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fashion2
10.14.11

Fashion Friday

Fashion Friday baby!  Word to your mother.  Or your father.  Or to whoever you want.  K – I’ll stop trying to sound cooler than I am and just move on to the clothes.  The clothes!!  I did a good job taking pictures this week.  Too good of a job.  I took pictures of everything I wore!  Everything!  In fact, if I post all the pictures I took you will still be reading this post by next weeks’ Fashion Friday.  So I can’t post them all.  I’ll save some for next week.  Probably the cuter outfits for later.  Kidding.  Nothing is THAT cute.  I just want to keep you all in suspense.  Coming back for more!  Like some great big surprise is on its way.  But really it’s just more boring pictures of me – in my bathroom – with my camera in my face.  Are we all real familiar with my bathroom yet?  HA!  I’d love to mix it up a bit for you all, but the reality is that I usually have about 2.2 seconds to snap a quick picture or two each day before I’m out the door and the day gets away from me.  So self portraits in my bathroom it is!

Actually this pic was taken in my bedroom mirror.  And I actually think I’ve posted pics of this shirt already.  Have I?  I seriously can’t remember.  Sorry if it’s a repeat.  Fun sleeves.  From Forever 21.

Do you notice something off?  Look closely at my left knee.  NNOOOO!!!  A hole!!!  In one of my favorite pairs of Sevens!!!  I’m so sad about this.  It’s actually the second pair of jeans that got a hole in the knee this week!  A full on tragedy I tell you!  I guess I have had these jeans for over four years now.  And I do wear them all the time.  Sigh.  Guess it’s just a good excuse to look for a new pair!  But I’ll still keep wearing these.  Hole and all.  These jeans and I are way too committed in our relationship to call it quits.  
Awww.  Looks like a certain someone doesn’t care if I have a hole in my jeans.  

Wore this to church last Sunday.  This black skirt is such a good staple.  It’s from Banana Republic and I have worn it with so many different things.  A good black skirt is a must in one’s wardrobe!  Agreed?  The shirt and belt are from The Limited.  

A side view.  I love the stripes on this shirt under the arm.  I also wear this with jeans and it looks cute for casual wear too.  
Kind of look like a dork in this picture but I’m posting it anyway because I thought you all might enjoy a picture of my outfit that ISN’T in my bathroom.  I asked Kenny to take a picture of me on our way out the door last Sunday.  Well.  He wasn’t really in the picture taking mood.  Snapped this ONE picture and said “am I done?”  Nice babe.  Aside from the bad attitude and the fact that you only took ONE picture so I didn’t have a variety of pics to choose from, you also cut off my shoes.  The shoes make the outfit!  Everyone knows that!  You can’t cut out the shoes!  (I’m sure he will read this and immediately focus on taking better pictures for me.  That’s just the kind of guy he is.  Totally being sarcastic right now in case any of you were wondering.)  

I can’t get too mad at him though because he did offer to take one more pic with the girls in it.  And I like this picture.  Even though Addison was squinting at the sun.  Which was behind her.  I still like it.  My girls make me so happy.  Thanks for this picture babe.  But we do need to work on the attitude thing.  And the shoe thing.  

After church attire.  Game on!!  Chargers were playing the Broncos.  And you know I’m all about humoring my husband supporting our team.  Pulled some of my hair back in a clip because this game was a serious one.  And guess who won?  Chargers — Barely!!  Totally because of my lucky shirt.  What would the Chargers do without me?   {Funny side note:  I’m all dressed up nice for church – hair done, cute outfit, and Kenny doesn’t say a word.  Come home, pull my hair back and put on this jersey and I get a “Wow babe!  You look hot!”  Of course I do.  Now that I’m covered in a lightning bolt and Philip Rivers’ football number.  Of course now I look hot.  Why am I not surprised….}

Remember this sweater from Anthro?  The one I bought over the summer because I fell in love with the orange zipper in the back even though when I wear it you can’t see the orange zipper in the back?  Well I wore it for the first time this week.  

Comfy and casual.  

Wore it with these flats.  
Another casual top.  If you’ve read my blog for a while you’ve probably seen me in this before.  It’s from Forever 21 and I love it so much.  I’ve had it for a long time.  Great fit.  Comfortable.  And I love turtle necks, but it’s rarely cold enough to wear them in San Diego so a short sleeved one like this works great.  I think I paid around $13 bucks for this.  Funny how there are just certain clothes you click with regardless of the price.  Those shirts or pants that you just always want to put on in the morning.  That you have had forever and never want to get rid of.  This is one of those shirts for me.  
Two of my favorite pics in one of my favorite shirts:
{Valentines Day 2009}

{Kenny’s birthday – August 2010}
Love the men in my life.  :)
Time to wrap up for now!  I’ll share the rest next week.  Have a great weekend everyone!
Word to your sister.

