Our weekend.. and an Alzheimer's PSA

Hope you all had a good Monday and great weekend!
 
Our weekend was pretty laid back. We had the Alzheimer's Memory walk and that was about it. Brent's 10 year high school reunion was Saturday night, but we decided not to go. We are great friends with a large amount of people he went to high school with, but considering there were over like 800 in his graduating class, we thought it would be best if we avoiding the chance of the inevitable question..for now. A reply such as "yes, one son in Heaven" isn't usually the hard part, it's the look of wanting an explanation following. I got asked four times last week "oh, you had that baby, how is it?" and "how is that baby of yours?" One time on the phone and three times in person. Like I said, I know it's inevitable, and I really do pretty good answering, but it still makes the following moments tough. Then, the people who ask feel AWFUL for asking, but it's like how were they supposed to know? I end up having to tell them it is fine that they asked, and I really don't mind. I just try to have a calm reply and hope for a calm response.

We heard not many people actually attended the reunion and that we didn't miss too much.

I work for a company that specializes in care for senior citizens. This weekend we participated in the Memory Walk with the Alzheimer's Association. Over the past three and a half years, I've worked first hand with many seniors who have dementia and Alzheimer's. I will tell you, it really is some of the saddest situations I've ever been in. The person won't remember their spouse, family, home, etc. It is by far one of the most terrible diseases out there. It makes me so sad for the person with the disease as well as the ones around them. There is no cure at this point, but there are medicines that are helping some.

Early on-set Alzheimer's is awful because it can occur in someone under age 65. At the walk on Saturday, we had a gentleman speak with us about his wife who had early on-set Alzheimer's. She was 57 and developed it about 3 years ago. Can you imagine at 54? She was physically healthy but she could barely remember anything and could not be left alone.

For more Alzheimer's facts you can visit the Alzheimer's Association at www.alz.org. If you don't already have any foundations close to your heart, I would highly recommend considering this one.

A few bullet point facts from the website

• Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906. Scientists have learned a great deal about Alzheimer’s disease in the century since Dr. Alzheimer first drew attention to it. 

• Today we know that Alzheimer’s is a progressive and fatal brain disease. As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's destroys brain cells, causing memory loss and problems with thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer’s gets worse over time, and it is fatal. Today it is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States.

• Is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 50 to 80 percent of dementia cases. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia, mixed dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia.

• Has no current cure. But treatments for symptoms, combined with the right services and support, can make life better for the millions of Americans living with Alzheimer’s. There is an accelerating worldwide effort under way to find better ways to treat the disease, delay its onset, or prevent it from developing. Learn more about recent progress in Alzheimer research funded by the Alzheimer’s Association in the Research section. .

Thanks for listening.


Over the weekend, we did spend a little time with some fun people. For example, the best nieces and nephew ever...

Sorry again for my post stationery drama. I'm sure many of you cringed if you read before I made the corrections! Please feel FREE to email me next time! haha

Stationery vs Stationary

I've learned a few lessons today.

Don't write your blog post at 7am when you wake up.

When you get ready to post it at 10am, PROOF read it now that you are a little bit more awake.

I'm speaking to myself here.

I DO know the difference between stationery and stationary. Not only did I mis-use it, I think I left an 'n' out of it at one point. So, of course that post was up for about six hours until I actually read it again. So, to the few of you that read it the first time, sorry :) I promise I will try to wake up before creating a blog post and then proof read, haha.

{Credit to Erin & Nina :) }

See cute stationEry in the previous post :)

Stationery Love

I hope you all had a good weekend :)

So I'm trying to tackle my thank you notes. It has been QUITE a slow process. I tried to get a handful sent out before I delivered. Of course, now, I have a large amount to go. I LOVE stationery and I LOVE sending thank you notes. However, my situation now tends to make me very sad when I write them. Every time I start to write about them, I just think about Cohen and how wonderful he was and how blessed we were to have him. I think about all the lives he has touched. My tears literally fall on the stationary. The ink smears and then I stop and give up for the day. So, therefore I've averaged like one thank you note every other week since we got home from Dallas. That is what has gotten mailed and not ruined.

