Week 26... 6.5 months and growing

Honestly, if I could live forever in the second trimester of pregnancy, I probably would...

My energy is through the roof, I'm sleeping like a champ, and my hair and skin have finally decided to give off that "glow" I hear about... (this usually consist of me asking Chris to feel how soft my hair is as well as bursting into song every time I wake up without a zit in the middle of my forehead)

To be fair, the past couple months I have probably been eating the most healthy I have ever eaten in my entire life in addition to taking daily mile+ walks with the dogs.  Chris and I have a juicer which we make every morning with the following organic fruits and veggies: kale, spinach, turnip, cucumber, carrots, apple, orange, blueberries, grapefruit, and pineapple.  Would I have EVER eaten all that before we started juicing? Most definitely not (I mean kale and turnips? really? yuck!) but a full 2.5 cups in the morning and I am good to go!

I maybe singing a different tune come month 8, but for now I am all taking it in stride.  I actually have my first baby shower this weekend in AZ with family and friends (we had to do it a little early to avoid flying in my third trimester) but I am psyched!!   All the research on the best/safest/non-million-dollar strollers? I little tougher, but they are all pretty fun to play with! (Chris even gets in on the action.  He's favorite must have feature? Foldablity... if it can't collapse quickly with one hand, dont bother)

Anyway, here's week 26!  I can't believe the next update I'll be 7 months along! Where does the time go?!

Do any of you mama's out there have any items that you just CAN'T live without?  Pregnancy or for baby? I would love to hear!!


Thanks!
-Samm

Little Denver Horse Shoe

Sometimes, is the little things that you love the most.

Take this little antique store find for example.

 Chris and I were down in Denver for Memorial Day weekend, celebrating our 1 year anniversary (....7 months late... but its cool since Chris actually gave me tickets to see Les Mis in Denver back on our REAL anniversary in October) but it was a good get away for us just to spend time together, especially with a little one on the way.

Loving Denver and being in downtown with no car, I suggested we take a little taxi cab ride over to "Antiques Row" a mere 4 miles away.  To my surprise, Chris was totally game... In fact, I think he had a lot more fun than even he thought.  Especially when he got to play with little items like this:

...I had to tell him 3x  that we couldn't get it...

As always, looking around was interesting and fun, but since most of the big ticket items we liked wouldnt fit on an airplane (ie. table and chairs, or a gorgeous dresser), we settled on this little nugget which was 30% off $15, making it only $10.50.

I honestly love everything about it.

1. The fact that its a mounted horse shoe (I grew up with my grandparents having a ranch in central California and miss riding horses everyday!)
2. The wood grain stripe down the middle, but off center, is fantastic
3.  Chris and I have never really seen anything like it before and the matter of it facing down instead of up gives it more of a truly unique feel (not like some good-luck charm).
4.  Its a small something to bring back to future-little-man's room as a "oh hey, remember when we got that?"

During our day of decorating, we decided it would look best right above the door frame.

 Just the perfect little accent piece!

As of right now, here's how it looks when you are walking out of the room.

 Oh and that little thing behind the door?  An awesome Hobby Lobby doorstop find.
I got this sucker for $6.49 since they were having a 50% off sale on all men's decor.  Compare that to the $49.99 one I lusted over for weeks via Ballard Design, I think I will take it for the win.

We still have plans to accessorize some more, but decorating with little trinkets here and there is really what is making this room so special.

More updates to come soon!  Chris and I are actually going to look at a fantastic crib we found via Craigslist tonight and fingers-crossed its as perfect as we think it is! I can't wait to get a crib in here and finally start making it feel real!! AHHHH September is getting so close!

-Samm

Flea Markets making a Nursery

Whoo hoo... who's ready for a fun ol' nursery update!  Look at some of the fun stuff we scored!!

But before we get to all that, last we left it, we had just gotten our awesome craigslist find all in place and tucked away.

 However, noticing that the walls are a bit bare, Chris and I have started to decorate with a little bit of this and that, which we have been silently hoarding for the past several weeks.

Opposite of the "changing table" wall, is where is crib is going to sit.  As of a couple days ago, this has been whats hanging up.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE THIS MAP after finding it at a garage sale for $20 and it looked great as decor in our "guest room", but as a nursery, the colors just didnt really go with what we had envisioned for the space (picture me, sitting on the rug, starring at it, crying to Chris "...but I love it.  This room can be orange and green. We can make that work."... No, Samm, it can't.)

So you can imagine my enthusement (enthusiasm + excitement = enthusement) when I saw THIS GUY at a garage sale over the weekend.

