Quick Christmas Roundup

Hi Lovelies!

I keep thinking that now that I'm done with school I'll have more time to blog. I've been home with Leila though...and we've been having fun :)

I wanted to give you guys a quickie update on Christmas in the Boom household. It was SUPER fun as usual. We generally make it all about Boomer. She came in and woke me up at about 8:30am and informed me "Momma, it's Christmas! Can we open presents now?"

I LOVE that face...and of course the O-State Jammies :)

Santa brought Leila exactly what she asked for. A unicorn pillow pet and Despicable me. (Santa also brought her a stuffed elephant. Boomer informed her father and I that while she didn't ask for it, she appreciated it.) She got some Tangled dolls, remote control cars (pretty sure JJ bought those for himself), a guitar, and the most adorable story book. It was from my dad and step mom and little brother. The recorded themselves reading the story. I seriously think its about the coolest thing ever, especially since they are in Phoenix and can't really read her bedtime stories. Leila also received some clothes that are beautiful and a big girl towel set. She got a bitty baby from American Girl last year for Christmas from her cousins, and this year they sent her and the doll matching jammies.

Boomer and Baby Lizzie

JJ got a beer tasting glass set, which he loves. He got a bar this year for our house and he is loving stocking it up and adding things to it. He also got some clothing from Boomer and I. I like dressing him up. Honestly it's a good thing that he let's me. The boy is color blind and when we met wore 3X pants. (He had a 32in waist at the time.) No pics of the boy either....cuz he weren't decent.

I got a LOVELY pair of Tiffany&Co earrings from Boomer. She was so excited she almost told me what they were the day she bought them. "Momma we went to 'The City' and bought you something from your favorite store!" 'The City', is what Boomer calls Easton, a shopping center here in Columbus. For my first mother's day, she and JJ got me the silver bead necklace and these earrings match perfectly. Momma Boom got me an AWESOME Knott's Berry Farm pancake and biscuit set with two preserves and a bayberry syrup. (We have pancake Sunday her in the Boom house.) I love it and can't wait until next Sunday to throw down. I honestly wasn't expecting much in the way of gifts seeing as I graduated a few weeks ago and my family totally loved up on me in the way of gifts (I'll show you guys those goodies soon). So I was truly grateful for the Christmas goodies I got. No pics of me for the same reason as JJ.

Oh....I almost forgot. Boomer had her first loose tooth over the weekend. AND SHE LOST IT ON CHRISTMAS!!!! So she was visited by Santa and the Tooth Fairy in the same week. She's such a lucky girl!

 I've been calling her Gap Tooth Sally....not sure she appreciates it though. She keeps growling at me.

MMM: Vol 11

Hello Lovelies!

Its the day after Christmas which is why I'm so late with today's post. Catching up with friends, getting batteries for Boomer, playing with all her new goodies :) It's been exhausting, but fun. So for the mani portion of our post I wanted to show you the my first attempt at a half moon mani for the holidays.

OPI DS Radiance and OPI The Thrill of Brazil

So....the half moon mani is no walk in the park. It looks cool, but its not easy. The stickers wee too sticky and kept lifting the silver polish...and let's not even talk about how silly some of my right hand looked. (It was so hard putting on the stickers left handed.) Additionally my mother was none to fond of this look. Ah well. For a great tutorial on how to do this check out Kristina PrettyShinySparkly's post here. I have not given up on the half moon mani though. I'll be trying it again with some different colors, and more time. (I'm just not patient.)

Image Via

Boomer asked Santa (repeatedly) to bring her Despicable Me for Christmas. Santa did not disappoint. So we watched it twice yesterday. Once at our house on the super crazy big tv, and once at Mimi's house because Boomer rationalised that if she loved the movie Mimi would too. I can't say enough good things about this movie. I've watched it more times than I would care to admit, and I still find it hilarious. I also am a HUGE NERD fan. (Thanx a lot G4Mikey) and love that Pharell did the music for this movie. I'm actually thinking about getting myself the soundtrack.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I'll be back with some more Christmas roundup and Hanukkah picture too. Yes...both.

