Monday, February 27, 2012

easter goodies!!

CLOSED
Easter is coming up quick!  My newest nephew, baby Holden, is going to be here within the next month!!  I wanted to give him a cute personalized gift and when I found an etsy seller over at Announciation who was willing to to make Holden a gift I was so excited!   She made him this adorable little Easter pail that I will be giving to my sister in law at her baby shower this coming weekend!  Adorable, right?! I plan to stick some cute baby boy items in it.

One you of will also have a chance to win one!!  
The 2 qts. come in white, blue, and pink and the 5 qts. come in white, blue, pink, and green. 
The bucket i received is a 2 quart bucket and it was bigger than I expected!
(I used announciation's photo of holden's bucket, her photo looks better than the pictures i took! ;)  I will add pictures of how i use my bucket once I have the gift all situated in the cute lil bucket.)


Here is the 5 quart bucket...



Some other adorable Easter items at Announciation are...


customized tumbler...


some other non-related fun gift items/personalized items from Announciation include but are not limited to...

how perfect would one of those water bottles be for summer!

and party goodies, such as invitations, thank you notes and favor tags...

That was just a small sample of the many items at Announciation!

To enter and win the personalized Easter bucket:
mandatory...
1. Visit Announciation and favorite the store
2. Let me know your favorite item from Announciation
3. "like" Announciation on Facebook
4. Be a follower of my blog
extra entries...
5. follow me on twitter
6. tweet about the giveaway

6 possible entries total, leave a separate comment for each entry
Best Wishes to all!!

*CLOSED*


winner is lucky #39!
Kelly over at...
Just the Two of US

Thursday, February 16, 2012

15 miles to the love shack...

since i'm always scatterbrained in my posts i decided to just post random things on my mind...

1. i came up with that title while watching glee.  i recorded it and watched it late the other night.  i almost cried twice, who am i?  i don't cry during tv or movies...

2. on valentine's day i cut my thumb on gussy's can of dog food and it bled through two bandaids so i wrapped it with masking tape. turns out masking tape is not just for wrapping presents.

3. i was in the process of making a valentine's day dinner for B and I when i cut my thumb, not being able to properly use my thumb i realized just how much i use my thumb...A LOT

4. we both ate dinner about an hour after it was ready. we had burgers and fries, same thing we ate last year.  might become a tradition!  i ate my dinner cold. it was still tasty. C was fussy since i didn't let him take a nap so i had to tend to him lots ;) we did have a nice little family valentine's day evening though.  cullen liked his presents....

vibrating elephant, he also got a puzzle and a book.  b and i exchanged cards.  it was great just to have him home that night, he played hooky from work but he still had work to do on the computer.  after i got cullen to bed we hung out for a few hours talking about our future.

5. getting cullen to sleep at night is such a TASK....it literally wears me out.  but, by the time he is out i need some time to myself or with billy. the last two nights billy and i have stayed up way too late, 2 in the morning last night and 1 the night before.  not sure how i properly function on a daily basis....maybe i don't ;)

6. when it comes to pinterest, i'm hit or miss on that site.  some days i'm addicted to it, like right now i am loving it for party ideas for cullen!  i just can't stand when there is a pin for a recipe or DIY instructions and you click on it and it's nothing but a picture.

7. cullen's first birthday party is going to be a mickey mouse them!.  please tell me you are not having a mickey mouse party for your child as well, i don't want to compete ;)  i am not going crazy with his first birthday but it is going to be a par-tay and it is going to be awesome....just sayin.  still can't believe he is almost ONE :(

8. what are good presents for a one year old??  i'm thinking outdoor toys.  we have no more room inside for toys.

9. cullen hasn't been feeling the best this week.  he has a deep barky cough at times :(  so perry, the penguin, has been near him all day and night...

10. i posted the other day on some new spring clothes for myself....i'm even more excited about cullen's spring/summer wardrobe! i'll be posting about it soon because i've never shared my favorite stores to shop at for him. there are many and i love everything baby boy.

11.  i jumped on the bling your nails train...i was skeptical because i remember glitter nail polish from middle school and it being a bitch to get off BUT just two nails, i'm fine with that.  loving the fun/different look and i might have gone overboard with buying glitter nail polish for a trend that will probably not even be around come summer ;)
& my momma got me some more fun glitter polishes yesterday. can't wait to try them out.

12.  i got extensions.  again....
my BooBooChicken and i on love day!

13. i can tell cullen is not needing my milk as much...he nurses but with all the food he eats he just doesn't need as much from me.  how can i tell, i've gained 6 pounds in 3 weeks!  TIME.TO.DIET. and majorly start watching what i eat. boo...  on that note i am going to pizza hut with my sister today, ha! maybe i'll start eating better next week. i failed this week.

