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

Checkin' in...

It has been chaotic around here. I have a mean cold and I can't breath that well. Today is supposed to be "weigh down" wednesday. There is no weight down here. I am the same as I was last week. Didn't loose, but I didn't gain either.

Jeremy got the Wii Fit for me for Mother's Day. It is really a lot of fun and is a good workout! I have been putting in 40 minutes a day.

See ya'll later!
♥ Elliemae

Parties, Prizes and FREE stuff...

I have been catching up on all the new posts in my google reader. I had over 350 this morning. I'm down to 297. I came across a party!! Woohoo, you know what that means...meetin' new people, findin' some new fun blogs to visit AND possibly winnin'some stuff (oh yeah, and puttin' more to read in my google reader. I'll never catch up:)

Happy 1 year birthday to: LIPSTICK TO CRAYONS

I have been visiting their blog for a couple of months now. I love their variety of subjects. They are always featuring some fun project, fun product or fun blog!

So to celebrate their 1 year birthday they are having a party. Take a look at the prize list....oooo some yummy fun stuff there! SO LET'S PARTY AWAY!!

If I'm lucky enough to get picked for a prize, here is my prize list:

1. Initial Birthstone Necklace I have been wanting Lil'Ds initial around my neck for a long time!
2. Yellow Label kids Cupcake Assortment Toy These are adorable, and crocheted!
3. Lollitop Love this t-shirt for Lil'D.

Now on to the free stuff. Thrifty Jinxy always has tons of links to samples and free stuff. Here is what I signed up to get:

• Splenda No Calorie Sweetner flavors for coffee
• Warm Delights Minis sample
• Pink Camisole and shorts
• Miniature bobblehead

♥ Elliemae

Gas is killin' me...

I can't even really believe that gas..cheap gas mind you...is $4.00/gallon here in San Diego. I AM GOING TO DIE!

Here is what I drive:

2004 Chevy Avalanche

Isn't it perdy? Yeah, pretty but it guzzles gas. I am averaging 16-17mpg right now. Which 18mpg hwy is what the sticker said it would get. I don't drive over 60...EVER.

Here are 3 vehicles I am looking at...only possibilities...I'm not sure if I want to do this or can do this yet.

Dodge Nitro click here to see it!!

Dodge Journey click here to see it!

They both get an average of 24-25 on the highway and I can get the stroller and everything for Lil'D in the back. There is plenty of backseat room for Lil'Ds carseat and I think there will be room for 2 people in the backseat of the Nitro in addition to Lil'D. The Journey has 3rd row seating. They both get pretty good lookin' to. I'm thinkin' either the red or the white. I want to go test drive them and see how they drive. I'm just thinkin' about it. I just need to be more practical because gas is killin' me!!

Hyundai Santa Fe click here to see it!

I just added this one. It gets the same gas mileage and is around the same price.

♥ Elliemae

Weighdown Wednesday!!

Ok...I'm loosin' this weight..darn it!

On April 28th I changed my eating habits drastically and I have lost 5 pounds. That's a little over 1.5 pounds a week.

I have been trying to workout at least 3 times a week and walk up Cowell's Mountain once a week.

This week I haven't snacked after dinner and I have eaten way smaller portions for lunch and dinner.

I haven't been very good about drinking water. I drink about 3 cups of tea a day. Last week I was really bad about coffee. I had coffee 5 days in a row. If I liked regular coffee that would be a different story, but I like 7-eleven cappuccinos! They are evil!!! I did have one on Monday morning, but I have justified one a week could possibly be ok. Especially on a Monday morning. Monday's are just plum hard!

I want to loose 20 pounds by August 20th! That is the day we leave for vacation. We are going to be doing a lot of hiking and camping. It is also going to be hot. I want to be able to wear shorts comfortably. (none of this ridin' up stuff happenin') That will also mean I will be 5 pounds lighter than my weight when I got pregnant. When I reach this goal, I will set another goal!!!

So every Wednesday I will be checkin in with my progress!!!

♥ Elliemae

Wordless Wednesday...

