Our Latelies

~Pretty~
We don't have a whole lot of decorating done around here.  So far we have one advent wreath on the kitchen table, one strand of garland above the tv, and one Christmas card holder of which I am extremely proud.  This little baby was the product of only about five minutes of effort and I didn't even go to Pinterest to come up with an idea for it (although granted, I'm sure its very existence is a result of my time spent on that little site).  Here it is on the mirror in our entry facing the front door:

I mean, clothespins? Clearly a Pinterespiration.

Here's the long view:

Why, hello there, headless me.

~Funny~
Juliana trying on hats at CVS while we waited for my flu shot:

"Pink is my signature color."

And Sammy practicing for his role as le petit prince:

~Happy~

The day before Thanksgiving was our third wedding anniversary!  On the following Saturday my hubs was a groomsman in our friends' wedding and we took a picture of the two of us after the ceremony.  A picture of the two of us is rare indeed.  Evidence:

Aw. Pretty cute for an old married couple.

~Real~
What you're looking at right here is a 9 month old with a broken femur:

At least he's cool enough to wear Wordsworth quotes?

I know: sad and adorable at the same time.  Poor guy.  While walking to church as we do every Sunday morning, I slipped and fell backwards.  I held him the whole time, but somehow his leg got a fracture.  It was horrible, but he has recovered beautifully and he now rolls around and tries to crawl with that big old thing on his leg.  He's a tough little dude.  

Head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more of life's little joys (and realities).   

Quick Takes Friday

1.  I have been known to declare (dramatically, with great self-sacrifice) to anyone who will listen once I finish any sort of project that I'm not going to blog about it because I just don't have the time: I can either do the project or blog about doing a project, but not both.  This, while mostly true, is maybe also an exaggeration, so I'm working on trying both for a bit just to see how it works out (if my hero, P-dubs, can homeschool four children, assist in the running of a ranch, star in a cooking show, write two cookbooks and two children's books, make dinner every night (while blogging about it) and still post like 5 times a day maybe I can manage a couple posts a week.).


2. I have to use my time wisely, right?  For instance, right now the hubs is going to watch The Walking Dead. I can't watch The Walking Dead (seriously I don't know why they'd make a show that is unwatchably gory) but I like the storyline.  Blogging while not-watching The Walking Dead is a perfect use of my time and resources (what's that? "Laundry?" No, I don't know anything about that.).

3. New favorite mascara alert (don't get too excited, this is a bi-monthly event): Maybelline The Colossal Cat Eyes Mascara.  It is GREAT.  My "HG" ("holy grail" for those of you who don't spend time watching YouTube makeup tutorials. I know, I'm cool.) is Clinique High Impact mascara, but I have to go to the mall to get it, and I don't go to the mall much these days (they're not double-stroller friendly).  This is a very good substitute.  

4. I have many projects floating around in a half-completed state over here, but lately I have managed to finish a few.  At one point we made a frame for a poster I had and wanted to frame, but it didn't work out (we couldn't figure out how to safely mount it with glass/plexiglass so we just had the poster framed professionally).  Anyways, we have a very large (maybe 3'x4'?) very light frame that I want to do something with, but I'm not sure what.  I was thinking one of those frames-within-a-frame projects I keep seeing on Pinterest, but I haven't quite worked out anything.  Any thoughts?

Not quite this busy, though.  Via Pinterest.

5. Ugh maybe I can't even listen to The Walking Dead. The sound effects are hideous.  But the plot is extremely compelling!  Perhaps I should just read the comics.


6. Baby picture time!  Juliana loves these "blue ice popsicles."  They're actually Pedialite pops.  I figure they're slightly better than Otter Pops? Maybe?  Sure!

7. And here's Sammy because he's cute.

We play in the playpen in the backyard so the dog will give us some room.  Otherwise he'd be licking Samuel while beating me with his wagging tail and scratching Juliana.  He's very friendly.

Go see Jen at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!

Mini Bedroom Makeover

Recently (er, the last five months or so.  I'm slow.) I've been re-doing our master bedroom.  First we got a new (old-- antique) dresser, then we rearranged the furniture.  After that I decided to paint the wall behind the bed a navy blue.   We've never had a headboard, so it was a pretty big, pretty blank dark blue wall.

