Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Selling some really cute stuff

~ Etc.

I recently did some shopping for myself and did some Christmas shopping for others, but some are too big on me, or a family member already owns one, so I am seeing if any of you want to buy them at a cheaper price than they’re selling for right now before I return them.

Go to http://stcollection.bigcartel.com/ to purchase.

Go to http://stcollection.bigcartel.com/ to purchase.

She melts my heart

~ Etc.

I went to Adi’s school twice, the first time to drop off a poster at her school and the second time to eat lunch with her on her birthday.  The first time, after dropping off the poster in her classroom, I went to the playground to find her and being the sweet and caring girl that she is, she was pushing a friend on the swing.  I called out her name and her face just lit up and she smiled so big and started screaming and ran towards me as fast as she could.  I held her and hugged her and she gave me a kiss.  All in front of her friends!  

Then the second time, I went and ate lunch with her at her school and brought her waffle love, at her request.  We also made little gift bags for her classmates for her to hand out.  When I parked my car in front of the school, the school called me at Adi’s request because she was waiting for me to come eat lunch with her and she wondered where I was(I was literally a minute late).  Then she ran out the front door of the school and ran towards me to hug me and she was so excited.  She took me to the lunchroom where she had two seats saved right in the middle of the table among her classmates and  we ate lunch while we talked and I got to know her closest friends from her class.  There was still 20 mins. left of lunch and  she asked me to stay and play with her until lunch was over, so I did.  I had 9 kids chasing me around as we played tag where I was the bear.  And when the bell rang letting them know it was time to go back inside, she just held me tight and started to get teary eyed and told me she didn’t want me to leave!  My heart was melting!  She held me forever and I had to walk her to her classroom.  A few of her friends told me I should stay with them and they all chanted yes when I asked them, “Should I pretend I am a 6-7 year old and stay with you guys?  I look like I’m your age, don’t I?” and Adi was pretty serious about me pretending to be a student and staying with her.  But I had to let her go and we waved goodbye until we could no longer see each other.  On the way to my car, I cried because 1. She is just the sweetest and I love her so much. 2. 1st graders are gone way too long when they’re still so little, I miss her so much in the day. 3. It won’t be long until she’s not as excited or proud to have me around in front of her friends and at school.  
I love my little girl.  I wish she could stay this little forever.  Oh wait, I have her on video saying a verbal contract that she would never get married and live with me and dad forever!  So I guess that solves the problem. 😉

For Your Information…

~ Etc.

So I’ve been stressing a lot about this the past several days, like can’t fall asleep at night because of it, but just so you are not surprised, I have 3 sponsored posts that will be posted within the next week. I’ve never had so many sponsored content on my blog before and never will have this many again in such a short time frame, but it makes me a little sick to my stomach that I’m just throwing out so many back to back.  I don’t want to and now I know better, but I recently joined two networking companies that connect bloggers and companies together and got excited about all these opportunities and applied to the ones I was interested in, with companies and products I would actually use of course, which will always, always be the case.  Well, little did I know that I was going to be accepted to pretty much all the ones I applied to, and they all happened to be due in the same week!  Yikes!  So when applying to these opportunities, it asks if I agree to post on a certain date if I’m approved and I clicked yes.  So now that I got approved(more than I thought, other networking companies I get approved only sometimes), I have to keep my word and follow through.  I believe it’s because it’s the Holiday season and these companies are eager to get their name out there.  But it really is stressing me out and makes me sick to my stomach because no, I do not plan on posting so many sponsored posts ever again, and I don’t want this blog to turn into a for-profit blog.  It sure is nice to make some money, but that is not the main reason why I keep this blog and never has been.  So I apologize, and now that I know better, I will be way more picky and selective about even applying to these future opportunities.  So I hope you don’t get turned off, I put a lot of thought into these sponsored posts in making it personal and worthwhile of your time and I will be putting up great content that is not sponsored as well, in between these posts.  Thank you for your understanding and it’ll just break my heart if I lose any of my readers over this!  Argh, I’m pretty upset about it!  But thank you for your understanding and for reading my blog.  I love going to your blogs and websites when you leave me a comment and getting to know you a little better, since I talk so much about myself on here, and I love finding out more about you!  So thank you.  

I’m a Party Animal

~ Etc.

I’ve never attended as many parties as I do now, now that I’m 30 with 3 kids!  I am not sure if I just never got invited to blogger parties until 5 months ago or they didn’t have so  many until recently, but I’ve been going to one every two weeks on average!  Some are on the same night so I go to two in one day, but it averages out to one event every 2-3 weeks.  In the beginning, I found these blogger parties super awkward but now that I’ve made some friends, I really enjoy going to these parties.
The first party I went was at the grand opening of Uptown Cheapskate in Sugar House, where we got $50 giftcards to shop(I dislike when other people are vague about what they receive at these blogger parties, so I’ll just be very open :).  We also got a swag bag with a headband, socks, and bra tubelet(?)).

