I’ve had the Etsy Dallas Jingle Bash on my calendar ever since I was unable to go last year. I just love seeing so many women selling their handmade goods all in one place. Geeze the products were breathtaking.

Lisa, Chanda and I had several little adventures that day. I bought myself a little Christmas present that I just got in the mail. I wrapped it and put it under the tree. It’s fabulous and I can’t wait to show it off. {{Merry Christmas to me}}

It was packed full of fun people watching which kept Lisa busy and completely entertained.

My bad luck struck again and I got a parking ticket for parking on the grass. Who knew?!?

Next we headed over to West End and for dinner. This guy’s artwork was seriously so cool and turned out beautiful.

We had a short wait for dinner so Chanda challenged us to a game of the “Famin’ Finger”. Lisa lost.

I lost. Twice.

Chanda won. {{of course}} We are SO going go have to have a rematch.

Thanks for a fun day girls. I really needed the girl time as life is crazy insane with all the demands of Tip Junkie, the boys, the holidays, my weak body, yada yada yada.

It was a much needed distraction. {{hugs}}

I’ve been reading all kinds of frugal blogs lately and thanks to Alyssa for helping me make sense of it all, I’m now a couponer. {{again}}

About every 2-3 years I pick it back up. Then I get burned out and stop, next I run out of supplies, and then remember how much money I used to save and what my 3 month supply used to look like. Apparently, it’s a revolving process.

This week I spent $75.21 and saved $131.13 at Kroger. I only bought things I knew my picky eaters would consume. Whoohoo!! As you can tell, it’s a ton of meat. Luckily for us we’re carnivors.

If you’re interesed, here are the blogs:

Krazy Koupon Lady
Deal Seeking Mom
Kingdom First Mom
Surviving the Stores
Money Saving Mom

Drake has been having nightmares about flying saucer spiders with wings. It’s been a week of crying and interrupted sleep. He fell asleep in the car and I was able to trick him into thinking I was still snuggling him – thanks to a lot of pillows. {{sneaky}}

However, he was ticked off when he woke up for quite a while – so I think that 30 minutes of peace was a complete wash.

That night we had our first free dinner – sausage and egg mcmuffins. Yes, I actually cooked. {{gasp}}

For Talk to Me Tuesday over on Tip Junkie, we’re featuring our favorite blogger’s or Mom-preneur products. These are some of my favorite products that I have either purchased or bartered for:

I just LOVE my beaded watch band from A Time for Beads. I wear it all the time and love coordinating it with my outfit.

Recently, I’ve also been wearing my crocheted flower headband from Taylor Tengelsen a lot. I think it’s such a fun twist on the flower.

I just adore Madison Reece Designs and have been giving out her scrabble pendant necklaces as gifts to my dear friends. They have each loved them.

For Mother’s Day, I have my MIL an apron from Sugar Pie Chic. I think it makes the coolest gift.

I still imagine myself baking cookies, wearing a darling apron, and greeting my children when they come home from school. Yeah, it’s not going to happen but a girl can dream. Now, I need to get one for myself. 😉

I’ve also given away these darling stamped pendant necklaces from the Vintage Pearl. My goodness they are gorgeous and make a more personalized gift.

My lastest obscession has been with Hello Robertson and her fabulous headbands. Yes, I imagine myself as Gossip Girl actress flashing beauty in my locks. I wore one of them to my SITScation conference and felt 30, flirty, and fabulous in it. {{love her}}

I hope you’ll all post about your favorite Mom-preneur products to help get the word out about these talented women.

Buy From Women this Holiday Season!

Where every penny goes to another mother and her family. We can make a difference in the Mom Made Economy by each purchasing at least 1 item from another blogger or Mom-preneur.

If you need some Mom-preneur inspiration, there’s about 3 days worth of shopping over on the Tip Junkie Mom-preneur Shops. You will be seriously impressed with the quality and creative gift ideas you’ll find.

You can also check out my Whrrl Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon Gift Guides for easy shopping under specific categories.

