Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Lately I've been so busy that I keep forgetting to blog. With Katy home, now Hope coming home... its just been crazy. In a good way. But... as I promised to Kelsey before she left for North Carolina, I WILL BLOG. As will she. :)

This might be a little random, but I have so many precious black and white pictures on my phone, and I had to post some.

Brody and Cam in their hats. For some reason Brody LOVES the infant sized bear hat. He brings it to me everyday wanting me to put it on him. And if I don't snap the bottom part, he gets mad. So his not-infant-sized face gets squished into that hat almost daily around here [unless I remember to hide it...]. And Cam, well he doesn't keep hats on. At all. This picture took about 14 tries before I got one with the hat still on him. :)

Ah the top of our tree. I love it. I had a picture on my camera of the full tree, in color, lights on and everything.... but.... it was blurry. Oh well. We have a TON of pretty vintage Christmas ornaments that were my grandma's. They are super colorful and super breakable. We learned that when our tree fell over one year... bummer. But there are still a lot left. :)


Lastly, two of my very favorite kids, Claire and Miles. I was their chauffeur on Monday, and while we waited at the dance studio for Alex to be done with hip hop, Claire and Miles wanted to pretend to be asleep. Miles is really convincing, huh?

Enjoying a pomegranate.

To eat a pomegranate, you have to A. Be very determined and B. Have a lot of time on your hands.

Today, while watching the boys, I decided to eat a pomegranate. Thankfully the boys were entertaining themselves.

First, you have to cut it open. Which usually results in cutting a bunch of the seeds open. And then you get pomegranate juice all over your hands/the counter/the floor. Be prepared for that.

Then you take the pieces and put them into a bowl of water. Then all the yellow skin part floats to the top and the seeds go to the bottom. You still have to kind of break them apart, but CAREFULLY. Otherwise the juice thing happens from the previous step.

Number three, remove as much of the skin as you can.


4. Rinse the seeds in a colander. I usually have to return them to a bowl of water a few times to get all the yellow parts off.


Lastly, pour into an empty bowl and enjoy!

PS- Brody just woke up from a nap and is permanently attached to my side, making it hard to write a blog post.

Its the most wonderful time of the year...

I feel like I am at a weird age as far as Christmas presents go. Actually I feel like I am at a weird age for everything in life. But this is regarding Christmas presents, so yeah. [Thank you Katy for the inspiration.]

I am too old to write a letter to Santa asking for clothes and shoes and a pony.

But I am too young to have my own house/family so it'd be weird to ask for a blender or a couch or a new set of silverware.

Also, I really do have more than I need. And I'm not just saying that.

Anyway, after all of that, I do know ONE thing I would LIKE. A new computer. I have said before, my precious sweet Apple [her name, after Gwyneth and Chris' daughter] is getting up there. She was given to me because the computer I got for my graduation present 3.5 years ago got the blue screen of death. And while I love Apple, she does not usually like me. She refuses to recognize my camera. She does not have the capability to play videos at a regular speed. She has absolutely no programs besides Safari because she is just too old to run them. All in all, her time has come.

I really can deal with Apple. She is fine for internet alone. Not so much blogging, or videos like I said. But e-mail, facebook, checking the weather--GREAT!

[Sidenote: It is storming like crazy outside right now, and the boys are both peacefully asleep. It is like heaven on earth for me. The two things I love most in life. Naptime and storms. And blogging. Okay back to the post...]

I want a new computer for the reasons listed above, and for the following:

1. I am going to do school online.

2. I want something that is reliable/not going to crash when I have a paper due.

3. I want to have the latest word processing programs.

Easy enough. So I am asking my parents for money that is specifically for a new computer. I asked my brother too, but he said he is giving me a TV for Christmas. No joke. Love my brother. He is awesome. I haven't gotten a TV since I was in 7th grade. It weighed 75 pounds. It was an 18 inch tube TV. Yeah I'm a little excited. Sorry for the short sentences.

Now I will just have spend some time thinking of a new name for the computer when I get it. Apple Jr.? Baby Apple? Grape? Banana? We'll see.

