The Art of Everyday

2011-12-07T21:28:00.001-05:00

i got a new friend today.
i'm very happy.
love.

technical difficulties.

2011-12-05T08:07:00.001-05:00

hello friends.

i know, i've been a very bad blogger this week. truth is i have so much to share and a computer that won't let me share it! we've been needing a new computer for awhile... our G5 powerpc has been phased out and is on it's last legs. when i got my new canon T3i my computer wouldn't even recognize it and the driver isn't compatible. i had somehow magically gotten around that using iphoto but now iphoto doesn't even recognize my poor camera...

so i once again have some technical difficulties that i have to work through. i'm hoping this won't put me completely off track for all of my holiday decorating diy plans... we are working on finding a solution very very soon.

love.

making christmas. week 2.

2011-11-28T16:23:00.003-05:00

hello friends...

not too much to share about week 2. we had a really great thanksgiving break at home with just the three of us. joey has a few big work weeks before christmas so we made sure to get in lots of fun daddy time and relaxation.

i did a little crafting and a lot of work on this...

i've been working on this cardigan for way too long. embarrassingly too long. i'm so ready for it to be done but frankly, i'm bored. i hate 40 inches of the same thing. ugh. i'm not a marathon knitter. if you were hoping to receive a beautifully knit & cabled sweater from me one year, think again.

we got our tree up and our 12 11 ornaments. santa met with a fatal catastrophe two years ago when we got a real tree... a catastrophe caused by a dog of course. i need to replace him very soon... i love our old world christmas newlywed set and i do not like the empty space in the set's box. (p.s. i LOVE my tree skirt, it was purchased from anthropologie a few years back and has a matching stocking. purchased on extreme discount i might add!)

so, what's on the agenda for this week?

finish decorating!

stocking & restyle diy's

a little nyc holiday market shopping

a trip to see the rockefeller christmas tree!

can you believe it's still in the mid-50s and 60s in nyc? there has been some rain today and a little more called for tomorrow but by thursday it will be all clear again so i'm hoping to enjoy some time in the city with little miss so we can enjoy these warm days while we can!

love.

making christmas: ornament wreath diy

2011-11-26T16:38:00.000-05:00

hello again...

i'm back with part 2 of today's 'making christmas' diy!

for wreath #2 i wanted to make an ornament holder for a set of disney princess ornaments that little miss got for christmas last year. they are pretty heavy so i feel confident that you can recreate this without fearing for the lives of the ornaments you decide to showcase.

supplies:

wreath form

5/8" cup hooks (hardware)

ruler & pencil

glue (tacky or liquid nails)

let the glue dry overnight before crocheting the wreath or hanging any ornaments... preferably 24hrs but i totally could wait that long! then crochet the wreath as normal... simple statement wreath pattern by Good Knits ! i used 1 skein of Lion Brand's Hometown USA in Monterey Lime.

when you get to each hook cover the hook base by crocheting around the hook. if you are following the pattern step 4 would be on the right side of the hook and step 5 is pulled through on the left side of the hook.

i started this wreath with an additional hook in the back to secure a ribbon for hanging but because of the weight of the princesses pulling it forward i decided to scrap that idea and just hang it directly on the hook on little miss's door.

if you have any questions let me know! please feel free to share wreaths that you've been working on or any crafting you've been doing this weekend to get your home ready for the holidays!

back tomorrow with this weeks review and plans for 'making christmas week 3'!

love.

making christmas: simple statement wreath

2011-11-26T10:36:00.001-05:00

good morning!

who's excited to be getting into all of the christmas decorating? i know i am!

i'm very happy to be sharing my first 'making christmas' diys, and today it's all about this beautiful crocheted wreath pattern from Good Knits. if you are a knitter or crocheter the Good Knits blog is a must-read, must-follow! Lisa has so many great patterns available (for free!) and the items in her etsy shop are gorgeous. (check out her newly released pattern book Love Lace if you are into vintage lace patterns, it's so very lovely!)

i made this wreath with the 'simple statement wreath' pattern shared on the Good Knits blog.

did you miss that link? here's another... GET THE PATTERN!

once you get into a groove on this wreath pattern they are so quick to finish up! i maybe spent 3 hours or so on this one, in between chasing little miss around this past week.

i love this wreath pattern so much. it's so simple and pretty and so quick and cheap to make! i chose to use a 12" green styrofoam floral wreath form so that white wouldn't show through in case i didn't cover it 100% (i did, see troubleshooting in a min...) and the for the yarn i used Lion Brand's Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Cilantro. the red ribbon i used was recycled from a christmas gift one of us received last year that i saved. (free! reuse!)

troubleshooting. i'm a crazy tight, crazy overboard, all around crazy yarncrafter. i probably squeezed 3-6 (ok maybe 9) more single crochets than were really necessary on this first wreath to cover it. so in my opinion the loops look a little over crowded when i sit and stare at it, but my husband and everyone else who have seen it disagree so, you know. us crafters are always hyper critical of our own work.

i really hope you try out this pattern! it's so fun and easy... i think it'll be a great craft to do with kids too if you bought a smaller wreath form that was easier for them to handle. it's a great beginning crochet project.

i'll be back in a couple of hours with wreath #2 and how i turned this 'simple statement wreath' into an ornament holder!

love.

p.s. post-thanksgiving weekend was always the big decorating weekend at my house growing up... i'd love to hear how you spend your weekend OR how you have started decorating this season so far! ♥

thank you.

2011-11-24T21:39:00.000-05:00

for my sweet little miss.

for a most patient & loving man.

for this perfect little family of ours.

for a roof over our heads,

food in our bellies,

and the clothes on our back.

for everything we have,

and everything we don't have (yet).

for grandparents.

for great grandparents.

for our sister (and the coolest aunt ever).

for our ever supportive families and friends.

for smiles,

tears,

laughter,

and mean faces.

for hope.

for love.

thank you.

i hope everyone had a fantastic thanksgiving! this time of year makes my heart feel so full and happy... so very thankful for all of the blessings in my life. we're having a great long holiday together and are so excited to get our tree tomorrow!

love.

making christmas. week 1.

2011-11-21T10:23:00.000-05:00

hello friends!

this past week i began all of the planning and preparations for our holiday season here at the taylor flat. i love this time of year. last year we did so much traveling in november that putting time into our holiday decor (and then turning right around to spend two weeks in indiana) didn't really make too much sense. especially with a 6 month old little miss who wasn't terribly interested in christmas just yet but...

this year is completely different! this year we are staying home and celebrating thanksgiving together as our little family of 3. this year we are starting our own traditions. we have the unique opportunity to stop, reflect, give thanks, and dream a little about our future too!

i feel so blessed that we have the ability each year to celebrate christmas at my parents'... their home is always so amazingly decorated, and tends to feel more like home to me than our tiny apartment. but this year i have the time to make christmas at our house!

so for the next few weeks leading up to christmas (can you believe there are only like 5 left!) i'll be sharing how i am 'making christmas' at our house. each week i plan to do a 'vignette love' recap post, share projects, and hopefully i can help share a little inspiration this season on how you can make christmas at your house without spending lots and lots on new decorations (no matter how much those target christmas aisles tempt).

as i said, this week was all about getting a solid plan together. we pulled out our two boxes of christmas decor from storage. i have a feeling we'll be putting more than two boxes back... but i'll worry about that later. :)

i started clearing some of our spaces and pulled some non-seasonal non-essential bits and pieces to be packed up in the christmas boxes to make way for holiday vignettes.

i made goal lists that i felt were reasonable without overloading myself with too many projects... which is something i love to do. bite off more than you can chew much? i do! i made some recipe plans for thanksgiving weekend and grocery lists. i wrote a plan for each room in the house and a supply list for all of the projects on my queue. oh, and gift lists!

later in the week i started working on a few of the diy ideas and patterns i've collected to experiment and see how long some of them would take. i'll share in more detail a little later but i LOVE the 'simple statement wreath' pattern by Good Knits. wreath #1, huge success!

and then to wrap up the week, on saturday we took a trip to the craft store.
i'm sure the first trip of many! hehe.

what's on the agenda this week? thanksgiving for sure. did i mention the 5 whole days little miss and i get with our most favorite? so happy. ♥

also...

cleaning. cleaning. cleaning.

(can't put nice new handmade decorations on dusty shelves!)

complete project list for little miss's room.

find a tree!

i hope everyone is having an amazing season so far and enjoying some time with family this thanksgiving week!

love.

vignette love: what a week.

2011-11-19T21:17:00.000-05:00

besides my christmas planning (and birthday shopping) this week...

little miss had a doc visit, and some vaccines. not happy.

lots of teething, drooling, and sniffles

(can't wait to try her amber necklace when it gets here)

a sick pup (roxy is much better now, thanks!)

a broken needle and other clumsy mishaps
tested a few diys for 'making christmas'
some harajuku mini shopping
(you know to help make the teething hurt less and make up for the shots)

despite the teething grumpiness we did have a great week. little miss turned 17 months old this week and every day i'm surprised at what a smart cute little girl she's becoming. i know i say this all the time but she learns things so quickly and comes up with things that just crack me up.

i'm very excited to start a series of posts for the holidays... 'making christmas' week 1 will be coming tonight!

love.

par for the course.

2011-11-15T19:54:00.001-05:00

today has been one of those days where somewhere in the middle of cleaning up after a sick dog, chasing and soothing a cranky post-vaccine little miss, and dropping or breaking just about everything i touch... i have to sit back, surrender, laugh a lot, and take life as it comes.

tomorrow is a new day.

love.

a new year // 29 before 30

2011-11-14T14:18:00.001-05:00

1. restyle my space.
2. develop & focus the blog.
3. plan a real honeymoon.
4. take a sewing class.
5. start keeping a family meal planner.
6. crochet a ripple throw for my bed.
7. host a dinner party. (or two or three!)
8. take more walks with the pups.
9. learn to knit socks.
10. use or purge 25% of scrapbook stash.
11. family beach getaway to asbury park.
12. create a small jewelry line.
13. picnic & family photos in central park.
14. make & install curtains for little miss.
15. get a new tattoo.
16. family bikes.
17. sew a spring quilt.
18. learn to play guitar.
19. drink more water, eat more fresh + local.
20. plan regular (and more frequent!) date nights ♥
21. sharpen up my time management skills.
22. discover the good thrifting towns in nj.
23. join a mommy + me swim class.
24. plan a girls' weekend (road trip?) with my mom & sister.
25. learn to ice skate.
26. join a yoga class.
27. get a new computer. or ipad. (or both!)
28. knit, crochet, or craft my way through a book.
29. find a home we can love.

i love my list this year. i'm so inspired and motivated, i know 29 is going to be amazing! i intend to keep much closer track of my goals this year and update here more often... i'm excited to start checking things off.

usually around my birthday i also share some of my end of year goals. just a few simple things so i stay on track and feel good about what i've accomplished during this hectic season when inspiration and project queues can get a little overwhelming. some of mine this year include...

style a family photo shoot.
send out christmas cards.
make or thrift a desk for little miss.
finish knitted cardi.
dye my hair back to dark auburn. (it's joey's favorite, mine too!)

do you create and share a list of goals each year at your birthday? or maybe at the start of each new calendar year? do you use quarterly goal lists? do you have a few simple goals you'd like to accomplish before 2012? please feel free to share!

off to work on a restyle and get to bed 'early'. tomorrow little miss turns 17 months (and gets a flu shot... eek.)

love.

birthday bangs.

2011-11-12T18:39:00.001-05:00

hello friends. next week is my birthday and today my besties took me out for a little birthday shopping trip. while we were out i decided it was finally time to get my bangs cut and my hair trimmed a little. i've been growing my hair out for almost two years now and want to keep it going (if you are new to the blog or don't remember how short it was you can get a refresher here..)

my little walk-in appointment is going to be the last time i go in to have someone cut my hair for a very long time. i'm happy with the trim up but i could not get the stylist to cut my bangs how i wanted them. she cut a tiny side bang when what i really wanted was a nice full bang... and after asking her to cut them shorter 3 times i gave up. so when we got home i took out my trusty cutter bee's and took matters into my own hands... and i have to tell you i'm in love! i haven't been this happy with my hairstyle in a super long time!

(disclaimer: i'm NOT advocating cutting your hair with crafting scissors, even if they are awesome. for future bang trimming i will be purchasing real shears.)

i've been researching DIY haircuts for awhile. i've had my mind up to get bangs one way or another for awhile now and since i tend not to have amazing experiences with salons (unless i'm getting everything chopped off) learning to cut them myself has been a major desire. if you're interesting in trying to cut your own hair you should check out you tube and do some searches. there are a ton of really great videos to help you get on the right track. i suggest watching several until you are really confortable with it!

along with some new threads i got a new pair of Minnetonka's while we were out...

so comfy. all in all it was a beautiful saturday out with my two favorite people!

i hope everyone is having a great weekend... i'm off to cuddle with my little family as joey plays acoustic and little miss circle dances around us. happy days!

love.

outfit:

shirt: day trip

cardigan: merona (target)

jeans: h&m

moccasins: minnetonka

necklace: anthropologie

hooks & needles: falling leaves garland.

2011-11-11T19:38:00.001-05:00

i'm very happy to finally be sharing this quick knit that i did several weeks ago. it was completed during my 'black out' period where i didn't have a camera to get decent photos of the finished product. i love this garland and keep moving it around the house so it's already getting a lot of use. i can't wait until we move and i have a real mantle (or at least better spaces) that i can truly decorate to my heart's content.

when i was thinking about garlands for my fall decor i really wanted to do something knitted... both because i love knitting simple quick projects and because i had a lot of yarn left over from my sister's lap throw. the colors were just too perfect for me to pass up the opportunity to put all of those scraps to good use!

i found a leaf pattern after some searching online that was nicely textured and also allowed me to practice a symmetrical double decrease which i hadn't really used before. it sound complicated but it really isn't... i love adding new stitches to my bag of tricks and discovering that a crazy sounding stitch really isn't all that crazy!

you can find the pattern here...

as i said i used the same yarn as i did for the lap throw i made my sister which was 'cozy yarn' by 'loops & threads'. i didn't really care about gauge so i used US11 needles.

the symmetrical decrease is written as (sl2, k1, p2sso) and all you do is slip two stitches onto your right needle, knit the next stitch normally, and then pass the two stitches that you slipped over the knitted stitch and let them drop. at the end of the pattern there is also a 'p3tog' decrease that you can stitch symmetrically by again slipping two stitches purl-wise onto the right needle, purling the next stitch, and passing the two slipped stitches over the purled stitch. easy peasy right?

it may take a few re-do's on your first leaf but after no time you'll get it and won't even have to think about it! the symmetrical decrease creates this really great vein in the middle of the leaf and it was perfect to use as a guide when i strung all of the leaves together.

sorry about the mobile photo, but it was my only option at the time!

i hope you can tell from the photo but there was a perfect V and then loop at each decrease that i used to determine how i would string them all together.

if you have any questions please feel free to ask! this is a great quick project for any beginner knitter who would like something to practice on. you can use smaller yarns/needles for smaller leaves, you could use them individually to hang on an autumn or thanksgiving tree, use larger ones as pot holders, make a table runner... there are so many possibilities!

happy knitting!
love.

be prepared to share.

