30.11.11

Photo of the Day: 11.24.11

11.24.11
I already told you almost everything about Thanksgiving Day. What I didn't tell you was that H is the best husband on earth. He is truly my rock. I had planned to cook "all by my lonesome," not even expecting him to lift a finger. This has everything to do with me and my control freak tendencies, nothing whatsoever to do with him. Still, he bravely sauntered into my OCD-menu-planned kitchen and says, "What can I cut up?"

This man, I love him.

Photo of the Day: 11.23.11

11.23.11

After about six hours of "me" time, I swooped in to pick up Miss Alexa from the babysitter's. She was playing on the floor and saw me through the sliding glass doors. Her face lit up big and bright, a smile stretching ear to ear. As soon as I came inside, she lifted her arms up to me, beckoning me to pick her up.

You know, most days I really get the raw end of the stick -- I'm the one who always drops her off and H always gets the big smile and excitement at the end of the day. It was nice for me to see that smile for once.

I apologize in advance if my updating is sporadic for the next few days. Our Internet at home isn't working, and the cable guy isn't coming till tomorrow. Giveaway winners: Rest assured, I will get in touch with you ASAP.

29.11.11

19. Treat myself to a day of pampering without baby.

Crossing another item off my list ...

Last Wednesday I decided to do the impossible: enjoy alone time. *Happy dance, happy dance*

Opportunities like this are rare. It just so happened that I had the day off work as part of the holiday weekend. It just so happened we had already paid up for the week's worth of childcare. It was as if the stars aligned and the clouds parted and a flying unicorn emerged from the sky, saying, "This is your day. Take it!"

And I did.

First things first, I bought my single(!) ticket to see the 9:15 a.m. (that's not a typo) showing of "Breaking Dawn." This was my first time at the theater alone, unless you count the time I saw "Hot Shots Part Deux" alone while my dad and brother saw "Cliffhanger" in an adjacent theater.

Afterward, I did a little Christmas shopping. Shhhh, don't tell anyone what I got.



I then made my way over to a nail spa for a mani/pedi. It wasn't the best I've ever had -- maybe sparkly gold isn't the route to go for longevity -- but I gotta tell ya, it was nice to sit in a massage chair for a few minutes.



Next stop: frozen yogurt. I sat outside and eavesdropped on the high school kids who were gossiping and, well, being kids. Kids! If my 16-year-old self could see my 32-year-old self eating chocolate hazelnut yogurt alone, she would've been thinking, "Why is this old woman laughing at us?" Because I used to think adults in their 30s were beyond old. Like decrepit, one-foot-in-the-grave old. Remember that?

And, just to revel in my old woman status, I went to the market and did my Thanksgiving shopping alone. Really, you ask, you spent your "me" time going grocery shopping and picking out turkey breasts? Yes, yes I did. And it was glorious. No screaming infant, no indecisiveness with H. Just me!

I need to do this more than once a year.

Announcing ... Blog Birthday Giveaway Winners!

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I plugged the numbers into Random.org and scrolled through the myriad comments to find the lucky ones. Forty minutes later, and we have winners for the blog birthday giveaways.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and extra thanks to the handmade businesses that offered up their goods and services to help celebrate LGP's third year. I couldn't do this without all of your support, and I'm truly grateful for all the friends I've made doing this blogging thing. If the giveaways brought you here this month, I hope you're intrigued enough to stick around. And hi!

Did you win something? Cross your fingers and toes and here goes ...

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$50 shop credit to Little Gray Pixel photo shop
Comment No. 3: Chelsea Thom

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Yellow papercut stationery set from Ashley Pahl
Comment No. 6: Sabrina

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Horse necklace and art from Minzer
Comment No. 25: EMC436

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Sweet pea bracelet from Junghwa
Comment No. 68: Laura

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$15 shop credit to Mama Mandolin
Comment No. 179: Maša

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Custom blog or shop banner from IROCKSOWHAT
Comment No. 51: Josephine King

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Coral beaded necklace from EO Jewelry
Comment No. 6: Birgit Lehner

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Fiona doll from Warm Sugar
Comment No. 33: Paula

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Six map bookmarks from the Ravenna Girls
Comment No. 22: Szabina Luzics

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Lariat layering bracelet from Son of a Sailor
Comment No. 37: Calliemahaffey

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Necklace from Delirious Rhapsody
Comment No. 51: Dee Hausker

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Holiday goodies from Stacey Winters
Comment No. 50: Jasmine1485

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Winners, you'll be receiving an email from me later today, and I'll get you in touch with your shops.

28.11.11

Photo of the Day: 11.22.11

11.22.11

Crawling is happening over here. It's still slow-going, but she's no longer stuck in reverse. She's moving forward!

