Wednesday, October 28, 2009

You will want to enter this giveaway!



Thank you to Chela Williams at Marisela Photography for offering our best giveaway yet! Enter to win a 1-hour Christmas Picture Sitting at your location of choice in Orange County. You will also receive 20-30 edited proofs on a cd. You have one week to enter, deadline is midnight on Wednesday, November 4th. Just enter a comment below and good luck!

Don't forget to put your email address in your comment!

winners


Winners of the new iso-active Aquafresh/Sensodyne toothpaste are:

Whitney, Vanessa, Lauren and Crystal! Your toothpaste is in the mail, happy hygiene!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

cute shoes

We love these toddler shoes from Target. They go with everything, they are comfortable and they are only $12.99. We have two pairs in Piper's current size and one waiting in the next size. Warning: they do scuff easily so either buy them knowing that they won't last forever looking perfect or just save them for special occasions.

Holiday card time!!


I just posted all my Holiday card info on my Creative Nest Designs website/blog. Please check it out!!!

Monday, October 26, 2009

i will be first in line

Free seasonal flu shots in Orange County
adults and children (4 years and older)
Friday, October 30, 2009
11:30am-1:30pm
Click here for more info!



sweet smells



I have never purchased any kind of plug-in fragrance before, but our garage was kind of stinky and it opens to my office. We bought a Glad Plug-in at Target yesterday (on sale for $2.50) in the Bayberry Spice and it smells soooo good. It's part of their Holiday Collection. Seriously, Mark and I can't stop mentioning how good our garage smells, which is pretty humorous. I think I might purchase one of the candles for Christmas time.

Friday, October 23, 2009

hooray for ebay

My kids have just grown out of their summer clothes and have nothing to wear for Fall. No Fall clothes are on sale and we tried Nordstroms Rack with little success. We love Volcom for Brody and Juicy Couture and Roxy for Piper. Of course brand names are expensive and we can't shell out the big bucks right now. So thank you ebay! I have been buying brand new clothes for both the kids at great discounted prices. These prices are much better than Nordstroms Rack. So here are my rules for Ebay.

1. Don't bid on anything right away, "watch" them instead.
2. Track everything you are watching daily.
3. Wait until about 5 minutes or less is left of the auction to bid on an item. Give yourself enough time in case the person before you put a max bid.
4. Do not fall in love with anything! You might end up paying too much just because you love it, so what was the point?
5. Before you bid, have a set amount you will not go over and stick to it. You are suppose to be getting a deal. Stop bidding or watching an item if it goes over that amount. Make sure you include shipping in your total so it's not extra.
6. If you only want new items, make sure you only search for new or NWT (new with tag).
7. If you have an iPhone, get the ebay app (it's free). It gives you reminders when your items are almost over.

Happy bidding and buying!

my life right now

I find it funny that all I can think about is that Brody is having his 5th birthday in May and I want to do something awesome for his party (I am a party planner after all). But the funny part is that before this party comes along I need to get through the holidays, deliver a baby, Piper turns 2 and I turn 30. My priorities are apparently a little jumbled. I love that though! The life of a mom!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

thank you for the coupons


I'm not going to lie, I've never been a huge fan of Carter's. I had shopped at our local store maybe once and would sometimes buy their packaged onesies at Target. However, I received a gift card recently and went into the store and now I think they have the BEST pajamas. Hello! Plus, they have enough selection you don't have to buy something with a huge cow that says "moo" all over it, they have more subtle choices too. Anyways, my whole point to this post (besides loving the pjs I've been buying Piper) is that they also send you great coupons if you sign up online. I LOVE that. Every few weeks I get a promotional email that includes a discount coupon. I love companies that keep up on their coupons.



Another great place on top of their coupons is Babies R Us. I have the rewards card and I never forget to swipe it. I stay on top of my coupons I get in the mail and the ones you get after purchase. In fact, I never buy anything there without one of the 15% off coupons. On a lucky day if you can find something like a mattress on sale and use your coupon, you walk away happy. I just got a regularly priced $79 baby mattress for $35 after sale and coupon. Love it.


Tuesday, October 20, 2009

sweet

Look what I got as a gift from my lovely friend Gina! I am sooooo excited. Now I just need to find some extra time to start sewing. So far I have a lot of burp cloths and that's it. Time to expand.

Anyone else receive any great book lately? Reading books, crafts, anything? If so let us know!

giveaway!

What? No one wants free toothpaste? Enter my giveaway a few posts below to win the newest technology in toothpaste, it gets rid of 3x the bacteria. Wednesday is the last day to enter!