My darling friend Christina celebrated her 30th birthday with a big shin dig over at the club house. She’s not only both of my boys 3rd grade teacher – she’s a dear friend.

Christina has the biggest heart and it completely shows by the people who attended her party. There were fellow teachers, parents of previous students, and long time friends who flew in from California to help her celebrate. One of her old co-workers drove 4 hours from Houston to party with her on her big day. Seriously so cool!

Christina’s son has autism and many of her friends there also either had children of their own or work with children with special needs. It was a room full of people who get each other, appreciate each other, and just adore Christina.

I was honored to be in attendance and celebrate such a cool milestone in her life. She completely rocks and I love our time together.

A couple days later I met up with Alyssa from Keeping the Kingdom First blog. We met at the Dallas girls night out and it turns out our kids go to the same school! Very cool.

We had lunch at Jasons Deli and chatted about everything: motherhood, blogging, conferences, coupons, etc. She’s darling and I’m stoked that we live so close to each other. We might even travel to Blissdom ’10 together. Whoohoo! {{finger crossed}}

We all gathered for lunch to shower her with gifts, praise, and help her celebrate her big day.

It was a wonderful lunch!

I’m still trying to figure out my new camera. This is the group picture that our waiter took. Lame!

This is the group shot I took. Much better – but it looks like I’m going to have to read the manual. {{lame}}

For Julie’s 40th birthday – I made her a Shutterfly book with letters and pictures of the top 40 people in her life. Thanks to her sister and hubby it turned out amazing!! For days I had gathered letters and photos from Julie’s friends and family to put in the photobook. I wanted her to feel as special and loved as she truly is.

Unfortunately, there was a glitch in my express shipping and the book didn’t arrive in time for her lunch. {{pulling hair out}}

Of course when I got home it was at my door step! So I met Julie in her home with her daughters and gave her the book. Julie loved the book, she laughed, and she cried. It was beautiful.

My love language is quality time so being around the people I adore who constantly inspire me and make me want to be a better mother and person; is truly heaven on earth.

For my birthday Wendy threw me a luncheon at my favorite Mexican restaurant. I was surrounded by beauty and love. The best thing about birthdays is how important and special everyone makes you feel. The past year has been a DOOZY and to finally be able to put all the crappy things that happened into the past and move forward with a new outlook on life, a renewed appreciate for life, and a zest for life is really refreshing.

(Last year was my 13th year of marriage and I was 33 years old. I’m not superstitious but geeze it was a terrible year!! Now I’ve been married 14 years and I’m 34 so I’m hoping all that bad juju will dissipate and I can enjoy life a little more.)

These are the women who watched my kids, who made me meals, who checked in on me often, and who continue to be there day in and day out. {{There’s a couple special women who aren’t in the picture – but you know who you are!!}}

I feel so incredibly blessed to be in the presence of these women and that they let me take a small role into their lives. My hope is that I can live up to their example and be deserving of their friendship. They mean the world to me.

Jason gave me this purse for my birthday – of course I bought it! {{evil laugh}} However, he did surprise me with a new pink camera! Now, I’ll have a working camera with me everywhere I go. I seriously feel like the paparazzi sometimes. {{giggle}}

Lisa made me this scrumptious bunt cake for my birthday with pureed raspberries to make the icing pink and a pink daisy in the middle. Now, that’s what I call LOVE. It was so yummy and I couldn’t get over the thought and work she put into it. Thanks Lisa W!

I had meant to tell Wendy “no gifts” as I know things are tight for everyone right now. However, the Ladies spoiled me rotten and I couldn’t have felt more loved and special with their thoughtful presents.

That evening, my sister Lisa threw me a birthday party with my Park Glen friends. They are the party animals that I just don’t get to see enough. Softball starts this week for our men, so I’m hoping that Friday night lights will keep me more involved in their lives.

