we're still around.

we're still around.

November 27, 2012

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hi! i'm here. and only sort of drowning under life and it's craziness.

we've been in the gray house for a week now. we just got internet today. most things are unpacked but it seems that throwing normal, crazy, everyday life on top of moving is just a bit crazyier.

normally when we move, we move far away. and we start all over. no play dates, no preschool lessons to prep, no books at the library waiting on me to pick them up. this time? it's different. it's weird to adjust to a new house when the life we've become accustomed to this past year keeps flying by and expecting us to keep up.

christmas will be here before we know it and i feel like time is slipping through my hands. but it'll get done. it always does.

anyways, i just wanted to pop in and let you all know we're well, we're happy, we're stressed but feeling blessed.

ps.

today we got one of l's christmas gifts in the mail. 

l: what's that mami?

me: it's one of your christmas presents.

l: eyes light up and she hugs the box. oh, i love christmas!

kid learns fast.

happy week to you all!

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black friday sale | livy love designs

black friday sale | livy love designs

November 23, 2012

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Since today is Black Friday, I wanted to let you know of a great print shop called Livy Love Designs that is offering 50% off ALL orders!  Diana is the owner of the shop and she is letting you use the coupon code BLACKFRIDAY50 at checkout to take half off.  These prints would make great Christmas presents! This sale is going on until Monday, November 26th until Midnight PST.  You can customize any print with colors from her provided color chart to match the colors of your room or for a gift.  To go to the sale, click here and enter BLACKFRIDAY50 at checkout to receive your discount. 

Please note that all orders during this sale will be shipped no later than December 3rd to ensure delivery by Christmas.  If you are wanting it sooner please contact Diana via Etsy Conversations.

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quick update.

quick update.

November 21, 2012

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hi everyone! just wanted to post a quick update :)

we're almost all moved in! i unpacked a ton of boxes yesterday, m & his friends got almost all of the furniture moved and the house is mostly in working condition. we're at the old house now grabbing the last of the boxes and random things lying around.

no idea when i'll be back with another update! internet isn't scheduled to be installed until next week :( and we'll be canceling the services on the old house today.

so have an awesome week & happy thanksgiving!! 

ps. follow me on twitter (at kristyavilla) & instagram (kristyvilla) to keep up with us and see glimpses of unpacking, our new house and favorite moments in between!

pps. we're totally in love with our new house!!!

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stuff lia says.

stuff lia says.

November 17, 2012

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L - mama, i can't wait! i can't wait!! 

me - can't wait for what, babe?

L - i can't wait for new house! b gonna come with us? b going in car? kennel going in car with us? b going to run around new house with me?
 

ps. b is the dog.

for real? this kid oozes cuteness.

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friday-ness.

friday-ness.

November 16, 2012

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today is the last friday i'll be sitting in this spot to blog. come monday, ALL will change. 

hello new house.

hello new adventures!

hello crazy moving stuff. almost every time we've moved, something has happened. something goes wrong with the moving truck. we get a flat tire. they gave us the wrong house. we rented the wrong size moving truck.

yet we still continue to move places? call me crazy, maybe.

we ventured out for a playdate at the pet store this morning. little miss has a cold but was feeling a bit better earlier. she's snotty, sniffly and varies between running around the house like normal & laying on the sofa feeling crummy. then we stocked up all on snotty-nose remedies at target. because when you are moving & pack up all those necessities - OF COURSE your kid is going to get a cold.

so we're wiping boogies with grape-scented wipes, snuggling on the sofa watching toy story and this mama has painted our nails the perfect shade of navy while planning a preschool lesson plan and dreaming up a fabulous playroom. 

lots of packing will go down this weekend! we close on monday and start moving in. to say we are excited is an understatement. i've been dreaming and scheming up this day for months.

got any fun plans for the weekend?

i don't know when i'll be back on the blog - but you can keep up with us on twitter & instagram!

until then...

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blogger book swap.

blogger book swap.

November 14, 2012

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so i joined a book swap a few weeks ago! and failed to blog about it yet. but we're moving - so that excuses me of all my failures for now, right?

sweet green tangerine hosted it along with some other gals. my swap partner, ashley from this unscripted life, was also a host and such a fun partner!

we're both mamas and former military spouses so we had plenty in common! we pretty much have the same taste in books too. which is totally awesome.

she sent me THE funniest book. i mean, it's so funny i've already ran to the library to stock up on every other book they had by the author. SO good! she sent me Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster. of course, i devoured the book in just a few days. the more i read, the more i related to jen. she's a whole lot of personality and a whole lot of funny. 

it's basically jen telling stories of her life - in a 'in your face, totally honest' kind of way. really - go read the book!

i'm on my third book already and counting...

