A silvery, glittery masterpiece

I told you stalkers I was in a funk about the Christmas tree.  It's such a pain to get B-rad to bring everything from the basement.  Then it's a pain to get him to take it back down. (his excuse?  'You're just going to need all those containers in a few weeks..."  Sigh.)  PLUS the biggest obstacle is the layout of our home.  I LOVE how the dining room, kitchen & living room are all open.  In fact, when we were house shopping before we got hitched I picked out this.exact.home everywhere we went.  That's a sign, people.  

B-rad got finished harvesting Saturday morning so we had an impromptu celebration of going out to dinner & some shopping.  You can believe that if I have him with me, I am going to force him to help pick out gifts for some of his family.  Ultimately I picked out both gifts for a couple of guys & asked him if he thought they would like them.  "Uh yea, they should..." (Isn't he helpful?!) 

 I go through this every.single.year.  (I should totally do a post on the drama that is my life of Christmas gift giving ideas.  Hmph.)

B-rad needed to 'run by PepBoys' while we were in town.  I didn't want no part of Pepboys so I said, 'Hey, drop me off at Hobby Lobby, you go to PepBoys & just come back & get me.'

This was the beginning of the end...

When I walked into Hobby Lobby (aka HEAVEN) they had all Christmas stuff 50% off.  I'm a sucker for those kinds of sales tactics.  I saw some pretty silver ribbon. (My tree usually has gold ribbon.)  And the thought was planted, "I could get some new ribbon.  But then I would need new, updated ornaments.  Wait, I could totally re-do my tree."  Annnnnd, we're off....

I was throwing stuff in my basket fast & feverishly.  It got WAY to heavy & full so I had to go back up front & empty it into a cart.  B-rad texted me, "Pepboys didn't have what I wanted.  Going to Autzone real quick."  I replied, "Ok.  I'm still shopping..."

Here's the deal with the living room.  The couch is in front of the windows...where I like to put the tree.  Plus we have the 2 recliners on the left.  Princess HAS to have his recliner directly in front of HIS big tv.  He cannot sit to one side or the other.  And don't even get me started on the surround sound speakers!   (Oh, the humanity...) When we got home from shopping, we had to re-arrange the living room.  This is another reason I hate putting up the tree.  B-rad doesn't like to help me & I'm too weak to do it myself.  Picture it-it's after midnight & we are arguing about where to put everything.  Fun times...

 These are all my bags of goodies!  I spent $186 at Hobby Lobby.  I told ya, obscene.  I did use my hard earned jewelry money.  That's what I love about having that money..I can be obscene & not feel bad about it!   I do have some things I can return that I didn't use.  It was 50% off people, come on!

 Favorite new purchase #1 - Star for the top.  I had an angel before in a boring pink dress.  She flashed off & on.  This star is glittery & silver.  LOVE.IT.

 Favorite new purchase #2-new tree skirt.  If B-rad hadn't been there, I wouldn't have bought this.  It cost $50.  I said, "Oh no, they're on crack."  He said, "Oh, buy it.  It's 50% off (he's a sucker too...).  It's only $25!"  We bantered back & forth & ultimately he talked me into it.  

 The pic does it no justice but the little swirly things glisten in the light.  Silver & glittery.  LOVE.IT.

 My new theme for the tree was a little more elegant.  I mean, ya'll know Jaime Mac = elegance.  I wanted clear lights.  I've always, always had multi-colored.  If you haven't figured it out, I wanted it all silver.  And glittery.  YAY!

I drafted B-rad to cut the tags off the silver glittery thingies I bought to stick in the tree.  He was uber excited to help...He was griping about getting glitter all over him, (I was covered in it at the store..)  so I set up the sacks to help catch the glitter.  See how he's leaning waaaaaay over?

  That bag was full.of.glitter. 

 Ah....there it is.  My new, silver, glittery, elegant tree.  I.LOVE.IT.

 The tree is so much prettier when all the lights in the house are off.

 Favorite new purchase #3-silver, glittery spiky thingies.  

Sonny LOVES the new tree skirt too!  He runs onto it & slides.  Then he flops all around it & balls it all up. Oh, yes - he's like a small child...'isn't that cute?!'  But if he keeps messing with my $50 tree skirt, we're gonna have a problem...

