Puss Ann Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

She's at it again! Another fabulous giveaway, this time for matching mother-daughter shoes. Seriously cute shoes!!! Follow the link and join in on the fun.

Puss Ann Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

Flashback Friday

Since my birthday was this week I thought I'd make my Flashback Friday about, what else..birthdays. So here it goes and if you want to join in the fun just go over and see Tara at Too Much Information and link up with the fun.

My 8th birthday party.


Have I ever mentioned that I really wasn't like other girls my age? This is me turning 13. I loved Gone With The Wind and what 13yo girl doesn't need a Scarlett O'Beara and Rhett Beartler? I still have these!

I swear I did not plan this whole five year in between thing. It's a complete fluke! It's my 18th birthday and I just happen to be getting ready to go to a Mardi Gras dance at school.

This is one of my favorite birthday pictures. I'm 26 and with my two most favorite people (at the time)-- Sam and Chris.

Ready to join in?

Happy Birthday Lambie

Here is sweet little Lambie ready for his big party and ready to catch some beads in case a impromptu Mardi Gras parade breaks out in front of the house today.

Speaking of Mardi Gras...Zen Cupcake is having a Mardi Gras cupcake giveaway. Go see what the fuss is about ->here<- . The contest ends today!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Run, don't walk to enter this giveaway! If you have a little girl she will love this skirt!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Mardi Gras, the Soulard way

Did you know that the St.Louis Mardi Gras is the 2nd largest, after New Orleans? I grew up going to Mardi Gras parades in Mobile, Alabama (which is the real birth place of Mardi Gras in the United States) and the first time I attended a St.Louis (Soulard) Mardi Gras parade I was a little disappointed. Of course I was. After all I had always known the big, flashy floats and marching bands and moon pies. The "big" parade for the Soulard Mardi Gras is always held the Saturday before Fat Tuesday, and they do have floats, and they throw beads, and there are drunk people a plenty. After a few years it really grows on you, and you look forward to it.

My birthday falls on Fat Tuesday this year, and I was fortunate enough to spend this past weekend in St.Louis attending the Soulard Mardi Gras. I took lots of pictures, got lots of beads, and of course, drank at least one Hurricane in an over sized cup. I, mostly enjoyed the company I kept and had a great time making fun of the overly drunk college kids.

I know you probably can't tell from these pictures but every float has a portapotty on it, which is something I've always found very amusing.

Of course what adult Mardi Gras experience is complete before drinking out of an over sized cup? I filled mine with beads to bring back to the kids. I think they were happier to get their beads than to have their mommy home again. What about any of you? Have you ever attended a Mardi Gras celebration? Do you have one where you live?

Views from the Red section

Yesterday some friends drove in from St.Louis to attend a book signing at the Borders in Schaumburg. Who was signing? Tattoo artist, Kat Von D. I've been to a book signing, or two in my past, but nothing was as crazy as this was. The atmosphere felt more like a rock concert, than a book store. Fortunately, for us, we arrived before 11am and grabbed our wrist bands putting us in the "red" section (aka..the third group). The signing was only eight and a half hours away! While we did not spend the entire time hanging out in the red section (which happened to be amongst the Religion section of the book store), we did arrive back around 5:30. Just in time to get in our line and make some new friends.

Courtney was so excited, she couldn't stop posing with her book.

Matt was standing behind us in line, and while he may have been interviewed he forgot to have someone take his picture when he actually met Kat.

These girls made paper flowers to give to Kat. I thought that was so thoughtful!

We were finally getting close enough to get a real glimpse of Kat, and Courtney was so excited!

Here's Courtney getting her book signed by her favorite person in the world, Kat Von D. This whole day was all about this moment. Courtney was telling her how she drove over 7hours to be there.

Kat giving Courtney a hug for driving so far. Courtney was so relieved at how nice Kat was, and promises to marry her someday.

One last look before being ushered back down stairs so more fans could get their chance.

Yes. These are empty pizza boxes. This is how cool Kat Von D turned out to be. I don't think that Borders was quite expecting this kind of turn out for this event. When we arrived in the morning to get our wrist bands the rules were these. You can stay as long as you want, you can take as many pictures as you want, if she is willing you can pose with pictures with her (and the guy in the morning had talked to another Borders store that said she had posed for pics there). So we spent all day planning on how we were gonna do pictures and how we wanted a group shot with Kat Von D, ect.. Well, like I said, we don't think the Borders there expected so many people. The building was packed to fire code by 6:30pm and so they had to make people stand outside to wait in line (boy were we glad to have our red wrist bands). When Kat Von D arrived at 7:30 (right on time), she stopped and bought the people outside pizza to eat while the waited in line. How cool is that? Unfortunately because of the amount of people the photo rules had changed and we couldn't get pictures taken with her, and the minute you had your book signed the ushered you away to make more room in the building. So Trish and I sacrificed our turns to meet Kat in order to take a ton of pictures of Courtney meeting her hero. It was well worth it.

This is Trish, me and Courtney right at the front of the line. The wait was finally over, we had made new friends, and had a great time.

Last Minute Valentines

If I was a less procrastinating mother I'd have had these finished and photoed earlier this week. Sorry! Here are some super easy Valentine cards you can make. I originally did them last year for Todd to give out at his preschool but they came home with a note saying, "We don't observe this holiday so we're sending them back. Please read your handbook." Ouch! Todd was so upset because he had really worked hard on them. I put them away and we took them out for this year, but had to add another 15 to the stack.


