Giveaway to Paris!!!

One of my favorite blogs, Oh Happy Day, is giving away an amazing trip to Paris for two!!!

Check it out: http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

mr. president, part dos

okay, okay. i realize now that ben franklin was not actually a U.S. president. but, the mr. president nickname has stuck...and apparently, word is getting around to the other kids.

today, jared dropped off ben a little later than normal (closer to 8:00 than 7:30). 8:00 is a busy time in the bunny room. lots of babies are arriving. jared started talking to sydney's mom and introduced himself. when he told her that he was ben's dad, she said, "ooohhhh, mr. president."

ben had a pretty tough morning yesterday. the teachers said that he cried constantly unless he was being held, eating, or sleeping. they also told me that babies usually have a little bit of a rough time readjusting after a long three-day weekend. i figured it might be especially hard after a three-day weekend where he was constantly played with and entertained.

jared told me that he went to go pay ben's tuition and he peeked at ben through the window as he was leaving. ben was sitting on the playmat, messing with a toy but crying. :( he'll be fine but for the teacher's sake, i hope he starts to feel better.

mr. president

jared usually drops ben off to school in the mornings and i pick him up on my way home from work. on thursdays, jared always has an 8:00 a.m. meeting so i drop ben off and pick him up on those days. dropping him off feels so different than picking him up. in the mornings, the teachers have this nice church-lady music softly playing and all of the babies seem relaxed and happy. in the afternoons, there's always at least one baby crying (which is usually ben) and the babies feel tired and a little worn-for-wear. i never thought i would say this, for obvious reasons, but i like dropping ben off in the mornings.

the teacher staff in the mornings is different than in the afternoons. one thursday morning, i met miss sarah, a teacher that i hadn't previously met before. jared had told me that miss sarah was ben's favorite so i was eager to meet her and make small talk. she told me that she calls ben "ben franklin" and that "he's a president." i immediately assumed that this was because he was the coolest baby in the class and was voted class president by his peers (which was super impressive considering he'd only been in the school for a solid 7 days). i was wrong. miss sarah told me that one day when she was feeding ben, he started to whine when she wasn't shoveling the green beans fast enough into his mouth. she looked at him and said, "okay mr. president!" and she claims that he stopped and gave her a coy little smile. since that day, she's been calling him "mr. president" and "ben franklin."

driving in a different direction.

hey ya'll!

well a TON of things in my life have changed since the last time i posted....namely the birth of this little dude.

i was lucky enough to have six (count 'em, SIX!) months off of work when bean (i.e. ben) was born and i feel so fortunate for having that time with him. on january 3, 2011, i went back to work and bean started daycare (we like to call it "school" but whatevs, don't judge). our lives have gone through another major shift in terms of scheduling and spending time together. jader tends to drop ben off every morning and i get to pick him up. every afternoon, i beg the teachers for little details about ben's day and they usually indulge me with a story or two. some of them are sweet, some of them are hilarious, and i find all of them interesting. i thought i'd use this blog to share some of the little anecdotes about ben's life with family and friends. so here we go.....

is it ever a bad idea.....

so, i'm three months pregnant (i know!! get outta here right?!?!?!) and i found myself thinking the following at about 3:00 p.m. this afternoon....."would it be a bad idea to sit here at my desk with my jeans unbuttoned??"

not gonna lie: i did it. i unbuttoned my jeans. it felt great.....until my coworker came in to talk to me and i had to sit with my arms crossed over my unbuttoned pants for the next 15 minutes.

i ended up spilling my guts (punny huh??) to her as we were leaving work and walking through the parking lot to our cars. lucky for me, she thought it was funny and not the least bit gross. my bean is destined to have one classy momma.

bananas for monkey bread.

*tap* *tap* is this thing on??

well, hello there friends! sorry for the absence....in all honesty, i don't have the best excuse as to why i've not been blogging. so, how's about i offer up my sincere apology to the gagillions of readers out there and we forgive and forget? kapeesh?

last weekend two of my favorite buds, k and e, hosted a holiday party featuring snacks and sweets. i had recently read about monkey bread on the pioneer woman and was immediately intrigued. cinnamon? butter? sugar? BISCUITS?!?! sign me up! i figured that the party would be a good place to test the recipe.

behold my dears....THIS is monkey bread:

AND it's amazing - make it right this instant!!!! while the caloric content is out of this world, the simplicity of the recipe makes it totally worth all the calories. nothing better than an easy, extremely bad for you piece of deliciousness right? that's the magic of the holidays my friends.

image via the pioneer woman.

2010.

can you believe that october begins tomorrow?!?! wowza, i sure can't. once i hit october, i feel like the rest of the year just flies by due to the sequence of holidays: halloween, turkey day, and christmas (my absolute fav!!!). the 2010 calendars have already started popping up and here are a few that i absolutely love:

ilee - pretty pretty letterpress

susyjack - i actually purchased this one and it is beautiful!

