My Insta-Week

This past week was so exciting!!  I've never been really politically minded, but this year I was so AMPED for the election.  I think it's because of the fact that I'm a mom now.....

I am so excited that Obama won!  Prayers have been answered.

This weekend is a long weekend for me!!  I have a couple projects planned....that I will share with you next week.....

Alright....here's my week in review.....care of my Instagram feed.........

From top Left to Right: Olivia HAS to watch Mickey basically on top of the tv / Mommy and baby at yet another doctor's appointment / Oatmeal, Theraflu and Irish Tea....I was sick / I VOTED! / Shopping in the Christmas Aisle in Target is Happiness / Some times you just want to paint your nails 5 different shades of pink (ombre) / Doing my nails and drinking wine, watching Election night coverage

Follow me on Instagram @babymarg08

Pinterest Inspired: Christening Flower Arrangements

After Olivia's christening we had a little reception at one of the local restaurants. I had scoured Pinterest for decoration inspiration. I didn't want to decorate that heavily, because the function room we were using was really cute. I did see this idea for flower arrangements which I LOVED......

Original pin via Pinterest

Original pin via Pinterest

I used that idea for my centerpieces and I thought they came out amazing!

Mason jars, flowers and lemons all came from the grocery store. It was so easy to get prepared, and as a nice little side effect the lemons kept the flowers fresh for a couple extra days!

Christening Dress

In February Hubs and I had Olivia christened. She was about nine months old. Most of the time the babies are much younger at a christening. We put it off a little longer than I (or our very Catholic families) had wanted to....but her arrival into this world was a little bit more eventful than we had expected.

Before she was born I was DEAD SET on making her Christening gown, but as things got busier my resolve waned. I ended up doing a lot of online gown shopping before I made my final decision to make the gown. Everything I saw online was so shiny or expensive.....or both. I wanted Olivia to look like a baby in a pretty white gown.....not a bride.

So, it was decided, I would make the gown. I had bought this pattern from Simplicity:

image via Simplicity.com

I liked the lace in View A, but I liked the bodice in View B and decided to meld them together. I decided on cotton batiste as my fabric and ordered everything I needed from Fabric.com. This is in no way a sponsored post for Fabric.com (because my blog really isn't popular enough for those), but they were FABULOUS. I got everything I needed....even the buttons, all from one place, only had to pay shipping once, and didn't have to wait in a long line (while trying to juggle a bolt of fabric and a squirmy baby) at the fabric store to have my material cut. It was amazing....and only cost me $35. I was a happy mommy. Oh wait, I just remembered, I got the lace at Joann's.....so I got almost everything at Fabric.com. Still counts. I remember obsessing over the lace. I wanted it to be just perfect.

I took pictures on my iPhone while sewing, so bear with me......

The bodice had pin-tucks on both sides of the center. They really didn't turn out as perfectly as I had hoped, and I really couldn't figure out why. I took them out and resewed them a couple of times, but it always came out the same way. After the second time redoing them I gave up and hoped it wouldn't be so noticeable to everyone else.

The pintucks on the bottom of the gown came out MUCH better. Of course my stitching could have been a tiny bit straighter, but all in all I thought it looked good. I love how the ipod cord and baby toy just snuck into the pic......

All together, no sleeves or collar, but all the hard work done. I ended up having to tack down the top row of lace because it just didn't want to stay upside down.

Completed! Isn't it so pretty?? Honestly, I think it's probably the nicest thing I have ever made. I should have taken a picture of the seams on the inside too, cause I made sure that they were all done nice and neat as well.

Linking up at a few parties.....

My Insta-Week

It's Friday!!  Yay!! Best day  AND easiest blog post of the week!!

Here's my week in review.....

From Bottom Left right around the L to top Left :  Olivia's Halloween Costume / The "damage" we incurred from Sandy / Surprise Roses from Hubs / Home sick with baby (I love her) / Halloween sit and spin Pink Pumpkin Surprise / Buzz Buzz Buzz

And today I am thankful for strawberry yogurt and how well it hides the presence of Amoxicillin from my child.  All my life I have hated strawberry yogurt....but now, now we are in love.

Follow me on Instagram @babymarg08

A Month for Giving Thanks

Today is the first day of November (holy cow where has the year gone).  This morning while I was sitting in my car, waiting to get over the bridge from Quincy to Dorchester (seriously less than five miles), and getting more and more frustrated by the second (only took me an hour to get to work today), I started thinking about positive thinking.  I am a huge believer of positive thinking, but not a very good follower.   I let myself get bogged down by the little disappointments of the day too much.  Way too much.  

I've decided that I'm going to give thanks for something that is positive in my life everyday in November.  This hopefully will set me on the right track for the upcoming Christmas season and the new year to come. I have SO much to be thankful for........I'm tired of focusing on what is wrong. It's just so DEPRESSING.  Plus.....As Drake and my Husband say....."You only Live Once" (actually Hubs says "You only get one Trip").........

I know I don't blog everyday, but I'll catch up for the days that I missed when I do.  I won't have it take up the whole blog entry (cause I have SOOO much interesting stuff to talk about).  Feel free to participate with me.  A little positive thinking can go a long way.....

