Monday, March 21, 2011

Whale of a Time

Having been the mama of a little girl for so long...

(well, two years, anyway)

...I've always noticed that when buying the odd gifts here&there for little boys, it seems much harder to find seriously cute little boy things. I mean, I often find adorable pieces of little girls' clothing on the clearance racks at Target! Although I do prefer to look a bit harder for most of Pretty Little Bare Feet's clothing&things, it is nice that I can occasionally find sweet little random things in the everyday places.

Now that I'm shopping for a little boy, however, I am satisfied that there was truth in my hunch that little boys are much harder to shop for. Unless you want your little boy to wear a constant rotation of bright, silly tees that say cheesy things in large graphics across the front, you're challenged to look a little harder for classic, more appealing options.

Fortunately, my mama knows my tastes, & she has been shop-shop-shopping away for her new grandson that is on the way. & although I am doing his nursery decor in "Hey Diddle Diddle," I have also found that a lot of my favorites from what my mama has been buying feature whales!

(Which shouldn't be a surprise, considering how much I love Vineyard Vines & all things nautical&whale for myself, but I guess I just haven't had a reason to consider what "little boy motifs" I prefer until now!)

So, in recent whale-watching, some finds I've been enamored with:


Stripy Logo Jumper in Tomato/Whale by Mini Boden


Flip Flop in Navy&White Whale by Miss Trish Splash at Nordstrom

(Okay, yes, so some of these whale finds are for me! ;))


"Tattoo Whale" Slip-Ons in Ocean by Robeez at Nordstrom




Mush I in Little Whale Blue by Teva at Piperlime



(Nope, can't help myself when I find something cute for Pretty Little Bare Feet either!)


Vineyard Whale Flip Flops in Asparagus by Vineyard Vines at Zappos

(& every now&again, I even find something cute for My Prince! Though to be perfectly honest, last year the madras flip flops by Vineyard Vines that I bought for myself were actually men's!)


Card Holder in Green with Navy Whale by A. Tierney


Bib&Burps Set in White Whale by A. Tierney










Happy Whales Mobile in Green&Yellow by Flensted Mobiles at Design Public






Brother Whale Shorts by Granny B's Clothesline




Whale Birthday Invitations by Cards with Care


Urban Zoologie Whales Pillowcase Dress by Baby Harrill










Moby Bath Spout Cover by Skip Hop at Layla Grayce

(We already have this little guy - & we love him!)


Oceanside Sleep Pants in Clear Blue with Whale at L.L. Bean




Wilbur the Whale by Kootie Bug Designs at the Monogram Merchant










Pink Inflatable Whale Pool at Pottery Barn Kids




Whale Holiday Flat Photocard by Boatman Geller at the Preppy Princess




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Saturday, March 19, 2011

My First Award of 2011?

So, ages ago...

(seriously, like about two whole months ago, though I can't figure out where these two months have gone)

...Kay, whose fabulous blog is Sweet Preppy in Pink, was sweet enough to award me with the Stylish Blogger Award. Now I don't know if I've done her justice, it not being all that stylish to be so late in acknowledging her kindness ;), but I am so grateful that she thought of me! I've had this post on my "to blog" Stickie on my MacBook all this time, but I swear the number of to-do lists I've been neglecting lately is at an all-time high.

(My pregnant brain is mush, & my pregnant body just gives out on me by 9pm every night. Not great for productivity, since the late-night hours used to be exactly when I found the time to tackle all the things I didn't get done during my day of full-time attention to Pretty Little Bare Feet. & should I even mention that I started this post on Tuesday?!)

Anyway, a big thank you for the award, & y'all please be sure & go check out Sweet Preppy in Pink. =)


Rules:

  • Thank, & link back to, the person who gave you this award.
  • Share seven things about yourself.
  • Award fifteen recently discovered great bloggers.
  • Contact these bloggers & tell them about the award.


1. I am addicted to those online flash/sample sale sites.

I think I have a membership (& get the daily emails) for nearly every single one of them, but the ones I frequently buy from (& recommend!) are:


I have had a couple bad experiences (think sites that rhyme with "BoatCook" & "Dotsee")...but overall I enjoy the whole combination of

anticipating a featured designer you love,
logging in to see what's being offered,
& cheering when you find it in your size & get it into your "cart" fast enough...
...or chalking it up to fate that you didn't find it or get it fast enough, since you didn't need to spend that much money anyway!