Ok.  I give up.

**Linking up at The Pleated Poppy

xoxo, Erin
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home decor 2
10.13.11

“Pinspiration”

Thanks for all of your sweet comments about my hutch!  I have the decorating bug so bad right now.  A few reasons why:

1) I have spent the past year walking through homes.  Lots of beautiful homes.  Nothing yet that has spoken to me and said “BUY ME!  I’M THE ONE!!” – but beautiful homes nonetheless.
2) It has been over seven years since I re-did anything major in my house.  Sure I’m always re-arranging and adding a little decor here and there, but up until this summer I have kept things basically the same.  And as you’ve seen from so many of my “befores” things were looking a little out dated.
3)  PINTEREST!  I seriously think Pinterest is the best and worst thing that ever happened to me!  :)
Did you all read Sarah’s post the other day?  I’m assuming you all read Clover Lane.  If you don’t, you need to start!  One of the best blogs out there.  Sarah and I have become good friends through blogging and we e-mail each other often about anything and everything.  (I admire her so much.  I’m pretty much to the point with Sarah where if she told me to walk off a cliff I would ask her which one.)  Last week we were talking about a post she wrote that is one of my favorites.  It’s about being content with your house and it really struck a cord with me.  Partly because she wrote about cleaning your house to make you love it again (you know I’m all about cleaning!) and also because she wrote about how sometimes it is better to stop looking at things like Pinterest, home decor blogs, and magazines because it is TOO MUCH and leaves us feeling discontent with our own decor/lives.  That was the problem I was having at the time she wrote that post.  Every magazine and blog I looked at just made me hate my own house/decor even more.  I’m usually so content in my cozy little home and I wasn’t liking that I was feeling so not-content all of the sudden.  Her post made me take a good look at how much time I was spending looking at other homes and instead just focus on my home.  I started thinking about what I loved about my little house and the parts that I didn’t love?  What I could do to change that.  So I’ve slowly started to update my house and I am falling in love with it all over again.  If that annoying house envy/non-content feeling starts to creep up inside me, I read her post.  And then I do some more cleaning and organizing.  And then I feel better.  :)

{Thank you Sarah!  Don’t ask me to walk off a cliff ok?  My family would miss me.}

Now – that being said.  I’m not nearly as strong as Sarah and could never quit Pinterest!  I love it too much.  I don’t tweet and I don’t do facebook so I figure I’m allowed my guilty pinning pleasure.  I give myself about 15-20 minutes a day to completely zone out and waste my time pinning beautiful things.  And now that I have a more positive outlook about my own home situation, Pinterest is actually inspiring me vs. making me feel envious.

Today I’m sharing some of my favorite pictures I’ve pinned that inspired my kitchen shelf re-do and my hutch makeover.

The colors in this picture are my favorites right now.  Whites, blues, greens.  I LOVE these open shelves and LOVE the dish colors/arrangement even more!

K.  How happy is this picture!?  Love all of the white dishes/furniture and the way it pops against the green paint.

Beautiful rustic blue hutch.  And yes.  White pitchers.

More white dishes/pitchers.  Are you sensing a theme here?  :)  My long time obsession with white pitchers has been validated!

Isn’t yellow such a happy color?  I can’t look at this picture without smiling.

I love the randomness of the items displayed on these shelves.  Everything is so unique, but comes together so nicely because of the similar color scheme.

Darling little built-in with white/cream dishes.  I love the different cake stands used to hold fruit/decor.

Source: theinspiredroom.net via Erin @ Sunny Side Up on Pinterest

And one of my favorite pictures I’ve pinned! I love this shelf and decor so much!  I fell in love with the aqua bead board and immediately knew that I wanted to re-paint my kitchen shelf and do something similar.

So.  The moral of my story is that for me, while Pinterest is no doubt dangerous (I urge you to proceed that site with caution!) it is also a wonderful place to help fuel your creativity and inspire all sorts of amazing things.

Or if nothing else, it will at least help when your mind set is  “I so need a break from these kids!  Zoning out in front of my computer and wasting time “pinning” anything and everything is a lot better alternative than some others I have in mind….”


Not that that has ever been my mind set.

:)

p.s.  You can see what else I’m pinning here.

xoxo, Erin
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home decor 2
10.11.11

Hutch makeover

Sharing some pics of my hutch today!  Most of you know I’ve been slowly trying to re-decorate my house to lighten things up a bit.  Changing out blacks and reds for more whites, yellows and blues.  I’m on a roll!  Dropping one red rooster at a time!  Die roosters!  ;)  My hutch has been hard for me because it has long, wide shelves that can look cluttered in a hurry if I’m not careful.  (Clutter and I don’t care much for one another.)  I can’t stop tweaking this hutch!  Every time I walk by I quickly add something else, move something over.  It will most likely change by this afternoon, but I thought I’d share what I have so far – the way it looks at the moment.  :)
Here’s what it used to look like — 
 {BEFORE}
(my little boyfriend snoozing in his swing makes for a pretty cute accessory)


 {AFTER}

I’ve been having a love affair with white pitchers for years now and have been collecting them for our next house.  But since finding our next house isn’t happening as quickly as I’d like it to, I decided to display some of them now.   The bead board on the back of the hutch is a light white wash that I love, but looks best with pops of bright color against it so I added some fun blue dishes and vases.

