She Said...

Boston, anyone?

2012-02-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

I am going to be traveling to Boston next week and wanted to see if anyone has any good ideas for places to go see or eat or things to do while I am there. I work during the day, but the evenings and mornings I have free. Whether you have lived there or just visited there, I would love to hear what fun things that I must experience. I have always wanted to go to Boston and being 5.5 months pregnant with slightly swollen feet is definitely not going to stop me! I can't wait to be surrounded by all the history!Now if only I can pack James and Chloe in my suitcase... it would be a perfect vacation!

via

P.S. Let me know if any of you readers live there... maybe we can meet for coffee/tea? I would hate to miss another oppertunity to meet my lovely blog friends like I did with Breanne in Dallas.

23 weeks with baby E!

2012-02-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Man oh man is this time flying by fast! In just shy of a month, i will be in my 3rd trimester. Baby is doing fabulous! I feel her little kicks all the time. James has felt her twice now, but he says its subtle. I cannot wait until he can feel them stronger... Or maybe i can because i remember how uncomfortable it was with Chloe. Emery is definitely sitting much higher than where Chloe was at in this stage and because of that i am getting a lot of heartburn and acid reflux, yuck! But tums has been my friend lately.

I never really dealt with insomnia last time around, but i had it 3 nights in a row now! And i am so tired, but i cant fall asleep for the life of me! I tried playing games on my phone, which usually makes me tired, I tried reading, I tried just lying there in silence, nothing works. :(

My sciatica has not been acting up, but if i haven't moved in a while, it is sort of painful to get right up and walk around. More so in the hips and lower abdomen. I definitely need to stretch more and take more time outs from my desk and comfy chair to walk around more during work. I would love to try a pregnancy yoga class if in have the time... Maybe i can check out a tape at the local library and just commit to doing it at home at least once a week? I definitely will try to get more exercise in, thats for sure.

I have been craving chili cheese everything! We seriously are frequent eaters at sonic and weinerschnitzel ( or weinerSCHMITZel as we like to call it) we even mixed chili and velveeta macaroni and cheese for dinner last night, i seriously want chili cheese everyday! Sooooo bad for me!

Everything is looking good and healthy, still no word as to the exact date for the ultrasound for the possible placenta prevea, but still praying! I go in for the glucose test at the end of this month... I'll let you know how it goes!

My Dad isThe King from Tangled

2012-02-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

When I saw the movie Tangled, which I LOVE, btw.... I was in awe of just how much the King looked exactly like my father. Not only in the facial features, but in the stature and movements as well. I am not the only one that feels that way, his wife said the same exact thing! It is uncanny. I mean, the artist must have known my dad or something. Other than the gray beard (which just turned gray within this last year) they look identical.

I tried getting some pictures of him from this past visit in Dallas to show you a side by side of what they look like. I couldn't find very many pictures of the King, but these show you the gist of what he looks like. The pictures really don't do the twin-ness any justice, but I thought I would share them anyway.

even their hairstyle is the same!

So there you have it, if you were every wondering what my dad looked like....

DIY Cloud Lamp

2012-02-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

I have had this boring old Ikea rice paper lamp in Chloe's room for a while now and it just bugs me how plain it is. I have been drooling over their Maskros lamp shown below. It is absolutely adorable and whimsical and perfect for her room, I just can't justify spending $50 on a lamp for a child's room.

After looking through other lamps in our price range and not being too satisfied, I decided to try and create something fun and cute for her room using the lamp I already had. I saw this post a long time ago from one of my fave interior decorators and have always remembered it.

Materials:

- Circular Paper Lantern

- Cord Light to put in lantern

- White coffee filters

- Hot glue gun

Ignore the Mod Podge. I decided not to go that route since it would take too long to dry.

Step 1:

Turn on your hot gun to heat up and set aside. Grab a coffee filter from the center and gather. I purposefully gathered them all a little different so some are more open than others. I gathered all my coffee filters first so that way it was faster to create the lamp. I made about 120 to begin with, then added more to fill in the spaces in the end.

Step 2:
With hot glue, attach the gathered center of the coffee filter and glue directly to lamp. I started from the top and worked my way around the circular opening. I continued to glue the filters on in a circular pattern around the whole lamp.

Step 3:

Fill in any gaps you see with extra coffee filters.

step 4:

put cord lamp through paper shade and hang. easy peazy. And oh so cute!

This lamp only cost me $2 total since I already owned the paper lamp shade and hanging cord lamp. The $2 were just the cost of the coffee filters. I have seen the circle lamp shade set for about $10 at Ikea and Target, so if you start from scratch you are looking at only a $12 lamp!

I love doing DIY projects, especially when they are easy and cheap! Let me know if you have any good DIY projects you can share!

200 Readers = A GIVEAWAY!

2012-02-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe I have over 200 readers now, you are all so awesome for reading about my crazy ramblings and random things I do. I appreciates all of you! To show my appreciation, I am giving away one of my favorite feather hair accessories from my She Said Shop. You can go here (scroll to bottom) to read all the specifics on the head piece.

