The Whyte Life

Today was the most fun.  I got to play dress up, get my hair and make up done, and have my photo taken at a super pretty hotel in Baltimore.  Once I get copies of the photos, I’ll be sure to post them and talk about the whole experience more. [Oh yes, did you notice my hair is blonde now?  I got it done Thursday afternoon.] But now, I need to get a few hours of sleep before I have to pack, pack, pack and rush, rush, rush to the airport tomorrow.  We’re supposed to be getting some snow, sleet, and freezing rain.  So I’m hoping that our flight doesn’t get cancelled or delayed.  I’m planning on blogging from Florida, so be sure to check back soon!

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Today is for…
*cleaning my room [Paisley has been helping]
*cleaning the living room and family room
*not seeing Steven…  :(  [he's working a ton]
*family movie night
*PIZZA!
*planning outfits again [I forgot to write them down...so I have to start over]
*laundry
*putting away dishes
*working on a organizational craft
*gathering presents for some pretty girls we’ll see on our trip
*hopefully getting a little bit of craft time
*hopefully showering…
*hopefully napping
*and hopefully getting a package that was delivered to our old house by accident…
[photo taken with a fisheye lens {for my DSLR} held up to my iPhone camera. easy peasy lemon squeezy...however, if you'd like me to explain camera tricks any more, just let me know in the comments and I'd be happy to do a little tutorial.]

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[Dress on the left is Free People, from Shopbop.  Dress on the right is by ASOS, very limited supply.]
So…I thought I had it all planned out.  But then, I happened to check, and somehow the dress on the right had one left in my size!  [It was previously sold out.]  So I don’t know which I want to wear anymore…  They’re both lovely.  Which do you like better?

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[This is a sincerely gushy blog.  I'm not trying to brag or make anyone feel like their child isn't as smart, helpful, or whatever.  I'm just writing it all out to document it since I feel like I haven't written one of these blogs in a very long time.  Especially about Paisley.  I'm also writing it, because while this blog praises her, we still have hard days.  She will wake up too early, and not take her nap in the afternoon, and just be a plain old grump.  I'm writing this blog so that I can come back to it on those days to help remind myself that I'm doing a good enough job as her mama.  And I can't control everything she does. Anyway, you've been warned...  Let the gushy mama love begin...]

This little girl of mine, is not so little any more.  She’s is getting so big!  I’ve really noticed some big advances in the last couple weeks.  She’s recently started writing words, and her handwriting is getting better every day!  The other day she wrote “transparent”, “thirteen”, “fourteen”,  ”pillow”, “cushion”, and everyone’s names she can think of.  She will see a word while we’re out somewhere, and remember the letters by herself until we get home [sometimes a couple hours later], so she can practice writing it.  She’s so incredible!

Paisley is also really into math.  She loves patterns and playing the “eee-bles” [equals] game. We bought her a puzzle game from Pottery Barn outlet where you count the number of objects and put the puzzle piece of the corresponding number on it.  There’s also addition and subtraction.  She’s been learning how to tell time [on a digital clock], and has been figuring out how to read numbers.]  Paisley loves organizing things and arranging them.

Steven said that almost every time we’re out, someone compliments how polite Paisley is.  She says “excuse me”, “please”, “thank you”, and “may I” on a regular basis.  She calls adults “Miss _____” or “Mister _____”.  Paisley loves helping me do laundry and put away dishes.  She loves helping to open doors and loves helping Riley do lots of different things.  She especially loves helping to put toothpaste on his toothbrush and showing him how to brush his teeth.  She explicitly told me she does not like tidying.  But after I explained to her that she is part of our family, and she needs to help tidy, she did help.  And she got really excited about it.

Paisley also started talking in an English accent.  It’s probably the cutest thing she does.  My heart is kind of bursting with love just thinking about it.  She started it a couple weeks ago.  Her favorite TV shows are Charlie & Lola and Peppa Pig, both of which are set in the UK.  I don’t know if she does it on purpose or not.  I know I kind of sponge up accents and speaking patterns when I’m around people and it takes a little while to wear off.  I really should record her doing it sometime.

P is still loving her gymnastics class.  She’s getting braver and braver and is trying more things.  She met a little girl there named Piper and I heard they hold hands and play together all the time.

