kings and pretty things

this is what best friends look like

2011-10-14T22:59:00.000-05:00

whitney and I love wine.

walk it out

2011-10-06T20:18:00.000-05:00

the weather has been in the 80's all week (fall, where did you go?) so kingston and I are taking full advantage of being outdoors. I'm a little exhausted from work, this stupid cold I caught from d, and running around after kingston all night, so you probably know what that means...

is it the weekend yet?

2011-09-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

fall is my absolute favorite time of year, but it also makes me feel like I have to crunch in every awesome little thing that I want to do before the temperture drops to 0 degrees and the snow starts falling. this weekend d and I are going to take kingston to the apple orchard for some apple picking, picture taking and pumpkin buying. afterwards I'm going out with holly! it's been almost 2 months since we've gone out and had an awesomely drunken time together, plus I have tons of girl talk and gossip to spill that I obviously can't share on here or with any of my other friends. ya know? every girl deserves to have a friendship like I do with holly. she's just the best.

I haven't been around too much lately, and I'm pretty sure I haven't picked up my DSLR in about 2 weeks. I'm constantly taking pictures of k with my phone, it's just so much easier since we're on the go all the time. we've been going on as many walks as possible and hitting up the park for as many hours as we can. also? applefest parades and concerts, halloween shopping and decorating, playing at "gamma & papa's" house, wine nights (chocolate milk for k), and working on k's toddler room. among other things!

isn't he just the cutest stinkin' thing ever? ahhh. he makes my heart melt. "bye bye guys! see you shoon!"

15 random questions

2011-09-23T20:07:00.000-05:00

1. what is a nickname only your family calls you? my family just calls me jaime, but my boss sonya has always called me j-bird. my brother in law randomly called my sister j-bird one day and the first time I heard him say that I was like, "how did you know?!"

2. what's a weird habit of your's? my toe nails have to be painted at all times, and I have to listen to my ipod when I'm in a car. I absolutely can't stand the radio.

3. any weird phobias? I'm terrified of butterflies. they scare the heck out of me.

4. what's a song that you secretly love to blast when you're alone? anything by alanis morisette and adele. I sing my heart out with those wonderful ladies.

5. what are your biggest pet peeves? I think I have too many. girls who act dumb or ditzy on purpose and rude people.

6. one of your nervous habits? I bite my nails. but then again I also bite my nails when I'm bored, so.

7. what side of the bed do you sleep on? the right side.

8. what was your first stuffed animal, and what was it's name? I actually don't remember. I'm guessing it was probably a monkey named bananas or something.

9. what drink do you always order at starbucks? I don't go often but when I do it's almost always a mocha coconut frapp.

10. what's a beauty rule you preach but don't practice? hairspray. if I'm doing a friend's hair I'll only use a little bit, but then I use a ton of hairspray on my own. not to the point of crunchy nastiness, but to where my hair is "secure."

11. what way do you face in the shower? both. I guess it depends on what I'm washing.

12. do you have any weird body skills? I can put my legs behind my head, haha. I used to be in gymnastics when I was younger and have always been pretty flexible.

13. what's your favorite comfort food that is bad but you love to eat anyways? pizza and sour cream and onion chips. yuuummy.

14. time to sleep, what are you actually wearing? a tee shirt and underwear.

15. what is a phrase or exclamation you always say? "balls." I'm known for always saying it. for example: if something goes wrong? balls. I also say "awesome" way too much.

fam(ily)

2011-09-19T21:18:00.000-05:00

I was browsing through pictures on my parent's computer over the weekend and came across these photos that were taken a few weeks ago while we were all waiting for dad to get back home. my mom loves trying to get a picture of all of us together. my mom, dad and duane are obviously missing from the picture but it's the best we can do. I love these guys.

grandpa's little buddy

2011-09-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

my dad and kingston have always had the greatest bond. it makes me so happy to watch them play, laugh and have fun together. even though my dad was gone for 11 months and missed a lot of kingston's first milestones, you wouldn't be able to tell when you watch these 2 together. kingston has my dad wrapped around his little finger.

friday favorites

2011-09-16T13:57:00.001-05:00

happy friday and enjoy your weekend! here are a few links that I've been loving on this past week.

elsie's post on how to style a fishtail braid. so pretty!

I wish I'd had this kind of inspiration when I started kingston's nautical nursery. my love for anchors and anything nautical is in love with this room.

I've been searching etsy a little too much this week and am loving these prints: ship shape, anchor, owl love, captain & pirate.

this wood alphabet and how it was used in this nursery.

a little nursery love: posters & frames above crib/bed, this ikea dresser, this room, this room + wall color, this cute corner, and this awesomeness.

kingston's fall shopping list

2011-09-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

the other day I was going through kingston's dresser and closet and packing up all his clothes that he's grown out of these past few months and replacing them with 18-24 and 2T clothes. doing this every few months always reminds me of how fast he's growing and how big he's getting. his cute cargo shorts are now being replaced by cargo pants, and his go-to nike sandals are soon being tossed aside so he can wear his 1st pair of black converse (I squeeeeled with happiness when the shoe salesman slipped them on his feet for the first time). sometimes as I'm shopping for kingston I'll purposely buy him things in bigger sizes just to be prepared for when the weather changes from 90 to 50 degrees and when kingston has an overnight growth spurt. I happen to share this shopping habit with my mom, who constantly adds to kingston's closet - especially in bigger sizes. my old co-worker and friend, shauna, who has 3 kids under 4 has 2 older boys and is SO generous to come over with bags full of clothes for kingston. everything is always in awesome shape and pretty much brand new. her and I share the love of stores like old navy, baby gap, target and gymboree, which means kingston + old navy jeans & pants for free = happy mama!

I thought I'd share a list of items on kingston's fall shopping list. some of these I've already bought but most are currently on his (my) wishlist!

1. converse - he's going to rock the heck out of these this fall.

2. jeans & cargo pants - almost all of kingston's come from old navy, SO comfortable.

3. zip-up hoodies - old navy wins this too, they're ridiculously soft and cute.

4. waffle-knit tees - comfy and awesome for layering.

5. "prom king" tee - I can't NOT get this for him, right?

6. "sidewalk king" tee - and this. have to get this.

7. champion fleece jacket

8. more zip-up hoodies

9. long sleeved graphic t's

10. rock-n-roll star sneakers

11. zip microfleece jacket

12. microfleece pants

13. puffer vest

14. fleece footed pajamas

15. elmo/cars pajamas - he loves seeing his favorite characters & favorite things on his clothes!

last weekend in photos part 2

2011-09-07T14:34:00.000-05:00

we're soooo happy to have my dad back home!

happy labor day weekend!

2011-09-04T12:49:00.000-05:00

last weekend in photos part 1

2011-09-03T13:44:00.000-05:00

wearing mama's flip flops, playing with grandpa's keys, badminton, grilling burgers, pretty flowers, pushing his bubble mower, football, baseball, splashing in the pool, kickball. visiting jess & dave's house (my sister/brother-in-law) and playing with apollo (great dane/pitbull mix), dave's target practice deer, and throwing rocks in a creek.

and, yes, I took so many pictures that I have to turn this into a two parter. enjoy your weekend!

friday favorites

2011-09-02T13:08:00.000-05:00

hellooo, friday (and september)!

if you follow me on twitter then you know I spent last saturday through tuesday at my parent's house with my family patiently waiting for my dad's arrival from afghanistan. he spent a week debriefing in new jersey and was supposed to be home on saturday. my older brother jeremy and my 9 year old nephew jordan came on thursday from virginia to be here with the family. we waited and waited and waited. every day dad would call and say his flight has either been delayed or cancelled. we tried to pass the time by playing badminton and kickball, tossing around bean bags and playing at the park. we also ate entirely way too much food.

he called on monday and said that he finally has a plane ticket for tuesday and will be landing at 12:07pm. my mom, jeremy and jordan left to pick him up on tuesday. it figures that the day my dad is coming home, the weather decides to go from hot and sunny to gloomy, cool and rainy. depsite the sprinkling rain, I grabbed some of kingston's sidewalk chalk and decorated the pavement in front of my parent's garage with a big welcome home sign. it also figures that an hour before they pulled up into the driveway, it started pouring rain and completely washed my sign away. I quick whipped up another welcome home sign on a few pieces of paper and taped it to the front door.

kingston and my dad were always close. they were best buds! my dad left for afghanistan when kingston was 9 months old. he came to visit for 2 weeks when kingston was 14 months and it didn't take long at all for kingston to remember who his goofy grandpa pederson is. for the past couple weeks I've been reminding kingston that papa is going to be home soon. so when we ask him, "who's going to be home soon?" he smiles and yells, "PAPA!" he also points to his picture whenever we ask him "where's papa?" we weren't surprised one bit that an hour after seeing and playing with my dad, kingston warmed right up to him and started calling him papa. it was pretty awesome to see those 2 back together again. (lots of pictures coming soon, friends!)