To Enter :

(You can have 3 entries per person, please leave a separate comment for each entry.)

1. Comment letting me know you follow (you must follow publicly so I can verify)

2. Comment with a sentence or two about yourself. I would love to get to know my readers more!

3. Comment letting me know what you want to see more of on my blog.

This giveaway will be open until midnight, next Tues, Feb 13th. I will announce the winner on Valentines Day! (what a great V-day gift, huh?) I will be using a random generator to pick a number out of all the comments, good luck!

Meet the Sponsers - Beth

2012-02-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

Beth is a sweet newlywed (well, i don't know how long you can actually be called newlyweds, but I say her and Julio are still there.) She is a great woman of God, who inspires me often. She is a passionate teacher of elementary kids and of the word. Her and her husband are adorable to boot. Plus, they live on the beach, literally. How awesome is that???

The three20 blog got started as an attempt to raise funds for our wedding a year ago. Straight out of college, we were super broke, and totally in love (cheesy, I know, but stay with me.) We set up a donate button, asked friends to put in whatever they could to help us reach at least $500 dollars, and kept our fingers crossed. People literally gave us whatever they could; we even got a ziplock bag full of spare change! We kept the blog updated with our everyday antics as the donations started slowly coming in and surprisingly enough, our friends and family helped us reach (and pass!) the goal. Our wedding ended up being pretty darn awesome.

Two years later, three20 is still up and running. Our blog keeps up with the everyday life and craziness of us newlywed island folks living by the beach, with three neighbors, three dogs, three cats, and the usual cow or horse that will stroll on by. Life is certainly different by the sea.

C'mon over and check it out.

You can also follow three20 on twitter

Or check out our boards on pinterest

THREE.20 BLOG

Music Monday - A Fine Frenzy

2012-02-06T09:00:00.001-08:00

I really enjoy this lady. I can't remember how I heard of her, but it was about 4 years now and it still doesn't get old. I remember I got so excited one time because her song came on in a store. Now, I even hear her on Pandora quite often.

This is the cutest video. I absolutely love it!

Website - Purchase CD

Meet the Sponsers - Sandee

2012-02-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sandee is an actual real life friend of mine. We met while our significant others were playing in a band together and instantly clicked. She is sweet, fun, and sassy (which I love!). Her blog is real down to earth, honest and hilarious! I love the real life topics she tackles that many other blogs won't. She is new to the blog land and her blog is definitely one you will want to make a favorite. Her blog is one of my other faves. It makes me laugh out loud at almost every post! (and it happens to be one of James' fave blogs too.... yes ladies, my hubby reads YOUR blogs!) Make sure to go to her blog and click "follow". like right now. oh ya, and she is a gorgeous tattooed momma who use to be a pin up model! An amazing mom and a hot wife? Adam is one lucky guy! :)

My name is Sandee and I am a stay at home mom (domestic diva as I refer to it) of two wonderful little boys. I also was lucky enough to marry my best friend, Adam. Our life is super hectic and crazy. Both my husband and I go to school to further our education to hopefully better provide for our family. I study journalism and he is a finance major. Along with life, kids, and school, we have 4 pets. I know, we are a glutton for punishment. We have 2 cats and 2 dogs. I would love to have goats, chickens, and a farm would be nice. I feel I have a lot to write about. Some of the things I touch on are DIY projects, money savers, relationships, a little bit of everything. I write what I feel. I am very honest and forward. I consider myself to be very real. So come to my blog with an open mind and comments are welcomed. I hope that you enjoy reading my blog and I look forward to meeting new friends!

HER AND THE BOYS BLOG

Meet the Sponsers - Breanne

2012-02-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

I love Breanne's blog! I love that she lives a Christ centered life and it is SO evident through her blog! She is very inspirational! She is so incredibly kind and she is pretty crafty to boot! My kinda lady! Make sure you stop by and show her some love!

Hi! My name is Breanne. I am a young girl who is searching and discovering the heart of my Father. I have a destination, but the journey is the beautiful part. As of May 21, I am a Mrs. to a wonderful man of God. I am a young wife learning how to live a Christ-centered life, traveling the world with my husband Kendall, full-time student, and dog-momma to a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Benaiah. We are trying to live overseas full-time but it has been quite the process. I blog about our life getting there and how Father is molding and shaping our hearts daily. I'll let you in on other things too, the recipes, crafts, and the little adventures in between that make us who we are. I'd love to meet you and for you to join along with us! So please stop by and visit our little corner in the blogosphere.

Twitter//Pinterest/Bloglovin'

Instagram: BreanneJohnson

Hello Dallas!

2012-02-03T21:25:00.001-08:00

We are have been in Dallas for a tradeshow and we got a chance to see my dad and step mom. Tonight we went to dinner, walked around West End downtown and went on a history carriage ride. We have some historical sights and museums we are hitting up tomorrow before we go home. I'll post more of those pictures later.

