well, i don't want to brag...

so it's no secret to anyone who knows me that one of my favorite places in the world is paper source. really, what could be better? all the paper you'd ever need/want, quirky gifts, beautiful ribbon, customized invitations, and the list goes on... i've always wanted to work there, i think almost everyone who works there knows me by name, and i probably make it in there at least once a week. well, every year, they have a holiday card contest and if you use their products, you're eligible. i entered last year, but didn't win. this year, i was hesitant to enter, just because even though i used their paper, it wasn't very crafty. it was, however, inspired by one of their cards i'd seen in their holiday catalog. i loved how it turned out this year, so i didn't really mind that i hadn't gotten an e-mail saying i'd won a $50 gift card... but yesterday, as i was scrolling through their blog's latest post, which was the winners of the contest, there was my card!!! it's the very last picture and it's not even the whole card, but it's there!! i still don't mind that i haven't gotten an e-mail, but i am going to venture down to the store today... we'll see if i come home with an extra $50. :)

update: i didn't win, however, the girls at my local store sent it to their headquarters because they liked it so much... no $50, but who cares?!

the green bookshelves

i'm so excited to finally be able to do this post!!  a very, very long time ago, we were perusing the pottery barn catalog (we play a game to see if we can name what the other one will like - after five years of marriage, we're pretty good at it), and we both fell in love with these bookshelves.  as you all know, pb is just a tad out of any reasonable person's price range, so we decided to tear that page out and save it for a project we bryan could one day complete.  along came our five-year anniversary, for which the custom gift is wood.  we don't always necessarily stick with the customary idea, but it's fun to try and be creative.  i loved our first year, which was paper- needless to say, he did very well. :) i tucked this magazine page away in my studio and pretended we'd lost it in the move.  for some reason, he got really set on doing these shelves NOW, but i played dumb and was able to (with the help of my dad, who pronounces 2x4 : twobuhfour - one word, no y) design these shelves in secret.  i went to lowe's and stored the wood in our neighbor's garage.  i know, it's going to be so good... except he found the plans.  my sweet husband, who seldom cleans without me knowing, and is almost never in my studio cleaning, walks into the kitchen... "did you draw this???" i almost cried i was so mad.  not at him, just at the fact that my surprise was ruined.  so i eventually got over it, and i can say that, a couple of months later, in between taking care of babies (who are one year old, i don't want to talk about it, but stay tuned for their birthday party post), work, and giving me breaks when i need them, he's finished the bookshelves.  how stupid is it that i don't have a finished picture?  i will, i promise.  they are amazing, and i know you can't even tell they're not the $400 ones from pottery barn.  they're going in the basement, which we're calling the babies playroom.  lucky babes. lucky me, to have a husband who can do these things!!  a few pictures to share...

working in the garage... brr

what i based my plans off of... who needs pottery barn?

a little pat on my back, if you don't mind... :)

ok, i got off my lazy behind and snapped some pics... obviously, already in use!! on a slightly different note, just found this number 2 at anthropologie- perfect for the twin's playroom!  i would spend all my personal money at this place if i could...

it's christmas eve and i'm starting to get a little anxious about the next couple of days.  i think normal moms probably look at this time (their babies' first birthday) in their baby's life and have mixed emotions, but of course, these moms didn't go into premature labor the day after christmas and have their 32 week twins approximately 4 weeks early.  once i got over the initial shock of them being here already, i was overwhelmed with guilt.  why do we feel guilty?  what is it?!  why can't we just let it go?!?!?  i have no idea.  i look at my two baby boys, who will turn one in 2 days, and there are no signs of prematurity.  they only spent two and a half weeks in the NICU, just needing time to learn how to eat.  in the beginning, they were on the low side of the adjusted growth curve, but now average non-adjusted.  they do all the normal things one year olds should be doing, and of course as their parents, we think they're little geniuses!!  and as many times as i've had moments of guilt over the past year with bryan or my mom or whomever, and i've been told : it's not your fault, you had 8 pounds 11 ounces of baby in there, stop blaming yourself, they're perfect, you had no control over it : i cannot help it.  so as with my infertility, i'm trying to adopt the mindset of letting go, of accepting the fact that it's no use living in the past, and that we're just going to have to deal with the fact that they were born on probably one of the worst days of the year (maybe besides leap day?) to have a birthday.  even though people who share that birthday can't wait to tell me how much it's sucked.  thanks a lot.

so here i go: oooommmm...
letting. it. go.

i heart flo rida, apparently...

for those of you who read my previous post, titled "i heart gap commercials", please forgive me.  wrong commercial, didn't double check.  

for the record, i do not love flo rida. at all.

the rest of our holiday card

on eco-white 5x5 square folded cards from paper source

wrapped in a square red envelope also from paper source

addressed in silver pen

exploring...

mom, how to do i get on top of this thing???

the true definition of a cankle:

ankle:   /ang-kel/   : noun : the joint connecting the foot with the leg.

calf:  /kaf/  : noun : the fleshy part at the back of a person's leg below the knee.

cankle:  /cang-kel/ : noun : the instance in which the two above listed parts

do not exist separate from the other, see below example

man, i love these legs.

