Monday, August 31, 2009

Let's talk Birthday Party

I am not a DIYer. I'm sure this causes my mother great emotional pain, since as previously discussed, she can make just about anything. But for some reason, Mary Bullock's impending 1st birthday party makes me want to cut, sew, mold, bake, and glue up a storm.

Not to say that I have actually done any cutting, sewing, molding, baking, or gluing thus far, but it could happen. There's still time.

Until then, I like to look at pictures of what other people have done and file them away in my little memory bank to steal at a later date. Like, when I have learned how to sew, paint, or... cut in a straight line. Watch out, MB! Your 18th birthday party is going to be sweet.


via Spearmint Baby


via Spearmint Baby


via Southern Exposure

[That last one is the handiwork of my friend Rachel, who also did Mary Bullock's birthday invitations. I can't wait to show them to you! It's going to be hard to wait another few weeks until I send them out! So don't be shocked if you get this invitation for her late October birthday party like...next week.]


Friday, August 28, 2009

Friday Favorites: Week in Review

Favorite Picture



Favorite Blog Post [Definitely click the link. You'll totally snarf if you haven't already.]

Favorite TV personality

I know I just posted this picture yesterday, but DID YOU SEE THAT POCKET SQUARE? Tell me that doesn't send your heart aflutter.

But I digress.

Favorite Trend I Could Never Pull Off


Favorite Trend I Could Totally Pull Off and The Return of Which I Have Been Awaiting Since Approximately 1996


Favorite Newly Re-discovered Song of the Week: Hooch, by Everything. Wow, that song makes me smile.

Fresh-e Freshy Friday, Everyone!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Have you been watching The Shark Tank?



Because we have been. What a perfect show for us! Lee is always coming up with some million dollar idea or other, and I am always telling him why it won't work. Let's see. Among other things, we've discussed baby weights (not sure how that would go over) and organic baby food (whoops, someone beat you to it). This was all prior to actually having a baby, of course.

Anyway, this show is both painful and exhilarating to watch. Painful in that you know that these people have put down a lot of their own money (most of the time very stupidly) to develop these products. Going on this show to ask the sharks for money seems like a last ditch effort for a lot of them, after raiding their kids' college funds and mortgaging their houses several times. It's hard to watch the sharks turn them down (and most of them do get turned down). But I guess it takes all kinds of stupid to make the world go 'round.

But the other side to the show is the excitement when the sharks bite on one of the ideas, especially when the sharks start bidding against each other. And then Kevin O'Leary can always be counted on to tell the entrepreneurs that they will be "dead to him" if they turn down his offer.

Of course every time we watch the show, we spend the next few days talking about what products we would come up with to show the sharks. And since we have a girl who likes to find problems in our house, we're always coming up with solutions to something or other. Most recently, Lee's eureka! idea was to invent some sort of a box to go over the electrical outlet so that MB doesn't pull the computer cords out, which is her ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING TO DO AND HOW DARE YOU TRY TO DRAG HER OUT FROM UNDER THE DESK!

It's genius! We'll make millions! MILLIONS!

Oh, wait. You mean something like this?



Sigh.

On the upside, though, we did order one, and it's awesome! Highly recommend it if you have a baby fink running around your house like we do in ours!

Back to The Shark Tank: Awesome show. Definitely watch it, even if for no other reason than because Robert Herjavic is really good looking. Look at that pocket square.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Lord, Beer Me Strength

Did ya'll know there's a whole blog about turquoise things? I didn't know I loved turquoise so much until I perused this and actually got dizzy. My head is spinning. SPINNING!

I mean, look:


Leather bracelets with the knotted toggles always remind me of Felicity. Ya'll know how I loved Felicity.

And then there's this:


Swoon Swoon Swooning.

This is going to be bad. Very, very, very bad.

Why do I love this?



I have no idea why I love this, I just do. Lee has been laughing at me lately because I really want something acrylic in our house. First I wanted an acrylic coffee table, but now I'm thinking that this would suffice. I have no idea why this appeals to me aesthetically, but for some reason acrylic makes me giddy. I even laugh this nervous little laugh--ask Lee, I'm sure it's totally obnoxious.

I guess the big question is this: Is an acrylic chair the furniture equivalent of clear shoes?



Because if so, I'm going to have to do some soul searching.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Three Is a Magic Number



I was over here this morning and have consequently been singing the entire catalogue of Schoolhouse Rock songs all morning. I'm sure Lee's glad he's at work so he misses this particular concert.

