Lovely, lovely SanFran goodies

There are SO many reasons I wish I lived in the San Francisco area: its closer to family, a beautiful city, tasty ethnic foods, & lovely museums.

But right now it's because I love this girls style & since she's moving to France she's selling some of her lovely furniture. If I were there (& could afford it) I'd buy up everything she's selling:

JEDI Quiet Book

This is just about the darnedest thing I've ever seen...

A StarWars Quiet Book?!? I swear this girl is a genius. I wish I could tap into the cosmos of creativity the way these people do.

There weren't any up but I messaged her & now the PDF pattern is there for you to make your own.

She also mentioned tomorrow there will be a package with the pattern & all the materials needed for $28! Just in time for Christmas peoples!

Late, but nevertheless CLEVER Halloween kid costumes

So, this is just ridiculously late, but I am IN LOVE with these cute kids costume ideas & HAD to share:

1. A one man band 2. Alice & the Hatter 3.Lumber Jack 4. Olivia the pig 5. Skeleton

6. Sushi 7. Flamingo 8. Aerobics Instructor 9. Nacho Libre 10. Elvis

A couple lovely links...

Through my belly disease I spent a lot of time sleeping, staying close to the bathroom, watching TV, & browsing the internet.

In the course of my hapless searching, here are a couple of the beauties I found:

I was thinking about making Rob a carmat for Christmas this one from Homemade by Jill is amazing

Love these sky quilts via Freshly Picked

Can someone please have a big birthday I can plan, look at this lovely 30th from Oh, Happy Day

Lovely kids gallery wall from Say Yes to Hoboken (gotta do this for Syd)

These baby shower invitations are over-the-top cute & classy from Friday's Child

Guest Posted over at Mormon Mommy Writers

Today I guest posted over at Mormon Mommy Writers about adults reading YA literature (in honor of Teen Read Week).

Head on over, check it out, leave a comment if you feel inclined, & have a happy Friday everyone!

Fanastic Room Re-Design by MADE

For those of you who have never been graced with visiting the blog MADE, go now & look. I actually had to kick her off my googlereader for a while because I was getting so jealous of her creativity & mad skillz (so prepare yourself for envy, envy, envy)

Case in point, this lovely redesign of her daughters room.

I know, do you just want to die? Anyway, she's done a couple blogs with specific instructions on how they did it & it is just a little girls dream. Heck, it's a big girls dream.

She has inspired me to talk Scott into doing something more risky when it comes to painting (we're going to try to get some done this weekend) & maybe, maybe do some stripes somewhere.

Infact, everyone comment on how stripes would be the bomb, maybe a little good ol' peer pressure will convince him!

Pretty Pink Outdoors

Can I say, that this is what I want to do with the outside of our house. Just look at this plan from Making It Lovely (a lovely blog, by the way) for the outside of her house.

Before & After. How cute it that?!? I mean, really, it's like art but with plants. I love it.

Then look at how they decorated their front porch. I mean, that pink patio set alone is enough to make me swoon. Seriously could you just die!

And while I've been pontificating about the gorgeous light pinks & light greens I saw this on Bleubird Vintage (another great blog). Oh. My. Heck. That's all I can say about that.

So, I haven't even mentioned this to Scott for fear he'll just laugh. Which I can't really blame him for... if he told me he wanted huge bronze sculptures of deer & eagles outside our house I'd hands-down refuse.

My "Favorite Things list" on "Favorite Things blog"

When I was finally able to check my email after our trip I was ecstatic to find an email from "A Few of my Favorite Things" blog saying they were posting the list of my favorite things on their blog.

Though you guys already know my favorite things go check it out & take a look at the rest of their lovely blog.

Shout Out: Handbags & Handguns

I started reading the blog Handbangs & Handguns a while ago & fell in love.

I'm not sure how I stumbled across it but I regularly visit for updates on celebrities (my not so secret guilty pleasure), Twilight news, her Tuesday Tunes, & oodles of biting wit (seriously she's so funny).

When I visited her blog yesterday I saw this award she made...

And I thought... "That's actually a cool looking award" (sorry, but most of them are sorta, kinda silly).

I clicked through, finding some other really great blogs & stumble upon 'GnomeSweetGnome'. I was on the list!

And, oh, it was a happy day! Go & check out Handbags & Hunadguns. There is seriously a little something for everyone.

Sydney's 4th Birthday Portraits

My lovely friend Susan took birthday portraits of Syd yesterday & she was amazing.

Not only did the pictures come out great but she did a marvelous job interacting with Syd while they took pictures. Asking her questions, having Syd tell jokes, & in general having fun with her.

And anyone know knows Syd knows that these pictures capture her personality perfectly.

Check out Susan's other amazing shoots at her photography blog. Give her a call; I highly recommend her!

Freshly Picked Skirt Showcase

I emailed the blogger Susan of Freshly Picked to tell her how much I loved her skirt tutorial & sent her a picture of the two I made. She complied a bunch of the emails she got, posted them on her site, & we were one of them.

Seriously guys, you need to check out some of her other tutorials. They are brilliant & SO EASY!

Gettin' my hair done

Esther's cousin Stacy did my hair last night (I haven't had it done since July).

It was such an enjoyable experience. Not only is Stacy, & the rest of the ladies at Stweart Palmer Salon, so fun to hang out with but she was totally patient with my "wishy washy-ness".

I wanted to do something a little lighter (I can't remember the last time I didn't do it dark) so we decided on some golden and coppery highlights.

I like the color, it always takes a little time to get used to a change, but I especially LOVE the cut. She did an amazing job on the bangs. They're the bangs I always want but other stylists just don't quite get right.

In other words she was great. Check out her blog & make an appointment!

Ruffles & Stuff: Making Clothes Last

I adore the blog Ruffles & Stuff. The last couple days shes shown creative & easy ways to make your girls clothes last longer.

A couple from "The Tops":

A couple from "The Bottoms":

I'm seriously considering revamping Syd's clothes for part of her birthday gift (its in about a month) along with finally finishing this dang doll.