 Yea, thats a 6 FOOT by 4 FOOT awesome vintage-looking map.  $10?... would you take $8? SOLD... (yes, I haggled over $2... times are tight)

(I wish I would have taken a picture of me trying to get it home, alone, with a quarter of it sticking out of my open back of my SUV.  The g-sale was only about a mile or two away from my house, and I drove slow with my cautions on the whole way taking back streets, but I still felt pretty stupid with one hand driving and one arm holding on to it through the backseat.)

Anyway, this "little" map was the catalyst to the "Lets-start-decorating" movement.  Chris was really into the map (yay!) and so we took down the roll-up map and moved the nails over for a bit to make sure the map was centered on the wall.

Sorry internet, the hot Italian with a six-pack, ripped arms, and gorgeous hair is mine all mine

 I did feel a little bad for replacing a map with another map, kinda like dumping one guy only to date his hotter brother, but I'm totally loving the choice we made!

While Chris was busy putting the map up, I decided to hang some stuff as well... like these two awesome car signs I found at a flea market for $25/pair.

 They have been sitting in our nursery room for a couple weeks now, but once I dusted and cleaned them off a bit, I totally remember why I like them so much.

Oh, did I mention that I totally bought these before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl?  I had a "feeling" it was a boy ever since March but when I bought these in April (before our ultrasound) and Chris thought I was jinxing it.  Nope, just good ol' mother intuition... (thank goodness I was right! These would look kind of awkward in a little girl's room) 

I knew I wanted to pair these bad boys together, but I couldn't really decided on where to put them... until I saw the little space behind the door.

 Perfect!

And now... Ta-daaa!!

 Here's a closer up look...

The top one is actually my favorite.  The car on there is actual a 3-dimensional mold and sticks out just a bit to give the piece some depth.

You can see how the car cast just a little bit of a shadow

 And this old Chrysler one is just plain cool.  I love the frame.

The next order of business, was to deal with yet another map.

This AWESOME vintage Texas Military map Chris and I scored at the Canton Flea Market for $10.

We had talked about replacing, or even possibly building a new frame for this guy, but once we started to hang things up, we were surprised how well it went with everything we were already hanging up.  So, for now, the frame stays... Just where to put it?

Oh, on this perfect spot? ... ok...

 And after...

Sorry these pictures are so awful... they were all with my iphone.  I promise to break out my nice camera for some good pictures soon!

Here's a nice close up pic of the masculine map all up and looking pretty handsome.

Oh, and did you see that ladder to the right of the map in the previous picture?  That too was a flea market find.  "Ten-dolla-make-you-holla!"

As I carried her away into the sunset

She (he?) is actually going to be used to help dry our cloth diapers since putting them in a drier is a no-no, but I really like that natural wood feel that it brings into the room too.

There are a couple other things we've put up too, but for the sake of this post rambling on and me going into too much detail about flea markets and garage sales, I think we will leave it here for today.

I can't wait to show you what other little updates we're making (including more furniture, an AWESOME light fixture, and a thrift store upgrade) so I should be back with those soon!!

Do you like how it's looking so far?  Do you have a favorite piece?  I think mine is a tie between the antique-bar-turned-changing-table or the huge new map.  I'm going to go sit in the rocker for a while and stare at both of them... excuse me.

-Samm

Week 24... 6 months along

So... this is how 6 months of pregnancy feels.... honestly, not too shabby.

For some reason, I figured I would look and feel a bit like a beached whale or seem as though I'm smuggling beach balls out of WalMart, but I'm actually feeling pretty good!

Besides the occasional 1am "I-must-eat-or-I-will-die-of-stravation" accompanied with kicking, punching, and what I assume is headbutting from little baby Y, all is good in the hood.

Chris and I start birthing classes soon (we are doing the Bradley method since I'll be having this baby all-naturale) and I'm really excited to get started!  Has anyone done Bradley before? I would love to hear your experiences or what YOU tired that helped with birth/labor.

Without further adu, here's my week 24 pic along with all the others back to week 12!

 

 Any other pregnant/future mama's out there?

Oh, I also have to give a shout-out to my friend Sally who recently welcomed her son, Duke Reily, into the world!!  Everyone is happy, healthy, and ADORABLE! Sally is such an awesome inspiration to know there is a light at the end of the pregnancy tunnel!

Our nursery: brough to you by Craigslist

Y'all, Craigslist has done it again!

While the nursery is still isnt anywhere NEAR to ready for little boy Y in September, step by step we have made some progress... and on the CHEAP too!!

While parusing Craigslist, like I do almost everyday, I stumbled across THIS little treasure that caught my eye.