This and that:

> Did you know that I'm blog-sitting over at Growing Up Geeky? I decipher all of Alexa's crazy cries. And I do mean crazy. Come check it out.

> Also, you can enter to win an 8x10 or 8x8 print from my store over at (Indie) Pretty Projects.

Last Call!

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Friends! Today's your last chance to enter the blog birthday giveaways! I'll close the comments at midnight PST and announce the winners tomorrow morning. Good luck.

Up for grabs (click on link to go to individual giveaway page): 

Photoshoot: Thanksgiving 2011

The night before Thanksgiving, I decided to give "Weeds" a second chance. I had thrown in the towel last year mid-season, declaring that the wayward series had jumped the shark. In fact, I was worried that it had taken a turn for the worse after Agrestic burned down however many seasons ago.

It might seem weird to compare Thanksgiving with "Weeds," but I totally can. We used to spend the holiday surrounded by tons of family when we lived in the Midwest. Hours of talking and catching up and eating too much food. How could it get any better than that? After we moved to the East Coast I spent every Thanksgiving working. It was such a letdown.

But just when I thought the holiday had jumped the shark, we moved to California and started celebrating with a core group of friends. Suddenly, the holiday had meaning again. It was cozy, intimate and fun. But our friends were gone this year. Wah-wah.

I was feeling a little down about making my first holiday feast, one that only H and I would eat. But then I looked at Alexa. And I decided to make this holiday special for my baby. Create new family traditions. Make a comeback.






H and I toiled in the kitchen to prepare our side dishes from scratch while the turkey breast roasted. I made a chocolate pie that unfortunately would fall to the floor before much of it made it to our tummies. Alexa played with boxes and practiced her crawling to the sounds of our cooking and laughter, with the parade on in the background.

When it was time to eat, I stepped back and looked at our table. There were only three of us, but I was overcome with joy. We made this together! This was Alexa's first Thanksgiving, and her parents provided!

We toasted to the past year while Alexa played with her food. H devoured three servings of turkey. We polished off a bottle of wine. Our dinner soundtrack was hits from the 1980s. Then we lounged on the couch and watched movies.








Thanksgiving hadn't jumped the shark. Not at all. Everyone always says, "Things are different with a baby." They are. They're better. Everything suddenly seems shiny and new. The gleam in a baby's eyes can repolish holidays that have lost their luster.

It's like skipping ahead three years and moving the action to New York. "Weeds" is good again this season. I'm glad I didn't give up on it just like I'm glad I didn't give up on Thanksgiving. It's never too late for a comeback.

27.11.11

True Colors

Ten more things you may not (want to) know about me ...


(51) I hate my flabby upper arms. They only see the light of day when I'm at the beach or the pool, and that's only because my love for swimming trumps my hatred for my arms.

(52) One of my biggest pet peeves is improper signage. I hate seeing mispellings in billboards, and worst yet, I hate when businesses replace "C" with "K." Examples: Kountry Kuts, Kum & Go. I'm cringing (or should I say "kringing") inside.

(53) Jordan Knight's face used to grace all the walls in my pre-teen bedroom.

(54) I have named all of my cars.

(55) Scoobie, 1995-1996: cherry red Geo Metro. My 16th birthday present. Met an untimely demise in a fender bender with a rather large truck. Yes, fender bender. It was a small car, y'know.

(56) Old Blue: 1996-1997: baby blue 1980 Ford F-150. This was my reaction to being in scary car wrecks. A big truck with an 8-track player. The fuel gage didn't work well. I once had to hoof it to the gas station and carry back a bucket of gas.

(57) John: 1997-2000: silver Buick Century named after my favorite Beatle. Lots of good memories of John. He carried us to L.A. on our honeymoon.

(58) Stallion: 2000-2007: black 1996 Pontiac Sunfire. Wow, H and I shared Stallion for a long time, and he took us a lot of places. We towed him behind our moving van to Myrtle Beach AND to Los Angeles several years later. He was a good car.

(59) John Jr.: 2006-2011: lime green 2003 VW New Beetle again named after my favorite Beatle. This was my dream car. We had a lot of fun together. Several trips to Vegas, a drive up to Big Sur. Lots of tight U-turns. We had to part ways when it became too difficult to get Alexa into the two-door hatchback.

(60) Neo: 2011-??: gold 2003 Toyota Highlander. We named him Neo aka "The One" this weekend. Because he's a Highlander. Get it? Hahahahaha. Our first family car ... with room to grow.

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This is the sixth in a series of confessionals. Mad props to Deanna for the inspiration.