Meet the Sponsers - Haley

2012-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

This blogger is an amazing woman (well, all of my sponsors are)! She is one of my very top blog reads. She is a beautiful momma with a heart for Jesus and an inspirational writer. Not to mention she is a fabulous photographer and I know we would be very good real life friends if she only lived closer.

Hi, My name is Haley and I started my blog For Everything There is a Season back in 2008. Back then I was dating my now husband, Brice. Since then we have had an amazing journey. Together we have a beautiful and spunky 17 month old daughter named Sophie. In March we will be welcoming our newest little love, Noah. My blog is a little bit of everything. From photography, pregnancy/parenting, fashion, and Jesus. I write about it all. I would love to have you stop by, and welcome you to follow along with my simple but amazingly blessed life. Click here and come say hi!

FOR EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON BLOG

Meet the Sponsers - Heather

2012-02-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

My next sponsor is Heather. She is an adorable lady with amazing fashion sense! She also has awesome taste in music. Her blog is fun and has great eye candy. Make sure you go check her out!

Hi! I'm Heather from heatherlydee, a slightly goofy, fun and creative lady from Idaho. I'm a bit obsessed with books, music, cats, traveling and shoes. My blog is an eclectic mix of sharing my life, faith, fashion and things that inspire me. I'm still trying to figure out my path in life, but I believe life is an adventure and we should embrace the unexpected. I’m just an average girl who is trying to find joy in life. I’d love for you to stop by my blog and say hello!

HEATHERLYDEE BLOG

Meet the Sponsors- Deanna

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

My first sponsor is the wonderful Deanna from Delirious Rhapsody blog. I read her blog almost daily. She is smart, witty and hilarious! Her family is adorable and is always good for a laugh. She is really awesome. Her blog is definitely one of my favorites and I am sure it will become one of your favorites too!

Without further blabbing, here she is!

I'm Deanna! I'm a stay at home mama of two crazy little boys. I collect gnomes and have an unnatural obsession with Colin Meloy. Hopefully my blog will make you laugh. It might make you cry, and every once in a while it may make you want to punch me in the face. Suck it up, because this is my blog, and meanies will not be tolerated. No, seriously, I am actually the most passive person you might never meet. On my blog you will find my weekly features: Topical Tuesday, What I Wore Wednesday, Gage Says and My Stories. Mixed in you will see some crafts and recipes, as well as your typical mommy rant. I'm sarcastic, yet loveable. And I hope you'll stick around for a bit! I'm a vagabond at heart, and a daydreamer throughout my soul. Come join me on my little journey to maintain what's left of my sanity!

DELIRIOUS RHAPSODY BLOG

My Brest Friend vs Boppy Pillow

2012-01-31T11:38:00.000-08:00

I own a Boppy pillow from my pregnancy with chloe. But to be honest, i ended up using it more for a seat cushion during my recovery more than anything else. I mean, i did have to have a ridiculous amount of stitches so the Boppy really did help, just not in the way it was intended to.

image via Amazon

I have heard a lot about the My Brest Friend pillow and the nurse who taught my childbirth class swore by it. So i am wondering if its worth it? I want to make sure I will have use for it before i decide to shell out the money for it. (which I found on sale for $30 on Amazon here.)

image via Amazon

Have any of you had any experience with it? I do like that it is more hands free for nursing. I would love to hear what your opinions are on it...

Yes i am THAT pregnant lady

2012-01-30T21:52:00.001-08:00

I have been so hungry lately.... Today out of nowhere i went to vons and picked up 2 bags of chips a hoy cookies. Immediately after i gave the cashier my money (before even leaving the check stand) i rip open a bag and scarf a cookie down while the cashier gives me my receipt. I don't know what was going through my mind, i just needed that cookie and i needed it NOW! I didn't even think twice about what i was doing until i got in the car and realized i had already eaten 4 cookies from the time i was with the cashier to my car that was parked fairly close to the entrance. I laughed out loud at myself for that. I definitely attribute this to my pregnancy. And you know what, i'd probably do it again...

Music Monday - Milo Greene

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

I really want to start talking about more music here on my blog, so I am going to do a feature called Music Mondays. I will post a music video from some bands I like. Please leave comments if you know other bands that sound similar so that we can check them out!

My sister in law got me hooked on the civil wars. She also happen to get this sample cd from Milo Greene

that I really like. They remind me of The Head and the Heart. You should definitely check them out!

Website - Music

Beautiful 80 degree weather...

2012-01-29T16:55:00.001-08:00

....Means park time!

Games "with friends"

2012-01-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

Can i just say i am totally addicted to the Zynga games where you play with other people? Words with friends, Hanging with friends and my very fave Scramble with friends. I love playing word games and I also love the fact that you can play when its convenient for you. So helpful when you have a needy toddler on your hands who you can't show your phone to or else they throw a fit that you won't let her play with it.

If you play any of these, make sure to play a game with me! Username: The Schmitzels.

pregnancy update

2012-01-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

I feel so bad that I haven't taken a single picture of my little baby belly with Emery. When I was pregnant with Chloe I took pictures of my growing bump every week. So I am trying to make a promise from now one to take a picture at least 1x a week.

