{on a wednesday}

{this photo has nothing to do with my ramblings. just something i like to look at when i walk through my front door.}

It is 4:54pm and I am wiped. Wishing that when I quit the coffee 8 weeks ago, I kept the emergency bag of Starbucks French Roast instead of handing it off to sister. Should have known there would be days like this.

My alarm went off at 6:15 this morning. It was still dark outside. We slept with our window open and when I woke, the dark sky and the morning chill quickly married and left me no other choice but to hit snooze and burrow under my blue fuzzy blanket. Best Christmas gift thus far. Maybe a tie with the Kindle Mr C gifted me.

I reason with myself almost every morning. What time do I really need to be up? Am I working out today? If so then that allows for more time to burrow in bed. If not, then it's up for an early shower. Although that means getting up first and claiming the first shower with ALL of the hot water. That's like the house prize of the day. The warmest shower award. The first question out of Mr C's mouth in the morning is, "Do I have hot water?" I always answer with an enthusiastic, "YES!" all the while thinking in my head.."no babe, your shower is gonna suck."

Today I did not work out. I had the hot shower instead.

I had Morgan to chorus at 7:25. Bagels in the toaster by 7:30. And a pretty decent morning hug from Landon while I searched for matching socks in the laundry room.

I finished readying myself for the day stopping once to climb on top of Mr C and wake him up. I always put my cold hands on his back and then ask if he wants to feel how cold my hands are. He always says no. I laugh every time because my hands freeze in the morning.

Called the school to excuse Landon for his dental appointment and then headed towards Mikey's room to wake him up.

8:50 rolls around and I run Mikey to school. Try to get a little conversation out of him on the way but I got nothing. We took the kids to a hockey game last night and got home kind of late. Mikey was up late finishing Social Studies and Spanish and woke up feeling the repercussions this morning. Excuse for being cranky/quiet.

Mr C headed to the gym around 9:45 leaving me and Landon home. Landon took a 15 minute shower. I heard him singing Katy Perry. Couldn't bring myself to tell him to get out of the shower already.

Made the bed. {rarely happens}

Head off to Landon's dental appointment and get 45 minutes to myself to read one of the 4 books I have going.

No cavities. Head to AJ's for a sugar cookie.

Home for 15 minutes before I head to the school to fetch Morgan. Extra early release Wednesday.

Home.

Off to get Mikey. Run through McDonalds for vanilla cones. Sunny and 80 outside.

Welcome Spring.

Email from Morgan's sewing instructor. Bronchitis. No sewing. Awesome.

Blog surf/cry for 30 minutes before unbending craving for Mexican food takes over.

Take out from Rosas in the form of enchiladas and bean burros with rice.

Satisfied and full.

Now it's 5:30. Still wiped and wishing for coffee.

Going to close all blinds, change clocks and convince kids it's bedtime.

Goodnight.

just like me

There have been so many times recently that I have thought to myself that Morgan is just like me. My sister says it on a weekly basis anymore....'she's just like you." How could I ever get tired of hearing that.

She's the perfect amount of silly and creative...her mind does not stop. Just like me. Her bedroom floor is covered with craft supplies, stickers, scrappy pieces of paper that she refuses to throw away, scissors and the like. Her scrapbook is always open and being fancied in all sorts of ways. Her pages are never completely finished. She sees it...and then creates it. I'd love to just spend one hour in her mind while she's creating.

She's overly sensitive when it comes to animals. Just like me. We both cover our eyes or change the channel when the commercials with the wounded and neglected animals comes on. Too much for us to handle. We grab our fuzzy dogs and hug them immediately.

She takes her shoes off the moment she gets home. Just like me. Everyday gets better when feet are bare and naked. We both know that secret and discovered it when we were little. This is the reason why mr c comes home to all of my shoes next to his side of the bed (and that drives him nuts!).

This girl is who I was when I was 11. Only, she's a lot more confident than I was. Thank goodness for that. I missed out on so much because I was so shy. If I could go back...I would change that first.

It's the most amazing feeling to know that this girl that I made, made me too. The power that my motherhood has with her is great and my love for her is unbending.

