The Road

I finally got around to finishing McCarthy's The Road. It was fantastic, you should read it. Yes, you.

His prose is so simple its terrifying. I literally had nightmares about being chased by homeless men who wanted to eat me. Truly haunting yet a beautiful look at survival and humanity.

Hollywood, please don't ruin it. Please leave the unknown without answer. Pretty please.

Life is Good

I keep coming back to this picture in my mind. Its from the sartorialist (whose book is coming out soon and I am so excited I might just pre-order through amazon) and this girl is so happy and confident and beautiful in Paris wearing a feathered hat. It seems like when life is best and things are happening we have the least amount of time for things like facebook and blogging. I love that. I have been absent of late and its not because I'm doing anything particularly grand I'm just living the good life. I love being busy and my weeks have been full: projects, crafts, cooking, eating pie, hanging out with Steve, admiring and protecting the garden from thieves, reading lots and lots of books, developing new friendships, going to YW and watching WAY too much reality tv. I have barely touched my camera since Peru and I feel good about it. Yes, I have things I've been meaning to post and yes, this blog could be very dull for the next little bit until I get to my to-do list but I don't even really care. Just know that I'm still here and my mind is racing (in a good way).

I think life should have more feathered hats.

Oh and a funny little conversation Steve and I had the other day which I think describes my life beautifully.
Steve (coming home from ward council at 11:00 am): So what have you been up to?
Me: Well, I was just going to watch tv but then I decided to make a skirt instead
Steve: Don't you ever just sit around and be lazy like me and watch tv or play video games?
Me: No

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY & Z

I don't love pastels and I don't love themes. I think themes have the tendency to get too tacky too fast. And I don't love way gender specific rooms. If its a boy, great but everything does not have to be blue. Or worse, pink.

I know that I am opinionated but I like what I like.

For the baby's half of the spare room, I want the feeling to be bright and inviting, sunny and full of wonderful textures and patterns. I'm not talking about the room being so crazy the baby will have a seizure but I want the room to still work when the baby is no longer a newborn.

So far besides the crib, all I know is that I want to use the alphabet in some way. I love the idea of surrounding the baby with learning and creativity at an early age.

After hours perusing the internet, here are the current contenders for wall art:

I love how mod this one is. And how it would be to pull colors from for the rest of the room. From Tim Fishlock on 2021
I love that this one is laser cut from one piece of wood. How earthy and against a bright wall, it just might do the trick. From bookhou
I also loved the idea of using alphabet cards and hanging them as a banner on a ribbon or framing some favorite ones. From the land of nod-p.s. this site has some beautiful things

The Original ABC Love poster, this is just right without being too mushy for me. From jenniferramos on etsy
And of course master screen printer extraordinaire, strawberryluna. I have always been a fan of her concert posters and think having some of her work would be great.
And the website that started it all. This is the wonderful etsy shop of bibbity and they are actually from SLC. They also have these cards in french and spanish. I love them all.

Decisions, decisions...and of course careful editting

Thoughts on Pregnancy: Maternity Clothing

Nothing gruesome in this one, you're safe to read.
Well I'm finally putting up a picture of myself. Its really not that exciting but will be good for reference later: as in, wow you have gotten huge since then or look how much skinnier your face used to be.
(16 weeks)
Since last time things have only gotten better, granted I am still breaking out like crazy and a new bra is definitely on the to-do list for the week, but overall I feel great. My exhaustion is pretty much gone and I no longer feel gassy and bloated. I am actually feeling 100% and I keep wondering, Can it really be this easy? I know lots of women experience tough and really tough pregnancies (and I honestly feel for them) so I am definitely not trying to brag but so far this has been a piece of cake.

If anything, I just feel fat. I ventured out into the world of maternity clothing this week. I refuse to be one of those dumb women who try to wear their husband's clothes instead of just buying new clothes. Who are they fooling? And I don't really want to stretch out all my shirts making them last as long as they can.

So why do maternity clothes have to be so ridiculous and precious? Like take the brand names I came across: Announcement! maternity wear and Take Nine (months). Gag me. My goal for maternity wear is to find normal clothes with adjustments made for a belly. Easier said than done, I just hate that a lot of the clothes look "maternity," you know?

I headed over to the Gap and heaven. Usually I think the Gap is overpriced for how basic and boring their clothes are (although I do love their jeans) but I can already tell the Gap is going to be my maternity clothes saving grace. Normal clothes adjusted to your new shape. I got a black knit pencil skirt for $6 and have already eyed a couple of other items I might go back for. Old Navy had nothing and at Target I managed to score some cute khaki shorts but they only had 2 racks of options. So far I have only really concerned myself with comfortable pants since most of my shirts still fit.

Basically, there really is nothing worse then feeling bad about how you look. Well, I mean there are worse things like illiteracy and child abuse but seriously taking time to make sure you feel good about yourself and how you look works wonders. You've all seen What Not To Wear. I'm starting to see how some women just kind of give up when they get pregnant and have kids. It sure is a lot easier to wear your hair in a ponytail everyday and throw on anything from your closet. But why would you want to settle for blah? I definitely don't want to.