Lastly, I didn't ask for anything, but Brody and Cam's parents are getting me a Christmas gift in the form of h&m. Yes they already told me. I guess they aren't much for surprises? Oh well.

:)

Thankful. I lost track of the days. Whatev.

My lists of things I am thankful for grows every minute. Coke Zero, sunshine, scarves, Honeycrisp apples. But obviously I am most thankful for the people in my life. People are more important than things. Duh.

So today I'm taking a bit to write about my three very best friends. I've known them all since middle school which is pretty amazing.

[Dear T, Katy & Kels, I love you all. Love, Meg/Chmeag.]

TALICIA.

I honestly think of Talicia as my sister. She is the closest thing I have to one. She is the kind of best friend you can tell anything to. We can not talk for weeks and pick right back up where we left off. We can live across the country from each other and still be best friends. I am so blessed to know her.

KATY.

Katy's personality and mine are the funniest together. We totally get each other, and can argue/debate for hours and end up at point where we say, "Welp, this is just one of the many things we will disagree on. Do you remember the episode of Gilmore Girls where Rory and Lorelei..." and then we are onto a new topic. Because of that, Katy helps me to look at different sides of things. If that makes sense. There are a lot of things we both like, too. Like thinking of random businesses to start. :) And again like Talicia, we can be 1000 miles apart and still talk and text as though we were hanging out yesterday. Soooo thankful for Katy.

KELSEY.

Kelsey. Aw Kelsey. My twin, I swear. Not that we look alike, but I think everything in our lives are alike. We have extremely similar families. We each one brother. We were in all the same clubs in high school. We like the same clothes. We love the same things [antiquing, decorating, garage sale-ing, planning, cooking, babies...]. And Kelsey teaches me so many little things. Like the differences between butter and shortening in cookies. I lovvveee Kelsey!

Welp, there you have it. Love these girls. Just laugh at the pictures. They are all OLD and weird and funny. I am so thankful for all them being a part of my life!

Almost too much cuteness for one post.

How cute is this little boy? I've been teaching Brotato Chip to play on his own lately. Not ALL the time, but for a while. So he isn't spoiled. Ha.

[I think its too late.]

Anyway, today little man sat in the corner for 30 minutes. I kept looking at him, wondering what on earth was keeping him entertained so long. And welp, here it is.

He was lining up his blocks against the wall, messing them up, and lining them up again.

This is what he did when I told him to look at me, of course.

You can't tell which blocks are which, but I think he was putting them in order of his favorites. He always carries around the blue block with a V and a van on it. So much so that the picture is wearing off. After that, its a J with a jar of jelly. And so on. Well, the V block is first in the line, followed by the J... and other favorites. Once you get to the end of the line, the blocks aren't even straight anymore.

He is so strange, but so smart!

Blog readers.

Although I'm pretty sure there are only three of you, I just wanted to let you know I totally messed up my blog template/layout and am trying to figure it out and make it look nice again.

:)

Thankfulness: Day 3-6. :)

Once upon a time, I was a terrible blogger. And that time was the past 3 days.
So much for thankfulness, right? WRONG.
I have been writing down and photographing the things I've been thankful for in the past few days, even though I haven't been blogging about it. Sometimes I just don't have time, you know?

[Sidenote: I don't know how moms of small children can be so up to date with Facebook and blogger and such. When I am nanny-ing, I literally have to be with them every second or the crazies dump my purse on the floor and eat my necklaces! Haha. My only internet time is the small time where their naps overlap. Maybe it will be different with my own kids?]

Anyway, thankfulness.
First, I am so thankful for fall in Washington.
I love the rain. The cold. The storms. The leaves.
Its so beautiful. It makes my life more enjoyable.

I am also thankful for the vast array of coffee shops in Washington. Today I visited one I had never been to before, Satellite Coffee in Tacoma. I was looking at a couple apartments, saw this place, and had to try it.
I got an americano with a little bit of vanilla in it. Mmmmmmm.
Perfection.

