ANYWAY, you were eating your vitamins at breakfast when you let out a yelp and started crying.  It was clear that you had bit either your tongue or cheek.  I told you I understood how that hurts.  You, as you are apt to do when you get ANY kind of injury, whined, "Kiss it."  I, of course, said I would.  I leaned over to kiss your face and you leaned in and OPENED YOUR MOUTH, assuming I was going to kiss the EXACT SPOT YOU HAD BIT.  And this is what you looked like:

Not the MOST appealing, but you're just so cute.  I gave you a "feel better" kiss o the side of your mouth, which instantly made it "better."  You told me so yourself.

For instance, she LOVES to go into my husband's office and sit on his lap and watch episodes of Caillou (WHAT is up with the colors they've chosen for their house??) and color on printer paper with washable markers while my husband tries to keep up with email on his Blackberry.  She ususally just points to his office and says, "Dada. Dada.  'Mere (like "come here")."  Today, she looked at him and said, "Dada. Office."  

I know OFFICE doesn't seem that exciting, but when it's NEW and you realize it's the FIRST TIME, it's totally cool.

Also - and this is adorable - she INTRODUCED herself to her friend today!!  We're part of the most amazing mommy group and every other Thursday one of the mommies hosts what we call "Music Play."  It's basically like a "Music with Mommy" class, but it's just our group and the leader has her degree in awesome music stuff, so she's made the playdate UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME.  

ANYWAY, her daughter's name is Summer and Sailor walks up to Summer today and says, "Hi, Summer!" then she points to herself and says, "Me, Sailor!"  OMG.  I about died.  It was so adorable and so awesome to see her catch on to such a SOCIAL MUST.  So cool.

Last night, slowly sliding off her barely-too-big white wooden kid chair, I asked her, "Where's Sailor?"  She looked at me, confused.  Had the question been, "Where's dada?" or "Where's Sampson?" she simply would have pointed, repeating the name of who she was pointing to.  But to be asked where HERSELF was?  Hmm....

Where's Sailor?

As she continued to slide, she looked perplexed, but as if she was working swiftly through a Rubik's Cube, staring at the ground, deep in thought.

Her feet in the floor, her bum slid off the seat, she let go the back of the chair with her right hand, the matching table with the left, shot her eyes up to me, pointed to her chest and exclaimed, "SAILOR!" (Well, minus the "S" sound and the "L" sound.)

We clapped!  Yay!  She found Sailor!  And then she pointed to herself again and said, "Me."

Being a mom is so cool.

Ok, ladies! (and men, if you're out there and have an obsession with in-home lighting) - Barn Light Electric is doing an ONLINE GIVEAWAY!  OMG.  I was so insanely excited when I got their email about it.  First prize is ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS to anything they sell and second prize is FIVE HUNDRED!  All you have to do is peruse their website (over the past 9 months - 6 while my house was being built and now 2.5 months in the house, I have logged crazy stalker-like hours on this site).  You may or may not remember, but I even did a whole post about the lights I wanted in my kitchen and ALL my choices were from Barn Light Electric.

As of late, we have yet to PURCHASE those lights due to, oh, all the fun things that go along with owning a house such as BUILDING A FENCE YOU DIDN'T KNOW HAD TO BE APPROVED BY THE HOA AND NOW THEY ARE SENDING YOU OFFICIAL LETTERS VIA CERTIFIED MAIL TELLING YOU THAT YOU BASICALLY NEED TO SPEND $4000 - $6000 TO EITHER TAKE DOWN YOUR FENCE OR REPLACE IT.  But hey! That's just normal home owner stuff, right? *big insane smile with wide crazy eyes*

So, although I want just about everything from B.L.E. (Do you mind if I call you that?  We're friends, right?  Let me pour you a drink and then it'll be all OH, BLE, REMEMBER WHEN WE GOT DRUNK TOGETHER?  And you'll be all, OH, LIZA, SHUT YOUR PRETTY MOUTH. WE PROMISED NEVER TO BRING THAT NIGHT UP. HAHAHA. RABBITS.), my focus is on my kitchen. 

Before they even broke ground on our house, I had some pendants all picked out from BLE, including the following:

Barn Light Cavalier Pendant (comes in both the first two shapes here and a few different sizes)

But the one I REALLY REALLY want with all my wanting is this:

Barn Light Bermuda Pendant

Isn't it gorgeous?  And I want it just like that.  Its lovely, galvanized self. 

So, you ask, what's the deal with the pendants?  Well, I had them all picked out so early on because we paid extra to have three pendant light hookups put in above our snack bar.  And now those hookups just sit up there and wallow in self-pity for being useless.  See?  (I'll get to the teal oval in a moment.)

How awesome would those Bermuda Pendants look hanging right there?  And then I'll get some barstools and be all set!

I LOVE how open our floor plan is, but it's SO open between the living room and the kitchen that there's just this gigantic sweeping space of confused energy flowing around and not knowing where to go.  From the snack bar and above and all around it's just...EMPTY.  I've got to get those pendant lights up there to help the flow!  To highlight the snackbar!  To help divide the upper space!  TO CURE CANCER!  (pushing it?)

Here's the view from the kitchen to the living room.  See how awesome those lights would be there? (Please excuse the mess.  The day I took these photos I was just diagnosed with a sinus infection AND Strep throat.  Didn't feel like cleaning, you know?)

And then back to the other photo with the teal circle.  We've begun a project in the breakfast area over there where we're going to put in a big corner bench and put in a nice and big regular-height table.  It'll be perfect for any and all meals with any and all guests (if we don't want to use the dining room), AND it'll be great to prop your laptop on and get some work done, for Sailor and I to spread out and do crafts...it's going to be awesome. (you know, once we deal with the aforementioned FENCE issue.) 

So, a big kick butt table with a big kick butt bench MUST have the appropriate kick butt lighting fixture above it, and that dinky thing that came with the house just will not do.  I like THESE:

Barn Light Denyawood 4-Light Chandelier

It matches the pendants!  Sometimes I'm all for matchy-matchy and sometimes I'm not, but I think this combo would be awesome and draw the two spaces together.  LOVE IT.

OR, I can go non-matchy-matchy and do something like this, which would compliment a long, natural wood table oh so nicely:

Three-Light Industrial Chandelier "The Saddlebred"

Doesn't this light just BEG for crafts, crab leg dinners and great conversation?  THAT'S WHAT I'D GIVE IT!

So, are you totally jonesing to enter this contest, too?  Well, you can!  Here's how:

Here’s how you can enter our Barn Light’s Online Giveaway:

1.     Look around online at Barn Light Electric and pick lights you’d love to own

2.     Feature your lighting picks on your personal blog, and link to the lights if you can!

3.     Copy/Paste these rules at the bottom of your blog article

4.     Once your personal article is up, you must email your blog link to: contest@barnlightelectric.com to be qualified to win. The contest ends October 12^th, 2011.

5.     Don’t have a blog? Find out how you can enter by visiting our website.