Monday, October 19, 2009

cartoon-free


Today was our 1st cartoon-free Monday. I have decided that every Monday will be a cartoon-free zone. Now I need a disclaimer for this- I have no problem with my kids watching cartoons. I am pro-cartoon. My son learns a lot from Noggin, it gives me a break and it's down-time that they need. But, something was just telling me that it was important for the kids to know that they can spend a whole day doing whatever they want other than watching cartoons. So from now on that will be Mondays. Another disclaimer- I will let them watch a half hour movie before bedtime, like a Halloween movie. Well, it went great! This whole thing is obviously for Brody (Piper is too small to get it). After preschool he did art projects, tried to catch bugs, rode his bike, played with toys and had a fulfilling day without turning the tv on. I hope I can make it last!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

secret

Here is one of the secrets from this week's Sunday Secrets on Post Secret.



I had to share it! Wouldn't we all love to have this passed to us on a plane! What a great woman.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

another giveaway!

Name something that we use more than once every day (at least I hope so). It's something that is important to our hygiene and to our health.... it's toothpaste!



The very nice folks at GlaxoSmithKline have provided us with 4 free giveaways for their new product called iso-active Foaming Gel. It's available in both Aquafresh and Sensodyne.

This new iso-active system is suppose to quickly dispense active ingredients that get to all those hard-to-reach areas in your mouth. From what I understand the toothpaste starts as a gel and then turns to a foam, and because of the way it does this, you get twice as much ingredients as regular toothpaste, which in turn kills more bacteria.

I haven't tried it yet, but I am requesting my sample now!!!

This may not be a flashy giveaway, but it's something that we all need. After all, we are just regular moms.

Enter by Wednesday, October 21st and I will announce the winners on Thursday the 22nd.
Good luck!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

so pretty...


I just had my Creative Nest Designs blog redesigned and I love the look of it. I still have some work on my end to get all the pages working properly, but I thought they did a great job!

If you want to pay to get your blog professionally done, especially if you are going to use it for business you should use Designer Blogs! I've decided to move away from my previous website and use the blog exclusively.

I can't wait to use them to redesign this blog in the near future!

alright!

I think people have been trying to tell me this for a few weeks now, but they sell my FAV swaddling wraps at Target now!! The Aden & Anais wraps. Pack of 4 for $29.99. I use to pay $45 for 2. Not sure yet if they are the same, but I can't wait to find out. They are the best!

Monday, October 12, 2009

just purchased

We just purchased the Alseda Stool from Ikea. We don't use a coffee table in our living room for head bumping reasons. I'm sure someday when we have non-toddlers in the house we will again. So this little stool sits on the floor and it's great to put a snack for the kids on or they can sit on it. I don't know what it is about it, but I love it!


Thursday, October 8, 2009

hardware

I love buying hardware for plain furniture pieces. We have all this white furniture, some new and some old and I love that I can transfer it from kid to kid by changing hardware, or can just update something plain. Of course I love Anthropologie's hardware, but they usually run $6-$8 per piece, which is fine if you need just a few. I on the other hand needed 9 total, so I went to their hardware sale bin and found everything I needed and for $2.95 each. Wowzer! It was a good day. I highly suggest adding a little flair to your boring stuff. I've seen cute hardware sold in bags at Home Goods too.




finally finished


We finally finished making Piper's toddler bed. I posted about it a few weeks back based on this one Design Mom did. Now I just need to decorate the rest of the room!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

still love it

This pram from Pottery Barn Kids is one of my favorite gifts Piper has received. She played with it when she started walking and I know she will keep playing with it for years to come. It's not cheap at $79, but I think over the years we will get our money's worth. Plus it's so cute, it still looks great hanging out in my living room. I keep this stroller inside so as to keep it clean as long as I can, we have this stroller for outside fun.

i'm back & some cupcakes

Glad to be back online, had some stuff to take care of! Below is a picture of some amazing cupcakes from a party I just went to. The party was a carnival themed 1st birthday and I was so impressed by how cute these are. The cupcakes are fashioned to be popcorn and she used marshmallows to help create the effect. I've never used this baker before but I'm she seems great and she is located in Orange County.



Friday, October 2, 2009

Taking a few days off.....check back early next week for new posts.

Have a fantastic weekend!

xo

Thursday, October 1, 2009

winner winner

And we have a winner for the custom address stamp giveaway:

Leslie from Leslie's Lines

Congrats Leslie!!! Email me and we will get your order in.

For everyone else I am offering a 15% discount on your order. Thanks for entering!

xo,

Amanda