Dear 2012,

photo by Emily Snitzer 

Dear 2012,

You will always be one of my most cherished years, I'm sure of it. You were beautiful, you were challenging, you were the year I really came into my own as a mama. I don't think I'll ever figure it out all the way (in fact, I'm sure- I have a sneaking suspicion no one ever really does), but this year I grew right along with Henry and just as he is no longer a baby, I am no longer such a brand new mother. We figured it out, we made sense of our everydays, and now here we are, looking back over the past year with the biggest of smiles. Happiness. Pure joy. You were also a year I fell a little more in love with life. I'm not sure what it was- more time to spend on creative endeavors, realizing much more about myself, or maybe just taking a whole afternoons to laze in the sun with my little man- but I've never felt more lucky to feel so alive. It's been a year of love, such sweet, sweet love. Hank and his kind heart, always understanding me and accepting me, always going along with my funny ideas. This year he's been so patient and kind. And it's not like he's ever been anything but, but this past year I got to see him really grow into his role as a father and it was a beautiful, beautiful thing. I got to spend so many more days with my family, laughing and stopping for a second every so often and saying, "we are so lucky." And then the days, my everyday, every moment with my littlest love, the sweetest Henry who in 2012 became a toddler and a small person with his own demands and wants and a voice (oh, that voice!). This year has shown so much more of his joyous, boyish, funny spirit, and all of this time I get to spend with him? Heaven.

So 2012 thank you. I've grown, I've learned, I've fallen, I've gotten back up. I've smiled, I've cried, I've danced around in our living room to silly music with my family, laughing hard and harder. You were a good one, a year of continuances, a year of new beginnings, and a promise of a whole lot more to come. I can't wait to see what's next!

xoxo

Next time, next year.

Let's imagine that Henry is contemplating his 2013 goals...

So many things I'd like to do, and regardless of a new year, a new month, week, day...I always have this feeling like I can always do it and try and start again. But yet somehow, sometimes, I get stuck in my old ways and habits. Not a bad thing by any means to continue on (if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?) but while reflecting on the past year I have had this feeling that maybe I could have shaken things up a bit, done some more exciting things, branched out and stretched my wings.

Today on a walk Hank and I talked a lot about the next 12 months. He is a goal-oriented person and it always inspires me to hear about other peoples' goals, especially when it's my people. We talked and thought and walked and talked, and at the end of the whole thing I really came to the conclusion that this next year I want to focus on joy in my everyday. Isn't that simple? I want to adventure more and see more, try new things and break out of my regular old ways of doing things. Nothing crazy. Nothing too out there. But we made a deal to go on one adventure a month. 12 days of new things with our little family, 12 days of shaking off the dust of our get up, get going, do basically the same thing most days, to do something totally different. So that's what we shall do. 12 months, 12 days of adventures.

And then of course there's other things I need to focus on. Meal-planning and the like. Making better use of me-time. Reading just a little bit more. Blog stuff too, of course. Here I'll be working on my photography and capturing our days, on getting my thoughts down and sharing them, rather than just keeping them in my paper journal. So much belongs there, but I think I can share more here too. I want to tell more of our story, our little life and the things we do.

I'm excited about so much, and I think regardless of the year moving ahead I'd feel this way. 2013 just has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

xoxo

4 Things.

a very summery photo on this very unsummery day

 1. Thanks for all your emails, DMs, and comments on my last post. No matter what, whenever you put something out there that makes yourself a little vulnerable it can be scary. Last night I started to feel like it had been a mistake after more than a few of my friends texted or called me totally confused and then appalled after googling to see what I was talking about. Having to rehash and talk about something that had been hard for me to deal with wasn't fun at all. I woke up this morning feeling better though, and happy that I was able to share my feelings on the situation. It was a huge growing experience and I'm grateful for it as strange as it is, and it felt good to finally address it, and just be done with it. I won't be writing about it again, and like I told one friend who called me about it last night and wanted to fill me in on what was being said over there, I don't care to know. They have their space, I have mine...and that's okay. I understand that being public and writing a blog garners attention, both positive and negative, but I don't need to seek out the negativity. Why on earth would I do that? A wise friend told me "what I don't read can't hurt me," and it's so true. At some level, even through the "but I don't care" we all care about shit like this, but continuing on this journey there is no room in my world for unconstructive criticism or meanness. However I am ALWAYS open to constructive criticism or commentary so please comment me, email me, reach out to me...I am always all ears. Although I do write this blog for my own enjoyment, it has grown and evolved into more now, and so I do believe it's important to listen to input and move forward accordingly. And I think that's all I have to say about all of that besides one more big thank you to those of you who sent me kind emails and left thoughtful comments. Let's move on now (again...haha!) because I'm boring and annoying even myself.

