[Gurlee]Girrl Friday

Oh my what a week!  Don't worry - I didn't get arrested or anything, just been very busy the past few days!  I will get a recap of my night out with my Seester done soon.  But, since it's Friday, you know the drill:

L-O-V-E the Sally Hansen Gem Crush polish.  I wouldn't do a whole hand of it, but as an accent, it's pretty awesome.  I've had it for months, and have never used it.  I see myself using it again.  Great color.  As for the L.A. Colors, I have no idea what it's called, there is no name on the bottle, but I liked that it was dark without being black.  It was a perfect color for the week.

Now on to some Friday randomness:

• This week work has been cray-cray.  SUPER busy and I guess that should be a good thing.  Looking forward to starting my weekend.
• When I picked my Seester up on Thursday, I got to meet the newest addition to their family.  His name is Gus.  He stole my heart.  Oh goodness was he cute.

• My awesome mother gave me some holiday soap.  I normally hit Bath & Body every so often and stockpile some good smelling soap.  I didn't have any Christmas scents, and she brought one over to me.  I love it.  Smells good enough to eat.

• While going through the Avon book, I seen these leopard nails.  They look easy enough to try, so you might be seeing something like this soon.  Probably will only be an accent nail, but it's a start.

• Last night I had to take Ash shopping for a birthday party she's going to tonight.  While out she happened to mention that today is going to be "Spirit Day" at school.  Normally that means they were Green & White (school colors), but instead it is "Mustache Day".  Say what?  So I heard how she would just die without wearing something with a mustache on it.  Well I did not feel like running all over town, so I told her if Kohls or Target didn't have it - then she was just going to have to die.  Well, we found a couple mustache bracelets at Kohls and a Christmas tee (which she can wear again) that has a big mustache on it.  Mom did good.  I even had a few mustaches left over from Colton's Mario Birthday Party.  Although she isn't smiling, the kid was ecstatic.  LOL

• I consider myself a bright person, but sometimes my brain just doesn't work.  Take for example my new sign I bought for my desk.  At the store, I swore it said Ho Ho Ho.  I put it out on my shelf, and people kept making comments to me, saying "Oh Oh Oh".  Yeah, I put it up backwards! I'm slow sometimes.  It was like that for 2 weeks before I noticed and understood that everyone was making fun of me.  Nice.

With that, I'm signing out - have a fantastic weekend! 

Me & My Seester

Tonight I get to do something that I don't get to do very often......go out ALONE with my Seester. 

Yes, we see each other, but we are normally surrounded by her 4 and my 2 kids, as well as family, friends, etc.  Tonight - it will just be us ... and this guy:

 

 

We are going to see Daughtry/3 Doors Down/POD.  Apparently my baby-Seester likes this guy (and maybe his band??), so being the awesome Big Seester, I have agreed to accompany her.  I can't say I'll be babysitting her, because in all actuality, she is the more responsible one!  

 

After all it is Wednesday, which has never been a party night in my world, like Taco Tuesday or Bowling Thursday, so I imagine I'll be able to control myself.  Unless  I come up with a good Wednesday name like Wine Wednesday? Yes, that just might work.

 

So tomorrow's post can go one of two ways:

 

One

 

I give you a recap of our "crazy" night which includes dinner, a drink or two, a run-down of the best songs and a nice picture of the two of us in our finery.   Like So:

 

 

or

 

Two

 

I give you a recap of our "insane" night which includes me skipping dinner, substituting it for glass after glass of wine, me sweet talking our way to better seats and then after a few more glasses of wine, I'll convince her that we need to stalk the side of the building were the buses are parked (where I have met SEVERAL bands), so that she can finally meet and drool over Chris Daughtry, like Big Seester did so she could meet Jordan Knight (although Joey is her #1). 

 

 

Like I said, her being all responsible and all, I imagine scenario One winning out.....but stay tuned!

 

 

My GurleeGirrl Weekend

Friday night started out with some yummy Chinese food and rolled right into watching some Parenthood (cue the tears) and some Sons of Anarchy (love me some Jax).  It was a perfect night.

Saturday morning was a normal Saturday for us, which means it was spent at the kids' basketball and volleyball games. 

Here is a a few pics of the little man in action.

Unfortunately, I am the assistant coach of Ashley's team, and I'm normally way too "into" the game, that I fail to take pictures!! This week was another close match - but we remain undefeated.  The girls amazed me by pulling together and really rallying together to secure their win.  We are so proud of them.

After Ash's game we went to Panera and got our normal.  She loves it.

Saturday night was bowling night.  As usual we had a great time, but we lost.  We also had our team photo taken.  What do you think?

