Something Blue

Tiffany blue, that is!

On our trip to New York a couple months ago, I was able to cross another item off my 30 Before 30 list. While we were downtown I went in to Tiffany & Co. to look around and came out the proud owner of a new piece of jewelry wrapped up nice and tight in the signature blue box and tied with a white ribbon.

We looked around for a little bit and decided to get a “push present,” something to celebrate the birth of our baby – even though I haven’t actually had her yet. We saw some necklaces that said “Mom,” but ultimately decided on the Elsa Peretti Bean pendant. At our very first ultrasound the tech said our baby looked like a little jelly bean – so we thought it was perfect!

I almost cried when I tried the necklace on in the store. It was everything I was looking for: delicate, simple and symbolic. My friend Sandra said she thought it would be OK for me to wear it on special occasions before the baby is born, like my baby shower and our gender reveal party – so I did!

For now, my little bean necklace is in a safe place until I break it out for my baby shower and then for Baby Reinert’s birthday! According to Tiffany & Co. the bean represents the origin of all things – in our case it signifies the start of our family of three (well technically four if you count Millie!)

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Book Report: “Clara and Mr. Tiffany” by Susan Vreeland

I thought this book was a good choice to mention along with a post about Tiffany’s – although the novel is about Louis Comfort Tiffany (son of Tiffany & Co. founder Charles Lewis Tiffany) and his famous stained glass artwork.

The book is based on the life of Clara Driscoll, who could be called the real designer of the Tiffany lamp – rather than Louis Comfort Tiffany. The story follows events that occurred while Clara worked for Mr. Tiffany based on actual letters written by Clara.

Overall, I really liked this book. I liked that there was history involved and enjoyed learning more about how Tiffany lamps were originally made. I felt like some parts were a little slow and found myself skimming several sections.

There is a really good story involving love, loss and overcoming inequalities in the 1920s. If you can get through the slower parts and are into history, this book is totally worth it!

Big Reveal of Baby Reinert

Obviously, we are beyond excited that we will be welcoming a new addition to our family this November. And since we recently  celebrated another major milestone – buying a house – we decided to host a joint housewarming and baby gender reveal party for our family and friends.

I went with a blue and pink, mustache and lips theme and created this fun little invite a few weeks before we found out for sure what we were having.

I wanted to do something different to reveal our baby’s gender so I made a piñata and filled it with colored candies and streamers. (More on how the piñata was made in an upcoming post!)

We asked guests to guess “boy or girl” by picking either the blue mustache or pink lips. Here is a picture of everyone who guessed we were having a boy.

We had pretty even numbers between boy guesses and girl guesses. Even Millie joined in on the fun as she ran up to Brandon and I right before we took the “girl” picture.

We asked the son of one of Brandon’s softball buddies to do the honors and after tons of worry on my end that the piñata wouldn’t hold, it broke perfectly and a rush of streamers came out …

… in PINK! Even though we only found out we were having a girl a few days before the party, it was very hard to keep it under wraps – but it was definitely worth it!

Brandon and I are so excited for our little girl! We both wore blue AND pink for the party and I’ll admit I tried to throw people off here and there when I could. 🙂

Now that we know what we’re having, the clothes shopping and nursery decorating has officially begun! We’ve got a lot to do before November, but we’re looking forward to every second of it.

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Book Report: “Then Came You” by Jennifer Weiner

I actually picked up this book because I couldn’t find “Fifty Shades Free” at my local Target. I read the back cover and after realizing it was a story about pregnancy and having babies, I couldn’t help but buy it.

I took it with me on my trip to New Jersey and New York and finished it two weeks later on my way back from a trip to Phoenix. It turned out to be a really great traveling book – even though I couldn’t find much time to read it while I was running around in Orlando, whenever I was out of town I couldn’t help but pick it back up every chance I got.

The story is actually more about unconventional pregnancy options like egg donation and surrogacy but I still found myself relating to a number of the characters and especially situations throughout.

I would definitely recommend this one – and not just if you have kids or are expecting.

New York State of Mind

I have so many posts to catch up on! So, sorry if some of these get posted out of chronological order.