Here I am at 21 weeks as of Monday.

That is my living room wall, btw. I heart it.

I love my little growing baby bump. I definitely look pregnant now and not just overweight. I especially love baby bumps in stripes, I feel it just emphasizes the adorable growing belly.

I am already starting to get that itchy belly thing and have started drowning my belly in lotion. I have also received the BIO OIL that is supposed to help reduce already existing scars (I still have stretch marks from Chloe) and help stop any new scars. I have seen pictures of people who use it and it is very impressive. I hope it works. My stretch marks from the first pregnancy were atrocious. They were bright red all over my thighs, hips and lower abdomen. It looked like I got in a fight with a bear! (But at least I won, since I am still alive.) I hear it also helps with any scars, so I will try it on some other scars too and see how it goes.

I have been having bad acid reflex lately. yuck. so now I have to carry around a small bottle of tums with me. At least they have a tropical flavor to them. And I still have been getting car sick (not really sick, just tummy ache and head ache) and it seems best if I drive most of the time to prevent it. I am starting to get really tired again all of a sudden too. The last 3 nights I have fallen asleep early on the couch, even before Chloe goes to bed! Luckily James stays up late with her, she is such a night owl... she likes to wait until 11pm to go to sleep. I don't know how she does it. must be those 2 hour naps she takes at the sitters.

And the best part of the pregnancy so far: getting to feel little Emery kick. yes KICK! Even James has felt her. I couldn't believe he was able to feel her this early in the pregnancy, but sure enough! I felt her fluttering for the past 3 weeks now, then the night we found out Emery was a SHE, she surprised me with a swift kick to the belly button. (while we were editing the video to send out, I might add. It was such a cute surprise, this girl has good timing.) And then more and more kicks came along and now I feel her kick all the time. I absolutely love it! I like this stage where the kicks don't hurt yet and it is just a amazing feeling. I love how active she is at night, right when I lay down, I just lay there and concentrate on her and feel her moving and pray over her. I am definitely starting to feel more and more connected to this little one and can't wait to meet her.

I had an ultrasound about 2 weeks ago, everything looked great, the baby is healthy, the only thing is that they said my placenta was too close to my cervix, they actually thought it might have been placenta prevea, but with a more in depth ultrasound, they said it wasn't exactly placenta prevea ,but it was close and they are wanting me to come back in a few weeks to check on the moving of the placenta.They said there isn't anything I can do about it, and that as long as it moves up, I should be fine. So please, be praying for that!

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound! Sorry they are a little blurry. There is a picture of Emery giving us a thumbs up!

Pay It Forward on Delirious Rhapsody

2012-01-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

Deanna over at Delirious Rhapsody has a "pay it forward" feature on her blog. She does random acts of kindness and encourages all her readers to do so as well. Then she asks that you blog about it and link it up. Then that spreads the word and gets others to do it and so on and so on. Essentially, she is using her blog to make the world a better place! So I wanted to give a shout out to this awesome lady and her efforts. Please go check it out on her blog here. and read her latest post about it here. Then go Pay It Forward to someone and spread the word! The nest posting will be Feb 17th, so that should give you plenty of time to do something nice for a stranger then post about it. I can't wait to hear all the good that you ladies will be doing!

Thanks Deanna for being the awesome lady that you are and inspiring all of us to do good to others!

Baby Resale Shops are Awesome!

2012-01-25T15:18:00.000-08:00

I have been in such a nesting mode lately. I want to go through Chloe's room and get everything organized for another little one to share her space (and her closet)

Now that we know we are having 2 little girls, I was able to go through all of Chloe's old clothes (we kept everything, just in case) and decided what we would keep some and we would either donate the rest or sell to a baby resale shop. Since Chloe and Emery will be in completely different seasons than each other for the clothes sizing, we ended up selling a lot of her clothes. (So most of the 6 months were all summer clothes and Emery will be in a cold winter in Oregon around 6 months, so most of those clothes didn't work). The resale shop is only taking clothes for the colder weather right now and we will have to take back the rest during march for the summer clothes. We ended up selling $160 of clothes to the shop. That means we get to have $80 in store credit! I was able to get a brand new Graco baby swing for little Emery, a toy organizer to get all those toys put in there place, some safety locks for the doors, toilet and fridge, plus some clothes that were appropriate for the weather the new baby will be in for only $1, using our $80 credit! I was so surprised. And they said they definitely want to buy our summer clothes when it comes time, so we will be able to do that again here really soon. And, they have maternity clothes too. Which is great since I think most maternity clothes are overpriced, especially for the short time you will be using them. (a post on maternity clothes soon to come!) My mom got a Safety First baby gate there for only $17, the same baby gate that I just saw advertised at Babies R Us for $49! Score! And she just bought a forward facing car seat for Chloe, since she was growing out of her backwards facing one. (my mom takes Chloe on weds and needs a car seat of her own).

