Halloween 2012

Before hitting the hay tonight, I wanted to share a little recap of our Trick or Treating this year before tomorrow turns us into November and looking ahead to Thanksgiving.

Above: We went to my parent's neighborhood to ring the doorbells of familiar folk. We went around the neighborhood with The Mayor of Munchkinland and the wicked witch of the west. aka my mom and niece. All costumes made by my mom the Mayor!

Despite appearances the little one was pretty excited about this adventure, just tired from an already big day at school where they had a little Halloween party.

She loved putting the candy in her little bag and quickly caught on to how awesome this whole thing is!

This house offered pretzels- which was probably the biggest hit!

The little group nearing the end of our trick or treating.  You can see the mash of leaves and debris leftover from the hurricane... but luckily nothing like other areas further north of us, where some will be celebrating Halloween on Friday to compensate for the hurricane clean up... and then there are towns that won't be celebrating at all this year.

And a little video... reminds me of the countless Halloween videos my grandfather took of us growing up. Our daughter had her "Trick or treat!" and "Happy Halloween!" and "Thanks You!!"-s down pact and I tried to capture some of them, with prompting of course. If you listen carefully you can hear her muttering to herself "More Candy, more candy, more candy" as she walks up another driveway.

Hope you all had a festive Halloween!

How We Weathered Hurricane Sandy

I thought I should check in and let you know how we survived Hurricane Sandy.

Our daughter's birthday was on Saturday and it felt like the hurricane shortly followed (so pictures from her b-day are a bit delayed!). We are very grateful for our rather peaceful experience. Here are a few pictures from our 2 days spent hunkered down as a little family.

Above: On Sunday night we took the toddler out - in her new birthday rain boots to jump in puddles and to clear the leaves from the road and curb to allow for the water to make its way unhindered to the the drain at the end of the street. It was pretty fun and rewarding work and made a huge difference over the following days. Plus as a kid nothing is more fun than playing in the rain and setting leaves to float down tiny "ribers".

the leaves, such pretty colors. I was sure the storm would mean a quick end to fall, but luckily for our area leaves still cling on to the trees.

Later that night we had our first fire at our new place! This marks our first rental that has a working fireplace, we are more than excited!

Over the weekend the baby bump popped out. pretty crazy how fast it arrives the second go around. I'm only 16.5 weeks! yikes. I can already feel more movement which is fun, but will be more exciting when the toddler and husband can feel it.

Monday Morning- our prep areas were all set up for the imminent storm. We had flashlights in our kitchen and bedroom, our dining room table was stocked with candles, headlamps, camping stove, and more flashlights... and we baked blueberry muffins, corn bread and Vegetarian Shepherd's pie. And the hot chocolate was just an added bonus.

By Monday afternoon- we were all still in our pjs, listening to the wind and the rain, and snuggling after nap time while some proved harder to wake.

By Tuesday morning we still had power, which was a surprise, and we had my brother, sister-in-law and their dog Henry over for lunch and to enjoy a house with power, since they lost theirs the night before (but have it back as of this afternoon).  So we did alright in this little corner of Delaware, just one little leak coming in through the attic that a bucket could temporarily fix, and the neighbor's car across the street was parked 1inch away from being hit by a falling tree!  Lucky folks in these parts! My Dad, grandfather and sister-in-law are planning on heading to the shore tomorrow to check out the damage and the state of the house... that was the hardest part- watching the pictures role in on the internet of the havoc at the shore. Of course all of the subsequent footage of NYC, queens etc are equally heartbreaking... makes one more than grateful for just a soggy couple of days spent indoors. 

In Pictures: little by little, our place is taking shape

My mom came over yesterday morning to help me distribute our art around the house... figuring out where to hang everything and then thankfully helping me hang the artwork!

She arranged this lovely little grouping above our cookbook bookshelf in our dining room. I'll admit I wasn't sold on all of the plates hanging together, but once the antlers were added- everything felt right. It's always fun to see our artwork in different configurations.

