happppy haalloowween...

...from our Neverland to yours...

...and from the cutest little Tinkerbell ever!

xoxo

three simple confessions

{brought to you today by youtube}

1. i'm secretly ticked off at the world series tonight for delaying glee. i know, what kind of American am i? isn't baseball as American as it gets? and yes, i know Glee can be.........naughty. but it's sorta my guilty pleasure.....cuz i'm in LOVE with the music. i watch the music videos over and over again on our DVR while i'm cleaning, making dinner, or just hangin' out around the house. the day they come out with a soundtrack, i'm sold. my most favorite song lately is "somebody to love."



2. i love sesame street. i feel like i can finally consider myself a true stay-at-home mom now that i've found my inner love for this show. i guess i just love how they appeal to parents with celebrities and little parodies of shows. my most favorite one lately is "preschool musical." check it out.



3. i think i laugh the hardest when other people fall or hurt themselves. i know i should show sympathy. but i don't. maybe it's because i'm super clumsy? (let's be honest, gravity is NOT my friend). anyway, i think i've watched this grape-stomping video at least a hundred times...and i laugh harder and harder every time i hear that poor lady groan. oh man, i'm so glad that wasn't me. then again, i bet that lady is glad she didn't fall down the stairs in front of everyone in a quiet church...



more confessions to come soon...
sooner than these ones did, i promise :)

xoxo

a lot.

hi.
i'm finally blogging again. it's a multi-tasking-type-of-a-blog-post.
you see, i'm in the bathroom while Ellie busily splishes and splashes with her crazy-bath-antics and i'm making myself write something, anything, from my phone. i've wanted to write about so many things lately-- but i seem to have been in a funk of sorts. not sure the exact cause of the funkiness- but there has been a lot going on the last few weeks:
a lot of emotions.
a lot of excitement.
a lot of grumpiness (of which i will graciously spare the details).
a lot of lonely moments now that M is officially a working man.
a lot of fun moments deciding paint colors and backyard landscaping and favorite baseboards.
a lot of stressful moments making all of theses house decisions with a crazy 16 month old who firmly believes the world is her stage...and therefore acts out randomly and in the most inconvenient ways possible.
a lot of anxious moments wondering how all this house stuff will come together.



a lot of visits to see the "puntins" (pumpkins) in various locations throughout Utah and northern California.
a lot of costume planning (you know me and my Chapman-family-costume-ensembles....you just wait for our reveal this year. it's gonna be epic).
a lot of missing family and friends.
a lot of chasing a crazy child in every direction imaginable.
a lot of wishing i was better at putting myself out there to be kind and make new friends.
a lot of phone conversations to make up for my lack of friend-making-skills.
and a lot of unsolicited (and solicited) love, snuggles, hugs and kisses from Ellie (and mr. M, of course) to help me feel that what President Gordon B Hinckley once said is very true:
it will all work out.

and so i wrote a lot about a lot of nothing.
and will now promise to write something with substance tomorrow.
or maybe the next day.

xoxo

a collection of collages and letters

dear Utah,
i already miss your mountainous presence.
i don't know when i'll see you again--but you have a stamp-print on my heart.
i'm proud to say: i'm a Utahn, through and through.

dear Gardner's Village,
thank you for allowing me to be the craziest version of myself.
thank you for encouraging women to let down and release our inner-witches.
thank you for playing crazy music, having adorable shops, and good-clean-fun.
one suggestion for your suggestion box:
have a sign marking your poop-infested rivers in dark places.
i never want to unknowingly trudge through one of those again.
p.s. you owe me a new pair of shoes.
p.s.s. i can't wait to see you again next year.
p.s.s.s. thank you friends and family who came and found me at witches night out. it made the night so sweet and sugary to see you, all witched out. caaacckllleee cacccklleee.

dear discovery gateway,
thank you for letting us discover you.
ellie loved playing in your beehive.
she chased after every bouncy ball in that hive for over and hour.
and would've stayed there all day- but my attention span couldn't handle that.
thank you for having cool magnets, animation kits, a giant doll-house, a fun grocery store, a fun horse to ride, a helicopter, and baby strollers for toddlers to push all around the place. i will never have the amount of toys sufficient to make our house as cool as yours.

dear childhood house,
i apologize for carving my initials in that secret place.
i also apologize for spilling nail-polish in several visible places on your carpet.
more importantly, i wanted to thank you for watching over me as i became the person i am today.
thank you for being a good listener...but not a gossiper...about all the conversations you heard me have.
thank you for never telling my secrets from the doorstep or the love-couch.
thank you for being the place that held so many dinners, so many fights, so many prayers, so much music, and so much love.
you will always be MY house.
and i'll always remember you.

dear family,
how do i live without you?
i can't.
you'll always have a piece of me.
thanks for being so fun.
and so funny.
and such good listeners.
and laughers.
i can't wait to see you again.

dear halloween,
Ellie and I are so excited for you to come. we dress up all the time. we eat candy all the time. we talk about pumpkins all the time. we wear black and orange all the time. we dress up as witches together. we can't wait for our costumes to make their debuts. thanks for being so festive and fun.

dear cute, new, humble house,
please hurry up and get ready for us to move in. i can't wait to see you. and love you. and make you our first home.

xoxoxo,
Marci

cackle cackle

remember this from last year??

