Lego People

My friend told me about a Lego shop in one of our local malls (somewhat local mall I should tell you it was 35 minute drive in the rain but who's counting?!!)

For whatever reason my kids want to exchange Easter gifts this year with each other - using their own money with a 5 dollar limit. Fine, no problem.

My boys are OBSESSED with Legos and really love the little people that come with the sets (you may recall this) Sometimes we have totally overpaid for a star wars person or two (or 30) on eBay b/c you just can't purchase the people separately without buying the whole $60, $70, $120 dollar kit to make the whole spaceship.

Kay wants to get the boys Legos for Easter. So we went into the Lego store b/c they have tons of key rings with the little figures on them (for 4.99 that is close enough to the real thing as I'm concerned and I find them no less lovable b/c they have a silver ring coming out of the top of their head, in fact they're better, they're better than better!!) Needless to say, Kay disagrees.

The Lego sales guy was very helpful - he knew what we were after and directed me to the MAGNETS (Lego has thought of it all folks) Most of the magnets are 14.99 for 3 to pack. They fully remove from the magnet and presto - you've got yourself a fully attachable/detachable certified little Lego man. I saw lots and lots of the little critters I overpaid for on eBay. I was very excited over this whole ordeal and I may have frightened the Lego dude with my over enthusiasm. So this very long story short is ...... if you have a child who loves the little people, save yourself a heap of aggravation and get these magnets, they are the perfect fix for any Lego junkie! xo, Brie


PS They even have a "build your own" Lego man station 3 for 10 dollars - not Star Wars - just random little people - it was very cute. Might have to take the boys there for a good report card trip!

Just Thought You Would Like to Know

I may have spoke too soon about everyone being old enough to handle the Easter tree being down low and within reach.

At least the horses appear to be behaving! xo, Brie

New Book

Tender at the Bone - Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl. SOOOOO Good! xo, Brie

Jelly Watches

I am so in love with these! $35 dollars with free shipping - please order by Wednesday for Easter basket deliveries :) You can view all the pretty colors here! xo, Brie

Yes Please!

Adorable vintage card wreath in an Easter theme on sale at Williams Sonoma!! Thanks mom for telling me, I just ordered it :) xo, Brie

What I'm Reading

The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison. It's a memoir with some nice perspective from a mother entering the middle of her life and raising 2 adolescent boys with her husband. I am enjoying it! One Fabulous Mom posted this narrative by the author a few months ago which is why I picked up the book in the first place. It's worth a look if you haven't seen it. xo, Brie

a quick warning - it's a bit of a sweet tear jerker so don't watch it with your headphones in the public library like I did. People will look at you like you are kookanook.

Loving this

new Pearl Jam song. It stops me in my tracks everytime I hear it - amazing! xo, Brie

Decorating for Easter

I don't have a lot of Easter decorations but the ones I have, I do LOVE!

This wire Easter tree belonged to my grandparents. They live on the Cape but don't pull out all their decorations like they used to so a few years back they held a raffle for this fabulous tree! Everyone present got an entry and Kay was the winner! Our family of six had nice odds in this raffle :) Isn't it so cute? This is the first year I have been able to put it on a lower table so it is more of a focal point (the kids used to be ALL over this and it would inevitably get knocked over, so I had to move it WAY up high).

Our bunny door hanger my grandfather made for me. I know I have posted it before, but I love her toilet brush tail! Each year I give her a makeover b/c the bows take a beating. Somehow in storage this year, her right ear got a hairline fracture. It was nothing a little duck tape couldn't reinforce along with some strategically placed pigtails :)

Love the sparkly bunny and fluffy tail from Home Goods and her little sheep friends from Christmas Tree Shop! Poor black sheep lost an eye but I think it makes him look tough and adds to his character!

Fresh from the garden! Nothing says spring like daffodils :) Happy Spring! xo, Brie

Pioneer Woman - The Movie

So have you heard the big news that a movie is in the works about the love story of none other than the The Pioneer Woman!

