Fall Shopping

It's Halloween weekend.  What do you all have planned?  I have a lot planned but all of it has nothing to do with Halloween.  Tonight I am going to a movie with a school friend, we are going to see "In Time" with Justin Timberlake (he's so hot).  And then after the movie I have plans for Girls Night Out.  We are going to a piano and tapas bar.  It should be a blast to hang out with all the girls.  I wonder what trouble we are going to get into.  :)

Saturday, Melissa and I are going to see "The Rum Diary" with Johnny Depp (he's even hotter).  And after the movie I think we are going to go have a late lunch.  So it looks like I am going to have a weekend full of movies and girl time.  Addison and JT will have to fend for themselves because I am not cooking or baking until Sunday.  I say this now but they have a way of convince me to make something.

It's finally getting cold enough here to wear boots and sweaters.  For Addison's birthday a bought him a bunch of sweaters from JCrew and Abercrombie.  The stuff has finally arrived and I'm more excited than he is.  He does really like 2 of the sweaters though so that's a plus.  My son has a love and hate when it comes to fashion.  He likes clothes but not as much as I do but he does have style and he likes to dress nice.  He tells me he has his own style so I shouldn't dress him but I figured out his style is mostly preppy so I really know what to buy him.  I really should have had a girl.  But that would have been a good thing and a bad thing.  We would go shopping together but then she would probably have expensive taste and  I couldn't say no to her so we would be broke all the time.  So  I guess it's good I have a boy, I'll just keep dressing him and preppy clothes until he's out of college and decides to buy his own stuff.  Maybe he will model for Ralph Lauren one day (I know I'm crazy).  Here's Addison's new jacket:

Oh and I will have to take a picture of him in the sweater because he looks very handsome in it.

Since we are talking about fashion,  I'll tell you about my boots.  JT and I have the same pair of Frye boots.  Yes I know we are cheesy.  We got them about 2 years ago and we love wearing them together.  He wears his all the time during winter and fall but I rotate with my other shoes.  They are the Frye Enginner boots.

They are very comfortable and go with anything.  I wear them with jeans but also with skirts to look a little funky.  Well, I love Frye boots.  They last forever and they are very good quality.  So why am I telling you this story?  Because this morning I was online and notice that Frye started making extended calf boots.  This is wonderful for me.  I have big calves, people say I have athletic legs but I just think my calves are huge.  I can't wear high boots they never fit my calves but I always want them when I see them.  Well, I had my eye on a pair of boots for a while and then noticed this morning I could get them in extended calf.  Well, I had to have them but I couldn't justify buying another pair of boots.  I shopped around online and found them $60 off but I still couldn't justify buying them.  So I called my husband to talk me out of it. And of course, my wonderful husband tells me I didn't' buy any boots last fall or winter so I should get them.  I didn't know what to say.  Only a man who knows how much his wife loves fashion would say that.  So I purchased a pair of beautiful calf extended Frye boots.  I just pray they fit my big calves.  :)  Here they are:

They are the Frye Jane boots.  If you read The Pioneer Woman's blog, you may have noticed she mentioned them there also.  I can't wait until they arrive.  I 'm already thinking about wearing skirts all week with them.  

Oh and before I go here's a beautiful Anthropolgie jacket I just purchased.  

If you know me you know I'm obsessed with Anthropolgie.  But I  also love Anthropologie's sales.  I tell everyone I know that they have great sales.  I never buy anything there full price.  I put something I like on my wish list and then just check on it once a week.  Sometimes stuff does sale out but I still get a lot of it. 

So, I know I need to get to the movies.  Talk to you soon.  Maybe next time I will actually talk about paper, baking and cooking.   

October 23

Have I ever mentioned that Addison and The Godfather have the same birthday?  Yep, 12 years ago The Godfather got to see is Godson come into this world  At first when he found out Addison's due date was his birthday, he was not so excited about sharing his birthday.  We all believed babies were never born on their due dates so we told him not to worry about it.   But Addison is very precise and now we get to celebrate 2 special  people's births every year.  It worked out perfectly though and now the share something special together.  We call Addison The Godfather's "mini me".  And they are a lot alike in some ways.  They are both stubborn.  So October 23 is very special to us.  The Godfather keeps getting younger and Addison keeps getting older.

