This Just Got Real...

I may have never used a sewing machine ever in my life ever, but we just brought this sweet puppy home:

We'll say I took this picture...because my photography skills never do anything justice. Trust me.

She's pretty big and expensive, but a real beauty, no? All vintage-y and stuff. 160th Anniversary Singer. All of that.

Did I mention I've never used a sewing machine before?

Thankfully, Luke grew up in home with a wonderfully craft-y mother and no sisters. Which means his poor mother was left with no protege and Luke was taught to sew at an early age. Which means he just taught me what a 'bobbin' was. Seriously...

Joanne's offers free classes, too. Truly a blessing for this desperate novice. Plus, I'm always game for classes taught by the geriatric crowd. I feel like I belong...

In any case, I'm very excited to start making things. All sorts of things. Ask me to make something! Anything! And in a couple of months I'm sure I'll figure it out

This is what happens when a stay-at-home mom with no discernable talents and nothing to do all day is left to her own devices...she gets a sewing machine and dreams of quilts, baby blankets and all those really cool things people post on pintrest....it is also the reason why regretsy.com exists....

Remember That One Time?

I've probably written about this before, but here I go again...bear with me: exactly 5 years ago today I met a really awesome guy. We live together now. His name is Luke. He's pretty cool, I guess.

We met at the midnight premiere of 300 and his first words to me were, "Did you draw on your feet?"

Romantic, no?

(I had tattoos on my feet. They have been painfully removed. Because it did, in fact, look like I had drawn on my feet with pen.)

What I remember most about that night was that a.) the movie totally rocked; b.) Luke telling me a story about how he had to have a colonoscopy while he was in Germany and; c.) Both of us making up signs for the words 'colonoscopy' and 'Delorean' in case we ever had to play Charades and those words came up.

You can't say that isn't instant chemistry, right?!

Well, 5 years later and our sense of humor and maturity has not changed a whole lot because we're sitting here ('here' being our living room) watching Kung Pow: Enter the Fist for probably the fourth time.

Why? Because it is hilarious.

Delorean? We've got this.

Bows and Leather...I'm Sensing a Dichotomy Here...

So the thing is, I started making bows for little baby girl:
Simple enough, right? But then I got creative and thought I'd make some more:

And then I figured out how to make fabric bows, and things have just gotten out of control since then:

Some of them are awesome, some of them are prototypes, so don't judge

They know me by name at Joanne's.

Also, these suckers arrived on my doorstep yesterday...and I need someone to tell me that I am, in fact, kick-ass enough to wear them:

Yeah, Doc Marten Phinas...ordered when I was going through my Girl With The Dragon Tattoo phase...I re-read all the books, watched all the movies and decided that I, too can be a hardcore, kick ass computer hacker. You know, minus the computer hacker (although I did ask Luke if he would teach me. I got a resounding 'no' to that one).

I even bought a pleather jacket!

Then little munchkina made her debut and I got soft around the edges...what can I say?

The question is, do I rock them anyway?

Answer: Yes! These boots are why black leggings were invented!

Gettin' Busy

Seeing as the weather was PERFECT, today, the 3.5 amigos (that would be us) decided to venture to a very picturesque park nestled amongst the mountains.

It has horses to one side, and a babbling creek to the other...and get this, no freaking bathrooms.

A pregnant lady's nightmare. But Finn didn't care because he's got diapers and Luke didn't care because he has the bladder of a camel, so it was all good.

Finn saw the horses and literally squealed with delight. That's right, squealed. He takes after his momma.

He's not much for touching them though which is completely understandable when this animal, whose head is as big as him, is all up in his business. So cute.



When all was said and done and we were all just a bit too cold for comfort, we headed back home where I promptly resumed my newest obsession, decorating little birdy's room.

Oh, it is so much fun.

I haven't felt this productive in a long time. Yesterday I took a perfectly brand new white frame and sanded the crap out of it, painted it, and then sanded it some more...you know, to make it look old and junky. Totally in style. But feels totally pointless when you're actually making it look that way.

I'm a slave to trends what can I say?

Today I made pretty flowers to go next to said frames. It's all about texture people.
And after all this I'm never looking at a glue gun again.

Nursery Updates, Finn Being a Blockhead, etc...

This little chickity's nursery is certainly coming along. It's a little scary, actually.

Mostly because I have 3 more months left...what am I going to do with myself?!?!?!

But really, the dresser has been bought (though not assembled. I couldn't even get it out of my car. This thing is heav-ay).

The drapes have been draped (although they haven't been hemmed...ever heard of standard sizes for curtains, Ikea?! No. Didn't think so),

The pictures have been framed (I will most likely be changing the frames 10 more times, however).

It's like, close, man. But as you can see by the aforementioned qualifiers to every statement...it's not done.

Here's a lil' sneakity-peak preview:

It's actually two curtains, the top layer is sheer...just call me the decorating genius.

