Curious Bird

:Babies:

My friend Shannon just emailed me a link about the upcoming film, Babies. Give the trailer a watch when you have a minute. It's wonderfully shot. I look forward to seeing it.

-Leya

that time of year...choices, choices

I'm a big fan of TOMS shoes. They're super comfortable and come in great colors and patterns. I wear them around the house as slippers and around town practically all Summer. These were my mainstays last summer, and they were great, but now they're paint splattered and worn out, which leaves me no other choice but to get another pair. Now for the hard part...deciding what to get.  Pattern or solid? I had a pattern last year, so perhaps I'll go with either red or yellow (probably red) this year. Looks like I know what I'm getting myself for my upcoming birthday.

 

getaway

Happy Friday,

I hope you've had a lovely week. I've been swamped with school projects, which is my excuse for being super quiet in this space for the last several days. The weekend is here now and two big assignments have been completed, so I'm feeling pretty good. Only about five more weeks left in the school year.

As promised, I wanted to show off a few photos from our cabin getaway last weekend. It was a perfect trip -- the  weather cooperated (70 degrees!!), there were meals eaten outside, a delicious cake was baked, hikes through the woods and along the Delaware River were taken,  dominoes were played, and lots of relaxation was accomplished.

We couldn't think of leaving Mortimer at home alone, so he came along too. Not sure if he appreciated the trip as much as we did. I think the new surroundings and all the non-stop nature sounds made him a little nervous, but we were glad to have had him along. He's a trooper.

Film shots:

Digital shots:

 

This trip was our last getaway before the Bug arrives. After nearly fourteen years of taking trips together, just the two of us, it's a little mind blowing to think about the change on the horizon. Mind blowing and very exciting. 

Have a great weekend.

-Leya

part two.

 

Hi there,

You may remember part one from a few months ago. Can't believe it's already time (a week late, actually) to post part two of my three-part photo project. Yep, the third and final trimester is here...only eleven weeks to go. In case you're totally baffled by what I'm talking about, I'll clue you in. I'm taking a photo at the end of each trimester using fruits and vegetables to show the growth (roughly) of Junebug. The banana and leek are a little weird, I know, but according to the weekly email I receive, the focus moved from girth and length to just length there at the end. It's back to making more sense again, which means cauliflower and butternut squash will most likely be making an appearance in part three.

-L.

Hello out there.

Not sure what else to say except for Thank You. Thank you for all the extremely thoughtful comments and emails, and thank you for understanding my need to be quiet this week. It has been a tough week -- lots of tearful moments, but we're hanging in there. We're snuggling Mortimer lots and remembering many of the funny and sweet things about Motown. I definitely miss his goofy trot and our early morning routine, things I'm certain to miss for a long, long time.

Before posting the news about Motown last week, I intended to share some of the photos from our trip to see family. During that trip, we were given the sweetest baby shower for Junebug. D's mom, sister, and aunt were such wonderful hostesses, and my mom and sister went nuts supplying the Bug with lots of stripey, soft clothes, cloth diapers, and extremely cool books. We had a great time and are so grateful for all the sweetness and generosity of the guests.

My plan is to eventually show off a few things we received at the shower, but for now I'm going to share one of my favorite things: the food, especially the cupcakes. As I mentioned a while back, we've decided to do a forest-themed nursery.  Well, that same theme was used at the shower...check out those raccoon cupcakes. There were owls and foxes too! Hilarious.

The cupcakes were red velvet, lemon, boston creme, and vanilla. I'm sorry to say I was gabbing too much to try every flavor. I hear the boston creme was the tastiest. Not surprising.

I've had a serious hankering for fruit lately. I think I took out most of that fruit salad all by myself.  Apparently, I can talk and eat fruit salad without a problem.

Hope you have a great weekend. I think Spring has finally sprung and I'm so happy about it.
Happy first day of Spring on Saturday! We're off to a cabin in the woods for the weekend. Can't wait, the weather is supposed to be amazing. Photos and stories to come upon our return.

