sweater: hand-me-down | tank top: NEX | jeans: Motherhood Maternity | belt: thrifted | necklace: vintage (really a bracelet!) | scarf: vintage | shoes: Blowfish
My tongue-in-cheek nod to pin up poses! lol. Hey–got to have fun and a little laugh at myself since I am starting to feel more like Humpty Dumpty these days and less like my old self. hehe! I wore this over the weekend, right as they were predicting snow for the region. Something warm and cozy to curl up under a blanket with, but also presentable enough to go out (which I had to do). Lots of knits these days–which is weird considering how much I used to eschew knits and elastic! I have changed my tune quite a bit. hehe!
I really love how easy this scarf ‘do is; I think it’s going to become one of the ones I work on getting down to second nature over the coming weeks so I can use it to cover up when I haven’t been able to wash my hair for days once Miss Blueberry arrives! It’s better than a ponytail every day, which often just gives me a headache since my hair is so long and thick…
The baby shower my sister is sweetly throwing for me is coming up soon! I am getting so excited… Partly because this means the baby’s arrival is drawing closer, and my sister chose an Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter tea party theme for the event! I’ll be sure to take loads of pictures to share with y’all! (Especially as a lot of the decorations are very DIY-friendly.)
January 31, 2013 ·
38 lovely thoughts
posted in baby diary
· tags: 2013 outfit, baby diary, maternity style, outfit
maternity skirt: Target | cardigan: thrifted and refashioned | maternity top: NEX | shoes: Madden Girl | belt: thrifted | bracelet: vintage | scarf: H&M
Somehow I slipped into the third trimester without realizing it… Mostly because my official departure point from the second to third happened about a week before Christmas, so I was preoccupied with gift wrapping and cookie baking! Then New Year’s came along, as well as a make-up Christmas with my inlaws. Now we’re nearly done with January and this little lady doesn’t have much longer before she arrives (we’re well into the single digits of weeks left!), and both SH and I are starting to realize that time is ticking to get some baby things done!
The bump is also getting bigger in leaps and bounds. My handy little pregnancy tracking application for my phone tells me she’s almost 4lbs. now (my OB confirmed that she is measuring right on track), which I can believe by the jarring movements she makes at all times of day (and night). They are no longer little “flutters”–they’re full on eruptions of a baby in an ever-shrinking space. I swear I wake up some mornings and it seems like she’s grown!
Stylewise, I feel like my options are also shrinking my leaps and bounds! While I may be able to fit into a handful of pre-pregnancy separates, that’s mostly relegated to modern-cut jeans and cardigans. Even some of my formerly loose button up shirts are getting a bit tight across my belly! lol. I admit: I have had zero inclination to sew maternity clothes. I admire gals who whip up gorgeous outfits! I think though, this being my first pregnancy and not being able to anticipate how my figure would change, it scared me off a bit from devoting a lot of time to sewing clothes. Maybe the next one I’ll do better? So I have a fairly limited wardrobe at the moment of odd Target and thrift stores finds, and a few things people have given me that work. Next up: stealing SH’s button down shirts to wear over my jeans! hehe! One thing I’ve found is that integrating “vintage style” into a pregnancy wardrobe is a bit of a challenge. I can’t just pull a 1950s shirtwaist dress out of my closet and call it done. Now I have to actually plan things out a bit more, and rely heavily on the overall effect of makeup, hair and accessories. It’s a fun challenge though!
Spot the new background? I decided to move things up to the nursery for picture taking! We get some lovely, soft morning light in that room, and I don’t get the weird shadows I did in the living room. Everything is very much a work in progress right now; we just got the crib put together last week and finalized the furniture placement while SH was off on Monday (it was a Federal holiday here in the US). So now it’s time for me to work some magic with artwork, sew a few things from vintage sheets, and generally add a little dash of whimsy to the space.
I hope you all are having a lovely January thus far! I know I’ve been terribly absent here; there have been a few things afoot that have taken me away from blogging. These past months have not been how I envisioned my blogging would go. And yet, I’ve been learning to give myself a little more grace and realizing that perhaps the way I did things for years just isn’t working quite as well anymore. I’ll figure it out one of these days! 