Anyways, I've decided I really need to try to pull it together and get a few more done at a time. I've gotten such sweet stationery from family and friends. I wanted to share some of the personalized.

Most of these I have already used. My mother-in-law made these before my little brunch. I think they are precious and I love all the little sonogram pictures I have...

Inside of card...


One of my besties, Allison, made these for me. I love them.


I ordered these not long after we found about Cohen's little heart. We had some friends and family make many nice gestures and I thought these would be so simple and sweet. I'll still be sending them out :)

These I've had forever. Traditional monogram that I love.


For a while, my table will look like this.....


Thanks for being patient with me. And please know I am SO thankful to everyone for everything, even if you haven't or don't get a thank you note! I am also SUPER paranoid I'll forget to send someone's out. We've had FIVE addresses that have been given out in the past 3 months. I try to jot things done and hopefully I've complied it all correctly onto one list!

I just posted a yummy tea recipe here :)
We had a nice weekend and I'll be back soon to do a little re-cap!

Friday Favorites

Some things I'm crushing on this week.

I knew I couldn't tweet my new cell phone cover without the details. Believe me, if someone tweeted this beauty, I would want details too!

I'm sure many of you share my love for Jonathan Adler items. I got the cover at a local stationary shop. I saw it and thought to myself...do I really need that? Sure enough, I whipped my phone out of my purse only to be reminded of the dents and scratches all over my current cover. I looked online and found the cover for purchase on Paper Source here.

I also tweeted a week or two ago about many of our items getting broken in our move. As I unpacked, I found crushed wedding gifts, vases, glasses, etc. :( I know it's only stuff but it was still pretty upsetting. My sweet friends over at The Naturally Caffeinated Family sent a package this week with these beauties in them....

Almost the entire set of my favorite Pottery Barn stemless wine glasses were shattered. NCF was SO thoughtful to brighten my week by sending me a new set! THANK YOU, sweet lady!!

I've had this frame for a while now. One of my besties, Kristen, got it for me from Mexico I believe. I love it. I've not had any pictures printed lately, but when I do, I'll find the perfect one to go in it. I LOVE the shells! Every time I walk by it, I think of how pretty and ornate it is.

This little guy is my shadow. I honestly don't know what I would do if he weren't by my side non-stop. I talk to him, I cuddle with him. He is super human-like..

These two are also my favorite. BT & Glen. Many of you may already know them. Brent bought them for Cohen. BT is named after the first heart surgery, the BT shunt. Brent got it the morning of Cohen's heart surgery. A few days later he spotted the cute gorilla. He wanted to name him Glen for the second surgery. We were worried he would sell before it was time for the second surgery, so we bought him. They are now also part of our home decor. I get worried if I cuddle them too much, I will wear and tear them. I want them to last forever.

And of course these two are my favorite...

Happy weekend :)

How did I forget about photobooth?

* I announced the giveaway winner in the previous post!

Thanks for the comments on my sweet baby's precious feet and hair. I treasure them.

Over the weekend I was playing on my computer and thought, "oh yeah, I have photobooth!"...don't I? Well since it's not on my application bar, I had not even thought about it. I went looking for it. I've had a Mac for a long time but my last one didn't have a camera.

I found it and started playing...

I sent the above picture to Brent and he responded....

I even did a small video clip....

I have no idea why I raise my eyebrow. It's not intentional. It happens in pictures as well. It's been an on-going joke forever. My eye makeup looks super dark...it wasn't. May have to work on the surrounding light when taking video. Though I can't promise I'll be doing many videos! I think I sound funny. I lived in Texas for 18 years, Arkansas 5 years and Oklahoma 3 years. There is your explanation, haha.

