Christmas 2010

Count Your Blessings Christmas 5x7 folded card

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Thanks from Confessions of a Haute Mama

We Are Thankful Fall Greeting

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Friday night Mom!

Yay...I made it to Friday!
I can look forward to staying up late, sleeping in, and just relaxing! And then I woke up.

Ahhhh, the life of Mom. Where your Friday nights are spent folding clothes, cleaning up after kids, and feeding your family. Yet, I wouldn't trade it for....well almost anything! :)

Until tomorrow....

~Jacqueline


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Veterans Day!

My family spent the day together. We have an active duty sailor in the house. It has been a full and eventful day. I'm thankful to all of our servicemen and women. Without them, we wouldn't be protected.

Until tomorrow...

~Jacqueline


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where am I Wednesday?!

What. A. Day!

Breakfast, playtime, reading, lunch, nap, playtime, dinner, bath, bed....repeat!

I'm already in bed. Tomorrow I plan to take it easy. It is Veterans Day and we have a real live Veteran in the house. :)

I wish I had more to share. I did order a Honey Baked Ham today for Thanksgiving. Grand total $102. I never imagine ham costs so much. That was a trip to MAC or Sephora. But it's no problem. It's for a great day with family. And for that, I have no complaints.


Everyone in my house is asleep. I think I will join them.

Until Tomorrow....

~Jacqueline



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Thankful Tuesday

Life observations: If you don't give, you won't receive. And if you give all of yourself, you can't be whole.

I had this thought while driving this afternoon. I truly believe this. When you five of yourself in life, you will receive blessings tenfold. On the flip side, you don't want to give all of yourself. A friend told me, life is about balance.

I wish all of my family and friends and happy and balanced life.

Until tomorrow...

~Jacqueline



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Date night....

So I had aplan to write a wonderful blog about the movie

For Colored Girls.

However, I have been asked out (at home) to a 9pm movie night.

So I will save my thoughts until tomorrow.

It's time to bathe the kids and then I have a date.

I will use this time to relax and enjoy the rest of my Monday night.

Until tomorrow!

~Jacqueline

Sharing Sunday

I'm EXHAUSTED! The weekend flew by, but it was fabulous!

Until tomorrow....
~Jacqueline




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A little late

A day late and a dollar short!
A busy day is now behind me.
Another busy day tomorrow.
Sleep tight and sweet dreams!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

TGIF!

Fly by Friday.

My day went by crazy fast and in a hurry!

Right now I am at my computer with a little Halloween candy and a glass of water...I know, I know

Super exciting life I live here. :)

The weekend is upon us and I will be super busy.

I am attending a birthday party of a fabulous diva friend!

And I am having a GNO (Girls Night Out) to check out a new movie.

I hope your weekend is well, I will check in on Saturday and Sunday!

I'm proud that I kept up with NaBloPoMo

Five days straight blogging!

Here is to the rest of the month.

Until tomorrow....

~Jacqueline



Thankful Thursday!

Another stressful day behind me!

It wasn't much different than yesterday, so I have no new funny or insightful messages.

I do, however, have a funny video. 

It's the funniest thing, my 15 month old son, will not say his own name.

If you ask him his name he replies, "I'm Jaden."

His name is Jaxon, by the way....lol!

It's thankful Thursday for me.

I am thankful for my health, sanity, family, and friends.

I plan to spend some time with the girls this weekend. I am sooo excited!

It was long overdue and well deserved if I might add. :)

Enjoy your night and always be thankful!

;)

~Jacqueline

What's your name?

What. A. Day!

Let me start by saying I love my children.

However, I am quite certain today they were out to get me!

Where do I begin?

They woke up an hour early and were ready to GO!

First up, a stop in Target, which was pretty uneventful.

It's when we returned home from our shopping trip, that everything changed!

First was almost an entire bottle of ketchup on my youngest sons head, on my kitchen chair, and on the floor.

All of that while I vacuumed the living room.

And you'd think that my youngest son would be begging for mercy.

Nope, he just sits there and lets his older brother torture him!

Then it was my favorite part of the day....NAP TIME!

My youngest son went to sleep without a hitch!

My three year old son....not a chance!

In fact, he didn't take a nap at all!

All day he was on a "torture my little brother" kick.

