Downton Time and a Cure Success!

Super excited - look what I got in the mail today!

Wish I could watch all three episodes tonight, but the little man will likely not allow for that. I am pretty late to the Downton Abbey party - watched the first two seasons at the end of last year and I am hooked! Have been waiting all month for season 3 to get released on Netflix and I timed the mailing of our last DVD to arrive the day this one got released. I can't wait for the big wedding!

Conley's two front teeth are officially coming in now. This has been a longtime coming, as he has been teething for quite some time now. About a week ago I could tell his little gums were looking a little puffy and a few days later two little front teeth starting poking out. I think I am going to miss that little 2-toothed grin, I had gotten used to it!

You can kind of see the little top gums in this one

This one's a little better

And I have somewhat alleviated the no veggie problem by letting Conley "feed himself" his puree pouches - he got so excited the first time I offered one to him. His eyes lit up and he flashed that huge grin and looked a little bit like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. He can certainly slurp them down too - with a little help from me! What a big boy!

In January Cure news, I finished my pantry cleanout today - big project complete! At least I can say I finished that! Even though I was pretty unsuccessful during the second half, I'm glad I participated and accomplished what I did. And it gave me motivation for a sort of year-long Cure - I'm planning to pick a new big project for February - debating between a closet clean-out and the kitchen cabinet clean-out that was actually one of the weekend chores. I'm also going to try to re-visit all of the assignments I didn't get through - will probably take a few days for some, but I will try! More to come on that. So here are the before pictures (again) and the after - there is also a right wall but it was pretty impossible to get a picture of the entire side because I had to stand inside the pantry - so no pictures. It was cleaned up nicely as well though - a lot of dust and dog hair had accumulated so I washed down all the shelves and everything that went on them. I got rid of a lot of half open food containers and expired things and reorganized all of the food areas. The unpictured right wall had a ton of old medicines and papers that I either got rid of or moved to the guest room (which basically became a big outbox this month - well it kind of already was one before) Looking at the pictures now it doesn't seem like a huge difference - but it made a huge difference to me! It felt great to finally finish this one!

Left wall - before

Left wall - after

Center wall - before

Center wall - after

My pantry doesn't look like this - but it is a walk-in, and for that I am grateful! ;)

Yet another lovely Apartment Therapy photo

Loving lulu

So I've gone into lululemon countless times but have never gotten the courage to conquer that wall of yoga pants. I know many people that swear they are the best ever so I'm suprised it's taken me this long to try them out. My old J Crew leggings have gotten a bit weathered acting as my almost daily wardrobe during the last months of my pregnancy and the first few months of Conley's life, so thought it was time for a new pair. And I am in love! I decided I wanted some that were a little shorter than full-length but not too short, so that narrowed the wall down to 3 pairs. Then I asked one of the sales girls about them and she recommended her favorite - the Wunder Under Crop. I got some black ones with a blue and white waistband design - they fit great, hit at a flattering spot on my calf (it's amazing how just an inch or two can make such a difference), and are super comfy!  I can't wait to wear these to baby yoga next week and imagine I will also lounge around in these as well. Highly recommend!

lululemon Wunder Under Crop $72

In January Cure news, I finished another 1/3 of a pantry shelf - baby steps! I had my second Spanish class tonight, so was pretty tired when I got home so that was about all I had the energy for. Even though I have failed miserably at most of the assignments the past week or so, I am still on track to finish this one! And even the posts that I don't complete at least get me thinking about those areas in my own home and I will get to them...one day! Here's my favorite Pinterest post of the day to keep me motivated. I'd taken a bit of a hiatus from Pinterest ever since Conley was born, but I've been back on in full force lately!

so clean and pretty - and love the Indian Ocean print
from Savannah College of Art & Design
Canadian House & Home

The Baker in Me

I cook almost every night, but baking is something I only dabble in here and there. So in my quest to improve Conley's intake of fruits and vegetables now that he prefers finger foods - and for the most part bread, bread and more bread (and the occasional shred of cheese or piece of chicken or meat) - I decided to bake my own bread with some fruits and veggies mixed in. I bought a pretty green Le Creuset bread pan this past weekend that matches our green teapot and scanned the aisles of Central Market and Whole Foods the past couple days for an easy, organic bread mix. Not as easy as I thought it would be. I was not wanting to venture into the true bread-making arena just yet - one that involves yeast and letting bread rise and scary things like that. I thought I could just find an "add water and mix" type of thing - I see them all the time for muffins, cookies, etc but turns out there aren't many out there for breads (organic, at least). Luckily, I ran into a friend in the baking aisle at Whole Foods today who happens to make great gluten-free baked goods (among other yummy treats) and she pointed me to some Red Mill flours to pick from, baking soda and baking powder and when I got home I did a google search for easy, yeast free breads - and voila! My first batch of fresh-baked bread for Conley!

