NaBloPoMo Day 1: Make It Rain

Well, I'm biting this bullet!  I must be crazy.  I have really been missing writing lately, and it seems like having a daily prompt that has nothing to do with anything really might be a good way to ease back into the habit.  It'll be fun, and make me think, so here I am!  I'm determined this time.  Maybe some days I'll even skip the prompt and write about whatever I want! So, where do we begin?

Today's Prompt:  If you found one million dollars in the morning and had to spend it by nightfall, what would you do with the money?

I have written posts in the past about what I'd do with a million bucks, or things I'd do if I were rich.  This presents an interesting challenge in that the money must be used by nightfall.  But, here are some things I'd definitely do:

• Pay off all of our debt, including tax debt, our car, and all of our outstanding medical bills.
• Buy a new car.
• Hire someone to come give my house a super-good deep cleaning.
• Pay my rent in advance for 6 months.
• Buy a 3DS for my older son, and new Leapster games for my younger.
• Go shopping and get ALL the Christmas shopping done 2 months early!
• Buy a package to take my kids to Disneyland and California Adventure.
• Buy plane tickets to go to my sister's recital in May, the Tarrant County Birth Network Birth Roundup next spring, and for us to fly to Spokane and rent a car instead of driving 7 hours to Colville for Thanksgiving at my other sister's farm.
• Make a $50,000 donation to the Bellingham Food Bank.
• Pay off my sister's college loans.
• Make a $10,000 payment on my cousin Emmy's student loans.
• Make a $25,000 each on my Mom's house, my best friend's house, and my stepmom's house.
• Get some new clothes and shoes!
• Get some marketing materials for my Natural Childbirth Classes, including brochures, business cards, and pens, and pay for renting the space for my next 5 series in advance.
• Make a $5000 donation to the WISE Birth Doula Collective so they could provide doula services for low income mamas.
• Make a $5000 donation to my friend Sarah's midwife fund.

What would YOU do with a million bucks and 24 hours?!

Friday Fragments!

Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard. Collect humorous observations, "Heard" items, and other small gems and put them together in a Friday Fragments post.

Friday Fragments are the brainchild of Mrs.4444 and you can find more at Half Past Kissin' Time.

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I saw this at Barnes and Noble this week and realized I hate it when people replace the heart in I heart New York with other symbols.  Why does it bug me so much?  I'll never know.

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Check out these Gorgeous horses by Andrew McGibbon

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Then check out Pictureless Pinterest on Twitter.  It is kind of hilarious.

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I updated our wall calendar, which is a dry erase board that holds 5 weeks, and the last day of school is up there.  AGH!  I am having a little anxiety because I had a really difficult time last summer with the kids and not having any breaks from their antics.  We have a few plans for the summer, and I'm going to try and get down to Seattle to visit friends at least once every couple of weeks.  I can't believe that Sam is almost a first grader.  It just seems so much older than a Kindergartener...

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Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Justin and I get to take Saturday and Sunday off and head to the King Tut exhibit at the science center & maybe an IMAX - so excited!

2011 in Photos

Today I'm joining Jessica from Four Plus an Angel in a look back at 2011. The challenge was this:

Just create a post with 12 words or 12 pictures… a little year in review. Pick a word for each month of 2011 or a picture for each, or a 12 word sentence that sums up the year or a 12 picture collage, as long as it’s easy for you to put together and easy for others to read. 

I chose photos - some are my favorites because I think they're great photos. Others are my favorites because of the memories - the people and places.  Here is my 2011!

This is one of my favorite photos, ever.  I had just gotten my Canon Rebel for Christmas, and this was the first photo that came out of my camera that absolutely wowed me.

I don't take many self portraits.  I love this one.

My family.

Happy.

For Sam's 5th birthday, I took him to the Science Center to the Star Wars exhibit - no Danny, just a special day for him.  We had so much fun!

The boys and I spent 18 days in New Jersey with my sister, Lianna.  She is awesome.  They had a lot of fun.  See?

Love.

My cousin Emmy visited from Philadelphia and I love this shot of her and my sister - two of my favorite people.

He is just so happy.

Well, not the best shot of Sam's face (haha) but you can see both their costumes, and they're holding hands!

The boys on Thanksgiving.

This one is awesome because it's just how life is - the kids are distracted or wanting to go, go, go, and I'm trying to get a nice little photo.  I love the look on my Mom's face, amused at both me and my 3rd attempt at the photo and at the kids.

Friday Fragments - TGIF!

Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard. Collect humorous observations, "Heard" items, and other small gems and put them together in a Friday Fragments post.

Friday Fragments are the brainchild of Mrs.4444 and you can find more at Half Past Kissin' Time.

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My cousin Emmy is visiting from Philadelphia. It's a short visit, but always awesome when she makes it over here. I'm looking forward to a really fun weekend with her and my sister Kira including a Phish show at The Gorge and a visit to the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Somehow out of all of our cousins we've managed to stay close over the years despite the distance and the fact that we only see each other 2-3 times a year. Emmy got here late Wed, then took the bus up to Bellingham from Seattle Thursday afternoon. We got to eat at Pepper Sisters and Sam showed her his trampoline. I'll try to take lots of photos this weekend!

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I saw these shoes on sale downtown yesterday and when I slipped one on they were just SO adorable. Still $40 on clearance though so I probably won't reunite with them.