Please visit:

5 minutes for Mom or Wordless Wednesday.com

for more photos!!!

♥ Elliemae

Inspiration...

That's exactly what I have been looking for...something that INSPIRES me! Going through my google reader today I came across this post at Design Mom.

Mood boards and Inspiration boards is what I'm talking about. I have been blindly strolling along making this, making that. I keep thinking I need to find what inspires me, what is...me? This will be such a wonderful excercise! I'm so motivated after looking at other people's inspiration. I want to be inspired! I will be inspired, just you wait and see. Here are a few things that inspire me:

♥ Elliemae

Watch out...I've been crafty!!

I have been really enjoying 31 crafty flowers in 31 days at Pink Paper Peppermints. Here is my little gallery of flowers that I have made so far! Enjoy!

www.flickr.com

♥ Elliemae

I'm still here...

I just haven't had any time to blog. I've been doing OTHER things. I think I got really burned out from doing that silly letter blogging for a month.

What's new?

Last week at work was crazy. I finalized the kitchen measurements for the Adobe house. Here is what I have verified and know is correct so far:

Just half of the house. I am going to start on the kitchen design tomorrow. Today I have to put together a verification package for Senior Designer. He is going to Montana tomorrow. He has lots of measuring to do at MustardStone. We are in the final verification stage. Everything should be drywalled by now. Here are the final plans. I have highlighted where all the cabinetry is located. We are also doing custom veneered interior doors. This place is going to be beautiful!!

The first delivery of cabinets leave on June 6th!! I'm really ready to get this one going! I have been working on this for almost 5 years. We are READY!!!!

Because of all the hours I worked last week on the Adobe, I took Friday off. I started out the day being crafty and then I got the itch to move some furniture around. I have been thinking about it for a while now. My dining room and kitchen are all in the same room. The two are separated by a peninsula. I moved my dining table to the other end of the room (instead of in the middle of the room) and took the sofa out of my bedroom and put it where the dining table used to be. There is so much more room. I moved around the furniture in my bedroom and there is so much more room in there to! (I took the sofa out and put a bookcase and a table in) It's all about the space planning. I guess I should eventually get it right...it is what I do for a living, after all.

I will write more about my crafty projects tonight ( and show photos).

This weekend was HOT here in southern California. It averaged about 95. It usually averages 70 here. We are very spoiled. There are a lot of homes that do not have air conditioning, including myself. The house was anywhere from 83-89degrees all weekend. That is with all the windows open and fans going. I found that if you do absolutely nothing and sit in front of a fan, it is tolerable. We went over to a friend's house on Sunday. They have air conditioning. It was nice.

Lil'D survived the heat. He was just a little irritable because of it. He liked the new furniture arrangement. Every time I turned around he would be standing on top of the coffee table in my new sitting room. He finally stopped after getting in trouble a couple times. He is such the little tester. He is such a little sweetheart. This photo was taken in Coronado. When Mom comes we always visit a store called The Attic. They have all sorts of cute things. Mom has started a small collection of items she has bought from this store! There was a rocking chair in front of the store and Lil'D climbed up in it and started rocking. Watch out, I'm gettin' all photographer like!! (heh heh heh) I absolutely love Lil'D in overalls. He has only wore these about 4 times. I almost forgot about them. They are getting too short already. I will be on the lookout for a new pair for the fall. There are only so many years you can get away with putting a little boy in overalls.

Ok...here are my schedule for the week:

Monday

• clean mirror in master bathroom
• fold laundry
• go for a run

Tuesday

• clean countertops in master bathroom
• clean countertops in kitchen
• weight workout

Wednesday

• clean toilet in master bathroom
• small group

Thursday

• clean floor in master bathroom
• go for a run

Friday

• clean shower in master bathroom

Saturday

• walk Cowells Mountain

♥ Elliemae

Happy Mother's Day...

I am the Mother I am today because of the Mother you were to me yesterday!

Happy Mother's Day!

♥ Elliemae

Why I'm pullin' my hair out...

