The Oprah of my blog.

I have a spectacular announcement for you all!

No, I'm not pregnant. I promise.

Announcement on the blog does not mean pregnancy. 

Although in this case, it does mean something amazing. 

Long ago, I came to the conclusion that I am, in fact, the Oprah of my blog. I decide what I want to post about, discuss, etc. I also share some of my favorites. Ok, a lot of my favorites. I feel the need to tell you why my favorite things are so wonderful, in hopes that by sharing my love of said product/service/etc you may learn something, decide to try something new, or just think, "Psh, that girl is craaaazy."

Since December is quickly approaching and it is a supermonth for me (birthday+Christmas+anniversary+New Year's) I decided to do something similar to Miss Winfrey and do my own type of Favorite Things series. 


 For the next four weeks I will feature a product that I know and love, and will be giving away one of each product as part of the December Supermonth Giveaway Spectacular. 


You read correctly! Over the next 4 weeks I will be doing 4 giveaways! All of the giveaways are wonderful products that I love and want to share with you!


Here are the details:
On Thursday December 1, I will announce giveaway #1. You will be able to enter once by leaving a comment on the post, and will be able to enter a second time by blogging about the giveaway. On Monday December 5 I will choose a winner via random.org, and will make the announcement. 


This fabulousness will happen four times during the month of December in honor of Supermonth. 


Get excited, friends! This is a giveaway that you really have a great chance of winning, as I'm pretty positive that I'm not Young House Love, who gets about 5,000 entries for each giveaway :) Aaaaand please don't think that I'm giving away $500 gift cards. Nope, just lovely little treasures. 

A weekend of thanks.

Psssssshhh.

Did Thanksgiving already happen?

Is the weekend over?

Has the countdown to Christmas already begun?

Yes.

Not sure how I feel about the year quickly coming to a close, but I am ok talking about Thanksgiving. 

Ben, Dylan, and I spent the weekend up in Laramie,Wyoming at my mother-in-law's home. The weekend was busy, loud, and fabulous, as 17 of us (11 adults + 6 kiddos) were all together for the first time since last Thanksgiving. 

This weekend was one where I was reminded of what a wonderful, beautiful life I have. Healthy bodies. Strong minds. Wonderful family and friends. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. A warm, lovely home. Stable jobs. Our life is one that is very, very blessed.

Here are a few snaps of the weekend. I'm still getting used to my new camera and am trying to figure out why so many of my pictures are so blurry. Any photo geniuses know why my camera is so quick to blur? Anyway, here are a few of the non-blurry pictures. 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Highs and lows.

At my work's staff meetings we usually share our weekend highs and lows, and that is exactly what I'm going to do for this post.

Highs:
-Benjamin gave me my birthday present a few weeks early! Hooray! After listening to me complain about my low-quality camera for the past two years, he surprised me with a lovely upgrade. This Nikon Coolpix P500 is my new little friend. 

- I saw Breaking Dawn on Friday night with my pal/geek-out partner in crime, Stacey. All things considered, I loved it. At times it teetered between awesome and awesomely bad (hello, wolf conversation), with a little ridiculousness mixed in, but it definitely met my expectations. I'm trying to get Benjamin to see it with me, which will be a project in and of itself. 

-Dylan continues to become more cute and fun with each day. Here's some proof:

- I found this gorgeous wrapping paper at TJ Maxx:

Hot pink alligator print? Yes, please. 

-I discovered this deliciousness:

Aaaand here's the weekend's low:

-THE NORDSTROM AT UNIVERSITY MALL IS CLOSING. Right after I found out I called the husband. I said to him, "Honey, something terrible happened." He immediately thought that someone had died. When I told him that it was Nordstrom he laughed at me for a long time. He obviously doesn't share my Nordstrom love. The only thing that could make it a little better would be if H&M came and took Nordstrom's empty spot. 

November Birchbox.

Yesterday I received my November Birchbox in the mail. Hooray! I've been looking forward to its arrival for weeks now, so it felt a little like Christmas when I returned home yesterday evening and saw the pink package in my mailbox. 

Here's what I got in my box:

- Lavanila body butter

- Mama Mio Skincare Boob Tube Bust & Neck Firmer

- Tay day moisturizer

- Zoya nail polish

- Chuao Chocolatier chocolate

-Lavanila baby lotion sample

I've tried everything out already, and once again I love it all. The body butter smells like heaven and made my hands feel so smooth. The chocolate was kind of strange- dark chocolate with popping candy and chipotle pepper mixed in. After a few bites I really started to love it... and then it was gone. Boo. 