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HELLO MONDAY

HELLO MONDAY

November 12, 2012

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hello monday.
  

 

 

+ it's a sunny day outside.

+ l's got a playdate at a friend's house this morning. LOVE that i can leave her without freaking out.

+ it's walk through day at the new house and officially one week until closing!

+ i've got sloppy joes simmering in the crock pot for lunch. feels like fall.

+ looking forward to a lunch & shopping date with a friend this week. her son & L are best friends!

+ getting SO excited for christmas.

+ pretty excited to spend our last week in this house too. we're almost all packed & ready.

+ we've had a great extra long weekend. m had some days off so we soaked up some time with him!

+ happy veterans day to all the men & women that have served/are serving! 

happy monday friends!

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A LITTLE SOMETHING

A LITTLE SOMETHING

November 9, 2012

2 comments

 via

 just a bit of advice i am trying to keep in mind for the gray house.

happy friday night! m has had a few extra days off work this week so we've been packing and getting ready for the move. we're down to 9 days! i've been taking it easy, or trying to. i put my back out again and doing pretty much anything hurts. i'm feeling better now, but not as good as i hoped.

we love spanish food around here. here's some of our current favorites. 1 | 2

lately, i've been really into wanting to knit again. this tutorial taught me most of what i know!

a DIY thanksgiving banner. i think this needs to find a home on our new mantle!

pretty sure L would love to have this.

we just ordered our christmas cards tonight! use code holidaycheer on tinyprints to score 10 free christmas cards. offer expires 11/13/12.

another easy DIY garland.

ryan gosling reads some of the 'hey girl' posts here and here.

crushing on these knitted goodies. i wish i knew how to knit that well. 1 | 2 | 3

i'm off to clean up the kitchen and head to bed. it's early but i'm beat and we have a long day of packing ahead of us.

happy weekending!

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back to normal.

back to normal.

November 7, 2012

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the election is over. yay! now we can all go back to worrying about the important things. like did i take my photo of the day yet. or who's the next host on saturday night live. it's anne hathaway, if you didn't know. or talking about my new polka dot jeans.

those are the important things in life, right? kidding. sort of. i love that i have the civil duty and right to vote. and i will vote every year that i can. but people are just getting out of hand with this latest election. i had my vote and that's it. i'll give respect to our president whether he/she gets my vote or not. i'd much rather focus on diasters instead of bashing the candidates or people's voting choices. like the world market doesn't carry the owl cookie jar anymore(!!). or bigger things like the mortgage company all up in our business because we're buying a house. 

so i say we all love one another and respect that everyone is different and we all see things differently. let's just be nice.

 now that i got all of that out. and showed off my super cute kiddo. i'm going back to my peanut butter m&ms, laundry and being super giddly excited about the fact that in 11 days and some hours & minutes, we'll be closing on our new house! 

hello gorgeous wood floors.

our dreams are going to come true in this house. i can feel it.

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a house tour | our first south carolina home.

a house tour | our first south carolina home.

November 6, 2012

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we have moved SO many times. we've lived in 5 houses in our 5 year marriage. l-bug has lived in 4 of them. FOUR houses! that's a lot for an almost 3 year old.

and every time we move out, i feel like i could never ever forget a detail about that house. but every time a year passes, those unforgettable details just start to fade away.

since our current house was our first home in SC. it's where we learned to function as a family of 3, without living near or with other family members. it's where we learned to become a civilian family and settle into a new state without help from the marine corp. it's the house lia has the most chance of remembering. 

a few days ago before all the packing commenced, i went around and took pictures of the house the way it was. after doing some serious cleaning up. but on a typical, clean day in october/november, this is what our home looks like.

it's bittersweet looking at these photos because now? it doesn't look anything like that. all of our memories and treasures are packed away. there are moving boxes everywhere. and the kitchen is a hot mess. not to mention the 6ish loads of laundry waiting to be folded and put away. 

so here's to remembering our first south carolina home. and pretending it actually looks that way.

warning: a LOT of pictures follow this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

ps. l's bathroom did have a shower curtain. a very cute one with retro rubber duck, tubs & hot/cold handles printed all over it in the perfect turquoise. however, i washed it and didn't see the point of putting it back up to take it back down a week later.

can't wait to show pictures of the new house!