If you'd like to make these adorable puppy valentine's for next year (or for tomorrow), it's super easy.
You need four shades of construction paper or card stock (I used card stock), cut in heart shapes. A large one for the face, two medium ones for ears, and a small one for the nose. I just used a glue stick to adhere them. You don't have to do them in the colors shown. If I'd thought ahead I would have made these in shades of pink for my daughter to give to her ballet class, but I figured I'd be safe and make Todd's all gender neutral. This is a great project for your kids to actually do themselves, especially if they are good cutters. If they don't have their scissor skills then you can cut the pieces out and they can glue them on. Don't forget to have them sign the backs so friends know who it came from.

and the winner IS.....

I am soooo excited! This morning as I was sitting down to collect all the entries for my giveaway I noticed that Jen, over at All Things Ribbon, had announced her big winner. How could I resist going to check out who won? I WON! Oh my goodness! I was so excited that I yelped and called my mother. So I got a little distracted from what I sat down to do and it's taken a little bit longer to get this posted. Sorry!

This being my very first giveaway I wanted to do things the old fashioned way. So I typed up all the names and printed them out, and cut them up, and put them into a box.
Then Rose picked one out of the box.
I know you can't see it, but the name on the strip says....

Congratulations Fiery!!!!
Fiery, has a lovely blog called The Fire of Life. Please email me so I can get your info!
Thanks to everyone who entered and be on the lookout, I have a feeling this may turn into a monthly event. :)

Flashback Friday

Tara, over at Too Much Information is hosting Flashback Fridays. This is only the 2nd week, and it just sounds like so much fun so I thought I'd participate. Go visit her blog to get in on the fun!

Here's my "flashback photo".

Senior Prom 1992. My date was my best friend, David Wickerham. We actually had an argument about the whole prom thing and that's how I ended up going with him. I was on the prom court and thought it'd be way more funny if I didn't show up for the Prom. He didn't agree and told me that I was going, with him, kicking and screaming if need be. David had to be the best friend a gal could have. He knew I did not want to go to another dance without a date, especially the prom. He came home from college for the weekend and took me. Yes, we had a good time and he was very proud of me being on the prom court. *insert rolling of the eyes here*
Want more fun trivia? My mother made my dress and I used it, a second time, as a bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding that summer.
Now go join the fun and share your flashback photos!
Have you entered my tutu giveaway yet?

Lessons from the parking lot.

Thursday afternoons bring after school activities for my older children. My 12yo (Chris) joined the YearBook Club at his middle school, and my freshman(Sam) joined the Interactive Gaming Club. Interactive Gaming Club is code for Dungeons&Dragons. Yes, I have "one of those" and I couldn't be prouder. So anyway, the routine is to go pick Chris up and then go sit in the parking lane in front of the freshman building to wait for Sam to finish up his round of D&D.

Today Chris and I had a great game of people watching. Maybe I should preface this with the fact that he loves the High School Musical movies and has quite an imagination. We're sure Disney wouldn't make up stories involving kids who spontaneously burst into song, so we've been on the lookout for the high schoolers we're sure who do. Did that make sense to anyone other than me?

Today we're sitting behind a Jaguar (the motorized kind, not the jungle stalker kind) when we notice a girl in a leopard print jacket (umm...cat theme much?), and a Jonas Brother wanna be come out of the building and get into the Jag. Chris and I are pretty sure those are the types who burst into spontaneous song and dance and we'll be keeping our eyes out to see them again.

Next come the jocks. It's basketball season, and everybody knows that basketball players sing and dance. What's this? Why is that player's shirt all ripped? He's gotta be a werewolf (we know from watching too many Joss Whedon shows that this is a definite possibility)--why else would he have a shirt that looks like that? Right? Wait a minute? Why are none of the basketball guys wearing socks? Whoa! Why is THAT basketball guy wearing red tights? We're sure there's some sort of theme going on here but we'll need more time to study it.

We observed the orchestra kids coming and going from the building but we aren't sure if they are really carrying instruments or machine guns. This is Chicago, we've all seen the mobster movies.

Thank goodness! The D&D kids start straggling from the building. They really are the most unassuming of the bunch we've seen all afternoon, which makes us assume they must be the masterminds behind the whole high school organization.

Sam gets in the car and we go through our findings with him, but when we get to our theory on the D&D kids he just clams up. Hmm....we must be getting close to what this high school thing is all about.

In the meantime, keep an eye out on your own high schoolers. Are they of the non-sock wearing basketball playing werewolf society? or do you have a machine gun toting orchestra player? Do your teenagers burst out into spontaneous song and dance?

Have you entered my tutu giveaway yet?

Before, After and Swap.

I'm one of those girls who isn't afraid of change. Today I had my hair cut and I let my husband document the before and after photos. Just FYI, men don't understand the need of taking a billion pictures. I had less than ten photos to chose from, so these may be a little scary.

What do you think? I was in drastic need of a haircut and have never been afraid to "chop it all off". I'm more afraid of having my picture taken, but I was feeling extra brave today. Must've been the groundhog in the air.
Speaking of feeling brave...I am joining in the fun over at Dandelion Wishes. Mammarazzi is having a favorite things swap. I am so excited because I've been wanting to do one. If you'd like to join in the fun click on her super cute button and learn more.

Have you entered my tutu giveaway yet?

A Giveaway to Celebrate.

Have you heard the good news? The CPSC granted a one year stay of testing and certification requirements for certain products. You can read about it at their website, which is here. I know that the fight isn't over, but a lot can be accomplished in a year and to celebrate I am having my very first giveaway.


Here's what you need to do to enter. Go visit my tutus at Createdbymom.com, here or visit my gallery at the Flower Girls website, here and then leave me a comment on my blog telling me which tutu you like. For an additional five entries you can also blog about the contest. Make sure you leave separate comments for each so I know how many times to enter you. The winner will get a tutu of their choice. The contest will end on Feb7th so that the winner will receive their tutu in time for Valentine's Day.