I know, I know, those curtains are seriously girly. I'm actually thinking the whole room is turning out a bit prissier than I had intended. It's like I need to put some skulls and crossbones on the wall just to balance it out or something.

In any case today Finn and I went to Ikea to buy the dresser and drapes and other things and when we got home he realized the awesome hat-potential of drawer organizers. Behold!

Did I mention Finn and I went to Ikea? Note to self: don't go to Ikea with a toddler and no one else. While he was a real gem, he wasn't any help in lifting heavy things or loading up my car or pushing the cart while I pushed the stroller. In fact, when all was said and done, we both went and congratulated ourselves on the mission: impossible with a cinnamon roll. So good.

25 Week-a-roos

25 weeks! Bam! Done! Awesome! Other words!

And so far so good. I'm feeling fantastic, eating better, I'm working out tons (probably too much, but whatever), and I'm absolutely ready to meet this little birdy, even though I know I'm going to have to wait about 15 more weeks.

Don't mind the random corner missing...editing error. I'm computer incompetent.

Things I'm doing to pass the time include:

Watching Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars because I'm trying to be a teenage girl like that.

Decorating like crazy...even though the FOUR frames I bought for pictures were vetoed by either my mom or Luke...but whatever on them 'cause it's MY room to decorate! Suckers!

(That was mean. Their opinion matters, I swear. I love them both, etc etc.)

Eating, like, 14 apples a day because it is the healthiest craving I have, so I just keep 'em coming.

Pinning on Pinterest, thanks to Amanda for her help with that. Remember? Me? Computer incompetent? That's right.

Chasing after that lil' hell devil I call Finn. He's getting crazier/faster/funnier/more disobedient/more energetic every. single. day. It's great fun. Great, exhausting fun. I'm sure having two kids with this guy on hand is going to be a BREEZE.

*cough cough* yeah, right *cough*

Can Someone Get Me a Frilly Apron?!

Guys, Pintrest has turned me into a crafting housewife....

Scary business.

Note: I haven't actually figured out how to pin anything or interact socially on the site, I just browse other people's goodies. Is that taboo? Can someone help me out here before they uninvite me?!

Not only have I begun getting supplies to reupholster things and paint things (myself, thank you very much. You may now disregard my previous post), but today I made an asian noodle salad to eat for lunch for the week and I made a marinade for chicken I plan to cook...tonight.

I'm saving recipes left and right, yo. It's what happens when you're home all day and just so damn tired of eating the same five meals over and over again.

The whole prep-and-caboodle took a good 45 minutes, and that was with my brother helping me. I was sweating afterwards and I'd only chopped veggies.

I'll tell Luke it's a belated Valentine's day dinner, just so he doesn't start, you know, expecting it on a regular basis. And don't you guys start expecting it either. This blog isn't turning how-to anytime soon.

Speaking of Luke...here's his shout out: He got me a lovely bouquet of red roses and a beautiful sterling silver necklace with a bird charm on it, in honor of our little 'bird', as we call her, fluttering away in my belly :) Precious.

Speaking of my belly: Today in my morning strength training class, a couple of the ladies there commented on how 'small' I was for 24 weeks (Moment to brag: they also commented on how impressed they were that I was even there, and I didn't even mention that I'd been on the elliptical for an hour at 5:30 this morning. Bragging over. Hey, I'm proud of my hard work!)

Anywho, at first I was like sweet! And then I was like wait! does that mean they think I am a sub-par pregnant person? Shouldn't they just be saying how normal sized I look?! Shoot!

Ah, the delusions of pregnancy paranoia. It never ends but it gets old real fast. Real fast.

Because I know that if they had said, "24 weeks?! You're huge!" they would have all gotten a nice little bitch-slap across the face.

And if someone tells me I look normal, well, I'll probably find a reason to worry about that, too. Just give me time, I can worry about ANYTHING. It's a gift.

And that's all I have to say about that. Because really, this belly here looks perfect to me:

I'm not going to lie, I had to push it out pretty far to get it in the shot, so I'm not that big...

In other news, Finn and I made it home to Utah fine and dandy yesterday. For the first time ever, he didn't sleep at all on the plane which was stressful until I decided chill out about it (imagine that). We had a row to ourselves so he just fiddled with the armrest and played peek-a-boo with some lady across the aisle. Who am I to interfere with the easily entertained?

Once on home soil, I was initially in a bad mood because frankly, I wanted to be in California still. But then Luke picked us up at the airport on his lunch break and there's nothing better than seeing your handsome hubby waiting for you, right? And then he surprised me with flowers and then Nick came over and I snapped this beauty and darnit if that bad mood didn't just disappear like that. Whatever that may be.

Happiness = a flying baby

And now I am off to scrub the ginger and cilantro smell off of my hands because, you know, I've been cooking and stuff...no biggie.