1canoe2 - more letterpress yumminess

smeurer8 - love the simplicity of this

hook 'em.

today marks a big day in our household - UT vs. Texas Tech!!! hook 'em horns!!!!

wish list.

since the temperature has finally dropped below 90 degrees (HALLELUJAH!!!!), it's starting to officially feel like fall 'round theses parts. in honor of cooler temps, i've been perusing the web looking for some new fall pieces for my closet....i know, i know - jader and i JUST had the budget talk two nights ago. but, a gal can dream right? psht, heck yes she can. anyway, onto the pics!

gah - these are amazeballs. i seriously haven't purchased a pair of shoes from nine west in about three years....but i will say that my last trip there was magical. i met odyssey who sold me the cutest pair of red, suede flat. odyssey was so awesome that i promptly decided that i wanted to name my first daughter after her. i'll save that for another post....it's brought up all sorts of debate, teasing, and taunting (at my expense). anyhoo, aren't these peep toes just bananas??now these little dears may just actually end up in my closet. i am in NEED of some new black pumps. i've been wearing a pair of patent leather, kate spade mary-janes for probably three years now and while i absolutely love them, they are on their last leg. these suede calvin klein pumps are beautiful but the only potential problem is that they may be too high for work. i'm 5'11'' so these would put me close to 6'4''. thoughts?
what the what?? piperlime sells clothes now?? sounds dangerous. i heart piperlime - they've been good to me.

i love the plaid trend. i love that shirt has ruffles going for it too.

this one too.

this would be cute with some leggings and boots.

how cute is this jacket?

okay - that's enough day-dreamin' for now. i hope you guys have a great friday and a terrific weekend!

love.

i. love. this. dress. natalie portman is adorable!

dress by lanvin. image found via people.

and amanda seyfriend's outfit is rockin'.

ensemble by marc jacobs. image via people.

happy birthday old man.

happy birthday to the man who makes the best cowboy stew 'round these parts. you make me laugh like no other person can and you fill my heart with warm fuzzies. i love you like nuts!!!

you have my <3.

how sweet is this card?

max wanger.

holy geez, check out these engagement pictures!!! i absolutely adore joanna goddard's blog, cup of jo. she got married a couple of weeks ago and shared her engagement pictures around the same time. they are amazing! i love the balloon and the coloring of the pics. her photographer, max wanger, is fantastic. check out his blog, although i'd advise you to wait until you have hours of free time because it's hard to tear yourself away once you start looking.

decorative tape.

i am a huge fan of paper source, even though i have never stepped foot in an actual store**. their stuff is always so great and their blog always has really good ideas. check out their latest post on the new woodgrain decorative tape they are carrying. i love the idea of using them for cards.

check out the rest of their tape patterns:

black damask:
purple lace:
and my personal fave, chartreuse scrolls:

**there's actually only one store in texas - in dallas, to be exact. dear paper source peeps: please come to austin!!!

ah, ikea!

how awesome is this ikea pendant lamp? can't beat the price either.

k + e

here are the promised pictures from k and e's wedding. they got married at nature's point which is literally on lake travis. k is catholic and e is jewish so the ceremony featured both a catholic priest and a jewish rabbi. it was a great wedding!! congrats you two!

hello rain.

hello dears. i hope your holiday weekend was a lovely one. mine was really busy, but busy in a great way. as i mentioned before, my good pal, k married jader's good pal, e, and we celebrated my little sister's birthday at schiltterbahn. i am going to post pictures of k and e's wedding later today (promise!).

this weekend has been moving in a much different direction than labor day weekend. jader is in houston having a guy's weekend at the houston texans opening game, so i have the house to myself. it's literally been raining all morning and the chance of rain continues throughout the rest of the day. this means lots of reading, watching the U.S. Open, napping, maybe some crafting, , and whipping up some of these (jader's not a breakfast man).

made for me.

i will be using my michael's gift card that i recently was gifted from k to purchase one of these ASAP.

found via oh, happy day.

just call me grace.

boy oh boy, was i ever the graceful one today at work. this afternoon i received a call from a texas representative's office. i work for an executive in a state agency and we interact with and talk to legislator's offices pretty frequently. this particular phone call was in regards to a constituent's concern about this or that, blah, blah, blah. i was half-listening, doing a decent enough job of following the story when all of a sudden i blurted out: "well dang! i just totally had a brain fart." silence on the other end. i immediately thought, "did i just say BRAIN FART?" who says brain fart? i mean, i understand that it is a relatively common phrase, but i wouldn't think that the most professional people in the professional world go around saying, "dang" and "brain fart." if you think i am overreacting, just say the words, "brain fart" out loud. do it. see??? it's gross! and embarrassing! class-act, that's me.

w-o-w.

my best pal, j, is getting married next summer to my other pal, d. this has given me the perfect excuse to continue to stalk all blogs wedding-related in my effort to help her gather inspiration. ;) one of my fav wedding blogs is 100 Layer Cake. the weddings they feature are so beautiful and filled with handmade touches. the authors focus on all of these little details that make a wedding truly craft-tastical. while conducting "research" for j, i stumbled across this picture with the most beautiful pair of wedding shoes ever. gah! so gorgeous! christian, you get me every time....

in other wedding news, i am super excited about this weekend. not only is it a three-day-weekend, but jader and i will are attending the nuptials of k and e. we'll also get to see big whit and are spending a day with my family at schlitterbahn (the hottest, coolest time in texas) to celebrate my youngest sister's birfday.