My big 2-5!

Hola! I am oh-so-sorry for my prolonged absence as of late but the holidays just got the best of me (in a good way, of course). I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s spent with family and great friends and then, just like each year before it, my birthday came and went faster than you can say ‘Senior Citizen’.

Yes…it’s true. I’m officially, gulp, OLD. Okay, okay, I know at the ripe old age of 25, I can’t exactly claim AARP benefits just yet but something about turning a quarter of a century has made me think a lot about what I’m doing with my life and take stock of what is important to me and what is not so much anymore…not a full-blown quarter life crisis but I think some big changes might be taking place sooner rather than later…and of course, I’ll keep y’all posted!

So enough about my newly found oldness. Let’s talk about the fact that I have the BEST fiancé in the whole wide world who pretty much single-handedly whipped up one heck of an awesome ski trip in honor of my birthday! My best friend, Justine and her hubby Trent made the trek with us and aside from a bout of altitude sickness and a messed up hotel reservation, the trip went off without a hitch. So fun!

Warning: I may have gone just a wee bit overboard with the photos.

Justine and I at our hotel in downtown Denver

 The lovebirds.

Perty lights in downtown Denver.

 Our view.

 My big birthday dinner. Way too much Italian yumminess.

Loving my new Nook...and Words with Friends. SO addicting.

On our way to the mountain...we didn't bring much stuff at all...

The view from our condo...photos don't do it justice.

On the mountain. BEAUTIFUL.

On the ski lift with my handsome man.

The group! {I'm trying desperately not to slide down the mountain in this photo.}

The best moment of the trip...seeing these two stud muffins rolling

 into the lodge covered in snow and ice!

We had wonderful weather but the lift was always cold.

The munchies!

Um, can I have these installed in my house? M'kay thanks.

Thanks for a great trip babe!!!!



The Y-word.

I am going to STOP resisting and just say yes…yes to experiences and people and yes to letting myself be the most confident and joyful that I can be!

Yes to positive thinking.

Yes to kissing under the mistletoe.

Yes to Christmas light looking and hot cocoa sipping.

Yes to New Year’s resolutions that turn into life-long habits.

Yes to kicking my feet up and relaxing!

Yes to quality time with friends and family.

Yes to remembering the reason for this festive season…Jesus’s birthday!

Yes to gym time and eating right…even during the holidays.

Yes to seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child.

Yes to snow angels…come on snow!!

Yes to crossing off all the items on my to-do list!

Yes to choosing JOY.



Five Friday

Good morning everyone and can I just start this post by saying HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Only 9 days until Christmas! Sheesh…it seems like it comes around faster and faster every year!

I am SO excited to announce that Ashley over at Stealing Baby Kisses is hosting a giveaway for LolaMae Creations today through the weekend! You don’t wanna miss out on this awesome opportunity to score some {LMC} loot. Check it out here! Ashley has been so great to work with and her blog {and her little boy, of course} is the cutest!

With the Christmas holiday rapidly approaching, I figured I would take a moment to provide Santa {or the fiancé, friends, parents, anyone feeling especially generous, you get the picture…} with a snippet of my Christmas list. My top five…

Perfume! Specifically, Nina by Nina Ricci…I discovered this gem of a perfume about two years ago and my nose hasn’t enjoyed another perfume quite as much since. I recently ran out and after going perfume-less for a couple months, I think it’s about time to replenish my stash!

Uggs…I love all shapes and sizes, colors and styles of these magnificent boots. But I have my eye on a particularly snazzy {yes, I just said snazzy} pair this year…I’m hoping to make these babies mine!

Swoon

 Chaptstick, chapstick, and more chaptstick. I would be happy if I received an entire stocking chocked full of this schtuff. I’m pretty much addicted…I have a chapstick on my night stand, in the car, in my purse, in my desk at work, at my work station in the studio…and I’m running low on my supply, eek!!