2. So my totally embarrassing love for bad (amazing?) television has taken another turn for the worse. Henry's been going to bed at 7pm but now sleeping until 8am, so I've been able to stay up until midnight most nights and the past couple of evenings I've gotten sucked into a new show...Hart of Dixie. Hank walked in the living room and watched maybe 2 minutes of the last episode I watched and walked out laughing, shaking his head. I don't know what it is but I just love shows like this- the cheesier the better. So add this one to that list, right alongside Make It Or Break It. I've only had time to watch a few episodes but I'm really enjoying it...even though I feel like Rachel Bilson might not be such a great actress in this role. But surprise, surprise, I don't even care!

3. I've been trying to really think of a theme for 2013. I'll be posting about this over the weekend or Monday, but last year I chose one and this year I'll be doing the same. I feel like I'm always working on goals of some sort, so it's easiest for me to pick an overall theme or idea and just go with that. I just finished reading Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin and it's completely inspired me, so I think I may lean towards a more home-oriented idea. We'll see. I also have more-specific blog goals to share, that I've already been working towards (ahem, more personal posts). Do you do goals, resolutions (I feel like these are different than goals for some reason), or themes? Do tell!

4. I originally named this post "3 Things," but after thinking about this all morning I wanted to write about it. A dear friend of some of my best friends passed away yesterday. And so all of this- that website, the negative feelings, stupid television shows, themes, goals, whatever, everything, anything, all of it, is trivial. Yesterday's post embarrasses me in this aftermath. It does not matter. Me and my feelings and my paragraphs do not matter. I won't pretend to have been friends with Matt, but I do know how he affected every single person he knew- he was sunshine, joy, and so this loss, my friends' loss, affects me. It makes me think a lot about this life and what I'm doing in it, how I'm spending my time, and who and what I'm surrounding myself with. I sit here while Henry is napping and I imagine my life without all of the things I hold so important and try and pare it all down to the most important things. My family, this love. That is all. It breaks my heart to know my friends' friend won't get to experience all of this. It breaks my heart that things like this happen and we have no control. I hate this world as much as I love it. I don't understand so much of it and it confuses me to no end if I think too much about the hows and the whys. I just wish I could understand even a little bit more.

xoxo

2012, and (finally) taking my own advice.

I feel good about this past year. It was a great one, full of adventures and fun. I had some goals, I reached some goals, I made some plans, I followed through with those plans. And when I think through the entire year, when I sit back and go over the months and weeks and days in my mind, most all of it brings to mind the word "family," and to me that means the year was a total success.

I learned some lessons this year too, some easy and quick, some that took a bit longer. I think I grew more during 2012 than any other previous year, which is a bold statement, especially for someone who has a tendency to really pick apart themselves and look, look, look at growth and progress and everything in between. I think one of the biggest things I learned was something I thought I already knew. Something that I was even pretty vocal about knowing...but as always, sometimes we are the ones who should take our own advice most of all. And in my case, talking about how "you can't please 'em all," how you can't make everyone like you, those were my oft-repeated words in 2012 that finally (finally!) sunk in.

Growing up I've always been more of a pleaser than not. Mostly a "stand alone in my opinion" kind of girl, but even through my slight out-spokenness and confidence, there are times I would only really want to "stand alone" in my opinion if someone else was standing there with me. Or to the side, at least. And as a teenager my people-pleasing nature wasn't obvious but it existed, and I think it's what led me to make some of the decisions I did and later on in life stretch myself way too thin. "Please everyone, and you'll please no one" should have been something I learned as I navigated the world in my earlier years but alas, it took me awhile, and sometimes making a million plans had me come across more as flaky than anything as I tried to make everyone happy at once.

And then with blogging. Oh, blogging. It's really the curse of blogging, to care too much about what others think. But inherently I think bloggers must care about what people think, because without that I'm not sure if we'd continuously put our lives on display, no matter how curated. We'd keep it locked up, in private journals, because then it would truly be for us, not for anyone else. And when I moved from Livejournal to Blogger years back I immediately felt different here. It was bigger, not as private, and I felt like there were just more people to read my posts. And so that part of me, that little part that felt scared to really put everything out there, reared its head now and again and made me think and rethink the things I shared.

As my blog grew that all changed even more, and if you read through my archives you'll see me occasionally talk about blogging and how uncomfortable I could feel that so many people were reading what I shared. That went away though, and right at the time (I thought) I was really starting to not care about all of that, trying to just be authentic and me and stop putting up walls in my writing, I discovered a small forum about this blog on a larger website.

