Happy Monday!
Thank you all for your sweet words in my last post. I agree with so many of you, a little baby needs only love, love, love.
Today is a brand new day, and this morning when I logged into my bank account, I found out that the money we thought we lost wasn't gone, after all. We had put a deposit down on another car for when the baby gets here, only to find out that it wasn't a real transaction.
It's these times that I think about humanity and the cruel acts that we are capable of. I was not raised with religion, but I was raised with a strong understanding for what is right and wrong. One of my favorite quotes is:
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad.
I wonder how it's possible for people to disregard any little voice they have within themselves and do wrong by somebody else. My only consolation is to know that these people are not truly happy, and never will be. With their behavior and negative actions comes a life of misunderstand for what is truly important.
Even though we are sometimes wronged, it should never change the compassion and respect that we owe every single person around us. We are all just trying to live our lives the best we can, without stepping on anybody else in the process.
We had a wonderful weekend, regardless. Michael's family was here, we spent a day with mine, went to dinner to celebrate my niece's 7th birthday, and I finally caved and bought 3 maternity shirts. My belly has gone through a growth spurt, and this morning I was surprised to read that she is nearing 4 pounds, and 18 inches in length.
I started a quilt for our little bee, and finished up a couple headbands for the shop.
The sun was warm and shining, which would explain my day of laying out on Friday that I mentioned. I'm sure some of you were wondering just how over-heated a pregnant woman could possibly be, in a bikini on a late January day. We had two days in a row that almost reached 80 degrees, and I took full advantage of them.
I went for a couple long bike rides, and stretched like a lizard on a rock in the sun, reading one of my current favorite magazines.
Sunday the cold front moved back in, and I went for the coldest bike ride of my life. It was in the low 30's and I felt like my face would surely melt off at any moment.
My little green dragon, Elsie, has been parked in the living room for a couple weeks. A cycling friend let me borrow her indoor trainer, and for those extra cold days, I just park it on Elsie and go for an indoor spin. It's nowhere near as gratifying or freeing as jumping on my bike and disappearing into that perfect moment, but it will do for now.
This weekend we also did a lot of eating, which has become one of my best hobbies :) I gave myself a much needed pedicure, and Michael rubbed my puffy feet.
I thought I was safe, but since I work on my feet and have a really hard time sitting still when I finally get home, my feet and ankles have started to swell the last few days. One of the only remaining things I still recognized, even my feet are new to me, now.
My belly has gotten so heavy, and has started to pull my spine off of alignment. Being in the tub for an hour and feeling weightless has been wonderful, and leaves me wishing that I could spend a few hours every day in the water. We got a membership to the YMCA when the weather turned cold and I couldn't spend as much time outdoors. I think I will take up swimming, and give this heavy body a bit of a rest. I guess that means I have to start shaving :)
These days it seems that as much as I try to steer my thoughts in other directions, I always seem to fall back to the looming reality of pregnancy. It has completely consumed my entire life, even though I have tried so hard to make it just a part of it.
I have a few things to talk about over the next few weeks. The changes through the trimesters, exercise, dressing the bump, favorite meals, and good products I've found along the way. If you're pregnancy-leary, it might be a good time to take a little break from this blog and find something more interesting to read :)
...
Tomorrow we have a cold front moving through, and a heavy winter storm. Snow, and a high in the teens. Big change from Friday in my bikini, right? There is a saying that goes: "if you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, just wait five minutes."
And it could not be more true. I am thinking of just calling my appointments tomorrow and rescheduling, and calling an extra day on this weekend.
Have a great week, friends.
Brand New Day - Joshua Radin.
Happy weekend, sweet friends. Anything fun planned?
I spent the beginning of mine laying around in the yard getting some reading done, and feeling some sunshine on this round (and slightly lopsided) belly.
Thanks to scoliosis, I like to tell people that one side is 8 months pregnant, and the other 7.