I'm happy to be back and am slowly but surely catching up on my favorite blogs! check out a few of my favorite things lately...

stephanie tweeted about this website. every single picture is adorable and creative, so many inspiring shots.

happiness for your walls? yes please. these illustrated decals are adorable and perfect.

if you are slightly obsessed with blue mason jars like me, then you're going to love this tutorial on how to make your own blue jars.

I stumbled upon this seriously awesome DIY chalkboard banner. I made kingston's 1st birthday banner, and I'm definitely using this idea for his 2nd birthday banner.

I someday hope to have a little girl, and this flamingo themed baby shower is such a cute idea.

I really want to make these antipasto kabobs before summer is over. yum!

a work in progress

2011-08-21T17:16:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a few posts ago that I'm in the process of switching up kingston's nursery to his big boy room. I'm not doing a theme route this time, just filling it with DIY projects such as canvases above his crib, a chalkboard/white board easel and random items to make the room "his own."

I love making art, and I especially love to paint. I haven't figured out exactly what I want to do with the (3) canvases for king's room so in the meantime I painted a little something for sonya (my boss/amazing friend) for her 35th birthday this friday. I'm really out of practice and threw this painting together at 11pm last night. to be honest, I was just really excited to peel off the letters to see what it'd look like. I don't love it, but I think sonya will, so I guess that's what really matters.

1) cut out your letters to get a better idea of placement and how you want it to look
2) peel and stick the letters to your canvas (mine didn't stick as well as I had imagined)
3) paint and (optional) drink wine
4) peel the letters off and admire

since my letters didn't stick that well to the canvas some paint got under the letters, but I actually really like the effect that it gives. if you have the same problem, you could add a step 5 and fill in the letters with white paint if you want it to look cleaner, but I'm really liking this result.

kingston and I pretty much lived in hobby lobby every night last week to take full advantage of their 40% coupons and 50% off almost everything in the store. I scored big when I spotted a 2 pack of 16x20 canvas boards for $7.99 which I then took 40% off of. I ended up buying 3 packs because no way am I passing up a deal like that.

lessons in potty training

2011-08-20T20:25:00.000-05:00

the other day we had a tragic accident. kingston flushed my car/house keys down the toilet. the kiddo has always loved keys and has an on going love for all things potty related, so we should have seen this one coming. it took me by suprise as I was flushing the toilet and out of nowhere kingston flies in the bathroom and tosses my keys in the water. my ninja-like skills failed me and I wasn't able to retrieve them in the .2 seconds I had. I immediately called my boss sonya who I had just been shopping at hobby lobby with, she told me she'd call her brother and ask him what to do, then call me back. I then text duane the not so good news and decided to call our maintenance man for advice. he pretty much told me my keys are most likely gone forever but I did what he advised me to do and stuffed a few pieces of toilet paper down the toilet and flushed.

GOOD NEWS (false hope): the toilet clogged right away, and I agreed to pay $30 for him to come the next morning to tear the toilet apart and hopefully save my keys.

BAD NEWS: duane called me the next morning while I was at work to inform me that, indeed, I had to pay $30 for our maintenance man to tell me my keys are long gone.

if you're thinking, "no big deal, just use your spare" then I will tell you that duane (I'm 99% sure it was him) "misplaced" my spare a few months ago. another huge bummer? both my regular set and spare set had come with an awesome remote starter which comes in super handy when you have a child about to get into a boiling hot or freezing cold car.

I now have a pretty dang expensive new set of keys with a remote starter, along with new wall hooks to keep our keys out of kingston's reach. he'll have to learn to love his fake set of keys we got him for christmas last year. like most babies, he's never had any interest in "fake" toys. figures!

and, since we're on the "potty" subject, I might as well let you all know that kingston is a potty training CHAMP. we're fully aware that he's only 19 months old and that potty training boys can be a lot of work, but HE has been showing so much interest the past few months that there's really no stopping him or us. if he's into it, then we're into it and plan to teach him as best we can. he's always gotten excited when we tell him that we have to use the bathroom. he even hands me toilet paper, you guys! (and grabs a few pieces for himself and rubs them on the back of his shorts) we're pretty sure he's got #2 down pat - as long as he lets us know in time to take his diaper off. and, of course, there are times where there's a false alarm and he tells us "no poop" when he's changed his mind. going #1 is going to take some work though, and we're definitely not getting rid of diapers just yet. we're just happy that he's already so excited about the potty training process and wants to learn! hopefully we can keep this up and ditch the diapers sooner rather than later.

friday favorite(s)

2011-08-19T22:51:00.000-05:00

I love re-discovering songs that you once had on repeat for days and days. I had to drive duane's car to work on thursday (that story coming soon) and he had this song playing when I started his car. I had almost forgotten how much I loved it when I first heard it. this song makes me want to drink beer with my friends, and I think that's just great.

shinedown - what a shame

we've been doing a lot of this lately

2011-08-15T20:52:00.000-05:00

now that the weather is a little less hot and a lot less humid, kingston and I have been back to hitting the sidewalks and the parks. which makes both him and I super freaking happy.

friday favorites

2011-08-12T13:25:00.002-05:00

I'm going to start working on transitioning kingston's nursery into a more rad toddler room for him. I found this website when I was pregnant and have been obsessed with it ever since. SO much inspiration!

this song and this video. I dieee.

thanks to danielle for finding the sweetest wedding video possibly ever made. I just love it.

also, thanks to kelly ann for finding this cover of "pumped up kicks." and this one of "jar of hearts" is awesome too.

casey + art + this post = so inspiring.

I've had this song on repeat all week.

I remember seeing this on pinterest and elsie did an awesome tutorial for this DIY project.

speaking of elsie, who's blog I love, this post covers 5 tips for better self portraits. awesome!

and I figured I would let you guys know that I've been loving this nail polish. and this one too.

happy friday, friends! I'll be back later with lots and lots of pictures from mine and kingston's walks and park time!

cheers to the freaking weekend!

2011-08-08T20:42:00.000-05:00

buffalo bill days '11 is over and done, and I'm super relieved. I'm not a teenager (underage drinking is naughty, yes) anymore and just one night of bb days was enough for this mama. my good friend whitney attempted her first bb days and she, too, had enough with the first night.

we went to town friday night and met up with holly and some other friends. the bars, beer tent, streets, and sidewalks were crowded with people. we drank beer and took shots of a new drink called kinky, and I finally got to try my beloved UV cake. things got a little crazy over the next few hours and we ended up only getting 3 hours of sleep before having to wake up and go tubing on the river. everyone else had the same idea because the river was completely colored with tubes, it was freaking packed. I had 3 beers and that was more than enough, I pretty much pumped water down my mouth the rest of the trip. gahhhh. we stopped at two rivers bridge, along with everyone else on the river. a lot of this went on: bridge jumping, mud fights and floating around in our tubes watching crazy drunk people climb like monkeys up to the very top of the bridge... and then jump. after noticing how red whitney and I were getting (3 hours of sleep = forgetting sunscreen) we decided to leave a few friends behind at two rivers and head on down the river to our stop. whitney made a new friend, patrick, the night before so he decided to jump on our made-for-2-not-3-tube and float with us. he was drunk, entertaining and whitney enjoyed pulling his shorts down in front of other tubers. so many images I would love to forget :/

besides feeling totally sleep deprived, we were starving. we picked up pizza, breadsticks and ice cream from a little restaurant called the creamery and brought it back to my parent's house. kingston and my mom were in the pool when we got there, and I'm pretty sure I sprinted right over to kingston and held him for an hour or, you know, however long he let me before squirming away. I like to make plans and hang out with my friends just like any other mama who needs some time to herself, but I really really miss that little pumpkin while I'm away. kingston can now say "whitney" and she taught him to "pound it" with his little fist. this little guy is so stinkin' smart with all the words and names he can say. *proud mama*

whit and I got all dolled up to go out again saturday night but only made it about 2 hours before heading home to pass out for the night. we didn't even have a drop to drink that night. needless to say, next year we are going to take it easy on the first night out, drink plenty of h2o and sleeeeep. I failed at taking pictures BUT I did get a few random ones from the beginning of friday night. blah. oh and, I'm the blondie, holly is the brunette in glasses, and I'm sure you can all guess who my crazy friend whitney is.

so far this week...