Here’s a closer look.

Like I said, it’s still a work in progress.  I’d eventually like to find something for the top of it and maybe the base.  I keep trying things that I already have around the house like my black wire baskets but I don’t like anything yet.  I’m sensing an excuse to go shopping!  (Look at those baskets Kenny – not right.  It’s clearly imperative that I must immediately head to Pottery Barn to correct this tragedy.  I know once you see this picture you’ll agree 100%.)   

Close ups of the decor – 

The clear milk jug belonged to my grandma.  When I was a little girl she used to fill it with water for me and put it in her fridge because I always drink water and I love it really cold.  We called it my “jug” and whenever I’d go visit the first thing I would ask her is if she had my jug in the fridge.  She always did.  It has been a treasured keepsake for me ever since she past away over 15 years ago and I’m so happy to have it out where I can see it everyday.

Set of six clear little bottles are from Pottery Barn (often used to hold flowers) and most of the other decor is from Home Goods and TJ Maxx.

The little pumpkins I picked up at Michaels and I’m loving the pop of orange for Fall.   

I have some fun plans for the wall on the left side of the hutch if I can find the time to make it happen.  Several of you have asked if I am going to replace my red and green couches to go along with the changes I’m making.  Here’s the truth.  If we weren’t looking to move into a bigger home I’d have wood floors and new couches in this house so fast Kenny’s head would spin!  BUT.  I just can’t justify spending the money on that right now because we are saving our pennies for our next house (have been since forever).  And I know I will want new furniture in the new house and if I buy new couches now they most likely won’t look right in a new space.  So for now I’m just going to have to work with what I’ve got!  I bought slipcovers several months ago and tried them out, but with my cream carpet everything looked so bland (need those wood floors!) so I returned them.  I’m currently hunting for some new couch pillows that incorporate the new colors but that will also go with my old couches.  I’m really trying to make small, inexpensive changes that will make this house a happier space for me until we move into our next home.  Which I hope to settle in and then never move again!

So there you go!  Another space in my house that is on its way to becoming a little brighter, a little more current, and a little more me.  :)

If you’re new to my blog (welcome!) you can see more of my home decor changes here:

Kitchen shelf re-do
Fall Mantel
Picture frame re-do
Other small changes/Halloween decor

xoxo, Erin
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Ellie
10.10.11

The last two weekends

El on her way to her first orthodontist appointment.  Can she really be old enough for that!?  I don’t believe it.  I’m in denial.  Julie (El’s BFF since this memorable trip) came along.  She apparently needed her teeth checked as well.  

We have been doing a MASSIVE clean out at my house — what’s new, right?  :)  Most of you know we’ve been house hunting for over a year now and still haven’t found “the one.”  So in the mean time we are renting a storage shed to help with the fact that we are running out of space in our current house.  I’ve emptied closets… 
and packed up many belongings.  LOTS of boxes.  Stuff that we are saving/keeping but not using right at the moment.  Like this box of some of the girls’ clothes that I just can’t part with.  Their hospital hats, favorite boots and fist little ballet shoes, El’s favorite cupcake pajamas that she wore almost every night for two years straight and then they later became Ad’s favorite cupcake pajamas.  I am such a minimalist when it comes to keeping/saving extra “stuff”, but my one weakness is my kids’ clothes!  So many memories accompany those little outfits.

We loaded boxes into the van and made trip, 

after trip, after trip to the storage shed.  (So long baby gates!  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!)  And now we have so much more space!  And I’ve been happily organizing and re-doing closets ever since!  And at some point I’ll be happily posting my newly organized closets!  This is all making me extremely happy!  It doesn’t take much.  :)

Also last weekend we did a little vine trimming.  And by “we” I mean Kenny trimmed the vines while I took pictures of him doing it.  He’s lucky to have me.  We make such a great team.  

