enJOY it

new nightstands and bedroom progress.

April 30, 2013

Moving right along in getting our bedroom to the place I would love it to be – heaven at night and someplace bright and welcoming to wake up to.

My black and white quilt doesn't fit correctly, but turned on it's side (so the long way hangs off the sides of the bed) it's working. Eventually I might figure out a new plan, but for now, I'm happy with it.

I recovered the headboard. The chevron was fun, but it was over. On to the next. I wanted something super neutral and simple and ended up using light tan home decor weight fabric (from Joann's). To provide some interest, I cut the fabric into diagonal stripes and sewed them all back together again. It gives it a subtle pattern and some texture without fighting for attention in the room.

My nightstand is the white trunk that was happily displaced by the new media cabinet. It's a perfect bedside table for me because it helps fill the space (our bedroom is pretty big) and gives me plenty of room for my random bedside stuff.

The books on top have all been started. (Great with Child for the second time.) But thanks to my pregnancy brain, there has been little progress on each. I can't read a book right now. Too much to think about. Too much fog. But I hear there is little else to do besides read while nursing the little one, so I look forward to rediscovering books in a few weeks.

And Paul's bedside table is my most recent DIY. It's sad, poor Paul has not had a decent bedside table for years. I could never get our bedroom exactly right and find the correct pieces to make it fit us. After the success of the media cabinet, I decided to play again with the mix of white paint and stain.

This is an Ikea Rast cabinet – no doubt you have seen this Ikea hack tutorial! My sister-in-law, Kristen, put together her own a few years ago and while she was in town last week was kind enough to create one for me. The lamp on top is something I made a few years ago. I left the current marbled paper in for now, but I may take it out or replace it.

To make the nightstand a bit more manly, I decided to make leather drawer pulls. I bought a leather belt at Goodwill, measured carefully and cut it into six equal pieces, punched holes with my crop-a-dile and then screwed the folded pieces into place on the existing drawer holes. Really simple and just what I was looking for.

Paul has tons of clothes (but the crazy part is he wears them all) and so I am excited about him having three drawers of extra storage for t-shirts. I'm also glad he'll have a place for his water glass and lamp.

Feeling like incredible progress in here. I'd still love a bench for the end of the bed. I am considering something for over the headboard. We need a new dresser. I'll love to put a sliding track & door over the entry to the master bath. The other wall needs some big art in a big way. But we're headed in the right direction and it feels very good.
shower for baby cripe.

April 29, 2013

Two weekends ago, a mix of my high-school and college girlfriends helped shower the baby girl with love in my friend's backyard. It was so fun to see the girls, of course, and celebrate this little lady – she's the first of the next generation.

I failed at getting a lot of great photos from my Sacramento shower (sad!) so I was so thrilled that my friend Katy had her rad camera on hand and was so snap happy. Katy, your photos are fantastic. Thank you for capturing the day. And to the rest of you girls – THANK YOU so much for the thoughtful party.

For the most part, we sat around and chatted. Three of my girlfriends are engaged with weddings in the next six months so there was a lot to discuss there. But we also ate great food, painted little onesies with fabric paint and played some "non-gross" baby games (nothing diapers and candy bar related).

One of the games was the "guess the belly size" with a piece of yarn. Too funny to see the variation. I haven't been to a baby shower in my adult life, so all of these games are new to me and so cute and fun.

Such a fun Saturday. I am so grateful for my girls.
project life 2013 : end page and title page.

April 28, 2013

Last year, I ended up with three full albums, each with four months of spreads. This year, I am planning on breaking things up in the same way. To answer a common question – the albums I use are 2 3/4 inches thick. They hold a lot of pages protectors, but I always end up adding thicker embellishments and extra page inserts and there is no way I could get an entire year into one album. Most likely, I could not squeeze it into two. This does not bum me out.

But it does mean that I end up with three title pages and three end pages over the course of year. Usually, I use these pages to play with 3×4 embellishment cards and highlight a few fun photos. I like to keep the pages similar (and neutral) but they are never identical. In the photo above, the right side of the album is holding a big pocket page that has cards from P, invitations to wedding and other bits of "stuff" from the past four months.

