Unplanned break..

Well I felt as if I was losing a bit of my momentum with my blog. For some reason I feel obligated to do a new post fairly often. I've noticed that some of my fave blogs have been lacking lately (only in the frequency of posts!!). Perhaps it's just a season??

Anyways, I did something REALLY STUPID a few days ago. I spilled water on my sweet, shiny, aluminum MacBook. The computer guy told me to turn it off, take out the battery and leave it off for 10 days - 2 weeks to give time for the water to dry out. Say WHAT?!?!? So I'm going through withdrawals. Luckily my techy cousin came by to dust off and clean up my old laptop so that at the very least I can check emails and get my daily facebook fix. However, my stone aged laptop leaves much to be desired and I'm afraid my posts will be scant over the next fortnight. I'm forced to use it in a tiny corner of the tv room as the wireless card is fried and therefore it must be directly connected to the blue cord coming from the modem. It also has a battery with a maximum life of about 60 seconds, no lie. If I've gotta move it, I'm running!

Hopefully when I next turn my shiny baby on, she'll be as good as new. In the meantime I shall take an unplanned break from this blogland. I will be reading, though not as often so please forgive me if I'm not commenting as often as I usually do.

Hope life is grand where ever you may be!!

ttfn,
Elle :)

the story of jellybean

So last night, we were sitting around and we heard the cheeping of a baby bird. It was late and we found it strange that there was a bird noise outside. My husband [N] asked me what I thought it was. I replied that it was either a baby bird that fell out of it's nest OR a psycho trying to lure us outside. I mean we all have been informed via email of the latest way to get you out of your home when the perp plays a recording of a baby crying on your doorstep?? I thought maybe our perp got a little creative.... So N got "prepared" and went outside to see what all the noise was about. I should mention that our community has been experiencing a crime wave lately and it's left us a little on edge. Anyways, back to the story. What N found outside was a lone baby chick, whom my daughter thought should be called jellybean, crying for it's mommy. So, so sad. N did his best to make jellybean a warm, safe bed for the night. That lasted about 10 mins before he hopped out and dashed into the bushes and away from us. I did see it when it was all nestled in the cloth. I could see it's mottled fluffy baby feathers and it's little black eye. My heart hurt for the lost baby. All through the night I could hear jellybean calling for it's mommy. In the front yard, in the back yard, in the side yard. This morning as we were having breakfast - we all heard jellybean. I started googling "caring for baby chicks" and was ready to start blending up some grains for the chick. It was a very rainy morning this morning and none of the neighborhood chickens were venturing out of the bush. My hopes of jellybean finding her mommy were getting grim. Suddenly N was looking out the front door. We all joined just in time to see jellybean making her way down the driveway toward a black hen that was across the street. She skittered across the road. Was it really her mommy?? The hen didn't seem to be paying much attention to the relentless peeping that was happening a few feet away. Then we saw another little chick, the same size as jellybean in the grass next to the hen. The 3 of them went off together mother hen pecking the ground for breakfast. Ahhh, we all breathed a sigh of relief as jellybean had been reunited with her mother. Don't you just love happy endings?

Elle :)

Withdrawals and weight gain...

So Sunday morning, the one last pacifier [paci] went missing. I've been wanting to wean my boy from his paci as he's almost 15 mos. I'm not a believer in the long, drawn out relationships with bottles & pacis. So on Sunday I looked and looked and finally gave up. He napped without and went to bed without and I decided it was over. It's been rough - the paci was found but kept hidden. Finally last night we had a good night of sleep again. He was definitely having some serious withdrawals there for a few nights. And who are we kidding, at 2 in the morning when I'm exhausted and he's crying I was ready to give in - but I stayed strong. It's tough kids! I think we are now on the way up.

{food network, paula deen}

In other Elle's household news: my granddaddy & his wife [gd&r] are visiting. My gd&r are southern folks and love feeding good ole southern food to folks like me. My weight watcher points have been off the charts. Biscuits, eggs, gravy. Chicken & dumplings. Today they are making me a pan of cornbread. Oh goodness. They leave on Friday and I'm going to miss them when they go, but my weight loss efforts will not. This week I gained weight. Not much and it's certainly no mystery where the weight came from. So I've thrown in the towel till Sunday or Monday. We've got a fundraising dinner on Saturday night at an ultra fab restaurant. So forget about trying to be good there! Oink, oink!

Hope all is well in your world -

Elle :)

I've got nothing...

...except some happy monkeys!

Made these in July for my little monkey's first bday. Hope they bring a smile to your face too!

:) Elle

What we've been up to:

A little shopping:

The Burberry outfit was a gift - swim shorts & a tee. Surely he'll be the most fashionable 1 yr old on the beach! Born Wild is my fave - suits my boy PERFECTLY :)

sweet & cute for my girl (all from Gymboree btw)

A little baking:

Cadbury rocks. No other store bought mixes compare. Their chocolate is so creamy & delish.

And some playing:

I dread the day when she's too old for the tiara and fancy shoes.

Have a fab weekend everyone!

