"Be yourself.... everyone else is already taken."

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Perfume, Bling, Cupcake Bandages, Measuring Cups & Scotty Dog Ornaments!

Thank you Gina & Richard (Kim's parents) for the cutest scotty dog ornament ever!


My friend Kerri surprised me with Cupcake Bandages & Megan, knowing my love of lotion, gave me some wonderful Meyers Clean Day!


I always said, "When pigs could fly, I would maybe get some Viva La Juicy perfume!" Thank you Tim & Megan!


Coco Chanel #5....how lucky can a girl get? Thank you Pete, Kathie, Morgan & Max!


I'll be measuring my happy life in the coming New Year!



Thank you Morgan for bringing some bling into my life!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Morgan's Bridal Shower!


Niece Morgan....the wedding bells will ring on March 6th 2010

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Holiday Baby!



Having a wee one around during the holidays has made the season ever so special!


Isn't Dillan adorable?

Monday, December 28, 2009

How To Throw A Magical Bridal Shower!!!!

You need a bride to be that is as sweet and lovely as my niece Morgan!
We made Morgan masks for all of the guests, which made for some really funny photo opportunities!
What a great party favor for everyone to take home & they make a great fan for when you are feeling a bit flush!


Make sure you have invited friends and family that are willing to travel through a blizzard to bring gifts, laughter and glee!
Ask the "groom to be" over the day before and video tape him while asking him questions about the "bride to be"!!!
Show the video after asking the bride and guests the same questions! Such fun!
Get your picture taken with the mother of the bride! My only sister in law, whom I love dearly!



Have your local bakery put the couples picture on a yummy butter cookie for the guests to munch on after opening gifts!
Make crazy cute corsages for everyone to pin to their lapel!


Eat, Drink and get ready to be "Married"!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Hats Off To Me!

I did so want this Erik Javets hat so very, very, very much! Thank you Stephen!


He had to search the world and he finally found one in Chicago! What a great husband!
A special thanks goes out to Megan & Tim for the cutest bow tie ever and to my friend Lynne for the funky purple scarf!
What a great 2009 Christmas!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Where Are We?

This is our humble abode after a blizzard...


We are inside all snug as a bug....... getting ready for Morgan's bridal shower!

SNOW-STRUCK

The weather outside is frightful.....


And Megan is so delightful...


LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!!!!!

Friday, December 25, 2009

What A Hoot!

Santa brought me a warm & cozy pair of flannel jammies for Christmas!


Santa brought Megan a pair of warm & cozy flannel jammies for Christmas too!


What's this? Santa brought baby Dillan & Kim a pair of warm & cozy flannel jammies too!


That marvelous Santa Claus! He's made this a family tradition....giving us matching PJ's every Christmas! Ho Ho Ho!

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas.....


A blizzard blew into Tulsa Town just in time to give us a white Christmas!

Roses & Cheese

My sister Jill & her husband Shane gave us this beautiful hand blown glass basket, it looks so festive filled with red roses! Speaking of roses ... Jill's favorite perfume is Tea Rose!


My sweet niece Jillann and her family sent us this Christmas Tree cheese board! Thank you guys! I bet you didn't know what a cheese connoisseur your Uncle Steve has become? You can often find him @ Whole Foods in the exotic cheese section, he even keeps a cheese journal!


Every body say, "CHEESE" !!!!!!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From Aunt Ann's Gift Wrapping Tree!


My dear sister Ann was the most gifted gift wrapper of all time until......our Megan was born! Ann would have been so pleased with Megan's inherited joy of wrapping gifts!

Just One of Jarret & Morgan's Engagement Photos!


Sooooooooo adorable! The wedding bells are really starting to ring, the "Save The Date" has been sent and the bridal showers are being planned!
My niece Morgan looks so pretty and Jarret is good looking too!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Fat Man's Coming......


After we share our weekly Saturday morning breakfast with Bob & Rhonda @ our favorite Wildfork restaurant in fashionable Utica Square..... I'll be wrapping presents all day long with tender loving care! After all, the FAT MAN'S COMING in 6 days!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Swinging Rakes Celebrate Christmas @ The Country Club ....La Di Da Fun!