I ended up getting these two purchases above, a J.Crew anchor dress and a black maxi dress from Anthropologie.
then on the same night, I went to a blogger’s event at Nordstrom’s in City Creek,  They talked for an hour about their new line of make-up and what not, and had cupcakes.  We each received a swag bag that had about 7 little sample sizes of makeup.  

A couple weeks later, I went to the grand opening of the new Sage boutique, where we all received $50giftcardtoshop. Theyhaddelicioushors d’oeuvre and I tasted the best sparkling cider which was from Trader Joe’s!  Sandy 
always lets me steal her baby for the whole event so I got to hold this little beautiful newborn and I was in
heaven.  I also forgot to bring my makeup bag(I always put makeup in the car in a parking lot before I 
enter the party, because I barely have any time to get ready with 3 kids.  But since I’m trying the no 
makeup more often, I felt comfortable!

I went to Flip Flop Shop blogger event and got to meet sweet bloggers again!  They provided $60 giftcards for us and I grabbed a pair of black slippers for me and my husband.  We ate and talked and the owners and the employees were all so friendly.  I also stole this beauty and held her the whole night from Sandy.
favorite auntie, right here!

And last but not least, I went to Trolley Square in SLC for some dinner at the Spaghetti Factory & we each received a $200 visa card to shop at any of the stores!  I went to Pottery Barn first, but then I wanted everything at the store and got so overwhelmed, I had to walk out and go to another store. 🙂
Sweet Brooke Graham(I did a segment with her the week before for The Refresh) and I in our matching sequin skirts!  And her cute twin photo bombing us.

Thank you to all these awesome companies for throwing such fun parties for us moms/women!  As a stay home mom, my job is not glamorous by any means which I actually love and find very humbling, so when I go these parties, I feel somewhat glamorous and fancy!  And what girl doesn’t love feeling that once in awhile. 😉

How to make friends with anyone

~ Etc.

Photo by Natalie Chitwood
I read an article from Yahoo! Parenting about women going on speed dating(read the post here), not to meet the man of their dreams or to find a potential future husband, but to meet other moms and to make new mommy friends.  I thought, genius!  I would totally go to that!  Would you?
For me as a mom, I find being a stay at home somewhat isolating and lonely at times.  Not lonely as in I’m alone all the time, I’m NEVER alone, my kids are always right next to me or in the same room(especially my 15 month old son who literally has to be touching me at all times), but lonely as in I don’t interact with any adults in the day until my husband comes home from work.  When I get frustrated with motherhood or get weary, or when I am overwhelmed with so much happiness and my kids do something so darn cute, my heart is twisting, I want to share it with someone else who knows exactly what I am feeling.  So yes, I love having mom friends, but more so, I need it.

So how do I make mom friends?  Or any new friend for that matter?  I do what my 5 and 7 year old daughters do, I ask them if they would like to be my friend!  Little kids make friends so fast and easily, my daughters go up to anyone they want and say, “Do you want to play with me?”, “Do you want to be my friend?” and then the other kid nods and they go off to play and they’re best friends!  And why shouldn’t it be as easy as that when it’s with us adults?  It really is pretty simple to start a friendship.  In keeping a relationship and making it to the “Best Friend” status?  Oh, that’s a little more difficult, it’s just like dating I tell ya.  But initiating a friendship is simple, I promise!
I’ve had two experiences where I met the girl a few times and I thought they were really cool, genuine and kind.  So I went up to them and said, “I think you are really cool and I want you to be my friend.”  Then I joked that  I might sound a little creepy but it’s not as creepy as me stalking them the night before with my binoculars looking through their window. 😉  Both times with both of the girls, they started laughing and they were so flattered!  One of them even started to cry and said she was so happy I said that to her and that we’re going to start hanging out everyday.  She is becoming one of my favorite people on this earth and one of my best friends.  If you think about it, everyone will be flattered if someone came up to them and said, “I think you are so cool.  Can you be my friend?” unless you are obviously some creepy person.  But you are not and you are cool, and no one will be weirded out by it, only flattered.  It definitely helps to use a little sense of humor too.  
I’ve never had someone come up to me and ask me in this blunt fashion like I have, but if someone did, I would be so flattered and would want to get to know them!  Also, there might be some moms that see other moms and think, “Oh, that person is so outgoing and seems like she has a ton of friends, so I don’t think she needs more friends…”, then you are wrong because I am outgoing and I have a lot of friends, but there are times when I feel like I don’t have many friends and I need more!  One can never have too many friends in my opinion.  And sometimes, I’ll call a friend to talk about something and she’s not picking up her phone so I call another friend and she’s putting her baby down for a nap, so I call another friend and she’s out to lunch, etc. and I feel like I have no friends.  So don’t let that intimidate you or stop you from approaching someone.  Everyone needs more friends!

So next time you see or meet someone you really wished was your friend, just get some guts and ask them!  More likely than not, they will love you right back.  And I would love to hear about how it went!

How do you make friends?  Do you find it hard to make new friends, especially as you get older?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.