waiting for spring

I've had my eye on this little number from J. Crew a little while now but I've been waiting for the temperature to rise or for it to go on sale, we'll see which comes first.

making football fun

Are any of you planning or attending a super bowl party this weekend? I think football is absolutely the most boring sport in the world to watch on T.V. and not even the creative ads will get me too excited about watching the game, but I do love a good party and any occasion to get together is fine by me, especially when it means yummy food. If you are having trouble deciding what to make, or just need some yummy recipes to inspire, check out Martha Stewart's super bowl menu and I am sure you can't go wrong. You can find it at the following link, http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3e37788aa306c4df62fc95103373a0a0/?vgnextoid=bce8addad8d57110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default . For some reason my version of blogger will no longer let me insert hyperlinks so until then, you are going to have to deal with cutting and pasting the meaningless jibberish of web addresses. I'll do my best to figure it out.

Follow the prophet

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had over the last 12 years to hear the words and counsel of our beloved Prophet of the LDS church, Gordon B. Hinckley who passed away last night. He was truly a great man who lived a life of example and service and I know that all members of the church will miss him and his unexpected wit and loving counsel dearly. I had been thinking about him all afternoon because of a quote we read at a Primary training yesterday from him. During his leadership as prophet I was constantly amazed at what a deep level he understood the needs and concerns of the church. I am glad to know he is now reunited with is dear wife Marjorie.

love is in the air

I am loving these sweet heart note cards from paper-source. I'm headed to the craft store tomorrow and I just might be tempted to pick up some paper and make some of these for myself.

the munchkins

One of our favorite things about going home over Christmas was seeing our nieces and nephews. I think we are still surprised by how much they grow when we don't see them, but since they just keep getting cuter and cuter, we don't mind.

We have pictures to prove it.......

We were so glad to have uncle James home
We were surprised to discover that our niece Abby has been replaced by Princess Abby. Princess Abby only likes to wear ruffled dresses and answer to the name Ariel, Belle or Cinderella.
Little David's Tiny perfect teeth

With their matching blue eyes, we think these two are the sweetest pair!
the two toe-heads posing like little wooden soldiers

Aunt Kathryn and her cuties

Samuel, who has come out of his shell so much, we loved how silly and fun this kid is!

and sweetheart Amanda, wouldn't you kill for those eyelashes?

what I love this week....

So I am totally ripping off Jill's idea for this post, but I love the thought so here we go.

Cozy blankets that make all your worries go away

A new produce market by my house

Sick days

Secrets between friends

Our new furniture, especially our table and chairs

The wall color in our front room, Ralph Lauren; Lafayette

Friends in town and hopefully a trip to the shake shack

The long weekend ahead, hopefully with lots of naps.

Happy weekend people, I'll try to find my camera cord to upload my way past due pictures from the holidays.

Count Down

Are you dying to know what I am planning to do with the 5 pounds of gummy lips that I just ordered from Oriental Trading ? Well unfortunately you'll have to wait until Valentines day to find out what I am working on! Less than a month people, get cracking on your V-day decor and cards!

Mormons in the media

Since the time when we first started dating, Dan and I have been trying to figure out what the word is to describe how when you see something, or read about it or become aware of it, it seems to pop up everywhere. So far we have been unsuccessful in determining what the actual phrase is, so with the help of the movie Serendipity, we coined our own. Whenever we this phenomenon occurs, we now refer to it as being delicitatious. You won't find that word in any dictionary, but for our purpose it has worked just fine.

With all the hype about Mitt Romney and the religious issues with the upcoming election, it has been interesting to keep track of all the media attention towards the LDS Church and Mormon culture. Although I can't say I fully agree with most of the media representation, I will say the majority that I have come across has been fair, but maybe a bit misleading.

In light of all the delicitatious articles I have come across lately, I thought I would share a few that came up in unexpected places. It seems being "Mormon" is a hot topic right now and publications are eating up opportunities to present a new angle, and put faces with the religion.

