Angry Julie Monday

Wordless Wednesday: Blog Sugar 11

September 28, 2011

On Sunday, I attended a Blog Conference held in Westminster, CA called Blog Sugar. It was pretty awesome to be able to drive to an event. It was great to see everyone there. I’m waiting to get some more pictures to do a recap post, but I thought that I would give you a little teaser here.

We all have one of these at our place setting at the tables. A little sugar for Blog Sugar. Of course, Erin loves some Twilight, so we had to take this picture.

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

Project Alicia, Better in Bulk, By Word of Mouth Musings, Dear Crissy, Five Minutes For Mom,Joy of Desserts, Live and Love…Out Loud,Parenting By Dummies, Seven Clown Circus, Supermom, The Divine Miss Mommy

Also, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does “What I Wore Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

And, I can’t forget Krystina from Lollipops whom does “What I Love Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

Filed Under: Blogging, Photography, Wordless Wednesday 42 Comments

Halloween Rag Wreath Tutorial

September 27, 2011

As I’ve said before, I like to surround myself with crafty people. Seriously, if I had more time, I could be more crafty. I mean really, I have a ton of ideas… I’m sure you have seen all of the lovely things, projects, places, and food that I post on my Pinterest account, right?

Well, my cousin-in-law aka my husband’s cousin, Jackie, posted this Halloween wreath on her Facebook wall last week. I might have replied, “Make me one and mail it, hahahahaha”. Well she replied, and wouldn’t you know it, she’s going to be in my town this week. So she’s making me one! Honestly, I actually have a STACK of Halloween fabric on my desk, right next to me. I bought it to make some Halloween bunting to put up somewhere. It’s not even October yet, so I’ve got some time.

But then I had a thought. Wouldn’t this wreath be perfect to put on my blog. So I had Jackie type up a little tutorial for me.

What You Need:

1) Wire wreath from Joann’s, Michael’s, Hobby Lobby (I used the medium size one – there are three sizes range from $1.99-$3.99)
2) About 1.5-2 yards of fabric in coordinating colors or all the same pattern (I used the quarter bundle Halloween prints from Joann’s)
3) Two Spools of coordinating ribbon
4) 2″ Satin Ribbon for bow or any other letters/tie on items for completion

How to Execute:
1) Cut your fabric into 1″ wide by 6-8″ long pieces (try a few pieces and tie on your wreath to see the length, depending on how long/shaggy you want it).
2) Cut your ribbon into to the same lengths (6-8″ long)
3) Start tying your fabric pieces and ribbon (double knots) in a pattern around your wreath. I recommend starting with your smallest inner ring and working your way out.
4) Tie all of your fabric and ribbon pieces so they are full and fluffy throughout your entire ring. You will want to push all of the knots as close together as possible so you do not see any of the wire wreath.
5) Finish with a bow or wood letters. I tied a simple satin bow and adorned with a green glitter spider (.99) from Walmart.

Tip: Use pinking shears for a nice clean cut and cute pattern on your wreath!

Filed Under: Holidays, In The Home 33 Comments

Friday Night Lights

September 26, 2011

On Friday night, I snuck over to a high school football game on my lunch hour at work. It wasn’t just any high school, it was my high school. They were playing our rival team, as what locals call it, “The Battle of the Bay”. Every year Newport Harbor High School and Corona Del Mar High School have a HUGE football game against each other. They are rival schools.

I met up with Erin whom also attended Newport Harbor High School. She was there with all of her cute kidlets. Erin was also surrounded by screaming pre-teens. I think it was worse than hell. These girls and boys, no more than eleven or twelve years old, we OBNOXIOUS.

I am so glad that we did not have social networking while I was in high school. I remember having a pager in my senior year, but we didn’t have cellphones….eighteen years ago. Yikes, I’m aging myself. These kids were running around taking pictures of each other with their own cellphones, and then posting them on Facebook. I knew this, because they were sooo fricken loud. Erin and I just kept rolling our eyes. At one point, I leaned over to Erin’s daughters, and pointing to all of the kids behind us. I told them, “please, don’t ever be like this, you don’t want to act like this.” Her poor daughters kept putting their hands on their ears.

But really, the best part of the game? We won!! When I arrived at the game, Newport was losing, and then they caught up! Victory! We won the Battle of the Bay!

