"deck the halls with lots of coffee!"

Yesterday I was at work from 6:30am - 6:30pm whiiiile having the worst tummy ache ever, and then, to top it all off!, Richard had already left for derby practice when I got home and wouldn't be back until late. Ugh, what a nightmare!

But when I looked back on my Thursday today, all I could help focus on was all the little lovely things that happened throughout the day. I got lots of compliments on my (Day 3 Top Knot!) hair, I ate Christmas cookies all morning and worked them off all day, I had queso for dinner while taking a bath (role model, ya'll!), Richard was so so so so so sweet to fill my car up with gas when he got home from practice, annnd I fell asleep watching Charlie Brown cartoons on Netflix. Not too bad!! 

And while I was super tired at work today (how much sleep does it take to recover from a 12-hour Christmas shift?! forever?!), I came home to folded laundry (thanks, Baby), the Christmas grocery shopping completed (THANKS, BABY), and long drawn-out hugs from Meggie.

The good just always outweighs the terrible.

I certainly have the sweetest man in the whole damn world, and he sure brings quite the adorable party. I remember getting along just fine without him, but now I just can't even imagine it. :) We have the kittens for Christmas this year, and I'm so very excited for every single moment spent outside of work.

Quote of The Day:
I had already got onto R3 and Emily for making too much noise in their room by saying, "Hey! Simmerrr." Then when I walked in again to temper the noise (10 seconds later), R3 immediately turned around, looked straight at me, and said, "Yes?Simmer.Ok!" and turned straight back around to continue more quietly.

(title quote via, image via, :)

"life is simple and clear"

Only the discoverer of Tutankhamen's tomb would know how she felt upon finding this treasure hidden by a little boy 40 years ago. 

Yesterday was a tsunami of emotions. Let's just say I took a nap to avoid more tears and was really sad my mom doesn't have cell-phone reception on her cruise! I love being a girl!

But everything was much better when Richard came home from work; he's such a sweet listener and so silly and we made nachos for dinner! Afterwards, we finally watched "Amelie," which has been one of my favorite films since ever and I've been longing forever to watch it with him since he had not seen it before. I just love it's arching emphasis on simple pleasures and acts of kindness, which makes it the perfect film to inspire when you've had a not-so-great day.

Richard and I adore all sorts of movies, and I find it hilarious and heart-warming how excited we get watching an awesome movie together that one of us hasn't seen. Anything from "Empire of the Sun" and "Unfaithfully Yours," to "Midnight in Paris" and "Wildcats."And while we certainly aren't the same person (he'll never ask me to watch "American History X" and I'll never ask him to watch "La Dolce Vita"), we were so obviously made for each other that I could just burst. :)

We also watched some "Breaking Bad" and went to sleep at a totally responsible hour, which is equally glamourous! 

Hey, Richard, thanks for being there to turn a completely hectic/neurotic morning into a totally rad evening. You make everything better and way more fun. I know everything is extra crazy right now, and we both feel a little "blah," but always I love and appreciate you so very much. :)

(screen-cap via here)

your personal libraries :)

Hilary posted this a couple of weeks ago, most likely after seeing this post, and it made me smile from ear to ear. Why? Because I completely forgot about doing this. But when I saw this, I totally remembered getting tipsy, and figuring out who was/wasn't working at Cheddar's that night, and driving around College Station giggling like GENIUSES.

There was this great Louis CK interview on the WTF Podcast a couple of years ago, and I always remember this one part where Marc Maron brings up something that Louis CK completely forgot about. And then Louis, being a genius, equates the memory to when ancient civilizations used to take-over their enemies' libraries, and, when their enemies collapsed, these civilizations were able to absorb all this information that would have been forgotten and give it back years and years later.

Isn't that beautiful? I honestly so rarely think about college and College Station because the memories that come rushing back are about stress and feeling misplaced. And then there's Hilary, who continually makes everything more wonderful and precious than (cynically) imagined. <3

let's do this.

Ugh, I still feel relatively sinus-y, achey, and prone to complaining, so let's focus on the delightful things! :)

- The littles and Mr. Man had a great time at Charlie's this weekend. (Pictures below!)