One of the things on my 30 Before 30 list (yay, I’m actually starting to cross a bunch of these off!) was taking a trip to the Big Apple. And while we were only there for a couple days, I’m happy to say we officially saw NYC!

We were able to tie this trip in with Brandon’s cousin, Troy’s, wedding in New Jersey. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was super fun and the couple looked absolutely stunning! Yes, even Troy! Here’s a pic of Brandon and I before the ceremony.

The day right after the wedding, we swiftly high-tailed it out of town to head to New York. Our friends Tom and Sandra picked us up and took us out for some hipster soul food – then the next day we went sight seeing! Our first stop was a boat tour where we saw Lady Liberty.

The tour went around the entire island of Manhattan and took a total of three hours! We got to see a lot of neat stuff along the way and I made sure we got a picture of BrandAnna (and baby!) in front of the city skyline. Look, it’s the Empire State Building!

Next stop was Times Square. I’ll admit it wasn’t as busy as it looks on TV, I expected a lot more hustle and bustle, but the giant screens and ads were just as I expected and very cool to see in person. We even saw where they used to film TRL!

Crossing another item off my little bucket list, we went to Tiffany & Co. and although I wasn’t expecting it, I walked out with my very own Tiffany-blue box with a very special gift inside! Brandon got me a Tiffany bean necklace – to signify our own little bean. 🙂

We made a stop at the gorgeous St. Patrick’s Cathedral and took a few minutes to walk through the beautiful aisles and pews. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl yet, but before we left, Brandon and I lit a candle and said a couple prayers for our little baby-to-be.

I love the show “30 Rock,” so I got really excited when I saw the front of Rockefeller Center! Something I would love to add to a future bucket list would be to come back and see the city – especially Rockefeller Plaza – at Christmastime … some day.

Alright, when I was younger I really wanted to be a Rockette. And then I found out that you have to be a certain height to even audition to be a part of the elite, high-kicking squad. So, needless to say, this is about as close as I’ll ever get to the Radio City stage.

A full day of downtown sight seeing was enough for me, so after resting a bit that night, we headed out again the next day to Coney Island. Brandon rode a bunch of the rides – while I sat and watched 😦 – but I was sure to get a Nathan’s hot dog before we left!

We crammed a whole lot into a very little amount of time, but it turned out to be a great trip! Thanks to our hosts Sandra and Tom for showing us a good time – we’ll be back soon!

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Book Report: “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L. James

Alright, unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard about the Fifty Shades series. I’m currently on the third book because at this point I am completely invested in the series and must finish it and find out how it ends!

To be honest, if you’re looking for a book to stimulate your brain and get you thinking – don’t bother wasting your time on this one. The writing isn’t great and a lot of the dialogue is extremely corny but I like the story – no matter how unrealistic it is.

Besides the content (which is definitely risque, so be warned!), the book feels like it was written for teenagers. It is full of repetitive and easy-to-understand language, which makes it a quick and easy read – you could probably read the whole series within a long weekend.

If you are like me and can’t possibly pass up a book that is such a hot topic pretty much everywhere you go, then definitely go for it! But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Back in the Swing of Things

So, I took a little hiatus from updating the blog, but I am back and I have tons of stuff to share!

Work Update:

Work has been crazy. I blame my job for being the main reason I haven’t sent out a post in such a long time. In February, my immediate boss left to take a job outside of the company. So since then, I have been doing two jobs while they try to back-fill her position.

It’s been a long, crazy couple of months but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and my new manager is starting at the end of the month (thank goodness!) And while taking on a lot of extra responsibilty has provided great experience, I have to admit I am ready to hand over quite a few of the not-so-fun tasks of managing a publications team.

This is basically what I’ve felt like at work since February:

House Update:

On a more exciting note, we have big news on the “home” front. They say everything happens for a reason, so when the short sale we were under contract with fell through, we were discouraged but knew it wasn’t meant to be. Then after expanding our search a little bit we found a great little home situated right outside of our local golf course and we fell in love.

We moved in just a couple weeks ago, but so far everything has been awesome! The home is about 500 square feet bigger and has a second bathroom (which is probably the most exciting part of all!) Millie loves her new yard – we’re on about a quarter of an acre – and we can’t wait to get started on what is turning into a very long list of house projects.

