today...

...to me!

sorry it's been a few days, but i've been busy celebrating!

p.s. how adorable is this picture?

from my besties at ouraugust!

DIY: rubber stamps

So a few months ago i saw this diy rubber stamp on pinterest and new that i wanted to make one myself - who knew it would be so easy? pinterest is the best thing to happen to diy-ers and crafters since the invention of the glue gun! if you havn't joined yet....get on that! the problem with finding all these amazing ideas on pinterest is that there are so many crafts and so few hours in the day! so i really kinda forgot about the stamp until i started planning my birthday party. a mustache party that is. so scoured the house for a rubber stamp, busted out my xacto knife, and started carving. i was really surprised how easily the knife cut the eraser.  and here is how mine turned out...

inspiration lookbook

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10 things i couldn't live without this week

1. as i mentioned, my sister haley came to town to spend a few day with me and the boy and the hubs....and stella. we had such an amazing time together. she's always just such a breath of fresh air. we crammed a weeks worth of activities into 48 hours - there were bike rides, beach trips, zoo tours, and sushi. it was perfect.
2. although i don't want to ruin the magic of the zoo for all of you i have to say that going to the zoo with someone who's profession is zoo keeping really is insightful! i learned so much about the zoo. not only some interesting facts about the animals and the names of some of the animals that i love and new nothing about, but also some trickery that zoos pull on us commoners.  very interesting folks. very interesting.
3. this seems a little silly and vain, but i died my hair back darker after about 5 months of being a very light red head, and wanting to shave all my hair off. here's the thing with me and red hair....i love it, but unless i really take the time to color it often and style it every single day.....i hate it. so back to the dark side. and miraculously the past few days i have loved my hair again.
4. we decided on a last minute trip up to orlando to visit our family friends the weekley's. friday night after the hubs got home from work we drove up. we arrived late to find a house full of kids, not only the two little weekley nuggets, but also the hubs old high school friends and their two daughters. it was a chaotic mess of giggles and bouncing. the boy was super shy at first but in no time he was chasing the girls and eating cookies. i am pretty sure that it was the latest that he's ever stayed up, he finally crashed around midnight.
5. momma weekley and i stayed up way past our bedtimes as well. with wine in hand we swapped stories of motherhood. i love spending time with mary so much. she's one of those mom's who is totally straight up, she doesn't sugar coat parenting stories, she shares every dirty little detail in a way that usually has me laughing in ways that would make a weaker woman tinkle. you know that web sensation "shit girls say"? well i swear that someone should have been taping us because it was totally "shit moms say" and it was hilarious. and i quote..."you know what i need? i need something really cool, you know like a fanny pack! - mary"
6. saturday morning we woke up foggy eyed and early. i think all the kiddos were a bit cranky from the late night partying, but once we got them up and moving and broke the news that we were headed to sea world everyone one was excited to start the day. heck i even started it with only one cup of coffee! so this was the boys first trip to sea world and it was magic! it was such a great day of laughter, marine life, melt downs, and dippin' dots. we even scored season passes so we will be heading back i the near future. you should totally check out the hubs blog about our recent trips to sea world and the fair....awesome perspective from the mans eyes!
7. i had the most delicious cupcakes this weekend! red velvet cheese cake! and my favorite thing about them was the lack of frosting.  i convinced/forced mary to share the recipe with me so that i could share it with you....so keep your eye out for that this week!
8. i am not sure that i would have made it through the week without some phone calls and texts from my step mom/best friend. she's my go to when the boy is giving my a run for my money. she always offers the best advice on how to deal with his insanity....even if that advice is opening a bottle of wine. haha. thank you lisa for checking up on me so much this week.
9. ok so the hubs and i don't watch football (or any other organized team sports really) it's just not our deal. but for some reason last night we found our selves involved in the 4th quarter of the super bowl. well, not really for some reason....i knew exactly why i was watching it. you see the season premier of the voice was starting after the super bowl and i was so concerned that the game would run over and ruin my recording of one of my favorite shows. but low and behold i found myself cheering and screaming at the tv. i was happy to see the giants win. not that i really cared or know much about either team, but you see my grand father and cousin are the biggest giants fans....so for their sake, and the sake of their wives i was pulling for the giants. great job boys.
10. after a week of craziness and traveling i have to admit that i am super thankful for the tropical storm that we are dealing with today....it's giving me and the boy to snuggle in our pj's all day. yeah that's right....tropical storms in february.

spin me right round baby....

a letter to the boy,

there are days that you 

make my head spin.

but i still love you

more than anything.

love me.

thankful thursday

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this little quote is coming into my life on a day that i really need it. it's funny how those things happen.  

i am sitting hear on the verge of pulling my hair out over the boys insane behavior lately. i find myself at wits end wondering what to do. i feel like i have tried everything.  but then i stop. think. reflect. there are so many things about the boy that i have to be thankful for! 

i am the proud parent of one strong willed and brilliant little boy. he must be brilliant because he's found a way to make his zen mommy loose her cool! haha.  

amongst all the craziness and timeouts there are these moments where i look at him and think about the miracle of this little creature that the hubs and i created. the boy is healthy, strong, intelligent, and so stinkin adorable.  he has these dance moves that make me giggle every time, he has the ability to make strangers laugh, and a serious love for nature. he's everything i ever dreamed of, minus the tantrums....which (fingers crossed) will pass.

and on a totally different topic...you never realize how much you enjoy the little things until they are gone! i am doing little at home experiment to determine if my swollen lymph nodes in my armpits are due to  a reaction from my deodorant.  i have decided to go au natural today....and peee ewww! how i do enjoy and miss you deodorant....even if you are giving me armpit cancer. 

for the rest of you that can not smell me....enjoy the little things! be grateful! and have a wonderful week!

DIY: hall clock face lift

after sitting on the sofa staring at our completely boring hall clock for so long i decided that i had had enough. i can't complain too much about the clock as it was a gift from my mother-in-law.  disclaimer: she has impeccable taste....this clock however was in her living room so that my father-in-law could read it.  it drove her crazy that there was no time telling device in our house, as we always just used our phones or watches to tell the time, so she brought this one down to our house to hang in the hall where it could be seen from the living room.

so back to the face lift - no pun intended there...well maybe a little pun. hehe

here is what you will need:
1 unassuming wall clock
1 12x12 piece of chalk board paper or other scrapbook paper
a few tools
chalk
paint (if you so desiree)

step 1:

simply take the clock apart. now i say simply, but the hubs did all the handy work for this project...so i can't say for sure how "simple" it was. my only advice though is to keep all the small working parts together, organized, and in some sort of order as to which they were removed.

step 2:

trace to face of the clock onto your 12x12 paper.

step 3:

cut out the traced image.

step 4:

i decided to paint the hands of the clock a chalky white. for two major reasons. one....i wasn't going to be able to see the black hands against the black chalkboard paper. and two....i wanted to keep with the theme and make the hands look chalky too.

step 5:

the hubs came up with the brilliant idea of making the old face into a template to make sure that we put the numbers in the exact right places....brilliant that man of mine is!

step 6:

mark the numbers onto the face of the clock.

step 7:

we decided after the fact to add tick marks on the rest of the clock, and then reassembled it. as we were putting it back together we also decided to ditch the second hand.

and viola...there you have it...our new and improved hall clock!

i am not sure why it took us a year to get around to doing this, maybe it was the house hold clock overhaul that took place a few weeks ago....the boy started complaining about all the antique clocks hanging in the house that didn't tell the time....specifically the vintage mickey mouse clock that hangs in his room.