14. HockeyShape, our business, has taken a turn and partnered up with a newer gym! skills sports training!  billy is very excited about this so of course i am as well.  b works so hard for our family, i can not wait to see what our future holds.

15...miles to the love shack....b and i hoping to have a new shack within a year.  i will have owned our townhouse 10 years this may! CRAZY!  when B moved in the townhouse became a home, OUR HOME but we are so ready to be in a bigger HOUSE.  any well wishes are appreciated! :)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

house of tsang review and giveaway...



Food is an important part of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration and certain foods are included for their symbolic value: noodles are served for longevity, oranges for wealth and prosperity and a whole fish for abundance and togetherness. The Chinese New Year began on January 23, 2012 and ushers in the Water Dragon. The year promises to be full of excitement, exhilaration and also lots of celebration!

I received a variety of specialty Asian products from HOUSE of TSANG® to create a Chinese New Year feast to celebrate this holiday.  HOUSE of TSANG®  would also like to offer one of you the opportunity the chance to win the same products I was able to review, all valued at $25.

HOUSE of TSANG® products to sample and use to create a meal:
-          House of Tsang® Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce
-          House of Tsang® General Tsao Sauce
-          House of Tsang® Ginger Flavored Soy Sauce
-          House of Tsang® Sesame Seed Oil
-          House of Tsang® Sweet & Sour Stir Fry Sauce
-          House of Tsang® Hibachi Grill Sauce Kobe Steak
-          Chopstick Gift Set

With the sauces above I made beef and broccoli! I marinated the beef in kobe steak sauce for an hour before I cooked it.  The sauce smells just like a hibachi restaurant!  I made general tsao chicken with peapods and carrots.   I also made sweet and sour chicken with the sweet and sour sauce and I mixed in red peppers and pineapple.  We had rice with our meal as well and used the ginger soy sauce.  I also used a little bit of the sesame seed oil in everything I cooked!  The only thing I didn't use was the peanut sauce. I wasn't sure what to make with it!  Have any of you ever cooked with peanut sauce?  I'd love to hear what you used it on!  We also had some Trader Joe's potstickers!  Everything was delicious and we will for sure keep using these sauces!  The chicken  meals were my favorite!

Here is all of our yummy food!!


If you want a chance to win all the sauces and the pretty set of chopsticks just leave a comment!
For an extra entry you can "like" House of Tsang on facebook!

Best wishes to all!!


Monday, February 13, 2012

somebody that i used to know...

ever hear a song and then listen to it over and over and over?  i'm horrible at that, i hear a song i LOVE and then listening to it on repeat.  most of the time it's a song i randomly hear before it's big on the radio and then by the time it's played on the radio it's old news in my book.  this time though, i have a different dilemma...i discovered a song i am obsessed with, through the ellen show, and i can't get enough of it. i recently heard it on the radio BUUUUUTTTT it sounds like a totally different song on the radio and i just found out why, walk off the earth remade the original song by gyote.  i'm not a fan of the original version but i could listen to the acoustic version by walk off the earth all day and sometimes, i do ;)

here is the acoustic version by walk off the earth i fell in love with and still love...

if you have heard both, what is your opinion?   anyone love this song as much as i do?

how did walk off the earth figure out they could all play the guitar at the same time?  did they only have one guitar to share ;)    i've watched other videos of theirs and they are so creative and fun!! i'd go watch them perform if they came to minneapolis!

hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

it's a love story, baby just say yes...

i have jumped on the band wagon to link up with becky over at frommrstomoma!!


1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
billy and i started dating 6 years ago...
{our first picture together}

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}
billy and i actually met at a bar!  i went with a friend that i hadn't ever gone out with before and she introduced us.  for me it was love at first site, something about his smile and eyes  caught my eye instantly! even before he walked over! and he was so sweet, he bought us all shots, ha!  us gals had gotten to the bar really late as it was a last second casual night turned into a lets go to the bar night. we were only at the bar an hour before close so i wasn't intoxicated at all, my mind was clear as could be.  on the way home i asked my friend for his number when we left the bar and i texted him that night!  we texted back and forth for quite a while and we decided to hang out the following night!  he came over to my house to watch a movie {little miss sunshine} and we had wine {from a box}.   i can still remember exactly what he was wearing when i met him at the bar and i remember what he wore the first time he came over!  he came over an hour later than he said he was going to so i was all worried but everything worked out perfect.  from then on we we were official, we hung out every single night! :)  

3. How long have you been married? 
we have been married for a year and a half - august 14, 2010

{our wedding}

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?
we were married in my parents backyard!  it was a very small wedding with only both of our immediate families.  my parents and siblings and his parents and his sister and her family. the wedding was short and sweet AND totally perfect! i couldn't have imagined it to be any better {except having my nephew there}.  one of billy's great friends married us, he got ordained just for the occasion.  we all hung out for a few hours after the 5 minute ceremony, had dinner and a few cocktails.  
{cheers to spending forever together}

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
i almost always call billy honey, or daddyB, BB, daddy bear.....billy doesn't really have nick-names for me, sometimes he calls me momma bear and once in a great while calls me baby.  