I’ve been taking tons of pictures for future posts, here’s one of the front to hold you over:

BrandAnna Update:

2012 has already been an exciting year so far and I have a feeling it’s only going to get better. For a look at what’s to come, check out the video below that our good friend, Omar, created for us. I’ve probably watched it about 100 times already!

There will definitely be many more posts following up on this in the very near future …

My Day with Maxi

This past Christmas, two of my nieces, Noe and Maxi, each asked for a day out as one of their gifts. So, Brandon and I gave them each a coupon for a day with BrandAnna!

For my 12-year-old niece, Noe, we promised a dinner and movie date. Maxi, who is 11, asked for lunch and a feather in her hair (how cute, right?). Maxi ended up being the first one to redeem her Christmas coupon. I had my hairdresser pick up some feathers and made an appointment for Maxi to have it put in.

I started off the day watching Noe and Maxi’s soccer game, which they won! It’s hard to believe this sporty little girl would be sporting a new do just a couple of hours later.

We went up to Maitland to see my hairdresser, Sarah, after grabbing a bite to eat at a nearby First Watch. Maxi decided to do some poses while waiting for her feather.

This was Sarah’s first feather application as well, but it didn’t take long at all to get it in place. Maxi went with a teal tone that perfectly matched her braces!

After we got home from the salon, I put my flat iron to work and straightened her hair out. Scroll back up to that soccer player … can you believe it’s the same girl??

It turned out to be a “Maxi & Me” afternoon and we both had a great time. When we left the salon, Maxi gave me a big hug and thanked me for her feather-y present. She even blushed a little when the valet attendant complimented her new hair accessory. Too cute.

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Blog Report: The Beauty Department (TheBeautyDepartment.com)

Speaking of fabulous hair (and more) … I am obsessed with The Beauty Department. This blog has been my go-to for everything hair, nails, fashion and makeup. They always post fun and interesting tutorials with easy-to-follow photos and videos.

I have already tried a number of their tips and ideas like painting candy corns on my nails, applying the perfect shade of eye shadow and rocking the French braid ballerina bun – which was a big hit!

I seriously have never spent more time trying a new hairdo or painting my nails. This blog has actually encouraged me to experiment with tons of different beauty trends. I’ve even mastered fishtail and French braids! If I can do it, anyone can. 🙂

Attack of the Mini-Posts

Brandon has informed me that I have been seriously slacking in the blogging department. It’s not for lack of blog topics because we have had tons of stuff going on – it’s more about finding the time to sit down and type it all out!

Since I have lots to share and I don’t want to overload everyone with multiple “new post” notifications, I am putting together a few of the posts I’ve been meaning to write … all in one, super fun summary. Enjoy!

Love to Love Valentine’s Day

Unlike my oh-so-romantic husband who thinks Valentine’s Day is a made-up holiday, I love celebrating the ones I love with fun crafts and candy!

This year I continued my owl-themed holidays with my favorite wide-eyed birds on some seriously sweet cards and bags. I started by clearing out the Valentine’s Day aisle at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

I situated myself on the couch with a craft assembly line in front of me and some of my favorite shows on the TV and set to making multiple pink, red and white owl Valentines.

These cute owls bags (from my sister) made for the perfect package for my Valentine’s Day goodies. I put a special V-Day mini Fruit by the Foot in each of the bags as well for a sweet little treat.

Brandon and I kept it simple with a bottle of wine and some quality couch time catching up on our latest TV obsession: “Smallville.” I hope you and yours had a great Valentine’s Day, too!

Race, Love, Wish 2012

Every year, Chi Omega at UCF holds a 5K (Race, Love, Wish) to benefit the sorority’s national philanthropy, Make-A-Wish. Last year a very little Millie had to stay on the sidelines with some sorority girls (who didn’t seem to mind) while Lina and I made our way through the race.

This year, Lina and I are both advisors at UCF, so we were more than happy to support our girls, our sorority and of course, the fabulous Make-A-Wish foundation.

Lina and I kept up a steady walk this year while Millie and Brandon on the other hand ran the entire race! Here they are crossing the finish line.

