Tales of Me and the Husband

sponsor giveaway: ike & co.!

angie has been with me for awhile and she’s a keeper.
she’s got lots of jewelry from funky to classic pieces.
a few of my favorites are pictured above.
so how’s about winning a 
$25 credit to ike & co.!
(and a 20% discount with the code TALES20 thru friday for the rest of ya)
to enter:
{u.s. residents only}
+ leave a comment below (email, please!)
additional entries:
{separate comments!}
+ visit the shop and tell me your favorite item
+ favorite the shop
+ follow her blog
+ tweet / blog / FB about the giveaway and provide URL
and that’s all, folks.
giveaway closed.
leah is the winner!

the hunt christmas extravaganza.

a veritable christmas extravaganza went down at the hunt abode this past saturday.  i kept telling the kids, “the extravaganza!  it begins this saturday!  it’ll be an extravaganza!”  basically seeing how often i could use the word extravaganza in one minute.  turns out, i used it a lot.  with thanksgiving officially behind us, we went full-force into the fa-la-la season with a visit to a tree farm.  jordan had bball and nathaniel was at school so it was just the five of us.  we started with breakfast at our favorite local bagel shop.  they make the best ever french toast bagels.  like best ever.  then we headed over to a tree farm to pick out the perfect one.  we normally do the whole lot-farm thing but goodness gracious, the tree farm was an event!  tractors take you out to the fields, you search and search, cut it yourself, carry it to the car (is this all sounding like a lot of work and you’d rather just go to the lot to pick one already-ready christmas tree?).  nevertheless, i loved it.  i have always loved the christmas season but this year, having a little person who’ll be experiencing his first christmas has made me want to bring it even more.  hopefully the tree farm becomes a tradition.  steve’s obsessed with traditions.  we’ll do something one year and he’s like, “let’s make this a tradition.”  truth be told, i find it endearing.  anyway, where was i?  ah yes, tree farm.  so william proudly sawed the tree himself and steve carried it out (hence the whole “mountain man” appearance he’s taken on in the pictures.  yum… what??) and then we went home to festoon the house with all the christmas decorations that have been collected over the years.  with my christmas playlist going in the background of course… the likes of josh groban, faith hill, bing crosby, the nutcracker… you know, the usuals.  it was a seriously lovely day.  
oh!  and thank you all for your christmas d.i.y. emails so far!
and i also wanted to make sure you all knew the parker peanut butter thing was a joke.  had steve really fed parker peanut butter already, i’d have CUT HIM.

overheard these days.

steve (with parker, in a different room than i): ooh, parker!  you like that peanut butter i just gave you!?
{fyi: parker has yet to eat anything besides the milk i gots.  steve just likes to drive me crazy.  that might not have been clear though?}

lindsey: mom, can i try your breastmilk?
me: sure.
william: {aghast} from her boob?!?
lindsey + i simultaneously: no!
{side note: she did try it and thought it wasn’t half bad.  now william is jealous and totally wants to try it too.  serves him right for thinking it strange that she wanted to try some of my glorious milk.}

me: steve, can you change parker?
steve: i have been known to literally snap babies fingers right off when i try to change them.

parker has a blow-out.  steve’s changing him.
steve: can i just have scissors to cut the onesie off?

while parker’s sleeping…
gracie: BARK BARK BARK
me:  *$#&@* $#@$$ $#*$*!!!!!!
{truly, the mouth of a sailor… these words strung together with no rhyme or reason.}

and that’s just some of it.

{photos, both new and old, from my photo booth}

on the first day of december…. i made a pom-pom garland. and, i have an idea!

This isn’t an original idea of mine.  I have to come clean right from the get-go.  I saw it here a long time ago (and maybe at Anthro first at some absurd price) and since then was like, “I have to do it.”  So, I got the felt balls last year (Like how I was all, “wait and see” about them?  Glad you didn’t hold your breath.).  Then I thought about it for, oh, the whole year.  Then I got the hemp and needle two weeks ago.  And at long last, I did it.  That’s how crafts work here.  I have to think about them for a long, long time.  If they stick in my head 365+ days, then I know it’s a worthy one.
Finally, I saw this pin… had some beach-wood (is that what you call it?) from our favorite beach, and combined the two.  I think I might still like the original pin better, but whatevs.
Oh, and I might keep it up all year long.  It makes my kitchen window a bit cheerier.
And now for my idea…
I like do-it-yourself… A LOT.  I get giddy pinning things that are DIY.  I’m like the Herbal Essences commercial up in Pinterest’s grill, “Yes, Yes, YES!”  But, as I’ve already made clear, I’m not the quickest to get ‘er done.  So, if you have some fantastic Christmasy DIY, directions and pictures, would you send them to me?  I’d like to feature some over the next few weeks… between now and Christmas.  I won’t be posting too many cause maybe you guys aren’t as DIY-obsessed as I am.  But, like I said, I am.  And I run the show here.  So send them to me, please!  

thanksgiving continued… minus the food and plus some sister-love.