Oh, what a turning point for me. Embarassingly enough I became intrigued and began reading what a small handful of the forum's users wrote about me. I'd post something and couldn't help myself checking in on that site to see what was said. Honestly, how crazy of me to want to see what negative things were being said about me...I think back now and I am appalled I ever spent so much time looking! At first Hank and I would laugh about it, I'd try to shake off some of the more hurtful things I'd see being said, but eventually after going on that website too much (and later even posting to it numerous times, foolishly thinking being present would help the situation) I started to get upset. I'd let the negative things I read cloud my mood and as hard as it is to admit, it really affected me. I wasn't sure why I would continously check it- it didn't make sense to me why I'd want to do that, but for some reason I felt like it was important to know what was being said. And all of this from a girl who loved to talk about how she really didn't care what people thought.

This entire thing was a lesson in many parts. One, I realized I cared a lot more about what people thought than I'd let on. And two, if I wanted to continue to enjoy blogging I needed to quit caring immediately and get over myself and this weird interest in seeing shitty things written about me. So I did. I stopped going to that website months ago, and haven't been back since. I have no idea what is written about me, if they're still writing about me, and now (after lots of work) I can say I finally don't care.

But it's not just the site. The website was just a large piece of the entire puzzle, and the lesson extends into so many different aspects of my life. In the second part of the year a friend of a friend decided she "hated" me for no reason after meeting me once. Odd, and something I'd never experienced. My typical reaction would have been to try and make this girl like me...go out of my way to show her kindness until she realized I was indeed a nice person, and that her unreasonable hatred was way off (why oh why is that my instinct?). But thanks to the "website" (honestly so silly to keep referring to it as such but I don't want to send over pageviews) my immediate reaction was not to care. And to sincerely not care. It was her loss, all the way, and I didn't need some stranger to validate me. It was a huge turning point in my personal growth and an "a-ha!" moment when I took a step back and realized that I wasn't just telling myself I didn't care, but I actually didn't care. Yes!

Getting to this point has freed me in so, so many ways. I feel so much happier blogging now, more authentic and oddly enough, I feel a lot more comfortable sharing posts like this again. There will always be someone out there hating on something. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's not. I'm okay with either. And when I think about this past year and all of the love and family and happiness I experienced, I'm so lucky to have had this lesson admidst all of it, because as trivial as it may be in the grand scheme of things, it's allowed me to really focus on all of that goodness. And now that I'm here, I can only imagine how wonderful this next year will be both online and off, now that I'm truly able to just be me without worrying about the rest. I'll be focusing on the positive in 2013, and accepting that not everyone chooses to do the same...and knowing that it's completely okay if they don't.

xoxo

image above via

Currently. (Henry's version)

Henry's wearing: H&M beanie // Mini Boden coat // Hi by Hello leggings // Hunter boots

Watching: Dumbo. Seriously, Henry would watch Dumbo ALL DAY LONG if I let him. He loves it more than he loves Thomas the Train, if that's even possible. His favorite part of the it is the part where the crows sing "When I See An Elephant Fly." He lets out the biggest belly laughs every time.

Loving: what we call "sampler" lunches. Right now his lunch of choice is a plate of apples, pickles, cheese and crackers. It's so fun now because I can say, "Henry, what do you want for lunch today?" and he answers..which still blows my mind. A lot of the time he'll say "A cookie, Mommy!" but then will laugh and say, "Nooo...okay, I want pickles. And cheese. And crackers. And an apple. On a plate! ...while watching DUMBO!" Smart kid.

Listening to: He has the same few songs he's always into, and every once and awhile I'll put a song on (we listen to Spotify while driving and at home) he'll say "ooh I like this one!" and I'll add it to his little playlist of Henny-approved music. Right now he's really into The Gaslight Anthem. I wonder where he got that from?

Going: to his 2 year appointment, a month late. I'm not sure why it was scheduled for last week, but it was, so we went! Henry did great with his one shot (we're on the Dr. Sears schedule if anyone's interested), and he didn't even cry which was really surprising. He HATES the ear thing though and screams bloody murder until it's put away, so that wasn't so fun. At his appointment he was 3 feet, 1 inch and 31 pounds. Big kid and growing like a weed. It's so fun to see his growth, and pretty crazy to think his next appointment isn't until he's 3 years old. It seems so far away but I know it will be here in the blink of an eye. "The days are long but the years are short."

Making him happy: Candy Cane Joe-Joe's from Trader Joe's, the song Jingle Bells over and over- all versions including the barking dog rendition, classic holiday movies like Frosty but not like Rudolph (the Abominable Snowman is scary), FaceTiming with Gigi and Poppy, bear hugging Madeline, waking up so slowly then finally yelling "Come onnnnn Mommy! I'm awaaaaaake!" once he actually gets up, fruit and more fruit, waffles with peanut butter, his beanies, kicking the soccer ball and dunking his basketball in the hoop, dumptrucks and garbage trucks, and all Daddy all the time!