2011-11-09T18:45:00.000-05:00

it was another gorgeous day today. i feel so blessed to have this beautiful weather to enjoy with little miss before the temperature drops for good. today we made another trip to our favorite jersey city park/playground at lincoln park. the leaves have finally all changed and fallen. i think the shock of halloween's snow warned the foliage that despite the late amazing weather winter is indeed on it's way!

after some playtime in the leaves, we did our usual run around the playground. first stop is always the swings... little miss runs right to them. this girl would swing for hours. i think besides just the enjoyment from swinging she likes being up high and able to see everything going on in the park... she was having a great time today watching huge fat squirrels run around looking for handouts. i couldn't believe how bold these guys were...

this little guy kept running underneath abby as she was swinging and before i knew it...

what a little thief! he climbed right up onto the stroller and grabbed a cereal bar! to be fair i had forgotten that i'd opened it and offered it to abby as we were walking in... she'd rejected it for the time being and left it on the tray of her stroller. abby thought this was all quite hilarious, especially the little chase scene that unfolded as another squirrel realized the bounty that was to be had.

after that swing time was over and she just wanted to chase squirrels for awhile... those dang things let her get really close before taking off and it was scaring the crap out of me. i was afraid they were so used to all the kids that they would just charge her... they probably wouldn't have. but we moved on anyway.

i know the weather around the country hasn't been quite as great this week so i'm very grateful for these days... we're doing our best to make great use of them.

love.

halloween 2001: stitching up a home.

2011-11-08T09:43:00.000-05:00

just another quick project to share. i'm finally getting some time to catch up on the blog and will hopefully be done and ready to start with the november fun by tomorrow!

i stitched up this web while my mom was visiting us. it's not perfect, mostly because little miss was VERY interested in my progress and enjoyed grabbing the thread as i pulled each stitch through. i like the imperfections though, gives it character, right?

i used a 14" hoop and started by tracing the hoop onto the fabric. the fabric was just some leftover linen remnants from another project. i think it started as a rolled fat quarter or something from a bargain bin somewhere. i chose an off-center center and divided the circle by eighths, connected the lines with webbing and stitched away.

i didn't trim the excess from the hoop so that next year i can re-use the web in a different way if i choose to. i am thinking about making the web into a sofa pillow and making another smaller pillow with a spider to match it... i can't believe i'm already sketching ideas for next halloween. this one did get away from me so i'm hoping next year we'll be able to pull out all the stops, be in a new home (that hopefully gets real trick-or-treaters), and have a little miss who is much more interested in dressing up!

a little 'vignette love' coming up later today...

love.

halloween 2011: little miss ghosties.

2011-11-07T08:44:00.001-05:00

good morning monday!

i know halloween was LAST week but i wanted to share a few of the little projects i did. my lofty goals of totally decking the house out this halloween didn't quite pan out but it was nice to be able to fit in a few crafty days where i could!

first up are the 'little miss ghostie' cards that i sent out from abby to the family...

these were a very simple project. i know feet ghosts (and other mutations) have been plastered all over pinterest and other blogs so they are definitely nothing new - but they are such a great, easy idea to send a little growth milestone out to family and friends.

for the base of the card i used Halcraft blank white card & envelope value packs that you can get from any Michaels, Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, JoAnns, etc. i love these value packs. i'm not a huge card maker (trying to change that this year) so having a pack of easy cards and envelopes that i can design on top of is so nice. i've used these value packs for abby's announcements, thank yous, and so much more over the years.

other supplies:

white paint
black cardstock
american crafts remarks: moma
scrapworks motifs: boo stamp (halloween)
versacolor: orange
misc. halloween ribbon from stash

tfl!
love.

woah october.

2011-11-03T12:45:00.000-05:00

talk about a busy lightening fast month.

i had no idea october was going to fly by like it did. i guess i should have though... between preparing the house for fall and holiday decor, a visit from each grandma, and some crazy work weeks for joey we were constantly running, adding things to the to do list, and recovering from the fun.

we didn't get out to the orchard as planned... mostly because our weekends were filled with fun with the grandmas. first my mom & sister came to visit...

the weather was amazing for their visit. the first day we hung around midtown/central park. it was in the 80s and warm enough to let abby play in the sprinklers at the playground. she had a blast!

joey had the weekend off so we headed in to check out the progress down at world trade. we bumped into the occupy wall street people and made our way up through soho (with a quick stop for sushi!) and the west village before meeting up with my sister for a bit in between her conference activities...

we visited with her at The Meadow to pick up some Fresco Chocolate...

the shop is really cute. i totally spaced taking photos of the outside as i juggled socializing, chasing after abby, and keeping her from tearing all of the chocolate bars off the shelves. The Meadow sells chocolate, gorgeous flowers, and salts. lovely!

the weather was so gorgeous that we decided to end our afternoon with a walk on the highline.

it was incredibly crowded because it was so nice out. it did not at all feel like october! indian summer at it's best!

little miss was in great spirits enjoying her time with grandma & daddy... blowing kisses all around!

then nonna (joe's mom) came to visit for a few days... the weather was getting to be more fallish and pretty windy so we only went into the city for a few hours to visit central park and see some of daddy's friends who were also in town.

abby & nonna borrowed another little one's car stroller for a bit. she loved it so i guess my little girl who loves building and cars and hates dresses will be needing one of these soon.

the rest of the visit was spent with nonna in hoboken where she was staying. i got some much needed mommy-alone-time. it was a very nice weekend off for me. while i had the time i got going on abby's halloween costume. i'll share it, and my complete fail, a bit later in some halloween posts. ugh. i can't even think about it yet without wanting to jump into a time machine or call a do-over.

we had one last weekend before halloween to get in some of the family fun that we had been putting off so far this season and bam... snow. nor'easter.

we went from 80º playing with abby in the sprinklers at central park... to snow... in october.

thankfully it was all melted again by halloween. joey was off monday so he went to abby's halloween party at the little gym with us. it was a good time but another costume tantrum erupted just before we left for the party so we opted to wear halloween-themed attire instead to keep little miss happy.

and then poof! just like that it was november!

i'm very happy with how our fall is going so far and really excited for the holidays coming up. we are putting our tree up much earlier than we have before, and are going to be starting some november traditions within our little family that i'm excited about. i feel like we haven't had a holiday with just the three of us yet so we are taking november 2011 off just to be together, regroup, and remember why this time of year is so important and special.

love.

first roll.

2011-10-03T23:56:00.000-05:00

we got our new camera!

it's been one and a half days and i've taken 600+ shots. many are just me testing the waters... but i'm really quite happy and inspired by my new friend!

after i've logged more hours on the newbie i may do a full write up... but for now, briefly. we got the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. when it came down to it i liked my first rebel until it brokedown... and i dropped it. we wanted to stay in the Canon lens family, and the camera's overall first impression is pretty great. as i said, i'm happy. love the screen. love the weight. basic functions A+. haven't touched the video, that's for joey to play with. i don't have more than that at this point so 'to be continued'.

big week. lots happening. lots getting done. then my mom and sister visit!

love.

vignette love: the palace of fine arts

2011-09-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

before leaving san francisco we made a quick stop for a snack at one last scenic spot, the palace of fine arts. i was really hoping we would be able to squeeze this into the trip and was so happy that we did (well, so happy we missed a turn and were dumped right into it's gorgeous lap!)

i learned about this place from joe when we first met... he had shot a wedding there during drydock for the pride of aloha. the footage he shot and how he edited it together made the place look magical and i knew i wanted to see it in person. i was not at all disappointed.

we enjoyed a mango and some time relaxing in the sun...
then did a walk through thepergola and rotunda.

it was such a beautiful day and the perfect end to our trip.
love.

*all photos taken in "retro" preset toy camera mode using vignette for android.

camera-less.

2011-09-21T21:03:00.000-05:00

i know i promised to share our recent trip to california however i'm in a bit of a bind... it seems i left the charger to my point-and-shoot at my parents' house so i cannot take any non-mobile phone photos of my smash journal nor can i get any of the photos that i took before i lost battery juice off of the camera.

fantastic right?

a lot of my photos from california were in fact on my phone but the idea of a blog using only mobile uploads is not really making me happy at the moment. i'll get over it until i have other options of course...

so i'm going to attempt to get back on track here using what i have available.

that said i thought i'd share our short list of cameras for when we replace my canon (hopefully in the next month...)

Canon EOS Rebel T2i or T3i

Nikon D5100


Sony Alpha A580

these are the top 3 i want to check out on my next trip to b&h. i'm 95% sure we'll go with the Canon T2i or T3i, we need to figure out the real difference between the two... but i have friends who are devoted to Nikon and I've heard some good things about the Sony model so i thought it was worth a look.

if anyone has any of these or just an opinion on good mid-level dslr cameras i'd love to hear it!

oh and here's a fun question... if you could have a money-is-no-object dream camera which would it be? i think mine would be this...

Mamiya RZ33

it's only about $18,000 +tax for the package. no biggie. haha. i'm pretty sure i'm no where near the level of photography it would take to warrant this camera but she is pretty sexy as far as cameras go!

i hope all are having an amazing week! tomorrow i'll be sharing one of my favorite stops from our trip in a vignette love feature. i also have some refashions, my smash journal, the reappearance of inspiration posts featuring my pinterest boards, and lots of new things coming up!

love love love.

(all images taken from B&H listings)

how to road trip with a toddler.

2011-09-16T22:19:00.000-05:00

choose a travel buddy.

bring something for everyone.


pack refreshments.

be courteous.

make a few unscheduled pit stops.

prepare for a few breakdowns.

turn distractions into learning opportunities.

savor every moment.

757 miles.

14 'ish hours.

good conversation.

lots of giggles.

a few road blocks.

piggies all counted.

many car naps.

i know travelling with a toddler isn't easy,

but it's getting to be so much fun.

love.

love these days.

2011-09-16T13:46:00.002-05:00

i got so much done yesterday and really started feeling like i have a plan for the rest of the year. i can't express just how good that feels! abby is still adjusting a bit to having her time zones all screwy but we had a really fun day together despite some strange nap times that keep popping up. she's been really into playing with her crayons since we came back... i know what activity to start packing on our plane trips in the future. we made our first drawing to give to daddy, he loved it!

we had some rain yesterday so we didn't get our park outings started up again like i had originally planned but we still had a good time. abby has started doing these little bursts of running while walking laps between her room and the living room. it's pretty cute to watch her rev up and then try to slow herself down.

joe was home early yesterday and so the rest of the evening was spent chatting and planning for the weekend. it's nice to have the whole weekend with joe... we definitely need it to recover from our trip. it will be nice to get some things done and just relax.

some weekend goals...

trip to storage

start a pet project

finish journaling the vacation

get working on some halloween projects

late night knitting & dreaming

with lots of time in between to play with my two favorites!

love.

p.s. i hope everyone has a great weekend! anyone going to maker faire in nyc?

unpacking and updating.

2011-09-14T23:09:00.000-05:00

we are back.
great trip, more on that later...

i'm doing my best to get things totally unpacked and put away so i can start unpacking all of the "we're moving!" boxes that had piled up before we left for our taylor family vacation. i meant to update before we left but unfortunately there was far too much going on for me to really share anything.

but here's how august played out...

goodbye old friend.

my camera broke. officially. which meant i had to use my phone and instax for the majority of the trip. i did give in a few times and pulled out the point and shoot but it's no secret that i hate that awful thing. saying goodbye to my canon has been difficult. (especially since my new one won't be in the budget for a few more months... ugh.) joey gave me this camera to take to south america with me 7 years ago... best present ever. well, besides this little cutie of course...

little miss helped inspect each book while we packed.

over the course of three weeks we were thinking about moving, moving, and so not moving. i posted about our amazing weekend in asbury park, but unfortunately that was not the right path for us... adding four hours travel time to joey's day is just not an option right now. no matter how damn cute the house is *sigh*. i decided at that point to give this area another try and found an amazing place that was pretty much perfect, but unfortunately our application was not chosen...

a very frustrating decision based on having vs not-having pets... but i'm over it. mostly.

so now we are again sitting tight. we have absolutely no idea what this final year of joey's current contract will bring so we are keeping our options open and putting focus elsewhere for the moment.

just about when the moving issue wrapped up our attention became focused on hurricane irene.

late night "emergency supply" walmart run.

we decided to get all of our supplies late wednesday the 24th instead of waiting until friday and i was so happy we did... when we did go out friday for just a few last minute things shelves were empty.

our family enjoyed the weekend in. nyc/nj transportation was completely shut down so we hunkered down in our little apartment, walked the dogs in between rain bands, and enjoyed lots of playtime & cuddles.

abby gets another shelf!

thankfully our family and immediate neighborhood came through the hurricane completely unscathed. i know many on the east coast weren't as lucky and we feel very blessed to have been through two hurricanes (wilma in 2005) with no major injury/major damage. i got a lot of cleaning and prepping for our trip finished while abby + joey got lots of father/daughter time in. i got started on a knitting project that was waiting in the "casted on" pile and was even able to spend some time re-organizing the bookshelves (one of my favorite rainy day activities).

and then... september. *sigh of relief*

date totally saved. (love this!)

it was time! roxy was dropped off at the farm to be boarded for 2 weeks, i did some last minute "fall/SF weather" shopping for little miss, and i got us all packed up to head home to indiana for the first part of our vacation.

as i said our vacation was great. i can't believe how much we packed into the past 10 days... we saw so many people that we love, and had such an amazing time. i'll be sharing the whole trip in a few parts over the next few days because this would become a ridiculously long update otherwise.

so now i'm back where i began! unpacking. revising + adding to my to do list + project queue. getting things back to a normal routine while making some more changes in our current space.

and most importantly enjoying a new stage of parenthood with joey - raising a toddler...

when it's just too quiet in her room.

but that deserves an entire post as well.

love.

vignette love: falling for asbury park.

2011-08-13T17:30:00.009-05:00

hello friends.
today was an amazing day and as i've had to retire my canon rebel (story coming soon...) it's a perfect time for me to start sharing some our adventures via vignette (my droid's version of instagram).

today we went on a scouting mission to asbury park. it's about 1 hour south of us on the jersey shore (2 by train) and it's the cutest little beach town we've visited in a LONG time.

we took a stroll on the boardwalk... LOVED the art on the old abandoned casino building and the artsy/surfer/vintage vibe of the whole place.

stopped for a fruity drink...

we ate at Langosta Lounge. we shared the Sahtki Tuna Wrap and Pop's Burger which was amazing! grilled pineapple, grilled onion, jalapenos, & chipotle mayo on a cheesy burger... yum!

after that abby and i checked out some surf shops...

and the little waterpark on the boardwalk for kids. we didn't play this time because we needed to get back home BUT i can't wait to take her to it. there is also a cute little playground area right on the beach that's sectioned off for kids. like the beach could get any cooler?

so we actually went down today to look at a couple of potential places. no decisions have been made and we are seriously weighing on the options because the commute would be killer for joey but seriously it was hard not to fall hard for this little lady...

i don't want to share too much and jinx it... we could also totally decide it's just not the right move logically for us right now, but she really does have everything we need. yard, washer/dryer, enough space, garden, established compost area! a little place to call our own and have a real sense of home until we decide where in this crazy country we really do belong permanently.

maybe it's asbury park? little miss seemed to approve of the place...

(not sure what she was telling me at this point but she was very emphatic about it!)

other things i loved about asbury park: concerts at the stone pony, another park about 3 blocks from the place we LOVED, so many consignment/thrift/antique stores as we took a drive on main (really wished we had time for a little thrifting fun for mommy!), so many cute bed & breakfasts for our family to enjoy... oysterfest... lots of seafood, ice cream, tacos, & other tasties...

ok. time to start getting objective! hope you all are having a great weekend so far! tomorrow promises to be a lazy day at home, then a trip to the laundromat (ugh, seriously despise that place)... i'm sure we'll spend the whole time talking about how wonderful it would be to live in a house with a washer & dryer.

love.

oh, hi august...