Apparently Kev-Boy decided to photo bombed our own photo.  That boy cracks me up.  It was well worth the $8 it cost to buy. 

After bowling we headed over to the Rusty Nail for $3.95 burgers and fries.  I mean, where can you get a real burger loaded and fries for $3.95? It was pretty awesome.

Sunday was a LAZY day for sure.  I love not getting in the shower until after 3pm!! That means I got to do some catch-up on my TV shows and some reading. 

Jenny Jenny colored my hair, we celebrated football Sunday and I actually played Call of Duty for the first time this weekend.  I'm not a video game girl at all, and have always detested those shoot-em-up games.  However, I am open-minded, and agreed to give it a try.  Well, wow!!! I got so into it - because I'm so bad at it - and I really see myself sharpening up my shooting skills! LOL  Who knew I'd be so crazy?! 

Watched The Walking Dead (which is now on break through February) and called it a night.  I'm not sure how I feel about the episode, but I pray my Daryl makes it through (I'm betting my life he does).

Now tell me about YOUR weekend!  Did you watch The Walking Dead? Your thoughts?

[Gurlee]Girrl Friday

First, let's talk about this BEAUTIFUL color this week.  It is from the 007 Collection by OPI:

This color totally reminds me of New Years Eve.  I don't know if it's the shimmeriness or the richness, but it just feels like a party color to me.  I love it.

Now on to some Friday randomness:

• So today was Sport Apparel Day at work.  This basically means we can wear jerseys, sweatshirts, etc., of our favorite sports teams.  I opted to wear my Green Bay Packer's Clay Matthew's jersey. 

NOT because I am a Green Bay Packers fan (GO LIONS!!!), but because I am a Clay Matthews fan!! 

• During said sport apparel day I did not win anything from the raffle.  There were only 10 people who didn't win something - and one of them was me!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

• Am I the only one  who gets excited to celebrate the first of the month because I get to flip my calendar over to a new picture?  Talking about calendars, it's about that time to find a new one!!
• I have read quite a few good books lately.  Currently reading Motorcycle Man (thanks Debbie for the recommendation and the lend!!!), and maybe it's because I am obsessed with Jax on SOA, but this book has me totally wanting to be a biker's babe.  There is something about a bad boy that is just so attractive.

• I had a day off this week from work, due to a sick family member.  I really don't understand how time literally FLIES when I am at home, but when I am at work, time STANDS still!  Seriously it felt like I just got the kids on the bus, I met a friend for lunch and ran to Target, and then I had to get home because Ash was due home!!  I couldn't imagine if everyday felt like that.  I seriously like the slow-paced feeling I get at work. 
• I ordered two MAC lipsticks this past Monday because 1) I love MAC lipstick and 2) they were offering FREE overnight shipping.  I got my go-to color Viva Glam I and MAC Red.  However, the MAC Red is a little too PINK for my taste.  Totally bummed.  I wanted RED!

Well friends - I'm off to enjoy my weekend!  Hope everyone has a fabulous one!

Where Do You Draw The Line?

Now don't get me wrong, I am no Scrooge, but when Christmas rolls around, I start to feel a little overwhelmed with the amount of people in our lives that I end up buying presents for.

Now of course, my kids and family are at the top, and I absolutely LOVE buying them presents.  I love seeing my kids wake up early on Christmas morning, and the excitement in their eyes when they spy their presents underneath the tree.  I live for moments like that.  The fact that they still believe only makes our morning more special (although I THINK Ashley has finally figured it out - but will continue to fake it to make me happy).

I'm talking about those "extra" people in your lives.  People that definitely make a difference in your world, but people that you may not know too well.  People like the teachers at school.  People that work with you at your office.  People like your mail person or paper person.  Your hairdresser.  I mean the list goes on and on.

In the past, I have always bought presents for all of Ashley & Colton's teachers.  This normally turns out to be about 4-5 teachers EACH kid.  They each have a "main" teacher.  Colton has a reading teacher, speech teacher and art/music/gym teachers.  Ashley has a second "main" teacher, as well as art/gym teachers.  Although I have met most of the teachers, I really do not "know" them, and find buying gifts for them extremely hard.  I mean how many coffee cups, bottles of lotions, etc., can one person need?  I have broken down and bought gift cards, but I hate the idea of putting an actual price on a gift.  I just think it's so impersonal and actually puts pressure on me to give "enough".  

So my question to you is, where do you draw the line?  Do you buy for teachers, co-workers, hairdressers, mail person, etc.?  If you do buy for the teacher's what type of presents do you give?  I really want to get a head-start on my shopping, as I am normally scrambling the day before school breaks for the holiday for gifts!!   So help this GurleeGirrl out.