We snapped a few others over the weekend. We couldn't get Elton to participate.

I have more where these came from...and let's just say, you may not recognize me. haha

winner & shopping details

Hi everyone ~

I did the random.org and picked a winner for this giveaway....

This winner is Katie from the Thomson Family. Congrats, Katie! Email me and I will hook you up with Hailey Bug Creations.

Look how sweet Katie's little one is....

As for shopping with Hailey Bug Creations...
Robin wanted me to remind you all that if you make a purchase and let her know that you are a reader of In this wonderful life blog, you will get a FREE korker bow! Also, she is offering FREE shipping! The way it works, is you must first pay shipping and then it is refunded.

Thanks for entering and shopping in support of Hailey!

Cohen's prints & locks

When we found out that Cohen would be going to heaven soon, we decided we wanted his little prints made. The hospital had staff to do this, which was nice. I also requested locks of his hair.

I posted about a necklace here that I had the exact print below put on. I love it. I plan to frame the prints, I think. I kind of have an irrational phobia of the house burning down and losing Cohen's prints and locks. Silly? Maybe. I am planning to get a fireproof lock box. So perhaps I'll frame some of the prints and put the others in a lock box, along with his hair and a few other things. Honestly, a lock box couldn't even hold all the physical memories I want to hold on to. I haven't even washed the clothes I wearing when he went to heaven. They are sitting with many of his things.

I just thought I would share these pics.....

Cohen had lots of hair, like his mommy and daddy :) The first time I held him......

Our weekend

Hi everyone ~ Hope you all had a good weekend!

****Please pray for this sweet heart baby, Ella. She is in Dallas and has just had her second heart surgery. She is two weeks old.

A few things first....
*Thanks so much for all the comments on the PCOS post. I greatly appreciate all the encouraging words. I also love to everyone's stories.
*The falsies mascara comes off easy for me. I use baby oil to take my eye makeup off.
*I think I forgot to mention, I LOVE the idea of using the chalkboard paint on mr.piggie. Well, I hadn't named him, but since I just called him mr.piggie, maybe that will be his name.
*Don't forget to enter the giveaway in support of little Hailey!

If you leave a comment asking me a question, in order for me to respond directly back to you, your email must be set up to get replies. So, when I get an email telling me you have left a comment, I can't just hit reply and answer unless you have it set up that way. For more directions go here. :)

With that being said, if you have asked me something and I haven't applied or mentioned it in another post, just email me. My address is to the right.

We had a nice weekend. It is STILL so hot here. We didn't really feel much like getting out and about. Friday night we stayed in. I enjoyed my shrimp and celery, haha. Brent and I watched Dateline, Primetime, 20/20, etc. We love those shows. I feel like we may have watched a movie, but I can't remember which one. We've been wanting to go to the movie, but I need to wait until I've gained a little more willpower to avoid the popcorn! ha.

Saturday, most of the day, we were pretty lazy! We have a ton to do but we just didn't feel up to doing it. We did a few things around the house. Brent watered the yard. This heat is doing a number on it. For dinner, we went to dinner with two other couples, one in which we had not seen in a while. The other, being Jess & Kyle. You should have heard how confused our waiter seemed when I asked for a handful of romaine and a few shrimp : / Jess snapped two pictures with her iphone. I wish my iphone had the flash! Although, it does kind of make my face look bright and white!



Yesterday, I spent some time with these cuties. I will tell you, the love them some shells & cheese! The eat lots of other things, but if they could pick just one...."shells" would be it. Oh, they are our nieces :)




This is back-tracking a bit, but Friday Jess did a "What's in your fridge post?" and I thought it was too funny. I didn't have time to blog mine but I snapped a few pics and tweeted them to her, haha. Here is our fridge. Quite bare as we are only cooking fresh and my diet is so limited right now.


Sunday was filled with more laziness! I don't know what our deal was. We watched some interesting show, well many episodes of it, on the IFC channel. We did do some grocery shopping at Target.