The girls went swimming for a friends’ birthday party…  

and then made a fun hut to play in when we got home.  Wondering what’s holding up those blankets?  That would be my tripod.  I set it up to take some pictures, stepped in the other room to feed Kole, came back and it had disappeared under some Christmas blankets.  Guess I didn’t need those pictures after all. 
This weekend we got our flu shots taken care of!  The girls did great (and by great I mean they had a major meltdown the night before when I told them we were getting shots the next morning, and then had a mini meltdown promptly following the shots) but still, we all survived and lived to tell about it in stylish barbie bandaids.  Kenny took the girls to see Princesses on Ice (we’ve gone the past four years and it has become a fun tradition) while Kole and I stayed home.  We had a delightful date.  Kole napped.  I lit my pumpkin spice candle, turned on some music, and cleaned the house.  Then when he woke up we snuggled on the couch and enjoyed a nice episode of The Wiggles together.
Later in the afternoon I took the girls to get their toes painted for a fun little splurge at my favorite place to get a pedi.  

Of course Julie and Elizabeth had to get their toes painted too.  

Then we came home and Ariel helped us set up the outside Halloween decorations.  
Pumpkin lights — check!  Scary spider in bush — check!  Orange and purple mini lights all over the yard — check!  Bring on the trick-or-treaters!!

Oh.  And another “friend” who pitched in.  Little helpers seem to pop up all over the place around my house.  
And the weekend wouldn’t be complete without a drive through one of our favorite neighborhoods.  We are patiently waiting for a house we love in this neighborhood to pop up for sale.  
We might be waiting a long time.  Good thing we’ve got our storage shed!
Happy Monday everyone!  
xoxo, Erin
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fashion2
10.07.11

Fashion Friday

Alright everyone!  Another Fashion Friday!  Let me just say that this week was a bit BORING in the outfit department.  Everything I wore was a solid color (shocker!) making it clear to me that when shopping for clothes this fall I really need to bring a little pattern into my life.  I need to bring a little alone time into my life too, but since that isn’t happening any time soon I’ll just focus on patterns!   

Date night with Kenny last weekend.  Top is from The Limited.  You can’t really tell in these pics but the sleeves are pretty.  I totally bought this shirt for the sleeves!  Joe skinny jeans and my grey boots. 
Oh wait!  Here’s a better pic of the sleeves from a few weeks ago.  Aren’t they fun!?  I tried this on with my favorite belt but did NOT like it.  It just didn’t speak to me.  Actually it did speak to me.  The belt that is.  It said, “take me off!  I am way too casual to wear with this dressy shirt!”  I like the top better with the necklace and grey tones vs. with the belt and brown tones.  Agreed?

Simple black scoop neck sweater.  I own a lot of scoop neck sweaters.

 Here’s another one I also wore this week.  I’ll tell you why I have a love affair going on with sweaters like these.  It’s rarely cold enough here to wear turtle necks so these are a great alternative.  Top of the shirt says “it’s fall or winter!”  But the sleeves say “in San Diego!”

 I was running a lot of errands this day so I opted for my comfy worn out shoes and Silvers.  BTW – several of you mentioned after my last FF post that several places other than Nordstroms carry Silvers and you also love them.  Great tip!  If you don’t own a pair and need new jeans, check them out!  I have about worn a hole in the knee of this pair because I’ve worn them so much.

Wore my favorite brown heeled boots this week!  
 I love the gold buckle on the back.  

 Sweater is from Banana Republic.  When I tried to get a picture of it, Kole had other plans for me.
He kept pulling on my leg so I couldn’t hold the camera still.  I finally I just gave up got down on his level!

Then he decided to ham it up for the camera.  Look at me!  Got mom’s complete and undivided attention again!  That’s what I’m after!  All day long!  Every day!

And now I’m ready for mom to be done with the camera and all about me again!  I know just what to do.  Watch this move.

We had a cold week!  And by cold I mean it was 69 degrees instead of 73.  But that’s just enough of a temperature drop around here to make it feel like Fall!  Which totally made me want to make soup.  And by “make soup” I mean heat this soup up in the microwave.  Broccoli and Cheddar is my all time favorite!  Mmmmmm.  The best.  So I ate lots of store bought soup…
And wore lots of loungy clothes,  (Is loungy a word?  It seems to be one in my vocabulary.)  
Clothes like this comfy green zipper top.  

And my favorite Park City hoodie my mom bought me.  Which reminds me.  I ate the BEST turkey sandwich I’ve ever had in my entire life in Park City, Utah.  I’ll never forget that trip.  Or that sandwich.  What was the name of that restaurant mom?  She’ll know.  I talked about that sandwich for three days straight.  

Wore this hoodie with jeans in the morning today, but once I had all three of my little ones home with me around 3:00 I put on my favorite pair of Yoga pants and decided we were in for the day.  I LOVE these Yoga pants.  I wear them to exercise and just to lounge around the house.  They are super comfortable and super flattering. 