For the end of my first album I included a photo of me from the past month and as soon as I see Paul in June, I'll snap a similar close up of him to get in place. This is our last album of just two! How crazy. And awesome. I used the two 4×6 card from the Seafoam kit that are "meant" for the last page in the top two pockets.

And into the four 3×4 pockets I tucked (from left to right) a cut down piece of 12×12 Seafoam paper, a piece of kraft cardstock stamped with a guy and girl stamp (coming soon to the shop!), a card from the April Studio Calico Project Life kit and a journaling card from the Seafoam kit with a THIS IS LOVE stamp on a kraft circle sticker.

My favorite card is that boy and girl one. I added a bit of washi tape and hand-wrote "this is the end of just us two" below because the little one will be joining us in June.

SO simple. But fun to play around with something like this because there is nothing (photos, thoughts from the time period) that "has" to make it in. You just get to use what you want and can't go wrong.

For the second album's title page, I was able to play with paper, but made the decision to wait on photos. I want real family photos (not me taking a picture of Paul on Facetime) to start off the album, so for now, I am using just paper placeholders until we are able to get a few fun group shots. I recovered the plastic thing that comes in the albums with Seafoam 12×12 paper and a flair badge from Ormolu.

I used a normal title card to hold the months that this album will hold (May-August). In the top right slot, I put a quote from this article in the New York Times about sharing your family's stories (via Becky's blog). I loved the article and found it so relevant for Project Life and this time in our lives. The font is Ariel Bold and I just printed it on kraft cardstock.

My four 3x4s are super simple again. From left to right, a 3×4 Seafoam journaling card, two cards from the Studio Calico Project Life kit and a Seafoam journaling card with text about where we are now and these upcoming four months.

On top of the first three 3×4 cards, I layered an embellishment : a wood veneer hello from Freckled Fawn, a flair badge from Evalicious and a printed transparency from a Paislee Press digital element.

I cannot believe we are nearly 1/3 down with 2013. The best part is really yet to come. So excited to keep up with this project.

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. You can see my 2013 title page here and find answers to common Project Life album questions here.
tissue paper pom-poms for the tiny one.

April 26, 2013

I'd hoped to have a full nursery tour ready by this week but I think it's going to be a couple more before things totally feel "set" in there. And that's okay. We've got almost seven weeks until my due date (and, of course, the baby could care less about the decor that awaits her).

But I got the tissue paper flowers installed! I saw a few adorable nurseries on Pinterest (like this) and loved how festive and playful they felt.

Never in a million years would I have expected to go so girly in this room. Pink is not exactly my style, but somehow, for this baby, it's working. And once I share the whole room, you'll see I brought in black and white and other pieces that mellow the in-your-face-pink a bit.

I followed this tutorial from Martha Stewart to create the tissue pom-poms. Martha is for sure more of a perfectionist than I am, but I found these to be very easy and forgiving, especially once they are up on the ceiling. I used eight full sheets for the big ones and then eight half sheets for the smaller ones.

I bought all my tissue paper here because after some searching they had the best colors for the best price. The key was to get a variety of colors that were outside the traditional "red" or "pink" stuff that's sold at large craft stores.

We hung them from the ceiling with fishing line and clear push pins and really just played around until the clusters looked right. It's was a lot like trying to paint an abstract. Everything is going fine until you get an extra pom-pom up there and suddenly not only do you hate the installation, but you're questioning every home decor decision you've ever made. (Not really, but sort of.)

artwork from left to right : Kal Barteski, December Baby & The Paper Nut.

Patience was important for the hanging part but the result is so whimsical and cute. I stuck them in just two corners, one on the crib side and one on the bookshelf side behind the hanging lamp. (Not to worry – the outside of that ceiling light does not get hot after even hours of use, but just to be safe, I'll have my dad, a property insurance guy by trade, take a look to be sure this is not a fire hazard when he is in town in a few weeks.)

Baby girl's room does not have a theme, but the overall idea is : "Hooray!"
more hanging plants in the bedroom.

April 25, 2013

Operation : fill the house with plant life continues with a vengeance.

After I got the curtains up last week, I was so inspired to hang more plants. In theory, I'd love hanging plants to line the whole wall someday. But at the moment, these three are enough and making my mornings and bedroom just fantastic right now.

