yum

I have been busy pinning fall foods in Pinterest. I love this time of year!

Giveaway - Win tickets to see Puss in Boots!

I am so excited about this giveaway! I am giving away a family-four pack of tickets to see DreamWorks Puss in Boots at the UltraLuxe Cinemas at the Garden Walk in Anaheim for Sunday, November 6th for any showing. This movie is going to be so cute! And talk about seeing the movie with premium amenities, check out what UltraLuxe Anaheim Cinemas includes.

Now besides the giveaway, the official Puss in Boots character is going to appear live at UltraLuxe Cinemas on that day (11/6) from 1pm-4pm and families can meet and take pictures with him. Puss will meet fans in the theater’s LuxeLounge area, and complimentary Puss in Boots items such as movie posters and tattoos will also be available while supplies last. The meet and greet event is free and open to the public. How fun for the kids!

To win the family-four pack of tickets all you have to do is leave a comment and I will pick a winner on Wednesday!

lovelies from anthropologie

I went into Anthropologie with my mom last weekend and here were some things I fell in love with

(and have put on my I-want list).

Milk Bottle Measuring Cups -$24

Tea And Toast Butter Dish - $12 (comes in a bunch of colors)

Farmer's Market Baskets - $14 small, $20 large

Beautiful bowls  - Range from $8 - $38

Dishtowels - Range from $16 - $42

Right now my taste is drawn towards a clean white with lots of patterns and styles. I can imagine my dream kitchen with all of this in it. So fun.

xo,

Amanda

a site

I came across this site filmratings.com while looking up information on a movie. You can type in any movie and see why that movie has the rating that it does. This is great to have handy, I am constantly wondering why some movies are G versus PG and I think this will help me make a more informed decision when deciding what my children will or will not see. I think it's especially important when your kids are closer to the PG-13 movie age.

a regret

When we had my firstborn, we bought a glider/rocking chair for his room. I used it all the time and when we moved we tossed it because it wasn't in great condition anymore. When we had my daughter, I tried to be practical and put a chaise in her room so I could fall asleep with her and have more room to nurse. Her room was pretty tiny too. I regretted not having a rocker then and I really regret it with my my third baby now. I have regretted it this entire 22 months, but buying a new chair hasn't deemed very important. I wish I could snuggle him and rock him to sleep in it.  So today I decided it's never too late and I want one eventually. I looked online and here are some that I liked.

here

here

here

Or maybe I'll refinish my own. Either way, I would say it's probably the only thing I regret not having for my last two. What have you regretted not buying?

party time (almost)

My baby boy is turning two years old very soon and even though we are doing a very small family party, I want there to be special small touches for him to enjoy. We have had a rough year and a sweet little party would be really fun!

I always wanted one of my kids to love Sesame Street. The first two had no interest, but this one at least loves Elmo and likes Cookie Monster. I really love that, especially since there is a good chance he might be my last one. So I would love to throw him a little Sesame Street party to give him some big smiles!

As an event planner I have a system to planning parties. Do you want to know what it is? I research. I go to Google Images, Etsy, and Pinterest and I find all the pictures of ideas that I love (don't forget to bookmark the sites too). Then I take all of those pictures and make an inspiration board. I really like my parties to express who I am, or if I've been hired to do them, express whom the person of honor is. I also like to put a lot of love in my parties and you simply can't do that by just buying a bunch of stuff that looks fancy from the first person you see on Etsy. Sure it will look great, but you are not in there too. Once I make my inspiration board I then decide exactly what I want to do or if I am hired to do a party, I review it with my client and we make lots of notes. Then shop, shop, shop and create, create, create. I try and make everything myself so I can put my own spin on it and I always try to come up with as many original ideas as I can so it's not copied. Of course there are going to be some things that just need to be done by someone else and for those I go ahead and purchase. For everything else I make a plan and then off I go!

