enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

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robe was a bridesmaid's gift & that calendar is rifle paper co.

It feels like the final countdown around here.

All of my traveling and adventures are over which means there is little to do other than wait for the little one, nest, write blog posts, host family and friends for long weekends, make progress on another online workshop, ship out orders, make to-do lists, go for walks, eat the same seven or eight meals over and over, go to Bar Method, share photos on instagram, watch the garden, visit my midwife, wash tiny clothes and handmade blankets, wander Target & Home Goods, calm my brain enough to read this book and water the lawn.

I'll be honest, it's sort of my dream life.

But it's not all good times. This week my pipes backed up and caused quite a mess (thankfully outside where the pipe overflow valve is) and a bird crashed into my big windows and died in the backyard. Nothing like paying a plumber $208 and getting completely creeped out while tossing a bird into the trashcan to remind you that homeownership is not the same as playing house. It's tough being alone right now, but at least everything is manageable and I am so grateful that soon Paul will be home to at least go halvsies on the more disgusting tasks. (Hurry up, P. Also, you owe me.)

In happier news, this week was also the week the Phone Photography Project launched! Hooray! So excited about this class. I had a conference call Tuesday about another exciting online workshop and I am going to race the calendar to get all my content turned in for that one before the baby comes. I'm excited for something new to focus on and thrilled about another teaching opportunity.

Counting down. Will not be long now.

Have a great weekend (and happy early Mother's Day!)

Friendly reminder : the stamp and book shop will be closing on Wednesday, May 29th for my maternity leave. That is 19 days away. If you're interested, shop now!

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26 responses to “around here.”

  1. Joanna Avatar

    Happy 1st Mother’s Day Elise! Thanks again for your help with my blog! Enjoy your weekend 🙂

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  2. Pink Ronnie Avatar

    Love that first shot, Elise.
    Ronnie xo

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  3. Claire Avatar

    happy weekend Elise – keep going ♥

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  4. Jennifer D Avatar
    Jennifer D

    Hahahaha. Sorry, it just cracked me up when you talked about having to pay a plumber $208 and all I could think was this: It only cost you $208 for the plumber????
    🙂

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  5. Vanessa Avatar

    I’m going to start on the Raspberry Leaf tea in a few weeks 🙂 I’m only 33 weeks. Good luck with it speeding up things for you. Do you like the taste?

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  6. elise blaha Avatar

    I do like the taste! Highly doubt it will speed things up (or else we wouldn’t need pitocin, right?) – but it’s also considered a uterine strengthener and I’m all about that. 😉

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  7. Mindy Avatar
    Mindy

    we have at least two to thirds birds die at the hands of our windows every year 😦 my friend just recently told me about some UV decals that you can put on your windows that help alert birds not to fly into it. i need to get some! and a happy mother’s day to you!!

    Like

  8. Amber Lee Avatar

    My mom had one of those oh my god gross moments last week. My step dad was out of town and she went to uncover her pool only to find a large dead animal in it (yuck!!!). Naturally she flipped out, and no one was home. My 4′ 10″ grandma happened to be coming over anyway and told my mom, “oh good grief” grabbed a pole, pushed it up to where she could reach it, grabbed the tail of the bloated 30 lb possum with her bare hands and wrestled it into a trash bag. When I asked my grandma about it she said, “oh puh, I grew up in West Virgina, we probably ate those things. And it was pretty interesting to get an up close look at.” Not sure ill ever be that brave, seeing as how I haven’t even had to do the dead bird thing (well done!). I did clean up a nasty baby poop “incident” this week…

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  9. elise blaha Avatar

    Oh man, just reading about that freaks me out completely. CANNOT IMAGINE!! Brave Grandma!

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  10. Angie Avatar
    Angie

    I drank pitchers of that exact same tea in my last weeks and my labor was only 4 hours. (I ended up with an emergency c-section because my baby had not descended the birth canal. My pelvis is too small but we didn’t know that!)
    Anyways, I KNOW the raspberry leaf tea made the labor so much faster and even if I had to have surgery, I´m glad I took it cause I could have been soooo much longer in labor until they figured out that I needed the c-section. I’m grateful that I drank so much of it. It doesn’t help to make the baby be born sooner, though. I had my girl at 40 weeks and three days!! Baby will come out when she’s fully cooked. Not a day before.
    What I learned from it is: be prepared for anything. Nothing comes out exactly the way you want it. (In my case, LITERALLY.) But it’s TOTALLY fine. And everything was good. You just relax and wait. You’re in for the most difficult but definitely best time of your life. It’s worth it. So worth it.

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  11. Alice Avatar

    I thought the same thing. When I was pregnant, our sewer pipe was backing up and needed to be replaced. We couldn’t even use the toilets for a day or more while it was fixed for $5,000. We slept on a friends couch so I could make my multiple runs to the bathroom during the night.

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  12. elise blaha Avatar

    That’s awful!
    This involved snaking the pipes, not replacing them. 2 and a half minute job, max.

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  13. elise blaha Avatar

    Thanks for sharing… yes, I meant I hoped the tea wouldn’t encourage the baby to get here faster – I would LOVE a quick and healthy labor. 🙂

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  14. Lauren Avatar

    If I were you the bird would still be dead outside until my husband came home. More power to you for cleaning it up. Good luck with the wait. I am sure it will go by fast. Everything goes by quicker in the spring and summer.
    Lauren

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  15. Elise M. Avatar

    I love your Around Here posts! I’m glad you’re able to relax and enjoy your time before your baby comes! My best friend is also due within the next few months and it’s exciting to see your journey with this as well.

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  16. Vanessa Avatar

    Sorry I didn’t mean speed up the onset of you going into labor, rather I’ve heard because it makes your uterus stronger, labor can be much shorter which is definitely a good thing!

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  17. mari Avatar
    mari

    Totally unrelated but I just saw this Ampersand Bracelet on Pinterest and thought you might like it: http://pinterest.com/pin/82190761922350375/
    As a first time commenter I have to say that your blog is so inspiring und motivating!
    xo
    mari

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  18. Cerise Avatar

    :o( Poor bird. I probably would have sobbed through cleaning it up. The awesome stuff with owning a home usually out weighs the bad though :o)
    Happy first Mother’s Day! I hope you have a lovely day.

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  19. Danielle Avatar
    Danielle

    just think of the bird as a testament to the cleanliness of your windows 😉 happy first mother’s day, elise!

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  20. Sarah {findingabundance} Avatar

    Dead birds aside, I’m trying to figure out how you got the angle on the first photo in this post! You always have such interesting photos.
    I drank my weight in raspberry leaf tea in the last few weeks of my pregnancies; I have no idea if it helped, but it made me feel like I was doing something. 🙂

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  21. Jillian L Avatar

    Lovely, lovely photos! Also, this made me think of you- do you know the Blue Lily photographers? They posted a casting call for pregnant mothers 🙂 http://bluelily.squarespace.com/blue-lily-blog1/2013/5/5/casting-call

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  22. Kaisa Avatar

    Lovely snapshots!

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  23. elise blaha Avatar

    I had my right arm up in the air and the phone pointed down at my feet to snap that shot. 🙂

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  24. Barbara Avatar
    Barbara

    What species plant is that? 4th picture down

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  25. elise blaha Avatar

    Not sure… Didn’t come with a tag.

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  26. Barbara Avatar
    Barbara

    I did a little research; I think it might be a species of dieffenbachia

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