enJOY it

project life 2013 : week 31.

August 11, 2013

It's week thirty-one and I love this project.

click the photo to enlarge for a somewhat clearer image.

Week of : July 29 – August 5.

What happened this week? We were home. Paul worked. I worked. Ellerie grew. We hit the magic six week mark and so life felt excellent.

Anything special in the spread? I used Cathy Zielske's 3×4 instagram card download this week. Love how simple it is. I sometimes struggle to include square format photos because (to me) they can look messy in a 4×6 pocket. I'm loving the look of them here though – so clean! I'll be using this download again and again when I want the square instagram crop.

Techniques this week : The usual…writing on photos to include details and stories.

Overall thoughts : I can really tell my balance is back looking at this layout. Food photos? Camer time self-portraits? This is pre-baby Elise with a little baby mixed in.

Ratio of iPhone photos to "real camera" photos : 9 to 4.

Ratio of photos taken by Elise to photos taken by Paul : 9 to 1. (I used the TimerCam app and timer on my big camera to capture the photos of me.)

Supplies used : Seafoam core kit, Cathy Zielske Instagram photo cards, Paislee Press calendar card, Kelly Purkey letter stickers, Elise Joy stamps, Martha Stewart for Avery labels.

Tools used : Design A pocket pages, Fiskars corner rounder, Zig Millenium pen, Rotatrim paper trimmer, Office Depot date stamp, staz-on ink. All photos were printed at home on my HP Photosmart 2575 printer on Office Depot semi-gloss photo paper.

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I use photos, text and stuff to document our life weekly. You can see all the posts from 2012 here and 2013 here. Do you have a question about how I am tackling this project (including anything about the photos)? Check here.
around here.

August 9, 2013

I feel like I have a schedule to my week days again.

We've got this temporarily figured out…and I fully understand that every few weeks (days?) life will shift and we'll reorganize. But right now, I am appreciating our little routine. Paul is back at work and enjoying what he's doing (hooray!). Together, we are working on getting extra done throughout the week so we can re-claim our weekends. The goal is no work for either of us from Friday evening to Monday morning.

This weekend is our first attempt. Instead of computer work for me or reading for Paul, we plan on visiting the farmer's market in our old stomping grounds of Little Italy, going out for coffee, watching Dexter season 7 (!!), visiting Lowe's to plan some projects & BBQing. Of course, Ellerie will be in tow for everything, hopefully giving us extra smiles. (She had her first seven hour stretch of sleep on Wednesday night. We all woke up a little confused on how that happened, but fingers crossed it becomes a habit.)

August, so far you're making me very happy. Keep at it.

ps. If you're interested, I recently talked Project Life on the Paperclipping Roundtable and the stamp shop is open again.
on maxis.

August 7, 2013

skirt from Alternative Apparel. baby wrap from solly baby.

One of the most frequent questions I get (aside from "how do you print your photos?") is "where do you buy your maxi skirts and dresses?" The answer is…everywhere. I cannot resist a well-priced maxi. In the beginning when the trend started, I thought I couldn't pull them off (I'm pretty short at 5'3"). But now (probably way after the trend has faded) I have completely embraced them. I wore them before I was pregnant, my entire pregnancy and continue to wear them now. They are flattering, comfortable and forgiving, which was key in the weeks after Ellerie arrived when I was insanely swollen post-c-section (thoughts on this will need to be shared in another post…oh man, was I unprepared for the swelling).

one of my favorite photos. dress from old navy.

I always look for soft jersey or cotton fabrics. Something with a little stretch but not too much. I stick to stripes and solid colors because they pair well with the rest of my closet. I usually skip anything with slits, layers or tiers.

dress from gap.

I have found that the way to make maxis work for me is to keep it super casual. I pair maxi skirts with v-neck tees (these are by far my favorite), tanks (I have so many of these) or button-down chambray (I'm living in this one). Sometimes I wear maxi dresses on their own, but usually I throw a tank or tee on top (for some reason I think they are more flattering this way). 85% of the time, I wear rainbows with a maxi, but if I am going out to dinner or trying to fancy things up for some odd reason, I'll wear flat sandals. On me, heels with maxis look ridiculous and like I'm trying too hard, so I save them to wear with shorter dresses.

old navy maternity striped skirt $30 (this totally works for non pregnant people), socialite knit racer back maxi dress $52, bobeau black and white striped skirt $40

liz lange for target black dress $30 (again, sold as a maternity swim cover up and yet it's totally wearable all the time. I wore it to a wedding rehearsal dinner, with a pair of flat sandals and fancy earrings), alternative apparel maxi skirt $38, splendid strapless maxi dress $55

Above are some of my favorite maxis for sale right now at reasonable prices. Starred ones are exact or similar to ones I currently own and wear often. All links in this post are affiliate which means if you purchase through them I make a small commission. Happy shopping!
more big art.