2011-08-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

to sum things up: playing with his toys and tackling his 8 foot snake, how I keep kingston happy while I shop my heart out at tj maxx, 4-wheelers (trucks!), new owl pillows (obsessed), riding rides at the mall, quack quack, "texting" on my old cell phone, and kingston's feet.

this weekend is buffalo bill days in lanesboro, which is the town I went to school in and where a lot of my oldest friends are from. we all look forward to buffalo bill days every year, it's a crazy fun time and my friends and I have been counting down for weeks! it's a weekend full of events: bar hopping, beer & brat tents, dj & karaoke, street dances, sand volleyball/baseball/bean bag tournaments, tubing down the river, AND a parade! I've got my cameras charging and am about to hop off the computer and pack my bags. see you guys on monday, have a happy weekend!

show me your teeth

2011-07-31T14:11:00.000-05:00

photo via etsy

the fair!

2011-07-31T13:27:00.000-05:00

yesterday was FUN. duane, kingston and I went to old country buffet for breakfast. I'm really not a fan of their breakfast, but duane loves it and we hadn't been there since we started our diet (that we kinda fell off track with once we went on vacation, whoops). after breakfast I headed over to get my hair done. nothing fancy, just the usual blonde, a trim, side bangs, and face framing layers. I've been going to a new (MUCH CHEAPER) place for almost a year now and I adore the lady who does my hair, the only down fall of going to a cheaper (but still awesome) place is that they don't style your hair for you. so basically she blows my hair dry and I walk out with a hot blonde mess.

kingston took a late nap and ended up sleeping for FOUR HOURS. it was insane. usually he sleeps for a good 2 hours, sometimes 3. my sister jess & brother in law dave came up to hang out with kingston and I at the fair going on in town, so we waited & waited for him to finally wake up. we went to perkins for dinner and throughout the entire meal kingston was a crazy kid and getting up in everyone's face yelling "HIIII HII HI HI." he's so entertaining and people just love him everywhere we go.

the fair was awesome! kingston must have been wired after sleeping for 4 hours because he was SO excited about everything at the fair. he was jumping around and dancing like crazy - all while sitting in his stroller, haha. we walked around and checked out all the rides, games, food, and animals. they always have so many animals to look at and animal shows going on. kingston kept calling the horses and goats "dogs." hahaaa! they had an animal birthing center with a fake cow that kiddos could milk water out of, 2 huge mama pigs and all their adorable little piglets, baby chicks being born, and even a mama cow giving birth! it was crazy hot and humid out so I'm pretty sure our favorite (kingston's too!) part of the fair was the huge snow cones we got. deeelicious!

california vaca part 2

2011-07-29T22:34:00.000-05:00

seaworld is going to be taking the place of my friday favorite's today. which, if you're reading this, I'm sure you don't mind considering the amount of amazingly awesome photos this post contains (and 2 sweet "movies")!

while we were on vacation, we spent a sunday funday at SEAWORLD. they have a huge sesame street waterpark area for kiddos to run around and splash and play in. kingston absolutely loved it, and we all loved watching him have the time of his life as he ran around with the big kids, get sprayed in the face and play peek-a-boo with a slide. there's no better feeling than to see your baby (toddler, actually) have SO. MUCH. FUN.

after kingston completely tired himself out at the waterpark, we strolled around and checked out all the aquariums. dolphins, whales, penguins, sting rays, seals, sea lions, fishfishfish, and sharks, to name a few. I'm terrified of sharks but I totally love them anyway. (seriously is it shark week yet?)

2 words: shamu show. holy awesome! I thought just watching the whales swim around in their enormous aquariums was amazing, then we watched the shamu show and I fell in love with those whales. I can't wait to go back and see it all again. so much fun!

kingston did amazing alllll day. we were all so proud of him, and it definitely helps make the day go smoother. before we headed back home to duane's fam's house, his parents spent a fortune on our dinner. kingston enjoyed our $8 slice of pizza and $12 pasta dish. duane and I even shared our slice of cherry cheesecake with him, and he probably would have ate the whole thing if we'd let him. the ride home we figured he'd pass right out considering our fun filled day (and that it was WAY past his minnesota bedtime) but he played and sang and goofed off in the back with me the whole way home. he fell asleep about 10 minutes prior to pulling into their driveway, haha. figures.

thanks for reading (and watching) about our awesome trip! I plan on looking back at this post next summer while we're patiently waiting to head off on our next california vacation. enjoy your weekend, friends!

california vaca part 1

2011-07-26T21:20:00.000-05:00

it's a tad ridiculous the amount of pictures I took while in california for 5 days. I'm a little peeved that I only have 1 picture of myself but it happens, and I really need to work on getting in front of the cam. hopefully you all can take what I look like and imagine me in these photos with my cute fam.

thursday was spent at airports, in the air entertaining a crazy-no-way-am-I-taking-a-nap 18 month old and chillaxing at duane's parent's house in moreno valley. duane's mom set up the boys' old but sturdy crib for kingston in a room downstairs. the 2 hour time difference didn't seem to bother him too much during the trip or after, he's pretty easy going with going to bed and getting up at appropriate times. props to him on that! friday the whooole family (duane's mom & dad, older brother david, younger brothers matt & tommy, duane, kingston, myself) went shopping at a pretty awesome outlet mall. the highlight of that trip was an awesome frozen yogurt shop that I can't remember the name of, I just know that we had no idea what we were doing and were surprised to find out that the reason they only have one (huge) size cup is that they charge you by it's weight. that makes sense, huh? welp, I got a gigantic heap of birthday cake flavored frozen yogurt with sprinkles, and kingston and I loved every bite of it.

saturday I went with duane, his dad, older brother david & younger brother matt to the giants vs the padres baseball game in san diego. before hitting up the baseball game, we strolled down to the tilted kilt to meet some (old) dudes from their fantasy baseball league. cool. all of the guys and their wives were super nice and even paid for our drinks! they had a bunch of prizes to give away so we all won a few pinetar baseball t-shirts and coffee mugs. after a (free) beer buzz, the whole gang headed to the game. duane's dad bought us (freaking expensive) slices of pizza, and I pretty much took pictures throughout the entire game. I'm not really into baseball and had never been to a game before, but it was pretty cool they let me tag along.

monday was a pretty chill day spent indoors watching reality tv, running around after kingston and eating subway. later on that night duane, his younger brother matt and I went to play mini golf at fiesta village. I lugged around my camera and got a few pictures in between half rocking-half sucking on their 2 courses. I lost the first (super hard) round but won the second round of their regular course. duane was reading off our scores and his brother matt was shocked, "jaime beat me?!" bahaha.

stay tuned for part 2 which will include our nice little sunday spent at SEAWORLD. that's where all the photo goodness (of kingston) is, folks!

friday favorites

2011-07-22T20:03:00.000-05:00

after watching aura's video in this post, I kinda fell in love with the song she used and have kinda been listening to it on repeat for a few days. you can check it out on youtube too!

a recent obsession of mine: color collective.
I will definitely be trying out this braided 'do by keiko lynn. that girl's hair is freaking fabulous!

if you read my makeup favorites post awhile back then you already know my least favorite makeup product is lip stuff. I decided to venture out from my $.98 ELF lipstains (they're so dry) and picked up a few of revlon's just bitten lipstains. I bought flame, passion, twilight, and frenzy. they're a thumbs up in my book! pretty colors, long-wearing, and they feel totally fine on my lips.

I should probably just start calling this series friday favorites + forever21 finds. I mean really...

1. owl cuff bracelet
2. peacock threaded filigree earrings
3. floral teardrop earrings
4. strappy leatherette heels
5. peacock pendant necklace
6. tribal print tank
7. tribal swing skirt
8. flowering sundress

oh and, I swear I'm working on a post (or 2) about our california vacation. happy friday!

because I'm too lazy to update about our cali trip...

2011-07-21T16:26:00.000-05:00

soooo, we're back from california! we got back tuesday night actually, I've just been busy cleaning our messy apartment, unpacking & doing laundry, working, editing vacation photos, and trying to get back into the swing of things. we had an awesome time with duane's family in moreno valley and had an absolute blast at seaworld and at the giants vs the padres game in san diego! until I find the time and energy to finish editing all the photos I took, I'll leave you with a few cell phone pictures from the last week...

playing in his new cars blow up tent - that we had to leave at grandma & grandpa allen's.

drinking beer at the titlted kilt while duane, his dad & brothers meet up with the pinetar fantasy baseball dudes.

napping in the car on the way to seaworld, playing with his uncle's old toys, back home dancing to his fave movie.

dazed while grubbing on crackers and mac & cheese.

be back sooooon with (way too many) vacation pics!

friday favorites

2011-07-08T21:33:00.000-05:00

aaaaand it's friday, again. time for some favorite things.

duane showed me this video of an old man absolutely LIVID about the casey anthony verdict. preach it, grandpa!