That about sums the weekend up!

Monday went pretty good. I did start out the day by getting the "how's that baby of yours?" question. Luckily, it was from someone who did know I was going to Dallas and that Cohen had some heart conditions. She just did not know the outcome. I handled it pretty well.

I do marketing. I probably have 500 people that I "market" to in town. Some, the ones I was closer to, knew about Cohen's diagnoses before I left for Dallas. Some did not. With that being said, my boss and I are changing up my position for now, in several ways, which will all be for the best!

I'm ready for fall. Anyone else?

giveaway :)

Hi everyone :)

Robin from the Visbal Famil blog recently contacted me about doing a giveaway! Along with the giveaway, she is giving a free korker bow with any purchase for my readers.

Robin has an Etsy store when can be found here.

Not only is she giving away, she is giving FIVE items of your choice if you win!!! :)

Here are some of her designs.....

Robin has two sweet kiddos, one with many medical conditions. Hailey, who is 41/2, has Epilepsy, Episodic Encephalopathy (this is the major one, and what she's recurrently in ICU for.), Celiac Disease, she has a g-tube, asthma and Alopecia (causes her to be bald.) She also has recurring vomiting, which they haven't figured out yet.

Profits from Hailey Bug Creations go to help with Hailey's medical bills.

To enter the giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment telling that you would love to win! The goodies found in Robin's Etsy store would look so cute on any little girl as well as make great gifts. Don't forget that if you make a purchase at the store, you will receive a free korker bow. Just indicate you are one of my readers!

I will announce the winner in my post on Wednesday morning. Once I let you know you've won, I will get your email to Robin and you can let her which FIVE items you would like! If you don't have a blog, make sure you leave me your email in your comment.

Good luck & happy shopping. Thanks for helping Hailey :)

My PCOS right now

{note, if you are a male, this post talks about lady things and you may not want to read!}

In the past few weeks, I've mentioned having PCOS a few times in my posts and on Twitter. I have also had a lot of people who have mentioned being new blog readers. I thought I would catch everyone up, in case you are interested and/or have emailed me. I've gotten lots of emails lately asking me about my PCOS. I know everyone's situations and opinions are different. For that matter, some facts even vary. I thought this could answer some questions (you have asked me) though I'll still try to reply to emails as well.

So, I do have PCOS. I don't mind people asking me about it. I, too, found out so many answers to my questions and concerns by reading about other people's situations and stories regarding their PCOS.

PCOS is polycystic ovarian syndrome. It's the most common hormonal disorder among women of the reproduction age. (Mayo Clinic) With PCOS, your body doesn't process carbs and sugar properly. It will take them and create cysts. Therefore, a form of insulin resistance. There are many side effects. Some of them are body hair growth, irregular menstrual cycles, acne, diabetes, infertility, etc.

I'll get to where I am now, but first, here is a bit from my past....

