blessed beyond measure.

God has been so good to our family. I love that He is always teaching me, always challenging me, and always patient with me. One of my greatest blessings He has given me is my sweet husband Billy.

With Isaac running a nonstop fever and being sick the past week, by the time my birthday rolled around we were all exhausted. Billy had told me about the week before my birthday that he had planned a surprise getaway to San Francisco where he had a "surprise" waiting for me.

However, I woke up Wednesday with a mild headache and I really just wanted to stay in bed and sleep. Billy left early and took the little ones over to my mom's house, who was kind enough to agree to watch all 3 of our boys for the whole day!

I dawdled around till almost 11 am before agreeing to go to SF. And I am so glad I agreed to go.



We started our day with lunch in Union Square at Boudin's. After we headed clear to the other side of SF to the coast to see the Giant Camera. Seeing the ocean made me so happy and the camera was pretty neat too.

Afterwards we headed back to Union Square where Billy grabbed my hand and lead me into the Louis Vuitton store. He walked me up to the counter and told me to pick out a purse. It was one of the best birthday surprises ever. Two years prior, after completing my first full time semester back in school with 2 children and getting straight A's, I awarded myself by buying a Louis Vuitton at that very store in Union Square. Almost one year later we were robbed and my purse was stolen (and also my wedding ring).

I am so blessed that I had a husband who worked SO hard to replace my wedding ring and now to have replaced (and upgraded) my Louis Vuitton bag.

If you know me then you know I love all things classic and so I went with the classic monogram in the speedy 30. Billy included a little gift note that read: You can't spell LOVE without LV. Happy 27th Birthday. I love you. (card is in the center photo featuring a vintage LV ad for Vogue).

He really is an amazing and selfless husband. After leaving Louis Vuitton we stopped by the swanky Hillstone for dinner before retiring back to good ol' Yuba City.

Thanks for making my birthday so special Billy. I love you.

Happy Birthday to Me.

So. Today is not my birthday, but today I stopped contemplating something and just did it and it felt like the perfect early birthday gift!

One, which is not really significant, is that I finally put my order in for a subscription to Anthology magazine. So far they have released 1 issue and the 2nd issue just came out and so I decided to place my order so I can start from issue 2 and slowly build to owning all of them! When Cookie magazine first came out, I bought the very first issue at a Bel Air grocery store and immediately became a subscriber. I love that I own every issue of Cookie and I frequently refer back to them.

Over the last couple years ALL of my favorite magazines have folded...Blue Print, Domino, and even Cookie. I can't tell you how excited I am to actually have a new magazine arriving in my mail. I love blogs, don't get me wrong, but there is just something you can't beat about a well laid out magazine full of inspiration. My lifelong dream was to be a magazine writer but right now I am getting to live out my other dream of being a mother and I can fulfill my creative aspirations writing copy and providing art direction over here, so it's all good!

Speaking of that, I found the first novel I wrote in the 3rd grade (it was a spin off book to the American Girls book collections) and I also started a school newspaper in the 6th grade called C.A.T. Gazette (for Christie, Andrea, and Tiffany..they were my 2 friends I talked into helping :)). Guess I'm kind of dorky but what can I say? I love magazines and I love writing and I can't wait for my first issue of Anthology to get here.

NOW. The big choice I made today was to move money out of our savings and pay off my credit card in full so I can close it. Last year I had 2 credit cards and Billy had 2 as well. We each paid off 1, so we had 2 total. So now I am happy to announce we are down to 1 card in this household and I can't wait to get that one paid off as well.

Because of my resolution to move towards minimalism, I knew it would eat at me if I just let that card linger. Honestly I don't even know where that card is, I haven't used it in forever, but I've just been making a little more than the monthly payments every month and I just decided to bite the bullet and pay the whole thing off.

We have some big news we are announcing (God willing) in May and while it will require us to pad up our savings, pulling some of it out to pay off that card felt absolutely amazing and I know it will serve to benefit us as well down the road for our new ventures this spring.

To be turning 27 and knowing that I have 0 credit card debt was one of the best gifts I could have given myself. I can't wait to put our 12 month plan into action to be able to close Billy's by this time next year so we can announce we have 0 credit card debt as a family. Wish us luck :)

happy pictures...

