Holiday Season Upon Us

{My favorite boy on Thanksgiving and his favorite pose (fist in mouth)}

Happy Cyber Monday! I hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving weekend, survived Black Friday, and participated in Small Business Saturday. We had a great Thanksgiving with family.


I'm not naturally a Black Friday shopper (not big on shopping in crowds), but my husband's family not only shops on Black Friday, they drive to Dallas to do it (it's a tradition that started when my husband was a few months old) - so while you were all getting trampled at Wal-Mart and Best Buy, we headed to the big D to fight their crowds. Crazy? Maybe...but it was an adventure :)


We had reservations to attend Breakfast with Santa at Neiman Marcus (also part of the tradition) and it was really fun to anticipate Levi's reaction to the big man in red. Verdict: he's just not so sure yet! {see pictures}

{Made my first pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving}

{Levi's breakfast at Breakfast with Santa}

{Candy cane balloon from Santa's elf}

{static!}

{Who are you and why are you poking my face?}

{no caption necessary, really}

{Hanging out while everyone gets ready}

{good Cajun food}

{cozy shopper}

Happy T h a n k s g i v i n g !!!

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his;
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Toys

Well, I am typing to you straight from my brand-new shiny silver took-forever-to-get-even-though-I-paid-for-expedited-shipping keyboard, in which every key works, including a, x, z, !, @, #, $, 1, 2, 3, 4, and even my tab and shift keys. Hallll-lelujah!

In the process of switching the keyboards, someone gained a new toy. I love the new toy, because any time my computer was in sight, he made a beeline for the keyboard, wanting to add his touch to everything I did (especially blogging). Last night he was playing with it on the coffee table, and he thought he was controlling the tv.

I am so thankful to have a working keyboard again. Life is going to be so much easier blogging and returning emails without having to fight my husband for his computer............ :) Happy Tuesday!

Hall of Fame Cardigan

This sweater pretty much has the exact same story as my hall-of-fame shoes that I posted about several months ago. I bought it at The Limited back when The Limited was cool 10 or 11 years ago (joking..............kind of). I was "school shopping" with my mom and she and I both bought one of these sweaters (hers is black) for something like $7 each. It has lasted 5 moves, several garage sales, lots of wear, and one decade and I still love it. It has been a great staple in my closet.




{Two things I love: scalloped necklines and tortoise buttons}

poor man turtles

first of all, my keyboard on my laptop is broken, which is why you won't see any capital letters in this post (my shift keys don't work....properly....long, very annoying story that has to do with a one-year-old and a full bottle of water). second of all, the letters a, x, and z don't work at all, so everywhere that you see those letters, i've had to copy and paste them. wow, this is a finger and brain workout. just take a second and think about having to type something and every time you need to use the letter a, you must copy and paste it. i have a replacement keyboard on its way, but 1-3 day shipping was the fastest available option, and they evidently mean closer to 3 days! luckily, this post won't take much typing...


these are called "poor man turtles," and i can't give credit to the creator because i have no idea who that is. there are dozens of variations of these, and dozens of different names for them. these are such a great fqst (was going to type quick instead of fast, but just realized my "Q" also does not work....oh i hope i get the keyboard tomorrow!)


i made a huge batch of these on monday. i took a few to dinner at our friends' house monday night and took the rest to my parent's house for a huge dinner they hosted last night. they are not the cutest dessert ever, but they are super easy and super tasty. they are even possible to make with a baby-toddler having a meltdown, so they may become a 2011 Christmas gift staple at our house.

ingredients:
small pretzels
rolos
pecans


instructions:
place pretzels on cookie sheet, each with a rolo placed on top of it. bake at 350 for 3 minutes. remove and promptly put a pecan on each rolo and press down. allow to set until chocolate is cool.

like i said, these are great, but not all that cute. so i will leave you with something undoubtedly extremely cute:

Want to Brighten Up Your Laundry Room?

I bought my ironing board right after we got married (in 2007), and immediately started hunting for a better cover to cover up the eyesore that came with it. I looked for a replacement cover every time I made a trip to Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, or any other store that sold ironing boards, but they all seemed to resemble the fabric used to make hospital gowns.

One day I decided to look online, not having any idea that anyone specialized in this area of home decor. I came across a shop called City Chic Country Mouse (via Etsy), and knew I had found what I'd been searching for for years. Keep reading below for a special offer!

{visit their shop here}

{Old ugly ironing board cover}

{This makes it look better than it really is - it has more of an orange color in real life}

{New bright and cheerful ironing board cover}

{I love this fabric!}

{Sooo much better!}

The gals who run this fabulous Etsy shop have graciously offered to give Embellishments readers 10% off of any order from their shop! Just use the code Embellish10 when you check out! Here are a few of my favorites from their shop. I am thinking I might need to start a collection... they make great Christmas gifts too! {Click here to visit their shop}

*Product images belong to City Chic Country Mouse.
*I was not compensated in any way for sharing these products, I just love to share things I love with my friends, family, and followers!

Birthday Party Wrap-Up

{can you spot the birthday boy?}

Thanks to a lot of preparation, a lot of behind the scenes things getting done (mostly by Tyler), and a LOT of help from our family, Levi's first birthday party couldn't have been more perfect. The only thing that could've been better is my documentation. I am not used to hosting large crowds - I loved it, but I'm still not used to it, so there was a lot to do, and after the guests were here there was no time to clock out and take a million pictures. Oh well, we had a great time and that is what matters!


It was interesting cramming 30 people into our 1300-sq. ft. house - and that was only family. We wanted to invite some of our friends and extended family members, but there was no way of housing them all. I am sad to say that I got a few pictures of the party decorations and Levi, but I never went around and photographed our family members!


Here are a few favorite snapshots from the big day:

{a dear friend from Church made Levi this neat sign for his campsite-themed church baby shower}

{fascinated with balloons}