Nook Color…I had my reservations about this one, insisting for the last few years that I just can’t give up on real books…but with the new color version of the nook, along with its capability of using apps, web browsing, watching movies on the go, and of course uploading books {with no waiting…great for an impatient lady, such as myself!} I think I’m going to give it a go. I’m super excited so I hope Santa {wink!} decides to leave one under the tree for me!

And if Santa is feeling especially generous, I would love nothing more than to slip behind the wheel of this bad boy. It’s kiiind of always been a goal of mine to walk outside Christmas morning to find a shiny new car with a ginormous red bow on the hood just waiting for me…

There you have it kids. My top five Christmas list. Use it wisely.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone and don't forget to check out my giveaway!!!



Just Scrooge-ing it up...

December…the month of Christmas lights, large amounts of baked goods, and holiday cheer. In addition to all of these lovely things, this year, it has been the month of STRESS!! I have managed to put up my Christmas tree, a wreath on my front door, and a jingle bell door hanger on our back door…that’s the extent of the decorations I’ve had time to put up. In addition to my lack of holiday décor, I have purchased exactly 3 of the approximately 15 gifts that I’m planning to get…can you say “Bah humbug”??

I really didn’t mean to bust out my Scrooge attitude this month but every time I come up for air and to finally bask in the awesomeness that is Christmas, those darn adult responsibilities (that take up way too much of my day, in my opinion) always get in the way! I know I can’t be the only one that feels like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off pretty much the entire month of December, can I?

So I’ve made a decision. For the remainder of the month (and hopefully on into the new year!) no matter how busy I might find myself with shopping, filling orders, or baking up a storm, I’m going to take some time each day to stop, take a deep breath, and really feel grateful for the many blessings in my life. I am going to soak up every bit of time I can with family and friends and take full advantage of some much needed sleep in time during my X-Mas vacay! 11 days and counting friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our perty tree.



Dirty Thirty

So lover boy’s BIG birthday was, um, a week ago…and I am just blogging about it now. Ugh. {Sorry babe!} Life has been a wee bit crazy the past week so I’m FINALLY giving his big 30^th some well-deserved attention!! {Plus, I’m still not used to documenting life’s important moments in any more detail than a Facebook status update or two so you may have to bear with me for a bit while I continue to get a handle on this whole bloggy blog thing.}

Mike didn’t want to acknowledge his b-day in any celebratory way but I nixed that idea faster than you can say ‘dirty thirty’. I mean, you get ONE day a year that is ALL yours and I wasn’t about to let his slip by unnoticed!

The big day just so happened to fall on Black Friday, of all days, and the Birthday Boy wanted to hit up the mall for a bit since we were in Omaha for the night so we ended up amidst the sleep-deprived masses, searching for some bargains…all I can say about that experience is that I’ve never stepped foot into a mall on Black Friday and I intend to never let it happen again. Next year, my booty will be snuggled up on the couch, watching some football and sipping on hot chocolate. Good plan.

After a semi-successful shopping venture and dodging a few cars that weren’t really into yielding for pedestrians, we headed to our hotel {which, by the way, was old and super cool but eerily reminded me of the Bates motel} and proceeded to have a lovely evening trying out a new restaurant a handful of cool bars…we also happened to pop into this nifty, hole in the wall vintage shop and played dress up for about an hour. Unfortunately, this girl forgot a camera and also forgot to snap a few photos of our dress up. {Drat!} I did get a few with my phone so I apologize for the poor quality but here are a few snippets of our night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY babe!! I’m so glad you were born and SO thankful to have you in my life!

The next day did some relaxing and went to try out Mike’s brand spankin’ new gun {the reason I had to brave the Black Friday madness}. Plus, I got to bust out my ah-mazing shooting skills and impress the boy...

Try not to be intimidated.

Happy Friday friends!!



I will say yes...

I will say yes…

I say yes to gym time…even when I’m tired.

I say yes to quality time spent doing nothing at all with my man and my doggie.

I say yes to letting go of old hang-ups and insecurities.

I say yes to going out on a limb.

I say yes to chai tea and scarves.

