*winner*

short and sweet today

 

thank you all for entering the dress give-a-way

 

winner of the Shabby Apple dress

 

is #6

LuLu from LuLu and Co.

 

happy dance for you LuLu

 

 

you may pick one out of these three dresses

 

{select betweeen Marseilles, Bali H 'I', or 45WPM}

 

to view again please click here to go back to the original post

and I'll e-mail you with the rest of the details to get to Shabby Apple

 

thank you all for entering

if you'd like to make a purchase with Shabby Apple please use discount code

butterfliesdragonflies10off

at check out

xo

a spring sparkle with *shabby apple*

we all love a little spring sparkle in our eye

I feel like I need and want that little sparkle in my eye

for spring and summer

last night as I picked my little girls up from my parent's home....

my dad told me...

well the farmer's almanac says one more snow in March

I said

"I can't take it dad"

{obviously I can...I just don't want too}

he said "me neither"

and he grew up in Wisconsin winters

so it didn't quite make me feel so bad for not liking this cold

yes...I realize many live north and have it way worse

for those that live north of me

bless you

bless you

bless you

because I honestly wouldn't survive

I do appreciate how beautiful the snow and mountains look

I really do

but I'm honestly over it in a day

one day in the snow

and I'd be saying

"where's the beach?"

the warm sun?

sand between my toes?

my family and friends in tow...

relaxing and sitting together with me on the beach?

so before I bore you away

with my thoughts of spring and summer

I've got a give-a-way for you

to add a little sparkle in your eyes

I was contacted by the *Shabby Apple website*

a website of women's & children's dresses

accessories

maternity 

 and casual wear

they are going to be offering one of you...a dress!

 after viewing some of their dresses...I agreed

what fun it has been to peruse their website

Shabby Apple gave me a pre-selected list of give-a-way dresses to choose from

so from their list I've picked three

2 women's/vintage style dresses

and one child's dress

the winner will be able to pick one out of those three

{named below}

and for those of you that need a little retail therapy and want to go ahead and start shopping 

 Shabby Apple has also offered you all a 10% discount

use the following discount code during checkout

"butterfliesdragonflies10off"

I found so many dresses that caught my eye

so I wanted to share my personal favorites

first with you all



 all are linked to the Shabby Apple website

and then at the end I'll show you the three give-a-way options

my personal favorites:

{Ingrid}

please click on sequoia to view that dress

as it wouldn't allow me to link a large enough photo for you to see it

{Sequoia}

{Aloha}

{Consultant}

{Champs Elysees}

{L'Opera}

{Black Oak}

{Bette D}

{Mauna Kea}

my absolute favorite children's dress by Shabby Apple is

{Garden Party}

a few of my other favorite girl's dresses are:

{Fields of Gold}

{Jardin}

{Ruffle my Feathers}

{Pistachio}

the three dresses you may choose from for the give-a-way are noted below

I think it is so much fun for the winner to pick one of the three

{Marseilles}
okay...so I wouldn't wear the collar up...but of course I love blue:)

{Bali H 'I'}

{45 Words Per Minute}

one winner will be selected to pick one of the three dresses
directly above...per request of Shabby Apple 

{select between Marseilles, Bali H 'I', or 45 WPM}

To enter the give-a-way for a Shabby Apple dress

{and no you don't have to do all of these...it just helps your chances the more you do}

1. please leave a comment on this post below to enter

if you don't have a blog please leave your name and way for me to contact you}

2. if you check out their website and tell me a favorite of yours

...please leave a separate comment if you are listing your favorite

3. if you like Shabby Apple on facebook...please leave me another separate comment

4. if you share this give-a-way...leave another separate comment with the shared link

or just tell me you did

if it's shared via twitter....I don't tweet so I trust you if you did :)

5. the winner must have a US shipping address

although Shabby Apple ships internationally with a purchase so

you may place an order

with the 10% discount of butterfliesdragonflies10off

winner will be picked Friday afternoon

 deadline to enter is

Friday, March 4th at noon

xo

*I was not compensated in any way for this give-a-way*

just wanted to share that

I really heart...

i heart...

living with choices

and with love

I heart...

my warm cup of coffee

and running

I heart...

going to the beach

and relaxing while watching the girls play in the sand

I heart...

a glass or two of wine in the company of my husband

I heart...

all of my family

and all my wonderful friendships

I heart...

Cadence, our dog

hydrangea flowers

especially blue ones

and Madison and Hayley

I heart...

blue m & m's

fresh fruit, and lots of vegetables

I heart...

all sizes of white pitchers

starfish

white ironstone

driftwood

and seashells

I heart...

the colors white and all sorts of blue

white vintage frames

and vintage metal letters & numbers

I heart...

spring and summer

the pool

and traveling

I heart...

