UrbanWalls Etsy Site Review and $50 Gift Card Giveaway*CLOSED

*CLOSED--Winner posted here.*

Natalie used to think it was cute to color on the walls.

Newsflash to her: it wasn’t.

As she grew she didn’t always stop messing with the walls. To her they seemed like a blank canvas.

This was why I was thrilled when Danielle, owner of an awesome Etsy site called UrbanWalls contacted me. I checked out her page and was amazed at all the different wall decals that she had to offer. From kids decals, to beautiful designs you could have anywhere in your home, I loved every single one of them.

Isn’t this tree fantastic?

I also loved this owl one:

My husband who is super picky about things was really amazed with the airplane decal:

The plus about these decals is that you can pick your own colors if you aren’t a fan of the ones in the picture. This information is from the site: “Unlike standard high gloss signage vinyl, our product has a matte finish that gives a gorgeous painted look without bleeding or permanency. They are easy to apply, last for many years and can be easily removed but not re-used.”


We had some of the vinyl signs and let me tell you, they could be a pain to put up. I’d follow the instructions and there would be bubbles underneath. And don’t let me get started on how difficult it was to peel off.

Not so with these decals.


We ended up with this chalkboard one:

It was so incredibly easy to set up. It easily peeled from the paper and I stuck it on the wall with no problems.

Natalie was thrilled! She could color on the wall! (And yes, she's trying on her retro bathing suit. She loves it.)

All you need is regular chalk and the chalkboard is ready to go. You can write sweet messages to your kid:

And clean up is simple. I imagine you could use a regular eraser. I just used a wet paper towel and everything came right off and the fun could start again:

Natalie has also been using the chalkboard decal to practice writing her name:

Yeah. She's still on her Na kick so this will come in handy...


Want your own chalkboard decal?

Or something else?

Danielle has graciously offered a $50 gift card to her Etsy Shop to one lucky reader.


Giveaway Rules

--Must be 18 or older


MANDATORY ENTRY: Go to Danielle's Etsy Shop UrbanWalls and tell me what decal you would buy if you won the gift card.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

LIKE UrbanWalls on Facebook

FOLLOW UrbanWalls creater Danielle on Twitter

PIN your favorite decal on your Pinterest board


Please leave a separate entry for each thing you do. Only leave a comment if you are entering the giveaway, otherwise I have to delete it to keep track of the entries.

I will use random.org to pick a winner on April 7th.

Good luck!

Top Ten Things To Do In Hawaii

I’m going to Hawaii on Monday. It’s a belated honeymoon. My husband and I got married 10 years ago and we couldn’t afford one. Plus I was seven months pregnant.

I probably won’t be online all next week. I have not died. I’m in Hawaii sipping a tropical drink.

I will be updating my Twitter account. You can follow me here.

Here are the top ten things I hope to accomplish in Hawaii:


10. Find all the places were Lost was filmed and re-enact different scenes from the program.


9. Pig out on fresh pineapple. FRESH. One of our tours is to a pineapple farm.


8. Fall asleep on the beach.


7. Say “aloha” to perfect strangers.


6. Eat pig cooked on a spit. I think we’ll be doing this at the Luau.


5. Try on a grass skirt and attempt to hula dance. In our hotel room. I will NOT go on stage and do this. I will look like I’m constipated.


4. Find an actor from Lost who still lives in Hawaii. I know the guy who played John Locke is still there. I promise I won’t call him Locke. Unless he says I can.


3. Capture a ghost on film. We’re going on a ghost tour. I’m so going to pull a Zak Bagans and be like, “Tom. Go stand alone in that haunted room.”


2. Drink several tropical beverages. Tom has never seen me drunk before. Actually, now that I think of it, I’ve never seen him drunk either. We’re not big drinkers. This should be fun.


1. Tell someone, “Nice lei,” and try to keep a straight face.

Things That Annoy Me Thursday: Rude Airplane Passengers

I’ll be traveling to Hawaii on Monday.

That’s an eight hour flight. (Tom is like "eight hours? That's nothing. Try flying to and from Korea. That's 16 hours.") (Whatever. Eight hours is still long to me.)

I am not a fan of flying. But I always try to be considerate about it. It seems whenever I fly I get that one person around me that does the following:

--Announces that they hope we don’t die when we go through turbulence

My response: Stop it! Don’t SAY that because I already THINK it. I immediately believe the plane is going to split apart and we’re going to go plummeting towards Earth. This is why I play Lost, based on the TV show. I scan the passengers and decide which Lost character they’d be if we crashed. It helps relax me.

--Constantly have to get up to use the bathroom.