I'm still doing the 17 day diet and today is day 17, which means tomorrow my diet pals and I will start cycle 2 for 17 days. I've decided once cycle 4 hits I'm going to celebrate with these bad boys. my mouth is watering!

after a little convincing from my sister I finally decided to pick up the hunger games. I couldn't put the first book down. I loved it. I just started the second one so once I finish posting this, you know where I'll be.

I really want this handbag. simple and perfect!

I also want this makeup brush. I have a similar one from sigma that I use to apply my foundation. I've heard from some beauty gurus on youtube that they like the coastal scents brush better than sigma's. I'm thinking I'll have to test that out myself.

these eyeshadow kits are awesome. I already have a few eyeshadow kits with tons of colors that I never use but for some reason I really want both of these. one has matte colors and the other has shimmer colors. would I actually use these? who knows, but I still want them.

I have oily skin, so of course it gets ridiculous in the summer. I recently bought this "de-slick" spray, and I love it. I definitely see a difference when I wear it. it's pretty much a life saver for my face.

I'm really pumped for this weekend because on sunday a few friends and I are going to valleyfair which is an amusement park in the cities. I used to go a few times every summer but haven't been in about 3 years. I absolutely can not wait. I could spend all day riding rollercoasters (or any ride, really) and never tire of it. I hope the gals I'm going with can keep up!

the 4th!

2011-07-06T19:41:00.000-05:00

we spent the 4th of july weekend at my parent's house! saturday night I went with my sister and brother in law to his family's 4th of july celebration. his family is the definiton of country. they're all so friendly and whenever they get together I feel like I'm going to a high school party. it's just so much fun. we spent the night watching kiddos play and devour piece after piece of watermelon, people take turns 4-wheeling and doing crazy stunts, dave's older brother jamie get everyone going with his karaoke skills, and watching the guys set off some pretty sweet fireworks. all while drinking beer and eating tons of awesome food. by the end of the night my sister and I were huddled together drinking red wine out of red plastic party cups while chowing down on a bag of sour cream and onion chips.

in my last post I mentioned that I was going to make 4th of july strawberries. they were super fun to make. everyone wanted a turn dipping, swirling, and making strawberry goodness. kingston was napping when we made them so I'm excited for next year when he can help out!

I kind of slacked at taking pictures this weekend. basically all I got was pictures of kingston in his pool. shooooot. I suck. I also really need to start getting myself in pictures but people are scared to pick up my camera so I'm going to have to figure this out somehow because this is my blog so I should probably be in some of the pictures. amIright?! onward to pool pictures...

(the view from my parent's house - I was peeking at all the happy tubers down by the river,
jealous I didn't get to do any tubing over the weekend. bummer!)

I spent a good amount of time tonight catching up on everyone's 4th of july weekends and other posts that I've missed over the last few days. it feels good to be back home, caught up with things I enjoy and just be able to relax on the couch and read the hunger games. I finished the first book in a day and let me tell you, I'm addicted. I pretty much CAN NOT WAIT until the movie comes out. I bet it's going to be awesome.

oh and, have I mentioned that tomorrow we'll be ONE WEEK away from leaving to go to california to visit duane's fam? I'm sooo excited!

friday favorites: 4th of july

2011-07-01T11:19:00.000-05:00

sometimes I wonder how the heck some of my favorite bloggers can post every single day (or even 3-4 times a week). don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE that they post as much as they do because I adore their blogs and get all giddy when I see a new post. I just can't keep up. I feel like I just posted my friday favorites and BOOM, it's friday again, and I'm in need of some favorite things. I blame being a mama. ever since kingston arrived time has absolutely, without a doubt flown by. it's crazy and sad all at the same time.

duane has to work this weekend which is a huge bummer because 1) he always works and 2) I really wanted him to celebrate this weekend with the fam. the 4th of july is one of my favorite holidays (nothing tops christmas), has been since I was little. it means summer, yummy food, lots of drinking and celebrating with friends and family, tubing on the river, being outside all day, getting a tan, wearing "nautical" clothing, sparklers, and FIREWORKS. I get excited just thinking about it. I plan to take my dslr AND point and shoot cameras with me this weekend in hopes of capturing everythiiiing.

so, in honor of my (2nd) favorite holiday...

the perfect one-piece

"sailing into the sunset" dress

4th of july strawberries (I'm definitely making these!)

brownie & berries dessert

pretty, pretty fireworks

sparklers!

my little firework, one year ago ♥

have a great 4th of july weekend, friends. enjoy it!

now you know my...

2011-06-27T20:01:00.000-05:00

age: 22
bed size: queen
chore you hate: cleaning the bathrooms
dogs: I grew up with a dog named toby, but he died 3 years ago :(
essential start to your day: a shower
favorite color: mint green or light turquoise
gold or silver: I like both but I usually wear more silver jewlery.
height: 5'7"
indulgences: online shopping at forever21, pepsi max, and shopping for kingston.
job title: sales associate 3 days a week
kids: 1, kingston lee allen
live: rochester, minnesota
mother's name: joanne
nicknames: jai, j-bird
overnight hospital stays: I spent 2 nights at the hospital when I gave birth, then 1 more night when kingston had to go in for jaundice at 1 week old.
phobias or fears: I hate insects, snakes, and mice. I also really hate butterflies and dragonflies. YUCK.
quote: "and to see you're really only very small, and life flows on within you and without you."
right or left-handed: right-handed
siblings: 1 brother and 1 sister. my brother, jeremy, is 10 years older than me and my sister, jessica, is 5 years older.
time you wake up: 6am when I have to go to work. otherwise anywhere between 8am-10am - basically whenever kingston wakes up or when I can't sleep in any longer.
underwear: victoria's secret hipsters. with the pants I wear to work I have to wear thongs, and I haaate them. blegh.
vegetable you hate: green beans
what makes you run late: my hair
x-rays: besides the dentist, I've had x-rays of my right wrist. I broke it in 4th grade playing basketball.
your favorite food: raspberries and pizza!
zodiac sign: scorpio

well. that was fun. hopefully you may have learned something interesting about me, but if not that's okay too!

friday favorites

2011-06-24T20:33:00.000-05:00

about a year ago I started watching beauty guru videos on youtube. just last night I found a new favorite. she's super funny! she also has a blog about being a wife and mama who loves fashion and beauty.

last week I bought these feather hair accents in sun kissed and boho breeze. I'm in love. they were $25 each which is a great buy because you can put them in and take them out whenever you please. I wore sun kissed to work yesterday and got SO many compliments!

this lady takes amazing photos. if I could take photos like her I would be the happiest girl in the world. she does AWESOME work.

I went a little browse-happy on modcloth this week...

it figures this stinkin' adorable shoulder bag is out of stuck. hmph!

I need to order this scarf before it's sold out. love it!

owl in a row ring. SO cute.

a mustache glasses stand. hilarious.

a pretty, pretty doormat.

an anchor doormat! I'm obsessed with anchors (and owls).

"everything is going to be ok" book. so awesome.

a nacho wallet. bahaha. I feel like I should buy this for one of my friends.

haaappy friday everyone! cheers to the weekend!

lately

2011-06-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

wowza, this week kind of flew by. I actually have a few things I want to blog about but until I get the energy to sit down and type it all out, here are a few cell phone pictures from this week!

- we've been going for a lot of walks lately. we even have a "route" that we go and each time we go a few blocks further down. kingston never sits still that long and I'm amazed that he doesn't fuss to get out and walk. too much stuff to look at I guess, which is fine by me because it's actually really relaxing. - a bowl full of mac & cheese that kingston later tossed on the floor. (I guess he's over his love for mac & cheese) - passed the f out. - loves mama & daddy's big bed. - eating lunch and looking like such a BIG BOY.

on tuesday night we went to chuck e cheese! this was kingston's 2nd time at chuck e cheese but the first time he was only 6 months old (we went with my 9 year old nephew) so he actually ENJOYED it this time! as soon as we got there he took off and started screaming "OOOO!" at everything. this was duane's first time at chuck e cheese, so he had a lot of fun spending all of our tokens on all the games. the only downside of going to places like this is that it always smells like feet, kid sweat and pizza, ugh. I'm excited to take kingston when he's older and can play some of the games all by himself!

yesterday me, duane, my boss sonya, sonya's husband ron, and my friend/co-worker lisa started the 17 day diet! this is mine and sonya's second time doing this diet. we started it back in january and made it the full 4 cycles. I'm really excited to post ALL about this diet and how awesome it is (okay, it's not awesome but it WORKS) but I'll have to save that for another day. and, no, it's not just for 17 days people. it's 4 cycles of 17 days and it basically re-teaches you how to eat healthy! I'm the only one working out (30 day shred whoop, whoop), so I'm really hoping to reach my NEW goal weight this time around.

