people

i say it again.
people.
it's a new year, and i have a new computer. one that isn't telling me all the things i can't do, taking forever loading programs, and droning about. this new one keeps telling me of all the things it can do and loads everything up (web and programs alike) so beautifully artistically. i almost shed tears. it's like new glasses for the eyes kind of fun. a new computer has shown me what i've been missing. small details that were missed before are appreciated again. what a joy!

enough material glowing reviews- it's a new year!

i just read one of my college buddies blogs (tessa, you're not really a college buddy, but since you married one- i'm totally calling you that), and she talked a bit about reflecting upon the new year. this prompted my post. for reals.

this past year was quite lovely, but also chaotic. we moved, my kids grew (which is so bittersweet!), and we met more people who have blessed our lives and made it more full. along with that i picked up some habits which i will hope remedy themselves this year in 2013. i'm putting a phone reminder to post in march- a quarter of the way through this year to tell of my progress.

my to do's of 2013:

- eat yummier food made at home (i do this, but i'd like to be more fun about it, and keep challenging our food preferences)
- earn some brown boots to wear with my fun dollar/mile run program (something i set up with my hubs to motivate me). i haven't worked out for almost 4 weeks now because i got sick, then we traveled and my in-laws tread broke so i didn't have exercise ability (and i only brought indoor workout clothes. whoops).
- finish a project monthly (three on the docket: 1. a painting. 2. the napkins i started months ago. 3. bathroom refresh)
- get on the photo memory making. i haven't printed anything since kid #3 was 9m. (he's 3 now. gasp!)
- adopt a more 'git 'er done' attitude. i've become a bit lazy in the evenings with my sweet ones wearing me out and i let myself chill every night. i'm done.

i'd be happy with that. if i achieve these, i will edit and update in 3m.

enjoy.
did you guys make any resolutions?

deadlines...

i've been working on a web site and totally missed the hopeful deadline on it (end of january). i have a couple more things to finish up on it and then we'll be able to call it a wrap. it's not only my fault, there were two intensive edits that were a big blow to the time line. not a biggie, but i feel bad for charging the girl full amount. i'm thinking of offering a discounted rate for her to edit my copy for the web site i'd like to do for myself.

what do you think?

it's about time that i update my site and bring some updated stuff to the table for people to view when they are thinking of hiring me (oh i just got a smile from my littlest! love him!). maybe i'll post them and let the few people who read this thing vote on the design i should use. eh? deadline for that will be... march 1st. be ready to vote!

house update!

we have this alcove in our bedroom that magically fits these two chairs we *had to buy* from pottery barn after #2 was born. after 5 months of living here, the chairs and floor in front of it were clean (and still are about 2 or 3 weeks later!) and so we finally hung up the artwork the hubby and i created at the old place above the chairs. these chairs are lovely. if you have a pottery barn nearby and tend to shop in the area that the store resides, you should totally look at their floor model sales. we've gotten about 6 items of furniture this way, and it's not that bad. if you are extremely particular about scratches and things, this may not be the best option for you. we tend to have our own issues with moving furniture, so nicks don't detract from buying the piece of furniture.
what a blessing it is to have this space. i love reading in the chair next to my hubby or looking out the window which is next to the chair by the lamp.

family lovin'

i love my lil' family. here's a pic of my boy and two of his cousins when they came to visit. ever since #1 has been allowed to go up in the tree house- he's been all over that action. it's cute, but it is also kind of high up (in my opinion). both boys are really growing up. #1 has been saying three word sentences and i've been challenging him to say longer phrases and trying to get him to understand how to respond to questions. #2 is sort of mimicing sounds that we say. i think he's saying amen... although right now it is sort of "aH!" followed by a giggle. then he has been responsive to me asking for a kiss. he's kind of already over that, but i'll keep asking because it is so cute. - though i have to say i'm waiting for my head to have a bruise from the impact. #1's kisses are getting a little bit... um, much. kind of overly passionate for a 2 1/2 yr old, but it is still cute. for now. and only with me, thank goodness!

freelance is going crazy, i'm pretty pumped about it. i'm going to have to take pictures/link up final products for y'all to see.

painting one room...

the first thing i asked when we got to the new house was if we could paint it. unlike the last place we rented, the owners said yes! (a little dance jig here) sooooo, we once got the approval of the landlord's for the colors we wanted to paint the rooms, i set right to it. i think i started painting the week after we moved in, and we finished before #2's 1st birthday celebration (notice the i to we change, sigh). i was pumped. i like the way it turned out, and we painted roughly three more walls the blue color (including the foyerish area with a stairwellish area- yeah, should have taken some pictures)- but i was more excited about getting rid of the ugly (in my opinion) red/purple/ugly painted brick color.



the above photo is the room with all of our stuff in it's original state. yuck.


what a difference the white brick makes. i wouldn't have painted the brick if it hadn't been painted redish/purple/yuck, but it was needed to be done. it also kind of looked like it was white before. yeah... we made it back to what it was before. the husband ended up doing a lot of the fireplace b/c i was pretty ticked that it was taking SO much paint. in the end- about 4 coats.



here's the room with one wall painted blue, and the right wall is still yellow. for some reason- the yellow looks better on the website than it did in real life. seriously. that- and i wanted to be a bit more bold here than bland-ish yellow. cream. or something.



here's the final product (with all the junk i normally leave out, too!) i really like it, and the husband was super happy that we did it mostly during his spring break so his evenings were pretty much free and he was a HUGE helper. he totally rocked the walls. i feel so bad when i am determined to do something and then he ends up picking up the slack. especially with the amount of slack i left with this project (i DID paint all the trim white, so i'm not a total mooch)

hmmmm... don't you think that the star lamps on the mantle look way better with a white background than before? :)

the garden

well, as a friend asked me how i can maintain a garden while having two kiddos in the last post- i figured i should share what this garden looks like. first of all- i rarely weed it (especially now since the mosquitoes are vicious) and second- i just let nature do the work since last year barely anything actually grew. i got like 1/2 a tomato, lots of edible green beans, and a couple jalapeños. the lettuce last year didn't make it, and we got a one inch green pepper.