August 6, 2013

I took June and July off from decorating the house. Aside from a few plant purchases and a big painting for the entryway… nothing happened around here and that was good. But now the itch is back for sure.

I bought two huge canvases on clearance at the end of May and this idea has been floating around in my head since then. I have talked before about how most of the stuff on our walls is either black and white or a love letter. Keeping with the theme, this painting is both. The text was inspired by the children's book and the white on black script was inspired by a painting I did for Ellerie's room and the song lyric big art that I made a few years ago.

Before opening up the paint, I wrote the phrase in pencil to get a feel for how much space each letter would have.

Then I painted. It took two coats of black acrylic to get a dark enough cover.

I used white semi-gloss wall paint for the letters. (I already had it on hand and figured it would be thick enough to go over the black.) I used a wide brush first to loosely paint the words and then went back over them with a smaller brush to clearly define the shapes and "fill" everything in well.

It was so fun to play with paint again and now I have my mind whirling about what can be next.

This canvas is hanging in our bedroom on the "far from done" side (you can see the other side here).

I'd love get a new dresser but most likely we'll just sand the one we have down and redo it in a neutral to better match the room. I'd also like to add a bit more art (or photos?). I need another plant (that one on the left is a placeholder). And longer term, we'd love to add an external sliding door to close off the master bathroom.

So excited about entering another decorating season…

ps. I can't share script art without linking to the master, Kal Barteski. It looks like her online course, Script School, is closed but something new is in the works.
my tiny conductor.

August 5, 2013

my tiny conductor from elise blaha on Vimeo.

just for fun…this is Ellerie doing what she does best at six and a half weeks. music is Canon in d performed by Jean-François Paillard & Orchestre de Chambre. onesie by hello apparel. quilt by mama. idea to do this by Grandpa Frank.

She was hilariously attentive as we listened to classical music this morning trying to find a song that fit.
august : currently.

August 5, 2013

watching The Office by myself & Sherlock with Paul.

drinking my coffee black.

signing up for mama & baby yoga classes.

teaching Project Life Lessons with Big Picture classes.

wearing maxi skirts…almost always.

eating my nut granola still.

enjoying our weekends so much.

thrilled that Paul is loving his job.

washing so many loads of laundry.

excited to be back outside running.

reading this article.

laughing at this twitter feed.

feeling like life is calm again.

believing in balance.

loving on my little girl.
project life 2013 : week 30.

August 4, 2013

It's week thirty and I love this project.

click the photo to enlarge for a somewhat clearer image.

Week of : July 22 – July 28.

What happened this week? We were home for the first half and then took Ellerie on her first airplane ride up to Northern California to see our families and attend my best friend Katy's wedding in Carmel.

Anything special in the spread? Pretty photo heavy this week without a ton of journaling.

Techniques this week : Nothing extra really!

Overall thoughts : I'm completely caught up and it feels good. So far, Project Life has been my only creative outlet since Ellerie was born and I am so grateful for it.

Ratio of iPhone photos to "real camera" photos : 6 to 6.

Ratio of photos taken by Elise to photos taken by Paul : Elise on the left and then aside from that black and white airplane shot, the whole right side was taken by Katy.

Supplies used : Seafoam core kit, Midnight core kit, Evalicious tabs, Kelly Purkey letter sticker, Chic Tags circle tag, Elise Joy stamps.

Tools used : Design A pocket pages, Fiskars corner rounder, Zig Millenium pen, Rotatrim paper trimmer, Office Depot date stamp, staz-on ink. All photos were printed at home on my HP Photosmart 2575 printer on Office Depot semi-gloss photo paper.

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I use photos, text and stuff to document our life weekly. You can see all the posts from 2012 here and 2013 here. Do you have a question about how I am tackling this project (including anything about the photos)? Check here.
project life 2013 : week 29.

August 3, 2013

It's week twenty-nine and I love this project.

click the photo to enlarge for a somewhat clearer image.

Week of : July 15 – July 21.

What happened this week? Paul was home Monday – Wednesday and went back to work on Thursday. I spent my first few days at the house with Ellerie and we established our own little routine.

Anything special in the spread? Paul got VERY into coffee while on deployment and now we're on a mission to perfect our home brewed stuff. The coffee logos in the pockets on the left page are ones that we tried the first time he was home and stuff we've been drinking the past few weeks. I love including this sort of "stuff" in our album.

