Whew!

Thanksgiving came and went, it was wonderful. Lovely food, drink and family.





Everything turned out great. The turkey was really yummy - even though we ended up with someone else's bird. Of course we didn't realize until 8:30 Thankgiving morning, when we removed the packaging and saw someone else's name (same first initial and similar last name to mine). I was supposed to get a 12 pound, the one got we was 16. It kinda ticks me off, and I think I'll call the store because ours was supposed to be free range, and I have no idea if this one was - plus, at $3.99 a pound, I would have much rather had the 12 pounder. Anyway - I hope the other person had enough for her meal. We certainly did, and have an insane amount leftover. Kirk made turkey stock so I'm searching for a spicy turkey soup recipe.



After meal activities included hide and go seek (I'm a terrible seeker), "crackers" (which is really the card game spoons, but, you know - with crackers instead of spoons) and playing with Lola who pretty much slept through lunch. Oh, and due to the current American Girl Doll hysteria of my 7 year old niece, taking this quiz.

I'm Rebecca.



Back to work tomorrow...

Getting Ready!

We are jazzed about Thanksgiving around here..we're hosting for the 2nd time. This year, I think we'll be a little more prepared, last year we'd just moved, I was pg and our house was slightly in shambles, but we enjoyed it anyway. Only downside is that Miss Lola has her first real fever. Hoping she's all better for tomorrow's festivities.




I am SO looking forward to our food tomorrow - we're making the turkey, but with a different stuffing, mashed potatoes (sort of boring, but I guess some people like them) Kirk's making a pie (something chocolate from the Joy of Cooking - uh, yum) and maybe a wild rice/brown rice thing. Other dishes will include mango/pear/goat cheese bruschetta, pumpkin mousse, roasted root veggies, and a late addition request from Natalie (niece) "something jello". Oh, and wine. Can't wait!

On their way...

Just hunted down these two skirts from an Anthropologie store in Washington, I think they'll both be really cute for the rest of fall and early winter.




I LOVE the print on the first skirt - so 60s! The yellow seems like it will be super easy to wear, though I'm a bit worried about the color. I just hope it reads the same in person as it does online, they really can vary so much! I sort of hated to pay full price - but I was in dire need of a wardrobe update. I've purged SO much from my closet, I barely have anything left, so I felt like it was a justified indulgance. Since having Lola, I've found separates much easier to wear than dresses - breastfeeding in a dress is, well it's challenging, as you can imagine. Yay skirts!

Ahhh

Finally found the perfect chair for Lola's room!

Thanks to this cute little green number - I am no longer sitting in the red kid chair. Baby's first piece of mid century furniture - what a milestone. It fit our requirements - no arms, small, non-distracting for curious 10 month old and I think it's something she can keep in her room for a long time. I think it makes her room a little less "precious" which is a good thing. So now when I'm up at four am - at least I'm comfortable.

I miss Domino

It was truly the best! I still look back over my old issues all the time, they're so full of ideas and really did a fantastic job of presenting design that appealed to so many styles. This was my favorite issue:

The home featured on the cover is like my dream home. But there's a new online publication called Lonny Mag, which was created by some of the Domino people. It's as full of design and tips as Domino was and it's online. In the first issue they featured Grace Bonney the creator of Design Sponge, which is another fantastic resource for all design related things, my favorite section is the Sneak Peeks. If the first issue is any indication, Lonny sure is picking up where Domino left off. Hooray!

OUT! Damn Spot.

Ever have a realization that seems so basic you're embarrassed to admit it? Yeah - me too. I've realized that when I don't address stains on Lola's clothes immediately, I usually forget about them and wash and dry the clothes setting the stains. So it dawned on me today that I should keep some stain remover in the hall closet just outside her room, this way, it's easy just to grab and spray. That way - you can put off the laundry even longer, and since you'd forget about them by the time you did it anyway, this makes things much easier! My girl gets MESSSSSY.

yum

late afternoon snack - goat cheese, hummus and spicy red wine...good way to transition from a day off to a night out.

friday shoppin

My relationship with shopping malls isn't really love/hate it's more like reallly dislike/hate, but living in a pretty small city, it's a necessary evil. So today I made the trip because I had something to return (jeans - good color, wayyyy to low) , which thanks my procrastination and Forever 21's sweet return policy, I will be keeping. It serves me right for shopping there, Lola looks catatonic after we leave that place.

