$12.99 EVERY DAY!

I hope that everyone had a great week!

Babygirl was stoked to be back to school with all of her friends. Thankfully I have a child that loves to wake up to get ready for school so our morning's (for now) are not a battle. I am sure that eventually when she becomes a teenager, mornings will become a nightmare so I will gladly take each easy morning that we have until that day.

Shopping for back to school clothes this year was interesting. Tiring. And funny. Babygirl finally broke out of her "pretty is for girls" stage and decided that it was time to give pantihose and dresses a run. Year after year I have begged and pleaded that she let me buy her dresses and skirts. It was always "No, Mom. I don't like dresses, I'm a cowgirl". Although I have always wanted her to dress "pretty" but allowed her to define her own style personality. According to Babygirl, cowgirls don't wear dresses and she was happy wearing her jeans and yes, her cowgirl boots to school. Much easier to gallop around her school yard on her imaginary pinto horse during recess.

I grew up in the country on a farm with horses and spent 16 years of my life traveling to rodeo's but I never cared to compete in them. I was happy riding and caring for my horses but as much as my Dad wanted me to, I never deemed myself a cowgirl. My daughter on the other hand is the complete opposite of me. If you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up she will immediately answer "a cowgirl". I don't think that a single week has passed in her life that she hasn't (at least once) asked if we can move into the country on a farm and often states that we can keep a pony in our backyard if we aren't going to move to the country any time soon. She's such a country girl and with her cowgirl dream comes a lack of dresses and drawers full of jeans.

For some reason this summer Babygirl became fashion savvy and decided that it was time for her to start dressing "pretty". I didn't argue. While shopping we spent countless hours holding each outfit up so she could analyze it in a mirror in order to make her final decision. I was a very proud Mama when we left each store with cute outfits (that included sparkles and sequence [but absolutely, 100% NO FLOWERS PERMITTED]) in hand! Most Mom's may think that this dress thing sounds crazy but when you have a daughter that has refused to wear "pretty" clothes for her entire 7 years of existence, you would have jumped all over the "pretty" shopping spree too.

With all of the galloping that Babygirl does, she manages to go through a ton of shoes. I'm talking a TON of shoes. Her last pair of cowgirl boots lasted her entire grade 1 year (she sadly grew out of them this summer so now we are on the hunt for new cowgirl boots) but she tore every pair of sneakers that she had apart. I guess that cowgirl boots are made to withstand the galloping; sneak's - not so much. Because she gallops through all of her shoes and so many at a time I try to buy them on sale. I refuse to spend over $30 on a pair of shoes because it is literally money wasted in our house.

Payless always has super cheap shoes which are easy on the wallet. While back-to-school shopping this year we purchased three pairs of shoes from payless. On Monday morning while Babygirl and I were putting her indoor (black Mary Jane's - SO exciting to me because that means she is dressing like a girlie girl) shoes into her backpack, I took the shoes out of the box and placed it on our coffee table.

As I am trying to fit her Mary Janes (!!!!) into the bottom of her backpack (without scuffing them) she yells out in horror "OH NO, MOM!!!!! WHY DID YOU BUY THOSE SHOES!!!!! THIS ISN'T GOOD!!!!!"

I'm quickly pull the shoes out of the bag! "What?!" I said, "What's wrong with them!?!?" I'm panicking now, thinking the worst, she's onto my pretty girl tactics! She's never going to wear the cutesie little shoes!

Frantically, Babygirl grabs the shoe box that I placed on the coffee table and points to the sign that says "Every Day - $12.99". "Mom, LOOK!!!!! WHY DID YOU BUY THESE?!?!"

I'm quickly trying to recover. "Because they are cute and they match your pretty dresses and they were cheap! What is WRONG?" I want to cry...

"Mom, they aren't CHEAP!" she declares, "You are going to have to go back to the store and pay $12.99 for them EVERY DAY!"

...LOL...

Fortunately it was just a price concern not a style concern (phewf!). My Babygirl may be a cowgirl. But at least she is a frugal little cowgirl.

xTx

I Love Family Weekends!

Given that I live about 9 hours (driving distance) away from my parents (and most family), I don't get to see them very often anymore. We speak on the phone daily, Skype, Facebook and MSN but no technological means of communication is quite the same as being with them in person. I may be bias but I must admit that I have the most amazing family. We always have so much fun together!

This weekend we all travelled to my parents' house down south to surprise my Mom for her 69th (she will probably kick my ass for posting her age online LOL) birthday! at 7pm on Saturday evening when she finally found out that we (her family), along with about 60 of her dearest friends were all there to celebrate an early birthday for her, she was in absolute shock, flashed her beautiful smile and broke down in tears.