So, how about you? What are you up to today? Feel free to do your own "currently" post on your blog (for you or your little one!) and link back in the comments for everyone to check out. And thanks again to my dear friend Megan for providing the original inspiration for these posts. See previous Currently posts here.

Video: We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We wanted to wish all of you the merriest of Christmases, and the happiest of holidays. Hank (always such a good sport), Henry and I made a silly little video to mark the occasion. I also wanted to take a moment and say thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this past year so wonderful. Each of you who take time out of your day to stop by, comment, say hello, whatever, make my day every single day! So much love to you.

xoxo
Christmas2012 from DH on Vimeo.

Happy Things

 my Dad and me on my wedding day- May 31, 2008

waking up yesterday morning at 9am (yes! 9am!) and realizing Hank got up with Henry hours ago, and they were both playing quietly in the living room.

Crossfit this morning and the insanely hard workout we did- the "12 days of Crossfit Christmas."

little reminders to stop and be thankful for all of this, every single last bit, from the shoes on my feet to the roof over our head, to the cheese on my sandwich to the wreath on our door.

that Henry thinks my singing is amazing (when it so clearly isn't!).

dreaming of futures with this little family of mine, getting excited for all that is to come.

rediscovering old music that takes you back to where you first hear it, right down memory lane to forgotten places and long-lost friends.

the many Christmas cards hanging in our kitchen, little reminders of all the love in our life.

this space, and being able to come here and have this outlet to share what's on my mind. This is one of my happy places, for sure.

cheesecake.

friends being in town and waking up every morning to a full house. Henry is in heaven.

and most importantly that Dad's heart surgery this morning went SO well. He's had a couple heart attacks (and actually "died" twice and was in a coma for awhile in 2009 after a horrible heart attack and episode), but they've finally figured out the problem and this morning he had an outpatient procedure/surgery called "RF cardio ablation" to correct his abnormal heart rhythm. They opened up the surgery center just for him and were about to locate the errant circuit and fix it, and now his heart is as good as new! If you've been following my blog for awhile you know what we've been through with my Dad's health, so this is absolutely amazing and SUCH a wonderful Christmas present to hear that his heart is perfect now.

Wishing you and yours the happiest of Christmases tomorrow, and a beautiful Christmas Eve tonight. 

xoxo

  

Weekend Links

Happy Friday! It's the weekend- and a holiday weekend at that- so there's a lot to be excited about. I didn't do a links post last week, so this installment has a lot of goodness from last week and this one too. Enjoy!

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Have you checked out my "favorites" page? I just got it going and will be changing it up with fresh links and picks every month.

And speaking of favorites, here is my new favorite blog.

This is a must read, especially around the holidays.

My pal Casey featured us over on the Disney Baby blog last week. So sweet!

To be a kid again.

Thinking a lot about the idea of "slow blogging." There are posts all over about it right now- here are a couple: one and two.

I couldn't pick a favorite post to share if I wanted to- I just love Mara's blog.

One second everyday from the last year- fascinating!

Anxiously awaiting our new stamp from Laurie Breaker! How cute are they?!

Apple pear butter. What a wonderful gift too!

Please read this, and help if you can. 

Hello, one million things I want!

Great coat rack DIY on Carly's blog. And while you're there, look around...I love her space.

Bringing home a newborn.

Great little peek into Sara's world. And maybe I'm just nosy but I love reading these lists of random things about people!

Fabulous playlist.

One of my readers Bettina makes the cutest clothes for little boys- check out her shop's Facebook. And take a look at Outfit Additions as well- great accessories at a great price!

An eco-vegan gift guide from The Kind Life.

Is it possible to be in love with paper cups?

Enjoyed reading about Jen's home birth choice.

Collecting things- one of Henry's favorite things to do!

A simple Christmas.

Some sponsor discount codes: 20% off at Feathers and Sinew with code "Dream20" and 20% at Zaia with code "Xmas20."

Some blogs to visit- say hi to Laura, Cathy, and Denene!

xoxo

I remember sneaking out of bed at four in the morning...

I remember sneaking out of bed at four in the morning, still so dark it seemed green in our living room, as I would stand for a moment taking it all in. Bites in the cookies, half of the milk gone. Presents (so many presents!) under the tree, our stockings down from the mantle filled to the brim with tiny wrapped goodies that were always my favorite part of the next day.  I padded around our wood floor in pajamas, looking at everything, while the almost-inaudible whirr of the Christmas village, the tiny ice skaters going around and around, filled the silence between my footsteps. It was magic then, in the green night-almost-morning air, as I sprinted silently back to my bedroom, burying myself in my comforter, and waited out the night until that first  sliver of sun popped up over the trees, letting me know it was finally time for our Christmas to begin.

