Category Archives: Find me here too

scenes from the nest

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How’s your week going, lovelies? It’s been another glorious week in northern Michigan. I realize it seems trite to use the word “glorious,” but it’s true. More blue skies, more sunshine, more gasp-worthy fall color, more 70s, more tomatoes! This might be it for our “Indian Summer,” but it will not be forgotten any time soon. And I’ve got the mosquito bites to prove it – strange in mid-October, no? And that too, after using the best sunscreen mosquito repellent I could find. I’m in the midst of a bunch of nesting projects and thought I would just share a glimpse of some of them with you, along with a few shots from around the nest that we’ve been loving. Enjoy!

1) Wasabi Powder.

We decided to paint our house a light chartreuse-y green that’s called “Wasabi Powder” and we love it. The little birdie calls it yellow, but it’s decidedly not yellow. The pictures also turned out a bit on the mint-y side, but I know you can use your imagination. Ahem. Nothing like a really big project right before the baby is born, right? Ha!

2) Harvest Time.

I was thinking about cleaning out the garden earlier last week when things were wet and chilly, but 70 and sunny arrived–and stayed–bringing with it a slew of ripened tomatoes. I can’t quite believe I’m admitting this, but I’m a bit sick of fresh tomatoes. Salsa, anyone?

3) Bulbs!

Our bulb order finally arrived. I am especially excited about the orange tulips that I plan to plunk in the front. Won’t they look great with the new green if they squirrels don’t get to them first?!

4) Leafy greens.

Remember when the little birdie and I planted some dark, leafy greens? Our kale has arrived so that means that little birdie #2 will arrive shortly too. Wow!

5) Taking time to enjoy the flowers.

We’ve had a crazy morning glory crop this year. In fact, I have to remind myself next year to provide them with some thread/twine so they can more freely climb the fence and not just each other. And the mums have been lovely too. So nice to have such bright spots of color here and there.

What’s been happening in your nest, lovelies? How are you enjoying this beautiful time of year in your neck of the woods? I hope you’ve been having a good week!

Nesting in the nursery: veg out

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This weekend I had some toddler-free time to work on little birdie #2’s room. Although we probably won’t move the new babe into its own room until about the time our new orange tulips (!) begin to pop next spring, I’ve been anxious to get a few nesting projects done in there. I’ve moved the rocking chair and changing table in, along with the baby’s clothes and diapers. Just the basics. Knowing that these little things are taken care helps me sleep a little better at night.

I wanted to create a unique, fun space for our new little one, but I also didn’t want to completely reinvent the wheel since we’ll just be reusing most of the things from Wren’s original nest. Had some paint left in the basement and then I was inspired to create a vegetable garden theme in the baby’s room when my Mom decided she wanted to make the baby this a-door-bell wall hanging we spotted over at PurlBee. I can’t wait to see it in person; I know it will be just perfect. Don’t you think?

So to carry out this veggie theme, I wanted to add a couple more details without being too cutesy, too baby, or too gender-specific. So I’ve been painting a fun carrot and beets border! Here are a few little sneak peeks:

I also wanted to create a little memento of this year’s garden, which helped to nourish the new little birdie so I saved some seed packets and framed them all together. I love that they say “packed for 2011.” Nothing fancy, but a nice little, meaningful addition to the new space.

Maybe if I *find* some extra time I will make a carrot pillow, or something fun like that. What do you think, lovelies? Have any other ideas for this space?

sunhat AND a bib!

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Lovelies, you’ve got to check this out. I wrote about Roen Design earlier this summer in regards to their Leelanau Peninsula kids clothing and Roen Design just released their newest product: a sunhat and bib in one! Not only is it pure genius, it’s a-door-bell too, isn’t it? I told Forest of Roen Design that I am not usually a bib-using Mom, especially when we’re out-and-about, but if it were built in to something else, then I would be more likely to use one (instead of relying on my stain stick…). Would you? Have you ever seen anything like this?

You can get your hat/bib combo right here.

summer’s coolest cotton: Roen Design

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A friend of mine launched a great kid’s clothing line this past year: Roen Design. I’m especially loving the Leelanau County map pieces, as seen above. Some are handmade like the dress and some are upcycled items like the darling collared shirt. You can find Forest’s unique designs at some of the Leelanau County farmer’s markets this summer or contact her with a custom order through her Etsy shop. Congratulations, Forest!

scenes from the nest: circles

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One thing that’s fun about having a little person around is that it makes you look at the world through new eyes. It’s refreshing to try to simplify the world’s visual beauty and chaos into the basic building blocks: colors and shapes. Did you also see the series on stripes that I posted the other day? Enjoy!

