FACE.LIFT.

Did I not say I was going to be doing a name change on this baby?!

Yes, it's me, Nicole, and I think I'm a little too excited for this whole 

name change/face lift/beyond awesome transformation.

Take a look around, why dontchya?

So here's the deal:

I'm the same ole' mama Nic, but now us Cisneros's are 

Three's 4 Me

and

It. Is. Wonderful. 

What the heck does Three's 4 Me mean, you say?

Well!

Meander around the ole' About Us section, and you will surely find out!

Okay, I'm going to stop being a weirdo and just tell you what I'm here to say.

You can now follow me on Bloglovin'.

Bow chicka bow wow.


Linked up here.

Trying your best

I'm feeling mushy right now.

Know what I mean?

As in m-ooooo-shy.

Sentimental, is actually more descriptive.

Here are my thoughts:

Why is it so hard to look around and say to yourself,

Hey, I should be proud of what I've done because I've worked hard at it.

It's just so easy to want more.

To get down on yourself because you miraculously didn't reach that absurdly high goal you set.

I'm not talking about the materialistic things in life, because it's my belief that you should be proud of whatever the heck you've treated yourself to because you worked hard for it.

I'm talking about the kind of "more" that involves your time, your energy, your feelings, you.

Why do I feel guilty if I just so happen to get through a day without pulling my hair out?

Is it because I have some sick, inner, masochistic thought that in order to be a good mom and wife I should be stretching myself to the abyss of insanity?

That's ridiculous.

It is.

It's. Ridiculous.

But not even twenty-four hours ago, that's how I felt.

I was just sitting there on my couch last night, after my dainty three hours of work at the world's best job, and I was feeling bad that I wasn't more exhausted.
What?

This thought literally went through my head:

I should have thrown the ball around a little longer with Carter today before I put him down for his nap.

And that thought led to.....

What's wrong with me? Don't I know that it's mui importante to feed my Babe greens? Why didn't I push harder for it during lunch time? 

Which then turned into.....

Really, Nicole? Is it so hard to take twenty minutes out of your day and fold the laundry?

{And the tone I was using with myself!

It got worse and worse as the thoughts kept rolling.

I was the Big Bad Wolf by thought #3.
Couldn't I have just been happy that the laundry had actually been done,
and the dishes were in the dish washer?}

My point is this:

We all try our best in whatever it is we are doing. Maybe not all the time, and probably not in all aspects of our lives, but when it comes to kids, and husbands, and wives, and home-upkeep, and pet maintenance, and basically anything under the sun that has to do with the people we love, 

we try our gosh darn best!

So it's time to stop with the over-the-top, I'm-way-too-hard-on-myself attitude.

I used to think that this 'tude was what propelled me through a productive day, but that was pre-childcare years! I also thought it was a good idea to drink three Red Bulls in a twelve hour span!
Idiocy.

Okay, I feel a little less mushy.
I'm going to spend today feeling content with whatever it is I feel like doing,
even if that means giving into Babe #2's desires and eating cookies during the morning hours!
Well, you know....
because that's what Babe #2 wants to do.....
:)

Yum. And. Yum.

{Oh! And don't forget about my upcoming name change, yo!}

Link up!

Hi, I'm ready for the holidays

As in, I'm REALLY ready for the holidays.

Won't Carter look dashing in these babies?

I think so!

And a-can I get an ALLELUIA for the fact that we don't have to wait too long for the holidays?

Just a few more months!

Oh! And I can't forget about my jumping the gun and making a few

Christmas ties!

Yep, I did it. I made a few Christmas ties. 

And it's August still.

And those Christmas babies are my favorite out of the whole batch so far.

Just delightful.

If I hadn't of finished these things post-bed time for the little man, there would be twenty-bajillion photos of him sporting a nice, classy Hallows Eve tie, or perhaps a tasteful Santa Clause beaut.

And then Chad and I could sit next to him by the fire place and drink port and red wine, while discussing the woes of the current state of the stock market.