Let me tell you, if you have a baby resale shop near you, please, use it to your advantage. We always go there first when looking for items. Many items are new or almost new and all at such a great cost.You can find some great resale shops by checking them out on Yelp, we actually just found another right by our house. I can't wait to check out!

Color Happy

2012-01-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

Just a Sneak peek into our brand new YELLOW living room bookshelves. We are re-doing our living room and the Girl's room with fun colors and more inviting space. Heading to Ikea tonight for more items and ideas! I can't believe James actually talked me into getting the yellow cabinets and I usually LOVE white furniture, but it makes the space seem so HAPPY! A post with the new decorated rooms soon... and hopefully a inspiration board of some sort!

(I am thinking a yellow, teal and red combo?)

Topic for discussion...

2012-01-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I shared a great band with you and it made me think about the legalities of music. Particularly the copying and sharing of cds.

Now I have never had a problem with copying music from my friends iTunes onto a cd. And i would never have a problem with doing the same for my friends. However, about a month ago, one of my friends kindly pointed out that he thought that was a form of stealing. I really never thought of it that way, but he does bring up a good point. If we did not pay for that cd, it is technically stealing. He suggest letting people borrow the cd and if they like it they can buy their own copy. It makes sense and it supports the musicians financially so they can continue to provide good music. And i definitely want to support the people who make the music i love so very much.

I have decided here on out that i would gladly borrow a cd, but will not upload it to my itunes to keep for myself and if i really want it, i will save money to purchase it. I have not made up my mind about giving burnt cds to others. The reason being is I like to make random cd mixes for people that include significant and meaningful songs. I don't think I will make a full cd for someone just because they like the cd and want it though.

So i wanted to hear your take on this subject. How do you feel about copying music?

Awesome band!

2012-01-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

My sister in law, crystal recently exposed me to the amazingness called The Civil Wars. Now, i don't know how long they have been around or if they are on the radio all the time or if everyone knows about them already, ( it could be like that time I had just heard of Mumford and Sons and some how everyone else on the planet already knew of them they had been popular for 3 years by then) but i wanted to share them in case you haven't heard...

If you go here, there official website is offering a free download version of a live album.

You can purchase all of there albums here. Or you can find them on itunes.

Hope you love them as much as I do. btw, I have been REALLY into Folk Country music lately.

Tradeshow time

2012-01-16T06:14:00.001-08:00

I am currently in orlando for a business trip. I will be here all week and will try to update and read blogs while i can.

This trip is the first of 4 trips that i have pretty much back to back. I come home and then leave a week later for each trip. It will be super hard because this will be the longest time that i have been away from chloe. And i will continuously leave for about a month. And i'm leaving during the time she is learning to walk :(

So i am super bummed

Bright side is that i get to travel for free and we get some leisure time. So i get to check out all these different places.

Anyone know of something cool to check out or a good restaraunt to eat at?

Edit: just finished first day of show. I stood on my pregnant feet in heels for 8 hrs straight. I never want to wear heels again! Definitely running to the store to buy flats to wear tomorrow!

Sponsor my blog!

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

So this is something NEW to my blog. I have never had sponsors before on here, but I think it might be time to offer up some prime real estate on my blog. Normally I wouldn't do this because I am all about spreading the love for free. However, with money being tight due to taxes that will be due, a baby on the way and a big move, it was about time I started making my blog a little more useful around here. Which means I will also be spending more time on here spiffying it up and writing more posts. (yay!) I can feel less guilty spending lots of more time blogging if it is helping our family financially as well.

Anyway, I am throwing this opportunity out there for any of you who want to get more exposure for you blog or Etsy shop (or whatever else you want to showcase).

What you will get:

-You will get a 150 x150 pixel space to put a button up on the right hand column ---->

- You will get a post featuring your blog/shop with whatever you want to say to my readers. This post will include a picture and links to your blog/shop/twitter/facebook/website

-Your add will be up for a full month (beginning to end) and will be rotated regularly so everyone gets a change to be on top!

My Blog Stats:

- My blog was started in May 2009

- I have almost 200 readers

- My average page views: 160/day, 4800/month

- I have mainly female viewers and many of them are moms

- I blog about daily life and whatever suits my fancy. DIY projects, home, fashion, family, and mommy blogging

These Sponserships will start on February 1st- February 29, 2012

I have never done this before so if there is any information that I am leaving out that you may need to know or any Questions you may have, let me know!

If you are interested in Sponsoring my blog, contact me at SHESAIDBLOG(AT)GMAIL.COM

Baby E... He or She?

2012-01-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Before and after

2012-01-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

So here are the before and after pics of our headboards.

I think the new one is fun! now we need to buy some new solid colored bedding.

I am thinking mustard yellow! Or Turquoise with Red.

(geeze I need to start taking better pictures, and take them during the day)

Chloe is learning to walk!

2012-01-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

James and i are trying to get chloe to walk. We sit across from each other and coax her to go back and forth. Sorry for the blurry video, but I couldn't get my phone to focus in time to capture her walking to me.

