Margaret's birthday

Hello friends!

Today, February 9th, is my Nana Margaret's 67th birthday!

I wish she were here, so we [all of her kids & grandkids] could celebrate with her. I am sure we'd gather at maybe my aunt june's backyard or my aunt dorothy's house and have rice, beans, enchiladas, salsa and cake. There would definitely be music, probably tejano/mariachi/Salena music because my nana loved to dance. She was always so charming and wanted to include you in the fun. You could just tell in her smile and that twinkle in her eye.

a funny thing about nana is that she was quite vocal-i mean loud! especially if she was playing referee between my three cousins, all sisters: brooke, bridge and brie.
It would make us girls all laugh because nana would get flustered (when she was mad at us or telling us something to do) trying to pinpoint one of us girls and go through the line: Bridget! I mean, Britt, ughhhh, BRIE BRIE!
SO this is why my grandpa henry refers to us B named cousins at the killer bees! haha.

anyways, the older i get, the more and more i miss my nana m. One thing i think i get from her is the love of makeup and always taking pictures, even of myself as she liked to get her picture taken professionally as seen below :) After she died and my dad and aunt were going through her stuff, we found notes that she had written about what makeup colors looked good on her and what colors of clothes to compliment the look. Isn't that so womanly? i love it!

happy happy birthday nana margaret!

love xo,
britt

p.s. happy birthday to nana's twin sister, my aunt nellie who lives in cali.

as seen in a newspaper magazine

*Please excuse these poor quality pictures: taken from my cell phone.

For reals. I saw these two ads in a newspaper magazine, USA WEEKEND in the past month or so. Some of you may get PARADE, depending on the region of the U.S. you may live. Have you seen these?

FOR WOMEN-You can own two of these for only $16!! wait, what?! You mean I can get two of these AH-MAZING stretchy, comfort bras for that price? lol.

I think they are so funny. Now, I apologize in advance, but I do not mean to offend anyone whatsoever. It's just that these products, especially the women's bras seem a little cheesey ridiculous. I don't see how they lift the girls with no underwire? Also, the straps are really wide. Some of my tank top's straps are not as wide as that, so you'd see the bra. They don't offer a size A cup (poo)! I'd get lost, which reminds me of that scene in "the proposal" where Betty White is fitting her old wedding gown on Sandra Bullock haha. Then, these bras are just not pretty. I mean, i think they are uglayy!
Pros: they are good deal. 2 for $16
Cons: not for me

AND MEN, so you won't feel left out ,they have SLIMMING SECRETS for YOU for only $11.97! Trying to smooth down the beer belly? wanna look tougher and buffer? Then this is perfect for you!

Oh man, i got a kick out of these!

Love of the Liebster

Happy Monday everyone! So guess what!? I have GREAT news! Yesterday morning when I checked my email, I got a message from sweet Sue over at hello. also, i love you. She awarded me with the Liebster Blog Award! This is my first ever blog award! I was so ecstatic! If you don't know what the Liebster is [which I didn't know until I read Sue's blog]; it's an award that goes to bloggers who have 200 or less followers to help promote awareness of their blog and to make new friends! It also means that someone out there thinks that your blog is read-worthy and fantastic! AWESOME!




Sue said this about me on her blog: "She is darling. She writes about things that really matter to her, and we all know how hard that can be sometimes. I've only recently started reading her blog but I already love it."

I was so touched by her compliment and sincerity. It totally made my day! Thank you Sue! I so look forward to building a friendship! :)

The rules of this award are:

When you receive this award you:

1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Reveal your 5 picks for the award and let them know.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people in bloggerland... other bloggers.
5. Finally, the best rule of all, have fun and spread the love!

majority of the blogs that I read have well over 200 followers, so I scrolled carefully through my blog list and found 5 wonderful ladies to pass on the award to. I can't wait for you to check them out because they are inspiring, funny and beautiful women. It's in my opinion that we(as women) should uplift & encourage other women and celebrate the sisterhood type bonds we can share, whether we live next door, across the United States or in another country! This is one reason why I love the internet: to be able to connect. And I for one, enjoy making new friends! So without further ado, let me introduce you to my five picks! (it was hard).

Suzie over @ semihomemadesuzie . she's hilarious! This post especially made me laugh. She loves starbucks(which i love too-twinsies!) She writes about her life with her hubby and little son. She loves to give gifts and seeing people's faces light up, I totally get that! Oh and she posts yummy recipes.

Jenna over @ paddingtonway She is a young, married mom. she's stylish, I really like her outfit posts. She loves snailmail like me. She's in Arizona, like me. and she has her own Etsy shop which the rosette & fabric hairclips are cute!

Lauren over @ culinarilychallenged She is a student in Canada. Her and I became blogging friends in January. She has the same type of sort-of-sporadic music taste as me, fleet foxes to Elvis Presley, for instance? She is funny too. I love her sense of humour ;) as well.

Leslie over @ showthewonder She is a young, married woman of faith with a knack for fashion too. I like her honesty. She is courageous and she watches "The Walking Dead"--zombies, Yes, me too! lol.

