march

curtains for audrey. 

i had found this pin on pinterest and thought it was such a simple but cute idea for curtains in a little girl's room.  i recently bought audrey a yellow comforter from target.  not big on disney princesses and other themed rooms, i thought yellow would be a good replacement for the green accents i've been moving into the nursery.  a few botanical flower and butterfly prints and wall mounted bookshelves will follow someday, in the future.

maybe my mom or my sister can shed some light on where this shelf came from.  i can remember it since forever.

this buffet used to sit in my inlaw's dining room, then michael's dorm room, then our closet in our first apartment, then our guestroom and now audrey's room.  it needs some love don't you think?  i'm thinking a few coats of white paint and replacing the knobs with an anthropologie cutie.  that foxy lamp is moving to the nursery. 

meanwhile, in babyland... this is the nursery so far.  yes xenia, we decided to keep the bed for now and shoved it to the side.  :)  the colors will be aqua, orange and green but for now it's just a mess.  the old green curtains from audrey's room are on the dresser and everything is quite empty.  it's a work in progress but at least there is progress!

baby boy jammies.  my heart is exploding!

blanket for baby elijah

our good friends (and audrey's Godparents) matt and teri just welcomed their first baby boy last week.  many years to matt, teri, big sister madeline & new baby boy elijah!

i forgot to snap a photo of the reverse side, it's a white furry fabric i had leftover from another project.  perfect for new baby snuggles :)

audrey's aviary?

i'm pretty obsessed with audrey's room lately. even before she was born i've been fiddling with accessories, moving furniture, "window" shopping online and yes, even fogging up joann's with my indecisive pacing. i've very nearly decided on what i want for her comforter on her big-girl bed.... big. fuzzy. oh yes, it's all up in my brainstems. gotta get in here to see the vision. i find i have to get an idea, tell everyone i know what i'm going to do and then back out and go with another idea in the end. i have half an idea to paint a giant tree on the wall in the corner with fabric leaves but let's not get too crazy here.

so instead, i decided to paint some mini birdhouses. i was in joann's, pacing foggly, and saw these wooden birdhouses for $1.00. boom! bam! i slapped my husband's hard earned money on the table and drove home with a plan. i bought some sheets from target a few months ago and wanted to carry that feeling elsewhere in the room.

golly, it was sure nice of audrey to take a longer nap today :)

target sheets. i'll add more photos of the room later.

jumpstart

i was walking around joann's today with a foggy idea of a project to make. i kept walking through the same aisles again and again. touching fabrics. matching up colors and patterns in my mind. i still can't decide if i want to make throw pillows for the living room, a huge floor pillow for audrey (to someday sit and read on, but meantime jump on) or a comforter for her big-girl bed. i stumbled and was humbled by this crazy talent on etsy today. i love the texture she gives to these pillows. i don't have the talent or time to make anything like this, but the little poppy pillow looks feasible.

chalky chalk chalk

audrey's latest craze is sidewalk chalk. once outside, she runs to her little chalk tub & walks around marking her lines across the cement in true stylish fashion. i admit this post is very lucy romero, but chalk is easy to clean up & i'm not quite ready for this yet.

i'm proud to admit that this doesn't happen very often. she's learning chalk doesn't taste very good and chalk biting is growing rarer.

yeah, not too good.

i love baby squats. a terribly efficient & adorable way of exploring & chalking. the pincher grasp is pretty irresistible too. she's basically irresistible all around.

headbands

i made these little headbands out of ribbon this afternoon for audrey, while daddy & i watched funny people. :) they're super cheap and super easy to make, i'm hooked!

another thing...

...i'm working on. my sister gave me one of her old sewing machines so i can finally start making those curtains i've been telling everyone about. i've decided to start with the kitchen window/pass through looking into the den (it used to be the old kitchen window, the den is actually an addition.) i'm in the process of weeding my old kitchen accessories out and adding more black & white for a more french/vintage feel. i'll post some more pictures later when i've hung the curtain, my kitchen isn't clean enough at the moment to share with the world. :)

oh i wish...

...that this was my gardening shed. (i'll take the sweet little kitty too!) instead though, i've been thinking of building a worktable in my garden. i have a large area along the brick wall that is too shady to grow veggies and i think it would be great to be able to transplant so easily. instant clean-up is just a hose blast away! since our fence is brick, i was thinking of using a lattice propped behind the worktable where i could attach tools and supplies. i was also thinking of painting an ugly old bookshelf and using that to store extra soil, pots, and my watering can. i'm hoping it will be a functional and enjoyable project. :)

my (hopeful) thanksgiving ideas.

we've been waiting to hear about whether or not our offer has been accepted on our dream home since april, (APRIL!?!) and we now hear that we may be getting a call any day now with the news. (humpf, scoff scoff) i had planned to host a halloween party with friends, caramel apples and costumes, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen this year. :(

so instead, i'm going to focus all my creative thoughts on thanksgiving. :) with my grandparents, in-laws and brother and sister (with respective spouses!) planning on coming over, i have a few ideas to make it our first thanksgiving in the new house memorable.



okay, technically my thanksgiving ideas are actually martha stewart's ideas, but oh how i love to drool over her magazines. hehe. so far my menu ideas include green bean casserole, fresh cranberry sauce (my specialty), my grandma's delicious mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin and dutch apple pies, stuffing, and of course, turkey. a fairly traditional fare actually, but i'm not sure what my mom-in-love might have in mind. i'm sure i'll have some more dishes to add later. mmmm!


i love this idea of carving notches out of the tops of apples and putting tea lights inside. i think it would be very cute to line them down the table, or set one at each place setting. it's very easy, all you need is a melon-baller.










these pumpkin yarn balls are adorable, and easy! i love that you can use them all season long and store them away for next year.



are there special traditions or dishes that anyone wants to share?

;)

this and that.

as you can tell by the lack of posts about our new house, nothing much as happened lately. we're still in escrow and we're still waiting on the bank that owns the house to do their end. meanwhile, we've been approved for a loan and at some point need to sign the paperwork with our agent and our realtor checks in with us every week so we don't feel too forgotten. we did hear last week that the bank has moved ahead with their appraisal and our realtor should call us sometime this week about that. hopefully the appraisal will kick start something and escrow will move a little faster and we can finally do our inspection. lets hope so.

also, my dear maria taught me how to crochet the granny square stitch. i always wanted to learn to do granny squares because i think they make the cutest afghans. here's my little dark brown afghan i'm making out of some extra yarn i had. i hope to make it 2 foot by 3 foot, just large enough to wrap around my legs when it's chilly. i also want to make fuzzy tassels and add them around the edge to make it more "granny." :)


and just for fun, here are some things i'm currently just absolutely crazy about:

lacey's new blog: her garden pictures are too cute!

grapefruit - so refreshing during the summer. i like them best either peeled like an orange or in juice form.

romantic comedy movie/craft nights with maria: well, i've always been a big fan of these actually. :)

double dates with michael's parents: always a good time!

smell of chlorine: okay i don't bend down and inhale it or anything, but when i walk by the pools in our apartment complex and it waifs over, it's so nostalgic.

the cossacks by leo tolstoy: surprisingly romantic.

the sun shining until 8 o'clock at night: i seem to get so much more done when it's still bright outside and the nights seem to last forever!

bees: they are just so busy! unfortuantely i mostly find wasps instead, or rather they find me...