- I made a super veggie soup (daikon! bok choy! collards! leeks! etc!), drank lots of tea, and then followed it with Cheetos and Snickers ice-cream, because I'm AWESOME.

- Had a nice little catch-up/more Cheetos time with my handsome man after the kids went to bed on Saturday.
- We had a great week of sales at work.
- My sweet man texted me when I was work, making me feel loved and pretty.
- I took this detox bath. (40 minutes is sooo hard! I felt my heart pumping the entire time, and I took breathers outside the tub every so often, and my whole body was red foreverrr afterwards!)
- Sadie's tummy. Oh my goodness, I used to be obsessed with her sweet little heiney, but now I moved to tummy time.
- Sadie laying in R3's lap on the way home from the grocery store Friday. Ughhhh.
- My mom started her cruise today, and one of the last things she texted me while she had service was that she got the girls feather boas. Ky Scouts uniform?!
- I saw an old man at the grocery store wearing Converse, and I fell in love.
- Finally remember to charge my iPod. Woo!

(While I didn't go to Charlie's, Richard knows I love a good cell-phone picture of anything. Thanks, sweetie! You are the best best best!)

All the littles got into some fishing, because they are their Daddy's babes. :)

(Look at Sadie with her ballerina bun holding a fishing reel... o.m.g.) 

 LOOK AT THE TUMMY. OMG.

 This beautiful girl! Ugh, I'm planning on sending her to the Hilary School of Heartbreakers.

R3 helped Charlie make a bonfire (nice!) 

Roasting hot dogs in a mini-bonfire. I wouldn't be surprised if this was candid or posed to the last detail.

I love using my blog as a space to remember the positives, because if I was living in a vacuum I would do nothing but continually bitch about how tired and cranky I am, and how justified it is!, all the time. But when I take a step back, I remember just how blessed and fulfilling my life truly is at this point. I have a sweet, amazing, handsome man who loves me dearly and is super sweet to me (Ugh, I appreciate and adore you so hard, Richard), step-kittens who are adorable and vivacious and more of their Daddy to love and who challenge me to be better, a job that appreciates me, and friends who are so sweet and supportive and hilarious whenever I get a chance to catch-up (and/or stalk online). La-di-da! That's worth blogging aboot!

So now, I'm going to drink some wine, find something on Netflix, and listen to Richard and Matt be precious and boyish watching the Cowboys game in the other room. (OMG, R just offered Matt popcorn, and I could just die because boys are so adorable when they are hospitable to one another.) :)

resting and list-making

Today, R took the 3 littles to Charlie's for lots of out-doorsy play, and unfortunately I couldn't tag along. I've been feeling under the weather the past few days, and, with Holidays In Retail and having the kittens all over for Christmas, I knew I needed to take a moment to rest-up for all the crazy really begins! So today's agenda includes hot tea, Pellegrino, rest, veggie soups, and DVR catch-ups. :)

happy list:
1. The kittens' laughs
2. "Classy ladies don't give wet willies!" -Sadie, correcting my behavior ;P
3. When R's 12-year-old spirit shines through
4. Cookies with breakfast
5. "Soups are like Winter's salads!" -Shaleah, justifying EVERYTHING
6. My go-to messy ballerina bun, THANK YOU.
7. My new walrus ornament (I had to...)
8. When R gives me hugs while I'm lying in bed
9. Mom going on a cruise for herself
10. Finally being ok with the fact that laser hair removal didn't work for me (ugh! but whatever! white people problems!)

resolutions:
1. Take ballet again
2. Learn my camera/photo editing equipment more thoroughly
3. Read books before bed
4. Have more special, one-on-one little moments with the kittens (instead of stressing out trying to find something NEW and EXCITING every time we see each other! am I trying to send myself to the looney-bin?!)
5. Call friends and family more often (the drive home from work is nice!)
6. Invite friends over for dinner
7. Not get so tied down to our schedule... be more loosey-goosey!
8. Go on "little" dates with R
9. Update my blog more frequently/take more pictures
10. Watch a movie by myself more often :)

Can you believe Christmas will be here so soon? Eee! I'm so excited to cook!

my sweet saturday!

