Places I LOVE to Shop!

Ok, what girl doesn't LOVE to shop?  I know, right?!  Silly question!  

Thought I would share with you some of my favorite places to buy, brag about some of the things I already own, and highlight few items I might be wishing for (ahem, hint hint hubby, the birthday is coming up soon and handmade takes a little longer than just going to the store to pick something up, just sayin')!

Polka Dot Bungalow 

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I happen to own both of those beauties above and I love them!  They fit my Nikon cameras perfectly!

In honor of her grand re-opening (after taking off a few months to spend some qt with family), Stephanie is giving away one of her camera strap covers, but you have to enter now!  It ends today (7/15)!  Click here!

Allora Handmade

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I personally don't have the pleasure of owning any of of these beauties, but my wish list is llllllloooooooooooonnnnngggg!  I need each and every rosette statement necklace please, the three shown above are just the tip of the ice berg!

Allora is celebrating two years of being in business and owner Jess has been reflecting on what it takes to make it in the handmade world!  She is also hosting three different giveaways, so head on over to her blog and not only try to win, but spend some time reading some inspiring words!

Crystal B

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 Not only do I love Crystal's jewels, I adore her!  She has become one of the sweetest bloggy friends and I can't believe I haven't really blogged about all of the jewelry that I own of hers!  I happened to find her through a giveaway, and from there, it was love!  I have ordered several pieces off of her site, but my favorites have been the custom pieces she has put together for me and for my mother-in-law!  Wish I could photograph jewelry better, because the custom pieces are amazing!  But after several attempts, no dice!  Crystal is so easy to work with and has fabulous customer service!  She is currently on vacation, but will be back in business when she gets back (with new items in the shop too)!  Make sure you check her out if vintage jewels are your thing!  Crystal and I hopefully will get a chance to meet sometime this fall, if not then, I am going to try and swing her R&R weekend in San Diego in February!

The Vintage Pearl

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Love everything from TVP and proud to be an owner of quite of few of pieces!  In fact, I was purchasing from TVP way back when their mama birds were in color!  Two key staples in my wardrobe would have to be my vintage silver charms necklace (K for Kyan and an L for Lola) and my chunky message ring from the kiddos for mother's day this year with their names engraved on the outside with four dots in between (representing our family of four)!  I love TVP so much, I had to get my husband in on the action, and bought him a cuff for father's day?  His birthday?  I honestly can't remember, but he wears the wide leather cuff in dark brown with both Kyan and Lola's names on it!  While I love everything that I own, I wear them the most out of all of my handmade jewelry, I just spied the vintage rectangle initials and have begun drooling over them!  I would love to have them with the kids initials!

Lisa Leonard Designs

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Not only does Lisa make great jewelry, but her home decor is incredible!  I have so many things on my want list from her shop, including both the love pennant banner and the heartstrings wall hanging!  I have always loved the heartstrings necklace (which I still don't have, but would love to own) and when I saw that Lisa Leonard came out with something similar for the wall I almost fell over!  She does have another necklace I am swooning over, but I couldn't figure out how to capture the picture of it, it is called, Key to My Heart, I would love it with the key sporting the hubs name and the two tags with the kiddos names on it!  There are a million pieces over there that any girl would be lucky to own!

Recently Lola won the pewter wand from her shop and she still loves it, but only gets to play with it for a few minutes at a time, because it is so delicate and bends when it gets to warm!  Here she is opening it up!  Lisa was sweet enough to share the video on her blog too!

Sosobella Designs

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Love this sweet little shop and how meaningful each and every necklace seems to be!  I own one of her little necklaces and I love it, perfect for when I want to mix a little silver and gold, but the two above are definitely on my wish list!  And if you are a fan of Havaianas, she dolls them up just perfectly!  The blog is one of my favorite reads, Kristy's girls are beyond cute (and should seriously both be models) and she is always doing such cool crafty things with them.  What I wouldn't give to be ten years old, just so I could attend her Camp Cre8!

