A Happy Birthday Day

Yesterday was sweet.  I documented it in Instagram, because I'm trying to get better at it and it is so handy to carry around my phone instead of big camera for the day.  But these are rather bad pictures.  I will keep at it, but I'll probably stick to my Nikon for blog posts. :)

In the morning, my sweetheart surprised me

with this beautiful orchid.  

 

But the real treat was that he made me this breakfast and brought it to me in bed. 

It was so delicious. Eggs with mushrooms, orange pepper, spinach, onion, and bacon. 

This was first for our marriage, and I loved it.

 Then opened up a few sweet cards sent from faithful friends and family.
There's just something so special about getting a birthday note in the mail. I forget to send them myself 8 times out of 10.  Funny how when my birthday comes around each year I am reinvigorated to be a dedicated birthday card sender - I'm always reminded how much it means.

In the afternoon, my heroic brother-in-law watched all seven of our children combined while Sister and I went out for lunch with our mum.  It was lovely, of course.

This dessert does not look very appetizing in the picture, so you'll have to use your imagination.

In the evening, this nice guy took me out for cozy, delicious dinner.

And more dessert....naturally. 

Still have the family birthday to celebrate, and then Sister and mum and I hope to getaway for a sleepover and shopping.  Yes, we know how to spread out the fun. : )

So thankful for a lovely day.

Lovely people.  And a new year.

A Pigtail Experiment

I don't think there's any denying it - pigtails are just happy.  I used to wear pigtails pretty faithfully when I was sixteen -  pigtails with a beloved red hat from Abercrombie.

 

About a month ago I got half a foot chopped of my hair.
I've worn it long for about the last ten years, so this was Substantial Change. 
Within I couple days it hit me that my hair was now pretty good......pigtail length.  Hadn't tried them since sixteen, so I decided to do a Pigtail Experiment:

{note that the Pigtail Experiment coincidentally coincided with the Learn How to Use Your iphone Experiment}

I wore pigtails for about two weeks straight

{and tried to take a few goofy iphone pictures}

I loved how easy it was to do my hair everyday - no time, no fuss - 
just neat, happy-fun hair that is out of my face.  

Five weeks later, pigtails are my go-to hair-do.

{And just now - yes, just this moment - I managed set up my email on the phone and take an Instagram pic.  Big Day.}

The data was most conclusive -
pigtails make me just as happy as they did at sixteen.

....and yes, I find they do grant one just that touch of youthful fun
that is rather bolstering as one turns 30.

So here's to embracing some happy fun at any age. ; )

{and making a concerted effort to figure out my phone}

It's the Little Things & Important Reminder

You may remember this Pure & Good soap from Anthropologie I invested in last summer. I say investment, because it's not your regular use and toss soap, the lovely bottle is for keeps.

 

Anyway I just finally finished the original hand soap that came in it - an exciting event because it's time to fill it with this lovely dish soap from Seventh Generation.  I love Lavender & Mint scent and now I will be able to use the Pure & Lovely pump for both hands and dishes.

It's the little things, I tell you. 

We just got a case of 6 of these bottles of dish soap using Amazon's subscribe & save subscription- at about 20% than the bottles cost at the store.  Link {HERE}.  The Clementine & Lemon Zest scent is delicious too.

{note: the soap is actually wonderfully clear it just looks whitish because I had just squirted it into the bottle so it was sudsy. }

The Pure & Good Soap bottle is found {HERE}.

Finally, the most important bit. : )  I just got this happy email in my inbox yesterday and am compelled to urge you once again to sign up for your very own Anthro Card.  It's just a free little membership card and the best part is they send you a code for 15% off for your birthday month.   Even off sale stuff - 15% off already clearanced Anthro goodness - it doesn't get much better than that.

So quick-quick, go {HERE} and sign up!

I'm signing up my husband today - why didn't I think to do this before???   ; )

I Broke My Target Fast

It was inevitable.  How long can a person really go without a little visit to Target after all?

In my defense, my primary reason for finally going was for returns...and then of course I had to check out their clearance end caps.

Good thing I DID.  Because I found these little Mrs. Meyer's Christmas candles, which I somehow missed seeing during the Christmas season.  I love this Iowa Pine scent, which heretofore I've enjoyed only in hand soap form.   And now Iowa Pine seems especially appropriate...kind of like it's made just for me, suppose? 

 And would you look at the cute little gift tag packaging.  I only bought two.  Ten points for self restraint.  But now I'm seriously considering going back and buying the rest - what better way to win the affection of my new Iowa neighbors next Christmas?  ; )

Does this stock-up idea jive with my purging plan?  Hmmm, feeling conflicted.

 Especially, considering they're on clearance at 1/2 of!  Deals like this only happen on Target end caps.  I highly recommend you check yours out quick-quick. 

New Cheer for the Kitchen - And a Giveaway

{Welcome, friendly readers from Southern Hospitality!}

 Today I want to tell you about a couple new items that are making my kitchen feel very special indeed.