Cold Hands Warm Heart

Hello lovelies!

I'm back with another blog swap, this one arranged by Much Love, Illy and Sandy a la Mode.

My partner was the oh so fab Heather of Angel Face Designs! She has two very sweet little girls and a cutie hubs as well. Her oldest and my only actually have the same name. (Same spelling and everything!) What are the odds? Anywhos she also runs Angel Face Designs and they have some very purty jewels over there so check it out and give her some love.

Here are the goodies that Heather sent me:

These tissue packs are every mommy's lifesaver, and the fact that they are season appropriate is just a fun bonus.

Fingerless gloves!!!! I've hit the jackpot. With these bad boys I can cover my precious digits while scraping the ice off my car and then when I hop in to send out a text, or respond to a comment I can just flip the covers back and Voila! Fingers!

Clearly from all my MMM posts you guys know I love my nail polish. And this chica has provided me with enought cool colors for 6 weeks of posts! Yeah! And the colors are so fun. There is a deep mindnight blue, and army green, plus sparkly ones as well. I can't wait to try them all out. (Neither can Boomer)

Heather also sent me some beautiful studs from her Angel Face Designs collection in orange, turquoise and purple. They are so cute. I wore the orange ones to work last night and received so many compliments. So Heather if you receive a slew of  orders from Columbus that'll be why.

I had so much fun participating in this swap. It was so fun to look forward to something coming in the mail! Boomer got so excited I think I'm going to ship her a few things just so she can have some mail too.

How the Glitz Stole Christmas

Hello Lovelies!

No Mani and Movie this Monday. Today I'm linking up with all the lovely ladies who participated in Raven and Lindsey's Blog swap. It was suuuuuuuper fun, and I was so excited to be getting actual mail. (That wasn't a bill.) I also love giving gifts, pretty much more than receiving them so I also had quite a bit of fun shopping for my partner. (Although Boomer couldn't quite get it that we were not shopping for her. She's an only child, what are you gonna do?)

My partner is Ashlie and she writes the blog Boys will be Boys & Girls love Pearls.She blogs about her life and her two adorable kiddos Reagan and Jackson. Seriously those little ones are beyond cute. Kind of makes me want to add a second to our brood. (Key word there being kind of.) Their whole family recently went on a trip to Disney (I remember my first trip) and Reagan dressed up as a princess just tickled me. Boomer saw the pictures and is now insisting that we take a trip. Which I'm fine with planning since its 20 degrees here in Ohio today. Here are the goodies that sweet Ashlie sent me.

The gloves are so glitzy and perfect because even though its FREEZING here this week, I can wear these bad boys and still use my smart phone. Because that is an Ohio girl dilemma. Do I take my gloves off to answer this tweet, or do I wait 10 minutes until I'm somewhere warm. And I mean you can't wait. The wallet is super cute and great for me too. On the inside there are lots of spot for all my rewards cards (that I can never seem to get straight). So Ashlie thanx so much for my glitzy gifts. I had to share the candy cane with Booomer. She insisted on a 70/30 split in her favor of course. Now head on over to Ashlie's Bloggy and check her out!

So now what?

Hello Lovelies!

Sorry this has been kind of a wash of a week as far as posting goes, but yesterday I took my very last final exam!

I'M DONE!!!!!!

I turned in my french exam, my professor shook my hand and told me congratulations. I think I was floating. I certainly did a little happy dance at the bus stop. I then went and picked up my cap and gown from SBX. They gave me this beauty along with my purchase.

Funny thing. I collect shot glasses, but in the 20+ years that I have lived here in Ohio I have never purchased an Ohio, or Ohio State University shot glass. But now I do.