Evy's Tree

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Amy is the hoodie queen!  It has been so fun watching Amy and Evy's Tree grow from the beginning!  To think that our friendship all started with a comment she left me on my blog about how she thought my daughter's hoodie (of all things) was cute!  Well, it was borderline too small, so I said I would send it to her, the rest is history!  She sent Lola and I some of her very first hoodies!  Since then, they have gotten even sweeter and I am in love with all of her Simple hoodies, especially in black, red, and navy blue!  Can't wait to meet Amy one day in real life, maybe the next time we make the trip to Out of Africa?!

Dear Lillie

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Yes, that is Lola you see sporting a Dear Lillie tutu!  In fact, the tutu was named after her when I sent Jenni (we spell our name the same way, crazy huh?!) pictures of Lola wearing a tutu that we had just recently won!  The dress next to her, my favorite dress ever made by her!  Guess what?!  I own it, along with one of her screen printed t-shirts (they are so soft) with one of my favorite quotes of all time on it and a little red crocheted hat for Lola!  Although Dear Lillie is currently closed, the blog is full of tutorials and a giveaways to hold me over until it reopens in September!  Jenni has impeccable style and does almost everything herself (or with the help of her family) and her family is beautiful!  She just recently added her own little Lola to the mix!  I think we were destined to be friends!

Joyfolie

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Joyfolie was my first etsy purchase!  I had the privilege of being able to purchase several pairs for Lola before you had to fight the online world for a pair of these beauties (they sell out now in a matter of seconds and I am proud to say that I was able to snag a few pairs in battle too)!  Jessica is amazing and her business is another one that has been incredible to watch grow!  Had it not been for her blog, I don't think I would have met a few of the wonderful women and blog friends that I now have!  I am so excited for her women's line that she just announced would be coming out during the fall/holiday season!  For so long I drooled over Lola's shoes, now I just may get a pair of my own!

The Pleated Poppy

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I was in need of a case for my ipad, the big bulky leather one that I purchased at Best Buy just wasn't cutting it, sooooo not cute enough!  Enter Pleated Poppy!  Lindsey makes the cutest ipad cases ever (that big grey polka dotted thing in the back is my ipad case, the inside is lined in that pretty punch fabric)!  When I saw it I was sold and couldn't click the button fast enough!  With it I purchased the tiny pouch to hold my Rosie J. Photography Business cards.  But the cuteness doesn't end there, I still need the sunnies case, the checkbook cover, and those petal pushers (coral, heather gray & the black one too {not pictured})!  What I especially love about her shop, everything is ready to ship, so you don't have to wait too long to get it (although I would wait for anything handmade, so much better)!

Happy shopping and fill me in if I missed your favorite shop or if you have a handmade shop of your own that I need to check out!

 ps - I wasn't asked to blog about these shops, nor was I given any product, just wanted to share with you places that I love to shop and wish for things online!

Together in Dreamland

Kyan and Lola are best friends.  Most times it seems like they have their own secret language and they ignore anyone else that is in the room.  They are often inseparable, even at night.

 

Kyan has bunk beds and Lola has been sleeping on the bottom, while he sleeps on the top.  But with the season finale of Bigfoot last night and seeing a Bigfoot with glowing green eyes, they decided to snuggle up together to watch a movie before bed.  They both fell asleep within minutes and I just left them all snuggled up next to each other, off in sweet dreamland!  I have a funny feeling that they will fall asleep like this again tonight too!

Beautiful Jamaica

Finally, a look back at our memories from vacation!

Enjoy a little Bob Marley while you read and reminisce with us!


Ok, I did not have my camera with me nearly as much as I should have.  I wanted to soak up all that was Jamaica and not have to have the camera around my neck the entire time.  Do I regret it now, of course, but when I was there, in the moment, it was fantastic, spectacular, just breathtaking!

This trip all started off as a joke between my husband and this beautiful bride, for which I am so thankful.  Jessica and Chad work together at Wells Fargo.  From the moment she mentioned that the Sandals wedding packages were outrageous, they started talking and they she and I started talking and the next thing I know, we were getting passports and booking tickets to Jamaica!  It was truly a dream come true!


