Thursday, October 30, 2008

It's HAPPENING!!!!

I will be attending the Green Bay vs. Houston game in Green Bay, WI. on 12.7.08!

Yep, I'm GOING TO LAMBEAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[for those that know me, know this is a huge deal for me!!!!]

Flying to Milwaukee, WI. on Dec. 6th, driving into Green Bay, getting a room, going to the game Sunday Dec. 7th, flying back home December 8th. This is unreal!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Monday Ramblings: Yada, Yada, Yada.

Hmm.... Where to start. Keeping it short and simple today. My thoughts as they come to me...

1- Test drove the Nissan Murano. I.WANT.ONE. End of story.

2- My new goal to achieve is to fly to Green Bay, WI and go to a game.

3- I hate Mondays, LOL

4- I can't wait for my new Blackberry to arrive this week!

5- McCain/Palin 08'

6- I can't remember the last time I felt 50 degree weather! It's so crisp outside. Love it.

7- Saw V sucked. Don't waste your money.

8- Can't wait for football tonight!

9- I'm so happy right now. I get a smile on my face everyday thanks to some new friends.

10- Did I mention Green Bay? I must go. Soon.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

All I want for Christmas...

...Is a Brett Favre, GREEN BAY, Jersey. *sigh* They're so hard to find. I found some online though. Most of them are either HUGE (3x or bigger) or in toddler sizes. LOL So they're hard to find in Adult size Small.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Spiderman, Spiderman....

..Does whatever a spider can.
Oh, about the mask that goes over his eyes. It doesn't fit right, so we'll have to fix it before Halloween ;) It's too tight. We need to buy a piece of elastic or something, so that's why it's on his forehead. LOL
Cuter than the REAL Spiderman! :)


How does that hand thing go again?




Saving the world one neighborhood at a time.



His cheesy little grin, LOL
Showing off the pumpin decor.



So serious.


Which way to the trouble?!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

This movie is going to be freaking AMAZING!!! I'm still on book #3 of the series, I seriously hope there's a movie to go with every book! Waiting a month is going to be so tough! I can't wait. :)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A record breaking morning...

...Chayce took 1 HOUR to eat 2 freaking bowls of cereal today. Geez!!! He's usually such a quick eater, but I kept having to say, "eat, son.... Chayce... eat please! If you're done you may get down." Then he'd say, "No. I'm still eating." LOL

Oh well!

Well not only did the Pats win last night, they completely smashed the Broncos. It got so pitiful, I fell asleep halfway through the 4th quarter of the game. It was a beautiful thing. LOL

I'm completely bored out of my mind and need something to do later today. Jon's off at 4pm, so maybe a trip to Barnes and Noble would be nice. I need OUT of the house and see some daylight. ;)

CSM is doing great. We hit our goal of 50 members during the first month. But what's even BETTER, is we hit our goal in only 3 weeks and exceeded it. We have 52 registered members now. What a blessing! We are about to break the top 5 on the top 100 mommy sites, as well. We are #6 with right at 1100 votes. So, if you don't join, then be a good friend to me... Scroll to the bottom of the forum and Click the "vote" icon! You can vote up to 50 times a day. (hehe)

WELL, I'm going to attempt to take some pictures of Chayce in his halloween costume today and hopefully post them on here. He's Spiderman this year! He's very excited to say the least. The thing fits awkward though. The hat for it is almost too big, but the little mask is too small. But the costume itself fits. WEIRD! Guess I can give it a shot and make it work somehow ;)

Monday, October 20, 2008

A calm Monday.

Do the 2 words belong in the same sentence? Calm. Monday. ?! LOL, It's actually been a smooth morning thusfar.

Took the SUV back today (Well, Jon did). *Sigh* I really like that one. The Endeavor. It was so comfortable! I hate to let it go, but I still need to drive other SUV's first before deciding.

Yesterday was pretty eventful. Chayce and I went to church [Jon worked all day], then after church went to a birthday party for one of the girls I babysit. Chayce had a blast there. Watched TONS of football last night. It's about time my Pack had a good game!!!!

