Lacking in the Tree Department

I can't believe it's already December! But that means it's time for sugar cookies, lights lining the rooftops of homes, hot chocolate, gingerbread houses and Christmas decorations!

Our entertainment center is adorned with garland...


A Christmas tree candle holder glows in the kitchen...


Cone-shaped trees sit in the dining room...


More garland lights up our mantle...


A wreath garnishes the centerpiece of our dining room table...


Yet another strand of garland dresses up our entry...
(Yes, I realize we have a lot of garland everywhere. We got a really good deal on it last year!)


And finally, stockings hang from our mantle. Even one for little Harley!


What are we missing?

Oh, that would be a Christmas tree!

Our current tree is pretty sad. Kind of like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree:


So we haven't put our tree up. We've looked around a little, but haven't found a new one yet.

I wouldn't mind this one:

It's apparently one of the world's most expensive trees. It's made out of 21,798 diamonds totaling 913 carets. I think I'll add it to my Christmas list...

Projects

Back in October, we celebrated Jessica's daughter's birthday. Madison turned two years old. I designed and printed a birthday party invitation for her. The theme was a garden fairy party. There were butterflies, fairy wings and bubble wands–so cute!


At the end of October, my cousin Janna got married. I designed the wedding programs for her. The main color of her wedding was teal, so I matched the program's font color to be the same as the bridemaids' dresses.



Jason had the idea of letterpressing gift tags for Christmas. So we got a die made from a die-cutting company, ordered paper, found some baker's twine and made gift tags!


Tons of gift tags!

Aren't they beautiful? I think the tags are our best letterpress project yet!


A few months ago, I talked to one of my friends who owns a local store called Hodgepodge Design. I told her about the tags we wanted to make, and she agreed to sell them in her store for us! She's really sweet like that! The tags have been selling in her store for about two-and-a-half weeks now!

Remember these cards I made for Kailee's wedding shower?


We also put some of those–in green and blue–in Hodgepodge Design to sell.


Jason is making some business cards for me, too. He letterpressed the front of them today.


And finally, an update on little Harley: He is doing so well! He's so smart and such a cutie! I just love him so much! We've taught him to sit, and now we're working on lying down and staying. He's having a harder time with those, but he'll catch on!

Phase 2

Remember in my last post I said I was back in my wanting-a-dog phase? I’ve entered into a new phase now: having-a-dog phase!

The breeder I called who had the ad in the newspaper had maltese/shih-tzu mix puppies. They were only a few weeks old (and expensive!). Then she told me she had a maltese/poodle mix (maltipoo), who was a little older (12 weeks) and much, much less expensive (because he was older).

So Jason and I went to the breeder’s on Monday to check him out. He was all alone in his little pen and was so nervous. He wouldn’t walk around or do anything. When the breeder brought another puppy in the room, the little maltipoo completely changed, became excited and was bouncing all over. Jason and I both really liked his personality; he looked good and was healthy. So we said, “We’ll take him!”

Without further introduction, here is our new little boy, Harley:

He desperately needs a haircut, but we can't take him to the groomer until he has his kennel cough shot, which will be in about 3 weeks. In the meantime, I cut some of the hair around his eyes so he could see better!

He was so good the first night. We took him outside to play and gave him a bath. He was really good about everything! Except after his bath and blow-dry, he got really nervous and was shaking pretty bad. Then he threw up! After cuddling with him, he calmed down and was fine the rest of the evening. He whined and whimpered off and on throughout the night, but overall, slept pretty well by himself in the laundry room. Here’s a video of our first evening with him:



Then came Tuesday. Jason’s parents and sister came over to meet Harley. He seemed pretty shy and wasn’t quite as playful because there was a crowd and he’s still getting used to everything. So he pretty much slept on everyone’s lap all evening. Turns out, that’s a big mistake. Sleeping in the evening = no sleeping at night. He cried and cried throughout the night. At that point, we’d been keeping him in the laundry room at night (which is right next to our room) with a baby gate up at the laundry room door. We put his bed inside his crate, but had never actually shut him in the crate before. When he wouldn’t quit crying, we decided to see how he would do locked in the crate next to our bed. He did pretty well, but still whined every so often, and I was still up constantly taking him out at night to use the bathroom.

We learned from our mistake by letting him sleep Tuesday evening, so on Wednesday we kept him awake and active in the evening. We got a new toy for him, which he loves:



We also took him for his first walk. He stopped walking every so often so I had to carry him half the time. We tried the crate next to our bed again at night. Didn’t work out so well. He whimpered quite a bit so I stuck my fingers through his crate for most of the night so he would know I was there. He was also awake so much during the night, I was sure he had to use the bathroom. I took him out about four times throughout the night, and he never went once.

By Thursday, Jason and I are pretty wiped out. We hadn’t been getting much sleep and being responsible for something else (besides each other) has been an adjustment. So we do what has worked so far and try something new. We kept him awake all evening by playing. We took him for a walk (except, it’s more like he took us for a walk. He refused to walk the entire time, so I carried him the whole way). We didn’t let him eat or drink past 9pm so he (hopefully) wouldn’t need to use the bathroom at night. We went to bed early—around 9:30 because we were so tired! We put him in his crate when we went to bed, but left the lamp on my nightstand turned on the whole night. How did he do? He fell right asleep! I think Jason and I conked out pretty hard too. I woke up once to Harley whining, so I looked at my phone to see what time it was, thinking it was probably only 1am or 2am. It was already after 5am!! So I took him outside to use the bathroom and he went! Then I put him right back into his crate, and we went back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 6:30, he was still asleep. I tried to get out of bed and just let him stay in his crate and sleep, but he heard me move so he wanted out too.