i heart gap commercials

it's official.

bryan is done.  finito. for the next ten years, he doesn't have to think about another test.  let me back up a few years.  13 to be exact-ish...  he started college knowing he wanted to be a doctor, because of his anatomy teacher in high school, mr. lamb.  someone he respected so much, he was a guest at our wedding. he's even in our official album we got from the photographer because they goofed on which one we wanted in there.. oops.  bryan went to k-state for his undergrad, and ended up with more money at the end than at the beginning.  who does that? seriously.  he also studied for his m-cat in a comfy chair in loose park in the sun.  not in some classroom learning strategies, in a park!  let's hope these little babes get half his brains, they'll be fine... :) unfortunately, k-state didn't have medical school, or he would have gone there and wouldn't have ever had to admit to anyone that he became a jayhawk for four years of his life.  shh, don't tell.  k-state, however, does animals better than they do humans, so he came to the big city for med school.  at first, he thought he wanted to do orthopedic surgery... then he realized orthopods don't have lives.  i'm especially grateful for this revelation.  switched his focus to emergency medicine.  for those of you who've met bryan, this could not have been a better fit.  he's the most laid-back person i have and will ever meet, so go with the flow it sometimes drives me nuts.  but definitely a good yin to my yang...  in the course of med school, he took two of four board exams.  on march 17, 2003, we learned he'd matched at UCSF fresno.  one of the top emergency medicine programs in the country.  and i've heard would be the top if it weren't in fresno.  it was the best training you can get to be a good ER doc.  four years, one more written board exam.  a job in kansas city with a really great group fell into his lap (almost literally), we moved home and he started that in august of 2008.  fast forward to october 2009.  he slid in to a recently-cancelled spot (the last one - how does he do these things?) in a review course in vegas, read up on as much as he could retain, had me take him through several case studies, and took the oral board exam later in the month.   and yesterday, we got the envelope.

"congratulations dr. stork.... you are officially finished until
december 4, 2019."

what a feeling!!  i couldn't be more proud, although i never doubted he'd pass with flying colors... so so proud of you, babe.  congratulations.

our holiday card

i didn't get too crafty with our card this year (although it's still pretty sweet),
but this is the picture we'll be using...

out of the 7000 we took :)

we're gonna need a bigger boat...

or another letter... but what will we do when we have another baby??? maybe we'll have to sacrifice our letters for the children. the stocking hangers are empty at the moment because i'm working on hand-making some new stockings for all of us... sewing to be exact. i don't really sew. but i've asked for a sewing machine for christmas (which i know i'm getting because i saw santa my mom buy it) and jane has turned me onto the purl bee, which is where i got the pattern for what looks like pretty simple stockings. crossing my fingers it's not a lie...

christmastime with poppy

every year from the day after thanksgiving to christmas eve, my dad plays the piano at halls, a fancy schmancy department store on the plaza. you can find him at the bottom of the main escalators, playing and sometimes singing while shoppers pass by with their goodies... and don't worry, you don't have to wait for him to stop playing if you'd like to talk- he can do both at the same time. i know, so cool. it's the perfect time of day for us to visit, so i decided to take the babes down to hear him play. it's the first really cold day of the winter, and i just bought their coats. naturally, i want them to last all winter. needless to say, they're a tad big. :)

jingle bells...

so much to look at

mom, seriously, will you at least take this off while we're inside???!?

my studio!

if you can call it that. yes, you can. it's a work in progress, but when we moved in a little over a year ago, it was a guest bedroom. it was nice, our old bed became the guest bed, while we moved on to bigger (for my laarrge belly) and better things : a king-size bed! how did we ever sleep in a queen-sized bed comfortably?? i know, it can be done, and it was for almost 4 years, but it is definitely luxurious to be in a king.. i digress. a few months ago, i realized this room had only been used a couple of times. meanwhile, our "office" housed our computer desk, my work table, bookshelves, paper cutter, printer, etcera, etcera, etcera... the logical choice was made, and bam!, four or five months later, it is my studio. yay!! my workspace, my place where i can be by myself. as of right now, i'm not in there a lot, partly because i'm used to using other areas of the house for my projects- i'm a very visual person who needs to have everything spread out in front of her to be able to function... organized chaos, maybe? also because there's kind of been a lull in business for the past few weeks. and i need a good work chair. just a few reasons... i'm very lucky to be able to have a whole room! just for me, and i'm very proud of it. i'm in love with the color on the wall, and i wish you could see what it actually is. it's a yummy golden yellow with a hint of mustard... that makes perfect sense, right? bryan put up some cork squares on one wall, there's a collage of the babies as newborns on one, and the other is waiting on something. maybe a big overgrown plant. nah... built-in bookshelves that are sa-weet are on the other, and this is where most of my supplies are. i'm hoping to fill the corkboard with inspiration, pictures, cut-outs from magazines, and tons of quotes. i'm a tad obsessed with quotes. so here it is. sorry for the blurriness of the pictures, i wanted to try to take them without the flash so the color was as accurate as it could be...

a comfy chair i found at a used furniture store

(no bed bugs)

the desk/shelf bryan made for our fifth anniversary

(wood is the traditional present- he's so good)