The photo-bombing dog, who decided he didn’t want to be part of the photoshoot after all! He also just celebrated his first birthday earlier in the month. Yet, you would never know it by the way he acts…
January 23, 2013 ·
55 lovely thoughts
posted in baby diary,outfits + wardrobe
· tags: 2013 outfit, baby diary, maternity style, outfit
Happy 2013! I hope each and every one of you had lovely holidays. We had my parents and sister down for a few days over Christmas and had a great time (though a bit squished with five adults and a large dog in our tiny house!). I’m very excited about 2013 and was not in the least bit sad to see 2012 close. Last year was so full of various downs (SH’s 11th hour deployment, Maverick being so ill right after we adopted him, my mom’s cancer diagnosis, and feeling plagued by things breaking down all year…), but I’m hopeful for this year. Especially since Miss Blueberry will make her debut in less than 3 months!
I have been fascinated by
Fiestaware since I was about 8 or 10. I don’t remember where I first saw it: whether it was in a collectables magazine or at an antique store (one of our favorite rainy-day activities when I was growing up was to go to the local antiques mall. I was a lucky child! lol.). But the bright colors and vintage shapes caught my eye even at that young age! I don’t know why I didn’t have the foresight to start requesting place settings as gifts years ago, or even to have it on the wedding registry when SH and I got married (I was going through a weird, “I want to be modern” phase and we ended up with square plates that I think are ugly at this point–not to mention don’t fit in any microwave we’ve ever owned!). But our everyday dinnerware is starting to chip (I am not happy with that after only four years of use!), and we needed to start thinking about replacement. (Especially before I “accidentally” break another piece… Oops!)
Which has brought me back to Fiestaware! I’ve been scheming over colors for the past week, after I got a little Christmas spending money that was burning a hole in my pocket. hehe! I’m sticking to brand new pieces, since not only are the real-deal vintage pieces collectable (and therefore pricy), but there is also the issue of various colors being radioactive. The newer line (reintroduced in 1986) is of course devoid of the glaze problems and is also lead-free, and even a 5-piece place setting isn’t hugely unreasonable. After some consultation with my decorating-partner-in-crime (aka my mom!), I decided to go with two settings in Peacock (a bright blue) and two in Sunflower (a gorgeous yellow). (If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I originally purchased the Scarlet colorway instead of Sunflower, but decided after seeing everything in my kitchen that I liked the yellow better!)
The best prices I found online were either directly through
Homer Laughlin’s website (I only wish their factory store in West Virginia was a closer drive!) or various department stores hosting after-Christmas sales (I ended up going with the department store option because I wouldn’t have to pay shipping). But the Homer Laughlin site has some great deals that I’m going to keep my eye on. Because now I need some serving pieces,
salt and pepper shakers, and of course the iconic
pitcher. I can’t wait to reshuffled my cabinets, say
goodbye to the old (square and chipping) dinnerware, and add some Fiesta color to my kitchen!
I’m sure there are lots of other Fiestaware admirers and collectors who read this blog! I’d love to know what your favorite colors are; do you stick to just one or collect whatever catches you eye? (I have a feeling I’m going to end up in the latter category… hehe!)
January 2, 2013 ·
95 lovely thoughts
posted in around the house
· tags: around the house
This week has just been topsy-turvy for lack of a better phrase! So I’m going to save the Christmas decorations post until next week (I may also show y’all what I’m baking this year since all the cookie baking will commence then!), and instead show you a little evidence that I’ve been sewing. I’ve actually been working on a few things, but kitchen curtains and Boppy covers aren’t as cute… lol.
After I announced I was expecting, the lovely
Portia sent me a fun package full of adorable vintage patterns (thank you again, Portia!). This particular one stood out to me as something I could make immediately (I’ve been holding off on a lot of clothing items, as I’m waiting to see what size Miss Blueberry is to better grade patterns to fit her as needed). What baby (or mama?!) wouldn’t love a little plush elephant? I used some grey cotton velveteen I thrifted, and managed to whip it up in about two evenings.
I also made a little party hat for the elephant out of felt (every elephant needs one, don’t you know?), which can be easily removed before we give Miss Blueberry the elephant to play with. I forgot how much I love making little plush animals! I think I might make one of
these or
these (out of some soft chenille…) for her next.
December 14, 2012 ·
31 lovely thoughts
posted in baby diary
· tags: 2012 sewing, baby diary, sewing
