a celebration of marriage

Today I am doing my first ever guest post on Mrs. H. She gathered a bunch of us to talk about our marriages and how we make it work, what we've learned...I'm so happy she asked me to be a part of it! I love Mrs. H with every being in me...and can you believe we've only "met" in blog land? She is my twin most definitely!

So head over to Life as Mrs. H, and read my AWESOME post. You know I never disappoint. ;)

I'm on vacation!!!!

That's right folks...I am on vacation! Not like on an actual vacation like my friend Nini (you lucky duck!) but just on vacay from my full time job. Last day of work was Friday the 23rd and I don't see my desk again until January! I sooooooo needed this time off too. Time to re-evaluate, time to purge, time to get back in touch with my family and my hubby. There is something about sleeping in (in my world that means getting up at 8am instead of 6am) that just makes my day so fulfilling LOL. I get to basically play all day! I mean who wouldn't enjoy that?!
I always miss my dudes when I go to work, but wow, I feel like I'm missing so much. Yes they are in school almost all day but damn. Being home with them, I have once again gone into re-evaluating my work situation. Right now, its ideal for me to work full time. Big Daddy and I have talked about me not working off and on since the school year started. But just since Friday, we've talked about it way more than we ever have. I'll keep y'all updated on what I am thinking about doing. But the gist of it comes down to me either 1. going to part time hours or 2. quitting completely and going back to school full time. Time will tell.
Besides talking about work, I have been slowly purging a bunch of things we have...clothes, books, furniture, DVDs...etc. I want to get everything completely organized by the end of January and am taking full advantage of my free time. I also have a plan to turn my night stand into a small vanity area. so far the biggest part has been done, and that was the dudes closets. Clothes and toys and stuff was thrown away or donated and everything organized. Everything now has a home...even the Nerf bullets have a place to call their own instead of being housed at the bottom of random bins. I also cleaned out our linen closet. Next up will be my part of our closet and the shelving unit inside the closet that currently holds more of my "stuff."

Lots going on in the locker room this week. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and ate until their heart's content. I most definitely did. And yesterday, I got back to the business of getting my body back into tip top shape.

Little crafty me

So I, like most of you, are addicted in love with Pinterest. Juju's Kindergarten teacher is AMAZING and I wanted to actually make her something just as amazing as she is. I saw this and thought OH MY GOD...PERFECT!

 

*source*

And so I began...I tried to lay everything out one by one next to each other just for placements sake, but it just wasn't working. So I went with north, south, east, west....

Then glued a crayon in the middle of the "section" and so on and so forth...until this...

Of course I wasn't done yet. It took a total of 2 days for everything to set and not slide off. I was still waiting for glue to dry this morning. But here it is in all its finished glory...

The picture quality totally sucks, but isn't it just cute?! I got the little ornament (it says "Teacher" in green in the middle-green is Juju's favorite color) from Michael's for only a $1.00. In fact...everything cost a dollar or less:

Crayons: $0.64

Styrofoam wreath/circle: $1.00

Ornament: $1.00

(I already had the ribbon and the glue)

Here's to another year

Happy birthday to you...

*04/10/11 - BamBam (black shirt) age 3*

Happy birthday to you...

*07/10/11 - Juju age 5*

Happy birthday, happy birthday...

*08/13/11 - Big Daddy age 27*

Happy birthday...to you...

 *04/27/11 - ME age 31*

 

We've worked hard and played even harder. We've cried, but more importantly we've laughed. Here's to another year of growing our hair out, playing outside in a 100+ degree weather, dinner surprises, and 80s themed birthdays. Here's to another year of LIFE and blowing out more candles.

*This post is sponsored by the American Cancer Society*

Multicultural night

My family is the definition of multicultural: I am Hawaiian and Filipino and Big Daddy is black and German = mutts! Lol
Juju's school held a multicultural night last night. VonTrapp even came and made a German lentil soup and some German cookies. Juju and BamBam sported their barongs (traditional Filipino shirts). Y'all I'm already planning for next year!

A call for bloggers/reviewers - Diamond Candles

Me? I love candles. I love how a specific candle scent can make you remember certain things. Like the smell of black cherry takes me back to the days Big Daddy and I first started dating. A lemon scented candle brings me right into the kitchen of my aunt, who spent a lot of her time showing me how to cook when I was little.
I could and have watched a candle just burn...so pretty. And now I wouldn't be just watching a candle burn...I would be waiting. Waiting for it to slowly burn, smelling all of its goodness. Waiting for a peak of that special little pouch.

Diamond Candles Company would like to invite you to Review and Giveaway their Precious soy candles. Why "precious" you'll ask? Well, each candle harbors a ring valued anywhere from $10-$100-$500-$5000 each. It's anticipation that really gets you going! What kind of a ring am I going to unveil from the glittery pouch hidden inside the soy wax?


Check out the post at Mizz Review Lady and Celebrate Women Today.


The Criteria for Your Participation Are Simple. 

• This event is Free to you. Open to US only.
• If you are to review and giveaway a product sponsored by Diamond Candles Company, you'll need to include in your giveaway the sponsor's Facebook and Twitter mentions, and a couple of keywords within your review.
• If you are to participate in this campaign, Blog about this event on your blog, linking it to my post here.
• Then, fill out this Form with information about your blog.
• Once you're approved by the Diamond Candles Company, I'll ask you to confirm your mailing address for mailing products to you for review and giveaway on your blog (FYI: Diamond Candles does all mailing to the winners for giveaway.)

So what are you waiting for? That's it. Simple.

Crocs are coming to Austin! (a giveaway)

No no...not ACTUAL REAL crocodiles but Crocs

*pic source*

Barton Creek Square here in Austin is getting a brand new Crocs store. This Saturday and Sunday is their grand opening weekend and I'm soooo excited! I'm going to be live tweeting from the store and taking lots of pictures too. Look at how purtty it is:

I'm so excited to be a part of this grand opening! As you can see, my boys LIVE in their Crocs...

FABULOUS right?! Did you know that Crocs doesn't just have "regular" crocs anymore? They have sooo many different styles now: boots, sneakers, loafers, wedges/heels...ah-may-zing! What's even more amazing is that in celebration of the store's grand opening the people over at Crocs want me to give a FREE pair of Crocs (up to $100 value) away to one of y'all!! What, what?!! 

So what do you have to do to win this FREE (up to $100 value) pair? 

Just visit The Crocs Website and tell me which pair you would like in the comments section along with your email address so I can contact you if you win. You must be a follower of this blog in order to be entered into the giveaway. The giveaway will run until Friday, December 9th at 8pm CST. Spread the word and good luck to everyone!

*Disclosure - I was compensated by Crocs to share about the new store and host this giveaway.All opinions are my own*