take a looksee at these from kiel james patrick!!!

take a look at these beauties! i stumbled across these lovelies, and had to go to the website. as i scoured the kiel james patrick site, drool was running off my chin... these bracelets are so unique, so ultimately preppy, and scream SUMMER! i have plans on getting a couple for myself, and wearing them with everything! oh be still my *preppy* heart...

you can find them here. go get one {or two, or three} of your own!

the monkeys 2010

the weather has been so nasty here lately, but i had really wanted to take some new pictures of them. sooo, we braved the cold, kept the car running so they could hop in and warm up when it wasn't their turn. they were great sports about it, and we ended up having a great time, despite the bitter cold and bone chilling wind.

some girls collect shoes...

i happen to have a lip gloss fetish. if i'm having a bad day, and just want a little "pick me up," there's nothing that will make me happier than a new little tube of this stuff. this is just *some* of my stash, the ones i thought i couldn't live without while living in the lake house. the rest is in storage. be still my heart. these girls are gorgeous, aren't they?

snow fun!

so, this past weekend we got about 9 inches of snow... {and as i am typing now, it's snowing something fierce}. anyway, we had a good old fashioned snowball fight, complete with hot chocolate and hot tea {for cowboy and i} afterwards. being born and raised in california till i was 15, and not knowing really what seasons were, i'm so glad that my kids are growing up here, where we have all 4 seasons {even if i'm more than ready for the current one to be over}.

also~ as a side note, but a very exciting one, it looks as if i'm going to hawaii in a couple months!!! i'm so excited, especially as i look out at the "white" outside... more on that in a later post... ;)

~saturday with amber~

this past saturday, i took my nieces senior pictures! it was a whirlwind of a weekend, starting off with a snow storm of sorts, a great birthday dinner, {i'm now 34, and LOVING it!}, my niece coming over saturday morning to have me give her a mini-makeover for her pictures, then her and i ventured out in the snow, all around town taking some really fun pics! i haven't gone through all of them yet {there's a LOT}, and i've had to split my time between her pictures and the wedding that i just shot on sunday. anyway, as i was shooting amber, i kept thinking how it was just yesterday that she was 6 years old and in my wedding... *sniff, sniff* unbelievable now, that she's graduating, has a boyfriend and is excited for college. we spent the entire day taking pictures, it was a blast! she is incredibly photogenic, and she's up for any of my hairbrained ideas... ;) we went out for a late lunch, where she was explaining her thoughts on what college she wants to go to and why {she's already been accepted into the major colleges here, but she's waiting on another} and i started seeing her as not a kid anymore. kinda sad, but~ she'll always be my amber bamber! ;) love you amber!

ten words you need to stop misspelling...

i saw this on a friends fb, and just had to post it. one of my biggest pet peeves is when people purposely misspell words like "kuul", or "gurl", "sum" {for "some"} or "thang". since when is purposely misspelling a word "cool" or considered "intelligent"? anywhoo~ though this little ditty isn't on purposely misspelled words, it IS a great reminder of words commonly misspelled. what can i say? i'm a "sucker" for words... a "word nerd" if you will... :)

Holiday Musings...

**if you think we look exhausted in this picture, well, you're right... read on...**


am i the only one that is happy the holidays are over? i don't want to sound grinch-like, but this year was crazy busy, and i'm glad to finally be done with it and move on. it wasn't that bad up until christmas eve.

i took the raven for our morning walk then headed inside to start preparations for that evening. it was a perfect morning, the cowboy was home making breakfast & brewing coffee, {i LOVE that man!}, chores were done, i was baking & the house was spotless. london, {my son, i've never told you my kids' names before... my daughter is lauryn & my son is london} anyway, he threw open the front door bawling and screamed that raven had just been hit by a truck. the next few hours are still a blur to me. i called the vet, helped load her in cowboys truck, prayed with the kids & waited for cowboy to call me with some news. a few hours later, we found out that she had severely broken her back left leg, in the worst possible way, and the vet said that we would just have to wait it out and see how it heals. there was nothing else they could do. he said that we could take her in for surgery, but it would be $2000.00 and a 50/50 chance that it would work. it didn't seem like the odds were in our favor on that, so we took the alternative route.

