Thank yous

When we realized we were pregnant so many things happened in a blink of an eye. I realized immediately how blessed I was that God had finally given us the go-ahead to start a family. (No joke, I wrote in my journal, THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUU! like a billion times when I first found out!)

Knowing how thankful I was to the big J.C., I shared my joy with the hubs. He too acknowledged the same amount of gratitude. But we can't send God a thank you note, just lots of thank you prayers. Which got me thinking, "people are probably going to start buying our baby things- I need to find a killer thank you note!"

...and so, at about five weeks pregnant (before anyone other than the hubs and I knew I was, in fact pregnant) I began the monumental task of trying to find the right thank you note to convey to anyone who would hold one, just how thankful we were.

Now, I know I might have taken this task too "serious" but here's the thing. Words couldn't accurately describe just how truly thankful we were for someone to take time (and money) and spend it on us and our little bundle of unspecified-gender joy.


A while back I helped one of my clients plan a baby shower for one of her close friends. They stumbled upon this website, Storkie.com, which I went home and absolutely devoured! Invitations, thank you notes...annoucements- ahhhh, all a girl could ask for! (Except, at the time, we weren't pregnant yet, so I took some mental notes about what I liked and engraved the web address into my brain..)

Fast forward to preggo week five. I've forgotten all about Storkie.com. Instead I'm looking at all these other websites...and keep getting more and more upset. How am I going to say thank you adequately enough...when these thank you notes look like trash? (Hindsight: was I possibly over reacting about these thank you notes? Yes. Had we even received one gift yet? No. Had we even told anyone about being pregnant yet? No. So really, did this matter? In my preggo brain, YES. Thank you notes were ALL that mattered!)

And then, like a thousand elephants stampeding, it hit me! Storkie! Insert the hallelujah chorus and golden rays of light emitting from my computer screen. It couldn't have been more beautiful. I began searching for thank you's. Since our theme for the nursery is "under the sea" and we are total beach babies, I wanted something beachy with an ocean type theme. But nothing too over the top, but something that would convey our gratitude...but not in an overwhelming fashion (yes, I put a lot of thought into these cards!) I finally narrowed it down to this one and this one.

I ordered samples of both and once they arrived (in three to five business days), I made my decision. We went with the baby submarine! I can't tell you the weight that was lifted off my shoulders when that decision was made. It was perfect. It was cute (who doesn't like a cartoon baby?) it was personal (hello, our theme was under the sea. The baby was, literally, UNDER the sea- in a submarine, could it get any cuter?!) it was gender neutral (because we weren't finding out the sex until we had the baby). It. Was. PERFECT!

Once that was checked off my list, I was able to move on to other very important tasks...like finding baby shower invitations- to the baby shower that wouldn't happen for another SIX months. I figure, I've never been a procrastinator- why start now?

So, if you received one of our thank you notes, please understand, that piece of folded paper in your hands is the result of a woman who wanted to know be sure everyone knew just how thankful she (and her hubby) were that you thought of them.

...been a while, eh?

I didn't realize how long its been since I've posted, since I just looked at the blog and realized, uhm- its been THREE months!!

So what have I been up to? Oh, you know...just working like a crazy lady with the remodeling company, working on some commercial projects, drafting, teaching a college course, oh and my favorite new thing that takes up my time? My son! Yup, while I've been away from the blog, my husband and I had a beautiful baby boy!

His nursery you say? Oh yes, yes, that was a work in progress. Actually, I think that will be my jumping off topic to get back into the blogosphere!

...and as I'm typing, he's waking up from a nap, toodles!!

My quiet afternoon

Do you watch Grey's Anatomy? I do. Religiously. Since season one.

In one episode, Izzy walks into an empty ER and says to Bailey, "Its so quiet in here". Bailey jumped and explained how you never say "quiet" in the ER because it jinxes it. (and then, true to form, they get rushed with lots of bloody people, limbs missing- all because Izzy said it was "quiet".)

This is what happened to me yesterday. I had one meeting scheduled, at 7pm, and all morning I thought to myself, "wow, its so quiet today". Ahhhh, key word, quiet. I started doing work on my class schedule for the Spring semester (did I mention I'm now an adjunct instructor for a local college? Pretty sweet, right?) and my cell phone rings.

The voice was all broken up, so I only caught, "Hi...got your name...need help...Saturday". I explain that I can't understand anything she's saying, and then all of a sudden, she comes in crystal clear!

She's having a party on Saturday, received my name and number from her drapery designer I've done work with, and wanted my assistance in helping make her house festive for her party. I setup a meeting with her for that evening...remember, it was "supposed" to be a quiet afternoon.

Keeping in mind, I'm 35.5 weeks pregnant (for those of you who don't do "weeks" that's almost 9 months pregnant.) Daily naps at this point are built-into my afternoon schedule. Because if they aren't, mama ain't happy. And if mama ain't happy...well, you know how the saying goes.

