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organization2
05.24.11

Bring on the rain

Last week we had a few rainy days in our forecast…

I got the girls off to school (after we picked roses for their teachers), got Kole down for a nap, and decided my kitchen cupboards could use a little face lift.  Rain always makes me want to turn on some music, organize my kitchen, and just enjoy the coziness of home.

First I tackled the bottom kitchen cupboards.  These are all of the plastic bowls – the “safe zone” for my little one year old who loves to pull everything out.

Next I tackled my cupboard with all of the glass bowls.  Here’s a “before” of this cupboard.  Not awful, but definitely not as orderly as I like it to be.

 And the “after”.  Ahhh – much better! 
 The glass cupboard above is one of the “off limits” cupboards to Kole.  
Sorry buddy!  Not a safe place to play.

Then I slowly made my way up to the top cupboards.  I didn’t take a before of our plates and bowls, but it didn’t look too much different.  This one is easy to maintain.

My cleaning supply cupboard was starting to drive me crazy and was what initiated the organizing of my kitchen cupboards once again.


And the “after.”  SOOO much better!  Now I can easily get to my cleaning supplies and see what we are running low on.  I also keep sunscreen in this cupboard because it is right by the back door – easy access when we are on our way out.  My rarely used cook books are stored up high along with a rooster pitcher that was my Aunt Pat’s before she passed away a few years ago.  I like that now I can see it and think of her every time I open this cupboard.

 I straightened out the drawer next to our sink – the baby/toothbrush station…

and then tackled the pots and pans.  This cupboard is right below our homework drawer and was starting to become a catch all for bigger coloring books and art projects that were too big for the homework drawer AND the arts and crafts drawer.  Probably a sign that we have way too much of this kind of stuff!  This is the “before.”

The “during”…

and the “after”.  
Much better.  A great way to spend my morning in the rain!  :)  
xoxo, Erin
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Marriage
05.23.11

Marriage

I’ll never forget the first fight Kenny and I had.  It was soon after returning from our honeymoon.  We were in the grocery store on our first official married shopping trip.  It all started in the cereal isle.  We were buying Cranapple juice.  Kenny wanted to get a generic brand.  I insisted on Ocean Spray.  Yes, Ocean Spray was $4.00 – over double the price of the generic Cranapple juice, but hello!  Ocean spray tastes better!  My mom always bought Ocean Spray and well… I wanted Ocean Spray.  Kenny wasn’t having it.  Next up was hair spray – once again Kenny wanted to buy some cheap generic junk.  What!?  Hairspray from the grocery store?  Uh. no.  I would be getting my Paul Mitchell from the salon thank you very much.  It went on like this for the next hour – Kenny trying desperately to buy the cheapest possible option, going on and on about our sad little budget while I fought tooth and nail, desperately trying to hang on to the life I was used to under mom and dad’s roof.  We finally came to blows in the broom isle.  There was just NO WAY I was sweeping my floor with that cheap piece of crap broom…

{February, 28th 1997 – the night Kenny and I were engaged — looking WAY too young to get married!}
The famous “Cranapple fight” is one we remember and laugh about often.  Thankfully we’ve both matured quite a bit since then (at least we like to think so!).  While we don’t fight over what to buy in the grocery store anymore, we do have VERY different personalities and have to work hard to keep our marriage a happy one.  

Last week I went to a wedding shower for a friend.  Before presents were opened, each guest was asked to share a bit of marriage advice for the soon to be bride.  I felt myself saying amen and amen to everything that was said.  Great advice for anyone about to get married and even better reminders for those of us who have been married for a while.

Here’s some of the advice that was shared:

– Don’t be in a rush to have kids.  Enjoy that special time together when it’s just the two of you.
– Don’t sweat the small stuff.  Really.  Your spouse will do a thousand little things that irritate you. Let the little stuff roll off your shoulder.  You’ll both be a much happier couple if you do.
– “You can be right or you can stay married.”  When you can tell an argument is escalating, be the one to step back and say I’m sorry.
– Make date nights a priority.  ESPECIALLY after you have kids.  Prioritize and plan for time together with just the two of you.
– Don’t think that your spouse can read your mind!  Be specific about what you want/need in the relationship.
– Time apart is good!  It’s important to have things you enjoy doing together and it’s important to have your own hobbies and interests.
– Don’t look to your spouse to make you happy.  Prioritize yourself.  Make time for the things you love that bring you happiness each day.
– Don’t talk badly about your spouse to friends/family.
– Make sure your spouse knows how much you appreciate him/her.  (several ideas were shared about ways to do this – phone calls, notes, little surprises here and there…)
– Make sure that even with the craziness kids bring to your relationship your spouse knows that he/she is still a priority.
– Be a team.  Don’t worry about whose job it is to do what.  Always chip in and work together.
– Have fun together!  Remember to laugh and not take life too seriously.