And now Henry gets to enjoy all of this magic too. This is the first year we'll be putting out cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for his reindeer. We rode the Polar Express, and he understood that yes, this is Santa. He'll know what's going on when he goes to bed on the 24th, and when he wakes up the next morning he will know Christmas has arrived! He's not quite at the age where he fully understands the holidays, but he knows enough to get excited and to grasp the idea that all of our family will be in one place, celebrating a wonderful day.

So I ask you, what special traditions do you and your family do? I love to hear about the ways other families celebrate, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or if you don't celebrate any holidays, perhaps you observe the Winter Solstice in a special way, or just mark the season somehow. I'd be so honored to hear about it, so feel free to share below. I think it will be great to read through the comments, and maybe even get some fun ideas to incorporate into our own celebrations.

As for us, we always decorate as soon as December 1st rolls around (although next year I am aiming for Thanksgiving weekend) while listening to Christmas music. We bake cookies, visit Santa, and like I mentioned above, this year we rode the Polar Express which will definitely become a yearly tradition as long as Henry enjoys it.

Now it's your turn...

Happy everything!

3 songs I'm obsessing over right now...

All of these songs have been on repeat, over and over and over again. What are you listening to right now?
 


*those viewing via an rss feed be sure to pop out to watch the videos.

Currently.

Watching: Okay is it just me not paying attention or is this the first year that shows are getting a little crazy with these winter finales? What is the point? And don't these television networks know that the dead of winter is precisely when I want to snuggle up on the couch with a mug of something hot, and watch my favorite shows?

Thinking about: This quote: "Your personality is not set in stone. You may think a morning coffee is the most enjoyable thing in the world, but it’s really just a habit. Thirty days without it, and you would be fine. You think you have a soul mate, but in fact you could have had any number of spouses. You would have evolved differently, but been just as happy. You can change what you want about yourself at any time. You see yourself as someone who can’t write or play an instrument, who gives in to temptation or makes bad decisions, but that’s really not you. It’s not ingrained. It’s not your personality. Your personality is something else, something deeper than just preferences, and these details on the surface, you can change anytime you like. If it is useful to do so, you must abandon your identity and start again. Sometimes, it’s the only way. Set fire to your old self. It’s not needed here. It’s too busy shopping, gossiping about others, and watching days go by and asking why you haven’t gotten as far as you’d like. This old self will die and be forgotten by all but family, and replaced by someone who makes a difference." Wow, right? Pretty amazing. So often I feel like it's easy to get caught up in this idea of "well, this is who I am- it is what it is," and become complacent. But if you really, really take a step back and look at your life it actually is possible to be or do whatever you'd like. I think about Julia Child, who started cooking when she was 32. THIRTY TWO! Amazing, and such a reminder it's never too late to switch gears or focus in on what we already we know we love. I've been thinking about this idea a lot lately- thinking about my identity and what I've told myself I am, or what I can do.

Listening to: Christmas music, of course! I actually wanted to ask all of you if you had any favorite Christmas albums, I'm kind of stuck in a rut with my old favorites and would love some new music to enjoy for the next couple of weeks. Right now (and every year) I listen to the classics: Elvis, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, etc. But do you have any more contemporary favorites?
 
Excited about: BABIES! Last week our good friends Janay and Danny had their baby, little Harper! She's beautiful and I'm so excited to meet her. Then of course my sister is due so soon, and Andy too. And I feel like a million blog friends are all expecting or just having their little ones. I swear, there's just something in the air...

Reading:  I just started a new book called Driving the Saudis, which is subtitled "A Chauffeur's Tales of the World's Richest Princesses." Interesting right? It's a different kind of read for me but I stumbled upon it randomly and had to give it a go. I'll keep you posted!

Also thinking about: I came back to this space tonight hoping I could somehow figure out what to blog about. I type and type, and erase and erase. Everything I write sounds so trivial- it's all so meaningless and I feel ridiculous trying to add my two cents to something that cannot be put into words. I feel like I have no right to even comment on it- I can't even begin to imagine the magnitude of that sadness those families are feeling over the loss of their beautiful children and teachers, and I feel foolish even trying to attempt to do so. I don't know, I just feel like everything up there I wrote last week when I started this post doesn't matter. My heart physically aches for these families, for their loss, for everything they'll never get to experience, and I know that nothing I or anyone else is feeling even compares. But I wish I could help, do something, somehow send love to these grieving people. I wish, I wish. And I don't know how to even put this in words but it's times like this I feel even more strongly about my own non-religious beliefs. I don't want a debate about it, I know some of you believe and some of you don't...but I don't understand how this could happen if there is a god. I just don't. And I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but I try and wrap my brain around it- how if there was a god, how he could "allow" this to happen, and then we are supposed to pray to him about it? I don't understand. I really, really don't. And to be honest, I wish I did.

