A freebie for you

I just found out that you can get a free 8x10 canvas print by going here. I think it expires today so don't miss out! I ordered one of these for my mom last year of a sunset image I took and it came out incredibly nice. Today I am ordering one of my little chubby cheeked daughter. I never get sick of that adorable face!

Back later with goals for the New Year ...

She's Delicious

Look at those cheeks ... don't you just want to eat her up?!?!

Picture Overload!

Where did the last year go? I remember last Christmas I had morning (all day) sickness and I don't think I took a single picture. I just wanted to curl up and sleep. Fast forward a year (and boy do I mean fast forward!) - I could have never dreamed Christmas would be this much fun. Sure I still would like to curl up and sleep, but I also don't mind not sleeping as much because I don't want to miss a thing. I think I took hundreds of pictures over the past week. Every last moment has been wonderful!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

The past week has been so busy! I have had a lot to say but no time to say it. This past weekend was spent entertaining, cooking, being with friends, and preparing for our trip. We made it on Monday night after the craziest busy day ever. I have a couple of gifts for out of town friends to mail but for the first time in 2 months I am caught up on everything! It feels sooo good. Here are the past few days in pictures ...

The Tale of Two Christmas Cards

So in my quest to be superwoman and have my Christmas cards done early this year, I was a little bit careless. It all started because I got an offer for 12 free cards if ordered by November 8th. Never one to miss out on a deal, I quickly created a card with every intention of only ordering the twelve that were free. However, when I showed my husband he suggested that I just order for our whole list and be done with it. It sounded like a brilliant plan - no rushed Christmas card photo shoot, no stressing over ordering and mailing them in time ... So I ordered over 80 cards with Rosebud on the front and gave myself a gold star for being organized. When they arrived, the perfectionist in me came out and I decided I wasn't as excited about them. The paper quality wasn't great (being a lover of stationary, paper is important to me), they weren't "Christmasy" colors, and in my haste I didn't create the ideal verse inside and left out "Merry Christmas." As much as I strive to be polite and ladylike, it's Christmas in my house and I don't want to join to the generic "Happy Holidays" camp. All of that said, I had spent my card budget already I decided that I had to deal it it. Then I got another offer for 12 more free cards. I jumped on it and created another - good paper weight, Merry Christmas, perfect! wrong. I made a typo. So now I have 87 cards that I just kind of like and 12 that I love but have a letter missing. I went ahead and finally mailed them today (so much for getting them out early) despite their flaws. I'm learning to let go of the need for perfection just a little bit every day ...

It had blog material written all over it

On Friday I had one of the most memorable lunches I think I've ever had. A big part of my job is community outreach, meaning I go to various functions and speak on behalf of my organization. This time of year brings lots of country club luncheons - I'm sure it sounds like fun and sometimes it is, other times not so much. Friday's invitation came from a community that I had not heard of, but since we live in an area with a ton of golf course communities I didn't think it was unusual. They asked me to arrive at the clubhouse at 12:15 so I was expecting another luncheon filled with old ladies, chicken cordon bleu and risotto. Not so much. The first sign of trouble was when my GPS told me to turn into a mobile home community. (My husband made fun of me for calling it that - he said I was too proper and that it's called a trailer park) Anyway, the "clubhouse" was a small building surrounded by shuffleboard courts. When I walked inside I knew I was in trouble. Little old ladies as far as the eye could see and in the center of the room was a table filled with jello molds, carrot salads, and various other unidentifiable dishes that were colored lime green. I was the youngest person in the room by 40 years. The hostess informed me that this was a "do it yourself lunch" where everyone brought a cold dish and their own plate & silverware from home as I watched the old ladies begin pulling flatware out of their purses. For a brief moment I thought I could get out of eating because I did not bring a fork, but my hopes were dashed as the hostess handed me some silverware from her bag.

Now I have become a much less picky eater as an adult, however, sometimes I get a little weirded out by potlucks. If I don't know the people bringing the food I have all of these thoughts running through my head - "is their kitchen clean?", "did they stick their fingers in this?", "what is in this anyway?" As I went through the line I tried to find something safe and finally found a tossed salad among the lime green dishes topped with marshmallows. By the way, what food is naturally lime green? I managed to look polite while eating a minimal amount of mush and then the caroling began. It was actually quite cute, all of the little ladies singing jingle bells in unison. Then there was a poetry reading and finally my turn to speak. I managed to get out of there in 3 hours (I was starving!) and all I can say is that at least it gave me something to blog about.

Tis the Season to be Stress Free

I just realized that I haven't posted in almost a week and my last post left me sounding a bit forlorn. No worries, all is well again in my home this week. It's no less busy but I haven't been worrying about it. My motto right now (taken from Dave Ramsey) is "I can only do what I can do". My Junior League committee Christmas party is tonight and I signed up to bring a dessert. I have a fabulous new cookbook (that's another post!) filled with recipes I am dying to try but who has time to bake in the middle of the week? I decided not to stress myself out about it and called the bakery near my office. I ordered a fabulous dessert and I don't feel a tiny but guilty about spending the money or not making it myself. It's totally worth it not to have to worry about one more thing. I'm not done shopping and surprisingly I don't even really know what else I need to buy but again, not worried. Watching Rosebud roll herself until she's underneath the Christmas tree is much more fun!

This was posted on my mom's blog today and I liked it so much I am stealing it for my own ...

First Corinthians 13, The Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shining balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crystal snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust.

But giving the gift of love will endure.

Happy day to you!!!

Keepin it real

I had every intention of continuing the daily blogging into November but this week was a little bit challenging. I did not blog for two reasons - first, because I was really busy and secondly, because I was feeling discouraged and did not want my blog post to turn into a rant or pity party. This was the first week in the two months I have been back at work that I felt like working full time and having a baby was really hard. Our whole experience of having a new baby has been much easier than I thought it would be. I'm not saying it's been totally easy, just easier than I anticipated. Even though Rosebud slept better than she has in previous weeks, I still had a lot of discouraging moments this week. Starting the week on no sleep (from traveling all Sunday night), no groceries, and a ton of catching up from being on vacation was probably to blame. It's also one of the busiest times of the year for me at work. No of these excuses made me feel better though. I wanted to be decorating the tree, baking cookies and planning for Christmas parties instead of running around like a crazy person.

I felt discouraged that we don't have any family here to help us with babysitting - I feel like all of my friends have family nearby if they need a date night or want to go to a party, I wish we could go out sometime without it costing an arm and a leg. I felt discouraged because my photography business has become somewhat stressful with all of my other obligations. I felt discouraged because I didn't have time to call friends back. I love my friends and want to spend time hearing about what's going on in their lives. I felt discouraged because I had a ton of errands to run (groceries, Target, bank, etc.) and had zero time during the day to do them because I was at work. Basically, I was just overwhelmed. I am feeling much better now and I am telling you this not because I want sympathy but because I'm keeping it real. This blog is about my life. Most of it truly is sunshine and roses - I am blessed to have an exceptionally good life. But sometimes there are clouds and I feel like it's important to be real about it all. Everyone is allowed to have a rough day (or week), but thank goodness for God's grace. He sets my life to music and gives my heart dancing shoes ...