The brand is called Hard Tail.  Do you have a pair?  Ever heard of them?  I bought them at Nordstroms. A little pricey for Yoga pants, but really such a great fit.  Check them out here.  I love them so much.  I see many more Hard Tail clothes in my future!  The way the flap folds down in the back cuts your butt in half.  Like I said, very flattering!  And did I mention they were oh so comfortable?   Once they are on they are hard to take off!  I’ve worn them almost every night this week.  Until Kole tossed yogurt all over them this evening so now they’re in the wash.  Which reminds me that I have got to catch up on laundry this weekend.  Also on the agenda this weekend is Disney Princesses on Ice and family flu shots.  I scheduled our shots for Saturday because I need Kenny there for reinforcement.  Three kids all crying at once is too much for me!  You’d think we were about to be executed the way my girls act when it’s time to get a shot.  Hoping that the bribery of seeing the princesses later in the day will help.  
Yeah.  I’m that kind of mom.  
Here’s hoping your weekend is less dramatic than I know ours will be!  
**Linking up at The Pleated Poppy
xoxo, Erin
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Kole
10.06.11

My boyfriend


18 months old.
Crazy busy.  Crazy messy.  Crazy adorable.  

Longs to be outside.
Favorite word is Noooooo!  Also loves to say “No Me No!” and “No Way!”  Which comes out more like “No Whey!”  It stands for yes, right now, let’s go, all done, I’m happy, and of course, no way.  

Loves to feed himself.  
Loves to see how far he can chuck his food when he’s done feeding himself.  
Directions to all babysitters: “keep feeding him until he starts chucking his food.”

Thinks he’s pretty amusing.
Actually is pretty amusing.  :) 
A charmer.  Flirts like his daddy.  

Totally content to play in princess tents.  Also plays with Polly Pockets, mermaids, and sparkly shoes.  
Loves to be cuddled and held.  
Follows his mommy around all. day. long.  
Does the dishes like no one’s business.  
And the laundry.  
Places one hand on his other arm to soothe himself.  It looks like he’s folding his arms in an attempt to be reverent.
Loves to be rocked and held before bed.  
He holds sooo still for fear that if he moves a muscle rock time will come to a screeching halt.  Then he peeks up at mom often and smiles.  He know this melts her heart and she will keep on rocking.
Total mamma’s boy.  
Mom wouldn’t have it any other way.  
Sleeps with his feet crossed and his little bottom up in the air.
Mom thinks this is incredibly adorable and takes pictures of him sleeping often.
  
Great conversationalist.  

But knows how to text if he’s not in the mood for chit chat.  
Walks, but still prefers crawling when he wants to get somewhere fast.  CRAZY fast when he crawls. 
Can probably crawl faster than most people run.
Loves his sisters so much and gets positively giddy when they are around.

 Claps at himself often.  We’ve all taught him that he’s pretty special stuff.  
Because he is.  :)
xoxo, Erin
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Ellie
10.04.11

Lessons learned

Remember these shoes I bought Ellie a month ago to start school?  And I was SO excited about what a good deal they were?
{shoes at beginning of September…}

{shoes at beginning of October…}

Seriously!!??



Couple lessons learned:

1)  You get what you pay for
2)  Girls play every bit as hard as boys

Looks like shoe shopping is in our near future.  
I can live with that.  :)
xoxo, Erin
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Hair
10.03.11

Let’s talk hair (#2 in the series!)

Ok.  Let’s talk hair.  I have been getting a lot of e-mails/comments about my hair lately.  You are all incredibly kind and the reason I haven’t cut my hair in so long.  Yes – I’m blaming the fact that I haven’t changed my hair in the past three years on my blog readers!  I used to mix things up and get a new hairstyle every year.  Lately whenever I decide I’m going to chop it all off and go for a new look I get a sweet e-mail or blog comment about my hair!  And it makes me decide to keep it like this a little longer.  So thanks for that.  I think.  ;)  Seriously though – I have the nicest readers and I really want to answer your questions.  So many of you have asked about how I style it, maintain it, what products I use and I just wanted to let you know that at some point I will do a post on my hair.  I actually did a “let’s talk hair” post a year ago, but it probably wasn’t that helpful in really showing you how I style it so the plan is to do a better/updated one in the near future.  I just need to figure out how!  I can’t take pictures of myself doing my hair (although attempting that would be good for a laugh!)  so I need to recruit a few friends to help and I need to find time during the day to make this happen.  Not an easy feat with my current schedule, but I’ll figure something out!  So if you have any specific “hair” questions you want answered, ask them in the comment section of this post and I’ll do my best to answer them.

I did want to take a minute to answer this question I received on last Friday’s post:

“I always read your blog comments too, and everyone always mentions your hair ALWAYS looking nice (they are right), it just dawned on me why your hair ALWAYS looks nice…you live in San Diego!!!  I have vacationed in California a few times and both times that I went to San Diego,  I noticed that all the women looked their best, even in Target.  That is Hollywood/Celeb territory and maybe that is why?  I would love to get your thoughts on this Erin, was it just my perception or do people that live in your area always put on their A game?


