ringing in the new year!

we are having fun at Disneyland!
be back with pics later :)

to celebrate the end of 2010
and the beginning of 2011
we are giving away 2 $50 gift certificates on our facebook page!!!

www.facebook.com/thevintagepearl

how are you celebrating tonight?

happy new year!

a (surprise) trip!

Today I'm packing-
on Sunday we booked a last minute surprise trip
since Ryan had a few days off of work this week.

(sans Eden- she's staying home to be be spoiled by Michaela and Grandpa and Aunt Sharon at home for a few days).

The kids have no clue where we're going.
They guessed Arkansas, OKC and Nebraska.

Ryan asked that we pack in all carry-ons,
which has been a bit of a challenge...
I think something of mine has snuck into everyone else's bags to make it all fit :)



I love this picture-
I told the boys to get me anything they wanted to take with us
and they both brought me their baby blankets
(which they both still sleep with every night)
and a stuffed animal.
I LOVE that my 9 and 7 year olds still want their blankies :)

Guess where we are going???

O-R-U

Last night we went to an ORU basketball game.
Ryan and I are both ORU alums (it's where we met!) and still enjoy the games,
and the kids love the excitement and the concessions stands
(especially the dippin' dots!)
Ryan's boss is out of town and let us use his "suite" last night
(thank you Mr. Rick!)
and we invited some friends- extra fun!

Eden, who is usually afraid of loud noises, started dancing to the band, cheering with the cheerleaders, and kept us aware of "Eli the Eagle" (ORU's mascot) sightings :)

playdates

I promised the kids that over Christmas break
they could each have a friend over,
so today we invited them to play,
and we have 8 kids running around the house (fun!)



The big boys are shooting everyone,
while the middle boys play wii and legos,
and the older girls are playing doctor
while Eden makes everyone tea.

And I'm trying to catch up on the never-ending laundry :)

from us to you.

Merry Christmas!





Love,
The Edwards family


p.s. anyone else with 4 kids find it EXTREMELY difficult to get GREAT pictures with ALL 4 of them in it???
3 was easy but 4 is so tough!!!
We have taken hundreds over the past couple of weeks,
and these are the best two-
but in the top one Tessa is hidden
and in the bottom one Jonah has crazy eyes!
(although I love Eden laughing in it,
thanks to Ryan being silly behind me.)
I may be hiring someone next time... :)

eve.

The presents are wrapped...



and Santa's cookies are ready with a snack for his reindeer...
(don't worry, we'll put the fire out before going to bed,
don't want Santa's bootie getting burned!)



praying you all have a
very
Merry
Christmas
tomorrow!

Christmas tree bokeh.

Enjoying the lights twinkling throughout the house :)

For the picture above I set my lens on manual focus and blurred it to the desired effect, so pretty!

Then I made my own heart filter-
I took a piece of black constriction paper,
traced and cut out a circle from the end of my 60mm fixed lens,
(a 50mm or any fixed lens should work fine too),
punched out a heart shape out of the middle
and then taped the paper onto the end of my lens.





Put your lens on manual focus to play with the blur effect...



Something fun to try before the tree goes down!

in time for Christmas (a giveaway!) (((CLOSED)))

Tonight we had dinner with the whole TVP crew
plus our guys,
played white elephant (with lots of stealing),
yummy desserts,
secret sister reveal,
lots of laughter,
and last minute present makin'...
the TVP Christmas party was a BLAST :)

* * *

We are having ONE LAST GIVEAWAY for Christmas...



We will rush make any piece of jewelry
from our website (Up to $100)
and we will ship it to you overnight on thursday
to be delivered on Christmas Eve!

Simply tell us what you would pick
and who it's for
to be entered!

We will randomnly pick a name tonight (wednesday)!

Tweet (@thevintagepearl),
facebook it
and blog it for extra entries!

* * *

UPDATED WITH A WINNER!!!

