I've been on the search for MONTHS for something to hold all of my vinyl and such for my business
and let me tell you, IT'S HARD TO FIND THE PERFECT THING! If I had no budget to worry about, I have plenty of wishlists I could share but let's share the reality shall we? ;)
 
Then I found it! My sweet friend was cleaning out her garage and had an IKEA dresser (similar here) that she had made super cute and just didn't need anymore. I quickly volunteered as tribute for it! When I saw it in person I was so happy and knew it would be perfect!

I got it home and put it in the space I had cleared for it (the room is super funky in layout, weird walls and let's not even talk about the horrid colors in here - they were from the previous owners and we didn't have money to have them paint before so there ya go!) and I quickly put everything in the drawers.

Guys, I HAVE A FLOOR AGAIN! (And yes, I've been folding in the Kon Mari style WAY before this year folks hahaha) 
 
Owning your own small business is no joke y'all. It takes a lot of time and effort but is also so much fun!

I also got myself the Cricut EasyPress 2!! I bought the 12 X 10 press and the 20 X 16 mat that they suggest for it. I haven't been this happy in a long time! It's so easy to use and will save me TONS of time and backache!  If you want to see a full tutorial for how to use it, stay tuned! There will be a post soon!

If you can't wait any longer because you just love all things crafty, I DID do a small tutorial on my Instagram Stories and saved it in my highlights on my profile!

30 years of life have happened for me. I initially thought I'd do one of those "30 in 30" things but I decided to just put out some musings I've had instead.

I am not super woman.

There. I said it! I am incapable of doing all of the things I'm "supposed to do"!
 
And that's ok!
 
It's ok to not do all of the things. For example: this October we didn't do a pumpkin patch, carve pumpkins,  or anything super fall related other than Trick or Treat. And my kids are still ok. So my mom guilt can take a backseat for that thank goodness.

 I have to listen to my intuition/gut more often than my guilt or what others say. I don't know if any of you have this happen to you, but I've learned to mostly be able to say "No" or "I can't right now". We're heading into the crazy busy season and I've already had to say that a couple times to keep my sanity.  Or if there's a situation that doesn't feel right, I have to listen to that feeling and follow through.
 
It's ok to put yourself first sometimes. As a wife and mother I am constantly giving and giving and sometimes I literally have nothing left.

For me, one of the ways I put myself first is getting my hair done. I only get it done maybe twice a year but I feel so good afterwards. I feel so incandescently happy!  See this Instagram post for more of that musing!
 
It's ok to feel emotions.
Feeling sad is ok.
Feeling happy is ok.
Feeling angry is ok.
Feeling exhausted is ok.
You have to give yourself permission to feel your feelings or you can not heal. More often than not we're told to "pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get on with it" and that's good advice for the most part! But for some of us, hearing that just makes the guilt worse. I agree that we have to move on BUT everyone has their own pace and we have to find ours and do what's best for ourselves and our families.
 
It's never too late to start your dream!
It took me far too long to finally just start doing what I wanted to do: Open my own t-shirt and vinyl business! I've always wanted to make shirts at an affordable rate for ALL sizes and design my own stuff and it has been such a fun blessing for me!

It has helped my mental health in so many ways to create custom things for people! It's stretched my imagination and skills set. I've learned new things and can't wait to see  what next year has in store for the shop!

Life is good! Even when it sucks, which we all know it does on occasion, it is good!

I have my gorgeous girls, my amazing and supportive husband, my little business, a home, a working car, etc etc. How can I not see the good even dealing with the gross??

30 years old. I remember thinking 30 was so old and wise and you'd have it all figured out by now. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh how I was wrong, but also how much better it is than I thought! As I say goodbye to my 20s and welcome the next decade I'm excited to watch certain parts of my life end and new ones start. So here's to turning 30 and what a fun decade it will be!

So it's well-known around these parts that I am not a beauty expert. I mean I barely started wearing makeup at all just last year! But since beginning this "beauty journey" if you will, I have found a few things that I think are "Mom Hacks"!
 
First, Maskcara makeup

And no, I actually don't sell it hahaha so this is not a self plug or anything! I just happen to really love the product and I think it's one of the best hacks out there. It's essentially fool-proof and has a guide to help you. Plus it lasts forever as long as you apply it correctly and don't overdo your look. The point of Maskcara is to enhance your natural beauty, not mask it ;) (Get it, get it??)
 
Second, Maybelline Matte Ink Lip Colors

Influenster introduced me to these magic tubes of color and I love them soooooo much! They stay on through food, drink, sweat (mostly, there is a limit but it takes a lot!), AND you can put chapstick over it if you feel that they're getting dry (mine rarely do for reference) 
 
Third, Smille Brilliant Teeth Whitening

Remember this post? Well seriously, its sooooo easy and fast to whiten your teeth! I can grab my favorite book, or whiten while I do laundry, dishes, cleaning. I've done it all while whitening my teeth hahaha My kids always know when I'm doing it too because I sounds funny with my "retainers" in!
 