I chose amaranth flour as my whole grain mix-in and apparently it's one of the healthiest whole grains with lots of great nutrients - unfortunately it doesn't smell or taste too good! I added some carrots, bell peppers and pears (odd mix, I know) to my bread and I have to say - it doesn't taste that great. I think it's that amaranth flour. So, we shall see what the little guy has to say tomorrow - or if I get the closed lips and head shaking no. I won't be surprised - but I will not despair! Next time I will make it minus the stinky flour and maybe a better selection of fruits and vegetables while I'm at it. I also included shots of the pretty hydrangea and a daffodil I found this weekend at Central Market as part of my weekend Cure homework. For my next baking adventure I think I'll make something for me!

The infamous Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie

A Wall of Books

I would love to have a book wall like this one day.

Apartment Therapy

But something along these lines is probably a little more realistic.

Apartment Therapy

Unless we move one day. Then a big library wall will definitely be on my must-have list!

This aspiration seems to be at odds with today's January Cure assignment - Declutter your book and media collections. Even though I consider myself a big reader (or did, prior to baby!), I don't think we really have as many books as most people. And we definitely don't have much other media lying around. I do have a collection of Domino magazines that I don't think I can ever part with, but beyond that we tossed all of our CD cases sometime ago (although we still have a large collection of CDs that for now we've said we will keep - because one day it could be a novel thing to have, at least that's the thought). As for DVDs, we have a handful but never amassed a large library, so not much to worry about there. Back to books - The Eight Step Home Cure recommends leaving at least 10% of your book storage space open because it "leaves open the (metaphorical) door for new things and ideas to come in" in addition to just making things look neater and easier to clean. Since I don't really have a dedicated spot for books only, I'm planning on going through all of my different book stashes and weeding out a couple here and there, but for the most part I think they will all stay. I did go a little crazy on the pregnancy/green living books and found myself reading the same tips for being green, so I do think I will outbox some of those and perhaps some "chick-flick" novels that I doubt I would read again. My favorite collections however, classics and travel books, will not get purged at all. I love my stacks of travel books in the living room - so colorful and remind me of all of our travels. I got this idea from my sister in law actually and love it. 

And then I love my collection of Penguin classics - there are still quite a few I want to add to the collection - the covers are so pretty and I want to collect them all (and read them of course!)

As seems to be status quo lately, I will try to work on this assignment this weekend because the night is almost over and I haven't gotten to it yet. I have done a quick survey in my head (and written above) of what I need to get done, just need to put that into action!

And one more pretty bookshelf picture for inspiration.

Apartment Therapy
noroof architects

Little Socks

One of my favorite things these days is finding Conley's socks in different places - the sheets of the bed, or in the cup holder or various pockets of the stroller, all over the back seat of the car, and in random spots all over the house. It's funny how we really do seem to lose one of each pair that he owns - so we have been doing a lot of mix-and-match sock wearing lately. Yesterday I was walking into Houndstooth Coffee and reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a little gray sock.

Conley and the famous gray sock - no pictures please!

Such a sweet reminder of the little guy and how much he loves his socks! They were his constant companion for a few months, but that is waning somewhat now. He still likes to yank them off and carry around a "clutching sock" as we started to call it (or a couple), but seems like he is not as dependent on that companion the past couple of weeks. Yet another chapter that seems to be drawing to a close.

Double clutch sock action - and what a miracle, a matching pair!

That and chowing down on purees! Now that we have stepped up the finger foods the past week, Conley has been refusing the fruit and veggie purees more every day - I can usually only get in a few bites before those lips close and little head shakes no - and he does his little "eh-eh" and points towards the bread. That must be the Italian in him - the boy loves his bread and shovels it in like there is no tomorrow!

I'm unfortunately falling a little behind on my January Cure assignments - knew this was inevitable! I'm still going to keep up where I can and try to accomplish all of the assignments - just on my own (read: Conley's) timeline. Tonight's assignment, for example, was a media fast during the evening hours. Well, that didn't work out so well as evidenced by this post. I do like the idea though - we spend too many nights with the TV playing various Tivoed shows (usually something on HGTV or Bravo like House Hunters International or Real Housewives if I'm in charge) or Peter watching random things he finds on Netflix (although I do like Portlandia) while we're both also on our computers. It's really the only time I have to catch up on everything though and we've dubbed this couple of hours our "wine time." Regardless, I would like to try to have a TV/internet free night every once in awhile - it would be a nice peaceful change of pace I think. And we wouldn't have to give up the wine part! ;) Another thing the Cure has got me doing is revisiting my past Pinterest posts (and pinning new things!) for inspiration once I have a nice clean house. Here's a pretty and colorful office area that I love - actually, I've been noticing that many of my pins actually come from Apartment Therapy.

