H-our long walk...

Gorgeous day!
We went for a walk.
I should have brought water.
Lunch.
A sleeping bag.
For our jaunt around the neighborhood took FOR-EV-AHHHHH!
Thankfully the weather was purrrrfect.

We started out at a good clip.
Stopping to check out some stuff on the side of the road.
Squished caterpillars.
Mica.
Dog poop.

The determination was there.
You can see it in her face.
Ahhhheeemmmmm.
This shot was taken at the end of our driveway ;)

OK. Mom.
I'm going!

Two seconds later there was a flower (weed) that needed to be picked.

A few more steps and baby needs to learn how to play brick breakers on my phone.

Luckily Stella knows just what to do.

She insisted on wearing her hair like Mommy's...messy and pulled back.
Do you think her ear was bothering her with her glasses like that?
She's too cool for school to care!

Us before I gave up and carried her home.
Which by the way is less than a hundred yards from this shot.
Hundred yards in an hour.
Yeaaaaahhhhh.

Only 363 days till Christmas...

We wait all year for Christmas to come...at least the kiddos do. I LOVE buying/making gifts for everyone and seeing family we don't often get to see. However, I can't help but feel like a weight has been lifted once the festivities die down. It's anti-climatic...at least for me. The anticipation of fun is what gets me excited and then once it's here, it's over in too short a time. You do hear what I'm suggesting don't you? Let's bring back the 12 days of Christmas!!! NOT!

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Today's the last day of Christmas in our house! We're expecting family any time now and then it will be officially done....till next year!

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Zoe's trying to bend down to fit next to Stella and little Miss Stella is copying her big Sis :)

This dog is HUGE and Stella loves it!

Ruby got a Nintendo DS and The Littlest Pet Shop Game to go in it.

Santa's cookies and milk.

Just finished playing 'Santa' and the room is ready for the girls in the morning.

I love this retro Rody...the color is yummy.

Notice part of the tree at the bottom is missing ornaments? They were there until our English Mastiff's tail kept knocking them down...I decided to forgo filling it in...what's the point?

more...

and more...

and one last shot.

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A flying heart I got...I love it!

I don't think it's possible to capture how awesome this piece is. I fell in love with it the day we all went shopping for our Christmas tree. It's made by a local artist and is over 3ft tall. Can you tell it's a tree made out of sea glass, broken bottles, shells, bottle caps, rocks? It's amazing! I can't wait for my husband to hang it in our Family Room...I'll see if I can capture a better shot of it in there. Now I just need something for our blank wall in the dining room.

Do you know what this is? Well, it's a clever gift certificate holder from Anthropolgie!!! I luvvvv this shop and can't wait to indulge :)

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Tomorrow we're off to Boston to see Disney on Ice! I'll be back on Monday with a post. I'm looking forward to turning my dining room back into my 'office' so I can get creating again. I'm finding I get very grumpy when not making stuff ;)

xo

all in a day's work...

Can you believe it?

I'm wrapped!

What went from an overwhelming amount of gifts to wrap to having very little left to do...is amazing. See, I told you I thrived on adrenaline. I even had time to start another new blog! I just don't have time to sit around and hope to get onto the treasury so I started my own :) All you etsians out there will know what I'm talking about...I've never seen that treasury number drop below 500!

The girls are officially out of school and it's VACA time! This week is filled to the rim with family fun.

• Christmas Eve we head to Grammy Mammy's house...fun, fun, FUN!
• Christmas day we hunker down and enjoy just being home and together. Grammie Ding Dong will be here too which makes it extra special.
• Friday we'll head over to Nonno's house for some good Italian Family fun.
• Saturday, Ruby has a birthday party to attend in the morning. In the afternoon we are looking forward to a visit from Pop!
• Sunday we're heading into Boston to see Disney on Ice...we have THE BEST SEATS!!!!

I'm off to bake cookies for Santa with the girls! Have a great day (())

xo

tick tock...

The countdown is on and I'm starting to flip!

Luckily Daddy got to stay home today due to the snow so while he took these guys out sledding I...

whipped up some sugar cookies to decorate later this afternoon,

wrapped 5 gifts (count that...that's five less than the hundreds left...yikes),

Finished one gift and I LOVE it!!!!

SO

SO MUCH!

Thankfully my Christmas cards arrived yesterday morning so I was able to get most of them sent out. Here it is for all my bloggy friends :) made on recycled paper :)

Off to do more since there's more to do!

xo

rumor has it...

We've got juice!

Electricity that is...phewwww!

