Sometimes The Late Bird Gets The Worm...

I hope all of you are enjoying the last few moments of 2010. I've had a wonderful time being unplugged this past month but with the dawn of a new year I'm excited to get back into my normal routine.

What's with the boots you ask? I saw these at Anthropologie about a month ago when I was on a shopping day with my friend Carole. I wanted them so bad but at the time I hadn't yet bought one single Christmas gift for anyone so I couldn't justify it. In true Lisa fashion I waited too long before coming to terms with the fact that I had to have them. I began searching and they are GONE. Online was sold out, and I could hear the pity in the salespersons voices when I called all of my local stores. Those Anthro girls can't bear the thought of someone going without let me tell you...one of the stores called me back with a hot lead that a birdie told them there was one pair left {and in my size} at the SoHo store. I called them up and sure enough they had them. That would have been the happing ending but they made it happier when my sales girl rang me up over the phone and they ended up being $108.00 on sale instead of $278.00. Happy New Year to me!!

Yes, I know. This was a fluffy post but I'll be back next year with some recipes I tried this month that we loved as well as a few things I've been working on. Until then, enjoy your last few hi-calorie hours of 2010!

Sweet, Sweet, Sweet...

This past Saturday was my sons 10th birthday. We celebrated by taking him out to his favorite fondue restaurant and then on to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Joining us for dinner was his bestie, Tori. They have the sweetest little relationship. You see, Tori is my cousin, but let me explain that. Tori's mother, my Aunt Tina, was married to my uncle many years ago. They had 3 children together before he passed away. My Aunt Tina remarried and had 3 more children, the youngest being Tori. We were pregnant together, I had Jake one month before she had Tori. They have always held a special place in each others hearts, as is evidence of the photo above as well as the photo below on his 5th birthday...

Dinner was great, we all enjoyed it so much. There was great food and even a few stolen kisses...

Nothing new about that though...

and a few secrets too...

And since we're on the topic of love check out my younger boy and the love of his life at their Christmas program {pay special attention to their hands}...

Whoa! I don't remember when I saw him this gleeful!

Oh, I Remember You!

Wow, Thanksgiving came and went and so did a blur of activity! Between classes, Christmas trees, parties and a bit of vertigo I've really been on the run. Sound familiar? It's a great time of year, so much to do and prepare for.

The picture above is a small peek of some projects I've been working on. You'll see more of them later. Do you just love the tiny doll skate? I'm crazy about it!

Let's talk trees for a minute. What do you get, flocked or unflocked? We've always gotten an unflocked Noble Fir. This year I decided that I wanted one that was flocked but just here and there. It took me 4 tree lots but I finally found one that saw my vision. The tree carnie and I coined it, "heavy tips". So basically the tree only has clumps of flocking sporadically at the ends. It's FABULOUS! I'll have to take a photo of it when I have better light to show you. After we decorated and put the kids to bed I did what I've done for the last couple of years and moved half of the ornaments to the upper portion of the tree. I was laughing as I moved them and I realized that I'll only do this for a couple more years before they can reach up to hang them higher. Bittersweet I tell ya.

Enjoy Your Day of Food & Family!

It All Adds Up

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was going to post about a pair of red panties. Yes, this is a first {and altogether likely...the last}.

Every now and then I get behind with my laundry. Well I have a pair of red lace panties that I HATE with a passion. Apparently I had dialed back 15 years when I bought them some time ago, I mean seriously...what was I thinking? Anyway, it's a bad start to a perfectly good morning when I open my underwear drawer up and they are the sole pair in the drawer. As I rip them out of the drawer and slam it shut I think the same thing, "these stupid panties need to be thrown away!". Ultimately they are later put through the wash and they wind up right back in my drawer where they wait for the next ill planned laundry quandry.

My point is, why do I inconvenience/annoy myself this way on a repeated basis? All I ever had to do was throw them out. I'll give you another example. I hate to stop for gas. When I do I'm so anxious to get on my way to wherever I'm going that I only put $10 or so in at a time. Consequently I'm always on E. I would have to say that I fear I'll run out of gas on at least a twice a week basis. Do you see a pattern here? Oh but wait...what about the lip liner that I carry in my purse that is so in need of sharpening that I'm painfully scraping wood and very little color on my lips at this point? I could go on but I won't.

I'm starting to identify lots of tiny stresses that I'd rather not live with. And most of them are so easy to solve. I pitched the skivs, swapped the lip liner out for a mechanical one and filled up on my way home today. What I'm trying to say is that you can do alot to make things better for yourself. A bunch of tiny actions really can add up. I'd rather start working smarter than working harder as they say, instead of making any kind of resolutions in the next couple of months.

So do you have "red panties" you can throw out?

Great Shopping in Omaha Part II

This is my last post about my trip. I just wanted to show you a few things that I found at a great nearby antique store. I was worried that there wouldn't be anything left by the time I got there but it just goes to show you that everyone likes different stuff. I went crazy over this purple velvet purse. It's SO worn which both thrills me and breaks my heart at the same time. I mean, to look at this purse you'd have to figure that it was some girls one and only bag...

Just look at the handles, they're almost broken from use...

I plucked up this faded red biscuit tin too. Can't have enough pretty storage now can we? I like how colorful the floral bouquet is...

The picture of this valentine does not do it justice. It's several layers of pretty goodness...

This old lavender makeup tin was a must have. I can only think of 1000 things I could store in it...

In other news, I'm busy at work on several projects, more than I usually work on at once. I'll share them soon.

Great Shopping in Omaha Part I

Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite finds at the vendor faire that they had at Silver Bella. I purchased this gorgeous ring from Beth Quinn...

At another great vendor table I found this old postcard album in a crate on the floor. It's quite big actually, maybe 9x12. I'm not usually one for red but I really liked the embossed pink flowers on the front.

And I love, love, love this shoe made of vintage wallpaper by Denise Nelson. You can't see it in the picture but the heel is a big bobbin with thread.

Tomorrow I will be back with my antique store finds. I'm so happy with the things I found there.

After tomorrow I'll have shared a bunch about my trip and it will be time to move on and address that red panty situation I mentioned last week. Hopefully it will make you smile, laugh even, and get you thinking about...well just wait for it!