She’s really excited about our trip.  Especially since it’s on a Saturday.  [Saturday is her favorite day of the week because if she's been good all week, she can have Lucky Charms for breakfast.]  She can’t wait to go on the carousel in the Magic Kingdom [we'll see how she actually likes it.  Normally carousels freak her out], and the Teacups.  She’s really hoping to see Rapunzel.  I think she’s mostly excited to see friends though.  Paisley is a really big people person.

Well, that’s it.  That’s my little big girl.  I can’t wait to see her keep growing!

[For those of you who are curious, Paisley is now almost 4 years and 4 months old.  She is not in any kind of preschool, nor do we homeschool.  I always take time to help her if she wants to practice writing words or mixing colors, but I never force her to write things.  She asks me how to spell things.  All of the things she loves to do are all from her own will. She does an hour of gymnastics a week.  And we go to church sometimes.]

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5 days and counting until we leave for Disney World. I’ve started gathering clothes, so we can start packing as soon as possible. I find that the sooner I start making a list and gathering things up, the longer I have to “remember” things I would normally forget. [Ahem, tampons, ahem.] I’ve also started a couple projects that I’m hoping to finish and get scheduled so that I can still be posting while we’re in Disney World. [So far, I'm still waiting on my photos for my December daily album. I'm so frustrated with SnapFish and will be using someone else in the future. It's been over a week and a half. I just want to scrapbook!] I’m also trying to get our house in order, so that we can come home to a clean house. We’ve only ever clean-cleaned once before a trip. It was really nice. I can see why my mom liked having a clean house to come home to. This next week is going to be busy, busy, busy! We have a bunch of appointments, and Steven is working an insane amount of hours. I’m afraid we’re all going to be pooped before even leaving for our trip! But I’m really excited for it too!  Now we just need to make it through the next 5 days.  Wish us luck!

Do you have any tips for Disney World?  I’m getting really nervous because I normally overplan and over pack…but I haven’t done anything yet!

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I wore this to go run errands and go to Riley’s 15 month appointment.  I was trying to get both littles ready before Steven got home, because he was running late.  And since this shirt buttons up the back, I ended up going all the way to the doctor’s waiting room half dressed [read:  half my buttons were undone].  Ha! I got it in DC during a big sale.  I loved the leopard peter pan collar and that it buttoned up the back.  It was a pretty warm day, so I was able to wear sweater tights and shorts [a look I've come to really like].  My shoes were a surprise gift from Steven.  He got them on sale as and gave them to me as a thank you for all the hard work I did during our move and with Paisley and Riley’s birthday party.  They were a super sweet surprise.  I wear them all the time.  Looove them!  When we took these pictures, the sun was setting, and it had gotten very cold.  The wind had picked up, and I was kind of freezing without my jacket on.

Outfit Details:
Coat:  Betsey Johnson, clearance
Shirt:  Zara, clearance
Shorts:  Madewell
Cashmere Tights:  Betsey Johnson, bought at Nordstrom
Shoes:  Prada, sale / gift
Belt:  Kate Spade, stolen from a dress [in my closet.  I'm not an actual thief!]

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I was asked to participate in a super fun event a week from this Friday. I’m not sure how much I can or can’t say about it. But I’ve been doing a lot of day dreaming, and a little bit of shopping in preparation for it. I also made this super rough draft mood board.

Today we are taking our car to go get new rims and tires put on. It’s definitely not an expense we were planning on. We spent 7 hours this past weekend at our local [really crappy] mall while our car was worked on. We also had a rental car for a few days while something else was fixed on our car. I think we’ve had to do something car related every day for the past week.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last blog post. I sincerely appreciate all of you, and it is nice to know I’m not alone.

[photo credits: tiny starlette crown - giant dwarf; blue suede and silver glitter shoes [no longer available] - urban outfitters; dress - free people, via shopbop; gold glitter shoes - rodarte for opening ceremony; crystal necklace - red velvet; cuff [no longer available] - eddie borgo for j crew; black glitter shoes - miu miu, photo by me.]

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I feel like winter was created to make me feel terrible.  I hate it.  In Arizona, it’s not as hard for me, because the sun is out longer.  But here, in Maryland, there is nothing I dread more than winter.  I hate the tiny bit of sunlight we get.  I hate how cool the light is.  I hate how cold it is outside, and how we have to put on a million layers to go anywhere.  I hate the snow.  Everything.  It’s all just pointless.

