Christmas Recap

This is my Baby Jesus. I seen it at an antique store a couple years ago when shopping with Rob. He ended up buying it for me that Christmas. It is my favorite Christmas decoration.

Christmas was great! It can be so stressful wrapping, dressing, cleaning, eating, getting to dinner on time.

But go to midnight mass and everything goes away! I absolutely love midnight mass. It's the time of Christmas that I get to stop, pray and sing. I love when all the lights go out in church and the music is done and we all sing Silent night with the only light shining on the Baby Jesus.

I miss my grandmother because I loved going to church with her. Every year we would go up to the manger and say a prayer and pick a piece of hay to put in our purse for the year. A reminder for the whole year.

This year I sat alone because the guys wanted to stand (they thought they would fall asleep if they sat) I was able to see the little girl place the baby Jesus in the manger; it was precious because I know the little girl loves carrying that Baby Jesus.

I did miss my family during the Our Father when we all hold hands.

Other highlights: Good Food, Lots of presents, Christmas music, Christmas Trees, Christmas Lights, Just the right amount of snow, The animals talking at midnight, People dressed up, Hugs, Kisses, Gingerbread houses, Mom dressed in Christmas Spirit, Rob's mom's Kalachi, Phone calls from friends, Our dog in his antlers and santa hat, Lucas getting his big present from Santa, Father Caruso, Our Parents, Sister, Brother, Grandmother and kids freaking out!

Wish I took more pics:

Holiday outfits on a Budget!

I was thinking of all the jcrew things I liked and came across this sweater: I worked really hard on finding stuff in my closet and well I did shop. The Salvation Army. This I thought would be a piece of cake.

When I was in highschool me and two of my best friends would shop vintage and Salvation Army A LOT. We had so much fun. I loved it. Well I went into the S.A. and started out at sweaters. As you know if you've ever been there; they are in order of color. I was going to just glance over and see if anything caught my eye. Well if you have shopped there you know that just doesn't work. You have to look through every sweater. I started but then I was like nay. I don't want to touch all those sweaters! What a snot, since when am I above touching SA sweaters? I think I was just being lazy. So I looked through every sweater and came up with 5 to try on. Oh yes I tried them on. I did keep my tee on because well I just did. 3 sweaters made it home with me. 1 Beige cardigan, 1 pink with flowers, and 1 green Loft. Onto the above picture, I have a pair of white jeans and I'm pretty sure I have a white shirt (as long as my bust doesn't bust out). The pearls shouldn't be a problem either. I paid 10.80 for all 3 sweaters.

I only have 1 sweater picture:

Pretty close? I lucked out? We'll see.

Well after that experience I decided why not check out some Clinton Street shops (vintage). Bought a hat for 2.50 and I love it!

I also was able to find a gift for my husband for Christmas. I'm so excited to give him his presents. This year we set a limit for the 1st time and I did go over, but not too bad. My husband likes lots of presents. I think it's cute he likes lots of presents; he's like a kid!

I was hoping to do some Holiday crafts but there is just never enough time. I was only able to do 2 homemade cards for our parents.

I love santa's boots in this picture!

Merry Christmas to my Family!!!

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Lucas' celebration started a day early with a visit from his cousins on the Tiberi side. His Aunt Val and Grandmother Ruthie also stopped over; all of them bringing gifts.

I brought home wings, strips, and wedges...and we drank Dr.Pepper as you can see.



The next day was Lucas' birthday and he invited a couple guys to play paintball.

Party Favor- I was lead to this craft from the blog I follow Orange. The template was on Rachel Ray's website. It's a super size candy bar, Hersey of course.

Lucas does not like cake so he requested chocolate chip cookies. These are his favorite, right off the chocolate chip bag.

That night we had family over to my mother's house for sausage with peppers and onions and pizza.

Everyone was able to be there except Grandma Connie.

Party favors are going away now that Lucas is 12, but we did give every kid a necklace. Check out these homies-

Well the celebration went on 1 more day when Grandma Connie stopped by the house with a present and warm cake!

Our big gift to Lucas was his paintball party and a camera.

Lucas is so special. I love him so much. I don't know what I would be if I never had him. He's getting so old, I dread the day he won't want to be bothered with me. Oh well, I do believe he will also be a hugger and cuddler. I worked hard to make it so. A hug from him makes everything wonderful.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCAS

I wanna CRY....Jeans

Here's how it goes:

You're going "out" and you have a great top in mind and you're going to wear your jeans. You go to put the jeans on and you get that feeling in your legs, like your jeans shrunk. You think darn did I just wash these? You keep pulling them up and then you get to your butt and you are wondering if maybe you left the zipper up? NO, they are just tight as hell and you want to cry. Wanting to cry for me turns into, I'm not going, turns into I hate the next person who walks into my bedroom, turns into real tears I want to hide. OK this is all crazy, but I can't be the only one. I've gained weight since my wedding and well it's time to buy jeans that fit AGAIN! I'm sick of it! Plus must wait till after Christmas, it's a sin to buy jeans so close to Christmas.



Anyways I read a real good article about jeans that fit:



http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-look/everyday-style/staticslideshowinstyle.aspx?cp-documentid=15784123&gt1=32002



It's really good plus it even gives you some brands to search out. They may be out of my price range, but the descriptions and tips do help.

Now this is nICE!



This picture really gets me in the mood to decorate.



Our Entrance way drives some of us nutz. It's time to consider our options. Check this out

How about this holiday cheer- only $30Bucks Forever21!

