We have had her almost two years. Isn’t she just adorable?
She likes to jump on my chest at 5am demanding to be petted, never lets me use the bathroom by myself, and lets Ava chase her around the house and put bows in her hair. Meow.
I’ve never really been one to make New Year’s Resolutions, but this year I think I’m going to give it a try. And I figure, why wait until the 31st?
1. Update this blog! I have no problem changing my hair or my wardrobe or whatever else might not be ‘doing it’ for me anymore, so why not the blog? There are little things that have been driving me crazy about it for awhile – like this font. I hate this font now. I feel like making some minor adjustments will make me want to blog more …
2. Complete a blog post EVERY DAY. Even if it’s just a sentence or a photo. It will force me to take at least five minutes for myself.
3. Stop biting my nails. I have had beautiful nails only twice in my life and they only lasted for a few weeks and then I’m back to nipping them off again. If I can break this bad habit, I can break them all!
4. Continue working out a minimum of four times a week. I’ve been pretty good with this the past month or so and I’d like to see myself keep up the good work and get back into those ‘way before Ava was conceived’ jeans.
5. Finish what I start. My husband says I am an ideas person, and it’s true. I have lots of ideas, but very few of them ever come to life. I even had the idea to write them all down and publish a book of ideas for other people to follow through. Time to step it up!
6. Learn photoshop. Something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile now.
7. Read more. And not blogs or magazines – books.
8. Start writing in Ava’s journal again. While I was pregnant, I started a journal to give to Ava when she’s older. I haven’t written in it in almost year. [Yet another finish what I start issue.]
9. Hire a babysitter. Ava is three years old and we’ve never had a sitter. A few times, either my mom or Mike’s parents have watched her while we slipped out for dinner, but other than that the three of us go everywhere together. Time for a little one on one time with the husband [or some girlfriends]!
10. Go to the dentist, eye doctor, and general physician. It has been embarrassingly too long.
I am totally in love with these items from Anthropologie’s latest catalog. If I could be sure the technology wouldn’t change in a few years and deem these pieces nothing but eye-catching, I would have had an early Christmas for myself. Still, they are pretty cool.
USB Typewriter
Victrola Docking System [which seems to be sold out already!]
I can’t believe it has already been two months since our vacation! And at the same time, it feels like a lifetime ago. Man, I really miss Oregon. Our plane hadn’t even landed yet and I was already in love. We spent two nights [not enough] in Portland and then a quick drive to the Northern Coast for a week of much needed R&R. We all wished we never had to leave … it’s the sort of place we could happily live for – oh, i don’t know – forever probably.
If you’ve never been to Portland, you should. It really is a beautiful city and we really needed more time to explore it, but what we did see totally impressed us [and that ain't easy, folks]. At first I thought maybe I was just enamored because it wasn’t Chicago [sorry, Chitown], but that wasn’t it. It just felt …. homey – in a very indie vibe sort of way if that makes any sense at all. It has all the things we loved about Williamsburg circa 2005, but it’s CLEAN and frankly, not trying so hard. The food truck scene is just beyond any I’ve ever seen and there were so many restaurants to choose from that if we had stayed much longer, I would have gained 20 pounds easy. We weren’t able to sample too much grub in such a short amount of time, but if you go, please eat at Pok Pok - the food was fabulous and Michael is now obsessed with ‘drinking vinegars’.
Being tourists, we most certainly had to check out Voodoo Donuts. Um, yum.
Then a walk along the waterfront, smiles, and playing in the fountain.
Then of course we did a little shopping … too many shops, way too little time. Portland, we miss you and we promise to come back soon. Next up, Oceanside … ahhhhhhhhhhh.
I get to re-do our living room!!! You have no idea how happy it will make me to not have to look at our current sofa anymore! I’ve been working on my style page … what do you think?
The only thing it’s missing is a new sofa … still trying to pick one out, but it’s getting there. I need to find some new curtains too. I am keeping some of our existing lamps and accessories and will be sure to share the finished look with you when we get it all put together. As for our old stuff … it’s going upstairs in “the room we never use” in hopes of turning it into a second family room that we WILL use. I need to put together a style page for that too … stay tuned! XO
Omigosh. This pillow from birdenvy is beyond adorable …
Perfect for a child’s room or someone that just loves kitties. Made from chenille and tweed. They also make owls.
Just got this gorgeous [zebrawood cuff] bracelet from tivi and I LOVE IT. Very simple and really beautiful.
