Well Hello Cleveland!

Unexpected overnight in Cleveland since our flight to Milwaukee was cancelled. I am excited to be traveling with my husband who is on a business trip. We will spend the day in Milwaukee tomorrow, and then fly to Michigan to visit my parents for a long weekend. Stay tuned for pics from our weekend of R&R!

Today was a sad day....

Life is not fair. We all know that but sometimes that pill is still hard to swallow. Especially when your children are involved. My twins had to do something today that no child should ever have to do, and I could not be more proud of them and how they handled themselves. Unfortunately, things did not turn out well and my heart aches for my boys. I have no explanation I can give them for why things did not turn out ok other than life is not fair. Learning to accept things that we have no control over is an important lesson. We can ultimately only control ourselves and how we choose to react to situations. So here we are at a crossroads and my beautiful baby boys (who are 12) have taken the high road. I pray for their continued strength on this new journey.

OOTD

I follow many fun and adorable blogs which feature OOTD's. It only took me about a month to figure out what OOTD stood for (outfit of the day) and I have decided to do my own OOTD posts on my little blog. Mine should be pretty entertaining, as I will be the first to admit I am not a fashionista. I have had the same "style" since I was in junior high, which is basically classic/preppy.

Here is my OOTD for work today:
(Clearly I have not mastered the art of photographing myself in a mirror...LOL)

Enjoy the moment...

Today was a particularly bad day at work and then I came home to chaos that started with "mom.....I was throwing a baseball at the basketball hoop...." (you can imagine where that was going). I am totally guilty of not "enjoying the moment" or "living in the present" because it always seems as if I am just rushing from one thing to another.

I was going through pictures tonight and found one of my all time favorites of my children. This was taken on the day I graduated from graduate school, and it shocked me to see how much the children have grown and how much our lives have changed since the picture was taken (2007). I really do need to stop, slow down, and try to savor the time I have left with my children at home. I already have one in college now, and before I know it I will have an empty nest. I am on a quest as to how to simplify my life so that I have more time to "enjoy the moments"and I need to learn how to appreciate the ones that I am letting slip by.

Monday Madness

This is one of those weeks where I have appointments and activities scheduled all day and evening, every day of this week. My saving grace is that I will be able to get away next week with my sweet husband for a long weekend!

As a working mom to a blended family of eight children, you can imagine how CRAZY my schedule is. I have tried many different calendar types to try and keep track of everyone's schedule, and while some are a lot prettier than others, I continue to come back to my old reliable....here are some of my past attempts:

 

Lilly Pulitzer Agenda

I have the extra large size and while I LOVE it, it is far too bulky for me to carry around,everywhere

 

Found here

 

 

Mom Agenda

This is a lovely leather bound agenda but has many things that annoyed me, mainly that you can't open it flat on a table or desk..it is more like a book. I need to be able to open it up and lay in on my desk while I schedule things. Clearly if you are not a mom, you would not select this one!

 

 

purchase here

 

 

Wall Calendar

This used to be my every day calendar until 3A & 3B (my twin boys) were born. At that point I started to have far too many appointments and meetings to fit into one small square. I do like being able to look at the entire month at a time on one page.

 

 

purchase here

 

Dry Erase Wall Calendar

This idea lasted for about a month and then it got out of control with everyone in the house having access to change things. Things were erased on accident, things were not erased that were changed or canceled...you get the picture. It was great in theory, but not for my family.

 

find this at Pottery Barn

 

 

Google Calendar

This is my current calendar set up and I think it always will be. D and I each have our own calendars and we share them with each other so both of our appointments show up on each of our individual calendars. In addition, the kids can have access to look at the calendars, but they cannot add, change, or delete anything from them. I can access this calendar from my laptop, ipad, or iphone, which means that I always have my calendar with me. I don't like the desktop graphics on this calendar, but I love the way the calendar looks and works on my ipad and iphone, and that is where I access my calendar the most.

 

 

google calendar can be set up through google.com

 

Of course I have a Lilly Pulitzer ipad case and sleeve as well as an iphone cover so I guess you could say I still have Lilly calendar's!

 

What calendar system do you use?

 

 

 

 

 



Trying a new thing...

Anyone in my family will tell you that I am the least tech savvy person in our household. The fact that I figured out how to start my little blog all on my own is probably shocking to them. Baby steps...it has been baby steps.

I have noticed that on most of my favorite blogs, there are links below a picture to take you to that item or place on the internet to get it...here is my first attempt to do that. Wish me luck!

These are some beauty products that I love...

 

Clairsonic

This skin cleansing brush is amazing.

 

 

you can find this here

 

 

Mary Kay Time Wise Microdermabrasion

My sister put me on to this and it is a dermatologist in a bottle!

 

My sister happens to sell this here

 

 

Chanel Mascara

The brush is what makes this such a great mascara...a bit pricy though.

