My first TAG!!!!

Jenny tagged me from Daily Dose of Motherhood for this meme. This is the first time I have gotten tagged!! Wa-hoo, I'm movin' up in blogworld!!

A. Attached or single? Attached...permanently and happily!!!!

B. Best friend? Jeremy, he's the best friend I could ever have. But...Chica is my bestest girlfriend! Her and I have worked together and been best friends for almost 10 years.

C. Cake or pie? Cake, but it has to be white cake or lemon cake. I'm really weird, I don't like chocolate cake. It's something about the texture I just don't like. I know I told you I was weird.

D. Day of choice? Saturday.

E. Essential item? My laptop. I'm addicted to it after 7pm.

F. Favorite color? PINK!!!

G. Gummy bears or worms? Bears, but I really love the neon worms that are sour. I think they are called Brite Crawlers.

H. Home town? Nacogdoches, Texas

I. Favorite indulgence? Getting my toes done. It is such a rare treat because I just don't have the time or the money to get it done all the time.

J. January or July? January. I really dislike hot weather. I sweat excessively. I have done this since I can remember. It's even worse now that I am carrying more weight. Thank goodness the San Diego weather is so agreeable, because we don't have air conditioning. It's not a standard thing around here. Texas weather was almost just unbearable.

K. Kids? 1, for now. Lil'D just turned 2.

L. Life isn’t complete without? Jeremy and Lil'D

M. Marriage date? June 6, 1998. We just hit 10 years!!

N. Number of brothers and sisters? One brother

O. Oranges or Apples? Apples

P. Phobias? Snakes and talking in front of people

Q. Quote? I have a favorite verse: I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40:1-2

R. Reasons to smile? Lil'D saying "bless you" after I sneeze. Watching Jeremy run around with Lil'D on his shoulders both laughing so hard it hurts.

S. Season of choice? Spring. The weather is absolutely p.e.r.f.e.c.t!

T. Tag 5 people: I don't have 5 bloggy friends Y.E.T! So I will tag Kaydee. She will eventually have a blog one day!!

U. Unknown fact about me? I was a baton twirler for almost 20 years.

V. Vegetable? Broccoli...yummy!!

W. Worst habit? Biting my nails, but for some reason I have quit for the moment. I actually have nails right now. I have to take good care of them and not get any hangnails. Once that happens it is over. I will peel and then bite. I have got to be strong this time!! I have been biting my nails since I was about 5. That's a 30 year habit. It is really hard to break.

X. Xray or ultrasound? Ultrasound.

Y. Your favorite food? Right now I love pretzels and mustard. My absolute favorite has to be crab cakes!!

Z. Zodiac sign? Pisces

♥ Elliemae

Ten on Tuesday...

The following are ten random things on my mind today:

One

Yesterday "Senior Designer" and I had a meeting with our client Mr.G. He is the owner of the Adobe and MustardStone. The interior designer was here also. She made tons of changes to the Media Room and the Library. For weeks now I have been hunting for veneer inlays and starbursts to add to these pieces. She didn't like any of it. La-ti-da. All that time hunting for nothing. Oh well, "Senior Designer" pays me by the hour. I have to make changes to all the drawings and add recessed panels with moldings and 3-D accent molding instead of the inlays and starbursts. Now I have to hunt for the perfect 3-D accent molding. Changes are ok, for the first couple of times. By the fifth or sixth change it gets really annoying because I just want to be done with these designs and move on.

Two

Lil'D has his 2 year old wellness appointment tomorrow. That means shots. I am wondering how he is going to handle these "owies." I will be going to the appointment by myself because Jeremy has a work appointment he can't get out of.

Three

I really like almonds. They are so good and addicting. I am doing everything I can not to eat the whole bag. Self-control.

Four

I have not been drinking enough water lately. I just don't want it. Bad, I know. Yesterday, I brought in one of my larger mugs (a Mary Engelbreit mug to be specific). I put water in it and added a White Grape Crystal Light package to it. It was delicious. It was like having a grape soda!! This is my new water!!! I'm totally addicted.

Five

Lil'D said "Bless you" this morning when I sneezed. Love that.

Six

My fingernails are all grown out. My thumbs too. I am a nail-biter. There are times when I just can't stop. I don't know why. It has been the hardest habit to break. I really don't know why I have grown them out? Usually when I'm bored or hungry I will bite my nails. I guess I haven't been either. Yeah, nails! I need to reward myself with a manicure!! Maybe this weekend.

Seven

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11

The God of the universe, the Master Creator, stopped in the middle of telling The Greatest Story Ever Told for just a brief moment to whisper, "Moms (and Dads), I know it's hard. But I will lead you. And I will lead you gently."

This is on my computer monitor at work and I see it everyday. It reminds me that no matter what I'm going through with my child, God will always, ALWAYS lead me. Thought I would share.