I have to add a disclaimer that by posting these on my blog, I am not necessarily endorsing the point of view they present, but I definitely thought they were an interesting read.

The first article (pictured above) I came across was actually written by girl in our ward in Manhattan. I couldn't find a link anywhere, but if you happen to get your hands on a copy of vogue from December 2007 you'll find the article in there, otherwise if you leave a comment with your email I can forward you a pdf of the article.

The second was recently published in real simple as part of a feature about religious conversion and finding a religion that is right for you. I thought this was really interesting and would love to hear more of her story.

http://evlovedesigns.blogspot.com/2007/11/check-it-out.html

And the last was published in the New York Observer last week. This article also fascinated me because I know Elna Baker the main girl they interviewed because I also used to go to her same ward in Manhattan.

http://www.observer.com/2008/mormons-manhattan?page=0,2

I know there have also been multiple articles pertaining to Mormonism and specifically Mitt Romney and his Mormon beliefs published in every magazine from Newsweek, to Time, to the Economist over the last months, and I am sure in the coming weeks we'll no doubt see more of this delicitatiously popping up, so if you find anything worth reading be sure to share.

get organized

Of course since we are in putting junk away mode in order to actually utilize our newly acquired space, I've been on the prowl for some creative and easy organizational ideas lately. I was delighted when I stumbled across this slide show from Domino this morning with just what I was looking for. I love their interiors because they are always so creative and funky.I've posted here a few of my favorites. Go check it out, especially if you are looking for some inspiration (or motivation) to get yourself organized in the new year.

People keep asking for pictures of the new apartment, which is definitely a work in progress....and since I am all about before & after I was going to wait, but what do you think? Should I give you an idea of what we have to work with?

a list a mile long

Right now I feel like if only there were a few more hours in the day, and I had a little more energy, then I would be on top of things in my life. Then my apartment would be put together, and I'd actually mail the left over Christmas cards I never got out, and wouldn't have a handful on unanswered emails in my inbox and a pile of thank you notes to write for Christmas. But here's the thing.... right now I am most definitely not on top of it. Right now I am so sick of cleaning and painting and putting things away in our apartment that I just don't want to deal with it, and I really don't care that we've had two bagfuls of dirty laundry for a week. Because let's face it, sometimes in life you have to realize you can't do everything at once. Thank goodness we had Dan's sweet Aunt Margaret come up last weekend to renew our sanity and help us tackle some much needed projects around the house, we love you Margaret, come back any time! If only we had visitors every weekend to help us get settled.

SO my answer to all of you who keep asking how the new place is? It is great and big and we love being able to stretch out, but it will be much better when we don't feel like we just moved in, and when I don't look around and make a mental list of all the projects that need to be done. It will be much better when everything is painted and hung and put away and I can stop feeling guilty about all of the things I should be doing. That is when we'll have you over for dinner friends, I promise!

Until that day, wish us luck, because the list keeps getting longer!

sun and palm trees

After the holidays, I always feel like I need a real vacation. I am sure you know how I feel. I'm tired, I am pasty white, and in need of little R & R. Good thing Dan agrees with me too. We've been dreaming about somewhere warm & beachy for the past weeks until unfortunately I got this message from my fortune cookie at lunch today:

"Vacation can wait, stick to the project till the end."

I can only assume the "project" means getting our apartment put together. Dang. I guess vacation will have to wait. That hasn't however stopped me from dreaming about these darling tote bags from Old Navy. I really just want to buy them in every color and give them as gifts from the rest of my life. Do you ever find things that you love so much you think you should just buy a million of them? That is exactly how I feel about these tote bags.

and if that beach trip does happen after all, I wouldn't mind snagging one of these as well.

ahead of schedule

Even though it is only January, I am already looking forward to Valentine's day which happens to be one of my favorite holidays, but not because of all the mushy love stuff, I just think it is a really fun thing to make cute cards for everyone you love and decorate with pink and red. since I have already got a few projects brewing for this holiday already, I thought I would check out the goods Martha has to offer on the subject. It's never to early to start buying up some pink and red paper...