This weekend was a lot of fun! I got to spend time with so many of my favorite people, do some wedding planning with my sister, and meet my little dog-niece, Cassie!



Chloe! I was in shock at how much she'd grown after not seeing her for a couple of months.


We ate dinner at Pita Jungle, so good!


Afterward we walked next door to the Gelato Spot for some dessert. Autumn is too cute here- she's 8 months pregnant and ready for Carter to arrive.


I also got to do some wedding planning with Lauren and Abe! We checked out The Antique Wedding House in Mesa, AZ and they decided to get married there. It's adorable and is going to be perfect!






Abe and his Mom, and Laur and our Mom! I love this.


Later I went over to Sar's house to meet their new babygirl Cassie! I fell in love with her and spent the entire evening holding her and loving her so much! Isn't she adorable?!


eating Jenny's hair!


sleeping...


cutest


She has sooo much extra skin, it's so cute.

If you're a follower of my blog you know that my sister Lauren and I are very close and the best of friends. So, it's with my heart full of so much love and excitement that I am happy to announce that she is engaged to be married! I wanted to wait and mention this until she blogged about it herself, and you can go check out that entry here. I love that she even had her fiance, Abe, get back down on one knee so she could take a photo for a little renactment. A true "Hawthorne" girl. ;) She and Abe have been friends since they were in junior high which I think that is just the neatest thing. I love how he treats her so well and makes her so happy- he's truly the best. Hank and I both couldn't be happier to call him our brother.

You should all definitely follow her blog- she's a great writer and definitely fun to read. Laur is a 6th grade teacher in Phoenix, and is one of the most amazing girls I know- it's neat to say that about your sister too! She was serious athlete growing up, and played collegiate soccer for the University of Wyoming. She's already looks fabulous, but will be starting a new "fitness" blog outside of her regular one, as she prepares for her wedding! If you missed the embedded links, you can click here to visit her blog.

Here's a photo of Lauren and Abe, her fiance, at Hank and my wedding in 2008. Cutest couple ever!

Congratulations, you two! I love you both so much.

Today was such a magnificent day. Earlier today I said it was just a happy day, but now I feel the adjective must be bumped up to magnificent! We spent the day celebrating my sister's birthday, even though her actual birth date isn't until tomorrow. Her boyfriend Abe has a huge day of fun planned, so we elected to do one of the family get togethers today. My parents provided the ice cream cake, and we showered her with wonderful gifts including, but not limited to: diamond earrings, Wii, and Wii Fit Plus! I would say that she definitely made out like a bandit...and she truly deserves every good thing she received!

After presents and cake Hank and I went shopping for a bit. Afterward we went to Lauren's house for her birthday get together and had a blast. My sister and Abe are recent homeowners and their home is so adorable. We played her new Wii, ate yummy food, and had a great time hanging out. A lot of her other friends came over as the night progressed and it was a great time. I'm so glad Lauren had a fun night.

Here's some photos from the day and night!

the adorable little ice cream cake


make a wish!


Hank and me


me, showing off Laur's new earrings from Abe








It was a beautiful day today!



back home again, now ready to go to Lauren's-



This is Lauren and Abe's dog Rex! I love him so much. They rescued him after he had been found abused and left by a dumpster. :( He has a very, very happy and loved life now which makes me ecstatic.


He is so cute (and hates the flash most of the time!)




We like to take a lot of photos!


...and they often all turn out looking alike!


Kristin and Laur






I found this little gem at my sister's house in a box, completely in tact with all pieces there...this was one of our favorite games growing up. I always wanted to be Lila Fowler. I am beyond happy about this find and so happy Laur kept it after all these years.




Uncle Hank and Rex


Isn't he beautiful?!


taking this wonderful game home- we just had to pose for another photo with it. What fabulous memories!


I also had to include this photo from earlier- Ms. Madeline and me!


and...my love.


Happy birthday Laur!

Alright, here are the next round of answers to all of those questions in this post!

First question, from Kristen-

I'd like to see a post about how you dress for work, or: looking professional but not too frumpy or teacher-y. thanks :)

I did a little Flickr series documenting the first two weeks of work this week, so click here to be transported to the set! Here's my "first day of school outfit." My main staples are pencil skirts, dresses, and tights!



Next, from an anonymous commenter:

how is it possible that your tattoo is on your chest and on your right arm in some pictures while it is on your left arm in other pictures?

For a lot of my quick pictures I use photobooth, which is actually a flipped view! So the tattoo many appear to jump arms from picture to picture!

Third question(s), from Ashley-

What's your biggest pet-peeve? What are your favorite TV shows?

Pet peeves...hmmm...this is hard. I don't know if this is necessarily a pet peeve, but something that is extremely annoying to me is when people can't just LIVE and LET LIVE. I believe in equal rights for ALL people. Example: I'm a supporter of gay marriage and it's upsetting to me that people can't just let other people be happy. On a smaller and less important level, here are some things that annoy me: the sound of clipping nails, when things in a cupboard or cabinet are unorganized, people blowing their nose around me (weird I know- but I think this comes from sniffly students doing this in my classroom), people who are "short" via text or email, and sharing drinks or food with ANYONE other than Hank and a handful of my best friends- no thank you. And I think that's about it. I'm sure I could think hard about this and make a huge list but this is all for now!

TV shows- I love love love Lost, Mad Men, Freaks and Geeks, Big Love, Pushing Daisies, Carnivale, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, True Blood, and then about a million reality shows, including but not limited to: Biggest Loser, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Jersey Shore, etc.

The next question is from Katie!

but now i want to know how you do your hair and what products you use. it seems like you always have a lot of body and it's shiny and sometimes curled? my hair is flat and blah. tips please!

