My home makes me happy [part 3]... especially at Christmas.

Once upon a time I saw a chalkboard painted globe in the Restoration Hardware Catalog.  I loved it.  It looked similar to this...

And then I found this little article on Design Sponge with this photo...

I love the look of these painted simple globes...
So, naturally, I'd been thinking about which one of my globes that I bought from the antique market a while back that I could paint.  In order to keep the correct topography, I decided to use PUFF PAINT (do you remember loving this when you were 9 yrs. old?  Me too.) to outline the continents.  My plan is to paint the entire globe a light blue or a pale yellow and then outline the continents again using the relief puff paint job as my guide.  Make sense?
Anyway, I did the puff paint and now I'm wondering if I should stop?  I kind of like the fat white outlines.  Any suggestions?  Votes?  Hollah if you'd like to give me your input.

oh, yes I did.  Utah and Texas, represent!

::: In other news, we're decking the halls and cleaning the crap (pardon my french).  In order to make room for a few new toys for Christmas, we're cleaning and going through all the toys that our kids don't need/play with.  And, then I hit our bedroom and got rid of all the "clutter" that has been littering our two dressers.  Things like random paperwork, sewing supplies, buttons, extra pens... things that have just been SITTING there forever waiting to find their home.  So, I cleared it off, and got to work.

Oh, and I finally hung some of our travel pictures up on the wall last night.  It feels so good to check some of these random things off my list.

 

 

I think I'm so funny with this figure.  I love that he's running away. I chuckle to myself EVERY time I see it.

Here's another part of our room.  I think I've posted about my little bulletin board before, but here it is with a CLEAN dresser top.  :)  My mom and sisters (and I) collect charms and here is where I put them.  A bunch of them have tarnished, so I gotta polish them up again.  But, I like this little spot a lot.

 

 let's zoom in.

 

And zoom in some more.  Maybe one day I'll tell you about ALL the charms.  Then again, maybe not.  Here were some that caught my eye.  

Go Lone Peak.  Represent.  (I think I've said "represent" twice in this post. nice.)

 

Aaron went on a business trip to Illinois a few weeks ago.  The place he went to wasn't a big tourist spot, so there wasn't much to bring back, but he did see this little charms so he got one of Tillie and Cal.  I thought that was pretty sweet of Aaron.  What a good guy!

 

 2002 Winter Olympics in SALT LAKE CITY.  That's right, for a third time... Represent.

 

And, although she isn't a "charm" per say, I love this little gal that used to hang from my cuckoo clock.  Check out the uni-brow.  So funny.  I think her little UNI is endearing.  Let's super-size this picture:

 

Now let's take a little walk into the middle chunk of the house.  Some call it a dining room, but it's really the den/dining area/play room/middle chunk of the house.  We put these frames up a month or so ago and I finally put things in them (well, all except that tiny middle one above the plate. still debating about that one.).  I love this wall.  It makes me glad every time I see it.  And, since we live in the middle chunk of our house, we see it a lot.  Calvin's new trick is taking his finger and pointing to the pictures and laughing.  It's great.  We love it and think he's so funny.

Normally the little elf door is blank, but b/c it's Christmas, that's where I'm displaying some of our cards. 

Let's take some close up shots.  You might notice some new darling pictures of the family.  Yes, we had a REAL legit photographer, Krista, take them this year.  This is the first year we've ever done REAL TRUE FAMILY PHOTOS.  I'll have to post some of them later.  She did great.  And that painting in the top left?  Remember when I made it for my mom last year and then decided to keep it for her (she didn't know where to put it, so until she decides, I'm keeping it.  hA!).

all time favorite picture of Aaron.  He let me paint his face when we were dating.  He doesn't let me paint his face anymore. That's weird.  Ahhh, the things you'll do when you are dating...

you see, we had this thermostat and doorbell speaker delight we had to work around... so doing a collage like this is really a nice way of hiding it all.  oh, and my professional hanger (aaron) accidentally hung the little lemon collage painting upside down.  I'm lazy and haven't turned it right side up, but in case you were wondering if it was on purpose, it wasn't.

 

And, while we're at it, let's take a look at the awesome Nativity we received two years ago from Aaron's parents.  I love it.  So much.  My family has one just like it.  We display it on our piano.  And, Becca gave us a mini olive wood one from Jerusalem.  Double awesome.

The stockings are really finished.  Let's see some close up shots...

 

 

 

And then here are a few of Calvin's plaid stocking...

 

I embroidered their names on them too and am fairly pleased with the results.  We still need to find another stocking hanger.  Until then, Aaron (who wanted a very plain stocking) is teaming up with Matilda's.  Oh, and I squish them together so tight, b/c otherwise Calvin can reach up and pull them down (we store our ottoman directly under this).  Those heavy stocking hangers could do a number on his little soft bald head.  I'd rather compromise the overall design aesthetic instead of my baby's head.  Catch my drift?

