Gotta LOVE Garland...

Garland has taken new heights from that which we remember as kids. It is made out of fabrics, paper and basically anything!

I made a penant garland for Zach's room after he was born while on maternity leave. I found cheap quarters of fabric from JoAnn's and cut out two different shapes, glued the edges to make them two sided, then fabric glued them to the rickrack. It looks so cute.

Well the other day I got a catalog from The Land of Nod. O.M.G. I looked at it I think about 40 times in the past 3 days! The one thing that jumped out to me was this blue and green snowflake fabric garland: ADORABLE!


I just kept going back to it and going back to it... thinking how cute it would look in Zach's Room during the next 5 months of cold weather, and that there was no way I could have time to recreate it, and that I basically had to have it. So I looked it up on their website and after I saw the FREE SHIPPING emblem, I put it in my cart and bought it.

My favorite blog, Dear Lizzy, shows us so many ideas for garland. Liz is amazing in her work and so inspiring. Just look at her latest Halloween garland.

So then I started to look up some on Etsy. A MILLION types of garland. But my eye caught this Christmas Garland. I love that it's fabric... but not sure if I should just do some myself with two-sided scrapbook paper or pay the money and just buy it. I love to make things but it's so hard to find time to do anything crafty anymore. What do you think?

I am having an idea of making our front room where all of Zach's toys are and make it more of a colorful Christmas room, while our back tv room with the fireplace is way more traditional with the red and green, pinecones and such. The Land of Nod show's amazing ideas on how to incorporate colors as Christmas decor. Thoughts to this?

Love it, Leave it...

Love It: Infusium 23 Leave-In Conditioner

This is by far the BEST leave-in conditioner I have ever used. I've tried them all, but let me tell you- THIS STUFF WORKS! Plus you get a HUGE bottle for only around 7.00.

Love It: Tresemme Tres Two Ultra Fine Hairspray

I used to use a $12 hairspray I'd get from Target, but that was before a mortgage & a baby. Now I am SUPER picky about prices, since our budget is much tighter these days. I love this hairspray because it is perfect for spraying away flyaways and setting your curls without the stickyness or hardness of other hairsprays. It's ultra fine (as stated on the bottle) and works great when your hair is down and even up! It's priced great at around 4.00 and smells wonderful too!Leave It: Revlon Photo Ready Foundation

Again, I used to splurge on MAC makeup, but again, that was before a house and a baby. I have tried many types of foundations. My dermo told me never to use mineral makeup, it caused me to break out really bad due to the minerals in it... along with Covergirl, Almay, Arbonne, MaryKay and Avon. I was shocked to hear this, but she said there is ingredients in these that will cause my pores to clog and which leads to acne. So I tried the Revlon Colorstay and I loved it! I wanted to try another Revlon foundation and so I went with this Photo Ready makeup. I will say it does a nice job of evening out your face, but it doesn't last but a couple hours and it's all off my face. I am going back to the Revlon Color Stay.

For the love of Giada...

I must admit, when Giada first came on the seen, I was kind of annoyed with her. Well, alot of annoyed. Not sure yet, I think it was her explanations of the cheeses that I couldn't stand to listen to. lol

But in the past two years, I have came to absolutely love her and her recipes!

I love to cook, and I wish I had more time to do it! But during the week, it's a rush when I get home with Zach to... get him and all the crap I carry to work inside the house; get him settled in the living room with toys & Disney tv; me changed out of my work clothes into comfy clothes; letting the dog outside to go potty; unpack my bags and put dirty dishes in the dishwasher... by then I have about 1/2 hour to get dinner on the table for a hungry mommy and son!

Ryan usually doesn't get home until 8:00pm from training, so I have no help at all with doing all this and making dinner. I have gotten alot better with my routine, saving me time. But it's still a rush and I've gotta know what I am making for dinner BEFORE I get home or I end up standing in the kitchen with a plank stair and a screaming hungry toddler.

So in the hectic evenings of the week, I've tried to make supper time a time for real cooking- and not just throwing easy mac or hamburger helper on the table. I want to make healthy meals for my family and that comes by planning ahead!

