Shopping List Printable - Freebie

I don't know about you, but I am always a sucker for a good, cute, fun and not to mention FREE printable. I've created this fun Shopping List printable for you to enjoy. So print away and get your shop on!

Shopping List Printable

- It's Me...Jamie Vee

Top 5 Reality TV Shows To Watch For Beginners

Anyone that knows me knows that I love me some reality tv, and since you are all getting to know me let me tell you I LOVE REALITY TV! Reality tv is an amazing escape from real life at times. Don't get me wrong I deal with "real life" but at the end of the day when the kids in bed and husband is fast asleep I love watching a good dose of reality tv. It makes you stop and think and even sometimes reflect on how your life isn't all that bad haha. I don't limit my reality tv shows, if its reality I have most likely heard of it and seen it. I am a self proclaimed reality show guru and decided to compile a list of the " Top 5 Reality Shows to Watch for Beginners." So here is my list and why I think it is great especially for you reality show beginners...

#1 Big Brother 

I love Big Brother for so many reasons. Season after season the cast continues to draw me in. Taped daily and nightly and airs multiple times a week, and if that is not enough and you want more they even air Big Brother Afterdark! Say what? That's right you can watch everything. It is like the ultimate time waste for people who like to people watch from the comfort of your own home. When I was younger (pre-kids and pre-husband and really pre-life) I would watch after dark and literally could feel my mind growing numb. Although I don't sound like a big supporter of Big Brother Afterdark I do LOVE Big Brother. The house is full of complete strangers and their lives are taped 24/7. They have competitions and vote people out of the house every week. Alliances form, there is lying, plenty of temper tantrums and absolute amazingness. If you are new to reality tv this is a great one to start with for sure.

#2 Survivor

Survivor is amazing in a different way, its a group of strangers (usually) dropped off in a remote area and you see them try to survive in the wilderness. This show is different than most because it is big on competition as well as survival skills. Lord knows I would never be able to do it so its fun to sit there and watch them either flounder or totally excel in their new environments. By the end of each episode they always "vote" off a cast member with a bunch of drama and crazy accusations, some tears and lots of paranoia. So if you like the competition and survival settings I highly recommend this show.

#3 Dance Moms

Crazy! You have a group of amazing dancers, a crazy dance teacher with quite the reputation and an even crazier group of dance moms. The girls are amazing dancers and its fun to watch them pull of these routines they learn in what seems like no time at all, but seeing the way their dance teacher talks to them is tougher than I would let anyone ever talk to my kids. The moms either just sit there and let their kids get yelled at and treated badly or they stand up for their kids and tell off the teacher. Every episode is packed full of drama and tears and all things that make good reality tv.

#4 All things BACHELOR

I am talking about the Bachelor, Bachelorette and even Bachelor in Paradise. Its a group of either women or men all trying to gain the love and attention of the Bachelor/Bachelorette in hopes of becoming "the one" they fall in love with and ultimately propose to. Sounds great and simple right, but its not. You put a group of women in a house together and have them fight over one man, hello drama! Talk about tears, fights, gossip and jealousy. You see them go out on these crazy elaborate and unrealistic dates in hopes of getting a rose which is the symbol that they are staying another week and have another opportunity for love. Love, heartbreak and a whole lot of spit swapping.

#5 Catfish

This is another great starter reality show, although at times predictable its fun to watch the drama unfold. It always starts with an email into MTV's Nev and Max about someone who wants to physically meet their online crush/romance. Nev and Max go to the person and help them "meet" essentially. Sounds simple enough but is far from it. The thing people believe and trust is crazy, which is why this is yet another great reality show to start with.

There is so much reality tv out there that I love and watch it was so hard to compile a top five list for beginners. If you are like me and at the end of the day when all is quiet and you want to just watch something other than the usual kids shows and even news and need something that will just "numb your mind" then this list is for you. There is no judgement here, from one reality junky to hopefully another, good luck and god speed on your new journey into all that is reality tv! 

-It's Me...Jamie Vee

Vee Family Vacation

So for the first time in YEARS, we went on a family vacation!

My husband has been with a new company for a little over a year and now gets the opportunity to take paid vacations, wooohooo! May not seem like much but after not being able to do so in forever it was nice to take advantage of it. So we sat down with calendars and booked our first ever family vacation! We of course chose Disneyland, especially since Noodle was on the verge of being the age of having to pay full price for him we needed to jump on this opportunity now. 

