting her to work as I get the rest of my house finished! Surprise!

xoxo,

"This is the Inspector!"

Will picked out our very first house accessory the other day. We knew we needed a fridge, a microwave, and other assorted necessities... but we figured our first house purchase needed to be something fun and frivolous.

Our house has a phone stand built into the wall in the hallway, so naturally that frivolous purchase needed to be an antique rotary phone. Because how else are we supposed to pretend we are in an old British inspector film if we don't have a phone that we can pick up and declare (in our poshest accents) "This is the Inspector!"

Will really does that every time he walks down the hall, and he's got me doing that, too - although, my British accent is terrible and I tend to sound Indian. Don't know why. He is more convincing.

But seriously, isn't this phone the best? It works and has the cutest ring EVER and Will picked it up for only $20 at a nearby antique store.

Sweet!

xoxo,