2011-08-09T13:05:00.002-05:00

hey there.
sorry for the radio silence.

we've been doing a lot of resting, playing, cuddling...

joe's had a few really tough weeks at work and little miss is finally towards the end of the nasal drip. so we've been doing our best to get out of the house and stay in good spirits. not so good for my current project list... but totally fun and worth it anyway!

i have a few posts i'm finishing up on so i'l share those over the week. i'm itching to start knitting again but until i can put away the tissues i'm not bringing out anything i've cast on. there is no way abby will be allowed to use any of my WIP's to wipe her nose!

love.

craft nostalgia: friendship bracelets.

2011-07-29T14:43:00.004-05:00

happy friday friends!
earlier this week while catching up on blogs and pinterest i noticed that lots of lovely friendship bracelets had popped up here and there (and here too!) i thought... hey! i know how to do that! so with little miss and i still feeling a bit yucky and all of the other projects waiting to be started seeming a little too daunting while under the weather i pulled out my embroidery floss and went to town.

i immediately started thinking about summers past and was transported right back to my camp days. back then we made crazy bracelets... 2 inches thick... with names and hearts knotted into them... rushing to the counselors at every activity to beg for their clipboard to use. and we wore the hell out of those bracelets... NEVER took them off to go swimming or take a shower. i'm fairly certain i could still find some of them among my boxes at home or in storage (i know i have a hair wrap from a random trip to disney world tucked away too).

thinking back on those days makes me so excited to watch as abby grows up and discovers her world! i can't wait to start introducing some of my favorite craft activities from back in the day and witness as she spends countless hours tying knots and gluing things together. a whole new generation of crafters to experience the joy of making stuff with and share it over giggles, secrets, playtime, and great adventures.

i plan on making lots and lots more friendship bracelets during my lifetime... they never get old. i made abby a little bracelet of her own. she studied it for a minute and then decided she liked it enough to keep it on and go about her reading for the day...

very much her mother's daughter, haha.

we really are feeling much better so thank you for all of the well wishes here and on facebook. my little lovebug is a trouper and always has a sunny disposition even when not feeling so hot. (all the the extra cuddles we a big bonus this week!)

hope you have a great weekend!

love.

sick day.

2011-07-26T20:15:00.004-05:00

hello friends.
sorry i don't have something amazing and wonderful to share today... little miss and i are feeling everything but amazing and wonderful. its the same old story... daddy works really hard for two weeks straight with no breaks and super long nights. daddy and his coworkers develop a slight cough and general ickyness and daddy brings it right home to us. no matter what we do we get it. we wash our hands, are careful not to share glasses or too many kisses with daddy, take extra vitamins, eat fruit, drink lots of fluids... but we still get sick (and have a million extra diapers to boot!)

today both abby and i started feeling it pretty hard and by the end of the day were both totally drained of energy. we had some good moments... lots of playtime... lots of cuddles while watching yo gabba gabba, fraggle rock, and random gordon ramsey shows. i had a few brief episodes where i felt motivated to get started on a real task but trying to figure out "what to do next" made my head hurt.

little miss had a super hard time getting to sleep tonight... and her frantic cries only made her throat worse. in the end a little pear snack and the chance to be awake when daddy came home was all it took to usher her off into dreamland. and now it's time for mommy to follow!

i hope all is well in your worlds and that you are having a great week! i'm hoping we are all feeling better by tomorrow so that we can be a little more productive... the original plan today was to take a few snapshots of the happy places in our home to share as part of mrs. rachel denbow's {smile and wave} photo challenge but as i obviously took a sick day it will have to wait until tomorrow.

goodnight.
love.

hooks & needles: a housewarming lap throw

2011-07-25T18:40:00.004-05:00

crocheted 'housewarming' lap throw
size: 44" x 44"
yarn: loops & threads cozy wool
7 colors/ 2skeins per color +1 extra of border color
hook: P-15

good evening!
i hope everyone is having a good monday night... little miss is giving me a run for my money tonight but hopefully she'll be 100% settled soon. we might have caught joey's little cough but i'm praying we didn't.

today i finished a lap throw for my sister. she chose the pattern and i chose colors to match her new condo's great room/open kitchen. (on a side-note the condo is GORGEOUS and i'm totally jealous of it!)

the throw is just one large granny square with a stripe variation that i eyeballed on my own based on which colors i wanted to be dominant vs the accents. the border is two rounds of double crochet.

if you'd like to know how to get started with this style of throw there is a great pattern to use as a base from lion brand called the 'pansy patch throw'.

also... if you are new to crochet &/or knitting or want to get started check out lion brand's instructional videos and how-to's at their online learning center. they are very clear (in my opinion) and a great way to see if you are interested in yarncrafts. if i taught myself you can too!

if you ever have any questions about projects i post or my crafts of choice in general please feel free to ask... if i can't answer them i can always help point you in the direction of the resource that can!

tfl.
love.

mommy + me style: new feature!

2011-07-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

hi friends!
i'm really excited to be starting my new feature 'mommy + me style'! as i shed my cotton tee & yoga pant uniform of the past year i will be sharing some of the fun things little miss and i have in our closets...

*disclaimer: there is absolutely nothing wrong with cotton tees, yoga pants, or any other uniform you adhere to. to be honest my wardrobe is still and forever will be full of my favorite cotton tees from target BUT after leaving my job at anthropologie, a pregnancy, and my first year as a SAHM i have gotten lazy and complacent in the fashion department... this is an opportunity for me to share as i kick myself in the butt and fall back in love with my clothes and my closet.

{mommy's accessories: ag denim jacket/anthropologie, vintage restyle necklace/anthropologie}

sunday morning was again super crazy hot here. looking at me in a jean jacket makes me break a sweat... the idea was that little miss and i would wear our jackets in church but it was so hot inside even that we didn't need them!

i stepped a little out of my norm and opted to let my hair down. i surrendered to my natural wave and used a few pearl pins from anthropologie to twist back the front (still waiting for a good opportunity to get my bangs cut).

{on mommy: top/eloise by anthropologie, skirt/bcbg}

this skirt is several years old and is one of the few things that has survived through many closet purges post florida. it did have a dumb hot chocolate stain on the front that was about 4 years old and so last week it was put into the bag to donate this month. but for some reason i was determined to wear it and keep it yesterday. on a whim i thought i'd try to get the stain out once more so i poured straight bleach onto a paper towel and went to town. lo and behold it came right off! i had washed and taken this thing to the dry cleaners several times but for some reason never tried straight bleach. now i know i guess know!

{on little miss: top/koala kids, bloomers/carters, shoes/faded glory}

abby was not in the mood to stay with me for some photos... she wanted to show off how good she is at standing and stepping. not quite confident enough to walk in her sandals but she does these cute little step outs and then bounces and claps for herself. so cute. she also wanted to get down and crawl to daddy with the camera... not happening on the sidewalk with those chubby bare little knees!

hope you all had a great weekend and stayed cool... sunday began our tiny break from the heat wave hitting the east coast. i'll be sharing more a bit later and introducing more new features all week!

love.

inspired by: the rv life.

2011-07-22T07:01:00.009-05:00

morning!

it's friday! joey has the whole weekend off and i couldn't be more happy... it's been a very long 14 days with no day off for him. it's so crazy hot outside so i don't think we'll be spending too much of it outside of our little flat but we are planning to hit up the st. ann's fest (our church's big street festival) and maybe try a little park time. regardless of what we do it's going to be heaven having our little family together!

this week i've been obsessed with all things summer vacation. we are gearing up for i guess what would be considered an 'indian summer' vacation in september to california and i seriously can't wait. this trip is going to be the first 'real' vacation for our little family that isn't specifically to see family or celebrate a holiday so it's going to be fun to have just the three of us explore and have fun. getting ready for this trip has made me dream about all of the future summer vacations we'll have and the amazing times we'll share.

my number one dream... RV's.

one day we will have one. it's probably my biggest dream to have a home on wheels that we can take anywhere we want and really explore this country like neither of us have before. i want to take a crazy picking adventure in some of the states we've only breezed through and i want my kids to really experience true Americana before it disappears. check out Sara's amazing family at walk slowly, live wildly . they have done some fantastic rv remodels (they use veggie oil too!) and LIVE on the road. literally. this is their photo stream...

how can you not fall in love with these little slices of heaven?

{source}

{source}

{source}

or how amazing would it be to run a business out of a restored vintage camper...

{enjoy cupcakes}

{fresher than fresh}

{adelante's curb service}

*sigh* love.

vintage 70s floral dress // for sale

2011-07-19T17:13:00.002-05:00

hello friends.
i bought this little cutie at a 60s/70s vintage store in new york city on the lower east side... it's in beautiful condition. unfortunately the print is a little young and doesn't look great on me so i'm offering it up to a better home. i don't have my etsy store up and running yet, but i thought i'd offer it here before taking it somewhere around here for consignment.

there's no tag/brand on the dress so i'm guessing it's handmade... and it's made very well! the ruffles/bow on the back are so cute!

i took the measurements with the dress laying flat so you'll have to double where appropriate. it fits me well and i'm about a 8-10ish right now...

bust: 16"
hips: free
length (armpit to bottom): 25"

price: $25 OBO

this is such an affordable little vintage sundress! i priced it way below what i bought it for because i think NYC vintage prices are crazy insane...

i have a paypal vendor account and if you feel better going through our ebay i can accommodate. i will charge flat rate shipping to USA only.

please share this post with anyone who might be interested!

thanks. love.

little miss: just another monday.

2011-07-18T23:51:00.000-05:00

{mornings are daddytime!}

abby just turned 13 months, and (taking after her momma) already knows everything. she's fiercely independent, smart, loving, and so curious.

mornings are her daddy time and this morning was no exception... despite getting in around 4am this morning he sprang up when she called at 6:30. (don't worry i'm not an awful wife, i took over and let him sleep!) when it was time for daddy to wake up she was so excited to jump in the bed... we always play this ridiculous game where she & i bang on the wall at the head of the bed and say 'help! help! i'm stuck in the wall! how did i get in here?' she cracks up. we crack up. perfect way to wake up!

{always in her book corner}

in between meals & snacks (the most important parts of the day) little miss has lots of work to do. she pulls out her toys and puts them back again... takes her blocks out of the drawer to taste, throw, and put back again... watches a couple of shows or baby einstein dvds... takes apart the stereo. yup. she's gotten so good at taking things out and putting them away. she hands things to me and is giddy when i say thank you or give them back.

her reading time is very important to her. it's not my job to read any book she's currently interested in. i can read a book that she's not interested in out loud and show her occasionally... but her special stack of books that she pulls out is off-limits. period. don't touch mom, in fact, stay a few feet away.

abby is constantly learning new things and showing me. it's so amazing to watch her when she 'gets' something new a about a toy or an object. she lights up, gets so ecstatic, claps, waves, yells, babbles. it's phenomenal to watch and you can't help but laugh and be excited with her.

she loves learning about color & music... lots of baby dancing! today we pulled out the crayons for the second or third time...

{picking her own colors}

we didn't have to talk to much about eating them this time... she has decided i'm correct and they are not something she considers edible. she did want to pick out her own colors from the box instead of the ones i picked to show her how to draw on the paper.

{all ready! so excited! where to start!?!}

{figuring it out}

she did so good this time and was really working on figuring these skinny little things out! she actually made some marks on the paper and stayed near the paper instead of losing interest or trying to use the crayons in another way (i know i'll find them stuck in her train or something at some point, ha). as she does when she's trying to learn anything she did lots of yelling at the crayons to make them work...

{!!!!}

and at the paper!

we had fun and when she got bored of the paper she spent another 10 minutes taking crayons out of the box and putting them back in.

little miss is not quite a walker but definitely pushing herself out of the crawler stage very quickly. she's a perimeter cruiser and furniture mover... if she encounters an obstacle she will literally throw all of her effort and strength into getting around it. sometimes that means moving a dining room chair or using her bouncer (which i move everyday but still think is heavy) as a walker.

until about 4pm we were having a super typical, chase the baby from one room to the next, work on 'no please' (as in no please don't play with mommy's typewriter)... monday. and then tragedy struck!

in an attempt to stand up using the small tub we keep her 'little people' in little miss fell face first and scored herself a bloody lip. oh she was not pleased. not at all. but we survived.

she recovered from the incident & cleanup a lot faster than she recovered from the swelling she woke up to after a tiny sleep. she had rolled into her 'downward sleeping dog' pose and i think the rush of blood exacerbated her condition. not happy, but again we survived.

and so we come to the end of our monday. bedtime was really quite normal this evening... little miss stayed up a bit later than usual so we could take our time with dinner and still blow off a little steam before bed. she told grandma + grandpa about her day and performed a couple tricks before letting me know it was time to call it a night...

cuddles... a song or two... and another monday, all done.

love.

a long daddy-less weekend.

2011-07-17T19:30:00.000-05:00

so long.
long playtimes... long naps.
long rounds

(resisting the urge to add a lot of o's...)

we didn't have daddy this weekend which was a huge bummer. not having him around means that my kitchen is a wreck, i didn't make sunday dinner, and the laundry is now taking over my bedroom... but i won't think about all that right now.

we did have lots of long laughs, which was lovely. little miss is doing all kinds of new things and just can't stand it when she conquers a task... she screeches, laughs, excitedly chatters to all who will listen, and there are several rounds of applause. she's too much. quite obviously my daughter!

my sister's blanket is coming along. the rounds are getting super long and still haven't decided if i want to end it with panels & then a border, or keep doing rounds and do a thick border. decisions, decisions.

naptimes are really the only time i can work on it, as evidenced above. if i keep working on it while little miss is awake i have about 5 minutes before she wants to help. i've started giving her cast off yarn to play experiment with...

#1 we are working on not eating it. after we settle that she tends to throw it around for awhile, pull it apart, and hand it back to me in little fuzz balls. good times. she is really into handing me anything she comes across that she feels is out of place. she's delighted when you thank her for it!

and yes... that is an ipood tee she's wearing. i think i mentioned the laundry earlier.

so now babe is finally asleep, i'm going to think about cleaning the kitchen for a minute while i fake a dinner for myself, and then crochet and watch american pickers on netflix until joey comes home. it could very well be a late night but i'm praying it's not.

is it too soon to start a countdown to california? i think so.

oh. oh. speaking of cali... i almost completely forgot! a little later i'll go more into it but i'm super excited about putting together a real travel wardrobe for our trip. real dresses. put together outfits. vintage for me (and little miss too!). no easy cotton tees... etc. and the plan is to blog the process. putting this together is a little nerve-racking because these are going to be some of my first big fashion purchases since losing the majority of my baby weight and i still have a bit to go before September 1st. so every piece i order i have to pray that it will 'close' to fit, which is scary sometimes when ordering vintage or indie. but i digress...

the cause of my present excitement is my first purchase! i've been eyeing this dress at the red velvet shop and last night i took the leap... into my cart it went.

so i've broken the ice and i'm really happy. i hope to be just as happy when the dress comes home to me! i think it will... i don't want to spoil it but i am 99.9% sure that i'll be choosing this to wear for our friend's wedding. i'm planning on styling it with some off-white/antique white tights (as it will be post-labor day) and wedges.

and now it's time to get back to my hook and yarn zone. i noticed i used 'break the ice' like they do in american pickers... wouldn't that be an amazing job to have? my dream.

love.

finally claiming it. please follow.

2011-07-17T18:30:00.000-05:00

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today i made... banana bread!

2011-07-16T13:11:00.012-05:00

and not just banana bread...
peanut butter banana bread! yum!

ok to be honest banana bread is not my favorite thing in the world but apparently joey likes it, so when i saw three perfectly overripe bananas i figured a loaf of banana-na-ny goodness was called for. i used a simple bare bones recipe from the pillsbury family cookbook. i love this old thing and want to use it a lot more. we picked it up at a church book sale, besides having some really simple classic recipes the beginning chapters on technique and meal planning are retro-wonderful.

