Thank You, 2011

Dear 2011,
You were quite a year with your crazy downs and your crazy ups.  As a person I experienced so much this year, and I am so thankful for it all.  I'm counting you as another notch on my character-building belt as I say goodbye and move on to 2012.  (<--with full force) 

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Stay classy, 2011.  xoxo Katie

Happy New Year, friends!

Christmas With the Sheltons

We had such a wonderful Christmas!  We do every year, though, so it's no surprise to us.  Gift giving is a big deal in this house, and we all spend hours and hours picking the perfect gifts for each other.  Seeing the excitement and love on my sweet family members' faces just makes it for me.  Here's a peek at our Christmas (and baby Poe's very first Christmas):

Poesy was NOT ready to wake up.  Sister said it was time, though!  ;)

Favorite stocking prize?  Banana.  Hands down.

Santa loved the cookies so much he had to leave a note!

Hope made her daddy a very special present this year.  He was absolutely touched.

Mommy was sneaky and got a few EXTRA presents this year!  Socker Boppers for Johnny and Hope:

And matching vintage Izod sweaters because I just couldn't help myself:

For being such a good boy, Johnny got a special book of our family:

Katie got the vintage hat she was wishing for:

And Hope got:

A TRIP TO DISNEY WORLD!!!

Poesy got lots of fun things, but was only interested in Sister's new 

Lalaloopy baby.

After presents we had Christmas pancakes, and then Poe and mama both had a long nap.  That night we dressed in our Christmas pretties.  This is the only picture that exists as proof that we were ever dressed that day:

As you can see, Poesy had already shed her pretty dress.  ;)

Annnndddddd, even though you didn't ask, here are a few more tidbits from our day:

(Hope and I made all new stockings for our family this year.)

The only not-so-great thing that happened on Christmas was that my brother smashed into my car while backing up.  I know he felt horrible, but I hope he at least learned a lesson-- don't stomp on the gas pedal while you are backing up, little brother!

I hope your holiday was perfection (minus one or two things) as well!  ;)  

xoxo Katie

Double Giveaway!

I'm excited about this giveaway because we have TWO prizes for ONE winner!  First up, here is a lovely dress from my even lovelier sponsor MarMar Vintage:

Bust: 17 inches
Waist: 14 inches ( unstretched)
Hips: 22 1/2 inches
Length: 42 inches

You can find Maria's shop here and blog here!

Next we have Casey Wiegand.  You may already know her from her wonderful blog, but for those of you who don't, Casey is a freelance artist, wife, and mama.  She owns an art studio for kids in Dallas, does blog design, and has art in various galleries. 

Casey is offering $100 credit towards anything she does!  It can be used for blog design or it can be used in her shop! 

To win both of these prizes, just leave a comment stating what you are looking forward to in the new year!  Be sure to include a way to be contacted if you win.

You can also tweet about this giveaway for an additional entry with:

"There is a double giveaway from @CaseyWiegand and @marmarvintage on the @skunkboy blog! http://tinyurl.com/83le5ab"

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.  The winner will be drawn on Monday, January 2nd (2012!).  Good luck!!  xoxo Katie

Music Monday: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Happy Monday!


Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Also, if you celebrated Christmas I hope it was an amazing one for you!

 xoxo Katie

Weekly Wears: Spread the Cheer

This week's Weekly Wears is all about spreading the cheer!  ModCloth has focused this month on spreading the cheer by hand delivering gifts to customers in the Pittsburgh area AND handing them a $50 gift certificate for themselves AND one to share with a friend!  Now that would make me cheery!

They have also sent out dresses to four bloggers and those bloggers got to pick a friend to spread the cheer with.  My sweet, beautiful friend Elsie chose me, so here I am styling my very lovely, fancy dress from ModCloth!  (Cheer!)

Dress: Classic Stunner dress c/o ModCloth;  

Faux fur wrap: thrifted (with tags still on. Yay!);  Tights: Marshalls;  

Shoes: Golden Ponies via Etsy;  Starlette Sparkler: Giant Dwarf

I LOVE focusing on spreading the cheer during the holiday season, rather than getting wrapped up in stress and negativity over shopping and finding deals and parking spots (!), etc.  Let's take this giving spirit and implement it throughout the rest of the year! 

