Don't You Hate It When...

you let your own fears and insecurities stop you from possibly getting something that you might love?

Backstory...I was sitting at the lab waiting to get some bloodwork done (standard pregnancy stuff, no biggie) and I saw a lady with a fantastic bag (one that could also double as a pretty chic diaper bag if needed). It was orange, and leather-ish (it could have been real because I was in La Jolla after all, but it might have been synthetic) and was just perfect. I was coveting it...I could even picture myself carrying it. I should have stopped and asked her where she got it, but I didn't. Why? Because I was worried that she would think me too weird or too forward or psycho, so I kept my trap shut. Instead, I've spent the last 45 minutes on the internet googling as much as I could to try and find a similar bag, all to no avail. I do this all the time...and I kick myself every time it happens. I see someone wearing a cute top, or a cute dress or a cute pair of shoes and I don't ask. Grrrr...curse my insecurities.

Anyone else do this, or am I the sole, lame, tongue-tied person secretly coveting what others have rather than just asking and possibly getting it for myself?

Mama's Holiday Wishlist

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?

• new digital camera
• a bigger car (although this is soon to be more of a necessity and less of a wish since my current car won't hold 3 carseats)
• the beaba babycook baby food maker (I murdered my blender last year making camden's food and this would just be so handy)
• a finished master bathroom
• wood floors/new carpet in the appropriate areas of my house (I can really dream about this one)

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

• two favorites are the handmade ornaments that AJ's grandma makes for us each year with pictures of the boys in them (and all the ones from AJ growing up),and the blankets that my mom has made for my boys

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

• there are way too many on my list, like making an advent calendar for my kids, felt food for my kids, a tree house/clubhouse for the boys, and lots of home improvement ones

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

• the Cabbage Patch dolls that we all got one year (our cousins included). I remember how the adults walked each of us into the room one at a time and gave us the coveted doll.

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?

• Keegan just informed me today that he wants a dinosaur book, but other than that, he hasn't said much. He's pretty chill. Camden probably just wants whatever Keegan gets, so it makes things pretty easy. I'm sure the lists will grow as they get older.

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

• My grandma's rolls with homemade strawberry jam, ham, and scalloped potatoes and peppermint ice cream (that really probably should have been first...I buy way too much of it the moment it becomes available in the stores).

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?

• some gifts for the boys, homemade soap for Keegan's friends and a couple of things for family that I can't really share

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?

• I can't say that I have one, I'm horrible, I know, but I do like "Miracle on 34th Street" (the newer version)

9. Favorite holiday song?

• "O Holy Night" by Martina McBride and "Song for a Winter's Night" by Sarah McLachlan and my boys Christmas Lullabies CD (although it gets played year round at our house)

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

• looking at all of the Christmas lights, curling up with a good book and peppermint hot chocolate (Stephen's is the best), making sugar cookies with the kids, decorating our tree and the rest of the house and just having the extra time with my hubby

To enter to win all these cool prizes below simply answer the questions in this meme, make sure to post links back to TodaysMama.com and Provo Craft (use this link: http://bit.ly/4ikY3c ) and tag your friends!

Tag you're it!

Steph, Mary, Jennette, my siblings (I won't double tag, but I do want to know your answers) and anyone else inspired to share what's on their wish list.

This is why....

a ladies night out was exactly what I needed. I got to see "New Moon" (c'mon, give me a break...I never saw "Twilight" in the theatres and I know there is no way that AJ will watch this with me, so I had to take the opportunity to see it when I could, and I don't regret it. I liked it...it was good...and it made me fall a little bit in love with Jacob. What more can I say?).

Anyway, I digress...because not only did I get to enjoy some adult-time (which was fabulous and very much needed right now), but I also got to catch up a little on my up-coming movies (my pocketbook will not be thanking me later).

Like this one:

(seriously, I "heart" Kirsten Bell...especially as Veronica Mars, but this role just might do nicely)

and this one:

starring Amanda Seyfried, whom I first liked as Lily in "Veronica Mars" (do I need to tell you how much I loved that show?), but who I really started to admire in "Mamma Mia" (yes, I've watched that movie, and yes, more than once...Pierce Brosnan singing is highly entertaining, and I like Abba, what can I say...plus, I saw the show when it was in Vegas so I of course had to see the movie).