All while wearing sports coats and tennis garb.

What a sight it will be!


I shall be linking up here, yo!

And here, here, and here.

In all seriousness

I've found a new home.

Except I'm sitting at my kitchen table.

And I'm no where near that level of organization.

You go, Roberta, owner of this space!

{Whoever you are!}

Boyfriend.

Hi, boyfriend blazer.

I want to figure out how to sew you,

because you would work for a lady-of-the-pregnant,

as well as afterwards.

Here are my thoughts:

if I'm not going to sew big, then why sew at all?

I think you, boyfriend blazer, will be my goal by Christmas time.

I'm crossing my fingers you make an appearance.

Love you, man.

Instafriday - Crafty Edition!

I'm linkin' up again at Life Rearranged

Wooohoooo!

Are you ready for this?

Okay so this last week I've been sewing like a mad woman.

What's so awesome about this?

Well, prior to this week I had never sewn a stitch a day in my life.

I was one of those who thought such an activity looked boring and monotonous.

Why would one want to stair at a needle for hours on end and pull some stupid piece of fabric through a tiny little space?

It completely baffled me.

But NOW....

I'm apart of the sewing club! 

Granted I can only sew a straight line, but I've been doing good! I'm so darn excited!

Sewing is fun!

There. I said it.

And you know what?

Having a child to sew little handsome objects for helps a whole lot.

If I hadn't gotten the inkling to make my little munchkin a precious beyond all precious, toddler sized tie, who knows what I would have been up to this last week?!

Gambling? Drinking? Sex and rock and roll?!

I could have been heading to no-wheres-ville fast if it hadn't of been for that sewing machine.

Okay, okay, that's dramatic......

And Babe #2 would not be too happy about it.....

Anyway, I've decided that I want to show the good folks of the internet two of Carter's newest accessories.

They are different sizes, because I had no idea which size would work best, since the sewing guns only come out during nap time or post bed time.

Okay, here goes:

And I'm not trying to be overly obnoxious here, but I've grown so much since this precious little tie! I've gotten better, people. And I want to punch myself in the face for saying something so blunt like that, but I can't help it! 

It's true what those parents have been telling us for years:

Practice makes perfect.

{Look! I'm REALLY turning into my mother!}

.......And that's what's going on on the flip side.

{You want to know what's cool?! I've figured out how to not have to double stitch the seem! Tears of joy!}

One thing I've learned is this:

Choose your fabrics CAREFULLY!

My cheap-o eyes darted towards the "remnants" section, which I'm sure is awesome in most situations, because it brought me to that adorable blue-striped print.......

But holy moly is it hard to work with. 

It slips out of my hands too easily!

{Hence that wacko seem going all hay wire}

Anyway, I've learned my lesson, and I'm mucho happy about this whole sewing thing.

My second trip to Joann's to purchase more fabric {check out my Lovelies} brought me to one of the most glorious things in crafty-land:

One of the sales clerks.

Yep, she was just cutting my fabric and we got to talkin', see??

She started sliding me over these pattern type things, all sly-like, see, and I was gettin' all riled up.

She started sayin' wild things like, "hey, I sneak a peek at Anthropologie's monthly catalogue, then I buy myself the patterns and make them myself, ya dig?"

And I dug.

I said, "Holy moly, you mean to tell me you MAKE clothing resembling things from Anthropologie for about the same price as these fabrics I'm about to pay for?!"

And she said, "Well, yeah, toots, what's the big idea?! Didn't I just say that?!"

And I said, "Hmmmm....We may be on to something here, we may be on to somethin'......"

So then I wanted to make myself a skirt.

But I can't do such wild things because Babe #2 says,

"Mama, I'm not going to let you, because IM THE BOSS OF THIS HERE BODY for the next couple of months, and I say that won't work because your waist line is no where near the size you would want to make that there skirt you got floatin' around that ole' noggin of yours."

And then I said,

"Okay, baby, you're right. I will make me an Antho inspired skirt once I'm back to my old, kickin' self."

