take me away.

Tell me that you don't want to move in:

Tiny Victorian Cottage.


Cause I totally want to.

and my TV goes *cricket cricket*

Today we are coming off of a pretty long dry spell in our house. 

Besides the fact that we haven't seen a drop of rain since God knows when, we've been going through another kind of drought. 

A TV drought. 

Now, we don't watch a lot of TV, honestly. While I know some who have two or three shows PER night, we usually average somewhere between three and five per WEEK.

A few weeks ago, both So You Think You Can Dance and Deadliest Catch ended. 

Castle hasn't been on for months. 

 Doctor Who ended back before the summer started. 

Boardwalk Empire is on reruns. 

Bored to Death hasn't been on since last year. 

Game of Thrones ended about a month and a half ago. 

Shoot, even my Formula 1 races are on break.

So? 

That leaves us with True Blood (and for me, Entourage, which, for some inexplicable reason I've started watching, knowing full well that it's in its final season. I don't even care, nor do I care enough to go back and watch the other seasons. Weird, I know.) on Sundays, Graham Norton on Saturdays and Deadliest Warrior on Wednesdays.

Not a lot.

See? Even Graham is horrified.

HOWEVER, in true BBC America fashion, they're going to please me beyond words this week when not one, but TWO of my favorite shows start running new episodes! Top Gear comes on tonight and I'm positively giddy with excitement. I told Zach on Saturday, I think if Michael the Fassbender and Richard Hammond (the one on the left in the picture of the men in the car below) were standing on opposite sides of a square and I could only visit with one, I'd chose the Hamster every time. AND Doctor Who comes back on this Saturday. Doctor Who kind of stopped mid season and took a break for the summer. Which drove me nuts. Just show me the season, already! But! America is FINALLY on the same schedule as the UK, so we're actually having to wait like they do.

And? Oh yeah, there's a race this weekend too-- we haven't had one in almost a month! 

Thank GOODNESS.

I'm tired of having nothing to watch for most of the week.

image sources: {tv, graham, true blood, hammond&may, doctor who, formula1}

Forgive me.

Y'all, I have one nerve-wracking, stressful week ahead of me. I have two posts scheduled for this week that I wrote a while ago. Please be pacified by these two (yes, one is my Friday post) and give me leave to handle everything without the added pressure of blogging. I can't promise when I'll return, but rest assured that I will at least make sure I have a Friday post next week too.

All prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated.

toddler tuesday: cookie baking

Last week, Liam and I went over to my mom's house and spent the morning, and much of the early afternoon, baking the cutest darn boy themed cookies.

Liam's first word-- "officially" -- is cookie. He wrenches his mouth into the cutest little form and says "ooo-kie!" And I melt. So, we made cookies.

 The child has NO fear.

I'm SO GLAD my dad and brother decided they HAD to have bar stools. Because MY child decided he could climb on them to access cookies. 

Cooper pinned him down.

 See? SO CUTE! 

My mom bought the Star Wars and the Cars 2 cookie cutters at Williams Sonoma. 

I'm planning on going back for the Marvel ones as soon as I'm able-- I foresee superhero birthdays in my future and I NEED those. Also, my hubby would love them.

So, after I said Liam couldn't have another cookie, he got truly motivated.

He moved out the barstool. 

He climbed it lickety split. 

And climbed on the counter. 

How could I begrudge him a cookie?

Thanks for the pictures, mom ;)

i can dream: birthday wishlist

I feel like I haven't been shallow in a really long time.
Ha.
But really.

My birthday is one month from today. I am told year after year that nobody has any ideas for me, and they need a wish list. I always put off writing one, or coming up with one, because I feel like I'm dictating the amount spent on my gifts. Does that make sense?

Regardless, I decided to go ahead and put together my "ultimate" birthday wish list for the year. Of course, it's not a "big" birthday (meaning, not 21, 25 or 30) so I certainly don't expect it to be treated as such. I'm just having some fun.