I Got an Award! And now 5 others do too!

2012-01-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

Sweet Jaime from Spunky Sister kindly awarded me with an Leibster Award.

So kind of her to think that my little ol' blog deserved some type of recognition. You should definitely check out Jaime's blog. She is sweet, funny, down to earth and adorable!

So, here's how it works:

This award is given to blogs with less then 200 followers that you think deserve a little bit more recognition.

Here are the rules:

1) Show your thanks by linking the sweet person who nominated you.

2) Leave links to 5 of your top blogs and leave a comment letting them know!

3) Post the award on your blog.

4) Enjoy the Love :)

There are so many amazing blogs out there, here are just 5 of the many I LOVE. Seriously, These ladies and there blogs are such an inspiration to me. They are just the sweetest people who have kindly opened up about there lives and fun adventures along the way. It makes me smile to read their post. You should definitely check these ladies blogs out, you will not be disappointed!

Crystal from These Happy Michie's

Breanne from My World Resting On Your Love

Haley from For Everything There Is a Season

Rebecca from Even If, No Matter What

Betsy from Three.20

and I wanted to mention another friend of my Sandee from Her and the Boys who just started blogging this week! Yay Sandee! Go over to her blog and show her some love!

Thank you Jaime again and hope you find some new blogs to subscribe too!

10 more facts

2012-01-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

This is going to take me a while to think of 100 facts about me, so these will be slow coming.I am really hoping I don't have any repeats.

51. I don't like to drink water. I could go days without drinking water. I think it just taste funny. I know water taste different from wherever its from, but I haven't really had any great tasting water that has stood out to me. It is bad now because I really need to get to drinking more water for the pregnancy.

52. I want to skydive. Even though I am deathly afraid of heights, I want to skydive so badly! I think it would be fun and exhilarating. That is definitely on my bucket list.

53. I love Birds, Owls especially. I have an owl tattoo and I have tons of them in our home. And I have tons of owl necklaces too. I don't know why I love them, I just do. Which is special because my grandmother loves them too. It's so sweet because people will randomly see something owl and get it for me because it reminds them of me.

54. I would love to be a cosmetologist. I would like to know how to do hair and make up on myself and to do on my family and friends. I think I would love the job. I would totally go for that as my career if only I didn't have to work nights or weekends (which is highly unlikely).

55. I love cream cheese. I could eat it on anything. Seriously. The more the better. Oh and James' family makes a fruit dip that is made of cream cheese and marshmallow cream is the best EVER.

56. My favorite season is Fall. Even though San Diego really doesn't have a fall here, I love what fall is supposed to be. The red, orange and yellow leaves. The cold brisk air. The warmer seasonal drinks. The warmer clothes and layers to wear. I can't wait to live in a place that actually has a fall.

57. I was the token white girl for many years with my friends. I grew up and went to school with mostly people of Mexican, Philippino and African American decent and Caucasian was a minority. My best friends were always Mexican and I was very immersed in there culture. That could be why I love Mexican food, was in Ballet Folklorico and took Spanish for so many years. I even had a teacher who would call me "guerra" (pronounced Wedda, meaning white girl or blonde white girl) as my name. When I would go to other parts of San Diego where Caucasian was the majority, I felt so weird and it took me a long time to get use to it.

58. I am thinking about being a CPA. I really love accounting and number pushing and finances. I even like doing our taxes. I think this would be a great fit for me... if only I could find the time and motivate myself to go back to school again.

59. I come from a small family. It was my sisters and Mom most of my life. I grew up with knowing 1 aunt, her 2 daughters, 1 uncle and my grandma. They all lived in Arizona and we didn't see them very much, So our family felt pretty small. Now that I have a relationship with my dad I have added on to that a little more, but we are still a relatively small family. Now James family, that is another story. His family is HUGE.

60. I love to DIY everything. (see headboard below) James and I like to try re purposing furniture, home decor etc... I see something I like in a store and then tell myself "I can make that". I have the intentions to make it, but then I never get around to it.

$30 DIY headboard

2012-01-11T09:40:00.000-08:00

James and I have been wanting a new headboard for a while now. However, the lack of funds has held us back. However, we got the brilliant idea to substitute some of the materials needed to make a headboard with things we already had.

List of materials we used: ($30 total)

- cardboard ($0)

- 2 yards of quilt batting ($8)

- tape, packing or duct

- staple gun

- 2 yards of fabric ($12)

So here is our process to our very low budget headboard:

1. Take huge pieces of cardboard. This was just lying around our warehouse at work.

2. Tape pieces of cardboard together. It would be best if you could find 1 piece of cardboard that was the right size instead of using 2 separate pieces like we had to.

3. Measure ideal size of headboard and cut cardboard to appropriate size.

4. Cut out a design or shape for top of headboard. James used different sized bowls to trace and make the round cuts. Using a box cutter would be best for this step.

