she's got spirit.

   

i love my sia for all the happiness and love she immensely generates everyday. she is always smiling!! she is my one child that i can honestly says beams of happiness all of the time.

she was so excited today was spirit day at her preschool.  and, in honor of spirit day, we re-fashioned her plain preschool t-shirt with a few cuts and stitches here and there and added some iron-on letters, paint and glitter (which isn't showing in these pictures).

 and, of course, she insisted on wearing preschool logo tattoos too!

sia loves her school and totally thinks it rocks! i think she rocks for showing so much school spirit and being the happiest little girl ever. she can totally brighten any day of mine. i am truly blessed to have such a happy spirited little girl.

 

UPDATE:  Sia came home from school with even more excitement.  She won the Principal's Award for the Most School Spirit... whoo hoo!! Way to go Sia!!

enjoy the weekend.

happy first day of fall. although i have a true love for summer and being at the shore, i am looking forward to the cool, crisp days of autumn. it is definitely my favorite time of year to be in the kitchen. already i am feeling the urge to bake and cook.  during the past week, i baked biscotti, caramel cookies and buttermilk biscuits. tonight, i'm craving a pumpkin & sage pizza and this recipe for butternut squash ravioli will definitely be on my dinner menu soon. i just love all the flavors and foods that represent fall.

this afternoon, my girls started the weekend off by enjoying a game of hopscotch while i began making pizza dough and prepping the toppings.  it seemed like they jumped, hopped and skipped for hours.  i am sure with this beautiful weather, they'll be hopscotching throughout the weekend too.  

whatever your plans, i hope you enjoy this first weekend of fall. and perhaps, you'll enjoy some of these things i've seen and thought i'd share with you-

creating fun photos with chalk

thirty adorable hand-made masks for kids

maybe we should replace our bed for this

i would go glamping 

can't wait to make these paper mache tea cups

i am loving this site of inspiration & ideas from ikea

would you try galaxy nails?

love this reminder to remember when

 

happy weekend. happy fall.

anxiously waiting.

last wednesday night, jeff arrived and he left again on monday morning. our long weekend together always brings a roller coaster of emotions. the excitement of seeing one another again... the contentment of just being together... the happiness of a family united... and then the struggle of saying goodbye. over a three year span, we've said goodbye dozens of times, yet it is never easy. jeff leaves and i have to find the strength again to be on my own. sometimes it takes me a day or two to get back into the flow of daily life at home without jeff here, but thoughts and dreams of us being back together as a family under one roof never leave my mind. i am anxiously waiting for that day to arrive.

{image via irenesuchocki}

weekend craft: birdcage.

{image via honest to nod}

when i spotted this adorable birdcage in a recent land of nod catalog, i wanted to make my own. luckily, the catalog also included a link to the land of nod blog, honest to nod, where you'll find lots of crafty things and things to try. and so, over the weekend sia and i decided to make (our version) of this sweet little birdcage for her bedroom.

although we used an empty 2-liter bottle as the directions instructed, we chose to wrap our bottle with fabric strips (cut from a old baby crib sheet) instead of fabric strapping and used bright pink twine instead of multi-colored embroidery floss. it was what we had on hand and seemed to match sia's room perfectly.

and, sia already had the perfect stuffed birdie she wanted to hang inside, so we chose not to make one, but could've easily done with fabric scraps too. you can find the complete directions and tutorial for the land of nod birdcage and little bird here.

sia decided to hang her newly crafted birdcage next to another birdcage which hangs next to her bedroom window. isn't it sweet? if you haven't been to honest to nod, then please check it out.. there are many things to craft and try.

the weekend.

as of right now, there is officially only an hour left of the weekend. so, i didn't mean to, but i missed wishing you a happy weekend. i hope whatever you did, it was happy and here are some things you might enjoy too-

good question... what would you take?
seriously want to do this in my office
make a golden alligator pinata
almond + orange cupcakes- yum!
beautiful apple cider lattice cookies
think my girls would love these for fall
and, have you see issue #2 of styled yet?

hope your weekend was happy!!

(p.s. jeff- see the picture above?
this is how i am going to paint the office floor!!)

{image via coastal living}

we remembered.

and never forgetting 9-11, ten years ago today.
today, there were so many ways that we remembered.

{image via my sister, lisa}

i'm here. you're there.

perfectly said.
i am still missing my husband tremendously.

{image via yellowheartart}

stormy weather + togetherness.

it seems as if labor arrived and we quickly said goodbye to summer. it has been so dreary, dark and rainy since monday. i don't like this weather at all. especially, weather that creates tornadoes. and monday we had the perfect weather conditions for one.

i had been out buying paint when the tornado sirens began to blare. i had just walked into the store and employees and customers were being asked to take cover in a back training room. my heart stopped, i was alone. i had left my children at home with my mom and i didn't want to be away from them now. definitely not now. my first thought was, i needed to get home. i wanted to be at home. so yes, i disregarded the warnings, i left the store, got into my car and drove home. i was just in front of the tornado.

i now know a tornado definitely touched down not from where i had been and not far from our home at all. some of the homes in our neighborhood have been damaged and many trees are down. scary, yes. lucky, yes. thankful, yes. and very happy i was able to safely get home to be with my children. after i got home, the sirens continually went off, it continued to storm and we lost power, yet we were all together and i couldn't imagine it any other way.

happy, happy weekend.

do you have any fun and exciting plans for labor day weekend? slade has a football game on saturday afternoon, but besides that our calendar is empty... (hoorah!) i would love spend some time painting and perhaps we'll enjoy a day or two by the pool. whatever your plans... have a happy, happy labor day weekend!! here are some things you might enjoy too-

easy to create art for your walls
newspaper nails
would you let your kids paint with squirt guns?
perfectly said
were you a kid of the 80's?
and, diy.. dixie cup garland

{image via heygorgeous}

happy september.

although it is only the first of september and my children have been back in school for a month now, i am already missing summer. actually, i am missing the jersey shore and i wish we could sneak back before fall truly arrives.


maybe it's the fact that our temperatures here are still in the 90's each day. and maybe because labor day weekend is upon us. i am just feeling like we should be at the shore celebrating with family and friends and enjoying the last big weekend of summer.


being at the shore is one of my favorite places to be during the summer. it always has been since i was a little girl and i think it will always will be. thankfully, my children enjoy it as much as i do and together we love to spend countless summer hours there.


how about you, does it feel like it is fall where you are at? and where is your favorite place to be during the summer?

happy september!
(even though i am still dreaming about summer!!)