Merry Christmas Eve....

...from Cousin Eddie

May you and yours have a blessed Christmas time! Spend as much time with the people you love and thank the One who allowed it!

... I am so sorry... 


I know that I have neglected you. Between student teaching, being in my first trimester, and getting ready for Christmas - I have lost time to blog. 


Now that I have graduated and become an adult again... I will be blogging all of the time. That's a promise - ish. 


I am so looking forward to Christmas. Today, I completed all wrapping and stocking gifts as did my husband. This means, my sweet readers, that -


I am DONE. 


As this would THRILL most people, it makes me sad to think that I have no shopping or wrapping left. Call me crazy, but I love to wrap presents. I love to put on Pandora Christmas music, sing to it and pretend like no one else is in the house, and drink coffee (which this season has been switched to green tea with honey). 


In honor of my affinity for gift wrap, here are some of my favorites from none other than Martha Stewart. 

I love how this one looks like something you'd receive in the mail - and all she did was buy the stamp!

Not that I am sending anyone anything internationally, but wouldn't this be fun if I did? 

I love this thought of all-natural wrapping paper... In no way does that mean I don't spend $4 on a package of paper, though.

MY FAVORITE - when my child begins to write and draw, we WILL be doing this. This is kid's art made into wrapping paper. I love it. 

You know what else I love? I love the fact that I get to see "when my child..." because there is actually one on the way! 17 weeks on Sunday! :) We find out if it is a boy or girl in a couple of weeks... Any guesses? 

Have a Merry Christmas. I know I am looking forward to Christmas Eve service, lots of great food, family, It's a Wonderful Life, and much more... and the best part is that it is all because of Jesus that we do anything! Let's celebrate Him now and every day of the year! :) 

MORE Breaking News...

Ladies... and possibly gentlemen that read my posts - highly doubtful unless it is JJ or my father... Hi Dad - I have a breaking news announcement. Okay, not as big as our little bambino due in 7 monthsish... but big.


Those of you that are near and dear to my heart know that I absolutely love Ree Drummond, A.K.A The Pioneer Woman. My sweet sister bought me her cook book last year SIGNED for Christmas, and I read her blog daily. In fact, if you ask my husband, he would heartily make fun of me for it. 

He doesn't complain when I make her chili, desserts, and other tasty treats. Hmm...

Anyway, here is my (her) news. I live vicariously through her blog. 

SHE IS THROWING DOWN WITH BOBBY FLAY. Even better - she is throwing down Thanksgiving - style. So, friends, I don't have to be a holiday skipper while watching my favorite lady! It is on next Wednesday on the Food Network. You can read about her big announcement here. I am sure she tells the story WAY better than I ever could. 

There is her sneak peek. I am just so happy.

Happy (early) Thanksgiving Throwdown, y'all!

Is it too soon to be looking at this?

I am one of those people that gets very annoyed with Holiday Skippers. 


Holiday-Skipper: (Proper Noun); one who skips over very important holidays (i.e. Halloween and Thanksgiving) just to get to Christmas


In fact, I have mixed feelings about Christmas decor being out at Hobby Lobby before Halloween. In some ways I am way excited. In other ways I think - WHAT are you doing? We have two great holidays before that! 


Nevertheless, the giant amounts of Christmas decor and buying tickets to Christmas events has made me begin to slowly search myself. I am determined... I will NOT be a holiday skipper.


But, just this once... I looked at ways to create a fun tree by making a lot of it yourself! 


HGTV had ideas for just this. Look below at these homemade ornaments. 

Don't you just love it? And I know I have way too many clothes I don't wear that I could use... after Thanksgiving. :) 

The directions are here.

Enjoy! :)

I have some great news.

Well Readers,


I have been MIA. I am so sorry. It turns out that my TWS took a little (LOT) bit more time than I had imagined. The good news: the worst is over. The other good news: I PASSED. I made an A on it. I am so very happy!! See ya, TWS... Never again. So now, I get to enjoy teaching my new fifth graders and re-learning all of their math problems that I pretend to know A LOT about. I am questioning whether I am, truly, smarter than a fifth grader. Not that easy. But I am a great actress. :) But, as fabulous as that all sounds.. that is NOT my good news. 