5. Lay cardboard shape over quilt batting and cut a 2 inch perimeter around cardboard.

6. Fold batting around cardboard edge and Tape batting around the cardboard. Less tension means fluffier headboard.

7. Take your fabric and iron out any creases you may have in it. (I usually skip this step when using material and always regret it in the end.)

8. Then lay headboard on fabric and cut 2 inch perimeter of fabric around headboard.

9. Fold over fabric around edge of headboard. pulling tight and using a staple gun, staple fabric through batting and cardboard. The starting points would be the top and bottom centers and working outward.

Then your done! Now, normally I would suggest using plywood instead of cardboard, but when that is all you have, you just have to improvise... :) I will have to add a picture soon of it mounted behind our bed.

If you try this or if you have made a DIY headboard, I would love to see it! Post a link to share it!

I officially have an IPHONE!

2012-01-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

YAY!!!! James and I didn't get anything for each other for Christmas because we didn't have enough money. So when we received a Christmas bonus and we saw that iphone 4s were only $99 we jumped at the chance to get that for our Christmas presents! I got the white and James got the black. We were not on a contract with our old telephone service (t mobile, loved them! but they didn't offer the iphone) so we hopped on James' moms family plan and got the new phones and the monthly plan is actually cheaper than our old plan that never even included internet. score!
The best part is that we both have face time so while I am traveling a lot during the next 2 months for work I can still see hubby and Chloe all the time!

So anyone have any good apps they want to share? I have been looking for good shopping/coupon apps especially and some photography apps as well so I can start taking more photos of our little one.

oh and if you have any tips and tricks with using the iphone, I would love that too as I am sort of technologically challenged.

finding out... mixed emotions...

2012-01-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

I am so undecided whether I want to find out Baby E's gender or not.(I need to make up my mind soon, the ultra sound is this Thursday!) I want this pregnancy to be as special as my pregnancy with Chloe and I want to do some things a little different this time around as I am hoping this is my last pregnancy. I think it would be fun not knowing the gender of Baby E and then being surprised when he/she is born and having that super special moment with my newest little one.

I was pretty set on not finding out, however, James is dead set on knowing. At first we decided that James would know and I wouldn't and he would keep it a secret from everyone (because someone is bound to slip in front of me). But then I know that it will kill me that he knows and I don't. So we decided we would know and keep it a secret from everyone else so that the birth would be extra special and waited on with extra anticipation. When we told our family of our decision, some of them got REALLY upset about it. Which then made it not fun for me anymore. (which is another issue in itself, it really bothers me how some people don't take into account our feelings on the situation.) Anyway, So now it comes down to either we don't know at all that way no one can get mad at us that they don't know, since we don't know. Or we find out and tell everyone, but try to find an extra special way of letting them know.

A positive of me knowing is that I really don't feel as connected to this pregnancy as I did when I was prego with Chloe. It could be that it was different because it was my first time and this is all "been there done that" now or if it is because of my crazy hormonal emotions. Maybe finding out will help me feel more connected? That would be great too....

I think I am just gonna give it up to God. If He wants me to know, then the baby will be proudly showing off his/her goodies. If He wants me to wait, then the baby will be "shy" as can be and keep the legs crossed and that will be that, I won't push it further. I won't go in for the extra ultrasound or 4-d ultrasound, we will just have to wait it out. haha. In case we do find out, anyone know of any good ideas for letting family know of the baby's gender? Our family is too big and too spread out throughout the country to do anything together like a gender party, so we need something we can do for everyone.

oh and just because I don't want to know quite yet doesn't mean I don't want to have fun guessing at what Baby E is... anyone have any good wives tails to figure out the baby gender?

Portland, here we come!

2011-12-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

Tonight we leave to go to our favorite city, Portland OR! We will be spending the next week there with family and friends. We can't wait. Our best friends who moved up to Washington early November will be coming to visit and we will be spending tons of time with James mom, grandpa, aunts, uncles and cousins. And Chloe will have so much fun with all the little ones that are around. We will hopefully see a few more friends that used to live in San Diego and moved up (or back) to Portland. It is so nice to know we have have friends already when we officially move up here!

We will even try to squeeze in some time to check out some other apartments, in case the ones we love will not be available when we are ready to move. I love apartment hunting, especially when we get to explore new areas.

We are staying with James mom and she doesn't have very good internet connection, so I will not be on the internet much. I wanted to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can't wait to get back on here and see all the pictures from your wonderful holidays!

Baby E update

2011-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

So I am now 16 weeks pregnant. I haven't had any morning sickness at all and have been so lucky to have a rather pleasant pregnancy this time around! Other than the lack of energy (which seems to be getting back on track more and more lately) I feel great. Well, except for my sciatic nerve that feels like a shock running down my back and leg. I feel like my bump is big already, although I hear you start showing much earlier with your second child. I am glad it definitely looks like a baby bump because I hate when you are in that in between stage where you don't really look pregnant, you just look fat. I am over that now and definitely have burgeoning belly. :)

I can't wait to feel this little bug move pretty soon. I am not gonna lie, other than the belly I don't really feel pregnant and it sometime doesn't seem "real" to me. I think that will change once I feel the baby moving all around. It will be magical I am sure, just like the last time.