(yeah i just said that)

i used basically the same recipe as the book with a couple of changes... i added a little over 1/4c. of creamy peanut butter and skipped the vanilla & the nuts.

ingredients:

2c. flour
1tsp. baking soda
1/2c. milk
3tsp. baking powder
1/2c. butter
1/4c. peanut butter (be generous!)
1c. sugar
2 eggs
3 medium bananas

(you can add 1/2c. of nuts if you'd like!)

preheat oven to 350.
mash bananas.
sift flour & baking soda in one bowl.
combine milk & baking powder in another bowl.

in another BIG bowl:

mix together (hand whisk is easiest, no need to get your mixer dirty!) butter, eggs, & peanut butter until creamy. then add your sugar a bit at a time until your mix is pretty smooth.

fold in your mashed bananas & mix well.

now add your dry ingredients and milk to the banana mixture. the trick here is to add a little of each alternately. as you get to the end of your milk & dry ingredients be sure to check the consistency of your batter... if it seems too runny add a little more flour, if too thick add milk.

{at 30 min. bake time}

bake at 350 for 45-65min.
bread should be springy when done
have a nice golden/honey crust
and a wooden skewer/tooth pick should come out clean

quick baking tip: your butter, eggs, peanut butter, & milk should be at room temperature before mixing together... makes for a much nicer smoother batter.

joe arrived home and immediately started eating the bread so he approves! little miss tried some earlier but was unimpressed... we'll try a little again tomorrow and see what she thinks. it usually take two tries for her to commit to an opinion on tastiness.

hope you give it a try... OR if you have a favorite banana bread try changing up some of the ingredients! add peanut butter, or nuts, 1/2c. seasonal berries, or even chocolate chips (okay much try that next time... it might convert me into a banana bread lover!)

love.

p.s. while reading this joe said "banana bread with chocolate chips, ew" so maybe he wouldn't like it... but since when does adding chocolate chips to something do anything but make it more fabulous?

to do list.

2011-07-13T14:05:00.009-05:00

finish it.

hang it. (or buy a new shelf, hmm.)

4 down. 32+ more to go.

i also need to:

totally re-commit to this blog (again)
get little miss back onto her schedule
finish our cali trip plans
get back on my diet

i want to:

start 3 new blankets
stitch up some new things for abby's room
start buying up vintage sheets again

getting a grip + weekly fitness.

2011-04-04T18:33:00.000-05:00

i'm here, i'm here!!

ugh. it's been way too long and i'm super late for my weekly fitness/diet update. sorry! our little family of 3 has gotten quite busy and i'm just getting a hold of the reigns enough to rework my "other stuff" schedule. but i'm working on it and i'll be back on track by the end of the week! the plus side... i have a ton to share since i've been working hard on new stuff!

little miss has gotten so big these past two weeks, so much confidence and so freakin' smart. everyday i watch her set out to tackle a new task, and she has it figured out in no time. we had such an amazing weekend. joe had the whole weekend off after a few weeks of heavy OT. not only did i get so much done, i was able to watch my two besties laugh, play, make music, learn, build, & tumble together for two whole days! we had so much fun... but i digress.

this week was definitely a comeback week for me and i'm happy to say i'm feeling really good now that our *newest* schedule as started to settle in. i for sure am still struggling with my diet. by the middle of last week i was in dire need of a trip to the grocery store but it was so wet & cold that i didn't feel like going without joe. i am finally back into the grove of recording my dailies on loseit! but for most of week 5 i didn't at all. i still kept an eye on everything i ate and feel good about my cal in/cal out ratio.

in case you are stumbling onto this and what to learn more about the fitness challenge.... you can click on either photo below to visit the hosts! both are awesome and have great blogs, so check them out. you can join in here anytime!

get fit. get healthy. week 5.
height: 5'6"

weight: 154/153 on my thursday weigh in... 152 when i weighed myself this morning! i am working so hard to get below 150 before heading to my parents on the 18th. i'm REALLY excited about my fitness program while i have access to their treadmill... crazy cadio training week here i come!

your fitness challenge(s) for the week: keep going on the workouts + try to get a full morning and evening session in on tuesday, wednesday, & friday. keep working in crunches + core work.

biggest important challenge this week is SLEEP. i need it. i want it. yet i don't do it. it's not even a matter or losing sleep because of the baby... i just refuse to go to sleep when i really should. it's hard when joe isn't home because a big part of me wants to stay up to have a few moments to talk to him, have an adult conversation, see how he's been and catch up on all things abby. now this is ridiculous on nights that he could potentially be gone until 1am or later, so why stay up from 1030 to 12 when i know i won't see him? so yeah, 8 hours. everyday. it's on.

your food challenge for the week: i'm really doing good on my water intake again, i want to keep it up! did some good cooking/shopping this weekend which has set me up for a great nutrition week. i'm actually going vegetarian a couple days this week... joey cooked black beans ALL weekend and they taste great! (i've NEVER said that about a dish with beans anywhere NEAR it EVER.)

how well did it go: although i had some diet slip ups this week and wasn't as good about keeping track of my calories exactly i feel like i had a really great week. i'm keeping up with my workouts and have added in several sets of crunches throughout my day (part of getting in core work while i can on a now standing & curious busy baby's daily schedule.) i definitely am excited about working out again, not that it's easier at all. haha. plank switches and push up circuits are KILLING me! but i've started committing to all of my program and adding in the extra burns that i really have fun doing on days that i want to throw the xbox out the window.

failures and slip-ups: chocolate. yeah i'll say it.

weekly challenge wisdom:

"Sleep is the best meditation."
- Dalai Lama

advice to fellow GET FIT members:

The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat,
can influence your life by 30 to 50 years.
- Deepak Chopra

The physical world, including our bodies, is a response of the observer.
We create our bodies as we create the experience of our world.
- Deepak Chopra

arm-length self-portrait:

capturing my inner child....

coloring has always been my favorite thing... i've had my current set of coloring books for many many years. i can't wait until abby gets interested in crayons (other than for their tastiness!)

hoping to write some more catch up and an abby update tonight when little miss gets to bed.

love.

get fit. get healthy. week 4.

2011-03-26T08:31:00.005-05:00

it's been a strange week.
i've felt constantly distracted every day this week... pulled from the things i should do (like stick to the good schedule i'd had in place for a few solid weeks now) towards other stuff that i'd rather be doing. but i'll catch up on all that later...

time for week 4! as i said it's been an odd, odd week but i still feel positive about it. i wasn't able to log as consistently as i had been but i think i still stayed under my diet plan for the week. the fitness part was a little wonky... mostly due to bad timing on my part and not being totally committed to the workouts. so here we go...

get fit. get healthy. week 4.
height: 5'6"

weight: 154/154 no loss. no gain... so i'm good.

your fitness challenge(s) for the week: my challenge this week is to stay excited! i've lost a little of my enthusiasm for my daily workout plan (it's been really heavy on circuit training the last week) so i haven't been as committed to them or to getting in the extra workouts that i actually LOVE (like the box-fit routines, and long yoga sessions).

your food challenge for the week: still working on getting in more raw veggies. really need to watch my water still...

how well did it go: last week went OKAY, but it was for sure off. how can i describe it any better than, i didn't suck? i was basically away from my computer all week so i didn't log everything like i had been. (i'll say it again,i love keeping track so i can really look at the week as a whole objectively.)

my food challenge last week was to get in 5 new veggies. well i BOUGHT 5 new veggies but we haven't gotten them all cooked/eaten yet. that's today's work in the kitchen. i did eat a raw tomato in my salad thursday night. OMG! p.s. that's crazy huge for me. i hate, HATE raw tomatoes just about 95% of the time. when i got pregnant i started eating them with the steak quesadillas from Baja (our favorite and joe started ordering and picking it up for me when i craved it... SO GOOD.) well Joe has been trying to push me to eat more tomatoes so he suggested getting a few plum tomatoes for me to try. i got up the courage and cut one up in my salad and went for it... it was, okay. they are still growing on me but i didn't freak out.

fitness last week was a little off in motivation and committment. i did what i "had" to, and got in a few extras... my heart hasn't totally been into it so that's my re-focus for this week!

failures and slip-ups: there were definitely many! but this week i feel all of my issues came from being really disconnected to what i was doing plan-wise... and really distracted by everything else around me. that's not necessarily a horrible thing, especially when your distraction is wanting to watch your husband and baby girl play together! i just need to get my balanced schedule back on track, watch it, and commit to my workouts while i'm doing them... then i have the time to focus on everything else i want to AND feel great physically.

weekly challenge wisdom:

"For he who has no tranquility there is no concentration."
-Bhagavad Gita

advice to fellow GET FIT members: Stay Present. that's my challenge to all of us this week! and not just when it's easy... when it's hard stay in it. you'll be happy you focused and find that whatever you are doing gets done more efficiently and yeilds ultimate results! focusing the mind and committing to "being here now" as it were changes your whole perception, you become more aware in every aspect of your life... so refreshing!

arm-length self-portrait: i totally don't have time to do a selfie today so instead i thought i'd share a selfie from this week last year... 31 weeks pregnant. can't believe it's been a year!

i promise promise to catch up and share everything i've done this week... little miss has been super busy too!

love.

get fit. get healthy. week 3.

2011-03-17T21:30:00.000-05:00

happy st. patty's day (again)!

it's time again to sum up the past week of my fitness challenge. i have to admit that the week ended with me really struggling. i know i need to get over this 2nd/3rd week so that my new lifestyle really sticks (they say you form new habits in about 6 weeks)... but for some reason towards the end i watched myself trying so hard to self-sabotage my plans.

so now as i write this i once again have to take a step back... i had one bad day. tuesday. it was rough for a couple of reasons, but i got into a bad mood, started telling myself i couldn't do this, wasn't seeing results (so dumb because i totally am)... the reality is that i need to lighten up.

what i love about this challenge and participating in sharing it is that i'm really forced to take a look at the week as a whole... not stay bogged down in the failures of a single day (or even a couple of days) but to see the curve of my week and know that i really did make good progress and am working hard. and to learn from it...

get ready for a long post friends because i might have a lot to say in some of this week's responses!

get fit. get healthy. week 3.
height: 5'6"

weight: 156/154... 2 pounds this week!

your fitness challenge(s) for the week: this week i'm moving my program up to the "challenging" level. i did all of my extra workouts at "challenging" level on a whim to see how i would do and was so proud of myself for getting through them. i'd also like to continue doing my extra calorie burn on 4/6 of my workout days... the other days i'd like to start working in some sit up/crunch workouts via the 200situps program.

your food challenge for the week: this week i want to refocus my water intake. on my slip up days i started in with the diet coke again and could really feel the difference (i felt hungry all the time even though i'd eaten!) also... vegetables! my goal is to work in 5 vegetables that have been absent from my menu for too long. no more standards (green beans, corn, onion, carrots, broccoli) it's time to get some new stuff in there!

how well did it go: my challenges for last week were to get in 5 extra workouts and work on healthier lunches... i did pretty well on the fitness side. i got my 5 extra workouts in no problem... and some of those extras were really big ones to offset some of my diet slip ups. healthier lunches are still a problem. i'm finding that making wraps is working a lot better for me than full sandwiches with tons of bread. i'm hoping to get out to some markets tomorrow (weather permitting) to see what kind of produce is available to make my wraps and salads better tasting and healthier. we had to go to the grocery store super late this past sunday and the pickings were pretty slim.

failures and slip-ups: well i did a big no no and let some stress take over on tuesday and i succumbed to the old pressure of using food to make me "feel" better. unfortunately because of how WRONG stopping off for that immediate gratification fast food meal (that took up 90% of my daily calorie goal) actually felt, i spiraled into a bad bad negative attitude that took me the rest of the day (and a few moments on wednesday) to get over. after that sad sad lunch i had to force myself to do my workout and i bitched and complained the whole time. it's a machine and i was literally talking back to it like a bratty teenager... i even said the forbidden "i can't" several times. that was such a disappointment to myself because i was saying i couldn't do things that i was totally doing just the day before when i was so motivated and proud of my returning strength.

i'm much better now, and i'm glad i had the experience and was able to talk to joe about it so that he could understand how much i need his support even though he's super busy at work. this is a tough time in my program and i'm committed to getting through it... i'm blessed to have a new community to turn to and a husband who is so proud of me for trying to get my body and our family's lifestyle back on track.

weekly challenge wisdom: "Use perceived failures and misfortunes as a catalyst to push you toward bigger and better things." - Jillian Michaels

advice to fellow GET FIT members: find your support system! and don't be afraid to tell someone you need them, or ask for help if they aren't giving you want you need. chances are they don't even know it and NO ONE is a mind reader!

arm-length self-portrait: the week 3 assignment was a couples valentines day selfie... well obviously valentines day is long gone, and there really isn't an opportunity for joe and i to take a photo in the five sleeping hours that he's been home each day this week... so instead here is a photo of little miss and i after our st. patty's day trip to go see daddy at work.

i'm not totally in love with the quality of the photos we took in the mirror today. this was the first time i'd tried taking them with her in awhile and she's gotten much wigglier (is that a word??) since then. very hard to get a 9 month old and myself in focus with a 50mm fixed lens, poor lighting, while not looking through the viewfinder. but we look happy and we always have fun talking to each other in the mirror before bathtime. (maybe tomorrow i'll post some of the outtakes for fun!)

here's one i took with my point and shoot...

again due to a wiggly baby i'm pretty sure the focus picked up the books. it's been such a long time since i worked on self-photography. i'm glad that this challenge includes a prompt to get back into it!

i hope everyone had a great st. patty's day! i know me and my little leprechaun did. i'm super excited that tomorrow is promising to be 70 degrees out... it may call for another trip into the city to try a different park since i had no clue that bryant park was still basically a big pile of dirt. for sure we are heading to the union square greenmarket... i sure hope that's open!

love.

a bit later...

2011-03-17T10:39:00.002-05:00

Happy St. Patty's Day!

i started my week 3 post for get fit. get healthy. but i really need to use this naptime to get myself and little miss all ready to head into the city. daddy's been working really hard and it's a gorgeous day outside so i thought i'd get my additional calorie burn in by trekking the city and going to visit him. not sure we'll make it for the parade exactly but it will be nice to get out!

so i'll be back later this evening for week 3 and maybe even to share some photos of our adventures... wish me lots of luck navigating the throngs of "irish for the day" haha.

love.

my unrepeatable miracle.

2011-03-16T14:23:00.006-05:00

{My Minds Eye Tres Jolie: Paper, Border Stickers & Die Cuts;
Making Memories Alpha}

this is the layout i did for the MME sketch challenge...

it's super simple but i totally love it. more and more i'm beginning to realize that this is the kind of scrapbooking i love and love to do. i spend so much time trying to over embellish pages (i do really love the way some people can go crazy with them) but i just can't.

i do have to work on journaling more. for abby's book i've been concentrating on just making layouts i love that mostly feature her pictures since i only print them out to scrapbook. i'm not sure if i've said this before but i've been either hand writing or typing letters to abby on the back of each layout. the letter is either about the day/event/subject of the layout or just about her on the day i'm actually making the layout. i find that a lot of the journaling i want to do on my pages is just too personal... i feel like it should be private and isn't important to the beauty of the layout itself if someone wants to look through her books. plus i think it will be so special when she's older and i give her the books for her to be able to read all the notes that are just to her.

i'll be back soon with more!
love.