Out of more than 500 participants, Lina and I took our time and crossed the finish line at 399 and 400. Brandon jogged his way to 219 and we like to say that Millie came in at 218 1/2!

We had a great day and I was so proud of Millie (and Brandon for that matter!) for running the whole thing. I wish I had that kind of endurance!

No. 1 Fan of the No. 1 Fan

We’ve been lucky in that we’ve had a number of Orlando Magic hookups over the past few years and have got to go to a ton of games both in the old Amway Arena and the new, amazing Amway Center.

This past weekend my mom took me to a game courtesy of her work. The day of the game, we found out we had been upgraded to even better seats and dinner in the Mercedes Benz Lounge.

After enjoying our free dinner and drinks, we headed to our seats – fifth row behind the visitor’s bench. It was definitely the closest I’ve ever been to the court during one of the games!

Of course, I wore my Stuff hat and my new “I ♥ Stuff” shirt because I am Stuff’s No. 1 fan (I even dressed up as Stuff for Halloween this year!) and I got some love from the man (err, sort of) himself!

We had so much fun at the game – especially since the Magic pulled out a win at the end – and because I know she reads my blog, I have to give a shout out and THANK YOU to my mom! ♥ you!

Movin’ On Up

We’ve had so much going on the past few weeks, but probably the most exciting thing (for us anyway) is that we put an offer on a house! Yep, BrandAnna has taken the plunge. Like I said in my House Hunting post, I’ve been looking for a while to get the feel of our neighborhood so when something that fit our criteria popped up, we didn’t waste any time before we jumped on it.

It’s a short sale, so unfortunately it could take several months before we’re in our new home and there is always the chance that it could fall through later on, which would be super sad since we really love it. I’ll be posting more updates as the process progresses but here is a look at the front of the house in the mean time.

We’re very excited and I hope to share more news on the house sooner rather than later. For now, we are waiting – and saving – until we hear back from the bank. And although I can’t wait to move … I am dreading packing up all the junk we’ve collected throughout our current house over the past three years. It’ll all be worth it though!

On the Hunt

As if things aren’t crazy enough for us already this year with job changes, extracurricular activities, travel plans and more, Brandon and I added another (huge) activity to our days: house hunting. That’s right, BrandAnna is finally ready to make the move and dive into home ownership!

We’ve been living in our tiny 2/1 in College Park for just a bit more than three years and while we have loved the charm and location of our little place we are ready for something new – something that will be “ours.” We decided we still want to stay in College Park, which is part of the challenge because the area is known for being over-priced and chock full of really old houses that need a lot of extra work.

So far we have looked at a couple houses and are still working toward finding the perfect one for us. While we continue to look, I wanted to share some of the ways I’ve been staying organized and getting inspired for our new house!

I am a list maker. It’s one of the things I have learned to love about myself, I seriously make a list for just about everything. A couple of years ago I found a fabulous holiday shopping Excel template through Microsoft Office online and it started to make me wonder … what other fun templates can I find on the Internet? Well, it turns out they have a myriad of new-home-related Excel sheets in their gallery for everything from house cleaning checklists to refinancing calculators. I found a nifty mortgage payment estimator worksheet that has helped us create a budget and get a good idea of what we can expect for monthly payments. After we plugged in our numbers, we used it to create a price range for our house hunting efforts and when we met with our mortgage broker to iron out all the details, he let us know that we were right on track with a realistic budget.

After we had our budget in place, it was time to start looking for houses! I had heard a lot about Zillow.com and Realtor.com, and while I still use both of those a lot as far as researching houses, a friend from work (and fellow house hunter) told me about MyFloridaHomesMLS.com. A lot of times, other sites aren’t updated as much, but this one always has a better showing of what’s out there as well as more details and pictures. You can enter in your specifics as far as price range, number of beds/baths, square feet, etc. and then the site will come up with an accurate list of available homes as well as information on the type of sale (traditional, short sale, bank-owned) which is sometimes hard to find out right away on the other sites. For us, this website has been a huge help – I started looking in our area early in order to get a feel of the real estate activity in College Park.

