as pretty as a picture

I can't do traditional, but when I saw this frame for a Sonogram picture I decided I could change it and make it workable with me. I am not satisfied completely. I plan on adding something next to the name on the right hand corner, but until I know a theme this will do for now. I bought the frame at Hobby Lobby on Saturday, it was half off. I also bought a melted clock, Salvador Dali-ish. :) After & Before.

its almost time for christmas!

i think with this constant pace i've been riding, christmas has actually turned out to be a breeze. I managed to get all my gifts in record timing as well as wrapped. I am still missing a gift for my mother, (which I already know what it is going to be) a gift for my dad which I don't want to buy just yet, incase I think of something better, and a gift for my maw maw that is going to be purchased by my aunt in SA and I'll be paying her when she gets to Kingsville. However my brothers/sisters/newphews/nieces are all taken care of... :) Now I just have to wait until everyone comes to town to open them up. Its a big ol' bum out my oldest brother won't be here until a couple days after and then they're moving to New Mexico right after, and my sister and her boys won't be here until then too. So its just Marty, Mom, Dad, and Myself this year.. and then of course a Lewis Christmas at Teresa's house.


Here are my gifts. I had been seeing some really cute gift wrapping and then just took stuff that I had around my apartment and decided to give it a whirl. I am not a big traditional type when it comes to ANYTHING!! So i couldn't do the Christmas wrapping paper, I just had to go with colors. To decorate I printed out Chevron patters, used hemp, buttons, and a hot glue gun. I found printable tags instead of making them my own self. These were just too good NOT to use.

Tiffany & Ben's baby shower!

Tiffany is my cousin. We are the same age. I was born in March and she was born in April. Well... She is pregnant as well... Her son Sidney will be born in March and my son will be born in April! I was excited to be apart of helping with her shower. Her mom, Veronica, and my aunt Teresa were the big spender/planners though. The theme was Safari.
I was in charge of the Guest Book... Wish you wells... "Its a Boy" banner... and creating and ironing on the label for the Koozies. It was fun playing with Animal Print because its something that isn't what I normally prefer. There was tons of really great idea. Tiffany had people write on the diapers little messages that she will see when she actually puts them ON baby sidney! The messages were funny!! It was co-ed so it was funny seeing the guys get involved with the games. My uncle made amazing brisket, my Aunt made amazing sloppy joes that Laken and I enjoyed very much. The desert table was adorable with the pudding cups we made from a picture we saw off of pintrest. My aunt, the future grandma, made adorable corsages and my other aunt made cheek pinching cute diaper cakes for the scattered tables. I think everything came out amazing, and I hope everyone had a good time. I can't wait to meet baby Sidney!!! :)

Nana's 50th Birthday Party

I decided instead of dwelling on shambles of things not worth saving... I need to focus on more positive things and keep my hands busy. One of the first things I got my hands on was my Mother's 50th Birthday. Invitations, Menu, & some help was in order. My sister handled most of the food, while I did my best to do the decor and Invitations. My mother even got a little involved in organizing the Spa packages.. oops. :) It turned out to be successful. It was nice to do something for my mother.
I had to consider the location, which was at my tiny little place. I made it just a handful of girls. I decided to use my dinning room table, bring it into the living space. Since my chairs are green I had to consider using colors that would mix well. I chose solid colors of Pink and Purple. I wanted to make it a little ritzy, because my mom loves the Real Housewives, but i wanted to keep it down to earth, so I used burlap... I mean, how expensive and ritzy can you make plastic place and utensils? I think it turned out adorable for the money I had to spend and the amount of time. I couldn't of pulled it off without Laina. Especially her helping me make the Pom Poms and getting up on that ladder. Also, food, this pregnancy and I weren't getting along so well at the time. Life saver she was! The only downside to the whole entire party was that Laina left back to San Antonio right after we returned from the spa and I had pink and purple Pom Poms in my house for the rest of November!! and a little bit of December!! (that and the massage was horrible... who gives a deep tissue massage to a pregnant women asking for a prenatal massage?!)

Let me introduce you...

This is baby Laken Chai.
Laken started out to be the most controversial thing that has ever happened to me, and one of the biggest/best decisions I've ever made. Like a Soap Opera of Kingsville, most people know the story... but some people don't see what a blessing he is, yet. I always wanted to name my first son Julian after a guy from the strokes, but this was no Julian. I had to give him the name "Chai" which is pronounced Ky. It means "Life" in hebrew, and this baby just had to have it.

getting started

I am going to fast forward this blog, and get it up to speed. I am a single mother. I have a heart for the little big city of Austin and the small town Kingsville. Since high school things have been a roller coaster... a very fun one at that! All we think that things have crashed and burned.. I'm back in my hometown of Kingsville texas and pregnant! This isn't an episode of Teen Mom. I did however have a falling out with a guy I thought meant more to me than he actually does. I have never been more at peace with myself and more excited about life than I have been at this very moment. Of course I want to get my house HGTV'd and be a millionaire, but sometimes you just don't always get what you want. I am grateful for every thing awesome that has happened in my life as well as every wrong doing. With my search for guidance and strength, I have put myself in a very healthy spot. I decided to keep a blog about the things that have been keeping me busy, because lets just face it... if you know me, who am I WITHOUT a blog?! I hope you enjoy it as much as I hope I enjoy posting in it.