This birthday celebration was a lot more relaxed than most.  Addison just wanted to invite a few friends to Six Flags and The Godfather just wanted to have  dinner at his mom's.  This meant I didn't have to plan a big party.  Saturday, we went to Six Flags at 10 AM.  Addison invited 3 friends and Vieng and Matt came along.  One of the kids had never rode a roller coaster and this was the first time all of the kids were tall enough to ride all the rides.  I thought it was something special that Addison was finally tall enough to ride to big rides and we went for his 12th birthday.  Since, the kids were scared we decided to ride the Goliath first which is the tallest, fastest, scariest ride.  We  told them if you can do this ride you can do all of them. Well, they loved the Goliath and it was smooth sailing after that.


Around 2 we took a break and ate lunch.  Addison asked for chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. So I made Rich Dark Chocolate cupcakes with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

I made them the night before and packed them for Six Flags.  We also decided it would better to pack lunch for everyone since Six Flags is not that good and really expensive.  We made Turkey and Ham sandwiches in the parking lot and had chips and drinks.  It was a little birthday picnic in the Six Flags parking lot.  I brought a candle and we put it on a cupcake and sung "Happy Birthday" to Addison.  Here's the video:

We ended up leaving Six Flags by 10 PM.  Yes, that's 12 hours with 4 pre-teen boys running around and standing on our feet all day.  I was EXHAUSTED when we finally got home.

Sunday, we went to The Godfather's mom's house for his birthday dinner.    She made Pho and it was delicious.  I made individual apple pies and individual lemon meringues.  The Godfather isn't really a cake person so tarts and pies are the best when baking for him.  We had a wonderful family dinner and it was nice to just relax and hang out.  Here some pictures of the tarts and pies.

I used my iPhone4S to take all these pictures and videos.  The picture quality is not has great as my DSLR but I still love my iPhone and it's easier to carry around.  Also with the long lines at Six Flags our iPhones came in handy to pass the time.  Some of the rides had an 1 hour and 30 minutes wait time.  

Well, I'm still tired from last weekend so I'm going to relax but here's the best picture from this weekend.  

P.S.  I 'm still working on finishing Halloween cards.  12 down 12 to go.  Then it's on to Thanksgiving cards then Christmas.  November is going to a hectic card making month.  I hope I can find the time.  

The Geek in me!!!

So some of you know that I'm not just a wife, a mother, a baker, a crafter and a cook I am also a super geek.  I love all things electronics.  I'm not just going to school for engineering because I'm awesome in math but I also like to know how things work.  I remember when I was in elementary school I would take electronics apart just to see how they worked.  I also remember my mom grounding me and I couldn't watch TV.  Well, I was hard headed and kept watching TV so she cut the power cord on the television.  That didn't stop me I cut the power cord on my radio got some electrical tape and connected those wires.  My mother would always say, "I was too smart for my own good".  I had my first computer in middle school, an IBM PC, which was a big deal because not too many kids had computer in the 80s.  I think I was probably the only one in the neighborhood.  I remember playing flight simulator, typing tutor, and equestrian that were all loaded on a floppy disk.  Addison would laugh at my first computer especially since his first was an iMac.  What am I talking about Addison laughs at my 1980s graphics in my favorite kid movies.  "Mom that looks so fake."  Oh but the 80s were wonderful the movies, the music, the clothes, ok maybe not the clothes.

Oh back to me being a geek.  So in true fashion geekyness I got the iPhone 4S and I'm amazed.  The personal computer assistant, Siri,  is amazing.  She answers questions, texts and call people, search things on the web, set up appointments, and even can locate my family.  I'm telling you amazing.  I have been asking her questions today like, "How much wood can a wood chuck chuck"?  And she answers it.  You can even ask her some Star Trek humor like "Beam me up Scotty." and she replies "Hold Still."  (Yes, I was obsessed with Star Trek the First Generation when I  was younger.  And No, I never went to my prom or on any dates in high school.)  You can even tell her you need hide a body and she gives you options like a swamp, dumpsters, sewers, etc.  So Apple has made Siri assist you on my any things and have a little bit of humor too.