Forgive the bad cell phone photography.

The creative impulses that led me to paint the wall navy (all the other walls in my house are beige.  This was a big deal.) dried up at that point and it took me until this week to decide what I wanted to do.

Since every other available frame/canvas/bare space in my house is covered with pictures of the kids, I wanted to make the bedroom more of a kid-free zone.  I bought some incredibly cheap frames from WalMart and spray painted them white and painted the mats black and framed up some wedding photos .

The frames as-purchased:

I want to say this cost $3.99 at WalMart? Nothing some spray paint can't fix!

I also wanted a quote for the wall, but wanted something custom and didn't feel like paying for a custom decal.

I poked around Pinterest for some how-to advice and cobbled together my solution.  I found a font and a quote I liked ("I have found the one whom my soul loves" from Song of Solomon and Miss Le Gatees font) printed it on several pieces of paper in size 400 font, and rubbed chalk on the back of each page and then taped them up on the wall and traced the letters (with a de-leaded mechanical pencil) to transfer the "stencil" to the wall.

It really looks magical at this point.

Getting there...

and (a few hours later) that was that.  The finished result:





And a wider view:



Ta da!

I was going for pretty and peaceful.  We're getting there.

Linking up with Leila today for some Master bedroom fun (... not that kind of fun)! I have her to thank for getting this project moving (she said to spruce up the master, so I did!). 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

I love this little planter in the front of my house.  My husband planted things he knew I'd like and the result is such a sweet, pretty mix of colors.

{happy}

The other day when I went to get J after naptime I opened the door and found this (minus the kid underneath... The picture was taken later during playtime). That morning Daddy had built a fort.  (Also, eek: I promise her room is normally a titch more organized).  She barely came out all afternoon.

{funny & real}

My big girl has gotten WAY into gardening lately.  Evidence:

That's a herculean effort right there.

Mostly she picks the green ones, but occasionally we can convince her that the red ones are worth her while.  She fought with this one, but won in the end.  She was thrilled to eat it.  Ecstatic doesn't even cover it.  

Until.

Would you believe some wicked tyrant insisted she sit in a chair to eat her tomato so that the wild beast we employ as a dog in our backyard wouldn't eat it out of her hand?  Neither could she.

The saddest anyone has ever been when eating a tomato.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1

I loved this essay by Pat Gohn on developing a practice of praying with others.  That is NOT something I am generally comfortable with outside of a relatively structured church/pre-meal grace/bedtime situation.  Nope.  But I have discovered something lately (this is a real revelation, so get ready): I'm pretty sure God didn't put us down here for comfort.  I know, right?  Mind-boggling.  That truth has been ringing across most of my days lately, though, so I figured I might as well embrace the discomfort a bit and try to provide some grace to those around me at the same time.  So, uh, we'll see how it goes?  

2

I've started reading 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess which has only been reinforcing the discomfort thing.  That is not a comfortable book.  Has anyone else out there read it?  

3

Lest you think I'm starting to become very holy and impressive (she says), the thing I've been most excited about this week is the new eyelash curler I got.  It's heated.  It's amazing.  

4

Since Hallie posted about visiting Grace and mentioned something about Simon's being funny, and since I just recently discovered Grace's blog, I just fell down the rabbit hole of Simon Says posts.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I was laughing out loud at work, ya'll.  I mean it's slow around here so no one cares, but that kind of behavior isn't exactly promotion-worthy.  Worth it.  

5

Sammy hasn't had much play on the blog yet.  Gratuitous baby photo ahead.  

Yes, that is spit up.  Look we can't all be clean and hygenic ALL the time.

I love this baby stage.  They're so cute and squishy and milky but also all big-eyed and cooey.  Yum.

6

This weather in Southern California is weird.  Hot, humid rain.  It's like Florida's climate decided to take a little jaunt Westward.  I'd like it to go home now.

7

Have a wonderful weekend!!!  Go visit Jen for more Quick Takes!

