Look at me, two posts, in two days! I think that might be a blog record for me even on my business blog! My hubby is out of town for the week in San Antonio which makes for boring evenings after little goat goes to bed (btw in case you don't know, our last name is Gauthier earning us the much despised *by me anyway* nickname of the Goats). I promised myself I was going to start with a reasonable goal of 2 posts a week and if I did more than that, awesome. I love to write and don't think it will be a problem to write 2 a week, I just wanted to make sure I didn't go into this with some crazy grandious plan (like one of my kajillion previous ideas of having a daily what I wore today blog, let's be honest, I am a stay at home mom, I am doing good if I am out of pjs and in a t-shrirt and workout shorts by 2PM!) but instead made an executable goal while I figure out just how much time I can allow for this. I do have a ton of great things I am super excited to post about (like my brand new recipe for fresh basil aioli, my fabulous new sequin shirt waiting to be worn in my closet, my failed attempt at funfetti cake batter fudge, or my redying and staining of a pair of pink Luchesses that don't get nearly enough wear) but all in due time.
For now, I occupied my dull and lonely evening last night with preparing for our Christmas cards. Mr. Goat got me a fabulous camera last year (a Nikon D3000) so I am going to be doing our photo shoot myself with a few tools:
1. My super bad ass Nikon D3000 camera
2. my $6 tripod from Goodwill!!
3. A soon to have purchase for $13.99, Nikon wireless remote to allow me to be able to control my shutter release without having to run back and forth and set the damn auto timer thing
Purchase at Best Buy Here....
4. My super cute family
5. a well planned outfit board
6. A chalkboard to write "merry christmas" on, which I will be making today, or maybe tomorrow....I am feeling kind of lazy....
7. photoshop!!!
So, one of the things that I have alot of trouble with (even as creative as I am) is thinking outside the box when it comes to family pictures. I always radiate towards simple, everyone wear a white shirt and jeans, everyone wear pastels, everyone wear shades of browns with khakis, everyone wear an aTm jersey. And that just isn't fun. I have so enjoyed some of the other blogs I read (see: Modestly Styled. Modestly Me.'s preChristmas board from last year here and the fabulous execution here) and their creative ideas for Christmas pics so I decided "I love photoshop, I can do that!" And here is my result! Clothing credits after the pics!
Braeden:
Target plaid shirt
Target skull sweater
Old Navy dark wash jeans
Converse chuck taylor slip ons
Mr. Goat:
Banana white button down basic shirt
J. Crew navy blue merino wool cardigan
7 for all mankind relaxed jeans
Cole Haan with Nike Air loafers
Mrs. Goat
J. Crew chartreuse ruffle sweater
J. Crew silk and cotton navy and cream striped tank
True Religion skinny jeans
Target tan boots
Same as before except Target gray beanie for Braeden, Wal-Mart gray beanie and J. Crew university coat for Mr. Goat and Target charcoal page boy hat and Old Navy military jacket for Mrs. Goat.
I decided to do two looks but add all the bundling up in the second look because, even though this is Texas and I am pretty sure parts of the state are still seeing 100+ temps, I love the look of cold weather and being bundled up. So we might have a heat stroke but darn it, we are going to think and act cold! I have added a few pics that I am liking for inspiration that make my vision make a little more sense. What do you think of our outfits??? Cute or still too safe??
This is where the idea for bundling up came from, don't they look presh! And it helps that my hubby looks hot in a beanie! I actually saw those letters at JoAnn fabrics and was thinking about getting them (hell, I still might) but I am thinking the chalkboard will be just as cute to use
I do love the idea of this, but I don't have a silhouette yet (any sponsors reading yet? I will gladly take one! haha!) so cutting out the letters would be alot of work plus Braeden would probably end up breaking it in half or some other crazy drama!
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE this, and might try to get a shot like this but Braeden is only two and I don't think he would quite get it yet, we are doing good if we can get him to smile at the camera, covering his eyes long enough for me to simultaneously take the picture and kiss my hubs might be impassible (possible for someone, just not this girl)
This is just to show the chalkboard. Although those children are adorable, one of the things I love most about getting Christmas cards is getting to see my friends, many of which I don't get to see alot and their family's pictures. Maybe I am lying, maybe I just like sending a pic of myself to everyone so they have to display a pic of me in their home for at least a week, but you won't catch this girl doing a card without the whole family (except for maybe the dogs, they are drama)
we have not done a top 10 list yet in a family Christmas card although I have written one every year intending to do one. So I love the idea of doing a double sided card and doing the top 10 list on the back. I will probably not do any pics, or maybe add one of the dogs or something, but I would love to try to do this on ours and to try to make sure I do, I have already started my top 10 list! I design and print our cards myself (although there happens to be a print shop right next to our apartment so I might have to check them out) so I am trying to be way ahead of the game. 3 out of the 4 Christmases Chris and I have shared I failed miserably at getting our cards out even though they have been designed 2 of those 4 years. It's not gonna happen this year, I am a woman on a mission and they are going in the mail December 1st!
So that's it for today, I am going to watch an episode of Lost on Netflix and enjoy a glass of iced tea until nap time is over. Hope everyone enjoyed my random rambling about Christmas cards. Are you thinking about your Christmas cards yet? Have you started planning? What day do you mail yours out??