I am always thankful for these precious prizes. I am especially thankful for their parents' old cell phones. The boys constantly want mine. They know I keep it in my purse [hence the purse dumping]. But since they are only babies, they don't quite realize that these phones don't really work anymore. :)

[Sidenote: Note Cam's little face. He is ALWAYS looking to Brody to see what Brody will do next. Dangerous of course, because Brody is daring and defiant, but so cute!]

More coffee? No. This picture is about these boys. The two on the right have been my favorite family to babysit for since the Isbells left Washington. They love me and I can't figure out why. [Seriously these kids call me, on their own and ask me to babysit. Miles once offered to give me his room is I would live with them.] Anyway, I just always take them to Forza and read to them a lot? I guess we have similar interests? :)
Usually I have all three Omans [Alex, Claire and Miles] but tonight I just had the boys, plus their cousin. They were so excited to make all the decisions without the input of their sister. I am so thankful for these boys. For the joy they bring when I watch them. And for their parents, who have become my friends, not just my employers. Love love love the Oman family!

Thankfulness: Day Two.

Yesterday I didn't forget to post about thankfulness. I also didn't forget to be thankful. I was just really busy. :)

Anyway, the main and obvious thing I was thankful for on November 2nd was the right to vote. Of course I'm not a fan of all the political commercials, radio advertisements and phone calls [who does like that stuff?], there is something amazing about election day.

Maybe its because all the elections I've voted in have been SO CLOSE. Right this moment the Senate race in Washington is literally 50/50. Each vote counts. My little tiny vote could help push one canidate past the other. How cool is that?

Some other things I was thankful for yesterday:

-Growing up. Its so nice to run into old friends or teachers. I went to Community last night, the college group in our area, and ran into a friend I don't see/get to talk to often. It was a special night because they combined middle school, high school and college all together for one night. I'll admit the middle schoolers were a littler high energy for me, but it was fun. The middle school pastor at Calvary, Rob Mayer, who was also my PE teacher in 7th and 8th grade, was also there. Its so cool so see him investing in the little middle schoolers just like he used to do at OMS baaack in the day. :)

- Starbucks red cups. Enough said.

:)

**I'll blog about my thankfulness for TODAY later on today. :)

Thankfulness: Day One.

So I decided this month I am going to try to the best of my ability to blog everyday about something or things I am thankful for.

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing;

in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"

-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I've realized that its easy to be thankful for the good things in life. Its easy to praise God when he hands you everything you want. So I'm going to make an effort to give thanks in everything as the verse says. Especially when I might not understand why God is doing the things He is doing.

thank·ful

/ˈθæŋkfəl/ Show Spelled[thangk-fuhl]
-feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

–adjli

Today I am especially thankful for precious little Cameron. Usually I'm watching both boys, but whenever I watch one of them alone, its such a nice little treat. Cameron is always SO excited to have my undivided attention. [But he also loves playing with Brody. :)] He was enjoying stacking a rolling dolphin [Yeah, what kind of toy is that?? I was confused too] on top of a drum. Then he would push it off the drum and laugh uncontrollably. :)

Fall Days

The Pumpkin Patch. Quite possibly my favorite place in the world.
In Puyallup, everyone [mostly] goes to Spooner Farms. There are millions of pumpkins, a corn maze, homemade caramel corn, hot apple cider, pumpkin slingshots, animals... basically everything fall that you can think of!
This past week, Kelsey and I went down to Spooner's, braved the mud and picked out a couple BEAUTIFUL pumpkins.

I just had a feeling that wheelbarrow number 12 was lucky. I was right.

Are white pumpkins supposed to be green inside? You can't quite tell from this picture, but it was definitely a Halloween-y shade of green. Very creepy. Kelsey and I both gasped when the top came off!

It took a long time, but the pumpkins turned out incredible! I am so happy with them, I love them!

On a totally unrelated but still dear to my heart subject, Brody has learned to eat all by himself! Under my supervision of course. He ate a whole sandwich and half a banana all on his own! Without it being cut into pieces or anything. He had such good self control, eating small bites and chewing it all. Ha, he's such a cute kid. I love him!

Fall Dinner Party: Invitations.