MacBook Pro
13 inch, 2.3 GHz

 Y'all, I need a new computer. This is actually what I've asked for for my birthday this year. My current MacBook was my birthday present for my 22nd birthday. I'm *ahem* not going to TELL you how old I'll be this time around, but needless to say, my poor precious Mac has been put through the ringer. And since I have aspirations that involve needing my computer for work, I'd really like a new computer that will allow me to work with ease, comfort and security. To be honest, I'm almost afraid to do too much work on my current project because I never know when my computer's going to mess up. *knock on wood* I'm actually not THRILLED that Apple discontinued the regular MacBook, but I'm more interested in the Pro at this point, rather than the Air, because a) I need it a little sturdier, b) the increased memory and the faster processor are a big turn on. But. I'd still be thrilled to get an 11-inch MacBook Air. I'm not loving that the Pro doesn't come in 11 inches, but whatevs.


Otterbox for iPad 2

Yeah, this is a need. We'll be buying one regardless because I've had my iPad since April and it's had issues TWICE. It *needs* this case. It'd add a lot of bulk, but I wouldn't have to flip out every time it slipped out of my hands or Liam tried to pull it off the table.


Rosetta Stone: German

Truthfully, learning German not only sounds like a lot of freaking fun, but it'd help a lot with the project I'm working on right now. Also, I'd really like to be able to do my ranting and cursing in German. Pretty much yes.


Thor & X-Men: First Class on Blu Ray

Need I explain this? NO.
YUM.




That's pretty much it. Of course, I could have made it really outlandish and added thirty thousand things from kate spade's website, but I didn't. I also could have added some editing software, photoshop and the like, but I didn't. I also could have added Jane Eyre on Blu Ray -- which comes out TOMORROW-- but we all know that I'm not going to wait a MONTH for Michael Fassbender in a classic literature come to life period piece. It's like heaven on a disc.

So there you have it. That was fun ;)

I'll show you mine...

Hubbub. 

Hoopla. 

If you ordered an Erin Condren Life Planner, or were even a little bit present on blogs, Twitter or Facebook during the release time, I'm pretty sure you're aware of the insanity surrounding these things. 

Craziness.

But this may be the first time everyone's thrown themselves around about something and it's actually lived up to the hype. At least, in my opinion.

So after we all saw how MANY people were ordering, amazingly sweet Erin suggested a link-up, and precious Mer volunteered her blog right away. SO. Link up from there. :) It's kinda fun, and to be honest, who doesn't enjoy getting ideas for different ways to use their product? Right. I know.

oh, an my mom loved mine so much, she ordered one for herself! i'm loving that!

I ordered mine in the Signature Stripe (and I think Steph, Haley and I are the only people I know who DIDN'T order the candy lace multi). I love it, I'm positive I won't be sick of this come next December!

(also, SO GLAD I decided against adding my pets' names to this! How depressing would that have been to see Jethro on there for the next year and a half!?)

I was a little wary of the day set up, but I've come to really like it. I love being able to write out my blog post topics in advance, so I know what I need to write still and when to schedule it.

I LOVE the stickers that they added at the back. 

I've already gone to town adding all the wedding, party and shower stickers I can think to add.

ALSO,

I'm all about my sports that I follow, so I marked all our football games with the brown stickers, and all of the Formula 1 races with the orange. 

At first I thought this might be a waste of stickers, but I actually really love it because it helps me keep track of where I'll be on my weekends. I know if there's a brown sticker, I need to not commit to anything *quite* yet.

Also, I really love that I was able to write in our fun, super weekend in Dallas we're looking forward to in October. :)

I've already put some of the lined pages throughout to good use.... 

(no, you don't get to see those names!)

... and I'm LOVING the stickers they sent along for a special surprise!

Can I just say, though, that I'm in LOVE with the print I got on my personalized stickers, and I SO, SO, SO wish that had ended up being a LP choice. 

And because we all wonder what we're all using...

my writing utensils:

I DO use my fine-tip sharpies on the stickers because I find the ball point doesn't show up very well, and the gel pens take too long to dry. Also, I think the planner sets the standard for colorful, so your pens should live up to it!

I hope you're all loving your LPs as much as I am mine. 

I can't wait to really fill it up!

cinephile saturday: wild target

I know what you're thinking. 

What the heck is this movie and why have you never heard of it?

Wild Target is an English film that Zach and I rented a while ago.

I will pretty much watch anything Bill Nighy wants to make. 

He's my favorite part of Love Actually, and also my favorite part of the Underworld movies. He's a dude. Completely awesome. We were watching Graham Norton and this movie was mentioned, so when it was available On Demand, we went ahead with it. 

