Fashion Series

For awhile I've been wanting to start some sort of fashion post/series. Not because I think I'm some sort of fashionista, but because I just like to put outfits together. I never wanted to spend the time surfing the web to find tops, pants, shoes, accessories and then Photoshopping it all together. Lazy I know.

Well yesterday, I stumbled on Polyvore. It's a website that makes it so easy to create outfits and/or magazine-ish fashion spreads. It's really fun! There is already a huge collection of clothes, beauty products, accessories and shoes, but if you can't find what you're looking for you can import your own images. So far I've created four sets.

I had a lot of fun putting them together! I've decided that for each fashion series (I need to come up with a catchy name) I'll pick one piece, a shirt, pair of shoes, bag etc. and then post a series of looks created around that piece. So be looking for the first installment coming soon :)

NICE Assigment: Hold a Graditude Session

One of my favorite blogs is Operation NICE. Sometimes she posts NICE Assignments, and I try my best to do them. Monday's assignment was to Hold a Gratitude Session. I have a lot to be thankful for in my life, so my list could get pretty long...

I'm thankful for // my wonderific hubs / the love bean in my belly / the roof over my head / friends who are like family to me / my family / Andi Jo / Raelin Deann / Ruth Josephina / the baby in my sissy's belly / Timmy's promotion / the internet / my small group / books to read / an easy pregnancy / healthy family / having a job / being able to pay our bills / living in Chicago / a car the runs (most of the time :) / chocolate / my AIGA mentor group / my laptop / ice cream / food in my pantry / creativity / South Loop Church / instant Netflix / all of you who read my blog

The list could go on and on. I think it's important to remember to be thankful for ALL the things in your life, even the little silly things like chocolate or Netflix, because not everyone is lucky enough to have access to those things.

Love Bean Update

I spent the first 20 days in our new place with any internet. I survived only because I could check emial, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and my Google Reader while I was at work. It also forced me to get unpacked faster, well sort of, we're still 100% unpacked and settled in, but we're getting there slowly.

Since it's been so long and some of you may be hoping for a love bean update, I'll indulge you.

This was taken about a week ago, I was at 30 weeks. I've been feeling really good, although this heat has made me a little irritable and at times my toes have looked like sausages. I had a check-up yestertday, and my doctor says I'm measuring a little small, but I'm still in the normal range. I have an ultra sound in a couple weeks to check the growth of the little love bean.

Last weekend I had my first of three baby showers! Love bean's Busha (that's Polish for grandma) hosted it and lot's of the hub's family was able to attend. Love bean and I were showered with lot's of gifts. When I got them all home, hubs went right to work putting everything together. I need to start putting her room together, but for now, I've only gotten as far as hanging this sign up on the outside of her door.

The picture reminds me, I don't know if I ever shared we had a name picked out! Stella Marie. Ever since college I've liked the name Stella, and it also happens to have been my Great Grandma's name. Luckily Timmy loves the name just as much as me and we've known from the moment we found out we were expecting that if it were a girl, she'd be Stella. Hubs picked out her middle name, it's after his mom (Stella's Busha) her middle name is Marie too. Marie also happens to my Grandmas' first name. We think it's pretty cool that three of her grandma's are represented in her name!

Every day we're getting more and more excited to meet her, and I get more and more scarred about the whole idea of pushing out a baby...

July Love List

I can't believe it's July already! This summer is flying. I think it's because we've been so busy so far this summer and July is no different. Things I'm loving and looking forward to this month...

• Littlest sister's bridal shower
• Planning her bachelorette party (my other sis and I have a super cool idea!!)
• My first baby shower!! 
• Getting settled into our new place
• Dia Frampton's cover of Kanye's Heartless
• FINALLY getting my haircut (I haven't had it cut since like last August)
• Starting to set-up love bean's nursery
• Celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary
• Fireworks on the 4th
• The epic conclusion of the Harry Potter movies

July is going to be good month! I'm pretty stoked.

Not homeless!!

Good news, we're not going to be homeless! Unless something goes horribly wrong between today and tomorrow and 7pm when we're meeting to sign our new lease.

Oh. My. Gosh. I have NEVER in my life had a more stressful time finding a new place than we did this time. I'm so thankful that the hubs handled most of it, as you can imagine a preggo, stressed and emotional Jamie is NOT a fun person to be around. We're super excited about this place, rent is a little more than we were hoping for and we still won't have in unit laundry, but there are lot's of other positive that out way those two things. Like, it's a lot closer for Tim to get to work, family friendly neighborhood, we'll be the first people to ever rent it (the owner is moving to Alaska) heat is included in the rent and there is a grocery store within walking distance.

Now that that weight has been lifted, I can get back to blogging regularly and about happier things, like our little love bean, decorating the new place and my newest precious little niece, Ruthie!

June Love List

This morning at 5am when I was laying bed wide awake, I realized that I never posted a June Love List! And I have a super special reason to be excited about June!

• Littlest sister is about to have niece #3 any minute now...seriously, I'm hoping to get a phone call today and be driving up to the Mitten when Timmy gets home from work! We're all dying to meet lil miss Ruthie Josefina.
• We're moving (well hopefully haha)
• We registered for our little love bean! Still have a few big items to add, but we want to go to the store and do those in person, so far we've only picked stuff out online
• It's finally warm...well most days, Chicago has been having some pretty crappy weather here and there
• I'm officially 26 weeks (6.5 months) along. It sure is flying!
• Ribest was so YUMMY! I have the greatest pic of Timmy eating ribs with a bib on, but my camera cord is already packed, so you'll have to wait to see it

Love Bean's Bedding

Timmy and I have our baby registry just about complete. I think the only things left to add are stroller and car seats, but not 100% sure about that, have to have my momma look it over one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything. Registering for our little love bean was so overwhelming! One thing I learned is that I have expensive taste in baby stuff. But I think we did a good job of narrowing it down and finding less expensive options for most everything.

The hardest decision was crib bedding! I thought I really wanted a girl, because girl stuff is so much cuter, but I quickly learned that boy crib bedding is more my style. We ended up going with something neutral for two reasons; my girly choice was a too expensive at $45 a pop for crib sheets and Tim had the final say, and what we ended up going with was his favorite of all the options.

Here's a look into how we made up our minds.

Before we knew our love bean was a girl, we were both liking DwellStudio's Transportation set. We loved the graphic print, colors and that everything wasn't really matchy-matchy.

Once we learned our love bean was a girl we started looking for something along the same lines, but girly. Not much luck really, is it a rule that girl crib bedding has to be pastel and flowery? We landed on DwellStudio's Sparrow Lilac for a bit. Girly, graphic, but the colors we still too light.

At this point, I'm in love with DwellStudio and decide that the Skyline Lt. Blue set could work for a baby girl, but wasn't 100% sold because, it seemed a little boyish and I couldn't decide if it was weird to have skyline themed bedding in the city.

After I had exhausted all my DwellStudio options, I was on the hunt for something else. I looked at all the girl crib bedding at the Buy Buy Baby (where we registered) but didn't see anything that jumped out at me. While poking around on Pinterest one day I found Auggie. It hit all my criteria, girly and NOT matchy-matchy, I love the mix of patterns. But at $45 a pop for one fitted crib sheet, it seemed a little pricy.

In a last ditch effort I went back to the crib bedding on Buy Buy Baby's site. This time I looked under the neutral bedding section. I had skimmed it before, but this time I took my time and found the Mod Dot set. It met all the criteria, wasn't too expensive and was Timmy's favorite. So onto the list it went.