Friday Favorites-Retail Therapy

There has been a lot of stress at work lately. For me that translates into either retail therapy or eating therapy (stuffing my face). Here's two of my favorite (retail) things lately.

via Redbook

Kendra Scott anything. Most recently the Danielle earrings, bought as an "atta girl" for completing the Houston 1/2 marathon. I bought the Tiger Eye color. Love them. In fact, I pretty much love all of her stuff.

via JCrew

I have a problem. A striped shirt problem. I might or might not have 9 striped shirts in my closet. Which is why I just bought this one. Oops. My reasoning-stripes work as well in the office as on the weekend. Whatever, I like them. You should be impressed that I refrained from also buying this in the red/pink color too. There's no stopping you though!


A couple new Friday Favorites.

Boy Moms

I was convinced when I met my husband that we would have all boys. He's just a GUY. A hunting, fishing, dirty, messy, sports loving, fixing things GUY. I was pleasantly shocked when we had two girls. Two girly girls. I LOVE being a mom to my two girls. It's insanely fun. I'm all over the sparkly, glittery, painting nail side of parenting girls. Boys? Notsomuch.

This weekend the girls and I went to visit my brother's family. My brother and his wife have two insanely cute little boys. They are ALL BOY. Dinosaurs, trains, 8 million kinds of things that go-all with names and jobs, etc. (I imagine its the equivalent of princesses and hearing about their dresses and songs ad nauseum). We were all in the car and both my sister in law and I told my nephew (4) to stop picking his nose (GROSS, why do kids do that?!). So, he reached over, grabbed my sister in law's arm and wiped his nose with it. She kept right on talking. Did not miss a beat. I was shocked. Her reaction- Eh, I've had worse!

That is a Boy mom! I was equal parts and impressed and completely grossed out.

Love Thursday-Gumballs

I sometimes think my kids don't hear a thing I say; especially after saying the same thing over and over and over. After what Em did last week, I know they hear and remember. And, sometimes a simple act can mean so much. About a month ago the girls and I drove by an estate sale. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a vintage red gumball machine. I'm not going to lie, I might have screamed. I went over to look at (pet) it, but the sale was closed for the evening. I might have also mentioned about a 1,000 times how excited I was to come back after Church the next day and get it. I've wanted a red stand up (preferably vintage) gumball machine for our living room for months. And, here was one! Just down the road from my parents' house! Yay! The next day, we ran over after Church and...it was sold. Wah wah wah.

Fast forward a month and Em proudly says "Momma, I got something for you at school." She brought this little plastic gumball machine out. She used her reading points to buy it for me from her school store. Oh, My heart. I was so touched. (The by product for the girls from this deed is that now I can't say No when they want a gumball, because it is just so sweet!) Now, I don't even think I need an actual gumball machine.

Houston Half Marathon

Today I am home nursing my aching muscles-and trying to keep up with two kids who did not run 13.1 miles yesterday. So, that's working out well. But, yesterday I did this:

Pretend this is an action shot-I missed my husband the first time and had to double back about a half mile-whoops!

Woo-hoo, another 1/2 marathon done! I wasn't planning on running this race and I wasn't sure about running since I haven't been able to get any long training runs in lately. Before the race I only ran 4 miles-oops. Not the smartest idea. (In my defense, it was a last minute decision. I'm not usually this stupid!...Usually) BUT, I knew it would be good to run the distance in prep for my Austin 1/2, plus the race was in town, so I knew the course and knew it wouldn't be too difficult to run.

Things I have learned about running half marathons so far (in all the 2 I've run, Ha!)

1) Bring napkins, tissues, and hand sanitizer for pit stops. (I ended up making two pit stops and was glad I had the emergency provisions!).

2) Sparkle skirts are an awesome way for your husband to (eventually) find you on the course-but it is better to describe what you are wearing BEFORE you pass him and have to back-track! Oops. Of course mine is Orange-duh!

3) Yurbuds are awesome. My previous earbuds fell out of my ears all.the.time and it was so annoying. These stay put and you can carry on a conversation while running. Awesome.

4) The Houston Marathon is a VERY well run race. The spectators are everywhere and really make running much easier. I would run this race every year IF I get a number.

5) Those last 2 miles suck.

6) Best signs on the race: "Worst Parade Ever," "Run a Better Race than Perry."

7) Also, apparently I need to take off my warm headband before taking pictures, yeesh.