*oops... forgot to add that the base pp is MME stella & rose!

turntable tuesday: old friends.

2011-03-15T18:19:00.001-05:00

hello.
my apologies for the late post, again.
today was a bit of a roller coaster ride for little miss and i... her pediatrician appointment today was kind of tough and that on top of a horrible decision to get fast food for lunch put me into quite the mood. things are all good now... thanks to my amazing little girl, and then music...

i wanted to share my go to albums this week that always can put me right back into a positive state of mind no matter what i'm dealing with. i would have named it my "top 5" but when i took a look at what records are usually sitting next to my record player it turned out to be 7. a few of them i have shared before... like fleet foxes (always lift my spirit) and bridge over troubled water. it's absolutely no surprise to me that simon & garfunkel have two albums on the list. fakin' it, america, and at the zoo are some of my favorite songs ever.

i love wings. joe totally makes fun of the fact that i love wings... but i do. there is something about linda and paul that just make me happy in a way that john and yoko could never do. wings over america is a great live album... i'm still looking to pick up their "best of" with mull of kintyre which is probably my favorite wings song. it's one of the songs i sing to abby at night...

so here is the list of the albums that i am calling my "old friends..." the albums that always have a place right next to my record player and can always lift my mood and remind me that life is good and there is so much to be thankful for....

what a long strange trip it's been: the best of the grateful dead
fleet foxes
jethro tull: songs from the wood (or best of)
simon & garfunkel: bookends & bridge over troubled water
the beatles: abbey road*
wings: wings over america

*i'll be doing a beatles post in the upcoming weeks... we have a lot of beatles!

i lost my light today before i could take good photos of my layouts so far this week but i'll get them all done tomorrow afternoon... in the meantime here's a sneak i took a couple of days ago before my entry for the my minds eye sketch challenge was finished. i was happy for the opportunity to use some cha bits and pieces i picked up YEARS ago... they were from the tres jolie release. i never used them because i knew i wanted them for when i had a baby... the colors and patterns were too precious to just use for myself, or wedding photos, or really anything else...

goodnight + love love love.

some late night gushing...

2011-03-14T21:28:00.003-05:00

hello + goodbye monday...

sorry for the late post. today was a busy day for me, most of the house "stuff" leftover from sunday had to be finished today because tomorrow is abby's 9mo. ped appointment (and coincidentally the day she turns 9 mo.!!)

sunday was so insane. we tried to get our tire fixed, no go, the tear isn't in the tread but on the side so that means next week we'll be buying a full set of new tires. it's been too long coming anyway... after that we did laundry, target shopping, and grocery shopping. doing any of those things on a sunday afternoon/evening is such a ridiculous propsition. too crowded, stores too messy... all we wanted to do was get back home.

when we finally did i pushed myself HARD to do my day's workout. i was so proud of myself afterward but it really took some coaxing, and my back was screaming at me after the laundromat... it got done though.

so today was a "putting the house back together" day... and then when i was all done i spent the rest of my alone time working on the many layouts i have sitting waiting to be finished after this past week and watching my current obsession...

i watched season 1 & 2 last month on netflix streaming but just got my dvd queue fixed (joe had too many off the wall things coming that just weren't appealing to me) so i'm now working on season 3. i'm wholly addicted to this show. first of all... Jonathan Rhys Meyers is phenomenally hot. and yes... this is the gushing part...

like seriously hot. he and all his many stages of facial hair... plus he's irish. which, well... just kind of gets me.

and if he's not enough eye candy to make you want to watch this show. i give you Henry Cavill...

so besides the great looking people on the show i have to say that the story of henry VIII and his wives... and his successors... has always been one of my favorite in history. and i really think this show is well done, exciting, dramatic, sexy. good times!

i feel a little weird that i just did a post about a. a tv show and b. the fact that i'm crushing on the boys like a teenager... but oh well. tomorrow is a big day but i promise to share another turntable tuesday and get some photos taken of the layouts i've finished!

love.

busy little miss.

2011-03-12T19:58:00.008-05:00

hello.
joey went into work today so little miss and i had a quiet saturday to ourselves (although we REALLY missed having daddy home...) i should have been working on the four layouts i have started on my table but instead i got consumed in a new photo technique i learned at selfie magic.

i think it looks pretty good for my first one... and by the end i just really didn't care about the imperfections i kept seeing. taking these shots of abby really made me want to go out and get a new tripod (ours broke a long time ago and i didn't feel like replacing it right away)... i didn't take them exactly the same way each time so making sure the wood floor lined up right was a bit of a challenge. i had some lighting issues too when roxy decided she didn't want to look out the window anymore... i have some great shots of roxy and abby while abby was playing her piano but i just couldn't make it work into this project, maybe i'll do another one later with a few of abby's other adventures around the living room this afternoon.

oh, and don't mind the grey swatch on the wall by the window... i still haven't decided what color i want the living room to be... i'm sure i'll pick one as we are packing to move to our next place, haha.

for the rest of the evening i'm planning to work on some layouts. i gave up on finishing my daily december for now because i have a greater desire to keep getting through all of abby's photos so far and break into my studio calico kits. into the woods came yesterday and i am itching to work with it... but for some reason i can't when i know i have 3 older kits sitting there untouched. ocd.

i'm really looking forward to having joe home tomorrow. we have a super busy day... church, laundry, grocery shopping, getting a new tire, maybe a little mall time... i'm hoping we can get it all done without too much crankiness.

love.

get fit. get healthy. week 2.

2011-03-10T16:30:00.006-05:00

thursday again!
sorry for the serious lack of blog posts this week. little miss and i have colds, again. well technically hers is done... mine is lingering. i'm pretty sure we got the sniffles on sunday when we were out in the not so great weather... i wore my flats, in the rain, and spent all of breakfast after church with cold feet. serves me right!

ready for week 2 of the challenge! i'm super proud of myself today... yesterday was my "rest" day of my workout schedule and it took all of my willpower to get going again today. but i did it! last week definitely posed some challenges and i did splurge on foods that i shouldn't have, but all in all i'm really happy that i'm exercising again and my body is feeling it!

so here we go...

get fit. get healthy. week 2

weight: 156... yup 4 pounds lost!! i couldn't believe it when my mid-week weigh-ins had me losing already!

your fitness challenge(s) for the week: keep with my program - fit in 5 extra sessions

your food challenge for the week: find more healthy lunches... so my slip ups this week are mostly lunch related. i don't always have a ton of time for lunch depending on what's happening with abby, and a few days this week i resorted to frozen personal pizzas. they were there and took no thought to make. salads are usually the last thing i want... so i need to come up with some better ideas that don't involve frozen or too much deli meat (my other favorite).

how well did it go: i'm doing great on last week's challenges. i'm drinking a TON of water and have really cut down my soda intake. i've gone whole days without any which is pretty huge for me. i did great keeping up with my first week of workouts and joey, little miss, and i went out walking all day saturday! (see last sunday's post!!!)

failures and slip-ups: i for sure had some slip-ups, but i'm still really happy with how i did overall. tuesday i was over my calorie goal. i blame the stress of a sick baby and mommy and some reward cookies that just would not stop calling my name. sunday was a little struggle with joey... i have been really crazy about looking at calories and i think it was too much too soon for him. it really just comes down to the fact that i've NEVER really looked at what is in the food i eat... so yeah i was going a little nuts turning absolutely everything over in the market to see how many calories were in it. i'll calm down, and he's supportive, we just all have to adjust a little.

weekly challenge wisdom: i am my own biggest obstacle... move it.

advice to fellow GET FIT members: so Elena at the art of making a baby wrote about calorie counting this past saturday and OMG she's right. using lose it! this past week has been eye opening and a huge motivator. knowing what i'm eating compared to what i'm burning holds me accountable and allows me to see my progress when i get discouraged. try it!

arm-length self-portrait: *coming saturday! sorry i don't have this yet but week two's assignment was a full body "starting" shot and joey needs to take it saturday morning. it's coming i promise!

ok here it is as promised... but first i have to admit just how hard it is for me to post this picture. this morning joe took some photos before heading off to work and he kept assuring me that i didn't have to post them if i didn't feel comfortable... and i so don't. but i think it's important for me to admit where i am so i can be sooo proud once i'm where i want to be. hey if those women on the biggest loser can stand up there on national television every week in a sports bra and spandex, showing off their imperfections as their bodies go through drastic changes... i can do it just this once.

{as you can see i'm very pleased to be doing this at 7am on saturday morning...}

{and my focus... my core. need to strengthen my back & hips which are majorly suffering post-pregnancy}

i have to admit that just in the two weeks i've been working out i notice changes already which makes me happy even though i still have work to do... my abs are once again showing signs that they may want to come out to play. i've also noticed that my sides are totally uneven and i feel it during my workouts... i think it's due to how abby was positioned for most of my 3rd trimester (she was a side to side baby and liked to stretch out and make me look all weird). i'm still trying to determine which side is really the weaker so i can do some extra core work isolating it and getting my body back into an even shape.

well... i guess this could have been a saturday post on it's own! from now on i'll make sure my self portraits are caught up for thursdays so there isn't all of this editing and rambling! love.

now i'm off to catch up on some scrapbooking challenges that i had meant to do at the beginning of the week... #2 thing i absolutely have no desire to do when sick is scrapbook (#1 being blogging). i need to learn not to be such a big baby when i have a cold.

hope everyone has had a great week... i'll get caught up with everyone's blogs tomorrow, promise!

love.

in the history of bad ideas...

2011-03-06T17:31:00.008-05:00

my plan to go out to the hoboken st. patty's day parade could have been the worst.

it was so incredibly packed, and by time the parade started and was in full swing most of the population was well on their way to wasted. but we were able to maneuver the stroller through the throngs of jersey girls, guidos, and frat boys getting their irish on. (we totally ran into some serious fist pumping outside of one bar... love it.)

(not very) surprisingly few people were actually watching the parade so i got in some good shots...

despite having a front row seat abby was pretty disinterested in the whole deal...

{staring at an abandoned cup of green liquid, probably alcoholic in nature}
{and yes i tripped over it...}

she much preferred yelling at the people as we waded our way down washington street. and flirting with all the tipsy girls who fawned over her as she passed.

i, however, love bagpipers. and there were plenty of them! i counted at least 4 groups before we dipped into a sushi place for lunch.

when i went through my photos i saw this gentleman...

{mr. president? i had no idea!}

abby did perk up for the fire trucks, LOVE the pink one for GEMMA... she watched them with daddy...

{still not going to smile for you mom...}

all in all it was a beautiful day, a little chilly towards the end of the afternoon as the clouds rolled in, but a good indicator that spring is indeed coming. it was fantastic to be out walking with joey and little miss... even with the crowds. want to beat the crowds on st. patty's day? steer clear of the pubs & go for sushi!

today we did church & fruit shopping for purees (and mommy's new diet). then dad made mommy slip up on her new diet... but that's for next week's get fit. get healthy. post...

it's been raining all day so we've been napping and hanging out all afternoon. i'm still hoping to get some of the craftiness done tonight that i wanted to but it's SO tempting to just hang out with my besties.

hope everyone had a great weekend!

love.

a sketch challenge + weekend wip.

2011-03-04T14:13:00.005-05:00

hello friday!
it has been a great day so far...
took care of my workout this morning, keeping on my healthy eating...
drinking a ton of water and already feeling so good! (and sore)

during abby's early nap i was able to retake the photos of my layout for the sunday sketch challenge on the studio calico blog. i really love how this one turned out (another two pager? what's going on here?)...

i again used the november 2010 SC kit napa valley. this kit is still available if you want to purchase one for yourself. i did add the base paper in from my stash. it's american crafts: blue skies: so happy together, the solid side. i have SO MUCH of this specific paper. i think i bought 4 or 5 packs of it when i was making abby's announcements and i still have a pack and a half left. (over buy much?)

i still have a ton of the napa valley kit left but the rest of it reads fall to me so i'm going to pack it back up until i am inspired to work with some of last year's fall photos. i really want to break out another one of my SC kits this weekend but i'm holding off. instead i want to switch gears and work on a few different things this weekend...

daily december: ugh. in know, nothing like working on 2010's daily december in march. i only got through the first week in real time last year... but i did continue to print out photos each day so now i want to go through and finish it up.

the "fail" glamour pattern: for the past five months i've been working on a knitting pattern with this...

photo: lion brand.com

i hate this yarn. it's been driving me crazy. i bought 9 skeins of it in topaz in order to knit a shrug pattern from lionbrand.com and the pattern was a total fail. even if i doubled the yarn it was TINY... and using bigger needles looks awful. so now i'm working on a new idea. sad part, this was supposed to be my sister's birthday present. her birthday was in february. i'm the worst sister ever.

so that's mostly what i want to accomplish this weekend... besides grocery shopping, daddy time, and hopefully some outside time. oh, and i have to groom roxy tomorrow morning. she's blowing her coat for spring and is starting to get SMELLY. i hate how all the old hair smells... yuck.

well, i had intended to talk about lent coming up... but little miss has decided i've spent enough time on the computer so i'm off to play and read a few books with her. my thoughts on the upcoming season will have to be saved for another day.

hope everyone has a great weekend!
love.

edit: after posting i realized i forgot a few things on the above layout that weren't in the SC kit. the tiny alphas are making memories and the ones above the stamped title are american crafts. the pennant banner cardstock stickers are sassafras lass indie girl. thanks!

get fit. get healthy.

2011-03-03T11:35:00.004-05:00

hello.
i need to thank my good friend kim for turning me on to this "get fit, get healthy" challenge. i've been in a bad bad weight gain/weight loss cycle since having abby. i did extremely well during my pregnancy, kept exercising, stayed really fit, perfect weight gain. but post-birth has been a whole other story.

it really started when abby was about 3 months old. i started having some issues with breastfeeding. i'm not going to go into the whole two month long struggle, but basically it ended with abby totally rejecting breastfeeding and me turning into a bad eater.

abby is now happy and healthy... and i'm overweight and unable to fit into any of my lovely spring pre-pregnancy dresses. don't even TALK to me about bathing suits. ugh. but here's to looking forward!

i highly suggest you check out {shutter}mama and the art of making a baby and join in on the challenge... both are really amazing blogs and definitely worth reading. so much great information (not just on getting healthy!)

today i'm starting week 1 and i began by re-starting my 12 week program on:

the first workout is actually a 30 min fitness test of increasing difficulty and omg... i am crazy out of shape but i made it all the way through. i'm already feeling sore but it feels good, my body is waking up! i'm optimistic and i am ready to work hard, and get back to my best!

so now for my first questionnaire...

get fit. get healthy. week 1

weight: my starting weight is 160. my goal is to get back to my pre-baby weight of 135 but mostly i just want a flat, toned belly back, and my hips & thighs back in shape.

your fitness challenge(s) for the week: my goal this week is to do the entire week's routines on my program (it's set to work 6 days a week) and go on at least one long dog walk with joey (and little miss) on saturday and sunday.

your food challenge for the week: most important to my get healthy challenge is water. this week i'm challenging myself to drink 8 glasses of water per day and cut down my soda intake to one glass per day at lunch. (soda is my crack... i need to let it go.)

how well did it go: we'll see, i'm feeling good about it!

failures and slip-ups: i promise to blog them as they go, but today so far i'm doing really great. and i may even skip my glass of soda with lunch because i don't even WANT it right now, lol.

weekly challenge wisdom:

The only people who will fail in their goals are the ones who just don't try.

this is taken from {shutter}mama's week 4 questionnaire and it really resonates with me right now. i have just not been trying for the past 6 months. after my workout this morning i started thinking about abby's birth. not to toot my own horn but i did so freakin' amazing. it was the hardest thing i'd ever done physically and mentally and i can't explain how proud of myself i was afterward. i went in, with a goal to do it naturally and be strong... i was so confident and i did it, exactly the way i wanted to. after that i felt like i could do absolutely anything... so what changed? i need to remember that feeling, and rock out in every aspect of my life in exactly the same way.

advice to fellow GET FIT members: building off the above... just try. you'll be amazed what you can accomplish if you set your mind to the goal, love yourself, and do your best.

arm-length self-portrait: the week 1 self-portrait homework was to post a photo of you from the past that you strive to look like again...

this was july 2009. two months before i got pregnant. i was in the best shape of my life and felt amazing. how good i felt physically was one of the big factors in us deciding to try to have a baby - having a really fit pregnancy was so important to me. it's time get the skinny little happy healthy me back so i can be at my best for my little miss.

i hope everyone joins in!

i'll be back later this evening with one, maybe two new layouts! hope everyone is having a great thursday!

love.

hello march.

