place your order

So I was actually contemplating making one of those fun Williams Sonoma Easter Bunny cakes this year. The guilt from not making the birthday cake is/was/is setting in a tad...although I think I am the only one that truly cared. ANYWAYS...I just quickly changed my mind because 7 minutes ago I got an email from my favorite online bakery,The bangerang bake Shop, and a 15% coupon and well...the order has been placed. I could not resist. How smart are they? FIRST they come up with the cupcake in a jar concept and THEN they email me right before lunch...helllooooo...BRILLIANT!

Now go...order a couple for yourself...and tell them I told ya to. I don't know why...maybe they will toss in a vanilla cupcake with princess icing in my order...lol! Because that is what my growing bootay needs right now...cupcakes!

If you want the 15% off...use the coupon code bangerangbunny .

I'm backkkk.

Happy Sunday.

Disneyland was wonderful. If you need a good idea for how to celebrate your kids birthday this year...Disneyland. That is their thing. It is the year to "celebrate you" and so they do...all over the place. One would think a kid would get sick of hearing "happy birthday princess" 400 times...but no...not mine.

So I have to play catch up today...but check these pictures out. The one silhouette I just love. Done in a little shop on Main Street and the woman literally did it in 3 minutes. It was insane. I love people with crazy talents like that.

Lets see what else can I post. I will post a couple birthday pics. The etsy necklace...oh and Dacia from Lima Bean Kids sent my girls these suitcases...I know it is a crummy picture but the girls sure loved the suitcases. It is PERFECT for their barbie clothes. In fact it is very retro-ey...reminds me of being a little girl for some reason. Maybe I had one. Not sure.

So I am off to fill as many orders as I can cram into a Sunday while my children are still enamored with the new Hannah Montana Malibu Dream House that the birthday girl got. It is actually pretty sweet.

Ok...and I tossed in the picture of the barbie cake. This is the first year I have not made a fancy cake of some sort. How could I when I was entranced with the new Toy Story ride at California Adventures (omg...that is FUN!) so I ordered the Barbie cake from Target Greatland. It was actually really good. Highly recommend.

Lumpy Bumpy Itchy and B%^$Y

My kids, my hubby, my hives and I are off to the land of the Mouse. We have managed to not tell the kids...lol. So this is how we are telling the little one. I made her a little shirt tonight (egad...that thing took me forever)...do you think she will get it??? lol. It is awfully sparkley. We will see. She has an equally sparkly Birthday Shirt for Friday...her actual birthday.

So don't hate me because I will not be posting from the road...but I will return Sat and I promise to have something good then:)

Not one but TWO shout outs today! I love that.

Check these out...

first it was here

and now

here

Thats so awesome. Made my day (of course this was after I spent the morning at the allergists...so my mood was just waiting to jump back to happy!)

what do you think of these?

Easter...

whoops...this is gonna cost me

I am no cleaning expert...in fact I kinda suck at it. House cleaning...clothes cleaning...all of it. I am not filthy now...don't take it that way...I just am not good at cleaning things. It is a good thing my mother lives 2 blocks away for 6 months of the year because when my kids have a major (needs to soak in some magic elixor for 2 days) spill on something they own...I just take it over there and miraculously it gets cleaned. But a couple weeks ago my kids came home from field day at school and I have never seen anything so dirty in my life. Ew ew ew. I marched them directly into the shower and their running shoes got soaked and then put in the washer...cough cough...ya...now see I THOUGHT I was being the good clean everyone up mom...but instead when it came time for them to put their running shoes back on for school today...either BOTH of them had major foot growth spurts or I shrunk their nikes. Nice. Ahhhhgg.

Anyways...that brings me to the purchase of the day (actually...I had to purchase alot today do to the upcoming birthday AND the stinkin nail in my tire...my brand new tire and is now really REALLY brand new $300 tire...grrr). So I headed over to zappos to see what they had shoe wise and I was delightfully surprised as kids running shoes are pretty darn cute these days. I like color...and I like retro (because I don't want to feel old...so if someone comes up with something that reminds me of MY childhood...I am sucked in instantly.)