James and I are not sure if we wan to know the baby's sex this time around. We want to make this pregnancy different than the last time. We want to make it special. If we do end up finding out the sex, we decided we are not going to tell anyone. We want it to be a fun surprise for everyone. I think we want to try and do something different with Emery so that he/she is just as special as Chloe. We have to make up our minds soon what we want to do because the big ultrasound is on Jan 12. I can't wait! I am so excited just to see the little babe!

We haven't started belly pics, but we will do that very soon and I will start posting them up on here. :)

I tell you what though... I have a feeling its a boy.... although, that is what I said last time too...

Family Photo Time & Chritmas Card

2011-12-22T09:00:00.001-08:00

Our friend Trish took some amazing photos of our family while James Moms and sisters were in town from Portland. We took them at our favorite place: Balboa Park. And we even had them done in time for our Christmas cards! We needed some new photos with Chloe being older and looking completely different then when she was 6 months old. I love her facial expressions in these! Chloe even got some special pictures with her Auntie and Grandmas.

oh and we ordered our Christmas cards from Tiny Prints. We LOVE them. We always have either a funny picture or a funny message on our Christmas cards. This year we decided to go with something subtly funny in the message. We promise, we are not conceited. Here is what they look like:

Our Dear Friend.

2011-12-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

So this past week has been a tough one for me....
We had a friend who we knew from church. He had joined our small group for a while and then switched to a mens only group. We still saw him all the time at church functions and on Sundays though and he was so sweet and genuine.

Last Monday (Dec 12) he had dinner with his family and then seem to dissapear. No one knows exactly what happened to him since then. He had work on Thursday and never showed up. He was a 40 year old man who lived on his own, so when no one hear from him from Tues and Weds no one thought of it, but when he didn't show up to work, his family filed a missing persons report. On Friday morning, they found his truck at the base of a really advanced hiking mountain. Search and Rescue teams went searching with search dogs and helicopters on Friday and found nothing. James along with others from our church and community, along with our friends family and the Search and Rescue team went out again on Saturday and still found nothing. On Sunday more people went out again searching. The search is looking grim with more and more days passing and the really cold mountain weather making it hard for someone to survive past a couple days. The mountain has many different trails and our friend could be anywhere. This past Monday was going to be the very last attempt by Search and Rescue to find him.

This Monday (Dec 19) we got a call from our pastor, who had been there for every search party. He said they found him, our dear friend and he was not alive. I had a feeling that would be the case because of how long he had been missing and was sort of prepared to hear that bad news (even though I knew God could have granted a miracle and he could have been alive, I just didn't feel in my heart he was). I was sad, but happy that he is with the lord and that he was at least found so his family wasn't left to wonder. However, I was not prepared for the rest of the news. When they found our friend, he had a gun beside him and it looks like he shot himself. As of right now, they are claiming suicide until the autopsy report. This through me for a loop. I don't know anyone who took their own life. I am not sure how I feel about when you commit suicide and what happens to you in the after life. I have prayed about it and am leaning on God and looking to his Word to help me find answers in this. It was hard to know that he felt something so sad that he wanted to end his own life.

The worst part is is that God put him on my heart for the last 2 weeks to reach out to him, but I was hesitant because I was a married woman and didn't want to send him the wrong signal by calling or texting. I was wanting to wait until Sunday to talk to him, but didn't see him the Sunday before he went missing because I was in with the kids and I didn't see him by churches end (later to find out he hasn't shown up to the last 2 Sundays). I didn't really push James to reach out to him either. I think I took it hard because I felt God pressing me to reach out and I hesitated. I know that I can't blame myself and God is helping me with peace on that, but it is still hard for me.

I just ask that you all pray for my friends family. He was really close to his family and spoke of them often and had dinner with them every week. Pray that they seek God in this moment of hurt. Pray that his friends and family do not take the blame or have any "what if I did this..." type feelings. Pray that God works in this tragedy to create a something good.

Holiday meal when your on budget

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Sandee wrote an article for Yahoo Voices about how to make a holiday meal on a budget. She spent less than $50 to feed 6 adults and had more to spare! I thought I would share the post with you all, hope you can get some tips from it! Sandee is a sweet and gorgeous stay at home momma to two adorable little boys and she lives in Southern California. We met through James friend and old band mate. She is a doll and a great hostess!

"On a budget for a yummy holiday dinner? I can share how to make a delicious, mouth-watering meal that your guests and your pocket will love while adding a little festive chic."... Click Here to see the rest of the post.

Speaking of Holiday Meals... I finally get to participate in PIE DAY with James' mom and her family up in Oregon this year! I am super excited. All the ladies of the family get together before Christmas to make pies and desserts for the big day. They cook and laugh and share stores and I am so happy I get to finally be there for it this year! This is a family tradition for them and I can't wait to be a part of it every year once we move up there!

DO YOU HAVE ANY FUN FAMILY HOLIDAY TRADITIONS?