One Little Word - 2014

It's the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one. As with everyone else, I am ready to start fresh... to refocus on people and things that mean the world to me. And I am ready to continue the journey of finding the perfect yellow dress.

For my One Little Word this year, I have chosen:

Here's why:

In years past I've picked words that were a little more serious... had a little more umph. However, this next year... NOW... I am focusing on my health... and looking & feeling good. I am not getting any younger... and I don't want to continue to fight this battle as I know it will get MUCH harder later on down the line.

So I will be dusting off Pretty Little Dress (both the blog and the Intsagram account) and will be looking for support where I can. 

I cannot wait to get the New Year started. Lots of planning to do - that's always the most fun part of it all!

Cheers!

P.S. Click here to read about my 2012 and 2013 Words.

Our Christmas

This year was different from all years past. I think that's a good thing. We learn to appreciate the little things more. It's not always the same.

I was determined to enJOY the holiday season; to not feel stressed out. Stress takes the fun out of everything. Gift giving wise, it was a smaller Christmas than ever before. Yes, the kids did get underwear and shoes. I don't think there was even a HINT of technology that was unwrapped. And that's okay. We were all together; that's what truly matters.

Here are few pictures from around my house:

 

 

We hosted not only the extended family for a Christmas party, but also my parents and grandma for Christmas. We had such a blessed season!!

Christmas Spirit

While I am not overdoing it, I can say that the Christmas Spirit is alive and well in my heart and in my home this year. I am trying to enJOY everything, to take it all in.

We are still 9 days away from the big day! I know the littlest kiddo in my house is exrtemly exited. The other two are gearing up towards Finals week (this week)... and then looking forward to their Christmas break.

I am hosting our extended family Christmas Party this year, so I have some work to do. Thank gosh I believe in magic! ;)

P.S. If you aren't following me on Instagram, please feel free to @jaime_queenofthecreek

2014: Around the Corner

I have spent the last few weeks thinking ahead... Thinking about the new year and the things I have to look forward to. I am determined to focus on doing things just a bit differently in 2014. 

I know that it's easy to use the fresh beginning of the new year to get caught up in resolutions and change. I've fallen trap more times than I can count; year after year. 

There is something different about this upcoming year, though. Maybe it's because the twelve months of 2013 haven't been the best. 

A Plethora of Photographs

I've been busy. And cranky. And going 200 miles an hour. But I've managed to take on a few clients over the past 8 weeks... here are a few of the outputs...

#AyalaAdventures | Part 2

If you missed our beach post, you can check it out here.

We really tried to pack as much into our 5 day trip as we could... and one of the places on our must-do list was the San Diego Zoo. I took several dozen photos - too many to share here. The last time we went to the Zoo, we only had one kid and I don't think we made it around the place. This time, 15 years later, we decided to take the bus tour. Well worth it. We got to see just about everything... and any exhibit/animal we wanted to see up close, we just made our way over there by foot.

I think our most favorite were the Pandas...(he looks just like our new pup, Oso!) and the Polar Bears.

The weather was perfect and we ended up spending nearly 5 hours wandering and meandering. Nic loved seeing all of the animals and different birds and trees. I loved that he ran around so much, he fell asleep the moment we got back to the hotel for the evening! :) Score!

#AyalaAdventures | Part 1

Yes... I gave us a hashtag for our recent San Diego vacation. Lame, huh? :D I know I posted pics and updates on Facebook and Intagram along the way, but I wanted to be sure I also document our trip here on the good ol' blog. I will break it up - I am too tired to sit here and edit a gazillion pictures. 

The first day in San Diego, we went straight for Coronado Island... and the beach.

Someone before us was kind enough to give us some opening remarks material. Thank you kind, sirs.

The weather was unseasonably warm... near 90 degrees; we loved it. We didn't actually plan to enjoy the golden sand (no, seriously, we think there was GOLD in the sand!) and cool water, so we weren't prepared. That didn't stop Nico though. Nope, not one bit. We scavenged for sea creatures, shells and seaweed. And we found them all.

I think we spent nearly two hours just allowing Nic to run up and down the beach, in and out of the water. He hadn't been to the beach in nearly 4 years and his reaction this time around was much different. He LOVED it. 

This last picture here pretty much sums up Nic on this trip... (and in life in general, now that I am thinking about it). 

The birds will never be the same on Coronado Island. But... who cares? My guy had a BLAST.

A quick trip to sunny San Diego

I will get back to 31 days soon enough... In the meantime, I am writing from beautiful San Diego, California! I am sitting in Panera with my husband and littlest kiddo, Nico. We decided to take an impromptu trip... and the big kids made the decision to stay at home this go round. Silly big kids.

We lucked out on Hotwire and got a crazy price on the Westin, where we have been for two days; we are switching to the Hilton for our last day (another fantastic Hotwire score). We've been to the beach.  We visited Coronado Island. We walked around downtown. We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We went to the San Diego Zoo!

Nic at the Old Spaghetti Factory - Feeling royal.

Nic's breakfast at the Broken Yolk.

The random picture of the parking meter is because I don't want to ever forget Nic asking, "What IS that??" We still have over 24 hours of fun left in this way too brief trip... But plans for today include the beach again... Old Town... And the Midway (even through we are sure the tours are cancelled thanks to the government shutdown). I am trying my first blog post via my iPad - and it's taken we'll over 30 minutes. :( I think Google/Blogger and Apple need to make nice. But... At least it's done. Will share more of our trip later.... And I look forward to getting back to 31 days upon our return to the Valley!! Cio!