Well.  This is a great question and I am more than happy to share my thoughts on this!  Two parts to this question.  First I’ll tell you why I always have my hair done and try to look my best.  Then I’ll give you the scoop on San Diego!  (If you’re sticking around for this long winded post now might be a good time to grab a snack… :)

I’m a hair girl.  I care about my hair.  I always have regardless of the city I’m living in.  If I only have 10 minutes to get ready, I do my hair, not my make-up (then I stick on my sunglasses because it’s always sunny here and we wear them year round – best no make-up trick in the book!  Of course you’re in trouble when you step inside…)  My friend Darci and I always joke that we could talk “hair” for hours and we could!  Products, styles, what we do to tame our thick hair.  I enjoy doing my hair and I feel better about myself when it’s done.  When I had my first baby and quit teaching school to stay home with her I fell into a bit of a depression.  I was in a new city with no family around and all of my friends were working.  Ellie was a fussy baby and motherhood was hard and not at all what I pictured.  I stopped caring about what I looked like.  I was packing around baby weight so I wore sweats a lot.  Plus I was covered in baby spit up and who was going to see me anyway?  My big outing of the day was down the street to the grocery store and I didn’t think the produce man really cared.  I got stuck in a bad cycle.  The less I cared, the more depressed I became and the more depressed I became, the less I cared.  I remember walking past my bedroom mirror bouncing my fussy baby one morning.  I saw my reflection in the mirror and started to cry.  Who was that?  I decided in that moment that I was going to get my life back.  I was going to start exercising again.  Start doing my hair and make-up again even if I only had 10 minutes to spend on it.  Start wearing real clothes again – even if I had to buy a few things in bigger sizes until I lost the baby weight.  So I did.  I made myself a priority and I can’t tell you the difference it made.  Even if my only outing for the day was a trip to the grocery store, I held my head up and smiled at people.  If I ran into a neighbor I said hi and was friendly instead of ducking and heading down a different isle.  And most importantly, I was a happier mom.  I was a better person when I took care of myself.  So I learned an important lesson:  You have to take care of yourself for you, not for anybody else.  Do it because of the way it makes you feel.  I have made exercise a priority and taken at least 10 minutes each day to do my hair ever since!

By my third baby I had things figured out.  Hair done = happy mom.   ;)

Now – to really answer your question (sorry I’m so long winded today!)  

Scoop on San Diego.  Yes!  San Diego is ABSOLUTELY a place where people care about their looks and put on their A game.  Southern California — it is its own beast!  Exercise is huge here.  Driving down the street you will always see walkers/joggers/bikers.  If you go to an outdoor mall, a restaruant, or even just to pick up your kids at school, you will see beautiful women everywhere.  (Yes!  Even at Target!)  I love it because it motivates me to exercise and look my best, but it can also be hard because it’s easy to feel inadequate.  I sometimes worry about raising my girls in a city where, especially in certain areas, so much emphasis is placed on looks.  But that is true about our society in general regardless of where you live.  I try really hard to teach my girls how beautiful they are on the inside and what true beauty is all about.  In my opinion that is one of the most important things a mother can teach her daughter.  So no, it was not just your perception!  Women generally do try to look their best in my neck of the woods.  :)


Ok.  If you made it through that marathon of a post I salute you!  And I apologize if now you have no time to check in with other blogs.  If you have a question for me about hair (or anything else for that matter!) let me know.  And thanks again for all of your supportive, uplifting comments and e-mails.  I really wish I would have been blogging when I had Ellie.  It would have helped me so much to hear from other moms going through similar struggles.  You all help me now more than you know!
xoxo, Erin
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fashion2
09.30.11

Fashion Friday

Fashion Friday!  Man these posts creep up quick!  The weeks are flying by.  I can’t believe we’re at the end of September.  Best three months of the year ahead!  Woot Woot!!  Let’s get this party started with a whole lot of green…
I’ve had this green shirt for about two years now and it’s a favorite.  
I’ve had these jeans for about four years now and they’re a favorite.  I’ve had the red shopping cart for about five years now and it’s a favorite.  l’ve had these shoes for about three years now and they are NOT a favorite.  They are so worn out and I’m tired of them but they have the perfect heel and are really comfortable.  I have been trying to replace them forever and can’t find exactly what I’m looking for.  Not a flat, not a heel – just a semi-heel.  (Why is it so hard to find a semi-heel people!!??)  I need something just high enough to keep certain pairs of pants off the floor.  You’ll all be the first to know as soon as I find a replacement.   :)
These jeans are super comfortable and stretchy and I like the pockets on the back (they minimize a certain problem area of mine – ahem).  The brand is called Silver and Nordstroms carries them.  But they were cheap (for Nordstrom standards) – like $60 bucks!  Anyone else own a pair of Silvers?  Great jeans.  
A few more shots in the green shirt because, well, I have some…