My World Lately

Hi friends!!! It's been awhile since I visited blogland!  It was nice to just relax, spend time with family and enjoy my time off.

Here's a little recap of my holiday break:

Wednesday night I took the kids to visit Jenny Jenny to get their hair cuts.  Colton opted for his "mohawk" again, and Ash actually requested to get some length taken off.  Jenny Jenny took off about 5 inches!!! Her hair looks so much healthier, and best of all, she loves it.

On Thursday the entire family got together to celebrate Thanksgiving.  To say I overate is an understatement.  The food was plentiful and the wine was flowing.  I had a great time visiting with my family and friends.

The girls excitedly made their Christmas Wish Lists.  I just was hoping that Ashley's list would not include her normal requests such as iPhone, iPad, etc., but of course it did.  That girl just sets herself up for disappointment! 

This year Black Friday shopping started a little earlier.  We hit the streets around 10:00pm.  The stores seemed to do a better job of being organized this year.  We also allowed my niece and Ashley to accompany us.  They have heard stories of our Black Friday nightmares - but this year - it was pretty tame.  They enjoyed going and enjoyed breakfast after even more!

The rest of the weekend flew by.  The house is now officially "Christmas-tized" and I love it.  I love the lights and sparkle.  The kids go a little over-board on the decorations, but I'm not complaining.

I went to a few movies this weekend and if you only see one movie this year, make it Silver Linings Playbook.  This movie was awesome.  Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro were amazing! Even Chris Tucker's performance is worthly of mention.  This cast and all their quirks really made connections, and although some parts were too crazy and real, it was a great movie.  It's by far Bradley Cooper's best performance.

We spent a few hours working on Colton's book report.  We read several different books before finding one that we felt fit the assignment.  It's been YEARS since this mom has had to identify the "climax" and the "conclusion" of the story, and hopefully I didn't steer him wrong.  He worked so hard on his penmanship and I hope it shows through to his teacher. 

After our all day shopping excursion it was nice to get some downtime in on Sunday and even Boo snuck in a few naps!

How was your holiday?  Did you venture out on Black Friday?  What are you "hot ticket" items this year for presents? 

Each year my parents invite us to attend the Holiday Lighting at Henry Ford Museum which is exclusively for members.  It's nice to see the Museum full to the brim with families.

Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive via a Model T.  Santa always says a few words to the kiddos about eating their vegetables, getting in bed early on Christmas Eve and leaving extra cookies out for him.  My kids really enjoy this part of the night.  Santa then has a countdown, which gets the kids all in a frenzy, until he finally flips the switch and lights the tree. 

After the lighting, we normally head over to the Michigan Cafe for some dinner.  This year was no different.  The kids get their kids meals (hot dogs or chicken fingers) and normally plan out the rest of our night.

After dinner, we let the kids run from train-to-train, visit the car showplace, then we head over to their favorite spot, the paper airplane building room.  We spend a good half an hour watching them try to master the art of paper-airplane making.  I swear Colton must have made 5 different ones, and thought each one was a "must take home plane."  Needless to say, momma left them in the "To Be Recycled" bin. 

The current "special" exhibit at the Museum is LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition.  The exhibit is pretty impressive.  I know their are people who can build amazing things with LEGOS, and they sure outdid themselves with this exhibit.

 

Couple of things I learned about LEGOs at the gift shop.  A)  They weigh next to nothing, and B)  They cost a fortune!  Seriously, you couldn't buy a set under $30.  Thankfully neither of my kids are LEGO fans, so I got out of there without spending a dime. 

From here, we headed over to the big tree to take some pictures.  I normally get a few good ones of the kids to choose for my Christmas Card.  I may have taken 15, trying to get 1 good one.  I swear those two can't stand next to one another for more than a second before a fight breaks out.  He was yelling she was touching him, and she was trying to put her arm around him, which infuriated him.  So out of the bunch, I think I got one where they were both looking at me and smiling.  It's the little things that make me happy.

Luckily the "craft table" had cleared out and the kids were able to get a spot to make their ornaments.  You would think that the Museum would learn that a craft that takes parental assistance to make, just isn't the right level for this type of event.  I was working with all the kids to get their ornaments made and they did come out pretty cute.  They are clear plastic bulbs, full of snowflake glitter, and have fuzzy balls for eyes & mouth, orange pipe cleaner nose and gold pipe cleaner with red balls for ear muffs.  Everything is attached with "glue dots".  Well those dumb dots were sticking to everything but the ornament.  It took some time, but they were happy with their creations.

By the end of the night, this momma was tired and her feet were aching from all the walking. 

I enjoyed listening to the kids prepare their lists for Santa, and to me, it's our tradition that kicks off the Christmas season.