I, too, would like to thank Chad Lowe

I hope you got my Girls/Golden Globes reference there. My husband and I just watched the entire first season of Girls in the last week, and I LOVED both of Lena Dunham's Thank You speeches last night. I found them very humble, gracious, honest, self depricating, smart, and sharply witty - the qualities of her writing that I think explain my quick addiction to that show. I giggled pretty hard when she said she'd long ago promised herself that were she ever to give an acceptance speech, she'd have to thank Chad Lowe. So while my teenage self would probably have promised herself to thank Mark Wahlberg, I just had to tip my hat to Lena Dunham on that one.

But more importantly, thank you to Amy for the virtual high-five and boost of confidence she gave me this morning by nominating me for a Liebster Award!

So here I go... first, the details: A Liebster award is given to blogs with less than 300 followers as a way of making them more well-known. The rules for the acceptance are:

1) Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you
2) Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back
3) Answer the 10 questions posed by the blogger who nominated you
4) Select 3-5 bloggers for the award
5) Pose 10 new questions to the new nominees
6) Post the award on your blog

Here are Amy's questions with my responses:
1) Why did you start blogging? 
I started blogging with our home renovation blog, Home Sweet Schwab, to document our first home ownership/renovation adventure, and to include our far-away friends and family in the process, but also to give myself a creative outlet and stretch my writing muscles a bit.

2) What are your blogging goals?
My immediate blogging goals are to start blogging with regularity again. A combination of some family health issues and the arrival of our first baby in the last year stunted my posting, and I need to get back on track.

3) What is your favorite article of clothing?
Oh, this one hits a bit of a nerve right now, as I'm feeling very tired of my wardrobe lately! Still, there's always a favorite (or two), right? My "old" favorite is this great boat neck black-and-white striped shirt that I can dress down or up and I've probably worn for too long, but with which I refuse to part. My "new" favorite is this great pair of magenta jeans I got recently, one of a very small number of items I've bought for myn the last six months since Baby Girl took over my shopping agenda!

4) What is your favorite blog that you read?
Hard to choose. I love reading blogs. It's probably my best distraction lately. Do I have to pick one? Who am I kidding? There are no real rules here, this is MY blog! Okay... favorite blogS: Suri's Burn Book, Go Fug Yourself, Kendi Everyday, Obvious State (formerly Little Brown Pen)... and many more. I wouldn't read them if I didn't love them, and my Reader is STACKED.

5) Facebook or Twitter?
Good one, A! I definitely texted Amy during the Globes last night to say that Twitter was quickly overtaking Facebook for me. I shamefully admit that I basically just boarded the Twitter train recently (I won't say how recently), but I've been tiring of Facebook for a loooooong time, and Twitter does a lot of what I used to like about Facebook without all of the stuff I don't like about it now... especially in terms of allowing me viewing control for my content. So I say Twitter!

6) What is something that currently challenges you?
Time. There just is not enough of it. Simple as that.





7) Paper calendar or electronic?
This will be my second year in the electronic calendar world, and I have to say, I'm officially converted.

8) What is your favorite cosmetic?
Tinted lip gloss.


9) As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer.


10) What is one of your goals for 2013?
My main goal for 2013 is to truly make time for myself in some capacity every week. And more than just an hour to neaten up the house - something for ME.

Here are my nominations:
1) Living the Dream - N redefines honesty with this blog that evolves as she does. She is truly inspirational in how open and real she is in her writing... and I'm not just saying that.
2) Eating With Sporks - This is the blog of a long-lost friend from college... and it's awesome. One of my most-pinned-to boards on Pinterest is my food board, and I've pinned MANY a recipe from this creative, healthy, beautifully-photographed blog.
3) Home Harvests - Like me, she hasn't posted in a little while, BUT, this is a great blog. My girl knows her stuff, and shares her efforts towards a holistic, self-sufficient (as much is possible when you don't live on a farm or ranch!), green, clean, purposeful life. She shares her successes and her missteps, takes incredible photos of her beautiful garden and its bounty, offers recipes, and opens up her heart and her mind as she continues to channel her best self.