This girl is the best version of me.

in the shop...

currently in the shop:

my new favorite bag

i named it the

green with envy bag

perfect for spring...

great hardware and lots of usable interior space with a few

organizer pockets as well as zippered pockets...

it has the greatest cheetah interior lining too

inspired by jimmy choo

$45

if green is not your color...

i just ordered it in apricot as well...

my favorite way to add to color to the wardrobe...

a stunning bag in a fabulous shade

shop here

resurfacing...

(morgans birthday cake from 2 weeks ago)

i feel like i should go back a few months and play catch up and journal all that has been happening on decatur street...i just don't have that kind of energy, time or patience right now...

i almost feel lost right now, not knowing which direction to take my words...

i think ill just resurface with some thoughts and updates...

***

2 weeks ago we celebrated morgans 11th birthday...

it was low key and exactly as birthdays should be in my book...family, a few friends, trays of food and a birthday cake from barbs bakery (if you live in phoenix then email me if you want the most delicious marble/butter cream layer cake. ever.)

morgan celebrated with us...and then asked me if she could {finally} shave.

what?

i was a solid 13 years old before my mother let me pick up a razor and shave my peach fuzzed gams... mom was out of town when i was good and ready...so i had to ask my dad to call mom and get the ok...then my dad asked me if i needed help. i thanked him but turned down the offer and emerged out of the bath 3 band aids later.

perhaps i should have taken dad up on the intro to shaving class...

morgan only needed 1 band aid.

***

2 months ago mr c signed our family up for the gym around the corner...

i have never been the sort of gal who frequents the gym...

but i told mr c that he was not allowed to go and get all trim and foxy without me so i sort of had to start working out...

i dont know exactly when or how it happened...maybe on the elliptical...but i got hooked...

something in me clicked and i started to really get into it...truth be told here...i like the way i feel now that i'm working out and i think i might even have a different kind of energy in my day...

it is very helpful with my workout routine to close my eyes and picture myself in a new bathing suit while at the beach...even more helpful now that mr c has booked our beach house for july

***

7 weeks ago i gave up coffee...

cold turkey

i had 5 very long days of excruciating pain in my head

i was useless

i was wiped out

caffeine withdrawals are wicked man

i told mr c to remind me how much fun that withdrawal was the next time i feel like hitting the java full time

do you know that i frequented starbucks every single day, often twice a day at 5 bucks a pop?

no thanks. im healed.

***

i have a new relationship with my day planner

since opening our boutique...i have to absolutely scribble everything down on those white lined pages...i mean everything goes in there...

since i am running our little shop from our home...it's really hard for me to carve out time for work...i get caught up in running the house, running errands, leaving to meet sister for lunch, spending time with mr c on his days off and when i realize how much shop work is to be done...it's time for bed...so now...i have to schedule the hours that i want to work down in my planner as well as schedule when ill work on the house and do errands and so forth...i am much more productive when there is a list staring at me waiting for its check marks...

***

last month mikey filled out his paperwork for his first year of high school..

there is now way that i could have been prepared for that

it was hard to let him choose his own classes and know that he was capable of doing so...

i wanted to redirect his thinking and erase what he chose but i couldn't do it...

i had to let him start to open those darn wings...

***

so now that i have a little less weight on my blogging chest...ill be updating our shop with some of the new spring pieces that arrived last week as well as ordering some more handbags.

its really cool to be a boutique owner.

polka dotted tights and right now...

right now i am:

wishing i could trade outfits with this little chicken today...

up to my eyeballs in photos for the shop...

planning 2 weeks worth of dinners today,

have you done that?...it's time consuming but i hope it'll pay off and save time in the end...

listening to landon constantly ask me run him up to the store...

and ignoring, once again, the enormous pile of laundry waiting to be folded and put away.

new business

so...it's been awhile...

and...

when i say that lots of things have been happening around here...

i'm not kidding...

you see...in the past few months

mr c and i have decided to follow a small but meaningful dream

we are the proud new owners of...