When I was planning our wedding, The Knot was my go-to place to find anything and everything bridal-related. Now that we have been married for a few years, the next step as far as The Knot is concerned was moving over to The Nest. I’ve been browsing around this site for a couple of years and can always count on it for useful tips on a bunch of different things like party hosting, exercising, decorating and of course, buying a house! The thing I like so much about The Nest is that it has a lot of articles as well as questions and answers concerning all sorts of different home-buying experiences. When you first start out looking for a house there are so many different factors that you never even thought about, but The Nest articles explain everything in simple terms and even provides downloadable checklists and forms to help you get started and stay organized.

I hope to have a house update sooner rather than later, but in the mean time I am enjoying my research and planning for our potential new home!

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Blog Report: Young House Love (YoungHouseLove.com)

Another place I’ve found a lot of new-home ideas has been the blog Young House Love. The couple that runs this blog is truly an inspiration. They are the type of people that see the potential in a home and work hard to make it their own.

Brandon and I are looking for something that we can mold into the perfect space for us. We aren’t worried about having to do some work (although we aren’t looking to do a complete overhaul) and getting rid of some of our old stuff in order to make our new home everything we want.

This blog is a huge help because it has a ton of photos and even videos that the couple created to help you get through any renovation or design project you may tackle. And I love their projects gallery which is set up by category so it’s easy to find the things you are looking for – or just browse.

Songs to Inspire

Sometimes you need a little bit of mood music to get you going on a particularly tough day or to bring you down from a stressful situation. I definitely have my own list of go-to tunes to get me in the mood – whether I need a little bit of cheering up or to let it all out.

When I need a little motivation:

1. “Feels Like Today” by Rascal Flatts – When I was looking for my first job I pretty much listened to this song every day. It kept me motivated and hopeful that something great was coming!
   
2. “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack – In high school my friends and I used to sing this song all the time! And even now, every time I hear it I can’t help but belt along and feel inspired.
3. “Jesus Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood – I had a really bad week during my last summer in college: I didn’t have a place to live, I crashed my car and I listened to this song EVERY day.
4. “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts – This song came out when I graduated college. My favorite line: “I hope you never look back, but you never forget all the ones who love you in the place you left.”

When I’ve had a bad day:

1. “Keep Your Head Up” by Andy Grammer – It’s hard not to believe the words of someone who speaks from experience. This guy was literally living on the street when he wrote this song.
2. “Bad Day” by Daniel Powder – This one seems obvious, right? Somehow, it always seems to put me in a better mood when my day – or month – has been less than pleasant.
3. “Look After You” by The Fray –  I had a major Fray obsession in college and still love listening to their “How to Save a Life” album. It has since died down, but this song still gets to me.
4. “Oxford Comma” by Vampire Weekend – Anything by Vampire Weekend can calm me down. They are really chill and have a whole slew of songs perfect for all kinds of moodiness.

When I’m getting ready to go out:

1. “Let’s Get It Started” by The Black Eyed Peas – The entire “Elephunk” album would be blasting when I was getting ready for or on my way to a party, bar, social … you name it. I still love it!
2. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper – In my sorority house we would play music in the upstairs bathroom as we got ready for events and it doesn’t get better than this girly anthem.
3. “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield – Nothing makes me feel like dancing and having a good time like “Jessie’s Girl”! It makes me miss my girls and my good ol’ college days.
4. “Only Girl in the World” by Rihanna – I can’t get enough of belting out Rihanna songs and this is one that I literally scream rather than sing, whether I’m at a bar or in the car.

When I feel like screaming:

1. “Shame for You” by Lily Allen –  I love Lily because she’s bitter, raunchy and bold – she says all the things I feel like saying when I’m really mad, but would never dare utter out loud.
   
2. “Addicted” by Kelly Clarkson – No one does angry ex-girlfriend better than Kelly! And while I don’t have the crazy boy drama (thank goodness) that she usually sings about, it feels good to sing loudly along.
3. “Walk Away” by Christina Aguilera – Here’s another one who’s good at telling off both guys and girls – whoever deserves it. When I wish I could yell at someone, I sing some Xtina songs instead.
4. “Rumour Has It” by Adele – I seriously hope they don’t start playing this song on the radio because I’d be bummed if it got played out and I got tired of singing it on my way home from a bad day.

So, now it’s your turn! What are the songs that inspire you?

