Related Posts with Thumbnails

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hand-Painted Onesies: Erin Lynn Designs

Recently I was the lucky winner of two hand-painted, custom-made onesies from Erin Lynn Designs.


Erin's business is new to Facebook; thus, she offered a giveaway drawing for 2 free stenciled baby bodysuits once she hit 100 "likes" and I was the randomly picked winner...woo hoo!

Here is what she created for our Claire Bear:



And this one was part of our Father's Day gift to my CPA husband, "Daddy's lil Tax Deduction":

I think they turned out great and are an unique addition to Claire's growing wardrobe. By the way, she also creates some beautiful baby blankets if you are in the market for a gift.

Last but not least, is some good news for you: Erin Lynn Designs is offering up another giveaway when she hits 200 "likes" so head over to her Facebook page and like it today for a chance to win!

I blame this dress...

...for inspiring a crazy woman to start cataloging ideas for Claire's 1st Birthday already.

And yes, if you are keeping track, she turns just 3 months old this week :-)

And yes, the crazy woman is me.

Isn't it adorable though? It was a great deal today on zulily.

For the record, I do not want this year to rush by whatsoever. In fact, I wish I could press pause and freeze time with her with each passing day, but you never know when & where inspiration will strike and today there was no denying it. The colors, patterns and textures from the dress are perfect for a future Claire Celebration.

So if you are interested in my proactive party-planning ideas, check them out on this pinterest board. And if you have any ideas that fit the vibe, please share! I have nothing but 9 more months of time.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

First Father's Day

Happy First Father's Day to the best new daddy I know.

IMGP8648

Claire is a very lucky little girl.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Drink Your Vegetables

I really needed a way to pack in some more nutrients to my maternity leave diet. Most of my daytime meals are whatever I can fix in a flash, often microwave leftovers or quick snacks with a few too many boxes of mac n cheese making an appearance. Veggies are usually for dinner only...if we're lucky.


Since I had been hearing a lot about Green Smoothies (smoothies including fresh greens such as spinach or kale), I decided to give one a try for breakfast today and I really just winged it.

First, I threw some blueberries in the freezer overnight to chill the smoothie and act as my "ice", but in the future I will likely get frozen fruit to skip this step. If I'm going to freeze it anyway, frozen fruit is cheaper and less perishable.

Next, I layered the following ingredients in my blender:
  • 1 large handful of frozen fresh blueberries
  • 6 fresh strawberries
  • 2+ handfuls of fresh baby spinach
  • 1 whole banana
  • enough skim milk to cover the blueberries below

Green Smoothie - Blender Before

I gave it a few pulses, stirred it with a spoon to get the spinach to sink down, and proceeded to blend. This was the result:

Green Smoothie - Blender After

Green Smoothie - Blender Inside

My only trouble is I woke a sleeping baby with the blender...oops:

awaken by blender

Here it is ready to drink, and wow was it delicious! I like spinach, but even if you are a greens hater this is a great way to hide them from yourself, or your family, because you really can't taste them!

Green Smoothie - Glass

Moral of the story: Do not fear the green smoothie (which is actually purple). I think I'll add even more spinach next time!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

On the Pinterest Bandwagon

As if I needed another way to waste precious time online, in walks Pinterest. With its appealing social sharing ways, its design-centric slant and overall ability to organize every random thing I ever find online... how could I not give it a chance.

One night and I'm hooked. I literally pulled an all-nighter "pinning" once I figured it out.

If you are into online browsing, cataloging, mood boarding, or just looking at pretty, shiny things, you must check out Pinterest.

If you are already a member follow me as a newbie getting the hang of things :-)

If not, leave me your email address and I can send you an invite! Once you're "in", you can link it to facebook, twitter or even your gmail or yahoo account to find other friends who "pin" and your network just grows from there.

Happy Pinning!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Strawberry Fields

On Memorial Day we started a new tradition with our new little family: Strawberry Picking!


We were in St. Louis for the weekend, so we invited the grandmas and our friends to join us for a morning of picking berries at Eckert's in Belleville, IL.

IMGP8577

IMGP8576

Growing up I had been to Eckert's to pick apples, but never strawberries so we were excited to see what was in store for us.

The grandmas both got to work right away in the fields:

IMGP8523

Claire was blissfully unaware that there was any strawberry picking taking place, but she did sport a strawberry print romper for the occasion:

IMGP8524

IMGP8539

Then we showed her the crop (apparently, she was not as impressed as we were with her perfect strawberry):

IMGP8532

It really was a gorgeous day.

IMGP8527

IMGP8531

IMGP8550

IMGP8553

And our friend's daughter, Little Miss O, made sure to sample the goods:

IMGP8560

Our pickings. We walked away with 5.75 lbs of berries from which we made strawberry pie, strawberry jam and strawberry mojitos:

IMGP8566

Claire was very excited to be creating these family memories:

IMGP8572

IMGP8570

I think we'll make this an annual event.

IMGP8548

We are looking forward to apple picking this fall, too, expecially since Claire will be a little older. Last year we went apple picking in Wisconsin at Apple Holler Orchard since it is quite a bit closer to home, but perhaps we'll trek back to Eckert's this time around. Oh and I already ordered her an outfit for the occasion...these adorable apple dungarees from Boden:

How cute are these?

Here's to many more fruitful family outings :-)

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Claire's Room featured on Ohdeedoh

After spending most of my pregnancy bookmarking and swooning over all the remarkable nurseries featured on Ohdeedoh, suffice it to say that I was more than humbled when they found our nursery on flickr and deemed it worthy to feature.



IMGP6813

I hope our nursery helps inspire future parents-to-be as so many others did for me.

Labels

About Me

I'm a St. Louis native, but I have been living in Chicago since 2005 and am loving every windy minute of it. I enjoy cooking (more-so eating), home decorating and really anything creative. I'm a supporter of DIY & handmade goods, a fledgling foodie and a connoisseur of kitsch. I spend my days filling online shopping carts, emptying them and repeating the process all over again. Most of all I love spending time with my husband, Dave, our first child, Claire and my dog, Louie.

Etsy Faves

  © Free Blogger Templates 'Photoblog II' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP