easter sunday funday

Even though Easter isn't as big of a deal as Christmas or Thanksgiving, I still treat it like any other holiday. And that means, getting up early in the morning, baking cookies (pre-made packaged ones, obviously; Jenn doesn't bake), and making my homemade artichoke/jalapeno dip. Preparing and "baking" gets me excited and puts me in the holiday spirit.

My Aunt held Easter dinner at her house this year, so the whole family came together to celebrate. Lot's of food; lot's of laughs; lot's of love.

Decorating Calla Lilies is a traditional favorite in our family. My parents have tons of Calla Lilies in their yard, and we'd always use water paints and markers to decorate them. You should try it...it makes for a great art session!

The food was uh-mazing, and I couldn't get enough of it. Ham, mashed potatoes, yams, green beans...it felt like Thanksgiving in April. And I'm perfectly okay with that.

The kids played outside and couldn't wait to hunt for Easter eggs. So much so, that no one even knew they had done it already! They came inside with eggs in their baskets and smiles on their faces. Whatever makes them happy! Speaking of eggs...we found a crushed hard boiled egg and it's shell pieces in the Barbie's kitchen sink....and of course, it was "Barbie's fault".

I mentioned in my last post, that this years' Easter Day feature was bringing back the Egg Decorating Contest. I must say, everyone did a fantastic job. And as promised, here are the contestants:

"Eggpunzel" - let down your golden yolk

"Egguana"

"Pool Rack"

"Eggcident"; "Egg Plant"; and "MEGGerita"

And the winner.......

"Eggy Gaga" (and the 2011 Egg Decorating Contest trophy)

The "Eggy Gaga" still has me laughing. Next year I'm definitely getting in on the fun and entering the contest. I wish we could resurrect the original egg trophy. But it is almost twenty years old and it's housed in Arizona with my Grandma.

I'll be taking a mini blog break since we leave for Canada on Thursday. I haven't even begun to pack. Typical of me to wait until the last minute. I had every intention of going home yesterday and at least starting to pack; but instead, I had a beer, watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S, played games on my phone, cooked dinner, played more games on my phone and then went to bed.

I'll attempt to pack tonight...but I already know how that will turn out.

Happy Tuesday!


quickie post.

Another day...another picture-less post. I need to get back into the groove of snapping away at life's little treasures. I do however, promise that there will be plenty of pictures to come over the next few posts.

Easter Sunday calls for perfectly bloomed flowers; colors of the rainbow painted on eggs; and a feast that I am already salivating over. This Sunday, our family is bringing back a tradition that I haven't thought about for years....

The Egg Decorating Contest.

This defined our Easter when we were little. It became such a hit, year after year, that a trophy was created for the winner. And yes, it was made out of an egg. So, I was thrilled when I received the email stating that the contest was once again apart of our Easter. And I won't dissapoint...you will see first hand all the creativity that comes from just an egg.

Jon and I are headed to Canada next week for a friends wedding. It's our first time and we're very excited. Hopefully I'll be able to control my love for souveneers. I tend to buy things that I don't need, just because. It's usually things that I'll swear up and down that I will use in the future, but then either gets thrown away or collects dust on a shelf. Happens to the best of us, right?

I actually gave myself a pat on the back this afternoon for not using the fifty dollar off coupon I had for New York & Co. I walked in, grabbed a few things I liked, thought about it and put it all back. Jon would have been so proud...because I even can't believe I did that. Who am I?

Happy Friday...and Happy Easter!

five months.

Before I start, I had good intentions of posting this yesterday...but the weather was beautiful and I couldn't waste the day by sitting inside. So...this is a day late. Better late then never, right? I must admit, there's nothing better than sitting here on my laptop, with a nice cup of coffee in hand, with Say Yes To The Dress on in the background. Thank you TLC for fulfilling my wedding show obsession.

And...this is a picture free post (sorry...I didn't get around to taking any this past week).

Yesterday marked our five month countdown to the wedding. I'm warning you now, there will probably be a countdown for the remaining four months as well. It's gets me excited...so just go with it. Sometimes I think back to when we got engaged last September and picked our wedding date; how a year from then felt like a lifetime. Even though five months, is still five months, at least I have a few things to keep me preoccupied until then. I have to put myself to work next month picking out wedding invitations, because in June they're being sent out. In July, my best friend Stephanie is throwing my bridal shower, and in August me and the girls are jetting off to Las Vegas for my bachelorette weekend. There's a lot of things to be excited for leading up to my big day.

