under construction...

i have recently started redoing the back bedroom in our house in efforts to convert it into a work room.  i am very excited.  today we go pick-up my desk and will be moving the bed out of the room.  sorry to all my friends that will no longer have a comfy bed.  oh the sacrifices to have your own space.

i know this was a short post but here is little picture so your journey to my little page was for not.

Brazos river

until next time...

monica

every girl's favorite store

oh how i love ANTHROPOLOGIE.  

i love everything from the front doors to the dressing rooms.  the contents of course are always amazing.  so full of color and so unique.  here is what i bought on my most recent trip.

these so sweet.

and the lovely packaging my new member card came in

until next time...

monica

monsters in the house

everyone say hello to Kade.  he is so perfectly delicous in his "Max" costume.
 

he turned 1 this March and my best friend Natalie themed up his party with Where the Wild Things Are.  she had also painted a mural on the wall of his play room.  she is so talented and i'm not real sure why she doesn't take up painting more often. 

my little lilly-lu also dressed up for the occasion.  she was dressed as a little monster.  i think the lamb ears really say something. 

the food was really good too... 

giant pizza 

divine cupcakes from Ooh La La

veggies

scrumptious fruit

creamcheese with chipolte raspberry sauce

very simple but oh-so-cute and yummy

party favors were brown bags filled with odds and ends tied all up with little boy ribbon.

it as a perfect day...

nom nom nom...

so my sweet lilly-lu is 5 months old now and i decided it was time to start her on solids.  i am very excited about this.  i have been dying to make my own babyfood before i even had a baby!  i think its because i didn't stop eating applesauce out of the babyfood isle until i was a teenager.  for some reason it always tasted better than regular applesauce.  every week i looked forward to our trip to the local food store so i could pick out what version of applesauce i wanted.  the jars are oh-so-cute and tiny. 

anyway, i have started making it and i really enjoy it. 

my first batch was simple...pears.  she loves pears!  she has eaten pears for 2 weeks now.  my next batch...apples.  she ain't so kean on those. 

but last night, oh last night... we made acorn and butternut squash mixed together.  the color this concoction made was magical.  the 2 different hues of orange and goldy-yellow mixed together was fabulous.  i wish i had a sweater that color.  of course i might by the time she spits it all up all over me.  here is how i prepared them:
* preheat oven to 375 degrees
* cut squash in half and dig out seeds and stringy yuck (discard)
* place flesh side down in a baking dish and put a little over 1/4 amount of water in the dish. (not a 1/4 cup but about 1/4 up the side of the baking dish.)
* bake for 1 hour
* dig out the flesh and set aside to cool (do not discard your water left in the baking dish, you will use this to thin out the mush)
* puree in a blender/chopper/babyfood processor or with a giant fork which is what i did for this one
* add the broth from the baking dish until you achive the pureed consistency your baby can handle

after this we made more pears but this time we added bananas and cinnamon.  we also made more apples and added cinnamon to them.  my husband said they were delicious.  as i made each batch i gave my lilly-lu a sample and she giggled with delight when we added the cinnamon and bananas.

success!

i have been wanting some of those little ice trays with lids but was too lazy to go to Wal-Mart and get them so i used left over breast milk storage bags (unused of course) instead.  these are great because you can see how many ounces you are putting in the bags.  so i made a bunch of tiny ones and then started increasing the amount so i would have different portion sizes. 

now if i could just enjoy cooking for my hubby and i, all would be perfect.

until next time...

monica

searching for a schedule

being at home this week has kind of felt like a vacation.  that being the case i have to tell myself that this is not a vacation.  i'm supposed to be using this time to figure out what i really want to be doing with my time.  of course we know i want to spend as much time with lilly-lu as possible.  watching her grow and develop is going to be a God send.  working out and getting back to a healthy weight should also be on my priority list.  with all this being said i'm afraid my blogging is going to be a little sporadic until i can figure out a schedule.  

i will try to be good and post daily but i can't make any promises for the next couple of weeks.  i leave you with a little picture of my lilly-lu and her first trip to the zoo.

meet her kitty, Bosley.  she loves her kitty and he goes everywhere with her.

until next time...

monica

sunday afternoon project

for my best bud's baby she asked if i could make some letters for his playroom which was being done in Where the Wild Things Are.

of course i leaped at the opportunity!  she wanted a set that were made like the ones i had done for my lilly-lu.  here are those.

she wanted the same theme but different colors and no girly bugs.  so, here is what i came up with...

                            

i started with a nice navy blue acrylic paint.  

then i semi-mixed the navy paint with some cream paint so create a swirl of colors.

it made a lovely shade of dutch blue.

then with a medium brush i brushed it with a heavy hand making sure it didn't go on too smooth. (the messier the better)

i let that dry and then sponged on a timber brown acrylic paint and kind of wiped and blotted at the same time.

the goal was to make the letters look like they were old and covered in dirt.

after the paint was completely dry i hot glued moss all around the edges.

some places i made the moss real thin and others i would just clump it on.

after the glue is good and dry i raked my hand lightly over the moss to knock most of the loose pieces off and then filled in the gaps with more moss.

after the moss was pretty stuck i went back and added some rust dyed raffia to pull in the other colors from the book.

i think they turned out pretty good and she loved them!

until next time...

monica

penciled art

recently my employer annouced that they were closing down our entire department.  this means i will have no job as of friday.  don't cry for me just yet.  i am excited to get the opptunity to stay home with my lilly-lu and work on my etsy dream. 

so, this leads into why the post...  my friend was cleaning out her cube and came across some sweet little drawings her son had done for her many years ago.

he would be mortified if he knew i was posting these. 

his momma loves Dr.Pepper

not sure why he drew this one but ain't it cute.

i love childhood innocence.

until next time...

monica