I threw that last one in myself.  A little advice to me from me. 
And we both lived happily ever after.  Drinking Ocean Spray Cranapple juice all along the way.  
;)
p.s.  I’d love to hear any other sage advice if you have something you’d add to the list!
xoxo, Erin
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Food and Cooking...or lack thereof
05.20.11

Mexican Chalupas

Hi everyone!  The weekend is upon us.  YEA.  So you are all in for a real treat today.  Another recipe by yours truly!  (By this point I’m hoping you can tell when I’m being sarcastic.)  I cooked one of my favorite easy recipes this week to take dinner to a friend and she loved the recipe!  Said her kids loved it too!  It made me so happy.  And so mad because my kids don’t love it.  What’s up with that.  Then I remembered that the last time I made this was in December and I was going to blog the recipe and forgot.  Or more likely I got sidetracked with my mass production of pretzel hugs.  So here’s a little Christmas decor in May!  Along with a simple, tasty recipe that is pretty hard to mess up.  
What you need:
1 pork tenderloin
1 large can chopped green chilies (I always buy two little ones because I can’t ever find a large can and I get impatient looking for ingredients in the grocery store)
1 large can salsa (that’s always easy to find)
2 cans rinsed pinto beans
1 jar green salsa (optional – I’ve never added this)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 fake poinsettia – not really but it does add a bit of flair, doesn’t it?
What you’ll do:
Cook 1 pork tenderloin in crock-pot on high for 3-4 hours (optional – lightly season with salt and pepper – I’ve never done this either because I think pork is plenty salty on its own)

 Remove tenderloin and shred into small pieces

Rinse out crock-pot and put shredded pork back in
Add all of the above ingredients
Stir and heat everything until warm (this takes a while – at least another hour)

 Serve in warm flour tortillas with cheese and sour cream

Delicious and easy.  Here’s hoping that you and your kids will love it too!  
Have a great weekend everyone!
xoxo, Erin
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home decor 2
05.18.11

I’m dreaming…of a white…

kitchen!  Ok.  I actually already HAVE a white kitchen.  And I still love my white kitchen.  I have been a fan of white kitchens for as long as I can remember and when we built our current house nine years ago a white kitchen was my top priority.  As styles come and go over the years that is the one thing that I still love and probably always will.  White kitchens.  Such a clean look!  And a great back drop for any and all colors.  
If we were staying in this house for a few more years I would replace our tile with wood floors, repaint, add a fun light fixture in the kitchen, change the light fixture over the dining room table, and re-decorate.  
I’m  a bit antsy lately so the re-decorating part may happen regardless.  :)
I have been saving pictures of white kitchens I love for a while now and thought I’d share some with you!  These are a few I’ve cut out of magazines…

I just love the island in this one.  And the painted hood over the oven.  And the windows over the sink.  I just love it all!

These are my favorite wood floors.  Big thick planks.  I’m not a fan of this back splash or island, but I love the cabinets.  And the dog.  He looks like he loves white kitchens too.  :)

Love the oven hood.  Love the legs below the sink.  
I absolutely adore this green island!  So fun.  
Several of you mentioned Pinterest in the comments after I shared my binder.  OH YES.  I have definitely joined Pinterest!  Have you all heard of it?  You MUST check it out if you haven’t already.  It has proven to be the most addicting thing ever.  Dare I say that it maybe even ties with blog stalking!?  So much fun.  I’m not creating an amazing variety of boards – just using it strictly for home decor/ideas.  You can find me pinning up a storm here.  Like I needed one more thing to occupy the free time I really don’t have!  
Here are some of the BEAUTIFUL white kitchens I’ve pinned on Pinterest and their original sources…  


How gorgeous is this kitchen!?  Love the bead board cabinets.

I can’t get enough of this one.  How heavenly is all that GREEN!!!  I especially love the green paint behind the white dishes in the cabinet.  LOVE it.  

