Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Like little gems on my toes!

I treated myself to a pedicure this weekend.  I usually stick to shades of red or pink or go straight to black, but I really liked this color. 


(Excuse the red mark on my foot from my shoe strap.)  It's Essie's Dive Bar and it reminds me of sapphires:



I also treated myself to something else this week.  Hint:  it's in the photo above and I'm kind of obsessed with it.

Also, here's your weekly dose of Griz:


Poor cat--doesn't she look miserable?  I took her to the vet yesterday and she now weighs 9.6 pounds!  Yes, she's still a pretty petite cat, but considering that she was a scrawny 7 pounds when we got her and full of tape worms and had a mouth full of rotten teeth, 9.6 pounds is fabulous. 

***Also, this week I plan on doing a little blog maintenance: resizing old photos, recategorizing some stuff, etc. so bear with me if things get wonky around here.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Weekend Recap

This weekend was fabulous--the weather cooled down a ton (enough for me to put on a sweater!) and gave us a tease of fall.  With highs in the low 60's and rain on Saturday, it was the perfect day to do just a few errands and then stay at home with the slow cooker on (I made shredded beef tacos) and work on a few things around the house.

I also bought this book over the weekend and you know what?  I'm loving it.


As with almost every home/design books, there are photos that I love and some that don't do anything for me at all, but overall I think it's a great book.  There's a huge mix of styles so there's a little something for everyone and the projects also range from completely simple, why-didn't-I-think-of-that? ideas, to the more complex.  I haven't gotten all the way through the book yet (it's about 400 pages and I'm taking my time), but I think this will be a book I go back to again and again.

Also, last night was the Emmys, which--don't let anyone fool you--is all about the dresses, not about the awards.  My favorite?


Kate Winslet can really do no wrong in my book.  She always looks fabulous and she seems smart, fairly normal and down to earth, and really classy. 


Least favorite?


Gwyneth's hair looked stringy and would have looked better if it were pulled up and I'm not a fan of the bare midriff.

Photos from Yahoo!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Look what I made!

So, last week I shared with you my nursery plan and it included this gorgeous Schumacher Chiang Mai fabric:


Unfortunately, it's $250 per yard.  (Yes, you read that right.)  I found a seller on Etsy who makes small lumbar pillows out of this fabric for $62 (which, when compared to $250, is great!), but I still didn't really want to spend $62 on a small accent pillow.

I scoured various fabric stores and didn't really find anything that fit the bill.  I was looking for something colorful to tie in the blues of the nursery and bring in other colors.  Then I remembered the fabric that I used to recover our dining room chairs last year.  Jackpot.  I bought some light blue pom-pom trim and a small 14"x18" pillow and made my own.

Ta da!




It's obviously not the same as the Chiang Mai, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Oh, and the rocking chair?  The blue and white striped cushion looks far better in photos than it does in person, so those are getting redone completely in this fabric:


Haven't ordered the fabric yet, but I'm hoping to this weekend.

Speaking of which, it's Friday!  Have a great weekend!


Thursday, September 15, 2011

Manicure of the Week


The color is Chinchilly by Essie.  (I call it Grizabella Grey.)

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mmmm....

Chris's birthday was yesterday and for his birthday he got a Weber charcoal grill.  He took yesterday off work (he hasn't had a non-robbery, non-funeral, non-surgery day off in 18 months--poor guy!) and so he played around on the grill and made dinner:

That is a perfect grilled chicken.

With a side of grilled asparagus

Griz waited paiently

Happy birthday to my hubby! 

Monday, September 12, 2011

Weekend Recap and Nursery Progress

This weekend was not at all long enough.  It was a productive weekend though, so at least I have something to show for the weekend.

On Saturday morning we got up and at 'em early(ish) to get to the baby store to pick up the crib.  The box was huuuuuuuuuuuuge and wouldn't fit in my brother-in-law's truck without taking the camper shell off, so there was some logistical maneuvering and a little extra work, but we got the crib back to the house safe and sound.

The box.  Told you it was big.


On Saturday afternoon we bought Chris's birthday gift (a charcoal grill and accessories) and did some puttering around the house and then on Sunday morning we assembled the crib!  Here's Chris explaining that you put the baby on this piece to sleep. (You don't.  That piece is the side.)


Anyway, about 30 minutes later (it was the easiest piece of furniture I've ever had to assemble), here's da crib.  (We've decided to always refer to it as "da crib" in order to maintain some street cred.)

I absolutely love it.  It's solid, made of real wood, has no formaldehyde, and was made in the USA!  Plus it converts to a toddler/youth bed, and then will convert to an adult-size full bed eventually.  SWEET.


Last weekend we assembled this Ikea dresser (which took a few hours) and I'm in love with it too:


So, we have the two biggest pieces of the nursery done!  I'm so excited!  I'll show bits and pieces of the progress here on the blog, but I think I'm going to save whole room photos until we're done. 

