:: SPONSOR WELCOME ::

Meet Casey Leigh... blogger, mom, fashion lover, cook, and artist. She documents the joys, frustrations and triumphs of her life on a regular basis. She is one busy mama living in Dallas and raising her two children, creating her own art while running an art gallery. I love how honest she is on her blog. That's my kind of girl! Check out her blog and you will sure to be inspired!

For one Cakies reader, Casey is giving away a $50 credit to put towards ad space, an art print, a necklace or a blog design. You choose! To win, here are some things you can do:

1. Leave a comment telling me about one of your favorite blogs.
2. Blog, tweet, or facebook about this giveaway and leave each separate links here.

The giveaway will end at 8am PST on Thursday, January 19th. Good luck! Many thanks to Casey Leigh!!!

casey leigh art...

casey leigh blog...

MY STYLE RESOLUTION

Modcloth asked me if I had a style resolution and my answer is... yes! Wear more wedges!

I think I have always paired wedges with a dress thinking I had to be a bit fancier to wear them, but I want to learn to pair them with jeans and wear them more often. I usually wear stacked heels and clogs of late, but I think more wedges are right up my alley for this year. Especially pairing them with jeans and not just dresses and they aren't so bad for chasing after kids, just don't run too fast. They are much better than heels that's for sure.

This budapest wedge from modcloth was a very good start. It is kinda loafer-ish, but with a nice wedge. I love the height it gives me and for me, wearing something with a lift somehow gives me better posture. Better posture is always good.

I kept the outfit pretty neutral but added a pop of color with my kelly green bag I got from Anthropologie. After turquoise, kelly green is my second favorite color! It was a steal of a deal when it was the fifty percent off sale and I couldn't pass it up (I had a gift card after all) and I have always wanted a pretty kelly green leather bag. Of course, I am also in love with my cool, geometric ring from Osnat Har-noy. I am a sucker for chunky rings. Love them!

Do you have any style resolutions?

What I'm wearing... shirt, vintage. jeans, f21. bag, anthro. budapest wedges c/o modcloth. bracelets, handmade by anne potter. ring, osnat har-noy.

HUZZAH!

I am not sure what's going on this weekend, but I just want to hang out with my family. I think everyone is finally well, so it will be nice to just kinda chill. Of course, we also get to see our church family on Sunday.

This week's learned and links...

- Meal planning. Finally starting. Wanna join me? Here is the menu for this week.

- Glow is so giggly and happy and has had more nights of sleeping through the night than not. That is good for this mama.

- After cleaning my closet, I have come to the conclusion, I need more tops. I have tons of dresses and bottoms, but not enough tops. *as ben rolls his eyes*

- Brave has really got some good dance moves. That girl puts on a show for us every night.

- Soul now says, "Mama, I hungry." "Glow cry." Talking is coming to her slowly, but it is coming.

- I want the colder weather to come back. Not this summer stuff we are going through.

- Danni's post and comments were really interesting to read.

- In love with all jewelry from this artist. I got this necklace and love it!

I had one crying and praying out to God moment this week as I was super frustrated and tired, but God still is good! Even in the craziness of the everyday, enjoy it folks. I know one day I will miss all these little kid messes and playing referee. It comes with the package, doesn't it?! So glad today is Friday though... huzzah!!!

FAMILY MEALS

I am not the cook, Ben is, so usually he comes home from work and I ask, "What's for dinner?" It takes us awhile to figure it out and it really makes us waste a bit of time and we eat too many frozen meals from Trader Joe's. One of the things we always wanted to get better at is meal planning. This is my attempt. Every thursday, in this space, I will post the following week's menu and I will also recap the flavors of the meals cooked from that week. This will give us (and you) the weekend to get the needed groceries and be more prepared for family dinners for the coming week. The links I put will be healthy, I am married to a dietitian after all, and will sometimes be new recipes to me, so I can't guarantee on flavor.

Family meals are important because we all get to sit together and talk about our day, so I want to be more efficient with this time we are given.

Week of 1/16 through 1/20:

Monday - Dawn's Scampi (I love scampi, but don't eat it cause of all the oil, this sounds like a good alternative)

Tuesday - Oven fried chicken (sounds good and not fried, but make sure note preparations as you need to let it marinade a bit)

Wednesday - Monday's leftovers

Thursday - Tuesday's leftovers

Friday: Pizza night (or something like that)

Obviously, I haven't really covered the vegetable dish for these days (or weekend meals for that matter), but this is a good start for now. This will be a work in progress. Also, I will be sure to be making more so that we could eat left overs during the week too. A new meal every night is a bit adventurous, so I will be starting slow with just two official cooked meals next week. What do you think? Anyone else want to try this out with me?

DISNEY DAY

It is a nice little perk to have a sister who works at Disneyland cause sometimes thanks to her (and her friends), we get to have a Disney day! We really don't ride many rides, cause frankly lines are way too long and the thing that my girls really love is the parade! Their faces light up, their voices get loud, and it comes alive for them. They loved it so much that we watched both parades of the day. The best part of the parade is seeing Jiminy Cricket. He is really good friends with my baby sister.