It's Amber's Birthday today

Today little baby Amber was born

Amber is crazy
Amber is sweet
Amber is smart
Amber is tough
Amber is beautiful
Amber is creative
Amber is a great mom
Amber is a great wife
Amber is a great friend
Amber is a great sister
Amber is a great daughter

I first met Amber at a salon where I had the pleasure of doing her prom make-up. As time went by I ended up working with Amber and then lost touch. Then time pasted and I ended up working with her sweet sister and met up again at a Christmas party that we both attended with our babies- mine a Dalmatian and hers a clown. We became close being we were both on our own with our little ones.

We spent many times talking, laughing, and crying. One of my favorite times was sitting on her apartment floor trying to figure out if we could blend margaritas without waking up the baby.

Many times the 4 of did shopping, eating and playing.











When Amber finally met her man it was good bye for a while. She went out there and started her next chapter in FAMILY. I was so happy for her. I remember her showing me all these magazine pictures of things she wanted and designs of rooms. If she ever got married and had a house of her own she already knew what she liked. I was so impressed and when she showed me that I wished for that for her. She is so special and her ability to think about her future like that touched me. I'm so happy she has everything we all want. A HOME A FAMILY.
Her FAMILY is so Lucky to have her- I'm lucky to have her as a friend.


Cheers to Amber!
I Love you
Danielle

What to wear?

Well lately I've been having a hard time with clothing.
There are 3 problems:

1. After moving I seem to be really confused about what to wear and where it is. This is going to take some organizing

2. The holiday is approaching and there's no room in the budget for new clothing- for me. Solution to follow


3. When I was single I would get home from work and put on the most comfy clothes b/c NO ONE would see me. Now that I'm married I feel the need to dress for my husband and who ever else may see me.

Here's what I'm wearing now lately- still a little sloppy?
I'm still working on it!






The holiday problem is going to take some work-

I loved almost everything in Jcrew fall catalog- which is strange b/c I'm not a huge Jcrew person.

Jcrew Catalog:



I love this b/c I love the vest with the pin on it and I also love the gloves. I lucked out b/c my awesome mom gave me a pair of long black gloves- so that's a deal!

So here's what I bought to imitate the look for less money





Jcrew vest-118.00 on sale for 69.99
Target vest- on sale for 27.99

Jcrew pins- would cost around $45-50 a piece
Kohl's pins- on sale 5.99 - I purchased 3 blue toned to match my vest

Target Skirt (no pic)- I found a black stretch skirt for 14.99 a Jcrew skirt would cost 59.50.

Now all I need is a picture of my outfit.


Here's another Jcrew outfit I love!


I love the flower and did put a flower on my Christmas list (maybe from Etsy). I think it's more fun for someone else to pick me out a flower - it's sweet.
I also really like the skinny belts Jcrew had- they cost 58.00!!!!! For a little skinny belt. Well Target has patent leather thin belts for 9.09! I went a little crazy and purchased one with a little more glitter and it was still 9.09:











Last but not least-











This dress is beautiful- I won't be getting it :(
But I'm hoping to find something similar in my closet-
then I hoping to pair it with a hat I couldn't pass up







I really liked this and it cost 11.69 at Target!

That's it for now- Frugal Crafts to come next!

LOVE sign...
Wedding Programs....
Professional Photos

Just a little wedding photo- with sign above cake.........

My ceremony programs! My wedding ceremony programs were a problem. I just couldn't get them going and then there were other problems. It didn't start getting better until I called on my sister-in-law Becky! She is wonderfully talented and thanks to her we ended up with the best wedding program ever! This was to us the most important document (next to our marriage license). The ceremony was our favorite part of the wedding and to have all the details documented was important to us.

Now I must make a comment about Rob. When it came time to set up my programs - Rob said he had a couple wedding programs from weddings he attended.....WHAT? Really guys do that? No I don't think so. This is why I love Rob so much....not only did he have a couple he had one from every wedding he went to!!!!! How sweet is that? The guy I thought may never brake and propose actually kept wedding programs. I love him. I had all sorts to choose from and it was so fun- I picked my favorites! The problem then was I was determined to have the best wedding program! Well thanks to Becky my wedding program is my favorite! So much time and thought went into our program. Becky doing and redo it, Father Caruso approving them, Staples doing them 2x, (thanks to me misspelling a name) .....Rob folding, me stamping, mom tying the knots! Alex Ulma handing them out at church. I absolutely love them!

Are professional photos arrived!!!!

I'm freaking out- They sent us a disc with 600 photos and said pick 60- WHAT

I never like pictures of myself (usually) but there are so many awesome pictures! Rob looks awesome as usual and others look great too. Plus- Remember I have no video so I feel like I need any and every picture taken that day. Here are 2 of the 600.

Ok- I have to put one more because I love it. Rob is the best person ever and this picture reminds me how wonderful he is to me.

Oh just realized I said Rob looked great and only include pics where you couldn't really see our faces- here's a couple more

HOT

A NOTE on Wedding Videos-

We did not have one- Why? Well I can be very negative at times and I didn't want anything bad caught on tape. Like what I have no idea. I usually love video and pictures, but I had a bad feeling. Close to the wedding date we talked about it and thought maybe we would regret not having one, but still we didn't get one. And then we regreted it. It was the best day of our life together and I would love to relive that day over and over.

BUT- Thank you to our friend - Larry- we have a wedding clip. No we do not have a wedding video BUT we have this clip which actually shows Rob and I as we are together - HAPPY! Rob being Rob making funny hand jestures and me being me laughing. I don't know if we would have ever gotten a shot like this from a videoguy and this shot is worth more than an all day wedding video.
Larry saved the day!!!!! We owe him big

Here is (Uncle) Larry with Lucas:







And now for the clip...........