Month: September 2010

It’s All in the Details

This darling shutter I found at a consignment store here in Frisco…


Remember that little store called the Silver Star in Dallas I told y’all about? Here’s one of the gems I found there – I think Vann wasn’t too sure what my plans were at first – but my Dad is a genius and look:

What do you think this door would say if it could talk?? Who do you think has walked through it??

This chandelier I found at a lighting store in my hometown. Sometimes I think we could’ve gone even bigger – I mean, c’mon, this is Texas!

More importantly, though, what should go here?? We’ll be making a trip to Canton 1st Mondays in October – so anxious to show Vann all the wonderful goodies and beautiful, handcrafted furniture!

Welcome Fall

I went to a new friend’s house yesterday for a playdate and her house was so warm and lovely. She’s lived there for 6 years, I think, and all of the little touches she’s made just scream comfortable.

A few of you have asked to see pics of the house since we’ve been in it. There is still so much work to be done – I feel like it’s so stark without pictures and curtains – but moving into fall it’s slowly but surely shaping up.

I’ve said before that one of my favorite things about our house is the fantastic fireplace and mantle – still searching for the perfect piece to go above it – but we aren’t in any rush.

I apologize for all of the shadows in these pictures! I am dying to learn how to properly use our camera. I think I’m going to ask Santa for a photography class for Christmas – enough of using it as a point and shoot when it’s capable of so much more!


The formal dining room has some amazing crown molding. We don’t mind the green for now, but eventually we’ll most likely look for the perfect grey (if there is such a thing) to coordinate with our slate blue and platinum china. This is the rustic china cabinet I found at a consignment store for $400 – goes perfectly with our dining room table and chairs.

A total splurge: the “Celeste” chandelier from Pottery Barn. You should see it from the street!

Overcoming

Gwyneth Paltrow has this website called “GOOP”. I don’t read it that often, but one of her latest newsletters recently caught my attention. Bryce Dallas Howard, the actress (and daughter of Ron Howard), writes about her experience with post-partum depression. Read about it here.

Pretty heady stuff, right? Unbelievable that she can speak about it so plainly and honestly. Post-partum is one of those things that is taboo – no one admits to it and those that do are terrified of the stigma attached.

Having gone through it myself, I was pleased to see Bryce also address the subject of breastfeeding. It’s so empowering to hear other mom’s stories of overcoming struggle, self-doubt, and imperfection!! This is what the blogosphere is all about – sharing your heart with others and being REAL.

Date Night…Well…Sort of…

Back in July I purchased a groupon for a night at the Gaylord – because Vann spent his birthday alone in the city I wanted to plan a fun date night for the two of us and the deal was so great I just couldn’t pass it up.

Unfortunately our childcare fell through at the last minute, so our romantic evening turned into a family mini-vacay. Not a huge deal, but it DOES change things. However, despite the fact that Charlie screamed in the middle of the night, woke up the baby, and ended up having to sleep in between us, it was pretty fun seeing her “take in” all of the sights and sounds.

The Gaylord is a spectacular hotel. It’s so beautiful and has this whole self-contained, climate-controlled, biospheric feel – the whole resort is encased in glass. It’s kinda like a gigantic snow globe!

It didn’t hurt that they have an “Alice in Wonderland” event going on right now and there were tons of characters walking around. It was a total feast for the eyes, especially those of a 3 year old.

Coming from a Disney family – my parents took us to Disneyland in California and Disneyworld in Florida (including Epcot and the World Showcase) more times than I can count – I am anxious to introduce Charlie to that experience when she is old enough. I imagine this was a teeny picture of what that might look like.

In the end, it was a nice opportunity to “get away” – although, I’m not gonna lie and say I wouldn’t have preferred to share that time with just my hubby!!


Bliss

So you want to know what a moment of bliss looks like?