THE BEST NEWS: WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!! What a blessing from God! I am more and more in awe of his grace and love every single day, even when things don't go the way I planned. Well, this pregnancy wasn't exactly planned, however I am feeling so excited and blessed and even more in awe of God! Babies are amazing, and to think I have a precious baby growing inside of me is the best feeling in the world. 


So, readers, I will blogging more often and about fashion and fun things still. However, some days, the size of the boot I will be featuring might change. Example below. 

Good Grief, Charlie Brown

Hello sweet readers. 


I don't know how many of you out there are like me, but if you are, you will enjoy this post.


I don't discriminate on holidays. Sure, I love Christmas above them all. However, when it comes to holidays, I think they should all be celebrated. In fact, tomorrow is Columbus Day. Did you know that? And, although I never celebrate it, I think we should all get off of work. Considering that my opinion does not matter in the federal, state, or even local, government; I have decided to celebrate with my temporary first graders. To me, all holidays are there to be celebrated. 


But, I have not posted to write about Columbus Day. Today, I am going to talk about Halloween. Are we too old to dress up? My thoughts are no. It is just so much fun deciding what to be for Halloween. Here is my problem. I am one of those people that always thinks my costume ideas are absolutely wonderful. When the big day comes, I realize that they are not. I'll give you an example.


One year in high school, my best friends and I decided we would be nuns. Oh, we thought we were so hilarious. We went and spent who knows how much money on the costumes and wore them to school the next day. When I got there, my head itched the entire today. Not only that, but I felt bald all day. Real nuns are much classier, have more poise, and are much more dainty than I. And, after looking back at the pictures, an outfit to accentuate the teenage pimples on my face was not the best idea. Fail. But I still love my friends to this day. 


One of my favorite things about Halloween is seeing all of the awesome movies that come on. Hocus Pocus, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, etc., etc., etc. Another, is seeing pumpkins on porches of people all over town. 


DISCLAIMER: I do not like seeing pumpkins smashed in the streets. Teenagers for years have been doing this, and I have decided that I think teens are unoriginal. Every holiday, there is something else that they believe is "funny" that they do, and we all expect it. Teenagers, stay out of trouble. Carve a pumpkin like the rest of us and leave mine on my front porch for once. Thank you. (Do I sound old? Too bad.) 


Here are some cute/funny/amazing pumpkin designs I have seen thus far. Enjoy. 

In case you cannot tell, this entire house is covered in pumpkins. If this doesn't creep you out...

I love it.

Artsy pumpkins.

If you smashed these pumpkins in front of my house, you would be sorry.

Happy Halloween! 

Oc-toe-bur

Oh my sweet first graders. The title of this post is how some believed October was spelled. I love innocent spelling mistakes. 


When asked what season it was, our class was in a whirlwind debate on whether it was fall or autumn. I tried to explain that, yes, there are two names for the season we are in... but for some of them - THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. It is then that I discovered that kids rarely grow out of the developmental stage of asking "why" constantly. And you know what? I don't know why. I don't know where the word autumn came from. But, just for you, and my why-asking students... here it is. 


Autumn is a French-related word that means, of course, the changing into the fall season. It replaced the word "harvest" for the season because harvest was a term used for more agricultural times. As cities began to develop, the word harvest lost its meaning and we started to use autumn. BAM. You can thank me later if you, yourself, never grew out of the "why" stage and wanted to know where autumn came from. 


In honor of autumn, here is a section on cute boots. Currently, boots have been on my "autumn" wish list. Eat your heart out. For those of you that can, purchase. For those of you like me, slobber.

Alexander McQueen was absolutely innovative. These shoes are no different.

Guiseppe Zanotti leopard mid-calf boots -- no, not practical. But in the world of lusting over expensive boots, throw practical out of the window. This is not a "practical little black dress post." 

I think in order to have your own taste in clothes, you must own one item that people may hate/love. There is no in between. I, for one, LOVE these Tory Burch oxford wedges. You, for one, may hate them. That is fine.

Love these Tory Burch military ankle boots. Even though military style is in, I still like my military boot to be feminine. These are perfect. 

And I threw in a sparkly Marc Jacobs bag that is a beauty. 

All of this seen at Neiman Marcus.

Side Note: God has truly blessed me with wonderful family and friends. Life is so great. But even if it doesn't seem that way, it still is. I have a God who loves me no matter what. And get this! He doesn't even care if I ever own Tory Burch boots. Have a blessed day. 

