A toddler Easter Basket

I'm on vacation and thought it was the perfect opportunity to decorate for spring and easter! I like to decorate early or not at all. Sometimes it's a lot of work (we keep everything in the basement and it is so not organized) and if the holiday is in the too near future -- it's just not worth it! But 4 weeks seemed to be a good amount of time. 

I also went to Target yesterday and bought some stuffers for Javi's easter basket! This year we're going to try to do an egg hunt and I bought stickers to fill some eggs and I'll put some snacks in others. If it's nice weather, we'll do it outside or else we'll be inside. I know Javi will love to find the eggs and will love opening them even more!

// bug keeper (similar here) // bucket hat (similar here) // printed cactus beach towel // Easter Fun book // bubble wands (similar here) // sidewalk chalk (similar here) // garden tool set (similar here) //

I didn't want to go overboard with the basket (everything is from their formerly $1 but now $3 section except for the beach towel) because I do intend on getting him some outdoor toys (mostly this sandbox) for the yard. So, I'm saving my money for that!

What do you like to put in easter baskets?

Instax Mini 8.

I had been looking at the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 camera since the start of the summer. I love the idea of Polaroid cameras and love how small the pictures from this specific camera print out. I thought about buying it for myself, but then I figured I'd wait out the summer and ask for it for my birthday. I was super excited when I opened it up from Sean. We had a minor incident with the camera outside the Outback -- so, a new one just arrived in the mail yesterday. Side note: these things are fragile... :) I've forgotten how nice it is to have printed pictures (I rarely print pictures anymore), and the whole Polaroid thing has an instagram feel that is 100 times better. Film is slightly expensive, and there are only 10 pictures on a roll -- so you have to be "on" and make sure the people you are photographing don't close their eyes, or look away. There are no second chances like with the iPhone. It's a one shot deal. I was super disappointed when the picture the waitress took of our table on my birthday didn't come out, not only because we missed the shot but also because that was one picture was wasted! I can't wait to take more pictures with this camera. 

Brown paper packages.

Tomorrow is Sean's birthday.

A few weeks ago, I came across this and I thought it was adorable.

It's a way to spread gifts throughout the entire day to make it fun, exciting, and last.

You get the recipient a bunch of gifts (they can be as small as candy or as big and extravagant as you'd like),

you wrap them individually,

and designate a time to open each of them.

I chose down to the minute 27 since he's turning 27.

In the original post, one gift is given each hour between 8AM - 8PM.

But I know that Sean will want to go do things on the day of his birthday.

So I decided to do a morning (8:27), around noon (11:27) and a night (9:27) thing.

I'm really excited for his birthday to come and for him to open his presents.
Isn't gift-giving the best? :)

Valentine's Day gifts.

I know this is a late post, but I've been busy watching movie after movie.

So clearly I had no time to take pictures of our gifts. :)

I've finally gotten myself off the couch. So here goes.

Sean and I exchanged gifts for Valentine's Day.

You know, the holiday that was nearly a week ago?

We always start with cards.

I think Sean won as far as cards are concerned.

He had it made through Shutterfly. And it has to do with this video.

Loving it.

He also got me a snazzy new iPhone case and chocolates. 

I named a star after him or my nickname for him, Nerbit.

In addition to naming the star, I jumped on the blogger bandwagon and ordered a datevitation.

It's so cute and comes in a sweet little box and everything. 

I recommend looking at the site for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and... anything really.

Now I'm going back to catch up with DVR.

Important things. Important things. :)

A sweet gesture.

When Sean and I started dating, he bought me flowers. They were beautiful. I had been in Mexico and he bought them for me to welcome me home. It was sweet.

When I was bringing them home to my house, I placed the vase on the floor in front of the passenger's seat. Naturally when I was backing up the car, the vase tipped, I leaned down to catch it, hit the gas instead of the brake and hit his brother's car. In the driveway. Yup. I was that girl.

It wasn't a light tap, either. It was a huge ordeal. An honest mistake but clearly an embarrassing moment that is still referred to... "hey, remember that time you hit my car and practically totaled your car?"... "hey, remember when you crashed the car in the driveway?"

Yes, I remember.

Needless to say, Sean's rarely given me flowers since. And when he has, he's had them delivered to the house to avoid any necessary travels.

Well, this week he surprised me and sent flowers to my work.

The best part? He sent them just because.

Not for a holiday, or birthday, or anniversary. Nope.

Just because he felt like it. :)

Of course, inside the box was a note that said "please don't crash your car". I didn't.

And I love them.

...Apollo is learning to cohabitate with them.

Check out our new toy.

I'm totally cooking now.

I need recipes. ASAP.

We're spoiled.

It's taken two full days of cleaning, organizing, washing, drying, getting rid of the old and making room for the new... but I think all our gifts finally have homes.

I got a pile of clothes, things for crafting, beauty products, jewelry, a new iPhone case, gift cards, a new pair of Toms, and the Nexus 7.

via.

I'm actually pretty sure I'm forgetting to mention some things.

Sean was lucky, too. He made room for clothes, gift cards, a new case for his tablet, a contraption that allows us to watch movies and TV, tools, an external hard drive, cologne, and fancy headphones:

via.

I'm probably forgetting some of his things, as well.

Apollo made out, too:

For our house we were given decorations, ornaments, cookbooks, and various kitchen items including a knife set!

via.

Now we can have people over for dinner and not be embarrassed they won't be able to cut their food. 

Oh, and I'm on chapter 11 of the first Harry Potter book on my new reader. I hope to finish, at least, four of the books before I go back to work.

We'll see. Tablets are so fun!

Scrapbooks.