Beautiful ceiling.  Beautiful kitchen.  Still debating whether or not I love the big white farm sinks that are so in right now… anyone out there have one?  Pros?  Cons?  

How dreamy is this kitchen!?  Such a clean, calm look and the light fixtures are TO DIE FOR.  

This kitchen is perfect.  Maybe I’d change the chandeliers (a little too fancy for me) and the chairs, but everything else…perfect.  

SWOON!  I couldn’t get over this one, but I think that has just as much to do with the organized pantry as it does the kitchen!  Be still my heart.  

Source: google.ca via Erin on Pinterest
Love those island legs and the windows.  Gorgeous!  

This kitchen is just FUN.  It makes me happy every time I look at it!  
So there you have it!  Kitchens I adore.  Kenny is so sick of hearing me talk about white kitchens.  When we check out a house the first place I head is to the kitchen to see if it has the “bones” to someday be transformed into my white dream kitchen.  It especially baffles him because he knows how much I despise cooking.  I tell him I don’t plan to COOK in it.  Silly.  I just want to organize it and decorate it and bask in its loveliness every day.  
And then call for take out.  
:)  
xoxo, Erin
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Mom Adventures
05.17.11

Home Decor Binder

Some days I feel on top of things.  I feel like everything is running smoothly.  I feel like I’ve got this three kids thing down.  
Today was NOT one of those days.
Long morning with Kole.  He was so fussy – didn’t take a good nap.  I picked the girls up from school and Ellie had her annual check up at the doctor at 4:00.  I took all three kids with me.  I know.  Don’t ever take three kids to the doctor if you can at all avoid it.  Ellie had to get a shot.  She FREAKED out.  Crying hysterically.  Addison started to cry because Ellie was crying.  Kole started to cry because it was so noisy with the girls crying.  It was a full on CIRCUS.  I got home and got everyone calmed down.  Threw the girls in the tub and threw a frozen pizza in the oven.  Threw my hair in a bun and threw a load of clothes in the washer.  Got the girls out of the tub and threw Kole in.  A lot of throwing is going on at this point.  Got them all clean and in pajamas (yes it’s only 5:30 but I am counting down to bedtime) just in time to hear a beep beep beep!  What is that noise I keep asking myself.  The pizza!  I run downstairs only to find I’ve burned dinner.  Crap.  They’ll have to eat it anyway because Kole is so fussy I can’t set him down and I haven’t even started homework with Ellie.  They eat a lousy meal and I eat their lousy leftovers and somehow we make it through our evening routine.  Kenny comes in the door and the kids run to him – DADDY!  I want to run to him to.  SAVE ME!  He can see it on my face and swoops in to put the kids in bed while I clean up the charred remnants of a Tombstone and reach for the Tylenol.  Extra Strength.    
It’s now past 10:00 at night and I am finally recovering from the day.  I’m feeling a bit better now because I just went through my Home Decor binder that I finished putting together yesterday.  Because we are house hunting home decor has been on my brain a lot.  I’ve been compiling ideas for our next house for quite a while now and it feels so nice to have all of my magazine clippings and ideas organized.  This binder takes me to a little happy place full of white kitchens, wood floors, and beautiful furnishings.   
And tonight was a night that I needed to escape to my little happy place.  
 I just bought a big white binder from Target and put some fun yellow scrapbook paper in it.

 Then I threw in a few thickers to spell home decor.  Thickers make everything happy, don’t they!?

 I divided it into the areas I’ve been focusing on: kitchens, mudrooms, scrapbook rooms, closets, laundry rooms, paint colors, decorating, and of course, organizing.  Lots of fun organizing inspiration!  Then I just punched holes in all of my clippings and placed them in the right category.

I love these dividers from Target because they have pockets in them to hold all of my loose notes about random things I want to remember if we build or re-model.

A VERY happy place to fall after a VERY long day.   :)

xoxo, Erin
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Music
05.16.11

Spring Mix – 2011

Hi friends!  Sorry for the lack of posting last week!  I was going to post again Thursday night but Blogger was down for maintenance which was CLEARLY a sign that I was meant to instead veg on my couch and catch up on American Idol.  I have to say that I have been team Haley all the way but I was NOT impressed with her attitude last week when the judges didn’t love her first song.  Maybe Randy was a bit harsh, but still.  You’ve got to be able to take criticism to get better even if you don’t agree with it.  I still love her style though and she is definitely the singer whose CD I’d buy.  I think Lauren and Scotty are great too.  I’m just not a big fan of country.  Should make for a great season finale though and then on to the REALLY great competition — SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE BABY!!!  Can’t wait!