-In Feb 08 I got off of birth control. It was just not agreeing with my body and I was forgetting to take it.
-From Feb 08 to July 08 I would have irregular and very light periods. I would maybe spot a day and bleed a day at different times of the month.
-Finally, after 60 days I had nothing so I went to my normal OB (Sept 08). She did lab work and said the results showed signs of PCOS.
-In Oct 08 I went to a new doctor that specialized in fertility who did indeed diagnosed me with PCOS. While I was having an ultrasound, he found the septum in my uterus and scheduled my operation to repair it.
-End of Nov 08 I had surgery on the septum and it was repaired. While in surgery, my doctor found endo. I believe he said it was at a 2 out of 4. He lasered as best he could.
- After surgery, I took a round of birth control Dec 08. Birth Control is good for the uterus and doctor wanted it to help with the healing after my surgery.
-In Jan 09 I started the Lupron Depot shots. I had a shot once a month Jan 09-June 09 Lupron Depot shots helped heal and repair endometriosis. It put me into a menopausal state so that everything could heal and rest.
-Starting in May 09, I began taking Metformin. It is a drug that also treats diabetes. It also helps with PCOS as it helps the body to process carbs and sugar.
-In February 09- until pregnancy, I really started cutting all the bad carbs an sugar from my diet. I lost about 5 or 6 pounds.
-After my last shot I began taking birth control to get my uterus up and going. I took three rounds of birth control. June, July & Aug (09).
-Each month when I went into the doctor, the checked my labs and all the levels they needed to keep an eye on.
-Once I started birth control, I did begin to cycle.
-I took FertilAid as my prental and when I got pregnant I switched. Also used pre-seed.
-I had an HSG just check for scar tissue from the surgery and the blockage of any tubes at the end of Aug 09.
-The first day of my last cycle was on Sept 4 2009,
- I took a positive pregnancy test on Oct 3 2009 .
- I stayed on the Metformin through the 12th week of pregnancy.
- I had a wonderful and pain free pregnancy with Cohen, who was born on June 7, 2010.

I blogged throughout everything listed above. Here is a post that talks a little more about it as well.

Though we had quite an eventful and emotional past before preparing to try and conceive, we feel very fortunate that we did get pregnant so quickly once we started actually trying. Cohen will always be our first pregnancy and first baby. We miss him so terribly bad, but we thank God for him every day.

Four weeks after delivery, I went to the doctor. He was going to put me back on Metformin (which is the glucophage that helps with insulin resistance). It seemed to be helpful with the first pregnancy. Instead of waiting to see what my PCOS was going to do, we were going to be proactive. Well, my liver enzymes were elevated so Metformin was put on hold. Flash forward a month (last Monday). I go to the doctor to find my PCOS has returned and I have lots of cysts. My liver enzymes are almost back to normal but not quite (one was and one wasn't). Note: My doctor said more than likely my liver enzymes became elevated from the c-section surgery and pain.

I will also say, I know that hormones do take time to regulate after a pregnancy. That's just part of the deal.

Since PCOS deals with insulin resistance, it makes weight very EASY to gain and very HARD to lose. If you have PCOS, I can bet you probably know that and agree with that. Oh, and you probably HATE that, too! It's the pits.

With my previous PCOS, I never felt as though I had any pain with it. Birth control probably kept it dormant for many years. I'm not sure if I'm having pain with it now as I am still healing from my c-section. My doctor told me I shouldn't be having any pain with it. I've also not had a cycle yet. I pumped until my 4 week appointment (which was about 5 weeks ago) so that my hormones would not change drastically until we knew what my PCOS was doing.

I'm not sure if I have endometriosis again or not. Not exactly sure how that works at this point. That will be a question for my next appointment.

So. last Monday 2 months post delivery, I had not lost one pound since delivery. Why? PCOS. Most days (after Cohen passed), I was only probably eating only 1000 calories. I hadn't been counting them, but I had NOT been eating awful. I just really wasn't hungry. I would order food (thinking I was really hungry), in abundance and variety, and never get much down.

Since my ovaries do have cysts, it will more than likely prevent ovulation and have several other side effects, as PCOS can. The cysts will not go away until weight is lost. The cysts will not stop forming until carbs and sugars are no longer part of my diet.  Is that what I want? NO. It basically means, as of last Monday we were looking at a multiple year road ahead... before our next pregnancy. While we don't have timeline, we know we want more children...sooner than later.

My doctor has me doing 30 days of HCG right now. I'm doing drops. In case there is anyone reading that doesn't know, this is the hormone produced with pregnancy. Hcg is also often given in larger quantities shots when people are undergoing fertility treatments. When pregnant, a woman makes a LARGE amount of the hormone. No, not enough for a positive pregnancy test. I think this is a good site to read more about hcg.