Elle :)

Monday's Miscellany

Hope you all had a fab weekend. Mine was pretty good. I even got to go to the movies this weekend!

My mom and I went to see Julie & Julia on Sunday and I loved it. Nora Ephron totally has my number. I loved the scenes in France - the beautiful residences with their huge inlaid wood doors, leaded glass windows, beautiful molding details inside..... oooo, I was drooling. Not to mention the street market scenes. Boy, my produce selection pales in comparison. Plus I could relate to the whole blogging thing as a fellow blogger. I know this is probably old news to you all. But we get our movies a little late sometimes. Oh, and I had just finished the book Sunday morning, so perfect timing. Loved the book too.

I just spent a while catching up on all my readings and commenting and it seems that leaves me with little time for posts. It's about 10:30 and there's a good chance my night will not be peaceful. The kids have a little cold again. YES again. They've only been well for about a week. Blasted Preschool! It's really a great place but the stinkin little germs they have floating around the place are enough to make me scream.

Anyways, I've got a little project I'm working on. Hoping to complete it and share before the end of the month.

In other exciting news, we're booked for our Thanksgiving trip to Atlanta. Going to see my dad's family and I can't wait. I'll get a little dose of fall. Only going for a week which stinks, but at least it's something! I am planning an exciting giveaway to send while I'm up there, so stay tuned.

Goodnight lovelies!

Elle :)

I just love this!

So I don't follow many on twitter bcs I'm not really fully into tweeting yet. But I do follow Ashton Kutcher. I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan, I just happened to be watching Regis & Kelly one day and he was co-hosting with Kells and talking about twitter and the rest is history. Well I must say that I'm becoming more of an AK fan every time I logon to twitter. I've noticed him going on about the PS22 chorus and finally clicked the link. It's soooo amazing and wonderful. This choral director is just a superstar and what he's doing for these kids is just so life altering. I wonder if he even knows how he is affecting their lives. Look at their enthusiasm. 5th graders letting go of inhibitions and singing their little hearts out. Ahhhhh..... what a wonderful way to end the night - all warm and fuzzy and full of love. Enjoy!

Elle :)

The Design Girl

I can't remember exactly how I found her, but I have been wanting her to design my blog since I started this in August. I spent ages on her site reviewing her portfolio and premade designs. Then I decided I'd better wait and see if anyone was going to read my blog before investing anything other than my time into it. Recently I discovered her blog linked to her site and she's got some great giveaways. Right now there's one on for a free Halloween premade template. They are all super cute - check her out!

Oh well, the button is a little outdated, but it still takes you to her site. I grabbed that cute little blinkie off her website too. I LOVE it!!

October!

My goodness, how did we arrive at October already?!?!

I've been trying not to buy as many magazines lately. I've done detox for Us magazine and am no longer addicted. I have been restricting myself to my faves and I'm not even buying them monthly. Faves include: Conde Nast Traveller and Veranda. But as I've mentioned to you before, I LOVE fall. I live in the tropics and there is only a very slight change of season here - let me take you through our year starting with April/May.

In April/May the HEAT arrives in full force. By July & August you really don't want to be outdoors between the hours of 9 & 4 unless, of course, you are at the beach or out on the water. In September & October the rain comes and it's good. Except when the occasional hurricane decides to scare you. Often they just come a little too close for comfort, then head elsewhere. By November the rain is not as often and it's cooled a few degrees since the dog days of summer. In December, the breeze starts. January and February are lovely. March sometimes is too. Then back to where we started. All this to say that most of you wouldn't even notice our seasonal changes.

So back to the magazines.... well all the fall mags are out and boy I could go nuts. I had to buy MS Living.

It's hard to see on my little pic, but the cover reads "The Magic of Fall". How could I resist? Well I got to the calendar in the beginning and it made me quite sad... Why, you ask? Well because I too want to attend the Annual Harvest Fest in Pocantico Hills NY, The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze in Croton-on-Hudson NY & Bette Midler's Hulaween Ball in NYC. But what do we get around here? Nada. Truth be told, I'd have to get a job in order to purchase a $1000 ticket to the Hulaween Ball, but anyways.

I also bought a magazine that contains 116 cookie recipes. Not really wise when you are trying to lose weight, but the candy corn cookies on the cover lured me in. They were cute.

My decision to cut down on the mags is for 2 reasons. 1st is that they end up lying around my house for WAY too long (if you recall, I'm a "collector") and 2nd is that I feel guilty just throwing them in the trash and we don't have and local magazine recycling around here. I know, I know... share them with your doctors office, dentist, blah, blah, blah. Frankly I don't have the time. So I'm just keeping light on the purchases and it's working out fine.

At this point I feel I am rambling so I guess it's time to sign off. I've had so much to share the past few days but NO TIME to blog. It's been busy to say the least.

Hope you all are having a great first day of October. Oh, and I've dropped 3 lbs. Might not sound like a lot, but when you are 5 foot 2, this can make fastening your shorts noticeably easier! :)

ttfn-

Elle

PS - Look! 11 followers. Welcome Summer. I just might get me a cute signature before the end of the year ;o)