10 Year Reunion

This is me just minus 10 years.

Hi!

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I will be attending my first high school reunion, our 10 year reunion.  I cannot believe that its been 10 years.  I look at that girl in the picture and I still  feel like I am that 18 year old girl whereas my body tells me otherwise. BOO. HISS. Damn you body!

I would love to time travel to back 10 years and have a nice little chit chat with this young girl.  So in the spirit of my 10 year reunion and due to the fact that time travel is not an option I am going to talk to my 18 year old self through this little blog of mine.  Yay!

So C,

Look around at the friends and family standing by your side.  These are the same people who will be there for you when your heart is broken and help pick up the pieces, when you accept your first real big girl job, the day you walk down the aisle to your very own prince charming, and the moment where you meet the little girl who changes it all.   Call it lucky, or maybe call it a blessing, call it whatever you want but you surrounded yourself among some amazing men and women then and continue to do so today.


Trust in your heart.  It will not lead you astray.  In the end, LOVE does concur all.  And in those moments when you are feeling down and out about it all just get out and dance.  In college you will have the opportunity to live with two of your best friends and unfortunately you will never get that opportunity again.  Whoop it up. Drink, dance and be merry.  It all works out in the end. I promise.

For the love of God please pay attention in math class.  PLEASE.  Your math grades, your college professors, your parents who pay for your college, and all the tutors you hire would greatly appreciate it.  As would I.

Your dream of being a stay at home mom does comes true, and not only that but your kid is freaking awesome.  

Just remember to keep that smile on your face and continue to stay true to yourself.  The next ten years are going to be amazing and a fun crazy ride.

Happy Halloween!!

Be prepared to die of total cuteness overload. Lamb style.

Um, I am not too sure about this new outfit mom.

Baaaaaaa!!

Can you please get this thing off of me?

Puuuuurty please?!

Peace out!

;) In all seriousness she really didn't mind the costume.  As a matter of fact she didn't even fight the lamb headpiece.  I was actually shocked about that part.  The only complaint I think she had with it was that it was a total pain in the rear to get up from a sitting position to walking.  

Now pumpkin carving is a whole other story.

You carve dad.  I'll just relax right here.

Um, What do you want me to do with this thing?

Um yeah dad.  Get this thing off my highchair.

Ew, totally gross. 

Even if Gianna didn't enjoy the whole pumpkin carving tradition the whole day was a ton of fun and the pumpkins came out really pretty.

Hope you all had a great holiday too!!

Gianna's 1st Birthday.

I know I know.  I have been a bad blogger.  Its just that I have so much to write and yet nothing at all.  Its all random piddly things that I am not even sure I care enough about to blog about it so why would anyone else care to read it?  I am finding that I'm lacking the energy, time, or creativeness to even come onto blogger to make a post.  Do I go on everyday and post topics and pictures of my kid??  Should this place be more about me?  Is there even a me without my kid anymore?  I am at war with my blog.  Quite frankly, I thought of just throwing the whole thing out the window.  Meh.  For those who care... my apologies for being an uninspired slacker.

Enough about all that.

Gianna celebrated her FIRST birthday last weekend!! It was such a fun and wonderful time.  I decided to go with the Mod Monkey theme for her birthday.  I thought I could do a ton with the pink and green colors and with a splash of monkey thrown into the mix.

I found invitations that I fell in love with on etsy but the only problem was that they originally didn't have a monkey on it.  And if I was going to have a Mod Monkey party Gianna's invites had to have a monkey on them.  I asked the seller if she could put the monkey on the invite and after a few tweeks.... viola.  I loved them even more and purchased them.  (Obviously I put Gianna's sweet face in the invite.)

Mod Monkey Birthday Sample Invite

I loved our cake.  Seriously 100% loved it.  When it came time to cut the cake to give to everyone I almost didn't want to.  It was too dang pretty to mess up.  The inside of the cake was strawberry flavored with vanilla frosting.  I needed the inside of the cake to match the outside decor too.

Cake Table

Gianna's Mod Monkey Smash Cake.

Top of Gianna's Mod Monkey Cake.

The most beautiful Mod Monkey Cake I have ever seen. ;)

I wanted something fun for the kids to do so I picked up monkey masks at JoAnn Fabric.  They were only a dollar apiece and went perfectly with the theme of the party.

Craft Station.  Monkey Masks.

Green plates and napkins and pink forks, knives, and spoons.

Centerpieces.

I was a bit disappointed with the centerpieces.  When I ordered them I read that they were going to be five inches tall and instead they were about three.  They did not make the statement that I was hoping they would.  Although I was disappointed the kids loved them and took them home when the party was over.  

Gianna's High Chair.

I made this High Chair Banner with my Cricut Machine. 

Happy Birthday Banner Made with my Cricut.  

I bought a circut machine this summer and had a blast using it for the decorations for this party.  I found the directions to make a monkey on this blog.  Only change I made to it was by adding a little flower to the monkeys head.  I made the circular like portion of the banner by using the Lacy Lite Cartridge.

 For favors I made Oreo Pops with banana runts in a bag tied to them.  I attached a little circle that said thank you and gave one to each person that attended our party.

Oreo Pops

Since we did not have the party at our home in hometown it was important to me to display some pictures of Gianna in the room. I ended up putting up a newborn pic, 3 month pic, 6 month pic, 9 month pic and her birthday invitation.

The wall of G.

And now pictures of the party. :)

Coloring the Monkey Masks.

Gianna and her cousin, Landon, making their mask.

My family. 

Gianna and Nonna.

Gianna in her 1 birthday bib made by my best friends mom. 

Hubs grabbing grub.

Gianna's party dress minus her tights and shoes.  It got hot with all the guests so we took them off. 

Gianna is loved.

Opening up her gifts. 

Ohhh.. she's pretty.

What the heck are these?

All done opening gifts!  YAY!

And now its time for cake!

Sharing her cake.

Cake was everywhere.

Where did it all go?!

She loved her cake.  She ate and ate and ate.  I finally took the cake away cuz it looked like she was going to devour the whole thing.  Gianna was not please and was not having it. She screamed and cried until we gave it to her again.  She ate almost 99% of her cake.  Thankfully she did not have a tummy ache following that.  

All in all it was an amazing day.  We were so thankful for the family and friends who were able to come and spend this special day with us.  Gianna is such a lucky girl to have so many near and far who love her and want to be a part of her life. 

Abruzzi, Italy

In Abruzzi we were surrounded by serene and stunning views.  

We did lots of good eating on this leg of our trip. 

My Aunt grilling lamb kabobs thingy mcgiggers

Hubs wasn't complaining about all the yummy food.

You order a glass of wine and get a plate full of food at no extra charge.

We played at the beach.

We did loads of shopping and lounging around too.

But best of all we got to spend time with our loved ones.  

My Uncle "teaching" Jess to play the accordion.

They do not make them tall like Hubs in Italy.

And before we knew it, it was time to leave for Sicily. Time flew by too quickly at my Aunt and Uncles and God willing we want to visit them again in the next few years.  

My sweet angel slept through most of the flight.

Pics of our time spent in Sicily will be up hopefully this week. :)