So, needless to say, I had a pretty stressful, hectic day!

But what else is to be expected in the life of a stay at home Mom?

This is what I signed up for.

And truth be told,  I wouldn't change these time with my boys for anything in this world!

Now the boys are sleeping and the house is quiet!

I am going to have a glass of something and read a few chapters of a book.

Until tomorrow......

~Jacqueline

Election Day 2010!

I love election day!

It's important for me to honor my ancestors and make sure my vote counts.

My grandmother wasn't able to vote until she was 21 years old.  And only because it wasn't legal before that.

I make sure that I participate in every election.

Jacqueline voting since 1998.

Ahh, what a day, what a day!

I won't site here and profess some crazy, hectic day.

In fact, I'll be downright honest..from 8am-1pm I was pretty damn NOT productive!

I watched Dora, Fresh Beat Band, and Go Diego Go!

It was actually quite relaxing.

Luckily the second part of the day I picked up some steam.

I did all the laundry, loaded the dishwasher, and made sure dinner was made.

All in a days work!

I thought since I will be blogging every day this month, I should have a theme each day of the week.

Just a little something to keep me going and bring some fun.

It's Tuesday, so let me think of something fun.....

How about Thrifty Tuesday?!

I can share what thrifty purchases I have made, if any.

Today I purchased 75 photo prints for $4.42 shipping and handling only.

Thanks to Freebies4Mom

She has the best deals and tons of freebies daily!

Check out her site and your mailbox will be busting at the seams with freebies and great deals.

Until Tomorrow

~Jacqueline

National Blog Posting Month! NaBloPoMo

I am throwing my hat in the ring to blog for thirty days in the month of November.  I have actually posted consecutively this week, so let's see if I can keep this up! 

Yesterday was Halloween and I have two young sons.  My oldest son is three years old and my youngest is 15 months old.  So this was the first time we got into the Halloween spirit outside of our own block.  We took advice from an article in the local newspaper to go trick or treating in the best neighborhood in town.  The article was right on, the neighborhood was all decorated and very festive.  However, we weren't the only to see the article, the neighborhood was packed!  After 3-4 blocks and enough candy for two little children, we made out way home. 

Here are a few pictures of the little ones.  I had a San Diego charger, Vincent Jackson and SpongeBob Squarepants for a day! :)

New make-up alert!

So last week I went on a little trip to Sephora.  I absolutely love that place and usually will walk out with a few items not in my list.  This time around I actually received a free sample of Bare Escentuals bareMinerals MATTE foundation.  It is a mineral foundation in a matte finish.  It says it is "Infused with RareMinerals ActiveSoil complex".  I have oily skin, so I was thrilled to try the product.  I will mention that I have tried Bare Escentuals products before, and as a woman of color, I found it to leave me looking a bit ashen.  Which is not a good look. 

Fast forward to Friday night, I had plans to go to the Los Angeles Haunted Hay ride (which was a blast). I had a two hour drive from San Diego to Los Angeles so I had to do my make up before I left.  I went ahead with my regular make up routine and used the bareMinerals foundation on top of my liquid foundation.  I had an absolute flawless face for the entire night!  Usually in photos, I have to touch up or I end up looking like a shine Queen!

Before

8 hours later



Kudos to Bare Escentuals making colors for women of color! The bareMinerals MATTE is a faboulous foundation.

All I want for Christmas are Shutterfly holiday photo cards!

It's that time of the year again, when you want to show off your Holiday spirit and your family. You get your family together in their Christmas best and take a family photo. Next you log onto to a photo website such as Shutterfly to begin your holiday masterpiece.

Last year I went with a kids only card because Dad was deployed. This year I plan to add the entire family. I use Shutterfly's holiday photo cards for my holiday cards. They have beautiful designs such as the "Family wall red" it's a collage of photos with a classic design. "Glitter glamour joy" is also a favorite design of mine. It's classic with a little glamour, just like me! So check out their website and send a little piece of your family to your family and friends.

For those of you who shudder at the thought of sending out Christmas photo cards (I used to be one..lol) check out Shutterfly gift tags and address labels. It's a cool way to personalize your gifts and mailings during the holiday season!

I hope you enjoy your Holiday and your photo cards!


~Jacqueline

I was selected to write this post about my experience with Shutterfly. I will receive 50 Shutterfly photo cards for this post.

