Farewell 2014, Hello New Year!

I hope that everyone has a happy, fun and safe New Year's Eve!  We will be ringing in the new year in the comfort of our home {and our jammies} as we nurse poor Jack back to health.  He gets sick every single time we travel to Corsicana/DFW area.  Every. Single. Time.  It was the running joke this month that he would probably get sick for Christmas and OMG he did.  Rant end here. 

In other Jack news, he is being a champ with his weekly physical therapy sessions and started walking on his own this week! 

I'm extending my mini blogging break until next week when we can start the year fresh!  I still need to recap our holiday season, review my latest Stitch Fix, share our progress on Jack's new camp-themed playroom and share some fun hair tips via an upcoming post on Houston Moms Blog.  Lots of fun to come.  Thanks for hanging in with this little 'ole blog of mine!

Love you and will see you in 2015!

xoxo

Weekend Recap {Two Weekends Ago}

I'm clearly playing catchup here, but better late than never right?

Written 12/15/14:  Happy Monday and as every retailer's email I've received today states "Only 10 More Days Until Christmas"!!!

Are you ready?  I just have a few more things to buy and a {large} handful of things to wrap, but I have to say that this is the most on the ball I've been with gifts.  I'm not stressing one bit and that has a lot of do with scaling back this year in terms of gift-giving and opting for gift exchanges rather than buying for everyone. 

Friday

I took the day off from work to volunteer at the Junior League as a waitress.  I have to do this once a year as part of my volunteer commitment to the League.  All went well and I was done by 2pm so I grabbed a Starbucks and picked up the last few gifts I needed to buy. 


Gotta love the Junior League Green Apron!



Jason had a holiday get-together with his coworkers that evening so while he was out I got some one-on-one time with my little man and then got to wrapping!

Wrapping in my "Cottage Room" + Dateline + Junior Mints = Chelsea's Heaven

Saturday

Saturday ended up being errand day since I had a super busy Sunday.  After a lazy morning at home, we did super exciting things like a trip to grocery store.  I also sent Jason on an Academy mission with a long list of gifts to buy the men in our lives.  He did great and came back way under budget.  I always go over and he always stays under.  How???

Jason made a super yummy steak dinner for us and after putting Jack to dinner, I setup shop in the kitchen for some cookie making for my annual cookie exchange the following day.  This is shallow, but one of my favorite things about my house is our perfectly placed TV in our kitchen.  It makes cooking and baking so much more fun. 

As soon as I started baking I turned on Bravo {y go-to channel}and Dirty Dancing was starting.  I posted this already on Instagram, but can you believe that up until now I had never sat down and watched Dirty Dancing from start to finish???  Sure I have scene all of the major parts and know what happens, but it was wonderful to watch all of it! 

Sunday

I headed out the door midday {while Jason and Jack were watching the Texans game} for my Junior League Girls Annual Cookie & Ornament Exchange!  I look forward to this tradition every year and Adrienne is always the best hostess. 

We all bring a cookie to try and vote on and then everyone goes home with a little of everything.  We vote on Best Dressed, Best in Show and Best Tasting.  For the second year in a row, I won "Best Dressed Cookie"...this year it was thanks to my little prop cookie jar that matched my cookies - nothing original this year - just Christmas funfetti cookies with icing and sprinkles.

After event #1, I headed back home to prep for event #2 - The Houston Moms Blog Holiday Party.  Our original venue fell through so my house it was!  I was super happy to host everyone, but the best part was that I really didn't have to do anything except provide the space.  The food, drinks and activities were all taken care of.  I plan to post a full recap of this event another time, but it was a really great way to end an awesome day...and year with HMB!  I feel very lucky to be apart of this amazing group of women. 

What To Wear on Christmas

I'm in full on packing mode right now {in my head - I'm currently at the office} which means I have to make decisions on what I want to wear on Christmas now rather than spur of the moment based on my mood...yet another reason why I hate packing. 

