Monthly Baby Pictures

I love different ways people do monthly pictures of their baby. Seeing them grow is amazing. So when baby J was born I had a hard time deciding what to do. I knew I wanted something more elaborate than a hand written paper next to her, but I also didn’t want it so over the top that it was a pain. And  I wanted the pictures to be about her, not the cutest most pinterest-tastic faux chalkboard or something.

So what I’ve been doing is simple:

Blocks + baby + blanket

I’m putting her in a white onesie, to keep some continuity in her outfit (easy to find in any size!), and using her adorable quilt my aunt made. Then it’s just next to the wall in her room, snapping lots of my rolly polly girl.

I like that the things staying the same means you can really focus on how she’s growing –

Look at the change in head control!

One thing I am finding-once they’re rolling around you probably want to tape the blocks together! I spent a lot of time restacking them this month!

Inexpensive Art, take 2

One of the most complimented things in baby J’s room isn’t art exactly, but it pretties up the walls so I am counting it.

I knew I wanted some sort of mirror for her room, and I loved the idea of one with an ornate look to it.

I looked at ones like this one at Ikea:

but black wasn’t quite what I wanted, and $40 was more than I was hoping to spend when there was painting involved. I kept looking, stalking Home Goods, checking thrift stores, and never finding quite what I wanted.

Then, by total chance I saw a feature in the home section of the paper that included one from Bed Bath and Beyond.

That was perfect.

And $16.99.

Which meant with one of those coupons you can find all the time it was super cheap.

It’s girly and sweet and I love it. It gets so many compliments. It’s sold online too

It’s not huge, but that meant it was easy to hang (a nail plus a few command strips for safety), and baby J loves to smile at the baby in the mirror.

 

Easy Birthday Gift for a Guy

My husband turned 30 this year. I wanted to do something fun, but he (like most men) isn’t the easiest to shop for. He likes sports, beer, more beer, and more sports (and graphs. he really likes graphs)… I wanted something that he’d love-30 is a big number!

After agonizing over my lack of an awesome present I finally came up with what was the best-recieved gift I’ve done since I got him a beer fridge (a beer fridge that’s decked out in the logo of his favorite sports team. Like I said, sports + beer)

I hit up the beer store, and emerged with 30 cans of craft beer (he’s a big fan of cans for some reason? And a lot of breweries in our area can), and early on his birthday morning I set this up on the coffee table

 

It was a fun surprise, and he loved it.

(Also, I was 8 months pregnant, so I got the entertainment of loading up a cart of beer with a giant baby belly)

Another view:

It’s easy, even with microbrews it isn’t expensive (and if the man you’re making it for is more of a Bud drinker it’s super cheap! It’s cute, and something you know he’ll actually use!

Inexpensive Art, Take 1

When you start getting a baby’s room ready you realize you want to put up ALL THE THINGS. And buy ALL THE THINGS. And that can add up. Quickly. But there’s some awesome and affordable things you can do too. Which is cute, and means you don’t have the same Target print as 508403 other moms.

One thing I found while getting ready for baby was some awesome embroidery, both finished and unfinished, that my Grandma had made.

This adorable kitty vignette?

It was my pillow case as a child. Which is pretty, but 1. babies don’t need pillows and 2. it had my name embroidered on it. I found a cheap frame, and then glued some scrapbook paper onto the matting.

It’s fun, cute, and adds a little of my Grandma (who passed away when I was 18) into the baby’s room.

Nursery Preview

Darling baby was born June 12th, and baby J makes my world pretty amazing. Here’s a bit of her room:

The blanket was in my crib 28 years ago!

I know everyone has the Ikea spice rack bookshelves, but that’s because they’re so darn cute!

A few of the details: the mobile, some wall art, the chair I redid, and the changing table and curtains (complete with kitty!)

I’ll post more details on what I did in her room soon!

 

 

 

Life-long goal: Achieved.

There are a lot of things I want out of life.

A pony.

The stigma of being a cat lady to be erased from society so I can have a dozen kittens.

Frye boots.

To move Portland Oregon to a less rainy climate. While still being only an hour from the ocean and a mountain.

But the one thing I’ve been after for years? The goal I’ve been practicing for, readying myself to do?

A reason to eat for two.

I mean, I’m a good eater. There’s a reason I can run half marathons and not be skinny.

But to have an excuse? Besides gluttony?

Life long goal.

That ….

I am now working on!

(let’s not talk about how many pregnancy tests I took. I bought them on amazon so the whole shebang was less than one normal one, ok?)

Elastic waist pants: I’m coming for ya. You and I are going to share some beautiful times together.

Also, filling out paperwork for the OBGYN is redic. This is one of my questions

For the record, I’d just as soon not die.

DIY First Dance Lyrics

Like I said before, I loved finding out you can make pretty things using Power Point.