You have got to hand it to her - she's got one great blog about wrangling, photographing, cooking, child rearing, home schooling fun on the ranch! And did I mention, she's funny? She is! I am very proud of her and I find her to be such an inspiration.

Which leads me to my latest project.... I am fixing to pick up the pace on this exciting life/blog I've got here b/c in the rare event Columbia pictures decides to make a movie about ME - I would prefer it not be of me sitting in a chair watching a live bird cam all day :) Wish me luck!


xo, Brie

There is no Explaining Why we are so Hooked

but we are..... yesterday there was a lizard looming around the eggs. The drama nearly pushed me over the edge. This is better than The Hills!

Phoebe the Hummingbird's Live Webcam
I can't seem to embed it but you can see her live here - don't say I didn't warn you :)

xo, Brie

UPDATE: From all the info I have gathered in the VERY active chat room, the remaining egg is not viable and Phoebe has been MIA overnight. In the meantime.... EAGLE WEBCAM - sweet heavens, I am going to get nothing done around here http://www.luther.edu/eaglecam/stream/ AND HAWK CAM (she's sitting on 2 eggs) http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-franklin-institute-haw-cam

Spark People

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

We have been having a nice taste of spring here in NJ and it feels great. It's also a bit of a reminder every year that the 'party is over' - the eating party that is. Such a joyous security blanket I enjoy each winter hiding in my sweaters and scarves! A little harder to pull off in the summer time!

So today I joined Spark People. Totally free online nutrition, fitness, wellness website. So far, so good. They have this nutrition tracker which I LOVE (and also hate b/c it's giving me some bad news)

Peanuts, all types, dry-roasted (with salt) 21.7%
Kirkland All Natural Multigrain 100% Whole Grain Bread 17.3%
Cottage Cheese, 2% Milkfat 12.6%
Sanpelligrino Limonata Sparkling Lemon Beverage 9.3%
1 Scoop Whey Protein Powder: Chocolate 8.1%
Banana, fresh 6.8%
Kashi Honey Sunshine Cereal 6.2%
Boar's Head Ovengold Turkey Breast 3.7%
Milk, 1% 3.4%
Milk, 1% 3.4%
Cantaloupe - 55Cal/1-Cup 3.4%
Half and Half Cream 1.2%
Half and Half Cream 1.2%
Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard 0.9%
Regular Coffee 0.6%
Arugula 0.1%

So see that big orange pie piece? It's for a medium sized bag of peanuts I ate while I watched my boys at their batting practice. I was a starvin marvin and it seemed like the best choice in the vending machine. I didn't even eat the whole bag (I could have but the bag did say it had a total of 3 servings and I figured that would be bad)

Next up... giant kiwi green triangle - 2 measly pieces of wholegrain bread (6 grams of fiber per slice) so I thought it would be fine :( Tomorrow I will only have one of those babies

And last but not least.... that robust periwinkle triangle is one precious limonata soda. ONE - boo hoo hoo hoo

See all those teeny tiny triangles - cantaloupe, arugula, banana, cup of honey sunshine cereal, deli turkey etc etc etc

So in summary..... eat fresh, no soda, stay the heck away from any and all vending machines. Farewell peanuts, I am going to miss you.

Worst case scenario is I throw caution to the wind and go for those mom jeans and sensible brown shoes that one of my favorites, Caffeine Court so bravely suggests!

I'll keep you posted on my progress. There appears to be a high learning curve with this one! xo, Brie

Ebay Tuesday

I seriously hope you saved your Monchichi doll b/c they are going for big bucks on ebay (provided it's in good shape and is an original from the 70's!!)

Everyone knows all the words to this song, right? Please tell me it's not just me!!! xo Brie

Five things I'm Loving and also a little gripe

I have been bookmarking away some new spring fashions and accessories from my favorite stores to share with you. Guess what?? Lots of site are changing over to the flash versions so you can't clip the pictures (which of course I was going to link!!!) I'm disappointed by this feature and will be unable to share fun finds from these sites which no doubt would have brought them millions upon millions in sales. Their loss! I will tell you, Talbots has a lot of really cute costume necklaces right now.