We were one of the first couples to arrive on the island and we checked into our beautiful room, on the Manor Side of the resort at Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
 

We spent a lot of time at the pool area!

 And oceanside!


One of the days, they had a guy who did a Jamaican tie dye, where he rolled up a white t-shirt and then painted it with a sponge!  It was really cool!  I got one done, because we always have a tie dye day at school, so I thought it would be cool to sport the shirt from vacation!


One BIG thing that I loved about staying at the Sandals couples only resort was that they schedule complimentary photo shoots for you at some point during your stay.  Being the one always behind the camera, I was so happy to get a few pictures of Chad and I together for once.  Chad was very cooperative too, lots of posing and kissing, it was fun!  Our photographer, Dalmar, was so cool and really seemed like our friend by the end of our trip!  So many of the staff did as a matter of fact, they are all so friendly there!
 
  I know you recognize that one, I think it is my favorite, that is why it made my side bar right away!







After our little photo shoot we headed out on the only excursion we did outside of the hotel. We took a catamaran cruise, where it took us snorkeling and to the Dunn's River Falls, a must see/do by anyone who has ever been to Jamaica!  We had heard from a couple the night before that if we do it, we needed to do it by cruise and they were so right!  It was a blast!  I invested in a cheap, no name brand underwater camera, so the pictures are not great and a bit blurry, but I couldn't not put them up!  This was seriously amazing!

The rest of our days were spent around the hotel swimming and hanging out with the wedding party up until the big day!  And what a big day it was!  The wedding couldn't have gone any better and the pictures turned out amazing!  I went from one end of the hotel to the other and then back again, was dripping in sweat most of the time (it was very humid there, so I was prepared for it and didn't do much prep on myself that day), I don't think the Harris' or I could have asked for a better day!

After the wedding and dinner, we headed to the pool to cool off and then over to Jaime's Lounge (the place to be at night, and a place we were at more than once during our stay on the island).  This is when I was finally starting to relax, work was over!

On Sunday we had a couples massage on the pier.  I don't think that I will never be able to have another regular massage again indoors (ok, that is a lie, but still...)!  It was so relaxing having the Caribbean breezes flowing through the sheet, the ocean waves underneath, and my man right beside me.

Later that night, we met up with the couples that were still on the island and had dinner at the Japanese Restaurant.  It was a blast and the food was delicious!

 

After dinner we headed to the Sundowner Bar and Deck (right inside is there game area, big screen tv's) and watched the end of the Basketball Finals!  We then searched for the luau and went to and from the Riviera/Manor sides several times before we finally figured out that they didn't have a luau planned, despite what it said on the newsletter for the day!  Instead we played a boys vs. girls game of charades!  It was hilarious and after two bonus rounds, the girls ended up winning!

On the way to the airport, I snapped as many pictures as I could out of our bus, at Jamaican life off of the resort.  The country is beautiful, but very poor.  Life is simple.  I wish that I could have had a day just photographing life on the island, but here are a few out of the bus.

The houses there are beautiful, but often unfinished.  We were told that they will get worked on until a family runs out of money, thus stopping labor.  When enough money is earned again, they will continue building another part of the house.

Jamaica is breathtaking!  I am so thankful that we got the opportunity to visit.  It was nice to get away with the hubs and the perfect amount of time away from the kiddos.  They were missing us as much as were were missing them!

Dreaming of our next vacation, as a family to the Beaches resort, in Jamaica!  One day, just need to save money first!  I think the kids would love it!

Slumber Party!

This Friday we started out at what we thought was just a swimming date with the Durham family.  As the day went on and my kids went to summer camp at the little gym it turned into plans for just Michelle to spend the night (the Durhams stayed to play and wait for their cousins to get home, as most everything is packed up ready to move)!  While at camp, Rae and I got started on making hair bows and didn't really want to stop, so we made plans for all of the Durhams to spend the night, even Auntie Rae!  Worked out perfect, since daddy Durham was off to work the night shift. 

