georgie the birthday boy! and more. . .

one week ago today we celebrated george's 6th birthday.  george was born on our wedding day which is how i first knew we were meant to be. {yup, i'm a weirdo like that}

the birthday boy started the day with a romp on the beach.  6 years and one spinal surgery later, he can still keep up with the best of 'em.

we also celebrated our anniversary last friday with royal treatment from straight wharf {thanks, ty!}

effing phenom.

 followed by way too many celebratory cocktails with bridesmaid/cousin/bff ashy and her beau.

{today happens to be said bm/cuz/bff's birthday- hey, girl, hey!  love and miss you so.}

we had a chance to read our messages from table #6.  yes, this is amazing that every year we wait to read these.  if anyone knew my patience level, this is truly a miracle, but it's nice to know we still have a lil surprise to look forward to, not that GEORGE, loo, c & p, and CBC don't provide enough of those. . .

we used these booklets as table numbers for people to write messages.

this was my fave message in this year's. { has nothing to do with it being the only one.  mah. } mr. and mrs. b are dear friends and wonderful role models when it comes to marriage.  they really nailed it with their advice to "stay close, keep talking and laughing."

what an amazebalz day.

photo by corinna raznikov

it would take me for-evah to blog about 6/24/05 but if anyone wants to check out some of our wedding deets, head to style me pretty.

to wrap things up:

gorgeous george, happy birthday to my first baby.

CBC, happy anni, munky.  i really like you a lot. {inside joke.  obvs}

ashy- i'm so happy you were born.  HBD, sissy! xoxo

love-love or not so much. . .camo wedges

 i'm totes a sucker for a great deal.  

so when i saw these camo peep toes at calypso this morning- originally 325 dollars marked down to just 25 dollars  {that's 3 hundo off, folks!} . . . i mean, how can i resist?

do i need to get them or are they so rando and will just sit in my closet?

love-love or not so much?

by the way, LOTS of other great deals at the calypso sample sale online.  extra 50% off - gotta love-love that!

keep calm and give thoughtful gifts

keep calm posters. . .

overdone?  yes.  still fabulous?  totes!

so i thought i was tres original 3 years ago when i hung the classic 'keep calm and carry on' poster in c & p's nursery.  not so much.  ever since we've seen it pop up on just about everything.

still makes me smile though and i was beyond happy to receive such a thoughtful gift from my fabulous friend and stylist, lindsey foley.

she had the amazebalz paige of paiges of style create these clever posters for lc {super mac's mama} and i.  

love-love!

can you stand it?

thanks, lindsey {and paiger!}

xoxo!

oh and i have been "dabbling" in photoshop and made this one for sugar on top for her birthday last month (with a bit of advice from paige, of course).

it's supposed to resemble a cake pop.

it's totes not as cool as the riggins t but i was proud of my ps accomplishment nonetheless.

ummm, and how cute is she?

hellloooooooo. . . it's been for-evah!

i promise not to ever leave for so long again. . . unless something drastic occurs {like i win the lottery or have more children - and let's hope if those things do ever happen it's in that order}

so i have so very very much to fill you in on . . . but i don't have quite the energy to delve into too much right this moment.  where oh where to begin.  hmmm. . . maybe just a lil something that brought a smile to my face?  

i had a big birthday that kicked off my lil hoot hiatus and it was such. big. fun.  

ms. l hosted a fabulous soiree for our m'head ladies.  more on this wonderful night later but sugar on top gifted me a classic.  my loyal lil hoot readers know that i am MIL with riggins.  {see post about the friday night light of my life}

by the way this is NOT my brown shag rug.  this pic is from the website.  buy one and make someone happy here.

i slept in it the night of the birthday party (over my dress.  obvi.)

and then pretty much every night on vacay.

and when i was crying sunday afternoon because i was so depresso our trip was over {and experiencing various withdrawals} i remembered i had not one. . . but TWO friday night lights epis to catch up on.   they did not disappoint.   

glorious.

so now i'm off the ledge {wearing my riggins rigs t again - obvs}, feeling almost back to normal, and inspired to blog.

stay tuned and for those of you who reached out- thank you for missing me!  i totes missed you too.  

birthday wishes. . .

so i must admit i've been taking this "birthday gift" concept to a new level this year. 

there's my infamous pillow project: during the process, i have fallen out of love with zimman's, in love with china seas unattainable fabrics, and in deep gratitude to the lovely julie of shelter.  will hopefully be able to share the finished project when i get home from vacay. . . we've hit a few bumps in the road but the delay will only make me appreciate them more.