My only semi-critique about the box was that it was a little moisturizer-heavy. I love me some body butter, face cream, bust and neck firmer, AND baby lotion, but I want a little more diversity, like last month's box. What did I do to remedy this problem? I edited my beauty profile to reflect the desire for a broad spectrum of products. I'm excited to see what next month's box has! 

Can't wait for this one.

Happy weekend.

This weekend held a number things that made me quite happy. For one, I got our photo cd back from Laura Bunker, photographer extraordinaire. Let me tell you, this shoot was quite difficult. Our photographer was great, I was in a great mood (especially since my fab hair stylist made a 6:30 am house call to style my hair that morning), and Ben was tolerating getting his picture taken. The only pain in the rear? Sweet Dylan Danger, of course. Little boy was not having it. I know, I know- he's a toddler, so photoshoot tantrums should be pretty much expected. And yes, there were tantrums. Oy. Here are a few snaps from our shoot:

In preparation for Christmas 2011, I have picked up new tree ornaments for our family. Here are some of the new pretties that will be joining our tree this year:

 For me {Pier 1}

 For Dylan {Disney Store}

For Benjamin {Hobby Lobby}

I also found this adorable wall art at Pier 1. The colors are perfect for my living room and kitchen, and I love the fun that this owl brings to my living room. Ben has yet to have noticed it hanging on our wall. I didn't tell him about it- I'm just waiting to see how long it takes for him to notice something new on the wall :)

Last, but not least, I must mention my new favorite: The green smoothie. Mind you, this smoothie is brown because of the raspberries I mixed in. For the past two mornings, I have had a green (or brown) smoothie for breakfast, and it has been amazing. A huge handful of spinach + one cup of frozen fruit + one banana + some ice and a little water = breakfast of champions. Let's hope that I can stay on this smoothie kick, because it's a super easy way to get my fruits and vegetables in, and it beats the heck out of cereal.

He is his mother's son.

{sleepy munchkin}

Let me preface this story by noting that it is my parents who will best understand this post. 

Today, Dylan fell asleep in the car at 5:30 pm. I unbuckled him from his car seat and expected him to wake up then. Nope, still dead asleep. I brought him inside and laid him on the couch. He stirred and said, "No sleep," but then went right back to sleep. I decided to let him sleep for about 20 minutes so that I could prepare dinner with plans of waking him up before dinnertime. 

Big mistake. 

I should have made him stay awake once we got to the house. Why? Once it was time to wake him up from his power nap he was not a happy little boy.

 No, no. 

Instead, there was a boy who was crying and howling for two hours straight. He cried because he wanted me to hold him, he cried because Ben was looking at him, he cried because he wanted dinner, he cried because he didn't want dinner. An interrupted evening nap turned Dylan into a very sad boy. 

What does this have to do with me? Everything. Apparently I was exactly the same as a child. If I ever went down for a nap- be it morning, afternoon, or evening- you did not wake me up. Unless there was truly no other option available, you never interrupted my sleep. Otherwise you would be faced with hours of me crying and wailing, "Youuuu woooooke meeee upppppp!"

Luckily, Dylan came out of his funk before bedtime and there was a little bit of fun family time before actual bedtime. 

It's the final countdown.

When you hear/read the words "it's the final countdown" do you immediately think of Gob Bluth from Arrested Development? I do. 

Anyone else so excited for Arrested Development coming back for tv and movie?

Ok, get excited for one scattered post. I just spoke to one of my more ridiculous work clients on the phone and now my brain is all scrambled. Oy. 

I'm a few days late in posting about Halloween, but it was a hit for Dylan! Ben took him around our neighborhood, and Dylan did great. Before going out we practiced trick or treating at our door, and he got the hang of things very quickly. Unfortunately, he was not in the picture taking mood, but Ben managed to snap this one while out trick or treating. 

Cute little shark. 

As 2011 is coming to a close, that means that it's time for me to order my 2012 planner. Truth be told, I get more excited about a new planner than the average girl. I look forward to it for months and imagine how cute it will look on my desk. Yup, I'm a weirdo. Here's a peek the 2012 collection:

I ordered the giraffe print.

What I'm really excited about is that it's now countdown time:

-20 days until Thanksgiving

-32 days until Indiana

-34 days until my birthday

-51 days until Christmas

-54 days until our 7th anniversary

I think that today Dylan and I will make a fabulous paper chain to accompany our countdown. Yes, we definitely will. 

Another craft that I'm looking forward to? This one:

Ribbons + bright ornaments = holiday awesomeness.