"The Lord Made It, Therefore I Eat" Sunday

Okay, so today I decided that, this week, I will make something that is good for you, but looks bad. In other words, I am going to trick myself into thinking I am eating SO BAD and my brain thinks I am consciously indulging... but I am not. 


I have been in the holiday spirit lately, so in honor of pumpkin spice latte season... I now pronounce to you...

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

SEASON

Disregard the Ohio State napkin... It was at Tasty Kitchen from the Pioneer Woman. 

Speaking of college football.... 

I still love my Longhorn husband. So far, he still loves me. But I was so proud.

Anyway, the recipe is on Tasty Kitchen. Try it out and trick your own brain!

Head Pressure.

Sorry I have failed at blogging the last few days... My cookie baking (TWS) has been taking over my life. I won't bore you with that... but I will bore (or entertain, depending on your preferences) you with a quick story. It is similar to a previous story I wrote about cats....


The students had just finished some math worksheets for the day and I was reading to them to give them a break. It is Johnny Appleseed week (YES, he was REAL), and we read a book about making apple pie. I tried not to slobber on the book. And I am particular about my apple pie. I prefer mushier apples... if the texture is wrong --- I am out. But the illustrations in this book made me not even care and pretend to be an apple pie fan... here are a few examples...

Perfect in every way... The apples even look mushy. Great presentation! 

Clever, right? Clever, but not appetizing... unless you are in to eating technology.

Appetizing, right? SO CREEPY!!!!!!!! THE EARS ---- the sugar glaze on the crust looks like ear wax! 

Happy Thanksgiving, hope I didn't ruin pie time...

You'll thank me later when you DON'T gain 5 pounds from sweets. And if you have trouble, just log on to my blog and give yourself a view of this puppy. I guarantee you I am pie-free for MONTHS because of this picture. You're welcome, thighs. 

Anyway, back to my story... oops.

So after reading the book, we are discussing things we can make out of apple pie. After much distress at keeping them focused, they finally enjoyed the topic. Apple pie, apple jelly, apple donut?? (whatever), apple cider, etc. 

And then it happened. There is always one in the class that cannot stand not to make a comment. The fact that he's too cute for words makes up from his constant hand raising... But here is what happened.

"Yes Billy?" (name changed for privacy reasons)

"Well, there is something my mom makes with crust and sugar and cinnamon... and the apples are almost soupy."

"Billy, that's probably apple cobbler."

"No it's not."

"YES... it is."

"No, I wouldn't eat a cobbler... that's part of a turkey..."

"Billy... are you talking about gobble, gobble? Nevermind." 

"Because of this conversation, Mrs. Clem, I have a lot head pressure. I think the blood is rushing to my head." 

"Billy.... just go splash your face with water."

What I really wanted to say - You are a liar, Billy.

You might think this is the end... BUT IT IS NOT.

Sure enough... 7 hands shoot up after Billy leaves for the bathroom.

.....

"My head hurts every night after I eat."

"I need to splash my face because of the pressure."

"My homework makes blood rush to my face." 

"My head keeps going, hot-cold, hot-cold."

ALL FIRST GRADERS ARE HYPOCHONDRIACS. AND COPIERS. 

AND CUTIE PATOOTIES.

ENJOY your week and I will talk to you tomorrow. Unless my baking gets in the way. 

I love gooooooooooold.

Two things inspired me to write this post. 


#1: my wedding ring :) - My husband is way too good to me, and I love him more every day. Most people nowadays will wear a white gold ring, and I am not against that at all. I am just a fan of being somewhat old-fashioned. My mom and mother-in-law's rings are both gold, and it felt special to "match" them. Ok, off my soapbox. Get whatever ring makes you feel special; that is the point. 


#2: Blake Lively's outfit on Gossip Girl last week. Shown below.

I L.O.V.E this. In the words of Rachel Zoe, it is ba-na-nas. I absolutely love the gold jacket and the pumps. WOW. And her hair is another story, possibly for another post. If you would like to know which designers' collection this outfit belongs to, let me know. I just so happened to find out.  To be continued...

My husband, who is very fashion forward in his own taste of clothing (and my wedding ring), referred to it as looking like a genie. I (respectfully) disagree because I love it. But, even the genie wore gold cuffs. See?

So there. 

Here are a few gold things I am fashion craving. Take your pick. All from TOPSHOP, of course.

I love giant rings currently.