Since we’re on the subject of music again I thought I’d share another play list I created that I’m loving right now.  Every Spring I make a new mix of music called – you’ll never guess – my “Spring Mix.”  I know.  My creativity is killing you.  :)  These are the songs that I play in the car, while I scrapbook, and while the girls and I do our cleaning routine every afternoon/evening.  You can listen to them by turning on the play list I created on the side of my blog.  For some reason I couldn’t find all of my songs for the playlist (including Paris, one of my favorites!) but they are all on i tunes.  I’ll leave my playlist up this week.  LOVE these songs!

This year I’ve been kind of into Lilly Allen, Kate Nash, and Jem.  

Paris — Kate Nash (This song is so fun! – I always play it first thing when we get in the car and the girls and I sing and dance to it while we drive.  Even Kole moves his head from side to side to the beat.  He’s a big fan of Kate Nash too.)
They — Jem
Merry Happy — Kate Nash (Another song that always puts me in a good mood.  I love the way it says “I can be alone yeah I can watch a sunset on my own” over and over and over.  I also love it when it says “eating cheese on toast…”  I don’t know why I love the words so much.  They just make me smile.)
Not Fair — Lily Allen (Ellie and her carpool friends love this one.  It says something about a boy being “dumb” and they laugh hysterically every time.  I love driving around with a group of first grade girls.  It’s always a party in my car!)
Pony — It’s OK
Fidelity — Regina Spektor
On the Radio — Regina Spektor
Smile — Lily Allen (love this song but can’t have it on my play list because of a swear word in the beginning.  My girls listen to my music as much as I do so I have to be careful!)
He Wasn’t There — Lily Allen
It’s Amazing — Jem
I Could Say — Lily Allen
Mushaboom — Feist
The Way I Am — Ingrid Michalson
Hey, Soul Sister — Train – (I had to include this song because it’s one of Addison’s favorites.  The first time she heard it she thought for sure it was a sister song all about her and Ellie.)  :)

AND here are a few of our “Spring mix” favorites from past years…

Don’t Let Me Fall — Lenka
I Don’t know a Thing — Lucy Schwartz
OK — Holly Conlan
Ordinary Day — Emillie Mover
Trouble is a Friend — Lenka
Bring Me Down — Lenka
Colors — Kira Willey
Bruises — Chairlift
Butterfly Nets — Bishop Allen
Dangerous and Sweet — Lenka

And of course, The Show by Lenka. An all time favorite in our house because of little Addison.  We still sing her 2 year old version of the song – “I want my mommy back” instead of “I want my money back.”  :)

Hope a few of you now have some new songs to listen to this season!  Nothing like a fun song to put you in a good mood.

Happy Monday!

xoxo, Erin
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Ramblings
05.11.11

Scattered

Things are a bit scattered around here lately.
 Toilet paper is scattered all over my bathroom floor.
Random picture frames are scattered in various piles around my house.
 Some that are waiting to be painted, replaced with new pics, and transformed into a photo collage.
Some that just need to be hung.
And some that just need to be put away for a while.

 School kits and pictures are scattered all over my scrapbook table.

 Magazine cutouts are still scattered in a messy pile waiting for me to finish what I started last week.

And we reached a new low tonight with dinner scattered all over the kitchen floor.  
Now if I can just stop my mind from being so scattered and going in different directions I might be able to focus and get something accomplished.
Or at least get the kitchen floor mopped.
xoxo, Erin
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Music
05.09.11

Workout music

A while back I shared my exercise routine with you.  It’s important for me to squeeze in a little treadmill/aerobic time each day to keep my thighs AND my sanity in check!  I’ve received a few requests to also share my workout music so below are some of my favorite treadmill tunes.  I have to first warn you — my music choice in the workout category is a bit nerdy.  A lot of these songs are older but I love exercising to them because they bring back such great memories for me.  I haven’t had time since Kole came along to update this mix, but in the past when I have had time to add a new song or two, I would always test them on the elliptical at the gym.  If the RPM’s are going up up up while I’m listening to the new song, it’s a keeper.  If the RPM’s start to drop, I toss the song.  It’s a fun little game I like to play in a desperate attempt to entertain myself because I find the elliptical rather boring.  :)

So without further delay, here are some of my favorite workout songs – memories included!