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So, how about you? What are you up to today? Feel free to do your own "currently" post on your blog and link back in the comments for everyone to check out. And thanks again to my dear friend Megan for providing the original inspiration for these posts.

Just thankful.

Thankful for so much today, but most of all thankful that I even have the opportunity to sit back and think about these things. For Henry in the snow this morning, pretty Christmas touches throughout our home, little feet that are all mine, technology that astounds me on a daily basis, and old photos that always make me smile. Thankful for the small things in our world today, and taking a moment to reflect on how lucky we are to even have the luxury to wake up tomorrow and make our day whatever we want.

Sugar + Spice and Evergreen Nice...

Oh Method soap, oh Method soap, how I loooove thee!

Seriously though, I do (as you know by now). And December is a super special time in the world of all things Method because one, Method products make adorable gifts (they're so fun and pretty to wrap up in a gift basket), and two, this month you can check out their two new collections that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside: the Sugar + Spice collection brings peace to your sinks with modern twist in Sugared Mint and Gingerbread fragrances, while the Evergreen Nice collection is sure to evoke holiday nostalgia with the aroma of Frosted Fir and Mistletoe. Love it. My personal fave: the sugared mint scent. Yum. And in this case yes, soap can be yummy!

You can collect them all at Targets across the US, as well as online at methodhome.com and well.ca (for our Canadian friends).

And because Method can't go a month without being so sweet and giving something away, this month's fun contest is going on over on Pinterest. It's really simple and you have SUCH a great chance of winning. Here's how to enter: head over to Pinterest and create a board called “Method Holiday Happy,” starting with a method holiday product. Then pin other stocking stuffers that strike your fancy! Make sure to use the hashtag #methodholidayhappy so Method can see your board. Then on December 17th their five favorite boards will win a bundle of Method holiday goodies. A helpful hint: Method people have a sense of humor (exhibit a and b), so pin and have FUN! Let me know if you decide to enter. And psst...you can also follow Method on Twitter and like them on Facebook.

Happy soaping, dishwashing, smelling, and PINNING! Good luck.

xoxo

Is this Livejournal?

a wonderfully grainy photo of us many Christmases ago, in the pre-Henry days. 

I have absolutely nothing to blog about today. And usually my motto is it's better to say nothing than fill up this space with a bunch of fluff, but I also happen to be a little bit bored and not in the mood to read (and not in the mood to sit and watch basketball with Hank), so here I am, blog friends. How are you today? I thought I'd pretend this was good old Livejournal for a second and write whatever comes into my mind. So here we go.

Today was a nice, normal day for us with just a touch of annoyance which I'll get to in a second. All weekend Henry had been waking up around 5:30am which is early, even for him! But thank god, he's back to his 7/7:30am wakeups. We woke up, I made him breakfast (berries and a waffle with almond butter), made myself breakfast (berries and 2 pieces of Ezekial bread with butter) and we relaxed for a bit and watched Dumbo (H's current obsession). We played for most of the morning until we started getting ready to head out to get my hair done.

Sweet Veronica switched around her schedule so she could watch Henry during my appointment, so I dropped him off and headed over the salon, only to walk and have the front desk tell me my girl had called in sick. They had been open since 9am and no one had bothered to call me at all, so after arranging a sitter and getting all the way out there I leave with my same old ratty hair. SOB FOR DAYS. I was so, so irritated. I understand things happen and the world doesn't revolve around me or my hair color, but I would have at least appreciated a call to let me know what was going on. Ugh. So that was my annoyance for the day.

To make up for it though, I did get to spend the time I would have been getting my hair done visiting at V's new house and seeing Courtney and her family. So there are some pluses! Henry and I spent the rest of the afternoon getting errands done, and by the time Hank got home from work my hair was no big deal, although after looking in the mirror I am thinking I need to find a new hair girl tomorrow. Darn roots.

A few thoughts:

I am fully in the ma'am zone. No more miss, or really anything except "ma'am" at any store, unless it's like a 75-year old man calling me young lady.

Why do I feel so awkward buying tampons? I'm 30! Honestly though, I hate it and feel super embarrassed to plop those things on the checkout. I'm probably closer to freaking menopause than I am to the beginning of it all, so I'm not sure if this silliness will ever go away. Am I alone in this?

