half century

this past weekend, was our brother-in-laws' (steve) "half century" birthday celebration. josh's sister threw him a fantastic birthday bash at the corithian, one sure to never forget. we were honored to help celebrate such a great man, father, brother, son, and friend. happy 50th steve!

this was the super cute and creative design that leti used on the invites and napkins

if you know steve, this was a perfect birthday cake! (rice basketball)

the AMAZING band

and of course! the man of the hour! :)

to top it off, this past saturday, i was so lucky to be able to shoot this sweet six month session of catherine (to see more visit danafernandezphotography.com)

and lastly, i have been forgetting to add this crafty project. its a $8 wall wine holder from ikea! but it came in silver so i spray-painted it gold and i love it! after all, you should always pick the piece because you can always change the color :)

twenty-six

this past tuesday was the big two-six and it was great! at first i was disappointed with the timing of my birthday and having to "work" and be out of town away from family. i was annoyed (originally) because i was having to go to nyc (for work) at 8am on a sunday, work on mlk (holiday) AND be on travel for my birthday. BUT, being so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, he surprised me with a birthday dinner with family and friends the friday before i left. it was at our favorite italian restaurant called d'amicos (if you haven't been and live in houston....go!) and he surprised me with some of the most thoughtful gifts. first of all, he went clothes shopping for me. this is fantastic because in my experience with people buying me clothes, whether its a man or woman - i am very picky in what i like. and he did PERFECT.

he got me a mustard yellow blazer/jacket (and matching tank top), an amazingly comfortable cowl neck sweatshirt, lined rainboots, two of my favorite movies, and a ipod speaker for my new nightstand from xmas! the best part of it all was just that he really thought about me and what i would like and i couldn't ask for anything sweeter :)

(us at dinner)

afterwards we went to our favorite hangout called cedar creek

and i was so excited for my other bday presents.

the one to myself was a crossbody that had been sold out everywhere but out of no where showed up online. i felt like it was extra special since it was one of the last ones in the country :)

and then from my amazing godfather, i got the final piece to my camera collection - which is absolutely amazing! how did i go so long with a flash?!

and my grandmother (after sending her a link) got me this watch that i stumbled upon on the internet and absolutely loved! thought i would share since i had never seen these before! its called "la mer" in case you want to see more!

so anyways, on to nyc. so after everything was said and done i realized that being in nyc wasn't too shabby. afterall, i could have had a business trip that was in the middle of no where right? even though i didn't get to sight-see, my hotel was smack dab in the middle of times sqaure. below are some pics from my week. i wish i would have brought my nice camera, but you know what they say, "the best camera is the one that you have on you"

this was the view from my room

on monday morning, someone famous must have been at good morning america bc i definitely couldn't sleep in with all of the screaming (not a bad way to wake up)

not only was i right off of times square, but broadway as well. not very familiar with the theatres, but this one looked cool so i took a pic

the second night i was there, some of my co-workers and myself wanted to go to little italy. which was amazing, especially the "off the menu" lobster tortellini. also go to stock up on my "pashminas" 5 for $20!

when we got back to the hotel it was snowing! 

for my birthday, i met up with one of friends (susan) at this super cute place called grey dog over in the younger (hipper part of new york) and she was so sweet to bring me a birthday cupcake with a candle and singing to top it off.

so when all was said and done, no complaints. absolutely perfect!

so, i haven't had time to craft lately - but this is my next project!

and just because...how cute is she?!

the holidays

i have been meaning to write for awhile but with all of the christmas orders for Bracelets For A Cause and getting everything in order for the holidays, i hadn't been able to. but now that everything is settling back down i can share with you some of the things i have made and done!

so lets start with the craftiness :)

remember the lyric art from the last post? well i decided to also make coasters out of them...and just for kicks i decided to put them for sell on my etsy shop ...and who would've thought, they are my #1 seller! 

for christmas this year, us and our three closest couple friends decided to do a christmas dinner and secret santa. josh got ashley zacharias and i was super excited bc i have been wanted to make chalk paint wine glasses. unfortunately, the first couple of tries went badly. the tutorial i found off of pinterest was terrible. the blogger said to dip the bases in a paint can of chalk paint. 1st try looked like it was going to work, but after it dried it was so thick that it just peeled off. 2nd try was a little better (i decided to hand paint on) but again it just wanted to peel off. so i decided that the whole chalk paint that comes in a can was just too thick. so, i used some leftover chalk spray paint and it worked fabulously! i also have these in my etsy shop :)

i also made these magnets over the holidays with natalie. i had been wanting to make magnets for a while since i wanted ones that were bright, but i couldn't ever find any that didn't look too "officey" - so we got the magnets from hobby lobby and then got to pick out super cute paper from paper source, used a little modge podge and wahla! (also gave these as a secret santa gift as well)

browsing through pinterest during the holidays made me really want to do a super cute wreath for the door. so stacey came over and we had a craft day and made these. (hers was the same but her monogram was a "c") was super happy on how these came out since it was my first craft that i only had a picture to go off of and no tutorial!

a couple of years back, an ad agency i worked with gave all of their clients (one of which, being me) the williams sonoma peppermint bark. normally, i am not a huge fan of mint and chocolate. but for some reason when you add on those peppermint pieces it makes all the difference. well i had wanted to give a "party favor" for our couple's secret santa party but wanting to make something and not buy it (surprise. surprise), i decided to make these. the most awesome thing is that when i went to go buy the molds at hobby lobby they had a whole kit ready to go with everything you needed!

ok so now on to the house and holidays:

ok so this is really about the holidays, but i am obsessed with our mailbox. the cool thing is that in the heights almost all of the mailboxes look like this and i love it! (and even more happy it came with the house and we didn't have to buy one)

josh's sister, leti, has a tradition where every year her and and her husband have shared a christmas, she buys a santa clause (they have at least 25!). josh and i though that that was a great tradition, so we wanted to start our own. we decided not to santa bc those can get super huge and after awhile it could become overwhelming, so we decided to go with nutcrackers. this was the 2011 edition. :)

our little tree house all lit up :)

our christmas card! :) (we finally got it out this year!)

josh and i definitely got in our aggie games this year! to the left is the a&m vs ut game. and to the right is the aggie bowl game :)

so for christmas i didn't ask for a lot since josh is amazing and pretty much lets me get whatever i want throughout the year. so the only two things i asked for christmas was a cover for my kindle (in my favorite color i might add) and i love the monogram!

and to most of you, you are probably wondering why i asked for a nightstand, but i am so excited! after almost four years of living together i finally have one! (at the old house one of the dogs' kennels was right next to my side of the bed, but now they sleep in the mud room) yay!

ok and now randomness...

 how super cute is this to-do list that goes on your fridge from paper source? love. love. love. (i spend way too much here, i wish i could buy stock or at least get a frequent buyers card)

and just bc, he brings me flowers :)

have a great weekend!