Aug Ladies Night Out

last night's Ladies Night Out at Jakes was such fun! I was impressed with these local vendors ~ their passion and kind hearts are inspiring! 

you guys were all so fun. thanks for joining me!!

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Meet: Me! :) ~ Belle Voir Photography & Thirty-One Gifts

{my Thirty-One table}

 

{these are my "baby bags" I leave in my vehicle. makes for getting out the door on time so much easier. and I'm pretty much always prepared!} 

{both of my tables}

{www.BelleVoirPhotography.com}

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Meet: Debra Handley ~ Trading Hope

{I personally have been blessed by the ministry of "Trading Hope". here's an excerpt from their website, in case you hadn't heard of them before:

"Part international boutique, part contemporary bazaar, Trading Hope is an evolving marketplace. We offer a unique array of distinctive, inspiring items to make your world more beautiful. 

The true beauty of each product is found in the story of hope behind its creation.  Every Trading Hope item is handmade by an artisan whose life has been affected by poverty, injustice, disaster or crisis."} 

{these awesome little toys make fabulous gifts! I bought my nieces and nephew each one for their birthdays. it felt good knowing I was supporting such an amazing cause.}

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Meet: Kim Bowers ~ Kim's Kreations

{my sweet friend Kim MAKES all of her products! and I must say, everything was ADORABLE!!! }

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Meet: Christie Pasma ~ PartyLite

{these incredible candles had the whole coffee shop smelling absolutely magnificent!}

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Meet: Alyssa Leusink ~ Tupperware

{this sweet lady made all of us vendors a spaghetti dinner last night, all done in the microwave, with Tupperware products! so yummy! doesn't she have the cutest baby bump?! :}

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Meet: Brenda Kramer ~ Lia Sophia

{all of the LS jewelry that I have gotten from Brenda is just fabulous!! they have gorgeous and unique products!}

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Meet: Our entertainment for the evening ~ these guys were awesome! Thanks Ryan, Zach, and Joseph! 

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have a magnificently, marvelous evening, darling people! 

15% off August!

my sweet mom (http://www.OptOutOfClutter.com) is a splendiferous professional organizer. she recently forwarded me an email from another fellow pro organizer, who wrote a terrific recommendation for thirty-one. i've selected the excerpts referencing thirty-one from said email :

ecstatic that the word is spreading about thirty-one! 

below are a few pictures from the catalog of some new products/prints that i've fallen in love with...

one of the things i love about being a thirty-one consultant is the incredible sales i am able to provide to my customers. just for the month of august, to celebrate the launch of our new catalog, everything is 15% off! how cool is that?!

interested? click here to browse through more of the new catalog!

Thirty-One: Fall/Winter Catalog!

twice a year, thirty-one comes out with a NEW catalog FULLLLL of incredibly A-DORABLE new products! in just 6 days, the new 2011 fall/winter catalog will available to order from! i am LOVING all the new prints and products! and i am thrilled that they now have a MEN'S line for us! 

click this link to view the NEW catalog!

i am TOTALLY in LOVE with the new enrollment kit! take a look! 

pretty darn cute, huh?! interested in being a Thirty-One consultant? all these fantastically adorable products can be yours for just $99 when you sign up!! Click here to join my team! 


{my consultant id # is 47019}

they call her gramma ~

my boys are so blessed to have such fantastic grandparents! hubby and I both have unendingly loving and supportive parents. incredible!  Today my mum-in-law and I took the boys to our favorite local coffee shop, Jakes, to have have a meeting with the owner about the Ladies Night Out once a month events we are planning. 

I've never lived in a small town before. there's something to be said about knowing almost everyone that walks through the door. Well, I don't know as many folks as my friends who have grown up in this area do. That and the fact that I am ever still forcing myself to get over my fearsome shy side! but, knowing people who know everyone, is intriguing to me! :}  

We had a grand time hanging with Gramma today, as you can tell ... 

isn't she beautiful? :) her love for my boys makes her EVEN MORE so!

every coffee shop should have a comfy orange couch to lounge on while sipping coffee, or, uh, bobbies, as my boys like to do. i've even shot bridal portraits on this very couch before!

 When we got home i was unpacking {because you have to pack as if you were moving out of the country every time you leave the house when you have kids}, I looked down to see my eldest twin ... {he DOES have two legs i promise :}

 No clue what he was doing, but he was VERY intrigued by his carseat. One of those times when I desperately wished for a window into his little brain. I'm sure, if he's anything like his mum, his mind was baby-racing a mile a minute!  

 Tom is such a good boy withe our babes. He's so gentle even when they yank on his fantastic, albeit very tempting-to-pull "hair"! {we don't call it fur, because Tom doesn't HAVE fur. Tom's hair is the type that us women pay THOUSANDS of dollars to have!} 

 It was like CHRISTMAS in my house today! My Thirty-One order arrived from the Ladies Night Out a few weeks back. Even though only 2 things were for me, I was elated while sorting everyone's stuff. 

I finally decided this print is my print! Here's my new Zipper Pouch! Slowly, but surely, I am incorporating 31 items in this most fabulous print into my daily life. I LOVE being so fashionably organized! ;)  

 Happy birthday to my sweet Dad! So wish we could celebrate together!  Boy can this guy play the guitar! I LOVED listening to him play and sing to me as a wee one. He's a quiet, yet strong man, who loves God with all his heart. I admire him for his devotion and faithfulness. 

Love you, Dad!                     

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since you are on the penelope jane blog, here's another P.J. photo fav! my friend kassi's pup missy, letting P.J. know that all was safe, and no hungry kittens were nearby waiting to pounce! this was taken in '09. penelope darling must've been only 6 months or so.