Photo of the Day: 11.21.11

11.21.11
Let's talk about "The Hunger Games." Is anyone else pumped for the movie? I forced H to watch the trailer the other day and it struck me that the Capitol fashion seemed very familiar. Wizard of Oz familiar. Amirite or amirite? Think about how Dorothy and the gang get gussied up after their arrival? Just like Katniss and the tributes being made "pretty" at the Capitol. Mmmhmm.

26.11.11

Steppin' Out






What I'm wearing:
Dress: Old Navy
Cami: Old Navy
Vest: Deletta via Anthropologie
Leggings: Old Navy
Sandals: Payless
Necklace: I have no clue

What Alexa's wearing:
Hooded dress: Hanna Andersson
Leggings: Baby Legs

This is what we wore today for a day of beach and park hopping, with some errands mixed in for good measure -- including catsitting for our friends and picking up a few things from Target. Not sure what Alexa's favorite part of the day was; it's a toss-up between playing on the grassy knoll overlooking the ocean and petting our friends' kitties.

I know exactly where I got everything I'm wearing ... except for my necklace. For some reason I can't place it. I'm not sure whether it was a gift. Whether I bought it. Where it came from.  It's a mystery. Anyone have any ideas?

The miracle of Alexa's outfit is that her pigtails stayed in her hair all day! From the car seat to the ocean.  It was amazing.

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Vote For Us @ topbabyblogs.com!

Photo of the Day: 11.20.11

11.20.11
It never ceases to amaze me how far behind I get with these daily photos. I mean, I take them every day, I just don't upload them. And before I know it, it's been another week. Then I get them ready to post but do not have a clue what to write about. For instance, I don't even remember what happened the day I took this photo -- last Sunday. It was a workday. I think the only thing worth mentioning was that I made three meals when I got home, to last us for lunches throughout the week. I made flatbread pizza, tuna casserole and chili. So it's officially comfort food season, y'all.

25.11.11

Photo of the Day: 11.19.11

11.19.11
French toast for the family.
Left to right: Baby Bear, Mama Bear and Papa Bear.
Which one is just right for you, Goldilocks?

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10 Dollar Bill

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You have a $10 bill in your pocket to spend on a holiday gift for the baby in your life. Why don't you ...

Take a look at this gift guide, part of a series of treasuries I'm curating that feature cool stuff costing $10 or less.

Last week: women
Next week: men

24.11.11

Meet and Greet: Run With Scissors

Today I'm giving thanks to my November sponsors. Please take a few minutes to check 'em out, and to get a little glimpse into their holiday traditions with a little Q&A.
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Hello Everyone! My name is Janel, and you can find me daily over at Run With Scissors. Run With Scissors is my little corner of the web where I blog about life, adoption, crafty things, vintage, decor, and DIY projects. Come by and say hello!

Stuffing or pie?
PUMPKIN pie.

Black Friday or Cyber Monday?
Black Friday, it's a sister tradition.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles or A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

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Interested in sponsoring LGP in December? Ten bucks goes a long way. Details here.

Meet and Greet: Sweets and Shutterclicks

Today I'm giving thanks to my November sponsors. Please take a few minutes to check 'em out, and to get a little glimpse into their holiday traditions with a little Q&A.
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Hello out there!! My name is Jodi and I run Sweets and Shutterclicks. I am married to my soul mate. I have been married for 10 years. We don't have kids yet but we have a furbaby cat. :) I'm a work-at-home housewife for right now. I sell handicrafts through Etsy and have aspirations of growing my business into a website/craft fairs. :)

My blog is about ... well, it's about me. I share about pictures I take as I learn photography, my addiction to Starbucks. I share music I love every Saturday in a post called Song Saturday, I share things from my shop and things I craft, and I just really share me! I do product reviews and giveaways as well. :) Its just a simple chick blogging about her simple life and I love it!

With my shop right now im focusing on hats and scarfs because its that time of year, but really I craft so much more. I just got back into quilting and on my sewing machine. But my addiction right now is crocheting. :)

I hope you'll stop by my slice of the Internet soon!


Stuffing or pie?
Can I say both? I love stuffing, but I think I'm gonna have to choose pie. My dad is in charge of Thanksgiving this year and I can't wait. My dad is the best cook and he makes the best pies ever. He will go beyond the same ol pumpkin or pecan. He goes like for the fruit pies. I'm going to make pumpkin pies in jars this year. I got the idea from Pinterest. Isn't Pinterest the best?? 

Black Friday or Cyber Monday?
Black Friday. I haven't been able to go out shopping the past few years, but I'm doing it this year!! I cant wait. Again I say both, though, because I do take advantage of the Cyber Monday stuff, too.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles or A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?
Oh, a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for sure. I am a Charlie Brown fan! (It's why my cat's name is Marcy. :D)

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Interested in sponsoring LGP in December? Ten bucks goes a long way. Details here.
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