 Sister and I each picked out a set from the lovely variety available at Anthropologie with  unsuppressed glee, and my mum sweetly presented them to us for Christmas. 

For $5 a piece they add so much refreshing fun and color after years of my white Martha Stewart bowls for Kmart.

And I must say soup, cereal...any food for that matter tastes especially good in these little latte bowls.  Most of all I love using them for breakfast for a cheerful start to the day.

Second is this Anthro tea towel...which I gifted to myself. ; ) Having it out does wonders for my enthusiasm to keep a fresh, clean kitchen all. year. long.  Really it almost does. 

I love Ric-rac.

And see how helpfully it doubles as a calender!

So I was thinking you might like a 2012 tea towel/calender with Ric-rac, too?  {promise I'll send you a new towel, not my used wrinkly one} Perhaps some my favorite soap would pair with it nicely?  Time for a little Giveaway. : )

Leave a little comment to be entered.  I'll announce the happy winner next Friday. 

Happy Weekend to you, friend!

 

The Fun Is in the Process: Making Cookies

Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter cookies are some of my favorites to make for Christmas.  This year, they were some of my kiddos favorites too.  I love that their were a nice number of simple steps they could be involved in.

The fun is in the unwrapping.

In the rolling in sugar.

In the placement of kisses.

And of course, in the eating. 

 And the licking of little fingers.

Hoping you are enjoying the process of preparing for Christmas as well. 

It's hard not to get frazzled and harried, but there are certainly good times to be had Right Now. 

{Trying to remember that!}

Simple Lovely Gift Wrapping Station

I love pretty packaging.  It can make even the humblest gift feel special. 

I'm not, however, particularly fond of the wrapping part or the mess of lots of supplies. 

Wrapping takes a long time, so I set out this year to make the job as simple and pleasant as possible.

This little trunk was made for me by Sister and Handy Andy for my birthday last year.  It was to be my "Crafting Trunk".  Sister had thoughtfully filled it with all sorts of helpful crafting supplies in nice little labeled bags and boxes.  
Since then my supplies have outgrown the space, so I turned it into my little Wrapping Station.

 

The trunk was from Hobby Lobby, but Andy fitted it with dandy little ribbon rod.  So clever - certainly one of my favorite gifts ever. 

 My goal was to keep my supplies as simple as possible...but still lovely, of course.

Here's my Christmas Ribbon picks.  All of this ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, found in the regular ribbon section {not the Christmas aisles, so even if your Christmas aisles are picked over - like ours our - you can still find some lovely "holiday ribbon"} I picked ribbon that matched my Christmas decor.  The twiney string on the end is also from Hobby Lobby - I found it in the shelf by the registers.

I love using real ribbon.  It can be reused again and again.

 And beautiful ribbon makes the simplest wrapping paper pop.  I'm using plain brown wrapping paper for all my presents this year.  This keeps me from having rolls and rolls of Christmas paper to store all year long.  Also, I can use it year round matched with any ribbon and "brown paper packages tied up with string" are always pretty charming.

These are my gift tags.  The ones on top are from Michaels and below from Hobby Lobby.  I found the top ones last, but they were the best deal - 20 for $1.99.  I'll try to get one size bigger for larger packages, but they were out at the time.

Then we have my much-loved typewriter letter stamps.

  

I used them to stamp the tags with "to" and "from".  I also like to just stamp out the whole name - with a bigger tag. 

 

So there's my little wrapping station.  

{the felt trees in the corner are ornaments I got last year on clearance to be used as gift toppers}

It made wrapping all of these such fun.

But don't be fooled - all of these gifts are those my ahead-of-the-game-sweetheart had already purchased for his dad and brother.  I still have almost all my Christmas shopping ahead of me... but at least now I'm looking forward to the wrapping part. 

{Linking to Life Made Lovely Monday & Bowl Full of Lemons}

It's the Little Things - Christmas Edition

Oh, such a busy weekend!  I unwisely decided to start Christmas decorating before doing some basic clean-up and the result was quite the train-wreck of Christmas decor and Thanksgiving decor with dirty dishes, dusty furniture and laundry thrown in.  Anyway, we managed to pull it together somewhat in time for dinner with some good friends who stayed overnight on Saturday, which was lovely fun.

Tried to look about today and enjoy some of the little things - telling signs that Christmas is indeed coming. :)

English breakfast tea in my Brown Betty this morning.

{little hand helping to pour}

 Finally got new seasonal pictures in my easy-switch photo gallery. 
They make me happy.

 

 For me, this scent from Crabtree & Evelyn is the perfect smell for Christmas - perfectly piney.

I got some of these for a candy dish because they were appropriately green...

and I personally love at least a little chocolate after dinner.

And some pine-scented hand-soap from Mrs. Meyer's.  It smells wonderful.

What about your weekend?  

What little things have you been enjoying lately?

{Linking to Life Made Lovely Monday}