do a little benefit shopping.

The Cora Paige Benefit is still going strong on Etsy. Julie's generous idea has sparked over 150 Etsy shops to list items for this amazing cause. So far, over $5600 has been raised from just these shops! WOW! I feel lucky to be a part of such a wonderful and inspiring project. So go do a little bit of shopping... along with buying some fabulous items, you will be honoring a very loved little girl. :) Here are some jewelry that are topping my favorites list at the moment...

"lucky mom" necklace from cynthiagarrett - is that the cutest?!

These gorgeous earrings from stellajade. She makes amazing jewelry- and I can personally vouch for her! I won a giveaway featuring a necklace she made and I loveeeeeee it. :)

necklace by bellabuttondesigns

land of nod screwed me over.

Yesterday I took a pick-axe to this bed. No joke.

We ordered this Land of Nod bed for Andrew about three years ago when we moved back to San Diego.

Big mistake.

We ordered the "barn red" color for him, and it showed up and the color was less barn red, and more purple. It was the weirdest shade of red I have ever seen, and completely misrepresented in the catalog and online. See that photo above?? That is the color his bed looks now that we had to PAINT over the weird purple-ish red color. PAINT over an already painted bed, and an expensive bed as well!! Shouldn't it already have come in "barn red"?! AH. That was problem number one. Problem number two came when we tried to put the darn thing together. It was an absolute nightmare. It was so complicated to get together and when I finally got it done and ready for the mattress to set it, it wouldn't fit the mattress!! So there I was, shoving a mattress into a bed frame that should have fit it easily. Ugh. So, we got it together eventually and Andrew has used it these past few years and it has turned out fine.

That is, until I had to take it apart to move it. Oh. my. gosh. After several failed attempts at getting this stupid bed apart, I resorted to using Andrew's mattresses with a regular bed frame in his new room and yesterday, I did the unthinkable to a Land of Nod bed. I ripped it apart with a pick-axe. Yep, my son's expensive bed frame now resides in the dump. So take my advice here, mommas- don't get duped by those cute catalog pages displaying the picture-perfect kids rooms, and be swindled into buying the products. I was cursing Land of Nod as I was swinging an axe yesterday.... AH, never again.

my summer goal..

To get into this super cute bikini.

And hopefully I will! My mom and I started going to Weight Watchers last week and I am SO excited about it. We weigh in tomorrow morning at 6:30am and even though I've got to drag my body out of bed that early, I am more than willing to. I am ready to lose the rest of my weight and keep it off- start eating healthy, exercising regularly, and get into that bikini!! :) And with moving into a new house comes a fresh start... new routines, new organization, and I hope it will inspire a new me! So far this week I feel amazing- I'm feeling like those Biggest Loser girls- hopefully I will be happy with the scale tomorrow morning haha!! Wish me luck!! :)

PS.

We are almost all moved, and I want to share pictures with you all. But I seem to have lost my camera cord in all of this madness, so give me a few days while I sort through my crap, haha! :)

they all amaze me.

Each and every one of these fabulous etsy shops have donated their time and efforts to help build Cora's playground. Over 50 Etsy shops, including mommy holly, have listings in honor of Cora Paige- take a moment and peek here to see all of the fabulous items you can purchase, and in doing so, you will be donating to this amazing cause. I can't believe how wonderful the Etsy community is...

Go shop,

it is for a super special little girl who was so very loved and will be remembered always in such a special way.

happy valentine's day!

Happy

Valentine's

Day!

I hope you all have a super sweet and happy holiday today and spend the day with people you love!

xoxoxo

PS.

Happy Pink Saturday!

in honor of Cora Paige...

The story of Cora Paige and her family has so affected me, and I know a lot of you feel the same way. In an effort to help a small bit, the proceeds of ALL of my current listings in my Etsy shop will go to the Cora Playground Fund. To read about Cora Paige's story and this amazing fundraiser, please visit here. This is an amazing cause for a very loved little girl. Let's all help in the small way we can to honor her memory.

a valentine's treat!

I have been thinking a lot about Valentine's Day and how to make it special this year. I am in a place where I am so sick of decorating for holidays way in advance, putting up Valentine's paraphernalia weeks in advance. I want to get back to a simple way of doing things, a simple way of celebrating these fun and special holidays. As I was watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 one evening, I noticed that she put her kids to bed the night before Valentine's Day and then started putting up a few cute decorations... she hung little hearts from the kitchen chandelier, she put together Valentine "backpacks" for the kids and hung them on their high chairs... all for them to wake up to and find! I thought that was such a cute idea, making a small holiday even more special by putting up the decorations for only the one day. I just love this idea, and am going to do the same for Andrew this year. Although we will be in limbo on Saturday because of moving, I am still going to set up a little Valentine's area that he will be able to wake up to. And I found these adorable "heart" brownies- what a cute and effective way of making an ordinary thing much more special. So this Saturday, break out the heart shaped cookie cutters, make toast, sandwiches, cheese slices, whatever... into little hearts! And wrap up some super special little gifts for the ones you love. nothing big and over the top, just sweet, simple, and utterly special. :)

PS.

I am sorry for the lack of blog posts, but moving has got the better of me lately! I promise I will be back to normal very soon! xo!

again, prayers.