My response: if you have a weak bladder and can help it, DON’T SIT IN THE WINDOW SEATS. Get an aisle seat so you won’t keep irritating the people around you. I once had to sit in the middle seat and the chick beside me kept wanting to use the bathroom. I was fast asleep once, which is blissful for me when I’m on a airplane because then I FORGET I’M THOUSANDS OF MILES ABOVE GROUND and then she had to tap my shoulder and go, “I need to use the restroom.”

--Ignore screaming children

My response: My kids aren’t perfect. They’ve wailed a bit on airplanes. But I have stuff to quiet them. I ALWAYS buy new toys to distract them with. Or I bring the DVD player. I’ve noticed some parents just ignore their kid and will continue to play on their phone or read. I get that some experts say to ignore your child if they are throwing a fit. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO AIRPLANES!


--Practically make out with their partner

My response: You might want to join the mile high club. If so, just do it but NOT in your seats. I don’t want to see a full makeout session. I witnessed this one time when I was flying with my kids. Do you know how embarrassing it is when your kid shouts, “Mommy! I saw his tongue go into her mouth. That can’t be healthy.”

--Keep talking to you even though it’s obvious that you want to read

My response: Look, if someone has a book out and keeps looking down at it, shut up. I’ll chat for a few minutes and then I’m done. If I can, I’d rather read. When I fly to Hawaii, the kids won’t be with me so that’s eight hours of reading time! If I get a chatty person beside me (husband will be on one side, the other is anyone’s guess..) I might have to go, “Shh. It’s reading time now.”


So yeah. Let’s all hope that I get a polite passenger beside me.

Have YOU experienced a rude passenger before?

A Whole Hand

“I’m a whole hand now!” Natalie kept telling me on Monday. It was her fifth birthday and she was ready to open presents. I had set everything up the night before:



Natalie ran over and grabbed the Rapunzel doll and said, “I love her!” Then she got to opening presents.









“A beautiful Mermaid tail!”



She behaved like she was being serenaded..

..and I guess she was, because the Rapunzel card that her Grandma got her sang.

I had her pose in her new Rapunzel dress with her hair. No, I did NOT make that. I bought it on Etsy. I can’t knit to save my life.



I told Natalie she could pick whatever she wanted for her birthday dinner.

“I want pizza. From Papa Johns!” she announced.

So we had that.

Then we got the cake ready:





I swear the cake didn’t stink. Tommy was just being weird.





Natalie’s like, “Everyone just sang to me!”

Then Grandma sang her a special song and she loved it:



Natalie had her own personal princess cake:



Not Rapunzel, only because the store didn’t have it. “But I still like Cinderella. She had mice friends.” (Instead of Cinderella eating my daughter, my daughter ate Cinderella...mwahahaha...) (Joke about a book called Cinderella Ate My Daughter in case you're like ???)

She said she had a great birthday. I can’t believe I have a five-year-old who will be in KINDERGARTEN.

Think of all the QUIET…

Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. They have a section called Hey, It’s Okay and will list a bunch of things to be okay about. You're welcome to join in and do something like this on your blog. Doesn't have to be on a Tuesday either. Just make sure you link up and that the post you link up with is an Hey, It's Okay post.

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To find The Fred Show annoying. If you don’t have kids, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re lucky.


To be glad my mother-in-law is here. She’s staying until Easter. She’s also watching the kids when Tom and I go to Hawaii next week.


To be excited about Hawaii! It’s our belated Honeymoon. 10 years later and we’re finally going on one…


To want to make bacon from that pig who goes “weeeeee!” in commercials. He bugs me.


To wish someone would break out into song for me like in My Best Friend’s Wedding.


To have gone to the American Girl store in Dallas with a friend for her daughter’s birthday. Natalie now wants an American Girl doll.


To want to know what my surprise is. Tom says he is going to surprise me with something this week and won’t get me any kind of clue!


To wish I could get Tom the new iPad. He really wants it but it’s so expensive.


To have found 21 Jump Street to be hilarious. Tom surprised me with a date yesterday on the balcony of the movie theater. We ordered delicious cheese fries. Mmmm.

Happy Fifth Birthday, Natalie!

Natalie was born on this day five years ago.

It’s been quite a ride.

For starters, she didn’t seem to like much.



Inside me, she didn’t like Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. I got sick whenever I ate one. It was cruel.



She didn’t like her adorable headbands



Or her bunny hats



Her carseat OR her carseat toys that I bought hoping she'd learn to LIKE her carseat



Her warm fuzzy outfit



Her bouncer



Being called a tax deduction



Her adorable pink hat



Grass



Cake on her fingers

(And, my longtime readers will recall as she learned how to speak she would boldy say, "I don't YIKE this!")

But…

She always ALWAYS loved her Daddy.





And allowed me to dress her in various outfits:

































Before I knew it she was one…



Two…



Three…



Four…



And now she’s 5.



It’s been a fun ride.

Happy Birthday, Natalie.