As I road the bus back to my car in west campus for the last time....it struck me. I've been in college, in some form or another, for the past 7 years of my life. (I took about a year total off after I had Boomer). The entire time that JJ has known me. The entire time my child has been alive.

So now what?

To be perfectly honest finishing my degree always seemed just over the next ridge. It was always next year, in a few quarters, next quarter. And now its done. I knew after having Boomer I needed to finish. I couldn't expect her to attend college one day if I gave up on my degree. (And receiving an education in our family is a foregone conclusion. Its not are you going to college, its where are you going. In most cases you're expected to get a few degrees. Lol...I'm going to need some time.)

Again I'm left with now what? Its been a part of my identity my entire adult life. I have a little jobber that I'm thankful for, and of course I am still looking for a full time big girl job. Everyone has so many questions now. What are you going to do with your degree? When are you going to graduate school? What are your plans? I feel as woefully unprepared for those questions as I did at 18 when I was asked to declare a major. I'm grown up now, and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. As someone who is no longer responsible for just herself though, I don't have the luxury of taking time to 'find myself.'

Sorry that this is a ramble, but that's what is on my mind today. I can't tell you guys how excited I am for this weekend though. I feel so loved thinking about the people that are coming to see me get my diploma and celebrate this accomplishment with me. There will be plenty of pictures and stories to share next week. My besties from Southern will be here, along with my brother, my favorite cousin and of course my love Boomer. (Who is SO happy her Momma is done with school, and is also insisting I carry this during the ceremony.)

Have a great weekend everyone!

MMM: Vol 10

Hello Lovelies!

Wow...ten weeks of this so far...I took a few breaks, but I've been doing pretty well.

Anyway because it's been looking like this in Central Ohio for awhile...

I decided to paint myself some sunshine! I know winter is reserved for darker colors, but I felt an early onset of Seasonal Affective Disorder coming on and I just couldn't take it anymore.

OPI Banana Bandanna

This puppy is a three to four coater and you need to be careful because it tends toward streaky-ness. (This isn't OPI brand specific. I've noticed this with pretty much any light creamy nail polish color.) (Oh...I hate the word creamy with a passion and only use it when absolutely necessary so clearly you guys are loved.)

This weeks movie is "La Haine" which means hatred in French. I'm kind of taking the easy road with this film because I watched it for class, but other that that I've just been watching every single episode of Star Trek on Netflix and this is Monday Mani and a Movie, not TV show. So.... La Haine.

Image Via

Its a film about three friends who live in the ' banlieues' of Paris. Its kind of backwards there....the 'banlieues', as I understand are the outsides of the cities. Kind of like our suburbs. However the 'projects' are located in their suburbs and the more well to do live in the cities. Anyway...this film shows a day in the life of three friends whose families immigrated to Paris. One of their friends was brutalized in a riot and his life is hanging in the balance. Vinz, finds a gun one of the police officers lost in the riot and threatens to kill a cop in retaliation if their friend dies. The film is shot in black and white and was actually pretty good. We often, as Americans, don't think about other countries having similar problems to us. Many of my friends are woefully lacking in knowledge of world events. When we think of Paris its often the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. It's something I am going to try and be better about.

Sunday Shenanigans

Hello lovelies!

There were actually no shenanigans involved in this weekend....I just like alliteration. 

Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending a Columbus blogger meet up at Claddagh Irish Pub. When I first started reading blogs it seemed like everyone who wrote one was from Texas, or New York and Los Angeles. I only recently found a few blogs written by lovely C-bus ladies (and fellow Buckeyes!!!) I didn't think to take many pictures, and the ones I did take didn't turn out very well. I was too busy chatting and eating to even care about pictures.

The waiter did note however how surprisingly attractive we all were. The ladies and I got a nice giggle out of that. Anyway...here is a little blog roll of all the local ladies and their blogs. Check them out.