Between the Nativity on the piano and our little niche' ---that's the extent of our Christmas decor.  Oh, I have a wreath on the front door too, but that's it.  I know, I know.  We were going to set up our big tree this year, but since Calvin is totally crazy and into EVERYthing, I didn't feel like playing police-man all day long.  Call me the Grinch.  It's okay.  We'll try again next year.  And, I think our kids will be well adjusted individuals, even though their mom skipped the big tree this year.  Here's hoping...

 

Again, sorry for the blurry photo.  But, you gotta love our little Elf on the Shelf.  Have you ever heard of this?  Pretty fun concept. And one of our most TREASURED ornaments is Aaron's Noodle Angel.  Do you see it?  Yes, made mostly from little noodles.  Genius.  He made it when he was little and it gets a place of honor on our tree each year.

So, there's the 411 on Christmas in our house and our latest house projects.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

for your entertainment...

As my gift to you this Christmas season, enjoy a little entertainment.  Actually, these are all suggestions given to me from my internet savvy husband, Aaron.  He emailed all of these links to me and I thought you might benefit from them too.
So, Merry Christmas.
Enjoy.

:::  This was cool but irritating at the same time.
It's a color test where you have to put the hues in the correct order. 
Your eyes might play some tricks on you.  It's intense and not for the faint of heart.  But, if you're up for a challenge, click here.
Aaron finished first and his score was 98 (not-so-hot).  When I did the test, I got a 7 (the best score you can get is a ZERO).
Needless to say, I did a victory cheer from my desk and was like, "What now, Foo!?!"
Aaron's response:  "You're probably going to blog about this, aren't you?"
...

You know it.


So, if you're up to it, go take the test. 

::: To all you San Antonio Spurs fans (we are JAZZ fans in this Texas household), watch this funny FAIL video.  Too funny.

Free Throw High Five FAIL - watch more funny videos

 
::: If you're up for some listening AND you're a BEATLES fan, then you'll love what Aaron found on the Mentalfloss blog.   Have you ever heard of this site?

 

It's a "web project devoted to re-recording every Beatles song, using ukuleles, and posting the songs for free online".  Awesome or what?  

Here are a few of favorite posts... all you do is click on the link and if you click on the blue link with the title of the song, it will play it for you.  Then, if you love it, download it for free.  Win win win.

My most favorite so far is this one:

All You Need is Love, performed by Nikki Gregoroff

But I like these as well:

Here Comes the Sun, performed by Holly Palmer

From Me To You, performed by Sophie Madeleine

::: This was pretty fun to watch.  It's an 8 year old break-dancer TOTALLY showing up the older guy. I felt cool just by watching this video.  It's a longer clip, but we thought it was fun to watch.  Amazing.

 

::: This one was so moving.  Aaron found it on TIME's Top 10 of Everything from 2010.  It is a video about a guy who talks about his dog.  They film the last day spent with his dog before they had to put him to sleep.  It's called "Last Minutes with ODEN" and we both cried when we watched it.  I will warn you, there are a few swear words, but it is so moving that I think it's worth watching.  

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

:::  And, to end on a lighter note, here's another funny FAIL snippet (voted in the top 10 for 2010)---no photos or video, just listen.  Make sure your volume is turned up.  We both died laughing... Aaron especially was cracking up.  Give this one a go too.

Anyway, there you have it.  A little gift of Entertainment from us to you. 

Thanksgiving week! 2010

So, we had a lot of fun the week of Thanksgiving.  We took pictures BEFORE and AFTER the big Turkey Day, but unfortunately none ON the big day.  Lame.  So, if I find pictures from other friends' blogs then I'll post them (hint hint).  Otherwise, take my word for it:  It was great and we had fun.

I took these pictures of the kids outside the day before Thanksgiving.  They love any excuse to come outside. And now it's perfect long sleeve shirt weather for them.  Awesome.  Gotta love Texas.  Here are a few shots of them hanging out.

Tillie was minding her own business until she heard a "Vroom Vroom" down the street.  This was her face as she was checking it out.  She said, "Mom, who's THAT guy?"  A favorite Tillie phrase these days.

 

 

 

** I was feeling bad that I haven't taken very many pictures of Calvin lately, so we pulled out the camera when Tillie was still sleeping.  He wanted to show me his new push up trick.  Amazing.

I move the ottoman over to make a little blockade so he doesn't crawl into Tillie's room to wake her up.  Here he was playing peek-a-boo. Sorry about the blurry photo.  It's either a little blurry or really stark using the flash as shown in the next few pictures.
Whatever.  I'm no professional.  You can deal.   

 

I finally caught his irritated face.  HAAA!

 

I sure do love that snot-nosed kid.  He's had a runny nose for the last month and a half! First teething, then a cold, then teething, then double ear infection.  Poor kiddo.  He's finally getting used to me doing the dreaded nose-wipe with the tissue!