& of course the savings can be really great - I do usually try to buy enough items at one time to offset the higher shipping costs that most of these sites charge.



2. I love parties.

All kinds of parties.

Baby showers,
birthday parties,
holiday parties...
...I even like lame office Christmas parties.

I love cake (especially wedding cake!). I love decorations&invitations.

It's rare that I won't make an effort to attend pretty much any party I am invited to...& sometimes I attempt to make an average Monday morning playgroup more festive by coming up with a silly themed menu. =p

I also love party blogs. Some of my favorites are:



3. I get up at 6:15am most mornings.

My Prince usually gets up at about 7am. Pretty Little Bare Feet usually gets up at about 7:35am.

I need my sleep, but those 45 minutes of quiet time first-thing in the morning can be vital to my having a good routine going for the rest of my day. Before I became pregnant again, I would go ahead & get in my first daily Coke Zero (of many) during that period of time.

(Now, unfortunately, just a sip or two of any dark, carbonated beverage makes me nauseated.)

But I like to take a hot bubble bath, rather than a shower, especially if it's a morning that I am not washing my hair. I like to do a quick email check & read an article or two from a magazine.

&...I am also blessed that My sweet Prince often lets me "sleep in" until after 8am on Saturday mornings, while he dozes on the couch & Pretty Little Bare Feet eat cereal & watch Saturday morning cartoons.



4. I love my daughter's Montessori nursery school.

I am a room mom for Pretty Little Bare Feet's classroom, & it actually hasn't entailed as much work as I initially thought I was getting myself into. It's been nice getting to know the other parents, several of whom have become friends of both mine & My Prince's.

I love seeing all the cute little sleepy-morning faces & their cute little nursery school wardrobes.

I also love when I arrive early enough to catch some of the sweet playground action before I go inside to sign Pretty Little Bare Feet out & wait for her to come greet me in the hallway (always with a grin, a run, & a big hug!).

I love the artwork that Pretty Little Bare Feet brings home for us to decorate the kitchen (& My Prince's office) with. I love doing

book orders
& classroom holiday parties
& field trips.

I am so fortunate to be able to be a stay-at-home mama that can really participate fully in my daughter's private nursery school, which encourages so much parental involvement.



5. At some point very soon, I am going to have to come up with a suitable "blog alias" for the baby boy that will be joining our family this summer.

I am also going to have to be sure that a new header for this blog includes him!


6. I frequently put myself into "food ruts."

I've done this for as long as I can remember. I can go for months at a time eating the exact same breakfast&lunch, only changing it up at suppertime. I can't explain it, & I don't know what the underlying psychological cause for it is (oh, I'm sure somebody would tell me that there is one).

Examples?

In college, I went pretty much an entire year eating the exact same lunch from our campus dining: half of an omelet with cheddar, ham, & mushrooms.
My senior year, when I lived in an apartment & didn't have a meal plan with campus dining, my lunch was almost always half of a grilled tuna sandwich with a side of broccoli salad. I would eat it at my desk in the office where I interned.
In my second year of law school, during which I had an hour commute (one way), I subsisted almost entirely off of Coke Zero & cookies&creme Pop-Tarts...at least during the daylight hours.

I am also one of those people that always orders my "usual" at restaurants.

But I am actually a pretty adventurous eater. I love to cook & try new recipes. We usually eat supper as a family. & I am often much more clever&creative in fixing different breakfast, lunch, & snack options for Pretty Little Bare Feet.

Still, I personally tend to get "in the mood" for something, & then I'll just sort of keep going back to it by default until I move on to my next meal phase.


7. My "signature" drink is a Sapphire&tonic.

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Preferred Catalogs: Arthur Beren

Well, here it is, another Sunday afternoon, & I'm again behind on:

my blog
& my email
& most everything else, it seems.

My OB appointments are more frequent now, which involves a bit of travel, since I opted to use the same hospital&OB that I used with Pretty Little Bare Feet. We also moved Pretty Little Bare Feet from her crib into a twin bed last week, so sleep has been an even more valuable luxury than usual around here. I had been thinking there was either not enough or too much to blog about...& my obsession with bracketology & all things March Madness didn't seem to be nearly interesting enough for my readers. ;)

But here I sit again,
with the week's mail that has gone unopened until now,
& there are lovely catalogs galore!