My sister Kate is the best.  The bomb!  Dot com!  My fave!  LYLAS (wait a second…)!!  Basically, she has a really busy life with an energetic 14-month old, is in the middle of a move, a new job, and making her main man Mike puh-leased (a full-time job alone).  But still, she surprised me–the new Mom (kind of… you know what I mean) who was recently feeling all down-and-out (waah, waah) that I didn’t have much family close by to share Parker’s every moment with–and she and her cute ‘lil family drove up for Thanksgiving.  She made my heart so happy.  Seriously.  Best friends that are also sisters are the best kind.  Hear hear!  Plus, Parker was kind of a bum the last time he and Quinn saw each other and I knew he could do better.  When I found out they were coming I was all, “Parker, put your best foot forward this time, dammit!  Last time you just laid there!”
We have matching strollers.  Cute, I know.  And sort of matching sweaters.  Cute, I know.  Or is it just getting weird and stupid now?
Mah tea.  One of my favorites.  Get yourself some of that pronto.  It’s yum cold too.
Catching up on the Occupy Wall Street latest.  Duh, what else?
“Steve!  There could be dog-poop in those leaves!”
“Bridget, it’s natural.”
(He’s good for my psycho-self.)
Oh, and his hoot hat?  Cause I know you’re gonna ask.  He pretty much wears it EVERY DAY thanks to Sarah who sent it to him.  And Joy, who, ya know, made it.  
Lindsey is obsessed with Kate and asked me if we could have an unofficial “God-parent” ceremony to which Kate and I replied, “YES.”  Isn’t that sweet?  And just so ya’ll know, we’re not replacing Kate and Mike with already existing God-parents… cause that’d be, um, wrong.  I’m pretty sure Lindsey doesn’t have any.  Every gal needs herself some God-parents!
“Oh haaay Parker.  Aren’t you lookin’ handsome today!  Who’s yo’ Daddy?!”
I did not claim to eat healthy all the time.  Onion rings, why you gotta be so dern good?!
And that was our weekend.  Wahoo!

thanksgiving at the hunts.

It was a success.  Bellies were full… of turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes (both regular and sweet!), cranberry pear chutney, and rosemary rolls, wine, peanut butter mousse pie and a bumbleberry pie too… yummm.  And, as you’ve already seen, we were able to eat that deliciousness for days.  I really enjoyed hosting Thanksgiving, more than I thought I would.  Minus the little hiccup when, the night before, I realized my table cloth didn’t fit the table when it was extended (as it had to be so everyone could sit comfortably!).  It was a typical form over function fight.  Me being like, “Steve, we can just make it work!” and Steve saying, “No one will be able to move their elbows cause they’ll be sitting so close!”  Pinterest came to the rescue.  I saw this pin and one quick stop at our local farmer’s market, the greens and tangerines were bought and I added the cranberries and swapped out the pillar candles for my silver candle sticks.  Shazam, thanks Pinterest.
How was your Thanksgiving?

4 months.

yesterday is history
tomorrow is a mystery
today is a gift

{eleanor roosevelt}
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel on Grooveshark
{the song… a favorite of mine}
currently protesting any form of napping, 
 i’m forced to leave out cute details like his fondness for bathtime or mah big boobs…
it’s operation get-parker-to-sleep up in this house.

the benefit of having thanksgiving at your house.

leftovers.
unfortunately, they’re just about gone as we’ve been eating thanksgiving since thursday.
it’s been good.
how was yours?
(and i didn’t kill anyone with an undercooked turkey.  in fact, it came out perfectly.  bam!)

i’m thankful for…

in the spirit of thanksgiving, i thought i’d take a go at some things i’m thankful for…
for lindsey’s willingness to help me cook dinner… almost every night.  she’s becoming quite the little cook and i think is always more eager to eat what’s on the table be it brussel sprouts or tacos when she’s had a hand in the process.
for my husband with whom i feel like i can do anything.  so corny but so true.  
for heat that kicks on whenever i want it to.
for nathaniel’s smarts.  he’s doing so well in college and i’m really quite proud of him.
for my body’s ability to do what i tell it to whether it’s stand up, sit down, go for a walk… limbs that move and work… 
for the love of a family… from my kids, from my sisters, my mom and dad… the love of a family.  ugh, so good, sooo good.
for william’s helpfulness.  that kid gets such joy out of making me and steve happy.  i hope it lasts!
for jordan’s sense of humor.  though he can be a bugger at times, when the mood is right, he’s still got his sense of humor.
for the eyes that parker gives me.  even when i’m chatting away with a friend i look down and see him staring at me like, “you’re the best.”  no parker, YOU’re the best.
for tv shows.  sad, but true.  i’m enjoying pan am this year, you guys?  and revenge too.  yeah… i do like tv.
for books.  and this one is soooo good these days.  i’m almost through it and i got it a few days ago which is good consider parker’s a demanding little fellow.
for gracie’s eagerness to fetch.  while it’s terribly annoying at times, she really is so stinking cute.  
for the 23-lb. turkey i’ll be making on thursday.  wish me luck.
happy thanksgiving!
{last year’s thankful lists}
{image}

if i had to go on a double-date with a celebrity couple (twist my arm!) it would be…

seriously.  how fun would that be.  we’d just listen to russell make jokes and we’d say, “YOU SOUND LIKE YOU’RE FROM LONDON!” (name the movie) and katy would be like, “shut up and put your money where your mouth is,” and steve and i would just be like, “you guys are so much cooler than us.”  
who would you pick?
who would you soooo not pick?  (for some reason harrison ford and calista flockhart are coming to mind as people i wouldn’t pick.  i’m not sure why since harrison ford is like INDIANA JONES but i think he’s a little boring these days.  and calista, a little boring too.  sorry guys.)
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