she's crafty (?)

The dresser/changing table in Miles' room is the same one Jarrod and his sister used way back when. When Jarrod's parents offered it to us, they gave us (me) permission to do whatever we wanted to with it. I knew I wanted to paint it, and with a color scheme of Enamelware by Martha Stewart and pure white I couldn't get too carried away with the color of the dresser. I did some research and decided to paint it white and give it an antique glaze finish (I picked Valspar translucent color glaze in mocha). The hardware is from Anthropologie. Here's photographic evidence that I have a couple of crafty bones in my body - but don't get too excited, I'm not quitting my day job :)

nursery

This summer we flipped our sunroom/office into a nursery. It took quite a while to accomplish everything we initially set out to do, but we're very happy with the results. We replaced the windows, installed new carpet, primed/painted the walls and trim, hung new window hardware and treatments, installed a door, and then of course put together all the pieces of furniture to go inside it. Guess all that hard work - and long nights spent painting after work - paid off (at least to us, ha)! Here's our labor of love...

it's shower time!

A few weeks ago Jenny and Courtney threw a baby shower for us...and it was so much fun! They really outdid themselves on everything - the decor, the food, their matching dresses, etc. :) The bad part about having a shower thrown for you is that you're not really in a position to take pictures, which is why I'm going to point you to the blog of my friend, Suzie. Not only did she have her own son in mid-July, but she's also an accomplished photographer and took some great shots at our shower. The pic here is one of hers, so thanks in advance, Suzie!

turning 30

We've celebrated quite a few 30th birthdays in the last year or so. I hit mine back on January 1 while Jarrod finally turned the corner a few weeks ago on July 3. Here are some pics of our respective celebrations.

I'm soooo old...

what was left of my cake!

Jarrod turned 30 on Leon's Bocce ball court

Jarrod and Patrick

How 'bout them Braves, Dave?

the ladies

Pierce (he belongs to Jenny!)

Now we're both old!

letter from the editor

I am failing at this blog thing. I'm much better at tweeting and lately even my Facebook-ing eclipses my blogging...or attempt to blog. Well, I hope that's about to change because I have more to blog about these days.

Back in late January - just as the protests in Cairo escalated - I got sick. I wasn't bedridden sick -- it was more a 'still able to go to work' sick - but I still felt pretty crappy. As the news grew more intense, my days became longer and weekends became shorter. (Don't get me wrong - this is the nature of my job. It's just that I had no idea we were entering the longest period of continuous breaking news in YEARS, so we weren't prepared for the marathon that is essentially still going on!)

Fast forward a few weeks and my body was sending me clear signs that it was in distress...so I stayed home from work just one day. And wouldn't you know the day President Mubarak decided to step down was the same day I was face down on my couch exhausted, sick and dealing with some unusual symptoms. Something inside me told me to head to Rite Aid and pick up additional cough syrup (b/c I had a crazy bad cough) and a pregnancy test or 2 or 3. So, that's what I did. I took 3 tests over a 2-day period and they were all positive. The next week I made an appointment with my doctor just to be sure. She confirmed it and here we are today at 28.5 weeks pregnant. Back in May (after our great trip out West) Jarrod and I found out we were expecting a baby boy in mid-October. Here are a couple pics to confirm this great news (and the baby's gender).

Think he's giving us the peace sign in this one...

cuckoo for cuckoo clocks

Jarrod really outdid himself this past Christmas. And by that I mean he got me an official Black Forest cuckoo clock straight outta Germany. My camera's not fast enough to get a shot of the cuckoo bird, so for now enjoy a couple aesthetic shots.

margot ♥ snow

Yes, I'm still talking about snow. I think I've said this on the blog before, but Margot really likes snow. She likes to run in it and she loves to eat it. I captured a couple pics of her having the best time playing in last month's snow.