Do you like free stuff?

Check out Whimsy Renee's facebook page here and like the page for a chance to win these darlings:

Hello, pretties.
 

Winner of the giveaway will be announced at 8 PM EST tonight! Happy sharing!

Looking forward to an afternoon of thrift store hunting in the meantime.

Sometimes, I go overboard.

If there is anything I enjoy doing more than making cute stuff, it's entertaining.

I live for it. If I could throw a party every day, I so would.

Unfortunately, not every day warrants a party. But I wish.

A big day is coming up for a party...June 15. Most people think two to three months in advance is enough to plan a party. Not me. I'm talking more like six months to effectively plan and execute a party.

Except for when we decided to host a New Years Eve party. Two weeks before. And had to move out two weeks after. That was fun and I function well under pressure, but I didn't necessarily like it.

Peyton's 2nd birthday is June 14th. Falls on a Friday. PERFECT. Party will be Saturday!

Last year, we didn't have the space at our house to accommodate our huge families and friends, so we rented a couple pavilions at a county park. Beautiful day, surrounded by family and friends, celebrating little P's one whole year on earth.

Birthday girl.
And mother of the year over here forgot to pack a change of clothes for her after the cake assassination.

Sad thing is, I slaved for MONTHS over this birthday party...a cupcake themed party, with pinks, cream, and brown as the main color scheme and bunting galore. 400 feet of bunting. Hand-rolled rosettes as centerpieces. Tissue paper pom-poms.The above photo is the only one I got of. the. whole. day.

I was so wrapped up in entertaining I didn't take any pictures of any of my hard work! It was blog-worthy, I tell you. WORTHY. If there was a Style Me Pretty for 1st Birthday Parties, Peyton's first birthday party would be ON IT.

Sadness. Thank goodness for family who are quite adept with their camera skills, because I did wind up with a whole slew of photos for the day.

At any rate, birthday number 2 for Miss Peyton is going to be Minnie-themed. If you've glanced around Pinterest at all, you know my brain is exploding from all of the awesome ideas and I see DIY burn-out in my near future.

Party planning. It hurts so good.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning, sitting at the office, praying my pork in the crock pot comes out okay since my crock pot has been DESTROYING food lately, thinking about the loads of laundry I need to do when I get home, daydreaming about our new house (!!!) and otherwise enjoying my Tuesday.

So far.

It's not even 9 AM yet.

This post is mostly a reminder for me to buy a new USB cable for my camera so I can start uploading some photos.

Because I do need more of that.

Why my lunch break is better than your lunch break

I'd like to take the time, now, to talk about how awesome my lunch breaks are.

My start time is 8 AM. Sometimes I roll in at 7:45 because I like to beat my bosses to the office. I'm just that way. I may be the littlest guy (girl) on the totem pole around these parts, but I like to beat everyone here for the day. It's a strange competition, because at the end of the day I'm still at the bottom and they still make more money than my brain can comprehend. AND they get an extra 15 minutes in the morning.

But whatever. It's all mental.

I'm there first, so I must be a winner.

Anyway.

Between the hours of 12:30-1:30 PM is a magical time known as the "lunch hour". For most people it involves just lunch, but for ME it involves so much more. You see, I have about FOUR awesome shopping centers within a five square mile radius of my office building.

This is amazing for so many reasons:

Forgot to pick up macaroni and cheese because that's the only this Peytom will eat this week?
That's OK! Wal-Mart!

I'm out of glue sticks!
That's OK! There's a Joann Fabrics AND a Michaels!

I need a dress for a wedding this weekend!
That's OK! The mall is right there!

I need cute stuff for the house, quick!
That's OK! There's a Pier One AND a Christmas Tree Shop!

I feel like spending my hour wandering aimlessly, looking for one thing, apparently blacking out and leaving the store with my one item plus spending another $200 on stuff I didn't really need.
That's OK! That's why Target is there!

Behold, a map:

I worked really hard on this, guys. Not an exact replica of the shopping situation, but pretty darn close.
And that jug handle? Haaaaaate.

And this, my friends, is how I spend my lunch break EVERY DAY. And it. is. FABULOUS.

On houses

Another bid, another waiting game.

Who said buying a home was fun?

Actually, I don't think anyone has ever said that to me. People have said it's exciting. But to me, this type of "excitement" is giving me ulcers.

I just want to be able to find the house we love and BUY it.

That shouldn't be too hard, right?

I'm so anxious over this whole process.

Our realtor has five or six more houses to look at tomorrow since the owners of the house we put an offer on don't want to close until May and we don't want to wait to close. Tonight I will mentally prepare with wine and my needle and thread.

I've got about 75 yo-yos that are BEGGING to be turned into necklaces and bobbies and a bottle of Shamong Red that is BEGGING to be consumed.