Fourth, Micellar water!

 This makeup remover stuff is magical!
I went through a bunch of different ones before I finally 
found this one and it made my skin so soft!
Plus it takes everything off with minimal effort
and no scrubbing which is awesome.
I personally love the Garnier brand but I think most of them are super similar ;) 
 
And because I love you so much,
Smile Brilliant is giving away another teeth whitening kit!!!
Click the link below to enter!!
 
https://www.smilebrilliant.com/g/ourhappilyeverafterblog

Last week we went on our family vacation to Disneyland, my favorite place of course, and I shared most of our adventures on my InstaStories! If you don't already follow me,  you really kinda should cuz I'm hilarious haha
 
SO! I wanted to show you the Disneyland swag we were sporting while we visited the parks!
 
First up I painted these shoes to help make the girls' Minnie Disneybounds (aka, dressing up but not in a costume) more authentic and look perfect!

shoes/paint
 
Initially I thought I would just buy yellow shoes for them but to be honest, kids shoes are so expensive and I was able to make these at a fraction of what already-yellow shoes would cost. I got their dresses from Alyx who used to do a children's clothing boutique! The shirts and leggings are from Children's Place!

We also got the AMAZING opportunity to work with Magic on Main and we got some super cute stuff!!

The bracelet was ALLLLLL the heart eye emojis guys! If you're relatively new to the blog, I had the privilege of working at Disneyland for a year as a college internship in 2010. I worked in the stores in Tomorrowland, Fantasyland and ToonTown. I also was a hat writer for a few months of that time (writing names on hats was literally the BEST!) Tomorrowland though is my "homeland" I was trained and learned the ways of the Force there so it holds a very very special place in my heart and I rarely see anything celebrating this spot of Disneyland.

So as soon as I saw that bracelet, I HAD to have it! The girls were more than excited for their pink princess shirts! "After all, if you dream a thing more than once it's sure to come true"  (points if you know which movie that's from!)

I got some other amazing Disney bling from another shop on Etsy that I fell in love with. These bracelets are so fun, easy to put on too! I will say though I somehow lost one of the charms for the Disney Parks themed one and I was super devastated! The stroller had gotten knocked over and the bracelets flew off! Luckily I found them but my one casualty was that charm :(

These ears have been so much fun!! I ordered these when the owner was still on the team for Fantasy Ears Co but she has now broken off to do her own shop: Castle Design Co! She's the sweetest and I have LOVED these! I got stopped so many times and asked about them!

This shirt was also super popular! The most I got asked about it was when I was sitting at Red Rose Taverne eating The Grey Stuff  (which by the way, IS totally delicious!!). I got this from Kind Hearts Vinyl and Decals!! She's so nice (and lives close by thank heavens!) and it's amazing quality!

Next time you're on the hunt for some good Disney gear, check out these AMAZING shops!!

So after realizing how much I loved having fun hair, and after it had grown out/faded quite a bit, I decided to get it refreshed by a professional that knew what she was doing haha I got so lucky and found Michelle from Shea Madison Salon right here in Queen Creek AZ!
 
She was amazing and so sweet and fun. Best part? She's been a hair technician for over 17 years, a color correction teacher for over 4 AND specializes in colored hair, as in FUN colored hair! AND she's super affordable. (also, this is NOT sponsored at all, I just really want to share with you how awesome she is!) 
 
Here's my before:

Golly it was bad huh? We had such a fun time during the whole process which also only took about 3 hours (color me shocked! See what I did there? Punny!) And after sharing everything on IG stories (which you should really follow me cuz I'm "hilariously real" or so I've been told)

Here's my after:

I look like a real mermaid/unicorn/fairy/fantastical creature! I fall more in love with it everyday. And I'm going back to her before our Disneyland trip in a few weeks just to make sure I look as magical as the place I'm visiting! If you're local to AZ, check out Michelle AND the opther amazing ladies in the little studio!
 
Also, here's after about 3 washes:

STILL super vibrant and amazing! (I'm also using my own DIY colored conditioner - see my FB page and there's a video!) 

I've pretty much been a book nerd my whole life. Something about opening a book is just magical. While it's closed there's worlds to be discovered, people to meet, things to learn. How could anyone resist that kind of adventure??

On Instagram I've been sharing some of my favorites here and there depending on genre. (Some do contain affiliate links)

Here are my European Literature favorites:

I honestly have a hard time remembering which book was my first introduction to classic European lit but I believe it was The Three Musketeers which is one of absolute favorites. Jane Eyre is my top favorite but followed very closely by many of them haha I just love the language, the stories are original, and they speak from the past but have lessons to be learned now more than ever.