Check these all out. I just need to narrow it down. If you have seen some funky ones somewhere...let me know.


UPDATE: oh...my...god...ok I take it back when I said that if something reminds me of my youth I am sucked in...look at that REEBOK! Ya...I had those back in 1986 in white...and they need to stay in 1986...even I wouldn't do that to my poor kid. Thats funny though.

we found something she doesn't complain about...ever

ok...she has only had 6 lessons so be nice:)

someone talk me out of it...

Ok...just so you know...I have a hair fetish thing. Actually I used to. Pre-hives. Pre-prednisone...pre-30'3. I was not afraid. I have had the platinum pixie...which I then died black when the roots were growing out. I have had pink stripes. I have had everything. People used to not recognize me because I always had majorly different hair than the last time they saw me. Lol. I think it was/is/was an identity crisis. But that was back when all I had to worry about was my hair. These days are filled with worrying about weather I am going to wake up in the morning with my lips swollen so much they could swallow a small child...no joke...it can be badddd. Anyways. Because I have no time to think about trivial things like...oh...my hair (which for the record is very straight...very thin...very boring) I have let it grow. For the first time in probably 10 plus years it is almost beyond the "medium" stage and on its way to "long"...yikes. This is a major accomplishment for me. I cannot stand my hair on the back of my neck usually so instead of putting it up in a something...I would just chop it. But since I am so full of medication right now that I would probably not feel someone jabbing an epidural into my spine right now...I apparently don't care about my hair on my neck. And voila. Long hair.

This was all good until I saw this picture today of Gwynnie. Could this be any more perfect hair? Seriously. Of course I realize it has alot to do with the face too...but come on. So I need someone to talk me out of it. Because I am bored and apparently want to chop chop.

Oh heck...just for fun...I will try to find a couple old photos in case you didn't believe me that I was so brave. The photo with the hat is the most recent. There are not that many photos of my floating around this world. I HATE photos of me, I much prefer to be the one taking the pictures and if someone else has the camera in hand...I will dive, quite happily, as far as I have to to not be in the photo.

Well...

...I had to...nuff said.

Do you need a new hobby?

Because I know you all like to look at pretty stuff. And well if you are like me...you like to dabble in a little bit of everything. Now I can sew...kinda. I sew quite well basic stuff because I like to pay attention to detail...but what I don't like is having to follow patterns. Yikes. Thats where my adult ADD kicks in (self diagnosed). So as much as I would love to sew fantabulous dresses for my children all funky and such...I am stuck with skirts and basic silhouettes...BUT...what you can do then to jazz 'em up is add a little bit of sumpin sumpin. Aka rhinestones (I am officially addicted) or embroidery. I cannot leave anything alone. You would think I was sick of rhinestones but I am not. I bought one of my girls a Junk Food tee the other day, it was Tony the Tiger and Snap, Crackle and Pop (the rice krispie dudes) and well...something was missing. Not anyyyyymoooorrrre. Now they are all blinged up (yes I put those lead stricken swarovskis on my own kids clothes...hopefully my 8 year old will not have an urge to eat Tony the Tiger).

So...if you are looking to spend some money on a hobby you didn't know you needed to take up...head on over to Sublime Stiching. It truly is sublime. I was commenting on Angela's blog last night that I too own all the sumblime stitching patterns because honestly...once you start you cannot stop. It is fun. And you can stitch on anything. Pillow cases...towels...dresses. You name it and I bet you can make it better with a cute little embroidered camper!

Man some days just stink you know?