Anaheim isn't that far from where we live so we did have the option to drive back and forth, but after much thought and pure laziness we decided why not just make it a full hotel style vacation, so the search began. I am what you would call a "hotel snob." I am not much of a camper, heck who am I kidding I am not a camper at all! I like staying in nice, clean, hotels, and man are there a whole lot of hotels to chose out in Anaheim. I knew we wanted it to be clean, nice, close to Disneyland, and of course affordable. After much research and debate we decided on Hotel Indigo. Its not a huge hotel, but it was nice, clean, affordable, close like super close to Disneyland and the staff was remarkable. When booking online I told them it was my little guy's bday and requested a fireworks view. To my surprise when we got there (before check in mind you) our room was ready, they even made him a card with a hand drawn Mickey and gave us a room with an incredible view of the fireworks at Disneyland! My kids were beyond stoked as was my husband and I was very impressed. The room was clean, the shower was beautiful and actually had water pressure and the soaps were AVEDA!!! I was in "hotel snob" heaven. The walk to Disneyland was literally 11 minutes (keep in mind I have long legs and tend to walk fast, but I was pushing a double stroller). You could drive to Disneyland but why would you when Hotel Indigo has free parking in an underground garage.  I just want to be clear that I am not paid or affiliated with he hotel at all, I am just a ordinary mom who was looking for the best place to vacation with my family and honestly Hotel Indigo really hit the mark.

(the card they made for my son, cute right?!)

Now on to Disneyland. We did the two-days, one park per day tickets. First on our agenda was Disneyland. I was stoked because on the crowd tracker it forecast it  not to be as crowded, which is amazing. To my surprise if that was considered not crowded then I would hate to go when it was crowded. I love Disneyland, my kids love Disneyland but it was so crowded and so hot it made it hard to enjoy as much as I wanted to. Lines were long and the sun was blazing. We were there all day and got to go on maybe 4 rides and take pictures with Captain America and Thor. Which that in itself was amazing! My kids love all things Marvel and the line to take a picture wasn't as long as most. My kids were so excited. SoyBean has a crush on Captain America and would not let him go, it seriously border lined to an awkwardly long hug, but Captain America was such a great sport and just held on to her. We ate, we laughed, we took tons of pictures and had a blast. Besides a teensy sun burn for me and the sun-kissed look on the kids it was amazing. We walked back to the hotel and crashed out. 

Now its time for California Adventure!!! Can you tell this is our absolute favorite place. Its never super crowded, they have Disney Jr. Live shows, lots and lots of shaded trees and the lines for rides are much shorter not to mention tons of characters walking throughout the park who are amazing at interacting with the kids. We started off with Aladdin Stage Show, it was amazing and air conditioned! Next we went on Monsters Inc., which is such a cute ride and never longer than a 15 minute wait. From there we went on everything with little to no lines. We ate at Flo's V8 Cafe, amazing mac and cheese and turkey sandwich, and Mr. Vee had a cup of chili in a bread cone. Food was great, weather was hot but thanks to all the shade that California Adventure has it was barely noticeable. We loved it!

We laughed, and cheered, and enjoyed being with each other but most of all I loved seeing how happy my family was. I loved seeing the kids experience stuff for the first time. Hugging Disney characters, asking them questions, seeing their faces on rides, eating and trying new foods for the first time. When you get older you forget and take so much for granted so it made it even nicer to stop, relax and enjoy life through the eyes of the kids for once. Loved our family vacation and sad to be back to reality. Here's looking forward to next year!

-It's Me...Jamie Vee

"My Kids Say The Darndest Things"

So having a two year old (Soy Bean) and a three year old (Noodle) has its moments of frustration but more than that I find myself laughing at the things they say and do. I know you all know what I am talking about. Do you remember that show on tv with Bill Cosby, which I know was called "Kids Say The Darndest Things", he would gather that kids and just ask them questions and get their candid answers of amazingness. Even Ellen Degeneres does an occasional bit with kids asking them questions and hearing the things that come out of the kids mouths are nothing short of hilarious. There is a sense of innocence and purity but also hilarity and can really turn any bad day into a great one. My children are not exempt from this. The things that they remember, the words they are trying to pronounce for the first time, hearing them repeat words from people that you have no idea where they got it but in a split second you are reminded that you really need to start watching what you are saying more and more. Less of "Oh Sh#T and more "oh poopy".  We are under a microscope people, but with that comes some of the cutest things I have ever heard and today I am going to share a few with you....