Apartment Therapy

Something new and an old favorite

Tried my first barre class today at Barre3 and it was intense! This had been something on my to-do list for quite some time now and I think it will become a weekly addition to our schedule. It's described as a cross between ballet barre, yoga and pilates and I am already feeling sore - worried to see how I feel tomorrow, yikes! I hurt in places I didn't even know existed - but that makes me think this is something I should keep up with. For $5 extra they will also watch your baby, so I am in for that alone! ;) I did get pulled out towards the very end though because Conley was pretty upset, poor little guy!

Today's January Cure assignment was to create a "landing strip" with the idea that this makes you more conscious of what is coming into your home and thus better able to keep it under control.

Love those pink tulips
Apartment Therapy

 We sort of have this one covered already, but it probably needs to be tweaked. We've got the front doormat (inside and out), a closet to hang jackets (but this needs to be cleaned out because it's a tight squeeze to hang things up and the shoes are all thrown in), a console table with drawers to put keys, glasses, phones, etc, and a hook right inside the garage to hang dog leashes. We tend to dump the mail and purses and bags on the kitchen island and jackets, fleeces and Conley's stroller papoose over the back of the big chair. If I were following the tips for a true landing strip, we would take care of all mail at the console table and have hooks for purses, bags and jackets as well (or hang them in the closet). I won't perfect it tonight, but something for me to work on this month!

Conley and I took a trip to Treehouse and finally got some more houseplants. I'd been wanting to get a big floor plant for the living room and a couple more small ones for the guest room and Peter's side of the bed. Think I could still use a few more, but these should keep me busy for now - getting better at keeping plants alive, but still get some dead leaves now and then!

Mother-in-law's tongue x 2 and a rubber plant

Finally got around to my annual "holiday" viewing of Bridget Jones Diary. This is still one of my all-time favorites, just about 2 weeks late. I don't necessarily always watch it before Christmas, but at least I usually get it in before New Year's...maybe next year!

Love a good reindeer jumper!

A New Year, A New Blog

1.1.13
There's nothing like a new year to get you thinking about all the things you've been wanting to finally get accomplished. This year that list seems longer than ever as free time has become even more scarce than I could have ever imagined with the introduction of a new little person to our lives. But he sure is a cute little person! ;)

Our little koala bear at his first Halloween party, 10 months old

I was hoping to have started a blog around this time last year to chronicle the first year of Conley's life, but turns out I was a little too occupied and sleep-deprived at the time with a 10 day old baby. Sadly, those two things haven't changed that much in the past year, but I've got things a bit more under control now, so time to get this "to-do" crossed off. I also included it on my 2013 Resolutions List - I've made resolutions before, just not so many! Making to-do lists is something I seem to enjoy a little too much...especially long ones that will probably never be entirely accomplished!   

See, it says "Start a blog?" at the top right of page 1...and yes, there is a back to the list!

Turns out I make really long resolution lists too

Luckily, I was able to capture some of Conley's first year on paper (although I write in spurts and play a lot of catch-up, but I'm glad I have something to look back at.)

And of course the thousands of pictures - another ongoing "to-do" - edit those pictures! My Mac runs out of memory just about every week because of them all. Speaking of, here are a couple of Conley - what a difference a year makes! 

And while we're at it, I'll make this an official New Year's post by reflecting back on 2012 in pictures - to make up for my lack of a blog. Here are Conley's "monthly" pictures for his first year of life - some were easier to capture than others!

So - I'm excited to finally be starting a blog! At this point, I don't even know if I will share this with anyone - we'll see. A disclaimer - I techinically did not finally start writing this blog until January 12. So I'm just back-dating a few posts so I can officially make it start on the first day of 2013! :) Here we go...

1.2.13:

So I signed up for the Apartment Therapy  "January Cure" - AT is one of the daily blogs I receive emails from and enjoy reading for home decor inspiration and the idea is basically a "month-long group project to get our homes clean and organized for the new year" with daily emails and assignments - and words of encouragement. I'm definitely up for this but we'll see how much I can actually keep up - it's crazy how much of your day a baby takes, so I really only have the night-time "wine time" to accomplish things. 