Dynamite — Taio Cruz  (first up on the play list on the side of my blog)  The only song I’ve added to my workout play list this year and I just LOVE it!  It reminds me of doing Zumba with my sister-in-law Dayna when I visit my home town.  We always have such a blast!  The Zumba class is in a big warehouse and it’s a dark club like setting.  The music is pounding and you can just let loose!

(me and Dayna — at Point Loma in the fog — not doing Zumba)

Love Game — Lady GaGa
Just Dance — Lady GaGa
Pocket full of Sunshine — Natasha Bedingfield
Harder to Breathe — Maroon 5
Holiday — Green Day
I Don’t Wanna Be — Gavin DeGraw  
Livin’ on a Prayer — Bon Jovi — K – I know this song is ancient, but here’s my memory with this one.  When Kenny and I were leaving Virginia (where we spent three years for Law School) I was so sad.  I had made so many friends and loved our time there and I was nervous about moving to San Diego and starting all over.  Bags packed, we pulled out of our neighborhood to start our cross country road trip and I started to cry.  To cheer me up Kenny turned on Livin’ on a Prayer, cranked it up way too loud, and sang it to me at the top of his lungs while we drove.  All tears ceased and soon we were both jamming like idiots to this song with the windows rolled down ready for our new adventure.  I can’t hear this song without thinking of what a sweet dork my husband can be and our fun times living on the East Coast.  Plus this song is just a great one to practice my boxing moves to!  (WOAH OH!  Livin’ on a Prayer……) 

Rich Girl, The Sweet Escape, Hollaback Girl, Hey Baby, Sunday Morning and TONS of Gwen Stephani music (you know how I feel about Gwen Stephani)
Lose My Breath — Destiny’s Child
Survivor — Destiny’s Child — Reminds me of teaching my 4th graders how to dance for a PE segment in Virginia.  I helped five of my girls make up a dance to Survivor which was huge at the time and they were so stinkin’ cute performing it for parents.
Unwritten — Natasha Bedingfield
Hey Ya — Outkast
All the Small Things — Blink 182
Don’t Go There — Soundtrack of Dangerous Minds  This song is just plain annoying!  I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone!  But in college I was on the dance team and we did a fun dance to this song.  Every time I hear it I remember that dance and all of my friends from college and the fun times we had together.

Go Rebelettes!!!!  
(and yes, those are overalls I’m wearing in the bottom right – now you know how dated these pictures are – I’m suddenly feeling REALLY old)

Come Together — Michael Jackson (reminds me of another Rebelette dance)
Disturbia — Rihanna
Family Affair — Mary J. Blige
Pon de Replay — Rihanna
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree — KT Tunstall
Salvation — The Cranberries – Fun memories of driving around in my white Honda Civic I had in High School with my little brother jamming to this song.  Love my little brother and I LOVED that white Honda Civic!

So What — Pink
Don’t Lie — Black Eyed Peas
Don’t Phunk with my Heart — Black Eyed Peas
Let’s Get it Started — Black Eyed Peas
Hit him up style — Blue Cantrell
Two Princes — Spin Doctors – I can smell summer in southern Utah when I hear this song!  And taste cherry glaciers from the Frostop.
Mona Lisa — Fugees Takes me right back to late nights with my sister.  She would always listen to her music way into the night and I hated it all.  Except this song.  I would ask her to play this song over and over.  Remember Car?  :)
Geek in the Pink — Jason Mraz (what time is it?  It’s Laundry….)
Jai Ho– Soundtrack of Slum dog Millionaire — in honor of my Addison’s debut in the dance world.
Unbelievable — EMF
Mercy — Duffy  fun memories of So You Think You Can Dance concerts…

So there you have it!  Doesn’t my music just make you want to get up and move!!??

Not so much?

Well it works for me.  :)

xoxo, Erin
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Mom Adventures
05.08.11

Moms day

Wanted to wish all moms a happy Mothers Day!  
I’ve loved spending some time with my cute mom this last week.  I am so grateful for the close relationship we have.  She truly is my best friend and we always have a blast together.  My hope is that one day my girls will feel about me the way I feel about her.  She is amazing.  Love you so much mom!
The other day Ellie and I were doing homework and this was one of our conversations:
“mom, if I fell in hot lava would you jump in and save me?”
“in a heartbeat.  I would jump right in.”
“but how would you find me?”
“it would be tricky but I would figure something out.”
“well why don’t you just wear goggles?”
“well why don’t you just stay away from hot lava?”
Then we laughed.  
I love conversations like this one.  And I love being a mom to my three little peanuts.  
It truly doesn’t get much better than this.