Here's the new layout for the living room.  If you notice, Princess is sitting in his chair that got moved all around & then ended up right where we started... directly in front of his big t.v.  Also notice he's got his head buried in his iPad...  The couch is at an angle & the other recliner wouldn't fit so it's in my office.  I wasn't real thrilled with it at first but it's growing on me.  B-rad thinks we might put the other recliner where the tree is when Christmas is over.  We shall see...

A night out with my stalkers

You may remember a year or so ago, JLL & I went to see the newest movie in the Twilight series, Eclipse.  Well, her buddies (& fellow blog stalkers), Tracey & Gretchen, hadn't been converted to Twilight crazies at that point.  It took a little convincing, but they came around & started to read the books.  (Plus I'm sure they didn't wanna miss out on JLL & mines next date to see Breaking Dawn, Part 1.)

After they read the books & chose the appropriate team.  (You have to be a Twicrazy to understand...), we decided it would be ok for them to tag along... & a plan was born....months ago...

We met up at Puerto Vallarta for dinner before the show.  JLL had also made plans to meet some other ladies there to 'sell some purses.'  I kept calling them drug deals.  But I admire her for her multi-tasking skills.  

JLL, me & Ginmommy

The whole group!  JLL had a couple of friends come too.  I'm not really sure what they thought of our 'lets take a ton of pictures so we all have something to blog about even though we're going to have all the same pictures' discussion.  (Sorry they're blurry.  Tracey was kind (& prompt!) enough to send them but after I re-sized them they were blurry?  Eh, who knows?!)

What a nice surprise...

Me & Tracey.

Oh wait, there's the second drug deal.  Ginmommy thought this one may not be a purse but in fact a wedding dress deal.  Check out that box!

Ah, here we are...in the theater & ready to swoon over our boy!

This was the scene most the night.  Self portraits.  There were some girls behind us taking pictures too.  See, we weren't too out of place, but uhm, they were probably half our age.  Details, schmetails...

These 2 girls crack.me.up.  They are like yin & yang.  Peanut butter & jelly.  Silver & gold.  They are hilarious to listen to & totally play off each other.  Ginmommy said it looked like she was getting ready to nurse in this pic.  Even though it grossed me out, it was still funny...

And that JLL, I tell ya.  She knows the way to a gals heart!  She brought along some Reese Footballs for all to share!  Can ya see the excitement in my face?!  Then she was nice enough to let me bring them home.  Heaven...

Wow, what a fun night out with some crazy gals!  The movie was great! I had seen on facebook where someone said to stay after the credits.  So I told Tracey & she passed it down the line.  (Then she said,  'it's probably the 2nd movie!'  Hilarious!)  We did stay put after the end & watched the boring credits & chatted about the movie & we got to see an interesting little scene getting us ready for Part 2.... in a freaking year.  Sigh.

Girls-do we all know where we will be November 2012?!

I like presents.

I had official jewelry training on Monday night.   My 2 new girls came.  Alicia is 3rd from the left & Sharon is 4th from the left.  I am 5th from the left...just in case ya didn't know...

We always do recognition from the month prior.  Yours truly was top retailer once again for October.  Not too shabby for being gone 10 days to Hawaii & having dad run over by a truck.  Just sayin'...

THEN I got the Servant's Heart award because I put training together for this month.  Gerilee called & said, "Can you help?" & I did it all.  I sent out emails & called girls to ask them to train on certain things.  Again, all while doing shows & babysitting dad & walking him.  

Some might even say Wonder Woman?  I would never - but you can...

And THEN I got recognized for my promotion to Builder.  Let me first explain what a Builder is.  A builder is a gal who has done 24 home shows in a 12 month period (Psssh, I've done WAY more than that!) & has 4 first level jewelers.  (I have 5...) I was NOT expecting this because normally we wait until they show up on our reports which is a month behind.  Brenda gave me some roses.... & then I got presents...

Have I ever told ya'll I'm a Faith Hill Stalker?  Surely I have.  If I haven't -  I love Faith Hill.  I stayed up until the last 10 damn minutes of the CMT's a week ago JUST to see her perform live for the first time in 6 years.  I mean-ya'll know I love my sleep.  Staying up late just for her proves my devotion.