I can't really put my finger on it...but today was a yucky day from the moment I woke up (ya hives SUCK) to trying to print stuff off my computer. The girls are on spring break and I am trying to entertain them while fulfilling orders...which would be great and dandy if my stupid printer was not giving me 'tude today. Then (and this will sound dumb) but I had ordered 2 adorable dresses from Madison and Friends (which I usually love...but not right this second) about 3 days ago and just got an email that they cannot find them. Joy. Grrrr. Those were the girl's easter dresses. Sigh. I so understand when something comes up like that but can I say that I have had my eye on those dresses for over 2 months. Ya. Not neither of them can be found? Are you kidding me?

Oh then what happened I don't know. Stuff. All sucky stuff.

So will someone please make me this because I really think it would make me feel better.

Kapow...one loves his one doesn't...lol

Could these little dudes be ANY cuter? Little Gabe loves his #3 tee and then poor little Miles put his on and clearly he is having a 2 year old moment. Its ok...because I think I had a 2 year old moment today as well. Don't you just wanna hug them both?

Little boys are so darn cute. I was checking out the Mini Boden catalog yesterday and omg...I LOVE their boys stuff. The girls stuff is cute too...but there is something about their boys shorts and hoodies and well...I don't have a boy so I guess I just dream of who I know that needs boys clothes. So I sent the email to my sister who has 2 extremely cute little dudes and all the good pieces were gone in their size. Isn't that just a kick in the head? I hate that.

So thank you both Denise and Betsy for taking some super cute pics of the boys. I love them all.

And if you have not gotten ahold of anyone having a Matilda Jane Trunk show...you missed out woman...that stuff rocked this season.

Desert Botanical Gardens

We have lived here on and off for 14 years (yikes) and never gone to the Desert Botanical Gardens. So for all of you that have never been to Phoenix and think it is just boring and brown...you have to go to the Desert Botanical gardens here. It is fabulous. So beautiful. There are zillions of types of cactus...and yes, lots of them bloom beautiful flowers. But check out the glass artwork they have there as well...wow. Breathtaking.

There was also a butterfly exhibit. Too cool. They loved my dads yellow shirt. He was covered in them. I know it may sound creepy butterflies all over the place but it was too beautiful to be creepy. Trust me. Even my kids didn't freak out. They loved it.

That one picture of the crazy looking saguaro is so cool. When you see a saguaro do that, it is called a crested saguaro. And it is very rare. It is like a deformity but it makes it rare and super expensive. Plus that one is cresting all over the place. Saguaros are expensive to start with. About $100 a foot. Yikes. Then if it is crested it triples in price. They grow slow. And I think it takes about 50 years or so to start growing one arm. We got lucky and have a big one in our front hard...but you don't see huge ones in peoples yards too often just because they are expensive and you need to be careful how you plant them so they don't fall over on your house.

Yikes...I got nothin

I will post more later. But I will say that I just got this necklace in the mail. Totally forgot I ordered it from a fabulous etsy-er and well...it is awesome. So well made. And $35...please...that is a steal. I had ordered it for my daughters birthday. We call her lili loo lollipop...so I did the lili loo...and then a dangley lollipop charm...the charm does look more like a blowpop, but hey...thats a lollipop so whatever...it is stinkin cute.

And here is a funny pic I took this weekend. It is warming up here in ol Arizona...and my parents heat their pool to 90. Ours doesn't heat up until June...which is totally fine with me because let me tell you...2 months plus of swimming every day and you want to drain the damn thing and make a skate ramp out of it. Blah. Swimming. Blah.

The hotel is booked...

see...I just had to make up my mind and do something...so I booked the hotel and we are off to the Land of the Princesses.

Now...if someone can tell me where I can purchase this poster please let me know. I need it...I mean *cough cough* my daughter needs it. Ha.

Oh ya...and Shannon...if you and Madison need to make a trip to Disneyland anytime soon...it would be just terrible if we bumped into you there and you caught some fab pics...don't ya think? How horrible to get a fabulous photo on those pesky brightly colored tea cups. Oh my!

Ok forget it...plans have changed

Man have I had the strangest day. Sigh. Some days just dissapoint ya know?