Long shirts like this green one come in so handy if you are still in the baby making years.  I wore this one a lot when I was pregnant with Kole.  I’d like to say that I was 6 months along in the pictures above, but I think I was more like 2 months along.  I popped out so fast the third time around!  My sweet niece (on my lap in the picture) turned 4 years old this week!  Happy birthday sweet Claire!  (I’m sure she reads my blog daily and will appreciate the shout out.)  She is having a pony themed party this weekend and my sister and her husband are going to surprise her and bring a real pony to the back yard to give everyone rides.  I am SO sad my girls and I won’t be there!  Times like this make me really bummed I don’t live closer to my family.  If Kole were a little older I would be on a plane in a heart beat.  But I don’t fly with one year olds.  Cardinal rule that can’t be broken.

And here’s another great shot of the green shirt I discovered tonight.  Looks like one of the girls grabbed my camera and shot fast while they had the chance!  Kole is clearly upset because he heard about my cardinal rule and realized that he too won’t be riding a pony this weekend.

Another Forever 21 top I’ve had for awhile!  Wore this last weekend to dinner with friends.  I liked this shirt so much that I bought one in purple too.  :)  Does anyone else ever do that?  Find a shirt you like and buy it in more than one color?  I try not to do it too much but with some shirts I can’t help it.  Especially when they are as cheap as this shirt was ($16).  Funny though, I still find that I end up liking one color better than the other and that is the one I wear over and over.

Wore it with my Italy boots.  Kole is as fond of these boots as I am.  He’s got Ellie’s toothbrush in hand and is ready to give them a good cleaning.  
Speaking of my little man, here he is modeling his camo.  
He is a man on a mission.  With a purse.  
He likes the way his pockets minimize a problem area for him too.
What a stud.  

A little more green!  (You know how I feel about this color!)  This is a fun skirt from Banana Republic.  

I wore it to church last week with this white dress shirt and my black heels.  The white bracelet/watch is
 a favorite of mine from the Fossil Outlet.  

And just a few hours ago I had this on to head to a church activity.  Kenny walked in the door from work and I threw my camera at him and said “Here!  Take my picture fast!  Now take these kids fast!  I’m outta here….”  It was a long day and I was so happy to escape with friends for the evening.  We ate a delicious dinner and then learned all about how to put together 72 hour kits and how to make bread.

My mind may have wandered during the how to make bread part.  Just a tad.   
But it’s ok.  I know a really great bakery just down the street….

Happy Weekend everyone!  
:)

**Linking up at The Pleated Poppy

xoxo, Erin
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Holidays
09.29.11

Small changes/Halloween decor

Sharing a few small changes today!

(BTW – looking for a fun patterned dish towel to put in front of this aqua one…)
I took this simple black basket… 
spray painted it turquoise, and tossed in some fake red pomegranates.  I’ll switch those out for some real ones once they pop up in the grocery store.  Isn’t that a fun sight!?  When pomegranates pop up in the grocery store!  It means Thanksgiving!  Which really means Christmas!  Bring. it. on.  And the binder behind the basket?  I’m sure most would assume that’s a recipe binder.  But this is me we’re talking about.  Not recipes – just my home decor binder.  I stuck it there for now because it’s always out on my counter anyway and I like the pattern on the front.  Still hunting for something fun to permanently display in this corner.  
I took my red mail basket that sits in another corner of the kitchen..
and painted it in my new favorite aqua.  
You may wonder where is all of the mail?

It’s sitting in a lovely pile waiting for Kenny to sort through it.  I set a pile of mail/papers in front of him every few nights to sort through.  He loves it.  It’s his favorite thing to do.  Right up there with hanging things up on the wall and getting family pictures taken.

I also took this red magnet board next to our back door…
taped it off…
and painted it – you guessed it!  AQUA!  I know.  You’re thinking I may be over doing it with this color. Just a tad.  But this was it.  The last thing I’m painting this color.
  This week.  ;)

One last before and after because before and afters are fun.  

{BEFORE}

{AFTER}
I replaced our summer “get out the door list” with some favorite pictures of the girls from past Octobers.  I’m not as far as I wish I was on my October scrapbook (the point of that album was to pull it out every Fall so we could see past Fall pictures) so a quick fix for this year was to hang October pictures on the door!  

The girls love it.  They have spent a lot of time the past few days hanging out by the door looking at the pictures and getting excited for this coming October.  Addie is pointing to her favorite.
The girls love this picture because of Frank (our buddy who shows up in the front yard mid October).  I love this picture because of my girls.  They were 2 & 4 and just look so little to me!  Makes me sad how quickly they are growing up.  :(  I can’t stop to think about that lately or I end up in a puddle of tears.

