days of nuwanda

Faithful Friday

  

T-shirt Tuesday

Faithful Friday

 

More music (don't roll your eyes!)

Love this song by Rachel Platten. 

Nothing ever happens if you stay in your room,
Nothing ever happens if you leave the party too soon.
Never be a winner if you're not in the game,
Nothing ever happens if you always play it safe.

Reminds me of a tough conversation after a certain guy broke off his engagement to me 16 years ago. (Wow, that really seems like a lifetime ago! I feel old!) I was so heartbroken and devastated, I told a friend that I would never let anyone hurt me that deeply ever again. Her reply has stuck w/ me to this day, because it's absolutely true: "Then you'll never love again because to love is to be vulnerable."

This song isn't just about love though; it's about the every day choices we make to live a normal, expected life, or to dare to be something more. Oh, and it's just plain cute. This girl radiates happiness. Are you feeling it?

Awesome rendition of Carol of the Bells

Hubby discovered The Piano Guys (a pianist and a cellist, actually, but that's their name) just a couple weeks ago, and WOW, do we love them! We first fell in love w/ their Cello Wars video--a very cool rendition of the Star Wars theme songs--but then found they have all sorts of great songs. How have we not heard of them before? Who knows! But alas, we know them now and are frequent listeners and supporters. Here is the cellist playing Carol of the Bells. Beautiful.

 

Class Rudolph play

Jacob's 3rd grade class performed a Rudolph play last week about diversity and accepting people who are different from us...i.e., Rudolph's bright red nose. They had cute costumes, and they all worked very hard to put this play together. Jacob was Elf 11 and had a few lines. They held it in their classroom b/c the auditoriums were being used by other groups, so it was crowded and I didn't get many pics, but it was fun.

Jacob is on the far left

The elves building toys in Santa's workshop

Good-looking elf :)

Jacob and his very sweet teacher Mrs. M--she's amazing! 

I'm so behind!

I'm ashamed that it's December 21st before I remembered Amazon's cool 25 Days of FREE Christmas music! It hit me this morning that surely they were doing that again, so I had to find it and share. As usual there are some good songs, some weird ones, some unexpected ones. I was excited to see Michael McDonald on the list. Every time I see him, I think he's Kenny Rogers, but I like his voice anyway. :)

Enjoy! Just a few more days to check back for FREE songs. 

2-for-T-shirt Tuesday

Every Christmas should include a token tribute to the Griswolds, don't you think? (Ok, so they misspelled Griswold on this shirt. I'm willing to overlook it in this season of good will.)

 

Still shopping?

If you're heading out shopping, here are a couple printable coupons to take with you...

$5 off $10 purchase at Hallmark (good thru 12/24)

FREE item w/ $10 purchase at Bath&BodyWorks (also good thru 12/24)

And more!

Innocence on screen

I'm a horrible mother. Truly awful. My youngest is nearly 4 years old, and I've only had his pictures taken in a studio ONCE--yes, I'm serious, just ONE TIME--and that was when he was 9 months old. Turn me in, report me to the authorities, do whatever you gotta do, but I'm trying to do better! I took him in on Tuesday for a photo shoot and couldn't be happier w/ the pics. The photographer was so much fun and really figured how to get Harrison to cooperate. It was a great experience. I recommend JCPenney studio for sure!

There are too many pics to post all of them (31!!!) so here are a couple collages. I know I'm biased, but he is simply adorable. And the photographer worked her magic, making him look all innocent. :)