Anyways...I have decided that all birthday party plans are on hold and we are going to swoop up the princess and take her to her favorite place on earth...she goin' to Disneyland! Wheeee. We love Disneyland. No horror stories...we just love it all. The girls are in their element there...and well...did I mention that we love it.

It is only a 5 hour drive from us so off we will go. BUT...we are not telling the kids...gotta keep this one under wraps. Not sure how we will spring it on them, but since she is in rare "party planning" mode right now...we are going to have a little shindigity when we get back. Who knows. I am am easy. But just look at her face here...this was a year and a half ago or so...she loved it! Who am I to deny her of that.

Sooo...what do you think?

First of all can I just say that my readers have the best ideas? Janelle...you and I are soooo on the same page! That is exactly what I was thinking, pink and black with just the barbie head silhouette! I already found the "barbie font"...did you even know there was a Barbie font? And April...you crack me up...girl I would like to check out the bookmark folder on your computer because I am thinking it looks something like mine:)

So I now have loaded the girls and boys tees on my site. Can I just say that my new boys number tees are my new favorites? So bright and fun...who says a boy cannot wear a little bit o metallic? Can you not just picture these on a cute little dude, with his funky jeans and surfer hair? So cute.

check this out!

Oh how I love shout outs. Love it. Look at this one! Not only that but this blog from Giftfully Simple just saved me alot of work (and possibly cost me some more money). Last year I made my daughter a rainbow layer birthday cake. Hang on, maybe I can find a photo. It was pretty good,BUT, a couple months ago I had seen a recipe for a different kind of rainbow cake and well...I like color. So I know I book marked it somewhere on my computer, but if you saw the books marks on my computer you would think I am nuts! SO...in wakes Apple of My Eye today and boom, not only does she have my new sparkle mix up tee highlighted on there, BUT...she also has THE rainbow cake recipe! Is the woman reading my mind?

Seriously, you don't know happy this made me. I kinda think I am even more excited about the recipe than the shout out! Ha. Priorities dear.

Ok...I will try and find a photo of last years birthday cake. Hang tight. Ok...there it is...told you I was not Betty Crocker.

What a great blog this Giftfully Simple is though...talk about a life saver! They hav the greatest ideas...and clearly good taste:)

uh oh...someones birthday is coming up...help!

This is sooo not like me. I always have a plan for my kids birthdays. Like a month or 2 before. My oldest daughter did have a couple huge shindigs for her 1st-5th birthday...my youngest...just had family parties. I have done a good job of taking their minds off the fact that just because every kid they go to school with is not in our home celebrating with them...it can still be a party...and you know what, not once has there been a complaint from either of them. Now don't get me wrong, my kids have some super sweet friends and my youngest has a good handful that would have great fun at a birthday tea party...BUT...I am just not into it this year. Not. At. All. (perhaps it is a good thing one of my antihistamines is also an antidepressant...hmmmm...unfortunatly not in the small dosage that I take it. Darnit. I could use an upper every once in awhile.

ANYWAYS (man do I digress alot) my point is that the kids b-day is in a couple weeks and I have nothing planned. She does though. She pulled a page out of the new family fun magazine of a Princess and the Pea cake...HELLO! Clearly she does not realize that I make rhinestone shirts...I am no Betty Crocker.

In my 20 minutes that I devoted to this task yesterday, I got a fabulous idea in the form of an ad from Toys r Us. Barbie. How revolutionary I know. But its Barbies birthday and well...simple idea. Then I ran into my first road block. I wanted to find some birthday supplies that just had the Barbie Silhouette on them...you know the one. And to my total disgust...all the barbie birthday supplies are basically just Barbie and the Diamond princess or whatever the heck that is. What ever happened to simplicity? I need simple. So now I am stuck again...and all I managed to buy was a Malibu Barbie because well...look at her...ahhh...if that doesn't take you right back to your childhood (no seriously if that doesn't you are way to young to be my friend! lol).

