A Few Favorite Things.

If I had a photo of Martha and Cary I would have put them up on the blog. But alas I don't. Did you know they are my personal shoppers?? Yes! Justin kept the kids one night and fashionable Martha (Cary's sister) who has a degree in fashion marketing came and helped me with my wardrobe. I was SO thankful for her insight. Then we went to the mall and she gave me things to try on. I now, see why people have personal shoppers for them. I LOVED IT! She understood my style since we had gone through my closet and then helped me with some, post two babies, foundation items. I came back with with new jeans, two sweaters, and a shirt. It was so nice to not think, but to let her tell me what to wear together. Cary and Martha, when the weather warms up, will you come with me again for some summer clothes?? Oh and thanks for letting me use your discount too! Ahhh...wonderful!

Upate-I bought a cute hat (thanks Joy for telling me too!), one more sweater on sale and have another scarf. Anyone want to go out to lunch with me and my new clothes?? :)

Fleece. I am so thankful to my parents for another warm fleece for Christmas! I received a light blue one this year and I have worn it every other day. I am working my way through my wardrobe-getting rid of those things that are stained, mismatched, outdated, and stretched beyond repair. And it is nice to have a warm, comfy, fitted, not faded and stretched out, new fleece to welcome the new year!

Coconut milk. A great alternative to regular milk. I can substitute this for just about everything that might need milk in a recipe. *Only a little of taste changes in recipes-yippee! We have made pancakes, ice cream, oatmeal bake and others for Katie with this. This is available on the shelf at most grocery stores. Harris Teeter even carries their own brand. I normally buy the regular one and not light. The light version is simply mixed with water, so I decided to dilute mine with water at home. --a better money decision! Anyway it is great. I never knew it existed until a few years ago, and now our house always has a can! So thankful I can give this to Katie and the rest of the family!

When you have kiddos that are dairy intolerant, finding alternatives for things such as hot chocolate (coconut milk is good too, but rich!) or cereal are necessary for the kid life. :) Trader Joes sells Almond Milk and it is great. I like their brand the best, but this one is pretty good. It doesn't have the same taste as cow's milk, but then again we will opt for no coughs and runny noses any day!
A few folks have asked me about soy...and I just can't seem to bring myself to buy it. I know it is not bad. But I read this article and it at least led me to look into other things instead. Soy Alert! from: Westonaprice.org

Merry Christmas to me (and Justin, Katie and Owen!) Finally, I did my research and dove into buying a Canon SLR Digital camera. (Thanks to all our parents for Christmas money!) I am SO EXCITED. I used to own this, almost, exact one when everything was film. I can remember in college shooting roll after roll after roll with my creative roommate, Beth, and then waiting to see how well I captured everything.
But with kids now, film is just to expensive-too many missed shots. Therefore I have been using a mock SLR and point and shoots ever sense-for 8 years. But I am glad to be back into more manual operations with lens and such. I got our T1i off of Canon.com and purchased a refurbished one. So far it has been wonderful-and it was a deal of a price. We also got a 50mm 1.8f lens (thanks for the recommendations Cary and Kristin :) and LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
Justin did point out that he might become a camera widow again since I am back to reading everything I can find again on photos and the like!
-thanks also to Cary for letting me borrow her camera to get a feel for the T1i!

Our vacuum died. But this Hoover we had for a few years was worth it's money. We bought the same one this time around because it was cheap for a vacuum ($78.97), performed well-super suction, had good reviews and easy to buy off of amazon. Check it out! One draw back is that it is loud. But for me, it is hard to think of any machine being quiet...the noise is just part of it working! I think we use this at least 2x a day...it's a good product!
It is the Hoover Wide Path Tempo.

Chocolate...seriously, I eat one square everyday after lunch. It is oh so delicious. Trader Joes 72% dark chocolate is ultimate when it comes to an indulgence.