Love Songs I Love

The incredibly stylish and fun Hallie Lord (disclosure: I have been following her for ages and may have squealed out loud when she started following me on Instagram) is having a love song linkup! About 20 songs popped into my head immediately (including no small shortage of Disney songs) but these are my very favorite ones right this minute.

"Fly" by Sara Groves

The first dance at our wedding.  Check out these lyrics:

Oh how the little things 

Strengthen my tiny wings 

Help me to take on the world 

When you love me there's nothing I wouldn't try 

I might even fly 

I mean. Right??

"P.M.'s Love Theme" from Love Actually

Speaking of wedding songs! This one was our recessional. I'm not sure I could love a song more.

"I Only Have Eyes For You" The Flamingo

This one has the added bonus of being romantic and dreamy to me while also reminding me of Buffy. I love that episode because it was when Angel was missing his soul and we got the aching breathless moment together when everything was good again... and then... he was evil Angel again. Curses.

"Love Song for a Savior" Jars of Clay

I have loved this song since the album came out when I was in the eighth grade and I think it just gets better as I get older.

"So This is Love" from Cinderella

Until my husband-to-be proved uncooperative this was the song I wanted for my first wedding dance. I always thought it was SO romantic and it really has such a great, sort of retro, vibe.

"So Are You to Me" Eastmountainsouth

I'm going to go ahead and admit that I first heard this song watching an episode of "Alias," but that doesn't make the lyrics any less gorgeous, or her voice less heartbreaking.

"In Your Eyes" Peter Gabriel

This song will forever remind me of a dance at Sadie's, sophomore year of high school, with the boy I had a truly earth-shattering crush on.  I was dancing on the ceiling, people.  Never in my life have I been more thrilled to hear the opening strains of a six minute song.

"Your Hand in Mine" Explosions in the Sky

No lyrics at all, but anyone who has ever seen Friday Night Lights can't help but be instantly moved by it.



Sidenote- lots of TV/movie references, I know.  It's how I first experienced love!  

Lining Up

On a rainy day in April (weird in the SoCal) a visit to my fairy blogmother inspired me to start writing again.

Missing: one magic wand.

Despite the (relatively) cold weather, I decided to haul my two month old son off to a bookstore in downtown Pasadena to wait in a long line to meet a woman I've already met and get a book I had already bought signed (when she's already signed books for me).  Totally worth it.

The line was long and daunting and after about an hour it had moved about four feet.  Just as we were starting to revisit our decision expose a newborn to the elements for some sharpie signatures and a 90 second conversation with a perfect stranger (although in my heart we will always be besties), we noticed the bookstore manager (owner? don't know) walk along the line and release a group of people to the front of the line.  Intrigued, we listened as the people in front of us inquired if their twin girls (adorable) were young enough.  The managowner asked how old they were and the couple said they were seven months.  As she replied "No, we're not taking them that old yet" I jumped in and asked how young they needed to me.  She said "How young is he?" and when I said eight weeks, presto chango, we got bumped to the front of the line too.  Suddenly dragging my infant along didn't seem like such a bad idea.

The little guy also helped serve as a valuable conversation piece with Ree herself.  Last time we met I was just pure, unadulterated awkwardness.  I think I mentioned how we had a baby early in our marriage like Ree and Ladd, and however awkward that sounds, it was approximately 87% more awkward in person.  She was fun and said "oh right, I always say why beat around the bush about these things?" and we laughed but oh boy.  Awk. Ward.  This time we had a lovely chat about how after having perfectly normal deliveries with our first children, we both had boys who were five weeks early and scared us and spent time in the NICU.  That is a bonding experience, so the conversation flowed nicely.

Sammy thinks we all look related.

And the best part?  I won a bet with the hubs.  That almost never happens!

He was sure; nay, positive that Pioneer Woman and Marlboro Man had chickens.  Something about the opening credits of her cooking show.  Now, I had read this and was well aware that she did not have chickens, and so the bet was laid.  If I won: frozen banana date.  If he won: I don't remember.  Right before we walked away I asked her to help settle a bet with my husband.  The result?

Victory in our time!