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
1. he is the best daddy i could ever ask for for cullen, i completely admire him for how he is with our baby boy.  
2. he is a dreamer {me a realist} and i think this really balances us out.  if it weren't for him being the dreamer that he is i wouldn't be a stay at home mom right now.  he works so incredibly hard for our family and i will be forever greatful for him!  i think along with being a dreamer another word that would describe him is confident, if he wasn't confident in himself he wouldn't be running the business he is running right now.  i believe in all he does as well and i think he does everything he does for us which shows me and reminds me daily just how much he loves us.
3. his sense of humor!  billy can always make me laugh and smile!  i absolutely LOVE that about him! he is silly and goofy, he dances and sings, he is just a fun guy to be around. and it also doesn't hurt that he isn't too hard on the eyes....i will forever be attracted to my husband. love his face {and butt}!
overall, billy's personalty and my personalty work out just great. do we have a perfect relationship, no but who does! we know how to push each others buttons but we know how to have fun and appreciate and respect each other!  

7. Tell us how he proposed? 
billy proposed to me in our basement! billy went to my parents house and asked for permission while i was out running errands, he had my mom, dad and sister all in tears.  of course they approved. i had no idea he went over there or was planning to ask for permission. i got home around 6 and him and I talked and had a drink and snacks until about 8 and then he brought me downstairs where I have a "vision board" which is a poster board of a collage of pictures of the goals and dreams you want in your life. he talked about it and how thankful he was to have me all the while fighting the tears, it was very emotional, then he got down on his knee and i started crying, then he asked. i, of course, said yes ;)
it was very sweet and couldn't have been more perfect in our house. we are home bodies and we put pretty much everything we have back into our house so there was no place better for him to ask me. after we went to my parents house for champagne. my mom met me at the door right when we walked in. everyone was there to congratulate us. the night was perfect!
{my original engagement ring, i had a few tears trading it in}

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberrieschampagne, and rose petals?
neither....last year he got me a gift certificate to get a pedicure!  he gave me so much of a gift certificate to get the pedicure that i was told to bring my mom and sister with!  here is the sad part, i still have not gotten said pedicure!! :(  i have the gift certificate upstairs.  maybe i will go with my mom and sister this weekend!!

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
we are for sure home bodies!  billy is gone so much that when he is not working we like to just be at home, especially now that we have our culley!  billy loves being able to just hang out and play toys with C!  if we do go out to eat it's usually us meeting at buffalo wild wings, wings are billy's favorite and bw's is the perfect place for us to go with cullen.  he loves all the tv's!  always entertained :)
back in the day pic, see we love wings...


10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
we would love to go on a vacation!! we have never left minnesota together! neither of us have been on a vacation in years.  we want to go to turks and caicos and hopefully some day take cullen to the do most magical place, disney world! we always talk about taking a trip so hopefully we will be able to some day!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
as of right now, we have no plans.  i'm guessing we will have a dinner night at home with our culley bear.  we are all about being a family and spending as much time together as we can, our time always seems so limited and c bear is almost ONE!
{our lil family}

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
nope, just time with my two valentines daddyB and sweetC!
{my loves}

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
in my opinion, showing affection is a major thing!  if you are in a relationship with someone and never kissing, hugging, having "fun" in the bedroom then why be in a relationship?  that along with supporting each other, being each others best friend and of course always remember to say, i love you...
{my best friend}


14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

{melt my heart}

{and they lived happily ever after forever and ever}

thanks for hosting this fun link up ms. becky!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

who cares what punxsutawney phil says....

i'm over winter and ready for spring!  i shouldn't complain because minnesota has so far had a mild winter.  that being said, our winter doesn't end until march/april.  it really doesn't matter what that little gopher (ground hog) thing says because in minnesota no matter what we will have another 6 weeks of winter.  

BUT i'm just ready for spring!  
i want to play outside with culley!  
i feel like we are cooped up 5-6 out of the 7 days a week.  it's time to get out and have fun!  speaking of getting outside and playing, momma's what outdoor toys do you recommend?  we do not have a yard but we have plenty of safe play area out front of our home for cullen to play.  we will be going to the park a lot for swinging and sliding!

now, back on track to why i even started writing this post...

