Star Wars Cinco De Mayo party

Today at work we celebrated both "May the 4th be with you" and "Cinco de Mayo". We dressed as Star Wars characters with some fun Mexican style mixed in. Then we all brought delicious Mexican food for a potluck style feast.  YUMMY.

I was supposed to be Padme Amidala, however I couldn't find something to work that would fit my huge tummy. So I ended up being Han Solo. It turns out my co worker had the same probelm with her Princess Leia costume... so we both ended up being Han Solo. haha.

Totally by accident that both Han Solo's are in the same stance. haha. 

Interesting...

Apparently, Target can know your pregnant before even you do! This topic came up in discussion yesterday at work. Many corporations can track people's spending habits and can notice a change in spending that you make, even if its something you are doing only subconsciously.

You should read this article here.

 It is 9 pages, but full of interesting tid bits on how they track your information (totally big brother style) and what they do with that info. Actually, it really gets into on page 1 then 7-9 on how Target themselves uses the info. When you think about it, it's pretty scary. I am open about our life, I mean, I have a blog and write about what is going on in my life and what I am thinking about. But to know that someone is tracking my info that I never really gave permission to have available to others makes me feel so violated and exposed. I do not like "The Man" to know every little thing I do or purchase. Not that I really have anything to hide, but it is just uncomfortable.

Then it got me thinking... if they track this kind of stuff, can they track suspicious spending? for instance if someone all of a sudden started buying things that could hurt someone or things that would help cover up a murder, etc like that? I mean, if they track everything, could they potentially know if someone might be planning to intentionally hurt someone? if so, what do they do with that information? do they just throw it out the window because really all they care about is getting more consumers? I know this sounds awful to think about... but it makes sense if they are really capable of analytically and statistically figuring out all these types of lifestyles and habits.

When the article started talking about the mice in the maze looking for the chocolate and how after a while of doing the same maze over and over there minds activity decreased as it let the habit take over of knowing where to go. Man, I have done that quite a few times when driving and thinking, wow... I was thinking of something else the entire time I was driving to work and don't remember driving all the way here. But because it was habit to drive to the same place each day, I didn't have to think about it really. That is a pretty scary thought too. To know that you can do something without even thinking about it simply because it is a habit.

"Habits aren’t destiny — they can be ignored, changed or replaced. But it’s also true that once the loop is established and a habit emerges, your brain stops fully participating in decision-making. So unless you deliberately fight a habit — unless you find new cues and rewards — the old pattern will unfold automatically." - Charles Duhigg


The upside to the article gives good insights to habits and what you can do to recognize and understand those habits. And even how to begin new, good habits if you wanted to. (which I will using to implement more excersize on maternity leave). So you should definitely read the article for a number of reasons. Like I said before, it's long, but informative. It gives me the willies (about companies "spying") and positive helpful information all at the same time.

What did you think about the article?

Any Tips on Discipline?

Discipline has always been something I was dreading to do with Chloe. I know I have a temper and I know that sometimes I need to just walk away and have James deal with Chloe's tantrums because I know my limits. I don't want to do something or say something out of anger. I had fear about disciplining Chloe. I was worried that I would do something out of control or that I would not do it right and instead of teaching her a valuable lesson, I would instill fear in her instead. God has helped me deal with this so much. He has granted me more patience than I thought possible. He has helped me give grace to her pretty much immediately after doing something to purposefully push my buttons.

You are probably thinking how could a child less than 1 1/2 purposefully push my buttons?  Oh she can and does, more often then I would have hoped. When I say she can't have that or not to touch/do something that can hurt her, she looks me right in the eyes and does in anyway. When she gets mad she has pulled my hair. When I ask her to stop, she sits there holding on to my hair in her fist and looks me in the eyes then smiles and pulls my hair again. and hard too.

Now her big thing she gets a kick out of is hitting. We hadn't seen her do it before, but the school told us her and another girl hit each other a lot when they want to play with each others toys. We thought it was so strange since she hasn't witnessed anyone hitting anyone. Then the hitting has now progressed into our home. When she is cuddling next to me all cute all of a sudden she will turn to me and hit me. when I say, "ow, we don't hit" she then laughs and hits me again. then when I sternly tell her "please stop" she then gets mad at hits and kicks me. It doesn't happen all the time, but it has been happening about 3 times a week lately and I am afraid that it will progress to more often if I don't rectify the problem now.


I can deal with the tantrums, in fact since we have instilled a time out chair her tantrums pretty much stop in there tracks. When she starts throwing a tantrum, we tell her to sit in her time out chair until she is done crying then she can come play when she is ready. And she gets up from the floor and goes to sit in her chair until she is  done and then comes back to play. And sometimes all we have to ask is if she wants to sit in the time out chair and she says no and immediately stops crying. However, It doesn't seem to work with hitting. When I tell her that she will have to go to the time out chair if she hits me again, she then yells and hits and kicks me more.

I don't know why the time out chair isn't working for this, but I would love to hear if any of you out there experience something like this and how you deal with it? I know every child is different and every family's personal discipline techniques are different, but I am at a loss of what to do.

Amen to that.

The Daily Bible Verse : Email Edition December 3rd, 2009

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. This Scripture has more importance in our day than ever. How we guide our eyes in a visual age makes all the difference to the wellbeing of our souls. Worthless things surround us. The sensuality of this culture is so obvious that it doesn't need much explanation. But there are many worthless things that are not so obvious. How many hours have we wasted on the internet? Look at our habits when we have a television remote in our hand. What did it take to get to the 42nd level in that video game? Many times the key to cultivating the best in us does not occur during the work week, but how we handle our leisure time. To make God's words a priority during our down time will preserve our lives from worthless distractions.