This last photo was taken last weekend on our trip to the Iris Farm. Wren and I thought these geese were very funny. And spoiled with so many pools. I dare say that the little birdie might have been jealous of her feathered-friends…

 

 

 

a little birdie turns 2

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Lovelies, I realize that this is not an original thought, but here it comes anyway. Where does the time go and how could I already be living in a home with a two year old little girl? Just the other day Chris and I were musing about how exciting it will be when we get to hear the pitter-patter of a little person in the upstairs hallway. I remembered this today when I was gushing to myself about a just-out-of-the-oven loaf of coconut banana bread and I heard the sound of a little birdie running down the hallway. It’s times like these I’m grateful for wood floors without even a runner to buffer the sound of 23 ebullient pounds.

It seems a bit silly to attempt to show gratitude for the birdie’s presence in our lives by baking cookies and stringing up purple balloons because it doesn’t exactly equate, but such is life. What fun to try anyway! Was it crazy to invite a bunch of two year olds over to graze on a sugar-laden buffet easily within reach of their chubby hands? And was I completely exhausted by the end of the day? Yes and yes! But I’d do it again. It sure is fun to celebrate life, isn’t it?

The day was complete with only one real meltdown involving crocodile tears and a new plastic set of golf clubs, just a few raindrops, fun-loving friends and family, lots of bubbles, sugar, and the color purple. Wren is really into purple right now so we decided to celebrate her in a rainbow of purple. Here are a few more photos of her big day.

We made an easy-peasy balloon garland that we saw over on Design Mom recently. All purple, of course…

And then there were the cupcakes, for which I take no credit! Late last year I won a gift certificate from a local pastry chef and saved it for Wren’s party. I saw an idea for some lollipop flower cupcakes and had Sweet Ashley Marie Creations make them. Lucky us! They were beautiful and added the perfect punch of color and fun that we needed.

The cupcakes echoed the invites, which most people received despite the problems. A few never got theirs (sigh), but they still came and didn’t complain, yahoo! I love Wren’s friends.

Some say a party for preschoolers is really for the parents, but Wren is very social and she had an absolute blast with her buddies. By the end of the day, she too was pooped. Pooped and happy. And this Mamma was too.

Invites? Check.

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The little birdie turns two next week, woah! It’s a good thing I’ve regained my energy after the first-trimester slump because my nesting instincts are kicking into high gear. Nesting AND celebrating really. We’re planning a party for Wren over Memorial Day weekend when we’ll have family in town for the long weekend and it’ll be here before I know it.

This week, I finished up the birthday invites and will be sending them out today. If I write that, then a trip to the USPS has to happen. I want to share them with you because I think they came out great. Let me know what you think!

So here’s how I did it:

1) Take a photo of your child making a fist. This was easier said than done as the little birdie wanted to make TWO fists. Two would’ve been OK, but then that would necessitate two suckers in each. Plus her fists kept ending up right in front of her face. But finally, we got a pretty good shot of one fist, to the side. Here’s an outtake:

2) Then I brought the chosen photo into InDesign (any layout program would work) and created a 5 X 7 document with the party invitation at the bottom of the card.

3) I then made a .jpg of the invite and uploaded the image to an online photo service (Snapfish, Shutterfly, Kodak, they’re all fine) for printing.

4) A few days later, they arrived. Yippee! I just love getting mail, don’t you?

5) Grab yourself a bag of suckers (next time I might get some flat ones to make mailing them a bit easier…) and an X-Acto knife. Let the fun begin!

6) Cut about a 1/4″ – 1/2″ slit at the top of the fist and one at the bottom of the fist and slip the sucker through the holes. Voila! You’ve got your sucker card.

Lovelies, I didn’t just wake up one morning with this brilliant idea. Far from it. Thanks be to the Internet and the Blogosphere of endless ideas. I was inspired by an idea for a Valentine’s Day card I had seen over at Design Mom. And she borrowed the idea from Alissa. Let me know if you make one and send me a link.

Party on!

P.S. You might notice our gift note at the bottom. We originally wanted to have a “no gifts” party because we don’t want a bunch more stuff, but know that people often feel they want to contribute something to honor the birthday. So after agonizing over it for a while, we decided to ask people to consider making a small contribution to a swingset that we plan to build soon. This way, it’s something everyone can use and enjoy! What are your thoughts on “no gifts” parties, lovelies?

UPDATE: I decided to change the sucker for mailing purposes because it was going to require, get this, FOUR stamps.