My doctor believes this is my best option for where we are and what I'm going through.  He would like to see my c-sections a year apart. The main goal is for it to help my PCOS, which does consist of a weight issue, and get my body back on the road to conceiving. When I say weight issues, that implies the weight that hasn't come off since delivery because of the PCOS. Studies show by losing 5-10% of your body weight, your PCOS will improve significantly. Well, post baby weight is much more weight on me than my PCOS is use to.

Even if I wanted to exercise, I can't exactly do a boot camp 2 months post c-section. Plus, I know it's frustrating exercising with PCOS and not losing weight. Metformin can't help because I can't take it yet with my liver enzymes elevated. I can stop bad carbs and sugar, but there is no way of knowing how much it will help and how quickly it will help. Though, I have cut the bad ones now.

A lot of people have asked me if this can be a diet that anyone can do. I know there are all different types of hcg treatments. You can maybe do some reasearch and your down and speak with your doctor. I'm not considering this to be strictly a weight loss diet for me, although I have heard people getting great results with it for specifically dieting. I have someone I'm very close to doing it and they taking pills and getting a shot once per week (with a set amount of calories but no specific foods) and it is working great. These 30 days on HCG I'm doing because of my fertility issues. As I've previously mentioned, I really don't care about having my pre-baby body right now as I just had a baby. My nervousness was about looking pregnant still. Yeah, that happened...this week.

I am having to eat a VERY specific diet with the hcg. I got two packets at the doctor, one of which included the food instructions and list and one that was a book that talked about hcg treating medical issues.

I don't really think this is the "easy way out" either. I know this route is right for me, right now. I've prayed about it. I think my fast few years have been anything but easy and I can only hope this is an easy way to quickly manage my PCOS, for now. Believe me, diet that goes along with the hcg, will be much harder for me than exercising. I have 3 1/2 ounces of proteins, 3 1/2 ounces of veggies and 3 1/2 ounces of fruits twice a day. These are all specific ones too, not just any veggie, protein or fruit. You can have water, tea and coffee in any amount, at any time. You can also take vitamins, which I am. No, your body does not go into survival mode. It's a normal mode because of the hcg. I will go have checks weekly with my nurse at my doctor's office.

I think it may seem like I'm trying to defend my reasoning for using the hcg, but I'm not. I guess I just honestly wish I wasn't having to take any extra measures. I wish things would happen on their own. However, people take actions on their fertility all the time, and though God is in control, he certainly works through doctors!

As I started this process, I also had another positive sign about it. TWO months after delivery and someone finally asked me when I'm due :*( This was Monday. I had been scared of the question and I kind of thought I was past the point. I don't feel as though I really look pregnant, but I am carrying most of my post baby weight in my stomach. It was an older gentleman who asked me. I met him 10 minutes prior and he asked me at the end of our conversation, "when you are due?" I replied, "oh, I just had him." I then bolted for the door so I wouldn't cry. I immediately texted Brent.

I am praying for a light at the end of this tunnel. I'm just trying to keep trucking.

PCOS won't go away. It will be around forever, well until menopause. I will have to keep it in check when it is around. However, it's quite important to take complete control right now as we are still wanting to have more children. As I get older, I will have to keep it in control because it can cause other issues such as heart disease, blood pressure issues, etc. I will regulate it with my diet. My diet in being the things I eat. I refuse to be "on" a diet. It will simply be my lifestyle. I will eat few bad carbs and sugar. We probably all have battles and that one will be mine. I will win.

My best advice to those of you with PCOS, who have asked, would be to cut most your bad carbs and sugar. I think any doctor will tell you that. With PCOS, you are more likely to lose weight by doing that than by working out.

Brent and I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful pregnancy that resulted with an amazing little boy. Cohen isn't with us here,  but he is still our child. No child will ever replace him. They will just be blessed to have him as a big brother :) We know that God will bless us with more children when the time is right. When I get scared and wonder about the future, I just tell myself, we have come this far and we aren't in control of this. No matter how bad we want to be sometimes.

