I Just Know That I am Going to WIN!!!

So my friend/Visiting Teaching Companion is doing a giveaway on her blog, but she is making us actually WORK to enter! (Sooo not fair! Whatever happened to something for nothing?!) Anyway, the prize is a basket of fall-y stuff including an adorable jack-o-lantern towel, so, obviously, I had to enter! I LOVE FALL IN SAINT LOUIS!!! And also . . . I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!! (Have I mentioned that before?!) :) She is an (AMAZING) professional photographer, so naturally her contest required us to do a photo scavenger hunt. I thought it was a fun idea and a fun little project! If you'd like to participate just head to http://emilys-little-world.blogspot.com/ for the details. (Actually I'm a little hesitant to share this information because I REALLY want that pumpkin towel!) :) Funnily enough, I am babysitting her son right now and doing this while he takes a nap. (Callum, on the other hand, is shunning his nap and instead pulling all of my Tupperware out of a low cupboard and banging it on the floor before throwing it across the room. Awesome.) Winning said contest has nothing to do with the pictures themselves, it's just a fun part of the contest that in the end will have a completely random winner. Kindof reminds me of the game Killer Bunnies. No matter how much skill you have at the game, in the end a total beginner who screwed up the whole game can win if they happen to have that one "magic carrot." Good thing for me since I had to use my cell phone to take my mediocre attempt-at-being-artsy pictures! (Our computer that has all of our pictures and picture software on it won't boot up. Wonderful, huh?) Anyway, on to the pics!

A Happy Place in My Home

Callum's nursery is a very happy place in our home. Even he seems to be aware that he has more freedom in this new apartment than in the last! I love that he has a big, open "safe space" where I can plop him and let him play and make a huge mess and I won't mind a bit or have to worry about him. It will be even happier once it is all organized and set up with the cute ABC foam mats on the floor so that he won't bonk his head as hard and my fabulous puppet collection from school displayed on shelves. Don't worry . . . pictures will be posted once it's done!

A Picture of a Picture

Technically, this is a picture of a painting. BUT, it is a painting of a picture that I took of one of my English students while I was living in China. My Auntie Muriel is a professional watercolor painter, and she painted the picture for a show that she did of children from around the world or something to that effect. Then I got it as a wedding gift! AWESOME!

My Favorite Color

That's right, folks: RED!!! (The shoes are bright red, although that doesn't show up very well in the picture.) I looooove red! I have red shoes, red jewelry, red glasses, red clothing of every type, a red purse, a big red beach hat, an adorable retro-style red swimsuit that I hope to fit into again someday, several red coats, a red lamp, a big red basket full of blankets, a set of red crib sheets, a red Kitchen Aid mixer, red pots and pans, and red kitchen utensils of every kind. Oh yes, and the thing that started it all: RED LIPSTICK!!! (Actually, I can't find my red lipstick at the moment. SAD!!!!) My favorite color used to be purple, but then I started wearing red lipstick all of the time in high school and college. (I was one of those girls who used to wear red lipstick like it was chap stick. Hard to believe now that I am too lazy to put on any makeup at all on most days! And that change is NOT just since the baby was born!) Anyway, hot red lipstick looks great with hot red clothing and accessories, and thus my devotion to purple was transferred over to red and the obsession was born. These particular red heels are what I wore on my wedding day under my big white gown. (With red lipstick, of course!)

Something From My Childhood

This is Figment. Figment is a character from a ride at the Epcot Center in Orlando, and I got him in the seventh grade. I started bringing him to all of the slumber parties that I attended and he became a funny part of my identity. (What IS it with me and weird stuffed animals sneaking their way into my personality?!) I even dressed up as Figment for Halloween in the 8th grade by squeezing into an old pink and purple dinosaur costume that my Aunt Jackie made when I was in the third grade! Talk about uncomfortable! But it was very funny! I passed Figment along to a friend when she started college and was homesick so that she would know that I was thinking of her, and she passed him back to me several years later when my mom died. He brings back many fun and silly memories from my younger years!

Something "Fall-y"

One of the things that I love about fall is breaking out my "warm" clothes after a summer of capris and t-shirts. There is something so satisfying about wearing a cute sweater with a perfect pair of jeans. And the best part of fall is that it's just the right weather to wear that outfit without having to cover it up with a coat, hat, scarf, and mittens.

Something From My To-Do List

To Do: Babyproof our new apartment. (Chill, grandparents! It's on the top of the list!)

A Favorite Book

As a former elementary school teacher I have an obsession with children's books (novels and pictures books alike), and some of the best out there, as far as I'm concerned, are the Harry Potter books. They excite kids to read that formerly had no interest whatsoever, especially hesitant little boys. They are amazingly engaging and well-planned. They rock, regardless of your age when you read them.

Something That I Ate Today

They're here, people. The Halloween Oreos have arrived!!! I adore Double Stuffed Oreos, and there are none quite like the Halloween Oreos. Maybe it's just because I adore Halloween, but I am thoroughly convinced that Halloween Oreos are in fact better than regular Oreos! For real! There is something magical in that glorious orange-colored cream filling! I wait for them all year long.

Something That I Need Every Day

This is my "nursing station," and it is definitely something that I need daily. Comfy chair: check. Boppy: check. Cold water to drink through a handy straw: check. Mindless magazines to peruse as Callum chows down: check.

Oh yeah, and one more thing that I need EVERYday . . .

BABY SMILES!!!