cheesy does it.

• To the pitiful Spencer on MTV's the Hills that we love to hate: connected.

• The drive through attendant that gave you grief when you tried to switch your kids french fries for apple dippers: connected.

• The controlling sister in law that corners and interrogates you about a mysterious rotisserie chicken: connected.

• The scary guy with red freckles and a hoodie at the stop light yelling at himself...you guessed it: connected.

After hearing a lesson on "charity"... I realized that we all can {and should} be a part of as many lives as we can. Even when we feel we have nothing to give or when life is spanking our faces and we think we have no spare time. If we change our thoughts of good intent into action, it is amazing how many things that clutter our minds can be eliminated. Even though we are giving our time or support to someone in need, we can find that we are not living for someone else's life rather we are living our life and gaining experiences and friendship, but in the service of others.

I am always amazed at the similarities of people.  We all have met someone who reminds us of someone else.  Despite our best efforts to set ourselves apart, we are all made of the same stuff. One positive from my twisted love affair with blogging is that I can connect with people I might have never met otherwise. The downside is when we publicly share pieces of ourselves, we also give fuel to the stalkers that like to make it a competition...ew.  The "mommy vortex" bums me out...you know, all the hideous competitions we women create just so we can judge each other. In the end, we're all searching for the same thing: and that is to not only be connected, but to feel like someone connects with us. So sack up hoes and just be nice ;)

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." 

**need a reminder to be nice?? perhaps in the form of sweet art?? check it.
you can find these here and here .

(did you make it through?? please excuse for the cheese-fest)

make some noise.

♥I already know that 2009 has wonderful things in store for me...you see Metric is releasing their long awaited 4th album and I know it will be absolute magic! 

Emily and i are tight cause, you know, she sweat on my phone this summer...so i figure it's only natural that I give her a shout out {since were such good friends and all}. 

...just a snippet of what's to come.

So when this album drops, i highly recommend its download. It might even change your life?? Also you'd be supporting this amazing band {Metric}which will encourage them to keep putting out music, and that way everyone is a winner! {and by everyone I mean me}

sucker punched.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through my house 

not a surface was tidy, not even my couch.

The family was bundled by the bonfire together

With sparklers and stories, new blankets, cold weather

The mommy was done with her presents to wrap

 'til grandma came in dumping more on her lap :)

And when all the tradition and preparations were through, 

we left out some cookies and a little milk too.

The excited children fell right to sleep 

it seemed mommy and daddy had just started counting sheep 

when right at my bedside, though the morn was still dark, 

appeared a sweet girl who insisted we start.

Santa clause had brought "an unbelievable surprise!" 

and thus began Christmas, but though a child's eyes.

Elyott got big girl fingernails from Grandma, and Sheamus got 2 more reasons to punch unsuspecting family members in the face. 

Yes our Christmas was very merry {and very messy}...and now I'm ready to reclaim my house ;) 2009...

the polar express.

2 days until Christmas music stops...hooray ;)

team Europe.

In a time of life where I considered tatoos sensible, I might have an arm just like this one {minus any disney art}. But it doesn't stop this young French singer from being any less adorable...

Coeur de Pirate from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.

(please note the cutoff jean shorts in the video. booyah!! )

These swedish sisters known as First Aid Kit are also a treat. Enjoy their cover of a song by Fleet foxes...

fa la la la la.

(inspired by one of my favorite bloggers) here's a christmas shorty for you...

xmas fast forward from team boo on Vimeo.

Hap-py H♥-li-day.

feels like: dreamy

a. These pictures make me happy. 

b. This is an Ikea fabric inspired project. 

c. I want this bed spread.

d. Props on the politically correct use of multi-racial child models.

Birthdays are for lovers.

Today is my husband's birthday.

this is him after i missed a photo op and made him act all nonchalant so i could take it again.  Still normal and particularly adorable...

On the other hand, well...this is what happens when people try and take candid pictures of me...

meet Drunkface Mcgee: 

It's true: I have the ugliest "in-between" faces. So my thanks to you Adam for being so cute and tall, making up for my lackluster face {and scary bunion feet}...this gives our children a fighting chance ;)

Happy Birthday, old-y.

♥I looove you ♥

i like it

Personal finance is like a beautiful bird, when you least expect it...it craps in your face.

Had I not been ambushed by said "bird" like 43 times this year, I would have gone hog wild with my internet shopping.  Here are a few things I might have purchased for my kids were it not for this armpit of an economy ;)  

Because I am nothing if not keeping you up to date on things that you wish you could buy, but totally don't need.  It just feels so good to just see it pictured together, like a internet whore's dream....(wavy lines) doodleedoo, doodleedoo, doodleedoo....

 

ok, i really wouldn't get this last one for my kids, but only cause they wouldn't appreciate how amazing it was. Nesting dolls are such treasures.

...only if they are going with the "britney over the years" theme, wouldn't it have been more accurate to have made the biggest size doll of her in a dress that was clearly designed to be worn as a shirt, her crotch rot fishnet tights and a bag of cheetos?? {I feel for the girl, i do, i'm just saying}

poll by twiigs.com

2008 lovin'

You thought i forgot about you, but actually i was just making you a rally rally special 2008 treat...

by team boo

 from our family to yours ;)

team boo ♥'s you

chola envy

Some of you may recall my post a while back about my desire for a bi-racial child.

Guys here is the sole reason i need a half Latino baby....

any takers?  Addie?? (you're mexican right?)  ;)

I'm just saying, if I'm gonna take the plunge and introduce another poo-fest, i'm gonna do it right. 

cute as a button...

Wanna be on team boo?

Here's your chance!

