Baby Bag Party

I recently received an invite from my colleagues, who are hosting a very creative baby shower for me that's truly right up my alley. In the near future, we will be going to 1154 Lill Studio where I will get to create my very own, custom diaper bag!

Here is the super-cute invite:

This past summer I took my sister to 1154 Lill Studio for her birthday, and we each made a Grace clutch that I just love. Here is mine:

This time I'll get to create a even bigger, better baby bag so I'm just giddy. From the looks of it online, I think the Susan looks like a great option.

And although I will definitely want to check out the look and feel of all the fabrics in person, I already put together an idea online of the direction I might go with my bag. This one uses: Soho Grey, Sea Spray and Olive Zebra.

I can't wait until I get to celebrate with my generous coworkers and to create something all of my own to tote around the necessities for Baby C.

Knights to Remember

This weekend we celebrated my 30th birthday, planned thoroughly & thoughtfully by my loving husband, Dave. On Friday, he surprised me with dinner reservations at Table Fifty-Two along with two extra dinner guests, both of my sisters Jill & Jessica.

The company was great and the feast was scrumptious including southern specialties such as goat cheese biscuits, deviled eggs, fried green tomatoes, mac n cheese and collard greens... and those were just the sides!

If you are not familiar with Table Fifty-Two, Co-owner & Chef Art Smith is the personal chef to Oprah and he was also featured on the first season of Top Chef Masters. Reservations generally need to be made months in advance so I was blown away by this thoughtful dinner :-)

The next "knight" we had a truly unique experience where about 15 of us headed out to Medieval Times for dinner and a tournament. We took a limo just to "class" it up a bit and dined (with our hands) on dragon blood soup (tomato bisque), baby dragon (roasted chicken), dragon ribs (spare rib) and potatoes. I also had the largest glass chalice of virgin daiquiri on earth.

Sadly, our Blue Knight lost his duel...

...but the night was definitely a winner!

A Stately Cutting Board

Check out one of my many favorite Christmas gifts this year...

Illinois Plyboo Cutting Board by AHeirloom on Etsy

I think it will make a cute serving board, and possibly also kitchen wall decor if I can find a little hook to attach to the back.

Choose your own state and place the heart over any city you choose. My heart is over Chicago, of course :-) I'd love to eventually also get a Missouri with a heart over St. Louis as well.

West Elm Sale

I thought I would share a great sale going on at west elm.

New items were just added this week to the sale, including the white overlapping-squares daybed we have been holding out for. So I added it to the shopping cart as soon as I saw that it was $110 less!

To make it even better, they are currently offering an additional EXTRA 20% off any sale item using promo code: 20MORE

So we ordered our daybed, and we went with just the frame and plan to order a cheaper mattress from overstock.com to avoid hefty shipping charges.

Regular Price: $459
Sale Price: $349.99
Additional 20% off Price: -$70.00, $279.99

Total Savings of: 179.01 (before shipping or tax) :-)

Hopefully someone else can put this promo code to good use.

Mood Board Monday - Gender Neutral Nursery

This week, I thought I'd bring back Mood Board Monday!

It's really for selfish reasons, because I have been compiling images of everything we plan to include in our nursery and I wanted to see it all in one place before the room was actually put together.

We are planning a gender-neutral nursery since the sex of our baby will be a surprise. I knew I wanted light grey walls (Sherwin-Williams "March Wind"), white furniture and pops of bright, modern colors (read: no pastels) such as vibrant orange & aqua. The crib and dresser are purchased but it was the rug that we just bought which was the inspiration for the rest of the color palette.



Here are the sources of my inspiration...

Top (from left to right):
1. Abacus, from cb2
2. Dream Menagerie Rug, from anthropologie
3. Jungle Friends-Bamboo Mobile, from petitcollage, etsy seller
4. gion organic bed linens, from cb24.
5.overlapping-squares daybed, from west elm
6. owl lantern in light blue, from urban outfitters
7. orange changing pad cover, from The Land of Nod
8. Hemnes 3 drawer chest, from Ikea
9. Monte Alto Rocker in charcoal, from Monte Designs
10. Cutie Bear Print, from Delicious Design League
11. Gulliver crib in white, from Ikea

Enjoy!

Snug as a Jungle Creature in a Rug

We ordered this rug last night for the nursery and I can't wait to get it in my hands to see if it's as adorable in person as it is online.

Anthropologie Dream Menagerie Rug (5 ft Round) - $298

And some close-ups of the cute creatures:

Renegade Craft Fair Finds

This weekend is the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale in Chicago, so my sisters and I made our way over to Pulaski Park Fieldhouse this afternoon to see what we could find.

There were so many talented artists there, over 150, including some Chicago staples such as Circa Ceramics and Ork Posters. I noshed on a delicious vanilla cupcake from TipsyCake and also bought a few prints from a new favorite, Delicious Design League.

This print will be a Christmas gift for my sister, Jessica, the newest Chicago resident in the family. It's called "Chicago Style - 1893":

It will look cute in her kitchen next to her "St. Louis Style" print by Dan Zettwoch, which she also already owns.

The next print is one which I purchased for the nursery and is called "Cutie Bear". I think it lives up to its name:

Each 18x24 print was priced at only $20 and contains 3 colors/screens. And best of all, if you choose to frame the prints, they are a standard size so no custom framing costs will be incurred. What a great deal! Check out what other prints the Delicious Design League has for sale on their online store. All in all we had a successful trip to the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Sale.

Next weekend is also the Bucktown Holiday ArtShow.

It is held at Holstein Park Fieldhouse, 2200 N. Oakley Ave. in Chicago on December 11-12, 2010 from noon to 5pm each day. I hope to make it there as well and will report back with any purchases :-)