This is the "adobe" house that my officemate, PJ, and I have been working on:

There are NO square rooms in this entire house. EVERTYTHING is either a radius or an angle. These drawings were drawn by hand probably 25 years ago. We are scaling it and putting it into AutoCad. And because there have been some remodeling done there are differences in this plan and what is actually in the house now. So we have decided to send the plan out and have it scanned in as a TIF and then we will insert it into our AutoCad drawing and TRACE it!! Yes, I am not ashamed to trace when I have to!!

Ok back to the hair pullin'!!

♥ Elliemae

Ten on Thursday...(instead of Tuesday)

one...

I am actually working on a new project at work. The same client that owns the condo in Montana is buying a house in Rancho Santa Fe. It is huge. It's on 6 acres of land and the house is about 6,000 square feet. We are calling it the "adobe" house. I am so excited about starting a new project. For the past 2 years all I have been working on is Mustardstone and Barn. Barn is complete and I am right in the middle of Mustardstone. Change is ALWAYS good! Right now I am doing what I call shlep work. I am putting the walls in AutoCad. It's not like this house is square or anything. the center courtyard is a huge circle and all the rooms are based on this circle. Once I am done putting all these walls in then the fun starts. I will start designing!!!

two...

I need to wash my truck BADLY!! Lil'D has his waffle in my truck every weekday morning. That is all I let him eat. There are waffle crumbs everywhere in the backseat. I have collected receipts, papers, water bottles, stuff and it needs to be cleaned out, vacuumed and the outside washed. It rained on Tuesday and it looks like someone poured a bucket of dirty water on the sides of my truck. It is white. This is the filthiest my truck has EVER been. There is no excuse...I will be cleaning it out TONIGHT!!!!

three...

I actually did something crafty last night. Melissa at PinkPaperPeppermints is having 31 crafty flowers in 31 days. The first day she made tissue flowers. I sat last night and made two small tissue flowers. They are so pretty and festive. I want to make more!

four...

I took some awesome pictures this past weekend and I haven't had time to upload them!! I really need to make time for these. I can't wait to share them.

five...

Is anyone else as disappointed in American Idol this season as I am? I'm just not into it. These people just aren't that good. They are ok, but I'm just not excited by them, I'm actually bored. My prediction is David Cook to be the next American Idol.

six...

I went for a run on Monday night. It wore me out so much that I fell asleep at 9pm on Tuesday night. I am going to run again tonight! Then on Saturday morning I am going to walk Cowell's Mountain with Chica. It is a steep mountain and it kicks your booty!!! Just what I need.

seven...

Has anybody else heard that if you don't eat something within 45 minutes of waking up your metabolism doesn't work as good and your body doesn't burn calories as fast as it would if you would have eaten something. I have been trying all week and I just can't do it. I love my sleep too much.

eight...

Our ten year wedding anniversary is coming up and we are trying to plan an inexpensive weekend. I'm not having any luck so far. Hopefully we come up with something. 10 years is definitely deserving of something special!!

nine...

I can't stop dreaming at night. I have the weirdest dreams. I wonder what makes you remember some dreams and you can't remember some. The dreams I had last night were silly! One dream I had found my Dad traveling in a truck. He had set the truck up to go in reverse by itself. The wheel slipped and it started going crooked, but it didn't hit anything. I jumped in the driver seat and tried to steer it the right way. I ran into all kinds of stuff and it was going really fast. My Dad finally told me to put my foot on the brakes. I looked down and there were 10 pedals. I had no idea which one it was. I had to hit them all. I finally stopped it. I asked Dad..."what would you have done if I hadn't come along?" WEIRD!! I also dreamed that I had my appendix removed and had gone back to work. Some men in brightly colored tshirts and funny hats came in asking us if we recycle. They were being really pushy and one of them pushed me out of the way and had gotten to our trash cans and was yelling look at this, can you believe this? One of them got their camera out and I was trying to stop them, but I was too week. I was calling for the installers to come and help me...that's when I woke up. WEIRD!!

ten...

This is my itinerary tonight when I get home:

• clean out my truck
• download pictures to Flickr
• work on my afghan

Simple huh? I hope so!!

♥ Elliemae