SPRING COLORS
(according to pantone)

i am LOVING all these colors!!
i went to the mall over the weekend and i found a couple items in some of the above colors.  i really like the cockatoo and margarita colors so i need to find some clothes in those colors. i didn't see anything in those colors out yet and i also didn't see this chart until after i went to the mall but i did happen to buy a few things from the pantone spring colors.  i actually looked up the color chart up on sunday trying to decide on what nail polish colors to buy ;)

keep in mind now that i'm no fashionista nor do i claim to be.  like most girls, i just like to shop!
here are a couple things i found at francesca's and express...
(this shirt is more of the cabaret color)
apparently i'm not good at photographing clothes, ha!

tango and driftwood

tango 
i'm not sure what this fabric is but i love it, so soft
driftwood mixed with white
again, that soft fabric

this green color isn't on the color chart but i think this color is so pretty, i'll be wearing both the below shirts still this winter.
emerald green
fern green

lastly, staple colors in my closet, white and black.  
i have worn this already with leggins, it's long and very comfy.
majority of my closet is black and gray.  i need more color!

now, how come i have never heard of francesca's?  
i must live in a bubble.
do ya'll shop there or have you at least heard of it?
i just happened to go in there and they have the cutest tops and their prices are awesome!
i was just there and can't wait to go back!  so many cute shirts, dresses, bracelets....everything, adorable!!
express has always been a staple store in my book.  only thing i don't like about express, everyone shops there (at least in MN).  i don't really have other set stores i shop at, if i go in somewhere and i see something i like and it's reasonably priced, i'll get it.  i have some boutiques in my area as well that i love to shop at. 
what are some of your favorite places to shop?

since i plan to get out of the house a lot more once the warmer weather comes around i decided to be prepared and grab a couple cute shirts.  i wear a lot of tanks in the summer as well so i'll be stocking up on those soon.
i live in comfy clothes all week, including leggins or yogas and a cami on a daily basis. 
thankfully hubs is in his hockey warm ups almost daily so i feel like we are even when it comes to daily wardrobe, ha!

i'm not sure what i want to buy for bottoms when it comes to pants, jeans, jeggins, leggins, shorts for spring/summer....
i have no idea what is in style?
i would LOVE an awesome pair of white jeans/pants but with having a one year old (OMG, can you believe cullen is almost ONE!!) i don't know if that's such a great idea.

i also know floral patterns are big for this spring as well!  i saw some at express but nothing really caught my eye.

i didn't leave culley out from our shopping trip either.
he got some new stretchies!  
children's place always has the cutest jammies!! a lot of cullen's pj's are carter's fleece and he gets way too hot in them so we had to stock up on some lighter weight CP's stretchies. too cute...

p.s. after reading this post do you think i'm as scattered brain as i think i am?! ;)
and what was up with all the hyundai commercials during the super bowl?  are they taking over the world?

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Sneakpeeq GIVEAWAY!

I have been contacted by sneakpeeq to start working with them!  I checked out their site and was surprised by all the fun products!  It seems like everything goes quick though!  I saw something I wanted and went back later in the day and they were sold out. If you see something you want I would suggest grabbing it up right away!


Sneakpeeq came to me with an opportunity to host a giveaway for them for ya'll!!
For this sneakpeeq giveaway everyone is a winner!
 Sneakpeeq is giving away 20% off your next purchase just for entering!

 The Grand Prize:  one winner will receive a $15 gift card to use on your favorite food, style and home products—that goes a long way in sneakpeeq’s amazingly low-priced boutiques!

Come see all the things you love but haven’t discovered.  Sneakpeeq only has new products that you have never seen before!  Hurry on over and enter the giveaway by clicking on this link: http://bit.ly/yddyMA and joining sneakpeeq!   

If you enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on my blog so I can pick the winner.  You are required to go through the link to enter as well because that is how you sign up for sneakpeeq!  


The winner will be announced on my blog on February 20, 2012!  
Best wishes to all!

Friday, February 3, 2012

our little stud...







I think you all know by now we are a hockey family!  I'll probably be a crazy hockey mom some day, at least that's my plan ;) I already have a hand painted wine glass that says "hockey mom".
Also, pretty sure you all know we own our own hockey business, that hubby runs, hockeyshape.

SO, of course we had to get Cullen in skates! Even if they are just crochet skates! He actually wore them first for his newborn pictures!  The pictures above were taken on his 9 month birthday.  I can't believe how quick time goes :(  Cullen is at such a fun age right now though and he is still just the happiest baby ever!!

Want to know where you can get adorable skates and hockey pants for your little one?!
Sue, the owner of Irish Hooks & Yarn sent Cullen the adorable pants!
We had previously bought the adorable crochet skates!

Sue makes TONS of other adorable items and she is offering free shipping to all of you!  Promo code is FREESHIPPING.
Here are a couple items she makes...

That is just a sneak peak!  Head over to Irish Hooks and Yarn to see what else she has to offer!
Happy Friday!! 
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
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