The randomly picked winner is Dawn, who said:

i would pick the vintage silver charm necklace (letter D) for myself :) my husband and i aren't exchanging gifts this year so it would be my present to myself!

merry christmas!

Email us asap Dawn! customerservice@thevintagepearl.com

vintage peas in a pod.

Something new!



Hand sculpted fine silver pea pods
with freshwater pearl "peas" inside,
one for each of your children.

The pea pods are antiqued to a dark vintage finish.
Fits 1-5 peas.

Customize this necklace if you would like
by adding a name charm
or
initials on the a la carte page.

These have been a big hit in our store :)

You can find them here!

lazy mornings.

The kids are on Christmas break
and one of the things I've been looking forward to the most
are the laaaaazy mornings!

Lounging in our pj's,
cuddling on the couch
while watching early morning cartoons,
enjoying toast with honey,
(and coffee for me!)
and
chuckling at the bedhead :)

a sweet treat.

Our friend Jessica dropped this amazing dessert off
friday night
to help us stayed fueled while we worked!

It was delicious, the fudge was my favorite :)

Thank you Jessica!

* * *

P.S.- All orders ordered by our Christmas cutoff,
Deecember 1st,
have shipped!

ugly christmas sweaters (take our poll!)

What started out as a friendly "wear your ugliest Christmas sweater to work on thursday"
turned into a full fledged best/worst Christmas outfit competition between departments.

(side note, this was such a fun day,
these girls went all out and we laughed until we cried!)

They asked me to judge
and oh. my. word.
these outfits were hilarious!
but I thought it would be more fun to let our blog readers decide
which outfit should win!

So each department picked their contestant...



1. Anna went Christmas 80's in her Christmas track suit, huge gold glasses, gold bulb earrings, scarves stuffed into her outfit for extra "curves", and a big mole on her face.

2. Angei went "santa baby" funky electric, her skirt actually lights up!

3. Penny went traditional Christmas sweater vest, antlers and bulbs.

4. Sarah- the big bow on her head makes her look like a present. Her own daughter didn't want her to pick her up from school dressed this way, and unfortunately for her she is retail and had to be seen by customers this way! the looks on their faces was priceless :)

The winners get a free lunch next week!

Please cast your vote on the poll on the sidebar
top right-hand corner ----------->

* * *

This is our last work weekend
to get Christmas orders finished up
and out the door.

I'm so looking forward to slowing down,
baking cookies with the kids,
Christmas movies,
shopping for last minute gifts,
and just relaxing during Christmas vacation!!!

sunglasses and winners.

When we were at Disney a couple of weeks ago
my family insisted we ride the Kali River Rapids
(which I loathe because you get soaked
and have wet jeans the rest of the day,
but I didn't want to be a party pooper so I got on)
and I was holding a t-shirt over my head to help stay dry,
and Ryan got the urge to be funny,
and yanked the t-shirt off my head,
and my sunglasses that were also on top of my head
flung into the water
and we watched them float away...

Thanks babe.


So today Eden helped me shop for new ones.



She is so much fun :)

* * *

The 5 randomly picked winners of the $50 gift certificates are:

Nadir@stichsense, the tesdalls, punkledoodle, Nicole, and leanne.

Congrats! Email us at customerservice@thevintagepearl.com.

big girl.

It's hard to believe...



that my "baby"...



is now sleeping...



in a big girl bed!

Wasn't she just born yesterday?

keeping it fun.

To help keep it fun through all of the long hours
we have all been working
(the retail and web teams have both been extra busy!)
we bought $5 gift cards to some of our favorite places
(Starbucks, QT, Target, Zio's, Subway, Braum's)
and each time someone completes a page of work
they get to put their name in the bag,
and we periodically draw winners all day long.

It gives us little extra bits of excitement
throughout the day :)

***

We are still on track with Christmas orders
that were ordered by December 1!

(We never imagined we'd have this many!
THANK YOU!!!)

Christmas fun facts (a giveaway!)

Fun fact #1:
these Vintage Silver Charm necklaces are
ready to ship and can still arrive in time for Christmas
(order TODAY!)

