girls' nite out.

so tonight some friends gathered for my first real christmas party of the season, and it was lovely! topics of conversation included pinterest, astro-glide, breastfeeding and felt food, and that range is pretty much par for the course with us ladies, right? anyway, while girls' nights never really need a theme or ulterior motive, this gathering's theme was "my favorite things." everyone was supposed to bring their favorite thing (x 5) for $6 or under. you draw names, pick gifts and come home with 5 favorite things of other guests. i am loving all my new treasures, but i have to say, my favorite was the gift brought by my genius friend, marie. she made 5 kids' growth chart rulers, which i just happened to have pinned to my "kid stuff i love" board on pinterest.

(image from pinterest)

that's not the picture of the growth chart i was lucky enough to receive, but very similar. it looks amazing, and i can't wait to hang it up! merry christmas to me!

and speaking of getting crafty, do you ever get the distinct impression that you're about to be handed a "cease and desist" letter from the fine folks in your home improvement store paint department? i have this sinking suspicion that the guys policing the paint chip holders at my lowe's are about ready to tell me i'm no longer welcome. my name is stephanie, and i like to collect paint chips. in my defense, i do have rooms i'm thinking of painting. and i might want to re-paint rooms someday. and i believe in doing research and being an informed consumer/decorator/painter. all of which is facilitated by the use of paint chips.

know what else paint chips are good for? making free art. (this might be why the guys in the paint department stare so intently at me as i shove various chips into my purse while making conversation with my one year old son. "hmmm, jack, do you like this color? i do, but i don't know if daddy will. best grab a paint chip to take home to show him? hmmmm, this color is more his style. better bring home a chip to see in the light.")

a few weeks ago, i found this glass shelf on clearance at lowe's, and decided it would be a nice addition to the space above my toilet. so i slapped her up on the wall, added some storage options, and proceeded to hate the whole shebang because i felt like it was missing something. on a recent jaunt to ikea, i picked up some plain white frames because you can never have enough picture frames waiting in the wings, can you? plain vanilla picture frame + paint chip obsession = art.

this project is best completed with the help of a spirited one year old boy and christmas carols sung on high volume. speaking of which, just tonight i discovered that onDemand has a karaoke channel. guess who's requiring all guests to sing christmas karaoke at our christmas eve celebration???

happy ho-ho-holidays... THIS GIRL!

xo, stephanie, the christmas elf