I'm pretty sure that this just means that I'm still a 15-year-old girl trapped in a 32-year-old's body (I did like "New Moon" afterall). Oh well! So, who's in the mood for a movie? I'll bring the popcorn and treats.

Dear Life...

Dear Chick-Fil-A,

Thanks for bringing back your Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake. I've been thinking about it since the last time I had one last year, so I'm glad that it's finally back. It made my not-always-happy-with-food belly quite happy with you. I have a feeling I will be consuming lots of you during your "limited edition flavor" offerings (much to the detriment of my goal for a reasonable pregnancy weight gain).

Dear Little Baby,

Time to let your mom not be sick in the mornings, ok? and in the afternoons and the evenings. And especially no more of this "let's feel great for days and then WHAM...get hit by the mack truck of morning sickness". It's time to move on from all of this and get on to the good stuff about pregnancy...you know, insomnia, heartburn, weight gain. Hmmmm, maybe I need to rethink my stand on morning/afternoon/evening/all hours of the day and night sickness?

Dear Anything and Everything Peppermint,
Thanks for making things a little easier on me right now. The smell of you can get rid of any other smell in the house, and the taste of you helps calm a very unhappy belly. Good thing it's winter and the smell of peppermint isn't a novelty.

Dear Brach's,
I'm so looking forward to consuming large quantities of your wonderful green and red holiday mints this year, so please make sure that they are available in abundance at all of my local retailers (and not just one store, in a limited quantity like previous years). As a side note to all my friends and family who read this, if you come across some, please feel free to let me know where so that I can purchase them or feel free to pick some up for me and I will pay you for your troubles.

Green with Envy...

In December, AJ gets to go here:
(Dubai)

and here:
(South Africa)

He's traveling with the USA Rugby 7's team, and I'm officially jealous. It was bad enough when he got to go to Hong Kong, and then to England and to Australia, but now....DUBAI and SOUTH AFRICA...seriously, I'm so green I could give Elphaba a run for her money (and you'll only understand that if you've read and/or seen "Wicked").

I wonder if there is a suitcase big enough for him to stow me away in?

Arrrrgh, it's Halloween...

I know, I know, I'm a little behind on things.

Keegan and Camden were pirates this year (I was simply the mom who was stressed because she waited until the last minute to finish the boys costumes). It was pretty funny watching Camden chase after people with his sword raised in the air. If you ask Keegan what a pirate says, his response is usually "Arrrrgh", although you will get the occasional "walk the plank" and "hands in the air" as he points his sword at you. We went to Sea World the week before Halloween and did a little trick-or-treating there, but it was a little too crowded for us, and the boys wanted to see the animals more than anything. Our ward had their Halloween party on the 31st, so we went to that. Keegan loved going from car to car saying "Trick-or-Treat" and then saying "thank you" after (finally some lessons are paying off). The best was, there was a guy passing out apples instead of candy at his car. It was the only thing that both Keegan and Camden were interested in that night. Once Keegan got his, he was done getting anymore candy because he wanted to go back inside and eat his apple and Camden got mad at me when I took his from him so that I could eat some of the skin off of it first. Thankfully, for the most part they have forgotten about all the candy they scored (it's out of their sight, thankfully, so it's out of their minds most of the time).

We didn't do our usual trip to Bates this year, to pick out our pumpkins, which made me super sad, so I will make sure we do it early next year and I've already started thinking about what the boys are going to be next year (despite swearing up and down to AJ that I wasn't going to make them again and that we were going to buy them from now on). It will partly depend on what this little baby turns out to be and whether or not Keegan and Camden realize that they have a say in these things (the longer I can keep that fact from them the better). Now it's on to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully, I can be a little better organized.

And The Hits Just Keep on Coming...

(and by "hits", I mean GOOD things...hopefully no one takes this negatively...we are super excited about our good news)