Henry had the WORST tantrum at Trader Joe's the other morning. In my two years of parenting he's never really had a public melt down like this and it was insanely stressful. The lady checking us out made it 10x worse as she kept saying "breathe mama, just breathe" as if I was on the verge of freaking out. Which I was, but I wouldn't ever, if that makes sense. I was SO happy to finally get us out to the car, me pushing the cart full of groceries and Henry squirming out of my arms and screaming.

I need to quit eating the same thing everyday until I hate whatever item I've overdone it with. I think I may have ruined myself forever with bananas, if that's even possible. See also: Dr. Praeger's California veggie burgers and dried apricots. I need some variety.

This concludes a whole bunch of randomness. Thanks for indulging me guys!

xoxo

CLOSED // Giveaway: Win $1,000 to Miss KL

Giveaway closed!

 Congratulations to Kaelah, who Miss KL informed me was the big winner! So exciting!

Miss KL, Karmaloop's new ladies only site, has a million amazing brands- Free People, Sam Edelman, Cheap Monday, Jeffrey Campbell...and you have the chance to win $1000 to spend as you please! Amazing, right?

To enter simply click here and enter your name and info. That's it! This giveaway ends on 12/21 and MKL will contact the winner via their site. I can't imagine receiving a more amazing before-Christmas email than one that says "Hello! Here's $1,000 to spend as you please in our online store!" So cool.

So to recap, head on over to my giveaway's link, enter your info, and be entered to win!

xoxo

Lauren's Baby Shower

What a wonderful morning we had on Saturday! It was my sister Lauren's baby shower, and my Mom and I had a great time putting it together. Lauren's due on January 9th with little Lucy, so she is getting ready to pop any day now! It's so neat seeing her on this journey, and it was a very special day honoring this new life we're about to welcome into the world.

It was such a fun group made up of Laur's best friend, friends from work, and both sides of the family. Since it was 11am we served brunch- mini quiches, yogurt parfaits, mini breakfast pastries and red velvet cupcakes, muffins, and assorted chocolates and fruit. Lauren isn't much of a baby shower game person, but we did play one where we tried to guess the circumfrence of her baby bump, and we also all filled out the "For Lucy" sheets I made. I plan to put them all in a keepsake book for Lucy, alongside a photo I snapped of each guest.

Details:
"I Love Lucy" banner from Unicorn Parade
White cake stands: Martha Stewart via Macy's
"For Lucy" sheets: I made them - I'd be happy to send the editable PDF to anyone who would like it.

And here are some photos from our fun day:

Weekend Links

Yeah, it's the weekend! So excited for the next couple of days- we have a ton of great stuff happening. Today is my grandma "Nanny's" 92nd birthday, tomorrow morning my Mom and I are throwing my little sister Lauren a baby shower, and then Hank and I have a night full of playing Santa ahead of us...aka finishing up our shopping list. Sunday is a family day, and Henry will be making his first gingerbread house with his Gigi. Happy, happy weekend!

Here are some links. xoxo

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Have you stopped by Elizabeth Street lately? I'm working on their Instamom project with them again, and this month's winner will win an awesome prize- a Molten Olive Oil Gift Set- part of Michael Aram’s new Artisanal Italy Food & Gift Pairings. The four gift sets match a signature Michael Aram piece with an edible treat from select Italian artisans.  Yay! It's super easy to play along and enter- this month's theme is "December Delights," so simply tag any of your special "December Delights" photos with #ESDelights and mention @elizabethstmom to be added to the live feed. The photo with the most likes at the end of the month will become Elizabeth Street's Instamom of the Month and win! Perfect. Also be sure to check out Michael Aram on FB, Pinterest, IG and Twitter.

The wonderful folks over at Craft Coffee (a subscription artisan coffee club!) got word that Hank was a huge coffee fan, and sent us one of their tasting boxes. I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but when Hank opened up the box I could even admit that the smell was heavenly. Hank sampled all three of the beans and loved ALL of them. He received a nice mix of different roasts, but his favorite of the bunch was the Sightglass, out of San Francisco. This is SUCH a neat idea, and the perfect gift for any coffee lover in your life. And until the end of this month, you can receive 10% off any holiday gift with code "sometimesholiday" at checkout. It expires 12/23 at 11:59pm, so be sure to get your orders in. We've already got a few on the way to some special, coffee-loving friends around the country. Two thumbs up!

Beautiful holiday inspiration!

I'm always super into Jenny's hair tutorials, and I particularly loved this one. So pretty.

Obsessed with this pretty garland.

12 things I already know about my baby girl- another great post from Ilana.

Why the falling birth rate is bad for my 2-year old son. Interesting.

On our "to make" gift list this year: this and this! Can't wait to see how they turn out.

So many cute gifts for the "trendsetting toddler boy."