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Book Report: “Kitchen Chinese” by Ann Mah

Another Book Club read, this novel was chosen because it was written by a Chi Omega. It was also a welcome departure from the more serious and scientific books that the group had read in the months prior.

It’s about a Chinese-American woman who works as a magazine fact-checker (I can relate to that) who loses her job in New York (thankfully I can’t relate to that) and decides to move to China to live with her sister – who she never really got close to when they were growing up.

Along the way she makes new friends, meets some interesting and very high-profile guys (by Chinese standards at least) and gets a job writing about food.

The book is really light and fun, and while I didn’t relate to the Chinese parts of the book so much, I could relate to some of the interactions with her sister. Overall it was a good read, but maybe one that you borrow from the library rather than pay for at the book store.

Looking Back at 2011

I was inspired by one of my fabulous sorority sisters, Erin Davenport, and her recent blog post about her year in review for 2011. So I decided to come up with my own version of the idea and pick one defining event from each month of last year – it’s a great way to remember, record and reflect upon everything that has happened since this time last year.

January – A Family of Three

We started off 2011 with a new addition to our family: Millie Noel Reinert. If you’ve read my past posts, it’s easy to see that I am head-over-heels in love with my little, long-haired dachshund. Millie was a Christmas present from my husband, Brandon, and from the moment she came into our lives, we have become healthier, happier and wealthier (at least in quality of life) than ever before.

February – Meeting Finley Marie

In December we welcomed a niece, Finley Marie Reinert, to Brandon’s brother and sister-in-law. Due to the busy holiday (and beer) season as well as the fact that they lived in West Palm Beach, it wasn’t until February that we got to meet her for the first time. Seeing her in person was nothing compared to Skype and photos, she is one of the sweetest and happiest babies I’ve ever met.

March – Two Years & Counting

In March, Brandon and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary – it seems like just yesterday when we said “I do.” On our first anniversary we stayed at the Grand Bohemian (where we had our reception). Last year we didn’t plan anything big but we did have dinner at a fondue restaurant, Brandon had never been to one before. Each year keeps getting better, I can’t wait to celebrate three years!

April – Welcome to Wyndham

April brought a big change for me. I left my job of almost four years at a small, local publishing company to go to work for Wyndham – a large, nationwide organization with a more corporate setting. I still work in publishing and continue to do a lot of writing and editing, but I am constantly being challenged in new ways (which is a good thing) and getting tons of social media experience.

May – Phirst Time to Philly

There were a lot of May events that I could have picked to highlight: Brandon and I both turned 27, I started a blog and two of our best friends got married. But our trip to New Jersey/Philadelphia was too good not to mention! On a whim I suggested to Brandon that we visit his hometown and of course he was more than willing … as long as we made it out to a Philadelphia Phillies game.

June – I Added an @ to My Name

Yeah, that’s right, just like I said I’d never join Facebook when I was in college, I had no plans whatsoever of tweeting. That is until social media became a bigger part of my job and I was looking for more ways to spread news about my portfolio and blog. 🙂 So in June I finally bit the bullet and signed up, and I’ll admit I like tweeting and find a lot of great stuff for work (and for fun) through my account.

July – Carpooling to Coral Springs

The summer months were hot as usual so we decided to cool off with some of our buddies in Coral Springs in July. Our friends Ben and Alli invited us on a little road trip to Alli’s sister’s house and of course we were up for the adventure. We brought Millie along but she wasn’t alone – she had Ben and Alli’s dog Bella as well as two other dachshunds in Coral Springs to play with!

August – Revisiting My Alma Mater

After celebrating Bid Day with Chi Omega at UCF, I really started missing my own chapter at USF. So I planned a weekend where I could go visit the Chi Omega house and campus at USF (they have done a lot of renovations around campus since I left) as well as see my good friend Jamie. Being back in Tampa brought back a lot of memories, I hope to get over there more often this year.

September – Weekend in Death Valley

September brought a trip that we had been looking forward to for a while – returning to Clemson for a football game. Along with our friends Ben, Alli and Curtis as well as my sister Lina, Lina’s friend Emily, Brandon’s cousin Troy and Troy’s fiance Sarah we headed to South Carolina for an incredibly fun weekend and a great game against Florida State. (Clemson won, of course!)