For our anniversary I took our first dance lyrics and made this pretty thing

Our song was “Over the Valley” by Pink Martini, and it’s about looking over the Willamette Valley (which Portland, where we live, is in). We got engaged at Council Crest, which looks out over the valley, so it seemed an appropriate choice.

I searched through google images for vintage Portland photos, and picked out a couple favorites, then made mock ups and sent them to a few people asking their thoughts.

While it does look kinda instagram-y I think it’s pretty, and goes well with our newly painted upstairs.

And it was super easy! Less than an hour, and if I had known what I was doing at the start (I actually did this one before the baptism one) it would’ve been quicker.

Adventures in Paint Color

When we bought our house we were all excited about the paint colors. All neutrals! No weird pink bathrooms or wallpaper or anything to contend with.

Then, we moved in.

It seems the last owners didn’t have the greatest sense of color. They did things like painted what was a blueish house with white trim into a brown house with black trim.

And those “neural” walls?

All. Different. Colors. You can’t see it in this picture, but 10 feet to the left there was a third shade of brown.

There were at least 4 different shades of brown going on upstairs. With different undertones.

I do not understand.

We’ve been here for almost 3 years, and slowly but surely we’ve been getting rid of those ugly walls. First,  I painted the guest room. Then a leak forced me to repaint the downstairs bathroom.

I got brave and did the downstairs living rooms (our house for some mysterious reason is a 3 bed, 2 bath, 3 living room house. Again, I do not understand.)

And the upstairs bathroom got a paint job this winter. (While doing it I discovered that the ceiling is not white in there. If someone can explain that one to me….)

And finally, I bit the bullet and our upstairs went from a million shades of tan to one shade of light yellow

Words cannot describe how happy it makes me.

Just so you can really see, this is what it went from

Here’s hoping someday when we move the next owners aren’t questioning my judgement.

DIY Baptism Gift

Our darling (and fat! oh so fat!) nephew is got baptized this weekend!

Not only that, my husband and I are his Godparents.

(My SIL asked by calling me and saying “so, do you want to be responsible for C’s soul? Like, for the rest of your life?” Love her)

As a baptism gift I made up this framed Our Father for the (not so tiny) tiny man

I learned a while ago (thank you pinterest!) that you can do cool things in Power Point. Weird, but it works.

C’s got light blue walls in his nursery, with some yellow going on, and his name on the wall in navy blue. I debated going green, but figured I should keep the color palate in his room simple, so I did a navy, with white frame and matting to keep it from being harsh.

Frame + matting was $6 at Michael’s (with a coupon) and the print was $1.39. Not to shabby!

Crackers

(alternate title-the easiest way to impress people at parties)

Making quarterly baked goods has earned me a reputation at my husband’s work. Which is nice, because when coworkers meet me they tell me how awesome I am, and I can never hear that enough.

But, I’m really good at cookies. Potlucks on the other hand? I bring a veggie tray. I always feel like I’m super lame. (But seriously, everyone will eat the veggie tray, it’s an important thing!) I don’t have a good dish that I can throw together and have it be my thing.

Until now.

See, usually I do dip (guac or hummus) + veggies + corn chips. Because selfishly that’s what I like to snack on. But somehow this time it dawned on me. Instead of chips, crackers could be good. And I could MAKE crackers.

(I suppose I could make chips too, but I shouldn’t be trusted with a deep fryer).

Turns out making  crackers is stupid simple. You put things into a food processor. You roll out dough. You bake. Easy peasy!

So, I made 3 types. Because I enjoy overkill. The clear winner was slightly adapted from DIY Delicious (which is a really fun cookbook!)

cornmeal parmesan and sesame seed crackers

1 c AP flour

1 c cornmeal

1/2 c finely grated parmesan cheese (I packed this in because cheese is good for you)

3 T butter

3/4 t salt

3/4 c cold water

poppy seeds (or sesame seeds) and salt for topping-the book says fleur de sel but I used sea salt cause it’s what i had

put flour, cornmeal, cheese, butter, salt and water into food processor. Process until it forms a dough. Cover and let sit at room temp for at least 30 min.

Heat oven to 400. Flour work surface, divide dough in half, and roll out. (Thinner is better!) sprinkle seeds and salt over dough, and roll over with the rolling pin to make them stick to the dough. cut into desired shapes (I just did squares, you can do long pretty rectangles, triangles, get all crazy and use a cookie cutter to make circles…). poke some holes w/ a fork (if you forget you’ll end up with bumpier crackers)

Bake 12-15 min (book says 15-18 but mine were browning well before that) until edges brown. Eat!

How were these crackers? I got asked where I bought them by someone, because they wanted a box. They’re that good. Make some for your next get together and be prepared for some awesome bragging rights!