Made a little "bet" on tonight's game. I need New England to win by 10. The other person bet that N.E will win too, but only by 6. SO, as long as N.E wins by 10 OR MORE, I will be closer and win the bet. Pats, don't let me down boys!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Test Driving...

Well, today I test drove 3 different SUV's.

The first, and my favorite of the 3, was the 2008 Mitsubishi Endeavor. It is AMAZING. But doesn't get good gas mileage at all which makes me nervous.


Then I drove a Saturn Vue. We currently drive a Saturn Ion, which we love, so I wouldn't mind driving a vue.


Right now, I'm driving a 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander. I think I'd opt for the '08 though. They're letting us keep it overnight and bring it back tomorrow.


This is seriously the hardest decision EVER! I still want to try driving...

-Nissan Murano
-Nissan Rogue
-Ford Explorer
-Ford Escape

I LOVE the Saturn Outlook, but they're a bit out of our price range. But it was simply AMAZING. I didn't drive it. Just drooled over it a bit, LOL. If anyone out there has an SUV reccomendation, comment with it please! :) We have until February-ish before we choose and purchase one, so we'll spend a few months of test driving to find exactly what we want.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Promoting Coffee Shop Moms

Thought I'd take some time to talk today about my new board.


. Coffee Shop Moms .

I've had the desire to launch a board like this for over 2 years now, and just the past month it's finally come to life! Of course, we are still in the beginning stages, but we are standing at nearly 40 members already, after only 3 weeks of being up and running! Phoenomenal! I'm so pleased.

Coffee Shop Moms is a site open to all moms, and women TTC a child. No matter if you have a newborn, or are are mother of teenagers, everyone is welcome! You MUST be 18 to join. And that's about the only "rule" there is as far as registering. Be an adult. Be a mother, mommy-to-be, or a woman TTC.

We have forums for Celebrity Gossip, Diet Tips and Tricks, Hobbies, etc. We have seperated the forums for our children into age groups: Babies, Toddlers, Kids, Teenagers.

Next week we are launching a virtual gift shop! Our members are already excited about it, as am I!
We're a drama-free, stress-free, kicked back board of women who just love to laugh and enjoy each others company. If you're interested in joining, don't be shy! Sign up, and we will welcome you with open arms! If you know any other moms out there who may be interested, tell them too. See You There!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Oh Joy!

Sure, it's exciting! But at the same time it's scary, and nerve-racking.


We are looking into purchasing an SUV! Not until we get our tax return in February-ish though. [We always file ASAP in January] But we've already submitted applications and been approved through a company, and we'll use our tax return to put a down payment on it!


I'm NOT a Ford kinda girl, but I seriously LOVE the explorers. :) I'm looking at one like this right now:



So, it looks like sometime next Spring we'll be the proud owners of an SUV! It's just scary because we're still paying off the Ion. We love it too much to part with it. There is a very legitimate reason we need the SUV by this Spring, which I will elaborate on in the next few days I'm sure [And, NO. I'm NOT pregnant! LOL] We were going to wait until closer to 2010 to get another car, but we'll be needing one sooner than later! Fingers crossed!

Thankful Thursday

It's that time of week again.
THANKFUL THURSDAY
1. COFFEE SHOP MOMS: Yep. Again. I am so thankful my board is gaining popularity. We are now ranked #8 in the top 100 Mommy Sites! That's very exciting concidering we've only been up and running for 3 weeks.
2. My Candle Warmer! I dont' remember if I posted Thankful Thursday since I bought this, but it's amaaaazinnnnggg!
3. Boxed pancake mix: Cooking is definately a passion of mine, but there are those certain foods/meals I cut corners in. Pancakes is one of them. I don't like making pancakes from scratch. Last night was a good example of it, they turned out a DISASTER! So, yes. I'm very grateful for boxed pancake mixes.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

FINALLY! Casey Anthony: INDICTED!

