What's the Dealio?!

Who likes free stuff?! I do! I do! Well, my bloggie friends, Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards for bloggers who post about their favorite cards from the fab holiday collection. Woo hoo!

This only furthers my current love-affair with Shutterfly. The Hubby and I used their services recently to create a few, uhhh, gifts that I cannot tell you very much about because I don't want to give anything away to any family members that might be reading this! Lets just say the final product is wonderful and I can't wait for Christmas because the grandparents (and great-grandparents) are going to do back flips! Our order didn't just look great, it came fast and cheap (coupons, coupons, coupons!), too. Does it get any better than that?

Usually, no. But this time, yes! Last week a representative from Shutterfly contacted us and asked if we would consider allowing them to purchase (through a generous store credit) some of the images we posted on their site. I'm not quite sure if they chose them because Haeden is the cutest kid ever, or if the Hubby's photography skills are just that good. I'm going to go with both. Either way, we were pretty excited with the notion that Haeden's very adorable mug will be gracing the website in a matter of months. Promise to update you with that information when we have it!

Now, on to the Christmas card favorites. I chose the first one because, being the undercover hippy that I am, I love anything and everything with the word "peace".

This next one I love because it has a bird on it. I'm currently obsessed with all things birds and owls. I also love the color scheme since it's similar to the decor we have going on in the house right now.

Those are great, yes, but I think this just may be our winner! It has a freakin' palm tree ( Hi, we live in Florida!) and a bird!

Now that that's settled, we need a picture.  Oh, Huuuuubbyyyy...

Yarn Wreath - Revisited

Remember my fall yarn wreath from a few weeks ago?  Well, friends, it is back. And dare I say better than ever?! I also used the same technique to decorate some simple foam Christmas trees. I pretty much love them all... and even Hubby is impressed! I think I deserve a cookie, don't you?

Oh, and pay no attention to the placement of the wreath. I haven't decided where to put it yet and this spot just happened to have the best lighting. Instead, check out that pretty felt poinsettia! I'm totally going to make some pins and possibly use them as gift toppers this year! Oh joy!

What do you guys think!? I'm pretty sure we are going to have a version of this wreath for every season! And one last thing.... I must share a little of Hubby's handywork as well! Gotta love our Florida Christmas (palm) tree!

Steppin' Out Saturday

This weekend was incredibly busy and I loved just about every minute of it! Since every other weekend is spent QT-ing(quality time) it up with the stepkids, our non-boy weekends tend to be a bit jam packed with errands and chores. Throw in a holiday party, 2 *bestie birthdays and a recital-type "jam session" and it becomes a bit of a whirlwind.

I got all dolled up Saturday evening for a work-related Christmas party and unfortunately, you're just going to have to take my word for it. Hubby and I were running late and didn't have time to snap any photos. We couldn't chance being even a little bit late because the party was on a boat. On the river. It was amazing! Best work party ever!

I still wanted to participate in S.O.S. this week, so we snapped a quick shot on Sunday before heading out to a birthday dinner with one of my oldest friends. How cute is Haeden's jacket?! He is such a little ladies man already!

 Haeden:

Jacket- The Children's Place ( best hand-me-down ever)

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - Converse

Me:

Sweater - Target clearance

Jeans- Penney's Junior's Dept

Shoes- Payless

Bonus pictures...

Those eyes!

 Those hats!

* Happy birthday Kerri & Amy! Love you, girls!

Hairmergency!

I started coloring my hair during my first (and only) semester at Florida State. My hair color was fine, so I don't know why really, other than all my friends were doing it. Whaaaat?! Don't act like you’ve never used that excuse before!

Anyway, I usually will color all of my hair in the fall and then have highlights done at a salon in the spring/summer. I just do the highlights once because they aren't far off from my natural color and they don’t look horrible when they grow out. Also, I'm lazy and cheap. Then, in the fall I like to change it up and go auburn. For a while now my mom has been dying it for me because it was long and I needed two boxes. Plus, we both knew that I didn’t have the patience do that all on my own. She always does a great job, too.

Recently, I cut my hair back to shoulder length and decided that I wanted to color it before the Thanksgiving holiday. Specifically, three days before Thanksgiving, and only one day before the Hubby's family arrived in town from Buffalo. You know I had to look good for the family. Also, my SIL is a hottie and I gotsta try and keep up!

I picked up a box of dye at the local Walgreens. I came to a bit of a fork in the road as I wavered between the “new and improved” 10-minute version (same brand, same color, only faster!!) and the regular old standby. The first was cheaper and faster. Looking back that should have probably been a red flag, but in the moment, I was sold.

Everything started out fine. The color looked a little dark, but not alarmingly so. It seemed to cover easily and I was feeling good about it… until I rinsed and stepped out of the shower. I saw my wet hair in the mirror and my stomach dropped. It was DARK. I told myself not to panic. It would be better dry. Of course, it wasn’t. I was trying so hard not to freak out, but there was no avoiding it. My hair was, like, purple. It was super-saturated on top and in front and then in the back it was streaked. It looked like I had swept my fingertips across the back, removing dye. I know you’re laughing right now. I know you want a picture. But, there are no pictures. There was no way I was documenting that moment. I’ll give you a hint as to what I looked like though:

Okay, not really. It was more like this:

Except, I don’t look like that and therefore I was not pulling it off in the least. Plus, don’t forget the streaks! It was a nightmare. I went into the living room to show Hubby and he does the typical man thing, “It’s not that bad!” I responded with, “I am NOT going to work like this tomorrow!” And I didn’t. I called my supervisor, unsure of whether or not I should tell her the truth. I figured though, that honesty was the best policy in this case. Thankfully, she understood. Been there, done that conversation ensued and she told me it was pretty much a womanly rite of passage. Ha!

The next day I spent three and a half hours getting it fixed at the salon. It felt like an eternity, waiting to see the fate of my preeeecious hair. Would I ever be able to leave the house again? The answer was yes. My stylist was an angel. She fixed me up real nice and I promised her (and Hubby) that I would never take the DIY hair approach again!