2011-03-02T16:21:00.004-05:00

abby and i are very excited to see you!
we are looking forward to:

starting classes at the little gym of jc
getting two front teeth (they are just about out!)
turning 9 months!
spring weather + trips to the park
our first big nyc parade
losing weight + getting back in shape (that's me...)
lots of scrapbooking
turning off the heat (for good) + opening the windows
spring cleaning!

maybe even learning to stand up... omg.

really really happy we are headed into spring. it opens up so many more possibilities for little miss & i. it just needs to get a little warmer and then we are spending every single day OUTSIDE. well, close to every single day.

today i looked up from the layout i'm working on...

{little tiny sneak of another two pager. woah.}

and saw little miss doing this...

omg. i have to say that i hadn't actually put her down anywhere near her piano... i usually leave it at one corner of her play area so she can get to it herself when she wants it. and there she is kneeling at it. that's like one push away from STANDING. standing. one her own. without my help. seriously?!? my baby cannot be working on how to stand herself up yet. no no no no. *sigh*

{ok mini mommy-tantrum over}

the increased mobility of my little miss in just the past two weeks completely boggles my mind. i'm so proud and amazed by her every day. not to mention just how independent she is. i can't wait to start classes at the little gym next week. we are going to have a blast and i'm hoping we meet some great babies + mommies to organize some more playdates with!

so, i think that's enough blabbing about my amazing kid for today...

i hope that everyone has a fantastic march & that spring quickly shows it's beautiful face in all of our lives!

love.

turntable tuesday: the stones.

2011-03-01T11:57:00.005-05:00

hello.
today i thought i'd share our rolling stones collection...
i didn't have a ton of time to take photos this afternoon, so pardon my bedspread as the backdrop.

first and foremost i have to say that i'm not the biggest rolling stones fan. i like them, and can listen to whole albums... but i'm in no way a stones aficionado. all of our rolling stones records are from joe's dad's collection. i don't think my dad really liked them (i could be wrong on that but to be honest i don't remember having any stones records or cds in the house growing up).

that said. our rolling stones albums are some of my favorite in our collection for their cover art. which, if you ARE into the stones probably isn't a surprise. i photographed my favorites, except for "their satanic majesties request" because i'm pretty sure trying to photograph a hologram will trigger a migraine.

my favorite album cover is "some girls." i love advertising from the 50s + 60s (see my posts on marshal mcLuhan here + here). my favorite albums to listen to are "sticky fingers" (also cool cover with a real zipper on the front), "some girls", and "beggars' banquet" (which i'm listening to right now).

our full catalog goes like this (random order):
some girls
let it bleed
beggars' banquet
their satanic majesties request
sticky fingers
it's only rock 'n roll
goat's head soup
exile on main st.
emotional rescue

to be honest i haven't even listened to all of them yet because a few are still in major need of a good cleaning... so there might be more favorites in there that i haven't discovered yet.

i do still intend of having joe "guest" blog soon. he knows so much more about the vinyl we inherited from his dad. soon i hope!

off to work on some things for the house and SC's sunday sketch.

love.

sleepy monday.

2011-02-28T09:26:00.006-05:00

mondays are always a good nap day but today is an especially sleepy day for little miss. i think it's because it's so overcast and rainy outside... plus she's worn out from our errands and daddy time this weekend.

this week not too much is happening. st. patty's day is coming up so i have a few things to do for that (the 17th is also my daddy's birthday!) i really hope it's nice out for the parade, i'd also like to go to church with abby at st' patrick's cathedral if we can.

i have some layouts i'm working on, it's way too overcast to take photos today but i'll share them soon. here's the page i finished last week. sorry for the ugly photo of it but i'm out of practice taking page shots and i'm certainly not used to taking photos of two pagers. i don't think i've done a two page layout since 2007. i really like it and currently have a thing for yellow. maybe i'm just ready for spring!

this layout was done using the napa valley kit from studio calico. joey got me a subscription to sc for my birthday in november and i really love it! the kits have exactly what i like, new product, not too much frill (i'm so not a frilly shabby scrapbooker), great embellishments + stamps and amazing color combos. this month i bought my first add-on ever and i'm so excited to get it... check out what is headed to my doorstep in march...

main kit: into the woods

add on kit: sunny clearing

if you are interested in getting kits from studio calico you have to act fast! they sell out so quickly... march is all sold out (there is one add on left: wildflower). to sign up for april you can send an email to info@studiocalico.com to set up your subscription.

i think that's about it for right now. i hope everyone has a great week!

love.

omg. she scraps...

2011-02-23T17:03:00.003-05:00

hello there.
check it out.
i'm actually scrapbooking...

and it's on it's way to becoming a two pager?

grab your children the end of the world might be coming.

it's been a good day in the house and i'm finding that it's not quite as hard to scrapbook while watching little miss as i thought it would be. i'm actually really happy to be finally getting some of her pictures on paper. unfortunately the photos i just printed for the right side of this page are the last i'm going to be able to print because i'm completely out of photo paper and had no idea. ugh. i'm also now considering getting a new printer because the quality on mine is starting to seriously suffer. but... that's a worry for another day.

i hope everyone is having a great wednesday! only two days to the weekend... oh how i love short weeks.

love.

turntable tuesday: fantasia

2011-02-22T14:52:00.004-05:00

hello again.
so today i am in a big fantasia mood. and this might be a turntable tuesday cop out because while i do listen to the record, i really enjoy watching my fantasia 2000 dvd collection. it has the original fantasia along with fantasia 2000 and bonuses. i do cherish the fantasia album set i've been handed down from my parents and i adore what good shape the book is in...

i'm not sure is fantasia 2000 was recorded on vinyl or is available anywhere but it's for sure something i'd like to get if i can... although really my favorite from fantasia 2000 is the rhapsody in blue piece and i NEED to find a copy of that on vinyl asap. rhapsody in blue is probably my favorite orchestra piece of all time.

and i promise a deeper look into our collection next week... i think maybe it's time for joey to choose a few for me to share from his dad's records.

love.

use it or lose it: love pennant garland.

2011-02-22T08:24:00.006-05:00

good morning.
over the past two years i've been doing some major purging of my scrapbooking supplies. i still have so much and there are lots of things i've kept with the intention to use it in 2011 or to pass it on to someone who will.

i probably have 5 years worth of valentine's day/love themed paper and cannot let myself buy any more until i use up my stash... so i made this pennant garland for my little corner!

it's simple, and was pretty quick to make. i was able to do at least one pennant per naptime along with my other mommy duties. i left plain pennants in what is probably my favorite love themed paper that i've ever collected... it's from the sei jolie chocolat line. i love the text layers + it allows me some room to add in photos as our family grows.

some other "oldies" i used are: making memories 'love notes' 8x8 pad, ki memories 'wild thing' & paper + embellishments from their valentine's day holiday collection (must be from 2006-ish??) and grungeboard.

i barely used up any of my valentine's day stash but the little dent i did make to create something sweet and simple for my space makes me very happy!

love.

p.s. turntable tuesday coming up a little later today, little miss and i need to decide what kind of music mood we are in...

catching up: some be-lated love.

2011-02-21T15:32:00.001-05:00

happy president's day + happy belated valentine's day.
my apologies for the late wishes of love... we had a beautiful busy week and since joe had today off this weekend was our holiday time to be together. which means i finally have several minutes in a row to catch the blog up.

our valentines day was very quiet. joe was able to be home before abby's bedtime so we had a nice evening together. dinner and our favorite new thing... going to bed. we are such night owls so we are trying to resist the urge to stay up all night during the week, it's hard. we talk a lot.

mid-week i finished up my valentine's day banner. a closer look at it is coming. it's nice to have my new little corner decorated. especially after a week where keeping it clean was a challenge...

little miss spent her week practicing her crawling, helping mommy + daddy do laundry, playing with her new favorite toys (a pixar character set from grandma + grandpa), teething on everything, and generally being a cute goofball.

by thursday spring started teasing us. the sun shone and it was 70 on friday afternoon when we went into the city to see joe. it was nice to be across the hudson, we hadn't been over since just before christmas. so good to see abby enjoy the city in a whole new way... she was awake the whole trip and was smiling at people and looking all over the place. i'm setting us a full city activity schedule the moment the weather warms up for good...

it was so cold again by the weekend but it's been nice having joe home and the extra day today has been perfect. joe changed our tire this weekend, and we did a lot of grocery shopping...

little miss was beginning to get low on a few things so i went a little crazy with the produce. joe was such a trouper and went to several different stores with us to get the organics we needed to stock up on. blueberries, bananas, kiwi, avocado, mango (abby's most favorite), pears, sweet potato, plums, carrots, zucchini, papaya (on joe's insistence although it's not the prettiest papaya i've ever seen), and a gorgeous butternut squash. we bought tofu for her for the first time which will be an adventure for later this week.

today we woke up to snow! ugh. i love snow, and i even had a moment of happiness today when i thought we might be able to get abby into her snowsuit to enjoy what might be the last snow of the year, but it was just a dusting and enough to make everything wet, cold, and gross. so instead we get to enjoy a cozy day inside and hope that today was just winter's last hurrah.

well, i think that catches me up for a week of no blog time. to say i have a lot of pureeing to do this evening is an understatement so i'm off to the kitchen.

happy monday!
love.

tgi-thursday + a few valentine's day fails.

2011-02-03T22:48:00.006-05:00

thursday is almost over.
the little one is long in bed... and making her dreaming noises.
i swear she dreams SO MUCH. and i'm not sure what makes her so sad in her dreams but her little cries pull at my heartstrings whenever i hear them. shouldn't babies dream of care bears, and furry puppies, and fluffy clouds...

today little miss and i finished putting away her laundry and cleaned her room. she played in her crib the whole time and every once in awhile she'd get really quiet. i'd turn around to check on her and poof... a little flutter of her bumper flipping back into place and a giggle. she was spying on me! peek-a-boo is currently one of her favorite games, although she much prefers to call it 'where's abby,' and she came up with a new way to play all on her own.

it took me forever to snap a few photos... camera ready, folding clothes on her changing table, then i'd hear a little giggle so i'd turn around quick to catch her and she'd pull back laughing. she only let her guard down for a second when during one round of the game she thought she'd try out the bumper as a teether.

the rest of the day was spent playing + napping (by the little one), and stitching, finger knitting, and a little frantic brainstorming as i came up with several valentine's day fails.

first ditched project...

meet the hugbot. now this little guy is not an altogether fail. i'm sure i'll use him for something else at a later date. but as a stitched valentine's day card for the great-grandparents etc. i'm way over him. he may look great sitting in the bin but in reality he's messy and his eyes are torn... just an altogether hot mess. it's ok. my other stitched valentines are great (also patterns by sublime stitching but you'll have to wait to see them!) and i found some leftover valentine's that i never sent a few years ago that i still love and will work great for the ones i had to ditch. besides, the important part are the sweet photos i'm sending off to the family of abby.

my other fail was actually yesterday's failed garland... i was attempting to make a garland out of some cheap cheap foam conversation hearts that i found in the michaels $1 bin years and years ago. in theory my idea was great... in practice, not so much.

panic? nope. back to the drawing board. and i decided on a project that i have been wanting to do for awhile. i chose to do a finger knitted garland...

i love finger knitting. my grandma cisowski taught me to finger knit when i was young (i think probably to make up for not wanting/not having the patience to teach a lefty to crochet, but i digress). i used 3 chunky lion brand skeins that i had on hand... i'll give the specs and more info tomorrow when i do the real post on it.

after i finished the finger knitted garland i knew it wasn't enough so i'm actually working on a pennant garland to hang with it as well. i swear i'll have all of my decorations up by the 14th. maybe.

now it's just about friday... so happy.
less than 24hours and it's the weekend.
daddy time!

(and some mommy scrapbooking time too... it's long overdue!)

love.

turntable tuesday: abby's collection

2011-02-01T18:44:00.005-05:00

well things are quieting down with the little one for the night and although this is coming a bit later tonight than i had anticipated i'm excited to start sharing 'turntable tuesday' again. today abby and i listened to a few of her read-a-long records so i thought that this week i would share her vinyl collection!

a few of her records are mine from when i was younger. mostly the read-a-longs and some of the 45s (fraggle rock, donald duck stories, etc.).... and a few of them were gifts from a friend who was going to be passing them along in a garage sale (i was SO excited to get at them first!)

right now her favorite is the winnie the pooh record. she loves the title song, up down, and little black rain cloud when i sing them to her and when they play with the music she gets so excited. winnie has always been a favorite of mine too...

i really love the walt disney songs for bedtime. we played it for her a lot when she was a little little newborn and every once in awhile i'll put it on during her before bed bottle if she's not in the mood to listen to a book. it has some really great songs on it... la la lu from lady & the tramp, a dream is a wish your heart makes, and irish lullaby/too ra loo ra loo ra (for my good little irish catholic girl).

one of my favorite activities when i was younger was to play my read-a-longs on my sesame street big bird record player so i'm really looking forward to passing them onto her when she's at their reading level... i'm so happy they were kept in such great condition so that she can enjoy them and maybe even share them with her kids!

love.

in the queue: valentine's day ♥

2011-01-31T16:58:00.004-05:00

happy monday!

this week i'm working on a few valentine's day projects and i'll be sharing them throughout. i am about 75% done with my cards that i'm sending out to a few friends + family members. i have to redo one of the designs because it was pretty much a fail from the start. i have some diy decorations to share and i'm working on the perfect pattern for a dress/jumper for abby. it's going to be a great week!

love.

4 simple goals: q1

2011-01-29T17:42:00.003-05:00

it's time to share my simple goals for the first quarter of the year. i'm going pretty easy on this first one since i was a little ambitious for the holiday season and totally failed on getting everything done. ha.

1. learn a new knitting stitch. there is a cowl that i'd really love to try out here that requires a herringbone stitch. it's a gorgeous project that i think would be great in my etsy shop so i need to learn it super quick!

2. start abby's 1st year scrapbook. i know. bad mommy. she's almost 8 months and i haven't done a thing. ugh.

3. plan abby's 1st birthday party. i'm 99.99% sure i have the date so now i need to get out those invites out!

4. schedule some me time. i have done absolutely no pampering for myself since before abby arrived. i need my hair colored desperately and trimmed up so i can continue growing it out. i would LOVE a spa day (hint hint if a certain someone is reading this...) or even just an afternoon to take a class at purl soho.

we are all still suffering from colds here in the taylor house so a lot that needed to get done today didn't (i.e. a trip to the laundromat). i do think we are getting better, it's just been super rough getting abby to stay asleep for any real amount of time. how do you explain to a 7 month old that a. if she blows out instead of sucking in when i'm trying to clear her nose she'll feel better and b. that if she sleeps it off, she'll feel better. it breaks my heart.

oh well... hopefully we get a little peace tonight for me to get a few stitches in.

love.

putting the pieces back together.