And I am not looking forward to the screaming pre-teen and teen years. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive. I swear we need to teach a class to our junior high schoolers and high schoolers about proper social networking and what not to do. I’m sooo very afraid for our future generations.

Filed Under: Just Julie, Orange County 7 Comments

Project 365: Week 38

September 24, 2011

Just another routine week with us. Only six photos this week because I included last Saturday in last week’s post. It has been crazy around the Angry house. Our house looks like a tornado took over inside it. And what the heck is up with the weather in Southern California? Hot…cold…hot…cold…cold..cold..rain..hot?

Project 365 260/365: Random things on our coffee table.

Project 365 261/365: Note to self: Don’t buy Mini Oreos for the kid’s lunch because umm one self will eat them.

Project 365 262/365: My dinner tonight….cereal.

Project 365 263/365: This is how we do mornings before school.

Project 365 264/365: A little Dr. Pepper to make it through the day.

Project 365 265/365: I heart chicken tacos from @WahoosFishTaco.

Project 365 266/365: My husband hates these jeans. He called the kid Emo today.

Filed Under: Photography, Project 365 6 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: A Wedding Photobooth

September 21, 2011

My friend and co-worker got married on Saturday. I briefly wrote about it yesterday. But one of the best parts was the photobooth. This is a new trend at weddings. I’m liking this trend. They had a huge table of props to play with too. My friend, Monique and I, put a few things on and then we went into the booth. But really the most hilarious part was another friend would throw things in the booth between photos and then take things out. We had to keep switching props.

I think the photos are great! And what a fun memory for your wedding.

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

Also, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does “What I Wore Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

And, I can’t forget Krystina from Lollipops whom does “What I Love Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

Filed Under: Photography, Wordless Wednesday 19 Comments

Fall Came Fast

September 20, 2011

I remember whining about summer and all of the activity or lack of activity. As they say, “be careful what you wish for”, because we have been SUPER busy lately. Angry Kid started school, soccer, and work has been busy for Angry Husband and me. I’m not quite sure how all of this laundry is getting done. Oh wait, it isn’t. I had to take Angry Kid’s soccer stuff to my mom’s the other day, so she could wash it all while I was at work.

Someone asked me that other day about how I keep it all together, meaning, my organization. I live for my Erin Condren Life Planner. This is the 3rd year that I’ve purchased one. I do not regret the purchase at all. As much as a tech nerd that I am, I still NEED a written paper planner. I tried using a Google Calendar, but everytime there was an alert, I ignored it. With my Life Planner, I can write notes, leave post-its, and even paperclip invitations to the weekly pages. I took a picture of how this week looks for me. I don’t have my entire work schedule written in, and there is some other stuff I need to still write in, but this is most of the important stuff. I used the “clone tool” on Picnik and removed my last name from my planner. I heart the colored and pre-printed stickers that come with the planner. They are life savers, and of course, they are pretty.

My house literally looks like chaos right now. We have stuff on our kitchen counters, and kitchen table. I’m tripping over my husband’s tools in the garage, and I think I’ve found at least twenty random Nerf darts throughout the house, just this morning. You would think that I would be cleaning right now, but I am taking a little break.

I thought I would share a little sample of how the past two or so weeks have been:
Breakfast on an average school day. I’m pretty sure that he was doing this on purpose to annoy me.

Angry Kid taking a break during a soccer game. Notice how he took my chair. By the way, don’t buy the cheap stadium chairs, they suck. Does anyone have any great suggestions for chairs to take to sporting events? I want to buy some really good ones that will last.

The new Space Marine game is out. Angry Husband and Angry Kid are quite obsessed. It is loud, so very loud in my house. Sometimes I regret those surround sound speakers everywhere in my house.

Oh yes, more soccer. I found out this past week that someone else takes better pictures than me. YAY!!!! One of the moms on our team took some EXCELLENT photos during last weeks game. This is a classic photo of Angry Kid. He never smiles like that for me.

And my friend and co-worker Jen got married. I stole this photo from Monique’s Facebook. The picture is of me, Jen, and Monique. Monique will also be a bride soon too. Her wedding is coming up in November!

Filed Under: Just Julie, Parenting 6 Comments

Halloween With A Little Wishcraft

September 19, 2011

It is that time of the year again. You know, the time to start shopping for Halloween costumes. When Angry Kid was a baby, I started shopping for costumes in July. As he has gotten older, we started to begin discussing costumes in late August. He was an “army guy” last year, and it suited him perfectly.