On Saturday, I finished decorating the apartment (and by "apartment" I mean "one corner and a mantle"), and everything is so twinkly and happy! I'm not big into "RED+GREEN" for holidays, so I stuck with my good, ole "romantic + simple + beat-up + organic + obligatory glitter!" (That even makes my eyes roll.) (I can't help it.) But look at all the sparkles! Classy sparkles!

Meghan and Nick delighted us with a surprise, off-weekend visit in the afternoon, and um, how am I supposed to deal with that?! Nick just got his driver's license last week, and the one of the first things he and Meggie do is drive all the way from Garland to come and see us... sweetest boogerheads ever! R and I were incredibly caught off-guard when we heard the doorbell ring ("Did we do anything wrong?! Is the TV too loud?! Is our balcony unruly?!), but what a treat! The two ended up staying the entire afternoon while R and I hung stockings and ornamented the tree... it makes me smile just thinking about it. :)

Then, in the evening, we all went to a very belated birthday dinner for Richard with Del, Terri, Jayda  at Desperados. It's always so lovely to see those ladies, and you would think we all call each other twice a day by how easily we just pick-up where we left off. They came to our apartment before dinner for a brief tour (I love giving apartment tours) and the food was DELICIOUS. 

When everyone scattered, R and I came back home and watched "Away We Go" (adorable), and discovered my new favorite Christmas song playing on ATT's holiday radio channel.

Thanks, Saturday! You were awesome!

Editor's Note: I would also like to mention that while Christmas shopping on Friday, I mentioned to Hilary that if I was solely in charge of clothing Sadie she would wear (endless amounts of) tutus and be the fly-est six-year-old ever. To which Hilary responded "BALLER-ina." You're welcome. ;P

our parking lot's art gallery...

On their weekends with us, R and I strongly encourage the littles to play outside as much as possible.  We're fortunate enough to live in a part of our apartment community that has nice open spaces within seeing/hearing distance from our place, and boy, it's always so delightful to peak outside and catch a glimpse of their vibrant imaginations at play.

When I woke up on Saturday, Emily was already covered in chalk dust as she worked diligently on a picture for Daddy and Kylie on our balcony. Good morning to meee! Well, apparently that sparked a mountain of creativity, because by 5pm I was introduced to the new Kitten Parking Lot Art Gallery....

The catalyst on the balcony...

look at all the twinkles!

The apartment is officially decorated for Christmas, and my smile couldn't be any bigger! There is something so simple and magical about all the twinkly lights this time of year, and I can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy at night-time. :) I found a tall, skinny tree at Wal*Mart that fits perfectly in one of our corners, and it totes reminds me of Dr. Suess. R and I still plan on getting tree ornaments and the like, which should be awesome since we have such different opinions on tree decorations. First world arguments! ;P R also loves to do Christmas in the German tradition (which means holding off on the majority of seasonal swag until the big day) so I can't wait to see how everything comes together, especially since all the kittens will be here!

saturday morning ky-scouts

On Saturday morning, the girls and I went to Anthropologie in Highland Village for crafts and snacks. The littles ate rainbow Goldfish and colored with pointy crayons (we are so not used to pointy crayons in these parts!), and Meggie and I went exploring the joy that is Anthropologie Holiday Decorating. (Example!) I was so tickled on Friday night when Meghan asked if she could home along and hang out, even if she did manage to evade every picture I attempted to take of her (equal parts understandable, deeply frustrating, and impressive!) We certainly miss our dear boys during our Kylie Scouts, but it's so delightful taking our sweet girl-time to apply lip gloss and swoon over tutu-skirts. :)

(Sadie is still learning how to smile with her teeth, and it is adorrrable)

Rush Concert

Alternate titles for this post could also be:

- "OMG, my boyfriend is such a precious nerd"

- "There are no lines at the girls' restrooms!"

- "Dear Neil Peart, Thanks for being so attractive. Love, Kylie."