It will be quite the reward.

:)

Awkward and Awesome

Oh, Awkward and Awesome!

How I love you!

How you make me laugh!

How you make me smile like a darn fool when I write you!

It's really quite wonderful, you know.

Awkward

* A client telling me at work that I was so skinny, but now I'm HUGE! {"I mean, you know, huge a good way...."}

* Me merging from lane to lane while on the freeway. Awful, just awful. Usually I'm a cautious beyond all cautious merger, and I thought I was following suit like normal from the carpool lane, but I kid you not, each lane I merged into someone could have died. I was embarrassed while sitting in the comfort of my own car, it was that bad. I kept shouting SORRY and waving my hands in the air like a hooligan.

* Carter kicking his Grandma Cheryl. I tried to scold, but it's just one of those things you don't want your kid to do to someone you're supposed to be showing how great of a discipline-er you are. Make sense?

* Changing a diaper in a restroom without one of those baby changing stations. Yeah, the bad kind of diaper. It calls for creativity. Sheesh.

* Having to test my weekly Wednesday Starbucks drink before leaving the place because they replaced the whole team and they are all horrible drink makers. {Starbucks = Wednesdays, McCafe's = Thursday-Tuesday. Important.} They all seriously suck. I know, that's incredibly mean to say, but it's not cool. Where has my old team gone? Where are my expert baristas? Where has my girl with her impeccable memory run off to? Where?!

* Witnessing a twenties-something man botch his bike push-off. You know what I mean? As in when someone places their foot on the peddle, then pushes themselves off the pavement and starts peddling? This guy really botched it. Chad and I were both chuckling because we felt bad bursting into actual laughter. We really felt for the guy! I swear! {But it was really funny at the same time......he he he he haw haw haw haw ho ho ho ho}

{It's so awkward, it hurts my eyes to look. Why did this have to be awkward? Why?! We looked so snazzy!}

Awesome

* Hearing from your husband that his classes have so far gone swimmingly. For his Tuesday night class he thought he would enter through a tiki-torchlight-trimmed door to the beat of Jumangi drums and people chanting "OOO-weeee-OOO, OOO-weeee-OOO....." Luckily, he left with a smile on his face and no tribal tattoos.

* Being done with school. {Sorry, hubby, I had to put it in there!}

* Carter's sweet sounding "No! No!" It doesn't sound like something which would be in the "awesome" category, but trust me, if you heard the upward cadence of that tiny little word, you would think it was awesome too. {Now I just have to cross my fingers that he doesn't use it against me. Eek.}

* Chad having BOTH Saturday AND Sunday off this week, AND the fact that we have NO plans on either day. Wow. Truly unheard of.

* Hearing that my cool cousin family is moving out here to join us in the OC. Bow chicka bow wow. 

* Remembering {just now} that I have a $50 TJ Maxx gift card sitting in my purse. Yeah, that's awesome.

{Um, I'm ready for this awesomeness to begin.}

NAME CHANGE.

Folks, I'm going to be changing my name on this here blog in a few short days.

So if you see something weird on your blog role,

don't think it was that overly lazy blogger you followed 

three years ago, a person you completely forgot about, who suddenly decided that

she wanted to resurrect her lifeless corner of the blogosphere.

It's just moi. 

New name awesomeness: September 1st.

Bow chicka bow wow.

That's how I feel about it.

Sunny and bright and tingly.

Oh, happy day!

Yesterday: Resident keeper of BEST HUSBAND.

Hey there, husband.

You are at work right now, heave-ho'in' like a maniac behind that desk of yours,

with that adorable picture of Carter behind you,

talking to person after person following the world's most insanely long day, which was, dare I even say it? 

Yesterday.

Yesterday was just one of those days for you.

First of all, you woke up at the crack of dawn,

then you went to work for a million hours,

where you had the world's busiest day;

then you went to school for a million more hours,

where you discovered that your professor is a jack-butt;

then your pen exploded in your pocket, 

causing your keys to get all ink-like, along with the hand that you shoved in there

to figure out what the heck was going on;

then you thought you were going to be able to make it home by 10:15,

but you actually were not able to walk in the door until 11:45.