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I've blogged here about how much I HATE Truck Nuts. If you still don't know what they are, or have been fortunate enough never to see any, check here. Well, it turns out that at least one person is on my side - Bonneau, South Carolina Police Department Chief Franco Fuda. He gave someone a $445 ticket for hanging those nasties on their car. I applaud you, Chief Fuda.

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I used to take a lot of pride in my nails. Kind of silly, maybe, but it's one thing I could do well, and I just like the look of some well manicured nails. Also, I MAY have a box with about 50 colors in it. Maybe. After having kids I stopped painting my nails as much, but now that Danny's a bit older and I don't have to worry about scratching him or him chewing off the polish, I've decided I want to have nice nails again. I LOVE the look of a French manicure and do them myself at home - super easy with manicure guide stickers. I have been experimenting with some other stuff lately too...

2 weeks ago - Sally Hansen Crackle over midnight blue

Last week - Pink w/black tips

Currently - Flat teal with shiny emerald tips

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This cracked me up.

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This week, I bought most of Sam's school supplies for kindergarten. WHAT? KINDERGARTEN!? SCHOOL SUPPLIES??!! I know. I can't believe it. He got a Mario Kart lunch pack and a Star Wars thermos and chose Star Wars folders too. I can't believe in only a bit over a month he'll be going to all day school three times a week.

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Well, it's almost midnight and I need to get some sleep so I have plenty of energy tomorrow. Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend. I may not be able to visit too many fragmenters until Monday, but I'll try to make the rounds!

Weekly Winners: Macro Madness

Weekly Winners is the creation of the beautiful Lotus from i am lotus (aka Sarcastic Mom). It gives us a chance to share our favorite shots of the week every Sunday.

Other than the first two, these were all taken with my new 50mm 2.5/f macro lens that arrived this week. ALL photos were taken with my Canon Rebel EOS.

Potato, PoTAHto



The Wine that Was



New Love!



Beads



Eye See You



Window to the World



Joy Personified



For more Weekly Winners, visit i am lotus.

Weekly Winners

Weekly Winners is the creation of the beautiful Lotus of i am Lotus (aka Sarcastic Mom). She takes amazing pictures that I'm often jealous of, and her son Braden totally reminds me of my little boy - both the big blue eyes, and the attitude! Here are my winners from this week.


The Fleet



Shadows



Pretty in Pink



Through the Branches



Blueberry Bliss



Gah!



For more Weekly Winner photos, visit I am Lotus.

13 Movies I Never Get Tired of

This week for Thursday Thirteen, I'm thinking about the movies I can watch over and over. These are the movies I never get tired of. The ones I'll pull out if there's nothing on TV and I want something to watch. If I want a movie on in the background. If I'm home alone and no one else gets to help me choose what we watch. So, here they are!

1. Jurassic Park - This is one of my favorite books, and one of my favorite movies too.
   
2. The Day After Tomorrow - I am a total disaster movie junkie. If I owned 2012 yet, it would probably be on this list too.
   
3. Bride & Prejudice - If you haven't seen this one, you should get it. It's a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice that takes place mostly in India. It's beautiful and fun.
   
4. Grease - A favorite forever. Who doesn't love Danny & Sandy?
   
5. That Thing You Do - Another music based movie, about one-hit-wonders The Wonders. I first saw it in high school I think, and I just never get tired of it.
   
6. The Princess Bride - I think the percentage of people I know who list this as their favorite movie is about 75% - guys and girls! It's my husband's favorite, and it's just a fun one to watch.
   
7. Bring It On - For some reason, I will watch this movie again and again. If I come across it on TV, I stop and watch. I don't really know why. I guess it's a guilty pleasure!
   
8. Sliding Doors - This is one of my absolute FAVORITE movies. I just love it, and I love John Hannah in it. It's romantic, and magical, and I don't think I'll ever tire of it.
   
9. 16 Candles - I think 16 Candles is almost the perfect movie. It is like the dream of every average teenage girl, and the ending scene with the birthday cake is just... well, dreamy!
10. 13 Going on 30 - I'm a big fan of movies where people switch bodies in some way - Big, Freaky Friday, 17 Again. It's just fun to watch. I think Jennifer Garner is just too cute in this movie, and Mark Ruffalo? Yes, please.
11. Run, Lola, Run - This is a funky movie with an absolutely amazing soundtrack. It's fun to watch, but also great to have on in the background just to listen to.
    
12. The Harry Potter Movies - Do I really need to explain anything here?
    
13. Dogma - I love Kevin Smith, and own most of his movies. But Dogma is probably my favorite, as well as one of my favorite overall movies of all time. It's smart, it's witty, it's funny, and it's entertaining. Also, I sort of love Alan Rickman.

What are your go-to movies? Which ones would you watch again and again, or choose to share with a friend over for a movie night?

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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Weekly Winners

Weekly Winners is the creation of the beautiful Lotus of i am Lotus (aka Sarcastic Mom). She takes amazing pictures that I'm often jealous of, and her son Braden totally reminds me of my little boy - both the big blue eyes, and the attitude! Here are my winners from this week.

Shockingly good first attempt at cooking real food.

Babies.

Love.

His own moment.

The look.

Grass! I got grass! It feels good!

To see more weekly winners, or join in, head over to i am lotus.