This weekend will be spent exploring what is important. Yesterday we lost money that we desperately needed for when the little one gets here. But ultimately, we have to remind ourselves that money is just money. Paper with no real meaning or value that brings us any significance.
When we come across these battles and hard-points in life, all we can really do is understand that what's done is done, and dwelling in bad feelings of negativity, stress, and worry will do nothing but prolong those feelings.
It is our choice what mood we wake up in every day. No one or thing should be held responsible for the way we allow our days to go.
Step back, take a deep breath, and let those feelings go. When all else fails, eat a huge plate of warm, fresh-from-the-oven cookies and milk at midnight :)
Happy weekend, friends.
Today I've been working from home. Those are my favorite days, when I get to sit and just be in the moment of the peace and quite. It's such a welcome change from the busy salon, with buzzing stories, loud music, and blow dryers.
Now that I'm in my 7th month, peace & quiet, rest, and the sunshine through the cracked windows are just about my favorite things. When the baby comes, I will go to four days a week at the salon, and spend the extra day working from home. Today I bleached, scrubbed, styled, arranged, and photographed all the new little treasures I found for bark & leaves. It was a little taste of what my extra 3rd day a week off will be like in 2 months, except with a little baby to wear around.
On these days where I am in every moment, not just going through the motions of life, but stopping to feel and smell and hear every sense around me, she is busy-beeing around in my belly, and making her presence known.
Michael's work and school schedule has gotten so busy, that I spend a lot of time with her, just the two of us. At night when he's in class, she makes things a little less lonely, and when I start to feel like I'm staring at these empty walls with my cabin fever growing strong, I can feel little nudges, snuggles & pokes, reminding me that soon enough I will be outside, Spring will be here, and she will be my littlest tag-along.
A few photos from today, working from home:
I've started working on these hair pins. I adore hunting for old treasures, cleaning them up, and photographing them looking their best, but I miss actually creating with my hands, and am going to be doing a bit more sewing in the next couple months.
I found this photo from Summer and it made me miss everything about it. I am just not meant to live in a place where everything dies and the weather turns cold.
& I came across these two photos and fell in love:
My parents, sister and me on one of our cross-country adventures, at the head of the Golden Gate Bridge. I want to stand in this same spot with our little bird, some day.
I love this. My Dad with his cigarette and bare feet, my Mom looking beautiful, Grandma & Grandpa still so young, and my sister, with her head full of dark curls.
I hope you all had a wonderful day.
Today is dreary, cold, and full of weekend goodness.
I often make lists in my head of the things I love, and maybe don't so much. At the top of my love-list is always Sunday. It is the best day of the week, a day for finishing projects and never changing out of your pajamas.
Today for my to-do:
Drink tea. Lots and lots of tea. On days off when the weather is cool, there is always a pot boiling on the stove. When I was a little girl, tea would solve everything. If you had pink eye, your eyes got a tea bath. If you had a headache, you'd breathe in the vapor from the tea. If your stomach was upset, a cup would cure it.
I have been thoroughly ignoring all sideways remarks about the consumption of tea during pregnancy. Outside of our borders, there are countries who use tea as such an important part of their daily life. My Mom drank multiple cups a day when she was pregnant with me, so did her mother, and her mother's mother. And somehow, we all seemed to turn out okay, although slightly addicted to the sweet leaves that seem to course our veins. My favorite way to drink it is dark, black, and plain. No sweeteners, no tea bag, no other flavors.
Like traveling to a place that is completely new to you, other country's traditions are little reminders that we are not the only ones here, and sometimes our way is not the best, or most important, or valid. I have also had to remind people regularly that women in Japan do not all have three-legged children from their daily intake of sushi. And I have continued to eat it often over the last 7 months.
Treating pregnancy as a new addition to my life, and not a disease that holds me down has made it so much easier to transition into these stages as they have come.
Plus a little handful of sarcasm for the anal worry-warts.