And I have been wanting a long ring, and this antique gold one might do the trick. Christmas is coming, right? I am thinking I'll start my Christmas list now. Are you reading, family? :) 

This is, by far, my faaaavorite. BEAUTIFUL. I can already picture how I'd wear my hair. It's perfect. 

I loooove the armband. Very Aladdin Genie. It's screaming "Linzi, you will never have a friend like me." Get it? Cheap jokes. 

No, this dress is not all gold. I don't like that. But the accent on the shoulder is, and it's beautiful. Wear this with patterned leggings and wonderful pumps. Sigh... Just consider this post my Christmas list. In fact, I can see this working very well as a Christmas party dress. Hmmm...

In other first grade news, Parent/Teacher Conference DAY!!!! Because most of the conferences were last night (long day), today was a free day. I heard the angels singing. 

In the words of Goldmember, I love gooooold. 

Dreaming Gold Dreams,

Linzi

P.S. I am currently baking my "The Lord Made It, So I Will Eat" post for Sunday... if it tastes half as good as its batter, we are all in for a treat. 

Puffy Sleeves.

One of my main goals this year is to have skinny enough arms to wear puffy sleeves. 


Confession: I absolutely. LOVE. puffy sleeves.


However.... 


I am not quite there yet. Or maybe I am, but maybe I don't want to buy that size bigger so that my arms will fit in it. I had this conversation with lovely friends at coffee a couple of weeks ago. It isn't like anyone goes through my closet looking for the size I buy. If they did, I may or may not call the police. THAT is a violation, I am sure of it. But I have this weird thing about me that says I won't buy a shirt that is more than one size bigger (even if it runs small) because I don't want to think that was my size. 


Wake up, Linzi. Your size is whatever fits. Quit skipping over puffy sleeves because of an insecurity. 


I'd like to thank this Topshop dress for helping me go through "size label" therapy. I know you are humming "You're so vain" in your heads right now... I promise... in a few weeks, I will report back a new woman. Ish. 


Without further adieu, please welcome my size therapist. 

Don't you love her? Nice neck/waist line... Beautiful color... no head. Oh wait. 

I encourage any other believers that people really do read your tag labels to buy one thing that you thought your body couldn't wear. Go ahead, buy a bigger size. Enjoy fashion at its best. For me, that's the puffy sleeve.


In other first grade news, I learned the focus attention span of a six-year-old. The word discouraging comes to mind...


HAPPY TUESDAY! 

"The Lord Made This, Therefore I Eat" Sunday

Every blog seems to have a weekly theme to look forward to. I wasn't going to do it. I'd like to say it was because I was defying the system or trying to be different... here is the real reason. 


I am not creative. 


So, to help this situation, I took a break from my Teacher Work Sample to brainstorm. From now on, I'd like to refer to my TWS as "chocolate chip cookies." Why, you ask? Well TWS is a student teacher's worst nightmare. It's a, roughly, 30-page written document about how we teach during the semester. There is a lot more to it, but I won't bore you with details. 


Chocolate Chip Cookies are my favorite food. As a teacher, I realize I shouldn't capitalize chocolate chip cookies, but because of my love for them, I feel as if it has stepped up and become a proper noun. If you don't know about proper nouns, see me. 


So, to make my TWS seem more appealing every night, I call it my chocolate chip cookies. It's a mental trick on my brain to think that I am just working on my cookies in the oven. MMMMMMMmmmmm. 


Unfortunately, it isn't a very good trick. As I write, I start to realize I cannot smell my Chocolate Chip Cookies. Maybe JJ will buy me a candle. 


Ok, I got off topic. As I strayed from working on Chocolate Chip Cookies, I figured out what I wanted my theme to be. 


I try to eat very healthy throughout the week. Does it work? Ehh, questionable. But I try. And I have a weekly workout routine as many people do. So, I decided that on Sunday, I could have something I wanted. It is the Lord's Day, and the Lord has created everything on Earth that is good. I don't see why, on HIS day, HE would want me to deny my cravings for wonderful food. Afterall, portion control is more important than what I eat. Too bad my definition of portion control is way off base. Oh well.

Disclaimer: In no way am I making fun of the Lord's Day... I am a regular church attender and a big, big fan of the Big Man Upstairs. He definitely gets the capital letters. 

So welcome to my first thematic day of Tales of a Clementine. It will be entitled "The Lord Made This, Therefore I Eat" Sunday. Please enjoy - even if you dive into something "bad for you," know that it's Sunday. And you can join in on the fun. Let me know how it goes. 