Lisa really worked hard to make this happen. She had to kick her painter in the rear to get him finished with his work, unpack, and hang everything in her house. It took us a week of intensive labor to get things ready. I just adore her and can’t thank her enough for hosting such a crazy fun party.

Man, it was such a fun night. Everyone came to party to have a good time.

These women are not only gorgeous on the outside but they’re just as beautiful inside as well. I feel honored to be apart of the group.

Christina even came! {{squeal in delight}} It was so much fun to introduce my Bachelor-watching-partner with my peeps. She had such a great time and everyone made her feel apart of the gang. Seriously, I knew she would fit right in and she did.

Talk about going the extra mile – my Colleyville girls came to celebrate with me. It’s tough enough taking the night off of mommy responsibilities and sacrificing quite time – but they drove 20 minutes to come and party with me. That’s love, shoot yeah!

We played games, laughed, ate, and had the best time together. I honestly don’t know how I became so lucky as to be associated with these women. I felt like the luckiest girl on the planet that day. Huge hugs and gratitude for everyone who came to celebrate a new and more positive year. I’m praying my wish comes true.

For my thank you notes, I made these cards with flower clips on the outside and my “Friends are like Flowers” poem on the inside with a personalized and heartfelt note. They are taking me forever to do as I’m really trying to be thoughtful and let each person know how I feel about them and hopefully, make them feel as special as they made me feel on my birthday.

Too bad birthdays only come around once a year. What a wonderfully beautiful day.

Check out this powerful video. NieNie is in it!

Lisa moved into her house just 2 neighborhoods away! We’ve walked it and it’s only a 10 minute walk. Granted the boys couldn’t do it by themselves – but I guess beggars can’t be choosers.

In true Lisa fashion, she had the carpets & tile cleaned, put in a water softener, and hired a painter to paint the entire house. So these are the “before” pictures.

Living Room – She doesn’t like the lamp shades so they’re now mine. 😉

Study – She took off that tin piece in the arch way.

View from breakfast nook into living room.

View from living room into kitchen.

Living Room – she had the walls and built-ins painted.

Master Bedroom

Her painter is VERY slow so it’s still being renovated. I’ll post the “after” pictures as soon as she lets me. {{giggle}}

On a personal note, it’s been so wonderful having Lisa so close. She picks up Drake when I’m running late, let’s Drake come over to play, we run errands with each other, and watch movies together. I couldn’t be happier that she’s so close. I truly feel blessed to have her as a sister. She’s the most generous person I know.

Thanks Sis!

It’s officially birthday season! One of the many fun things about the fall are all of the birthday parties that I get to attend. Many of my favorite people were born this time of year.

Typically I have terrible luck. Yes that’s a documented fact. However, when it comes to surrounding myself with fabulous people – I consider myself the luckiest person on the planet. (No bad juju in this regard.)

Recently we celebrated Laurie M’s birthday with a fabulous girls lunch. If I were to give Laurie M an award, it would be the Best Adventurous Mom award. As her priorities are having her kiddos in a lot of activities, their education, and family outings. They do a lot of family day trips and vacations together. It’s very important to her and as a result it has really bonded their family.

Laurie M has a very adventurous spirit and loves to be outside and be active. I love that about her. She’s a very hands-on mom, has an independent spirit, and is always on the go. She has a positive attitude and loves to plan for the future.

I love being around Laurie M as she reminds me (with her actions) that family is first and fun activities keep life fun and new. After seeing Laurie M, I’m always left with an uplifting feeling of family and motherhood. She makes me want to plan more outdoor activities and memories with my own family.

We’re looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with her family (and a few others) in Branson, MI this year. She found us such a fabulous place earlier this year where we can all stay together. I can’t thank her enough for helping me make these amazing memories for my kiddos.

It was such a great excuse to see all the girls.

These women are as beautiful inside as they are on the outside.

Wendy, Emily, and I also enjoyed the girl time and yummy food. I’m so grateful and blessed for these friendships. I truly feel that their influence makes me a better person and keeps me focus on my family.