Techniques this week : I played with circles in this spread and they are repeated in the photos, embellishments and journaling cards. Love that every week is a chance to do something different and find something (shape, color, photos, style) to unify the pages.

Overall thoughts : I have SO MANY PHOTOS these days – between my iPhone and camera, there were probably 200 to pick from for this spread. I could always add inserts to include more, but sometimes I don't have the time or don't want to expend the effort. I am enjoying curating the photos to just my favorites each week.

Ratio of iPhone photos to "real camera" photos : 4 to 5.

Ratio of photos taken by Elise to photos taken by Paul : All Elise.

Supplies used : Seafoam core kit, Midnight core kit, PL baby edition, Evalicious hello and happy tab, Chic Tags here and now journaling tag, Studio Calico "current" circle tag, Elle's Studio tabbed "my favorite" 3×4 card.

Tools used : Design A pocket pages, Fiskars corner rounder, Zig Millenium pen, Rotatrim paper trimmer, Office Depot date stamp, staz-on ink. All photos were printed at home on my HP Photosmart 2575 printer on Office Depot semi-gloss photo paper.

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I use photos, text and stuff to document our life weekly. You can see all the posts from 2012 here and 2013 here. Do you have a question about how I am tackling this project (including anything about the photos)? Check here.
august bold intentions.

August 1, 2013
Nothing says "getting back into blogging" like writing down and sharing some goals for the month. Today marks six weeks since Ellerie was born. I have heard many times that six weeks post-baby is when things start to feel normal again and am so glad that seems to be true. I have found my groove. It's a new groove, for sure, but it's working for all of us.

These are my bold intentions for August :
1. run.
2. make big art.
3. complete the self-portrait challenge.
I have the all clear to exercise again and to say I have been looking forward to it is an understatement. I have been having dreams about running for months. Now I just need to figure out where in my days I can carve out the time to slowly get back into it. (I cannot wait until Ellerie is big enough for our jogging stroller.)

The "big art" plan is something I have been thinking about all summer. I am excited to play with paint again. And I have already been working on the self-portrait challenge. Just for fun photo adventures like this one feel like a good way to ease back into a creative life.

ps. thank you so much for your comments, encouragement & suggestions yesterday!
on blogging & moving forward.

July 31, 2013

I'm coming to the end of my "official" maternity leave. I am blessed that a big part of my day job is blogging. It's the only thing I consistently do week after week and the piece of my "freelance income pie" that takes up the most time. Every dollar I have made in the past 3+ years has been directly or indirectly related to this space.

But long before there was in any money in this blog, I loved to write here. This text box has become my friend, my sounding-board and occasionally my super inexpensive therapist. I have found my voice in this Internet corner and have learned a lot about myself just by typing (and re-typing) nearly everyday for over seven years.

I already knew I needed this outlet, but it was made even clearer when I got home from the hospital after Ellerie was born. Everything was hard those first few days and weeks. Showering was hard. Getting into and out of bed was hard. Sitting on the couch was hard. But writing was easy. I wanted to blog. I needed to blog. I was desperate for both the escape and clarity that came from stringing my thoughts together and hitting publish. I realized those first few weeks how important this space was to me on a personal level. It was awesome to see how much I needed to write.

And so, because of this, I know I'll keep writing here forever.

Since I started this blog, my story has changed many times. I have been single and living in a sorority house with my best friends. I have been a college student struggling to figure out how passion and a career path could fit together. I have been a girlfriend moving across the country to live with a boy. I have been a college graduate commuting two hours a day to work at a paper store for very little money. I have been a new entrepreneur starting an etsy shop. I have been newly engaged and planning a wedding. I have been a newlywed gleefully decorating an apartment. I have been a small business owner quitting my day job to make money doing what I loved. I have been a military spouse living alone while my husband was deployed. I have been pregnant and preparing for a baby. I have been a new homeowner feathering a nest.

And now, in addition to all of those other women, I am a mom. Over the years, I have thought a lot about how this space would be affected once I had kids. Recently I realized it would move foward the same way it always does – organically and with me. In seven years, the content and "theme" of this blog has changed many times, but, for me, it continues to work because it always feels real. I can't sleep when this blog looses it's authenticity and with a newborn, I don't need anything else keeping me up at night.

So instead of over-thinking it (she says, 500 words later), I'm going to just keep writing. About what interests me. About the things we do. The food we cook. The projects I take on. The thoughts I have. The goals I set. The mistakes I make. The people I love.

This space is where I share my story and I am so looking forward to getting back into the swing of near daily writing again. Thank you for reading.

p.s. as I start to prepare a loose editioral calendar for this fall, I welcome your suggestions! Is there anything you would like to read from me? Please feel free to share in the comments section.