If you happen to be bored and want to check out how our Fall Dinner Party invitations turned out... go check out my friend Kelsey's blog. She posted with pictures! They are wonderful!!

Country Living is speaking to my heart!

If you haven't known me since I was born, let me fill you in on something: I love projects and crafts. I always have, and I probably always will. My parents always told me that you can't fix things with paint (Funny of them to say since they spray painted my pink BARBIE jeep black and put a big red #3 on the side... hmmm...). I disagree. But that's another story because this has nothing to do with painting... I don't think.

:)

I always love Country Living magazine and their website. But I think I love them more after this month. [All this pictures are from their website...] I loved framed things. And this framed quote is cute and simple. Poster board, stencil, straight edge razor, and pretty fabric. I think its pretty easy to see how to do it. If not, check out the website. :)

Now this... is cool. I'm not a huge fan of the colors they chose, but obviously you can do that however you want to. I just like the idea of hanging it over a chair... so cute. And it will come in handy for mine and Kelsey's big First Annual Thanksgiving Eve EVE dinner. :) More to come on that later, for sure.


Lastly, maps. I love maps. I feel like this post has a lot of what I love in it. Ha. Anyway, I could look at maps all day. And sometimes I do. But this is such a cool and unique way of displaying places you've traveled/lived. I. LOVE. IT.

:)

The new mixer!

I'm one happy girl today. This week numerous wonderful things happened!

First, my old computer [which is actually NEWER than the one I have been using] came back from the dead. Yes. It sat in my garage all winter, spring and summer... and on Wednesday decided to come back to life! I literally just plugged it in, pressed power and she was back! I still can't believe it. You wouldn't either if you saw what she was doing before I put her in the garage for good [or so I thought].

Anyway, since she is back to life, that means I can now upload pictures from my camera. YESSS!

That is the second wonderful thing that happened. I guess it goes with the first one, oh well.

Thirdly, I got a raise at work. Which is wonderful when you already love what you're doing!

And fourthly... today I found this beauty.

So I actually found this LAST Thursday, but I didn't buy it. I wasn't sure if it worked or if it was worth it or how much I loved it. But then I thought about it for a week, and went back to 3rd Street Antiques and bought it. That store is so fun, by the way. If you have a chance... check it out. I get lost in there every time I go. I also always find something in this lovely blue hue. Every time, without fail.


So yeah, it works and everything! I was going to bake something tonight and use it just to show it in action, but I got distracted by Target and other things.

It has some nice 'character'. AKA chips in the paint. I love it. But my favorite part are the speeds!


How cool is that?

I'm so thankful for the #9 setting. Whipping whipping cream by hand is SO TIRING. Trust me, I did it all this summer. :)

Egg whites too! Ha. My least favorite part of making coffee cake... whipping egg whites. Not anymore!!

:)

Apples.

Apparently its now 'apple season.' Living in Washington, I thought every season was apple season. Who knew?

I want to make something with apples in the next couple days. Any suggestions?

Apple crisp? Apple sauce? Apple cider? Caramel apples? Apple scones?

A few of my favorite things: Old Stuff!

Last night, I thought I would tackle cleaning the garage. I had no plans, and I had today off [kind of], so it was the perfect night. I'd been working out there for a few weeks painting a dresser that STILL isn't finished. I don't know how. Its weird. Anyway...
I took this ugly color but cool shape lamp out there to paint, and bam! Knocked it off the chair and onto the concrete floor... smashing it into a million pieces. After I went inside and cried a little, I went back out to clean up the mess. I am so thankful I did, because while I was cleaning a stumbled upon a box. Filled with books. My absolute favorite thing in the world.

And not only were they books, they were OLD books. I haven't looked at all the dates, but they are up there.

Among these books were two Bibles. One that was my great grandma's. It said her name inside the cover, and had a few little notes written in a half-English, half something else language. It is so fascinating! The other is this one, my grandma on my mom's side. She past away when my mom was a little kid, so anything that belongs to her is so interesting to me. It was given to her by HER grandma! So cool.

The pages smell amazing. Inside I found a pressed leaf, a Christmas tag to my grandma and grandpa and....