So....Here goes...

Today, on a day that that I was 45 minutes late to work, I am REALLY thankful for my job.  I love working where I do.  I finally love doing what I do.  And, most importantly, I finally have the flexibility that I need to take care of the most important thing in my world, my family, the way that it needs to be.  Not only do they not stress when I show up late, nearly every day, but it is never questioned when I need to stay home with a sick child.  I really feel blessed to have found this job...........

The Tale of Hurricane Sandy

Is it too early in the week for me to wish it was over??  I'm there already, I swear.  Freakenstorm storm Sandy preparations, survival and aftermath have just been exhausting. The actual storm didn't end up being that bad, I think it was the preparations that were worse.

Sunday Olivia and I went to Target to return a pair of shoes, get batteries, and coffee......all the necessities. I was hoping it would be a quick trip...but, instead it was a disaster.


When we got there I went straight to customer service to return my ONE $8 pair of shoes that I bought mistakenly in the wrong size.  Ahead of me was a man with an entire cart........

The shoes......can't wait to wear them....

I naively thought he was just returning a few things....  $800 later....I was ready to explode.  Also, Let's just say I am not a person who's stomach reacts very well when there is cream or whole milk in their coffee......and I'm pretty sure there was. It is NOT easy to look calm and collected while absolutely RUNNING to the bathroom with a toddler and a cart while people are freaking out about the upcoming storm.  I almost didn't make it......

Monday, while the storm was on, was absolutely lovely.  No traffic and I got out of work at 1pm.

Mommy's coming home early, better finish these munchkins before she does.....

Seriously, what could be better?  But, then I backed into someone trying to get out of line at Burger King. The hittee...he was not pleased with me when I asked if I had "gotten" him.  His response "YES, you DEFINITELY hit me, I FELT IT".  I knew I had hit him (hit is such a strong word here though. I was going 2 miles an hour...if that).  Was there any damage?  No....of course not......it was a Toyota Tacoma....I mean...if that can't take the impact of 2 mph bump on it's bumper....we've got problems....

The hurricane "damage" at our house.....

Today, maybe the worst thing of the whole three day Sandy affair happened.  When I went to the kitchen at work to get my lunch I noticed a box of Joe on the table.  YES!  Office Kitchenette code says if you leave it in the kitchenette then it's public domain and I can eat/drink it freely.  So, I filled up my coffee cup and went over to the microwave to heat it up.  My coffee cup was too big and wouldn't fit in.  This was terrible...I was already invested in the coffee.  Frantically I searched the cupboards.  I found a cup that looked clean and I thought my coffee would fit.  I poured it in and heated it up.  It wasn't until I was pouring it out that I noticed a lipstick stain on the side of the cup.....  ewww....could I still drink the coffee??

I asked both my sister and my friend Andrea.....they gave me the same response....as long as I didn't drink it in the "heating up cup" I was fine.  PHEW.  I was really tense there for a few moments.....

Also, since Sunday Olivia's been sick....which is really why I don't have anything interesting to blog about.  I need to take pictures....but she insisted that I come home and nap with her yesterday.  Who is going to argue with a sick baby??


 NOT I....NOT I.

My Insta-Week

How is it already Friday?!?
But seriously, THANK GOD it is already Friday.

I'm just TIRED.

Ready for the week in review via my Instagram feed??

Coffee Break and Kate Spade....nuff said.

My crazy child actually walks UP slides like its no big deal.

PIGGY TAILS!

No nap at baby school = nap immediately when picked up then crying all night.

She knows we had sushi with out her, and isn't impressed.

Can you tell I love Instagram, and Olivia?  Follow me @ babymarg08

Milestones

This past February I turned 30. It was a really hard birthday for me. I didn't like the idea of being 30. Even now, thirty just seems way older to me than I feel like I am. Adults are thirty, and most of the time I just don't feel like I am an adult.

Having a kid and turning thirty in the same year was a double whammy. After having Olivia I felt completely lost identity wise. I had this baby that needed me so much, and a body that just didnt feel like mine anymore. Now add an age crisis on top of that and, as you can imagine, I was an absolute mess. It was a tough adjustment, but eventually I learned how to feel like "me" while being Olivia's mommy.

I still don't feel like I am thirty.

Now that it's October and I've been 30 for seven (whole) months I understand the wisdom of the saying "You are only as old as you feel".  I feel firmly in my twenties (really the perfect age range).

Pintastic Project

When Olivia watches TV she watches Disney Junior, or cartoon movies. We don't really watch any other kid channels with her, because basically, I don't like the shows they have to offer. I get stuck watching this crap with her....so right now, she's got to watch stuff that I like. Mostly, I like everything on Disney Junior (with the exception of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but that's only cause they annoy me to a ridiculous degree with all their Yay Hay Haying....). One of Liv's favorite shows is Chuggington. We call it her Chuggers. She actually says "chugga, chugga". The show is about young talking trains learning how to be good trains from the older trains. Adorable. One of the "main" characters is a train called Coco and when she's excited she says "TRAINTASTIC!" Long story, but that's what I thought of when I wrote the title of this blog. I can just picture Coco jumping on her little train track saying "PIN TASTIC!" CHUGGA CHUGGA CHOO CHOO!