A New venture...

A few years ago I had a dream that I was delivering backpacks full of school supplies to children that needed them.  At the time I was pregnant and did not put my plan into action.  Yesterday it came back to me and I got to work!  I did some research and I have decided to donate 100 backpacks to low-income children in San Diego.  There are plenty of programs, churches, and individuals like myself that have similar programs in place.  However, there are so many children that need those school supplies.  Right now schools print up a list of supplies that are needed each school year.  With one child it may not be so difficult, but when you imagine parents that have two or more children in school and are just making ends meet, this would be a lifesaver.  I hope to have my family and friends donate backpacks and school supplies to "A Backpack Movement" to help the children in San Diego!  Here is my goal for the 2011 school year.

Have a blessed day!
Jacqueline

Manic Monday

Greetings!  It's Monday.  That is a sentence all it's own.  Now usually, I don't buy into the "blah it's Monday" stuff.  However, I have no interest in completing anything of substance today.  Blahhhhh, is all I have to say.  I did manage to find a cure for a water spot on my LV, a pencil eraser! So I'll take that as a win and check in later in the week!  Here is to a better day.

Back To School!

Greetings!  I am on a productive kick today (and my kids are napping) so I figured I would check in!  Today was the first day back to school, for me, not the kiddies...lol!  I've already done my reading and turned in my first assignment.  Let's hope I am able to continue this momentum as the class goes on.

I have also decided to make myself another vision board.  I have had my current for about two years, and upon looking at it, I realized, I have accomplished quite a few things on the list! Yippeee! However, I am two days shy of turning 30, and I am on a kick of reflection; with new goals, wants, and needs.  I'll keep you posted.

Home life has been hectic!  My boys are almost 14 months and 3 years old.  They keep me so busy, that I'm not exactly sure how I manage throughout the day.  However, they are both speaking well, counting, and learning at an amazing (to me anyway) speed!   Even when they are trying to simulate a hurricane in the house, I love those boys!

I hope all is well with you.  I need to make more time to engage with my family and friends beyond facebook and twitter, but sometimes it's just a lot easier to hold a conversation via text without the sound of crying, screaming kids in the background.  I hope everyone understands. :)

Until Later,
~J

Words lost in translation...

I have had an interesting month, to say the least. I have been an avid internet user for the last 10+ years.  I am a member of message boards, chat rooms, blogs, myspace (when it was cool), facebook, and now twitter.  I have "met" really cool people along the way, and even went on to meet a few IRL (in real life).  However, this past month, the internet seems to be the cause of a few of my headaches.  Words taken out of context, simple misunderstandings, and just plain drama have seem to come my way.  I have taken a step back in my social networking lifestyle, to re-connect with friends on a different level.  I have been less stressed in the last few months.  Not worrying about my status messages being taken out of context or someone trying to relate my status messages to certain people.  95% of the time, I am very random in my posts.  I am not sending any subliminal messages to anyone and I am not speaking of any particular person.  Just had to get that off my chest.  Thanks for listening! 

Now it's time for me to get back to Mommy duties.  How on earth, my children manage to turn my house into a playroom in three hours, I will never understand!  Time to clean house, work on learning activities with the kids, and then NAP TIME!!!

Until Later,
J

Mommyhood....

It has been nearly three years since I have become a Mommy.  It has been a whirlwind to say the least, but it is full of exciting and trying times.  I started this blog to help me document six months of single motherhood.  But with two boys, I was unable to keep up.  I found an outlet in twitter, which has been tremendously helpful.

So now I am moving to a new phase of my life.  Mommy to a toddler and to a pre-k.  I am contemplating entering the workforce again.  I have had a wonderful time at home with my children, but I did not set out for this to be a permanent lifestyle.  I have had some wonderful opportunities come across my path, so we will see what is next for me!  Wish me luck, and I will keep you all posted!

Until Later,
J

I'm back!

I'm back!  It's been about four months since I have updated my blog!  Time flies when you're having fun, or you're just busy as hell!  It's been a bit more hectic living as a temporary stay at home Mom to two boys under two!  The good news, I'm still alive!  The bad news, well I haven't been able to keep up.  Well I am back on the scene.....well tomorrow. ;)

~Until Tomorrow~
Haute Mama