Legally Blonde's Proceedings

After the Christmas tree came down, I decided to do a little sprucing up in the living room (and subsequently the breakfast room as I've already talked about).  In the corner of the living room, where the big Christmas tree goes,  I have always had a big fake ficus tree.  It was a really nice fake ficus tree when I got it back in 2003, but 11 years later, it had seen better days.  It was literally falling apart. While I would have loved to have found a large fiddle leaf fig to replace the ficus, they are (1) hard to find, (2) expensive, (3) take more light that I could give it, and (4) I would probably kill it ASAP.  But it would have been pretty... Image from pinterest, but I couldn't find original source After researching into, and looking for a fiddle leaf fig, I decided to change course and look for a chair.  I couldn't kill a chair.  I found a nice chair for a good price at Homegoods, and then one thing led to another and I was doing a...

A woman who is dedicated, assertive, tough, or persuasive = a woman who is bossy, pushy, shrill, or bitchy. I've been the recipient of this kind of thinking, but I must confess I've been the purveyor of this sentiment as well.  The  Ban Bossy  movement that has come about this week thanks to Sheryl Sandberg, Condoleeza Rice, and Ana Marie Chavez, is one of my favorite things in a long time.  LOVE IT!   It's something that women, in addition to not earning equal pay for equal work in this country, have to deal with.  It's something that I deal with.  It's also something that has been on my mind for a while.  I won't even start on the situation here in Texas, but I will say that I find it hard to stomach the fact that the Republican candidate for Governor, Greg Abbott, does not appear to support the Texas Equal Pay Act. But sometimes, you see things, that give you a glimmer of hope that times may be changing.  I saw this tweet by Ad...

I've had the same valances in my kitchen and breakfast room since 2004, and after 10 years, I've grown tired of them.  I have actually been looking for new options for a couple of years now.  I just haven't found any that were the right fit... none that I loved, and if there were some I even liked, well then I didn't like them well enough to justify the price. I thought I had looked everywhere... the internet, bed bath & beyond, lowe's, home depot, all over the place really. Then last week, it hit me... I hadn't looked into buying valances that went with a bedding set.  I was so into looking at places that sold "kitchen" valances, I just hadn't thought outside of the box! Dillards had been having a great sale on some of their bedding (65% off).  Then they ran an additional 40% off sale, which basically meant if you could find something, it was going to be about 80% off of the original retail price. I hit the jackpot and found some Rose ...

I have been tempted more times than I can count, to have a portrait painted of Lola.  Usually, it is the price that puts me off the temptation.  Several weeks ago, I saw some cool images on instagram that were pictures that had somehow been turned into "paintings". These were done with an app called Waterlogue.   I can't remember what the app cost, but I'm thinking it was $2.99.  Now that is usually more than I want to spend on an app (I'm cheap like that), but I decided it was worth it. I took some good photos of Lola on her birthday.  I took them with my camera, then emailed them to myself, saved them on my phone, and then used Waterlogue to "paint them".  Then a few days later, I noticed that another blogger had done the same, but she had ordered a canvas print of the "painting". So I couldn't resist doing the same.  I got the canvas in the mail this week and I'm so happy with the result! Here is the original picture I took....

Today is Lola's 9th birthday!  I can't believe it's been almost 9 years, since that tiny white pup with giant ears and paw came into my life.  Here's lots of Lola pics... I always take pics of her on the night before her birthday... Her "Goodbye Eight" photo... She had a good day I think.  She got new toys and bones, but most of all, she got plenty of attention... I took these cute pics tonight as she lounged on her spot on the couch after dinner... Happy Birthday to my sweet Lola!

I've really failed at the Valentine decorating this year.  Well, I'm not even sure if I failed because I made ZERO attempt to do anything.  I did manage to make & buy valentines to send out, so I guess that's what really counts. This year, I did Burt's Bees valentine treats for some friends... I thought they turned out really cute.  It's a pinterest idea (of course)!   I should have photoshopped my "message" into the card, but I didn't think about it until I had already had the cards printed. I found these cute stickers at Swoozies and thought they were perfect to seal the overstuffed envelopes... I also raided pinterest for ideas for Jennifer's little boy's valentines.  I found the download and print shopped them to include the "From: Joshua" because every time she makes him sign his name to things, it's like she has sentenced him to working in the coal mine.  She sent me this pic of the finished product after ...

I've been missing again.  No exciting reason for my absence, just busy with work and school starting up for the Spring semester.  I've been feeling under the weather this weekend, and that has continued into today, so I'm taking my downtime (sick time) to write about some random things... The Super Bowl (1) I really wanted Denver to win because 3 Red Raiders play on the team, but as you know, that didn't happen.  I have nothing against Seattle though, and of course I greatly enjoyed my time there, so kudos to them. (2) Bruno Mars at half time was so fun.   (3) My favorite commercial was... (4) Lola was less impressed with the game, but she greatly enjoyed the Puppy Bowl.  She was glued to the television. Movies I have not made my way to the theater to see any movies I need to see before the Oscars, so that's a big fail.  I am trying to see all nominated movies that are coming out on DVD (or Apple TV) between now and then. ...

Last night was the official start to one of my favorite seasons... Awards Season!  This year I am so very behind.  I have seen almost zero new movies this year, so I have got some real work to do to gear up for the rest of the season.  It's coming fast and furious... Oscar nominations are this Thursday and the SAG Awards are Saturday. As for last night's awards, here are some thoughts: TV:  I may behind on the movie front, but I'm up to date on the TV side of things.  I think the comedy awards to Brooklyn Nine-Nine were a huge surprise.  It wasn't really much of a surprise with the drama awards as the HFP clearly wanted to give Breaking Bad one last hoorah.  The miniseries or a motion picture made for television category was a hard one for me to pick a favorite as I liked "Behind the Candelabra" and "Dancing on the Edge." Fashion:  There seemed to be more "what were they thinking" dresses than normal last night.  Among those who are t...

My uncle took his family on a two week trip to New Zealand.  Isn't that how you spend Christmas break when you were in 7th & 8th grades?  No?  Me either!  Lucky girls!  They just got back today, but Mark has been blogging the trip as they went. Photography is my uncle's hobby, but he has equipment that is better than most professionals.  He took some really amazing photos, so if you would like to travel to New Zealand (and briefly Australia) vicariously through them like I've been doing, check out Mark's blog . Here are a few of the pics that I love, but there are so many more over at his blog

I just got around to uploading the Christmas pictures in my camera.  99% are pictures of the dogs.  The 1% is just a human that also happens to be in a picture with one of the dogs! The pups just get so into the presents.  They love opening stockings the best, and of course they have their own with their names monogrammed on them. This wasn't even Lola's loot, but she was very interested. Lola got some new bones... a new alligator...  and a beautiful sparkly pink collar She was very excited about this new toy Milly was excited by this squirrel toy too Getting all of these gifts is apparently very tiring!