More soon,

L.

sweet dreams

Upon returning from a wonderful trip to celebrate Junebug, Dustin and I were faced with some sadness, the kind that we knew would come, but could never truly prepare for. Our hearts ache. After almost fourteen years, we had to say goodbye to our sweet boy Motown. He brought so much joy and love into our lives. He was my kitty before I met Dustin, and he became our kitty as we built our life together. As we moved across the country and up and down both coasts, he, along with his little brother, was right there with us.  Always nearby to greet us when we arrived home, he was our tall, lanky fella who never missed a chance to sit and snuggle or make deep eye contact. Most of all, he was a part of our family. We're going to miss him terribly. Sweet dreams, little guy. We love you so.

 

Happy Friday. I'm going on a little trip for a few days, so this space will be quiet until sometime next week. Looking forward to spending time with family and friends and having a little shindig in honor of the "bug" (otherwise known as a baby shower). I heard a rumor about 70 degree weather too! I'll take that...even packed a springy dress, just in case. Yes indeed.

Have a lovely weekend. 

L.

gathering inspiration

Dustin and I are beginning to toss around ideas for Junebug's nursery. We both love the forest, so I think we've settled on doing a forest theme in there. Still working out the details.

So far we know we want:
Trees on the wall. As D says, "big doug firs like the ones we saw on hikes when we lived in Oregon".
Some Color -- A turquoise dresser is in the works. And a glider scored on Craigslist is being refurbished too. Loving Craigslist these days.
Lots of critters -- deer, raccoons, chipmunks...
And birds...gotta have birds.

The lovely nursery collection from Amenity Home makes for some wonderful inspiration.  Makes me want to sleep through the night just looking at it...

in like a lion, out like a lamb

Hello and Happy March!

It's pretty exciting that Spring is on the way. It may take a little longer, but I know it's coming and that helps immensely. I've been busy with school projects these last few days, but I managed to make myself a little something that I wanted to share with you. You see, I have no patience for knitting -- I really wish I did and maybe one day I will -- so the next best thing for me  is sewing something that others would knit. I have several really soft cashmere sweaters I have either thrifted or been given over the years and some of them are no longer wearable due to little holes or issues with the fit (especially now that I'm pregnant and none of my clothes really fit). I can't bring myself to get rid of them, so I decided to start recycling them, and for starters, I decided to make myself a soft and very warm cowl. I thought I'd share the tutorial with you in case you have some old sweaters around too. Here you go.

Lay your sweater flat and inside out and cut straight across just below the arm holes.

You can now discard the top portion of the sweater, or if you want, you can make a tiny cowl out of the turtleneck for your little one. Yes, Junebug will have a soft cowl just like mama...don't worry we won't wear it at the same time.

Here is the part where you have a choice.

1. If you have a serger that is working properly (mine has issues right now), you can serge the cut edge in a snap and be done.

or

2. You can fold it over, pin it securely, and hem it on the sewing machine.
I used a thread color that was close to the same color as my sweater, in the same family, if you will, but not exactly the same (hard to see this here). I like a little color contrast.

 
The hem is complete.

Now it's time to make your cowl fit properly. I tried mine on and roughly measured how much I needed to take it in. After you do that, pin the top and bottom edges securely. Remember: the top (the edge that was once the bottom of your sweater) should be a little smaller than the bottom. Essentially, you want to taper the line slightly from bottom to top (see sharpie).

(I should have used a different camera lens for this shot. Sorry.) Anywho, you can see that I stitched a line from top to bottom. I used the serger stitch on my sewing machine, but you certainly do not have to do that.

Lastly, cut the excess off and turn your cowl right side out.

There you have it. A soft and cozy cowl from an old cashmere sweater. This should get me through to Spring.  No knitting skills required.

Cheers,

Leya