So I finish up my school work, realize its lunch time...then, of course, nap time- see, as I'm writing this, it doesn't seem like a lot went down. But from my point of view, yesterday was the most rushed afternoon of my life. And I'm not exaggerating. My LIIIIIFE.

Because I wake up, and realize I need to feed Jack, then take him for a walk so he can do his bid-ness, then get myself ready (because although I took a shower in the morning, I don't put on makeup these days, unless deemed necessary. Meeting a new client? Totally necessary.) Oh, and I left this part out...my evening appointment was with my husband and a photographer for our maternity photos. So the pressure was on to LOOK good for my initial meeting, but also look good for the photos that would come soon after.

Here's the part where you just have to sit back and laugh a little. Because, for the first time in, approximately a thousand years, a TYPHOON came to our town. (I might be exaggerating, but whatever, it rained A LOT!)

So after I make myself look all pretty, all my hairs in the right place, mascara perfect...I go to my meeting. It went awesome! After, I get into my car, no rain. But it was sooooo dark outside. And then when I realize its too quiet (ah! again, that word!) it starts to pour.

Like buckets from the heavens were getting tossed onto my windshield. It. Was. Horrible. (Thankfully just a few weeks ago I replaced my windshield wipers, just for occasions like this...but still.) And here's the other kicker. I was picking up dinner to take to our friends house (who is a photographer)...the plan was for me to bring Boston Market with me, to thank her for taking our pictures in her studio...and so everyone would eat a good dinner. (And, I'm totally addicted to chicken these days- and you cannot go wrong with Boston Markets mashed potatoes and mac and cheese- can I get an Amen?!)

Well, here's the problem with me picking up Boston Market. There is no drive thru. Yeah. Rain drops the size of grapefruits are falling from the sky and I'm sitting in the parking lot, looking into the restaurant, watching those perfect rotisserie chickens rotate in front of me, and I'm pleading with my hair. It went something like this:

"I know if I get out, and one drip of water gets on you, my cow licks will curl up and I'll look like Carrot Top in our preggo pictures. But if I don't get out, then I can't eat that chicken. And look at that chicken! But I didn't bring my flat iron to fix the cow licks...but if I don't get out now and brave the water, then I can't eat a piece of warm, toasty corn bread." Ohhh screw it- I opened the door and did what my Grandpa used to tell us when we were little, "walk in between the rain drops".

Well, I'm pretty sure that even Grandpa never saw rain drops THAT big before. Because try as I did to avoid them, I was soaked when I walked in. But the smell of that chicken made up for it. I enjoyed my five minutes of chicken scented bliss, until I realized, "crap- now I have to go back out there!"

I am such a tough chick. I grabbed my yummy, delicious smelling bag of chicken, took a deep breath, and waddled as fast as I could to my car. When I got back inside, I did a check of the hair damage. Yup, just as I expected. Carrot Top- just not so red (actually, its called "Sweet Cola"). Fail.

By the time I got to our friends house, the hubs was there waiting for me and although I was soaked, and soggy and water logged...we took great photos together :)

In the end, I was thankful for the new client, the tasty chicken, warm corn bread and great friends we spent the evening with...but I tell you here and now. I will never say I'm having a "quiet" afternoon ever again!

Popped my bubble!

It always happens. You're at a restaurant, you get your food. Your waitress comes over, asks how things are- but you have your mouth full. It always happens to me, and the worst part about it is that I LOVE being able to tell a waitress, "its awesome!" or compliment how good the food is; but instead I look like a farm animal at the trough.

So today I'm at the bank drive thru. I send off the tube and grab my purse to verify I have my camera (I was heading to a flooring store- and didn't think to verify before I left the house...) So as I'm rummaging through my massive purse, I find a piece of Bubblelicious gum!

(I forgot I dropped three packets of gum in the giant purse a few weeks ago...)

Back to the drive thru. I grab the gum, start unwrapping a piece, pop it in my mouth- get two good chews in and the lady says, "Hi there! Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

Huh, I can't speak right now! All the grape deliciousness is exploding in my mouth right now, making all this saliva and I'm having a hard time swallowing to keep up with production...and this lady wants to know if she can help me?

I swallow big, and politely say, "no, thank you!" (I was so proud I got all those words out!) and do you know what she does? She keeps talking! Asking me if I'd like to switch to another checking account, gain more interest on our savings...

Whatever happened to impersonal banking? You just drive up, send the tube, say thank you and drive away? When did they start talking so much?

Fun finds

I love Halloween. I don't go crazy decorating our house for the holiday (although if the hubs allowed, I'd throw a few black spider webs up, hang orange lights on the banister and have a carved pumpkin in each room...) but like I said. I don't go crazy, I just LOVE all the eye candy associated with the holiday! (Yup, I went there...)
(You can find the LED eye ball here, from Pier 1)

Lets start with these super cute ice cubes from Crate and Barrel.

I figure, rather than buying plastic cups (which are awesome for the environment) you can reuse these little cubies next year and they make any drink look more festive!