So here is my inspiration board for my little guy's birthday party. I would never show this ahead of time because I like the big reveal, but there will only be family there so no big deal

The touches I really am leaning towards are a special shirt, cute block letters he can keep, character pom poms, a cute fabric banner that we could also use in his room, colorful circle garland, a personalized hand-painted sign, and making him a sweet blanket as his gift from his momma. What do you think?

Where to find the images used:

shirt * block letters * pom poms * banner * garland * sign * blanket

i'm here and i'm there

I am now a blogger for OC Family. Woot! My blog is called Family and Frills and my first post was yesterday. They have a bunch of really fun moms and dads blogging over there so definitely check it out and I would love any support you can send my way. I will be posting every Tuesday.

xo,

Amanda

my remodel

Hi Friends. So Amanda's Favs has evolved into Assorted Lovelies, what do you think? A new name and a new look, but all my old stuff still here. I couldn't be more pleased. I hope that you like it too. For now I will have both website addresses link here, but eventually it will only be www.assortedlovelies.com. If you have time can you bookmark that address now? XO, Amanda

diaper butt and more to come

First of all, look at what a mess my desk is in this picture. Ahhh! Most importantly, I loved having this little helper Saturday night all to myself. He was in charge of pushing a CD into the drive and he did a darn good job.

Tomorrow is looking to be a big day for this little blog (and blogger). I am hoping to unveil the big changes I made, a new name and new look, but same content and same purpose. I am so excited for you to see it...it's 100% me, but just with a little maturity by my 950th post. I will also be debuting my first post on OCFamily.com as one of their featured bloggers with my own column.

So for today enjoy the cute little diaper butt and my messy desk, but come back tomorrow for my big reveals! And if you have time read my friend Noel's story on my other blog My Year of Faith.

a little dose of celebrity news

I don't care much for celebrity drama or what they are or are not doing, like Ashton's love life, but I do love celebrity fashion on the streets and basic celebrity news. I love to hear when some actresses have a baby and what they name it (I still love the name Apple). For so long I have fought the battle of gossip sites like TMZ and Perez Hilton. I use to read them daily, then I gave them up, then I would read them once a week and now I am officially done. First, I don't want to know all the private and dirty laundry that is on there. Secondly, I don't want to be influenced by someone else's social and political views that they put in every post and yet totally influence our culture with. I think my last straw was when they posted a picture of a Modern Family star posing eating a sandwich at the new Chick-fil-A in Hollywood and they said that she must be anti-gay because Chick-fil-A contributes to Focus on the Family. I was a little peeved that an actress, who acts on a show where she has two gay uncles, can be anti-gay for eating at a fast food joint. She obviously had no idea of Chick-fil-A's contribution practices. Of course her reps had to be contacted and there even had to be a follow-up update. I just don't want any part of all of the Hollywood nonsense anymore. But I found one site that fills me in on basic celebrity news and has great pictures of celebrity fashion. It totally fills my needs for "just a little bit." It's people.com and it takes me two minutes to read. They have about ten Latest Headlines, cute StarTracks pictures and a StyleWatch.

And this post has nothing to do with my personal social and political views :) Just what I really think about celebrity gossip sites.  

gift

I made this for my hubby for our anniversary. It has a picture from every year we have been married. We couldn't afford to exchange fabulous gifts but I knew I wanted to do something. It didn't cost me a penny! I just designed it, printed it at home and put it in an old frame I found in the garage. I had trouble finding a picture of us from a few years, I guess we usually just take pictures of each other with the kids, but I managed to find some and I am really happy with how it turned out.

what i am doing this week

The bottom right hand corner of the picture is my video camera. I have never been good at taking videos of my kids, in fact what I do have would be considered embarrassing. My goal this week is to take videos throughout the week so that I can have a marker of what their life was like this year. I think if I can do that once a year, that would be an awesome thing to have when they are older. I just wish I would have started it with my first baby. Oh well, no time like the present.

sweetness

I want to watch this. I have a certain little guy who loves Elmo the most. But this movie is obviously so much more than about a puppet and his creator. It's on my list.