In the meantime I will give you 5 things I am a-loving right now (besides the leotard wearing dancing pumpkin)!

1. Archer Farms Lemon Italian Soda from Target - yes Target! It is soooo good and I have a feeling would make a delicious mixer for cocktail as well. I plan to put this to the test in the very near future!

2. Trader Joes Lightly Salted Crunchy Green Beans - in the chip isle. Nothing about these would have ever caught my eye but my mom had them the last time we were there and they are delicious and addictive and not all that bad for you.

3. Bath and Body Works Look Ma soft Hands - smells great and helps my poor old witch looking hands feel better

4. Scarfs! Thanks to Nicolette and her great post, I have been loving wearing these and tying them up in this nifty new way! I LOVE youtube!!!




5. Long flowy buttonless cardigans like this great one I got at H&M last week. A nice camouflage for someone who has been eating her way through this long hard winter. It is definitely time to up the workouts which have not been so happening lately! I would post a pic but H&M has also jumped over to the flash version of pics. I GIVE UP!!! xo, Brie

Happy Friday

I saw stumbled upon this little gem of a youtube video on regretsy yesterday. I double dog dare you to be in a bad mood after viewing this! It's all my dance moves rolled into one song and I will definitely be trying the best move ever at 2:22 at my next event! I do believe I may personally raise this pumpkin's hits to a million by myself. Can't.get.enough. Have a great weekend xo, Brie

Lacey WON me over last night

I would seriously buy this on itunes




xo, Brie

In the mind of a 5 year old

C comes home from school and says - I need a green cup, some glitter, a marker and some paper because I need to make a leprechaun trap.

Flattery will get you everywhere

Here is how it works.... a leprechaun will be fooled by the glitter because they will naturally think it is gold and fly into the cup. Then they will read the note and want to stay and live with you. They will grant you wishes all day long. I can't wait for him to arrive! xo, Brie

Back to the 80's play

Kay had her 2nd play performance with her middle school - her are a couple of zombi-ish shots I took last night. I will take a good one of her heading out tonight b/c it is so dark in the auditorium!

Kay is sporting the fluorescent pink leopard


The curse of being the tall girl? Straight to the back row with you for any and all pictures. I know this rule of thumb all too well

BEST part of having a cast member in the play? The beautiful fresh flowers :) xo, Brie

Back the 80's

TGIF my friends - have I found a DOOZY for you. You are sure to love taking this walk down memory lane with Samantha Fox! Classy. I have VIVID memories of my sister singing this song - she was 8 at the time! I shouldn't talk b/c I overheard MY 5 year old singing - you know the party don't start til I walk in... ay yay yay! Tonight is Kay's big play so I'll be sure to post some pics of the most awesome 80's fashions! Have a great weekend! xo, Brie

Samantha Fox - I Wanna Have Some Fun- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Back to the 80's

No apologies here.... I love this song! Check out Kangols sweet red suit... nice! They must have hired Paula Abdul as the choreographer for this one.
You should know she doesn't need a guy like you, she needs a guy like me with a high IQ - I miss the simple old days of rap where all you had to do was rhyme ;) xo, Brie

Back to the 80's

Oh who could forget this one? Back in the good old days when Kenny looked like Kenny!! Who doesn't love Dolly Parton - really? She is one of my all time faves! I double dog dare you to watch this and not sing along - to both parts :) xo, Brie

Back to the 80's

Hey, hey, you, you - Get into my car! Who me? Yes, you! Get into my car....
Oh Billy Ocean, you crack me up! xo, Brie

back to the 80's

In honor of my daughter's school play that is coming up with a sweet 80's theme and also b/c everyone swooned over the El Debarge :) I am going into the depths of my brain and finding some fabulous obscure 80's videos for you this week!

First up the Jets - you know, you loved them! Go grab your Forenza sweater and let's dance ;) xo, Brie