Eight

I really like that new song by Jesse McCartney called Leavin. I really like the music alot. It's cool. I also like the part of the song where he says Don't Stress, Don't Stress, Don't Stress.

Nine

We are going to LegoLand on Friday for the Fourth of July!! Lil'D loves legoland. We are going to carry his swimsuit this time so he can play in the water. He is going to be so excited he won't know what to do with himself!

Ten

I absolutely love Mary Engelbreit. Her artwork is so much fun. This is my favorite right now. When Lil'D finally grew in his hair, it was blonde. I am brunette. I look like the nanny. I love this pic of a brunette mom hugging her little blonde boy!! It's me and Lil'D!

If you haven't please visit Mary Engelbreit's Website. There are so many fun things to look at and lots of crafty stuff to make. Major crafty goodness!!!

Hope you enjoyed my list of stuff. I did!

♥ Elliemae

The onesie I "prettied" up...

I even put my "mark" on it!

♥ Elliemae

This is where I would rather be today...

I would rather be out in the middle of no where, where it is quiet and peaceful. The only sound you can hear is a stream running and bird chirping. This is a place I have been to once. We spent a week here. We went fishing, hiking and really enjoyed some peaceful moments here. We hope to return!

Can you guess where this is? I will tell you next week!

♥ Elliemae

The weekend...

went by so fast! Doesn't it always? We all just need longer weekends!

Friday evening we went to Babies R' Us and Target. I had to shop for my good friend Kaydee. Her baby shower was this weekend. I got her a pink hamper, some pink hangers and a lime green onesie. I tried and tried to find a plain pink onesie, but I had no such luck. I had to settle for the green. I will tell you below what I did with it. We ate dinner at El Pollo Loco. Lil'D just loves their rice and taquitos. He also likes churros (who wouldn't). After Lil'D went to bed Jeremy and I watched National Treasure 2. Good movie. I stayed up till 2:30am just doing stuff. I like just doing brainless stuff!

Saturday I had a hair appointment at 9am. Just a trim. We also had a family birthday party at 11:30. It was warm today. We brought the easy up and had hotdogs and cake. It was my niece Jenn's birthday, she turned 12. Lil'D slid down the slide about a hundred times. He is so friendly to other kids. Tells them hi and laughs with them. The sad part is they really don't acknowledge him sometimes. It really makes me sad when this happens. It happens with adults to when we are out an about. 50% of them tell him hi back and acknowledge him. The other 50% ignore him. Doesn't make sense, but to each their own. After the birthday party we got back to the house and put Lil'D down for a nap. He slept from 2-5. He must have been exhausted. We made a trip to Wal-Mart. Got some necessities. Got back home, played a bit and then it was bedtime for Lil'D. J and I watched The Golden Compass. It was really good. I enjoyed it. At Wal-Mart I also got some pink ruffle trim, some pink ribbon and some really cute fabric. I added all this to the lime green onesie I bought on Friday night. It looks adorable. I will add the photo of it tonight when I get home. I only stayed up till 1:30am. Jeremy fell asleep on the couch.

Sunday I slept in. Jeremy got up with Lil'D at 6:45am, fed him breakfast and played with him all morning. We were supposed to go to church, but we didn't make it. I've got to stop staying up late. We went to North County Fair Mall for lunch. We let Lil'D play in the kiddie area and he had so much fun. You could just see the euphoria on his face! It was so much fun to watch. We stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home and bought a kite. Lil'D went down for a nap and I got ready. I went to a baby shower for Kaydee at 3:30. It was fun. I didn't get home until 7. We got Lil'D in bed at 7:30 and we watched 10,000 B.C. I liked this movie to. We went to bed at 9:50. It's about time. Now I just have to catch up on all the sleep I lost this weekend.

♥ Elliemae

Planning in Pink...

Here is my button for Think Pink Thursdays!! I think it will be fun!! Even if I just play along by myself it will be fun! I absolutely love all things pink! This button makes my blog background look a little on the purple side. Hmmm...I may have to do something about that :)

♥ Elliemae

I'm up late brainstorming...

I am up late tonight enjoying some "me" time. Doing whatever I want! I have watched National Treasure 2, checked my email, read about 50 posts in google reader, and watched the end of Cocktail and now I am watching The Cosby Show. I have been making a list of some different posts I want to start writing every week. I want to dedicate more time to blogging. It will help me to have a set theme each day, I'm just so busy with work and home that I am just not as creative as I would like to be. Here is my brainstorming:

• Some kind of pink post. I just love pink!! How does ThinkPinkThursday sound?
• Letters to Lil'D. I have visited Dooce a couple of times and she writes letters to her daughter. I just love that. It would be really neat for Lil'D to want to read them when he got old enough.
• Where I'd really like to be Mondays. Mondays are always so hard at work, but if I took my first break in the morning and posted about where I would rather be instead might be interesting.
• Posting scripture and different church photo on Sundays.
• Update on what projects I am working on in my personal time.
• Update on what projects I am working on at work.
• Maybe highlighting someone's blog or etsy item or something