Last night I hung up the picture of my grandfather in the snorkel mask. I found it amongst their slide collection and I love it! I scanned the slide and then had a bigger print made on shutterfly. This corner feels really complete now. And the little blue boat print I bought when we lived in Maine, feels right at home beneath the birdcage (it needed something there). I also love our ikea piece that houses our daughter's toys on the bottom shelves. She loves taking them out and playing with them and she also enjoys putting them back in their special spot. Since we've inherited 95% of our furniture from various family members, it's nice to have a new piece in the mix.

I hung this little snowy grouping above the husband's dresser yesterday. The moutain scape was a gift from Cameron's family friends in Alaska, the vintage painting was done by my great grandmother and the plate belonged to my grandmother.

And this little corner in our living room next to our sofa, now displays a sculpture by a friend and fellow artist from undergrad, with an old print of Florence- commemorating my semester studying in the Italian city.

On the family side this week- it was picture day at the toddler's school yesterday. She has her game face on here, probably because I actually asked her to stand still for 5 secs, instead of running around like a madwoman, which is all she does these days. She's rocking a little thrifted peter pan collar floral shirt and this cute corduroy dress we scored at the j-crew outlet in Maine, plus tights, she was quite the little school girl! Excited to see how the picture turned out. I was told by her teachers, that she looked serious but happy, lol.

And the other night during bath time, our dog Millie was so curious about the tub that I reminded her what it was like. I think I lost her trust. The toddler thought it was a fun treat, although that's not visible in this picture!

And it seems the fall leaves have hit their prime, with many beginning to make their whispered decent to the ground.  It's been a busy week for us, with the husband working sometimes two shifts a day while going to school... so we've been going at full speed with our own responsibilities and tasks, and we look forward to the little one's b-day this Saturday and an entire weekend where the husband doesn't have to work! hooray!!  

I'll be sure to give a bigger tour of our house in the near future... so stay tuned for that!

Love Letter to Fall: Halloween Edition

Hey all, it's been a while sine I wrote a "Love Letter to Fall", as you may know our big move this month coupled with wrapping up my first trimester with baby number 2 is all to blame, and I'm sticking with that excuse!  But since Halloween is just around the corner, I felt it was imperative that I share some halloween related links. Enjoy!

Above: Flock of Bats Front door Decor

Coastal themed pumpkins

15 flower costumes for Halloween

Peanut Butter Owl Cookies

Sketchbook Pumpkins

Knit Candy Corns, free Pattern

10 Pretty pumpkins 

Modern Pumpkin centerpiece

October activities for your kids

Toddler Friendly Jack-o-lanters 

Halloween Headband tutorial

Faux Skeleton Wreath

Oh crap, I have a 2 yr old's birthday Party to Plan!

Our little one turns the big 2 on Saturday the 27th and although the gifts were planned and purchased long before our hectic move this past October... the actual party planning hasn't officially started until... NOW! Luckily I have a party ideas board on pinterest where I tuck away and save various party ideas for future reference and I'm so glad I did! Another perk I have going for me is that since the toddler is only two, she doesn't have a lot of ideas or desires when it comes to her party- IE: she told me she wants purple balloons, but only after seeing purple balloons in one of her books... so that's what I'm working with here, a child's board book for inspiration. So I'm running with it and here's what I've gathered together so far!

I really want to find HUGE 36" balloons (purple of course) for her party, this is really the only decoration I'm going to focus on, since I have bigger issues of where is everyone going to sit in our new place!?

But I also really like this tassel idea and if it doesn't happen this year, than it sure will in years to come (and then get stored away in a party decoration box, cus I 'aint throwing it away so fast!)

As for the cake... I think we are going to shoot for a chocolate one, and the husband and I like the single tall shape such as this one pictured above, plus the cherries are a nice touch but not sure about their tastiness since it's October and I'm a cherry purist. But honestly the cake is the husband's department!

Love this candle holder idea.

And this is a very sweet 2 year old birthday cake topper, not to mention it would be a shout out to her favorite stuffed animal- bunny.