2011-01-28T17:54:00.001-05:00

they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions... and well, i had the best of intentions for this blog in december and january. the reality of our situation the past few months however has been pure mayhem. not bad, scary, or unhappy mayhem... but mayhem just the same.

after the holiday traveling settled we completely threw our little 16a home into disarray once again. with abby working very hard to become a more mobile baby i desperately needed room in our living area that we just did not have. i also needed to finally have some workspace that i could actually work in... instead of a jumbled mess of random storage and a dining room table that was almost always covered with piles of whatever.

then just to top it off my computer decided to break down on me. which is why this post will not include the before photos that i want to share of my space... joe tells me that all is not lost but i'm still quite nervous that i may have lost the first 6 months of the little one's life. i'm trying not to think about it.

so the good news... it's done. well my space is. the little middle room that was first a bedroom, then a dumping ground is now this...

i have the expedit mega shelves that i've been dreaming of for so long. for those ikea lovers like me i'll explain... it's the expedit 4x4 bookcase with desk and then we added the smaller 2x4 on top with flat brackets. then just for now and because i had room (and always need more room) i added my craft cubes on top. i could sit and look at my shelves all day... they make me so happy.

and all of that storage space means that i don't have a single thing cluttering my desktop. there is nothing like pure empty workspace. ahhh....

oh, and did you see the room for the vinyl. bliss.

the living room isn't quite done but the space that we have in there now is amazing. we have a little nook for our dining room table where we can actually eat as a family, an amazing concept (oh and it's also clear for the first time in 3 years!!) and i am pleased to say that abby has a big open space to roll around (and maybe figure out the crawling thing).

so i'm back in business. now i just need to salvage my computer's memory and finish setting up joe's computer to be compatible to my ocd organizational standards... i can't even explain the mess his filing system on this thing is in.

and did i mention all of this we keep getting...

well... that's all the update for now. the whole family now has colds so it's time to get back to my sniffly little cuddle bug who currently wants to help with this post. i don't usually like to post photos out here in the wide open web but i can't resist just one...

she loves her puppy (but it will need to major sterilization after this bout of nasal drip).

this weekend:
stitching valentines
more paint swatches
a quick knit for abby

love.

daily december: week 1.

2010-12-07T15:57:00.012-05:00

again. sorry for the delay!
the blog is still the one area of my life that seriously suffers when we are all feeling under the weather. but i'll write more about that later...

since i'm playing catch up with sharing my daily december journal i decided to share the first "week" of december in two parts... above is through december 4th.

for this book i'm using primarily basic grey "eskimo kisses". i love the colors of this line (especially the pink and green!) other products i'm using:

elle's studio journaling & christmas tags
sassafrass lass numbers chipboard
making memories fa la la
hambly christmas decor rub ons
alphas: scenic route, adornit (carolee's creations), making memories,
& american crafts

i might be missing some things but i'm sure they'll show up on another page and i'll list them then... if you have a question about something just ask!

december 1st is a library pocket for my goals for this holiday season...

sometimes i just hate tab labels - they never seem to stick and stay stuck for me. this one will get a staple before the month is over.

as i'm not usually interested in a bunch of journaling i decided that each week one of my days would be used to sum up the week...

hope you like the journal so far... i absolutely love it and can't wait to share the other half of the week tomorrow!

p.s. i know i'm missing this turntable tuesday, i'm going on a christmas vinyl dig tomorrow in the city and will share my spoils on thursday!

hope everyone is staying warm & cuddly...

love.

coming soon.

2010-12-02T14:21:00.003-05:00

sorry for the delay.
nursing little miss who developed a bit of the nasal drip.
finishing up in between sneezes.
putting together a list of the bits & pieces.
love.

turntable tuesday.

2010-11-30T15:04:00.007-05:00

over the next few days/week i'm officially starting some new features on the blog. i've been wanting to get a "real" feature schedule going for awhile and this is the perfect time!

turntable tuesday is the first that i'm rolling out. the inspiration for this feature was found via dust and grooves an awesome photoblog devoted to vinyl collections. the articles and interviews are great and i love seeing the huge collections from all over the country (and world!!) i was specifically inspired by this interview with pat from jersey city (our town!!) - in it he talks about a tradition where his dad would pull three records to play and discuss each thursday... joey and i thought this would be an smart tradition to start in our family as a way to really appreciate our collection and to pass down the musical education we inherited from our dads.

this past week we were able to pick up joe's dad's vinyl collection while we were in tampa. he kept them in great shape but they need a little tlc before we can play any of them. there are a ton of great ones that i can't wait to hear and share... i'm doing my best to resist the urge to dig out three for this week but i really want joey and i to go through them together and get them in play-ready condition.

so for this week i'm going to share three of my personal favorites to listen to at this time of year...

jethro tull: songs from the wood
probably my favorite jethro tull album... it always reminds me of winter, watching dad put up the tree while sipping a brandy, the warm fire, and helping mom get all the christmas decorations out. love the rich sound and ian anderson's voice is so haunting and perfect.

simon and garfunkel: bridge over troubled water
just a classic favorite. beautiful sounds to listen to curled up with cocoa and a giggly baby.

fleet foxes
so excited about this! i've been listening to fleet foxes since the album came out digitally but joey bought me the vinyl last week... it's my first brand spankin' new album i've ever had! i usually only buy used so it was so cool to be the first to open up and listen to this one. fleet foxes are one of our go to bands for soothing abby to sleep on cranky nights and she's been listening to them since she was in the womb. i know this is going to be a family favorite for a long long time.

i'm really excited about sharing this new feature each week and watching our vinyl collection grow as i do!

love.

back home. time flying.

2010-11-28T12:05:00.009-05:00

i can't believe how fast november has flown by... we just returned home from a week in florida to show our lovely girl off to her tampa taylor family. it was a great trip and abby did so well on her car rides and being in so many strange places every day. it was amazing to see the huge bright giggly smile abby gave each new relative as she met them. she totally knew this was her big family and she was so pleased to be welcomed into it!

the best was getting to spend some thrift time with abby's new favorite cousin helen.

we went out for cuban sandwiches first - there is no cuban like a tampa cuban. they are amazing and we always get our fill when we are there... we went to The Cuban Sandwich Shop (aptly named) on Florida Ave.

crazy good. and although abby has yet to enjoy the simple magic that is a tampa cuban she had fun and enjoyed the company...

after lunch we went to several thrift stores but the best was definitely Sherry's Yesterdaze...

i could have spent hours in there but it was our first stop and we wanted to make sure to hit a few other places. sherry has an amazing housewares selection but i could not get over the amount of clothing... i look forward to going back next trip!

all in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back... we already miss all of the aunt's, uncles, and cousins that we live just too far away from for our liking. we're hoping to see them up in new york soon!

it was a shock to return to the cold north but i'm so excited for the start of the holiday season. we haven't decided when we are going to pick up our tree but i'm going to talk sweetly to joey and see if we can't get it next weekend after painting the living room (finally).

this week:

announcing some new blog features!
starting handmade christmas gifts #1 & #2
finalizing our christmas card design

love.

inspired by: vintage kiddo

2010-11-19T15:00:00.003-05:00

one of my goals in the coming year is to buy more vintage, especially clothes for abby and myself. i'm so inspired by this cute duo... rachel and ruby are so sweet and i'm in awe of how much rachel can accomplish professionally & creatively while being a work at home mommy to two little ones. i've just started scouring etsy for fun vintage finds for abby and i thought i'd share some of my favorites...

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is there anything sweeter than this rocking horse.
i'm so coveting the space to have this in abby's room... oh well

finally i wanted to share an etsy store called Vintage Tot Spot. it's a little pricey for our everyday vintage but some of the outfits are kind of amazing...

love.

goals.

2010-11-16T10:50:00.007-05:00

28. i can't believe how fast 27 flew by... i'm sure it had something to do with being pregnant with abby and all the business to get ready for her arrival. last year i didn't do a list of what i wanted to accomplish - well strike that i did several lists of what i needed to accomplish, but nothing just for me and official.

so here it is. everything i really want to do and create in my life before next year.

1. throw a picnic party in central park
2. give 10 handmade gifts
3. refab the nightstand dresser for abby's room
4. 2011 weekly gratitude journal
5. finish abby's quilt
6. take a midwest flea/vintage road trip with my mom
7. learn to (really) crochet
8. start an art/inspiration wall
9. open an etsy store
10. take a trip to new orleans
11. see a broadway show
12. make abby some dresses/jumpers
13. 100 scrapbook pages (at least!)
14. walk the brooklyn bridge
15. get new glasses
16. make a huge granny square throw
17. take more photos of joe & myself
18. grow something
19. take a trip to california
20. make sushi at home
21. read at least one book each month
22. send snail mail to 5 friends
23. go to a taping of late night
24. volunteer
25. fill an art/inspiration journal
26. take more walks with abby & the pups
27. get back in shape
28. redefine my personal style

it's a little late in the game but i'm also going to try to stick to accomplishing 4 simple goals inspired by this project. there are a few things i want to get done before we enter 2011.

1. send out christmas cards. this has been a goal of mine since joey and i got married but i can never seem to get it done or even started on time. now with our family growing by one i dream of sending out a family holiday photo each year to our friends and family. i'm crossing my fingers that we'll have time to get a photo done by mr. charles dudley while we are in naples this next week to send out!

2. redesign the blog. it's way late in coming. i put up the text blog banner several months ago expecting it to be totally temporary. i've been mulling over the redesign and new direction of this blog for months and it's time to start fresh in the new year.

3. make abby toy storage... we already are overwhelmed with the amount of toys this little lade has. i LOVE this toy box from wooli on etsy.

4. start abby's 1st year scrapbook. i've been collecting supplies since she was born but other obligations have kept me from getting it started. i'm using this book from elle's studio as inspiration, i love the clusters and layering.

so lots to do in the coming weeks! those goals, plus decorating for abby's first christmas. saturday we are leaving for a road trip down to florida for thanksgiving to see the taylor's and our naples friends. it's going to be a much needed and appreciated vacation.

love.

plus one.

2010-11-07T14:20:00.006-05:00

it's been a really great weekend with my little family of three. saturday we went shopping for some new fall/winter jeans, a jumper/activity center for abby, and a few other odds and ends. then we spent the evening listening to records and cuddling in our warm home.

today adding an hour in the morning helped me finally get us all dressed, fed, & out for church early! we were even able to stop for hot chocolate and coffee beforehand. abby wore her skinny jeans + flats. so cute.

after church we did our grocery shopping and dropped some things off at the salvation army & another church's book sale. it was so nice to get those random boxes out of my space. purging always feels great.

the rest of the day has been spent helping joe clean up his pile of randomness, discovering that we need to buy a new computer (and consolidate our two into one family machine), brainstorming crazy ideas for the future, and putting together the week's goals.

one of my big goals this week is to gather up and take care of the majority of my winter mending. i started today with this sweater that i got back in high school.

i love the sweater... it's long, warm, and so comfy. it has definitely seen better days. some of the cables are getting loose and a few of the buttons are missing.

there was this snagged stitch that i decided to tackle right away before it got any worse...

to fix it i pulled the stitch back into the wrong side with a crochet hook, snipped the thread so it could be tied, and then secured it tight...

it worked nicely. tomorrow i plan on going over the whole sweater to check and tighten all of the cables and then find new old buttons. i'm not really a fan of the current ones even though i have them all. i'm hoping i might find some nice ones in the vintage stash i inherited in my grandma's sewing chest.

this week:
joe + my mending for the season
send out a special delivery
go fabric shopping
finish + mail abby's thanksgiving cards
plan our christmas photo styling

i hope everyone enjoyed their weekend & extra hour!

love.

record love.

2010-11-05T19:02:00.006-05:00

this week we picked up a record player.
so happy that i can finally play the records that were given to us by my parents. we are about to inherit a large collection from joe's dad - so many amazing albums between the two families... i'm hoping we can fit in a trip to the record store in this weekend after church.

tonight i'm getting the place ready to start decorating and do some serious crafting over the weekend. joe's home so he's going to be giving me a little break from 24/7 baby duty. the house is already looking great this evening and i'm starting to get that holiday feeling.

jethro tull record playing and snow on cedar candle burning.

almost time to wake the child and give her a bath.

have a happy weekend!
love.

happy halloween: quick knit.

2010-11-01T11:23:00.009-05:00

hello.
bad blogger. bad bad blogger.

i'm a day late but it's nov. 1st and i'm ready to really commit to sharing on this blog again so i thought i'd start off with the cute and quick little hat i knitted up for abby's halloween costume yesterday.

it was a working weekend for joe and we only had sunday to be together as a family so we decided to keep it low-key. i knitted these mouse ears for abby while we watched movies and abby used the opportunity to show her daddy how good she is at rolling all over her playmat.

the ears we super easy to make. i used wool-ease chunky (it was what i had in my yarn basket in black) with size 11 straight needles. the hat was knitted on two needles and then sewn together.

i didn't work off a pattern, so here is a really basic outline of how i made the hat... you can experiment with changing it up based on the weight of yarn you want to use. i really like how thick the hat was, reminded me more of the felt & plastic ears from the old mickey mouse club & it helps with the structure of the ears.

based on abby's head circumference i casted on 40 stitches for the hat. i worked about 1.5 inches in garter stitch and then switched to stockinette. i did two rows stockinette (K on RS, P on WS) and then started with my decreasing. this was my decreasing pattern:

K8, K2TOG, K8, K2TOG, K8, K2TOG, K8, K2TOG
Purl Row
K7, K2TOG, repeat to end of row
P6, P2TOG, repeat to end of row
K5, K2TOG, repeat to end of row
P4, P2TOG, repeat to end of row
K3, K2TOG, repeat to end of row
P2, P2TOG, repeat to end of row
K1, K2TOG, repeat to end of row

8 stitches were then left on the needles. break yarn and pull through 8 stitches. make sure you leave a tail that is at least double your seam edge. sew the hat edges together. i usually sew it together inside out so if my whip stitch gets messy it's more hidden.

the decrease is 4 evenly spaced stitches per row so you can adjust it based on your own cast on (changes with different yarn or different size of work).

for the ears i casted on 11 stitches (be sure to leave a long tail to sew ears to hat):

Row 1: K
Row 2: P
Row 3: K
Row 4: P
Row 5: K
Row 6: P
Row 7: SSK, K to last 2sts, K2TOG
Row 8: P
Row 9: SSK, K to last 2sts, K2TOG
Row 10: SSP, P to last 2 sts, P2TOG
Bind Off

then attach your ears and you are all finished! i added the ribbon to make them minnie ears.

hope everyone had a great halloween!

love.

p.s. lots of things coming up. going to get back on my inspiration posts... and i'm looking forward to sharing my diy christmas list & holiday projects. i have big goals this season and for 2011!

glutton for punishment.

2010-09-02T22:14:00.003-05:00

today i was supposed to do laundry and start packing for our trip.
instead i spent several hours at anthro soho searching for a dress to wear to abby's baptism.
i found this...

i like it. it's my style. it was on sale. and it fits.
was it fun trying on basically everything in the store and hating how 99.9% of it looked on me?
hell no.

it was however nice to see some ex-co-workers... show off my little beauty.

then abby and i went to the new purl soho location.

