A Few Of My Favorite Photos

The sweetest baby ever (this little guy's my youngest!)

Gorgeous ladies that I styled for the photo shoot

Darling Girl with lots of personality

And moments from a sacred day...

 

These are a few of my favorite photos.

The Bold & Beautiful Blog Review

Greetings!  I'm participating in a very unique blog hop. Gail @My Repurposed Life and MeganDVD @ Beauty in the Attempt are hosting “The Bold and the Beautiful-your blog reviewed."

Please take a look around my blog, check out the layout, pages, buttons,  sidebar and gadgets. I'd greatly appreciate it if you would gently critique my blog as well as leave me some positive feedback. It would be great if you could give me constructive criticism but be sure to tell me what you like about my blog too! Do you like my pictures? Does my blog load quickly for you? How about the font?  All tips and tidbits welcome!

Join the party!  It starts Thursday night and is open for one week.

Valentine's Mantel Linky Party

Party?  Did someone say Party???

Beth of The Stories of A2Z is hosting a Valentine's Mantel Party!!! My daughter's Alice In The Wonderland birthday party was this weekend, and I transitioned many of the decorations to Valentine's Day (totally had it planned to have the decorations multi-task...just like Mama!)

Though I don't have a fireplace mantel, I use this narrow table in front of a window for the purpose of displaying pretty vignettes.  My Coffee Filter-Doily Wreath is dressed up for the occasion with sequin hearts that I was inspired to make here from Kathleen at Grosgrain.

The large rose tree and fluffy iridescent white trees were created from rolled up poster board wrapped with tinsel garlands (Christmas mega clearance.)  I may be obsessed with cone trees... 

 This sweet bird is perched in a cupcake liner nest embellished with more tinsel garland and a sequin heart.  Such a cutie!

Red and white crepe paper roses...off with their heads!!!   (The cards had to paint the white roses red for the Queen of Hearts.)  They're so versatile and realisitic and would look amazing in bouquets of every color!

A Hobby Lobby steal for a little over a dollar!  I bought this pink tree to dress up my daughter's room next Christmas but couldn't resist using it for her birthday party and Valentine's.  Along with a butterfly and dragonfly, it holds a sparkly boot, birds, and heart ornaments filled with ribbons.  I adore splashes of color!

 Mix cupcake liner flowers, feathers, pearls and a sequin heart for this arrangement - perfect!

Thank you for visiting my Valentine's vignette/mantel!  For more inspiration and fabulous ideas, go take a look at the other lovelies linked up to the party!

No Red Today = Grumpy

After three days of bright and beautiful lips, I fell off the (red) wagon and decided to not put forth the effort today.  And I was grumpy.  

I didn't put forth effort for myself today.  And at the end of the day, I felt frustrated and put out and yucky.  

So the moral of the story and the reason for the red is...to take time for myself first thing, make the effort to feel prepared for the day, even a bit glamorous so that the day is off to a better start.  That's the outside - spending time with God in prayer and reading the Bible gets the inside ready...and I must make that a priority too, daily.     

What do you do to start your day off successfully?

Using Red to Combat the Blues

This year has started off kind of rough for me. 

After wallowing for a few days, 

I kicked myself in the pants and decided to fight the blues. 

With some red.

Red lipstick, or some shade/variation of it, 
every day for a few weeks to see how it impacts my life. 

See, the thing with red is that it's a bold, in-your-face color.

Especially on your lips.

It's an "I am woman, hear me roar" kind of statement.

Elegant, but fierce.

 And I need some of that fierceness right now,

to help combat the rising tide of blues that overwhelm me at times.

I'll take fiery passion and attitude over shrinking violet any day.

And part of that stance involves looking the part.

Hence the Red.

What are some of your strategies to stir things up in your life 

and combat the threatening grays and weepy blues?

My Boys' Birthday Parties

My sons share a birthday, though they are five years apart. 

 Barnabas turned 8

Unknown to me at the time, 

my older son had prayed that his brother would be born on his birthday,

and my labor kicked in right after midnight on December 29th.

Seriously!

 Keizo turned 3

Because it's right after Christmas,

I make a special effort to separate the holiday from the birthdays.

The boys have an obsession a love of football, 

so the theme of this year's birthday celebration was:

"Brothers United In Their Love Of The Game." 

I decorated with the colors from The Colts and Giants,

who happen to have quarterbacks who are also brothers!

One of the most inexpensive ways to make a huge impact

and fill up a room with decor is with paper streamers.

The ceiling was covered with blue and white twisted loops and multiple pennants - 

some bought from the store and some homemade.

 An apothecary jar filled with footballs.

And a football to serve napkins. 

  

Football cakes for the birthday boys!

Big sister, Mireille, with a party guest 

More party guests enjoying the treats! 

Keizo had a preschool party in the morning,

and Barnabas went swimming at the Recreation Center with his friends

in the afternoon before coming back to the house for an evening tailgate party:

homemade chili, nachos with cheese, chicken nuggets, hotdogs.

We capped the evening off with competitive dancing

via Just Dance 2 for the Wii.

Our new family obsession!!!