5.28.2011

Shower me.

Baby shower #2: check, check!

Not that having a baby shower is like a "task" that needs to be checked off...but it is sort of nice to be done with both of them, so now I can figure out what I still need to buy for the rambunctious lady in my belly (seriously, did you NEED to wake me up at 3am this morning so I could be there for your tap dance performance on my spleen?)

It was good times. I was super excited to set up the table after I saw this cute picture from the blog Hostess with the Mostess.
It was the inspiration for the country style brunch theme. I actually liked the way mine turned out better than the inspiration picture. Although, it would've been awesome if I could have found those old school small glass milk cartons with striped paper straws to serve the drinks in.

I should have taken a better picture close up..oh well..but the table runners were burlap fabric with a pink paisley patterned fabric on top. All the food was mini or finger food style.

My absolute favorite part of the table were the mini chalkboards to label the food!!! Soooo cute! One thing most people know about me is I'm OBSESSED with all things miniature sized. AH! I love the "travel size" isle in Wal-mart. I die from small cuteness.

On the menu: fruit skewers, blueberry pancake skewers with syrup, mini quiche, fruit and yogurt parfaits, apple pecan cinnamon roll cupcakes, and muffins.








For the thank you favors there were little jars of homemade strawberry jam:

Overall it was a success! My bff Shanti is AMAZING for being able to host it for me, considering her life goes 90 mph. Thanks Shanti--you da best! Aaannd thank you to the people who came and bought baby J adorable things!


And let's end with fatty shot of me. :-) 33 weeks.


5.25.2011

beauty and brains

a. I am loving this photographer my sister Michaela found to take her senior pictures. She's going to take some family pictures for us when we fly out in December--can't wait!

b. My sister is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS! I wish I had her huge Disney princess eyes. My eyes are just...normal eyes.

c. She better come visit me in the month of June or 1) I will die of boredom and 2) I'll lack a crafting buddy.

Here are some of my faves from her shoot:







5.21.2011

Didn't get called up.

Rapture weekend. It's all the rage. James and I are still here though...bummer.
But my Mom has yet to text me back today???
Now I'm suspicious. ;-)
She would.

We had a fun time celebrating the fake end of the world though. Well, we didn't purposely go out to celebrate that, but it wouldn't have been a bad way to end things. We went to this AMAZING Italian restaurant in downtown Salt Lake called
Cucina Toscana.
Holy smokes! If you have lots of money you don't mind dropping on absolutely delicious food, I highly recommend it. I got this amazing lemon butter chicken with the most delicious mushrooms I've ever had and risotto. James got roasted duck with some tomato sauce thing on top.
For dessert we got creme brulee. First time I ever had it. It definitely would have been my dessert of choice, had it of been my last.
There was even a separate waitress to bring out our silverware/refill our drinks. And she kept calling me "me lady". Love that. Anyone can call me that anytime they want, for future reference.
James was such a gentleman in that I wasn't allowed to see the bill. :-) (or he just didn't want to hear he couldn't buy anything for the rest of the month!)

Then we stayed over night in the Marriot downtown. My only complaint is the room was turned down to like 68 degrees, but was hot as heck. Possibly pregnancy related? Dunno. Pillows were ridiculously comfortable. If I could have fit them in my overnight bag, we would be two Marriot hotel pillows richer.


Saturday we went to the Salt Lake Temple, which of course was bustling with huge wedding parties of couples getting married, tourists snapping picture of temple square, and even a few Mormon protesters! It was the first time we had been back there since we got married there 2 1/2 years ago- good times.

(Don't you love that we totally look photoshopped in?)

It was SUCH a pretty day outside, I could have just laid a blanket out and fallen asleep (oh how I miss the days of laying on my BELLY to read a book)! When we got home, I managed to only fall asleep on the couch. I'll take it.

Not a bad weekend, not bad at all. And the best part? There's only ONE FREAKING WEEK OF SCHOOL LEFT!!!

5.15.2011

Confessions of a crazy person

I think if someone asked me to describe myself in three words lately, it would be: 1. worrier 2. organizer 3. psychotic and dangerously emotional (Yes, I realize that's more than 3).

(31 weeks and looking ginormous- also, in an attempt to avoid chronic squinty eye that I always get in pictures, I have a crazy wide eye instead...oh well..)

Psychotic and Dangerously Emotional:
Hormones...I think I read somewhere that the overly emotional stuff is supposed to start dwindling as you get into your third trimester? (...did I make that up?). I wasn't really that emotional in the first bit like every one says you're supposed to be--maybe you should ask the hubs, but I felt pretty normal. Anyway, I feel like it's multiplying by the DAY now. Sometimes I'll just start crying and I have no idea why. Or I'll look at a cute baby outfit or the partially set up nursery and get teary eyed- what the heck?! I haven't figured out yet if the tears are happy/excited tears, freaked out tears, or scared tears (scared tears for the impending doom that is about to reek havoc on my lady parts)..probably a bit of all three.

Organizer:
So recently we've been getting the baby's room all set up. Yesterday we rearranged the office so James has about half of it, with his desk/bookshelf/clutter of things, and the crib, glider, and changing table will be on the other side of the room. The "nesting" instinct is in full swing.
I tried helping James organize his desk stuff yesterday, and he politely told me to go find something else to do because I was driving him nuts. :-) I told him I was a bit anal about being organized these days (well, probably all the time but especially and ridiculously so now). To which he responded, "I think it's beyond anal." .."What's beyond anal?" I said.
..And I'll leave it at that..