I am always on the hunt for a rad hanging planter. They have to be pretty (obviously) but they also have to be big enough to hold a plant and light enough to hang from a small hook. I recently got an email from West Elm about doing a home decor DIY using their products. I was excited (of course!) and wandered their store to see what would make sense and mesh with my style.

These white porcelain hurricanes that are designed to hold candles jumped out at me. I don't need more candle holders at the moment, but their size was fantastic and it seemed easy enough to turn them into gorgeous hanging planters.

The trick with any container plant is allowing for drainage so you can water without over-watering. To turn the candle holders into planters, I had to add a liner container inside that could actually hold my plant and the dirt. I had on hand the plastic pot packaging from some garden veggies and while they were still empty, I slipped them into the hurricanes. Then I just scooped in some dirt and added my plants inside.

I choose leafy green plants that were sold at Lowe's as hanging plants (you'll know they're meant to be hanging plants because they'll be hanging in store). My "trick" for purchasing plants is just to look for something healthy that has new growth or new shoots coming in. I've killed a lot of indoor plants, but recently I've had a string of successes that have given me a bit more confidence. What's working best for me is to fight my instincts to over water and look to them for cues. Usually plants will give you heads up that they need water by drooping more than usual.

To hang my new candle holders turned planters, I used rope from the hardware store. I wanted something natural looking that was textured, but you could totally use something lighter (and probably even super strong fishing line if you want them to appear like they are floating!). The hurricanes had decorative holes built into them (which is why this worked so well) and I tied three pieces of rope through every sixth hole on the top row and left the knots on the outside (these could also be tucked inside for a cleaner look).

The planters were hung on sturdy ceiling hooks and were staggered just a bit. They and the other hanging planter I have held up by macrame are truly my favorite bit of the bedroom and I love waking up to them each morning.

This room is getting closer and closer to completion and I'm excited to share the full room soon(ish).

disclaimer : hurricanes were provided free of charge from West Elm. I was not paid to write this post. As always on this blog, content idea, photos and words were my own. Links throughout are affiliate links. 🙂
on three years of marriage.

April 24, 2013

Three years ago today I married my very best friend. Our wedding was a big party and probably one of my favorite days ever. I remember, leading up to the wedding, that I made a big deal that this wedding wouldn't be the "best day of my life." How lame it seemed that your wedding would be the "best day." What was the point of marriage if it was all going to be downhill after you said "I do" and danced for a few hours?

But I really loved our wedding and I can say for sure it was one of the "best days" from the past few years. Of course, we have had some awful days too. Our two year anniversary came during a hard time for us. Paul had been home from deployment for about eight weeks and we were still adjusting. I was struggling to get my confidence in our relationship and Paul, not really understanding, was not able to reassure me that life was good and we were okay. We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant to celebrate two years and I remember feeling awkward in the conversation early in the evening. It was really frustrating.

A few weeks later, things mellowed out and we started clicking again. I know the experience was good despite the pain, because we gained something that will help us get through all of these other deployments and coming home celebrations – respect for how big and hard forced long-term separation can be on a relationship.

It's a full year later. Paul is gone again. We are not going out to a fancy dinner tonight. I won't get to put a cute dress on over this pregnant belly. We won't get to flirt and exchange inappropriate incredibly appropriate innuendos. He won't get to reach over and feel our baby kicking to remind us she's coming (and soon!).

Instead, we'll chat for a while over FaceTime. It will be morning for me and evening for Paul. I'll be gearing up for the day and he'll be winding his down. We'll exchange normal chatter and probably a quick house tour of the current decorating progress. It's not ideal. But this Elise and Paul? Us at this point in our marriage? I would pick it every single time over where we were last year – physically together but mentally not on the same page.

Today we are separated by half a globe, but we're in the right space. We're communicating so well and equally motivated to get through these next few weeks and see each other in mid-June, right around our little girl's due date when Paul will fly into San Diego to make our family physically whole again.

The anticipation for Paul's arrival is tied with the excitement I feel knowing that the baby will be coming soon. Regardless of what happens first, it's all wrapped up into one monumental event. This party will be so much more intimate than our wedding but so much bigger than anything we've ever experienced. Unlike the wedding, the planning is out of my hands and no spreadsheet or to-do list can help keep me on track.

