Donate-a-Day

Happy New Year! I'm sorry not to have any family posts up yet but we just got a new camera and I'm a little overwhelmed with the massive amount of pictures I have to sort through. But this post will be equally as exciting, I promise.

New Years resolutions: We've all made them and broke them, and then made the same ones again. This year I've decided to do something a little different. Inspired by the movie "The Cove", I realized what I needed to do. As much as being a stay-at-home mom brings me more joy than I ever imagined, I still find myself searching for something else to define who I am. I've tried sewing bags for additional income or going to yoga classes to improve my body. Nothing has really filled that void until I came up with this plan:

Donate-a-day:
I am going to donate one day every month to a charity for the next year. Whether that be working in a soup kitchen or helping to build a house, I want to better the world we live in. One day a month doesn't seem like much but its a start. I'll keep you posted on what I'm doing for the month and if you live in Pittsburgh you can come along! Want to join in? You should! Why not resolve to help others this year instead of helping ourselves. (You can even get a free ticket to a Disney theme park)


JANUARY:

Ever since the 2nd grade I have been infatuated with the ocean and marine life. I started out as a marine biology major at BYU and spent two months in Monterrey, CA studying our ocean's creatures. I've been scuba diving a handful of times and cannot even begin to describe the high I get from viewing ocean life up close. I even got engaged in an aquarium!! Marine animals will always have a special place in my heart and that's why after seeing "The Cove", I felt the need to do something to help. You can help too! Watch the movie "The Cove" (rent it at a redbox for $1) and check out this website to see what you can do to help stop the unnecessary slaughter of dolphins.


Scuba Diving with some classmates in Monterrey. (I'm the short one)


Salt Lake City Aquarium, where Dave proposed.

Random dolphin fact: Did you know that dolphins are one of only four animals that are self aware? Only elephants, apes, humans and dolphins can recognize that they are looking at themselves in a mirror.

Here's the Plan:
As a farewell to my sewing site, I still have to get rid of the rest of my inventory. I have three diaper bags left and I will be selling them for $15 each!! (I'll even pay to ship them) All the money made from the bags will be donated to Oceanic Preservation Society. E-mail me if you would like to purchase one of these bags at elisepringle@yahoo.com. First come, first serve!

***All the bags are gone, thanks for supporting a great cause!!***

Best Kept Secret

Okay I have to admit, I've been keeping something from you. I don't even know why, I chalk it up to pure laziness- of which I have plenty. Anyway, my good friend Keri is one of those people who is amazingly talented at everything she does. Lucky for you she has started her own business of hand making some seriously stylish hair accessories. Keri has been my "partner in crime" while have shared a tent selling stuff at the strip district. I can tell you these headbands and clips are much cuter than what you'd find at Nordstrom and because of Keri's immaculate attention to detail, much better quality. Check out her Etsy shop, Bold Minimalist, and you'll see what you've been missing. This is one of my fav's, it's even named after me:)

Oh and did I mention she's having a give away? Check it out here.

SALE

I'm having a pretty sweet sale on my sewing blog, check it out!

A little bit of this...

After being inspired by my friend Melanie's post today, I decided to try my hand at a little amateur Photoshop editing. Let's just say its about the most frustrating thing I've experienced. Today is the first time in several months of Photoshop frustration that I felt like I finally made a break through. A little tiny break through and I really only learned how to use a few buttons. And I'm not saying a did a good job using those buttons so don't judge. Anyway, here are my edits...



Most of my excitement comes from finally knowing how to cover up zits.



That's all you get! Here are more pictures from our trip home for Thanksgiving. We had a fun time fitting in all the family you could possibly see in just 4 days and we're excited to go home again in just two weeks for Christmas. Let's hope Oakley decides to sleep this time.




Look at those little chubby feet!


Three generations: My mom, me and Oakley. Each one shorter than the last.



Oakley is now fluent in two words: "da-da and mum". The best part is she says "mum" when she's upset or wants my attention. She reserves "da-da" for expressing her happiness and excitement. I know she doesn't understand what those words mean yet but it certainly feels like she does.


I seriously think Oakley looks a lot like her cousin Jack in this picture!

Drama...