A new sewing project. Our couch is getting a little makeover, at a fraction of the retail price.
I paid $77 total for all the fabric, and 3 down pillow inserts. Two are 18 x 25, and one is 30 x 36. The big one is my favorite, and it is serving as a replacement for taking the back cushions off the couch to make it deeper.
Last night, I found this small Marrakesh Pillow online for $125. Yeow, that's steep.
Eat yummy comfort food. This is my Mom's homemade Ash-e-Reshteh. You can find a recipe for it, here.
It is full of beans, so it's a great source of protein for vegetarians (and pregnant women with meat aversions).
It is one of my favorite dishes, I think I could eat it every day. As a little girl, I would love to watch Grandma sit on the living room floor in the sun and roll the noodles by hand. I can still smell the flour and dough as they rolled together to make the little noodles that my imagination turned into worms.
Finish the shadow box. Over the last few years I have filled our house with bowls, vases, baskets, and bins full of seashells, driftwood, and rocks that we've found on adventures. I started this shadow box a few weeks ago, and I think today it needs to finally be done. I am trying to find the perfect spot to place it when it's finished, and right now the shelves above the couch, our guest bathroom, the mantle, or baby room are the top contenders.
Other to-do's: clean, yoga, & paint my toenails before I can't reach them anymore.
Happy Sunday, friends. I hope you have a wonderful head start to this week.
PS: hello to every one that is new, here. This little blog has reached around 50,000 visitors a month. Thank you always for coming here to leave sweet words, I hope you find whatever it is that you're looking for.
Happy Thursday, friends! It's almost time for the weekend. Today we got some ice and snow, and the temperature outside is the kind of cold that sinks down into your bones. But the sun is shining, and there is something beautiful about the dry, crisp snap of the air.
We had a lazy, long weekend in Austin. I spent a lot of it in my pajamas, and we got a laugh out of trying to find sushi restaurants in town that wouldn't be offended if we walked in wearing yoga pants. I will post a few pictures from our trip over the next couple weeks, for now I want to show you a few little greens that I brought home from our trip.
It stays a lot warmer there year round than it does in Oklahoma, and every time we visit I ooh and ahh over the palms, tropical flowers, succulents, and desert plants that thrive there all year long. The last day we were there, Monica had already gone to work and Michael was sleeping in. So I got up early, stopped for some tea, and explored a local nursery in town.
Last Spring my Mom shared with me that it has been her dream for awhile to have a greenhouse, and set up a booth at our local Farmer's Market every year. Since then, my mind has been going wild with any plans I can come up with to make this come true.
Of course I have to be a part of this, since the smell of soil and watching a plant grow and thrive courses through my veins with a huge passion. Michael and I for years have joked about our plant business, and long ago picked a name based off of our last name for our imaginary greenhouse business. For now, I am going to play my hand at growing some small herbs, succulents, and perhaps some variations of potted flowers and plants. Over the last few days I've combined what I brought home from Austin with what I had around the house, and I've been watching every sunny corner, window, and table top in our home become transformed into the life and excitement that comes with the first few days of Spring.
I found a couple different types of Aloe, and these curious little things called Stone Plants. They don't grow any taller, but just spread and look like stones filling a pot. They feel like a fungus, and I thought for sure they were some type of mushroom until I looked into them more.
A few months ago I was staring at the side of my hideous refrigerator and wishing that it could be hidden. So I schemed a crazy idea to hang a curtain rod and drape off the entire kitchen area. I received some sideways looks until I actually put it together. And I must admit that I was right...like I usually am when it comes to debates between my husband and I over decorating the house :) This drape was a bit of a struggle to bring home, Michael didn't not approve of the tie-top, especially since he had to stand on the ladder and tie every single one by hand. If you're interested, you can find it at Pottery Barn.