1) Respect My Bambis

           Soy Bean is very into Bambis or as you may know them BOUNDARIES. I may have said a time or              two that my kids need to respect my boundaries and stop pushing me. In turn it has become Soy                 Bean's favorite phrase! Everything either starts or ends with, Respect my bambis. "Mom, brudder isn't           respecting my bambis." Or I even hear her telling her animals that they needed to respect her Bambis.           I cant handle how cute she is but I also respect that she is a young lady that is already setting those                 boundaries for herself.

2) My Brain Told Me To
This one comes straight from Noodle (my son). "Son, why are you putting a marshmallow up your nose?
Well mom its because my brain told me too." "Mom no nap for me today. No buddy you need a nap. But mom my brain told me I was ok." At first I was unsure what my kiddo was talking about, and because yes I watch too many documentary and psychological shows I thought, what is going on with my kid, but then I quickly realized it was his new go to excuse for everything. Why he didn't want to eat, or share, or nap, or why putting a marshmallow up his nose was ok, why because his brain told him so. My new comeback is, "well mommy's brain says its not ok," its worked so far.

3) Remember When I Was A Baby?
My day has suddenly become flooded with both kiddos constantly saying, Mom remember this, or Mom remember that, but my favorite is Mom, remember when I was a baby and i farted? Or Mom remember when I was a baby and I slept in a crib? Mom, remember when I was a baby and I couldn't walk and I just cried like this wah wah wah? What makes me laugh most about it is the fact that they are still babies. They aren't teenagers or even pre-teens they are two and three years old and for them to reminisce cracks me up.

4) You Drivin' Me Crazy
This of course is coming from my little Soy Bean, my tiny teenager stuck in a two year old body. She is so free spirited and really just tells you like it is. But right now she is on a kick of making sure everyone knows when they are "drivin her crazy." If I want to change her diaper and ask more than once, I am then driving her crazy. Brother stealing her toys, drives her crazy. And my favorite at times, although not  her Dad's favorite, is when he is looking at her and trying to be super sweet and loving and she will huff and say, you driving me crazy! That is not all, she also says it, you guessed it when I am actually driving the car, mom you are driving me crazy absolutely crazy.

5) I Love You 
I know what you are thinking, that is not silly or the "darndest" thing for a kid to say, I agree but it is the single sweetest and most rewarding thing I have ever heard. When you are sad, or mad, angry or even not feeling well when they come up to you and say, "I Love You," it literally melts everything negative away. Especially when its unprovoked, no one is telling them to say it they are just saying it out of the sweetness of their little hearts. Those teeny tiny little voices uttering the three most fabulous words really can make the world of difference.

Those are some of my favorite phrases my kids utter. I laugh and melt all at once. Its nice to take some time out and appreciate the simple things and for me slowing down and listening to my kids and seeing them grow and learn makes me happy.

-It's Me... Jamie Vee

And here come the introductions...

Helloooooo Blogging World!
It's Me......Jamie Vee.

Who is Jamie Vee you may ask, well let me tell you.

I am a 30 something, a wife, a stay at home mom of two amazing kids. I love my family, I love to laugh, and I am addicted to all things reality tv. I love clothes to add to my laid back style of band tshirts, jeans and toms, I love MAC makeup, I love my straight, blunt bangs and my geeky glasses, but most importantly I love and miss naps! Mid afternoon naps, sleeping in, late afternoon naps, couch naps, bed naps everything about naps I miss, but having my cute and fun kids is a trade off for sure, but it had to be said NAPS, I MISS YOU! Ok I am done with that tangent, for now.

I have been married for 5 years now, born and raised in sunny California. I am officially the palest Californian you will ever meet. I have the honor and privilege to stay home with my 2 kids and be a mommy, which is honestly my dream job since I was little. They are funny and sweet and at times kinda crazy but then again I think most 2 and 3 year olds are that way. My husband works crazy hard to support our family financially and I work hard to make a dollar stretch. We make a great team for sure, and I love doing life with him.

This blog will be a whole lot of random talk between sharing Pinterest victories and more so fails, parenting stories, coupon deals, amazing clothing finds, surviving on one income, funny and slightly embarrassing stories, or even reality tv rants. I am excited to officially start my blogging journey, welcome to my world.

It's me...Jamie Vee!