And they have lots more to love too:
Wooden Clutch w/ faux snakeskin
Stainless Steel Ring w/ Ebony Wood
Wooden Bangle
Let’s just overlook the fact that I haven’t been posting much lately – it’s hard to bring your laptop to the pool or the beach! Even when I do get the chance to open my computer, I have been working on booking our vacation and looking for FURNITURE! We have been talking about getting a new couch and coffee table for months, but instead have bought a new ottoman, rug, lamp, little chair for Ava, and other small decor items. It’s like when you open your closet and suddenly hate all of your clothes and can’t find anything to wear that you think you look good in anymore. I’m just ready for a new look. We have been talking about moving into a new place, which is probably fueling my new furniture fire … and while it’s probably smart to wait until we move and see what the new space looks like, I just can’t help myself. Doesn’t hurt to look, right?
The ottoman we picked up is a bit more of my husband’s taste, but I can work with it. Styled after the Mies Van der Rohe Barcelona chair, this white leather ottoman is our test to see how our two cats do with something leather in the house. So far, no scratch marks!
We also picked up a large Hand Woven Jute and Leather rug that looks a lot like this. but a darker color pattern:
The new lamp, which I totally LOVE:
And even though I’ve outgrown buying large furniture pieces at Ikea, it’s still worth a trip every now and then to pick up cute little things like this Ava sized chair:
As for a new coffee table, I have always lusted after the Noguchi Tribeca table. I remain on the hunt for a great deal on a well done reproduction.
The couch. Oh the couch. It was Mike’s couch he had when we first moved in together. An IKEA Tylosand. I’m just over it … or am I? Bemz is finally making slipcovers for it and they have some pretty killer fabric choices [samples on their way to me!].
The possibilities are pretty close to endless. So, I’m torn – new sofa or half the price to cover the old one? Maybe both? We could use a couch upstairs in Mike’s “office”. I’ll keep you posted … as soon as I get back from the beach. XO
Last weekend I planned a surprise getaway for Mike’s birthday. I wanted something close, something serene … somewhere we could just relax. I found a secluded cabin just an hour and 15 minutes away from Chicago, nestled on 80 private acres of woodland and spring fed ponds. I did all the packing and grocery shopping in advance and even picked up two fishing poles [Mike has always wanted to take Ava fishing]. It is amazing how much stuff we had for just a two night/three day stay [most of it for Ava - kids don't pack light!]. Mike drove us to our destination, guided by “Matilda” [the name we gave our mobile navigation voice] and was pleasantly surprised as we turned down the long private drive to the cabin.
The surroundings were beautiful – lush spring forest, lily pad laden ponds – ahhhhh nature.
While I sorted things out inside the cabin, Mike busted out the fishing poles and he and Ava dug up some worms and headed to the pond. She caught a baby bluegill on her first cast! She ended up catching a total of two … Mike, zero.
We kicked off our night by making a fire in the firepit and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. I thought Ava would love s’mores, but she said she didn’t like marshmallows “with brown stuff”. She did enjoy waving her marshmallow stick around though!
On Saturday we went exploring [we were only 15 minutes away from the Michigan Harbor Towns on the beachfront] and picked up some local morels and sausages from a farmer’s market. Ava spent lots of time outdoors and especially loved the tree swing out in front of the cabin.
Saturday night, Mike and Ava headed down to one of the ponds with a flashlight and net and brought back a bullfrog and a tree frog. [If Ava spots a gnat or fly, she totally freaks out - but frogs and fish, love at first sight!] She held the treefrog for quite a while and wanted to bring him home with us [um no.].
The next morning, Mike made a stellar skillet breakfast using our fresh morels and some wild onions, scrambled eggs, local bacon, and potatoes. Yum. Then he and Ava headed down to the pond one last time and found a few tadpoles. [Not bringing those home either!] By the time we had to leave, we were just getting into the rhythm of cabin life [isn't that how it always is on a vacation ... just when you start to relax it's time to go].
I have a feeling this won’t be our last weekend getaway for the spring/summer.
Yes, I admit it. Lately I have been a very bad blogger. I haven’t posted anything in 44 days. Yikes. Shame on me. Now I am going to have to make up for lost time by going on a posting rampage. I’m not even going to make any excuses for my neglect except to say I was sucked into a black hole or a time warp or something … because motherhood can feel like that sometimes. Things we have (or make) time for slowly inch their way down the priority list to make room for bigger and better stuff … like …
Learning to ride a tricycle:
Finally being able to pump the swing:
Climbing a tree:
(With Daddy’s help, of course)
Holding a baby lamb:
And planning a weekend getaway … which we are leaving on today. It is Mike’s birthday weekend [official b-day Monday] and we are whisking him away on a surprise trip so I can’t share any details with you … yet. XO