The "wedding corner" in our guest bedroom continues to grow as my Michael's trips become more and more frequent. I know I've mentioned this before, but their coupons are saving me. Not only do they have weekly forty to fifty percent off coupons, but they accept competitors coupons as well. Although our wedding is going to be a bigger wedding (about two hundred), I'm having a blast planning and preparing on my own. I am in my element and loving every minute of it.

I have to take a minute to congratulate two girlfriends of mine. My best friend, Analiese, just had a beautiful, healthy baby boy. Jon and I went to visit them the other night in the hospital and I just couldn't wait to hold him. Analiese got to the hospital just in time...literally. She didn't have any time for drugs...and with that being said, she is my hero. Another friend of mine, Jen, has been struggling with conceiving for many years. She has been told by doctors that she and her husband wouldn't be able to have children. They've accepted the fact that surrogacy and adoption are their only options. As a true believe in miracles, the most amazing miracle has happened to them. Jen found out that she's pregnant. Eight weeks pregnant, to be exact, with a healthy baby. Just writing about this brings me chills. Congratulations to my two amazing friends!

And of course (yet again) I've caught that damn baby fever; it's a problem, I know. I guess I just can't wait to start a family of my own. I long for that feeling of being pregnant; of looking into my baby's eyes as we lay staring at each other; for that tiny hand in mine; and the image of Jon being a father...because there is no doubt that he'll be amazing. But good things come to those who wait. And waiting is what I'll do. I do however, have a confession: I went online and looked at tons of baby stuff, looked at baby furniture, and stood in the doorway of our guest bedroom visually placing where everything would go. It fulfilled my baby fix and brought a smile to my face, and now I'm over it.

I am not however, over my craving for a new camera. A nice camera. The one I've been wanting for, oh about a year now; a Canon EOS T3i DSLR. I even had a dream about it the other night; no joke. But again, good things come to those who wait....

Well friends, that's it for today. I've got a hungry belly to feed, a full basket of laundry to wash, and a messy room to clean; all which need to be today.

Happy Sunday!

Wedding, A New Addiction...and Loving California.

Ok, so I supposed I need to catch up...(as my dear husband-to-be informed me). It's been a really busy week and this is the first time I've had a moment to write.

Lauren flew home last Wednesday for to help me with some wedding stuff. And we wasted no time. As soon as I picked her up from the airport, we went directly to David's Bridal to pick out the bridesmaid dress. We ended up picking two dresses that we really liked; now we just have to decide between the two. Oh the dilemma. Once we finished up there, we drove straight to Bed Bath & Beyond to do what I've been looking forward to doing for months now; registering. It was such a high. As soon as the lady handed me the scanner gun, I couldn't say thank you fast enough. I was out of the registration room in no time, and off scanning a bunch of crap.

It. was. awesome.

Even though we didn't get out of there until after six o'clock, we decided to keep on going and register at my second location; Macy's. It was an equally fun time until we found the Martha Stewart section. We were both in awe as we walked through the isles of every type of spatula you could think of. I'm not a fan of her personally, but my goodness, that woman thinks of everything. And you know what? It's decently priced. I'm pretty positive that I scanned every one of her items.

So, growing up, I've never really been into makeup. I wear a little bit, but nothing too extravagant. I recently had a friend do my makeup and she's started an obsession for me that I think could become very dangerous. Today was my second day in a row visiting the M.A.C. store. That store alone is dangerous. I also just found out that Nordstrom and Sephora accept returns on all opened makeup products. Uh-mazing. I can already tell this is going to be a wonderful relationship.

Hello. My name is Jenn and I'm addicted to buying makeup.

Before I go, I have some pictures of the ocean to share. Jon and I went to Half Moon Bay on Sunday, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Our friend lives a stones throw away from the ocean...and I took it all in for the few hours that we were there.

It made me crave our honeymoon trip to Puerto Vallarta. While the sunset is always a beautiful site, there's nothing more breathtaking then a sunset in California. Enjoy!