I am devoting all of my thoughts and prayers to Cora Paige and her family today. Cora has now gone to heaven after a fight against cancer, and the thought of her parents losing this sweet little girl is more than I can imagine. Please remember to say a prayer for her family today as they go through this amazingly difficult time. :(

first loose tooth! :)

LOL. I had to post that cute note- not from my child, but I saw it on google hehe.

BUT, we do have our first loose tooth! Andrew was quite worried the other day when he realized that he had a wobbly tooth. Then there were tears at the thought of actually losing it. I think he was scared all of his teeth were going to fall out, never to return. I get it though, it is a scary thing to happen when you don't understand it haha! But after a little explanation, and some real assurance that the tooth WILL come back, Andrew is ok with it. He keeps wiggling his tooth and is talking about how he needs me to make him a tooth fairy pillow. :)

I was a little shocked at how early the tooth thing is happening, since Andrew is only 4 and a half. But after a little research, we learned the earlier you get your teeth as a baby, the earlier they are going to fall out. Andrew started teething around 4 months and got one tooth after another so darn quickly!

How about you all?! How early were those teeth coming in or falling out for your kiddos?! Any cute stories? I am keeping a close eye on Andrew's tooth, since I am afraid it will fall out and he won't notice it hehe. :) Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend... we are enjoying lots of rain this weekend, so I am a happy camper!! xoxox

valentine's and moving sale!

As most of you know, we are in the process of moving! I am so buried in things right now and have no time to craft or create anything new for my shop. So I need to get rid of some of my inventory to make way for some new, fresh things as soon as we get settled!

SO...

For all you blog readers,

I am offering a

25% sale

on everything in

my shop!!

Just enter

"blog"
in the message to seller

when you check out

and I will reimburse you 25%

not including shipping!!

There are lots of cute Valentine's items left, so go shop until you drop! :) Thank you, thank you!

is it already february?!

Where does time go?? I can't believe it is already February! Valentine's Day is quickly approaching! I have always LOVED Valentine's Day, attached or single, since I think it is such a sweet holiday. You give loved ones a small little gift, a box of chocolate, and nothing more is expected. It is the perfect time to enjoy little things! :)

I have a special man in my life this year for Valentine's... my silly little Andrew!! So this year, I decided that I am of course going to get Andrew a heart-shaped box of chocolates (his fave!) and I already bought him two of his favorite movies that we repeatedly check out from the library, but do not own. Night a the Museum and TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! :) I love Amazon, and I bought both movies for under a few dollars. Yay! I refuse to spend $20 on movies, yuck! Andrew will flip. AND there is sequel to Night at the Museum coming out, which he is all about. :)

What are you all doing for Valentine's Day?! And I hope you all enjoyed a happy weekend! xo!

success!

So the garage sale today was an enormous success! It was a warm, sunny day, we had a huge turnout, and sold just about everything :) Yay!! Aside from getting a tad bit sunburned and being utterly exhausted, I feel like we got so much accomplished today and we can go forward with our move without feeling bogged down with extra stuff. Now it is time to take a hot shower, get cozy and turn on a good movie!!

Oh.

...and PS.

Here are a couple things I learned about Andrew today:

1.

He doesn't like "weird faces" on his stuffed animals. He tossed a bunch of his cute little stuffed animals in the garage sale pile because, and I quote him... "He's nice, but I don't like his weird face." Hmm. :) I wonder where he gets that??? (I too am SO weird about faces.)

2.

He is not a girl. I should never again push toys on him that I loved when I was little. Dollhouses with tiny animal creatures that you can dress up and "play house" with... no. He got rid of those as quickly as he could. And our "play kitchen" also was not hard to pry away from him. I believe he has played with it about three times in his life, and he was so very happy when he saw a little girl dive in to play with it today. Note to self: don't spend money on stuff like this!! I understand now that my son is a child that we should strictly get "cool, awesome" guy things for. Boo, no more playing "Calico Critters" for me! :)

and 3.

The child can throw a mean dart!! He saw the magnetic dart board in my aunt's garage and was officially obsessed. :)

Hope everyone is enjoying a happy weekend, xo!

please pray for them!!

I don't know this family, but they need a massive amount of prayers from you all right now. Their darling little daughter Cora has been diagnosed with stage four cancer that has spread all over her body, and she is currently undergoing some very aggressive chemo. Please go to their blog, read about their family, and pray all you can. No family should have to go through this, and I'm positive that every small prayer of yours will help to heal that little girl!

not domino!!

You know, I really hate this stinkin' economic crisis. Aside from jobs lost, homes losing half their value, and the country being in a true bind, this darn "recession" is also contributing to the loss of my FAVORITE magazine!!! Do you love Domino, too?! Well, it is no more after March.

{silently crying over here}

Can you believe it?! First Blueprint, and now this. Read the NY Times article about it here. Now I am off to drown my sorrows in my Diet Coke and watch Gossip Girl. Ugh.

new room, new decal.

What do you think?!

We are moving next week and I need a fabulous decal for my bedroom... isn't this one amazing?! You can find some amazing decals on Etsy, and this is my new favorite shop! :)

PS.

Thank you to everyone who purchased things for my blog garage sale, it was a success! Garage sale closed, and now it is time to prepare for my real life garage sale this weekend, eek!!! :)