Get Carried Away

Hiding in my stocking this year was one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.
Delicious.
No calories.
No carbs.
Girl. Scout. Cookie.
LIP GLOSS!
I seriously love this stuff. in no way shape or form will this replace ACTUAL girl scout cookies, but it's been an awesome substitute right before bed when I'm needing something sweet.
The lipglosses are made by Lipsmackers and come in 5 flavors: thin mints, samoa, trefoil, Tagalog, and peanut butter. Santa found fine at Target.
Try it- you'll like it!

My mom was 13 when her youngest sister (my aunt) Julie was born.
When Julie was 13, I was born.
When I was 13, her firstborn J was born.
And when I was 13, my firstborn Agirl was born.

Julie has three of the most amazing kids I know.  J is 17, L is 14 and C is 9.  (God forbid I got that last one wrong- I am also C's "Fairiest Godmother.")  These three are my cousins, but they feel more like my nieces and nephew.  I adore them, and they adore my kids as if they weren't first cousins once removed.

They were my practice babies- the first ones I held and changed and babysat.  I was at the hospital for C's birth.  They were the flower girls and ring bearer in my wedding.  I've hugged them and loved them for over half my life.

They were recently down for a family party, and here are just some of the snuggles that took place that weekend...


J, L and C, thanks for being some of the best cousin-niece-nephew-friend-people that I could have ever asked for.  Thank you for loving my kids and for teaching them through your example how to be good people.  I love you more than you will ever know. 

PINning my life away.  On Pinterest.

Thank goodness Pinterest didn't exist when I was getting married.  My head would have exploded and we probably would still be engaged as I over-planned every aspect and burned my fingerprints off with a hot glue gun.

I'd coin myself more a Digital Crafter.  Give me a Powerpoint and I can make that thing sing.  Creating an online photo book?  Puh-lease. I'm like Flickr Nostradamus.

But throw some felt, pipe cleaners, and crafters glue at me?  You'll get in return a felt flower crusted with globs of dried glue and pipe cleaners twisted into, well, stems.

Pinning a project isn't nearly as intimidating as going to Michaels.  Its like having all the plans without any of the expense.  Either way, the project won't be done but at least I'm not out $30 and cluttering up my closet.

One of my other favorite things on Pinterest- my friend Marcy Massura's board called "Drunk Knitting."  The knitting projects are awesome, but her captions totally make it.  Treat yourself to a few minutes of awesome and check it.

Cheers to you, Pinterest wonders who post your incredible projects.  I will continue to pin them and pine for the day that my crafting gene drops from the sky in a hand-crocheted basket.

Not on Pinterest?  Need an invite?  Just let me know!  I'm happy to introduce people to their new addictions.  Digital addictions only, of course.

Obviously, I'm not busy enough, so I'm starting a fun blog-thing called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog with SITS.
I want to remember where I'm at right now, as this challenge starts.
Get Carried Away Stats
-Total Pageviews: 11,626
-Last Month Pageviews: 1,170
-Posts: 253
-Followers: 9
-Twitter Followers: 77 @braunalicious if you want to add to that.  Do it.  I'm funny.

Putting those numbers out there is kinda like telling people how much you weigh.  A little scary, and the number is always not what you want it to be. 

I'm excited to see where this challenge takes me and this blog.  So here's to 31 days of better blogging!

This is real.

A real, honest-to-goodness conversation held by 3 (THREE) year old Agirl with her 13 year old cousin.

Agirl: Lolo, can I play with your iPod Toucher?

Lolo: No, sorry.  Your mom said no iPods in the car. (I know, meanest mom ever.)

Agirl: Well, sometimes I don't tell my mom things.

Lolo: You should tell your mom everything.

Agirl: Well, sometimes my mom talks to me and I just don't say anything.

...

So, yeah.  We're locking her up and throwing away the key.  This one is going to be TROUBLE!!!

Then I remember that this is the same girl who has spent every moment we've been together over the last two weeks sitting as close to my lap as possible.  The same girl who calls cars that are parked on the street "frozen."  The same girl who is terrified of the water going down the drain at the end of her bath and loves to give cheek kisses.
This girl.

March 2011

Yesterday, as I was sleeping off an icky-sicky-yucky-no-good-very-bad-day, I kind of woke up as my husband was in the middle of a phone call. It was that moment where you're awake but your eyes are still closed, where what you're hearing may be reality or it may very well be the tail end of a dream.

Mr. Braunalicious was talking to a family friend about their gracious invitation to have us over for dinner, and the conversation turned to her compliments of one of the recent entries on this blog. He laughed and said, "Yes, she is a good writer but sometimes she makes me look like an idiot."

Wow. Well, in all fairness, sometimes I do recount some of his less stellar moments in the name of entertaining blog fodder. But, I rationalized, I do the same for myself. I hate to admit it took sleep-snooping for me to be introspective enough to realize that there is a possibility that I may have hurt his feelings.

Fittingly enough, this week is his birthday. The perfect day to recount all of his fabulousness in excruciating detail. And there is a lot of fabulousness.  He'd be embarrassed if I shared some of my favorite things- not because they're inappropriate, but because I think there are nice things that men do for women that they would never admit in public, lest they loose some hard earned street cred.

Simply, Nick is a good man.   He is absolutely embodies some of the most wonderful qualities in mankind- things I want to be, and can only learn from him.  He approaches everything in life as my teammate, and is the first to defend the people he cares for. He loves his family fiercely.  He cares deeply about his work, his faith, and the teens that he ministers to.  He is the most incredible dad.  He is a smart, funny, kind man with a beautiful heart and a gentle soul.

What I realized in writing this list is that I often focus why I love him on the things he does for me.  I have no doubt that there will be an endless supply of incredible things, big and small, that I will continue to appreciate.  But this challenged me to look at Nick for Nick.  It took me back to when we were first dating, and what I loved about him totally seperate from myself. 

And I fell in love with him all over again.

To my best friend, someone I am privileged to love and spend my life getting to know better and better, Happy Birthday.

And I hope I've totally and completely embarassed you enough for you to stop reading this blog for a little while, so I can go back to sharing more endearing things, like the today when you... okay.  Next time.