You bought yourself a little bit of fro-yo to take the edge off, 

and I think that helped. 

But bottom line was this:

you didn't even want to participate in our nightly ritual of Ding-Dong eating.

I know, I know, it's an unhealthy habit we have created as of late,

but it's our unhealthy habit, and you were too exhausted to partake.

It's okay, Babe #2 and I more than understood,

and you made up for it by feeling said Babe move for the first time.

{Woohoo!}

You are a ridiculously hard worker, 

and for some odd reason you never get tired,

but yesterday was a tired day.

I love you because you never get tired,

since that's all I seem to be nowadays,

and I love you for having tired days like that every so often,

because it reminds me that you, too, are human and not Super Man,

which is what Carter definitely believes you to be.

Love,

Me

P.S.- The TV is still not working in the living room, so.......

JUST KIDDING!

I love you, babe!

Mommy, let ME see....!

{Mommy, let ME see the camera!}

This age takes the cake.

It's so darn cute.

Of course there are the bad moments,

like when you take your precious toddler out to lunch with one of

your best lady friends and he refuses to sit in the high chair,

and then there's the generous use of the word,

"No!," accompanied by a vigorous head shake from side to side.....

but then there's the

Mommy, let ME see!

Mommy, bite?!

Mommy, and this? And this?

all with a little tiny finger pointing at a new item around the house,

in the car, or while taking a walk.

It's just precious.

{Okay, mom, I'm ready to go to church or Sunday brunch in my nifty outfit!}

 {Hello, I'm precious, and your name?}

P.S.

Thanks, mom's-sewing-machine, for assisting me in the creation of that glorious tie! Words can not express how grateful I am to you for not poking some hideous hole in my finger, and showing me a good time all the while! You are truly a wonder, sewing-machine, and I think you may have opened some pandora's box of craftiness within the woman formerly known as Nicole Paplia {maiden name: representative of all things uncrafty}. 

Yours truly,

Nicole Cisneros

Linking up with:

Oh, Marie....

Hi, new-month's Marie.

How I've missed you.

Especially you, Bulletin.

I looked forward to spending time with you today on my porch.

You always deliver.

Much love,

Nicole

Bobbin and a-sewin'

That was me last night.

Just leisurely sewing on my mom's sewing machine.

Being a bad ass.

I even figured out how to load that bobbin thing all by myself.

Thanks Youtube, I have no idea what I would do without you, since the one page I needed out of the entire manual (bobbin's page) was torn out.

I feel like a little lady-of-the-home now.

Woohoo!

Instafriday!

Bow chicka bow wow.

It's Instafriday, lady!

{cue "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" audio clip}

This week I was a fabulous cell-phone-picture-taker.

I don't know what it was about this week in particular...

Maybe it was my cunning skills in the photo department?

Maybe it was my fail-proof memory that Fridays around these parts means photo-show-off-day?

Or maybe it's because my iPhone camera is my best friend, in place of a Nikon.

Yeah, that's probably it.

Anyway!

Let's get-a-goin'!

Early in the week we met Chadly at the ole' office for some family fun time in one of the most charming little places around: the Orange Circle. Never heard of it? Don't worry, I had never heard of it until my sophomore year of college, when I made the move a whole thirty minutes away from my family. Yep, all the way from South Orange County to North Orange County. Aren't I adventurous? That means I had never heard of this pleasant feature of the OC, until late, and I've lived here my whole life! Tragic. Anyway, the hubs was running a bit late for our family sushi date, so Carter and I took advantage of our photo op.

This is my husband.

You can call him the non-central-air-problem-solver-of-the-century.

We enjoyed second breakfast on the porch.

Sigh, it was lovely.

The only thing we were missing was the hubster.

But don't worry, I of course shot him a few picture texts of us enjoying life with not a care in the world between us, and he was jealous.