Dressed Up Boutique

a unique and eclectic online store

we are still setting up our site...

organizing photo shoots with all of the garments that

we bought on our first buying trip in LA...

we have ladies stopping by daily to buy right out of our home...

have been invited to 6 vendor parties to sell our goods in the last month...

have been ordering new garments from new suppliers in the fashion district...

it has been busy...but so so good...

we are so grateful for how well this little venture has started and for the support along our journey...

we plan to have our website up and running in the next couple of weeks...

with a new blog designed just for our shop...

right now...we are enjoying every baby step of this venture

hoping that it leads to a big step into our own store front someday...

but for now...our new 'clients' enjoy hosting parties where we bring our items to their home and set up a private boutique party for their friends...

it's so much fun...

i've spent about 15 years of my life dreaming about doing this...

i'm thoroughly elated

...

http://www.dressedupboutique.com/

www.dressedupboutique.blogspot.com

(still in the works...but coming soon)

seven.

...so a few weeks ago, we celebrated landon's 7th. and by postponing the celebration here on this little blog...maybe that was my way of not accepting that the boy is really 7. seven. all of his bits and pieces including that great big heart of his are indeed seven. how is it that my smallest is this big? all that i can do is plead...has anyone gotten closer to figuring out how to make time slow down or better yet, stand still?




our celebrating started early in the morning when the sun was just making it's debut on this hot august day...tradition in this house dictates one gift before school...just one little treat to tide over the tingling anticipation of unravelling all things wrapped in pretty packages all snug in their bows...




he had no idea that his little treat...his before school goodie was the grand prize...the itouch he has begged and pleaded case for since first laying eyes on his brothers...mama did good...

we celebrated simply just as we did for mikey...and again, we did it well. simple does not mean missing out or forgetting about the little things...because those are the best bits of a celebration...the you can count ons and of course you'll wake up to a decked out house of streamers and cut out birthday numbers...

surprise balls full of trinkets

unwrap the crepe paper balls to find

trinkets hidden in layers
big hit with the littles

birthdays mean celebrating the years of life under your belt, the years of life to come and everything wading between...and just when i stop to realize how fast it is all swooshing by...i am seriously thinking that we need to start celebrating more often and even bigger...how about a half birthday celebration?...

...because when i was pregnant with my first all those years ago, and every other mama that i talked to about motherhood said the same thing, "...enjoy it, it goes by so fast." ...and i listened but never absorbed it in my chest where all good bits of advise and memories burn inside of me...and it has. it has gone by so fast. so now...i live and breathe in my motherhood more than i ever had...and birthdays are up there on the tippy top of the scale of when i feel that burn the most. when i witness how a little effort mixed with streamers and love can take my littles so far and make memory of such a day. and i know and breathe this because i remember these days when i was a little girl...and the little efforts from my mother still sit on the shelves of my memories...ready to pull out and replay whenever i need them.

and boy was it a day for making memoris.

do you see how small he is in that photo on the right, smack dab in the middle of brother and sis?

the children crowded around the table to eat pizza and nosh on candy and special treats...bites of chocolate and popcorn interrupted only by joke telling and laughing...

and when i ask my little guy who is now officially 7 for a few photos for the books...he lets all of his good sweet love wash over me...he doesn't grant it in meager doses...he opens up the gates and lets all of that seven year old love and affection out...there is no shame in loving on your mama when you're seven. this changes, i know. i have a 13 year old who has replaced hugs in public with the fist bump. fist bumps are good too...when you can still get a hug at home.

dear sweet landon...

keep those big blue eyes open and see it all...take it all in and know how you are loved...before grandpa roger left this big green earth...he told me that you were so curious in your world and that it would lead to something special. i am so eager to see what that is. you are inquisitive and wondrous and special and right now, you are laying on the floor below me singing secrets. it doesn't get any better than that. you are smart and funny and incredibly sensitive...a powerful combination for the world ahead of you. i love being your mama...i love our reading time at night and all of the questions that you throw out into the void daily. i hope you always feel how loved you are. thank you for always asking for just one more kiss goodnight, wishing me good days when i drop you at school in the morning and for telling me that i smell good.

love, mom

happy birthday, buggie.