I really don't talk much about this case, and kind of gave up following it because of how extremely ANNOYED I am with this woman. There are no words to discribe someone as COLD HEARTED as this girl, and hopefully NOW that she's been indicted and faces 7 different charges, she'll start talking. I really hope they just find Caylee, or her body, so she can be at peace.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-a1casey1508oct15,0,4870531.story

The charges this "woman" is facing:

1st degree murder
Aggrivated manslaughter of a child
Aggrivated child abuse
4 counts of providing false info. to authorities.

4 Years Ago...

4 years ago today, we got pregnant! It's amazing how much has changed since then!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Bragging on my Website!

Yesterday was a breakthrough for my website! I did some advertising and within a matter of 3 hours, we got 15 new members!

What an amazing day! I'm just so thankful for all of these girls. All of my hard work is starting to pay off! Very exciting.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Some Monday Ramblings

Why is it that Monday and Tuesday DRAG by, yet Saturday and Sunday is gone in the blink of an eye?! Yikes!

Well over the weekend I tried thinking of new 'tactics' to work with Chayce on his behavior. An idea I saw on Supernanny was the Pizza Technique. You make a pizza, cut into 4 slices, and everytime your child is naughty you remove a slice. Here's the pizza I made him...



Well, we also decided we are going to start giving Chayce "allowance". Nothing extravagant. $.50/day... UNDER STRICT CONDITIONS! He does have a chore list. Each day he has 8 'chores' to do. If he completes 6/8 chores (75%) he gets $.25 to put in his little box. If he has atleast 3/4 (75%) of his pizza slices left at the end of the day, he'll recieve another $.25. Each day he can earn up to $.50. Saturdays don't count because we're never home on Saturdays, so he can do his Pizza and chore list 6 days/week which totals a maximum of $3/week of "allowance" he earns.

On Saturdays, he can spend his allowance on whatever he wants!

We think it's a good idea because instead of saying, "Be good and on Saturday you'll get your reward", he gets to actually SEE the quarters EVERYDAY to remind him of his rewards for good behavior. As long as he's at his 75% for behavior and 'chores' (dressing himself, putting his plate in the sink, being polite, cleaning up his toys, etc.) he gets his reward money! And we don't even have to worry about the $$$ because we're using all the coins he's collected in his piggy bank! So they've already been accumulating the past year.

This started as his "snack box" but I slit a hole in it and now it's his allowance box! :)



We'll see if these techniques work. He's already lost 2 slices today. 1 for throwing his quarters at me and another for jumping on his bed (big no no!). He CAN earn them back, which he's attempting as I type this by cleaning up the blocks in the living room.

Oh yes, time for some great news! We are purchasing my wedding gown NEXT Wednesday!!! I am completely THRILLED! Those of you that have seen the gown know what it looks like, for everyone else... it's a surprise until the ceremony! Very exciting!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Thank God for Publix!

A friend of mind keep suggesting using Publix for their floral dept. for the wedding flowers. We already planned to use Publix for our cake [which reminds me our cake testing is TODAY!], so we gave it a shot.

The Florist was AMAZING! A total ANGEL. She sat down with us for about an hour and wrote down everything I wanted, down to the last detail. We budgeted about $1000 for flowers. But when she stepped away to total up the cost, she came back with a piece of paper with $260.00 written on it.

My eyes just started tearing up, and I asked her if she was being serious.

This was no joke! ALL of my wedding flowers for under $300! It's like a dream! That includes the bridal bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, 8 boutoneeires, 3 corsages, a throw away bouquet, AND 2 HUGE buckets of petals! I mean, you seriously can't beat it. So we're definatly going with that florist to do our flowers.

We HAVE opted to switch our centerpieces to the Tree idea! We are using REAL tree branches. Yep, REAL. Ironically, before we even told anyone about this idea, my father in law called Jon and said, "Hey, you know that big tree in the front yard? Could you help me cut it down next week?" Well OF COURSE! So we're using thebranches from this tree for our wedding reception, as crazy as it sounds. The hanging votives will run us about $200.00. So it's nice to have REAL branches. I just hope they hold up for a year! I read some tutorials on preserving tree branches. One site mentioned using Shallac (???) on them to preserve them. It's apparantly used on patios/decks to keep the wood protected. So we're probably going to try that and see how it works. FINGERS CROSSED! I found a few other photos to show you guys the idea we're shooting for, so here you go!



