December Pinspirations

I wish I had more to share this month but the Holiday took up a surprising amount of time :)
Last Saturday as I was preparing to host Christmas Eve at our house I felt the need to really get the nursery in order.  I had a wall spot that needed filling which meant it was time to get creative!
Pinterest:

My version:

I had a small framed mirror from the thrift store that needed a new purpose.

Bye bye mirror and hello frame that just so happens to be the exact color I need!  No worries I didn't break the mirror, it was strategically removed to avoid continued bad luck.

Enter a sheet of scrapbook paper and a black permanent marker.

Tada!!

Pretty Giraffe has a brand new home :)

Now this one I have been waiting to reveal since the beginning of December!  I showed my mom the pinspiration pic and she liked the idea so much she made one for each of my cousins for Christmas.  As a result I couldn't reveal the final product until after the holiday.  It was well worth the wait since everyone loved them.

Pinterest:

My version:

I played it safe with a gray frame and am thinking about maybe spicing things up a bit by making it turquoise.

And it wouldn't belong in our nursery without a giraffe :)  I hope you like them.

After I get my hands on a laser level there will be more nursery pics so stay tuned!

Guilty Pleasure Confession

Do the names Luke, Alexis, Sonny, Lulu, Carly, Dante or Jason mean anything to you?  Perhaps not individually but put them together and you have my guilty pleasure.  It's true I am a General Hospital (GH) junkie and I blame my mother.
 I began watching back when my sister was born and before you judge you should know my sister and I are eleven years apart.  It was the Stone/Robin, Nurses ball era and I fell in love. 

I was in love with the characters and the story lines.  Unlike some other soap operas ... ahem, Days of our lives ... there are no demonic possessions and ... no houses being sucked into the earth by evil spirits ... cough Passions.  It's about good people with strangely intertwined lives and problems that almost never occur in real life.  GH is my unwind every night from 8 to 9 on Soapnet.  It's an hour where I can indulge in other fictitious people's fictitious problems and forget about mine :)  I'm a BIG fan.

Ironically the current story lines include infertility, adoption, IVF, surrogacy and the heartbreak that goes along with it.  It's been nice to be on the outside looking in for a change while laughing at all of their inaccuracies.  Oh daytime TV how I appreciate you. 
To my fellow GH fans, be you closeted or all the way out with your guilty pleasure, I leave you with this ...



Yes that is me with Jason and yep it really happened. 

Our Sepia Tone Christmas

We had a wonderful and blessed holiday but once again I did a terrible job capturing the Kodak moments.  Here are a few highlights from Christmas 2012 Round 3.

 

Aaron Rodgers and Justin Bieber table tennis face off

My sister and Rosie cheesin it

 

Family <3

 

Being a kid on Christmas is clearly hard work!

Hoping you and yours were equally blessed with a happy and healthy holiday :)

 

How do Fertiles do it again?

To all my fertile friends ... you are going to have to help me out here because I'm a little confused.  You mean to tell me you just got pregnant?  There was no pre-gaming?
You didn't have to take your temperature with a special thermometer each morning before so much as rolling over in bed and then draw a pretty chart with the results? 

You mean there was no pumping yourself full of hormones causing you to cry when someone so much as sneezes near you? 

And you didn't pee on these little sticks that have the nerve to smile at you when "the time is right"?

Your hubby didn't have to participate solo by watching 1970s pornography VHS style with a pretty nurse waiting outside the door to collect his contribution? 

Hmm ... That is sooo weird! 

Are you sure there wasn't a nurse, a reproductive endocrinologist, and two medical students in the room with you and your husband while your legs were in stirrups?

And you didn't have to take it easy afterward? 

Wait ... what's that??  You just shaved your legs, went to Denny's, came home, kissed for a while, turned the lights out and woke up pregnant??   Man does that sound boring.





Busy Busy Bee

It just so happens I have a 3 day weekend and this first day was crazy busy and incredibly productive.  I started by going into work to catch up on a few things and I suppose that negates the previous 3 day weekend statement doesn't it?  Oh well it felt really good to get things accomplished. After work I stopped at the Scrapbook store, Family Thrift store and Wal-Mart for just about everything we need to get through this next week.  I had a few projects I had my sights set on today. 
Let's start with the boring one.  And this time I remembered a before picture!  Impressed?

It bothered me daily that the trim around our kitchen windows matched neither the new windows nor the cabinets.  Painting woodwork is, well ... work!  And lots of it.  You have to sand, then 2 coats of primer followed by two coats of paint.  I could not be happier with the results! :)

And I thought I'd let you all be jealous of my retro Christmas tree at the same time.  Since all of that painting involved lots of waiting between coats I decided to tackle a few Pinterest nursery projects.  Here is the Pinspiration:

What do you think of my final product?  I am so happy :)  Oh and I saved $87 by making it myself!

Now for Pinspiration number two:

My final product:

I know I'm a bit biased but I think mine is even more adorable than the original.  It's hubby's favorite picture so far.  I can't wait to get them all hung up in the nursery.  I should head to bed since there are even more home projects on the agenda for tomorrow.  (Wow technically today since I'm blogging after midnight lol).  Sweet Dreams!

A weekend in the life

A typical weekend in our household looks a little something like this ...
Saturday was spent with my mom and sister finishing our DIY christmas gifts and a little something special for the nursery.  I can't post pictures just yet since I don't want to ruin the Christmas surprise for my cousins but I promise I will add them later.

After DIY time the aunts, uncles and cousins came for the Lake Geneva Christmas parade of lights.  We had front row seats and the weather was pretty mild which made it even better!  We scored a bench and apparently told some jokes while waiting for the parade to start.

Everyone thought we were pretty funny except for Greyson.  We are working on his sense of humor.

Poor Capri had a front row seat but kept missing the candy because the boys next to us would step in front of her.  So naturally we teamed up and I became that adult that was standing in front holding their hand out for candy. 

What is a Christmas parade without Santa and Mrs. Clause?  Ours ride on the top of a fire truck :)

After some awesome family fun it was home to watch the Badgers kick some tail!  Rose bowl here we come!  And all of that was just Saturday. 

Sunday funday meant another trip to Goodwill where I scored some more gift making materials, a sweater, pair of pants for the sister and an awesome starting off point for some DIY artwork for the house!  Then it was off to a traditional birthday lunch at Conejitos Place in Milwaukee to celebrate my baby sister's birthday.  It wouldn't be a birthday lunch without a frosting war.  I win again!

And now we are all back in our jammies on the couch with the pups watching Four Christmases and laughing until it hurts.  Hope your weekend was as fun as mine!

My Other Parents

I am a few days late on this one but I had to find the perfect pictures to go with it.  On the final day of the month of giving thanks I am thankful for Bob and Shirley. 

The are my grandparents, god parents and third set of parents.  I think it's safe to say I did not have an entirely traditional upbringing.  My parents got divorced when I was young and they still both wanted to see my brother and I as much as possible. 

This resulted in a perfectly split 50/50 custody agreement.  The divorce required both of my parents to work full time so my grandparents stepped up to care for us when needed.



I have been so fortunate to have them in my life.  They have taught me so many valuable things, started around a million traditions I plan to keep with my children and made themselves pretty irreplaceable.

I have so many fantastic memories and pray every day that our baby will be blessed with getting to meet them.