Holiday Cards Rock

First of all, I love mail. I love pretty, girly stationary. I love hand-written letters. I love walking to the mailbox every day and finding something just for ME inside. During the holidays, I love choosing a cute and funny picture to send to our friends and family. I love receiving cards and yearly updates from our loved ones. I. Love. Mail.

This is only our third year for holiday cards, because it's our fourth married Christmas together and apparently I missed the year my son was born because I can't remember sending cards. The first year I bought cheery green cards from Target. No pictures, just a holiday greeting.  Last year I printed picture cards from Walmart with my son's crying face sitting on Santa's lap. Because OMG it was funny. Maybe this year we can include a shot of all 3 of us! But that's doubtful because my husband doesn't really like pictures.

Shutterfly has super cute (and affordable!) cards. Not only for the holidays, but for all of your card sending occasions. They even have OMG ADORABLE Thanksgiving cards. I love the idea of sending autumn cards. Get the envelope-stuffing and stamp-licking done before the Christmas whirlwind begins. I really like the Falling Leaves card and Letterpress Thanks invitations. I've never had an autumn/Thanksgiving party, but maybe next year! The colors remind me of my bestest Autumn Bliss and my sister Sister (ok, her name is Cheryl, but I always call her Sister and so does everyone else I know because they don't know her name because I never say it).

You can also order gift tags from Shutterfly. I love little personalized details. Just look at the cuteness! Makes me wish I had all the money in the world.

I like their story cards. A little holiday card and yearly update all in one! Love 2010 and Family Memories are my faves.

I'm not sure which card we will send this year. It will probably depend on which picture we decide to use. My son will meet Santa Clause again during Thanksgiving, so we will see what he thinks. Maybe my husband will behave long enough to have a picture taken. Or maybe we'll just insert some other family's perfect picture and keep our loved ones guessing. Oh, who knows. But I will be sending cards. And waiting by the mailbox for mail from you!

(This post was prompted by 50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly. Check it out!)

Craft Crazy

This Christmas I want to make the majority of the gifts I give. I've been feeling super crafty and there are a lot of easy AND cute craft ideas out there.

For my sister's birthday, I made this rag wreath with some leftover fabric from my mother-in-law's quilts and a wire wreath frame. I just tore 6-7" strips of fabric and tied them around the frame. I made the flowers out of felt and buttons (check out the tutorial here).

My Craft To-Do List:

• I really like these cute yarn wreaths. You can make a wreath for every season/holiday/occassion!
• Mod podging has caught my eye. Decorative letters like these look like a good place for me to start.
• I can't sew, but these fabric headbands look easy enough and cute cute cute. (Thanks Maggie!)

Do you have any cute crafts I should check out? I'm always looking to expand my crafting repertoire. Have any favorite craft blogs? I love tutorials :)

Not Very Good At This...

I have had no motivation to blog lately! I feel boring and BLAH. I really want this to be fun for me. This week I will spend more time thinking about my blog and trying to create a more appealing set-up. I need a little more creativity and originality...will ponder.

I've also had no motivation for my C25k program. Stuck on the beginning of Week 3. Partly because it's been colder and partly because my son has been staying up later and I don't like running in the dark. I don't see this changing any time soon, but maybe I can find some inspiration while re-vamping my blog.

On a completely unrelated note, look at my little dinosaur!


Roaarrrr!

 Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

C25K Update

I took a 2 week break from my Couch to 5k program, but I'm back on track! Since I was lazy for so long, I'm going to do a couple days of Week 2 before moving on to Week 3. I was a little nervous about how I would feel after not running for so long, but it felt great! I'm excited to run today.

My new shoes still rock.

I think the stickers are getting meaner.

Not excited about running when it gets cold. I hate the burning lungs feeling.

xo,
Jamie Lynn

MIA

I apologize for my absence (I've always hated that word. I wrote so in my 4th grade journal after missing it on a spelling test). (I had to spell check it and spelled it wrong. Sigh..)