[ours will have candles hanging from them]




We may hot glue some silk red rose petals to the tree. We're sprinkling fresh petals on each reception table, so it will give the effect that the petals fell from the tree. We like the idea because [besides it capturing the eye, and being very unique!] it gives a great feeling to the season of autumn, as our wedding is in October. It suits us, we think.

Our schedules didn't seem to coordinate with the designer at the bakery, so she put together a cake testing plate for us to take home. I'm going to pick it up when Chayce wakes up. I'll post later tonight or tomorrow with pics of the yummy cake and our decisions!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Quite an Uneventful Week

This week has been super uneventful. Everyday it's rained. Nothing TOO exciting, except for last night when we met up with the Caterer at one of the possible reception sites.

She didn't give us pricing on food [which is our biggest question at this point!], so we're a bit frustrated because we need a ballpark idea or else we'll have to keep looking around. She just kept beating around the bush, which was a bit much. So hopefully I'll get some information on pricing! To rent the facility and use linens will be around $1,400. [Linens in the color scheme we want] That's not too terribly bad. Now if the food runs us like $4000 [Don't gasp! you'd be AMAZED how much they try to screw you over! The hilton wanted $5k just for FOOD!], that'll be a bit ridiculous. Her website says packages start at $18.95/person which is very do-able for us.

Guess it's (again) the waiting game!

Tomorrow we meet with the florist and the bakery. I'm excited about both!

I DID stumble across a great centerpiece idea. We've been set on doing the hurricane style candle holders since July, until yesterday when I saw this idea.







Jon loves it! The caterer said a friend of hers did the same idea! When I asked her where she got the tree branches she said she used real ones from her own yard. WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT?! My biggest concern would be... Will they hold up? Will they start to crumble after so long? We're not sure. But if we do it, we'll paint them black for a more dramatic look.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Love Dare

So we went out with friends Sunday night and watched the movie "Fireproof". Long story short, it's about a married couple whose marriage is crumbling and they're going to divorce. The man's father gives him thie book called "The Love Dare". It's a 40 day "challenge" and is supposed to make your marriage unbelievably strong and change your whole life. We thought the movie had such a great moral [it was a very low budget film, but the point of the story was amazing!], that I searched online for more information. Lo and behold, the "Love Dare" book exists!



Here's the site:
http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/lovedare/


We found online that you can buy the book at most stores that sell books, so we're going to buy it today and begin! It's not just for failing marriages. It's suggested for ALL married couples. Strong and weak. So with our vow renewal being 11 months away, we think over the next year we need to make our bond with one another unbreakable and even stronger.

If you go to: http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/lovedare/book.html
You can actually see the first 5 chapters of the book!

Are you up for the challenge? I hope so...

Monday, October 6, 2008

Some Monday Crafts

Can't quite get out of my creative kick yet, so today the kids did some fun stuff! I found this idea online a few weeks back, and they made them today...



Little paper strips put together to make a pumpkin.


Then we made cupcakes! I bought a.... *gasp*...boxed cake mix! It was a toss up between spice cake and carrot cake. Well, I've never actually bought a carrot cake mix before, and the last time I had a slice of carrot cake was right after giving birth [Yum. HOSPITAL carrot cake, LOL] So I went for it. Bought festive cupcake wrappers, and these little pumpkin candy decorations.



The kids loved making them, and loved eating them even more. The icing is cream cheese icing, and we sprinkled cinnamon on each cupcake as well.

Ahhh... Autumn is Here.

Sure, we're a few weeks into autumn already, but this weekend you could really see the change in weather (atleast down here in Florida you can!). It's starting to get slightly cooler outside. FINALLY. Jon and I went out and bought our fall decor yesterday, we had so much fun doing it! We've never really decorated for the seasons (except Christmas), so this was an adventure. We had so many ideas and took a few of each of our ideas and combined them. Here's what we got... [excuse the blurry pictures, I didn't realize how dirty the lens was when I snapped these. OOPS!]

For our island bar in the kitchen, we got a little cornucopia and stuffed it with some decorations. We made it ourselves :)


Some autumn garland for the entertainment center.