Keep Calm & Carry On

http://lovenotesinabox.blogspot.com/

In this Beautiful Life

http://mystorythusfar.blogspot.com

Lovely Just the Way I Am

http://lovelyjustthewayiam.blogspot.com

Running in Stilettos

http://runninginstilettosblog.blogspot.com

A Little Bit of Lovely

http://www.alittlebitoflovely.com

Life is Full of Perks

http://lifeisfullofperks.wordpress.com

While We're Young and B-e-a-utiful

http://whilewereyoungandb-e-a-utiful.blogspot.com

Its Good to Be Queen

http://itsgoodtobequeen13.blogspot.com

It's a Newlywed Life

http://itsanewlywedlife.blogspot.com

Lovin' My Life

http://lindseyatlovinmylife.blogspot.com

Brunette & Blessed

http://brunetteandblessed.blogspot.com

Dancing With Sunshine

http://dancingwithsunshine.blogspot.com

To Columbus & Beyond

http://dancingwithsunshine.blogspot.com

Sweet Sassy & Oh So Classy

http://sweetsassyandohsoclassy.blogspot.com

I can't wait to read more of these ladies posts and be a little more dedicated to my own little blog. I've only got two more finals before I'm done with the whole undergraduate grind.

Work today was a little insane, I knew it would get more intense the closer we got to the holidays, but wow....I guess I'm just very focused when I do holiday shopping so I disregard a lot of what's going on around me. I hope everyone had a great weekend. See you tomorrow!

Totally Awkward Thursday....

Hello Lovelies

I know, I know. I said I'd be MIA and I still am. Working on a paper right now actually. My senior thesis. Why am I studying history again? Oh I digress. I popped back into bloggy world to tell you about my totally awesome fantastic night last night. 

My gas light came on yesterday as I was leaving campus. Usually that means 60+ish miles left. So I went to get Leila from school. JJ was late coming home, so I was late going to work, so I just went. Polaris Mall is about 5 minutes from my house so I figured I'd be fine. After working my shift (The store was a MESS...seriously people, ask for help don't just flip over an entire pile of clothes...someone has to clean that up.), I turned my car on scrapped of the ICE (dang you Ohio) and headed to Westerville to use my Kroger point to get some gas. (Trying to stretch the moohlah). I forgot that everything in the 'ville closes up at about 11pm. So no gas there. I'm literally not even a mile from home and the gas station at the corner, when I realize my car is no longer accelerating.

I RAN OUT OF GAS! For the first time EVER in my WHOLE life. I happened to be on a decline so I coasted and pulled onto another street. *long hard sigh* I called JJ to tell him that I ran out of gas and that he could get a gas can from Momma Boom's garage. Then I called Momma Boom to let her know that he was on the way so she wouldn't think someone was breaking into her garage. Both of them lectured me. 

Then I see these in my rear view mirror.

Image Via

Yep. Westerville's finest stopped by to see why I was stopped on the wrong side of the road blinkers flashing. (Yeah...I pulled on the wrong side.) This is where the story gets super fun. See my car is registered to JJ, who has a CCW for work (concealed carry permit). Anytime the po-pos run the plates it comes up that someone driving the car has a gun. Which I never think about because I don't have my CCW and don't carry. So of course as the police officer walks up I just open my door to get out and tell him whats up. So intelligent on my part. His hand goes to his hip automatically. 

'Ma'am stay in the car, do not get out! I'll come to you.'

Hand on gun the whole time. *sigh* So I sat my little happy self back in the car mentally kicking myself and when he approached explained I don't have a weapon and I'm just out of gas. I told him JJ was on the way. He asked if I'd like to wait in his car. Nope. Never been in a police car for ANY reason and I did not plan to start last night.

JJ finally was on his way with the gas, and then I had to inform said police officer that yes he does carry and will have it on him. Dude's back on high alert. Really though? Do cops get shot, helping stranded women?

So I finally am gassed up and on my way home. All of this only took about 10-15 mins as I was literally in walking distance of my house, and Momma Boom is in walking distance of our house. But that was my night. Soooooo fun.