I got a few other things done this weekend, including getting started on Christmas shopping!  (Holy bejeebus--I know!!!)  I'm not one of those hyper-organized, let's-start-Christmas-shopping-in-August people normally, but I just have a feeling that both finanially and for my sanity's sake, it'll be better for me to get Christmas shopping done before December.  I have a hunch that I'm not going to want to stand in line at the mall at 8 months pregnant. 

So there you have it--my weekend.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Weekend Plans

It's the weekend again!  Hooray!  This weekend we're picking up the crib (it was supposed to take 10-12 weeks, but ended up taking 4 days), assembling the crib, I'm going to hem curtains, and I also want to make pancakes with lots and lots of berries.  Kind of like this:


Happy weekend everyone!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Jewelry always fits

Have you ever taken a look at this blog?  It's seriously one of my favorites now.  How cute is she?







Anyway, she has me inspired to wear more jewelry (and paint my nails).  I decided to browse around the interwebs and here are some of my favorite jewelry pieces at the moment.  Plus, I think I need a gold watch.




Ann Taylor Loft Lizard Sparkle Cuff




Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Outfit of the Week

It's been a looooong time since I posted an outfit photo and same goes for a bump shot, so here I am killing two birds with one stone.  This is what I wore to work yesterday (22 weeks along now).  Is it the most creative outfit ever?  No.  But it's at least somewhat flattering, so here you go.

(Also, I cropped my head out of the picture because my hair was spectacularly bad yesterday--90 degrees and raining off and on all day made for a LOT of frizz.  Ugh.  Is fall here yet?)



Top from Motherhood Maternity, pants are Liz Lange for Target and shoes are Cole Haan from forever ago.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Weekend Recap + a Recipe

How great are three-day weekends?  I love them (and could certainly use more)!  This weekend was the perfect amount of productivity and relaxation.  Ahhhhh...

On Saturday night Chris made homemade pizza with chicken andouille sausage and spinach:


On Saturday we also picked out and ordered our crib!  Thank goodness we did too, because it's going to take 10-12 weeks for delivery--that'll put me at 32-34 weeks!  Yikes!

On Sunday we assembled the Ikea dresser that I bought last week.  Griz helped, naturally:


Seriously, this cat will not leave us alone:


On Monday night we had a few friends over and I made a tomato pie.  Have you ever had tomato pie?  It's only like the best. thing. ever.

Carmelized onions:


Health food (cheese and mayo):


Almost done:


Seriously, this stuff is SO GOOD.  And because I'm nice, here's the recipe from SimplyRecipes.com


Ingredients

• 1 9-inch pie shell
• 1/2 yellow or red onion, chopped
• 3-4 tomatoes, cut in half horizontally, squeezed to remove excess juice, roughly chopped, to yield approximately 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sliced basil (about 8 leaves)
• 2 cups grated cheese (combination of sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack, or Gruyere or Mozarella)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) of Frank's Hot Sauce (or Tabasco)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F. Place pie shell in oven and cook for 8-10 minutes or longer until lightly golden. If you are starting with a frozen crust, you'll need to cook it a little longer. If you are using a homemade crust, freeze the crust first, then line the crust with aluminum foil and pre-bake it for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

2.  Squeeze as much moisture as you can out of the chopped tomatoes, using either paper towels, a clean dish towel, or a potato ricer.

3.  Sprinkle the bottom of the pre-cooked pie shell with chopped onion. Spread the chopped tomatoes over the onions. Sprinkle the sliced basil over the tomatoes.

4.  In a medium bowl, mix together the grated cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco, a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper. The mixture should be the consistency of a gooey snow ball. Spread the cheese mixture over the tomatoes.

5.  Place in oven and bake until browned and bubbly, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes.

Serves 6.





Seriously, make this while tomatoes are still in season.  You'll love it.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Game Plan

I've finally come up with a plan for the nursery.  After scouring fabric stores and coming up empty handed, I headed over to Furbish to check out Jamie's fabric room and finally found what I was looking for. 

To back up, here's the room that will be the nursery:



I painted the walls navy awhile ago and so the color stays, as does the rug that I purchased a few months ago.  Overall, the room has to be gender neutral, since we don't know what we're having.  I also want it to be a happy room, but not too "baby-ish" (if that makes any sense).

I want to add orange into the mix and needed some fabric to tie things together.  I love this fabric and will use it to cover the cushions on the rocker:

Celerie Kemble's Betwixt

This fabric, while it's been used all over the blogosphere for awhile now, is also perfect as it ties in the navy and orange and brings in all sorts of other colors.  Since it's mega-expensive (for me), I'll bring a small dose of it in via a throw pillow for the rocker:

Schumacher Chiang Mai Dragon

Alright, so I put it all together and this is more or less what I'm after:


I got the dresser this week at Ikea and we'll assemble it this weekend.  I also got some cream curtains, so those will be going up too.  Hopefully I can find some fun trim to add on to the curtains.

What do we think?
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