And P.S. maternity jeans and pants are the most comfortable things ever. I found a pair of Gap jeans at a yard sale for $4 and when I tried them on, seriously heaven. After you get over the freaky looking panel, they are to die for comfortable. Honestly, as soon as you feel snug in your normal clothes, buy yourself some new pants, why torture yourself?

Mirror, Mirror...

Remember this?Well now it is this...see mom, I'm not a freak.
I love the way it turned out with the high gloss white spray paint but I am now not loving that wall. It needs some serious color or something. Steve and I both feel it just doesn't look right. I think an overhaul of all walls in our apartment is in order. As Steve pointed out, he's home all day and it gets boring looking at the same thing. You know me, I'm always game for mixing it up.

On another note:
We saw Harry Potter and were both disappointed. It was really slow and lacked action. And I'm not going to spoil anything but if you've read the books, they cut out the entire battle at the end. I was waiting for 2 1/2 hours and no battle. What? It would have helped a lot with the overall drag of the film. But don't take my word for it, I just reread the books and everything was fresh in my mind so I set myself up for disappointment.

And on yet another note:
The one reality tv show I admit (with a tinge of embarrassment) to watching is Big Brother. Its really quite stupid but we can't seem to not watch. How dumb was it that Chima didn't get sent home? And now Ronnie, who is a ridiculously pathetic schemer is HOH? What will happen next? I hope what happens next is Russell is kicked out.

And on yet another note:
Reco really did disappoint in the final fashion show which is sad because I feel like I have rooted him on from the start. That skirt didn't even cover the model's butt. I am going to be voting for Anna all day on bravotv.com. Okay not all day but I will vote.

Freezer Paper Stencils

If you are at all crafty, you're going to love this project I found online.

My sister in law just gave birth to two adorable twins and Steve and I wanted to send them a gift. I don't love matchy-matchy for twins but since they are a boy and a girl I thought it would be fun to make a skirt and pants out of the same soft grey corduroy and some coordinating onesies.
And then I remembered this freezer paper stencil tutorial I had seen online. Steve and I decided on a dinosaur silhouette and he even helped me paint them and despite the fact that I made him wear an apron, he enjoyed it. I think they turned out super cute and its really very simple and surprisingly precise.

She gets purple dinosaurs and two skirts, one is reversible because even at 6 months a girl can never have too many options.

And he gets green dinosaurs with cargo pants. I love the pants, I think they are so cute and little. Let me just tell you, making baby clothing is so fun and easy. Literally it takes minutes and hardly any fabric. This is going to be very dangerous for me in the near future.

The Crib

Most of what I have seen in the way of nursery furniture is not my style. Big gaudy sleigh cribs and mammoth recliner gliders. Its huge and ugly. What is it with furniture that is just too big? I have been looking for furniture with clean lines and a modern feel. Of course anything that looks modern is immediately pricier, sometimes I get frustrated by my picky aesthetic but I refuse to have something ugly in my home, no matter how trivial it might seem. Try finding a baby swing that isn't hideous, I still haven't found one I can live with.

I found the crib I love and guess what? Its $1700. Ridiculous, huh?

And even though I despise Walmart, I'm excited to have found this pretty similar knock off there. Yeah! and for only $250. The only thing I don't love is the top of the white sides but its close enough. And there are drawers in the bottom.

We'll refinish a dresser we already have for the changing table and I found a glider that is not hideous for $35 with ottoman at a yard sale. I am going to reupholster the cushions and maybe paint it. I'm picking it up tonight so I'll post pictures soon.

Design Sponge: SLC Guide

I have been a long time reader of designsponge and was pleasantly surprised to see they posted a guide all about Salt Lake City. Its definitely worth a perusal and the comments too have great ideas if you live in the area.
makes me excited to have one more glorious year here.

Secondhand Scores

I've always been a thrift store enthusiast but when summer comes along yard sales are my forte. I love the thrill and anticipation that good deals and excellent finds are just around the corner. I am always tempted by a good sign with a bold color and a hearty arrow. Just one more, this could be the sale with that must have item. As fun as it is, it is not for the faint of heart because it does take patience. Mostly its just people's junk and old clothes. But then you find that item that made waking up at 7:00 am on a saturday totally worth it.

Here are some of my finds of late:Wide World, this goes out to my mom, a game from her childhood. It is a wonderful game and still has the original metal plane pieces. The box had completely collapsed so it was $1, nothing a little scotch tape couldn't fix.Okay this is from DI but I love it. It was sitting in an abandoned cart, no one was around so I took it. I am thinking of spray painting it white. $3 for a totally gaudy mirror, now to find the wall space for it.
Stack of fabulous vintage fabric and dress parts, $4. The bright yellow is flocked polka dots, I'm a sucker for flocking. Summer skirts here I come. And last but not least, we have officially become ghetto. Yes, that is an AC window unit complete with white garbage sack and painter's tape finishing. I bought this from a friend for $70 and I already know it was worth it. If I am going to be pregnant during the summer, lets just say this was a necessity. (We will be sprucing up the window, don't worry, a trip to Lowe's is in the works for this week)