I've decided to make an album of pictures from our first year being married.From July 2011-July 2012. Obviously, I could make this myself but in an effort to spend a little less I've decided to order one. I don't understand why it takes more money to do things yourself...

But anyway.

I've used Shutterfly, Blurb, and Snapfish, in the past. And I've loved all the books I've gotten. I also develop pictures from Clark, and the obvious... walmart, walgreens, cvs, etc.

But I wanted something new.

So I started browsing.

The first thing I was told about that seems AMAZING is:

Printstagram.

They'll take all your instagram pictures and put them in a cute little book. 100 pictures for $12! I think that's worth it because if you've ever tried to get those babies developed they look awful and are all disproportional. It's sad. 

BUT THOSE TEENY TINY BOOKS! I can't wait to get one. But I don't think it's right for this kind of project since you can't put the photos in a specific order. But when I'm ready to make a book of Apollo... I know just where I'll go.

The next thing I found was Mixbook. And I was hooked. I worked with it for hours last night (thanks, summer vacation!) and I only got to the month of January. It's so easy, and personalized. You can really do anything. Here's the screen shot of our month of July:

 I love it so much. 

It takes a while to do, clearly.

I can't wait!

Show me Christmas: week 4!

I'm linking up with Becky: From Mrs. to Mama for the very last edition of Show me Christmas: week 4!

 Today = Christmas Recap!

This Christmas was our first married Christmas and it was wonderful!

We started off the weekend going out to dinner with Sean's dad:

Then Saturday we headed to the Patriots game...

After the game, we went to my parent's house to spend some time and open a few gifts!

Of course, we had to head home so Santa could come. And in the morning, I was woken up at 4:30 by the husband who was just so excited to open gifts!

After opening our gifts to one another, Sean immediately started playing with his new Xbox Kinnect and I went back to sleep!

Once it was a normal hour, we got ready and spent time with his family opening presents.

After brunch & another nap (we were exhausted!) we made our way to my parent's house and opened more & more gifts!.

I got so many neat things and lots of clothes and shoes (new Toms too -- so I got to check that off my list of 101 in 1001)!

When we finally got home Christmas night, we watched the DVD Sean got for me -- Friends with Benefits. I loved it... he didn't enjoy it as much as me. :)

On Monday, we made one more trip and visited more of my family!

And Monday night, we went out to dinner with Sean's family one last time before his brother and his wife went back home to Seattle.

 It sure was a busy couple of days! Luckily, I still have the week off to recover!

How was your Christmas?! Be sure to link up here!

Surprises!

My husband had surprises waiting for me when I got home yesterday!

[Water for Elephants dvd!]

AND...

[dinner reservations at One Eleven Chophouse!]

So sweet!

I sort of missed a week of blogging. I don't know what's happening! But it's November...

Which means!...

Breaking Dawn is that much closer to coming out... we already have our tickets. Do you?? Sean is soooo excited about it. :)

He's not really excited, but he says he's seen the first three so many times that now he has to see the last one. Which is true. I mean Eclipse is in the DVD player a lot. Actually, all the time. 

Our rehearsal dinner and wedding party gifts!

I must preface this post with a side note: Apparently, I've developed an ulcer in my left eye. And so I'm looking at my computer one-eyed. Crazy? I know. Because of this, I had to miss school today... even though I only have 3 days left. It's more of an inconvenience than anything else. I can't drive, be outside, see the sun, wear contacts, etc., etc., etc. But anyways...

Our rehearsal & rehearsal dinner was last Thursday.

Chelsey, Me, Brett

My matron & maid of honor!

Here's the whole wedding party... yah, it's pretty hard to get a shot of 16 people where everyone is looking (at the same camera) & smiling...

Dinner was really fun! It was also the place where we gave everyone their gifts!

For the bridesmaids... I may have gone a little overboard. Some things are just so cute! And I had to get them. Here goes...

These bags were really cute. I think they're from Target? They were purchased months ago and were the perfect size for all the girls to carry around the morning of!

My mom made these gift tags. They were so pretty and embossed with glitter so that instantly makes everything more wedding-ish.

I'm so forgetful and forgot to take pictures of the jewelry before it was wrapped [I'll point it out once pictures are posted]. But each of the girls got the same pearl necklace, and I tried to get all different pearl earrings but Kohls didn't have that many pairs. So, a few girls got the same ones. But let me tell you - jewelry from Kohls is totally the way to go. It's inexpensive to begin with and almost ALWAYS on sale.

I knew I wanted those pictures of the bridesmaid dresses hanging with my dress. So, I bought enough pink hangers to do so! And I thought I'd add it to the gift bag because it was bright pink?

My aunt offered to make these shoe bags for each of the girls. And they were PERFECT. I filled the shoe bags with metallic-sliver flip flips from Old Navy and I think the girls enjoyed changing their shoes after the ceremony. :)

I'm really lucky because another one of my aunts works at a salon and gets samples of so much stuff ALL THE TIME. And I don't know any girl who doesn't enjoy getting all the cute little stocking stuffer/sample things. So...

I found this back massager at Bath & Body Works and it was pink and cute so they all got one. :)

If you live by a Christmas Tree Shoppe... that's where all this stuff is from. I got the foot spa stuff in case their bridesmaid shoes killed their feet. The shoes were pretty high...

Lastly, Sean's band is sponsored by Monogram Apparel and they have cute neon sunglasses that I thought would be perfect to take fun wedding party pictures in. So, everyone got a pair!

I have to admit, the groomsmen didn't really make out as well. But it's because of what they got and boys aren't really easy to shop for?

Of course, they got pink and black gift packaging. Not that they necessarily noticed... :)

And gift tags...

And they each got the shoes Sean wanted them to wear during the wedding and pink socks. Do you remember We love colors?

And they each got sunglasses, too!

:)