If you are like me, I like to be a little festive, a lotta comfortable and 100% picture worthy.  That's sort of a tall order. 

Pinterest Told Me To posted some great ideas yesterday.  I've already decided that I'm doing the "Blardigan" outfit on our travel home day since it's supposed to be cold and rainy.  I wore that exact outfit last week on a rainy day and it was perfection. 

What do you typically wear on Christmas Day?  Is your family more formal or extra relaxed? 


Option #1 - Dress and Tights with boots and scarf
Not festive or super functional since I'll likely be on the floor a lot with Jack, but super comfy.  To me, dresses are often more comfortable (and forgiving) than jeans or pants. 




Option #2 - {Inspired by PTMT}  Jeans, Boots, Blanket Scarf and Loft Tunic Sweater
Very cozy and somewhat festive.  The blanket scarf will coordinate well with what Jason and Jack are wearing...although we would be officially deemed "the plaid family"




I think I'd personally feel better in Option #1, but like the idea of being festive and matchy with my family in Option #2. 

Any help or preferences?  What are you wearing?

Holly Jolly PJ Linkup Party

 

As always, Jack has a closet full of holiday PJ's, but I've done a terrible job of taking pictures as he is wearing them.  Something tells me he will be sporting these all winter - even after the holidays!

 

{Jingle Jammies Photoshoot}

 

 

 

{Hanna Andersson PJ's while we practice our standing/walking skills}

 

 

{Christmas Book in Christmas Jammies by Two Magnolia Lane}

 

{More Hanna Andersson PJ's}

Five on Friday

ONE

Thanks to the sweet comments about my post yesterday.  I promise I wasn't bashing your gift guides either...heck, I even posted a gift guide!  I was just trying to show an example of how so much of my blog feed is clogged with {seemingly} ads.  Most of your guides are awesome, unique and really helpful, however after seeing the same random products in some guides over and over, you get a little skeptical.  I intend to comment back to everyone this evening!

TWO

We start our "Four Christmases" this weekend.  #1 on Saturday and #2 on Sunday.  That will take up most of the weekend.  The rest will be spent doing last minute wrapping, church, a work event for Jason and {fingers crossed} a much-needed manicure for me.  I'm not sure that last one will happen as it's been set aside the past few weekends, but a mom can hope!

I can't wait for you to see what I'm making Jason wear tomorrow for our Tacky Sweater Night.  Let's just say I have a warped sense of humor...and a husband who is a good sport and also shares my humor.  I'm sure I'll be posting pics on Instagram @ChelseaPurifoy

THREE

A little Jack update for you at 19 months.  If you remember I discussed here about him being a late developer in terms of walking.  He has been to a specialist (pedi neuro) about it who said everything was fine, however his little leg incident pushed us way back.  Once the cast came off, we started back up with physical therapy once a week.  He is doing great and we are seeing major improvements, but still not walking.  It will happen in his own time, we know.  For now, we are celebrating each tiny little milestone he makes. 

We still feel he is very advanced in other aspects..talking and being super cute!  His love of animals is also unmatched.  I was shocked at how many different animals he could identify and say yesterday when I pulled out some flashcards.  He also has been eating like a champ and just started using his fork correctly without my help!  Genius I tell you. 

FOUR

Houston Moms Blog hosted a "Favorite Things" party last Sunday at my house and now you can enter to win all of the stuff that we received too!  Enter here.  My favorite item we received is probably the May Book...love those notebooks!  But, I also just used my Jason's Deli giftcard today and LOVE the cute "But First Coffee" print from Blossoms and Billows...I have it sitting on my nightstand.

FIVE

This face!  Happy Friday!

Catching Up

Hello!  "Blogging" has been on my to-do list for several weeks, but I just haven't made the time for it.  It's become my new gym.  Hate it, don't wanna do it...so I haven't.  I have replaced my evenings when I usually blog with wrapping Christmas gifts. 