Enjoy your day moms!

xoxo, Erin
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Kole
05.05.11

pantry and paper towels

Did I remember to thank those of you who offered help with my iphoto struggles?  THANK YOU!  Several of you offered tips that have helped a lot.  And several of you also shared house struggle stories that made me smile and feel better about our situation.  So kind of you all.  One reader (hi Cori!) asked this question in the comments:
“I am sure you get this a lot: but, is your mother into organizing as much as you are?  I’m just curious.”  :)
No.  My mother is not that into organizing.  She is clean – our house was always very tidy growing up, but she is WAY more low key than me when it comes to cupboards/drawers/closets, etc.  I drive her nuts with my attention to detail and impossible quest for perfection.  However, it doesn’t seem to bother her as much each summer when I come to stay with her and organize her kitchen.  Imagine that.  :)
A few pics of my mom’s pantry from 2009 —

I have fun plans in store for her pantry this summer!

And while we’re on the topic of pantry’s and kitchens once again….here’s Kole’s latest trick —

 La de dah — happily playing with my paper towels…

 Crap.  Mom found me.  

 Oh well.  She thinks I’m so cute she won’t even care…

 See what I mean!?  She’s just standing there smiling and snapping pictures.  
I am SO running the show around here.

 And now I’ll happily scoot away leaving mom with my mess.  
Adorableness gets you pretty far in this world. 

(Told you my boy was smart)
:)
xoxo, Erin
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Ellie and Addison
05.03.11

In the news

 A few news updates today–

#1) We killed Osama bin Laden!

What?

Already knew that huh?  Well what about my second news update –

#2)  I’ve been totally neglecting my blog!

What?

Knew that one too?  Alright.  On to family news that may be boring, but at least isn’t as obvious.

This last week has been kind of crazy for me and Kenny.  I won’t go into all the details but the bottom line is that we found our dream home and then later realized that for a number of reasons it wasn’t our dream home after all.  This house search has been a lot more time consuming and emotionally draining than I ever expected it to be.  I’m not complaining.  I know that the problems we’re having finding the right home are good problems to have.  Even so, this last week has left me a little down and a little frustrated and a little burned out.  We’re feeling like it’s time to just take a break from it all.  Still look at possible homes, but not be as consumed with it as we have been.  I’m ready to focus on other things.  Like my kids again!


Hello children.  How have you been?  I’m sorry you’ve all been running on auto pilot for the last week while your mother has been so occupied with other things.  


I’m also ready to focus on my current house.  I’ve been putting off changing my decor in hopes that we would be moving soon but I’m feeling like sprucing up this house in the mean time would be a good idea and give me something else to focus on.  I told Kenny that some MAJOR retail therapy was in order to lift my spirits.  He didn’t look impressed.  I told him that I’d settle for some MINOR retail therapy and he agreed only because he knows it will happen with our without his consent.  :)


My parents came into town over the weekend to help us with the kids and with everything we had going on.

Aside from counseling us they also had  a great time vegging out with the littles.  Notice the healthy snack I prepared for everyone on the coffee table.

We celebrated my cute dad’s birthday together.  It was so sweet of him to drive down to help us out over his birthday weekend.  I asked him if this is what I have to look forward to?  Just when you get all of your kids out of the house and think you’ve got it made you get sucked back into their drama!  He told me yes – that is exactly how it is – and he wouldn’t want it any other way.  I love my dad so much.

 Other fun news in little Ellie’s world.  She finally lost that other front tooth!  We just love seeing her toothless grin and are grateful that for her sake she isn’t talking strange at all.  :)

 Addison is up to her regular mischief.  Going through 3-6 wardrobe changes, hairstyle changes, and shoe preferences within the hour.  This is a fun up do she has been sporting lately because it has been so hot here!  We are having one of our Santa Anas and things are a bit toasty on the coast.

 To do this I just started a low, side ponytail and then didn’t pull it all the way through on the last loop.  Addison was loving this yesterday.  For about five minutes until she decided she didn’t want a “princess bun” after all. This princess wanted a braid.  I told my Royal Highness to forget it – I wasn’t about to re-do the do and a nice little power struggle ensued.  She went to pre-school in tears but quickly recovered when she saw her friends.  I said a little hallelujah/thank you prayer that for my last child I was blessed with a boy!

