A year of changes

As we bring 2015 to a close and I reflect back on the last twelve months, I can't help but wonder how exactly I've managed to remain sane. Well sane-ish...I gave up on actual sanity years ago. It certainly has been a year of unexpected changes, some welcome, some not. I've joked with friends that rather than 'Gratitude', my word(s) for this year should have been 'expletives'. It doesn't really matter which one because they've all been rolling off my tongue in rapid fire succession in the midst of the years' events. I have tried to remain as positive as possible throughout everything that has happened. I have failed completely, laughed it off, and poured another drink. Now you all know that I'm a gin girl through and through.

BUT...

Apparently when the going gets tough the tough develop a taste for bourbon. Not that lately I've had much time for sitting and sipping on cocktails. Lately, I've been mainlining all of the caffeine I can handle. Coffee, soda, red bull, you name it, I'm drinking it. I have never been so tired or so full of joy in my life. If you're thinking it sounds like there's a new baby in our house, well, you'd be right.

I'd like you to meet Kinsley Blair Anderson, who we affectionately call KB. She was born the day before Thanksgiving and is the cutest little peanut ever. The story of how she came to live with us is long and complicated and really doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that we love having her! As you can imagine, Alaina is beside herself with glee at the opportunity to play with a live baby doll.

Aren't they sweet in their pretty Christmas Dresses? Of course, what you're not seeing is me in the picture because 20 minutes of wrestling a newborn into tights left me a hot, sweaty mess. Which was absolutely worth it to see them dressed up together but not something I needed photographic evidence of. Let's just go ahead and assume that the only pictures coming up will be of the tiny humans since we all know that no one has time for mascara around here these days. But that's okay. They're cuter than the rest of us anyway.

Even when they're making crazy eyes at me for taking yet another picture because the one million that I've already taken just aren't enough.

Happy New Year!

Stitch Fix: My very first fix

Has everyone heard about Stitch Fix?  If you haven't, please let me be the first to tell you about it.  A personal stylist hand selects 5 pieces for you (after reading your extensive questionnaire) and ships them straight to your door.  The box looks something like this:

And then you unwrap the tissue to find all of these little gems peeking out at you from inside. The necklace was off to the side since I was having a hard time not getting glare from the box when I took the picture.

You immediately start geeking out and trying everything on right there in your dining room because the bedroom is just too darn far away and you can't wait.  This was my experience at least, (though I lie and tell myself it's because the lighting is better in the dining room). They even give you a style card with suggestions on how to put your pieces together with things you already own.  For the style-challenged like me.

Here are better close ups of all the pieces that were in my box:

Rosa Tab Sleeve V-Neck Blouse

Cynthia Graphic Print Mixed Media Top

Dita Sleeveless Ponte Dress

Walt Skirt

Mannie Leaf and Triangle Necklace

The $20 styling fee that you pay when your box is shipped is applied towards whatever pieces you keep in the box. If you are completely in love with everything in the box and keep all 5 pieces, they apply a 25% discount to the total. The dress and the tab sleeve blouse were a little dark in color for me to purchase in the spring.  Beautiful pieces but I wasn't in love with them enough to purchase.

The skirt and the mixed fabric top made my heart so very happy...until I put them on.  Neither piece fit me the way that I would have liked it to. There's a faint possibility that I could not even get the skirt to zip. Note, that I do not believe Stitch Fix is to blame as much as Cheeseburger Bobby's. Nonetheless, both those pieces went back too.

Ah, the necklace though. This little gem is layered with an adjustable length chain that I can make as long or as short as I need it to be.  You'll note that the picture above is taken on a person and that is because I have already worn it twice since Friday. I like that it is delicate enough to not be a distraction, but with enough detail to catch your eye if worn with the right shirt.  It is the only piece that I chose to keep out of the box, but I am more than okay with that. I sent back comments about the pieces and am curious to see how the next fix comes out. Stay tuned and I'll let you know when it comes the beginning of June!

Watch out Mia Hamm

The stars aligned, mother nature smiled down on us and the sun shown through the clouds just in time for Alaina's first soccer game on Saturday.  As a mama, I couldn't wait to see my girl in her first organized sports game.  As a realistic human, I was pretty skeptical about how 8, 5-year-olds were going to play when the first practice was held 30 minutes before the game.  Which, by the way, was precisely why we like this league; we do not have time to be messing with another weeknight event.  My sweet girl has never really been super competitive so I was shocked to see how quickly she morphed into MY child and dove right into the game.