A year or so ago, Brenda gave me a challenge that if I became Builder I would get an autographed picture she has of Faith Hill.  I don't know how she got it, I don't care.  I just wanted it.  Sadly, I didn't make Builder during the challenge.  And the Faith Hill picture was off the table.  Sigh.

So I'm opening my gifts in front of the.whole.room.of.jewelers.  And I unwrap.... an autographed picture of Faith Hill!  Insert here me jumping up & down saying, "NO YOU DIDN'T!  NO.YOU.DID.NOT!!!"  I stopped jumping for 2 seconds to get a picture...

Her I am with Brenda & all my goodies.  I had to explain to the whole room my Faith Hill obsession.  Embarrassing...  

(Look at that smile!  That's a real smile.  That's not a 'I have to make sure I don't show too much of my teeth or squint too much' planned smile.  I was giddy...)

THEN Gerilee gave me a Louis Vuitton inspired piggy bank.  It's super cute & is already on my desk in the office.

The Faith Hill photo just says, "Always, Faith".  It's not personalized or anything...but you can bet when I show it to people & tell this story - she's going to have wrote it just for me!

Payton almost turns 2...

We got to Erin & Eric's apartment ready to celebrate Payton's birthday!  Her actual birthday is the 28th, but that's always right around Thanksgiving & so many people are going so many directions Erin made a smart move & had her party the weekend before!  They moved back in October & this was the first time I've been to their new place.  It is SO much bigger than their old place!  They have a basement and an upstairs now.  It's really nice.

I couldn't NOT include a picture of the ceremonial 'all of us on electronic devices' pic.

 I was a bit jealous of Derik.  He was sleeping when we got there.  And kept sleeping.  And slept some more.  We were all talking & being loud...& he slept.  

 Even the little girls get play time on the electronics.  Grammy's cell phone has a dinosaur app that records their voice & plays it back in dinosaur talk.

 Brady tried several times to wake Derik up.  Soon after this pic, I had to pull Madelyn away from the strike zone because these two were flailing around & fighting.

 UHM when did Payton's hair get long enough for a pony tail?!

 Madelyn & me cheesin'!

 I'm not sure what B-rad had going on on his ipad, but everyone was huddled around it.

 Time for presents!   Madelyn & Cole were big helpers in the present opening department.  B-rad & I got her a baby doll.

 You can put her in the bathtub & everything.

 They seemed to like it.

 LOVE Madelyn's face here! 

 A tent!  Eric said they have to build tents all.the.time.

 That Erin is always thinking.  The Princess party was also perfect for uncle princess, er - I mean B-rad!!!

 

 After we cleared out the presents, we sang Happy Birthday!

 And Erin told her to blow out the candles... and she stuck her mouth right.on.the.candle!  OUCH!  She was fine - all of us gasping scared her!

 Cupcake heaven.

 I was never fast enough to get them shoving them in their mouths!

 The boys put up the princess tent.

 And notice who's right there in the middle AND is man-handling one of the new Dora toys?  Cole is having a hard time not being the baby anymore...

 Grammy got her this tu-tu!  Super cute!  And I know ya'll are tu-tu crazy 'round here - I heard her say she got it at Meijer.  Run, as fast as you can...

 Brady decided he could clean the ceiling fan that has no accessibility whatsoever.  This is an accident waiting to happen...

 The boys were gone for-ever & we finally found out they were in the basement working on the heat in Eric's truck.  I sent my agent, Cole, down to take pics.  He came back with this:  

I informed him this was not acceptable.  He needed to go try again...

He did a much better job the second time around.

 He even got the dash all torn apart!

But he also got some other things.  He'd go take pics & come back.  I'd look through them for approval & then send him back out for more.  And I found some funny stuff...

 

 This is taken through a paper towel tube.

 Great action shot...

 Me & Madelyn waaaaay down there!

 ?

 Sock...on his hand...

 Another sock...on his hand.

 Mmmmm...

 The girls kept looking up because the boys were throwing pieces of paper towels down on me.

Thanks to Erin & Eric for having us up for a whirlwind birthday par-tay for Miss Payton!  The food was great & your apartment is awesome!