I almost felt bad.

A few days ago I put Carter down for his nap, and after a considerable amount of laughing floated through his closed door, I decided to go find out what the heck was going on in there.

Well, he found a way to maneuver his new toy tunnel into his crib through the bars, untie it from it's neat position, and sprung it into action.

This is what I found when I went in to check on him.

Poor guy then thought I was going to pick him up and he could skip right over his dreaded nap session.

Sorry, fella, no such luck! Mommy needs your nap times more than you do!

These babies were taken today.

I'm pretty dang tired {Babe #2! Calm down in there!}, so I decided that a walk was in our best interest.

I sat, he played.

Happy, happy, happy day.

Now that munchkin is in bed, and I'm enjoying the solitude.

Yippee!

Awkward and Awesome

Inspired by The Daybook

So I have a new obsession. 

Her name is Sydney, and her style is awesome.

She is pregnant, and that is awesome.

She also took that incredibly awkward picture of herself, and that, too, is awesome.

So I'm following suit.

Let's get rollin', shall we?

AWKWARD

{No need to be nice. That's an awkward face I'm making. I look like a cougar out to harm young men at a bar. Sheesh!}

* Waving to the creepy man in our apartment complex who owns two {TWO!} humongous cars, and two motorcycles. Why? Why do you live in an apartment complex if you own such frivolities? Every.single.day without fail he waves to us as he is waxing his F-350, and in order to preserve our safety, {because who knows what this creep-o is capable of} I wave back enthusiastically. I know, I know, it sounds mean, but it's creepy. And he has a "lady friend," which equally creeps me out.

* Me asking Chad "what's wrong" multiple times because he was just sitting on the couch unwinding from his day in silence. I was particularly wound up that night, due to those dandy things called hormones, and I could not chill out. After asking him for the 15,989th time, he looked at me and said with some considerable conviction, "Babe! Seriously, nothing is wrong, I'm just sitting here relaxing!" Okay, sheesh. Blame the hormones!

* Hearing from your local McDonald's drive-thru {no, I'm not grammatically challenged, that's just the way they spell it on those signs!} lady that she will "see you tomorrow!" Okay, I have a small problem. But to blatantly point it out like that? Not cool, Maria! {Yeah, I know her name, and she knows mine}.....You know what, though? McCafe's are a way of life for me! No shame!

* Practically clawing the iPad away from Chad the other night. I'm not kidding. The 'mones took over once again and told me that if I did not have access to that iPad within 30 seconds, then surely my heart would stop and the world would dismally end. He just looked at me in shock and then started laughing. I felt dumb, but then I started laughing. Eek.

* Trying on non-maternity shorts because they had an elastic waistband, and them still.not.fitting. I was embarrassed, even though I was alone in my dressing room. I did not tell Chad about that. Well, he knows now!

AWESOME

{Ahh, awesomeness. Just perfecto}

* Coming home to an immaculate house after working for a few hours. Yes, the day has come where Chad has adopted my cleaning style {i.e. throw everything unsightly in various closets}, and I couldn't be happier about it. Love that man.

* Carter saying "I love you" without my prompting him. What's even cuter is that he says it in this totally funky way, so funky to where if you weren't Chad or I, you would have no idea what the heck he just said. Love that cuddle bug.

* Feeling normal for a few weeks. Well, normal is a subjective term, but at least I haven't felt like dying due to exhaustion. I feel like I'm finally semi-back-to-normal in the "playing with Carter" realm, and that's awesome enough to last me all year.

* Almost hitting the 20 week mark with Babe #2. Bow chicka bow wow. Not only does that mean that I'm half way through the pregnancy, therefore that much closer to holding that little bundle of joy, but it also means I'm almost at 5 months. Obviously. To me that's a big deal! Hitting those milestones in pregnancy is just so exciting!

* Chad being Chad.

* Carter being Carter.

Ahh, that was wonderful.

Cheers to Sydney!