To help with changing this mood from painful to pleasurable, I have invested and will soon be investing in some new cookware! We got a set for a wedding gift close to 5 years ago, but I wanted a really nice set, one that would help me to make better and faster meals. Having the correct utensils make all the difference!

In comes Photo A: Giada's Professional Cooking Set (Thank you Target for putting it on sale this week!) I asked my brother-in-law, who is such a great cook, he has catered for so many families in columbus, he's famous! And he said this was a great set and a great price. So I jumped on it since it was on sale. Well actually a woman at the Graceland Target "Jumped" on it as we were walking down the same aisle and she was ahead of me and grabbed the last one. Luckily Lennox had it, so it's all good!


Next comes Photo B: Giada's Pasts Strainer. I freaking LOVE this thing! I make ALOT of pasta dishes, probably 3 a week! I've never seen this before until a few weeks ago and I knew I needed it!

Next comes Photo C: Giada's 4.5 qt. Casserole Dish. The thing I love about this is that there isn't a long handle like a pot. It looks like a serving dish! Love it! I haven't purchased it yet, but plan on doing so eventually.

This next cooking utensil is not Giada's but a GREAT idea from Rachel Ray via Kohls! These come with a knotch in the handl that (wait for it.... wait for it...) SIT'S ON THE TOP OF THE POTS!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! Such an awesome idea, don't you think?

Elena & Travis- Engagement Shoot

Here are some sneak peaks from my engagement photo shoot with my college friend Elena and her fiance Travis. They were such a pleasure to work with! The shoot went amazing, and the photos surely show it!

Ghosts, Goblins and Birthdays... oh my!

We have a busy October and November ahead of us. Besides squeezing in OSU Games, Boo at the Zoo, and photoshoots, we have two big events arising: Our Annual Halloween Party and Zachary's First Birthday Party!

These are weekends back to back. God knows I am going to be running around with my head cut off... but it will be a blast.

I decided last year that Zach's birthday theme would be Dr. Seuss. I like it cause it's different and there is so many fun ideas I have in store. I made the invitations (above) and splurged on a Dr. Seuss personalized birthday banner for 1stwishes.com. Along with a few other items such as center peices and gift bags for everyone. The gift bags consist on Dr. Seuss pencil, notepad, candy, keychain and bookmark. So dang cute! I decided to get cheap red and blue plates and napkins, since they will be thrown away anways.

I usually do a themed halloween party, but this year I just didn't have the funds to go all out. So we are just doing a basic halloween party with the normal scary decorations. I decided I would be a witch. I ordered an adorable short black dress with bell sleeves witch costume from buycostumes.com. Buy costumes is my go-to place for all Halloween decor & costumes. The dress came with a witches hat and I order this black rhinestone spider necklace to wear with it. Isn't it adorable? Then I think I will wear colored tights (orange or green I am thinking) and my heels. Too cute! And the entire costume with the necklace and tights will only cost me $26!

FYI- Target has fun colored tights in the women's sock section for $5.00!

So I am thinking from now until after the new year, I am going to be swamped. Let the good times roll!

Post Much???

Hi. I have been MIA.

I've had a crazy wedding weekend from Friday to Sunday. My co-worker and dear friend Lauren got married and I was in the wedding. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful and Lauren was absolutely gorgeous! I tried look past my exhaustion and enjoy every bit of it because I figured this would be one of the last weddings I will be in since most of my friends are married. It was so much fun. And on Sunday there was a brunch at her sisters... and after that I was done and done. Too tired to think.

Luckily, my wonderful mother-in-law came on Thursday night and watched Zach during this wedding extravaganza.

What else is new? Well, my hubby is having surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) to have a parathyriod taken out. We have done tests and we believe this is the cause of his kidney stones (he has had around 60 kidney stones since college). So it just plain sucks that he is having surgery, but we are hoping this will stop his kidney stones and get back to a picture of health. So we have both set of parents coming down tonight, and it will be an early day at OSU hospital tomorrow. Please feel free to send some prayers our way. Any will help during this.

We plan on relaxing & recovering this weekend. I have engagement photos to work on, as well as preparing for our annual halloween party and Zach's 1st birthday party that will be in a couple weeks. Wooh! I should add something else to my list!

Zachary's 1 Year Photos...