Holiday Obsessions

Happy Monday!

I thought I'd take this opportunity to confess my holiday obsessions. There are silly things in life I obsess over like the holiday decorations, my holiday cards, scrapbook pages, etc... and more important things that I do not obsess over like the dishes in the sink, the unmade bed, the piles of laundry. But hey those are all hidden and my house looks fabulously festive!

When we were growing up our Christmas tree was a mish-mash of "anything goes". We had homemade ornaments, baby's first ornaments, assorted lights, m&m lights, bubble lights, musical lights, blinking lights, etc... It wouldn't have been featured in a glossy magazine, but it had our hearts and lives in it and we LOVED it. When we all got older, I told my mom it was time. Time to keep the mish-mash tucked away and get some new coordinated and beautiful ornaments. So we did - she had a gorgeous burgundy and gold tree and it was good. All the kids were older and we didn't miss the other tree.

I used to judge my friends who had the pretty tree in their house with young kids. They'd tuck the ornaments that didn't quite fit the bill around the back of the tree or leave them out all together. I hate to admit it, but I, for the most part, have become one of these people. I obsess about my holiday decor. Tree: beautiful, turquoise, green, silver and gold ONLY!!! Garlands: turquoise and brown ONLY!!! Dining room: traditional colors ONLY!!! Wreath - well that has yet to be determined.

Don't hate me yet!!! So today I went out and got a cute little 4 footer with multi colored lights especially for the kids. My daughter can decide if she'd like it next to the big tree or in the playroom. It will be our anything goes tree and I think that's a good compromise. Do you?? When I have a mo, I will take some pics and share.

Better go take my lunch dishes to the sink and maybe I should start the dishwasher....

Elle :)

The necklace

I have a special necklace. It was given to me after my brother was killed in a boating accident just over 2 years ago. A dear friend gave one to me, one to my mother and one to my sister. In my mind, the two hearts represent my heart and my brother's heart. Mine is glass and fragile and not quite complete (anymore) - his is whole and unbreakable. My mother wears hers nearly everyday, I wear mine sometimes. I always take it with me when I travel. When taking off, I always say a prayer with my hearts in my hand and when we land I always say thank you with my hearts in my hand. It accompanied me on my recent trip to the States. I wore it on Thanksgiving. Later that night when I was getting my son to sleep, I fell asleep too. I hadn't gotten myself ready for bed - I was just very tired and ended up sleeping with my necklace still on. Something I'd never done before. In the morning, my mom came over and told me she had slept in her necklace the night before for the first time ever. She said she was so tired she guessed she had just forgotten to take it off. And I said "me too!". So we both slept in our special necklaces unintentionally and for the first time on Thanksgiving...

Thanks, I needed that xxoo.

Elle :)

I'm Back!

Happy December Everyone! How did THAT happen? I don't know about yours, but my November was here and gone in a flash.

I'm really, really going to try to post here a little more often. You know how it is... you get busy, etc, etc.... When I started back at this I had some free time in the day a couple times a week and now that time has been filled with other stuff. So I need to regroup! I enjoy this too much to let it slide.

So yeah, I got to spend Thanksgiving in the good ole U-S of A! We were in Georgia and the fall weather was wonderful. Nice cool days and falling crunchy leaves. I got my fall fix. We tried to do some shopping and we did get a bit done but shopping with the kids is no fun. So we had to squeeze in a little time here and there when the kids were occupied. And shopping in a rush is no fun either!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. The holidays are here. I'm going to be preparing for my annual ornament party and getting all the decorations out over the next week+. It's not that I have a ton, it just takes a long time it seems.

I'll update you on my progress - how are you preparing for the holidays?? Any fun holiday travels planned?

Be back soon!

Elle :)

Winner!

Well Llama, you are the winner! I don't know how to post my random number screen, but it chose 5 and that was you!

Now don't get me wrong - I couldn't be happier about my winner but I'm wondering why only 2 of my followers entered. I'm flattered that you are happy to follow without getting gifts, but I was really hoping for more entrants. Oh well.

Angie, I wish I had a duplicate package to send to you!

We are flying out of here in about 3 hours. Headed to the Atlanta area where it is rainy and the high is 48! Brrrrrr! We're leaving a gorgeous sunny day here in the tropics. I'm really excited though. Looking forward to all the family time and the yummy food we have in store for us.

Not sure how easy it will be for me to post - so Happy American Thanksgiving everyone! I'm thankful for all my blogland buddies.

Llama, please email me your address so I can post your pressies :)

Elle :)

Giveaway!!

Sorry for breaking my promise to have these details posted by the end of the weekend! Here goes: My first giveaway includes 2 packs of my favorite Italian cookies, a set of the OPI Mini Merries nail polish, a MAC House of Mirth Deep Lip Bag (includes Lustre Lipstick in Fantasia, Dazzleglass Lip Gloss in Get Rich Quick [maybe I should keep this!] and a Lip Pencil in a cute little bag) and 2 Christmas ornaments if you'd like them. Apologies to those who do not observe Christmas, but that's the only holiday with items to buy for on my little island.