The commentary is from The Daily Bible Verse that I get every morning in my inbox. 

I have saved this Daily Bible Verse since 2009. And I read it all the time to remind myself to stop with the every day hustle and bustle of this world. To stop spending time on things that really do not matter in the end. To spend time worshiping God. To spend my time wisely doing things He would be proud of. To honor him with my time and the things I do here on earth. 

I just wanted to share this with you and encourage you to stop and think of how you spend your time. 

Baby Shower for Emery Rose

Some wonderful ladies from church wanted to throw us a baby shower for Emery. Since we had most everything we needed for her, thanks to Chloe, we had a diaper shower. The colors of the shower were grey and yellow (my fave!). It was a simple shower with a game of charades and gift opening. Many from our church and family were there to help us celebrate! It was a fun time with amazing people and we truly feel blessed. 

The decorations were adorable and the snacks were so yummy! 

And those yellow "dried flowers" are actually dried pineapple slices that you can eat. 

They were sooooo good!

and of course, it wouldn't be a diaper shower without a diaper cake!

I think my fave thing about the shower was that they organized for everyone to create a letter for a "letter wall" for our nursery. Each person brought a different letter that went with the nursery colors. I can't wait to put these up!

We even got some other gifts for the baby like a handmade quilt and matching outfits for Chloe and Emery. 

And here are just some of the amazing people that were there: 

Sandy: the one who threw us the shower. Very talented, very beautiful.
With her 10 month old Gideon. 

James and his Dad

Dan and 4 month old Blake

Sue and 14 month old Jackson

my beautiful sisters

my little precious

The Zacharia family

All the ladies from my old bible study group...
All of us have (or will be having babies) within 1 year span.
So great that we all become moms around the same time.  

The men of our old bible study

Music Monday - Eisley

I love the piano and sweet high voices coming from this family band. I have seen them live a couple of times and they sound just as good live as they do on their cd's. I included 3 videos, some new songs, some old. Hope you like them!

This video is a fun steam punkish video that I really like and just had to share:

Website - Purchase CD

Music Monday - Sondre Lerche

I heard of Sondre Lerche through from "Dan In Real Life". He performed a song at the end that I really liked. So here are two songs off some of the old albums I have of his. 

heartbead radio

and here is our baby announcement video with Chloe using Sondre Lerche's song

We had reggae day at work yesterday in honor of 4/20. Not that I honor smoking illegal substances in any matter, I just like a good dress up day as the next fun person. 

We wore red, green and yellow and had yummy snack foods "munchies" all day. 

One my coworkers posted up signs around work the day before saying that today was "REYGAY Day" he literally thought that was how you spelled it... so that is why it is spelled funny on the picture... hope you enjoy!

The ombre look

So I haven't had my hair professionally died since I was pregnant with Chloe... yes, I am one of those people that have no problem with my hair getting dyed while pregnant. usually I just do a touch up from a box color at home. However, I want something fun and different. 

I was thinking about going back to blonde.... which is a HUGE change for me. I have been dying my hair dark brown/black since I was 18 (almost 10 years now) and I wanted something drastic and different. Not to mention Chloe is an adorable little blondie and I every time I look at her it reminds me of when I was blonde. 

I was picture ashy blonde with lots of lowlights... so it still looks blonde, but not too Barbie-ish. 

Something like this:

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Well, I made the appointment and just had a color consultation. Lets just say the stylist talked me out of dying it totally blonde. Not that it wouldn't look good, but because it would be very high maintenance to keep it up, going every 6 weeks to get root touch ups AND it would take about 3 different times (over the matter of a couple months) to get the look I want since my hair is so dark now.  Being that I am of pretty low maintenance and will definitely not have the time when baby E is here, I opted out for something that I don't know for sure I would be able to keep up (not just time wise, but money wise too since maternity leave is only half my regular pay).  Then she mentioned OMBRE. She described it going from darker to light shades from top to bottom and she would throw in subtle highlights around my face. It would take only 1 sitting and it would be low maintance. perfect! I never really thought of that hair style before, but I think I could pull it off and if I end up deciding I don't like going lighter, it is easier to dye it back to a darker color and less damage on my hair. 

So ombre it is. 

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Apparently, I really like Hilary Duffs hair stylist. 

So my homework until my official appointment is to find ombre looks that I like... I need your help finding inspiration! Every time I Google image the look, the same 4 or 5 actresses come up, but I want to see more variety!  What do you all think of the Ombre look? I am not 100% sure about the whole, looks like you have been growing your roots out forever look.

If you could comment with links with cute ombre hair.. that would be greatly appreciated! 

Repurposed inspiration - Tires

Chloe's school uses re purposed tires all over the playground. They have a giant tire pyramid for the kids to climb, they have tire flower planters, and they have tires just laid on on the ground for the kids to jump in or sit in. They painted them all sorts of fun colors and it really is cute. 

I think the most known recycle for the tire is the tire swing

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Here is a DIY project of a tire wall planter.

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These tire planters sit on the ground and are the ones similar to the ones at Chloe's school

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These planters are adorable! This idea can also be used to make little tire seats!

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You can take an old tire and make a cute cushion for it

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My friend made some tire seesaws for her son's birthday party. 

They were cute. You can find a DIY instructions post on how to make one here. 

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This is an interesting bird bath, garden decor

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Here are some eco chic seats and side tables made from the company Tyred.

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Oh and by the way... if any of you are in the San Diego area... you should check out the HUGE Earth Day Fair at Balboa Park.... 75,000 people went last year... and James and I have to work a booth there... so you could come say HI!