Show your own blog readers your great taste in computer friends(wink wink). Just copy the code below, paste in your sidebar (layout--> add gadget-->HTML/Java script) and...voila!

<a href="http://teamboo2000.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww264/teamboo2000/yellow-teamboo-button.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

eating for two.

Who says you can't enjoy Thanksgiving without a stomach?

How thankful we were to have our sweet mother released from her month long stay in the hospital on Thanksgiving day!  We found "out of the box" ways to entertain mom {besides eating all the deliciousness in front of her}...

This is NOT what it seems... ...hits off the Incentive Sparometer.

{Even the babies got in on that action}

Three examples of things I'm grateful for:

1. Children who still like to smooch their mom.

2. Capturing the one time in history my brother has actually smiled for a picture.

3. My husband's killer sense of appropriate thanksgiving dinner attire {in his defense we did, for the first time ever, eat off paper plates}

What would a feast be like where elyott DID like the food??

Hope your holidays find you well {with or without a stomach}

**also...what's up with my orange oompa loompa face?!?

♥ team boo

xmas icebreaker.

Thanksgiving day...

...roughly 67 crazy turkey impressions later (per Elyott's request)...my head is throbbing and i am ready for a new holiday.

Onward!

**our first xmas craft. maybe our last? i'm tapped out.

kids are weirdos.

What's that? you don't watch TV with a cage on your head?

26'ed.

*Yesterday morning I woke up and discovered that I had lost ten pounds. Deb had left a half dozen cinnamon rolls on my doorstep...and Adam stayed up all night scrubbing the house top to bottom.  That's cause it was my birthday and things just go your way, you know. 

{*untrue}

Ah, hopes and dreams.

Well actually, i rolled out of bed pulled on my brand new shirt from my thoughtful husband {wink} and went to gain 10 pounds at the Farmhouse for breakfast were i took pictures of my husband and i eating {weird} with me sporting the same unwashed and untouched hair with green spray paint in it from Sunday (because i could!).

There began the foodfest that is an adult birthday. Here are the things i ate (as if my life depended on it) in no particular order:


1/2 of a steak and blue cheese panini
1 enormous cinnamon roll
1 biscuit with gravy
2 slices of sourdough toast
2 pounds of egg white only avocado and swiss scramble
3 slices of white pizza
4 cups of diet coke (oh the absurd contradiction)
5 mouthfuls of sweet potato salad
6 bites of chocolate cake
...aaaand an entire 12 ounce Nielsons chocolate malt custard.


All was well in my abdomen until i watched the low budget cheesefest that was Twilight (are you kidding me?) I was laughing so hard i nearly threw up. At home I returned to a sleepy husband and a clean(ish) house where i could ponder my day of celebration:

"Why, (my suffering digestive track pleaded) why do birthday's always amount to such uncivilized amounts of food inhilation?"

"Because, {croaked a tired yet trusty pair of spanx i was sporting under my skinny jeans} just because."

**Spanx...for a birthday feast that won't raise eyebrows. Looks like my birthday went my way after all :) Nothin' can stop me now! (cue tap dance).

yee haw i'm 26!

sibling shout outs.

In keeping with my "love kick" I realized that after almost 100 postings I have never let you in on some of my best kept social weapons....my unmatched siblings.  Let me list a few reasons why i prefer them to almost anyone else.

Steph 

(the "redhead")

1. most hilarious girl i know {also the loudest...ie. pterodactyl scream}

2. reflective and kind hearted

3. can make anything amazingly beautiful {seeeriously anything}

4. magnetic

5. passionate and inspired

6. drops BFF's like its hot {but can't drop me cause were seesters}

Liza 

(the "middle" sister ;)

1. creative and beautiful

2. generous and loyal, an amazing friend to anyone

3. supportive and a wicked good secret keeper

4. honest and genuine

5. gives the best reactions, and easiest laughter

6. most entertaining storyteller {complete with signature pelvic thrusted walk}

Chris 

(the "baby")

1. reserved yet retarded on cue

2. the smart one 

3. selective and independent

4. funny and also cooler than me {which isn't hard}

5. got the "butt" and the "lips"

6. secretly loves and wants to be like me and he knows it ;)

Spence

(the "golden child")

1. insanely imaginative 

2. amazingly outgoing and interesting

3. sweet and thoughtful

4. entertaining and clever

5. tenacious

6. has put up with all 10 of his parents for 11 years (you rock the house brother)

*this glorious picture of me has been re-posted to ensure no sibling accuses me of posting a bad picture of them (feel free to click to enlarge, its a doozy)...

In the name of love...

I know i know i've been all gushy and lovey dovey with my posts lately. Fortunately this is really how i feel. In the face of great divide in the world, i choose to love as many things as i can. Be it my family, my church, sweet pork salads, or these darling strangers...

(with their yellow accessories, and their tiny balloons.)

Love them with me...

This beautiful couple just got married...and frankly if i could french kiss their adorableness I would.  Are you from a magazine??...No, your just really that quirky and cute and spunky and in looooove.  You know there are people like me that would love to hate you. {jealous bastards}. As for me i choose to adore you and the amazing photographers that captured your magical day.  You see, i have a soft spot for weddings. More specifically, for girls who get to wear yellow shoes and calf length dresses on their wedding day. Some dictionaries would argue that a girl like me (who had a wedding like mine) was, well "bitter"...heck, it might even go so far as to use me as the example sentence: 'with each wedding she envied, the bitter young bride's soul turned a darker shade of black'.

But not this time fools...today i shout "HOORAY to your adorable and equally impossible for me to pull off wedding head band! HOORAY for your husbands willingness to wear a skinny tie! and HOORAY to your killer style and sweet love!  May all your wedded days be as blissful as this one" (cracking psychotic smile).