A new wreath for the front door.


This was Jon's idea, very cool! We stuck the pumpkin decoration into a little hay bale on the front porch.


This little thing was too cute to pass up.


We both liked this. :)


And this was my idea, I've been on a mission to get these for a month now! I LOVE THEM!


Here's a view of the front door/porch.


The little "crow away" sign isn't in the picture, but it's right next to where I was standing by the driveway ;) So we're good until Dec. 1st, then it'll all come down for Christmas decor. LOL I am rather pleased with having a purple front door this time of year. Purple and Orange are very popular for Halloween, so I think it's pretty neat looking.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

What a Day!

Chayce and I had quite an eventful day! We left the house at 8am and didn't get home until after 7pm tonight (after Jon got off work).

We have our new 'tradition' of having lunch in the cafe at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, then retreating to the Children's Books section. So we did that... Then did some window-shopping at Target, Michael's, and a few party/craft stores.

Tonight after Jon got off work we went ahead and looked at the 2 potential reception sites up in Viera. The first was Duran Golf Club. The clubhouse there is BREATHTAKING. All in earth-tones, very relaxing which is exactly what we want. Sorry, no photos. Check out their site for a peek! Next time we go I'll snap a photo!

http://durangolf.com/?page=8539

The 2nd is Heritage Isle Clubhouse. It's HUGE and wide open. Tons of space, and the right sized tables.


So it's really an even toss up right now. But we think it's our 2 choices right now. It is a bit of a drive from the church, SO we'll be treating our bridal party to quite a nice COMFORTABLE ride..... One of these two options:

Hummer H2 Stretch Limo


Cadillac Escalade Stretch Limo


Found them for an AMAZING price. A small "thank you" for our wedding party members! They hold up to 16 people, so we'll have the wedding party, and a few select others ride along on the way to the reception.

So now atleast we've narrowed it down to 2 locations. WHEW! What a relief!

Kind of glad today has come to an end. I'm in serious need of 8 hours of sleep now, LOL.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Thank God it's Friday... SERIOUSLY!

This week has seemed to just drag by as slow as possible. I'm glad to see "the light at the end of the tunnel". LOL

Last night, we had a nice quiet night. Which, when your parents of a toddler, those are simply priceless. I finally got to go to the salon and get my hair trimmed, then we did some shopping, came home and cooked dinner together and just had a quiet night in. So nice!

Tomorrow we're going to Viera/Suntree to check out a few places for the wedding reception. Other than that, not much planned.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

10.02.05 ~ 10.02.08

Today we celebrate our 3rd anniversary together.




Now for the countdown to the vow renewal! 12 months from today.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The PERFECT Find!

Tonight on a whim, I told Jon I wanted to go to Target. I saw their wedding stuff last week and thought they had a great little selection. Very unique things there! Well, we were just browsing and on an end-aisle there was this 1 little book that caught my attention. I picked it up and told Jon, "Wouldn't this be GREAT if it were a guestbook, and not a photo album?" [I assumed it was a photo album because it was next to a pile of them...] Lo and behold. IT IS A GUESTBOOK!!! Black, White and Red. our wedding colors!



The best part??? Original price was $40. I got it for $9! It's fate. We love it. Very exciting!

Coffee Withdrawls

I SERIOUSLY need some coffee right now. I went in the kitchen to whip up some homemade mocha frappuccinos to find out we left the 10 lb. bag of ice in the sink all night! So I have no ice to mix it with. ACK! So I feel like a real winner.

Coffee Shop Moms is getting new members by the day, which is great! Very exciting to meet new women like me. WOO HOO!!!

I did see the BEST idea EVER though for the wedding reception. I doubt we'll do it, because we're already giving out chocolate as a favor, but isn't this such a creative idea? It's a candy buffet!



And I saw this idea, which is really cute.



Some candies at the guestbook table. We probably won't use the candy buffet idea, as most hotels are VERY picky about allowing outside food in. But it's a good idea if we throw a Christmas party or something too!

Not much to ramble about today. Just a typical Wednesday I guess.