Besides having fun at the park, eating churros, my fave part was hanging out with my siblings (and Ashley). We are all becoming better friends now that we are getting older. It is nice. When my brother and I were younger (he is next in line after me), we didn't get along. We literally would hit and kick each other and were always at each other's throats. Thankfully, ever since our last big fight shortly after True was born (it was a really bad fight!), we became friends. Us sisters are pretty protective of our brother and it will definitely be a bit tough for the girl who wants our brother's heart to win the heart of us three sisters. Us sisters mean business. For real. Don't mess with his heart girls!

It was definitely a good day, but the only thing that would have made it better was having Ben there with us. It is just never the same without him!

OUT TO SCHOOL: WEEK SEVENTEEN

True put together her outfit this week. Actually, she put it together on Sunday in preparation for school on Tuesday. Her pickings were all from Misha Lulu, who is having a sale over at Mini Social right now (see here). The only items that weren't from Misha were her boots, socks and headband, which were from H&M. I think this week she was channeling her inner Minnie Mouse, probably cause she was inspired from our surprise visit to Disneyland last Friday. My girls all love that mouse so much!!!

Things this week have been crazy cause Soul was sick, then Ben was out for a few days, then I had my bout with not feeling well. I am hoping that everyone is on the mend here on out and that we are able to enjoy some time just chilling together. We could use some free time over here! It seems there is always someone sick, something to do, or some event to plan. Anyone else feel that way too? Or maybe it is just that thing called life. Yeah. Probably. It's just life!

STAY COOL

Things are crazy busy this week and won't lighten up until the weekend. Posting will probably be light, but when I come back, I am sure I will have lots to recap on. The biggest news of late is that Glow can roll over! Yippee for my littlest baby!!!

Until then, stay cool friends cause my Bravey sure is!

OUT TO SCHOOL: WEEK SIXTEEN

{where from again? bow: crocheted by me; shirt: brought home by auntie reinna from when she went to cambodia; jacket: vintage gifted from rachel; raya skirt: c/o lucky brand; boots: h&m.}

Did you know Lucky Brand had kid clothes? I didn't. I was surprised and and they also have some really cute things, like this pretty skirt or this cool shirt! My girls love skirts! Come to think of it, I don't think I had my first pair of jeans until I was in middle school. My mom made me a skirt/dress girl growing up and I think for the most part that is how my girls operate too. Though they do love leggings.

True knows the routine for her go-to school day real well. We get all the younger three girls in the car and buckled in, then True and I go in the front yard to take a couple pictures, then we rush back in the car and take off. I think she kinda likes getting her picture taken, but only if it is me behind the camera.

Funny story... we went to pick up True from school and I see her teeny self sitting on the curb snacking on carrots when I notice she is wearing one of her Happy New Year crowns. The teacher walks her to the car and greets me and tells me how cute True looked today and quietly whispers that she wore the crown all day long. Hmm... she didn't leave the house with the crown on, as you can see by the picture taken before school, so this little girl snuck the crown in her backpack and put it on at school. Hilarious! For a shy little girl, she was kinda bold in her fashion choice that day. At least it was a crown and not a mini skirt, right?!! Oh boy! For this little girl of mine, fashion really has no bounds. You should see the funny things they put on for dress-up!

OUR CHRISTMAS CARD

Christmas is way over, but I loved our Christmas card too much not to share. Actually, I am horrible at planning Christmas cards and never get around to it until it is much too late, so when True came to me and showed me her drawing, I said, "That's it! That's our card!"

I gave it to Ben, he scanned it, digitalized it, added a greeting, and we got ourselves a card! It was perfect! Too bad, I never really sent any out, but just handed it out to those friends and family that we did see, so consider this my late Christmas card to everyone who reads this blog!

And just so you could see the original, here it is...

Kid art is just the absolute best! I have one more Christmas-related post coming, which is the handmade gifts Ben and I made each other. I am in love with what Ben made me and I can't wait to share it!

Are you good at planning Christmas cards?

WATCHING MOVIES

It hasn't been that difficult living tv-less since our television bit the dust last May. Actually, it is kinda nice since I don't think televisions are that pretty and the space it used to occupy is no longer an eye sore. Now, we have plants and pretty things there!

We are still able to get some television on our computers thanks to Hulu, but the only shows in mine and Ben's repertoire are Supernatural (yes, we like scary things), New Girl, and Fringe (my show, not Ben's). The only thing difficult about living without television is that I don't know what news is going out in the world and usually only find out when people start tweeting about some occurrence. I probably should check some online news site more often. Other than that, living without a television has worked well for us and movie watching is done on our computers. The best part is just add on a projector and our ipod speaker system and we got ourselves our own little home theatre. Better than any large television in my honest opinion.

We lay blankets out, bring out the trays, have some yummy food and we all love the coziness of our own home theatre. We spent the day after New Year's just chillin' out and watching a movie together. It was such a nice, cozy, comfy, lazy day. Those can sometimes be the best kind, don't you think?

NEW YEAR'S EVE DANCE PARTY

New Year's Eve was a wild and crazy night that involved some homemade 2012 crowns, yummy shrimp and black eyed peas for dinner, then loads and loads of dancing. Also, we all put on the silliest outfit we could think of and I think Ben wins again as his was pretty darn silly. Our strobe light came out of the closet and we had a blast dancing the night away!

It was a great way to ring in the New Year, though we didn't quite stay up until midnight. We went as long as we could though and must have partied so hard because the next morning Soulie was sick. How did you ring in 2012?

p.s. doesn't brave make the best camera faces?