Okay so the past couple of days have been a little interesting. We'll start with little miss Oakley. She is getting her first tooth!! I know... she's so big. This was discovered by none other then her daddy, the dentist. I happened to be selling crafts at the strip district and missed the initial discovery. And for some reason, that made me want to cry. (I didn't actually cry- I have a heart of stone) How could I miss such a big milestone in my baby's life? Anyway, the excitement has since worn off and I'm now realizing this just means extra crankiness. Which would be okay except for the fact that yesterday my body decided to get a vicious stomach bug. Oh yes, I mean even my toast and saltines were coming right back up. And not to be graphic but the worst thing about throwing up is the feeling that you're about to die right before it happens. Am I painting a picture for you?... cranky baby, pukey mom. And even that would have been okay IF I wasn't supposed to speak in church yesterday. So here I was trying to write my talk, not throw up on the floor and deal with the baby. I don't know why I insisted on still writing my talk (or speech), oh wait- its because my husband kept giving me the pep talk. "You're not that sick" "What would Jesus do?" "It'll only take you 10 minutes, you can handle anything for 10 minutes!" So I wrote my talk, got dressed, dragged myself into the car and headed to church. We get there and I realize, there is no way I'm giving this talk. I'm so nauseous, I can hardly stand. So my sweet husband goes up to the 1st counselor and breaks the news to him, (his exact words) "We have a code red, my wive is about to puke." Fine. Great. I get in the car and somehow drive myself back home. So back at church, Dave ended up speaking for like 30 minutes after they announced that I was "incapacitated" and wouldn't be able to speak today. INCAPACITATED!! Really they could have used a much better word. Then Dave starts getting all sorts of questions about what's going on. And to answer one of them: NO I AM NOT PREGNANT!! Anyway, just a little dramatic, way more attention than this little stomach bug deserved. Today I'm feeling much better. The 1/4 cup of applesauce I've eaten today seems to be staying down and the 12 hours of sleep last night really helped. I'm still pretty tired which is why I'm blogging instead of packing for a trip that we're leaving on tomorrow. Okay, here's some pictures. After reading this long post I guess you deserve it!

Here's her tooth, can't you see it?!


Getting a picture of her tooth was not easy. She was very fascinated with the camera.


Our biking adventures

My Testimonial

Of late I have found myself obsessed, taken, in LOVE, if you will. What could it possibly be? I'll give you a hint- its something you would never expect from me (an avid Nordstrom shopper). It's CRAIGSLIST!!! I'm really not a bargain shopper (TJ Maxx gives me anxiety) and I normally wouldn't be caught dead buying something second hand. But dental school has forced me to broaden my horizons (mom- you must be so proud! But seriously I'm not switching to soy milk, just give up on that one;). Craigslist has become my new hobby, and here are a few reasons why:

• Before moving to Pittsburgh Dave and I decided to downsize to one car. We sold my Toyota Echo (aka. souped-up golf cart) ON CRAIGSLIST in one day- for cash!!!
• Oakley's bedroom furniture: a 4 in 1 crib, HUGE dresser, glider, trunk and bookshelf all previously used by one child. The dresser alone retails for over $400 at Babies R Us. I paid $650 for everything! (Plus she threw in a wipes warmer (a $20 value) and Dave accidentally stole her scissors- opps!)
• Recently I've had this crazy desire to go biking. In order to accompany Miss Oakley we needed a child's bike trailer and a bike rack. Bike Trailer: Trek Go-Bug that retails for over $400, used twice; we paid $75. Bike Rack: Bell Triple-Back, new-in-box that retails for $60; we paid $30.
• Now we've found a highchair for Oakley: Chicco Polly, used a few times for $70, retails for $150. And I have big plans to replace our refrigerator, which mysteriously keeps leaking water, for a fairly new one- only $150.

Anyway, I had to share the love (or brag). And an added bonus- a great tour of the city. We have found some of the nicest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh thanks to my Craigslist adventures. In fact our little tours have convinced us to stay here, possibly permanently. There you have it, Craigslist has changed my life. It could change yours too, I highly recommend it.

**I was not paid to say any of this**

Bug-A-Boo

Isn't this terrible!? These are the only pictures we took of our baby on Halloween! We dragged this little lady bug to the dental school for a Halloween parade, a trunk or treat and then to a costume/birthday party and only managed to get these two lousy pictures of her. For the record, Oakley was a doll. She didn't mind her antenna and spent most of the time trying to eat her tulle skirt while mom and dad wolfed down her candy. Maybe next year we'll let her enjoy a few Halloween treats but for now she'll have to celebrate with some seasonal pureed squash- yum!