Mommin' It Up!

May 2, 2012May 12, 2012

Beauty by Example (and a giveaway!)

My mother is beautiful. She always has been. I hope and pray I have her smooth skin and her dark hair when I am her age. She has yet to start coloring her hair and I’ll be polite and not tell her age. But she was almost 30 when I was born and I’m 34…sooo…

Anyway, she is beautiful.

Here we are on my wedding day. We both look a lot different now.

(But still totally hawt, right?)

I’ve said before on this blog that my mom is the best mom ever. And it’s true. Really, if I can be half as good, my kids will be so lucky. I hope I can be. (Alas, my father is fond of telling me, “Girl, you got every bad trait I have.” Ha!)

But my mom isn’t just a good mom. She’s an amazing PERSON. My mom is the true definition of a person who is beautiful inside and out. She has shown me time and again what it means to be a servant. She served little children as a Sunday school teacher, kindergarten and preschool teacher for years. Now that is something that takes a loving, beautiful heart! She still serves her children even though we are all grown up, helping us take care of our own kids when we need it, even doing driving duty when our kids have more places to be at than we can be in at one time. She volunteers doing funeral dinners at church, making sure a bereaved family will not have to worry about feeding a crown of mourners. She serves, and that is beautiful.

My mother is beautiful inside and out, and she has shown me beauty by example. I hope I can do the same for my daughter.

In honor of Mother’s Day, Olay has started a “Beauty by Example” Facebook page. If you go like their page, click on “Beauty By Example” and sign the declaration that your mom shows you Beauty by Example, P&G P&G will donate one ounce of Olay product (up to one million ounces) to look good feel better – a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the self-esteem and quality of life of women undergoing treatment for cancer.

And to keep your outside looking beautiful (because I know your hearts are gorgeous!), we’re giving away an awesome prize pack of P&G Beauty products, too so you can pamper yourself! Just leave a comment on this post telling us how your mom has shown you beauty by example. The winner will be chosen at 6pm on Wednesday, May 9th. Good luck!

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Thanks for showing me what beauty really is!

May 2, 2012May 1, 2012

Pin for the Wednesday: Cute Frog Cupcakes

It’s Wednesday! And since I’ve been soooo crazy getting ready to get on a plane with Emily to go to Miami for Mom 2.0 Summit thanks to Lands’ End, I haven’t tried any new pins this week. OH WAIT! Yes, I did actually, but it was a GIANT FAIL. I’ll save that one for our opposite-PinFTW that we are sure to have one Wednesday! But for a winner, here’s one I did awhile back to celebrate Leap Day with my kids. Cute frog cupcakes! Get it? ‘Cause frogs LEAP! Here’s the original pin:

And here’s how mine turned out:

I know, I know, they’re not as cute as the original, but I hate coloring icing, so I used white icing and dipped the cupcake in green sprinkles. For the eyes I used white York Peppermint Patty Pieces (like Reese’s Pieces) and I used black gel icing for the eyeballs and mouth.

My children were duly impressed, and we had fun making them! They decorated their own.

Show us what you GOT! Do you have Pinterest prowess?? Link up below, or if you don’t have a blog, leave a comment. Just pretty please follow our rules:

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Happy pinning!!

May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

Can I borrow your Xanax?

I don’t know if it would be Jenny or me who would use it, but one of us is going to need to.

You see, Thursday we’re flying to Miami. And Sunday we’re flying home.

Which means, chemicals are in order.

Jenny is a bit of a nervous flyer. She’s also nervous about:

— Missing our flight out of Dayton. Because, you know… well, I don’t know what could possibly happen to cause that, but whatever.
— Missing our connection out of Atlanta. We have an hour and 45 minutes between flights, and both are Delta so I’d imagine the gates are both in concourse B. (ATL and I are going to be BFF after this week is over, as I will have been there four times in 11 days.)
— Our luggage not arriving. I would say this is #1 on Jenny’s “things to freak out about” list. Basically, I think, because our luggage will contain our new fabulous Lands’ End wardrobes. And let’s face it, losing them would be tragic. However I don’t think it’s likely to happen!
— Missing the Mom 2.0 White Party. Again, not sure what she thinks might happen, but believe me she is all hyped up about it.
— (This one might be my favorite.) A super-awesome person might ask Jenny to go on a photo walk, and Jenny won’t have anything to wear because all our LE clothes are dresses. Do not ask me how she dreamed that one up, but she was serious enough about it that she ordered a pair of LE shorts just in case.

What am I missing, Jen?

On the other hand, my list of much-more-reasonable stressors is as follows (shockingly, most are of the social variety):
— Flying with Jenny. Fortunately, thanks to my stint in first class last week, I know that Delta serves vodka tonics. $7 a pop will be well worth it.
— Hugging. I am so socially awkward that I never know when hugging is appropriate and when it’s not. Basically I never initiate hugs and then look like a jerk. Or at least I think I do.
— People we don’t know not understanding that Jenny really does not take herself seriously. You see, she’s posted things like “I think I’m hilarious” and “I don’t know if you all have heard, I mean, you MAY have missed it but I think I’ve mentioned once or twice that Emily and I? Are FREAKING FABULOUS!” and whatnot and shameless self-promotion (even though she’s joking!) makes me nervous! But Jenny is about 1000 times less socially awkward than I am, so I’m sure it’ll all work out for her and she’ll have 45 new BFFs before the weekend is over.
— Elevators. Jenny. Enough said.

So, yeah. Can I borrow your Xanax?