I got SPOILED for Christmas!

Christmas was a little bit tight this year. So my husband and I kept our focus on the kids and bought Rock Band 2 (Just the game, we have The Beatles Rock Band with the Rock Band 1 Set) and a few new songs. Nothing too exciting, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Needless to say this Christmas came with zero expectations. I hadn't asked for anything.

SO ... when I got totally spoiled by my friends and family I was in my own little Chateau Poppins World!!!

And I couldn't NOT share with you some of my favorite presents!!! Well all of my presents were my favorite, but I think you'll understand why a few of these REALLY appealed to me.

Starting to get an idea yet?

Well let's look at these items a little bit closer shall we!
(OMG I'm so excited just thinking about them!)

First up was my Biggest Surprise because it was on my door step when I got home Christmas Night? I didn't even know the post office delivered on Christmas!

Look at these cute little Stationary Cards I got!!!

Homemade for JUST ME by my Mindy!!!

So I pulled out the cards and just look at how cute they are!!!

From the desk of Marybeth Smith
(And she even spelled Marybeth as one word. I'm in love!)

So at our family party on Christmas Eve I got pulled aside. Earlier this year I had inspired my sister to paint something incredible (wait till you see!) and apparently she loves me so much she gave me the painting. BUT not without a box to put it in.


OMG How cute is THAT!

And when you open it up it has all these Gnomes and Gnome Facts!

But the best part I didn't notice till the next day...Look at the umbrellas. (Tears are glistening in my eyes right now guys.)

She even decorated the bottom of the box. My sister rocks

And so inside the box held the coolest painting EVER!!!

And I inspired it!

Oh but I couldn't leave this out...FLUFFY BLANKET!

And to top it ALL off, one of my BFF's sent me this...(Along with some super cute Twilight stuff!)

Aren't we Adorable!

AND on top of all that I got a bunch of other stuff ... Including a super cool dutch oven with all the fixins for Cherry Cobbler and Chili and Cornbread from my parents for camping this summer (Going back to those childhood memories! My parents rock.) A gorgeous necklace from the in-laws and all sorts of other stuff. I can't even think I'm so overwhelmed with all the #windinmyhhhaaaiiiirrrr!

So thank you to all my awesome friends and family and super awesome husband who apparently has something brewing in the background for me once the Holidays are over...sneaky husband!

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

PS I hit 201 Followers which totally means Party Time! I'm shooting for the first of the new year, so you better watch out. We're going to ring in 2010 with a big bang!

How I get Happy!

Yesterday I had one of those days. You know, one of those days where you can't seem to do ANYTHING right? No matter what you do, you can't stop feeling like a bad mother, wife, friend, and in my case, writer. No need for specifics, those are quite uninteresting. So TODAY I am determined to have a happy day!

So far so good. "Why?" you ask. Well because it's raining of course! I love the rain!

When the morning starts off with the rain falling all is well as far as I am concerned. I would take the sound of the water falling onto the trees and slapping into the ground over the sun shining in my eye first thing in the morning any day. The sound of rain is incredibly relaxing. I love relaxing!

Rainy days give us moms an excuse to turn on a movie and let the kids veg out ... in silence. There is no reason to run around like wild monkeys and scream at each other because, "He took my toy!" or "She hit me with my Light Saber!" or even, "Nobody wants to play Barbies with me." There is no reason for any of this atrocity because a movie is playing and my children are glued to it like little hypnotized rabbits ... and they are silent. I love silence!

A rainy afternoon just BEGS for me to curl up on my bed during nap time and read a good book or pull out my pen and paper and jot down some new ideas. The sound of the rain creates little scenes in my head and lets my imagination run wild while at the very same time letting me remain calm and sedated. I love being sedated! (Um wait...I can explain....There were no substances used in this afternoons sedation....I promise!)

So I checked the weather and what do you know! Rain all through the day and all through the night! Should I start singing with joy now? A rainy evening too! What to do what to do? Possibly another movie. Rainy evenings are the perfect nights for living room picnics with pizza. I LOVE living room picnics with pizza!

The night will end with my window open as the sound of the rain sings me to sleep. The gentle pitter patter of the rain drops hitting the leaves and splashing against my window will lull me into a deep slumber after a wonderful relaxing rainy day. I love rain!

And besides...we all know how much I LOVE umbrellas!

(Don't forget to check out my WEBSITE for my new post and updates on my book!)