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happy friday night, darlings. enjoy this amazingly refreshing cool weather!

~ l.r.

{operation: baby food}

i've loved this adventure of discovering how to make my own baby food! it's fantastic. here's what i do:


 I boil whatever veggie or fruit I am giving them, then i freeze it in ice trays. Once frozen, I put it in ziplock baggies. Makes it super easy as well as accurate when it's time to feed them. I know they each get X amount of  "cubes"... 

i was out of their food a couple days ago, so it was time to make more. i boiled squash and sweet potatoes. i also boiled organic eggs. {I just introduced them to boiled organic egg yolk this week, for a good source of protein.} i separated the egg yolk from the whites, and saved the whites for my hubby. the yokes i set aside to mix into the baby food. after the food was all done boiling, i used my trusty magic bullet to purée all the food together. {i kept the squash and potatoes separate from each other, but added the boiled yolks, and a little water, to each mixure.}


thanks to my trusty iPhone, i documented it for your viewing enjoyment. :}

{tonight's "dinner" defrosting. well at least for half of us. :}

{these little mesh bags are FAN-frggin-TASTIC! i crush up a "cube" of their frozen food, and then it's ready for them to eat, without me worrying about them choking. genius!!}


 I also juice a lot for my babes, as well as for myself and my hubby. Making homemade juice obviously contains no added sugars, only natural fruit sugars. The reason i find it's beneficial to juice is because it breaks down the fruits and veggies and removes the fiber, which makes it easier for their bodies (and ours! :) to digest. 


I'm not planning to make a habit of giving them too many processed food items or sugars even after the big first year bday. The only processed thing they've had is organic brown rice cereal.
I figure they will have their whole lives to eat whatever they want, so I want to give them the best nutrition I can when they're young. There's tons of different opinions out there, and I am no expert on what is "right or wrong" to give your babes, but this is working really well for us! 

{this nifty contraption is an apple corer from Pampered Chef. since the apple seeds tend to hold in toxins, i use this guy to remove any and all seeds, without having to cut up the whole apple. you can purchase one for yourself from my rad sister by clicking here!

{washing in vinegar to remove any dirt and grime} 

{ready, set, JUICE!}

{after i finish juicing, i make a yummy soup out of the pulp. haha...just kidding. 
this is for the dogs. they freaking LOVE it! they come BOUNDING into the kitchen as soon as they hear me pull out the peeler, and then HOVER the entire juicing process until we get to this part:

yeah, they love this stuff}

{and some is set aside for our iguana}

{i didn't add any celery to my babies juice yet, so the canning jars have the celery added in, for hubby and i. here's what i did with the rest:

i froze it in ice cube trays so that it is a cinch to pull out, plop in a bottle, defrost, dilute, and serve! :}

{of course i had to have a glass after all that hard work! :}

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our ladies night out at jake's coffee shop last thursday evening was fab! so much excitement from the vendors, and visitors. i, myself had an absolutely marvelous time! we are all putting our heads together to come up with a fun once a month event to put on...i'm so excited!

here's a couple pictures:

my Belle Voir Photography table 

my Thirty-One table

i was so proud of these hand made flowers! i made them earlier that day, and had to show them off! :)

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the other day i was typing an email, and as ALWAYS seems to happen to me, i wrote, "i am attaching a file for you to look at", but of course i DIDN'T remember to attach it before pressing "send".

so what does my "smatter than me" gmail do? why it grew a brain and a conscience, and thoughtfully alerted me with this message:

Did you mean to attach files?

You wrote "I've attached" in your message, but there are no files attached.  Send anyway?

like the child that i am, i tried it 2 or 3 {ish :} more times before attaching the file, out of pure curiosity and awe! it NEVER would let me send, no matter how many times i pressed "send". i first had to either click "send anyway" {which i did NOT do}, or {like i finally did, once i was done goofing around} go back and add the file that caused such a ruckus. oh gmail, i love you!

a few days ago i bought myself a paper cutter. i am embarrassed to admit just how completely stoked i am over my new little paper cutter. to my defense, i literally am the world's WORST "free hand" paper cutter. literally. this new gadget is marvelous! it even has a SCORING BLADE! i can't believe i am admitting this, but i had to consult my friend Google again...i had NO CLUE what a scoring blade was! i'm thrilled to learn what it's useful for!

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in honor of father's day, a couple of my favorite childhood "daddy and me" memories . . . 


every time i had a loose tooth, i would wait in excited anticipation for my dad to get home from work. then he and i would choose which one {usually i was too freaked} would yank it out {because i have absolutely NO PATIENCE at all whatsoever, so as soon as i felt it budge the TINIEST bit, it HAD TO COME OUT!}!  after the extraction, i would head off to bed, feeling a little wiser {haha}, and awaiting the "tooth fairy"! dad was always so excited for me when i would lose another tooth!


he worked on a construction sight. some nights he would have to work all through the night. occasionally my sisters and i would have the exciting honor of going with him to the job sight, and camping out in the car, while he worked. i remember how stoked dad was to have his girls with him. he would spoil us with the best food ever on those trips. we always looked forward to those times with great anticipation!


one sunday after church, he took me and one of my sisters to work with him, and let us "drive" one of those MONGO cranes commonly found on construction sights. this was quite the bragging story for me growing up . . . "well, i've driven a HUUUUUGE crane before!" said the 7 year old, to another 7 year old, who was green with envy. :}


i love you, Dad!! happy Dad's day!


and happy father's day weekend, everyone!!