31 days of capturing beautiful Arizona | Day 1

These are the Superstition Mountains that reside in the far east valley of Phoenix metro. I took this picture from just down the street from my house. The Superstitions is my most favorite mountain range EVER.

31 Days [a day late]

Hello, hi and greetings!

I meant to jump on the bandwagon with my Kool-Aid in my sippy cup MUCH earlier, but sometimes I just suck. Have no fear, I am here now... and I will present to you my 31 days topic.

First of all - you've heard of the Nester, right? Well, she does this thing, 31 Days, and it's kind of a big thing. In fact, this year she has over 1400 bloggers joining her. Last year, I wrote about how to seduce your guy in 31 days... and I almost succeeded. :P

This year, there are so many topics that come to mind... getting organized, slowing my roll, holiday crafting, etc... but I decided on something less time invasive and much more pretty.

As you may know, I've fallen deeper in love with photography over the past year and as much as I love shooting people, there is something about Arizona's scenery and surroundings I feel I need to capture.

So that's it my friends, at least 31 images of my great state. Hope you follow along!

xoxo,
jaime

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Introduction Post: A Day Late
Day 1: The Superstitions
Day 2: Flagstaff
Day 3: TBD
Day 4: TBD
Day 5: TBD
Day 6: TBD
Day 7: TBD
Day 8: TBD
Day 9: TBD
Day 10: TBD
Day 11: TBD
Day 12: TBD
Day 13: TBD
Day 14: TBD
Day 15: TBD
Day 16: TBD
Day 17: TBD
Day 18: TBD
Day 19: TBD
Day 20: TBD
Day 21: TBD
Day 22: TBD
Day 23: TBD
Day 24: TBD
Day 25: TBD
Day 26: TBD
Day 27: TBD
Day 28: TBD
Day 29: TBD
Day 30: TBD
Day 31: TBD

A Baby Shower

I was so honored to be able to host a baby shower for my cousin (by marriage), Katie. She is a delightful friend and neighbor; I lucked out with her. Katie is due with her first baby in early December and I am tinkled pink that it's a girl! Here are a few shots from the shower.

The shower was so much fun. We had a few games, but I think the hoola-hoop contest was the winner hands down. We had a lot of sweets and wonderful gifts. It was such a pleasure to spend some quality hours with family and friends.  Even though throwing a party is exhausting, I am trying to wrack up as many points as I can; I can't wait to get my hands on that baby.  :D

AUTUMN BLISS | FREE FALL PRINTABLE

I was multitasking on a conference call this morning and decided to make a pretty Fall printable.  This is a lovely quote from Emily Bronte (1818-1849), the English author who wrote Wuthering Heights.

You can download the 8x10 from here.

Enjoy! 

GUEST BATH REFRESH

My little guest bath, off of the family room and my office, has already had a makeover or two. The last one was revealed in November of last year. And while I still love the look and feel of the new room, the white sheers aren't very practical. 

To be honest, I had zero plans to change anything in there. But when I saw a cute shower curtain at Ross, I decided a little freshening nary hurt a loo.

Isn't it pretty? And the colors already match everything I have going on in there. White shelves, white paneling, and a yellow and gray canvas from Hobby Lobby.  You can see it here from the original reveal post.

I am spending this week deep cleaning that little bath, including caulking and touch-up paint... When it's complete, I will post some new photos! 

All this Fall cleaning is coming just in time - as I am hosting a baby shower on the 29th. I haven't had guests all summer, so I am looking forward to this! :D

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Remember when?

Remember the gal who was eager to move from one decorating season to the next? When she couldn't help but put all of her Fall decorations up... in July?! When she couldn't wait to share her Hobby Lobby finds and Goodwill makeovers? I think you are asking yourself the same question I am asking myself...

I think she bought a one-way ticket to FUNKland. A shame, huh? Thankfully, Miss Inspiration and Mrs. Motivation sought to provide some much needed therapy to this gal... and even purchased her a return ticket back to reality. 

Not that I have done anything to prove I am back... but I can tell you that I certainly felt inspired this morning. More than I have in well over 6-9 months. How did I do it? I clicked on a link on Facebook.

Do you read Finding Home? Laura has a beautiful blog, a breathtaking house, and a lovely personality. Her contributions to the online world are a fresh of breath air. And she runs this little thing call Finding Fall: Home Tours.

Her home was the first on the tour and I about passed out from all of the beauty. I did. This room is my favorite:

And that's all I am going to share here... I HIGHLY suggest you run over to Finding Home and checking out the rest of her sweet, sweet abode. And then all of the other houses on the tour.

As for me...? I am going to light my pumpkin spice candle, do some deep Fall cleaning and then pull out my seasonal decorating tubs.

Welcome back, lady! :D

Welcome back! Where've you been?

The URL is the same, but I am back on Blogger. It just makes me happy. Can't explain. I was able to load all posts from 2007 - 2012; however, I am in the process of loading 2013 posts from Wordpress. It may take a day or two.

I look forward to getting back in the blogging groove; I've missed it.

And because it's no fun to post without sharing a picture, I give you my former manager (in green) and her team. Of course, when she posted the pic, I felt left out (I left them and moved to a new role in April), so I decided to remind her of two missing - albeit, very important - team members.

She got a huge kick out of it. :D
I aim to please.

See you around!