This past week has been fun and busy. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came into town for my other sister-in-law's baby shower (is that confusing enough?). There was a lot of shopping, eating, playing, and talking involved. I had a great time and so did my little boy.

We had to put our cat, Myrtle, down. She was acting weird and not eating so we took her to the vet. $600 later we learned nothing and couldn't afford anymore. We had her for four years. She was anti-social but loved to sit on your lap while you were going to the bathroom. Our other cat, Princess, misses her and so do we, but I'm glad she isn't suffering anymore.

Then Jon had to go to Omaha for work so Nate and I went to my parents' for a few days. Nate LOVES his Bumpa (and Grammy Pie). I love that they are such great friends. Nate is Bumpa's little farmer. He loves the moos, the red car, the toys, the choo-choo that goes by their house.

Now Jon is on his way home from Texas after a La Rue gun show with his uncle. Nate is asleep after waking up late and not taking a nap. Princess is sitting on my lap, giving herself a bath. I'm so excited to FINALLY have a desktop with Internet after two years of mostly just using a Blackberry and laptop.

I promise to write more often.

xo,
Jamie Lynn

There is two of us....

Do you remember Homestar Runner? What? You mean to tell me you didn't spend the majority of your college years staying up for hours with your roommate watching online videos, writing on Xanga, and playing Sims (probably at the same time)? You actually studied? And had a regular sleeping pattern? What's wrong with you....

Anyway, this is the best Strong Bad email ever. I had all but forgotten old Homestar and Strong Bad until I was thinking of a title for my entry and all that came to mind was "Come back Ali...Come back Ali's seeester..." Which has NOTHING to do with what my topic.

The more I blog, the more I'm pretty sure the only people who will be interested in reading anything I have to say are my college roommates. Which is good, because they think I'm cool.

On to the real reason I'm here...

I WON!

I entered a giveaway over at Loralee's Looney Tunes Review. AND WON! I get a six month supply of soy milk and $100! And all I had to do was tell the blogging world how I'm a not so super mom.

Jamie Lynn said...

While taking the trash out, I locked myself out of my house and my 2 year old son in the garage. Alone. I had no keys, no phone, and didn't know my neighbors. I finally had to go introduce myself. "Hi. We just moved in next door. Can I use your phone? My son is locked inside." Of course they were in a hurry and my husband didn't answer. After 30 mins of calling my son through the door to make sure he was okay, the neighbors came back with my husband on the phone.

My son was fine and my husband was laughing in hysterics. Mom of the year, I know.

I enter a lot of giveaways on blogs and this is the second (and biggest) prize I've won. The first was an
awesome coffee cozy at Moments with Love. I LOVE GIVEAWAYS!

Do you enter giveaways? Have you won?

message saved. forever.

Babies on the Brain

I had to double check I didn't type "Babies on the Brian" because that would just be weird.

Today I started thinking about future baby nurseries. We don't plan on another baby for a while, but I like to think about things in advance, because I'm indecisive. Yes, so indecisive I need to pick out nursery themes several months (if not a year) in advance. At least I realize this and try to plan accordingly. If I know we're going to a restaurant, I will check their menu online before we go so I will have an idea what I want. Even if we're just going to Taco Bueno. Don't tell anyone.

I look at a lot of girl decor, because I have a boy and I want a girl. I LOVE the idea of decorating with Russian nesting dolls. They're so colorful! Russian nesting dolls accented with flowers. If I ever have a girl, I might do that. I like this bumper because it's so colorful (don't like it because it's expensive). I also like these pretty girls. Oh pretty babushkas!

With boy decor, I like this MiGi Alphabet bedding. LittleMonkeyDoodles on Etsy has this cute wall art prints and door sign to match. I like the letters and animals.

I also like farm themes. There are soo many cute farm nursery things on Etsy. My dad's a farmer so it's double cute for our family. Nate loves "Bumpa's moos" and I'm sure he'd teach his little brother if he had one.

What nursery themes do you like?