I feel completely uninspired and unmotivated from Christmas until late March when we go to the DC cherry blossom festival.  I have a hard time coming up with things worth blogging, because most days I just sit around in my jammies and watch Nick Jr shows with Paisley.  I always see all these people working on amazing knitting and crochet projects, or doing some sort of cute craft, and I just don’t get it.  I don’t get how anyone can be happy and crafting right now.  I wish I could figure out something to craft.  Creating stuff really does help to improve my mood.  Most of the time, I walk into my craft room, stare at all of my stuff and turn around and walk out without touching anything.  I have some ideas of things I would like to do, but I can’t seem to find the motivation to start.  [I am waiting on photos to be delivered and then I'll finish my December Daily mini album.  That's the only thing I feel like finishing.]

I have a hard time focusing on New Year’s resolutions and goals.  One of my goals is to blog more and more consistently. However, I feel like all of you would run the other way if I just posted about how I was doing 4 loads of laundry yesterday, and when it came time to fold them [which I normally looove; it's my favorite chore], I just couldn’t start.  So I sorted them into piles by person, and now I have four unusable chairs until I finally fold it all.  Or I could blog about how all of my Christmas decorations are still up, and it’s driving me crazy, but not crazy enough to take them all down because it’s such an effort…

I’m even having a hard time getting excited about our Disney World trip in a week and a half.  Here’s a little known fact about me.  I hardly ever cry.  Maybe 4 or 5 times a year.  [Unless I'm pregnant.  Then I cry over everything.  A yummy peach, commercials, clothes that don't fit, anything.]  But one thing I do cry about when I’m not pregnant, is Disneyland/ World.  In a good way.  I tear up like 3 or 4 times a day when I’m at Disney World.  I’m sure I’m a little crazy, but Disney really is a happy place for me.  So I’m hoping that I enjoy it this time.  Normally, I would be planning outfits and what to pack 3 weeks out, and obsessively planning which parks to go to on each day and where to meet characters at what times, etc.  But ugh!  I don’t know.  Sometimes, winter makes me feel like a completely different person.

I’m sincerely, 100% jealous of people who are peppy and say they just choose to be happy.  The harder I try, the sadder I get.  It’s frustrating.  I wish I could just be happy all the time.  I wish winter didn’t bother me.  I wish I had interesting projects and outfits to post.  I wish I had interesting things to say.

So please, dear blog readers, accept this apology that this space may not be updated as often as I’d like. I really, truly am trying.  Sometimes I just have a hard time…

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So this is what I wore for NYE.  We went to Leesburg, Virginia earlier in the evening and once we put our littles to bed, we watched a movie in an attempt to stay awake and then watched the ball drop on tv.  [Someday I'd like to see if in real life, which is completely insane.]  Anyway, Steven and I got dressed up, because we figured we would not just sit around in jammies to ring in the new year.  [These pictures were actually taken a few days later because of terrible lighting inside at midnight, but you get the idea.]  ;)  Peach, hot pink, and black is quickly becoming one of my favorite color combinations.

Outfit Details:
Dress:  Madewell [sale]
Jacket:  Free People
Tights:  Commando
Shoes:  Alexander McQueen
Necklace:  J. Crew

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I’m starting two projects this year.  One is Project Life.  It’s a super simple scrapbooking system that I plan on using to supplement regular scrapbook pages.  I’m really excited to try it out.  I had been talking to Steven about it way before Christmas, and then I was talking to people on twitter about it yesterday.  I hadn’t completely made up my mind just yet.  But I was strongly leaning towards doing it.  Then, while we were at the doctor yesterday for Riley’s well-visit, a box of Project Life stuff came for me!  Steven had  ordered a bunch of stuff as a surprise!  Haha!  Talk about great timing! So I’m excited to start doing that.  I feel like so much of our lives the past few years hasn’t been documented very well.  Anyway, I’m rambling…  Here’s a video about Project Life, for anyone who’s not already aware of what it is.

While we were at the scrapbook store a few weeks ago, I had also gotten a Smash book.  I plan on using it to hold little tidbits, inspiration, and things I don’t want to forget but aren’t necessarily blog or scrapbook worthy. I also found a little video about Smash books for people interested.PS-Sorry I wasn’t able to make my photos prettier. I have an extremely grumpy boy who keeps trying to attack my camera or computer whenever I bring it out. So I’ll get better photos of stuff as I start using them.

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