Do y'all adore catalogs as much as I do?

(Do let me know, & if they bore you to tears, I can always share my love of brackets with you in the next post. ;))

It's sort of funny, how I arrange our mail:

catalogs in one stack;
bills in another
(I admit, My amazing Prince is the one that tackles that stack...I can calculate, but it's definitely not something I do quickly, & I feel like I have to triple-check everything!);
magazines in another;
& then I immediately open anything that looks like a calendar or event announcement or party invitation.
(Of course, junk mail is disposed of immediately, as well.)

& there have been a lot of party invitations lately! In fact, we're missing a birthday party this afternoon because it was scheduled right in the middle of naptime. I'm surprised, actually, by how often this happens. I mean, isn't 1-3 in the afternoon pretty much a standard naptime for this age group? I'm not so rigid about naptime that I can't ever alter it, but actually interrupting a good nap is a big no-no here - Pretty Little Bare Feet has never been a good napper & needs all the sleep she can get!

Anyway, I digress.

Like most ladies, I love handbags&shoes. I particularly love handbags&shoes when I'm pregnant, as (knock on wood) my shoe size didn't change with my first pregnancy, & it hasn't with this one either. & obviously a fabulous handbag can be carried during any weight gain or loss.

My freshly pedicured toes are just itching to slip on a new pair of spring sandals from the Arthur Beren catalog, & there have been a wealth of other great handbags&shoes featured, as well! The one thing that bugs me about Arthur Beren, however, is that rather than sending one or two fat seasonal catalogs with all of the new offerings, they send frequent almost-brochure-sized catalogs that often only showcase one designer at a time.

(& on a completely unrelated side-note, was anybody else incredibly annoyed by my beloved Anthropologie's little "photo" catalog they did for this spring? Beautiful spreads, to be sure, but who wants to flip back to the opening pages every time they want to see the details or price of an item?)


Bigrose Sandal in Orange Jelly by Stuart Weitzman




Navajo Mid-Wedge Sandal in Black Croc Patent by Jack Rogers


Giveable Flat in Pan Nappa by Stuart Weitzman



(all available at Arthur Beren)

(& now I'm off to begin completing my three brackets for this year's March Madness! Go Xavier!)
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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Preferred Catalogs: Home Decorators Collection

As I've mentioned at least once or twice before, I am not one of those environmentally-conscious folks that shudders in horror at the exorbitant waste of paper every time I find a catalog in my mailbox.

(Although I have tried to ensure that we don't receive catalogs that I don't actually want to look at...still, there are a number of catalogs that I quite enjoy looking at!)

Of course most of these retailers have great online sites that have even more to offer than the catalogs themselves, but there is just something about turning those glossy pages that makes the whole "shop-at-home" experience so much nicer than just mindlessly browsing on the ol' MacBook.

I've been a bit of a catalog junkie since I was a little girl, hoarding away my own little stack of my mama's&granny's catalogs,

to peruse at my leisure...
...or play "store" with...
...or eventually cut "paper dolls" out of.

But now I just keep my favorite, preferred catalogs in their own special rack, editing out the "old" editions as soon as the new ones arrive. Sometimes I'll feel ambitious enough to actually mark favorite items with a Sharpie...

(particularly if there might be a holiday coming up! ;))

...but I usually just make mental notes of my favorites, & then try&recall them if I happen to be doing some online shopping at their sites later.

Anyway, I just recently mentioned a favorite or two from a couple of my very favorite catalogs, Lilly Pulitzer & Vineyard Vines. So let's look at something completely different today!

There are probably at least a dozen or so home catalogs that I receive that I enjoy looking at. I love to mentally redecorate...

(don't you?!)

...although there really are some areas of the house I should actually roll my sleeves up for & get to work in. But until that "nesting" phase kicks in, I'll just share with you a few of the things that struck my fancy in the most recent Home Decorators Collection catalog!











(February is gone...& with it, hopefully, my lack of motivation for checking email, updating the blog...& well, I won't be so optimistic as to hope that I'll actually become more active on Facebook or Twitter...but you never know! ;))
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