I remember watching them at school and on Saturday mornings, but my favorite memories of Schoolhouse Rock are much more recent. Grammar nerd that I am, I actually purchased the 25th anniversary edition DVD set when I was teaching, and I showed these videos all the time. Firstly, because it's just an easy way to get kids to remember the differences between nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. [Yes, I taught high school, and if you think this is weird, you haven't asked a high school student to name his parts of speech recently--you'd be SHOCKED! at his answers.]

But secondly, because they always made me laugh/sing/whistle in class, and any day at school when I was laughing/singing/whistling was a good day. Any day that Schoolhouse Rock made my kids laugh/sing/whistle was a SUPER good day.

Anyway, now I want to go and dig out my Schoolhouse Rock DVD from my teaching stuff, which is buried in the garage somewhere. I need to get Mary Bullock started right away, don't you think? It just wouldn't be right for the offspring of Lee and me [yes, it's Lee and ME, not Lee and I] to not know her grammar, you know?

Monday, August 24, 2009

Oh, etsy!

I love etsy. I'm moderately sure that I have, at one point or another, put most of what's for sale in my online shopping cart. There's something about handmade that just tugs my little heartstrings. All of it somehow reminds me of my mom, who is a crafty genius. She draws, she paints, she sews, she scrapbooks, she does things. I'm pretty sure she could make most of what's on etsy, and when I convince her to do so, I'm only going to take a 50% brokerage fee. She is my mother, after all. I wish that I had inherited this crafty gene. I once sewed a button back onto one of Lee's shirts backward.

Anyway, despite my love for all etsy wares, I have yet to actually follow through on a purchase. But that's going to end today, because of this:


It's a birthday banner, if you couldn't tell from the "r" and the "t" (and if you couldn't, you should give up any plans for appearing on Wheel of Fortune).

I'm pretty sure this is not rocket science to make, but I'm also pretty sure that it would cost about $150 and countless hours of swearing for me to do this myself. And since designgirl16 already has a die cutter and some free time, she's only going to charge me $22. What a steal!

I just need someone to push me over the edge on this. What have you bought on etsy? Did you love it?

UPDATE: The banner has been BOUGHT-EN! (If you've never seen Bring It On, just nevermind.) I'll post a picture when I get it. But no one show MB, because it's a birthday surprise.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Time Traveler's Wife



I went to see The Time Traveler's Wife today by myself, which is probably better, because I definitely cried. Not the all out bawling that I did when I read the book (both times I read the book, actually), but enough tears to be embarrassed about in front of other moviegoers. Good thing I had a wad of napkins leftover from my (buttered! yeah!) popcorn.

So--my review, in a nutshell, no spoilers: If you have read the book and loved it, or even if you were lukewarm towards it (cough cough, KATE!) you will probably enjoy the movie. It really was quite nice. Rachel McAdams thankfully did not have to put on a southern accent, and her performance was lovely. I was worried that she would do to this movie what Anne Hathaway did to The Devil Wears Prada. But she didn't! Whew.

If you have not read the book, we are probably not friends.

Just kidding!
[Sort of.]

If you haven't read the book, or if in general you have a problem willfully suspending your disbelief (I mean, hello? the title involves TIME TRAVEL), you should probably skip it. The movie pretty much assumes that you understand and accept the premise from the outset, and it does nothing to attempt to convince you of the feasibility of the plot. And the grousing that you're likely to do afterward will ruin it for me. So just go see The Hangover again or something and don't burst my bubble! Perhaps there is another movie out that you would enjoy more.

Friday, August 21, 2009

I love lamp


Today Lee and I have been married for FIVE WHOLE YEARS. We celebrated a little earlier this month with new lamps for the entry way. I know, it's totally romantic, right? But we loved them. One of the things that we love most about them is that they don't exactly match. One is a little bluer (my lamp) and one is a little greener (Lee's lamp), and they have different designs. But they go, as they say.

Here's another example of that same concept:

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Who doesn't love a fleece vest?

If you know me at all, you know that my fall to spring wardrobe consists of jeans, a white shirt of some sort, at a fleece vest. And, thanks to my husband's very inspired gift giving, I have quite a collection. My one blue vineyard vines fleece vest is so snuggly and generously sized that without it, I'm not sure how I would have survived my early postpartum months. Every time MB spit up on it, a wardrobe crisis ensued.

I never really pictured myself as the type of person who would purposely dress just like my baby, but somehow the idea of dressing Mary Bullock like me is too much to resist. And since I secured a sacred promise last fall that I could buy Mary Bullock a fleece vest this year, I need to get shopping! Here is my favorite so far:


Now, if I needed any reassurance that I am making the right stylistic decisions for my baby, I have these images for proof:



Do they look happy to you? Now consider:



That's all I'm saying.