Corner of the kitchen for October!

We got out our Halloween Advent Calendar!  (Pottery Barn Kids)  I also bought the candy to go in each slot.  I also ate most of the candy that was supposed to go in each slot.  In fact, I’m eating some of the candy that was supposed to go in those slots right now.  For some reason I feel better now that I’ve admitted that.  
I’m really not into too much Halloween decor.  I don’t do the scary thing.  Because well… it scares me.  But I did want to display my “hoot owl” and the girls love our spooky Halloween tree.  

I bought these cute little frames to hang on our tree when I bought my owl.  We make new ornaments for the tree each year so I’m sure these will soon be replaced with little beauties more like these:

Does Halloween decor make your kids want to leap across the furniture?  No?
Just mine huh.  
I still need to get out my fall wreaths which are buried somewhere in the garage.
I still need to decorate the front yard.
I still need to take pics of my hutch if I can stop tweaking it every time I walk by.
I still need to get these fun plates I bought at Z Gallerie up in the kitchen.  
I still need to fill out some school forms, clean out my purse, write tomorrow’s to-do list and take off my make-up before I can go to bed tonight.   
And I still need to put away the candy.  
But at least I wrapped up a few small changes.  :)
xoxo, Erin
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home decor 2
09.27.11

Fall Mantel

I think we may need to name this “decor week” on my blog because I have so many fun changes around my house to share.  Has everyone decked their house for Fall?  So much fun, isn’t it!?  I’m sharing my Fall mantel today and was going to share more of my decor but this post was about to be so overloaded with pictures that I’m going to have to break it up and share the rest tomorrow…and maybe some the day after that.  So!  Without further rambling from me, here is my mantel this year for Fall –

I kept it really clean and simple.  Clean and simple always appeals to me.  I’m sure you’re all so surprised to hear me say that.  ;) 

You probably remember these candlesticks that used to be cream.  I painted them my new favorite shade of aqua that is popping up all over my house and added a couple of pumpkins.  I love the aqua/orange combo.  It speaks to me.  Not sure what it is saying, but something good I’m sure.

I put three more of my little pumpkins in the center.  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this picture.  I plan to have it displayed somewhere in my home for the next 90 years.  
Which would put me living until I’m about oh.. 124ish. 
 I take my vitamins.  
I had these apothecary jars on hand so I filled them with some little Fall goodies.  

Then I spray painted this pitcher yellow (used to be red) and added a few leaves.  The leaves are from the forest of trees behind our house.  Kidding.  They’re actually from the beach that’s behind our house.  Kidding again. The beach didn’t have leaves this year so they’re actually from the craft store.  I do my best.  But Kenny and I have a little New York trip in the works!  Maybe I can snag some real Fall leaves while I’m there and bring them back home with me on the plane.  Or just live with my craft store leaves… my life is full of tough decisions like this one.  Reminds me of a favorite quote by my husband — “babe – I’m just living in the real world so that you can float above it.”   :)  I’ll have to ask his opinion about the leaves….

Our family picture from last year is so ‘Fall’ and works great with my new color scheme.  
Now I have three areas that bring my new colors together.  I’ll do my best to sound like a real decorator and call it a “visual triangle” between the mantel…. 

and the aqua wall/shelf.  Aqua and yellow, yellow and aqua.  Slowly replacing all of the red and black.   Happy colors for a happy Fall.  I like the world I live in.  :)

p.s.  Some of you asked what Fall shows we are watching.  Well.  That’s a post in and of itself.  We completed our Fall line-up (which includes a spread sheet of all of our shows and the days/times they need to be recorded) and came to the shocking realization that there was one night when we had four shows on at the same time!  This was a major dilemma.  Major.  We could NOT agree on which ones to cut, so out came the DirecTV crew. I am not kidding.  A little re-wiring and now the shows that record on our upstairs TV will also play on our downstairs TV.  Problem solved.  Like I said, my life is full of tough decisions to make.  ;)  But really out of all of the shows we record, my favorites are Parenthood, Modern Family, The Good Wife, and Blue Bloods (I’m usually not into cop shows but there’s nothing like a little Tom Selleck on a Friday night).  I also love TLC’s What NOT to Wear and HGTV’s Dear Genevieve.  Kenny has his own line-up which is why we record so many shows.  We’ve been known to have a busy week without much TV time and then knock out 4-6 TV shows on a Friday or Saturday night after dinner.  That’s our favorite date.  Early dinner so we get a break from the bedtime routine and then home after the kids are asleep to watch our shows.  Then at about 11:00 at night I start reading blogs and Kenny falls asleep on the couch.  And I can see us doing that until we’re about oh… 124ish.  We both take our vitamins.

xoxo, Erin
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