Thank you, Elsie and ModCloth, for spreading the holiday cheer this direction!

xoxo Katie

Click here to see how the other bloggers styled their dresses and here to watch the Spread the Cheer video over at ModCloth!

Sponsor in January

I can't believe I'm already saying this, but January is right around the corner!  Why is January special to me?  Well, special things are happening in January, dear friends!  January just happens to be my birthday month, Poesy's FIRST birthday, ANNNNND Hope doesn't know this yet, but for Christmas we are surprising her with a trip to Disney World in January! 

If you are interested in sponsoring, please check out my sponsor page and email any questions to sponsorskunkboy@gmail.com.  It's going to be such a fun month!!!  xoxo Katie

Holiday Traditions

Ah, I love holiday traditions.  Not only are they fun, but they force me to slow down a bit and enjoy the special moments that might not happen otherwise.  Here are some of our very favorites:

*Have a hot cocoa-drinking Elf-watching party. 
*Bake Christmas cookies (of course).

 *Pancakes on Christmas morning!
*Make a new ornament every year together for our Christmas tree.  Last year it was the paper mache hot air balloon.

 *Save myself at least ONE of the ornaments I stitched up from the busy season.  So far I have saved myself a penguin, a doe, a bunny, and a yellow bird.  :)

Do you have any extra special traditions for the holidays?  I'm not just talking Christmas here... whatever holiday holds special moments for you.  I'd love to hear them!

Also, thank you for the positive feedback on the Christmas song.  I was feeling really anxious about sharing, but once again you all are encouraging and thoughtful.  Maybe I'll make releasing a Christmas song each year a new tradition.  :)  xoxo Katie

Music Monday: Gift Horse

This Music Monday is a little different.  Johnny and I have a little band we play around with sometimes called Gift Horse.  We decided to record a little Christmas diddy this year for fun.  :)

We recorded live vocals and guitar (meaning guitar and vocals happened at the same time, standing around a couple of microphones), and then I laid down some very simple organ and accordion backing tracks.  Johnny added a little extra guitar (because he can't help himself) and then we were done.  It was very simple, quick, and fun.  

If you are interested in downloading it, you can find "Blue Christmas" on iTunes here,  or Amazon here. 

 Happy Monday!  xoxo Katie

This is Real Life

We are prepping for Christmas full force around here, including getting my (super late) Christmas cards ordered and on their way to me.  You've seen a few of our Christmas photos in Hope's guest post, here's the rest of what we ended up with:

 Annnnnnnnnddddd... this is real life:

(Okay, this one actually kills me.  I'm going to have to video this song that Hope sings to Poesy.  It turns into a baby sing-along every time.)

Eeeeep!  Christmas is in a week!  Happy weekend!  xoxo Katie

P.S.  Poesy just turned 11 months old.  How is that possible???

P.P.S.  The winner of the Cookoorikoo giveaway is Mandy Q!!

Weekly Wears: Favorites

I haven't traded in all of my cardigans just yet, but lately I've been looking for new ways to wear those sleeveless dresses without throwing a cardigan over my shoulders and calling it good.  Don't get me wrong, I still love a good cardigan/dress combo, but for someone who wears dresses almost exclusively, I need to mix it up a little.  Enter: favorite old stripey tshirt.

Dress:  Dahlia (from my friend Emily's shop my closet);  Shirt: vintage;  

Tights: c/o ModCloth;  Shoes c/o Lotta from Stockholm

Let's just talk about my bottom half for a moment.  (<--I know, yikes)  These are my new favorite tights.  Oh yeah... AND my new favorite shoes.  I've been drooling over these for a good while now, so every time I look down I get EXTRA happy.  :)  

What were we talking about?  Oh... right.  Shirt over dress.  This is also very helpful when you are wearing a color that almost matches your shoulders.  I'm pale.  I definitely needed the contrast.  ;)

If you have any other cardigan-free solutions for the cold weather, I'm all ears!

xoxo Katie