Worrier:

I've started worrying about EVERYTHING related to this little girl, soon to make an appearance. Everything from, will she be pretty? Will she be smart? To will she listen to me when she's 16, heartbroken, thinking she knows everything about the world, when I tell her I understand what she's going through?
Am I even capable of keeping her ALIVE? Every plant I've ever had has died. So now there are fake plants in my house (and by plantS, I mean one). But you can't get a fake baby...well, you can, I did that in high school- the whole 'take care of this baby doll that will scream it's head off and drive you bonkers like a real baby is supposed to'.
THE POINT IS: this baby ain't fake.
Hopefully some serious natural instincts kick in. For both of our sakes.


I just think all the time, will I even be good at this?


This is crazy town. ALL OF IT. I guess whether I learn to cope with it or not, can do it or can't, worry about it or don't worry about it- in 9 weeks it's aaalllllll going down.
Ready or not.

5.10.2011

the epitome of PERVE


What the heck is the deal with mustaches everywhere???

I don't mean on people's faces either- I mean, there are plenty o' those nasty things out there too, but I mean the current trend in other "mustachey" things, like as decor, t-shirt decals, party favors, and....cupcake toppers?


g to the ross.

Seriously...what are the first three things that come to your mind when you see a mustache? Mine?
1. Leftover food crumbs
2. Hairy tongues
3. Dry lips..blegh

Nothing good. The chances of me not liking you significantly increase if you have a mustache, based pretty much on that reason alone. It just needs to be said.

Mmmm...yeah can't leave the topic yet. So I get if you have a mustache in addition to other facial hair, you know, where it's all connected and what not. Even different variations, like a full out beard (still gross, but at least acceptable), or those little tiny beards just around the mouth- whatever those are called- even those facial hair "outlines" people do (I seriously give them props for their trim work), I get it. But a plain old mustache by itself? Don't. Just don't.

5.09.2011

DIY rosette necklaces...I'm in l-o-v-e!

Have I mentioned I LOVE fabric rosettes lately? Have I further mentioned I've been somewhat of a crafting FREAK lately? And did I say I found a sweet video tutorial on how to make said fabric rosettes?

Well, I think what I did this weekend goes without saying. Scissors, glue, paper, mod podge and fabric have taken over my dining room. I'm okay with it.

I made a few rosette necklaces and I just can't stooooop! Anyone want one? :-) I need an excuse to buy more fabric...

What you need:

strip of fabric (about 2 inches wide and 18 inches long)
hot glue
maybe some cold water nearby when you totally scorch your thumb on the hot glue gun
felt
ribbon (or a chain and circle attachey-thingy)
embellishments (optional)



Fold the fabric in half, then in half again.


Start rolling the fabric, putting a dab of hot glue every 3-4 rolls.


Once you get a good size "roll", start folding the fabric down to the left as you continue to roll it and wrap it around the center, and glue down every 3-4 rolls/folds.


Keeeeeep going and your flower starts to take shape (you can make the flower loose or tighter, depending on how tight you keep it while you roll it)

Once your flower is the size you want, (snip extra fabric if you need to) and glue the remaining fabric onto the bottom of the flower.

Glue the flower onto a circle of felt (not pictured).


Glue all of the felt circles into a bigger piece of felt in the order/design you want them. Trim around the felt so you can't see it from the front.
Glue two pieces of ribbon onto the tops of the felt so it can be tied around your neck.


Embellish if you wanna...




Finished product.


I made another one on this pearl chain, where the two flowers can be interchanged. The plan is to sew the two circle hook thingys onto the top of each flower, so it can easily slide on and off the necklace.

Faaaaaabulous.
Happy Monday everybody.

5.06.2011

Bring it on.

Summer.

I look forward to this every year starting in about November. It's like the best thing since The Backstreet Boys (..oh don't pretend you didn't jam out to that).

I think I was made for this time of year. I never noticed I wasn't made for other times of the year until I moved to Utah...where there actually are 4 seasons- who knew?

My favorite thing to do now when I get home is sit on the couch with the windows open, browse pinterest online, feel the warm sun streaming through my new curtains, listen to the birds chirp outside, and smell the delicious smells coming from my neighbors barbecuing up something summery and wonderful.
All that's missing is a lemonade and some watermelon, an easy fix.

But seriously, summer has THE best smells and sounds. Some people are all about the smells of Christmas or Thanksgiving, (which I think is winter's only saving grace) but to me the best smells happen from May to August:

sunscreen
salt water
barbecues
flowers
the after smell of fireworks

In the words of Deb Talon, "I was made for sunny days."

5.04.2011

Scrabble Art

A little more DIY lovin'.

Today was unusually stressful, so I found myself at JoAnn's getting craft supplies for another endless list of stuff I want to do. I really should finish one list before I start another...

I saw a cute idea for Scrabble art and decided to do something like it. All you need:
picture frame
hot glue
fabric or scrapbook paper to fit the frame
scrabble letters

Start by hot gluing the mat of the frame to the fabric or paper. If it's fabric, make sure it's pulled tight.

Hot glue Scrabble letters on one at a time (after you've stolen them when your husband's not looking from that board game you never play).



Put the matting back into the frame, minus the glass- it won't fit, and it looks better anyway.
Tah-dah!

Ahh..stress relief.