 

**Later that night (wednesday) Aaron and I made food preparations for the big feast the next day.  One contribution we made was Aaron's favorite DIXIE SALAD which requires pomegranates.  They are such BEAUTIFUL fruits!  And peeling them is so cool.  They are like tiny little jewels in hidden caves.  Aaron and I had a good time... until Aaron thought it'd be cool to peel them in front of the computer on the carpet.  I threatened him that if ONE drop got on the carpet or my computer he was a DEAD MAN.  He's like, "I got this, I got this."  Well, the first cut in it sprayed EVERYWHERE.  Mostly on our cream carpet.  Lucky for him we have a Costco sized box of OxyClean.  That stuff is magic.  You know my passion for it.  Anyway, he was a lucky man that night.
The rest of the evening was lovely. 

**Insert great photos of Thanksgiving day with our fun friends.  We got to spend the entire day with our friends hanging out, eating amazing food, funny games, and the kids even got to play on a bounce house!  Fun was had by all.

**A week or two prior to the big holiday, Aaron voted that we should go back down to Dallas or Houston and check out the city.  I thought that sounded fun, but I really wanted to do Thanksgiving with our friends too. So, we compromised and enjoyed the best of both worlds.  We found a great price for a hotel in downtown San Antonio (half hour from our house) and stayed there Friday night.  It was perfect timing, b/c that night the big Christmas Riverwalk Parade happened.  The hotel we found was on the Riverwalk and served free dinner (hot dogs, popcorn, potato bar, and chili---not my faves, but hey, can't beat free.) but we were able to eat and then watch the parade from the lobby.  It was great.  Tillie was in heaven. 

she was LOVING the chips and salsa.  This is probably the happiest picture we have of Tillie.  Look at those chipmunk cheeks!! 

I was there too.  Not enjoying the food, but having a good time.

we ventured outside for a little bit.  Tillie was enthralled (as you can see by her face).

These nice ladies let Tillie come up and hang out in front of their viewing area.  They were darling with her and Tillie enjoyed chatting about Santa, the boats, the lights, and who knows what else!

After the parade was over, Aaron and Tillie hit up the pool on the roof.  Tillie loves to swim and Aaron promised her they'd go.  So, even though it was about 10:00 p.m., they went up to the roof.  Since it was FREEZING outside and so late, they had the place to themselves.  Too funny.

What did Cal and I do?  I was dying from starvation (I'm a drama queen sometimes, especially when it comes to food intake.) so I ordered a TO-GO salad and brownie delight from a restaurant next to our hotel.  They swam.  I put Cal to bed in a crib we put in the bathroom (it was spacious), and I enjoyed this.  Don't worry, I didn't polish it all off.  Aaron and Tillie had their fair share when they finally came in to join me.  

** After a lazy morning, we decided to head to the Children's Museum.  It was awesome.  We HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who wants a fun outing.  We had a buy one get one free coupon and Tillie and Cal were free, so it wasn't too expensive.

This first part was probably one of the coolest things Aaron has ever done.  See for your self.  Do you recognize that guy?

whoop! there it is!

 

Oh yeah.  Tillie liked it too.

Calvin was probably thinking, "Wow.  Looks like my dad is having too much fun with this thing."

 

 

 

yeah, I think Calvin was right.

There was a little Eric Carle creation station.  They had pieces of paper for you to make into your own collages.  I wasn't about to introduce my 2.5 yr. old to scissors, so I cut them out and put glue on the pieces (didn't want her to get sticky) and then had Tillie help me lay the glued pieces on.  It turned out lovely.  When I told Aaron to "see what Tillie did." He said, "hmmm... did Matilda make that or did Melissa make that?"  Guilty.  I was that mom.  Sorry Tillie.  Better luck next time. 
 

Messing around with other fun stuff...

 

 

 

he's a poser.  that's right.

 

 

 

 

 

They had this great mini grocery store in the basement.  Tillie was in HEAVEN down here.  Such a cool idea.

 

We ate at Rainforest Cafe.  I'd never been there but heard it was fun.  And, hey! we had another coupon!  Why not!?  The kids thought it was cool.  We did too.

Walking around on the River Walk.  I'm loving Tillie's new hat I found for her in Boston.  Which reminds me, gotta post about that trip.  One day, one day...

 

 

don't ask me what I'm doing with my half pose and Tillie and Cal look THRILLED to be here... oh well.  One day we'll get it right.

does it freak anyone else out that there are no GUARD RAILS down here?  I mean, I about have a heart attack every time we go when it's crowded.  Why there aren't more people that are accidentally pushed in the river, I don't know. 

 

 

 

 

All in all it was a Grrrrreat week.  Good times in San Antone.  We like this place.  Crazy we've lived here for 4.5 years.  Wow.
Welp, as our neighbors say, "Adios, muchachos!"
The end.  or is it El Fin?