One bright spot was these cute courdory pants at J Crew....

When I saw them I remembered that Joelle from, The Owls Are Not What They Seem wore these in a recent post (several reasons I love their blog - Twin Peaks reference title, numerous Thomas Pynchon references, Joelle shares my love for the color seafoam green and I just think they seem like cool girls). I think they actually seem quite versitale, which is a real requirement for me these days.  We'll see how often I'm able to work them in.

I also got a fake gold chain to use with these gifts from my husband, the donkey (mother of pearl!) was a birthday gift last year and the big agate oval is from his most recent trip to China.  The chain works great with the agate, but not so much with the donkey - it's too wide.  Foiled again!

the best laid plans...

One really fun part of being a new parent is decorating baby's room. I had huge attitude the nursery bedding most places carried. I was appalled by the frilly insanity and just couldn't bear the thought of my child being ensconced in some pink chiffon nightmare. I love what we ended up with - sheets from Pottery Barn Kids handmade into a quilt, bedskirt and little pillow by a dear friend - it's darling and girly without being frou frou. She's got plenty of time to decide to be frou frou, I don't need to inflict it upon her from day one. Anyway, to the point of this post, and something I think is hilarious. We started out with a wicker rocking chair in her room, and for the first 6 or 7 months, we sat in it occasionally, but since she didn't sleep in her room - we didn't spend much time in it. Only when we started putting her to sleep in her crib did I realize that I'd like to be able to sit in her room with her for night feedings, before naps and at bedtime - thinking the rocking chair would be wonderful - wrong-o. It was uncomfortable, loud and trying to get stand up without almost falling over and dropping her was a joke. So we got rid of the rocker and replaced it with the chair below.

Perfect, I thought, it's wide enough for us to fit comfortably, looks cute and most importantly - it's free (from my ma)! Wrong again, the ONE time I tried to night feed her in this chair, instead of snuggling up with me, she got distracted by the dang thing - she stared at the pattern, kicked it, bit it and generally oohed and aahed over it, normally I find her curiousity endearing and wonderful, but not at 3:37 am. Well, the chair remains in her room, and she still bites it and pulls herself up on it - but do we sit in it?

No, we sit here. In the middle of the night, before naptime...

At least 2 sometimes 3 times a night I sit, completely uncomfortable, in this teeny, tiny, armless, cushionless, but non-distracting child's wooden chair. Needless to say, I'm on the hunt for an attractive, but not too exciting, armless chair for her room. Preferably adult size.

vaccinate debate and a lil love

BigHugeSigh. I’m in the midst of a full-on freak out. I don’t know what to do about the H1N1 vaccine. Lola (10 months) goes to in-home daycare 3 days a week, other children who attend have school age siblings – so, basically, even though it’s a small place with not that many kids – it’s still germfest 2010. I've read pros and cons and talked to other parents, but I still have the same debate - my gut says “no way!”, but some other part of me (heart/head?) says “she’s so small – what would happen if she got sick?”. My answer? Do nothing. It’s just the beginning and I am not sold either way. I hope this is the right thing to do.

In lighter news, Lola’s lovey of choice is a sweater of mine. After reading “The No Cry Sleep Solution” (girl has sleep ISSUES), I started all the techniques, including placing something in her crib that smells like mama. So, this sweater (vintage Chanel cashmere no less) was the softest thing I could find. And I’ll admit it, I hadn’t washed it since I purchased it Labor Day Weekend 2008 at a garage sale in Aitkin MN (hey - they seemed like clean people), so it was certainly saturated with my…essence. Lo(la) and behold, she slept much better that night. It’s been about a month and she really does like this thing, she holds it when I nurse her, she wraps it around her chubby fingers and bites it (she’s got like 5 teeth coming through), she buries her face in it when I lay her down, clearly it’s become a thing of comfort to her. But then I imagined her at two, dragging around this rank old sweater, so I decided I should save her some embarrassment and make it into a proper lovey, but I can’t decide if I should just bind a big square or make into a stuffed animal of some sort...oh my, another BIG decision.

xx