I've been published!

I did it. I finally made my blog in to a book.

Well, 2008 anyway.

I used http://www.blog2print.com/ and it was super easy!

The quality of the book is fantastic!

I used the program that auto-formats it for you, but keeps the pictures in the places where you had them in your posts. You can take the time to format the entire book yourself, but this was MUCH easier.

It did however, waste some space on some pages. Not enough for me to spend HOURS formatting it, though.

I love that I will have this forever. I love that Carly will have them ("them" being blog books from every year I blogged) to read, too. It really inspired me to be a better blogger. By that I mean that I want to document more of our lives on the blog. I don't care how many "followers" I have. I do this blog not to entertain people, but rather to document.

And if I happen to capture the hearts of many along the way, so be it.

Random Happenings

Just some things that we have been doing...

Carly and I went to a baby shower for Baby Brooks who will be here SOON!

We also went to a shower for baby Denli, but I forgot to take pictures.

We discovered that Carly is not a fan of cheesecake when she spit it out on to the remote control.

That poor remote control. First it gets the spin cycle, now this.

Nana and Papa bought us a collapsible wagon - Very cool and super handy for storage.
Carly and Lola LOVE it! well, Carly does anyway. Lola just tolerated it for this picture.

Austin doubted the greatness of the ear candle until we made him use it.

People, they really work. And they're really gross.

We had our first Sharpie incident. Can you see it on the chair? Any suggestions on how to get it out?

This, friends, is why I plan to look for Carly's big girl bedroom furniture on Craig's List. I'll refinish it to make it super cute, but I don't want to spend big bucks on it. Remember what she did to the crib? I can only imagine dropping a small fortune on furniture that will "last her forever" only to have it Sharpied beyond recognition. No thank you.

Carly is a true Clark. She loves football Sundays. But she could care less about the football. It's the cheese puffs, the pasta salad, time with "Saysah" and also time with her little friends - Brett and Alexis.



I worked the Big Brothers Big Sisters Clay Shoot and demanded that I have got to have my picture taken with The Musers - the morning show on The Ticket (a sports radio station and my addiction). I need to get this beast framed so that I can put it on my desk next to the one of me and The Hardline (the afternoon show). See the guy in the white? That's Craig. He's my fav.

Labor Day in Midland

This past Labor Day, the Clarks packed up and headed to Midland, Texas to visit our friends, Andrew and Kacie. And boy did we pack up! You don't realize how much toddlers require until you have to pack it all!

This was Carly's first long road trip. It is about a 5 hour drive without a toddler, so it took us just over 6. Carly did surprisingly well. Mickey Mouse dvds didn't work their magic (pun intended) like I thought they would, but (mess free) Color Wonders markers did.

As one would expect. Carly's tolerance for the restraining car seat faded as the road trip progressed. She especially hated being put back in to the car seat after being out of it during our pit stops.

The neck pillow was a bust. I should have gotten a smaller one - like baby size - because this one just pushed her neck forward. 

Once we got there, we had a great weekend.

Freddy was able to show off Carly's "bring us a beer" trick. Andrew was impressed and Carly was very proud.

Freddy helped Andrew set up a new tv inside. 

And install another one outside.

Carly had a great time playing with Kacie.

And she made best friends with Bear

And Zoey. Especially Zoey.

It actually dipped down in to the 70's while we were there. A nice change from 100 degree weather we have been experiencing all summer, but this mama was not prepared. Kacie had to fashion Carly a make-shift shirt to keep her warm.

We dined out, grilled out and chilled out while we were there. Freddy and Andrew were able to get in some dove hunting and a round a golf as well. Kacie and I also managed to get a way for a mani-pedi at the salon. I love me some mani-pedi. It was a great weekend escape and something that we should have done a long time ago. The last time we ventured to Midland to see our friends was when they got married - 5 years ago!

I tried

I tried to turn an old, warn maternity shirt in to a t-shirt scarf. Don't think I am too crazy - I actually saw this do-it-yourself-project on Pinterest. BTW - if you aren't addicted to Pinterest, you must not have ever been on their site. It is a must-check-out.

Back on track...

I followed the directions:

1. grab some cotton t-shirts you don’t wear anymore. larger sizes tend to work better as do non-ribbed shirts with no side seams. small logos on the shirts work fine, too.

2. grab a pair of fabric scissors if you have them, otherwise any scissors will do.

3. lay the shirt out on a flat table in front of you.

4. cut the hem off the bottom and put it aside.