I will make more of a conscience effort to mention where I got these things, since I get so many questions. The green block print drapes in our dining room are from Urban Outfitters, I received quite a few inquiries about them over the last couple weeks. I stalked them for months, trying to think of anywhere to hang them. When they discontinued them, I thought it wasn't meant to be, until they brought them back in stock a few months ago.
This is my little succulent farm. A few are old friends, my oldest ones in the bunch I had in our tiny little apartment when we first got married 4 years ago. And there are some new little babies growing, hopefully ready to be potted and re-homed this Spring.
So far Olive has been stalking it, but she seems mostly uninterested. She loves to eat anything and everything I bring in the house, but succulents don't seem to interest her taste buds much at all.
One of my favorite stores is West Elm.
Their style is much more modern and simplistic than the way we decorate our home, but I love all their natural elements, linens, textures, and inspiration from the ocean. I was more than excited to find one within walking distance of Monica's place, and we spent some time there browsing around. I came home with this interesting hanging vase:
and an air plant. They're supposedly low maintenance, but still need to be watered twice a week. I actually do not consider that low maintenance at all. For now it is nameless and hanging in our dining room from the chandelier, but it's new home will be in my kitchen window, where it can get some bright, indirect light throughout the day. By the way, it's also high maintenance about the light it needs to receive. One more strike against the promise of it being low maintenance.
While we were there I also picked up a new duvet cover for our bedroom.
We've had a white duvet for a few years and I was ready for a change with some new patterns in the room. I am a huge fan of block print anything, and the ethnic flare that it gives textiles. Normally I can never find anything to match our room, since I like to keep the colors in there neutral. But this pattern is just a simple light and dark.
One of my absolute favorite textile designers is Catherine from Rikshaw Designs.
I found her work a couple years ago and find her so incredibly inspirational. Her work is absolutely beautiful, and gives you that bright, happy, feel-good feeling. I was so excited to find her blog a few weeks ago and finally put a voice behind her gorgeous prints. Textiles are a huge passion of mine and I get wildy excited over placemats, sheets, fabric, curtains, and anything pretty. I worked in a fabric store for 3 years when I was younger, and it seemed that every day I would come home with a cutting of something new and exciting.
And finally, Tuesday we had another ultrasound and found out that I am actually 30 weeks pregnant, instead of 29. That means one less week of being pregnant, one less week to get prepared, and an earlier due date. My new due date is April Fool's Day, and according to my Grandma, looking into the new moon that night will assure that I go into labor. So we will see. Our little bird weighs right about 3 pounds, and has the squishiest cheeks I have ever seen.
Have a wonderful night, friends.
Happy weekend, friends. I'm ducking out early and calling a much-needed 4 day weekend. In the morning we're leaving for our Babymoon, one last trip together before the little lady is here.
We had planned months ago to head to the beach and camp for a few nights, but a last-minute forecast change to rain called for some new plans. So we're loading up the car and road-tripping to Austin, to see Monica, eat some of that yummy Austin food that I love, and to raid the sale racks at Anthropologie. And no trip out to Texas would be complete without a 3 hour stop at Ikea, to finish buying little items like baskets for the nursery.
I am always filled with anxiety the night before a trip. Already missing and worrying about the cats, and trying to soak in all my favorite bits of home - sunshine patches on the rugs, my bike, and the little familiar comforts that make it what is is.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm.
When the temperatures are freezing outside and I am stuck in the house, I spend a lot of time arranging, rearranging, and arranging some more. One of my biggest passions is design, color, and the warm feeling of knowing that a space you've created can feel inspirational. On my list of the many things I hope to accomplish before I'm too old to do them, Interior Design has always been at the top.
These days, I am pulling out all our shells from trips to the beach, fresh flowers and plants, and bright colors. One little change and your mood is brightened, as well.
You can visit my Pinterest to see the small places and spaces I find inspirational.
I started it in an attempt to clear off my desktop, because I'm known to have dozens of folders full of pretty things.