17 months old

2011-06-19T19:43:00.000-05:00

oh man. kingston is 17 months old today, and I can't believe it. he's getting SO BIG and so stinkin' smart. he learns something new everyday, whether it be a new word or a new dance move. it's not all cute, fun and hilarious times though. his 2 year (we think) molars are coming in EARLY so, naturally, he's turned into a complete monster. his monster side likes to come out when his gums are really hurting, when he's told no, or when he can't have something he wants (so basically all the time, haha). we've really been trying to work on helping him with his frustration when he's told no or when he doesn't get what he wants because recently he's turned to hitting and biting. it's pretty freaking ridiculous, and I'm not a fan of it. I've tried a few different methods, and it's getting a little better but eh, I guess that's just one of the joys of raising a toddler. amIright? I sure hope so.

when he isn't being a crazy kiddo, he's the sweetest and funniest little guy I've ever seen. he has a new shoulder dance that he likes to whip out when he's eating, in his carseat, or just walking around the apartment singing to himself. he also has a few new walking "techniques" such as hunching over and walking fast with his hands either behind his back or straight out in front of him. when he really, really wants something he points, sticks his tongue out and pants like a dog. he's completely obsessed with our bed! seriously every few minutes he'll walk into our bedroom and if nobody follows him, he'll come peeking out the door and yell "bed! bed!" to us so that we can throw him on the bed and play with him. he likes to wear my flip flops, crouch down and smell people's feet (bahaha), play with my makeup and makeup brushes, and help me clean by using his vacuum popper and our duster. this is such a fun age and with every new word he learns I get SO EXCITED about him being able to speak in full sentences. he already makes us laugh like crazy so I know it's only going to get better, and I seriously can't wait.

he's kind of amazing.

happy father's day

2011-06-19T13:06:00.000-05:00

kingston and I are pretty lucky to have this guy around everyday. last night when duane got home from his "father's day pool tournament" downtown at top shots we had subway, and I let him open his gifts a little early (after a lot of begging went down). he's pretty dang easy to buy for and since I've used up a lot of my clever/crafty ideas the past few years, I just bought him a 24 case of diet mountain dew, a pack of mike & ikes, 2 pairs of shorts, and 2 polos. he rarely buys himself clothes so basically his newer wardrobe for the past 3 years has been bought by me. plus he needs a few new clothes for when we fly to california next month to visit duane's family! this will be kingston's 3rd time on a plane (once to california, once to arkansas), and I'm hoping it goes as well as the last 2 times. anyway, this morning duane and kingston went for a walk while I showered and got ready. then we went to old country buffet for breakfast, which is duane's favorite so there's no way I could say no. duane has to work today from 12-9 so that's kind of a bummer but overall I think he had a pretty awesome father's day. he won 2nd place in the pool tournament yesterday which is $75, won $100 on $20 in pull tabs, got some cool gifts, and had a delicious breakfast! he deserves it all ;)

kingston and I are pretty lucky to have this guy around as well. that's my dad who is pretty much the BEST dad and grandpa a girl and her kiddo could ask for. right now he's serving in afghanistan, he's been there since last september and will be home at the end of august this year! when I was a senior in high school he served a year in iraq so it's a huge bummer that he had to go back, especially now that kingston is here. my dad sees it as an "army adventure" and we're VERY proud of him!

friday favorites: hair products

2011-06-17T20:31:00.001-05:00

I love hair products. I really, really do. it's hard for me to go through the hair product aisles and not buy something because there's just SO MUCH STUFF.

I've been blonde my whole life, but I highlight the crap out of my hair thus making it bright blonde, which I prefer. I dyed my hair red 2 years ago, and it was AWESOME. I loved it, but then it faded and it sucked. then I slowly but surely went back to blonde. I thank my lucky stars to have such strong hair because after dying it red and all the blonde I put in my hair, you'd think it would be fried and falling out but nope! props to my hair I guess?

here's a list of hair products I'm currently loving.

shampoo:
I'm sure I'm not the only one that switches up my shampoo constantly, but these are currently in my shower (and have been for a few months)!

clairol shimmer lights - this is my all time favorite purple shampoo! I get mine from sally's and always buy the huge bottle (31.5 fl oz).

herbal essences hello hydration - this is a great moisturizing shampoo plus it smells really good.

suave professionals almond & shea butter - so inexpensive and always leaves my hair SO smooth and silky! when I style the crap out of my hair I always use this shampoo the day after.

conditioner:
suave professionals color protection - I go through conditioner like nobody's business. I always have 2 or 3 bottles stored in the bathroom cupboard. this conditioner is awesome - inexpensive and conditions the heck out of my ends!

aussie moist 3 minute miracle deep conditioner - I don't have to use this conditioner too often but if I ever feel like my ends suck or my hair is getting dry/frizzy from all the STUFF I do to it - I'll use this and BAM! my hair is back to being awesome.

hairspray:
garnier fructis full control anti-humidity hairspray - oh man, I've tried so many hairsprays throughout the years. I'm a hairspray queen and like my hair to be "controlled" but not gross and crusty. this hairspray is AMAZING. it's inexpensive, lasts all day, looks natural, and HI anti-humidity! doesn't get any better than that.

other:
herbal essences none of your frizziness smoothing leave-in creme - I use this on my frizzy hair days. you all know what I'm talking about. this stuff will help you (and your frizzies) out!

got2b guardian angel heat protector/flat iron balm - I reeeeally love this product. it gives a pretty looking finish to your hair. I use this before I straighten or curl/style my hair. they have one meant for curling your hair but my hair curls pretty well so I just stick with this one all the time. I have naturally straight hair but after I blow dry my hair, some of my layers flip in or out so I quick run through with my straightener.

john frieda go blonder controlled lightening spray - I can't say enough good things about this product. I tried it a few months ago when my roots had grown out but I was too lazy to schedule a hair appointment. this stuff worked the very first time I used it (keep in mind it doesn't need to be used often!) I only use it on my roots but it can be used for highlights or all over color. this product is going to save me from getting my hair done all the time. thanks, john frieda!

oh and, if you love makeup like I do but didn't catch last week's makeup favorites post you should probably check that out because it kinda rocks.

happy friday!

pregnancy survey

2011-06-12T21:14:00.002-05:00

okay friends, ready for a little flashback to the myspace quiz/bulletin craze? sorry for the lame-ness, but I think quizzes/surveys are an awesome and easy way to get to know a person a little better. I'll be doing a few of these to link in my "about" and "birth story" sections, so be prepared for more of these bad boys.

if you want to learn more about my pregnancy with kingston then read on, folks!

1. Was your pregnancy planned?
no. my life motto was, "I will never have kids. thanks, but no thanks" - this has since changed :)

2. Were you married at the time?
no, I had been in a relationship with duane for 6 months (yikes).

3. What were your first reactions?
well, I cried. he was speechless. we didn't know what to do, so we went to walmart and bought "what to expect when you're expecting," and I told him I would be choosing the name because it's only fair ;)

4. Was abortion an option for you?
for a minute it crossed my mind. a very, very SHORT minute.

5. How old were you?
20 when I found out, 21 when I had the little peach.

6. How did you find out you were pregnant?
I was a week late, took a test & it was negative. took another test 2 days later & it was positive. went to planned parenthood juuuust to be sure. and sure enough, preggo! :)

7. Who did you tell first?
duaneee

8. Did you want to find out the sex?
oh my god yes!

9. Due date?
february 2, 2010.

10. Did you have morning sickness?
yes indeed, up until the verrrryy end. puking and feeling nauseous became a very normal, everyday thing for me :/

11. What did you crave?
when I was super sick alllll I could eat was plain bean & cheese microwavable burritos. ridiculous. I also craved WATER. I've never drank so much water in my LIFE. I was dead thirsty night & day.

12. What irritated you?
duane, haha. and work.

13. What was your first child's sex?
baby boy :)

14. Did you wish you had the opposite sex of what you were getting?
nope, I didn't care either way. I'm actually really glad we had a boy first. boys are just awesome. I can't wait for him to be "the big brother" someday!

15. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy?
about 25 lbs.

16. Did you have a baby shower?
yes, I had 2. and they were both fabulous!

17. Was it a surprise or did you know?
I knew about them both.

18. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
he came 2 weeks early. I had a feeling he'd be an early bird & mommy was right! I woke up at around 10:45pm 1/18/10 because I thought my water broke or that I was peeing myself, but when I turned on the lights it was blood. soooo, we drove across the street (literally - very convenient) & I gave birth 1/19/10 at 5:09pm :)

19. Where did you give birth?
the hospital right across the street ;)

20. How many hours were you in labor?
18 hours, but I only pushed for about 20-25 minutes.

21. Who drove you to the hospital?
duane

22. Who watched you give birth?
duane and my mom

23. Was it natural or c-section?
naturalllll.

24. Did you take medicine to ease the pain?
ohhh definitely. I have nothing against epidurals or mamas who choose them!

25. How much did your child weigh?
6 lbs 8 oz and 19 1/2 inches long - little peanut!

28. When was your child born?
january 19, 2010. exactly 2 weeks early.

30. What did you name him/her?
kingston lee allen <3

* the pictures are off my facebook and can I just say that facebook has crazy terrible quality? yuuuuck. sorry for the fuzzy photos, guys!

the zoo!