It wasn't all rosy race stuff, as I was running the last 3oo meters of the race, I ran by a medic team giving another runner chest compressions. I've seen it a couple times before, but you never get over the finality of that effort. What a sad thing to happen; you just know that he had seen his family, maybe they were waiting in the reunion area, just a few yards away, ugh. I was so glad to read that the paramedics were able to revive him on the way to the hospital.

Now, to get ready for the Austin 1/2 and this time actually run enough beforehand!

Friday Favorite-Jason Wu for Target

It's no surprise that I've already looked through the newest Target designer line-JasonWu- and I'm once again in love. The line is smart, classic, and fun. And, affordable! I've picked my favorite looks.

From Target via Fashionista

The launch is February 5th. I'll be the crazy one waking up EARLY so I can order these pretties. Hey man, I never did find the Missoni sweaterdress I wanted. I did eventually get the vases, but that's another story...

Jason Wu for Target is my Friday Favorite.

Home Goals 2012

Now that I'm done with my first party of the year, and a couple of great projects, I feel ready to tackle my "To Do" list. I'm not aiming for a finished house like you see in magazines. That's not us. I think that decorating is a process, you have to figure out what works for you and your way of life. I find things here and there that I like and find places for them, even if they don't make sense to anyone else. (See: my globe collection and vintage Texas wall map.) Yes, the map still has the NOEL letters up (It is WAY high and really hard to get to and...well, pffft!).

I call it "eclectic comfort." It works for us. Well, most of the time. My philosophy probably means that my house will never be "done;" and I am 100% OK with that. To add to the work in progress, these are my top goals for 2012:

Top House projects

Finish Master Bedroom redesign- new artwork over the bed, something like this sign; paint frames in the gallery wall (the mish mash is bugging me), paint dresser, and maybe recover the bench.

Finish Girls Bedroom redesign- hang artwork, stain dresser, add some "oomph" to the curtains

Kitchen- new lights, paint island, new sink and faucet, possibly new blinds for kitchen and living room. OK, take down the NOEL sign!

Would be great, but won't happen: renovate backyard, revamp closet- add color?, decorate guest room-the whole shebang -paint, curtains, art, etc.

I'm linking this to The Nester's Home Goals link party. You should check it out, there are some great plans there. Any top goals for you? New paint? Furniture?

A Bookish Baby Shower

I've spent the last week prepping for my friend Anne's baby shower. I think I might have been looking forward to the shower as much as she did because I knew I'd see her and I just adore her. PLUS I got to do all the decor. Yesss!!! This was a book shower, which was a really fun theme for me to create. I got to decorate for a wonderful friend and her very soon to be adored baby girl. What's not to love?

...The speeding ticket I got on my way to the shower, but that's another story.
There was a lot of this.
That turned into this book page wreath-after about 3 glue sticks and a couple blisters.

It was part of this. (Check out the nifty book page garland I made using the same process as the comic book garland-LOVE).

And this- a crepe paper "ragamuffin" (tied) garland. The crepe paper garland was a new thing for me. I love how it turned out.
I can imagine making it in different colors for a rainbow theme (or maybe for my daughter's art party this summer), or in blues to look like waves for a mermaid party. So cute. Easy too!

I decorated the food table with different children's books, putting the platters and flowers on top of the books to give the table some height interest. Plus, it looked really sweet.
It was a fun day (except the ticket-grr), and a really surprisingly fun theme to decorate. I had more decor, of course, but managed to reign in my ...ahem... "normal" party decorating. I think that's what some would term "progress." (Some- being my husband) Pfft. I don't have a problem, I don't have a problem...everybody keeps crepe paper in every color under the sun in their house. LALALALA, I can't hear you!

Top Projects-Painting & Parties

It's a new year, which means I'm busy on a few new projects! Already. Hopefully an early start will encourage me to finish more projects this year. I'm in the middle of a few party projects for my friend's baby shower this weekend. As I was cutting, gluing, and sewing this week, I thought back on a few of my favorite projects of 2011. Not surprisingly, my girls' birthday parties are two of my favorites.

My younger daughter's Wonder Woman/Superhero party. Her party had some of my favorite decorations- the comic book banner and skyscrapers. It turned out so cute & was a blast.

I realized I never blogged about the details of my daughter's Nancy Drew party. I'll have to rectify that. It really was a fun party.

I also love the new paint in the girls' room. I also need to show the room's details and decor; it's the perfect girls' room. This sweet silhouette canvas was the perfect addition to their new room.

I'm linking to Rhoda's Top Project linky, where I'm sure I'll find a few new projects to add to my "To Do" list.