So that's what I have going in my head- as of 5 days out, stay tuned next week when I'll share a birthday party recap!

ps: and a look back at last year's first birthday! awe

hi... missed me? I'm finally writing a blog post

It's been a crazy last two weeks for us. Every night has felt like christmas eve, without the magic, where we stay up late and tiptoe around the new rental, arranging and emptying boxes... so when our daughter wakes up the next morning she will awake in a house that is slightly more put together and toddler friendly (IE: no more obstacles to trip over).  But couple all of this with being pregnant, yes PS I am pregnant and am now 15 weeks... and obviously a masochist since I moved the last time I was 3 months pregnant. Go ME! And believe me I DON'T recommend it. So my super sleepiness has been a bit of a road block on my voyage to ultimate productivity. But I'm trying to remember that it's just another lesson to take it slow and cut myself some slack... And during this, I had some etsy orders come in that took priority, hence my lack of blogging! But now I'm getting back to normalcy. So I thought I should check in with the blog and share some pictures of our new place!

(above: our mantle as of this morning... still working on arranging things. sorry for the blurry cell phone pics, still looking for my camera cord!)

The corner to the left of the mantle. Needs artwork on the wall (glass broke in our new frame).

Our Sofa across from the mantle... slowly hanging artwork. Need to get a new lampshade for the lamp... budget allowing- maybe next month?

Millie back at home on our pillows.

And a new to us table- that belonged to my paternal grandparents.

Detail shot of the mantle- right side.

And the left side. still fiddling and tweaking it... as I wait to find some specific objects I haven't unearthed yet. But it's nice that it's no longer a catch all for nails and tools.

This is my uniform anymore- due to moving and baby bump. My daze just after cleaning the bathroom the day before we moved... pretty cool pink and brown bathroom, huh!?

"Daddy's Home Millie! Daddy's Home!"

And my "studio" looks MUCH better now, but thought a picture of the before- would show what we've been dealing with lately!

And the toddler's room, with the blackout curtains I put up...

Stay tuned for more pictures of our place as it comes together and hopefully more blog posts! ; ) Have a great weekend!

xo

abs

Moving on Up: Some Home Decor Inspiration for our big Move

We are moving this weekend! Over the past year and a half we've thankfully been living with my folks while the Husband took classes in prep for going back to school. It was a great help to live with them. And now, after looking since June, we found a great place and we are moving this weekend and I'm pretty excited to be reunited with our things... dishes, furniture, artwork, books, etc all of which has been living in storage.  I have big goals to unpack everything and purge the crap out of it! I figure having lived without these things for over a year should prove to be inspiring (I say this now, always a different story when reunited!).

And so I'm pretty swamped with packing, but I wanted to check in and share some links to my Home Decor inspiration. Thanks to Pinterest of course!

ABOVE: is a shot of my For the Home board. It's funny to see your aesthetic all in one place like this. I find it actually helps me focus in on what I really want to have in a space.

My number one priority when we move on Saturday is to have the little One's room all set up for when she sleeps there for the first time on Saturday night. I'm taking notes from her montessori classroom experience to have more surfaces and artwork hung at her height. I might move the glider out of her room and replace it with a floor couch made of big cushions that she can easily curl up on to read.

ABOVE: a shot of my Enchanting Kids Room board (I'm now noticing two swings in both of these boards! lol)

I'm also really excited to have one room dedicated to my studio, instead of my studio being spread out into corners of three different rooms. Organizing a studio feels a bit daunting for sure, you have to somehow wed your own creative process with some sort of order and functionality to ensure that the function and structure of the space will aid and encourage the freedom of your creative process, and not hinder it... does this make sense? I figure if I just divide the space into different sections- sewing, painting, silkscreen- that should provide a loose framework to start with.

So naturally I have a board dedicated to this: Organize my Studio Please!

As you can see we are going to be pretty busy these next few days and weeks, I'll try to check in now and then. In the meantime you can follow me on instagram for exciting pictures of moving boxes and me passed out on a floor somewhere! User name GrayDayStudio.

ciao for now,

abs