raven was brought into the house for the time being, {i think we'll have a problem keeping her out when she gets better} and kept on heavy pain meds. the vet says the one thing she has in her favor is that she's young, so he's hoping that her bones heal correctly and quickly. she might always have a limp, but at least she's still with us. we've both been up most of the night with her since then. we are exhausted. but, she's worth it!

after that, christmas was pretty much a second thought to all of us. the kids were devastated, and not really in the christmas spirit. we did manage to have a good christmas, the kids got most of what they wanted, the majority of lauryns gifts were american girl related & her very own digital camera. she's been bugging us for one all year! london made out with tons of new lego sets {that boy is a lego MANIAC}, g.i. joe & a huge magician set. they were super happy, and spent the day playing with their new toys right next to raven, so she wouldn't feel "left out".
we've also had a little addition to our house... say hello to little miss gracie! she's an 8 week old maltese, and she's super spunky and a whole lotta sweet! she was the "runt" of the litter, and was born without her two back legs, {but don't tell her that, she doesn't know!}. she gets around just fine, and is actually really, really fast! she's just the sweetest thing, and i absolutely love her! i just love that she's "special". the breeders wanted to place her with a family, because they couldn't sell her with her "condition," and i'm so glad! she has added a whole new level of fun to our home.

but, getting back to christmas;
cowboy got most everything on my list, starting with this:

the tiffany & co key and chain, i LOVE it!

and this: i've been wanting this since last spring...


and a pair of my favorite jeans:

a gift card to barnes & noble, {always a great gift idea for me}, and three of tarina tarantinos lucite carved rose bracelets in pink, turqouise & black!

okay, so i've shared my loot~ hope ya'll had a great holiday!

*oh~ i'll be doing a giveaway in the next week or so. i've been going through my handbags {it'll be designer}, so it should be a rather good one! make sure you check back!*

~10 Facts About Cowboy & Me~

Since i've never really talked about our history together, i figured now was as good of time as any, so here's 10 facts you most likely didn't know about Cowboy & me:

1} we met & married in 3 MONTHS. {we got engaged after a month of dating, and married 2 months later}. people have often asked if i was completely stressed out planning a big wedding in 2 months, but as it so happened, i was a wedding coordinator at the time, and had a "in" with a lot of the major bridal/wedding companies around here, so it wasn't bad at all! that was 11+ years ago, and i love that man more and more every day!

2} Cowboy is a pilot. he took flying lessons a few years back, and loves it!

3} I'm giddy, excitable & always flittering to the next sparkling thing that floats by. Cowboy is solid. even-keeled and calm. he grounds me, keeps me in check. not by anything he says, but with his laid back personality. he's so good for me!

4} we tried for almost a year to get pregnant, with doctors telling us that they didn't know that we would ever get pregnant because of a mess of problems with my "parts" inside... but, we did! sis priss surprised us on april fools day of 2000, and the Boy double surprised us the following may!

5} Cowboy is a country boy from wisconsin, and i'm a city girl from california. we met in missouri, via a blind date set up by a builder of Cowboys. {Cowboy owns a company in construction}

6} we are total homebodies. we love to travel, but other than that, we love to stay home, cook meals together, and curl up with the monkeys to play games and watch movies. i'm happiest when my little family is all under one roof, safe and happy.

7} i'm a dreamer, Cowboy is a do-er. i dream things up, he makes them happen.

8} we have horses. oakley & harley. we are looking forward to adding a couple more to the family once the house is finished being built. Cowboy is really into the horses... i'm looking forward to getting a few longhorn cattle. they're so cool to have just outside your window!

9} i'm a year & 5 months older than Cowboy, but he has always been so much more mature than me. ;)

10} we are both on staff at our church. Cowboy is a trustee, on the board, and i'm the hospitality director. we love our church, and love serving the Lord!

well, there's so much more i could write, but i'll stop for now! have a great weekend!

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