Yes to positivity!

I say yes to never comparing myself to others again.

I say yes to new experiences and people.

Yes to working my booty off to get my business going.

I say yes to laughing so hard my belly hurts.

I say yes to letting go of past hurts.

I say yes to giving my fiancé the unconditional love he deserves.

I say yes to time with family.

I say yes to letting go of control.

Yes to walks with my chunky pup.

I say yes to busting out of my comfort zone.

What will you say YES to this week?

M.M. and I this past weekend celebrating his big 3-0!! {More photos to follow}

Blown Away

So the coolest thing happened to me on Monday. It had been almost a week since my shop had been officially open for business and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of my to-do list items yet uncrossed off my list, and a bit extremely discouraged with my lack-luster sales. I mean, I know Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor was any successful handmade business. But none the less, I was afraid that I was never going to receive any more ‘likes’ or ‘favorites’, or SALES, for that matter! I had a bad ‘tude and I was ready to call it a day…better yet, a week! I just wanted to get some turkey in my bellay, take a Thanksgiving nap, and start again fresh next week.

I was perusing my shop stats, looking at the pretty sad numbers, wondering how a gal on a budget is supposed to get her name out there. I love my {LMC} creations and think they’re something special but how am I supposed to get them in front of the masses?! All these questions swirling around in my head and that’s when it happened…I received a message that would make my day turn around and give me my first glimpse of how kind and supportive those in the handmade community really can be.

My heart leapt a little when I saw that I had a new message in my inbox. Could it be a new sale come my way or an excited customer looking to request a custom order?? The message was titled ‘Sneak Attack!’ It began, ‘You are being Sneak Attacked—with kindness! Go to blah blah blah, such-and-such web site for more info…I skimmed the first line of the e-mail and didn’t read on. Spam. Just my luck…grumble.

I clicked out of my messages and caught up on some paperwork. After a little while, I got back into my Etsy account—I must admit at this point, I’m a wee bit obsessed with checking my shop stats {hehe}—and bam! My stats were through the roof!! I knew this couldn’t be purely a product of hoping and wishing and praying that the wise patrons of Etsy would happen upon my shop, hearting and buying up every little precious item they laid their eyes upon. So I checked back in my messages, knowing there must be something {awesome} going on. Apparently, my ‘spam’ message wasn’t span after all.

I had been chosen for a ‘Sneak Attack’!! So what is a sneak attack?

It's a way to support independant artisans who are trying to sell their wares online. Two days a week at an appointed time, an Etsy shop with few or no sales is announced. As many people as possible then buy items from that shop, resulting in a frenzy of surprise business to the unsuspecting shop!
Even if you can't make a purchase, you can still help by marking their shops or items as favorites, adding them to your circle and spreading the word. If you see something a friend or family member might like, ask them to view the shop. We welcome anyone to come in and join us with the chatter and fun! {http://handmademovement.com/}

 

Over the course of the afternoon and on into the evening, I received more kind words than I knew what to do with. I received a few sales out of the deal and a lot of ‘favorites’. But more importantly, my attitude has been completely changed by this wonderful experience. The random act of kindness that was shown to me blew me away. This group isn’t around to self-promote or increase their own sales. They are here to encourage and promote new shops that may need a little boost to get going. What a great thing!!

Please help to support other undiscovered shops by taking a look at The Handmade Movement. You can find them in a plethora of awesome places: 

http://handmademovement.com/
www.facebook.com/TheHandmadeMovement
twitter.com/#!/sneak_attacks
pinterest.com/sneak_attacks/shops-we-ve-attacked/

I did want to clarify before I let you kids go…I couldn’t be any more thankful for all the friends and family that I had ‘like’ {LolaMae Creations} on Facebook, leave wonderful comments, and check out my shop. You guys are all pure awesomeness!!!

 I’m about ready to sneak off to a little thing I like to call Four Day Thanksgiving Vacation…heck yes!! Have a safe and HAPPY Thanksgiving y’all!