Sick baby is still sick...but at least he is sleeping! Going through pictures I saved on the desktop and was reminded of how much I love these shoes. Bonus that Billy thought they were pretty awesome too, however he has informed me that he already has my birthday completely planned out and he is promising I am going to love my gift more than these shoes...guess we'll find out. :)

Happy Saturday everyone!

break.

Isaac started running a fever last night and poor little guy has just been miserable ever since...the fever comes and goes but the crankiness is 24/7. :) I finally was able to slide him off of me (after letting him sleep on me for a long while) so I decided to use my little "break" to blog.

The other day I was watching a video of a speech given by Steve Job's (if for some reason you don't know who he is, he is the reason why Apple Computers is what it is). In the speech he said, "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

I found those to be some pretty powerful words and have been thinking about that ever since. In 5 days I am turning 27. The year my mother "officially felt old". :) WELL, I must say while aging does not bother me at all, I have been regularly contemplating WHAT I am doing with my time...and not just my time, but I have been thinking about Billy and our children as well. I consider myself blessed, because even at a young age I have always felt that I had a good sense of who I was and no problem being my "true" self.

I want to make sure that not just I, but my WHOLE family is living their own life. Life is too short to be chasing down things that don't really matter to us. I am fortunate we have been able to send Colby to Faith Christian, where I also went to school, and as much as I love it, I don't want Colby to ever feel (like lots of schools can and do) that there is ONE way to be or ONE career that defines success...truthfully all I really want for any of my kids is for them to know and love God with all their heart. Anything else is secondary.

And then there is Billy...he's already done all the hard work to live out his dream...worked his butt off as a dad, boyfriend, employee and student while putting himself through school at Chico State. Took on an intern and graduated while making the dean's list every semester. And yet for the financial security of our family he has stayed at Sam's and has worked there for almost 11 years!

Well. I think its time that changed. If there is anything that I want for my birthday, its for my family to live OUR lives....not anyone else's idea or version of what they think our life should be.

And I'm not going to lie. It's scary. Terrifying, actually. But we've already began making some changes around here and I've already started to see the benefits of carving out our life.

So I feel like I've just been all over the place with this post...and I think I need to try and rest before Isaac is up again...but I just felt the need to write out some thoughts...

I would love to hear from anyone out there. I know my blog has readers because of all my daily views, though no one ever wants to comment!!! BUT If you do decide to comment I'd love to hear your thoughts....who out there is living an authentic life? Who else is living THEIR own life..and not somebody else's? Advice, feedback...I openly welcome all comments!

whole lotta love...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This morning I woke up to the sweetest gift from my husband and I received some fabulous drawings from my littlest love bandits.

I always wondered if there were special perks to being married to an artist...turns out there are! He water colored the lollipop hearts onto this card and I must say I was impressed with the hand lettered "Happy Valentine's Day"...there's no way I could write that nice! But what I love the most is that Billy bought me a plant...I love flowers but they always die so quickly...in the planter, Billy stuck this little plant stake that says, "Grow Old With Me." It makes me smile every time I see it. And as sappy as it sounds, I think its a good reminder that in order for something to grow..whether it be a plant or a relationship...there has to be nourishment and care...and some sunshine doesn't hurt either. :)

Instead of a card I wrote my message to Billy on this red inflatable heart...I also bought this "Happy Valentine's" kite from an artist in Barcelona (last two pictures in this sequence are her photographs). Isn't it cute? I set them up with a bag full of some of Billy's favorite candy. I know Billy doesn't probably care too much about kite cuteness, so I am sending him off to my spa next week for a massage...which I think every hardworking man deserves. :)

There's also a giveaway going on over at the Hair Pretties page...contest closes on Friday night so be sure to enter!

The sweetest thing.

Seriously one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen...I think I want her! How cute is she wearing the *keeps me searching for a heart of gold* hair pretty?

You can view more of her talented mama's work (or book her for a session) right over here.

Birthday Month!

*how sweet is this photo I received in an email ad from Tiffany's?

How in the world is it already February? While I really am not a fan of Winter, I have to love February because it's my birthday month...and my niece's..and my friend Sarah's! So I am always determined to make February a fun month.

Billy says he has my birthday "all planned out" so we will see what the day holds! In the meantime, can spring come now??