Valentine's Day with Bobby and the girls

and celebrating a day of loving others

I heart...

this past week

full of passion and purpose

with friends that truly care about one another's successes

but also ones that like to have fun, fun, and more fun

{this is all of us going to our traditional place for Mexican along the Vegas strip}

I heart...

being thankful for what I do

and sharing it with others

I heart...

being filled this week with so much love

that in turn, I am sharing with others to help fill them

I heart...

small business owners

who own their own business and love to help others

I heart...
all of you who entered, commented, or shared this give-a-way by Simply Worn
what a treasure each of you are

I also heart Simply Worn for sponsoring a give-a-way this past week

and sharing her business

thank you again so much Katie!

so without further ado...

the winner of her beautiful white hair pins is

#16

{I have no idea how to post the results

from random.org so just trust me}

winner is Lissa ...#16
visit Lissa at Humble Pie

who said 
 "these hair clips are so darling! And I just love the business motto of bring new life to old items!"

contact Katie with your information so she can mail you the flower clips

"love is not what you get but what you give"

Dr. Bertice Berry

I heart...

I heart...

hosting a give-a-way

from a lovely shoppe

Simply Worn

please visit this post as there is only two more days to enter

see give-a-way details and enter before midnight January 20th

winner will be announced January 21st to 22nd when I get back from my conference

xo

simply worn

well hello everyone

I have such a special post today

I am so excited to share with you a favorite business of mine
Simply Worn

I met Katie last fall {September} at my home town's fall festival in Liberty, MO

 I knew the moment I walked by her booth

I was in *love* with all she had displayed

I actually stopped in my tracks

and did a happy dance
when I saw her items

I had so much fun picking out flower pins, a necklace, and clips for the girls and I

Madison and Hayley loooove to wear her pretty clips and pins as much as I do
seen here in this post

I started talking with Katie about her business and how she got started

she told me she would hopefully have her online shoppe up and running very soon

*yay*

 because she lives 3 1/2 hours away

I left her my contact info so she could e-mail me when her online shoppe opened
but she said I could e-mail her anytime in between for orders

so without further ado

I'd like you to meet Katie

she's such a sweetheart to meet as well as do business with

and she's sponsoring a give-a-way this week...

I know you will enjoy getting to know her

so I had her write a guest post today
so you could see how wonderful her and her shoppe are
{details of the give-a-way at the end}

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all!

My name is Katie 

My mom and I created SIMPLY WORN as a way to give new life to old clothing, textiles and vintage fabrics. We find vintage clothing (floral blouses, hot pink polyester pants, men’s dress shirts…that kind of thing) and turn them into one-of-a-kind flower pins and hair accessories.

We started SIMPLY WORN last August and quickly realized how popular our fabric flowers were to friends and coworkers.

We signed up for our first craft show in September {this is where Martha found us :) } and it was a complete success.

Since then SIMPLY WORN has become a part-time job for the both us - we have an online shop and sell our accessories at two stores in Kansas City.

{shop here}

I am a senior at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, majoring in Business & Entrepreneurship, and when I’m not studying or working, my mom and I love going to antique stores, thrift stores, estate sales, or wherever we can find unique and appealing fabrics and give them new life.

---------

today's give-a-way
is a wonderful set of white muslin hair clips

{found here}
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katie ~ thank you so much for so graciously sponsoring
a give-a-way!


I couldn't be more thrilled to share you and your mom's business, Simply Worn
I've linked Katie's blog under her name throughout the post if you'd like to follow her blog
or learn more


To enter the give-a-way
and in light of Valentine's Day
{possibly one of my favorite holidays}
okay it probably is...


1.     please leave a comment to enter
and tell me what "you heart"
{in life, about people, or anything you love}

2.     visit her etsy shoppe
and tell me in the same comment
what your favorite item is in her shoppe
Simply Worn or Simply Worn here
{she has two online shoppes}

3. if you are a follower you can leave a second comment as an extra entry
{if you aren't a follower yet...and you would like to be
leave a second comment if you become one


4.   if you share this give-a-way on fb, your blog post, or tweet it please let me know of that as well
in another comment
{but remember to link this post when doing so}

give-a-way ends Thursday, January 20th at midnight
winner will be announced sometime Friday or early Saturday
when I get back from a conference

Happy week everyone
xo

nesting...

first thing is first ~ thank you all who entered my give-a-way
winner with random.org is Jules {#5}
who said the one thing that signifies childhood to her is "carefree"

Jules please contact Tonya here with your mailing address and size information
thank you so much Tonya for sponsoring this give-a-way
xo
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel like I have been nesting in an unusual way this past week

I'm not expecting

but it almost feels that way

I feel panicky to get some projects done ASAP

I've had the urge to spontaneously do a ton around the house

my head is spinning with projects that need to be completed around the house

more rearranging,
organizing, 
and fixing things around the house more than anything
no new projects thank goodness

and I feel like I have no time to get it all done

this week I got the news that someone is leaving in two weeks for five months

home on Saturday and Sundays

ouch...ick...
I feel in a panic
and sadness to be quite honest

he travels a lot but not every week for five months

since Monday...I've had a lot of help from some family
but I'm learning to stand in my truth
and live my life
because I have to be strong for the girls
they never get used to his traveling like I do and the back and forth of his traveling
is crazy difficult for them
every.single.time