Stayed up too late

So, with Lee out of town, I've taken the opportunity to barely get up from the computer. Nice. I came across this blog and this blog and ok if you're forcing it out of me, I may have cried. But only a little, because even though some of it was incredibly sad, mostly it made me think about how much I have loved learning how to be MB's mama.

While I was waxing nostalgic, I started clicking back through the last ten months worth of pictures and came across a few gems, like this one.



I specifically remember taking this picture and then calling Lee at work to exclaim that Mary Bullock was a FINK, one not to be trusted. She has somehow managed to escape both the top and bottom of her swaddle (later to be temporarily out-finked by the Miracle That Is The Miracle Blanket, but this was pre-Miracle Blanket). (And don't go thinking that Mary Bullock ever took a pacifier just from looking at this picture, because she is just pretending here.)

Oh, how much I have learned, and how much I have still to learn.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

If I can't mope, I'll (pretend) shop

Perhaps Lee will feel so sorry that he has left me for the night that he will let me get this necklace


to go with my new Florida game day shirt (in tangerine dream)?

Or, maybe this one?


I told him that I would make it my business to get an appropriately festive necklace to go with my not-at-all-festive-but-sort-of-in-the-same-color-family T-shirt. And now I have found it! I figure if I save $1/day, I should be able to purchase one of these beauties by...mid-basketball season? Are the Gators supposed to make it to the postseason?

Things to Love About Lee Going on an Overnight Work Trip

1.

2.

3.

4.

Hm.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Birthday Things, Literally















There are so many Birthday Things to talk about in this post that I think my fingers might fall off before I finish typing.

First, check my apron above. This was actually a birthday present from Kate, who has abandoned me for France this year. I miss her, but as I told her, toile aprons from Provence will shut me up for a while at least. There is something about an apron that makes cooking and doing dishes a little easier, isn't there? I'm sure I'm not the only stay at home mommy who doesn't exactly relish the bonus job of stay at home housekeeper--at least, I hope I'm not the only one. So when I have cute things to lessen the sting of spending a day cleaning up disgusting messes (see green bean throw up from yesterday), they definitely count as Birthday Things.

Secondly, see the half of the coffee cake? This is also a Birthday Thing, in more than one sense. Because it's amazing, for one. I can't share the recipe, as this was a super secret recipe from (same) Kate, but trust me on this one. This was not my best showing on this particular cake, due to some inaccuracies in my egg cracking, but it still turned out so well that I ate it for dessert last night...and breakfast this morning. What? It's coffee cake. Don't judge.

It's also a Birthday Thing because I ate this coffee cake for breakfast for a good two weeks after Mary Bullock was born. Kate brought this, a delicious dinner, and a blessed bottle of wine for us. I'm not sure, but I think I may have kissed her.

Anyway--I think that's how I will always remember this coffee cake, as one of the few things that brought me comfort when I was an exhausted and scared brand new mommy.

So, yeah. Toile and coffee cake. And Kate!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Ok, fine. Something I hate.

Blog templates.

I think I have permanently impaired my vision.

Day 1: This doesn't bode well

So, I'm roughly half-way through Day 1 of Birthday Things, and a post topic has not magically appeared to me. I mean, since I can't honestly claim to love green bean throw up and a screaming baby. I could try, but I might lose a little credibility, and that's never desirable at the outset of a blog that eventually you intend for people to read.

Luckily, I have some Birthday Things in reserve to discuss while I wait for lightening to strike. I'll start with the homemade meatballs that Lee made me this weekend. Yes! I said homemade meatballs. This is one of the many things I love about Lee. We'll be driving in the car on a Saturday afternoon, discussing dinner. I lean towards take-out. Lee leans toward homemade meatballs. And then he actually finds a recipe, makes a grocery list, buys the stuff, and rolls up his sleeves. Two hours later, we are eating spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce and meatballs he has rolled and baked himself.

I wish that I were more like this. It's nice to aspire to be more like the person you married.

And as nice as the meatballs were, the spaghetti wasn't even the Birthday Thing. The Birthday Thing was the meatball subs he made for us for lunch on Sunday. I'm not even a meatball sub sort of person, but there was nothing left of it about 60 seconds after he put it on my plate. I wish we had taken a picture so that you could get the full effect. Next time, perhaps.

Here We Go



I am starting this blog with the full realization that finding "birthday things" is SO MUCH HARDER than finding things to hate. My daily perusal of the online news provides enough fodder for me to blog all day long about things I hate. But why add my own vitriol to the ever-growing din of negativity? Especially when talking about things that I love (i.e. birthday things) could be so novel?

Now I am just going to do some laundry while I wait for my very first birthday thing to hit me.

And here is a picture of MB, because she is a birthday thing if ever there was such.