mystery of mae-mae.

Ever since Leighton could talk...we have yet to solve the mystery of mae-mae.
Enter Exhibit A:

You might recognize her as the face of Wendy's. I do not know her real name and I guess I always assumed her name was 'Wendy' (duh!). Anyhow, one day when we went to Wendy's (because my husband loves himself a frosty), Leighton kept pointing to her saying mae-mae. It was like she was trying to get my attention to tell me, 'Mommy this is mae-mae'. I am puzzled to this day to how she decided that 'Wendy' was mae-mae and what exactly that could mean. She still calls her mae-mae, whenever she happens to see that logo. I guess it will always remain a mystery to me.

So now I have myself wondering...have your kids ever come up with any crazy names?

things i dislike.

Today was one of 'those' days and it seemed as though a lot of things/scenarios kept popping up that I wish I could have clicked a 'dislike' button for. I thought I'd share a few {sorry, some of these are gross - but unfortunately they happened...today}

1. Remnants of someone else's turd in the bathroom toilet. Nothing like seeing a disintegrating poop log when you kick open the bathroom stall at work. DISLIKE!

2. Neighbors who park their hillbilly monster truck on their front lawn, I don't know...maybe the truck doesn't like to be parked in the freakin' driveway where it belongs?! DISLIKE.

3. Slow people who work at Target - Leighton and I went to Target and she wanted a cherry Slurpee...so we went to the food court area and I am not lying when I say we were 'next in line' for about 20 minutes, while the lady who worked there rang up a popcorn and gave the girl a cup (to fill her own drink)?! I never seen anyone wash their hands, fill a popcorn bag and move so slowly as I did today. Leighton must have repeated that she wanted a Slurpee about 1,357 times. I had to bite my tongue and not tell Leighton that this lady was the slowest person on the face of mother earth, for fear she would repeat that out loud. Thinking back, I should have told her - it would have been funny and at least then I could have laughed. Major DISLIKE!

I am glad I got those off my chest. Thank you very much for listening.
Feel free to go about your day.

here we are again...

The holiday season has started. I hear Christmas music in the stores and the trees and decorations are up everywhere! And this year I am really sticking to the promise I made to myself to get all of Christmas responsibilites completed early. No last minute (read: panic) shopping. Getting our holiday pictures taken before Thanksgiving (hopefully!) and getting out our Christmas cards prior to our norm lately of 1 week before Christmas. In the past, since we've been so last minute with our cards, I have had to make them myself. And to be quite honest, I never really found a place that had a good selection of cards that were reasonable in price, until now. I had to take another look at Shutterfly.

Now, I am not new to Shutterfly...as I have ordered pictures, photo books and note cards in the past. But, I guess I never really noticed how fantastic their Christmas cards are. What appeals to me the most is how modern and fresh the designs are...even the religious ones. What I have found is that most religious cards are pretty darn ugly and I know this is terrible to say...but it has dissuaded me from buying them most of the time. But, not the ones available on Shutterfly - they are colorful, cute and up-to-date. I love them!

Another item to note...since I am a maker of paper good myself (invites, labels, note cards, etc...) paper and printing quality is really important to me and are details that I cannot overlook. I can happily endorse the quality that Shutterfly offers based on orders that I have placed in the past. The paper is weighty, not thin like other competitors and the printing quality is excellent, never grainy. Plus, they ship speedily and really go to lengths to make sure that your stuff arrives in pristine condition. These are some of the most important reasons why I order from them, myself (just sayin!).


So, now....here are a few of my favorites (click on the pictures to link to Shutterfly).

Adorable and what Christmas is all about!

I LOVE how you can personalize this one!

What can I say? It's French!

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly! Click HERE to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get your free holiday cards.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly.

oops, i did it again.

I was messing with the template designer yesterday, looking at the widgets, trying to figure out how to upgrade my template, when I made a boo-boo.

I reraced my html code...like gone, bye-bye!

Oops, no getting that back. So, if you stopped by yesterday afternoon, you probably noticed that my blog looked like schiz-nit. Honestly, I had been meaning to give the ol' blog a lifestyle lift anyhow. So, I started with a new header and am now trying it on for size. Not sure if it will stay like it is...I think it needs more 'tweaking'. But, I like the new direction it is heading - even better than the old direction. What do you think?

In other news, I won a giveaway at Heir to Blair the other day. I was so excited. I never win anything and I can now say I have won 2 giveaways this year! The other one being a CSN gift certificate from ...And Baby Makes 3!

It's made my day, week, month, year! Thank you!

happy birthday leighton.

I can hardly believe it has been two years since you have come into my life, sweet Leighton. And now, I can barely remember a day when you weren't here. In a blink, it seems like you went from baby to a bounding, imaginative toddler singing her ABCs or Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. I always knew you'd be smart and ahead of the pack, after walking at just 9 months. You are always singing and dancing to the beat of your own drum and never looking back to see who follows. Nowadays you are wanting to do everything yourself, even walking down the stairs (which freaks your momma right out). You say 'No, Momma, I do myself' but, I stay a step ahead, just-in-case.

You are such a intelligent little girl. You can speak in full sentences and sometimes you throw some Spanish in there for good measure. I laughed so hard the other day when you were yelling from the bedroom in Spanish to help you. You make my day when I come home from work, or from a trip and say, 'Momma come here a second...I wanna give you a big hug. I missed you' or when you answer my 'I love you' with 'I love you, too'. I love that when you go to sleep you wrap your arm around my neck and want to touch heads. I lay by you until you go to sleep. I am glad you feel safe and loved, because you are. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to make you happy. You are so awesome and so perfect.

I thank God everyday that you are mine.

Happy Birthday little one.

XOXO and love forever.

Momma

Lei Lei, 2 years old.