But just like the wedding, I so look forward to celebrating one of our "best days" and I know whatever happens, everything will turn out just how it's meant to be.

I love and respect you, Paul. Happy three years. When you get home and this baby is out we'll toast to many more over a great bottle of wine.

photos throughout this post by The Goodness, formerly Lisa Welge. More of our DIY wedding can be found here.
new favorite mid-day snack.

April 23, 2013

I found this recipe for almond butter pancakes on Pinterest and happily, all of the ingredients looked like something I could eat while in my GDM diet. Trouble is, I don't really need another breakfast option (my nut granola is working out well – heads up, I now make my batches with just 1/3 C coconut oil and it's even better) and I really don't need something that calls for maple syrup on top.

But I baked up a batch anyway. And I found that because these are small and cooked in the oven, they are actually pretty rad as cookies. MUCH softer, of course, but delicious and satisfying. I usually make a full batch, eat one while it's warm and very soft and then throw the rest in the freezer to be eaten mid-day when I want something.

I followed the recipe exactly. If you try freezing them too, I just recommend letting one defrost on a plate for a few minutes before eating. (But they are pretty great – and less soft – frozen too.)
progress peeks.

April 23, 2013

It's all coming together. Safe to say my nesting instinct has been kicked up a few notches. I have Paul's mom and sister in town this week and we are organizing and figuring out room layouts like it's our job (it actually is Paul's sister's job!). So fun to feel things starting to settle and I know I say this a lot but I am SO very grateful for the help.

Hoping to have a nursery tour ready to roll by the end of the week! Nothing like a blog deadline for inspiration.
25 final secrets.

April 22, 2013

I have an addiction to my car's GPS system.

But somehow still manage to get turned around with great frequency.

I really appreciate that the voice commander refrains from using a judgemental tone.

I have known our baby girl's first name since October 2011.

Paul talked me out of my first choice for her middle name.

He's right…I think.

And we are still tossing back and forth ideas via email.

Nothing is sticking.

My best decisions are made in the moment with little to no planning.

So maybe we'll have a stroke of genius in the delivery room.

I miss red wine.

But not nearly as much as I thought I would.

Those blog comment "are you a robot?" captcha's have got to go.

I hope the baby gets Paul's patience.

And my energy.

And Arrested Development's sense of humor.

And neither of our dancing abilities.

If I could only wear one color for the rest of my life, I pick gray.

It took me longer to come up with that color than it did to come up with the first 18 secrets.

I spent half that time trying to figure out if "stripes" would suffice.

I haven't been able to read a book all the way through since my first trimester.

Which, believe it or not, is an even lamer pregnancy side effect than my daily finger sticks.

I've been watching Downton Abbey and it's good.

But it's not "WOW, I CAN'T BREATHE THIS IS AMAZING" good like I expected based on twitter reactions.

Now Scandal, that is a fantastic show.

see the first set of secrets here (2010), the second set here (2010) and the third set here (2011).
project life 2013 : week 15.

April 21, 2013

It's week fifteen and I love this project.

click the photo to enlarge for a somewhat clearer image.

Week of : April 8 – April 14.

What happened this week? I was back at home. Paul was still deployed. Pretty normal week. 😉 My parents came down Friday night and stayed through Sunday. We made massive progress on the house while they were here.

Anything special in the spread? This week I used only Seafoam core kit Project Life products, no extra embellishments. This was a challenge for the PL Creative Team and I really enjoyed it. I decided to take it an extra step and just use the mustard and kraft color for the layout. Love the super simple look.

Techniques this week : I added a cut down journaling card on top of a 4×6 photo to hold a recipe for my new favorite nut granola. I also trimmed a 3×4 card to add some extra journaling on top of fabric scrap from our new headboard.

Overall thoughts : I love this project. It has gotten so much BETTER for me as time has gone on. I don't remember being quite as committed to making this rad when I was 15 weeks in last year. Part of what's helping is really working from the kit and giving myself an extra week to put the layouts together.

Ratio of iPhone photos to "real camera" photos : 3 to 7.

Ratio of photos taken by Elise to photos taken by Paul : All Elise AGAIN. Boooring. Paul, we've gotta do something about this.

Supplies used : Seafoam core kit.

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.