2011-06-12T13:34:00.000-05:00

duane had the day off from work yesterday so we decided to take kingston to oxbow park which has a pretty decent zoo, plus it's free! it was a little chilly which is ridiculous because just a few days ago it was 103 degrees. that's minnesota for you I guess. kingston loved it, and I got to practice shooting in manual mode. I'm still new at it, but I'm trying!

while we were at the zoo it was cutting into kingston's normal nap time schedule. schedules are awesome EXCEPT when you have to do stuff outside your schedule, then it gets a little tricky. when we got home, kingston decided that he wanted to completely skip his nap. bad idea, little buddy. he would rub his little red, tired eyes all day and was super crabby. but didn't wanna nap. so, we went to the park next to our apartment, had a late lunch/early dinner from applebees, played inside, took a bath, and FINALLY it was bedtime for our little monster. duane rented gnomeo and juliet for us and brought home blizzards from DQ (mint oreo is my fave)!

be prepared for a crap ton of photos because that's kinda the best part.

duane is back to work today so kingston and I are off to shop and play at the mall. happy sunday, friends!

friday favorites: makeup

2011-06-10T21:44:00.001-05:00

want to know what I wear on my face almost every day? I didn't think so, but I'm going to let you all know anyway because I'm pretty much obsessed with makeup. I have a crazy collection (that I hardly ever wear except for my favorites), and I'm always browsing through the makeup section in stores or online to see if there's anything I should try because, you know, you can never have too many eyeshadows or nail polishes. here are my current makeup favorites which are my go-to products on the daily!

foundation:
for years I used bare escentuals bareminerals matte powder foundation. eventually I got tired of paying around $30 for it and really just wanted to try something new.

right now I'm using revlon colorstay foundation for oily/combination skin in natural beige. I want to mention that I use a sigma flat top synthetic kabuki brush to apply it. I love this brush and it works SO WELL with liquid foundation. it's heavier than I'm used to so I try to apply as less of it as possible.

concealer:
hard candy glamoflauge in light. again this stuff is pretty heavy so I apply as little as I can. I've heard people say it's a dupe for kat von d's tattoo concealer.

powder:
I've tried a lot of different powders throughout the years. I'm always on the hunt for something better. right now I'm using maybelline dream matte powder in sand/medium. it's inexpensive and really works with my skin. so for right now, it's a keeper.

another powder I use and have used for years is bare escentuals mineral veil. it's awesome but obviously more expensive than maybelline ;)

bronzer:
my all-time fave bronzer is MAC bronzing powder in bronze, but after kingston dropped/threw it and it crushed into tiny bits, I swung by the drugstore in search of a quick find. and what do you know, I found 2 that I really love.

milani bronzer XL all-over glow in fake tan and milani baked bronzer in soleil. the baked bronzer has a shimmer to it so I only use a tiny bit of this on top of the XL bronzer. it gives a nice, pretty glow.

blush:
I don't wear blush that often but if I do my favorite is NARS blush in orgasm.

eyeshadow:
urban decay eyeshadow primer potion - this is a STAPLE.

urban decay naked palette - if you don't own this already, you should. just sayin'.

wet n wild trio palette in walking on eggshells. I pretty much wear this palette every day!

eyeliner:
maybelline unstoppable eyeliner in onyx. this is the. best. eyeliner. ever. I've been wearing it for years and will probably wear it for years to come. it's inexpensive, VERY black, lasts forever, and is just plain awesome.

mascara:
I have so many mascaras that I really like. my current fave is revlon grow luscious mascara in blackest black. I really love this stuff, especially the wand. I'm so happy I tried this mascara because, to me, it's a dupe for my all-time favorite mascara, dior diorshow mascara, but who the f wants to spend $25 on mascara? not me. so thank you, revlon, for saving me money. I tried the new grow luscious plumping mascara that they came out with but I didn't like it, the wand sucked and the formula was a little too wet for my liking. it separated my lashes and made them longer, so how exactly is that plumping anything? meh.

two of my other mascara faves are covergirl lashblast volume mascara and maybelline volum' express colossal mascara.

lip stuff:
in high school there's no way you would have caught me without lipgloss on but for the past few years lipgloss is my least fave make-up product. I don't like the feeling of it on my lips and I just find it really annoying. BUT every now and then (basically for special occasions) I'll throw on a little something. one day I was at target and the ELF section had a huge sale going on, so I picked up a few $.99 lip stains. they're not amazing or anything, but I actually kind of like them. the clear gloss on the other end of them is also pretty handy! my favorite colors are first date and heartbreaker. the red carpet red is also fun to play around with.

for every other day I'll use carmex. yep. I've used this stuff for years, and I love it.

nail polish:
I don't go too crazy with buying nail polish. I'll buy a new color every now and then if I really like it. right now I'm loving revlon nail polish in craving coral. I put this on my toes because I bite my fingernails like crazy and it's pointless painting them (I can't afford to get my nails done all the time like I used to, shucks). I think it's a perfect coral color for summer. I also really love revlon nail polish in minted!

whew! that was a lot of stuff. I was going to include my hair favorites, but I might as well save that for next friday since that was a crap ton of makeup to check out and lord knows I have just as many hair products.

let me know if you spotted any of your favorites up there and also feel free to recommend any of YOUR favorites because I think we all know that I'll check them out for sure.

wordless wednesday, kinda

2011-06-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

I know I've mentioned it before but can I just say that I love pinterest? I know some people think it's just another waste of time on the internet, and I'm totally okay with that. not only is it a LOAD of inspiration and just plain awesome things to look at but it saves up space on my laptop because instead of saving all this crap - I just pin it onto a board. pretty handy if you ask me. so instead of posting tons of pictures of my adorable little pumpkin boy (more will be up soon enough, my friends), I'm going to include some of my recent fave pins! cool?

a few DIY photos...

(DIY link)

a little knot & braid hairspiration...

(DIY link)

words to remember...

pretty photos...

heaven...

and with that, I die. what I wouldn't give for a chocolate chip cookie dough brownie! or maybe some raspberry swirl cheesecake!

friday favorites

2011-06-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

a few cell phone pictures: passed out in the car after a fun weekend at grandma's, a painting I did a few months ago that I gave to my sister for her birthday (she had told me she wanted a copy of it, aw), kingston is not a fan of strollers/carts - "up! up! up!", and a happy toddler doing his own thing in target.

now onto a few of my friday favorites...

love love love this song.

I don't really consider myself a lady gaga fan but some of her songs are pretty awesome, and her new album is pretty rad! a few of my faves are you and I, the queen, electric chapel, and hair. they're all so catchy and fun.

I took a "30 days of simply SLR" class, taught by faith of simplicity, for the month of may. WORTH EVERY PENNY. I didn't know the first thing about taking pictures in manual mode on my new canon t1i and now I totally get it thanks to faith. I have a lot of learning to do yet but I'm so glad I know the basics! I can't wait to take more of her classes. she's awesome. if you're interested in checking out some photos I took for her class, go here.

bahahaha. this video.

spongebob squarepants, anyone? duane showed me this yesterday on TV and, yep, we found it pretty hilarious.

safari themed forest wedding. lots of pretty photos! and the one with all the ladies wearing different pairs of rainboots? love it.

I recently picked up 2 new reads that I'm pretty excited about. I'm pretty much in love with chelsea handler so it's obvious I'm going to love her new book as well. and water for elephants? I wanted to see the movie SO BAD when I first saw the previews but I wanted to read the book first so I'll just check it out when it comes out on DVD. books are always better than the movies but if it has reese witherspoon in it, I'm going to love it no matter what. have any of you guys read these books? what did you think of them??

welp, that's it for today. short and sweet! next friday I'm going to do a post with my favorite makeup & hair products. I'm always buying new makeup and crap for my hair, and now that it's summer I've gone a little crazy the past few weeks with new nail polish, bronzer, and blonde hair products. so that will be pretty fun (for me)!

wordless wednesday

2011-06-01T21:36:00.000-05:00

friday favorites

2011-05-27T23:21:00.001-05:00

I love reading friday favorites on other's blog so I figured I would start my own cause, ya know, I have a lot of favorite things to share!