Let me clarify - I don't hate blogging.  In fact, I love it and have continued to write posts for Houston Moms Blog, however I've been struggling lately with what I want this space to be. 

I know I'm not alone in my feelings of the blogger pressure.  The pressure to get 3-4 posts up per week.  A good mix of product reviews with personal stories and always high quality images.  Oh and of course, linkup with someone!

But lately, what's been plaguing me the most about blogging is the materialistic side of it.  So much of the blogosphere has turned into buy this, wear this, try this...and all using affiliate links so that we can buy more, wear more and try more.  {I personally don't use affiliate links fyi, but many bloggers do}. 

I am so sick of reading gift guides this season I finally just started to "mark them as read" in my feed.  I LOVE reading product recommendations from bloggers, don't get me wrong.  And I certainly love to recommend to you all of my favorite finds, but it just seems to be too much lately.  How many "favorites" and "must-haves" can one blogger have?

Maybe I'm just reading the wrong blogs, but lately after reading them I either feel the need to buy something or feel inadequate for what I don't have and aren't doing. 

So that's where I'm at today.  I don't want my blog to be a "mommy" blog and just share pictures of Jack, but I also don't want to be a product pusher who makes you feel bad over something you don't have or can't afford.  I'm not crafty, don't have fitness tips and am no Julia Child so what exactly am I contributing is a question I often ask myself. 

My only answer is a real person.  A real wife, mom, friend, professional, clumsy, overweight, sarcastic person who hopefully you like just as I am. 

I'm not going anywhere - just working to figure out what to do next on The Perfect Catch!

...a space where we embrace the perfection of imperfection.

xoxo

You Sit On A Throne of Lies

Jack visited Santa last weekend...and it was not pretty.  Luckily we had an appointment so no lines, no waiting and the entire thing took less than a minute.  As soon as I picked him up from Santa's lap he was happy again, even blowing Santa kisses goodbye.  He is such a sweet boy.  He just gets a little scared, but really, who wouldn't!  It's a super weird custom we have to sit our child on a stranger's lap and expect them to pose for pictures. 

 

 

 

Images by: Tanya Saenz Photography

Location: The Turquoise Door {Tomball, TX}

 

Oh Santa... 

 

Jingle Jammies 2014

It's the sign of a good weekend when you have no pictures to show for it!  We were too busy in the moment to stop and take pictures.  So today I'm doing a quick weekend recap and then on to some family pics!

 

Friday we visited my grandmother's assisted living home for their Christmas Party.  Grammy had organized a performance and was playing the piano and my mom joined the crew to sing carols for the party.  Jack loved hearing the songs and sneaking a few cookies before dinner.

 

On Saturday we were sad to miss a friend's birthday party, but Jack's health is my #1 priority right now, so we opted to let him sleep in instead.  We headed to have some pictures with Santa at a cute shop in Tomball (same Santa as last year), had lunch with Pops and KK and then headed up to Conroe to see my BFF and her family who were in town for the weekend. 

 

We ended up staying at the resort in Conroe that Jason used to work for so it was fun to see what has changed.  Jack loved every minute of it and I'm so thankful he is feeling better.  Special thanks to my mom and LE for keeping Tucker for us!  On Sunday we finally got our tree up (complete with hot chocolate and Elf) and watched the Texans win.  I even snuck in a long nap!

 

--

 

Now onto some family pictures!  We participated in "Jingle Jammies" again this year with our family photographer Maca of Studio Ainsley.  I had grand plans of getting us all matching PJ's again like last year, but then Jack's little leg break happened.  Jack rocked some cute PJ's and Jason and I just jumped in for a quick photo to use for Christmas cards.  The backdrop was Maca's amazing backyard complete with deer running around behind us.  Jack was in heaven!

 

It's hard to top last year's, but a bright red cast on this sweet face just might do it.

 

Photos by Studio Ainsley

Jack's tshirt by Tagged by Tiff

PJ Pants from Carter's

Taken November 2014

 

2013 & 2014