Jenna over @ Our Blessed Little Nest A woman of heart she writes about her life with hubby, 2 little boys and their adopted daughter. Adoption is near and dear to my heart, so when I came across her blog, I was really interested. Her storytelling of their adoption journey is inspiring.

I would also like to note that another thing that is in common with all 5 of these beautiful ladies is their heart for God. We all have that common bond, so reading/talking about faith is so cool.

When you have some free time to catch up on blog reading{like at night when it's all quiet, like me?}, check out these amazing young women! You won't be disappointed! :) SO go on, pass on the love!

valentine cards or just because

Many of you may not know, but i like to cardcraft! In fact, I sell my cards, mostly by word of mouth. If you are interested in buying a few cards from me, leave a comment or email me and we can talk details! I charge $1-3 per card depending on how much & what materials are used. Last week I started making valentine cards. These cards can be used for letting your hunny or hubby know you love them, just because. I bought a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper from an online scrapbook store called, Yourscrapbookstash.com, but sadly,they are going out of business! wahhhh! :( I had ordered from them for about a year, only because that is how long I knew they existed. Anyhoo, I can't remember what "line" this paper was from, but i love it. I cut out each playing card for my colorful cards.

Here are some that I made, which were featured in the giveaway this last week at my work blog, Ms-Misc.com


The last one I made especially for my grandpa's birthday, which was the at the end of January. I mentioned him in my january-youve-been-swell post.

I know the saying is cheesy, but it made me chuckle and fits perfectly with my grandpa's personality.

Only nine more days until St. Valentine's day! I love this holiday. I don't care if you are single( I am!) Or married or have a boyfriend/girlfriend. Who say's that this has to be a lovers only holiday?! We can celebrate all kinds of love:spouse,friendships, family bonds, pets, neighbors & blogging friends! :)

Are you doing anything to celebrate valentine's day or to prepare for it? Making special crafts or baking scrumptious treats? In addition to these cards (i've also got a few to make for my siblings: it's tradition), I've made a couple picture frames and making wooden bead necklaces as gifts for my ms-misc girls, which i'll post later this week. Shhh, don't tell them I told you! lol.

Bye for now loves, I'll return again soon! Have a relaxing, great sunday!

empowered

Right now, I have an overwhelming sense of empowerment because I know who I am, and who i am NOT and in things/people I believe in. To my discovery early this afternoon, a good friend of mine was under "attack" for an article based on faith that she posted on facebook yesterday. she merely was wanting to have an open dialogue. We may not have known each other a long time (all in relativity anyways) or be BFF's(yet ;)), but i do know that she is caring, creative, serves others, loves her hubby and kids, etc, the goodness could go on. The bottom line is that some people like to point fingers at others for their own insecurities. I am so honored to be her friend and stand firm in my beliefs to "love unconditionally" and be forgiving because that is what Christ teaches. How can we be so quick to assume things ,start to turn on our true friends or have the attitude that one faith is the only true faith(being so closed minded), when God continually pours out his love on us and his mercy? I am not saying I've never done these things, but I realize this and admit it because I am not perfect, i do mess up at times. I admire bravery and women especially who choose to have a voice in matters. People who stand up for what they believe to be true and dear to their heart is inspiring, because it makes us look at ourselves and ask, "are we being true with ourselves?" All of this reminds me of a Bible verse that my friend C has as her signature in her emails :

"Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act." -Proverbs 3:27

God gave us the freedom of agency. He gave us the tools we need to make daily choices of how best to serve Him and those we love. He isn't expecting perfection, but that we try our best. He has confidence in us! You may not agree with one's choices or belief system. It doesn't make them any less a child of God if it's different from yours. (in my opinion).

January, you've been swell

Oh January, how i've loved you. I can say that it's been a great and blessed month. God granted me the day to turn 29 this month and live to see more of his glorious goodness: in my family, in my friends, in the Perfect weather Az has been having these past handful of days and in my always forgiving four year old little friend P. who turned me into a frog this morning with a makeshift wand: a bubble heart balloon they put in flower baskets lol.

Over the past weekend, I had a wonderful girls day w/my mama.We bought some new makeup, which that will have to be it's own separate post (review time!) and strolled over to Barnes & Noble for chit chat over iced coffees and a new book for me: The House of Tyneford by Natasha Solomons. I started reading it last night and made it to chapter 4, so far so good and I KNOW i am going to love it, I already do.

Last week or so, I won a giveaway over at ragstostitchesblog ! The prize i won was a $25 credit toward a customizable blog design by the ever talented Amanda of royaldaughterdesigns!

I am SOO excited, so soon after tomorrow, you will see a new blog design-yay!! Can't wait!

Oh and yesterday was my grandpa Henry's 71st birthday! He's hilarious, caring, a jokester and on-the-go kind of guy. Here's him, me and his sweetheart last march (before they went on a hot air balloon ride for his 70th bday).

What a dream come true!

I do have to apologize for being behind in posts. I have been crazy busy working on/for my other blog Ms-Misc.com that I am co-author of, along with 4 other creative, fun ladies. Right now, we have a giveaway going on, so go check it out and make sure to enter before friday at midnight!! You'll love it, I promise! ;)

See ya in February!