Also, you don't have to use them in drinks, if you had a large, hollowed pumpkin you were using to hold beverages, just fill the pumpkin with real ice and then pop a few of these in to spruce it up some! (Here is Martha's tip on making a pumpkin party cooler.)
Cute, right?

I adore making, eating, decorating and eating (oops, already said that!) cupcakes. So when I see some cute cupcake wrappers, I indulge...but check out this super cute spider cup cake holder from Crate and Barrel!
Now I'm all about killing a spider if I actually see one (well, asking the hubby to, anyway)...but one like this? I'd gladly welcome it on my plate! (Along with a pre-decorated cupcake from Main Street Cupcakes!)

And I'm pretty sure I said it last year, but this year I vow to make and carve some really cool pumpkins and post pictures. I have all these ideas, and it seems Halloween always just sneaks up on me. (Although to my credit, last year we did take a long vacation in October...so that had something to do with it) but this year- I'm doing it!

I've wanted to try this Martha-technique where you spray paint a pumpkin black...Aren't those cute?! I can't find it now..but she had another technique where she put a stencil of a spider (let's say) on the pumpkin. Taped it. Then spray painted it black. Pull off the stencil and it looks like the spider (or whatever solid shape) is glowing...but its really just the natural orange of the pumpkin!

And who wouldn't want to show some Halloween spirit with these buttons from Pier 1?Honestly, Pier 1 has the Halloween mother-load for all things cute and frivolous. Like a reuseable shopping bag (which, obviously you would only reuse it in the month of October...) Cute little zombies and who doesn't need a wind-up glow in the dark skeleton on their desk? I sure do!

Happy haunting!!

Organize- smorganize

This weekend was all about organizing. It should be known I am pretty anal about things being organized, so when I called in my bestie for help, you know I was beat down.

My bestie, Caitlin, has been in my life forever...or I should say I've been in her life forever (since she's two years younger than me.) Growing up, because we were the same age, Caitlin's older sister and I did things together, but when we got older Caitlin and I realized, "wow, we have a lot in common!" and so, our friendship really blossomed when I was about 16 and she was 14. From there, we've been inseparable.

When she graduated high school, who was there? Me.
When I graduated college, who was there? Her.
When she graduated college, who was there? Me.
When I got married, who was standing one person away from me? Her.

Get my drift?

So when she decided to make the big move from New York to Ohio in the beginning of this year, I couldn't have been more excited. Knowing my bestie would be there to bake with, go shopping with and just sit around and read with; I was all giddy with excitement.

Colleen, Caitlin's older sister and I, talk all the time and have recently both become pregnant. We keep bouncing ideas off each other, things that we like, things that we will never do...that kinda thing. So when the topic of paint colors for nursery's came up, Colleen said, "we are going to wait to buy our paint during Labor Day weekend, because they always have sales on it!". I couldn't believe the DUH(!) moment I had because I don't like paying full price for ANYTHING...why didn't I think of that first?!

Sunday night Caitlin and I were talking and I said, "tomorrow we are going to organize the closet in the soon-to-be nursery, wanna help?" She couldn't have responded yes sooner. And when she showed up yesterday afternoon, we grabbed lunch (to sustain us through the hard task ahead of us) stopped at Home Depot and grabbed the paint (along with the rebate information! Cha-ching!) and came home to tackle the closet.

Here's the thing. It wasn't thaaaaaat bad. I just needed that little shove that only Caitlin could give me. She promptly pulled EVERYTHING out of the closet and said, "what's trash?" It was awesome. From there we made several piles, asked the hubs for some help with things for the basement...made a HUGE Goodwill pile and then tossed the rest. I felt so accomplished by the time my mom came over (to show me somethings she picked up at the fabric store)..."mom look! its EMPTY!" haha

The only thing non baby related in the closet now is my wedding gown (because once things came out from under the bed, they were NOT going back...) which, "technically" is baby related, because without it, the hubs and I wouldn't be married or pregnant...and thereby wouldn't need a nursery.

But what was really fun is that while the three of us girls are looking at my wedding dress, I asked mom if we couldn't make the babies christening gown out of the material. And do you know what she said? "I'd be honored to". YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

So not only is the closet organized (emptied) but my wedding dress will serve a dual purpose now...which makes me so happy because as much as I'd like to use my new nephew's christening gown- I can't get over the thrill of putting our baby into something I wore on the day we made the most sacred vows of our lives. (I just tried to find a photo of our wedding day to show you the dress...but I moved them all to the server, and its off, so I'll post some soon!)

Nothing to do with design, but...

My husband sent me this link and I had to share it with you.
As the post title gives away, this link has NOTHING to do with design, but if your a dog lover (like me) then you'll appreciate it.

And even if your not a dog lover, just a person with a pulse, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

(If you want to see just how much of a dog lover I am, check out Jack- my dog's blog at www.pugglywuggly.blogspot.com)