My cousin Ashley is a chef and made 140 of the most amazing chocolate cupcakes that you could ever imagine, with five different types of buttercream icing - Vanilla bean, fresh raspberry, cocoa, coconut and caramel. Not only were they beautifully decorated with sparkles and sprinkles but they were a tastebud heaven as well. We had a great dinner, live entertainment, games, drinks, beautiful company and a very happy birthday girl!

One of my favourite things to do is to sit with my family and talk. We literally talk and laugh for hours. Some of my fondest family memories are of all of us gathered around my parents long kitchen table laughing and talking over dinner or a game of some sort. It is too sad that our weekend couldn't have gone on longer. The next time we will all be together is at Christmas time - which is one reason why we had an early birthday for Mom this year.

Although I am happy to be back in The Twa, I miss everyone so much already!!

I will post some pictures from our weekend later on :)

As a side note - As you all know, I have been raving about Macadamia Natural Oil hair products. My Mom had been aching to try them so for her birthday, one of the gifts that we all gave her was the shampoo, conditioner, hair mask and oil treatment. Well, she is now in love with these products as much as I am. After we did her hair yesterday, she spent the rest of the afternoon running her fingers through her hair and having everyone touch her pretty locks! Her hair went from its "straw" state to soft, silky and full of life - in just one use! Unbelievable! Mom was stoked!

I wish you all a beautiful week! Be sure to spend time with those that you love. And don't forget to laugh. A lot.

xTx

Snappity, Snap, Snap

I hope that everyone is having a fantatic summer! I haven't had much time to blog this summer but my cousin Kelsey inspired my to start writing again. Kelsey likes to nose around through my blog entries to see what I am up to and note the things that I am randomly loving. I generally try to live by the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" rule, so you won't really find me writing about things that I dislike. The world has enough haters - I'd rather not waste my time being one of them.

Being an Artist, I love photography. A lot. I love how a camera can bring the beauty out of anything that it captures; if captured in just the right light, on just the right angle, with just the right lense, by just the right photographer. I've never been good behind a camera for some reason but photography is something that I adore.

Kelsey, my little flame of inspiration, is a beautiful photographer. Everytime she posts a new set of pictures I get so excited to see them - She manages to capture shots that amaze me and I adore her work; maybe because of the simplicity. I like simplicity.

Below are a few of my Kelsey favourites! Enjoy!

 

© Copyright, Kelsey L., 2011

© Copyright, Kelsey L., 2011

© Copyright, Kelsey L., 2011

© Copyright, Kelsey L., 2011

And my #1 favourite of all time...

© Copyright, Kelsey L., 2011

Twenty

I remember the day that you were born. I was only 10 years old. I was spending the day at work with Papa when we got the call that your mom had had you. You had arrived into our world safe and sound. It was so exciting to have another cousin. I couldn't wait to meet you.

I immediately fell in love with you. You were so cute, so silly, so funny. We called you Toady, Toadster, Cojo and Code (not Cod). You were simply adorable.

You had the cutest personality. You were so smart. And charming. Everyone adored you.

I remember that cute little green knitted outfit that your Nana made for you. So adorable.

I remember when you were little, still learning how to read and the word "awesome" became "aww-we-so-me".

I remember reading you and Bunny books for hours on end. So many books. You loved books.

I remember teaching you how to say "whatever". You went to school and said it to your teacher. She didn't like that very much. You got into trouble because of me and I'm sorry for that. Your Dad was so mad at me.

I remember the time you attacked the frog in Grammy and Papa's driveway. Not cool. Not cool at all. But we still loved you.

I remember you not having any interest in horses or rodeos. You would have rather played Nintendo, drawn a picture or read a book. We didn't love you any less.

I remember you drawing in my art books. Taking your time and defining every last detail. I loved that you were an Artist.

I remember how quiet you were. And how loud you were.

I remember you being good. I hardly remember you being bad.

I remember you entertaining Ashley and I with your crazy antics.

I remember you singing "1, 2, 3, Train with me...". You loved trains. And that song.

I remember many things.

But the one thing I remember the most is that I loved you so, so much. I loved you more than life itself.

I am so proud of your accomplishments thus far. I am so proud to call you family. My cousin.

Keep doing what you do, Cody. Keep being who you are.

I love you with all of my heart and I wish you a very happy 20th birthday,

Tawn

P.S. I love you more than shoelaces.

P.P.S. You better be coming to visit this weekend.