Around mid-August of this year, the Halloween catalogs started rolling in. Angry Kid was trying to decide on a costume, and he narrowed it down to Captain America, Green Lantern, and Optimus Prime. Angry Husband was trying to convince him otherwise. Angry Husband kept saying, “but everyone is going to be Captain America, Green Lantern, etc…” and “why don’t you be something original”. Angry Kid was not budging. Thankfully, we have the Internet to do costume shopping now. Angry Husband and I were pretty good at scheming together when it came to the final decision for Angry Kid’s costume.

We were able to get Angry Kid to finally select a Ninja Warrior costume from Chasing Fireflies. I covet their “Wishcraft” catalog every year. They really have the coolest costumes. But, I have never ordered a costume from there because Angry Kid was ALWAYS in between sizes. He would need a five, and they only had a four or six. But this year, Angry Kid is a solid size six. And the Ninja Warrior costume looks quite awesome on him.

Doesn’t Angry Kid look awesome as a Ninja Warrior? He is more of an Angry Ninja Warrior. I promise that we will put shoes on the Ninja for Halloween. This was as good as it gets in early September. Angry Kid was quite confused when I asked him to try on his costume. I told him that we were making sure it fit perfectly. And really, you never know. This costume fit true-to-size, and is great quality. It is not cheaply made.

Angry Kid’s costume came with a sword, but of course, he had to add-on more weapons. He also got these scary nunchucks. They are plastic, don’t worry. He kept swinging them around on the day that they arrived. I checked Chasing Fireflies to get the link, and saw that they are already sold out. Seriously, people are already buying up all the good costumes. I noticed that all the stores around here put out Halloween stuff in like, July. CRAZY.

So you better hurry up and get your kiddos a costume. And seriously, shopping online for a costume is like the best thing ever. Plus, you can pre-screen those costumes that your pre-teen might want to wear. As a parent, I want my kid to actually look like a kid at Halloween.

I want to thank Chasing Fireflies for providing me with this costume for Angry Kid for review. It was much easier to select and purchase a costume for Angry Kid online. And I was just as excited as he was, when the costume arrived. I loved the polka-dot tissue paper that it came wrapped in. I am all about the presentation.

If you are on Twitter, there is also a Twitter Party hosted by Chasing Fireflies and members of Mom Spark Media. Information about the Twitter party is below.

TOPIC – Halloween Costume and Party Ideas

TIME – Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 9-10 PM Eastern (8-9 PM Central, 7-8 PM Mountain, 6-7 PM Pacific)

HASHTAG – #wishcraft

CUSTOM TWEETGRID – http://bit.ly/nPw9mv

PANELISTS - @MomSpark, @ChasenFireflies, @MomSparkMedia, @MakobiScribe, @StacieinAtlanta, @TheShoppingMama, @MyFourMonkeys, and @HaleyTweetsToo (follow everyone before the party!)

PRIZES - Six winners will win Chasing Fireflies Gift Cards, ranging from $50 to $100!

RSVP – http://bit.ly/p7w7bs

Disclosure: This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. I was provided with a gift card to review Halloween costumes for my son via Chasing Fireflies and Wishcraft, their Halloween Catalog. My opinions in this review were not influenced by anyone, except for the cuteness of my kid.

Filed Under: Holidays, Parenting 14 Comments

Project 365: Week 37

September 17, 2011

Seriously, I’m kinda over Project 365. Some days I can take a million pictures, and some days, none. I am counting down and can’t wait to be done. I’ve taken all my pictures with my iPhone, but some people do it with their DSLR. I’m not sure how they find the time. Just another exciting week with the Angry Family, as usual.

Project 365 253/365: If I gotta work, at least Metallica is on Pandora.

Project 365 254/365: During the week, this kid asks for water, fruit, and snap peas in his lunch cause they are healthy…

Project 365 255/365: The sky and moon looked very odd tonight. Almost Halloween-ish.

Project 365 256/365: Angry Kid’s brand new size 2 @newbalance running shoes. He ran all the way to school today. He was a 13 last week.

Project 365 257/365: The poor cat has no clue what is lying behind him. A second later the kid grabbed his tail. I think my kid dressed himself today.