No, PCOS has nothing to do with congenital heart defects.

I'll pray for you all that may be trying to conceive. Just know, that beautiful babies can come with PCOS....

{a few hours after birth 6.7.10}

Just don't give up.

I also like to remind people, I was a 10 year wait. My parents actually tried for over 10 years. My mom had a lazy ovary and my dad had some health issues from Vietnam. After about 11 years of trying, they decided to adopt a baby. They brought my brother home on January 4th, 1983. I was born on January 4th, 1984. Miracles do happen, and sometimes I have to remind myself that I am one. God decides when, and how.

I like...

Thank you all for the sweet comments on my post yesterday. My day started off a bit unpleasant, but by noon I was actually happy and in a good mood. The sun was shinning and it was actually, sightly cool outside. Ya know, cool being 90 instead 109. I tried not to dwell on the things person I don't have, but the things people I do. I tried not to dwell on the fact that two months ago was the last time I held my baby. I so look forward to holding him again someday.

For those of you that asked, the "name frame" that I posted with Cohen's name in it in this post, can be found here. Emily over at Chocolate Blue makes great name frames :)

I was thinking about some things I like right now. I just thought I would share. 


For a few weeks I was addicted to these things....

I like them...LOTS. If you haven't had them, run. They are amazing. I can't eat them right now, but I do dream about them. I'm currently trying to get Brent to take the rest of the container to his office so I'm not tempted. {Don't worry, this picture was taken only after a few handfuls were missing. It's halfway gone now.}

The food issues you might have seen me tweet about is related to the PCOS and I will do a blog post on that soon. This is not a likable issue.

A few weeks ago, I saw girls tweeting about the Falsies mascara. So I purchased it. Maybelline, you did good! I like it and highly recommend it.




Lately, I like playing with picture editors. My photography skills, or lack there of, aren't much to write home about. I've been playing, making collages and changing up picture colors. This picture was done on Picnik.com. I have Lightroom too, but I really need a tutorial on it.{this picture was taken on Brent's birthday 7.12.10}




I've not thought of a good name for this guy yet, but I like him....

I've not unpacked my picture frames for the kitchen sink window just yet, so he keeps me company when I do dishes. For those of you who don't know, Brent and I went to Arkansas. We love the hogs. I picked up this little piggie on clearance for a few dollars at Target. I think my handwriting is usually grotesque, but I was thinking of writing "woo pig sooie" or our last name on it in red. Actually, I guess I could do both...one on each side. I don't even know what paint or brush to get. Will the red paint stand out and be bright on the dark color? Clearly I lack creativity in design.


I've not read a magazine in over a year. I've not like really read one. I've looked at a few, but that's it. I bought these a week or two ago and I just know I'm going to find time to read them. I like People Style Watch and Vogue lots. I guess there probably isn't much reading in the Style Watch but you have to pay lots of attention.


Speaking of reading, I've been reading some. However, I often feel guilty when I do. When I'm reading, I need to be writing thank you notes. When I'm reading, I need to be unpacking. When I'm reading I need to be sleeping (or trying). I also wanted to read along with this book club. I might still.

These are some yummy summer recipes I'm going to be sharing on my food blog soon. My mom made them all and I liked them all SO much!


I will be doing a monthly post for my sponsors starting in September. For now I wanted to mention two things....

My friend, Tahnie, who is a Stella & Dot Jewelry Stylist, is having a special until the end of August. From now through August 31st, if you hold a trunk show with her you will receive an additional $50 in free jewelry! Even if you don't live near her, she has had many successful online trunk shows and you can do one of those!

Also, my friend Amanada, who is a Thirty-One Gifts consultant is having an August special. ALL embroidery is only $1 for the month of August! (Normally $6.) If you have any questions, contact her at sunangelac@aol.com.

Both Amanda and Tahnie's sites can be found on my sidebar.

Have a good Thursday!