this year has already been better. the lettuce looks neon-ish against the rest of the garden, but it's nice and fresh tasting. even when i can't get every speck of dirt off the lettuce i don't fret too much b/c i didn't put any chemicals on it. i try my best to get it all off, though! note how everything from the grass to the inside of the garden is green. that is because i simply don't weed. i hate weeding. i did clear it all out a couple weeks back and GRASS grew back. the basic weeds are easy enough to pull- but grass? seriously. anyway- i'm happy it is growing even with weeds.


the cucumber plant is really growing well- though we only have blossoms at this point, so what do i know?! (cucumber plant pictured above)


the tomato plant is a winner already. i bought a couple of plants at the farmers market so i could have a longer harvest season. this one is the biggest that i can find, and i think that we'll be able to pull it off the vine soon! i had NO idea that tomato plants grew this high. last year, i think the largest one went to my knee. the plants you see here are almost to my waist. crazy.

although we've had a lot of rain and it has made our basement stinky- there is a benefit! there is good growth in the garden. yay!

miscellany (seriously the definition of my life!)

well, here's the place we ate at once we got over into ontario. the kids were starving (as were the adults, but we didn't really voice it as much) and we stopped at a pizza place. talk about sort of weird. the place was fairly empty and most of the people who came in did take out. good pizza, weird high chair. this thing would be considered vintage if you wanted it to be. anyway- we got a kick out of it, hence the photo.

the lacrosse game was a bust. i think that it worked out for the best, though, since we had a party to follow up the game. this way- we got to partying a bit earlier than originally planned. a lot of the girls didn't even seem to want to play even though all they had done for the season was complain about the lack of scheduled games. it was fun for me, especially since i wasn't on the field being an official. that was actually more difficult than i thought it would be since i'm used to be able to give the girls some hints when the whistle is blown. they barely listen to me when i'm on the field. imagine what it is like when i'm off the field. lets think about that. let it sink in. yeah. i'm useless off the field. the other team actually ticked me off big time and then they got mad at me. what. in. the. world? please. anyway- i lost sleep over it (no joke) and it got weirder the following day and then i got over the whole debacle. i'm over it. well, kind of. one girl asked me to tell everyone the stats at the party and i told her it would be kind of tough since no one scored in any of our games. i actually had stats for interceptions, passes, and stuff- but lets get down and dirty and realize that it doesn't mean much unless you score. even if it was only one time, it would have been a different story.

OPAM. this is basically a project you work on for a month (and actually complete it!). my project this month is to get the top of my quilt done. i've been working on it since before kid #1 was born, and i think that it is just about time i get it done. picture of what it looks like now to come at another date. the idea comes from a blog i like to read. she's a wonderful photographer and has a great sense of style. here's her project for her JUNE OPAM. join in (but tell me what you're up to b/c i'm nosey like that)

have a good one. my kid just woke up about an hour earlier than i would have liked. hmmmm... what to do.

not what i wanted…

do any of you guys have amazing ideas that don't really pan out when you actually do it? i'm sure if you are crafty it happens a fair amount. here's what happened with #2's birth announcements. i have to say that i sent them out like this, but with trepidation. here's what i wanted: and here's what i ended up with since i had *so* many problems with using my letterpress and the design that i created.
you can see why i was disappointed, right? how saaaad. oh well.

tear shed.

whoa...

so misplacing my camera made it so i didn't really want to post. how's that for an excuse? :) i've been allergy infested, back pained, etc. etc. but here's some fun stuff that is going on in my life (in my opinion):

since my pregnancy is well over, i bought a pair of shoes (left) to replace the preggo comfy shoes (right). i'm in complete love of them. the color is a bit wonky by choice, but they are green, comfy and AWESOME. buy a pair if you're into chill-ness.

my oldest is handsome when he does this with his finger. *how precious* right? i'm totally loving it. well, minus the fact that his finger is in his mouth and probably putting a bunch of germies in there- i'm totally in love with it.

right now, the trees at the end of my driveway are being cut down. they have been bringing the birds who have been pooping and creating some fear in both my husband and i about falling on our cars. anyway, the ground has shaken our duplex and i know it's not from the midwestern earthquakes and supposed aftershocks. i actually think that i'm not really within the area of that part of midwest. and apparently georgia is.

is it bad…

to begin being envious of people who are having babies before you? for some reason, several of the people that i secretly blog-stalk are (read: were) pregnant. now, they have their little ones and mine is still very much cooking in the oven. i don't want an undercooked lil' one, but i'm definitely *feeling* the belly and it is hindering during the time of active toddlerhood. kid #1, you have no idea what the next month will bring. we will still love you just the same.

kid #1 totally fell out of the bed last night. you would think he fell like 9 ft from the way it sounded. i actually had a small fear that the bookshelf fell on him. oh, so now we're getting railings for the bed (which is just a mattress on the floor at this moment).

i did a project last night! (well, two, but only one finished) we have new fabric on our dining chairs. loooove it. totally different look. totally. have a look-see.

here is the before line-up. upper right chair is splitting open.

close up of how desperate this needed to be done.

the fabric on the chair. yep. i know it's hot :) it matches the art in our living room (although, that would kind of be a challenge not to match) and also the drapes in our dining area. bonus, eh?

oops. just realized the kid was put in bed with a musical toy. it sings the alphabet and baby loves it. LOVES it. kid won't fall asleep now! better evacuate this situation.

have a good day!