October – Traveling Coast to Coast

In October I scratched the first item off of my 30 before 30 list by taking a trip across the country. I had never been to the Pacific Northwest before (or really the West in general) so I was very excited when my work sent me to Seattle for a meeting. I only spent a couple of days in Washington but luckily I was able to see most of the main sights including Pike Place Market and the Space Needle.

November – My Little Millie Turns 1

November brought the beginning of the holiday season but for the Reinerts it also brought Millie’s first birthday! Millie was born on 11/12/10 (although we didn’t bring her home until Jan. 1). We’ve loved every second we spent with Millie so far and look forward to many more years of love and licks from our little girl. She had a great birthday filled with treats and a couple new “big girl” toys.

December – From Beer to Wine

Brandon also had quite a few changes in his career last year. In the spring his company (he worked for a beer distributor) was bought out. As a result, his territory and hours were greatly affected and right before the holidays he was offered a job with a wine distributor basically doing the same thing. He is now off weekends and we are on similar schedules throughout the week. 🙂

2011 was a really great year all around … but we are hoping for an even better 2012! I’ll keep you posted!

Happy Owl-idays to You

So yeah, if you know me well then you know I have a slight obsession with owls. A few months ago I stumbled upon an owl-infused blog (see my Blog Report below) and was inspired to integrate my favorite feathery creatures into my Christmas gifts this year.

Owls seem to be everywhere lately – which is both a good and a bad thing for obsessed people like me – so it was easy to find the basics like wrapping paper (mine is from Target). It was a lot of work, but I created 20 of these cute little owl gift tags for the holidays.

I started by drawing the owl outline and the owl belly. Once I was happy with the shape and size, I created a template out of cardstock and proceeded to trace and cut out the shapes. I went with a red and green theme for Christmas, of course!

I bought a set of Martha Stewart holiday paper to make up the feathers of the owl. I tried to stick to my color scheme of red and green and chose sections of the papers that had plenty of color and Christmasy designs.

I bought a Martha Stewart leaf stamp cutter and I’m SO glad I did because it made cutting out all those little “feathers” so easy. I created a peanut-shaped stencil and cut out a bunch of those for the eyes section of the owl’s face.

After I stamped out all the feathers I took an assortment of them and arranged them in four rows of six. I made guidelines on the belly-shaped paper to keep my feathers in line. Then I glued the feathers on row by row starting at the bottom left.

I continued to layer on the feathers one row at a time until I reached the top of the tummy. After all the feathers were glued firmly in place, I turned the belly over and trimmed the top along the wavy edge I created with the template.

I glued the tummy onto the red owl shape, leaving enough room at the top for the eye mask (peanut-shaped) part. The final steps (which I didn’t take pictures of) were to cut out a small yellow diamond shape for the beak and two white circles for eyes.

I drew pupils in the eyes with a black marker and then cut a slit toward the top of the owl’s head to weave ribbon through. Then I wrapped my gifts in my owl-iday wrapping paper and attached the gift tags with curly, complementary ribbons.

I was very happy with the finished product and enjoyed the look of our Christmas tree with all the owl-themed presents stacked up underneath it! And I still have plenty of owl wrapping paper for next year (and maybe even the year after that!)

Like I said, these tags turned out to be a lot of work, but I love the way they came out and I got a lot of compliments on them when everyone received their presents. Now I need to start planning on my holiday gift wrapping plans for next year!

Hope you had a great holiday season … I’ll see you in 2012!

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Blog Report: My Owl Barn (MyOwlBarn.com)

Through one of my other favorite blogs, How About Orange (HowAboutOrange.blogspot.com), I found a great DIY tutorial on how to make adorable little owl tags! Once I looked through the tutorial, I started browsing through the other projects and products featured on the site … and I was hooked.

My Owl Barn is an owl lover’s dream. It has tons of craft ideas, printable owl designs and nifty finds from all over. I could seriously browse through the posts for hours.

I love the gift tags that I made this year and hope to get more ideas from this blog for future owl projects. If you’re an owl lover, like me, or simply a lover of crafts, this site is one you should definitely check out!