well, my friends.
the time has come once again to get your witch on!
i love witches night out at Gardner Village.
and you should too.

so!

drop your plans tonight--
grab a sitter (or tell your hubby he's on duty for once)...
drag along your favorite estrogen-filled witch(es)..
and come enjoy the cackling, the broomsticking, the dancing, the cauldrons, and the inevitable crazy fun!
i'd love to see all of you, my favorite people, celebrating your inner witch.
because let's be honest-- it's in all of us, waiting to be unleashed and discovered.

hope to see you there,
and your little dog too!!!
(there had to be at least one witch cliche in this post..)

p.s. only X chromosomes allowed.
just thought i should mention that.

p.s.s. let me know if/when you are going....so that i can look for you. i'm serious. it would make my day to see you!

xoxo

puntins.

i'm alive.
and very well, thank you.
because i love october.
do you love october as much as i love october?
i love the smells.
the coolness.
the perpetual birthday celebrations that go on in our crazy family.
witches (and witches night out!).
pumpkins.
cute leggings.
the colors.
the sky.
fall.

i'm also very well because i'm home...enjoying all my favorite october things...and much, much more, including (but not limited to):

 enjoying the freezing cold utah air.
(yes, i'm already a california weather wimp).
enduring yucky colds.
eating yummy food.
laughing lots of laughs.
shopping lots and lots.
talking till our voice-boxes are mute and our ears are fried.
drinking a jamba a day.
saying more goodbyes.
wiping lots of tears (and snotty noses).
and lovin' all the "puntins" (ellie's cute way of saying "pumpkins").

feels oh-so-good to be home,
one. last. time.

xoxo

i'm sick.

homesick that is.
i love conference- but man, it made me miss home like something fierce this time around.
i wanted to wrap my arms around those big utah mountains.
i wanted to reach up to the sky and feel the storm that everyone was facebook-status-updating about every five seconds.
i wanted to be cozy by the fire.
i missed home.
and not just my utah home.
but my heavenly home.
my heavenly home that is full of love- the kind of love that so many of those brilliant spiritual men talked about. the kind of love that helps me see good in everyone around me. the kind of love that helps me be more expressive about it. the kind of love that helps me serve others without wanting anything in return. the kind of love that makes me forget about myself and my insignificant problems. the kind of love that is Godly love.
homesick, i tell you.
homesick.

i've had the following song on replay for the last few hours.
it's my fave.
for lots and lots of reasons.
some heavenly.
some earthly.
maybe i'll tell you those reasons someday.
just maybe.



listening to sappy love songs about rainbows and dreams is what we girls do when our hubby's are out of town and missing their moms. and dads. and brother(s). and sister(s). and dog lucy. and aunts. and uncles. and friends. am i right? or am i right?

lucky for me, i get to wrap my arms around those utah mountains....
tomorrow!!

i'm comin' home (michael buble style)!
i'm comin' home to snatch the doorknob from my bedroom that i told you about a while back...and to say goodbye to my house. i'm comin' home to celebrate our birthdays (my mom's, my sister-in-law's, and mine). i'm comin' home to go to witches night out. i'm comin' home to shop. i'm comin' home to eat. i'm comin' home to fill up my crazy cuban canteen.
because while i'm so happy here and love it...
i'm a mama's girl.
and a mama's girl needs her mama.
and a mama needs her mama's girl.
(and i need my dad and sisters and brother too, but you know what i mean).

point to this random ranting:
there may be a slight blogging hiatus.
or a large one.
depends on how much fun i'm having... :)

xoxo

an early b-day celebration in my new favorite city

i think M was feelin' bad a couple months ago when he realized that he'd be outta town for my birthday for a work training. if i'm being onest, i wanted to put him in the dog house....though i realize it is the first of many things he'll probably be missing in our lifetime together.

but ladies and gentlemen, he's outta the dog house with this wonderful San Francisco outing he planned for us last night. check this out....
on the itinerary:

• g+g chapman get Ellie for the afternoon (so we'd be baby free!) (thanks g+g!!)
  

• a ride on the train (bart) into San Francisco

• the final Giants game of the season ( i ♥ baseball games...you can't get more American than that..unless you add peanuts and hot dogs, that is)

• a walk exploring and shopping in the city (discovering Union Square and Market Street)

• an early dinner at Osha, a very yummy Thai restaurant

• a frantic run trying to find Ghirardelli square...only to realize my iPhone directed us to a Ghirardelli shop instead of the square..........which led us to riding the bus (aka the Muni) all around town until we finally found it and had the moooosssttt delicious butterscotch, caramel, hot fudge sundae EVER (which i most definitely paid for later-- i'm lactose intolerant, remember?)

• a taxi ride with a classic cabbie to take us to our final GRAND destination...........

• the grand finale:

             front-row balcony seats to see Wicked in Orpheum theater (which was uh--maz-ing! even more amazing than i had remembered it being when i saw it 5 years ago).

it just doesn't get better than a date in a city, eating sunflower seeds while watching homeruns go into the bay, eating yummy food, slurping a delicious sundae, and seeing a fun show...all with the company man of my dreams. thanks my Mr. for a perfectly splendid day in my new favorite city. i could get used to this "two weeks of birthday celebrations" thang.

xoxo

p.s. am i convincing any of you to come and visit me yet???
yes, i still need friends.
i'm told it takes time.
but i never was the patient type :)