I'm gonna come up with some cute titles for these themes and then I will be off. I think I will start Monday! I will continue to blog the following:

• Ten on Tuesday
• Wordless Wednesday
• I need to get back into Thankful Thursday
• and I really want to do a photo challenge of some kind

It's already 2pm and I need to think about going to bed. I love to stay up late. I just can't do it anymore because of my sweet little 2 year old alarm. I will definitely pay for this tomorrow. Oh snap, I just remembered I have a hair appointment at 9am. That's in 6 1/2 hours.

Goodnight! ♥ Elliemae

Wordless Wednesday...

Please visit:

5 minutes for Mom or Wordless Wednesday.com

for more photos!!!

♥ Elliemae

I'm back...

I have been out of blogville for over two weeks. My google reader says 1000+. I don't think I'm gonna catch up for a while. Lots of things have happened in the past two weeks. Let me share a "short" recap:

Friday, June 6th My sweet Jeremy and I have been married for 10 YEARS!! Wa-hoo...we made it. I can't believe it. I had planned on putting the story about how we met and everything, but I had to fly to Texas at 6:30am with Lil'D in tow.

I arrived in Houston at about 2pm. We got to Nacogdoches at around 6:30pm. Lil'D and I got settled in.

Saturday, June 7th I got to see my grandma. She was in a deep sleep though. She hadn't woken up and spoken to anyone since Thursday. I really think she knew we were there. Lil'D even blew kisses to her and told her he loved her. She passed the next day at 4:30pm.

Sunday, June 8th My grandma went home to the Lord. We had all gone out to my cousins house. Lil'D played with all the kids in the water. They all had a great time. It was a beautiful day: My Mom got the call about my grandmother at 4:45pm. We packed up and went home. My Mom held up ok. I'm glad that I could be right there for her!

Monday, June 9th I went to the funeral home with Mom & Dad. All the details and arrangements had to be made. Mom & I ran around town all day long. The family viewing was at 4pm. Lil'D did really well with all the rushing around all day. AND he made it through 2 hours at the funeral home without bringing the place down.

Tuesday, June 10th The funeral was at 10am. It was a rainy day and it was thundering a bit.

Wednesday, June 11th Lil'D and I flew back to San Diego. We were tired!

Friday, June 13th My Mom flew into San Diego at 8:30pm. We had planned this trip over 2 months ago. Can you believe the timing. It has been a good break for my Mom. Of course, I don't know if her running around in my crazy life is considered a break. But I have kept her busy enough to keep her mind off of things.

Saturday, June 14th We got up at 5am and the left the house at 6:30am to go to DISNEYLAND again. Jeremy won 4 tickets from clear channel radio. Can you believe it? Grandma & Grandpa Ham (Jeremy's parents) went with us also. We got to sneak preview the new Toy Story Mania ride and California Adventure. It didn't officially open until Tuesday. It was really neat. Lil'D had a wonderful time. We even stayed to watch Fantasmic at 9pm. Lil'D fell asleep about 3 minutes after Fantasmic was over. We left the park at 11:30pm and got home at about 1am. It was a long day.

Sunday, June 15th We had a small birthday party for Lil'D. He turned 2. It was just a family birthday: 11 adults, 9 kids plus Lil'D. There was 21 people in my house the day after spending the whole day at Disneyland. Wanna see the family breakdown? I know you do:

• *Grandma San (my Mom)
• *Grandma & Grandpa Ham (Jeremy's Mom & Dad)
• *Uncle Bry & Auntie A, they have 4 kids (Jeremy's oldest brother)
• Uncle R & Auntie E, they have 3 kids (Jeremy's middle brother)
• Auntie Sher & her boyfried who has 2 kids (Jeremy's younger sister)
• Elliemae, Jeremy and Lil'D

I was so busy hostessing, I forgot to eat. I ate after everyone left. I didn't have a piece of the cake (which I baked on Sunday morning and forgot vegetable oil and eggs and went to the store twice for them) until Tuesday.

Monday, June 16 My sweet baby boy turned 2 years old today. Time flies when your having fun!

Thursday, June 19 We bought a car: 2008 Nissan Rogue

I love it. I am already getting 23 mpg!!! Wa-hoo!

Ok, my "short" recap is done. We are going to the fair tomorrow!!! Wa-hoo, I can't wait. I absolutely love the fair!!!

Have a great weekend and I promise to be back on Monday!!

♥ Elliemae

Kick it into high gear...

Just when you think you can take a break, life sticks it's tongue out at you and says "neener, neener!"