Nope, I didn't take this picture of the Christmas tree standing on my head! It's hanging upside down in the Presidential Room at Southern Hills Country Club! That's where the Swinging Rakes garden club held there annual Christmas party & dirty Santa gift exchange this year ....



What a lovely presentation! As it has been every year, the food at Southern Hills Country Club was tasty and considerate of our growing waist lines!


All the ladies had so much fun! See you all in 2010!

The Wonder Pets & Dillan :>)


What could be better than snuggling up on your memory foam king size mattress with Abuelo & Dillan ....watching The Wonder Pets save a baby panda bear who was stuck in a bamboo tree?

Zhu Zhu Pet Heaven

Guess who got up at the crack of dawn so he could get his hands on some Zhu Zhu pets?
Stephen has been obsessed with these furry little hamster creatures since he found out they were hard to find ....


Yesterday I was given a tip that Target was getting a shipment in during the middle of the night!
Stephen came home with a soft brown hamster & a yellow hamster, the adventure ball and the giant hamster fun house!
Each Zhu Zhu hamster has its own unique personality & whimsical sounds!
Loving mode: pet them, love them, hear them chatter!
Explore mode: let them scoot, scamper, bump n' boogie across the floor or through their hamster habitat!
Silly me ... I thought the Zhu Zhu pets were for Dillan? But no, they are to be wrapped up and put under the tree for Stephen!
He crawled back into bed singing "Merry Christmas To Me"!!!!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Our Christmas Tree......

.... Has 36 years of ornaments!!


It's getting pretty crowded!! Oh well, the more the merrier!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

THE COMMON COLD

Is such a bummer!!

Friday, December 11, 2009

A Memorable Visit With The Man From The North Pole!

We met up @ Fashionable Utica Square for Dillan's first visit to Santa's house! The square was buzzing with happy shoppers buying Coach bags & sipping Starbucks! It was a bit nippy out so everyone was bundled up with their Burberry scarfs, Ugg boots & faux furs! Lucky for us there was only a short line of little ones waiting to see the "fat man"!


"This is so exciting, I hope Dillan does well sitting on Santa's lap for her first official Santa Claus photo?" exclaimed the proud parents, Beau & Kim!
(I think Beau is remembering the first time we took him to Santa's house in Utica Square, 1979)


"The lights are pretty, this little gingerbread house is so cute, but I'm not quite sure about the chubby man dressed in red?" thought Dillan with a bit of trepidation!


"Look who's here!!! It's the famous Dillan Grace Taylor! Abuelo & Grandma Tay's beautiful Grand daughter!" Proclaimed Santa Claus!


The last picture is missing because as soon and Dillan was placed on Santa's lap....yep, she burst out into the most pitiful sob imaginable! After a bit, Kim was able to get her calmed down and Mrs. Claus took a pretty good picture.....I just don't have it to show you all.....

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Food News.......Hungry For Change!



nourishment, sustenance, nutriment.....I wasn't sure I really wanted to see this movie.....I thought maybe I wouldn't want to eat ever again? Please go out and rent this movie or have Netflix deliver it to you.... it's worthwhile for you and for the generations that will follow! Happy Holidays.....consider this a present from me if you haven't already seen this movie!

Jaimie Muehlhausen Musician.....

Artist, Author and my nephew!



Some guy who knows about such things just called Jaimie "The King of Concert Flyer Makers"....

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Everybody's Fine & Genghis Grill

Stephen and I didn't decorate the house this afternoon with holiday cheer like we should have, instead we found another reason to postpone.... @ Megan's insistence we went to see Everybody's Fine and to a new chain restaurant on Cherry Street!
Meg saw the movie last night with Handsome Tim Root and told me to make sure I had plenty of tissues! Stephen and I really loved the movie and yes....we both cried!