Day 1: Make a List of Projects - Walk through your home and make notes on any trouble spots organized by room and then select 3-5 items per room that will make the biggest impact.

So I made the list...but failed on the edit part - I like to really see everything I want to do so I will leave it as is! Quite daunting really, but nice to get it all out on paper - and then I typed it all up to "make it official." And technically this master list is supposed to be for the whole year - they just get you off to a nice start in January. Even if I'm not able to keep it up with it all, it is a fun way to at least try. And there is something exciting about waiting to see what the next "assignment" will be every day. :)

1.4.13:

Finally got around to watching "Love Actually" - one of my favorite annual holiday movies.

It happened a few days after "the holidays" have technically ended, but close enough. I love anything British and Colin Firth and Hugh Grant are two of my favorites - although ever since Bridget Jones Diary, Colin Firth is a bit higher on my list. And of course Mariah Carey's cheesy yet catchy "All I Want for Christmas is You" - wouldn't be Christmas without it! 

And speaking of Christmas...here was one of our first family Christmas pictures. 

And one from our second...

1.6.13:

Day 2 and 3 of the January Cure were somewhat successful. Here were the assignments:








Day 2: Set Up Your Outbox
Day 3: Weekend Chores - Flowers, Floors, Green Cleaners & Outbox

So I set-up my "outbox" and have been adding a few things to it the past few days, bought some flowers on South Congress and already own green cleaners. Forgot to take pictures of the flowers, but they were pretty - white tulips and lilies! I did not deep-clean and mop all of the floors though. I do (with some help from Roomba) vacuum every day already because of our furry friends and their daily moltings, plus the house is getting cleaned on Tuesday. I had also saved this not-so-fun task for Sunday which turned out to be a bad day for Conley (think those top two teeth will be coming in soon and he had a fever) - all these excuses to say I didn't complete that item! Oh well - 3 out of 4 isn't too bad! And here's the image used in the Day 2 email...love this, something about the wood floors and the bike resting against the wall, reminds me of Amsterdam!

Apartment Therapy

1.10.13:

Had a successful few days of the January Cure - here were the latest assignments:

Day 4: Get a Fresh Perspective in Just 10 Minutes
Day 5: Select One Project from Your List to Complete this Month
Day 6: Choose a Piece of Artwork & Get Going on Framing It

I got a new perspective of our living/dining room and imagined it with new (dog hair free) tufted couches and colorful throw pillows and finally getting that new light fixture over the dining table. We'll see how long that takes. Until then...

Love all the color - an orange couch may not be for me, but so pretty!
Lovely Undergrad

Love this - the couch, the pillows and even the dog portrait!
Apartment Therapy

An even brighter version of the nook above
Elle Decor

Not crazy about the filing cabinet, but love the rest!
Apartment Therapy

Don't think I could pull off of a white couch with a baby and 2 dogs...but I can dream
Aeropagita Prints

Decided on my big project to accomplish for the month - the pantry! I think this was a good choice as it's something I stare at multiple times a day and use constantly - Peter and Bea did a good edit this summer so it's actually not too bad, but it could use another good clean-out and dusting. I'm actually pretty excited to get this done - in small chunks though, don't think I can manage all at once! Here are some "before" pictures:

It's not TOO horrible, but could definitely use a good clean-up!

And there's another wall too - but couldn't get a good angle
 to take a picture - but it needs a cleaning too

I also will finally frame Conley's birth announcement - found a white double frame at Pottery Barn and then for bonus points I'm also going to finish framing this print I bought in Amsterdam when I was there for work in 2006 - it was an odd size so I need to DIY the matte. Shouldn't take too long - just needed some motivation!

Not the best picture - will get a better one of the "after"!

As I mentioned, I've been on the lookout for some new, colorful throw pillows for our living room couches for awhile now. Considering our current beige couches are permanently covered in dog hair, I've been delaying the new pillow purchases for when we finally get new couches. Not sure when that will be (and sadly, our choices will be limited because I think we will go with leather to cut back on the hair accumulation - we can just swipe it right onto the floor, hurray! More to vacuum every day ;) ) - but hopefully sometime this year. Here are some I've come across so far that I like.

This one's not very colorful, but thought it would be a cute tribute
to Bailey - need to find an Oliver look-alike as well
Areaware

Or I could just get the real thing - custom dog pillows
from Broderpress - so cute!