We barbequed, we swam, we had root beer and orange floats, we painted nails, played video games, made beaded necklaces, and snuggled into kyan and lola's beds to watch movies and go to sleep!  Lola and Saige were asleep in record time, but the three older ones were too busy laughing at Ice Age and it took a lot longer for them to fall asleep!

In the morning it was doughnuts for breakfast and they were all back at it playing together again, while I tried to finish making the hair clips (makes it harder when you have to double the order)!  Rae Lynn felt a little more ambitious and asked if she could tackle organizing my craft room for me.  She actually asked if I would be mad?!  Are you serious?!  NO WAY!  I had it organized at Christmas time, but since then...well, let's just say it has gotten a little messy!  She rocks and whipped the room into shape in no time and made me realize just how many old frames I really do have.  I have been buying them sporadically to do some sort of vintage wall collage, I just didn't think I had enough frames yet, WRONG!  Now I just have to figure out which wall it should go on!  Glad to say you can see the floor, but it is not yet ready for a reveal, I feel like there is so much more I want to get done in there before I show you where I go to create!

When we finished we jumped in the pool, ordered pizza and had lunch together, before we had to get ready for a birthday party and say good-bye!

We had so much fun with our cousins and we can't believe this is the first time that we have ever done this together!  Hopefully we get to do this one more time before school starts!

Hangin' with the Keilman Girls!

No doubt about it summer has flown by!  Friends are starting to ask the big question, "So when does school start back up for you?"  Ugh, trying not to think about how little of time I have left with my kiddos this summer!  It has more than flown by and we are having a blast!  Most of our days are spent in the backyard swimming, sometimes even two or three times a day!  What makes it sweeter is when we get to spend our summer days with friends! 

Between our crazy busy schedules, it is not always easy to catch these Keilman girls, but we have had the pleasure of spending a few mornings with them this summer, splashing (a few weeks ago, I have just been so busy I haven't had a chance to post these pics) and swimming away!  Camille has an underwater camera and was sweet enough to catch several of my kiddos underwater for me!  Thanks girl, I am camera jealous for sure!  That was so fun!  Cherish our time and talks that we have when we are together!

From a few weeks ago at the Westgate Splash Pad!

They are goofy!  This is what seems to happen now when I ask them to get together to take a picture!  They come up with these crazy silly poses!  Love it and them!

 

This week swimmin' at the house!

 Until very recently, Kyan was the only one that sported the goggle eyes.  Lola has just discovered the underwater world and is in love!  She wears her goggles just like her "brothie" and dunks her head under and swims like the little mermaid she wishes she was!  Kyan can also swim the length of our pool without coming up for air!  Check it out below!

Silly pictures underwater with the kiddos!

My little fish, here he is in a still shot swimming the length of the pool!  Love how you can see Lola off into the distance!  Perfect pool picture if you ask me!

My mermaid!  Can't believe how confident she is in the water!  She hesitates at first with all new things, but once she has tried it, usually the second time around, she loves it!  Dunking her head and swimming several strokes without coming up for air, likes to be dunked under and looked at, she'll jump in from the top shelf area, and she will even let me toss her in the water every now and then!  To think she didn't even really want to touch the water at the beginning of the summer is beyond me!

Cherishing my summer days and hoping that they will never end!

Number Eight

The other night, Kyan came running out of the game room with a bloody front tooth!  He was hootin' and hollerin' claiming that 'it' was ready, and it so was, like hanging there ready!  I sent him up to daddy to have him pull it out (I admit it, I am a whimp, I can't do it) and within a minute, he was back downstairs claiming that daddy said he needed to work on it some more.  Now, the truth came out later on that when Chad tried to even go near his mouth, he freaked out, so that is why he sent him back downstairs.  So Kyan went and got a cup full of water to rinse out his mouth when he needed to, some toilet paper, and stood in front of the mirror and started wiggling away.  About 30 seconds later I heard hm scream, "I got it!" and I thought to myself, "No way did he just pull out his own tooth?"  Yep, he sure did!  Kyan gets ALL of the credit for tooth number eight coming out!  

 

I am still in shock!