To Toddle and Teach

Carter, I've realized, is a walking, eating, breathing, functioning, 19-month-old 

blog-like tutorial.

He does everything in chronological order 

{albeit, whatever order he has come up with at any given moment},

Step by step,

With fierce, undeterred focus.

He really can teach you a thing or two. 

Really.

Here's just one of his many daily tutorials entitled,

How to fix a printer.

Step 1: Put on a hat that is too small for you. It is quite necessary, as this hat sets the serious tone for printer-maintenance-work. Obviously.

Step 2: Fiddle with the paper that was neatly stacked in said printer. Without this step, one faces the uncertainty of maintenance success. Very important.

Step 3: Open scanner portion of printer, and sit down. This will give maintenance worker optimum visibility of printer insides. If you skip this step, you might as well just quit now.

Step 4: Leave paper askew, scanner open, lie down on the floor near printer, and look adorable. This being the most substantial step in printer-maintenance process, it is quite eminent to the success of said work. Smiling largely so that your mom can take a picture is also a part of this step. 

{Thanks, Instagram, for always being there for me!}

Good luck to you and yours on your impending printer-maintenance-fix-up session!

Oh! And as a special bonus feature, here's an additional tutorial, straight from Carter to you, entitled,

{You lucky dog, you!}

How to show your daddy cool fishies at the aquarium.

Step 5: Walk up to large aquarium, hopefully with daddy following you, but if not, who cares! You are independent, and that's all that matters!

 Step 6: Indicate to said daddy that you would like to be placed on the ledge in order to achieve a more advantageous viewing point of fishies. Without this step, you are doomed, so stop while you're ahead.

Step 7: Point to cool fishies, and say in your loudest squeal, "AND THIS???!" Daddy should inform you of fishies origin and name, but if not, to heck with him! Remember, you're independent!

Step 8: Look intrigued and interested with raised eyebrows at all times. Failure to do so will detract from your cute-o-meter, and that would be a tragedy. You go, cool fishie guide!

{Thanks, again, iPhone!}

Just by following these simple steps, one should achieve optimum fishie-viewing-experience, and combined with Steps 1-4, has the potential of creating quite a knowledgeable and interesting day of tutorials.

{And just for kicks, because this is the ultimate cutie-patootie photo}

Hi, I just died of adorable-overload. Ay yi yi. So.Dang.Cute.

Hi summer, I'm over you

Summer, oh summer, how magical you can be,

what beautiful tan lines your heat can bring to my body,

what magnificent smiles your sun rays bring to the faces of my family,

but you know what?

Go away! I'm sick of you!

I want Fall!

I want leaves! I want boots! I want scarves! I want rain! I want blankets! I want cuddles!

I want Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas! I want argyle sweaters! 

I want crispness in the air!

To be honest, I was way over summer before it even started. This year I just didn't want to deal with it. It's too hot for a woman-subject-to-whatever-her-hormones-wants-to-do-to-torture-her-at-any-given-moment! Sometime around May, I just wanted to skip straight over the season and go straight to fall and winter.

So today, in special honor of my craving of fall-wonderfulness, I did a few fall-like thangs:

* I made cinnamon buns from scratch. Okay, no. If you know me at all you know I would never do such a thing on a Monday, when Chad was at work, unable to help me if the house goes up in flames. They were from the Pillsbury Dough Boy, Carter loved his little treat, and they were delish.

* I made myself a HOT pot of coffee to go with said cinnamon buns. Yes, I utilized that piece of metal which sits on top of my counter for it's actual function, to make coffee, and no, I do not plan on making a trip to McDonald's later..........plan being the key word there. You never know what I might do if I get desperate later on in the day.

* I bought myself some galoshes online. Okay, no I didn't. But I plan on doing so at the first sight of serious rain, and hopefully they will be compliments of my friend, Tory Burch. 

But since I can't snap my fingers and make fall come around, I'm just appreciating the fact that it's no longer scorching hot around these parts, and that's good enough for me. 

Happy, happy day.