These are exactly what I was thinking of in terms of pops of color!
Leaves and Lollipop pillows from UncommonGoods

Would love a Kantha pillow or two to go with the quilt
Trinyan Kantha Pillow by Fab

1.11.13: 

Watched an episode of Portlandia Season 2 earlier this week and there was one skit about preschools and how important it was for the characters to get their son into the best one because it would set the trajectory for the rest of his life - otherwise he would end up in community college, on drugs, and so on. 

It reminded me (as does my "to-do" list) that I need to get back on track on getting Conley on some more wait lists for preschools - how sad but true that episode rang with us ;) I really should have taken the advice to tour and get him on lists when I was pregnant, but I only had the sense to get him on one list during that long 9 months. I've added two more to the roster since then - one montessori and one Reggio Emilia "inspired" school. We've talked about maybe looking into some language immersion schools as well, so that's next on my to-do list. There's this cute little French school and even though I know it would make much more sense for Conley to learn Spanish, I can't help but think how cute it would be to have a little French-speaking baby running around. I can't believe that you actually have to plan years in advance to get your kid into a preschool - I thought we didn't have to worry about applications until college!

Conley had some fun at "open gym" today - he gets so excited and flashes his big two-tooth grin when I set him free. He loves climbing on just about everything and is pretty fearless. He's already taken a few big spills, some involving full body flips, but no tears....yet.  

We decided to eat early last night (before Conley went to bed) and cooked burgers and sat outside since it was such a nice night. Conley is finally getting around to enjoying finger foods (and especially likes to shovel in the bread). Here he is sampling pieces of our cheeseburger dinner. 

And here he is passed out that night after a big dinner - love my little starfish ;)

He usually makes it into our bed around midnight -
but then sleeps until 7ish!

1.12.13:

I love this fruit bowl from Anthropologie. I've had a fruit bowl on my never-ending to do/to buy list for who knows how long and I finally gave in today. 

In part, this was supposed to be a reward for cleaning out my kitchen pantry (well 1/3 of it) and all the cabinets in the kitchen island as part of my January Cure assignments. Well, surprise, surprise - that didn't happen (although I still have tomorrow!). But I did clean 1 1/3 shelves in the pantry and planned out the rest of my kitchen cleaning plan on my newly downloaded Evernote app  - so that's worth something, right? I'd been looking at this bowl every time I visited Anthro for the past month or so - I am in love! Our fruit will have a lovely home on the kitchen island from now on! 

Back to Portlandia - today at lunch at The Steeping Room I was talking to Peter about how I had heard a Portlandia reference recently and how it has gotten pretty popular and about 10 minutes later a couple sits next to us and after a lengthy explanation of the specials and tea service (or maybe it was just the quirky waiter), the guy says that he felt like they were in an episode of Portlandia ;) And while we're on The Steeping Room - I love the Croque Monsieur, the cashew caeser salad, all varieties of their chai tea latte and of course the salted toffee chocolate chip cookie!

Here was Conley on the way to that lunch at The Steeping Room.

Another little something I had been pining for - actually first saw it last Christmas, as evidenced by my Pinterest board. Finally got this Madewell Transport Tote - LOVE. Very similar to a bag I got last year for Christmas, which I still love but it is SO heavy and not good for my ever more aching back. So now I have the smaller version to carry when I don't have as much to carry.

Madewell Transport Tote

1.13.13:

Conley had his first pancakes today (100% whole wheat and organic of course!) and LOVED them! 

He got so excited and then promptly shoveled them in like they would disappear if he didn't grab them fast enough. 

He also sampled some cheesy egg and seems that we have confirmed the egg allergy - he promptly broke out in hives around his neck. 

I did not have a successful weekend for the January Cure. Here were this weekend's chores:
1 - Buy your weekend flowers
2 - Clean your kitchen and declutter/organize as you go
3 - Find a recipe and make yourself a simple, enjoyable meal

I did find some pretty freesia from Central Market today, so at least I accomplished one of the assignments. ;) 

But I did not deep-clean my entire kitchen or make a new recipe for dinner tonight. With a 1 year old, the kitchen clean-out will probably have to be another monthly project as it's taking me the whole month to just do the pantry. Speaking of, I did finish the top 2 shelves of the kitchen pantry so I am 1/3 of the way through my January big project, yay! I didn't even entertain finishing this weekend's assignments, but I did re-visit breaking the kitchen cleaning into manageable chunks to tackle someday soon (we will see if it actually happens!). In the meantime, here's a lovely kitchen from my Pinterest board for inspiration:

Love all the pops of aqua and the pretty open shelving
Better Homes and Gardens