* * *

Fun fact #2:
if you order a $25 gift certificate by Christmas Eve,
you will receive a $5 voucher the week after Christmas
to use in 2011!

* * *

Fun fact #3:
it's free earring friday!
Put FREE EARRINGS in the notes box as you checkout
(TODAY only)
and we will send you a pair of these with your order:


(free earrings can not be combined with a gift certificate order, sorry!)

* * *

Fun fact #4:
there are only 15 days left until Christmas! WOW!

* * *

Fun fact #5:
we are giving away 5 $50 gift certificates
to shop our site!

Simply take a look around our site and
tell us what you would get with your gift certificate to enter.

Blog it,
tweet it (@thevintagepearl),
facebook it on YOUR facebook page,
for extra entries
(leave separate comments for each).

* * *

Happy Friday!

big cheese.

Eden sees me get my camera out.

She sits down and says,
"Mommy, take my picture."

OK.

I flip on my camera, point it at her and tell her to smile.

And this is what I get:



Thanks Eden :)

cuteness for when it's chilly.

Our new logo hoodies are in!!!
Aren't they cute?



There's navy blue...



and dark gray...



I couldn't pick so I had to grabbed one of each :)
They are cozy and soft and perfect for chilly mornings.

We have just a few available until our next batch is done,
you can get one here.

tree tradition.

We let the kids each pick out a new ornament for the
Christmas tree every year.
The kids get to pick out WHATEVER they want and
they get to put it WHEREVER they want on the tree.
I'm a little surprised how excited they get with this little tradition,
and I love that there is a little piece of them on the tree!


1. Eden picked out Hello Kitty
2. Tessa picked out a pink flamingo
(because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a pink flamingo!)
3. Jonah picked out the silver trumpet-
I think he thought it would really work :)
4. Caleb picked out the gold star- it actually looks great on the tree!

And my contribution,
I purchased at Disney last week,
we have started buying a different ornament on each trip:



Do you have a fun tree tradition?

handmade wish list.

Dear Santa,
I promise I have been very good :)



What's on your handmade wish list?

this, that and other stuff.

We are home from Disney.

Still unpacking,
doing laundry,
looking through pictures,
and taking care of Eden, who came home with a fever :(

We love Disney this time of year-
the Christmas decorations and lights are amazing!

We had so much fun with my family!

The Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster
were everyone's favorites,
with Mt. Everest and Space Mountain as close seconds.

The Osbourne's Christmas lights show was fabulous!

We enjoyed the beach and Downtown Disney.

And my Dad played lots of golf :)

* * *

The randomly picked winner of this giveaway
is Becca, who said:
Oh wow! All so beautiful as usual! I think I'm loving the eclectic charm bracelet particularly. Happy Thanksgiving!

Email us Becca at customerservice@thevintagepearl.com!

* * *

We are so surprised
and overwhelmed
and VERY thankful
for all of the orders that poured in last week!

The cut-off for shipping in time for Christmas was
2 days ago, Wednesday, December 1.

* * *

So here's the scoop for last minute gifts:

We DO have a RUSH SHIPPING option
that will be available until this Wednesday, December 8th,
in case you missed the regular deadline but really need a gift!
Just choose the RUSH SHIPPING option when you are checking out.

* * *

Don't forget about our gift certificates
that are emailed to you immediately,
and for every $25 gift certificate you purchase
we will email you a $5 voucher the week after Christmas
to use in 2011!
(a great deal!)

* * *

We also have our READY TO SHIP page
and these items will ship in time for Christmas delivery
if ordered by next Friday, December 10th!
(U.S. only, we can't guarantee International shipping time, sorry!)

Please be sure to ONLY order from the READY TO SHIP page
if you want them in time for Christmas.

You can even customize them by adding READY TO SHIP initials!

* * *

Tomorrow Caleb, Jonah and Tessa play in their
first basketball games of the season,
should be fun to watch :)