i want and i cannot have. wah.

what else?  oh, so all of a sudden i'm hitting the half-way to 70 mark and i want to look 23 again.  so i splurged a bit at sephora.  i asked my beautiful friend jen what she uses and lept from there . . . 

hopefully i'll be giving rave reviews on these products in the near future but most likely i just wasted a ton of dough.  

do you all have any fave skincare products?

oh, and i had to buy the new jennifer aniston perfume because when you put it on it instantly transforms you into jen aniston.  {obvi}  

so you guys might not recognize me around town.  basically keep your eyes peeled for a younger version of jennifer aniston . . . with great pillows.

and what do you want for your birthday?  

and do you still want to read my blog after this totes obnosh and vain post?  

i do realize how very silly it sounds but this is what i asked for this year - inquiring minds wanted to know.

and if i could ask for another year blessed with my wonderful family and friends i would.  forreals.   i would trade all the beauty potions, fabrics, and pillows on the planet for another year with a healthy and happy fam.  corny? totes.  truth? God-honest.

so celebrate every day like it's your birthday and appreciate what you've got. . .  

and then when you're birthday gets really close, splurge on a few goodies.

owl take two . . . on vacay!

exciting week around here.

so very busy working on an adorbs baby shower for a special gal in chi-town.  wishing i lived closer so i could see it all come to life but sending some fun stuff their way.  will give you a full report once it's done. . . good stuff. . . good stuff.

in the meantime, also busy packing for our family vacay.  it's early this year and i can barely believe its right around the corner already.  obvi, i can't show you everything we are packing for c & p, but i'd love to share a few goodies.

this week isn't exactly beach weather but hoping things improve by the time we arrive on-island.  we are taking an early ferry so the plan is to have c & p sporting these adorbs smocked bathing suits by saturday afternoon.

 we heart mermaids so much we bought the dresses, too!  thought this style would be cute with a cardi over it just in case the weather doesn't cooperate.

shrimp & grits offers ridiculously cute smocked clothes and they are having a fab sale right now.  check it out here.

we also can't exactly go to nantucket without our whale dress, also from S & G.

i can't give all of our wardrobe secrets away, what fun would that be?  but i do have these very special dresses hanging in the closet.  my plan was to save them for family portraits with the fabulous miss meredith but i'm not sure i can leave them behind.  i just won't let the children eat or drink {or play} when they have them on.  

that's reasonable, right?

dresses by joules

the uber-helpful lauren at scuppers in old town helped me choose them.  

wor-ship. 

 the fabric is a modern farmhouse toile and i'm picturing getting the girls' photo in front of the bartlett's farm sign.  too contrived?  totes!  do i care?  totes don't give a hoot!

do you see the exposed zipper?  omg, they are growing up before my very eyes. . .

okay, i'm somewhat inspired to pack now. . .

we will probably only be wearing jeans and sweatshirts if mother nature keeps up with this bs, but it won't matter, because it's still vacation, which means i will be intoxicated with my very fave people on the planet. {no, c & p won't be intoxicated, sillies!} 

 my other faves.  

you know who you are.

OMG, i almost forgot to tell you what else i'm doing this week.  i'm quite busy preparing to be the birthday girl.  half-way to 70!  {wahwahhhh}

i LOVE-love birthdays!  even if they mean i'm getting old.  still a chance to celebrate with awesome friends and fam.  looking forward to all of that goodness.

summer hours

so it seems i don't have all the time in the world to blog now that it's not cold, dreary and dark 90 percent of the time, and hopefully this means you all don't have that much time to read blogs either! 

 it's summer outside. . . finally. . . and in these parts we seriously earn our nice summer days and i insist on taking advantage, so my posts might be brief or even non-existent some days in the upcoming months.   

but i'll still keep you posted when something really fun and/or fabulous pops up.  promise.

today was our first day at the pool and it was glorious.

and then when we got home we had something very exciting waiting for us. . .

do you recognize that fabulous hand-writing?!

you all remember the carter kustera portraits i was fretting over. . .

{if not see the post here}

they. have. arrived.

so watcha think?

c looks a bit odd because she was staring up at everyone's fave big purple dinosaur {cue the sarcasm} when i took the image that i sent to carter. . . but i still love-LOVE it.  it's her.

and what do you think of the caption?  it's code for "drama queen."

and p? wor-ship.  obvs.

it's truly a priviledge to be these lil ladies' mama {even when i am dragging them out of the sand box kicking and screaming} and an absolute honor to have carter's awesome work in our home.  dude is legit.

now where should i hang them?