We've been so lucky to have family only an hour away so we've been crashing at Grammy's house. We've actually had fun and I was able to keep up with 'plum' business. I'll be able to post pix when we got home. We're moments away from leaving and heading up North. (I can't WAIT to smell our kitchen...the dishes were piled high and gross...those of you that know me know I'm not one to leave a mess behind). I'm quite certain everything in the fridge will need to be tossed and what laundry was left in the washer is totally moldy by now. It's all good though...we'll be happy to have our sweet little house back :)

Last night we took the kids to the Stoneham Zoo. Every year they light it up for the holidays. It was cheesy cute and the lights were pretty. We were able to see a racoon, fox and deer (some Zoo, huh?). I have to admit...I am not a big fan of Zoo's. There is something inherently depressing and wrong about seeing a giraffe, elephant, crocodile, bear, monkey and other wild animals out of their intended habitat.

OK. Hubby has arrived to help in our departure. I'll talk to you lovelies later!

xo

dis and dat...

SAVE THE DATE!

There will be some HUGE deals going on on Monday and if you're looking for something unique and most likely handmade you've got to make a point to stop here!

NEW in the shop...

Gertie...

Paloma...

Prudence...

Rocket Sock Monkey Surfs...

(this guy was made for an order but he came out oh so cute :)

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We're putting a new roof and trim on our house...Craig spent all day on Thanksgiving working on it...the girls wanted to go up and visit and enjoy the view. Stella is just being plain old cute per usual...the paci has GOT to go (and will soon enough)! The pinafore is from this shop on etsy...she's got the best stuff!

xo

Gobble, Gobble, Thanks!

I am thankful for so much, everyday.
I don't need a special day to recognize how lucky a girl I really am.
I'm reminded every night when my exhausted husband comes home with a twinkle in his eye and tells me how beautiful I am and how much he loves me.
I'm reminded every time I overhear Zoe talking to her friends saying 'well, my Mom told me to always believe in myself and magic will happen'...she really listens!
I'm reminded with each hug, cuddle and kiss I give and get from my little ladies.
I love my family and my family loves me.
I have great friends.
I love my dog...she's loyal and keeps us safe when Craig isn't home. Dog slobber and all.
We have a lovely home with a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into it...which makes it even more lovely.
Did I mention we have great families? They are the best!
I'm grateful for having discovered my creative niche and going for it.
Etsy, I love you.
I love my little town I live in.
I love our military who keeps us safe.
I love the USA.
Coffee is my friend.
Chocolate too.
I'm grateful for you!

xo

LOVE Rue's pic!

Ruby's Sun Bread...

My great find at TJ!!!

LOVE them!

LOOK...my office :) It's clean, not one lick of fabric!

Can't wait to get these beauties...must.stop.buying.fabric.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I love you!

Did you know we have a rooster living in our house now? I was making my morning coffee when I hear Stella call 'Mama!'. I head towards the stairs to go get her when as I'm starting to walk up I hear 'cock-a-doodle-dooooooo'. I round the corner and Miss Stella is sitting up in bed, head tilted skyward, singing 'cock-a-doodle-dooooooo'. It was hilarious!

We went on a great little hike this morning. Stella fell asleep in the backpack I was carrying and boy did my back and shoulders hurt when we were done! She ended up sleeping for a record three hours!!! Unbelievably she then took another nap this afternoon. I tried waking her three times...using bribery such as chocolate and TV. She wanted nothing to do with either so I let her sleep until 5 when I finally dragged her lazy butt out of bed! Yes, I'm paying the price for her afternoon siesta now (It's 9:15 and no sign of night night yet).

After the hike we ran to Starbucks and I got the BEST cafe mocha I swear I've ever had! It tasted so good and had just the right amount of chocolate added.

Zoe had a half day at school so we headed to the playground around noon. We didn't get home until almost 3! It was so nice out!

We've got a busy day tomorrow with orders to finish and Zoe's room to get together. She's finally getting her own room! Her furniture arrived on Tuesday beautifully painted...thank you Jeff! So I'm off to get some rest...I am one sleepy Mama :)

xo

my muse of the day...

My muse. She (a-muses) me each and every day. She had such joy in her this afternoon. I think it was the unseasonal warm weather that gave her a bit more hip to her hop. She wanted me to chase her so I indulged...it was great!

Did you vote today? I did first thing this morning and would you believe I FORGOT to go to Starbucks for my free java???? How could I????

I'll be busy over the next couple of days getting a couple orders done and on their way to some special lovelies. Can you believe I had an order yesterday from someone all the way in Ireland??? It feels so cool knowing someone so far away actually wanted something I make! I'm truly touched by each and every sale I make...so THANK YOU!!!

I'm trying to re-photograph most of the things in my shop. I only did a couple of shots today and it was sooooo time consuming...yikes, any pros out there that want to do this for me???

Ok. I'm off to get the girlies to bed....night!

xo