I don't like country music. never have, probably never will. but I do like this song.

duane and I sat reading this website for almost an hour the other night. we were laughing SO hard.

this concealer is awesome and inexpensive. it's my new favorite concealer for sure. I've heard it's a dupe for kat von d's tattoo concealer, so that's pretty awesome because kat's is around $25. steal!

it is very safe to say that I'm addicted to perfume. I don't know why I've never tried this perfume before but it's definitely one of my new faves.

I have a top almost identical to this one but mine is from charlotte russe, black/grey/lime green, and TOO BIG. I'm thinking I might have to replace it with this one. I love leopard print, sorry 'bout it.

now that we're on one of my favorite subjects (shopping at forever21), I might as well let you all know that I want this dress, these flats (leopard print, we meet again), this top, this peasant top, these awesome dreamcatcher earrings, this owl necklace, these shorts for lounging around the apartment, and this purse. WHEW! that's a lot of stuff (and I only got through half the new arrivals, yikes).

I hope you all have an awesome memorial weekend!

yep, this is a venting post

2011-05-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

what a horrible freaking morning at work today. I've vented to quite a few people about this but it's still bothering me.

one of our newer massage therapists, her name is sara, agreed to come in on thursday mornings to deep clean our work place for a little extra money. she's a single mama of a 1 year old boy and also cleans rooms at a hotel for a side job. is that an excuse to (attempt to) steal from a co-worker? HELL NO.

and that co-worker she attempted to steal from is ME (and who knows who else?!). before getting into the drama, let me just say that sara has only been at massage envy for about 2 months and has a very awkward and shy personality. I can get along with almost anyone so I have been nothing but nice to sara. I've asked her about her 1 year old son, her crappy baby daddy, her jobs and how she basically relies on food stamps to eat. she even invited kingston and I to her little guy's 1st birthday a few weeks back (we didn't go and I'm sure glad we didn't).

this morning I got to work at 7:30 and sara was already there cleaning. I left my purse on one of the chairs up front like I normally do while I did my opening procedures. I walked in the back and closed all the massage room doors, but I didn't see sara. as I was coming through one of the doors to go up front, I noticed sara quickly going through the door on the other side as she headed the opposite direction. I thought that was weird because she usually would have stopped to say hello. I didn't think too much of it and grabbed my yogurt out of my purse and noticed I forgot to grab a spoon from the break room when I was in the back. so I walked to the back and noticed sara in the storage room getting supplies so I said good morning. when I came back up front I opened the door and saw her hovering over the chair that my purse was sitting on. she quickly shuffled out of the way. ... UGH. really, sara? I walked over and noticed my wallet sitting on top of my purse, open. great! our conversation went a little something like this...

*keep in mind sara is a very awkward mid-20 year old who obviously does not like confrontation*

me: what are you doing?
sara: nothing, I was just... looking for something.
me: why is my wallet sitting on top of my purse and why is it open?
sara: I don't know...
me: I'm not stupid. why did you open my wallet?
sara: *VERY awkwardly* I was just looking at it and it popped open.
me: (thinking to myself, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?) did you take anything?
sara: no.
me: (disappointed, sad, confused, furious, pissed, still in shock) well... I'm really sorry you did that.
sara: *runs in back*

you guys. I have never had this happen to me before (my sister doesn't count) and I was seriously shaking. she looked so sad and pathetic that even though I was pissed beyond belief, I stayed calm and tried not to flip out on her stupid ass. it just really sucks that after being SO nice to this girl, this is how I get treated in return. I immediately had a killer headache, and I was shaking while I had to make phone calls and answer incoming calls and deal with clients. I text my boss sonya (if you've read a few of my entries you'll know that sonya is like a second mom to me) and told her "HUGE PROBLEM" and quickly explained the story via text because sara had awkwardly come back up front to start cleaning in sonya's office. when she came back up front I had been counting the money in my wallet and making sure nothing was stolen. nothing was missing, thank goodness.

I'm sure you all can guess the outcome of sara's complete stupidity. she got fired. sonya didn't let her finish the day of massages that she had scheduled. oh and, can I just say that karma started early for her? her first client showed up but her next 2 did not, they totally no-showed her ass. GOOD. she had 2 more scheduled after that but sonya sent her packing. I really hope she learns from this and teaches her little kiddo RIGHT FROM WRONG.

thanks for listening and letting me vent (even more), friends! :)

sandbox lovin'

2011-05-24T22:04:00.000-05:00

kingston and I stayed at my parents' house this past weekend. he played with his new turtle sandbox which is surprisingly really small. I mean the turtle is huge but the main sandbox part is not. there's a little ledge to sit on and a "lazy river" around the top of it but come on, my child is 16 months old and average height/weight and barely fits in that thing. lame. my mom bought him MORE sandbox toys. she also washed all his 18-24 month clothing that she bought him, so yep, my child has more clothes than I can make room for. it's kinda crazy how much my mom and I both love to shop, especially for kingston. he's one spoiled little boy.

the last few pictures are of the pot I painted for my mom for mother's day/her graduation. I like how it turned it. I didn't take any pictures of the geraniums I bought to go IN the pot because I haven't the slightest clue how to go about doing that. so I just set the pot & the flowers, along with her gardening gloves, on the counter and waited until she noticed. she loved 'em. for my mother's day gift she bought me one of my fave perfumes - chanel chance (and let me sleep in super late on sunday!) she's one awesome mama. oh, and the flowers in the background are from duane's mom. she bought them for me on her last day here because I'm one awesome mama. she's so sweet :)

relax

2011-05-19T21:43:00.000-05:00

oh my gosh you guys. I can finally breathe. duane’s mom left tuesday night, I’m done with my 3 day work week (it’s stressful sometimes okay), the apartment is semi-clean, the laundry is done, and I can sit and relax... for a little bit.

kingston and I are going to my parent's house this weekend and grandma has all kinds of new toys for kingston including a pretty sweet turtle sandbox to go with his new sandbox toys from mama & daddy. every kid has to have a sandbox, ya know? we haven't been to visit in awhile so I'm getting her mother's day & graduation gifts ready. her job of almost 20 years closed down and paid for her to attend 2 years of school, which she completed with a 4.0 GPA every single quarter. she's such a little smarty pants. basically all she did was study, study, study and talk about her homework and teachers. my dad is in afghanistan (he served a year in iraq a few years ago and is now serving a year in afghanistan, he'll be home this september) so school is really all she had to keep her busy. now that school is over you'd think she'd be out applying for badass accounting jobs but instead she's outside doing yardwork and working on her gardens. I got her a nice heavy-duty pair of gardening gloves, an engraved ceramic stone for one of her gardens and a potted plant/flowers. I'm planning on painting the pot myself and HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) getting kingston's hand prints on the pot as well. it's gonna be messy and awesome, and I really hope it turns out. I got the awesome pot painting idea from lovely melissa over at dear baby. I'll photograph the final result :)

here are a few pictures from the past weekend when we went to mall of america and let kingston get his ride on. and who doesn't love clapping pictures? ;)

holy busy week

2011-05-13T20:03:00.001-05:00

hi, friends! this week has been super busy. duane's mom flew in from california early this morning and will be here til tuesday so we've got lots of fun things planned for the weekend. I have a hair appointment tomorrow morning then we're heading to the mall of america for the afternoon then off to my boss, sonya's, house for their housewarming party. it's probably going to be a great day. I have to try to get in my 3 assignments for my SLR class I'm taking. with the amount of pictures I take on the daily I never thought it would be this hard to set aside a few minutes to try to take some fast shutter & slow shutter photos. sheeeesh. but I'm REALLY loving this class and all the fun things I'm learning. I bought my canon t1i with absolutely no clue how to use it for what it's meant for (manual duhhh). now I just have to get cracking on those photos!

I really wanted to start my "friday favorites" today but seeing as I've had no time for anything, I'll have to start that next friday. so instead, I'll leave you with this, courtesy my lovely boyfriend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXbpZnYmo38 - even if you're the world's biggest prude, I hope you'll still find this as funny as I do.

also, umm, would anyone happen to know why my font & post title font are not the same fonts that I set them to in my template design? maybe it's just my computer (???) but I don't see "arial" or "lobster" anywhere on this blog. dumb.

happy mother's day

2011-05-08T20:33:00.000-05:00

cheers to an amazing mama's day! "brunch" at old country buffet, a hello kitty basket stuffed full of goodies, gorgeous flowers with balloons for the kiddo, shopping with kingston and buying him an ON SALE $19 pair of nike sandals, eating slice upon slice of watermelon, working out for the first time in 2 weeks, and basically just being amazed at the overall wonderfullness that is my son. so here's to you, kingston, for making me a mama. I love you.