I try to explain to Addison that when I grew up at had "The Jetson" and "Space Odyssey".  By now we should have flying cars, be able to video call people, have robots do our work, and be able to teleport.  Well, we can do 2 of those things now.

Isn't technology great?

Oh before I go,  Addison had a great GUNCLE day.  He spent time with Michael and Daniel without us.  Michael has explained to me that GUNCLE day isn't for me it's for Addison.  I guess I'm glad he defined it for me. :)  The Uncles took Addison out to eat then an arcade and then he spent the night.  Addison brought over a few of his Xbox games so I think they probably stayed up playing games all night.  Saturday morning the woke up to run the 5K.  Addison did great!  He got 1st place in his category, 14 and under.  His time was 31:05.  Not bad for his first 5K and for it being a really hilly run.  I think running 5Ks will be something Addison and Uncle Daniel will start doing together.  

Well, I need to go and start making more birthday cards.  And hopefully start and finish the Halloween cards.

Bye for now,

It's October!!!

Fall is finally in the air and it's my favorite month.  October is not just my favorite month because Addison and The Godfather were born in October.  I also love that it's the beginning of Autumn, the leaves are changing, the air is cool and Halloween.  We are going to try to visit a corn maze and pumpkin patch this weekend or next weekend.  And I'm already thinking about making pumpkin pancakes this Sunday.  Pumpkin pancakes are a staple in our house during Autumn.   And I so want to drive to Asheville to see the leaves change but I don't know if we will be able to get there this month.  We have GUNCLE day this Saturday and then Addison's birthday party next weekend.  I guess we can try to do it the weekend before Halloween.  Time flies!

Speaking of Halloween I need to start making my Halloween cards.  I have been meaning to make them but I have had a lot of birthdays this month so I have been making a lot of birthday cards.  I also made Addison's invitations for his birthday party.  Here it is:

I also have been in a fall mood so I decided to make this card.  I am going to use it to send pictures of Addison to family and friends.  

Last Saturday, Vieng and I went to a photography class.  I knew a lot since I have read a photography book but the class really helped a lot with using my buttons on my camera.  I figured out a lot about my cameras features and it was fun to just walk around to take pictures.  Our instructor was getting his master's in photography and he said he loves my camera, which made me feel so cool.  :)  The one thing I learned that I will always remember is the smaller the aperture the less items will be in focus.  The larger the aperture the more items will be in focus.  The smaller the aperture the larger the depth of field.   This is a good way to remember it since the greater the aperture number (the f-stop) the smaller the aperture opening.  It think I got that right.  It's so confusing because it's so backwards and I'm so dyslexic.   

I like showing depth of field so this was great thing to learn.  

Here are some pictures I took during the class:

Here's Vieng!!!  :)

Here are some pictures of the cards using a really small f-stop.  

 This f-stop is a little bigger so I could get the thread and the card in focus.

 I'm excited to learn more about my camera and take the next photography class.


Now more about paper.....

Check out Oh So Beautiful Paper's tutorial here.  They give you a step by step on how the make a beautiful wedding invitation suite.  All you need is paper, stamps, ink and fabric.  I'm defiantly saving it for a special birthday party invitations.  Maybe for Grandma's or Nana's birthday parties?

Oh and I found another one of my favorite paper things, paper cutting.  It's Paper Cut Artwork by Tena Letica.  You can find her stuff here.  It's AMAZING.

If I only had the patience to sit and cut these.  Who am I kidding I'm an electronic nerd.  I need a laser paper cutter so I can do this.  :)

Oh before I go back to photography...

Check out these photos they are called Exploded Flowers.  You can buy them here.  

I am so ordering one or two of these prints.  I just don't know which two I want.  I actually want them all.  Aren't they beautiful?

Well, I hope everyone has an amazing weekend.  I will try to post sooner.  I don't have another test until 3 weeks so I think I will have some extra time to make cards, cook, and blog.

Talk to you soon.