I spent a good deal of Saturday catching up on all my cleaning. I haven't gotten off of work on time for at least 2 weeks so I haven't been cleaning. We made a trip to Home Depot and got a closet system for Jeremy's closet. (It fell in the middle of the night a couple of days ago) The closet is 9' wide, the shelf and rod fell to the ground. We thought it was either and earthquake or a car had run into our house. So, we got a closet kit for 5o bucks. Lil'D learned a new word..."home depot" and he loved looking at all the things in the store. We had a really fun trip with him.

On Sunday we went to a Marine Museum with Auntie E and the kids. Lil'D loved all the airplanes and helicopters. It was hot though. The day started out overcast, by the time we got to the museum it was sunny and I was sweatin'. It was only 72 degrees. I sweat so easily and I really hate it! Here are a few pics from the museum trip:

Lil'D is so tiny next to these big planes. He was having a great time posing in front of them.

Here are Lil'Ds cousins Z and Nate. Lil'D adores them!

This one has teeth!

After the museum we put Lil'D down for a nap and Jeremy worked on the closet. I sat and vegged. The closet looks great and I think there is more hanging space now.

We walked over to the fields at the school right behind our house and Lil'D kicked the soccer ball around. When we were leaving there was a hawk chasing off some crows and when the hawk was coming back over us I swear he looked at Lil'D. Mama bear kicked in. It really seemed like hat bird was stalking Lil'D. There are really huge lights in the field, like a football stadium. They are like 100 feet in the air. There was the hawk's nest. That bird was protecting it's nest. The nest was huge. That hawk was huge. It was like we were inside the discovery channel. Lil'D was oblivious to the whole thing.

I have a couple more subjects I want to touch on.

First, my Grandma. She had to go to the emergency room last Wednesday because she was having chest pains. They did a catscan and found cancer all over her body. Pancreatic, I think my Mom said. My Grandmother is 96 years old. She has been living on her own all this time. She has lost a lot of weight in the past couple of months. When you have someone that age in your life you just know that the time is coming. So, my Mom has put her in a very nice facility because she can't walk anymore. My Mom is about 115 pounds, she needs help. They have medicated her so that she won't be in any pain, and have given her about 3 months to live. I decided last Thursday that I wanted to come home and see her. Lil'D and I will be flying to Texas on Friday, June 6th. Lil'D met his great grandmother when he was 6 months old, but now that he is a lot more interactive I think my grandmother will love seeing him.

Friday, June 6th is my 10 year wedding anniversary. Jeremy and I will be postponing our celebration. You just have to take life as it comes at you.

The reason I am flying so soon is:

1. I want to see my grandmother like she is now, not later.
2. Lil'D turns 2 on June 16, he still can fly for free.
3. My Mom is coming here to visit from June 13-June 23. We have had this planned for months. To change the ticket it would be $280. Mom needs the break after everything the past week. Plus it's good for her to get this break, because she has a lot to handle in the next couple of months.

Last thing, I finished my designs for the Adobe kitchen. Would you like to see them? Here they are:

Here is my completed floorplan.

These are my completed elevations.

This is a conceptual photograph of what some of the elements will look like when this kitchen is built. This client is very traditional.

Now I'm back to MustardStone. The first delivery of cabinets is this month. I'm ready to get this job started!!

Have a great day!

♥ Elliemae

We went to Disneyland...

I am really late posting this...better late than never. My sister-in-law and her family went to Disneyland on the weekend of the 17th. They had chapperone hopper passes for Friday and Saturday. My 17yo niece's highschool band went. Well, the bus broke down and they didn't get to go on Friday, they only went on Saturday. There was still one day left on the ticket and we had 13 days to use it. So free tickets to disneyland!!! What..we have to go Memorial Day weekend...ok I guess if we have to we will suck it up and just go...

We got up at 6am, left home by 7am and was at Disney by 8:30am. It was a cloudy day, not cold, not hot. It was actually perfect. We were going to ride Peter Pan first, but the line had already gotten too long. We went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and some other kids ride. They are dark, loud and fast. Lil'D wasn't scared, but he was just like what is this. So we went on happier rides like the carousel:

Then we headed over to A Bug's Life. We came upon an ant. A very large ant. Lil'D didn't really know what to think. The look on his face says it all:

Lil'D was also completely intrigued by the roller coaster California Screamin'! You should have seen his face when I rode it and he realized it was me. Here are some photos of him watching the coaster "scream" by:

We also met some characters along the way. We stood in line to see Tigger and Eyore. The whole time Lil'D was waving at Tigger and saying "hi Tigger!" It was so cute. I don't think he really knew exactly who Eyore was, but he sure like him because when we walked away from him he blew kisses to Eyore.

After waiting in line for about 45 minutes...we got to see Mickey:

Here are a couple of more fun shots!

♥ Elliemae