I've gotten a lot of question about this, so maybe I'll do a little tutorial when we *hopefully* get a Flipcam at our last Christmas on Sunday. But to give you a quick overview, I use Biolage shampoo and conditioner. I switch between three different types, depending on the stage my hair color is at. Those three are the "Color Care" line, the "Hydrating" line, and the "Body" line. Color for right after I get my hair done, body most of the time, and hydrating when I feel I need it. I also only wash my hair 2-3x a week, and use dry shampoo between. After I get out of the shower, I wrap up my wet hair in a towel for about 10 minutes. Then I apply Catwalk's Root Boost to the roots of my hair- top, sides and back. After that I spritz Bumble and Bumble's thickening spray all over. I don't put any products in my bangs though. Then, blowdry time. I use a round brush to dry my bangs for literally a second, then I blowdry to the side with my fingers. Following that I dry all over my hair, flip it over and dry upside down, then use a paddle brush to dry the rest (getting the roots, etc). I finish with a cold shot all over. Once my hair is dry I spray the underside with Sebastian Hairspray and then pin it back while I apply makeup. Once my makeup is done I tease my hair a bit, then use the curling iron to add waves! Done! That seemed kind of strange to explain that in such detail but hopefully that was what you were looking for! :)

This question is from Ashley (no link given):

i also have a question about your tattoos... do you have any that you don't particularly love anymore and wish you could change or remove them? and... how do you decide what to get??

I love every single one of my tattoos, and I'm lucky enough to not have any regrettable ones. I attribute this to waiting until I was 21 to get my first one. If I would have gotten any of the ideas I had when I was younger than that you can bet I'd have some regrets and cover ups to do. I also had the benefit of only having really amazing artists tattoo me, thanks to the direction of my tattooed friends when I was younger. As far as deciding what to get, most of mine are things that I find pretty or inspiring, or things that have meaning. Sometimes I'll have weird thoughts that kind of turn into a tattoo idea, but for the most part I'll just know what I want and then my artist will run with it, and make it awesome.

Awesome! I hope you guys liked reading these, they are definitely fun to answer! I will continue with the next batch sometime soon!

In the meantime, here are a few photos from later tonight!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! <3

my sister and Abe


Hank, Tim, and Daron




dinner time


opening up presents








my beautiful Daron Grace :)


Big Kindle and Little Kindle PJ Party! I love this.

Hank and I originally planned to do Christmas Eve on the eve of the eve (make sense? haha), but later decided to just wait until the actual night to open our presents. He had to work during the early afternoon, but once he got home and we both got ready for the evening, it was present time! I'll just mention a couple of the presents we exchanged- and one in particular made me so, so happy. That special gift was one of my most favorite Angelique Houtkamp paintings as a print. It's a big piece, limited to just 200, and is so, so beautiful. It's signed and numbered by Ms. Houtkamp herself, and it's such a great addition to our art collection. To say I'm stoked is an understatement. He really is the most thoughtful husband in the whole world and I feel so lucky he always goes out of his way and is so generous. I got him a lot as well, and a couple of his favorite things were the two prototypes of toys he loves. Our dear friend Alex helped me get some of the toys for him (as I am clueless), which was very kind. So after we did our presents at home, we headed out for the night, armed with huge bags and boxes of wrapped presents. As we do every year, we spent Christmas at Hank's mom and step-dad's home. It's a really fun time- we do a secret Santa exchange with extended family, and then once everyone goes home the immediate family gives each other gifts. Hank's mom is THE BEST gift giver- and this year was no different. A couple notable gifts were Hank's sought-after Wii and a huge box of games and corresponding gadgets and toys. He is in heaven. Another is my Kindle DX, and I am blown away with it. I AM IN LOVE! Now I don't have to lug around a million books on vacation, amongst many other pluses.

I am so thankful for everything we received, but those don't overshadow our "reason for the season," which is not god or anything related, but family. We aren't religious by any means, but we do still celebrate the holidays and enjoy an excuse to shower our loved ones with gifts, our time, and most of all, love! :) It's really neat to have such big families and I feel fortunate that we are all currently in great health and spirits. That isn't always the case so I am extra grateful this year.

After Christmas Eve festivities we headed down the mountain to Phoenix, so we could spend the night and wake up at my parents'! When we got to my parents' around 2am we were met with our annual Christmas pjs! Every year since we were kids my mom has always gotten us new holiday pajamas to wear to sleep. Hank and I put them on and hopped into bed!

When we woke up this morning we were met with a gorgeous tree and holiday music. All of us spent the morning opening up our awesome and very generous gifts. It was my sister's boyfriend Abe's very first Christmas EVER so it was SO MUCH FUN watching him open his presents and get excited. It was neat to be a part of that. So right now we are currently hanging out, waiting for a million of our family members to arrive, both from the airport via NY and up from Tucson. It will be a busy day, so I will be back with part two tonight!

Until then, have a fabulous afternoon.

Photos from last night and today (so far!)

Christmas Eve
















In the tube is the print, the paper on the left is a picture and a letter of what the print is. It goes in for custom framing tomorrow, and Hank didn't want to damage it by taking it out of the container...hence the little letter that he wrapped up in a box. :)












Grandma Jean sneaking in a nap!




"My big Christmas tree is on strike until there are Grandchildren!" -Hank's mom, in reference to the small tree! hahah




family Wii session!




Christmas morning at my parents'!


my overstuffed stocking! I've had this one since I was little :)


Lauren and Abe


Abe's first Christmas!


I love my sister


Take 2 :)


KINDLE DX I LOVE YOU!


Christmas dress paired with black tights and oxfords, sorry for the half pic! Better pics later :)


holiday colors


Mr. and Mrs.