On our way

To the airport...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours...2011

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Remembering

Remembering Hawaii 2011

Dreaming Big

Someday I hope to enjoy this at my own backyard. And drink Sea Salt Coffee

My baby girl turns 4

We celebrated her birthday last Saturday, although today is her actual birthday. Where does the time go...they do grow up fast. Now she tells me "the Octagon says Stop!" each time we see a stop sign. Not even 5 yet and already a back seat driver. And she has discovered that she has a singing voice & currently loves to dance and sing "I wanna live in America" from West Side story. Truly an entertainer of ours.

Its October again...

and do you know what that means? Someone is having a birthday in this home of ours and she will be turning 4!! How time flies ... she is already in PreK and has definitely come out of her shell.

A few weeks back I was proclaiming that this year I was just going to have Celeste celebrate her birthday in school - no big hoopla party like last years. As the days rolled by I kept fighting with myself about the whole idea of celebrating her birthday.
Until one day I got a very special package in the mail. It was Hello Kitty Cookies from a friend who is part of a fundraising for Autism. In exchange for monetary donation she will bake cookies. I took this opportunity to get my hands on her yummy cookies. When the package arrived I couldn't wait to open it but it was time to pick up the kids and do homework, make/eat/cleanup dinner...yada yada yada. Finally after everyone was bathed I got my chance and little Miss Celeste happened to be in my room.
As I opened the box, her eyes got really big and a huge grin came out of her little face as she screamed
"Hello Kitty Cookies!! I loooooooooove Hello Kitty!!"

And so I took these pictures

Just look at that happiness

She proceeded to sing as she got her paws on one

a little sad that it was almost gone

After seeing how her face lit up when we opened the box - a light bulb came up above my head.
We are going to have a Hello Kitty Party...but not all babyish like the one for her 2nd birthday.
After texting my 3 sisters near me one of them texted me this picture of a Hello Kitty Inspired Party

OH EM GHEE!!! How could I not do this? As it turned out this is from PaperGlitter one of my favorite ETSY vendors. As I checked out her blog I came across an entry in which she shared instructions in how to she put together this party for her daughter and instruction on how to do this Sweet Shoppe Stand. So I went and purchased her Sweet Shoppe File. Its definitely a sign.

So far this is what I've accomplished

Going back

Today I finally took the step to take action to get healthy & fit. After 2 months of looking and reading about Pure Barre I bit the bullet and signed up. And the new client special of unlimited classes for a month for only $100 wasn't too bad. Although I had a choice of just signing up for one class, I chose the unlimited one to commit myself to this change. I felt nervous to the point of nausea since it's been 10+ years since I last did any kind of a serious work out. It was challenging! I felt sweat go down my face, felt the limbs start to shake & the burn...oh the burn! I welcomed the cool down part of the workout with open arms. But the best part is the post work out high!
This could be the beginning of a new healthy habit.