A letter!! I couldn't believe it. Both my grandparents on my mom's passed away a long time ago. My grandpa when I was only 5, so I barely knew him. It is so weird to read a letter from my grandpa to my grandma.

Its dated June 16, 1957.

I also found a box filled with old pictures. Some were as new as when Jarvis was a baby, but still... that's almost 20 years old. :)

The older ones, from when my mom and aunt and uncles were little, are mostly black and white [some color] and have these pretty white edges. This one is one of my favorites; My Aunt DeAnn, Uncle Tom, Grandma and Uncle Doug.

I might be in love.

So yesterday, while reading a few blogs, I fell in love with this really cool screen. It was and old wooden window screen that was fixed to hold jewelry. I am still in love with it. Check out That House On the Corner for the Jewelry Window inspiration. :)

Anyway, I searched the afternoon away... craigslist, the Home Depot website, some shops in Puyallup. No screen. Such a sad day.

I decided on a new idea for the screen in case I don't find a window, AND I did find something I really wanted and loved...

These two chairs. Ah. I love them.

To fit these chairs in my room, I decided to take out my desk, which was really a dining room table. It was huge and good for working, but I never used it. It just collected jewelry [hence my need for the jewelry window!!], clothes and dust. To top it off, it was black. Which made my room seem much darker. So I'm going to think of something else to do with it, and save it for when I have my own house. :)

Where have I been? Let me tell you!

So what have I been up to besides not blogging?
First off let me say that I am so excited for the day I can get a new computer. While I am so extremely thankful for the one I have [Thank you Sara! :)], I will be so happy when my camera will once again connect to my computer.
Maybe its because Apple here is so old, I don't know, but she absolutely WILL NOT recognize my camera as anything. Just won't show up when I plug it in. Sad day.
So until that day I must upload from my phone, which is not as cool or as pretty, oh well. :)

So I bought these letters from JoAnn Fabrics [LOVE THAT PLACE]. They were each $1 off, so it was about $5 for both of them. M & M... Meagan Maki. Or Meagan Marie. Or Marvelous Mastermind, I don't know. Whatever you want MM to be... that's what it is.

I then spray painted them white, and have them sitting on my desk for decoration. I plan to put them on my shelf, when I get a new one. :) Mine right now is way too full!

I also made these cool cupcakes. Homemade fondant Mario cupcakes. Delicious if I do say so myself. [You can ask Savanah or Andy or my Mom or Jarvis... they would all agree! :)] It took me a while but it was fun and I had the spare time.

Lastly, but actually firstly because I did this before I made the letters or the cupcakes, I taught/am still teaching Brody how to eat with a fork. Yup, little man is growing up! And the best part about him eating with a fork? HE LOVES IT, and he eats ALL his food.
The boy has always been a picky eater. Ever since I've known him, he's just like his nanny. :)
Anyway, when I cooked his lunch and helped him eat with a fork last week, he ate every bite! I was so happy and he was happy/confused at why I was happy. But it was a good moment. Ha! :)

Reasons I love Puyallup #4: Flowers and Garage Sales

As Talicia would say, I got a steal deal on this stuff.
On Friday morning, my day off, I went to a few garage sales around town. One had these pretty jars, for 10 dollars each. Whaaat. I was not buying.
But when I went across the street, they were selling them for 2 dollars/dozen. I can do that.
The lady also threw in 3 extra ones for a quarter because they were the last of that particular size.
So what was I to do with all these jars??

Then this morning, I went to the market as usual. 9am and an americano in my system, I was ready for whatever the market had for me.

After meeting the COOLEST milkman ever, who gave Savanah and I free chocolate milk, AND buying some raspberries and blueberries, I ran into this five dollar bouquet of dahlias.
Ohhh I love dahlias. And I love 5 dollar bouquets. So naturally I got them

After some cutting and rearranging, I got three beautiful jars of flowers for my room!!
[On my desk!]

[On my beside table.]

[On my other little table!]

Flowers make my room so happy.
And the price makes my wallet happy. Cliche, but whatever.
:)