trick or treat

trick or treat already? it's seems like it was just the beginning of october. we have lots of celebrations in october so it's seems like time flies. as you know we celebrated our anniversary

(here, here and here) and my girl turned 7,

so with all of her celebrations and her party prep (i'll be posting

about that next), i almost forgot about halloween. not really because we've been putting together costumes along the way, so i knew it was coming, just wasn't ready for it to be here so soon. anyway enough rambling about time and where it has gone because it's here and my girl is trick or treating as we speak. the little fella fell asleep so he's with me while i pass out candy and for the first time we have trick or treaters! take a look at our first halloween in our new home. oh and have i told you? i love it here!

pumpkin carving earlier today.

one of our pumpkins had pinkish colored seeds. we determined it must mean it's a girl.

my girl designed and carved her pumpkin.

the little fella's pumpkin. he made a wave. he always makes a wave when he draws.

i wanted the kiddo's to pose with their pumpkins.

for some reason garrett wanted to pose like this.

avery in costume and scoping out the neighborhood for fellow trick or treaters.

she got her candy bucket, but no shoes.

the little fella was just barely hanging on, so while we waited for our friends to come over we cuddled on the couch. that's when you know who fell asleep.

sleep won't stop this lalaloopsy from trick or treating.

she was raring to go.

happy halloween friends!

living by the seaside

there's joys to living by the sea, like the way my friend so beautifully talks about here. and then there are not so joyous times, like the way my husband experienced here. and though his story is from last year, it has happened again today. through experience brings knowledge, so a quick trip to the doctor for some antibiotics and a stop at the shake shack on the way home make living by the seaside not so bad.

p.s. don't tell our kiddo's we went to the shake shack without them. they won't let us live it down ;)

11 years and counting

if you know me then you know i love taking photo booth pictures and will do so any chance i am given. i have been doing this ever since i can remember. it has become an annual family tradition for me and the mister and now our 2 kiddo's to do this every year when we go to the fair. since the mister and i just celebrated 11 years of marriage we got to looking back at our beginning. i thought i would share them with you here today.

2000

2001

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

* if you noticed we are missing 2002 you're right. that's because we were traveling europe that summer and missed the fair. i'm pretty sure it would've looked pretty similar to 2003.

** also, we just realized this year that we had not taken a photo booth pic by ourselves since 2004 ( i was preggo with my girl avery) so, we decided this was the year to take back our photo booth pics. (well, at least one of them. after all this is the only family photo session we do a year)

*** hope you enjoyed seeing us through the years :)

on this day

we ate cake

as husband and wife

11 years ago today

11 years ago tomorrow

once upon a time

i walked down this aisle lined with pumpkins

to meet this boy

we said, "i do"

we kissed

we became husband and wife

to live happily ever after

forever

happy anniversary to my one and only, the love of my life, my mister.

to read how our story began click here

you're hired!

i think most of you know that my mister has his own business making surfboards and other surfing related items. recently, he has been busy making some fins for a local surf shop. he needed some covers for them which meant he needed someone who had a sewing machine and someone who knew how to sew. that's where i come in. i was hired to sew up 6 fin sleeves for 6 fins made by the mister. take a look...

freshly made redwood fin

working on the "sunny d"

sewing up the first sleeve

the final batch

and their new outfits.

our message nook

sneak peek no more, i am here to reveal our weekend project. as you know we rent this house and so what we can do to it is limited. like painting the kitchen cabinets or a full kitchen remodel for that matter is out of the picture right now. but, every once in awhile i come up with a great idea that makes the renting stage of this house a little more bearable. for instance, our message nook. any chance i can get to cover up these brown cabinets, i'm gonna take it. this is where the mister and i make a good team. i get the ideas and he makes them happen for me. here's what we did...

we decided to make the side of the pantry a chalkboard wall. the mister measured, searched the pile of scrap wood on the side of our house, cut, and painted a piece of board with pea pod green chalkboard paint. he then nailed it to the side of the pantry. i felt it needed something more, so we took this thrift store piece, painted it yellow and used it as a border. i think it gives it just what it needed. but, then we needed something to balance it out on the bottom and to hold the chalk. the mister went back out to the pile of scrap wood on the side of the house and whipped up a little box to add below. again, i think it gives it just what it needed.

we got rid of the ugly black cordless phone that was just sitting on the desk and replaced it with this super cool, new red telephone from corelco. i love it! of course, i would've preferred yellow, but it wasn't an option and i searched, but couldn't bring myself to pay $120 for an old phone. so, the red one is fine and it fit the budget at $28. i just recently started collecting random plates for a plate wall and since i don't have many this little wall was perfect for them. i think they all compliment the red phone. i don't know about you, but i have to have a place to hang my keys or i will lose them. i'm not even joking. you can ask my friend sarah. i would go to her house almost everyday, for probably 5 years and everyday i would lose my keys. i'm horrible when it comes to keys (and sunglasses, and cell phones). so, this little key hanger that we spray painted yellow is a sanity saver for me.

the little miss is slightly more obsessed with the red phone than i am. she's been writing phone numbers on the chalkboard wall and then making her phone calls. only to my mom though. so far she has called her to ask her if she wants to be a pumpkin for halloween, to tell her what lalaloopsy she wants for her birthday (omg, she's gonna be 7 in less than a week), and again to see if she needs help making a pumpkin costume. not to mention a couple of prank calls to her here and there as well. i can only imagine what her teenage years are going to bring. holy moly, i'm not looking forward to those phone call days, but hey, least we will have this cool message nook to write down all of her messages right? right.

a sneak peek

we've been working on something over here and it involves two of my thrift store finds from my last post. remember this piece? looks better yellow, huh?

hopefully, we will have it finished this weekend and i can share the results with you soon. so, stay tuned friends!

my secret is out!

friends, i really hate to admit this, but i am greedy when it comes to sharing information about great thrift stores. i know this is so bad, but i only frequent a few thrift stores that i like because honestly, thrift stores gross me out! they're usually dirty, filled with junk and just gross. this year i stumbled on a new thrift store that was none of the above. i did share it with a few friends, but only a few. you know who you are! it's really clean, stocked well and reasonably priced. i should say it was, my secret is out! yesterday it was totally packed, a mess and super over priced. who are these people and why are they at my thrift store? it's mine, it's mine, it's mine! (sorry, i just had to throw my little tantrum.) even though i was super disappointed i did find a few things. i found a yellow plate for my soon-to-be plate wall at my "not so secret" thrift store and this little floral plaque thing, along with three yards of fighting cowboy flannel at another one of my favorite stores. take a look...

i'm going to spray paint the plaque thing ummmm...yellow, of course.

with this cool flannel i will probably make a baby blanket and burp clothes or jams for the little fella.

on the up side, when i was driving home from my kinda disappointing thrift store excursion, i notice that there was going to be a neighborhood garage sale real close to my neighborhood. i thought i would try it and maybe get lucky there. it was pretty chaotic with people and cars, but i managed to score a few goodies. i scored a complete playmobil pirate ship set for $2. (there are more pieces than pictured, but the little fella was playing with them) a cookie tin (.25) and a (yellow) vintage ceramic bowl (.50). not bad for $2.75.

even though i scored these goods, i think i will stick to the few thrift stores that i know. even if they aren't my secret anymore. who knows maybe i'll see ya there!