 I'm going to need a lot of date nights with Madison and Hayley
and a big stock of wine to get me through

{half kidding there and half not}

we have a lot of things to get covered and taken care...

projects that cost nothing except time 
but I just need help with getting them all done
{you know that need to check it off the list}

I think it is about time to show you our bedroom redo...
that was supposed to be finished beginning of summer
it was obviously put on the back burner
for personal reasons

so I'm not done

I haven't actually done anything with it since March~April of this year

so I should have showed you in March

way back when

but that's okay

when the time comes to put the finishing touches on it

it will happen

but it suits us right now perfectly

except I'm still working on trying to get the tv out of our bedroom

I will admit not so much a year ago I said I would never do without a tv in my bedroom

yes...I love noise at night

especially to drown out the noise so Cadence isn't barking at every little noise when Bobby is gone

but I wanted our bedroom going in the retreat direction for us

and it sticks out like a sore thumb...

lets see if we can get that moved in the next two weeks:)
by handsome hubby
happy weekend everyone
xo

give-a-way and project

Almost a month ago I made a run to Michael's

to grab some of their blank thank you notes for a $1

I like to look in the dollar section just to mix up the notes

so my clients aren't getting the same ones with each order

plus it makes doing thank you notes for each order so much more affordable instead

of $5-$8 per pack of eight that I seem to go through sometimes in a couple days

 Michael's had some cute ones

have you seen some of them?

I'm in love with how simple they are

fly, shine, discover, and write your own story are the ones I purchased

the girls were with me

 and we found a craft project in the same dollar section

so the trip to Michael's was under $6 including the thank you notes and a craft project for the girls

we found some miniature white bird cages

and put an "h" ball inside of it for Hayley

 and for Madison I just stamped a blank tag I had on hand that Angela had given me

because they are always out of the m's...

so as soon as I find an m ball elsewhere I'll change that out for her

 we cut out miniature butterflies and dragonflies to put at the bottom of the cage

butterflies for Madison

dragonflies for Hayley

{they sure made sure that they did not get mixed up}

I already had the butterfliy and dragonfly punches from awhile back

and newspaper was free

so this literally was a $3 project with them

the punches were a bit difficult for those tiny hands to do themselves

but they enjoyed filling the cages up and putting their tag and ball in the inside

they were little happy campers and some fun smiles from them as we placed the little bird cages on an antique desk in our loft below one of our picture walls

they loved the fact that they put something together below their pictures

now this wall/room has some progress to make

so let this serve as my before picture

the antique desk and chair on the right is from my grandpa

It will stay as is...no painting it

however, the chair on the right

I'll refinish the wood to be white

and sometime next year I'll change the upholstery to a light tan linen fabric

the rocking chair color will probably stay as is...

it was the one I was rocked in as a baby and the same one we used for our girls

don't forget to enter my give-a-way for this Pink Licorice Tutu

you choose the size

last day is tomorrow {Thursday} at midnight

and if you don't have a blog

please leave in the comment a way for me to contact you {e-mail}



tippy toes

standing on your tip toes

is one of the cutest things children do

whether it's to see over the counter to grab those

little cookie crumbs or that extra salsa chip

whether it's Hayley sneaking for another permanent marker out of her stash drawer
or Madison reaching for her tutu off her crown hook in her bedroom

little ones on their tip toes

 always makes me stop

to take in the moment
even for a split second
to remember exactly how sweet childhood was

even if seconds later I am asking them to put that marker back
or "no, not another cookie"

and just maybe
"do you need help with that? can you reach it okay?"

little ones on their tippy toes
reminds me of a time where your thoughts were full of wonder

and your next thought was only if you remembered where you put your princess crown
to complete your outfit

many things signify childhood
but for me...

few things signify it as simply as when I see the girls on their tip toes

the innocence
cuteness
and cleverness
about them

the only time I stand on my tip toes anymore

 is for reaching something off of a shelf

the childlike tippy toe state has now been replaced by day to day tasks

I much rather think of tip toes
from my girl's point of view

full of excitement

smiles

and intention

I'm so excited to share Tippy Toe Tutus

a business by my friend, Tonya

she is sponsoring today's give-a-way

and I hope you love her Tutus as much as my girls do

she is giving away one Pink Licorice tutu

in the size of your choosing
{shown below}





for your little girl
or
for your granddaughter,
neice, cousin,
friend of the family
or other special little girl you would like to surprise

To enter the give-a-way...

visit Tonya's Tippy Toe Tutu website and tell me your favorite tutu

as well as something that signifies childhood to you

leave a second comment if you would like to look her up on facebook under Tippy Toe Tutus

and become a fan of her business

and if you'd like to become a follower of my blog....why yes...comment one more time for another entry and if you are a follower just note that too {in a separate comment}

Winner will randomly be picked on Friday, October 1st
Comments will close Midnight Thursday, September 30th

{Tonya's picture from her website was used with her permission}