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a quiet friday night.

a quiet friday night.

November 2, 2012

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via

most nights are quiet around here, but especially fridays. m is still working hard at both jobs and school so fridays are usually really long days for us.

just me and my gal most fridays, and the most exciting thing to happen is usually what book we are gonna read that night. tonight i read the little one mrs. mcnosh hangs up her wash and mama is reading bright lights, big ass. it's pretty hilarious and brightens up most of my evenings these days. so much that i am adding all of the authors books to my online cart at the local library. LOVE our public library.

it's funny how growing up changes you. you don't realize it until one night it dawns on you that your idea of a fun friday night is putting on your comfiest (and usually ugliest) sweats, crawling into bed with a glass of sweet tea and a big book. and you only stay up late on saturday nights to catch the newest episode of SNL. and that's totally cool. life is pretty perfect right now. 

today was packed with grocery shopping (hello 50% off halloween snacks at target) and packing. i'm pretty good at packing by now. i've packed up about 5 times now, i think. so it's not really something i dread or dislike, it's just something that has to get done. i started yesterday and i've packed about 8-10 boxes. the house feels pretty lonely and empty without pictures on the walls and artwork on the fridge. lifeless, i guess.

but we're down to 16 days! 16 days and we'll be homeowners. finding new places for pictures and making new memories in the gray house. it's all still a bit surreal. even with moving boxes and packing tape everywhere. 

hope you all are having a good friday night. i'm still heartbroken for all of the families affected by hurricane sandy. thankfully, m's family are all okay in NY. my friends there seem to be okay too. but many, many people aren't. so donate, volunteer, give money to a charity helping the cause. or at least pray. it's crazy to me that we lived in long island for 3 years and the only real storms we ever saw were blizzards. and we moved to the south, more known for hurricanes and we weren't affected at all by hurricane sandy down here. it's so weird the way life works sometimes. new york is always near and dear to my heart so i keep praying for everyone affected.

now i'm off to curl up in bed with my book and wait for my honey to get home. we're having another yard sale in the morning. so here's hoping i finally sell off the rest of our extra stuff so our move is just that much easier.

good night!

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STUFF LIA SAYS

STUFF LIA SAYS

November 1, 2012

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tonight my girl told me she wanted me to beside her at all times.

oh babe, even though i can't always be right there all the time, you can be sure i will ALWAYS try my hardest. and when i'm not physically there, just know that i always carry you in my heart and you'll always carry me in your heart.

ps. then she asked me to snuggie with her on the sofa and told me she was going to scratch my back. and then she did. because the girl knows what her mama likes.

reason #3538 | things i love about having a daughter.

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TRICK OR TREAT | 2012

TRICK OR TREAT | 2012

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another halloween has passed. seriously, where the h is the time going?
 

  

so this was our 3rd homemade halloween! i didn't actually make anything for her costume this year, except draw on her freckles! but it was all handmade from a friend or pulled from her closet. 

she did SO good this year. she totally got it and walked right up to the doors, said trick or treat, took her candy like and boss and said thank you in that adorable way she does and went to the next house.

we had some whiny moments and times where she just wanted us to carry her house from house but she is 2 and those are expected pretty much every 10 minutes or so in this house.

but it was so much FUN!! seeing her face light up at decorations and treats. she was so excited about all of it!

afterwards we hit up target, just because we do that. and then we got pizza. i pretty much crave pizza every day. it's so bad... and then we all slept hard. yesterday was a BUSY day.

 
 
 

 

costumes
l - little reding riding hood
m - a yankee player
me - a nerd
toby - a lobster, for about 10 minutes

i seriously pulled together mine & m's costume in about 5 minutes before he got home from work. we weren't going to dress up but we've always dressed up with L and i didn't want to regret it. besides, it didn't cost us anything!

but it night make me a little nerdy that i had all the pieces for a nerd costume in my closet, and most of them are things i actually use...

and today is the start of my favorite month! and the month we move. and the month the last twilight movie comes out in theatres. that may have been marked on my calendar for months now. i've been cleaning up the house, doing laundry & dishes, eating halloween candy. today is the last day our house will look normal. time to start packing and get ready for our next adventure. 

november, you are going to rock.
 

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