Speaking of my boy, he and I have been kind of into stripes lately.
And kind of into spending every waking minute together.  Kole tells the best jokes.  

He also loves home decor magazines.  We read them together all the time.  While I love a touch of cottage in my decor, Kole prefers more of a modern elegance.  We are working together to find a style that will make us both happy.  
And for my last piece of news (which is obvious by the fact that at 4:00 yesterday afternoon I was reading a magazine) my mom is staying in town for the rest of the week.  YEA!  
Things are already starting to look up. 
 :)
xoxo, Erin
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Ramblings
04.29.11

iphoto issues

Ok – I’m going to attempt to explain my iphoto issues since several of you so sweetly asked and offered to help.  (Thank you!)  When I had my PC I just used folders to organize my pictures.  I blog a lot of my pictures (as you all know!) so I developed a system where I organized my pictures by date and blog post.  I found for me that I remember where my pictures are best by blog posts.  For example, if I want to find that one picture I took of Addison in her big girl bed for the first time, I can remember the post I did about it and around the time I wrote the post and find the picture easily that way.  OR I can look in my blog archives to find where it would be located.  I take and keep a TON of pictures so it’s important for me to be able to find what I need quickly.  So this is how I organized my pictures on my PC:

I had a 2010 folder  – inside it a folder for each month – inside each month folder – a folder for each blog post.  Also in each month folder a folder for “random pictures” from the month that I wanted to keep but didn’t blog.  Example of my folders:

2010:
   January:      
          Blog Posts:
                Organize something or other
                Scrapbook something or other
                Kids something or other
          January Randomness:
   February:  (same thing as above – you get the picture)  

Then I would set up additional folders for pictures I wanted to get developed for my kids’ albums.  A lot of folders, but every picture had a happy home where I could easily find it.

When I got my Mac, I transferred all of my pictures over and kept my old pictures organized in folders on my computer exactly as they were.  Then I started putting all of my new pictures in iphoto.  I tried to set up the same system as above using iphoto albums (which worked fine).  BUT…

Here are my issues with iphoto (you may want to grab a snack) —

1) It would take me FOREVER to bring over all of my old photos and organize them this way in iphoto so I now have my photos in two different places.  If I’m doing a post that includes a new photo and an old photo I have to “import” or “export” the photos so they are in the same place.  It’s a pain not having everything together.

2)  It drives me nuts how in iphoto I can’t move the pictures around unless I’m in an album.  If I take 10 pictures of my spring mantle and want to choose the best one to blog, I have to put them in an album in order to move them around next to each other to make them big and compare.  So I make an album, move the pictures around, compare, pick the best one, delete the rest.  Problem is – the ones I deleted are only deleted in the album – not in my “photos” – so they are taking up space on my computer and I feel like I then have to go back into photos and delete them again.  LAME.

3) While it’s handy to have iphoto editing right inside the program, I like Photoshop much better for editing.  The “enhance” which I use a lot (because I rarely have time to do any real editing!) doesn’t do a quick fix as well as the “auto smart fix” in Photoshop (in my humble opinion).  :)  So I find myself not using the editing feature in iphoto as much.

4)  When I do use Photoshop to edit or to do something like make a new blog header, I can’t save what I edited/created straight to iphoto.  I have to save them in a folder on my computer and then “import” them to iphoto.  One more step.  LAME.

5)  When I make a collage in Picasa (because I love making Picasa collages – they are so easy and quick!) I again can’t save them straight to iphoto.  Same as above, I have to save them somewhere else and then “import” them to iphoto.

It just feels like I am creating folders anyway to do some of this other stuff and leaving iphoto to edit so I have been wondering if I should just leave iphoto altogether and keep my old folder system which seemed to be much easier for me.  Plus that way all of my pictures would once again be in one happy spot!

Maybe I just don’t know how to use iphoto?  Maybe I can do a lot of the things I don’t think I can?  Maybe there’s a better way to organize my pictures altogether?  Maybe I need to stop eating the Cadbury Egg I just tore into?

I don’t know.  I’d LOVE any tips, insight, or advice.  Unless you’re going to tell me to stop eating my chocolate.  Kindly keep that advice to yourself.

:)

Thanks so much and have a great weekend!

xoxo, Erin
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