 

 

You can find it here

 

Denman Hairbrush

I have been using this brand of brush since junior high!

 

you can find this brush here

 

 

 

Baby Magic Baby Oil Lotion

This lotion is not greasy and keeps legs looking great all day!

You can find this on sale here

 

 

 

I swear I could open my own drug store with the amount of make up and beauty products in my household...the things I listed above are the things I could not live without!

 

 



Cheer Mom...I am not

Today was the very last day of my #2 daughter's all star cheering career, and I cannot begin to express how proud of her I am. To be honest, I was less than thrilled a little over three years ago when she first approached me about competitive cheering, and I am totally guilty of trying to steer her in a different direction. Clearly, that tactic didn't work and here we are three years later as she wraps up a great run.

Perhaps what initially turned me off to the idea of competitive cheering was not the extremely high rate of injuries these cheerleaders sustain (obviously reason enough to be concerned), but the fear of being categorized as a "cheer mom". What, you may ask, is a cheer mom? Have you ever seen the "Toddler's and Tiara's" show? Cheer moms are right behind those moms in terms of being beyond over the top. Now I am all for supporting your child in whatever activities they may choose to participate in, however, supporting your child at the expense of others and obnoxious behavior is not my idea of supporting my child.

It is unfortunate that many of these mothers loose sight of what is really important here (in my humble opinion) which is being a team player, sportsmanship, accountability, and of course having fun. I can say at the end of these three years, I have not made many friends, and they few that I have made are clearly not cheer moms either. Who am I, however, to pass judgment? I suppose I sound rather snotty, and I also suppose you can find obnoxious parents at any sporting event or activity, not just at competitive cheering events. My question to these parents is: what are you teaching your children by behaving this way?

Bottom line...I am thrilled that #2 has become a talented cheerleader, I am happy that she found joy in what she was doing, and I am proud of her for the dedication and hard work she put into her cheering. I am even more proud of her for recognizing, on her own I might add, that she had to prioritize her activities around her academics and therefore decided to give up her all star cheering.

Now for the bragging....

Yes that is my #2 daughter (end person on the right) doing the "splits in the air" as I call it, but I was informed it is called a "toe touch".

 

 

 

Here is one of their stunts (she is a base on the far right).

 

 

 

This is their first place win at "Battle at the Capitol"

(#2 on right)

 

 

 

 

 

All is not over as she still does sideline cheering and competitive cheering for her high school...

 

 



Just to be clear (and so my other children do not accuse me of favoritism) I am proud of all of my children and they all have special talents and I am sure I will be sharing each of them at some point on my blog.

Favorite Things

I am not sure what this blog will turn itself into, which according to all of the "blogging books" is NOT the way to do this, but I am sure my little blog will evolve into something just right. I decided to start my blog with some of my favorite things that can be found in my closet...

Lilly Pulitzer Dresses

I was wearing Lilly when most people had not even heard of Lilly Pulitzer...my girls grew up wearing matching Lilly shifts, and I used to attend the sample sales when they were held in a garage-like building outside of Philadelphia. I will always love Lilly and of course was saddened to hear of her recent passing.

 

 

Jack Rogers

What goes better with Lilly Pulitzer than Jack Rogers? Again, I have been wearing Jack Rogers forever, and am wondering how many of the high school girls wearing these shoes now will still be wearing them when they are 40?

 

 

Longchamp Le Pliage

I love these bags because they are lightweight (the handbag alone does not weigh 10 pounds) and they come in a million colors. I normally get the medium size and they are very roomy, as in I can stick a pair of "comfortable shoes" in mine if I am going to be out all day. I would not say they are "cheap" but they are not so expensive that you will have a heart attack if it gets spots or stains on it by setting it down in random places like the football stadium bleachers.

 

 

 

 

 

Patagonia

As anyone in my family will tell you, I am ALWAYS cold. My daughters got me a Patagonia for my birthday last year and since then I have added three more to my collection...I have my eye on the cream colored one for next fall.

 

 

Talbots

 I am SO relieved that Talbots has FINALLY gone back to the classics after they took a horrible wrong turn in their fashion direction. Talbots used to always be my "go to" store when I needed a classic dress or any classic wardrobe staple and for the last several years I did not purchase a single item. I have more than made up for that starting last spring when they brought back "the classics".

 

 

 

Tory Burch Flats

I am partial to the Caroline style as well as the Reva...I would love to own these in a million colors but have the Caroline in a dark navy patent leather and the Reva in black with gold hardware. I would like to add one more pair, but can't decide on a color...it will probably be the pink!

 

 

Quilted Vest

In keeping with my "always cold" theme, I have started "collecting" puffer vests. I say collecting because I started the 2012 fall season with only one vest and I seemed to have acquired five in just one season. I have dark pink, Lilly's pink, hot neon pink, cobalt blue, and my favorite one, the Lilly one shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are just a few of the many favorite things I have in my closet...stay tuned for other favorites!