And here are my 10 questions:

1) Why blog?
2) Where do you live?
3) What's your guilty pleasure?
4) What's the best book you've read in the last year?
5) What is your blogging goal for the next year?
6) What is one of your non-blogging goals for the next year?
7) Google or Bing?
8) What's your favorite blog?
9) What's your "real" job?
10) Are you happy?

Reorganizing (for lack of a better word)

I'm trying to reorganize a bit. It has been FAR too long since I've posted here, and even longer since I was in a good posting rhythm, as opposed to just a post here, a post there. And I want to get back to some sort of blogging routine. It has certainly been a challenge to rediscover balance since our incredible little girl arrived at the end of June. Throw in working full-time, and juggling family health issues, and a few things have just fallen behind. That's just the reality of it. And if I'm being *really* honest, nearly everything I've let fall behind has been about me. And I'd like to try to claim a bit of myself back if I can. So, inspired by the boost of confidence Amy gave me this morning, I commit to posting with vague regularity again. I want to reorganize things enough to allow me the simple pleasure and creative outlet this blog has provided to me in the past.

To that end... I have a few things lined up this week. I'm not sure I'll be back on the every day posting regimen right away, but that will be my longer-term goal. For now, I'll aim for 3 posts/week. This one doesn't count. I'll have a *real* post after this one today, and then Amy and I are bringing back an abbreviated version of our post-awards fashion blitz for the 2013 Golden Globes with two posts this week.

Look at me go! Thanks for keeping with me... in spite of my amazing disappearing act.

Printed Jeans

Now that I'm wearing "normal" (read: not maternity) clothes again, I'm excited to try out some new styles. As such, I just purchased myself some printed skinnies from Target:

(here they are)

(yep, that's a peacock print)

They're kind of fun, no? And they don't necessarily look too jeans-y, right? (Am I fooling myself?) I mean, I'm thinking with the right top/shoes/accessories, these could hypothetically play a role in some work attire... maybe?

What say you to the printed denim trend? Yeas? Nays?

Pinned It, Made It

I know, it's been forever. Forgive me, I had a baby and very little time for pinning and blogging since the end of June!

But I HAD to report on this one. Two of my girlfriends (R & A) and I decided to occasionally get together, pick one thing we each pinned to do (I have a "Do This" board on Pinterest that's full of these hypothetical projects), and actually do it. I've made recipes I've pinned for sure, but I keep storing away great little DIY ideas and not actually following through, so here was a self-imposed call-to-task, made easier by the allure of good company and companion craftiness.

Here's my first project:

Was a blue-glass Ball mason jar, is now a lovely hand soap dispenser in my kitchen! Woot! (my pin; original link here)

Have you made anything you've pinned yet? Or have you pinned something you're definitely going to make?

What should my next project be...?

What I'm Reading Now: June 21, 2012

(expectations: 30 women talk about becoming a mother)

started this one this morning, when i was wide awake at 5a.m. i'll finish it tonight. just little vignettes about lessons of parenting, realizing who you are as a person/mother/woman, and understanding motherhood in one's own context. simple and gentle. not beating you over the head with "lessons." just personal stories, in bite-sized snippets.

Art Sale

Sale!

(did I get your attention?)

So, this great Australian illustrator, Amy, has this great little online shop where she sells some of her beautiful illustrations. It's called Cake With Giants, and it's delightful and whimsical and just all around lovely. I've ordered from her before and will vouch for that all-around loveliness. In fact, I've also posted about her before (see). Anyway, she's running a little sale for a few days, and if you like sweet art and sales, you should take advantage. Here are a few current favorites available for purchase:

(Le Carrousel Mystique)

(Owl & the Pussycat)

(Starlight)

Aren't they so sweet?!


In unrelated news, sorry I'm so intermittent lately... I know I'll get back on my game at some point - hopefully soon! Thanks for sticking around!

What I'm Reading Now: May 22, 2012

Actually started this one last week... The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien. It's been on my "to-read" bookshelf (I literally have a bookshelf entirely filled with books I haven't read) for a while, so I thought I'd give it a go. It takes place in South Africa in the 1960s... I can already anticipate the pain and tragedy that ominously looms over a book that must have to deal with apartheid and other difficult topics. So far, it's just some really pretty writing from the perspective of a six year-old girl named Elizabeth.