My WW2/Holocaust collection thus far:

I have too many favorites in the fantasy section of books haha so I started with the best series (other than Harry Potter cuz DUH!). My first ever book series when I was a kid was The Unicorn Chronicles.  When I started them, there were only 2 books and I was having a really hard time adjusting to moving from one city to another and not being able to make many (read: ANY) friends. Fast forward almost 15 years later, the other 2 finally came out! I got extremely lucky and was able to meet Bruce Coville at the school my mom was working at one day and he was gracious enough to sign my books I had AND apologized for making me wait until I was a full grown adult before he finished the story! 😂 It filled my heart with joy which is probably juvenile but I don't care! Now do you see why unicorns are so important to me?? 🦄 Plus The Last Unicorn was/is one of my favorite movies and when I read the book it was even more magical! 🦄🦄🏰

The other series I was introduced to as an adult but it's a YA series of course! I read The Goose Girl not knowing it had companion stories that followed! But once I knew, you bet I got on the library website and checked them out! It's such a clean and thrilling series I have loved reading it multiple times over! 👸🏼👑🏰🐴
 
The other series I shared is one that isn't necessarily a favorite BUT it was a clean, easy read and was a fun one to get through.

The Selection Series.
I will say this though it is NOT a straight up 5 book series. It's more like a trilogy with 2 extras hahaha BUT it was entertaining to escape from reality into a completely different view of what the world could turn into and just how hard it is to find and fall in love with your soul mate.
 
Can you also see how much my picture taking skills have come too? Hahaha I finally found a perfect sweet lighting spot in my house!
 
I'll plan on sharing more of my book favorites on Instagram and then on here as well! 

This weekend we had a big party for my mom!
 
She turned the big 5-0 and asked for a Harry Potter party! Guys, you all know how much we love Disney around these parts, but you may not know that we're big Harry Potter fans too! My mom is one of the biggest ;)
 
SO it started as me, my dad and brothers doing most of the planning, but my mom is a party planner. Like she LOVES this stuff and since it was HER party, she asked if she could help too, and with our powers combined we made it EPIC!

Ok so I have a talented friend out in South Africa named Chantelle.

She's a brilliant artist and just plain hilarious! When I worked at Disneyland, she drew a picture of me based on a picture I took at Disneyland:

And her rendition:

Isn't it awesome!? I love it!

So as Andrew and I were getting ready to get married, I asked Chantelle if she would be willing to do a drawing of us that we could put up in our house. She was more than happy to do it! This is the picture I gave her:

We took this at my birthday dinner. I told her that my hair was shorter now but that was the only difference, and so here's the finished product:

I absolutely love it! I'm gonna print it out on something nice and hang it up! I love displaying things from my friends in my home! Of course I'll post picutres later of it hanging up ;)

Oh and check out Chantelle's DevianArt page! It's amazing and I love her work!

Thank you so much C!

So on Monday we went to Maggiano's with Andrew's family, and surrogate sister, Jamie and her boy Joe ;) If you've never been to Maggiano's GO!

When there's a big group of us we eat family style which is getting 2 of everything on this one part of the menu. Oh man full! Here are some pictures I googled of our food cuz I didn't take real ones hahahahaha

Haley could basically only eat a couple things like this:

Coach Joey's Z Pasta
We all enjoyed the 4 cheese ravioli:
The Chicken Francese:
Stuffed Mushrooms
Fried Zucchini (sidenote: I didn't eat them cuz I'm not a fan but they were a table pleaser)
Ceasar salad
Chopped salad
Pound cake! DELISH!!!
Creme brule

Overall, I love the food, but man I was not prepared for it. You see, you have to have the mindset for Maggiano's. Gotta ration each portion and not eat lunch beforehand hahahahahaha

We were all moving a little slower and more lethargicafter the gorging hahahahaha and yes, that is my mother-in-law trying to jump in ;) And yes, my husband is now sporting a goatee. I kinda think it's hot ;)

Ok so when I got married, I inherited many things: A husband, a sister, another family, and every Nintendo system except the original.

Hahahahahaha yes friends. My husband is a NIntendo freak. Luckily, so am I ;)

To start, the Super Nintendo: I LOVE the old school awesomeness of the Super. My favorite game on it is Yoshi's Island, and then Andrew introduced me to Tetris Attack. And man, I like that one too even though Andrew kicks my trash every single time. (anyone that wants to challenge him, PLEASE let me know and beat him to smithereens mmmk?)

The N64. I really only play this one game on it but it's my FAVORITE game pretty much of all time. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Again, old school. I mean just look at that controller! YIKES!

The Gamecube: Andrew loves Paper Mario, I play Animal Crossing. I really like this game cuz it's not really a game so much. You get a house and decorate it, pay off loans, etc. It's pretty much awesome and I play it all the time. ;)

After the wedding, we had enough money to get a Wii. YAY! And we got this exact model too. A red Wii that came with Mario and a red controller ;) And as everyone knows, I love red!

I know this is kinda random but I felt like sharing my bounty with others ;)

Anyone wanna come play with me???