Look at this sweetness with the little teeth gap and pigtails.  Who could have guessed that ten seconds later the monster would be unleashed and she would look like this?

Leader of the pack...though the little girl to her left really is as tiny as she looks and is absolutely adorable.

It was alllll good until the collision.  Then came the waterworks.  But look at those pigtails flying in the air!

Stretching in between rotations.  Gotta make sure those muscles stay warm and limber!

And my favorite.....watching with glee as her team scored another goal!  I don't think that they keep score but if anyone was...we lost but played with great heart, if not great coordination.

I have to say that I officially felt like a "mom" sitting on the sidelines cheering from a camp chair.  It's a really different feeling from having a baby.  Knowing how fast the last (almost) 6 years have gone by and that in another 6 she's going to be almost a teenager.  Excuse me while I go have a mini stroke now.

Till next week...

Please let me go back

The top image was taken 3 days ago in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.  The bottom image was in my neighborhood this morning.  The 72 hours between them have been filled with a very rocky flight, my baby having a stomach bug, a trip to the ER and absolutely no sleep.

3 days.  3 DAYS ago I was listening to the ocean crash and thinking of nothing in particular.  Today, I am afraid that I am at the beginning of the same bug that the tiny had.

I wanna go back to the island.

Christmas Recap

As usual, Christmas this year was wild and crazy.  Due to work schedules my whole family descended upon the house all at once on Christmas Eve.  24 whirlwind hours later they were all gone.  There is nothing else I can say about this except that I loved every second but I am glad it's done.  Sweet baby girl didn't know that her favorite Uncle was coming so he hid in a box Christmas morning.

Watching her trying to figure out how the unicorn was dancing around in the box was so incredibly funny.  Once she got down to a tear in the box, she pressed her little eyeball to it and declared, "I see a human hand!"  You know because we might not be sure if she didn't specify that it was a "human" hand.

 Clearly she was more than thrilled to see that the human hand belonged to her Uncle Daniel!

 She was also ridiculously excited that Santa brought her high heeled boots as requested.  I'm thankful that she still thinks that half-an-inch wedge qualifies as a high heel because that's all Santa was okay with sending to my five year old child.

 This picture is beyond terrible quality but I had to share it because of the look on Alaina's face.  I could not deny that child is mine if I wanted to.  That is the exact face that I make when I am confused by something.  Or annoyed by something.  Or my patience is waning.  Pretty much about 20% of the time that is what my face looks like.

But this is my favorite shot of the morning.  I look like sleepy death but I am loving my baby and there can never be too many pictures of that.  She looks totally content and secure snuggled up with her mama, as well she should. 

I hope that you all had a most wonderful Christmas with your family and loved ones.  May the coming year bring you abundant blessings.

Magnets are Magic

I am the stingiest person on the planet when it comes to my face products.  I have been blessed with fairly decent skin and have never seen the point in spending that much.  I would rather take my mediocre skin to an island in the Caribbean than slather myself with a tiny jar that costs as much as a plane ticket.

But if those products magically show up in my house as a gift, I am not above a little indulgence...after all I am a girl at heart.  In order to share in the fun, my sweet friend Sarah (or Sarita as N calls her) came over for a mini spa night.  It might have been the limoncello talking, but we decided that photo documenting our night was the best idea ever.

Here's us straight from work with our regular makeup on before we started any of the mask

 We removed our makeup and washed our faces before we put on the mask. 

After waiting the allotted time we used the magnet bar that came with the mask to remove it.  The bar literally sucked the mask off our faces pulling a ridiculous amount of nastiness out of our pores with it.  After it was all done, we massaged the rest of the oils into our skin and voila!  We were shiny and new with baby soft skin.

This stuff is AMAZING.  There is absolutely no way that I would have ever bought into the Dead Sea Mud Mask before trying it this time, but I think if I try really hard I can justify it.  Or buy it and forget the new boots I wanted this fall.  Who am I kidding? We all know I'll just buy them both.