Baby E is cutting about four teeth at once. This means we have a very cranky baby on our hands. She’s stopped up, covered in drool, and overall just pretty unhappy. The last three nights she has woken up several times during the night – last night I swear after 2 am the girl didn’t sleep at all. Neither did we. And I’m pretty unhappy when I don’t get my sleep.

Tonight, hoping to beat this teething monster off at the pass, we plugged a Vicks plug-in into the wall, dosed her up with Motrin, and for the first time since she was a few days old, I rocked her to sleep.

A moment of bliss.

Her chubby little arms, busy as always, grew limp and her labored breathing evened out. Her long lashes skimmed the bottoms of her eyelids. And my mind went back to our apartment in Chicago: 1500 square feet of pure chaos, no room in the inn. Breastfeeding in the living room with absolutely no privacy. Falling asleep with her tiny body propped up in the crook of my neck, knowing that the next feeding was only 2 hours away…if I was lucky.

5 pounds, 8 ounces of pure love.

The first year of your child’s life really is a miraculous and crazy thing. I feel like I’ve blinked and now all of a sudden her shock of almost black hair has softened to cornsilk and her tiny body has grown into a chubby, chatty, smiley, almost crawling (!) 10 month old. How did this happen?

You spend 9 months wondering what this person will be like and waiting to meet them. If you’re impatient like me, you find out if it’s a boy or a girl so you can plan and buy and celebrate a little early. And no matter how hard your delivery and early days with a newborn are (and I know, for me they were really hard the second time around), given a little distance and a little perspective…well, you realize that you just might be a better mother, wife, friend, person because of it. And you wish you could give it another try. This time, with a little more knowledge and a little more heart.

A moment of bliss that reminds me how precious life is and how thankful I am for my two girls. Knit together by my Father, they were always there, waiting to be named and loved and rocked to sleep.

Love

It took me an insane amount of bribery to get this one picture of you-know-who. What a turkey.

I’ve been feeling nostalgic about my collection of Matilda Jane. This is the first season since Charlie was 6 months old that I haven’t bought anything. I just wasn’t feelin’ the love this time and I used my eBay money for the return of Oilily and truckloads of Target, Carter’s and Mini Boden. Gasp…I know, have I fallen off the boutique bandwagon?? No, just trying to remember that Charlie is in school and needs things a smidge more practical. A smidge.

Have I mentioned I’m consigning in a big baby and maternity sale later on this fall? It’s going to be a lot of work…I have to log everything into the computer and hang, pin, and iron every piece of clothing. If I volunteer as well, I can make up to 80% on what I sell. I’m beginning the great purge. I plan on fully funding our Christmas shopping through this sale. I can do it, right?? I just keep thinking about all of the guilt-free spending we’ll be able to enjoy.

But oh, MJ…I’ve been pulling out some oldies but goodies. My friend Kim is applying to become a rep and we are hoping to do a show here in Frisco next spring. I’m sure by then my obsession with MJ will return in full force.

Until then, this will have to do.

Pure Love.

Baby Ella’s New Room

After two months of living in our new house, we have finally “finished” one room. Baby Ella practically slept in a drawer in Chicago – You probably think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. She certainly deserves more space than any of us, so yay for her very own nursery, at 10 months old.

Every piece of furniture in her room is a hand-me-down. This is what happens to the second child. If you look close enough you’ll see the fruits of our move on everything – there are more chips and marks than I would like to admit. Here’s the truth though, we know as Moms that this is all for us, right? Baby never knows the difference, as E can attest.

You should have seen Poppy’s face when our painter put the first coat of this yellow up on the wall. I do admit that it came up very, very bright, but I had faith that it would soften upon drying and it did. One of the reasons we bought this place was the collection of beautiful plantation shutters that adorn the entire front of the house – and lucky Baby E, she has one in her room. So, the yellow that I chose (Sherwin Williams Lantern Light) is even sweeter and sunnier than I planned. And who wouldn’t want to wake up to that everyday??