Today's Lord's Day food that I wanted to eat is from The Pioneer Woman. Have you heard of her? Oh, I love Ree Drummond. I have the cookbook that is SIGNED by her thanks to my sister Kelli. I have made almost everything in that book more than once, and some things.... 100 times. She is absolutely wonderful. I recommend it to all who enjoy food, photography, and laughing. So that is probably just about every one of you. 


I will wait no further.... 

The CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE SWEET ROLL. 

Literally, eat your heart out. Well, not OUT. But eat your love of chocolate away. Recipes on her website. :)

Now, if I could only figure out what a teaspoon was... (kidding, mostly)

Sweatpants, Sweatpants All Around.

I know I said that I'd blog about things other than fashion, but today I had two choices. 


1. The previews of 2011 Spring fashion that I have been googling while my husband works.


-OR- 


2. My day at school where one of my cutie-pie first graders had what we like to call an "accident." Bless his ever-loving heart. Did your mom ever say that? Ever-loving. Heart. Bless it. 


Because I do not want to relive Number 2/have a nightmare about its happenings... I defaulted to Number 1. Enjoy. 


After looking around at New York's Fashion Week that my sweet cousin Emily got to attend... (look at her cute outfit that she wore to it here, LOVE IT), I browsed threw several (okay, more than several...) slideshows of top fashion designers and their Spring 2011 designs. 


After much thought and debate, I'd like to thank the one and only Michael Kors for contributing to my decision on my favorite Spring 2011 trend. Look how wonderful this is.  Don't drool on your laptop. 


Disclaimer: I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE. 

I am not a fan of this swimsuit, but I LOVE the shoes. LOVE. 

Love every piece of this...

I love yellow and I love t-shirt material... Jackpot!

Sweatshirt + Dress = Dream come true. And if you look closely, Michael (I don't know if, after this, I can just refer to him as Michael... more like SIR Michael Kors) is bringing a new shoe (OF COURSE) to us... entitled (drumroll)

 the flatform

F-U-N. I want 8 of them.

And now, here is one quick explanation of why I love all of this so much. 

Notice the trend? EVERYTHING IS COMFORTABLE. They have taken women's "Secret" favorite "hiding the meal" attire - the sweatpants - and made it wearable for everyday and get this - even the nightlife. 

WHAT. A. GENIUS. 

In conclusion, bring on the "sweatpants" Spring, 2011, I am ready. No more eating and coming home to change into "comfy" clothes because I feel so full I could bust... My only fear is that I may overdo it... Possible? Nah.

Therefore... sweatpants, sweatpants everywhere. Have a great weekend! Happy Sweatpants Dreaming!

Leather is not just for motorcyclists.

I have a new obsession. No, not fashion. That is not considered "new." My new obsession is FALL. I love fall colors, I love the trees, I love the pumpkin flavored things to eat and drink...

.... and...

I LOVE FALL CLOTHING. 

There is just something that I love about being in Oklahoma in the fall. It is the only season where wearing a cardigan and jacket with shorts is acceptable. It is the only season in which you can stretch out sandal usage until there is ice on the ground. Think about it... 

In the summer, if you wear a cardigan or cute jacket that you buy with your shorts, you look like an idiot... and rightly so. It's 105 degrees outside, please do not put on that beautiful knit cardigan and sweat in it. 

In the winter, if you wear shorts, your name is probably Mike Farris. And if so, you probably don't care that I think of this as a fashion faux pas.

In the Spring... well, I guess you could do this... but I think we are just all so excited that it isn't cold that by Spring, we are ready for cute dresses and sandals. Instead of "YES, I get to wear my cardigan!" It's "YES, I don't have to de-ice my car!"

This fall I have already informed my husband that I am saving up for a pair of these below. Never in my life did I think I would wear leather. Leather and I were enemies. 

Think about it... Leather pasted to my legs and body... I'll pass. 

Leather making noise as I take steps... No thank you.

BUT THESE!  These are loose and longer and are, dare I say it, classy. 

Never have I ever thought leather was classy. 

You know that game? But in the clean version way, not the "never ever" game that is too revealing and awful. 

But for the sake of this post, I just put a finger down for leather. 

Thank you, Nordstrom and TOPSHOP. You are always so faithful.