{more photos on the purl blog}

i love it. big space with fabric & yarn in the same store. i bought a couple of echino (kokka fabrics) prints one of which i'm making into a nursing cover (yes i am adding ANOTHER project to my plate for tomorrow). the other will probably become a fall jumper for abby.

then i got a little crazy and decided that i would lose all of my extra 30lbs of abby weight in one shot by walking from soho up 5th avenue to 45th to see my joey. it was hot but an otherwise pleasant walk and my little cooing monkey had a great time watching the streets pass by and smiling at strangers.

we finally made it to daddy's and spent his last hour of work hanging out, not making too much noise + then got to walk with him home after quitting time.

bathtime.
a little overtired complaining.
and we are now all thoroughly exhausted + moderately stressed out about getting done tomorrow what we completely blew off today.

tomorrow is "get it done" friday:
drop off the dogs
laundromat
pick up a letter from st. ann's
make my nursing cover
pack up my craftiness, abby, joe, + myself

love.

inspired by: granny squares

2010-09-01T14:40:00.004-05:00

so inspired by these beauties...

{danielle thompson}

{beauty in everything}

{beautiful joining tutorial}

i'm way slower on perfecting my crochet skills than i have been in the knitting department but i'm hoping to fix that super soon. i am so lusting after a bright beautiful granny square blanket for the park. and how cool is that granny triangle garland? i have to make one of those for abby's room to backdrop her berkley illustration pennant banner.

love.

*all images found via "crochet" on weheartit unless otherwise linked

3 days left.

2010-09-01T13:47:00.006-05:00

yes i'm counting down and getting things done. on saturday morning joe, abby, and i are leaving for a much needed vacation at home. my dad, sister, and rest of the family will finally get to meet abby + joe gets a whole week to just relax and be with us!

i am so excited for this road trip. joe and i have spent so much time on the road going back and forth from south florida to chicago and now nj back home that i'm anxious to see how abby is going to do. i'm looking forward to really getting to talk to and catch up with my husband again, 12 hours of knitting and rest stops, random camera phone pics, and probably a few bouts of angry abby. a good time.

i'm going to be taking a chunk of this with me...

it's all the goods for my first ever commissioned baby blanket. i'm really grateful for the opportunity to make this blanket and am hoping it's just the first of many in my future. i'm in the process of planning out and creating a small inventory to open an etsy shop next spring. having my own etsy shop and starting my own indie business has been a big goal of mine for the past 5 years and i'm so ready to make it happen.

today:

finish a few squares.
sort laundry (take a trip to the laundromat tomorrow).
finish up the dessert recipe for abby's open house.
(think mint martini, yumm)

love.

figuring it out.

2010-08-02T13:57:00.005-05:00

this new life.
my new "normal".
my new body...

(or the new body i'm trying to get).

our space.
how to have fun.
if i'm doing it right.

and i think i'm getting there.

i've gotten a few things done.
more than a few out...

and i'm ready for new opportunities.
i'm again working with paper, yarn, needles, and hooks.

i'm having the most amazing time getting to know this little human...

she's even more complex and amazing than i could have ever imagined.
she's made this mommy thing a piece of cake.

this week:
i'm preparing for the road

love.

hello abigail rose: our birth story.

2010-06-25T17:56:00.008-05:00

hi there blog.
sorry it's been way too long.
but i'm working on getting you all caught up...

on tuesday, june 15th our little abigail rose arrived and changed our lives for forever. she's amazing! so strong, so beautiful... we are on cloud 9.

if you are a facebook friend or close to joey and i you know how important a natural & drug free birth experience was for us. mostly we just wanted to be in control of our experience, have the freedom to move through it at our pace, and ultimately have a healthy baby and mommy!

unfortunately abby was a little stubborn and at 42 weeks my doctor said it was time to induce. we were really nervous about what this was going to do to our birth plan but the most important thing was making sure abby was ok and delivered safely. joey was super nervous... c-section was his biggest fear, but i was confident that my body would respond to the cytotek & pitocin and that i'd still be able to deliver without the epidural.

we had an absolutely fantastic experience and (without taking all the credit, haha) i totally attribute it to an amazing L&D staff and the phenomenal support of my husband. joey was a superstar... at one point our nurse came in and told us how impressed she was. she said it was like we had an invisible doula there helping us into different positions and move through contractions - but it was all my man. i can't even explain how much deeper i feel in love with him that day!

i want to share the whole day (and then some) here for anyone who, like me, read too many induction horror stories and are begging their babies at the end to come on time. inducing does not have to mean that you can't handle the contractions, stick to a birth plan, and come out on the other side with an amazing experience and 100% healthy baby.

so on monday, june 14th we were scheduled to be admitted at 7:30pm. it was crazy nerve-racking for my mom and joe who didn't have quite the tunnel vision that i did at the time. they really shouldn't admit L&D patients through the ER, lol. we distributed and went over our birth plan with the nurse on duty.

our birth plan was pretty straight forward. augmentation points were kind of mute since we were coming in for an induction but i made sure all nurses knew: not to offer the epidural, that we would ask for it if we decided it was neccessary, i wanted as much freedom as possible to move positions, use our birthing ball (my yoga ball), take a shower if requested, have exams before major increases of pitocin, and that we wanted to avoid an episiotomy if possible. etc. there were a few things on there for baby too - like holding off on the eye ointment to allow for bonding, and the opportunity to breastfeed immediately. as well as a section stressing the importance that no nurses offer sugar water, or formula if she was away from us for any reason. (do hospitals still use sugar water? it was in the birth plan sample i was using...) if you are writing a birth plan there are some great samples online, just do a google search and use what feels right for you!

i was a little dehydrated when i came in and had tested positive for strep b so i was required to be on continuous monitoring for pretty much the whole time and was on fluids and antibiotics through my hep-lock. around 9:30pm the pharmacist showed up with my doctor's order of cytotek. cytotek is a cervix softener that you take orally. with it you are required to be on continuous monitoring for an hour after ingestion... continuous monitoring can be an annoyance but we made sure to talk to the nurse about the equipment, how to maneuver with it and how to adjust and read the monitors ourselves to make sure the information was getting to the nurses without tying me to the bed. if you feel comfortable with the wires you can totally take control and be as mobile as you want to be. that room is your room during your delivery so own it!

when i came in i was actually having mild contractions without really knowing it... they were pretty short and about 8 or 9 minutes apart. i was on the cytotech every 4 hours until the next morning around 10am. at that point there was a shift change and Dr. Chinn came in to see me for the first time. I was 80%/1 still but she thought i was ready for the pitocin so we started.

when the pitocin was started contractions really started heating up. i labored until about 6:30 changing positions when it felt right, using the yoga ball, vocalizing, using breathing and watching a law & order marathon, lol. by 6:30pm contractions were doubling and tripling up and i wasn't getting a ton of rest in between so i really thought we were gearing up for the home stretch. Dr. Chinn came back in and i was only 3cm.

here i probably could have lost it because contractions were really coming and Dr. Chinn said she thought i might have another 6 or 7 hours to go. WHAT!?! but joe really stepped up to keep moving me through contractions and my nurse talked to Dr. Chinn about getting me off the machines and letting me have an hour in the shower. looking back i totally should have thought of a shower a couple of hours earlier because my body was responding so strongly to the pitocin and it was totally what i needed. vicki (the nurse on staff for most of my laboring) was so awesome and could totally sense how fast i would go if i just had a little time to let my body regulate itself.

so i got into the shower and i can tell you it was AMAZING! i had a chair in there to sit... and i stood to lean over it during contractions letting the water release the tension in my back, and i sat and snoozed for a couple of minutes between each one. while in the shower my contractions got stronger but regulated so i was getting one at a time which lasted about a minute and then would have a couple of minutes to rest in between each. joe stayed close giving me ice chips when i needed so i wouldn't get dehydrated in the shower.

when i got out of the shower the room was all set up for delivery. i'm telling you vicki totally knew something that everyone else didn't. lol. i was so sad to see her go! the next nurse came on (they were seriously all great, vicki just happened to help me through the rough spots - i think bringing in the cupcakes seriously helped, lol). i got hooked all back up to the machines and abby was still doing great. they left me off the pitocin for another 45 minutes or so since my contractions were still good and we wanted to wait for what Dr. Chinn said at the next exam. when she told me i only had about 2cm on one side to go i was ECSTATIC! they restarted the pitocin (still not 100% sure why but at that time i wasn't really able to argue about it because i was totally out of my head during contractions...) and things just moved!

at about 9:30pm i felt the first BIG urge to push and was technically pushing and hoped no one could notice. they could, lol. joe called the nurse over and she checked and i was good to push. she sat down and started writing stuff in our charts... a HUGE contraction came and i swear i about broke my husband. poor joey. i wish i would have had a camera (and could have used it) to get his face after that one. he told me later that he thought "uh oh this is where she starts injuring me". after it was over the nurse turned around (i was making some pretty crazy demonic possesion-like sounds) and she ran to the intercom to get Dr. Chinn in. abby was on her way!

three nutso contractions later and she was out! 20 minutes!

she was born with some bruising. her head came really fast and then was caught in between contractions. a lull that i thought was never going to end! literally the longest 45sec. to a minute of my life, eek! and i can't lie that that was another freak out moment... but again with joe's help and the amazing delivery team i got back into control and we got our little squishie face out!

from there it was pure ecstasy. abigail was so strong and very healthy. she immediately wanted to nurse which i was so happy about. joey hadn't decided if he wanted to cut the cord or not but when offered he jumped at the chance! when they took her to the warmer to get her all cleaned up joey went with her and she really responded to his voice, turning her head towards him and looking up at him. all of that tummy talking he did really paid off!

we were instantly in love with our new family!

here's abby's first photo after getting all cleaned up....

and me and my little girl after our hard night's work!

i hope sharing my experience helps some of my friends and others out there who might be a little nervous about inductions or about taking control of their birth experience... every person, their body, and their baby is totally unique so in no way am i trying to claim that this is how things "should" be done... i only want everyone to know that they have the power to own their birth day and come out with a beautiful, healthy baby & mommy!

one tool that really helped us:

the big book of birth. by erica lyon. this book gave us the knowledge and the confidence to move through labor how we wanted to. i really recommend it... skip the L&D section of what to expect and read this instead!

abigail is turning 4wks tomorrow! every day has been so amazing. we are getting into a great routine and are having so much fun watching her grow and develop.

here she is at 3 weeks... i already have SO many cute shots... time to get scrapping!

love.

head down needles flying.

2010-04-20T18:52:00.005-05:00

{source}

been working for the past few days diligently trying to bust out a blanket for abby. i'm really enjoying it and really love how it's turning out. i started friday when my lion brand order came in. i'm using the baby's first line and i'm telling you this yarn is so soft and amazing.

i did have to start the project over once, which is a huge improvement from the last project. the border is a seed stitch and i had a totally preggo mind brain fart moment that turned into a jumbled mess. i feel like the more i do the faster i get but this is the first really big knitted project i've done. my goal is to have it completed by friday. i think i can finish it sooner but i don't want to put too much pressure on myself.

so that's what i'm working on. i'm holding onto a few layouts i just finished because i'm toying with the idea of submitting to a dt call for a million memories. i designed for them a few years ago and michelle is an amazing owner and has one of the best clubs & communities out there. with the baby coming i know i'm going to be creating so many more layouts and thought it might be a good time to get back out there in the industry... we'll see what happens!

i had a doc appointment today. all is well with me and miss abigail rose. my suspicion that she is currently sitting in a transverse position was confirmed. we still have many weeks for her to turn somersaults in there but i just wanted to know what i was looking at when my belly flattened out in this weird shape every time she stretches. i'll get a picture tomorrow since i haven't for a couple of weeks. 34 weeks tomorrow... so excited!!

ok, time to get back to work. i still have a few hours in me before joe gets home and i can rest my fingers! have a great night!

love.

10 questions. via rachel!

2010-04-15T20:17:00.008-05:00

one of my favorite bloggers rachel denbow posted a little 10 question survey so i decided to play along tonight while waiting for joey to get home (and while letting my sore thumbs rest a minute from a crochet marathon!)

1. When do you feel happiest?

when i'm hanging out or working with my joey, hanging out in the city with kristi, anytime i get to be with my friends + family (in about 7 weeks i have a feeling that anytime with my little abby is going to be added to the list!)

2. How do you take care of yourself?

by always learning new crafts and exploring my creativity.
lush goodness. love to pamper.

{source}

my favorites are:

massage therapy bar: #1 reason why i don't have any stretch marks!

fair trade foot lotion:
he PERFECT solution to nasty city summer feet for those of us addicted
to sandals & flip flops... also great for hot swollen preggo feet i've found.

running to the embassy bar: again great for summer feet!
i keep mine in the fridge so it stays nice and cool for my home pedi time!

3. Are you internally (by yourself) or externally (by others) motivated?

probably both. i'm constantly trying to push myself to learn and try new things. probably to a fault because i overwhelm myself with new projects. but my family also motivates me and believe in me always.

4. What do you do for fun?

explore nyc. love the beach. walks with my pups. travel. make stuff.

5. What intimidates you?

my overwhelming to do list and life goals... haha.

6. What is something you're proud of?

carrying my first baby. i can't believe how much i've loved this pregnancy and how beautifully this experience has influenced my relationship and whole life.

7. Finish this sentence. I never _____________.

say never.

8. Favorite vacation spot.

hawaii.
i met my husband there and feel like my heart will forever be in the islands.

9. Today is a (rate from 1 - 10).

7... got a lot of my new project completed but still feeling sick.
working on not letting the cold affect me.

10. Finish this sentence. If you knew me really well you'd know _____________.

i'm wicked excited about becoming a mom!

that last one was hard. i'm interested to ask joe that last one about me and see what he would say. i feel like the two things i answered it with you would know even if you didn't know me REALLY well. haha.

have a good night!
love.

*edit* ok so i realized today where i heard the infinitely curious bit... john mayer says it about jay-z in the commercial for a absolut doc. not that i'm NOT infinitely curious... just thought it was a little too subliminal and weird that i incorporated it.

the sickness + a layout.

2010-04-15T10:10:00.005-05:00

been very sick this week. ok not very, but a head cold sucks when you are 8 months pregnant and can't sleep anyway. and i wish i could be like some preggo chicks and be all motivated during bouts of insomnia but unfortunately i just toss and turn, complain to the dogs, pretend to feel bad when i wake up joe, and mope. very healthy.

so with my time sitting around i decided to finally teach myself to crochet.

i have no idea what this little stripey number is going to be in the end. it was a "pattern" for dish towels (meaning just a striped colorway of single crochet rows)... but i ended up making it too narrow for my liking so i'm just going to keep working the length until i come up with something genius.

i finished this quickie layout this weekend but am just now getting around to sharing it...

i have a million nyc subway maps that i've been obsessed with using and i really liked making the banner out of some of our favorite neighborhoods and the bridges and tunnels we most commonly use.

so. i'm starting to feel better and am looking forward to a beautiful and productive weekend. joey and i will be visiting the not yo momma's craft fair in downtown jersey city on saturday. i'm pretty excited because we didn't get a chance to go last year... hoping to find some good stuff. anyone in the area should come check it out!

today i'm working on:

more crochet.
starting my first amigurami critter.
catching up on weekly gratitude.
kicking this cold 100% naturally.

so time for another cup of tea.

{source}

love.

via joe.

2010-04-11T16:56:00.002-05:00

bigger post to come.
for now i'm enjoying a sunday working besides my man.
love when we can actually work together.

he shows me inspiring things.

PIXELS by Patrick Jean from ONE MORE PRODUCTION on Vimeo.

love.

today.

2010-04-10T09:50:00.003-05:00

i'm heading out to the city to...

pick up more of this.

{source}

enjoy a little of this.

{source}

and spend some saturday time exploring here.

{source}

hope you have a great saturday!

love.