Different... unique... and can we take a moment and talk about the feet?!  HOW FREAKIN COOL?!

Measuring 55" long and 34" high, its the exact size we were looking for to fit in the room to use as a changing table (not too long, but nice and tall since Chris and I are so big)!!

For $300, it was a bit out of our price range since I was hoping to find an older piece and fix it up with chalk paint and/or stain, but this was just way too unique to pass up without seeing it. 

So I made the 45 minute drive from Dallas to Waxahachie (aka. the middle of no where)

My apologies if you DO live in Waxahachie... this man's HOUSE was in the middle of no where

 When I arrived at the house, I was greeted by a 65 year old, 5'5, 250lbs man without a shirt on (hooray people of craisglist!!... ... ...).  Luckily, the piece was already in his garage and we stayed outside and discussed it while he threw on a hawaiian button down (minus fastening the buttons)  and told me how it was his great-grandmother's but he simply didnt have room for it anymore.

Looking over the detail, hand-carved wood, and noticing how the piece was in great shape for being as old as he said it was, I knew I love it from the moment I saw it.  But playing the Craigslist game, I hmm-ed and uhhh-ed for a while, "kicking the tires" as you will, before I asked if he would take $175.  He countered with $225 and we settled on $200... S-C-O-R-E.

All 5.5 months pregnant of me, him, and his neighbor loaded it into my car and I drove away calling Chris on my cell to brag about my find (don't worry, I checked with him before I even went to look at it AND gave him the address of where I was going JUST in case).

When Chris got home for work, we eagerly look it out of my car, wiped away some cob webs and gave it a good once over with some Old English wood polisher.... The thing came out prettier than a penny.

Next step was getting it IN the actual nursery, especially since I didn't want it sitting outside in the humidity or getting dusty after we had just cleaned it, which proved to be a little difficult, but finally worked.

We had it lay on a towel for a bit to protect the rug from the Old English... and no judgement for how dirty this room is... Its a work in progress

 But once we got everything moved and into place, I freakin' loved it.

 I mean really, come on... it just SCREAMS masculine little boys room.  I love how unique it is and keeps the room from feeling too "mass market produced".  I think its always smart to have at least one aniquey piece to keep a room from feeling like something you would see in a Rooms2Go showroom.

Sorry these pictures are so bad, I just snapped em real quick with my iPhone

 As the room comes together more, we definitely have some decoration plans for above the new dresser as well as fixing the shelves in the two main cabinets and/or maybe making them into slide out shelving.

Oh, and in addition, you see that rocking chair in there?

Yep, its also a Craigslist find... a POTTERY BARN ROCKER, in perfect condition... $40... yes, as in two Jacksons.  Sure, we had to drive an hour to get it (to a little town called Aledo, west of Fort Worth) but totally worth it since these chairs go for more than $800 brand new.

AND to make matters even better, I sold a Pottery Barn dresser/hutch which I had planned on keeping for the nursery from my estate sale find a few weeks ago (after selling everything else, it was completely FREE) for $300... which keeps me in the black for everything in this room so far (minus the rug).

Ugh, Craigslist, how I love you.

Anyone else striking gold recently?  I would love to hear your best craigslist finds!!

Thanks!
-Samm

I found my next project.. any ideas what to do with it?

Everyone needs a little break from office work in the middle of the day... most normal people go out to lunch, hangout by the water cooler, go and talk to other co-workers, etc. 

I, working from home, have none of these options (unless you count walking to the kitchen and talking to the dogs).   So, when I need a little break, I like to visit my friend Craig and his "list"... just to browse...

Over the past couple weeks, I have definitely SOLD a lot more than I've purchased (flipping some estate/garage sale finds... details to come) but every now and then I like to see what people are selling JUST to see if there's a deal too good to pass up.

My friend Jenn and I send each other links throughout the day (obviously when we are really busy) and this morning she sent me this...

Ummmm yea... this is fantastic.  I love the untreated butcher cutting block and think the little wooden/medal trimmed wheels are amazing.

For $25 (I had Chris pick it up for $20... love that man) I am eager to get it back home and let go to town.

There are so many great possibilities with the piece, Im having a hard time deciding what to do with it?

1. Sand it down, stain it?  Use it as a drink cart for outside refreshments?
2. Paint it with some Anne Sloan chalk paint and shabby-chic it up a little? Maybe put some wine glass holders under the cutting block for extra storage?
3. Clean it up a little, give it a good ol coat of outdoor polyurethane protection, and cut a whole in the top to make a little planter out of it?

What do you guys think? I would LOVE some input!! Thanks!

-Samm