Everything eventually leads to that question of whether or not to trouble the ones we love with our bad news. Everybody's Fine is relatively taciturn with its conclusions but offers an important suggestion to consider the matter more closely in the audience's own lives. And isn't that what good art should do? This may not be the most uplifting film one could see this holiday season, but it is one of the more thoughtful ones. Between the simple effectiveness of De Niro's performance, the lovely cinematography of Henry Braham (it is sort of a road-trip movie) and the interesting questions it raises, Everybody's Fine is a terrific choice for those who want something more in-depth from their Xmas viewing than tinsel and tired sentimentality!
***************************************************

Megan is" anti" chain restaurants and promptly informed me they had places like the Genghis Grill in every mall in America ... but since I don't frequent malls or eat @ malls, I was totally out of the loop! Genghis Grill was hip and cute and we enjoyed the experience very much! We'll be going back!



Genghis Grill-The Mongolian Stir Fry, is a build your own bowl, fast casual, Asian stir-fry
concept. The atmosphere is colorful, lively, and a lot of fun! It's actually not a cuisine, but an
INTERACTIVE style of exhibition cooking modeled after a centuries-old legend. According to
this legend, 12th century Mongol warriors, led by the mighty warrior GENGHIS KHAN, heated
their shields over open fires to grill food in the fields of battle!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

It's Too Cold.....

To string lights out front.....


But a perfect day to decorate the inside with Christmas cheer!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

I Love These Napkins....very much!


The golden crest in the middle makes them ever so eloquent!
Think about it? You go to an event or a party and there are always paper napkins to tidy up your food mishaps? Right? Tuck the napkin delicately on the two corners of your beautiful lips? Hold the napkin just so? Oops? Be tidy and indiscreet? It's a fabulous party! Napkins are a dress accent! I'm hoping these new napkins will serve well through the wonderful upcoming holiday season!

My Poor Mini Cooper :(


We woke up to what we think could be a BB gun assault on the back wind shield of our precious Mini Cooper?

Old School Bagel Cafe.... Tulsa's Best Bagel Hangout!


It's not a true New York bagel unless it's boiled.....try the "EVERYTHING BAGEL" to be in bagel heaven! The perfect way to start off this December chilly weekend! Now we are ready to string holiday lights out front .... tis the season!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Cre*a*tiv*ity

...the use of imagination, esp. in the production of an artistic endeavor!


I acclaim enthusiastically rubber cement & the universal shape of the "heart"!!!
I'm still having fun working on bridal shower invitations :D

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Dillan Is Not Feeling Well?


Before I begin this story I must state that our adorable Dillan has NEVER been sick!!!! So Beau calls and says that he thinks she may have a fever? He rushes her over and we give her tylenol for babies....she's still her great spirited self but just a bit fussy? Like all of us she doesn't like feeling bad and she's lived a full year of pure happiness....the hardest thing in life is to see someone who has always been happy and delightful and then take their temperature & know she's not feeling up to par....she's fighting something off and we all want to fight with her....she's so little! Please say your prayers for our darling Dillan Grace!

Creating Shower Invitations On a Cold Day Is So Much Fun!

The temperature dropped into the 40's today and it was a good excuse to stay in my Nick & Nora's flannel PJ's and get out my glue gun, tulle & hot pink pearl flowers.....


Megan and I are hosting a wedding shower for Morgan two days after Christmas! My niece & Megan's favorite cousin! She's getting married the first week of March to Jarret, the nicest guy! The family is very excited! Megan & I put our creative heads together over the Thanksgiving weekend and assembled all the makings of a fabulous invite! This is just a preview of what's to come!
P.S. Glue guns and newly polished fingernails do NOT work out well!!!! Meg & I shared a "mani & pedi" together on Monday morning before she went back to LA and my Hot Red nail polish looks pretty pathetic now!

God has given us memories that we may have roses in December......


Missing Grandma Taylor....... Two years ago we lost the most important person in our life! We love you Grandma ....so definitely up in Heaven!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Stepping Out For Mexican Cuisine!

Last Friday, while the sun was setting and the moon was rising .... the family met up @ El Rio Verde (our favorite hole in the wall mexican restaurant) ....the perfect place to bring a baby!


Megan & Dillan share a magical moment....so sweet!


It was so nice having Megan with us over the Thanksgiving Holiday! She'll be back for Christmas so there were no tears when she departed for Los Angeles yesterday!