Loved Cathy's Currently post!

10 images of a white Christmas.

25 articles that should be required reading for woman.

PBS remixes Reading Rainbow. So cool! Thanks Layne!

Hello, Jigsaw Holiday Idea Book.

Little bits of my everyday.

Sponsor love: check out Zaia and Lulus to see what new items they got in this week!

Homemade moisturizing pumpkin body whip? I've gotta try this.

Always, always love Sara's photos and posts. One of my faves.

One of my long-time readers Delane was recently diagnosed with cancer. Visit her site to learn how you can help.

Crockpot sweet potato-soyrizo enchiladas. Hank would love this! And how about this chocolate cake with peppermint/vanilla icing? Sounds so good.

My motto for 2013.

Encouraging those that serve us- so inspiring!

I need this tote bag! It's perfect.

Some blogs to explore: Yelle's pretty online space and Jade's fabulous blog.

3 ways to ruin a family roadtrip (and how to avoid them!).

I love Chin's Dad...and I know you will too. Such a great post.

I always enjoy Kelly Ann's Music Mondays.

White chocolate peppermint popcorn! Oh yes.

This town and these friends.

Sometimes I take a step back and look at my blog and realize that I talk about the same thing all of the time. Seriously...ALL of the time- but then I don't mind too much because that's just my life. And as I began this post I was going to write "I love this little town of mine," and then thought about how I must have said that before, so I decided to do a google search to see how many times I've said it...and yes, it's definitely been more than handful. But oh well, because you know what? I do love this little town of mine. I enjoy living in a place that completely embraces the holidays, a place where any place we go we are guaranteed to see no less than four people we know. It's that kind of small town. And I adore it.

If you would have spent the day with Henry and me, you would probably be just as tired as I am right now. It was one of those days where at the end of it, I feel like I've run a marathon. It also didn't help that I pushed Henry's nap almost two hours later, which isn't something that works well for a boy who naps like clockwork, and something I never, ever do. It was such a fun day though, filled with out of town friends, good pizza, and great ice cream. Henry and his buddies ran around all over downtown as us Moms tried to get some adult conversation somewhere in between the "NO! Don't climb on that!" and the "Get down from there, right now!" that was constantly going on. Kids are crazy.

And now I'm sitting here, looking at these photos from our day and thinking about how much I love this town. And thinking about how much I say that, and how much I really never expected to either one, love this town so much, or two, say it as much as I do. Time went on though, and I somehow fell in love with a place that I never expected to end up in, and here I am now, inviting our friends to come up and visit as much as possible. I'm also thinking about friends, and how lucky I feel to have all sorts of people in my life- those I talk to on the regular, those I talk to much less frequently, and those I really just keep in touch with online. All important, all wonderful.

So I'm thankful tonight, for a handful of different things. For this town and these friends, and for a day so full of LIFE that I'm crawling into bed feeling like I couldn't go another minute.

xoxo

We are the makers of memories.

Somewhere in the future Henry will be grown up and think back to being little. So many of these days seem so ordinary- sitting on the floor playing, grocery shopping, park dates and long walks. But somehow they all weave into this tapestry that stretches on for years and lasts forever; something he will look back on, something that will color so many parts of his future- his childhood.

So I try to make these everydays count. To parent and live deliberately. To be present, and to make ordinary things extraordinary, the regular somehow special. And when it comes to the holidays, I try and make new traditions for our family and create warm memories that Hank and Henry can carry with them as time goes on. Sometimes it's the little things- like the other night when we were all crying from laughing so hard, and every time one of us would crack a smile it would throw all of us into a terrible fit of giggles once again. Or tonight, when it was just Henry and me cuddled up on the couch watching old Christmas movies and eating sweets. He looked up at me and said two words so simply- "I'm happy." These are those days that become so much more.

And it's the big moments too- picking out Halloween costumes, our annual birthday morning surprises, putting up our Christmas tree every year. And it's those special times like our evening at the Polar Express last weekend- Henry's very first train ride. Nothing will ever compare to the moment when he looked at both Hank and I and said, "I RIDE THOMAS!" with the biggest grin spreading across his face.

In a way Hank and I are getting to relive our childhood all over again; we're able to revisit our own memories, dip into the nostalgia we both feel for times gone, and make them fresh again with our son. Isn't that one of the best parts of parenting? To be able to make a choice that you'll do things differently this time around, or in lucky cases, do things in exactly the same ways you experienced as a child.

It's amazing to think of our children's memories as blank canvases. We are the creators. We make these days count. We have a lot of roles as parents, but the maker of memories is one to be taken so seriously, and I hope one day Henry can look back and feel warm, and happy, and know he was so very loved.