 

things to share

Does your Nordstrom Rack have this beautiful Juicy coat for only $49 and in navy blue too (I loved the blue)? Mine did. I almost gasped out loud because an amazing coat like this lasts for years and years. I was so sad that I couldn't take it home! Boo hoo. But maybe you can! Lots of good stuff for fall at the Rack right now.

On another note, I came home to this big box on my table. It's not Girl Scout Cookie season, yet here they are! Where the heck did they come from (my hubby knows)? More trouble than I ever wanted, but so delicious. Who wants cookies?

pinterest-ing

The minute the calendar hits October 1st, my hubby and I are in holiday heaven. October, November & December are our favorite months because of all the amazing traditions that they hold. To prove how much I love the holidays, here are some pictures of the pins I have accumulated over the last few weeks. Some are even for Valentine's Day- hey I'm in the holiday mood! Enjoy

coming soon

Hi Friends! I am close to reaching my 1000th post, amazing right? In honor of my growing blog I am doing a big re-design, new name, new look, new everything! Well except what I blog about, because that is what is special to me. I will still be blogging about my favorite things and a lot about life. Stay tuned!

over the moon

I wear my TOMS out pretty quickly and my most recent ones have two nice holes. I love them but at the same time I have been ready to move on to a new shoe. Part of me really likes knowing that when I buy a pair, a pair is donated, but the other part of me is ready to update my wardrobe and try something new. Well thanks to my friend Leslie who clued me in, the perfect solution will be here this spring! TOMS will be unveiling their line of ballet flats. I am so excited and I know they will be amazing. I'll be first in line!

shrek the musical

Yesterday evening I was lucky enough to take one of my little ogres (he's six) and see Shrek The Musical. I was so excited to go, especially since my parents use to take me to musicals when I was younger. I kept it a surprise and off we went on a school night. Brody was laughing and smiling the whole time! It was so much fun and such a great performance for kids and adults. In fact, most of the good jokes were for the adult audience. I loved the performers (Fiona's voice and movements reminded me of Amy Poehler), the creativity, the music, and how much the audience was laughing. I had the best time! Brody said that he loved all of the special effects the best (aka. the fart noises).

I would even go on a date night with hubby! But I loved the date that I had and 

I loved feeling like I was a kid again getting snacks at intermission!

you have to go

Kids are free at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park in the month of October! Awesome deal!

pics

My sweet girl loves building with Lego's, even more 

than her brother (who loves Lego's too). I love that she 

enjoys activities that are more geared towards boys.

These are the hot shoes I have been dying to wear

and they finally made it out of my closet for

Style Week OC. Did I mention that they are Report

and I won them on Facebook? Rad, right?

I just found this pic on my camera of me and Nick Verreos.

long time fav

My favorite show is on again! If you missed the first two episodes you can watch them online here. Life is busy right now and I was planning on taking a season off since I barely watch tv anymore, but I couldn't stay away. I have about 7-10 pounds to lose and nothing inspires me more than watching this show and the transformations that occur. It's good tv. What I wouldn't give to live a day in their shoes on the ranch!

style week orange county

This momma went to the opening night of Style Week Orange County at the Irvine Spectrum with my new friends at Blog Crush and I had to bust out my heels and my fancy jeans. It was so much fun at the Rack Rave party and I am now a fan of Nick Verreos from Project Runway. He was adorable and he came over to give us bloggers some fashion tips for the fall (think bold colors and plaids) and some insider info about Project Runway. I also ate a fabulous dinner from Nordstrom Bistro. They gave us the Roast Sirloin Ciabatta sandwich (seriously SO good) with a delicious salad and then the to-die-for Chocolate Paradise Cake. 

Style Week OC runs from September 30th to October 8th and it includes a lot of fun events, including the Restaurant Rave on the 6th hosted by Mario Lopez, and the Runway Glam Slam on the 7th hosted by Nick Verreos. For more info check out www.styleweekoc.com.