We think he might be kind of afraid of the dark. If the living room light is off, he won’t walk across the living room. He’ll stay right next to where we are. The second walk we took him on was later than the first time, so it was darker. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to go. When we kept him in the laundry room to sleep, it was pretty dark except for a night-light. Maybe that explains why he cried so much. We’re wondering if the lamp turned on last night was the key because he did so well! Now if we can get a few more nights like this, Jason and I can catch up on our sleep!

Harley has been really fun, and seems to be learning quickly. He’s only had a handful of accidents in the house. And he’s so playful and affectionate. He wants to be cuddled and held constantly. I know he’ll get better during the night as he gets more used to us, our house and our schedule. And I know we won't always come home to this:


See him being completely innocent in his crate? But really, who could resist his cute little face?

The Latest

Sorry I’ve only posted once this month. That’s pretty lame, I know. Things have been really busy for us lately, and I’ve been meaning to do a new post, but just haven’t. Until now! So let me catch you up:

We went to Dallas for my cousin’s bachelorette party a few weeks ago. At that time, my parents were in the process of moving out of their house and into a new house, so we helped them move some stuff and organize the new kitchen. Organizing is my favorite!

*Side note: when I just re-read that I had written, “Organizing is my favorite,” it reminded me of the part in Elf where Buddy says, “I just like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite.” Haha. Am I the only who just laughed? Oh well…

My cousin’s bachelorette party went really well. We went to Tillman’s Roadhouse, which has the most wonderful décor! Who doesn't love chandeliers?!


And really good popcorn! We went back to my sister’s house for peanut butter chocolate fondue and games.

Thanks valet parking guy for not being able to focus the camera or take a good picture--twice! It's a camera you're not used to, so I understand messing the first picture up. But the second time?!

While we were in Dallas, we also went to the State Fair of Texas. We’ve gone pretty much every year since I can remember. It’s one of my favorite things to do! We tried fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—which were pretty good, and fried cookie dough balls—which were amazing!


This isn’t really my picture. I brought my camera to the fair, but of course, didn’t take a single picture…

I’ve also been really busy doing some design work. I created some Christmas card templates for Jessica’s photography business. I just sent her a new template last night too!

I also designed a birthday party invitation for her daughter Madison’s 2^nd birthday. It was the cutest Garden Fairy birthday party ever! Pictures coming soon!

I designed and printed wedding programs for my cousin’s wedding this weekend. I used the pearl metallic paper I love so much! Again, pictures coming soon!

I’ve also got a few other projects in the works that I’m really excited about. Once things pan out a little more, I’ll update you!

In the meantime, I’m starting to get back into my wanting-a-dog phase. I was out of that phase for awhile, but it’s starting to come back. I actually made a call about some dogs I found in the newspaper on Friday. We’ll see where that goes…

And, I’m back into Zumba! I had missed about 7 weeks from being sick, out of town or working on projects, but now I’m back! I picked it back up with Jason’s mom last week, and man, it was kind of rough! But we had a great time.

I think I’m caught up now! Happy Monday!

Pretty in Pearl Paper

I designed a bachelorette party invitation for my cousin, Janna, recently. She will get married at the end of this month! I also designed her wedding programs, which I'll post later this month after I get them printed.




Isn't this paper pretty? I just love the pearly sparkle!

Back

I’m back. Back from Galveston (well, it’s been a week, but who’s counting). Back from not blogging. Back to being sick. Let me rewind and catch you up a little.

I went to Galveston last week for a work conference. Unfortunately, it rained and was overcast the whole time, but it was still nice seeing the beach. It seems like Galveston has changed a lot since I was a kid. I remember so many more shops up and down the seawall. I think Hurricane Ike is to blame for that one.

Jason had a cold about three weeks ago. I guess because we’re married and supposed to share everything, he so kindly gave it to me two weeks ago. Then I was fine for a week. Now I think I’m having really bad allergies so I’ve stayed home from work for a day and a half trying to get better.

Which brings me to my confession. Two friends each had a confession on their blog, so I figured since we’re all in Problems Anonymous together (shout out to Kylee and Jacquelyn!), it’s my turn. Hello, my name is Diana and I constantly keep myself busy, and I have a hard doing nothing.

As I mentioned, I’m staying home from work because I’m sick. There are plenty of reasons as to why people stay at home when they’re sick: 1) So you don’t get other people sick – I think mine is just allergies, but who wants to hear me sneeze and blow my nose 438,629 times a day? 2) You’re not usually thinking 100% clearly because you don’t feel well and 3) To rest your body so you will heal faster. I have a problem with the last one.

Since being at home, I’ve written two press releases for work, finished all the laundry that I neglected to do for the past two weeks (sorry, Jason, for not having anything to wear), did the dishes that were piling up, took out the overflowing trash, worked on the wedding program I’m doing for my cousin, folded and hung up all the laundry, and now, writing a new blog post. Why—you might ask—don’t I just watch mind-numbing daytime television or 8 hours of Lost today? Or why not just take naps all day? Or why not stay in bed and rest? Because I always have to do. I always have to stay busy. I think my problem is good and bad. I’ll never be lazy, procrastinate or become unreliable. I put too much pressure on myself to get things done. But at the same time, I sometimes refuse to let myself relax, especially when I need it most – like now, when I’m sick.

So I think I’ll turn over a new leaf. I’m going to stay on the couch and watch Lost (have I mentioned how much I love that show?? I think I have! By the way, I’m on season 5. Yay for me!) for the rest of the day. Well, unless something for work comes up that I need to do…and after the last load of laundry is finished drying and put away…

Hey, don’t judge. For me, that’s making progress…

Galveston