I highly suggest that we become facebook friends because I took the greatest ever video of kingston today. he is obsessed with balloons (ever since his 1st birthday party, naturally) and demanded that he got to play with the balloons attached to my flowers. he would hold them tight & when he would let go, he'd yell in the most concerned voice ever "oh noooo!" it's just the greatest thing in the world.

happy mother's day to all you beautiful ladies!

baby hawk

2011-05-06T20:07:00.000-05:00

kingston decided to give himself a mohawk during lunch yesterday with a little help from his sticky food :)

park picture overload

2011-05-01T13:35:00.005-05:00

the past two fridays I've watched sonya's 5 year old kiddo rj. for those that missed the memo, sonya is my boss and second mom all rolled into one. on friday I wanted to switch things up a bit to make sure kingston got some play time in with rj before he had to take his nap (the last time rj came over kingston had a hell of a time going down for his regular nap) - and my plan worked without a hitch. we went to pick up rj from school at 1130 and spent TWO HOURS at silverlake park (a huge, awesome park by our apartment). as soon as we got home, kingston passed right out & rj and I started watching a movie and both fell asleep within 10 minutes. I can't remember the last time I took a nap. it was nice :) afterwards, we had lunch and scarfed down a ton of watermelon, then went to the park next to our apartment. it was a gooood day.

falling slowly

2011-04-28T23:23:00.003-05:00

the other night I was watching the voice (christina aguilera is on it, ya know?) and this couple came on singing a duet and oh. my. god. they're SO good! I did a little google searching and the song they sang is falling slowly by glen hansard & marketa irglova. it's such a pretty song, and I've been playing it on repeat all night. I decided to do a little more searching on the adorable couple from the voice and found out they go by the name elenowen. I checked them out on itunes and their version of falling slowly is up so of course I'll be listening to their's on repeat now. check it out!

(this is the original recording)

(elenowen's recording)

15 months old

2011-04-27T21:15:00.000-05:00

when a doctor tells you your child is 7 months ahead for his age, I think I deserve a little bragging time. am I right? I'm one proud mama. and even if he was 7 months behind, I would still be one proud mama!

on tuesday kingston had his 15 month appointment (he turned 15 months old on april 19th). he's becoming very skeptical of strangers which is so strange to see him do because he has always been so friendly and would jabber up a storm around anyone. now when he sees someone new, he takes the time to think about who that person is and want they're going to do. he usually checks them out a little bit, then will ask them a question with one of the words he knows. "bun?" "again?" haha. it's pretty funny to watch how he questions people. in the end, though, he usually always gives a smile & becomes his silly ol' self.

he didn't give the nurses his "silly ol' self" treatment. he knew exactly what they were up to and basically cried his little head off while getting weighed and measured. it's like he KNEW one of them was going to be the person who made mama & dada hold him down while they jabbed him in the leg for those darn shots ;(

his doctor, however, he really seems to like (after about 5 minutes or so of watching her every move). he likes her SO much that he shows off all his mad skills for her. he really helped me out by backing up all my "he can do this and say this and this" stories that I gush on and on about. sometimes babies are great at making their proud parents look like complete liars (they're so smart like that). he talked up a storm (this kiddo says a lot of words for only being 15 months old), showed her how he's a "problem solver", and how well he listens and reacts to what someone says. the doc left very impressed and let us know that we can skip his 18 month appointment because he's way past 18 months - he's where a 22 month old should be. *beaming mom face*

kingston's stats...
height: 31 1/4 inches
weight: 24 lbs 12 oz

life as we know it

2011-04-22T21:11:00.001-05:00

ahhh. I have new followers. I'm so excited! my blog is so lame and new right now so I apologize I don't have much fun stuff to look at yet. I'm working on it, I promise. welcome, new friends!

for those of you new peeps who didn't know me before I became a mama should probably know that ever since I became a teenager, I decided I never wanted to get married or have kids. it just didn't seem like "me." I wanted an amazing career (daycare? babysitters? no thanks), to be able to go out and do what I want any time day or night, to be able to date cute guys and not get too attached (what's the fun in that?), and just be CAREFREE.

turns out, now that I'm a mama, I can't imagine thinking the way I used to. I can still have an amazing career, but as of right now I've decided to put college on the side burner and work 3 days a week at a job I don't particularly love but can tolerate (thanks to my wonderful co-workers). I'll get there someday, but until then I don't want to miss a second of my son growing up. thank goodness I partied and went out with friends and did crazy (stupid) things when I was in high school because partying every night and running off to do who knows what doesn't seem as appealing as it did back then, ya know? don't get me wrong, I still love a good night out with my friends every now and then, I would just rather not be too hungover to play with my child.

not only has my mind changed about having ONE child, I would like 2 more. preferably another boy and 1 girl. I already have both of their names picked out and pretty much have duane on board with my choices (easy as pie). according to duane, we are going to at least be engaged by the time we have our next child (hopefully within the next 3 years), which I'm totally on board with. yep, it took a long time to get here but I can actually imagine myself picking out a wedding dress and attempting to plan MY wedding. I should probably knock on wood after saying all this.

it's crazy how 1 unplanned move can change your life and completely change the way you view your future. I can't believe my teen self didn't want THIS...

a whale of a day

2011-04-18T20:17:00.000-05:00

our day in cell phone pics...

this morning kingston was walking, tripped over who knows what, and half choked on his whale cracker/half choked on his snot (poor bubba has a cold). he was pretty sad after that happened so he grabbed his blanket aka "baby" or "bee" and his pacifier and snuggled up in my lap for a good 5 minutes while we watched spongebob. this is a very rare occurrence for him to sit & chill for more than 10 seconds. I loved it, of course. after he got up from his nap, we put the 4 loads of laundry away, and he ate some steamed carrots and spongebob chicken noodle soup. duane's brakes are out on his car so for the past week he's been using mine for work. well, today I really wanted to get out of the house. which basically means he was left with no car for work tonight, so he got someone to work for him & he got to join kingston and I for a walk around the mall. we visited the easter bunny (we plan on taking kingston to get his picture taken tomorrow afternoon when I'm off of work because I want him to be looking snazzy in his easter outfit) and after looking the bunny up and down, kingston approved and sat in his lap for a bit. good to know, now we won't be worried about how his picture goes tomorrow. then we strolled around, said hi to duane's buddies who were working, and let kingston play in the kiddo park for a good half hour. we went to noodles & co. for dinner and instead of getting my usual med salad, I got the pesto cavatappi and felt like a whale afterwards. other than feeling enormous right now, today was a good day.

girl's night

2011-04-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

so yesterday I had planned to drive to my parent's house to drop kingston off with my mom while holly and I had a girl's night out. SO MUCH FOR THAT. I couldn't get ahold of my mom all day yesterday. I was pretty bummed. instead, kingston and I hung out at home and danced around the living room listening to adele. he loves to dance by himself and sometimes puts his arms out straight in front of him, kinda like he's telling a girl to "back that ass up." it's hilarious. he also loves it when I pick him up and fly around the room with him while half dancing/half dying of laughter. he never fails to put a smile on my face and remind me that there's no place I'd rather be.

tonight, however, is definitely going to be a girl's night out for this mama. duane gets done with his pool tournament soon (and will hopefully bring chipotle home for a late lunch) and will stay at home with kingston by himself tonight (which rarely ever happens). my boss, sonya, invited a few of her fave working girls over to her new house for a girl's night consisting of food, dessert, drinks, games, and movies. I'M SO EXCITED. it'll probably turn into a slumber party and that's pretty rad too.

oh, and, I still haven't heard back from my mom. helloooo? call a daughter back, would ya.

my pinterest obsession

2011-04-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

pinterest is my new favorite thing. I love that they give you an easy button to pin anything and everything that you find and love. so much fun and so addicting. it's great for sharing ideas and getting inspired. I've already pinned a bunch of photos for DIY tasks and things I want in my future home, kind of exciting :)

the only lame thing, though, (sorry pinterest) is that their servers are so sloooowww. probably because so many people are busy pinning away but seriously, it freezes and slows down my computer every couple minutes. ugh!

my pinterest account if you wanna check out some of my favorite things.

margarita, please!

2011-04-12T22:00:00.003-05:00

taco tuesday! but we had subway instead...

2011-04-12T19:38:00.000-05:00

I'm attempting to make a banner in photoshop right now, but I'm really sucking at it. I want someone who has a super cute blog layout & stuff to just go into my account and MAKE IT LOOK CUTE. I don't like the designs blogger gives you. borrriiiing. maybe I need to just pay someone to use their skillz and pimp out my blog. yep, I just said pimp my blog.

this will be a good test post to see how my crap looks as I decide & then undecide on colors and shtuff. also, HELLO HOLLY because you're the only one who knows this exists ;)