I love Pinterest. I could spend so many hours just pouring over every little pin. I have several boards with TONS of things pinned........ But I NEVER go back and look at them. When we moved into the new house I decided that was over. I WANTED to actually do some of the things I pinned. I have been wanting to make a cool jewelry storage solution for awhile. I pinned this picture....

Via www.fullmeasureofhappiness.com

And decided I NEEDED this in my bedroom. In the original pin they used a towel rod and shower curtain hooks to make the hanger. I've noticed that a TON of crafters use towel rods for crafting. I wanna know where they are buying these! Towel Bars are EXPENSIVE!

Since it was kinda spendy, and I thought it was too big, I decided not to use the towel bar for the hanger part. I had some rusty ugly kitchen towel bars that we had removed from the cabinet under the sink in the kitchen. FREE! I got some spray paint and some S hooks at home depot and got to crafting. I started with 8 hooks.....I think. It was enough for all the necklaces I currently have, but will need some more soon (hopefully).

I really love the way it turned out!

I still have one of the gross rusty kitchen towel bars left, so I think I may do a tutorial..........

My Insta-Week

I have a really nice camera that Hubs got for me when Liv was born, but I'm forever snapping pictures with my Iphone. It's always with me, always charged, and wonderfully light and thin. Are the pictures as good? Absolutely not, but I capture a little piece of Liv's life everyday, so I'm ok with it. I love to use Instagram to edit and share my pictures (follow me!! Im babymarg08).

I thought it would be fun to do a week in review, through my instagram pics on fridays. So.....here goes.....

Nips in a value pack was my million dollar idea......I thought....

Hiking up Monument Hill

Helping Mommy

I FINALLY found twilight ladybug. She was lost after the move. Apparently I didn't really search the closet well.

I stumbled upon my old drivers license. Yuck!

Sometimes, you just cant wait for the wine to chill

Inspiration: Mini Boden

Today while looking over my Gmail, I stumbled over to Nordstrom (seriously my favorite department store), and found myself looking through the baby clothes.  I just love to dress Olivia.  She looks cute in seriously EVERYTHING!  

I came across this line of clothes called Mini Boden.........OHMYGOSH.......... I'm in love!  Olivia is a very lucky baby, that has a wardrobe mostly consisting of pieces from Janie and Jack.  I think Janie and Jack is just absolutely adorable, and thankfully have a sister in law who works there and can hook me up.  But, Mini Boden, welcome to my life, I think Liv will be wearing some of you soon too.

Actually, part of what I liked about the Mini Boden clothes were how much I thought that I would be able to recreate them myself.  I have been dying for the time to actually make Olivia some clothes by hand.   Maybe I could start slow by throwing some appliques, like these, only already made clothes......

Mini Boden

Mini Boden

Mini Boden via Nordstrom

Mini Boden

The top with the butterflies is a Little Girl top, and not a baby one, but how adorable is that?  When Olivia was in the belly I decided to do her room with a butterfly pattern and then just went crazy with the butterfly accents.  To this day, whenever I see butterflies I associate them with her.  I love to put her in things with butterflies....call me crazy....but I just feel like she loves them as much as I do.

Oh....by the way..... look at me I finally got a blog post out!!  YAY!  

HI

Hi.
I've been trying to decide how I want to write this blog entry for awhile and honestly.......I've got nothing. It's been 338 (ish depending on when I actually post this) days since I last posted. That's almost a year! I have SOOOOOO many excuses, but does it really matter? Probably not.....because despite all of those........I'm gonna start blogging again!! YAY!!

Soooooooo.......that being said, I've decided to make a few "alterations" to the format of the blog. I'm going to write more about ALL the creative things that interest me, not JUST do it yourself projects. I considered starting a new blog all together, but then I would lose all of you who actually stuck with me during those last 338 days (if there are any of you that fit that criteria out there).
From now on, I'm gonna post about makeup, fashion, photography, crafts, sewing......just general creativity in my life. Oh, and of course.....I'm gonna have to add a little bit about being a mommy to my gorgeous little girl.

What I'm NOT going to post about anymore is anyone that isn't in my DIRECT family (aka, me, Hubs, Olivia and Guin). Over my sabbatical (such a great word right??) there was an incident with my blog and words that I had "supposedly" written about a family member. I am very careful about what I say here, realizing that it is being posted for anyone, anywhere in the world to see. I know that I never have and NEVER would use this blog to say anything hurtful. But, I just really hated being put in that situation. Especially the part where I had to explain to this person that I never said anything bad about them on a blog that they didn't even know existed.
Enough about that... :)

I'm REALLY excited to be back! I really (can I say really again??) enjoyed blogging before, even though my readership is nearly non-existant. Who knows.....maybe this time will be different......

I can't promise to post everyday....because I know that probably won't happen.....but I promise to post interesting :)

Finally, I'll leave you with one of the 2,506 photos on my phone......cause......who wants a post without a photo?? Right??