If you have any fabulous ideas how I can do this barbie birthday party for just my kid, her sister and our family...please let me know!

I'm a bad bad blogger...sorry

Ok...so apparently I am a little missed when I don't blog...I LOVE that! Please yell at me...it makes me feel missed.

No I did not fall off the deep of my hives...but I tell ya...I could. Tonight I googled "cronic hives,cleanse, HELP!" And well...a zillion things came up as you can imagine. I am thinking a week of water and rice and that would tell me if it was something I am ingesting. Speaking of ingesting...I went to the store and bought one of those pill holders...you know the monday-sunday pill containers. It honestly is that bad. When you have to take 10 pills a day at different times...you start to zone out. And it was warming up today...about 77 but felt like 90 in the car pool line...I was going NUTS with itching. This could be a very long summer for me.

So...where have I really been? Well to tell you the truth...A. I am feeling a tad sorry for myself these days...and hiding out in my home which leads me to B. brand spankin new ideas and I LURV them. Wheeeeee. I have so many new ideas floating through my head that I need to zone in on just a few. So. For now I am leaving you with a couple little hints...I originally set out to make some new tees for boys...but they were so cute I thought...hey...maybe some funky chicks would like them too! So...boom...let me know what you think. I will have the rest up tomorrow.

is it wrong to want to rename your kids?

One of the many fun parts of my "job" is that most of the items I do are personalized...and so each one is totally different. Throughout the zillions of leggings I have done, I have come across some extremely cool names that I WISH I had heard before I had kids of my own. Ha. Terrible I know. ANYWAYS...another part is that I really love it when customers are super specific...this does not in any way mean super difficult...it means they want something very specific...maybe they have found a perfect skirt and are trying to match a shirt or leggings to it. This is great. I love that. Please do not hesitate to be super specific if you are looking for something. Telling me the exact colors for each letter...bring it...I love details. I have lots and lots of colors of stones and we can match most everything.

So here are 3 pairs of leggings I just did today for a lady who clearly has good taste because A. she was buying 3 pairs of leggings from me and B. she has the coolest names for her kids! Hellooo...

I am also posting a pic of a Big Sister tee. Again...just because I don't have something listed on my site does not mean I won't make it for ya! Just ask!

On a different note, because I have had people ask me about my hives...well I wish I could give some good news...but I can't...I am a mess. Today especially. Not sure what is going on but they seem to be getting worse by the day. I think the steroids are officially out of my system (but left a trail of bad skin, moodiness and about 8 pounds...nice) and the hives are now breaking through my zantac/zyrtec/benedryl combos I got going on. I am heading back to the allergist in the morning to add something in. I feel like I am at McDonalds or something ordering a combo meal...ha...we just need to figure out the right combination of meds to get this crap under control.

It sucks...I won't lie. I am jumping out of my skin today.

lmnop

If you have a few minutes to spare this morning...or whenever...you have to check out the new issue of lmnop. I love it. It is just fun to flip through. Great ideas. Always makes me realize how boring I am. Anyways...click here...to download the newest issue of the magazine.

Today is the last day...

Ok...if you have not perused the Matilda Jane Catalog of all the new Spring/summer items yet...you are missing out. There is no way that you will not find something you love and just have to have :p Today is the last day of my online Trunk show. So check it out...here...and if you find something good (hello Blue Bird dress...I must have you)and then email

Christy Ingle at christyi@matildajaneclothing.com and she can take care of your goodies for you...please tell her you are from the Cristy Leonard Trunk show.

Ok...I am off to work on my new boys birthday tees! Wheeeeee...crossing my fingers they turn out like the vision I have in my head.

ps...can you believe these pics that Shannon Stewart has done! That woman is beyond fantastic. I am going to get her to come to Phoenix to do a family shoot in the fall...I need about 5 other families in Phoenix to join me to have mini sessions...email me if you are interested. But I don't want family pics...lol...I want fun ones of my kids! Why would I get in the picture and ruin it? No thanks.