2010 christmas

Jolly Gems Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

So in the end I couldn't decide on either one so I got 50 of the "gems" and 50 of the "flourish", they both called to me :).  All in all I got 50 free cards, plus free shipping, plus 5% off and 30% off from the start...I saved $144.42!!!  I LOVE Shutterfly.com!

TIme for SHUTTERFLY Christmas cards!!!

 (banner from Shutterfly.com)

Jeremiah, Maddy and I joined some friends last week in Balboa Park for a Christmas card picture exchange.  We took pictures of them and their puppy, Diego, and then they took pictures of us.  It was so much fun to be all bundled up in Balboa Park with the crisp morning air, it actually felt like winter.  We just received the pictures so now its time to play around on Shutterfly, my favorite online printer, and pick the perfect card. 

I have been using Shutterfly for years, since I was in college I think, and they really are the best company out there.  I have made calenders for friends and family, made prints from my digital photos and last year I made my Exquisite Blooms holiday photo cards to send to all my brides.  My all time favorite project had to be, by far, the photo books I made for my parents from my sister, brother and I for Mothers Day and Fathers Day about 3 years ago.  They were so easy to make and the result was a treasure for my parents to keep forever.

So now I have the dilemma of which style to make for Jeremiah, Maddie and I's Christmas cards.  Here is the picture I think I have committed to are the 3 photos I am trying to narrow down...

And here are the 2 designs of cards that I am toying with...

 (Shutterfly.com design, Jolly Gems)

(Shutterfly.com design, Flourish)

The 1st one seems more me, I mean us, but the 2nd one is so simple and pretty.  There are just so many wonderful designs to choose from.  Guess you'll just have to wait and see what the mail brings to find out which one I picked.

If you are still in need of Christmas cards, check out Shutterfly.com and their great promo.  You can get 50 cards free!

I got a Sony Reader!

It's used of course, when have I ever bought anything new, and I love it.  Ok, so technically I haven't actually used it yet because I am still finishing a paperback but hopefully I will be able to start using it tomorrow.  I already downloaded my 1st book, The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam and can't wait to start.  I have been wanting an e-reader for some time now but didn't want to spend a lot of money.  I went back and forth between the Sony Reader and the Kindle but finally decided on the Sony Reader because my sister has one and because I could get one on eBay for cheap.  Plus it came with the cutest leather cover that opens up like a book.  I plan on taking it everywhere and using it while feeling uber-cool on plane rides, at coffee shops, DMV appointments, really anywhere when I have a free moment to read; its perfectly compact and fits so well in my purse.

I downloaded this book because it is the next one on the list for the book club I am in with some girlfriends and my sister.  I am really looking forward to reading it because it seems so interesting yet sad and probably empowering at the same time.

Stay with brown or paint white?

I keep going back and forth with this one, should I paint all my wood furniture white, including my wall shelves or keep them brown?

here is what everything looks like now...

But I am really wanting to paint the shelves and all the picture frames a really creamy white/ivory...kind of like this but more realistic :)...obviously!

Something similar to this...

(thank you Young House Love for the pic)

Plus, I am really wanting to put my headboard bench out on the front porch and replace it with an entry table or an antique desk.  But then would I paint the desk the same creamy white or leave it in its original state?

I am thinking I want this look instead of the bench...

(thank you again Young House Love for the pic)

Basically I want more surface space to decorate large items on, my wall shelves are limited height wise.  Plus this is a good representation on the collage frames being all white instead of brown.

I am really feeling claustophobic in the living room lately, I can't tell if it is just a re-decorating itch or if the brown is to dark with the dark wood floors. 

Will anyone help?  Please please leave a comment this time and tell me what you think I should do.

:)

Exciting things could be just around the corner

So in the continuing saga that is conception, Jeremiah and I are hoping that exciting news will be just around the corner for us very soon.  Trying not to get hopes up and trying to always "hope for the best but expect the worst" I feel myself getting anxious.  I don't feel like sharing the entire saga and emotional roller coaster that has taken place over these last few months but there were definitely ups and downs.  We are looking forward as usual and I hope that someday soon I will have exciting news to share, don't worry I'm not teasing you, I really don't have any yet.  Plus of course I will wait the 3 months to make sure that everything is fine, so really I may not have any news of this venture for months and months and months.  I did want to share that we are happy and I am mostly emotionally healed since that very emotional post.  I actually wrote a post a few weeks ago when I was in the "anger" stage but I decided that it was too private and personal to share and just a little too raw, so I scrapped it. 

Another thing that makes me excited is that I have been hearing around town that a number of my girlfriends are pre-go or trying as well so I hope that I get the honor of being pre-go along with them :):):).  

I went to eat with a few girls last week and I was just in awe of how fast a lot of our lives have changed in the past few years.  I feel like one minute we were young single women starting careers and now we spent the whole evening chatting about husbands, potential babies and miscarriages.  Did we grow up?  Maybe.  It was a really nice evening and the fact that I was able to talk about the miscarriage and look people in the eye about it (yep, I had a hard time saying it out loud before and looking at people while discussing it, weird) was a good feeling.  I felt good about it, the talking not the incident, and I was happy to share my story.  It's not like it's a life altering event but to me it felt very personal and disappointing so it was hard to share. 

So bottom line, things are good in that part of this Sally and Jeremiah World.

<3