It's really funny... if you like British humor.

The part where the three main characters all meet had us in stitches, but I can see where someone who isn't familiar with British humor wouldn't find it terribly funny.

Of course, Emily Blunt is adorable, Bill Nighy kind of steals the show and Rupert Grint is surprisingly non-Ron and holds his own on screen with these two. Which, I must say, I was surprised by. I kind of thought he would either be a carbon copy of Ron or that he'd go completely off the reservation. 

Neither thing happened.

All in all, y'all, it's a really fun movie. 

Rent it for a good time ;)

images sources: {poster, rupert&bill}

pinnable me: full spectrum

I like to fancy myself a little bit of an artist. 

Just a little bit. 

So anything that's colorful makes me happy-- namely, rainbow colors.

Here's what's caught my eye lately:

Ready Made via Ivy on Pinterest. 

eBay via Haley on Pinterest. 

Emmaline Bride via Kate on Pinterest. 

Unsimple Living via Me on Pinterest. 

{Share and Remember} via Jessica on Pinterest.

Anthropologie via Mojito Maven on Pinterest. 

What are y'all loving this week?

Link up! :)

my broken toe

 I'm going to warn you. 

You might find this nasty.

My BFF won't find this surprising because I think I've showed him every "awesome" bruise I've had since we've been friends. The poor guy. 

About a month and a half ago, I was trying to pull something out of my MIL's car while it was parked in front of their house and I slipped off the curb. My big toe turned under my foot and all my weight came down on it. 

Needless to say, ouch and the result was a broken toe. And not like "oh, I think I broke my toe!" Straight up, broken. 

After a few days, the bruising showed up... 

and it got worse.... 

 and worse... 

 and worse.

I couldn't even capture it all in photos, the brownish bruising just looked more like tanned skin, and as flexible as I am, I couldn't figure out how to photograph the bottom of my foot with the bruising there. 

EPIC Stefanie moment. 

Somewhere, right now, my BFF is laughing his arse off. 

Why did I tell/SHOW you all this?

Because. 

It put me off my game. 

I had to stop working out. And I had been faithful at least 5 times a week since the start of Lent. This put a complete stop to everything I was doing because WHAT I was doing put a lot of pressure on my toe and required a lot of bending and moving of the feet. Obviously.

Now, I can walk without a limp. My toe can bend.

I have a permanent bump (that I can see) on the side of my foot, and bending my toe further than what's required for walking can still hurt a little bit. It also makes grinding sounds. I know. SO gross.

BUT.

I am making an attempt this week to get back into my exercising. 

Because next summer? 

We're having a pool party for Liam's birthday.

And the LAST thing I want is to hate every photo of me from something like that.

And so, it begins.

Again.

toddler tuesday: finger painting

I bought Liam a small canvas ages ago, intending to start keeping track of his handprints on them, but he is so hard to handprint, that I kind of gave up the idea. 

Instead, I gave it to L to try his hand at finger painting.

He had so much fun, and the result was too precious. We have it displayed on top of our TV unit along with a few examples of my work.

I'm hoping L takes after me and his Granddaddy Roger and has skillz. 

I so wish I had taken a picture of the final product! So much fun!

vacation: fishing and catching

We did get to do a fair bit of fishing while we were down in Rockport.

Roger very generously found us a fishing guide and stayed home with Liam so Steph, Zach and I could be up and at the marina at 5:45 (except, the three of us are chronically early, so it was probably more like 5:35) in the morning to head out for 4 hours. 

If you know anything, there's a big difference between going fishing and going catching. 

Going catching is way more fun ;)

Tommy Barnard, our guide, was wonderful.

He's been a guide in the area for over twenty years and the dude knows his stuff.

He cast for us, since the wind was up and the water was dirty and he knew exactly where we needed to throw, but taught us how to fish his way and get results for where we were. 

We caught 17 Speckled Trout and had a blast of a time doing it. 

I'm telling you ALL now. If you're down on the coast and want to go CATCHING, you neeeeeeed to call Tommy. His rates are reasonable, his style obviously gets results and he isn't obnoxious.

Big plus. 

GO.

Get thee to the coast.

Call Tommy.

Catch fish.