On Wednesday night, we went with Matt, Charlie, and Drew to the Rush show at the American Airlines Center. It was such a blast! Matt got amazing seats, and the Rush dudes are seriously some of the most adorable musicians ever. Richard and his friends has been obsessed with them sense Creation, so it was great to go and experience a show with the super fans. 

Kylie Scouts

Emily and Sadie been dying to be Girl Scouts for ages, but we can't really coordinate it into our schedule right now. So we started Kylie Scouts instead! The little girls and I will start taking an hour every week (and sometimes a weekend day, too!) to do something fun and Scout-esque. Make the best of what you got, right?!

This week was our first KyScouts event, and we made a Holiday wreath for our front door (or as Sadie so adorably calls it, a "wreaf"). It was super easy/cheap! The wreath and sparkley jingle-bells were a whole $9 from Michaels, and I had green ribbon and glitter sewing thread already at home. The girls loved working together, and the giant bonus was all the glitter on our clothes! (I can never really get upset over errant glitter.)

They were kinda perplexed that there weren't enough bells to cover the entire wreath, which lead to a really confusing explanation of "Well, Miss Kylie likes things that look romantic and ornate but also beat-up and organic at the same time." This obviously resulted in a couple of blank-stares. They'll appreciate it later, I'm sure!

Fancy Camera!

Just a couple of fun shots that have come out of a few "learning the fancy camera sessions..." The lighting in our apartment is not spectacular, so I defaulted to black-and-white for a hot minute. At least the patio offers some golden sunshine while I figure the rest out! :)

On the phone with Meggie. :)

Meghan, being a teenager.

R3, adding "Smiley Face Commentary" to our calendar.

Giving Thanks :)

I routinely use this Lamb-Chop cup to drink from at mom's, and it will never stop being awesome. 

This year, R and ate with my mom and grandpa, and before you know it we were home at 9pm after two more stops at his sister's and step-mom's. Phew! I made sure to wear my stylish sweatpants (and by "stylish," I mean "has back-pockets") and managed to wait 15 whole minutes before spilling something on my shirt at lunch. The kittens had Thanksgiving at their mom's, which means it's only a matter of time before we have them for Christmas! 

But before we bust out the She & Him holiday album and start making Charlie Brown ornaments (!), here is what I'm taking the time to be thankful for this year...

1. Richard's understanding and wisdom. Ugh, thanks, Love.

2. Clients who take the time to let me know they appreciate me.

3. Moments of "alone" time with each of the kittens.

4. Mutual and obvious stalking of besties.

5. Moments of silly-ness with anyone.

Hope everyone had a nice, stuffed Thanksgiving as well! :)

Beautiful Weekend :)

We had a really swell weekend before the Chaos that is Thanksgiving Week In Retail. Richard and I managed to get so much cleaning/organizing done, which was great considering our closet was beginning to affect my self-esteem. We also watched "Brave" during our family movie night, and man, is Merida's hair mesmerizing! 

The weather was gorgeous, and the littles spent all Saturday outside. They ended up going on a walk with Daddy-man to a little trail in our apartment complex we'd yet to explore. And while I was doing really Neurotic Adult Things like cooking all my lunches for the week (party-time, right?!), Richard texted me all these pictures of their expedition. (Boy, that man sure knows how to make me swoon.)

Richard's Birthday Week!

Birthday cards from friends and mommies. :)

Richard's birthday was last week, and I'm a big believer in The Birthday Week. It's just impossible to get that much fun and tolerated gluttony into one day! We went out to Cheesecake Factory one night, had friends over for another, went to Taverna, made pumpkin ice-cream with the kids, went to King's Spa and had massages... it was just such a nice, relaxing, yummy week!

 Since I'm such a wine connoisseur (psyche!), I got wine with labels that remind me of Richard. ;P

This is a very blurry, dark picture of Richard and Darrah, but it makes me so happy. 

I love and adore you so very much, sweet man. You're the fucking coolest. :) 

(Photos a la iPhone, because I was obviously too busy for the Big Girl Camera this week!)