5. cut the shirt into 1-1 1/2 ” horizontal strips all the way up to the armpit.

6. grab 3-4 shirt strips in both hands, and gently stretch them out. the strips will naturally curl into themselves.

7. once you have done this with many of the strips, it is time to get creative. try draping them, wrapping one end with excess fabric, combining colors, braiding them, attaching beads, pins, old jewelry, etc.

I wasn't getting the results I wanted, so I even wet the strips and threw them in to the dryer hoping they would curl in to themselves better. No luck, Chuck.

This was the end-result (and the most flattering picture of the scarf that I took). I was not in love. Maybe it's the stripes?

Conclusion: Not every Pinterest Junkie will be able to successfully execute every project they attempt. This scarf was my failure.

My Pinterest success was this new make-up brush holder.

 

Pluses:

Adorable

I already had the vase, so it only cost me $4 for the coffee beans

Makes my bathroom smell like french vanilla coffee beans

Not-so-Pluses:

Makes my bathroom smell like french vanilla coffee beans

Makes my brushes smell like french vanilla coffee beans

Pulling brushes out sometimes brings coffee beans out, too - more clean up

I may have an equal amount of pros and cons, but I plan to keep the coffee bean make-up brush holder. That is, until the coffee beans get dusty (I am not about to clean coffee beans).

Anything is better than the plain, old cup I had them in before, right?

I also plan to make a recipe tomorrow that I found on Pinterest - I'll keep you posted. Who knows...Maybe my Pinterest Posts will be a regular thing on my blog.

The Weekend 2011

Last weekend was "The Weekend 2011".

The Bells (mius Megan who had to work - boo), Clarks, Connallys, Conolys and Hagamans headed to the NYLO hotel in Irving for a relaxing weekend of...well, just hanging out and spending time together.

Kacie and Andrew arrived in town on Thursday, so we caught a Ranger game with them and the Pendletons. The next day Kacie and I hit the shops (who is surprised that I was shopping?) and our husbands hit the golf course.

We met back up at the hotel where we the boys played Battleship. Yes, Battleship. The NYLO has a great game room that just happened to have Battleship.

Kacie and I did not play Battleship.

Later that evening, the Hagamans arrived, so we all headed out together for a fantastic dinner at Papa Bros. Yumm-my! 

We met up with Finch Matt at the hotel after dinner. Megan had to work or she would have been with him. We really missed not having Megan there.

Hag had his party pants on all weekend and even enjoyed a drink or two. Go Hag!

The next morning the girls headed to breakfast and then to Painting with a Twist in Grapevine (where we met up with Rachel) for some good old fashioned girl time - and mimosas. Of course mimosas.

While we were painting, the guys were playing at Speedzone. I wasn't there with my camera, so you'll just have to imagine this part of the weekend.

We all met up later and just hung around the pool - and man, was that nice. Just sitting around, talking, hanging out.

I love these girls. I am so excited about being in their lives for a long time. They're stuck with me.

I can't wait to spend time with their kids (hurry up, Kacie and Brittany!), to ask them for advice and to give some in return and to eventually be able to look back over decades of friendship.

The guys hit the pool. The girls did not. Only one of us even packed a suit.

These guys. They love each other. They have for a long time.I know that they really enjoyed their time together - especially the time alone without the wives.

That night we all went to dinner together at The Ranch in Las Colinas.

Freddy introduced everyone to chicken and waffles. I would tell you how they were, but I didn't eat any. I just wasn't feeling it. They did, however, get rave reviews.

 This picture of Hag...we'll be able to laugh about it eventually. Until then, I'll leave the explanation alone.

We ended The Weekend 2011 with breakfast together at Cracker Barrell before we all went our seperate ways. Finch to Abilene. Us to Keller. Morgan and Rachel to Stpehenville. Kacie and Andrew to Midland. And Hag and Brittany to Rockwall.

And this. This is the official The Weekend 2011 t-shirt that Rachel designed for us.



The entire weekend was nice, stress-free and just a great get-away. "The Weekend" is annual tradition. Now that everyone is married, we know that we need to make an effort to see each other. Eventually, I hope for this weekend to include kids and to be in more "exotic" places than Irving. But it was a nice to start to a great tradition.

Paint your own Pottery

Do you remember how I stole the Half Birthday cookie tradition from the Parr Sisters?

Well, I decided that those half birthday cookies needed an official half birthday plate, so I headed to a local paint-your-own-pottery place with my long-time friends Lisa and Leah and we painted works of art!