Rules:

You must follow or become a follower and post a comment to enter.

My existing (and there are currently 15 of you) followers who wish to enter will automatically receive an extra entry just because I'm nice like that.

One extra entry if you post about my giveaway, with a link, on your blog (please let me know in a comment).

I will choose a winner at 10 pm EST on Saturday, November 21st.

I will post the package to anywhere in the world that costs less than USD 25 to post!

Good Luck!!

Quick catch up

Oh my goodness - where has the time gone?? Apologies for my lack of presence lately, I've been a little busy. I've been working - well, kinda. You see I have a job lined up for Jan or Feb in an exciting new store. I'm looking forward to it, but a little scared at the same time. Anyways, the ladies I will be working for have many, many things to get sorted before the grand opening so we've started meeting 2x per week to get some things done. Whew! It's exhausting. Evidently I'm a little out of practice.... Before I sound like a prima donna, let me remind you that I'm a stay-at-home mom with 2 kids aged 3 & 1. Trust me, it's a lot to handle even with help. So the days have been slipping through my fingers and geez Louise here we are in mid-November practically. I've got a giveaway to organize IMMEDIATELY. I leave for the US in 11 days and I've gotta get everything together. Thanks to all you lovely commenters and followers who have been sticking with me through this time! I did catch up on a little reading the other night - I was missing my daily reads!!

I should note that I'm using a wireless keyboard now. So defeats the purpose of a laptop - but hey at least I can use the good computer again.

So a few random things to talk about...

-my giveaway will be taking place very soon. I plan to have the details posted by the end of the weekend so stay tuned.

-have watched a few movies lately - here are my reviews: Whatever Works - I liked it. But I like Larry David and it was nice to see him in a role other than him playing himself on Curb. The Taking of Pelham 123 - enjoyed it. I thought it was a good role for Denzel. John Travolta really did a good job of looking a bit off his rocker. Poor, poor man - I still feel so awful for him - losing his son. The Ugly Truth - ok let me confess that it often takes me more than one seating to see a movie. I very often fall asleep during movies. It is no indication of how much I like or dislike a movie. I can sometimes be watching a brilliant movie and my eyes just will not stay open. ANYWAYS - I'm not sure if my sleeping interrupted the flow of this movie, but honestly I didn't finish it. And I had good reviews from others. I found it a little boring.

-I'm currently reading a book called Welcome to the World, Baby Girl by Fannie or Frannie Flag. I'm too lazy to go and look, sorry Ms. Flag! I am really enjoying it. Part of it is set in 1940's middle America another in NYC circa 1970's. Sometimes I get so caught up in my chick lit that I forget too do a little research and read a little variety. Apparently not only do I enjoy reading about other cultures, I also enjoy reading about other generations!

-Confession: I've gotten a little hooked on reruns of the Rachel Zoe Project. Oh gosh how reality TV can just lure you in. My husband is just short of disgusted with this recent habit. I even bought an InStyle magazine today. Why do I do this? First of all I always struggle with what to do with the hunk of paper I've just purchased for my selfish pleasures when I've finished reading it. Secondly it makes me want and long for things that: I don't need, I can't afford and I shouldn't really want. RZ makes me want a really huge and cool jewelry collection. The polar opposite of my classic and small jewelry collection. But really who has time to accessorize for drop-offs at preschool??

Well there's so much more I could share but I need to go referee the playroom before things get ugly in there.

What have you been up to lately?

Elle :)

Still needs time??

Oh gosh. I just turned on the Mac for the first time in 11 days. Started up like normal - you should've heard my sigh of relief when I saw the little apple. My heart swelled when I saw the pic of my kids that is the background for my desktop. Then I opened a program and attempted to type and what I got was what I typed along with some random numbers. K9in5d o6f li7ke th3is4. Not good... At least my pics are there, but who can blog, email and facebook when a bunch of numbers are being thrown into the mix?? Am I going to have to get a usb keyboard for my laptop? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? Do you think she needs a little more time? Perhaps a blow dry?

Enough of that for now. I hope you all had a fab Halloween. I did. Dressed the kids up, my girl was a bumblebee and at the last minute I grabbed a pirate costume for my boy. A three year old in costume is adorable. My one year old little rebel as a pirate? HILARIOUS. And he really liked it. I laughed till I cried and that alone was worth the $20 I spent on the costume. I took them out to a big Halloween event - it was fun till the mosquitos attacked. I'm really leaning towards hosting my own party next year. Not for the kids - for us. I haven't dressed up for Halloween in years. Other than throwing on a mask or witches hat along with my normal clothes. And I think when you've just got a bunch of friends together, in costume add a little booze to the equasion and you are bound to have fun, right?? I think I could handle it. Not sure what I'd do with the kids, but I've got an entire year to figure that out.

I can tell I'm rambling, but I miss all my blog buddies. I've been terrible at reading too lately. On that note I think I will sign off for now and catch up on some reading and commenting.

Happy November everybody!!

Elle :)